V-Ray 1.50 SP4 and V-Ray RT 1.50 SP1 for Autodesk 3ds Max are released

October 31, 2009 at 11:08 am | Posted in 3ds max, renderer, VRay | Leave a comment
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On October 29th, Thursday, the newest builds of  V-Ray 1.50 Service Pack 4 and  V-Ray RT 1.50 Service Pack 1 are available from the download section of the Chaos Group site.

The upgrade is free of charge for all current V-Ray for 3ds Max customers of Chaos Group.

These builds are compatible with Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2008, 3ds Max 9, 3ds Max 2009, 3ds Max Design 2009, 3ds Max 2010, 3ds Max Design 2010. V-Ray 1.50 SP4 additionally supports Autodesk 3ds Max 8 as well.

The newest builds of  V-Ray 1.50 SP4 and  V-Ray RT 1.50 SP1
support both 32-bit and 64-bit OS.

V-Ray® 1.50 Service Pack 4

Added New Feature in V-Ray 1.50 SP4 is V-Ray Ambient Light.

It includes several modified features:

-  Improved multithreading on multi-core machines;
-  Ability to specify gizmo falloff for VRayEnvironmentFog;
-  Ability to use arbitrary meshes as gizmos for VRayEnvironmentFog;
-  Option to exclude the background from VRayEnvironmentFog;
-  Added CIE sky models to the VRaySun and VRaySky;
-  It is now possible to submit DR servers list for DR through backburner;
-  Added option to not use area speculars in the VRayIES light;
-  Added Kelvin temperature settings for the color of VRayLights;
-  VFB history is now turned off when 3ds Max is in slave mode;
-  Output .vrimg and split channel paths are listed in the Asset Tracker;
-  GI cache files (irradiance maps, light cache etc) are listed in the Asset Tracker;

V-Ray® RT 1.50 Service Pack 1

It includes the following new features:

- Support for the HSL/HSV controls of the ColorCorrect texture (as well as the map slots);
- Support for the “Additional bump” slot of the Normal bump texture;
- Some gamma workflows did not work well with the ActiveShade;
- Option to stop updating the ActiveShade window after a certain fixed amount of time;
- Support for region rendering in the ActiveShade window;
- The override material options from the standard V-Ray renderer to work properly;
- Support for environment override in VRayMtl;
- An option to manually restart V-Ray RT, without having to close & reopen the activeshade window/viewport;
- Option to pause the RT;
- Support for opacity maps of standard materials;
- Support for VRayEdgesTex in bump slot;
- Ability to directly export to a .vrscene from MaxScript without starting the ActiveShade (through the vrayExportRTScene() command);
- Access to the ActiveShade bitmap from MaxScript (through the vrayGetRTBitmap() command);
- Support for paletted PNG textures;
- Consider the “Hidden lights” switch from the standard V-Ray;
- Support for IFL file format for textures;
- Support the Shell Material in V-Ray RT;

In order to explore the rendering opportunities of V-Ray RT SP1 you must have installed V-Ray 1.50 SP4 or a later version.

The complete list of the new and improved features can be found in the changelog file, which is a part of the installation.

V-Ray for Maya – The Countdown is over!

September 5, 2009 at 10:34 am | Posted in Announcement, renderer, VRay | Leave a comment
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One of the most eagerly expected products in the 3D world is officially released to turn over a new leaf in the rendering processes.

V-Ray for Maya revolutionizes rendering times, stability and ease of use to achieve remarkable pipeline efficiency.

To all of you V-Ray users and fans,
Chaos Group team announced the official release of V-Ray for Maya. The comprehensive set of features provided by V-Ray for Maya includes true 3D Motion Blur, Sun & Sky procedural lighting system, Physical camera for matching life footage, Environment Fog, a set of Sub-Surface Scattering shaders and many others. V-Ray for Maya is supported on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora operating systems in their 32-bit and 64-bit versions (other distributions also work). V-Ray runs with Autodesk Maya 2008, 2009 and 2010 versions.

Aimed at improving quality and efficiency in the production processes of the VFX and Film industry, V-Ray for Maya now enables the rendering of larger scenes with greater complexity while at the same time artists can rely on a faster rendering stage without compromising on the quality side of their work.

V-Ray for Maya Advantages and Key Features:

Faithful to its ultimate vision for extraordinary speed and quality, Chaos Group empowers users to improve render times by taking advantage of the V-Ray for Maya licensing. Each V-Ray for Maya license allows the usage of up to 10 additional render nodes, running either in Maya batch mode or as standalone render servers through the V-Ray Standalone application. The Standalone application allows rendering to occur independently of Maya and is considered as an outstanding option to boost the speed for both standard and distributed rendering.

