Topics

1

[Max] I need help! / Corona Bitmap file open dialog not opening

« on: 2024-10-04, 17:09:43 »

Just updated to 2025.1 - I vaguely remember reading somewhere something about coronabitmap not working with this version? Am I correct?

I can't open the file load dialogue from corona bitmap node settings in SME.

I guess this is a known bug?

2

General CG Discussion / 3DSMAX DISABLE "MISSING EXTERNAL FILES" ON LOAD

« on: 2024-10-03, 21:34:23 »

Does this warning on the file load bother anyone else?

I really don't care about these missing files, and they're usual false positives anyway seeing as it doesn't like loading Corona pre-set materials for some reason.

Does anyone know of a friendly + easy way to globally disable this warning on the load?\

Thanks!

3

[Max] I need help! / Crash on SME load

« on: 2024-09-30, 19:03:00 »

I'm currently experiencing a very, very, annoying problem. It seems to affect almost all scenes, on all projects at the moment and it's killing me.

It's not necessarily Corona related (I actually suspect Vray)

I load a file. I open Slate Material Editor and then an instant crash.

I re-open the scene, open SME and almost every time, it opens fine.

However, this problem has recently evolved. Now I open a scene, load SME and it doesn't open, the whole program just completely freezes. Nothing.

I have NO idea what's causing it, and no idea how to stop it.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before?

I'm on Corona 13 Daily July 30 , Max 2024.1, Windows 10.

One note; When this happens I check Task Manager and 3ds Max has has multiple instances of 'Microsoft Edge WebView 2' open. What is this? Is it possibly related?

Thanks for any debugging tips!

4

[Max] Daily Builds / PNG Library Internal Error

« on: 2024-08-13, 17:20:15 »

Hi,

I'm getting this error when trying to save a second PNG beauty pass. (see attached error)

It's being managed by Pulze SM, so not sure if it's a fault of that plug-in or not though... (I have it set up to save as a JPEG but also save out another pass as PNG)

The PNG file fails to save, obviously but the JPG saves fine.

I'm using latest daily

5

[Max] Bug Reporting / Bloom + Glare errors in animation frames

« on: 2024-06-20, 21:36:37 »

Can anyone tell me why this is happening? And how to fix it?

Some frames render with either wrong or off-color bloom+glare.

Often I'll render an animation with visible corona lights and this flickering will happen on *some* lights.

Corona 12 daily Jan 29. Max 2024.1

This has plagued me for quite a while, so I don't think it's specific to this version.

Thanks!

6

[Max] Bug Reporting / Cosmos material import erorr

« on: 2024-06-17, 16:11:45 »

Hi,

Just a small error. If I import "Wall Paint Fine Grain 01 White 100cm" the textures do not seem to come with it. 3dsmax + windows 10.

It clearly has textures in the preview... so not sure what's going on. Other white wall plaster materials import fine.

Cheers,

7

Off-Topic / Internet in basement?

« on: 2024-05-30, 11:20:01 »

I know this is way off topic but I come to the Corona Brains Trust once again...

I'm hoping to put 2 of my PC's down in my basement. It's nice and cool and dust free.

Home office with 3-4 PC's is just too noisy and hot, I want to clean things up a bit. Obviously I need to have internet access down there. It doesnt necessarily have to be LAN, I'm toying with the idea of a VPS if I can get a 2nd reliable internet connection down there.

The basement is approx. 30m away from my apartment. It's 1 floor down but not directly underneath me. I live in an complex of 6 apartments so there are other basements (aka storage rooms) down there too. Access is through 2 heavy thick doors. I can't simply stretch an ethernet cable down there as that'd piss off the neighbors.

My current solution is working but it's rather limited. I bought a new 4G SIM and have it in a cheap Huawei 4g wifi router. In the basement I get speeds of max 50mb download and max 3mb upload. The upload speeds are killing my productivity.

If I take the same router outside, right next to my entrance I get 160/60mb down/up. These speeds would be totally fine. I tested my phone in the basement on the same 4g network and got the same speeds (50mb/3mb) - so I'm not sure buying a new router will help much? Bigger antennas maybe? Maybe I can somehow weave an antenna out of my basement door incognito? I guess 5G will be even less likely to penetrate the basement walls?

My first thought is to use a powerline adapter. But I have no idea if my power is shared between my own apartment and that in the basement. Even if it is I still have no way of knowing if a powerline adapter will work though all the building circuitry. I doubt that the power down in the basements is communal though so I don't think the neighbors will be paying for my PC's to render 24/7.

I asked my building manager if my power is shared between my apartment and the basement but he kind of refuses to answer me as he's convinced I'm trying to build a crypto mining setup down there. We rent, rather than own so I can't go drilling any holes or anything...

