Dimis
09-02-2008, 07:23 PM
Hi everyone. I'm relatively new to 3D and "discovered" mental ray just a few days ago. The problem is that it somehow messes up whatever shadows are casted from a light, other than Skylight.
In case someone is inclined to help, here's what happens (I'm using 3Ds max 9):
I assign mental ray as the renderer. In the Renderer panel I select Mitchell and leave width and height to 4. Next to it, I set the minimum Samples per Pixel to 4 and the maximum to 16. Then I check Enable Final Gather on the Indirect Illumination panel and set Rays per FG Point to 40 (tried other values too). I didn't touch any other configurations.
My lights are a Skylight and a Target Direct (tried other lights too, but always along with the Skylight).
Now, what happens, is that I have a building (not more than 15000 polys) and I have used the ProBoolean on it to make openings for windows. I then covered these openings with planes and cylinders, applying my glass material on them (Raytrace material with Phong shading, NO trasparency).
And when I render, shadows go lunatic. There are parts of shadows missing, parts that are thicker than others, and in some occasions they even make the model itself transparent!
The results vary, depending on the point of view, so I've something new to laugh at every time I render.
As for the shadow configuration, I used all of my options, but it's no good.
The only thing I can think of is that it must somehow be the ProBoolean's fault, as no other building suffers from the sate symptoms. Then again, I've converted the mesh to an Editable Mesh, so no previous information should apply to it anymore.
I've totally burned my brain trying to figure this out, but since I'm no 3D expert, much less a mental ray one, I'm asking (begging if necessary :/) for your help.
In case someone is inclined to help, here's what happens (I'm using 3Ds max 9):
I assign mental ray as the renderer. In the Renderer panel I select Mitchell and leave width and height to 4. Next to it, I set the minimum Samples per Pixel to 4 and the maximum to 16. Then I check Enable Final Gather on the Indirect Illumination panel and set Rays per FG Point to 40 (tried other values too). I didn't touch any other configurations.
My lights are a Skylight and a Target Direct (tried other lights too, but always along with the Skylight).
Now, what happens, is that I have a building (not more than 15000 polys) and I have used the ProBoolean on it to make openings for windows. I then covered these openings with planes and cylinders, applying my glass material on them (Raytrace material with Phong shading, NO trasparency).
And when I render, shadows go lunatic. There are parts of shadows missing, parts that are thicker than others, and in some occasions they even make the model itself transparent!
The results vary, depending on the point of view, so I've something new to laugh at every time I render.
As for the shadow configuration, I used all of my options, but it's no good.
The only thing I can think of is that it must somehow be the ProBoolean's fault, as no other building suffers from the sate symptoms. Then again, I've converted the mesh to an Editable Mesh, so no previous information should apply to it anymore.
I've totally burned my brain trying to figure this out, but since I'm no 3D expert, much less a mental ray one, I'm asking (begging if necessary :/) for your help.