Core Architecture

Multi-platform object-oriented API
Fully multithreaded core
Unified sampling system based on Schlick sampling
Distributed rendering
Efficient shading system specifically optimized for raytracing
Modular architecture – many components of the system can be replaced with custom ones

Geometry

Efficient geometry handling
True instance rendering
On-demand dynamic geometry creation (.vrmesh files, converter for .OBJ, .PLY, .GEO files included)
On-demand geometry loading from disk files
Displacement mapping
Catmull-Clark and Loop subdivision surfaces
Extensible with custom geometric primitives through the V-Ray SDK
Particle rendering & particle istancer

Image Sampling

Three different image sampling methods
Full-scene anti-aliasing
Progressive path tracing
Support for additional render elements (diffuse, reflection, GI, etc)
Advanced color (tone) mapping controls
Extensible with custom image samplers through the V-Ray SDK

Illumination

Physically accurate full global illumination solutions
Different GI algorithms: path tracing, irradiance cache, photon maps, light cache
Reusable GI solutions for accelerated rendering of walk-through animations and animations with dynamic objects
Physically accurate area lights
Efficient illumination from HDR environments
Procedural sun & sky models
Extensible with custom lights through the V-Ray SDK

Shaders

Physically plausible materials
Blurry reflections/refractions
Accurate hilights
Set of fast Sub-surface scattering shaders
Support for efficient material layering
Extensible with custom shaders through the V-Ray SDK

Camera Effects

Depth-of-field with bokeh effects
Accurate motion blur
Physical camera model
Extensible with custom cameras through the V-Ray SDK

Extras

Extended matte/shadow capabilities
Texture baking of any render element (GI, lighting, etc)

Frame buffer

V-Ray specific frame buffer with integrated color corrections and display of multiple rendering elements
Direct rendering to disk for extremely large images, either as OpenEXR files or as .vrimg files

Integration with Maya

All features accessible from within Maya (no external applications required) Standalone version included (10 licenses)
Support for many of the standard Maya shaders, lights, materials, procedural and utility textures

Supported Autodesk Maya platforms

Autodesk Maya 2008, Autodesk Maya Complete 2009, Autodesk Maya Unlimited 2009, Autodesk Maya 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)

System Requirements

A computer with Autodesk Maya 2008, Autodesk Maya Complete 2009, Autodesk Maya Unlimited 2009, Autodesk Maya 2010 software;

Supported OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business (SP1 or higher), Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2 or higher), 32-bit or 64-bit versions (64-bit is recommended); Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 5.3 WS (64-bit) ; Fedora™ 8 operating system (32-bit and 64-bit) ; Apple® Mac OS® X 10.5.7 or higher operating system (32-bit and 64-bit);

Intel Penium III or compatible processor at 400 MHz minimum (dual Pentium IV or AMD Opteron or later recommended);

Minimum 128 MB RAM and 350 MB swap. For best performance are recommended 4 GB or more RAM, 4 GB or more swap file.

Intel Penium III or compatible processor at 400 MHz minimum (dual Pentium IV or AMD Opteron or later recommended);

Minimum 128 MB RAM and 350 MB swap. For best performance are recommended 4 GB or more RAM, 4 GB or more swap file.

Pricing and availability

The suggested retail price (SRP) of V-Ray for Maya is USD 999 or EUR 719 per license, depending on the region of purchase. Purchasing one V-Ray for Maya license gives a lot more than just a single rendering license. It allows the rendering in interactive Maya environment of 1 computer and another 10 computers running as render nodes. These render nodes can run in Maya batch mode or as standalone render servers through the V-Ray Standalone application, independently of Maya. These can also be used for the simultaneous rendering of a single frame across 10 computers through the Distributed Rendering mode. If the users require having more than 10 rendering nodes – additional licenses can be purchased for V-Ray Standalone which can be used as standalone or through the Maya batch mode. It does not get any more flexible than that, does it?

And remember! We license full computers, not CPUs! The more CPUs you have per computer, the better you utilize our single license!

V-Ray for Maya is distributed through electronic download only. A hardware lock is required for the licensing system and is provided upon purchase.

