Mental Ray - Shaders

#3625

Hello, I haven’t followed this thread in a long time and I don’t know if anyone have asked this already but anyway I’m going to ask this… Have anyone noticed anything weird with that new Arch & Desing material and alpha channel? I mean the alpha channels sampling quality is really really bad when using that material. Any help with that?

#3626

Hi guys, any of you experts offer some advice on Light Dispersion and ways to acheive it?

I started this thread here but possibly this thread would have been better.

Cheers
Anim

#3627

… dispersion shader

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=104578&page=239&pp=15

#3628

You may also want to unhide the “mib_glossy_reflection” and “mib_glossy_refraction” shaders from the base.mi file. They both have a dispersion option. Although I think I remember reading that it wasn’t a true dispersion effect, but yet another way to fake it.

But that’s only going to give you the dispersion effect on the surface material. I think you’ll still want to use that dispersion photon shader since you’re wanting the dispersion effect to illuminate out of the objects.

#3629

Thanks for the advice guys.

Jeff, that might help getting the internal dispersion that is visible on real crystal, so I will have a look at those shaders tomorrow, cheers.

Anim

#3630

I have made Max GUI declarations for the TIWDTE (The Image Works DarkTree Engine) shader.
(There is also the [font=Verdana]SimbiontMaya shader that should work with Max. The UI will be zero’ed out but might still work.)[/font]
[font=Verdana][/font]
[font=Verdana]You can find the TIWDTE shader at my site along with a explanation how to set it up. (It’s for Maya but setup is the same for Max.)[/font]
[font=Verdana][/font]
[font=Verdana]By the way I have a few DarkTree shaders there as well.[/font]
[font=Verdana][/font]
[font=Verdana]Hope this helps![/font]

Edit: I’ve made a small update to make linking of the DarkTree shader easier.

#3631

Thank you Jan! i will try the shader tomorrow :slight_smile:

#3632

Just one note. You only need the .dll and the .mi file.

#3633

I try it …but dont work…in Max 9 (MR 3.5) and Max 8 sp 3 (MR 3.4) dont apears any new shader…:sad:. I copied them to MR folder autoload shaders file…it´s ok? thanks

#3634

I don’t know if Pixero’s setup is the same, but at one point there was a 3dsmax + mental ray version on the Darktree site (I have no idea why it was removed)…But when it available, we had to setup an environment variable (in windows, nothing to do with 3dsmax).

Maybe this thread will provide some background info that might be useful to you:


Just keep in mind it’s a rather old thread.

#3635

Have you followed the steps on my site: http://www.pixero.com/downloads_darktree_howto.html

You Need to copy the TIWdtemental.mi from Max include to your shaders_autoload include folder.
The TIWdtemental.dll goes in the shaders folder.
You also need to download the DarkTree Engine components.
And dont forget to create a environment variable with the path to the DTE components.

#3636

Jeff, It was probably the TIWDTE shaders that are’nt there anymore. The guy who wrote them died a couple of years ago and DarkSim dont have the source code. But as long as they work…
The ctrl studios Simbiont shader (for Maya and XSI) are more modern but personally I havent got them to work with displacement so I still use these.

demonirojo, You set the environment variable by right clicking your computer and go to settings, advanced, environment variable.
The setup should point to where you installed the DTE components. Something like this:
TIWDTE_COMPONENTS
C:\DTE\components\windows\

(Don’t forget the last reverse slash.)

#3637

Here is a picture of a poly plane with my procedural DarkTree brick shader and displacement.

bricks.jpg704x371

#3638

looks great. can you post the scene?

i have the shaders installed. i see 6 shaders (dark tree color, … ) in my material/map browser. i also downloaded your shader. and now …

i guess that i do not need the simbiont max 9 plugin. i have installed that also but get a error when loading: Simbiont9.dlt>failed to initialize. Error code: 487 - Es wurde versucht auf eine unzulässige adresse zuzugreifen

#3639

The max simbiont is for max scanline. Not for MR. Here is the scene (Max 8).
You’ll need the brickshader from my site. Downloads -> Darktree shaders.

http://www.pixero.com/stuff/bricks_test.zip

Oh, and I used the l_orenNayar shader as material but you could exchange it for a standard material.

Here it is: http://www.pixero.com/stuff/l_orenNayar.zip

#3640

thanks a lot PIXERO.

what can I say: works great.

now i will take some time to understand how you did it and to try the shaders from darktree.

So, one more time: THANKS :thumbsup:

#3641

… BTW i just got the newest simbiont max 9 pluging for the scanline renderer from darksim support.

It should soon be downloadable here:

http://www.darksim.com/html/download_simbiont2.html

good night everbody :rolleyes:

#3642

… for those who are interested:

Puppet has updated his shaders to version 3.01

most importand for me: [b]p_Mega TK_pass works in 3ds max 9

[/b]my experience till now:
all materials have to be Mega_TK
all lights need the mr light shader connected
lights must have the right attenuation type (0,1,2 - none, inverse, inverse square) to function !!!

  • photometric Area = 0
  • standard spot can be controlled in p_pointTK !!! 0,1 or 2 - be carefull
  • …
#3643

I’m using p_3 shader for Max too!!
It’s a great tool…

Now I’m wondering how can I get matte pass using mega_tk, I need to render a plane as “invisible”, but with the shadow casted on it from other objects…
Matte/shadow material is obviously ignored when I got render passes, so is there a way to use mega_tk shader as matte/shadow material?

(I tried to change cOpacity and Opacity Conversion for the mega_tk shader used on the object that I want as matte, but I obtain only an invisible object, no shadow on it, nothing)

Last but non least, I’ve difficulties to render z pass, only red channel without gradient or grey pass.

Also often I got normal pass (bent) problem, it’s not calculated and in the final render pass I found holes, bucket trails, or only something is rendered correctly… is it a bug?

#3644

Last but non least, I’ve difficulties to render z pass, only red channel without gradient or grey pass.

Common z information contained in R channel (it’s float)
G channel - reflection Z
B channel - refraction Z

Also often I got normal pass (bent) problem, it’s not calculated and in the final render pass I found holes, bucket trails, or only something is rendered correctly… is it a bug?

Did you try enable occlusion?
‘Bent Normal’ pass it’s not ‘Normal’ pass!
‘Bent Normal’ - average normal from occlusion direction from missed rays.
If you need ‘Normal’ pass just use mental ray normal pass.