Yep David… Got it and I really appreciate your constructive and valuable feedback, which along the other comments posted here in this thread…
Makes me feel I didn’t waste my time creating this “monster” and gives me a little “push”, to go on releasing a few more assets.
Btw… If you really think that this Tutorial could be useful for the Maya and Mental Ray green users, when the time is right if you could find a couple of hours out of your busy schedule…
To download the whole thing and maybe help me to “spread it” out a bit and if Sho, Jose as well as the other guys mentioned in the Guide, will be willing to help…
Well… It will be just great…!:bowdown:
Hi Ciro glad to hear that you start to get used, to the “weird” docs formatting…:wavey:
Yes Osunlaja, Alex sounds much better…
If you just take a look at my previous replies you will know that I still don’t release the main Maya production scenes, which are way too heavy and complex for the green users…
Since that this is quite an advanced tutorial, which requires a very good understanding of Maya as well as the Mental Ray render engine algorithm.
For this reason I provided the lighter 3D Characters scenes created using several lighting, texturing and rendering techniques used for the main Maya production scenes as well.
Did you look into the 3D Characters Maya scenes and most of all… Did you try to render the scenes using Mental Ray…? You will find them very useful, mostly when used in conjunction to the main pdf docs as well as the Acrobat Portfolios…
Prior to the tutorial final release… Will post the links to a few complex Maya production scenes as soon as I will see some “massive” feedback from the green users, since that this thread seems to be quite idle at the moment…
Got way more feedback during the Master Classes 2011 back in February, hope that this is just due to the upcoming holiday season…
Anyway since you asked for it… Here we go with a few more assets from the tutorial and assuming that you already downloaded the previous assets, go on and download the new assets here:
Once downloaded the “Docs_Last” folder… Extract the new assets to the previously downloaded “Docs” folder and replace the “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” file textures folder, with the updated version.
In the “Docs_Last” folder I have enclosed a few Maya 2011 scenes, to introduce you to the the standard Maya Camera, Camera and Aim, Camera Aim and Up camera nodes…
As well as the Maya 2011 Multi Stereo Rig, Stereoscopic Camera camera nodes and the Motion Path, Motion Trail, Aim, Parent, Point animation Constraints.
And to the Maya animation Lattice, Deformers and the Nurbs, EP Curve Tool features, located in the “Maya_Production_Scenes_2011_Stereo_Camera_Motion_Path” folder.
For more info check “THE_FLY_THROUGH_STEREO_CAMERA_MOTION_PATH_ANIMATION_LINKS” pdf, as well as the Autodesk Maya Online docs…
These are the Maya 2011 scenes used to create the 3D Stereo Playblast “.avi” animations previously uploaded, rendered using the Maya “Playblast” utility.
Located in the “Maya_2011_Stereo_Camera_Motion_Path_Playblast_Animations” folder and please remember that to view these “.avi” animations correctly…
You should use the “Stereoscopic Player” Player, located in the “StereoscopicPlayer166_en” folder under the “Programs_and_Utilities_2011” folder.
In the “Docs_Last” folder I have also enclosed a couple of the main Maya 2009 and 2011 scenes, located in the “Maya_Simulations_Scenes” folder…
With all the “nCloth”, “Fluid Effects” and “Paint Effects”, “Dynamics” simulations discussed in the tutorial and please note that these scenes are not meant to be rendered with Mental Ray.
They was created to introduce you to the Maya “Dynamics” simulations… So just go on and press the “Play” button next to the main Maya Animation “Timeline”, to playback the simulations.
To speed up the simulations playback… Switch to the “Shading > Bounding Box” display option, located under the Maya Viewport toolbar “Shading” drop down menu.
A screenshot from the “SPONZASIMULATIONS_2009”, Maya 2009 “Dynamics” simulations scene…
As well a few simple Maya 2009 and 2011 test scenes created as an alternative to the 3D Characters scenes, to get you acquainted to some of the more elaborate shaders in the tutorial.
Like the “misss_fast_skin_maya” material connected to the “Additional Color” field attribute of the mia_material_x material, in the elaborate Mental Ray Clearcoat CAR PAINT shading network.
As well as the mia_material_x and the “misss_fast_skin_maya” materials used in conjunction to the Mental Ray “mib_twosided1”, “Sample Compositing” node…
In the very elaborate shading network assigned to the trees leaves, in the simple Maya test scenes located in the “Maya_Test_Scenes_2009_SP1A” and the “Maya_Test_Scenes_2011” folders.[color=white][/color]
A screenshot from the “Carpaint_Test_Scene_Maya_2009” test scene, final render image output…
Btw… From the previous screenshots you may have noticed the high render times displayed by the “Render View” panel output, for both the “Trees_Test_Scene_Maya_2009” and the “Trees_Test_Scene_Maya_2011” test scenes.
To speed up the rendering… Just disable a few Mental Ray lighting and rendering features, such as the “Importons” and the “Irradiance Particles” features…
As well as the mia_material_x material “Use Ambient Occlusion” checkbox and the Contrast All Buffers checkbox, located in the Framebuffer section of the Render Settings panel Quality tab.
A last note to remind you that the Maya 2009_SP1A scene, should be used exclusively in conjunction to the Maya 2009 “SP1AX64.bit” version.
Considering the different Mental Ray 3.8 and 3.9 shaders integration in Maya 2011 and Maya 2012, compared to the previous Mental Ray 3.7 version shipped with Maya 2009 “SP1AX64.bit”.
The same goes for the Maya 2011 scene which should be used in conjunction to the Maya 2011 version, even if you still can open scenes created using different Maya versions…
Simply by enabling the “Ignore Version” option located in the “General Options” tab of the “Open Options” panel, under the main Maya toolbar “File” drop down menu.
Cheers…
“The message I stress: to make it stop, study your lessons… Don’t settle for less, even a genius asks questions… Be grateful for blessings and don’t ever change, keep your essence…”
Thanks for the update Alex!