Additional V-Ray Standalone licenses are available for purchase with suggested end user price of USD299 / EUR249 per computer. Outrageous volume discounts are applicable for all V-Ray products. Order prices in US Dollars or Euro is applied depending on specific country of order placement. Please, contact our sales representative or distributor for pricing information at sales.software@chaosgroup.com

SU Podium News

August 21, 2009 at 10:19 am | Posted in Design Visualization, renderer, sketchup, SU Podium | Leave a comment
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There are some news from Su Podium that you might want to know.

1. Omni Grid Video Tutorial

Omni Grid is a fast way to create an interior light setting for Podium and is a good alternative to Light Emitting Material (LEM) type lights. As you probably know, LEM lights are very easy to create. Just select a face and apply a light value to the face and render. However, LEMs take much longer to render than omni lights. Hence, the omni grid plug-in which creates a grid of omni lights simply by selecting a face or a series of co-planar faces. Several users have requested a video tutorial on how to use Omni Grid. Click Here to view the video.

To download Omni Grid (which is free to both commercial and free users), go to the Registered user page of www.suplugins.com, click on Omni Grid in the table of contents and download the Omni Grid zip file. Unzip the contents of the zip file to your Google Sketchup Plugins folder.

2. Fire Farm Light Fixture Addition Released

Fire Farm is a light fixture manufacturer which creates uniquely styled light fixtures. Using Fire Farm’s SketchUp models, we have created an addition to the Podium Light Fixture 1.2.1 plug-in for both Windows and the Mac. You will need to install Podium Light Fixtures 1.2.1 before installing the Fire Farm addition. The light fixture plug-in is free to commercial users of Podium. Go to the bottom of the Light Fixture page to read about it and download. Click Here

3. SU Grid – free utility

SU Grid is a SketchUp plugin which will create grid lines on SketchUp faces or in any planar coordinate (X,Y or Z). The goal behind SU Grid is to make drawing complex paths, lines and boundaries easy and on one plane. The plug-in was original intended for SU Animate but we have made it available to all Google SketchUp users, free of charge. To view the video tutorial on SU Grid Click Here.

To download SU Grid, go to www.suplugins.com and click on the Registered User button. Create an account if you do not have one. Then click on SU Grid from the table of contents. Download Windows or Mac version and install.

4. Soft Shadows from sun light

Soft shadows are shadows that become more blurry (softer), the more distant two objects are from each other. For example, the shadow of the top of a fence post is more blurry than the bottom because it is further away from the ground than the bottom. Podium has soft shadows from the sun light. But be aware!! Soft shadows is an undocumented feature. The quality of soft shadows depends very much on quality settings and resolution size. In many cases, you may not want to use soft shadows. Soft shadows from the sun are turned on by clicking on “Use sun for shading” option in the Shadows Setting dialog box.

Soft shadows will not look good using Podium’s Default preset. It is advised to use Quality or Noisy presets with as much smoothness/ quality settings and as high of a resolution as possible. The quality of soft shadows will depend on other factors such as the brightness of sun light, skylight and the texture the shadow is projected on. The two images below demonstrate soft shadows quality. If you do not want this feature, make sure “Use sun for shading” is turned off.

Compound map and material

June 20, 2009 at 11:27 am | Posted in 3ds max | Leave a comment
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Do you ever get confuse about what the different between some compound maps and or materials in 3ds max. For example, you may be get confuse about blend material with mix map, or maybe between mix map with mask map.

Well, in this little article we will see what the difference between some compound map and material. We will discuss about composite map, mask map, mix map, compound material and blend material.

Composite map is simply a map that combines multiple maps into one map. The map must already have alpha channel within it. This map is just like what you do when combining multiple pictures into one in image processing software.

Maybe you have separate picture about you, your friend, and scenery that you and your friend want to go someday. Well, you can have a picture of you and your friend in that scenery even before you go there. You just simply combine those pictures into one in software like Adobe Photoshop.

The ability from composite map to use blend mode is just like what layer mode does in photoshop. This ability will process between images RGB level to gain different effects.

You can use mask map to cover some part of image that you don’t want to appear in rendering result. This map can be compare to layer mask in adobe photoshop.

For example, if you have your picture and want it to be attached to a metal red plate, you can use mask map. First you must have mask map, which is a black and white image whereas the white part will appear in rendering. Then, you apply mask map to diffuse parameter in 3ds max.

You can also use a map with alpha channel achieve the same result. But, the different between mask map and a map with alpha channel is: you need a new image (mask image) for mask map while in map with alpha channel you apply alpha channel directly to the image. So, if you have mask image, use mask map. But if you have an image with alpha channel in it, use it directly. In conclusion, the use between these two techniques is depending on your image resources.

