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

@andybot said:

One thought would be to add a pattern of lights to your ceiling. You can then add an emmissive map to give it a glow. (I suggest emmissive since you don't need any lighting, just the appearance of)

tried it but it didn't really do what I was hoping. did what i described I wanted so thanks. I guess if I take it to the next level and try to get the whole floor(s) to glow. like in a dusk shot. its probably a dumb question i realize before i type it, but any recommendations on a fast way to do that? I think I'm describing how a photographer would double expose a dusk shot. They burn in the glass so it looks like its radiating out of the space. I see examples of it, but harder to describe. Anyway, thanks for all thoughts and reads.

Greg

USING VRAY for SU

Question: What is the quickest, least heavy (render hog) way to get the windows to have a little twilight glow? comment from our office, 'looks like the power is out'. I can mess with it in photoshop but its time consuming. I can add lights, but not sure it that's fastest (not fast given the floors and break up of the inside.) There must be a tested/preferred method.

I was going to post this for a crit. too but will keep the question in this thread simple. I will see if I can find a good example of the effect I'd like to see.

(this image hasn't had any work done on it yet except for the notes)

Thank you. GREG

ok, thanks. That's kinda what I was doing. The trick was even in varying the transparency I wasn't getting what I really wanted. I ended up doing it photoshop as necessity took over though its still less than I imagined. i masked the glass and put a colored transparent overlay. The idea was trying to get the 'dusk' like lighting. its in a medical office lobby. They wanted the entry/lobby to stand out. i was able to do it, just looking for a one-step way via SU without the after-work. I think i understand the limitations at least now.

on to learning how to better light these things.

Thanks. GREG

seems like the glass materials that I've applied look ok, but a little dead, like the place is "closed" and the lights off. Is there a way in sketchup to make the space seem like the lights are on or glowing a bit without going to a second rendering package?

thx, GM

Thanks, I think that works pretty well. I had actually tried that with some success as long as the shape was as simple as the example. Where I ran into trouble was when the curve was smaller or the frequency was such that I couldn't offset it without it overlapping itself and I'd have to either fix it or live with the odd facets it was creating.

It occurred to me to ask..."is there a way to create a 'from scratch' TIN then subtract (or intersect) the outline of the shape?" (thereby leaving an irregular but flat terrain that you could push around.)

Thanks again, GREG

Is there a simpler way to create a terrain or mesh from a simple flat shape? (I can't seem to do it fast/simpler/lower poly.) (by 'simple' i should qualify....something just a little more complicated than a rectangle which might rule out using the 'from scratch' option.)

for example in the attached: what is suggested to shape the landscape areas shown in green (group)? everything I've tried is complicated, too many poly's, too time consuming.

This is just an example, but the reason I did it was the landscape areas were not rectangles. the bullet shape seems to prevent using the 'from scratch' option. The goal is to mound these areas maybe.

Hope the question is clear. mostly I'm in search of efficiency. I can't do the cool surrounding context if I run out of time.

Thanks, GREG

Planter_Test.skp

thanks for chiming in. I was beginning to wonder if it was just off the beaten path enough that nobody had tried it or bought into it. it seemed like a worthwhile experiment to me. its also seems normal to stick with the basic set up if its working for you. but I"m glad some have tried it. I think I will.

for me, I end being a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none. My SU time is intermittent, but when on board, I can be doing full time for a week so any help seemed to make sense.

Thanks, GREG

I was reading a comment in a post that somebody really liked these, but there wasn't much in the way of a response to it. Does anybody use one of these? Like it? Was reading about the SpaceNavigator which is the lesser expensive of the products. http://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacenavigator.html It seems like a good idea if it works well like described. Does it really save time?

Thx Greg

in upgrading to SU8, is it as simple as copying the plugins into the similar folder for 8?. ...ok reading and it seems yes.

noticed that out of the box, SU8 doens't have a pull down for plugins. ah.....just saw the extensions thing so checking that box.....ok.

sounds like I'm good but will go ahead and post anyway cause it seems like a couple of logical steps.

So upon installation of SU8, I copied over my library of materials noting that the files in the new version are dated later than in 7. but I have a lot of others and didn't logically overwrite the ones that came with 8.

Then copied plugins into plugin folder for 8 and opened up pref's / extensions and checked/enabled the ruby script thing.

thanks, GREG

rats.....need to upgrade to 8. thanks though, will look when I can. -GM