Reason why i asked for the files is, i’m d kind of guy who learns by “doing”. But i’ll continue to read d pdf’s, ur explanations are worth every ounce of my time.
Thanks again.
When the time is right… I will be happy to share with you the username and password details, required to download the whole thing from my web…!
Please note that the Mental Ray Render Settings used in the previously uploaded 3D Characters scenes, are quite similar to the Render Settings used for the more complex Maya production scenes.
Except for the Direct Illumination Shadow Effects switch, located in the Photon Map section of the Render Settings panel Indirect Lighting tab…
Which is enabled in the main Maya production scenes… So just go on and enable the Direct Illumination Shadow Effects switch, for the 3D Characters Maya scenes as well.
And please let me know if you notice any difference in the shadows color and transparency, since that the difference should be very subtle.
Before to post the links to some of the complex 200 MB Maya production scenes, which I will share here on CGTalk as soon as I see some feedback from the green users
:bounce: http://www.samui3d.com/Docs_Final.rar
Here we go with a much needed update of the tutorial assets with a few links to the lightweight Maya production scenes, to introduce you to the Mental Ray “mip_binaryproxy1” node feature
As well as the “IvyGenerator.exe” application by Thomas Loft, located in the “Programs_and_Utilities_2009_SP1A” folder under the main Docs Final folder.
Used to create the IVYSEPARATE polygroup node in the “MIPBINARYPROXYIVY” as well as in the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYSKYGAMMAPFX2011 Maya production scenes.
A screenshot of the “IvyGenerator.exe” 3d application…
As an alternative to the ivy mesh objects created using the Maya (Pfx) “Paint Effects” feature, discussed in the NOTE48. section of the main PART1.pdf doc.
In some of the Maya 2011 production scenes the ivy mesh objects growth is also simulated, using the IVY" node Stroke Time and the Time Clip attributes keyframed in the Timeline.
A screenshot from the “MIPBINARYPROXYIVY” Maya production scene final render image output, with the wrong shader assignment order discussed in the NOTE35. section of the PART1.pdf doc…
Before to open the scenes in Maya you should expose the Mental Ray “production.mi” shaders, as mentioned in the NOTE34. section of the main PART1.pdf doc.
A screenshot from the “MIPBINARYPROXYIVY” Maya production scene final render image output, which shows that even if the shader assignment order is wrong… This quite “unstable” approach actually works…!
For an updated and more stable version of the previous Mental Ray “mip_binaryproxy” node creation and shader assignment workflow, discussed in the NOTE35. section of the main PART1.pdf doc…
Please refer to the NOTE50. section of the main PART4.pdf doc… Since that the creation process of the Tutorial Guide started long time ago and some of the lighting and rendering techniques discussed, were recently updated and refined.
A screenshot from the “MIPBINARYPROXYIVYSKYGAMMAPFX2011” Maya production scene final render image output, with the correct shader assignment order (thanks to Tostao Wayne
!).
The MIPBINARYPROXYIVY and the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYSKYGAMMAPFX2011 Maya production scenes, located in the maya_production_scenes_2009_SP1A and the maya_production_scenes_2011 folders…
Are used in the tutorial to create and to save in the native Mental Ray (.mi) format, the “MIPBINARYPROXYIVY.mi” as well as the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYPFX.mi files to disk.
Therefore when using the MIPBINARYPROXYIVY Maya production scene you can safely interrupt the Mental Ray render engine, as soon as the MIPBINARYPROXYIVY.mi file is saved to disk.
The same goes for the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYSKYGAMMAPFX2011 Maya production scene, used in conjunction to the (IBL) environment lighting and (PR) progressive rendering features…
Please note that you can safely interrupt the Progressive Rendering at “subframe 1” or even earlier, as soon as the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYPFX.mi file is saved to disk.
And as I suggested in my previous post… To speed up the rendering disable a few Mental Ray lighting and rendering features, such as the “Importons” and the “Irradiance Particles” features…
As well as the mia_material_x material “Use Ambient Occlusion” checkbox and the Contrast All Buffers checkbox, located in the Framebuffer section of the Render Settings panel Quality tab.
When using the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYSKYGAMMAPFX2011 Maya production scene, you can also disable the (IBL) environment lighting and (PR) progressive rendering features…
Using the Mental Ray (IBL) environment lighting and (PR) progressive rendering String Options, located under the “miDefaultOptions” node Attribute Editor.
In the “Docs_Final” folder I have also enclosed a copy of the “MIPBINARYPROXYIVY.mi” as well as the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYPFX.mi files, located in the “Mi_Files_2009_SP1A” and “Mi_Files_2011” folders.
Please remember that the IVYCOMBINED polymesh node, is the result of the original IVYSEPARATE polygroup node previously Combined
Using the Combine command located under the Mesh drop down menu, when the Polygons editing mode is enabled in the Maya Editing drop down menu.
In the “Docs_Final” folder notice that I have enclosed the “SPONZA” raw 3D model in the native “.obj” Maya export format, located in the “Object_Files_2009_SP1A” folder…
Which should be used in conjunction to the “IvyGenerator.exe” application, to create a copy of the IVYSEPARATE polygroup node.
As well as the “SHOREDISPLACED” raw 3D model, which was used in the tutorial to create the “Displacement” and the “Special Normal” maps with ZBrush 3.1…
In conjunction to the convertfile.bat batch file utility located in the “Programs_and_Utilities_2009_SP1A” folder, as discussed in the NOTE36., NOTE37., NOTE38., NOTE39. and NOTE40. sections of the main PART1.pdf doc.
A screenshot of the “SHOREDISPLACED.obj” raw 3D model, imported in the “ZBrush” 3d application…
In the “Docs_Final” folder I have also enclosed the “SPONZA2009X32GLOW” Maya 2009 SP1AX32.bit production scene, which is used in the tutorial to output the light “Glows” and “Glare” effects layered on top of the masterLayer using Photoshop…
Using the Mental Ray “Lume Tools” custom shaders, located in the “Mr_Custom_Shaders_and_Scripts_2009_SP1A” folder under the main Docs Final folder.