Next is mix map. This map combines two images into one with uses transparency as mixing tool. This map can be compared to mixing two layers in adobe photoshop and adjust the layer’s opacity level. The result is just like you combine two images directly.

Compound material is like mix map but each material can have different properties. You can set one material to have a strong reflection, another have a very strong refraction; another is just a normal material and so on. The result is just like what you get in mix map. But the different is, with mix map you can only use two images, while in compound material, you can use up to 10 materials. In mix map, you can only have single material properties to be used, but in compound material you can use up to 10 different material properties.

For example, you want to combine a metallic plate material with brick material and see what happened. If you use mix map, you can use a metal plate map and a brick map but you can only able to have single material properties. Metallic material has a very strong reflection and highlight, meanwhile brick do the opposite. Which one from these material properties that you going to use if you use mix map? In compound material, you can combine both properties into one.

Blend material acts like compound material but limited to only two materials and don’t have ability to blend each material with addition, subtraction or mixing option. You can use blend material to make an effect like a broken wall where some part of the wall paint already gone and reveal its brick component. Or maybe you want to use a grass material with ground material.

Blend material parameters looks like mix map parameters, but both of them do different thing. If you want to create a puddle of water on the ground, you must use blend material than mix map, because water and ground has different material properties.

The image below shows you the difference between each compound map and material.

material, maps, compound, 3ds max

material, maps, compound, 3ds max

The most left, I use composite map from a sky and a tiff image of superman. The second left is for mask map. I use yellow diffuse color, an image of superman and a mask for superman. The middle one will show you about mix map. I use a brick and a flower image.

The last two in the right is for compound material and blend material. Compound material that I use is from a dull brick and a reflective blue material. The last one in the right most is to describe you the blend material. I use a brick material and a reflective blue material with custom mask map.

I hope now you can see the difference between this compound maps and materials.

Accurate Material’s Secret Reveal

June 13, 2009 at 11:18 am | Posted in 3ds max, Design Visualization | Leave a comment
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It is looks like that has become a demand to create a physically correct material in design visualization industry these days. Especially if you use mental ray in 3ds max design 2009 or radiosity.

A physically accurate material is a material that behaves like the material will behaves in real world. There are some factors that influence how the material will physically correct.

  1. Material’s color must be as close as possible with what we see in the real world.
  2. Size and strength from highlight.
  3. Transparency.

In this article we will take a closer look at material’s color. Why this is become our primary subject? Because this is often become a hidden problem that cause burnout in rendering result. Beside that, color is a subject that rarely discussed even in outstanding tutorials. The third reason is, color that we see and then we applied in 3ds max very often does not produce a physically correct material. Last reason is because highlight and transparency are matter that can be learned by directly investigating the material.

Now we will begin to reveal the biggest secret behind a physically correct material.

The main secret is in reflectance factor from the material. This has a direct relationship with material’s color.

Like what we know, when photons from the light hits an object, there are some energy that will be absorb and there are some that will be reflected. White usually will reflect almost all light energy it receives. Black, in contrarily, will absorb most light energy and only reflect a small amount energy. The darkness from color is the one that must become our main attention when designing a physically correct material.

The mistake that beginner often done is adjustment for white color. In most of case, beginner make white identical with RGB value 255, 255, 255. This is completely a big mistake. If white has RGB value 255, then there is no energy that will absorbed which is in return will be make the rendering result become burnout. Actually white is very various in whiteness and very rare has RGB value 255.

So, what is the good value for white?

Before answer that question, we must know a simple term first. The term, which is already stated above, is reflectance factor or often said as reflectance scale. This term refer to how big a material will reflects light energy it receives.

For white, a good reflectance factor is 70% to 80%. If you enter that value to RGB, then the value will be about 178 to 204.

Below is a list that you can use as a reference to adjust color’s reflectance factor.

  • Very dark color: 10%
  • Dark color: 30% – 40%
  • Light color: 50% – 60%
  • White: 70% – 80%

Beside color, material type also has influence against reflectance color. A ceramic material has different reflectance factor than a concrete.

This is a list that you can use to adjust reflectance factor for material.

