@Rich-O-Brien This looks indeed buggy, thanks for the information and I will look into this problem.

@Mike-Amos

You can use fake emission. - This will give objects a glowy appearance, but they are not really lights, so they won't shine on the surrounding objects. Using the fake emission option will also reduce render times.

In the below image, the left sphere has normal emission and the right sphere has fake emission.

@Mike-Amos The missing skirting board and lights, was that caused by a bug in Rayscaper?

@Mike-Amos sounds like a bug. Let's fix that.

Do you mind sending me your most recent scene again?

• What is the name of the light component or components that disappeared?
• Is the skirting board modeled as geometry at the bottom of the wall? I will check that out as well once I have your model file.

Cheers,
Thomas

Hey, Rayscaper friends!

Rayscaper 0.9.15 is available (0.9.14 was an internal test release) in the SketchUcation store. A lot of fixes and new things so I recommend you upgrade to this version.

What Changed?

Improvements

Desktop Scaling

Some users complained that Rayscaper was not legible on high-res, especially with display scaling enabled. I added a configuration option to scale the user interface to make it more readable on such displays.

Fast Tone Mapping

Improve the speed of the tone mapping operations. All operations now run in real-time, even on big render resolutions.

More Intuitive Exposure Control

Make the exposure slider more intuitive. Negative values darken the image, and positive values brighten it—an exposure step value of one doubles or halves the brightness. A value of 0 means a neutral exposure.

More Zoom Controls

Add zoom controls to the Rayscaper toolbar and the option to fit the viewport.

Fewer Watermarks

Although Rayscaper is commercial ( and I think it is a very affordable piece of software ), I also wanted to reduce the watermarking to improve the experience for free users.

Bug Fixes

• Add the option to scale the user interface. This makes Rayscaper a lot more legible on high DPI displays.
• Bring back the capability to configure the following texture types (cc: @sashapepperspray):
  • Noise Texture
  • Uv Texture
  • Mix Texture
  • Checkerboard Texture
• Bring back the double-sided and fake emission controls for light-emitting materials (cc: @majid).

Help me build the community

I'm on Twitter (X) now: https://twitter.com/Rayscaper3d/ - Please follow the @Rayscaper3d that will help me grow the community and spread the word about Rayscaper!

Happy Rendering!

Very nice renders, they make for excellent Rayscaper marketing materials

@Mike-Amos said in Rayscaper, My trip down the road to adjumacation.:

@pixelcruncher

Thanks, I guess the 'problem' is that the render engines I have used preferred black as the colur in Sketchup.

I just defaulted to this from habit.

No worries, I'm glad we got it sorted!

@Mike-Amos Thanks for the scene. That was helpful.

The problem is that the color of the mirror is black, so it won't reflect anything:

Setting the color to white (or anything non-black) will result in a mirror:

Sorry, I butchered your camera setup to make it more evident that the mirror works now.

Cheers,
Thomas

@Mike-Amos Yup, send it my way. I will have a look.

Nice work!

Hey @Mike-Amos

Did what @Rich-O-Brien work? If the depth is insufficient, the render engine will cut paths short before reaching a light source, and the mirror will be black.

How are you creating a mirror? Using the simple mirror material or something else?

You can pack up the whole scene and send it my way (via the Create Archive option). Then I can have a look.

Cheers,
Thomas

@majid Thanks for sharing the model! Super useful for others wanting to try Rayscaper.

@Mike-Amos said in Rayscaper, My trip down the road to adjumacation.:

@pixelcruncher

Nothing actually 'bothers' me, the screen is reminiscent of Maxwell in most respects.

That's an interesting observation; I've never used Maxell before

The hdri/texture corner is both bigger than it need to be while being too small to show much in the way of detail of the different options.

Would clearer tabs help here? Or tabs at the top instead of sideways?

When it comes to it, the single screen thing is getting old but I am looking into that but clearing screen clutter when elements are not requirted would be very helpful.

Undocking these different parts of the Rayscaper window an placing them on =the second or third monitor would enable much more clarity for the render window itself. IMOHO, of course.

I plan to do docking/undocking, but it's a bit of work because the user interface library I am using does not support it.

@Mike-Amos

Take my opinion with a grain of salt. I'm a developer, not an artist...

I like the interior very much; it is very realistic and uses materials well. But I find the combo of the HDR and the glass in the front door weird. It's as if the house stands in the middle of the lake.

Cheers,
Thomas

The monitor is set at 2560 x 1330 at the moment. Good enough for most tasks.

Do you also use display scaling, or is it at 100%? Also, do other applications behave well? A screenshot might help us see how it compares to other applications.

I am getting to grips with Rayscaper, it's taking a bit of adjustment from the ol' noggin but getting there bit by bit. Well worth the time tbh.

Great to hear!

Something that might help the screen issue I feel is in the way would be on demand dialogue boxes to reduce screen 'clutter'.

In the latest release, I'm trying to hide more things, especially if they are not enabled. But can I hide even more things? Is there any screen in particular that is bothering you?

Cheers,
Thomas

@Mike-Amos Very well done. I'm pleased to see you are getting good results.

This is my Rayscaper thread so, yes, in Rascaper.

Makes sense, I didn't want to assume

There are 8 lights in that scene which should be OK along with an EXR.

I would like to have a better, more informative method of identifying the lights being adjusted. Several are candles so the light has to be reduced for that. Perhaps a designator on the scree would help.

That's a good idea. Overlaying the viewport with some widgets to indicate the lights. I will put it on my roadmap.

Basically I am finding any real adjustment difficult to near impossible due to not being able to read the dialogue boxes. I will have at some stage to acquire a nother monitor but that will do nothing to fix this issue.

This is good feedback. What is your display resolution, and are you using display scaling? I don't think Rayscaper respects display scaling right now, but I have to check the documentation of the user interface library I am using.

TBH, while I render architectural pieces, I do not DO architectural renders. I have a leaning towards more realistic lighting levels which is out of synch with folk who want "More lights on everything".

Gotcha!

The stairs are more commonly found on yachts and small boats and are a space saving measure. Not popular with architectural purists who will simply say that "Never get that past inspection in America, etc".

I know, a bit like those who want fridge freezers in a kitchen boxed in for the same reason. Not doing architectural renders and NOT in America let alone actually expecting these things to be built.

No worries, I wasn't criticizing; I was just curious about the staircase.

Cheers,
Thomas

@Mike-Amos @Rich-O-Brien - The latest release should resolve the material/camera picking issues. Can you confirm that?

Nice render, but the interior could do with some extra lights. Very interesting stairs, never saw that before. Was this done in Rayscaper?

@L-i-am said in Genius small house:

@pixelcruncher A new container (40ft) is about $2600 USD the rest of it I have no idea. But I think the skope of works would be cartage, siteworks, Fitout, container mods, electrics, plumbing.

I find this idea of building affordable detached housing very appealing, especially since I live in a country where affordable housing for younger generations is becoming increasingly difficult.

It's probably not too pricey once you build them in bigger batches. I would install such containers on my lot if my kids want something like that.