A screenshot from the “SPONZA2009X32GLOW” Maya production scene final render image output, with the Mental Ray “Glare_LUME1” node “Spread” field value increased to the input value (4).
A screenshot from the “SPONZA2009X32GLOW” Maya production scene final render image output, with the Mental Ray “Glare_LUME1” node “Spread” field value increased to the input value (40).
Considering that the Mental Ray “Lume Tools” custom shaders was created quite a few years ago, they are not compatible with Maya 2009X64.bit and Maya 2011X64.bit versions.
I suggest you to use the Mental Ray “Lume Tools” custom shaders exclusively in conjunction to the Maya 2009 SP1AX32.bit version, to avoid compatibility issues with the standard Mental Ray shaders
Please note that I never tested these quite “ancient” Mental Ray custom shaders, using the newer Maya 2011 SP1AX32.bit version… They might work as well.
A last note to inform you that to avoid you the “hassle” of re-downloading the entire “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” file textures folder, just for the “sss41” Light Map image file…
Referenced in the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYSKYGAMMAPFX2011 production scene by the mentalrayTexture225 node, connected to the Mental Ray “misss_fast_skin_maya187” material shading network.
In the “Docs_Final” folder I have enclosed a copy of the “sss41” Light Map image file, once downloaded extract the new assets to the previously downloaded “Docs” folder…
Without overwriting the previous assets and place the “sss41” Light Map image file in the recently updated “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” file textures folder, extracted from the “Docs_Last” zip folder.
Hope it helps…!
PS. Forgive me if I will be a bit busy next week but as I already said in a previous post, I’m following up with another personal project focused on the human aspect of the past, present and upcoming events…
“The message I stress: to make it stop, study your lessons… Don’t settle for less, even a genius asks questions… Be grateful for blessings and don’t ever change, keep your essence…”
Hi Osunlaja you are welcome and sorry for being so idle, but was busy following up with the events here in the “Land of Smiles”…
Btw… Would like to post a link to a zip folder with the full set of Maya “furAttrMap” files, since that some of these Fur Attribute Map files was missing from the previously uploaded “furAttrMap” folder…
Located in the “3D_Characters_Fur_Attribute_Maps_2009_SP1A” folder, under the main “Docs” folder previously uploaded.
These Fur Attribute Map files are referenced and therefore needed by the Maya Fur feature, in the first scene uploaded in this thread: the “3D_PEOPLE_BINDED_MAYA_2009_SP1A” scene.
As well as in both the “SPONZASIMULATIONS_2009” and the “SPONZASIMULATIONS_2011” scenes, located in the “Maya_Simulations_Scenes” folder under the “Docs_Last” folder previously uploaded.
If you already attempted to render the “3D_PEOPLE_BINDED_MAYA_2009_SP1A” scene using Mental Ray, you will likely experienced an odd behavior caused by the Maya Fur feature…
Since that the missing referenced Fur Attribute Map files will cause Mental Ray to render the 3D characters hairs, with an overlying “greenish” colour displayed in the main Render Window panel.
As well as causing the infamous Mental Ray “NAN” black pixels warning messages, displayed by the Maya Output Window “Progress Messages” at render time.
Not a big deal since that I have provided the “3D_PEOPLE_BINDED_MAYA_2009_SP1A” scene, just as a reference to the original 3d characters scene created several years ago.
Would like also to remind you that both the “SPONZASIMULATIONS_2009” and the “SPONZASIMULATIONS_2011” Maya simulations scenes…
Are not meant to be rendered nor with Mental Ray neither with the native Maya Software and was created just to introduce you, to the Maya “Dynamics” simulations used in the tutorial.
Once downloaded replace the previous “furAttrMap” zip folder located in the “3D_Characters_Fur_Attribute_Maps_2009_SP1A” folder, under the main “Docs” folder previously downloaded…
With the updated version of the “furAttrMap” zip folder and assuming that you already set the Maya “Project” to the main “Docs” folder, using the “File >Set Project” command…
Just go on and extract the updated Fur Attribute Map files, to the “furAttrMap” folder automatically created by Maya.
Don’t worry about the previous furEqualMap folder located in the “3D_Characters_Fur_Equal_Maps_2009_SP1A” folder, under the main “Docs” folder previously downloaded…
Since that the Maya Fur feature will create the required Fur Equalizer Map files at render time and will place them, in the “furEqualMap” folder automatically created by Maya.
Back to the main topic… Since that I recently prepared two zip folders with all the Maya 2011 and Maya 2012 “Classroom” production scenes, as well as the scenes used for the Master Class 2011 Q&A sessions…
Created using the Mental Ray 3.8 (IBL) environment lighting and (PR) progressive rendering features in conjunction to the “iray” render engine algorithm, as well as the new Maya 2012 and Mental Ray 3.9 “Unified Sampling” feature.
A few screenshots from the “Classroom” production scenes, final render image output:
The “CLASSROOMHDRIIRAYNOCM” Maya 2011 scene, final render image output…
The “CLASSROOMHDRIENV64NOCMPHOTOGAMMA1IRAY” Maya 2011 scene, final render image output…
The “CLASSROOMSKYPORTALPHOTOIRAY” Maya 2011 scene, final render image output…
The “CLASSROOMSKY1PORTAL64ENV64PHOTOGAMMA2.2IRAY” Maya 2011 scene, final render image output…
The “CLASSROOMSKY8PORTAL64ENV1PHOTOGAMMA1IRAY” Maya 2011 scene, final render image output…
The “CLASSROOMSKY8NOPORTAL64ENV1PHOTOGAMMA1IRAY” Maya 2011 scene, final render image output…
The “CLASSROOMSKYPORTALNOPHOTOIRAY” Maya 2011 scene, final render image output…
The “CLASSROOM_SKY_8_PORTAL_64_SUN_64_MAT_64_ENV_0.318_PHOTO_2.2_UNIFIED_SAMPLING_1_DOF_2012” Maya 2012 scene, final render image output…
In both the new zip folders I have also included a few variations of the original Maya 2011 Classroom production scenes, using the “mia_exposure_photographic” lens shader node connected to the main “persp” camera “Lens Shader” field.