  • Aluminum, highly seculars: 80% – 85%
  • Aluminum, anodized, matt finish: 75% – 85%
  • Aluminum, matt finish: 50% – 75%
  • Brick, red: 10% – 20%
  • Ceramic: 20% – 70%
  • Chrome, polished: 60%- 70%
  • Concrete: 30% – 50%
  • Copper, polished: 60% – 70%
  • Enamel, White: 60% -70%
  • Fabric: 20% – 70%
  • Glass, clear: 5% – 10%
  • Granite: 10% -30%
  • Gypsum: 70% – 80%
  • Masonry: 20% – 50%
  • Metal: 30% – 90%
  • Mortar, light: 40% – 50%
  • Paint: 30% – 95%
  • Paper: 30% – 70%
  • Plaster, white: 70% -85%
  • Plastic: 20% – 80%
  • Silver, polished: 90%
  • Steel, polished: 60% -70%
  • Stone: 20% – 70%
  • Wood: 20% -50%

Beside that, material position can be a consideration in your design. For plafond, reflectance factor that is usually taken is around 60% – 80%. Value for wall is around 30% – 50%. Meanwhile for floor is around 15% – 20%. And for furniture is around 20% – 50%. But if you work for another person design, this value can be ignored because the material has been defined by the designer and you can not alter it.

By using the list above, hopefully you can create a physically correct material so your rendering will be looks like what you expected in real world.

Rahasia Material yang Akurat

June 13, 2009 at 11:08 am | Posted in 3ds max, Design Visualization | Leave a comment
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Sepertinya telah menjadi tuntutan untuk industri visualisasi disain untuk menggunakan material yang secara fisik akurat. Apalagi bila Anda menggunakan mental ray pada 3ds max design 2009 atau radiosity.

Yang dimaksud dengan material yang secara fisik akurat adalah material tersebut akan bersikap persis dengan material aslinya di dunia nyata. Ada beberapa faktor yang mempengaruhi agar material tampak seperti aslinya.

  1. Warna material harus dibuat semirip mungkin dengan aslinya.
  2. Besaran dan kuat higlight.
  3. Ketransparanan dari material.

Pada artikel ini kita akan melihat khususnya pada warna dari material. Mengapa ini merupakan hal yang dibahas? Sebab hal ini sering menjadi masalah tersembunyi yang sering menyebabkan hasil rendering umumnya terlalu terang. Selain itu, penataan warna ini merupakan hal yang jarang dibahas bahkan dalam tutorial-tutorial yang keren sekalipun. Alasan ketiga adalah karena warna yang kita lihat dan kemudian diaplikasikan pada 3ds max, sering kali tidak menghasilkan material yang tepat secara fisik bila diaplikasikan ke dalam mental ray atau radiosity. Alasan terakhir adalah karena tentang highlight dan ketransparanan dari material dapat dipelajari dengan mengamati langsung pada bendanya.

Sekarang kita akan mulai mengungkapkan apa sebetulnya rahasia besar di balik material yang secara fisik benar.

Rahasia utamanya adalah pada faktor refleksi dari material tersebut. Ini berkaitan langsung dengan warna dari material.

Seperti yang kita tahu, saat photon-photon dari cahaya membentur sebuah objek, akan ada sejumlah energi yang diserap dan sebagian lagi dipantulkan. Warna putih umumnya akan memantulkan hampir seluruh energi cahaya yang diterimanya. Sebaliknya warna hitam akan menyerap banyak sekali energi cahaya. Tingkat kegelapan dari warna inilah yang harus jadi perhatian utama kita bila ingin menghasilkan material yang secara fisik akurat.

Kesalahan yang paling umum terjadi adalah pengaturan untuk warna putih. Warna putih sangat identik dengan nilai RGB 255, 255, 255. Namun bila warna putih diseting seperti ini, maka tidak akan ada energi cahaya yang diserap sehingga tingkat pemantulan energi menjadi sangat tinggi. Sebetulnya warna putih itu beragam dan hampir selalu tidak pernah mencapai nilai maksimum.

Jadi berapa kisaran angka yang tepat untuk warna putih?

Sebelum menjawab hal tersebut, kita harus tiba dulu di sebuah istilah. Istilah tersebut adalah faktor refleksi atau sering disebut sebagai reflectance scale atau reflectance factor. Istilah ini mengacu pada berapa besar tingkat refleksi dari sebuah material.

Untuk warna putih, faktor refleksi yang disarankan adalah sebesar 70% hingga 80%. Bila Anda akan menset sebuah warna putih, maka nilai RGB yang disarankan untuk nilai maksimumnya adalah 204.

Berikut ini adalah daftar yang dapat Anda jadikan acuan untuk mengatur faktor refleksi untuk warna.

