Topics

61

[Max] Bug Reporting / Corona 7 Override Bug

« on: 2021-08-24, 17:22:55 »

Hi guys, not sure if this happened in previous version but on Corona 7 Max 2021 - I'm getting the following issue.

If I use a reflect override on my glass material, everything works as expected.

If I then add in, in this case, a HDRI into the global refract override, it seems to give me both?

The glass is set up with the new physical material and 'Thin' is turned on, and so shouldn't have 'refraction' other than being able to see through it, according to the tool tip anyway.  And you can't see the environment beyond the glass.  There are 3 panes of glass.

So I'm trying to figure out if this is normal behaviour or not?  Why am I seeing the refract override on top of my reflect override on this material?

The end goal here, is one HDRI for lighting (slightly desaturated, a different version for direct visibility and refraction (not desaturated), and a panoramic photograph visible in only the glass reflections?

62

[Max] I need help! / New Physical Material

« on: 2021-07-28, 11:28:47 »

Just exploring the new physical material in V7, the first thing I've delved into is glass.  In the legacy shader IOR was separate for reflection and refraction, meaning we could adjust the reflection strength of the glass independently of the refraction.  I'm just trying to get my head round how we achieve this now?  Is there are guide somewhere for the new shader or a thread where these questions have been asked before?

63

[Max] Feature Requests / Curves Window Resizing

« on: 2021-06-24, 14:22:10 »

They may already be a shortcut for this, but when resizing the curves popup window, is there any way make sure it remains square?

64

[Max] I need help! / need help with a problematic scene

« on: 2021-05-18, 10:12:58 »

Working on a scene at the minute, it's no different in terms of setup to any other images I create, however, this one seem to be throwing a few problems.  See attached.

I'm getting this a lot when using IR, I've never had this before IR is generally smooth and not blocky like this.  I'm on Max2021 and Corona 6 (latest version).

The scene is also taking much longer than normal to render than previous scenes of a similar nature.  Does the screenshot give any clues?

65

[Max] I need help! / Light Leaks

« on: 2021-05-06, 23:43:38 »

I'm currently experiencing the light leaks issue on intersecting objects and thin geometry.  I've searched the forums and the general response seems to be 'add a shell modifier'.  The most recent post I found was 2017, so I just wondered if there has been a fix for it since then, you know for those times when a shell modifier isn't practical (in my case) and to avoid spending time modelling uneccessary geometry?

I'm working on an apartment interior, the walls, ceilings and door/window openings are one piece of geometry, all created from an extruded spline with flipped normals, so the shell modifier screws that up.  I'd rather not have to model the exterior walls each time when they'll never be seen, for a couple of reasons really.  Mainly because using Corona has taught me I need to be ultra efficient with scenes so adding geometry that won't be seen seems counterproductive.  It'd be nice if it just didn't happen because I can't see any reason why it shouldn't just work in theory, but I'm far from technical.  I don't know if it's technically possible for it not to happen i.e. it can't be fixed

66

[Max] I need help! / VFB Exposure vs Corona Color Correct Exposure and HDRI

« on: 2021-03-10, 18:10:43 »

Just trying to understand the difference between the VFB Exposure and the Exposure setting in the Corona CC Node.

For example, if I have a scene lit only with a HDRI in a Corona CC Node and adjust the VFB to exposure to -2 and leave the CC node at Exposure 0 it looks vastly different to leaving the VFB at 0 and adjust the CC Node to -2

Is this expected?  I was anticipating the end result to be the same if no other variables change?

67

[Max] I need help! / Filtering

« on: 2021-03-04, 18:11:49 »

Does anyone else find the default filtering (High Quality Filtering) just a little bit too blurry?  I always seem to get frustrated with the lack of clarity in textures etc.

Does everyone else stick with the default or do you tend to change it something else?

I do notice this quite a bit in other peoples work on Behance etc, but then I see others and they look really crisp.

It could be bitmap filtering but I always use 0.01 on diffuse textures but even 8k textures that look crisp in Photoshop just look to soft/blurred when rendered

I'm not that technical so don't really know what contributes to the overall 'softness' of the final render.

68

[Max] I need help! / Alpha Issues

« on: 2021-02-25, 10:34:41 »

Hi guys

I still seem to be struggling with getting properly clean alphas for Sky Replacements.  See attached.

This render is rendered on black.  Saved as 32-bit exr, then opened in photoshop, converted to 16-bit, alpha applied, then a colour layer behind to show halos.