With the “Gamma” field reduced to the value (1) to avoid tonemapping the output image twice… As suggested by the guys of the Autodesk product support team, at the very informative Maya Station website:
The Mayastation, Spikes in the 32 bit renders with HDRI workaround.
As well as an updated version of the “FileTextureManager” Mel Script utility, now fully compatible with the Maya 2011 and Maya 2012 versions.
The lighter version “Classroom_Production_Scenes” zip folder (171 MB) was created for the more advanced users, which can go on to test the Classroom scenes using the previously downloaded assets from this thread.
The “SPONZATUTORIAL.rar” folder (1.43 Giga) was created for the green users with all the previously uploaded assets recently refined, to ensure that all the file textures will point to the same directory.
Organized in the original folders and sub-folders tutorial structure and with the updated “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” file textures folder, as well as the “MIPBINARYPROXYIVY.mi” and MIPBINARYPROXYIVYPFX.mi files…
Already extracted to the main “SPONZATUTORIAL” folder directory and which are used by the Mental Ray “mip_binaryproxy” node, in both the MIPBINARYPROXYIVY and MIPBINARYPROXYIVYSKYGAMMAPFX2011 scenes previously downloaded.
So to avoid ranting alone like a mad man… And considering that this thread is a bit idle at the moment, I really would like to know if you guys are seriously interested on these assets…
Since that in my humble opinion you really should, depending on your Maya and Mental Ray skills of course and even for the most skilled Maya guru’s out there…
These assets could be a useful resource when used in conjunction to the Maya online docs, something like a huge summary of the several Texturing, Lighting and Rendering techniques…
Discussed here on CGTalk aa well as in the other Maya Forums and Blogs, considering the huge amount of technical info’s and settings that you always need to memorize to use efficently the “Beast”…!
In case you guys are spending a well deserved Summer holidays… Just let me know and I will postpone the release of these new assets…!
Since that to post the huge “SPONZATUTORIAL.rar” folder and mostly to avoid any confusion for the green users, I will likely need to open a new and “final” thread here on CGTalk if the moderators will allow me… of course.
Btw… Living myself here in Thai between Bkk and Samui, let’s say that I’m always a bit on holiday so it really doesn’t matter to me…!
Enjoy your Summer holidays…!
“The message I stress: to make it stop, study your lessons… Don’t settle for less, even a genius asks questions… Be grateful for blessings and don’t ever change, keep your essence…”
Thanks Sajad for this little “Battery charger” because this is exactly what I need to know, that all of this “idiotic” ranting online at least will not be just a big waste of my time as well as yours…
Btw… Will post the above mentioned “Classroom_Production_Scenes” zip folder (171 MB) ASAP and as soon as I receive some feedback, will open a new and “final” thread here on CGTalk to post a link to the (1.43 Giga) “SPONZATUTORIAL.rar” folder.
Talking about “Battery charger” would like to go off topic for a second and just point you to a book printed from the web by a friend of mine, which used to be a notoriously hot tempered and thuggish soccer hooligan until a few weeks ago…:wise:
Now he is a completeley different person…I’m reading it right now even if I rarely find the time and feeling to read books, but it should somehow revolutionize our previous perceptions and beliefs…!:curious:
“The message I stress: to make it stop, study your lessons… Don’t settle for less, even a genius asks questions… Be grateful for blessings and don’t ever change, keep your essence…”
where goes another battery charger. I must say that these pdf are awesome. I’m reading everything careful. It would be more easy with the scene just to see who do you do those amazing renders, but I understand. I’m writing in paper some questions that I have and maybe tomorrow I will post they here.
And I’m
seriously interested on these assets…
This is the final step to be a master Jedi in Lighting :bowdown:
Cheers,
there are many tutorial on net but actually they do not teach all aspect of lighting and rendering,I think,THE ULTIMATE MAYA & MR ARCHVIZ GUIDE is good reference for mentalray for maya,I found many solution for my problems in my daily works,and finally again thank you.
reading up this whole thread this evening, and have to say…
mann,… what a journey… respect for your clear persistence…
be assure a greener then green mental ray user got hold of your gigantic creation....
downloading now all the files and saved your tips here on locating the files in a word document....
just went through the first few docs and to me it looks very promising and helpfull, to this mainly autodidactly maya user....
if you have somewhere a paypal donation button...
i'm ready to press it....
my aim is to create an realistic city environment to display 2 pieces of art i created
then render out a high quality animation for presentation purposes
got the starts of a park (Lotsa grass aswell) ready and did a render in maya mr that took 37 minutes...and that on my Z800
so when downloads are ready i will dive into to your work and see how i should setup everything to achieve better render speeds and dont loose realistic quality...
since you asked... i will share my findings as greener then green.....
again very much thank you's ......
for being an amazing and filantropic person…
wish there were more people like you… would make the world a even better place to be…
Thanks guys now that the batteries are re-charged and since you asked for it… Here we go with the most extensive, annoying, “petulant” and “logorrheic” post in CGTalk history…
First… I will provide you with a link to download the “Classroom_Production_Scenes” zip folder (171 MB):
With all the Maya 2011 and Maya 2012 “Classroom” production scenes, as well as the scenes used for the Master Class 2011 Q&A sessions…
Created using the Mental Ray 3.8 (IBL) environment lighting and (PR) progressive rendering features in conjunction to the “iray” render engine algorithm, as well as the new Maya 2012 and Mental Ray 3.9 “Unified Sampling” feature.
With a few variations of the original Maya 2011 Classroom production scenes, using the “mia_exposure_photographic” lens shader node connected to the main “persp” camera “Lens Shader” field.