  • warna tua sekali: 10%
  • warna tua: 30% – 40%
  • warna sedang: 50% – 60%
  • warna putih: 70% – 80%

Selain warna, jenis material juga mempengaruhi faktor refleksi dari sebuah material. Material keramik akan memantulkan jumlah energi yang berbeda dengan material beton.

Berikut ini adalah daftar yang dapat Anda jadikan acuan untuk faktor refleksi dari beragam material:

  • Aluminium, highly specular: 80% – 85%
  • Aluminium, anodised, matt finish: 75% – 85%
  • Aluminium, matt finish: 50% – 75%
  • Brick, red: 10% – 20%
  • Ceramic: 20% – 70%
  • Chrome, polished: 60%- 70%
  • Concreate: 30% – 50%
  • Copper, polished: 60% – 70%
  • Enamel, White: 60% -70%
  • Fabric: 20% – 70%
  • Glass, clear: 5% – 10%
  • Granite: 10% -30%
  • Gypsum: 70% – 80%
  • Masonry: 20% – 50%
  • Metal: 30% – 90%
  • Mortar, light: 40% – 50%
  • Paint: 30% – 95%
  • Paper: 30% – 70%
  • Plaster, white: 70% -85%
  • Plastic: 20% – 80%
  • Silver, polished: 90%
  • Steel, polished: 60% -70%
  • Stone: 20% – 70%
  • Wood: 20% -50%

Selain itu posisi dari material tersebut juga bisa Anda jadikan pertimbangan dalam disain. Untuk plafond umumunya faktor refleksinya sebesar 60% – 80%. Nilai yang disarankan untuk dinding sebesar 30% – 50%. Sedangkan untuk lantai 15% – 20%. Dan untuk furniture sebesar 20% – 50%. Namun bila Anda hanya merender disain orang lain, hal ini bisa diabaikan karena material untuk proyek tersebut telah ditentukan oleh disainer dan tidak mungkin Anda kotak-katik.

Dengan berpatokan pada daftar di atas, diharapkan Anda bisa membuat material yang secara fisik akurat sehingga hasil rendering Anda pun akurat seperti aslinya.

SU Podium 1.7 Beta for Google SketchUp 6 and 7

June 6, 2009 at 10:47 am | Posted in Announcement, Design Visualization, sketchup | Leave a comment
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After announced the release 1.6, now Su Podium has releases a newer version, 1.7. What is new in this new release?

  • Blurred Reflections
    Blurred Reflection option allows you to assign reflections to a face or faces that are are blurred. Currently when you assign reflections in Podium, the reflections will directly reflect the surronding geometry and textures. With blurred refelctions, the reflections will be subtle and less “glossy”. Blurred reflections are good to use on faces that have textures that should have subtle and less crisp than direct reflections. Below images are examples of blurred reflections vs direct reflections.
  • PodiumWizard
    Podium Wizard has two functions. One is to check the SketchUp model for the number of reflective faces, lights (LEM) and omni lights exist in the model. This function will give you an idea the amount of computing power Podium needs to create the rendered image. For example, the higher the number of lights (LEM), reflective faces and omni lights you have, the longer it will take for Podium to render.
    The secong function included in the Podium Wizard menu is to reset the model so that all reflective faces, LEMs, omni lights are deleted from the model. This function is good to use when you want to start over again especially if you relized that you have too many LEMs, reflective faces or omni lights.
    You can also reset the co-ordinates of the Podium UI. This comes in handy when you go from a two monitor system to a one monitor system.
  • New Presets
    The default preset has been re-worked so that it will produce rendered images of complex models in more cases. In previous versions, the default preset did not work on all models. A new preset called blurry.xml is included which works well with models with blurred reflections.

RC5 – First technology preview

May 23, 2009 at 11:54 am | Posted in 3ds max, fryrender, renderer | Leave a comment
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A new improvement from fryrender has just been made. At 2009-05-20 they announced the release of first RC5 preview. You can see it at:

Vimeo (high quality):   http://vimeo.com/4709390
Youtube (medium quality):   http://youtube.com/watch?v=dn3r_aecBew

All frames were output at 640×480 at a framerate ranging between 15 and 25 frames per second in a standard computer featuring a ATI Radeon 4850.

Some of the RC5 features which can be seen in action in this video are:

  • Full Global Illumination (as precomputed by fryrender RT)
  • Depth Of Field (as configured in fryrender)
  • Fullscreen Anti-Alias
  • Interpreted fryrender physical materials
  • Real-time tonemapping / fryrender-like quality (FP32 HDR)
  • Camera vignetting
  • Camera animation

This all means that the video was rendered in an effective time of just a few seconds.  In fact, other videos of the same scene could be recorded without the need to precompute again, just by exporting a new camera path.