The walls are concrete. My basement room is buried in the middle of the building but one of the walls is the concrete exterior wall. I'm astonished that I get reception in there at all to be honest but it does work fine for downloads.

Am I out of options? Is there anything I'm missing?

Many thanks for any ideas!

8

[Max] Bug Reporting / MultiTexture odd behaviour

« on: 2024-05-07, 21:46:17 »

I used to do the 'batch add textures' to the multitexture node and it would automatically set the number of slots.

Now, if the number of bitmaps I select is less than the number set it won't remove those empty slots.

I recall this used to work correctly. Right?

9

[Max] Bug Reporting / Linked objects and Decal

« on: 2024-05-03, 16:14:35 »

I'm sure this must've been reported already but it seems that I cannot apply an exclusive decal application to only a single object which has other objects linked to it.

I doubt it's intended to work this way, so it seems like a bug to me.

Happy to try to reproduce if it's not easily done so by devs.

Corona latest daily. Max 2024.2

10

Hardware / PC Diagnostic software recommendations?

« on: 2024-04-15, 20:23:27 »

My PC is causing me trouble. It's almost always had problems but I've just dealt with it. I'm on the verge of buying a new one (it's time anyway) but right now I just don't want that worry.

I'm wondering if anyone has good software recommendations to help pinpoint what the issue might be? I'm often getting the blue-screen crash, a memory load dump, if I recall correctly.

It's generally gotten pretty bad over the course of approx. 2 months to the point of being unusable at which point I replace the windows SSD and things seem to work all fine again. But this time it hasn't helped. I'm now thinking it might be my graphics card. I've replaced the RAM. I thought the RAM was a real problem as the PC could never handle 128gb of RAM, so I've always only had 64gb installed with another 64gb sitting on my bookshelf collecting dust.

It generally happens under moderate-high load, but sometimes not.

My full system:
CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX
GP: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB
MB: Asus Prime x399-a
RAM: 4 x 16gb DDR4
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 500gb

Any tips in pinpointing the problem appreciated!

11

[Max] I need help! / Node to rotate a texture?

« on: 2024-04-11, 10:07:47 »

I'm wondering if anyone has a tip for me.

I often work with HDRI direct visibility override, but the HDRI image/file is the same as the environment texture, just rotated somewhat. See the attached image below.

The problem is that I need to have a duplicate of the HDRI. If I change the hdri or edit its settings I have to do it twice. Once for the environment and again for the direct override.

Is there some sort of node I can plug in a texture into as an intermediate so it takes the texture and rotates it more? Does this make sense?

Again, see the attached image for how I expect it could work.

Thanks for any help!

12

General CG Discussion / Max to Unity

« on: 2024-03-29, 12:16:47 »

Hi all,

I'm about to embark on a project where I'm working with webgl.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience using Unity for publishing to web?

Any tips much appreciated!

13

Off-Topic / Any experience with EnvisionVR

« on: 2024-03-13, 00:15:58 »

Hi all,

I'm looking at working with the team over at https://envisionvr.net/ for some new jobs.

They basically provide 3dsmax -> web conversion of fully VR property sales tools. Walk-arounds, dollhouse models, table models etc. It all seems pretty good and definitely has piqued the interest of some of my clients.

I'm just wondering if anyone has used their services before? In a recent meeting with someone from their sales teams they showed off some private work from some of the very biggest and best ArchViz companies we all know. So I was pretty sold on their service by then, if I wasn't already. The quality isn't as photorealistic as I'd like (but that's a limit on RAM and download speeds I guess).

I'd also be interested to know if anyone has any experience with any other similar providers? I understand they use Unity to convert and publish the models to the web. I don't have the knowledge to do this myself, but I'm sure there must be more tools/services out there that can help?

Thanks for any tips!

14

[Max] Bug Reporting / Reflection of light with direction > .45

« on: 2024-02-05, 23:54:19 »

I know, I know, I know... this is a known limitation

But come on, this has been bugging us users for 3+ years now and we still have to deal with it.

CoronaLights with a directionality of over (approx. 0.45) means it is no longer visible in reflections/refractions.

Any plans to fix this very annoying, very often reported, pest of an issue?

Would appreciate it a lot. Thanks!

15

[Max] I need help! / Stop light bounce?

« on: 2024-02-01, 03:04:45 »

I have a colorful light 'projecting' light onto a white floor from a LightMaterial (applied to a simple plane) with a 'inclusion' turned on to project only onto the floor

It works well, expect the light is bouncing up off the floor and illuminating objects around it. Not desirable in this particular situation.

I've never come across this hurdle before, so not sure how I can eliminate the light 'bouncing'?

Is it perhaps some sort of combination of ray-switch and inclusion?

Any tips? Thanks!