With the “Gamma” field reduced to the value (1) to avoid tonemapping the output image twice… As suggested by the guys of the Autodesk product support team, at the very informative Maya Station website.
And the updated version of the “FileTextureManager” Mel Script utility, now fully compatible with the Maya 2011 and Maya 2012 versions.
Assuming that you already set the Maya “Project” to the main “Docs” folder using the “File > Set Project” command, once downloaded the “Classroom_Production_Scenes.rar” folder…
Extract the new assets to the previously downloaded “Docs” folder which is the main folder for this Master Class, without overwriting the previous assets.
Copy the new file textures located in the updated “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” folder, under the “3D_Textures” folder…
And place them In the previous “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” folder located under the main “Docs” folder directory, without overwriting the previously downloaded file textures.
In the “File Texture Manager” panel press the “Browse…” tab next to the “Target Directory” field and press the “Set Path” tab to point Maya to the file textures…
Located in “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” folder under the main “Docs” folder directory, to ensure that even you will change the name or move the main “Doc” folder…
To another location on your hard drive, the links to the file textures will always point to the “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” folder located under the main “Doc” folder directory.
If you use the “File Texture Manager” utility “Set Path” tab using an “absolute” directory the “lavagna9.jpg” file texture for example, will point to the directory as follows:
If you use a “relative” directory instead, the “lavagna9.jpg” file texture will always point one directory up to the “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” folder under the main “Doc” folder directory as follows:
SPONZAMAPFILES2009\lavagna9.jpg
Btw… You will notice that all the file textures in the Classroom scenes, points to the C:\Users\Alex\Desktop\SPONZATUTORIAL\SPONZAMAPFILES2009 directory…
Since that the “Classroom_Production_Scenes.rar” zip folder used here, was extracted from the above mentioned (1.43 Giga) “SPONZATUTORIAL.rar” folder which I will post soon here on CGTalk.
Sorry for this long description but I find the “File Texture Manager” Mel Script utility, an indispensable tool in my personal Maya and Mental Ray workflow.
In the “Classroom_Production_Scenes.rar” zip folder you will also find the Maya 2011 Classroom scenes 32.bit Open exr final render image output files…
As well as the Maya 2012 Classroom scenes multilayer 32.bit Open exr files created using the Maya 2012 and Mental Ray 3.9 “Unified Sampling” feature, which should be viewed using the Mental Ray “imf_disp” utility.
I remind you that these multilayer 32.bit Open exr files will be automatically created by Maya, when using the Mental Ray 3.9 “Unified Sampling” feature…
And are usually found under the main “Project > renderData > mentalray” directory, which in my case looks like this: C:\Users\Alex\Desktop\Docs\renderData\mentalray.
In the “Classroom_Production_Scenes.rar” zip folder you will also find the Maya 2011 and Maya 2012 Classroom scenes screenshots, which I strongly suggest you to check to better understand the differences between the settings…
Used in the scenes for the environment lighting and (PR) progressive rendering features in conjunction to the “iray” render engine, as well as the “Unified Sampling” feature.
And for the few variations of the original Classroom production scenes, using the “mia_exposure_photographic” lens shader node connected to the main “persp” camera “Lens Shader” field.
I have enclosed a new set of “dlls” located in the “Mr_Custom_Shaders_and_Scripts_2012” > “Iray_dll_Maya2012_bin_folder_May” directory, required by the “iray” render engine algorithm.
A few screenshots from the Maya 2011 and 2012 Classroom production scenes, of the
different settings used for the above mentioned Mental Ray features:
The “CLASSROOMHDRIIRAYNOCM” Maya 2011 scene settings…
In the “Classroom_Production_Scenes_2012” folder I provided two sets of the Maya 2012 Classroom production scenes, created using the Maya 2012 Hotfix 1 as well as the Maya 2012 Hotfix 3 version.
The main reason is that depending on which version of Maya 2012 Hotfix 1/2 or 3X64 you are using, the openGL implementation of the HUD (heads-up display) seems to behave differently…
When using the latest Maya 2012 Hotfix 3 version, compared to the previous one and weird HUD warning messages are displayed by the “Script Editor Command Response” field…!
Talking about the “Script Editor Command Response” field… A brief note on the annoying “empty UV set” warning messages, output by Mental Ray when rendering the Classroom production scenes:
This happens when you import Poly, Nurbs and Subdiv geometry objects created in other applications like for example 3D Studio Max or Softimage, in formats other than the default “mayaAscii” and “mayaBinary”…
Such as the “3DS”, “DWG” or the “DXF” formats… If you import the geometry objects in the Maya friendly “OBJ” format instead, the original UV mapping informations and the object “Face Normals” orientation are usually retained.
These warning messages are safe to ignore but is always good practice, to ensure that the objects in the scenes are properly UV mapped and that the object “Face Normals” are correctly oriented.
For more info on how to avoid these annoying “empty UV set” warning messages, please refer to the NOTE16. section of the main PART4.pdf, as well as the NOTE7. and NOTE8. sections of the main PART5.pdf.
To conclude… A few more tips on how to optimize render times, when using the Maya 2011 and Maya 2012 Classroom production scenes.
First of all… I strongly suggest you to check the NOTE1. section of the main PART1.pdf, for some very useful render optimization tips from the main Autodesk online help docs.
TIP1.
Apart from disabling the mia_material_x material “Use Ambient Occlusion” checkbox and the Contrast All Buffers checkbox, located in the Framebuffer section of the Render Settings panel Quality tab…
Instead than disabling some of the other Mental Ray lighting and rendering features as previously suggested, such as the “Importons” and the “Irradiance Particles” features …
For the Maya 2011 and Maya 2012 Classroom production scenes, we will start to optimize some of these lighting and rendering features settings.
TIP2.
Using the Mental Ray String Options located under the “miDefaultOptions” node Attribute Editor, you can start by reducing the “importon density” value from the input value (1) to the input value (0.1).