Conclusion: Once you precompute a scene with fryrender RT you can navigate it interactively.  But, interestingly enough, you can also regard RC5Player as a very high-quality ‘GPU-based’ render engine.  With RC5Player you can record as many videos of your scene as you want at rates ranging from several to many frames per second at the expense of a preliminary precomputation phase, which is roughly equivalent to a still frame render in fryrender (about 1 hour for this scene).

They also announced that plug in for SketchUp 7 has been release at 12th May 2009, meanwhile for 3ds max 2010 has been released at 5th May 2009.

V-Ray RT for 3dsMax – official release announcement

May 23, 2009 at 11:37 am | Posted in 3ds max, renderer, VRay | Leave a comment
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An email just arrived at my in box a few days before. It is from Chaos Group, VRay developer. They announced the new release of V-Ray RT for 3dsMax. What is this thing?

V-Ray RT for 3dsMax is t he first interactive renderer of this kind for 3dsMax that will be available for immediate purchase on June 1st, 2009.

Overview
Created with the busy and rigorous 3D artist in mind, this topnotch raytracing technology allows immediate interaction between the user and the virtual environment.  V-Ray RT follows the user’s actions while working on the scene and automatically and progressively generates a photorealistic preview of the scene. Designed to improve and fasten the artist’s work on the Texturing and Lightening stage.

General
The V-Ray RT interactive rendering system has many advanced features; here only some of them are listed. Note that all features are subject to change without special notice.

Currently it is CPU-based. Does NOT require special graphics cards
Currently the V-Ray RT technology is based on CPUs – it does NOT require any special or expensive graphics cards. All V-Ray RT needs is CPUs. As usual – we will use ALL of your CPUs and cores at no extra license cost.
However, the V-Ray RT architecture is very robust and if needed – it can seemlessly be implemented to allow new hardware acceleration technologies in the future.

Distributed rendering
V-Ray RT supports distributed rendering across multiple machines in the local network.

Integration with 3ds Max
V-Ray RT is an ActiveShade renderer in 3ds Max, separate from the production V-Ray renderer. V-Ray RT does not introduce new plugins other than the interactive renderer itself. Instead, the existing 3ds Max and V-Ray materials, textures, lights, cameras etc. are used.

V-Ray RT consists of two major components:

  • V-Ray RT interactive renderer in 3ds Max;
  • One or more V-Ray RT render servers.

V-Ray RT performs the actual rendering outside of 3ds Max itself, with the help of the V-Ray RT render server(s), which can run either locally on the same machine, or on other machine(s) in the local network. The renderer plugin in 3ds Max only relays the scene changes to the render servers and displays the final result.

Interactivity
A major feature of V-Ray RT is its ability to track changes to the scene performed by the user and automatically update the ActiveShade preview. The following scene changes are supported:

  • Create/delete objects (geometry, lights, cameras, etc.);
  • Modify object parameters;
  • Move/rotate/scale objects;
  • Apply/remove/edit object modifiers;
  • Hide/unhide objects;
  • Apply materials on objects;
  • Modify material properties like textures, colors etc;
  • Modify light properties (like position, color, etc.)
  • Animation of cameras, objects, lights and materials (scrubbing the time slider);
  • Render settings change;
  • Camera/view orientation change;
  • Modify camera/view parameters;
  • Environment change (color, texture etc).

Geometry
The following geometric objects are supported by V-Ray RT:

  • Triangle meshes;
  • All other primitives that are convertible to triangle meshes (NURBS surfaces, patches, etc.);
  • VRayPlane objects.

Materials
The following materials are supported by V-Ray RT

  • V-Ray materials: VRayMtl, VRayBlendMtl, VRayOverrideMtl, VRayLightMtl and VRay2SidedMtl;
  • 3ds Max materials: Multi/sub-object, Standard, Shellac and Blend;
  • VRayWrapperMtl material is only partially supported.

Textures
The following textures are supported by V-Ray RT:

  • Bitmap textures: PNG, BMP, TGA, JPG, EXR, HDR, SGI, PIC and TIFF file formats;
  • Procedural textures: Checker, Noise, Falloff, Speckle, Cellular, Gradient Ramp, Tiles etc;
  • Utility textures: Output, Normal bump, Mix, Mask, RGB Multiply, RGB Tint etc;
  • V-Ray textures: VRayColor, VRayCompTex, VRayEdgesTex, VRayHDRI, VRaySky and VRayBmpFilter;
  • 3rd party textures: the ColorCorrect texture is partially supported (the Gamma and Source parameters).