As you can see there's a slight halo (a dark one), if I use 'remove black matte' the halo turns white, if I use 'defringe' it looks much better but this screws up any transparent/refractive objects where the black background was visible beyond.

Can anyone help with the correct process to avoid this when saving to 32-bit exr's.  Is there a 'correct' order of operations when opening the .exr in photoshop and converting to 16-bit, replacing backgrounds to avoid this?  Am I missing something

The issue always magnifies if you do any heavy post work using additional masks etc.

It's worth noting I'm using ProExr for opening files, I've tried both 'Alpha Appears on Separate Layer' and 'Alpha Makes Layer Transperent' in the ProEXR dialogue.  Each option gives a slightly different result, 'Alpha Makes Layer Transperent' gives a slightly better result, but both give halos.  All appears fine while still in 32-bit, but when you convert to 16-bit the halos become more obvious.  Today I'll be testing Photoshop's native loader and EXR I/O.

Maybe a better question would be "What's the correct method for saving 32-bit exrs and ensuring a pixel.perfect alpha in Photoshop"

69

General CG Discussion / Breakdown a LUT

« on: 2021-02-22, 17:08:54 »

Does anyone know if it's possible to get under the hood of a LUT to figure out what it's actually doing to the image?  How would I be able to view that information?  For sure I can see with my eyes by turning it on and off, but I'm thinking on more of a technical level, and being able to break it down just to get a better understanding.  Or to get a better understanding of what a specific LUT is likely to do to an image before applying it, or to be able to create something very similar by using standard post tools without using the LUT.

70

[Max] I need help! / Constant Crashes

« on: 2021-02-22, 12:26:53 »

Not sure whether to post here or Bug Reporting, however, I'm experiencing a crash whenever I make a change in the material editor while IR is running, it could be any change, rotating a HDRI, changing a colour, selecting a different material to edit.  I'm using latest Corona (not daily) and Max 2021

71

General CG Discussion / Protecting your images from being edited by clients

« on: 2021-02-11, 14:09:45 »

How do you all go about this?  What I mean is clients adding Insta filters to your work or doing some horrible saturation changes and then posting it online.  It drives me insane when we see our work posted and it looks nothing like the final images we submitted.  It makes it even worse when you get credited next to it.  Yes, I'm complaining about being credited, but mainly because if they've edited it, it's technically no longer the work I was once proud of?

72

[Max] General Discussion / Where did the roadmap go?

« on: 2021-02-10, 16:28:56 »

As the title suggests :) Ignore me, it's back

73

[Max] Feature Requests / Selecting Lights in Light Lister

« on: 2021-02-10, 11:55:48 »

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, I have done a quick search but couldn't see anything.

Anyway in the light lister when I select a light using the checkbox in the light lister dialogue, it adds the light to the current selection if something is already selected in the viewport i.e. a wall or a sofa.  It would be good if it would clear the selection first and then select the light so the properties for the light appear in the modify panel.

At the minute I have to make sure nothing is selected in the viewport before selecting a light in light lister.

Whilst most of the properties are available in the lister itself, some still require going to the modify panel such as selecting an IES profile or include/exclude

74

[Max] I need help! / Caustics being calculated when turned off?

« on: 2020-11-23, 22:54:19 »

Is it possible that subtle caustics calculations are happening even when it's turned off (reflective caustics)

See attached.

Sunlight (HDRI in Corona Bitmap) pointing at a pool, the fireflies are where I'd expect reflective caustics to be if they were turned on.  The only issue is, caustics are turned off in both the render setup and the water material.  The 'clay' material has reflection set to 0.  The pool has a water shader on it so is both reflective and transparent.

If I put a basic material on the water geometry, those fireflies don't appear.  If I turn the reflection down to 0 in the water material but leave refraction at 1, they also disappear.  Which is making me thing it's a caustic thing?

75

[Max] Resolved Bugs / Adaptive Light Solver Issues

« on: 2020-11-10, 20:23:20 »

Using the latest Corona

I have a scene that is using Sun/Sky, but the reflections/refractions are overidden with a huge panoramic jpeg of the actual location.

With adaptive light solver I get artifacts, turning it off fixes it.

The documentation states turning it on is more realistic, so just how much realism am I losing by having it off?

Also the floor shouldn't be purple, I've just disabled the diffuse map to clearly show the issue