Please note that render times can be drastically reduced by using the “importons emitted” string instead, enabled via the String Options in the miDefaultOptions node:
Since that the “irradiance particles indirect passes” value is already set to the input value (0), no optimization is required… A quote from the main PART5.pdf:
TIP4.
Since we are talking about the Final Gathering “Secondary Diffuse Bounces”, located in the Final Gathering section of the Render Settings panel “Indirect Lighting” tab…
You could also reduce the “Secondary Diffuse Bounces” input value, but I suggest you to avoid doing this since that we are dealing with 3D Interior scenes…
Therefore we still want to benefit from the Indirect Illumination Secondary Rays, provided by the Global Illumination Photons in conjunction to the Final Gathering Secondary Bounces.
When lowering the Final Gathering “Secondary Diffuse Bounces” value you should reduce the “importon trace depth” value as well, since that these attributes works in tandem.
TIP5.
When using the (IBL) environment lighting and (PR) progressive rendering features, you can optimize render times reducing the (IBL) environment lighting quality String Options input value…
As well as increasing the (PR) progressive error threshold String Options value, which usually causes a decrease in render times.
Similar to the “Anti-aliasing Contrast” value located in the “Raytrace/Scanline Quality” section, under the “Quality” tab of the main Render Settings panel.
Of course you can also lower the (PR) “progressive max time” and the “progressive max samples” String Options values, usually I prefer to use the latter since it provides more flexibility.
TIP6.
When using the Mental Ray “Physical Sun and Sky” feature you can reduce the number of samples, in the mia_physicalsun1 node “Samples” field… A quote from the NOTE 23. Section of the main PART1.pdf:
TIP7.
Therefore to reduce the number of Photons shoot in the scene by the Mental Ray “Area Light” and gathered by the “mia_portal_light” node, connected to both the “Area Light” node “Light Shader” and “Photon Emitter” fields…
You can create a simple poly Cube object that encompasses the scene to avoid the dispersion of the Global Illumination Photons outside the “pCube1” node geometry, thanks to the input values set in the mia_physicalsun1 node…
Photon Bbox Min and Photon Bbox Max fields gathered from the “pCube1” node Bounding Box Information tab, located under the “pCube1” node Transform Attributes panel.
TIP8.
When using a Mental Ray “mia_portal_light” node, connected to both the “Light Shader” and the “Photon Emitter” fields of a native Mental Ray “Area Light”…
You can reduce the number of samples in the “High Samples” field located in the “Area light” section, of the native Mental Ray “Area Light” node “areaLightShape1” tab.
TIP9.
Please note that render times can be drastically reduced by optimizing the Mental Ray “mia_lens_bokeh” settings as well as the mia_material_x Reflection/Refraction Gloss Sampling which defaults to (8) Samples.
Btw… I suggest you to use the “Attribute Spread Sheet” panel “All” tab, to edit all the “mia_material_x” materials Reflection/Refraction Gloss Samples at once.
TIP10.
When using the “iray” render engine algorithm some of the render times optimization techniques, suggested in the previous “TIP5.” section applies as well.
When using the new Maya 2012 and Mental Ray 3.9 “Unified Sampling” feature, reduce the value in the “samples quality” String Option field…
As well as the above mentioned render times optimization techniques except for the tips suggested in the “TIP5.” section, since that using the (PR) Progressive Rendering String Options…
In conjunction to the “Unified Sampling” String Options controls will cause the Mental Ray render engine to stop the sampling at subframe (1), hence disabling the “Unified Sampling” String Options controls as well.
As already mentioned, in the “Maya 2012 Unified Sampling in mental ray” thread:
A last note to draw your attention on the “CLASSROOMSKY1PORTAL64SUN64MAT64ENV1NOPHOTO2.2IRAY” Maya 2011 Classroom Production Scene, which is the identical copy…
Of the original “CLASSROOMSKYPORTALNOPHOTOIRAY” Maya 2011 Classroom Production Scene created using a Brute Force approach, without using the Mental Ray “mia_exposure_photographic” node.
To which I tried to apply the exact opposite workflow of the above mentioned optimization techniques, by increasing the samples in several Maya and Mental Ray nodes…
Without succeeding in smoothing out the “Blotchiness / Noise” artifacts caused by the Brute Force lighting and rendering approach, since that some Maya and Mental Ray features are still not recognized by the “iray” render engine.
But than again… I solved the problem using the workflow suggested by the guys of the Autodesk product support team, at the very informative Maya Station website:
The Mayastation, Spikes in the 32 bit renders with HDRI workaround.
A little homework… To remove the “Blotchiness / Noise” artifacts displayed in the main “Render View” panel, when rendering the “CLASSROOMSKYPORTALNOPHOTOIRAY” Maya 2011 Classroom Production Scene…
Using the “iray” render engine algorithm with the above mentioned Brute Force lighting and rendering approach, instead to use a single huge native Mental Ray “Area Light” that encompasses all the windows glass panels…
Try to use a few more native Mental Ray “Area Light” nodes resized to enclose just a single window, with the corresponding “mia_portal_light” nodes connected to the Area Lights…
“Light Shader” and “Photon Emitter” fields, as suggested by Bitter in the “Maya Mental Ray Interior Rendering / Blotchiness / Noise” thread… It might work:
I really hope it helps… Because to write down this post, was literally exhausting…!
“The message I stress: to make it stop, study your lessons… Don’t settle for less, even a genius asks questions… Be grateful for blessings and don’t ever change, keep your essence…”
Really a big thanks to all your effort. This is an amazing tutorial. Right now I’m organizing all this stuff to start seriously working and reading your tut.
I have already a few doubts but nothing complicate.
Wow Rob thanks for the kind words and maybe instead than an altruistic philanthropic person, I’m just somebody that honors the promise made here on CGTalk back in 2010…!:curious:
Just as Sicilian people often like to say: “uomo d’onore sunio”…!
