Posts made by TedVitale_CG

Are all your DR Nodes running on the latest version of V-Ray 2.0 as well?

What version of V-Ray are you working on? There was a similar bug in the initial release of 2.0 that caused this, but it has since been corrected in Service Pack 1 which can be downloaded here: http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/downloads.html?s=v-ray-sketchup

@agentorange said:

I'm having the same problem too. Ive reloaded sketch up pro 2014 and the latest version of Vray, done this a few times but still have major crash problems.

I've had 6 crashes today and the model is 80meg in size, used Cleanup3 a few times to tidy up my file.

Also does the 'bugsplat' work on a Mac?

I'm on a Mack using 10.9.4.

Sketchup Pro 2014 Version 14.1.1283

There is a known Memory leak bug on the Mac Side of Sketchup. Because of the way Mac's allocate memory per program, not per window, if you don't fully quit out of a scene file, the memory builds up until it maxes out the ram.

For example; Open 80mb file, close only the window (don't quit Sketchup) and Sketchup holds on to some of the previously used memory. Open your next scene or 80gb, and it adds the unreleased memory to the new used memory. This coupled with the fact that Sketchup is still a 32 bit program, and you get lots of crashes on start up.

Suggestions for Mac (OS 10.8/9) users specifically:

1. Always open one scene file at a time.

2. Always open directly from the scene file you will be working in by double clicking.

3. After completing your work on a project or a scene save and quit Sketchup before opening a new scene file.

4. If a crash loop occurs, start with a reboot of the computer, if that doesn't work next step is to re-install V-Ray.

Hope that helps. If the problem persists please contact support@chaosgroup.com for more help.

Hi,

Could you be a bit more specific about your issue. When does the bug-splat occur, At start-up, or when you hit render? What Version of V-Ray are you using (2.00.xxxx) and what are your machine specs? You can find out the exact version of Sketchup you are using by going to Plugins> V-Ray> Open Debug Window. The full version number will be listed there. Have you taken any other steps to remedy the problem besides shutting down and starting up Sketchup?

@bizkonson said:

1)if i save the irradiance map in lower res. render and then load it when im doing my final high res render so vray wont have to prepass again, will that lower the quality of the final render in anyway vs. doing the prepass in the full final high res. render?

You can run a half size IR and LC Pass with out any noticeable loss of quality. For example, your final render will be 8000x4000, your IR (irradiance map) and LC (light Cash) pass can be 4000x2000.

@bizkonson said:

2)if i load the irradiance map from scene1 and use it to render scene2 (different angle for same space) is that ok? or does it messes up the render?

No. IR and LC passes are scene specific.

@bizkonson said:

3)if i saved the irradiance map and then apply changes to the model (not the light) add something change reflection stuff like that, does that makes my irradiance map irrelevant and needed to be rendered again or not? same question regarding changing the light a bit?

You might be able to get away with it if its not to drastic a change. But again, its scene dependent.

Again, I can't help unless you give me a little more information to go on. Open Sketchup and go to Plugins> V-Ray> Open Debug Window. What is the full version of V-Ray that you are running "2.00.XXXXX". There is a service release out that fixes a lot of the issues with RT. It could also be an incompatibility with your computer system so specs of the computer are useful see thread: http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=322%26amp;t=26019.

The more information you provide, the easier it is for me to help. "RT bug-splats when I render." is not helpful when trying to track down a problem.

Rendering with the demo version limits the output resolution as well as other elements in the scene.

• Distributed Rendering limited to 2 render nodes
• produces watermarked images
• resolution up to 600x400
• rendered results limited to 4 lights

More light in the space will help though. Try adding some interior lighting this may give better results.

Hi Huisno1,

This is an old fixed bug. Please upgrade to the latest Service Release 2.00.24261.

The scene doesn't look very well lit. Where is your light coming from? You may also want to turn on your ambient occlusion, found under the Indirect illumination tab in your Options Editor.

Are they proxies or are they actual geometry in the scene?

You can turn off the RGB and Alpha channel and that saves you a little bit of time. But V-Ray still has to calculate the light passes in order to get those channels, so you wont save yourself a lot of time. In my tests its one or two seconds per minute. On larger renders over the course of hours this might be helpful, but I doubt it.

@magazines said:

1. Does anyone know if that old version of Vray can be switched to a new computer and used with SU2014 (or 2013). Old computer is on the way out, I rarely use Vray myself but this would be of value to me to occasionally look at a quick render.

You technically can install V-Ray 1.49 in SketchUp 2013, but its unsupported and if you do transfer the license to 2013 we cant help you if you have problems. We will happily help you transfer the license to any new machine running Sketchup 8 though! Email support@chaosgroup.com and they can help you out, its very easy to do.