Illumination
The following methods for illumination are supported by V-Ray RT:

  • Indirect (global) illumination:
    • Progressive path tracing as global illumination solution.
  • Direct illumination:
    • Standard lights: Spot, Omni and Direct;
      • VRayShadow shadow type for hard and soft shadows;
    • Photometric lights;
    • V-Ray lights: VRayLight (Plane, Sphere and Dome types), VRaySun and VRayIES.
  • Environment illumination and image-based lighting (IBL):
    • Either through GI or
    • with a VRayLight in Dome mode with a texture map.

Shading
The following shading effects are supported by V-Ray RT:

  • Diffuse materials;
  • Bump and normal mapping;
  • Transparency;
  • Clear reflections and refractions;
  • Blurry reflections/refractions:
    • Phong, Blinn and Ward reflection models;
    • Anisotropy;
  • Absorption (fog) for refractive materials;
  • Layered materials;
  • Two-sided (translucent) materials;
  • Self-illuminated materials.

Camera effects
V-Ray RT supports the following camera types and camera effects:

  • Camera types:
    • Perspective views;
    • Standard cameras;
    • VRayPhysicalCamera.
  • Camera effects:
    • Depth-of-field with bokeh effects;
    • Exposure settings and vignetting.
    • Camera distortion

Animation
V-Ray RT supports and reacts to the following animation types:

  • Camera animation;
  • Object animation (move/rotate/scale; deformations);
  • Material animation;
  • Lights animation.

Render settings from V-Ray Production
V-Ray RT takes some of the render settings from the production V-Ray renderer, if present:

  • Color mapping;
  • Override material;
  • Camera settings for depth of field (when using perspective views or standard cameras);
  • Environment overrides.

Conclusion

This feature is not something new in renderer software. Fryrender already able to do this kind technique before VRay did. But, anyhow, this is gonna be a great improvement for VRay. This feature will improve an artist speed in rendering. Got to have it!

By the way, how the price?

Suggested end-user Price (does not include any local taxes):

EU Countries: EUR 499(price does not include VAT)
World-wide: USD 599

For a limited time only, during the V-Ray RT promotion stage, all users will be able to experience the speed and interactivity of our new product at the special prices below:

EU Countries: EUR 249(price does not include VAT)
World-wide: USD 299

Order it right now? I guest yes!

SU Podium News and Tips

May 16, 2009 at 10:12 am | Posted in Announcement, renderer, sketchup | Leave a comment
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For you guys who loves Su Podium plug-in for SketchUp, here are some update from the publisher. Here you can see:

  1. OmniGrid 1.0 plugin
  2. New Tips – getting ready to print
  3. What’s coming next

1. OmniGrid 1.0 plugin

The goal of OmniGrid is to simplify the process of illuminating a room or an interior space with omni lights and not over populating the model with lights. The grid plugin is a ruby based program that will create a pattern of omni lights based on grid spacing that you specify. How it works – Select a face or several co-planar faces (such as a ceiling, wall or floor), right click on the Context Menu in SketchUp, select Omni Grid, select the grid distance and click OK. Simple isn’t it? If you want to try, just download from here.

2. New Tips – getting ready to print

Tips #20 in the Tips page discusses getting ready to print your rendered image. Podium’s image resolution settings are based on pixel dimensions such as 800 X 600 or 1920 X 1080. Podium allows for pixel dimensions that are greater than most video monitor sizes such as 2 times Viewport resolution and 4,076 X 3,304 pixels. Why does Podium offer higher pixel dimensions than what most monitors can handle? For Printing among other things. But Podium has no printing features of it’s own. You need to use an image or page layout editing program like Photoshop or less expensive alternatives. There are some calculations you need to consider before printing a high quality image on paper. For more information, click here.

3. What’s coming next

Su Podium promises a few things that will come in a next couple of weeks. That are:

  • First, a free addition to the 2D Plants and Trees library will be released. This will have 99 new indoor alpha-transparent 2D plant images.
  • Second, a beta release of Podium 1.7 with Blurry reflections will be out before the end of May. This will be free as well. Currently it’s being tested in-house.
  • Third, a new free Light Fixture pack with an additional 80+ light fixtures will be released shortly.
  • Fourth, a new free, high resolution texture library is planned for release this month.
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