Hope Dario aka “ytsejam1976”, will not get mad at me… Just kidding of course:
Plus apart from 3D and from placing my “lily ass” on the line reporting as a freelance, events such as the April and May 2010 riots here in the Land of Smiles…
I’m in a constant quest for the “Truth” and this also explains why I respect so much Tupac’s legacy and why I posted a link to a publication, which should encourage you to practice some Meditation and maybe shed some light on our beliefs and perceptions.
Now to conclude this long “journey” and to avoid any confusion trying to re-organize all this stuff, I will post here a link to the “SPONZATUTORIAL.rar” folder (1.43 Giga) created for the green users…
With all the previously uploaded assets recently refined, to ensure that all the file textures will point to the same directory and already organized in the original folders and sub-folders tutorial structure.
With the updated “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” file textures folder, as well as the “MIPBINARYPROXYIVY.mi” and the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYPFX.mi files…
Already extracted to the main “SPONZATUTORIAL” folder directory and which are used by the Mental Ray “mip_binaryproxy” node, in both the MIPBINARYPROXYIVY and the MIPBINARYPROXYIVYSKYGAMMAPFX2011 scenes.
As well as the updated Fur Attribute Map files required by the Maya “Fur” feature, already extracted to the “furAttrMap” folder automatically created by Maya.
Ready for the huge (200 MB) Maya production scenes which I will share here sometime in September, to give you some time to “play around” with the lighter 3D Characters, Classroom, Maya Production and Test scenes first.
A last little recap on how to use the assets, located in the “SPONZATUTORIAL” zip folder…
STEP 1.
Extract the “SPONZATUTORIAL” zip folder, to the main Desktop directory.
STEP 2.
Just in case… Make a “compressed” copy of the updated “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” file textures folder, already extracted to the main “SPONZATUTORIAL” folder directory…
Using the “WinRAR” or the “WinZip” utility and place this “compressed” copy of the “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” file textures folder, in the “3D_Textures” folder which I already created for you and left empty on purpose.
STEP 3.
Install the various Maya and Mental Ray shaders and scripts provided in the “Mr_Custom_Shaders_and_Scripts_2009_SP1A”, “Mr_Custom_Shaders_and_Scripts_2011” and “Mr_Custom_Shaders_and_Scripts_2012” folders…
As well as the other utilities located in the “Programs_and_Utilities_2009_SP1A” and the “Programs_and_Utilities_2011” folders.
To avoid you the “hassle” of setting up “by hand” all these shaders, scripts and utilities… Depending on which Maya version you are using, go on and replace the original “2009”, “2009-x64”, “2011-x64” or the “2012-x64” folders…
Located in the “C:\Users…\Documents\maya” directory on your hard drive with the corresponding folders located in the “My_Documents_maya_folders” folder, under the main “SPONZATUTORIAL” folder directory.
Just in case… Back up the original folders located in the “C:\Users…\Documents\maya” directory on your hard drive, before replacing it
!
STEP 4.
Depending on which Maya version you are using you still must “copy and paste” the “dlls” files, located in the “Iray_dll_Maya2011_bin_folder” or the “Iray_dll_Maya2012_bin_folder_May” folders…
To the “bin” folder located in the “Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2011/bin” as well as in the “Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/bin” directories, on your hard drive…
Required to enable the Mental Ray “iray” render engine algorithm and assuming that you already installed, the Autodesk Mental Ray Standalone…
These “dlls” files can also be found in the “Program Files/Autodesk/mrstand-adsk2011/bin”, as well as in the “Program Files/Autodesk/mrstand3.9.1-adsk2012/bin” folder.
Please note that you can download the Mental Ray Standalone version best suited for the Maya version you are using, from the main Autodesk website:
Open Maya and set the Maya “Project” to the main “SPONZATUTORIAL” folder, using the “File > Set Project” command.
STEP 6.
Extract the Maya scenes and use the updated version of the “File Texture Manager” utility with an “absolute” or “relative” directory input, set in the “Target Directory” field…
And press the “Set Path” tab to point Maya to the file textures located in the “SPONZAMAPFILES2009” folder, already extracted to the main “SPONZATUTORIAL” folder directory.
That’s it, you should be just fine… Please don’t forget that the 3D Characters, Classroom, Maya Production and Test scenes with a “2009_SP1A” suffix appended…
Should be used exclusively in conjunction to the Maya 2009 “SP1AX32.bit” and “SP1AX64.bit” version, considering the different Mental Ray 3.8 and 3.9 shaders integration…
Implemented for the Maya 2011 and Maya 2012 versions, compared to the previous Mental Ray 3.7 version shipped with Maya 2009 “SP1AX32.bit” and “SP1AX64.bit”.
The same goes for the Maya 2011 scenes which should be used in conjunction to the Maya 2011 version, as well as the Maya 2012 scenes that should be used with the latest Maya 2012 Hotfix 3 version.
Even if you still can open scenes created using different Maya versions by enabling the “Ignore Version” option, located in the “General Options” tab of the “Open Options” panel under the Maya toolbar “File” drop down menu.
Please don’t study too much and don’t forget to enjoy you Summer Holidays…:buttrock:
Ciao.
“The message I stress: to make it stop, study your lessons… Don’t settle for less, even a genius asks questions… Be grateful for blessings and don’t ever change, keep your essence…”
Well Alex, I have to give you my congratulations for this exceptional work. It is without a doubt the Bible for users of Maya and Mental Ray. Having all this information organized for testing and scenes with excellent explanations is undoubtedly a treasure.
And provide this information for free is a very charitable act. And again I say, put there a pay-pal button and I’m sure that whoever gives real value to this book will undoubtedly contribute.
My goal is to make architecture renders superior quality to Vray and I hope I can learn and improve my knowledge with this tool.
I had some trouble downloading Alex’s massive tutorial so with his permission, I mirrored it on my website. It can be downloaded here.
Thanks so much Alex.
Thanks a lot to EightBit, for providing a link to the “SPONZATUTORIAL.rar” mirror download…! Really appreciated and I just posted the link, at the start of the thread as well…!