@magazines said:

2. Should I pay the $ (edu is $140, cheap but not nothing) for Vray2 for SU and deal with the dongle? I only use this several times a year but if it really is miles better than the old version I may start doing a few more class days on it. The dongle is a limitation for us because for the labs, our IT dept prefers not to go this way. Can anyone clearly say what the major improvements are of Vray2 on SU? As far as I can tell it comes from the "RT" - is this a new form of the frame buffer and will it work well on 3 or 4 year old lab machines?

Full disclosure, I work for Chaos Group as a 3D Artist on the SketchUp team. So obviously, I'm going to pitch you V-Ray for SketchUp. I wont lie, Thea makes a good product. They have some nice tools, and features. But, V-Ray is the industry standard, for both the Visualization and Effects industry and the Architectural Visualization industry. Companies like TiltPixel and NeoScape both use V-Ray for SketchUp and V-Ray for 3DS Max. The reason being, assets can be transferred between the two programs, and you would be teaching the product that is typically used in the architectural workplace.

New features in V-Ray 2.0 vs 1.49:
Faster rendering times
Custom user made Proxies for large objects (trees, foliage, cars, people and other high poly assets)
Real Time Rendering (RT) for fast scene previews and live model editing.
Dome lighting for in scene HDR lighting
More efficient lights
Faster materials and material creation
Batch scene rendering
Better animation support
the list goes on...

Yes, unfortunately we use a dongle, and yes its a yearly subscription fee for V-Ray EDU, but this is better for new releases of the product because you don't already own 200 outdated licenses of it, you just resubscribe for the next year with the new product.

With dongles if you are using only one seat of the product, its easier to transfer the license around. You unplug the dongle form your office computer, and plug it back in at home. Network licensing is just as easy. You can program a single dongle to have multiple licences on it that are checked our on a per-user basis. So a lab situation over a local network is not a problem at all.

@magazines said:

3. Is Thea an easier rendering platform for introduction - for quick results? Since rendering is far from the focus of the class, a rendering system that was closer to the easy intro quality of sketchup would be very useful. Plus no dongle for labs or my computer. Also the edu is almost half the cost of Vray, meaning if I got excited about using it in class I could pay for a copy for both my laptop and the home computer with Thea. Is the interface an easy transition for people who have experience with Vray?

I agree with Edgar(Rodrigonotor). The concepts are all the same with every rendering engine out there, but not all engines are created equal. Weigh the pros and cons of the two products, and if you have any questions, please, feel free to pm me and we can email back and forth in person. I would be happy to answer any other questions you have.

Without a scene or examples of the problem its very hard to help you. In the frame buffer, are you making any changes to the color profiles before you save? Have you tried saving as a targa, tiff, or exr to see if the different compression outputs have something to do with it?

You need to update to the latest Service release, 2.00.24261. http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/downloads.html?s=v-ray-sketchup

You need to subdivide you're sphere more to give V-Ray something smoother to render. I'd Suggest manually making your sphere using circles with more sides (48-64) or using a plugin like Artisan to subdivide and smooth your surface.

There are a bunch of tutorials on the website: http://help.chaosgroup.com/vray/help/sketchup/150PB/tutorials.htm

This topic is covered by our interior rendering tutorial. Take a look, there's a lot of really helpful tutorials there. Also, let me know if there are specific tutorials you would like me to put together!

So a few tips; don't change your dynamic memory limits to such high numbers. Sketchup can only access up to 3.8/3.9 gigs of ram (3800/3900mb) before it crashes. Its still a 32 bit program, and we have to work inside those 32 bits.

The dynamic memory limit is measured in megabytes not gigabytes or kilobytes. So when you use large numbers, like what you're putting into your dynamic memory limit, you're not actually helping your rendering speeds. If you set it to 0 its automatic and V-Ray will figure it out on its own. By default its set to 1024, so its a little slower, not noticeable in small renders, but more stable with larger ones. I'd suggest changing it to 2048, or 3072 if you would like to access more memory.

The next thing I would suggest you try doing is using the 64-bit workflow to prevent large, complex scenes from running out of memory. When running this method, set your dynamic memory limit to 0. See the attached PDF Document for more information. The 64-bit work flow, along with other helpful tutorials can be found on help.chaosgroup.com/.

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64-BitWorkflow.pdf

One thing I can suggest you do periodically is to force sync the materials. GO to Plugins> V-Ray> Debugging> Force Sync for All Materials. This will make sure no one material exists exclusively in either V-Ray or Sketchup. Renaming your materials in Sketchup may also prevent this form occurring. And always avoid odd naming conventions like: (<,>,/,[,] etc...), these can some times cause issues as well.

What are your specs? I downloaded your model and it rendered in 2 minutes after I changed the settings back to default. I noticed your Dynamic memory limit was set to 10,000. Don't do that. Im thinking that might have been the problem. Leave it as a default setting, or set it to 1024, 2048, or 3072. This is how you allocate your ram for a rendering to prevent crashes. The lower the number the slower the render (on larger jobs), but it also makes the rendering process more stable.