i'm still having some troubles with those exr-saved large images..
i found that if i don't save the maps and keep the the "single frame" calculation mode of IR and LC maps, it renders fine, but has exactly the same memory limitation with the standard VFB render mode.
if i save maps things get better on the memory side, but i found strange color artifact such as zones rendered in flat red, or flat green or flat blue.
in particular i found this problem popping out every time i try to use a saved IR map using "from file" mode.
so i'm rendering with saved LC maps, but still using "single frame" method for IR.
how can i solve this problem? did anyone find a good tutorial on the whole maps saving/loading stuff?

simply use a png map with a transparent background in the in the diffuse slot.
make sure to tick the "use texture transparency" checkbox.
you can use the same diffuse png map to get bump/displacement/reflection/whatever map just with a little photoshop..

hope this can help..

@broomstick said:

may I publish here a little tutorial on how to use the Vray Blend Material?

It's useful to have bump maps without a diffuse texture (sort of)

yes you can!

@cotty said:

The making of the wine glass is in the .skp:

• Draw lines on picture
• Follow me with hexagon
• Subdivide with Artisan
  (The wine is a copy of the inner glass with a little scalefactor and closed top face)

why do you need subdivision to do this? can't you just followme a circle instead of exagon? or i'm missing something?

@the.pjt said:

we want a toolbar with one Icon that runs commands on the screen like your toolsonsurface, curvy loft ,etc

+1
actually the only downside in one of the best plugin ever!

mmm.. maybe you can try to resize the model.. not sure..

@dkendig said:

with the way things currently are set up, we have to basically restart the whole scene parsing process again for each scene if we want to account for visibility changes, which slows down animation renders considerably.

i understand, i suspected it.. but maybe would be possible to add it as an option to tick, so that it is not default, but, if you really need it from time to time, you may try to render the animation properly even if slowly.. i don't know, you have to tell, but i think this could be at least an half way solution..
as we say in italy "meglio feriti che morti" ---translation--> "is better to be hurt than to be died"

very thank for your answering

@dkendig said:

it will be in the next release: http://screencast.com/t/mqfvvDv390Ev

what about the layer visibility option to support object animation plugins like twilight does? will it be possible in the next VfSU?

@andybot said:

the fresnel reflection might be a checkbox (instead of having to load a separate TexFresnel)

peraphs the separated TextFresnel is needed for adding it in the perpendicular sub-slot of specular map.. anyway i agree it should be default in reflection, TexNone is good for mirrors only..

maybe this http://www.holmes3d.net/graphics/subdivision/ could help a bit, even if very basic and contains some greek letters i found it some times ago.. it made me suspect that the original catmull-clark algorithm is intended to work on a quad cage, while the loop subdivision triangulates it all.. i think the loop subdivs is the one behind the existing subdivision SU plug-ins (both free and commercial) it seems that a "quadrified" catmull-clark would be nicer and cleaner.. anyway.. i will search further, maybe if i fiund something nicer, we can open an "official" dedicated thread for this request.. i know is not easy, but i know it isn't impossible for you, man.. you have the technology!

something like this, maybe?

http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Catmull%E2%80%93Clark_subdivision_surface

http://www.rorydriscoll.com/2008/08/01/catmull-clark-subdivision-the-basics/

isn't the RT feature also a better sign?
will the "signs" become reality? hope so..

ah ok, useful tip, anyway its' original model had material tiled very large (0,005 repeat, as already stated) mapped on a mesh with very small subdivisions 5mmx5mm nonquad-quad faces, i'm not sure but i think the problem could be related to the fact that the single facets are to small for the displacement to properly work.. am i wrong?
or maybe the strange behaviour of his mesh can related to the not so clean mesh buiding.. don't know how he build the surface, but i found sort of overlappin edges and so on.. i also tried to turn it quadface whit your brilliant tool, to be sure the mapping was uniform, but it didn't work, it follows diagonals here and there, even if apparently the mesh is, how can i say, a full square-cell grid, with no poles/odd topology.. didn't untderstand why it reacts in strange way..
as a general statement i noticed that the cleaner the mesh, the smooter the displacement will work..

ps. any idea of further developments on quadface tools? loved it! thanks again.. [PLUGINREQUESTMODE/ON]Never planned to do a sort of catmull-clark plug based on quadfaces? That would be ultra-powerful indeed[PLUGINREQUESTMODE/OFF]

@thomthom said:

@newxieland said:

Think it's back in VfR ... right?

it does.

can you elaborate the concept?
are you saying if i use 1cmx1cm texture it will render 2,45cmx2,45cm or something like this?? i hadn't noticed it maybe..
anyway i found the wole modeling/scaling/txture repeating thing a lot messy in that model..

1 your mesh is very messy, i think you should try to keep your modeling a bit cleaner maybe..

2 why the hell you model in mm with a precision of 0,0mm and then put 0.005 in the repeat of your displacement map??? and why model a 20x25cm sea wawe? try to use more realistic and consistent units, so your displace will behave in a more predictable way..

3 next time try to attach the packed vismat, or at least the diffuse/displace/bump/whatever maps

4 when you displace, i would suggest to force your default group material to be the same as the displaced material, this will prevent the grey patches (or whatever your "global" default material is) when the mesh is not 100% continuously mapped

5 i did't changed the subdivision, but i think this is waaaaay overmodeled.. why do you need ALL that subdivisions in the mesh?

anyway i fixed it in some way.. just copied your curves, welded them, scaled them 4x, skinned them with curviloft, checked "make quads", added your original subdvisions to the mesh using quadfacetools-> connect edges, played a bit with trupaint and a decent vismat sea i made wich is attached too..
all simple and clean.. also i uncheked "view dependent" cause i like the displacement to be the same at any viewing distance..

oh and in addition, tried to render your model adding a simple random displacement map and it took forever to render in the ugly dicontinuous way, using merely 60% of CPU on i7, now it renders fast as the hell..

hope it will help

samplewawe fixed.rar

i hope layer change will be supported in the so waited new version..

@valerostudio said:

go to each frame and render individually

not suitable at all to my purposes

just forget to link the video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n83qNwwFvZ0