As I already said to EightBit… If you think this is “massive” please wait a bit more since what I posted so far, is just 50% of the main tutorial assets.
Now… Going through a last “quality control” iteration for the huge Maya production scenes, which I will start to share here sometime in September…
I find out a couple of minor “issues” concerning the settings used in the previously uploaded assets, located in both the “Classroom_Production_Scenes.rar” as well as the main “SPONZATUTORIAL.rar” zip folder.
Which are not going to affect either the final render output nor the main render times, mostly considering the simplicity and the limited size of the assets…
As well as the “quite fast” render times displayed by the “Classroom” Maya production scenes and I’m “pointing” them out, just for the sake of “consistency”.
Issue 1.
In all the “Classroom” Maya production scenes an “IP” map directory string input “Value”, can still be found in the “irradiance particles file” String Option “Value” field attribute…
Which points to the “ibl4.ip” Irradiance Particles map file, stored on my Desktop: C:\Users\Alex\Desktop\ibl4.ip
That means that the “irradiance particles file” String Option “Value” field attribute, is empty by default and no “IP” map directory is provided.
This is just a render optimization technique which will force the Mental Ray Irradiance Particle feature, to write and subsequently read an “IP” map file stored on disk…
Similar to the “Rebuild” on|off switch located under the Indirect Lighting > “Final Gathering Map” section of the Render Settings panel, as discussed in the “NOTE1.” section of the main “PART1.pdf” doc.
Quote from the main Autodesk online help docs:
Open the String Options Attribute Editor panel and scroll down to the “irradiance particles file” String Option, now you can either edit the “IP” map directory string input “Value”…
Forcing the Mental Ray Irradiance Particle feature, to write and subsequently read an “IP” map file stored on your hard disk.
Rename the “IP” map file in a “meaningful” way, with a name that relates to the Mental Ray lighting and rendering features used in the scene…
Or just place the cursor in the “irradiance particles file” String Option “Value” field and hit the “Backspace” key, to delete the string leaving the field attribute empty and then hit the “Enter” key to confirm the removal.
Issue 2.
In the previously uploaded “SPONZA2009X32GLOW_2009_SP1A” Maya production scene, used in conjunction to the Mental Ray “Lume Tools” custom shaders to output the light “Glows” and “Glare” effects…
Which is located in the “Maya_Production_Scenes_2009_SP1A” > “Sponza_Production_Scenes_2009_SP1A” folder, under the main “SPONZATUTORIAL” folder directory.
As well as the “Venus_Sky_Photo_2011” Maya test scene located in the “Maya_Production_Scenes_2011” > “Master_Classes_Test_Scenes_2011” folder, the “Emit photons” checkbox…
Located in the “sunShape” > “mental ray” > “Caustic and Global Illumination” section of the Mental Ray “sunDirection” node, is enabled.
Which in the standard Mental Ray lighting and rendering workflow is usually “deprecated” and “should” be disabled instead, since the “sunDirection” node is actually a “Directional Light”.
From the next screenshot with the “sunDirection” node “Emit photons” checkbox disabled, notice that even if the 2nd image is a bit brighter both the final render outputs are quite similar…
And the main render times displayed by the 2nd screenshot are a bit less, mostly considering the simplicity and the limited size of the Maya test scenes.
The “sunDirection” node “Emit photons” checkbox “should” be disabled since that enabling this feature, “could” cause “bright spots” and “firefly” Global Illumination “Photons” lighting artifacts…
Being displayed by the final render output as well as the annoying “no photons stored after emitting 10000 photons” Progress Messages, displayed by the main “Output Window” panel at render time.
Quote from the main Autodesk online help docs:
Quote from the main Autodesk online help docs:
You might have noticed that I enclosed the words “should” and “could” with quotes on purpose, since that enabling the “Emit photons” checkbox should be usually avoided…
But still there are special cases such as the Mental Ray lighting and rendering workflow used to create the “SPONZA2009X32_2009_SP1A”, as well as the main “SPONZA2009X64_2009_SP1A” Maya production scene…
Where the “sunDirection” node “Emit photons” checkbox should be enabled, to benefit from the Mental Ray Global Illumination “Photons” to “brighten up” the final render output.
As displayed, by the next screenshots…
The “SPONZA2009X64_2009_SP1A” Maya production scene final render output, with the “sunDirection” node “Emit photons” checkbox disabled:
Feel the difference…? Well this also explains why I left this attribute still enabled, in the previously uploaded “SPONZA2009X32GLOW_2009_SP1A” scene…
Will talk again about this special Mental Ray lighting and rendering workflow, when I will start to share the huge Maya production scenes.
Even if the “SPONZA2009X32_2009_SP1A” as well as the “SPONZA2009X64_2009_SP1A” scene final render output, might not look as “photorealistic” as their Maya 2011/2012 counterparts rendered using “iray”…
These are some of the most complex scenes in the tutorial with all the Maya and Mental Ray lighting and rendering features, discussed in the main “PART1.pdf”, “PART2.pdf” and “PART3.pdf” docs…!:eek:
A last note to provide you with the links to the “SPONZA2009X32GLOW_2009_SP1A” as well as the “Venus_Sky_Photo_2011”, the “Venus_Ibl_Cm_2011” and the “Venus_Ibl_Cm_Photo_2011” scenes…
With the Mental Ray rendering features settings slightly refined, to make them consistent to the settings used for the main Maya production scenes.
The other assets previously uploaded are just fine and I’m going through a last “quality control” iteration, to ensure there will be no “issues” or “leftovers” in the huge (200 MB) Maya production scenes.
Once downloaded the “SPONZATUTORIAL.rar” zip folder from the “mirror” kindly provided by EightBit, re-download the scenes to replace their counterparts or just edit the previous assets using this post as a “companion”.
And considering that this thread is a bit idle at the moment, I really would like to know if you guys are seriously interested on these assets…
