I've tried it both ways with and without a dome light and the sun angle seems locked at an odd and unnatural angle of about 5:30 AM.... (the sun is set in vray to +/-5:30 PM in June, in Seattle so trying to shown a little light on the north side of a building)

I've since tried to turn on/off GI and several other things that might affect it. Maybe its overloaded or corrupt, but I've done bigger models before.

The rendered angle doesn't change if I change the time in SU.

Odd. I'm now copying the model into a new environment to see if I can work around.

thx. ....deadline looming.... Greg

I'm apparently continually newbie-esque in VRAY and sorry to bother the group.

This should be easy but of course when you're under a time crunch the answer is hidden. (I've searched...but no luck).

When I render (vfsu) the time of day is wrong and showing odd shadows that I didn't knowingly create. Its different that what is shown in SketchUP view. Never had the problem before.

It must be a simple setting? it's a big model though. when I adjust the time of day in Sketchup it has no effect on the render output.

any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Greg

-The model is located manually and I believe I have the UTC correct for this time zone.
-The shadows show correctly in the SU view.

hmmmm... .ok, I found a leftover proxy that had one of the cars in it as part. I thought I'd deleted all the cars in a test to see if I could get rid of all the ghost cars. no luck till I found this proxy and deleted it. Now they're gone. I guess I should learn more about proxies. I think I'm ok now, though now quite understanding why. I will read up.

thx. Greg

I'm having trouble with old components appearing in the renders. I think they were extra and erased at some point. everything else is ok. just cars hanging in middair blocking the view to the subject. (I've turned on all layers, erased, purged, etc.)

any ideas? (VR for SU 2014).

Thx. Greg

I couldn't have been the first guy to come across this I'm sure, so I figured it must be fairly obvious. (tho I was stuck). I will look at the things you mentioned. I can get it done, it just seems like the method I'm using takes longer than it should.

I've been thru and downloaded quite a few of the extensions, but honestly there's a lot there now and I could have missed a tool I may already have.

thx, I will report back what I find. - Greg

I'm not really a newbie, but I think this is basic thing I don't under stand. In using the smooth tool, can you constrain the edges of the mesh so you don't pull them out of the shape they might be contained it? OR is there another tool or plugin that accomplishes this same idea? [see attached example]

in the example I 'smoothed' the left shape in one pull, but it pulls the edge out of the bounds of the curb. In the right example, I downsized the smooth diameter to one face smaller than the perimeter and started pulling.

This curb thing is just the fastest exmaple I could cook up, I was thinking of this for other things like creating a shape like a half of a full garbage bag and mirroring the shape to make it whole. I'd have to have the meeting edge to be co-planar.

thanks, Greg

ok thanks. I will try and mess with that a little.

Greg

Is there a way to make a face me component that faces the sun (vs 'the camera'). I'm modeling some solar panels that can be adjusted to follow the sun. I'm hoping to show this in a number of positions. Was thinking it would be great if you could show this while orbiting around the model. Maybe a long shot.

Thanks, GREG

I seem to 're-newbie' myself every time I tackle a job on VRfSU. Unfortunately its one of the many tasks I get to do 'once in a while'. The biggest trouble i have it on every model I have to research a technique and eat of up half of my time learning or relearning some concept.

In the back of my mind I was thinking that maybe the best way to get past the 'jack of all trades master of none' capabilities in Vray is to bring somebody into the same room and explain what we're typically trying to do and get some procedures down.

just a thought.... (While waiting for my fairly inefficient model to render) But if there were anyone local I thought it'd be worth considering.

(or a local class, but I'm not aware of any.)

Thx, GREG

ok, this has been really a great help to me. thank you everybody. I've read that other thread which is helping me understand better.

The examples that best fit what I was originally thinking was pretty close to the last post (by andybot). i"m experimenting with it now. If moving towards a true glowing dusk shot, i'm guessing a different task alltogether. I need to spend more time playing with when there is no deadline looming.

Thanks. If I get something worth sharing I will post it.

GREG