Messages

1

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: Map / Material Select handled by User property

« on: 2023-01-19, 13:13:04 »

Guys, you miss the best part  - the flexibility in the scene of being able to use the same material hierarki  and being able to switch instances on / off or give a color value or something.

Example: 
A lamp with a bulb using lightmaterial / glass material in a selectmaterial  - each instance can be switched on and off, without going to the material editior and have two material versions - with the toential risk of having redundancy errors.

- or a monitor where you have 10 different content maps, where you can switch the content per monitor instance  - without having to go to the Material Editor. ( and yes, I know you could just amke a multisub with the individual screen content as a material  - but then again, you have to have redundant materials. )

These are just a few examples.

The red thread in this is to simplify hierkies and workflows  - and by making the Userproperty more versatile - (and not only on Select XX ) I believe you could have an easier life :)

2

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: 'Keep aspect /proportions' on Corona Bitmap

« on: 2022-12-16, 10:08:08 »

Any news on this topic?
I still think it is actual, - a minor change that would make things SO much easier for us users!!
And I don't buy the argument that this should be a job for Autodesk   - well it should, but there must be a reason why corona has its own bitmap - map  - and I suppose it is beacause it is better than the original MAX version  - so why not make it even more useful?

3

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: Map / Material Select handled by User property

« on: 2022-12-16, 09:44:08 »

I get your point, about just applying the actual material to the object. BUT it's all about flexibility and encapsulation.

IF poosible my 3D assets has only one MultisubMaterial applied. That makes things easy to manage. One of the submaterials can then be a switable material, maybe containing multiple options, which would be cool to be able to reach and switch from the object itself  - encapsulation and flexibility.

Often I make lamps with light materials instead of Coronalights. So to be able to switch the lamp On and OFF, I switch between a map in a SelectMap that is attached as a mask to a layered material that wraps a light material over fx. a lightbulbs glass. Using the UserProperty map, it makes the switching ON and OFF on instances of the same lamp without having to go into the material editor and switch a material.

So being able to switch materials on an instances without the need to go into a potential comnplicated shader tree and swap materials is for me a good reason to add this functionality.

Timeride use the User property to switch between facade colors  - cool. I just think that being able to switch between either maps or materials in the scene, without going into the shader tree, could be so useful.

Maybe it should actually be an integrated part in the SelectMap / SelectMaterial shaders.

In general I would like some changes to the SelectMaps / SelectMaterial.
It would be cool if it in the UI worked more than the MultiSubMaterial.
With this i mean, that you can see either the assigned material name or a designated label.

That would make the selection much easier.

I hope I have made my reasons more clear now. :)

4

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: Map / Material Select handled by User property

« on: 2022-12-15, 00:54:40 »

Hej Marcin,

I will get back to you ASAP. I have a deadline to take care of first though.

Cheers

5

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: Map / Material Select handled by User property

« on: 2022-11-25, 14:01:32 »

For instance, yes - I think it would give so much flexibility in scenes and less complicated material setups

6

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: Map / Material Select handled by User property

« on: 2022-11-25, 13:28:30 »

hmmm  well, I want just to be able to select any of the index numbers in a select map/material  - so I have the freedom to switch between any of the material setups beneath that. Could be anything really

7

[Max] Feature Requests / Map / Material Select handled by User property

« on: 2022-11-24, 18:44:44 »

It would be SO useful if you could handle more things by User Property   - one of the top items on my list is the switch between maps or materials using Corona Map Select  or Corona Materials Select , but it could also be fx. Corona Mix Map, or maybe even Multimap.

8

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: In scene variable gizmo for Corona SelectMaterial / SelectMap

« on: 2021-11-10, 18:02:58 »

Here you can see the result - a handy little script that can switch between seasons ;)
The explanation can be found on the video description ....

Thanks to Frood for the help ;)

9

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: In scene variable gizmo for Corona SelectMaterial / SelectMap

« on: 2021-11-04, 15:56:31 »

SUPER!!!! Thanks a million - it works like a charm ;)

10

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: In scene variable gizmo for Corona SelectMaterial / SelectMap

« on: 2021-11-03, 16:21:52 »

In continuation on my voyage to automate my tree and plant season setup, I have met a problem. Don’t know if it specifically is a Corona problem, - maybe you can tell me.

I have now made a setup where all trees are made of a Multisub material with a CoronaSelectMtl in the leaves material slot. The selector consist of 5 leaf materials, - WinterSnow (naked branches - see below), Winter (naked branches), Spring (light green leaves, with a random number of invisible leaves), Summer (Full blown green, no hidden leaves) , Autumn, golden brown leaves, with a possibility to hide random leaves).

Each tree has also a linked CoronaSelectMtl that handles the visibility of the snow on the branches, - only visible in the WinterSnow selection, - the rest of the time its attached an Invisible material (opacity = black).

Right now I handle the change of season by a Float Limit controler, that link the Selected properpty on each CoronaSelectMtl that handles all the Season on each tree / Plant. So when the work is done all you have to do is to find ONE of the CoronaSelectMtl’s and change the season - and all will be changed. Works great!

See the setup in the attached screendump.

Now the cumbersome part is to link all those damn Select materals, - and sometimes you delete some plants and sometimes you add some plants - so it is hard to manage in the long run.

I had figured a way to come around that by making a max script with a user interface with a list of the seasons , that would look up all CoronaSelectMtl’s  in the scene having the prefix “Season” in its name, and change the select number to a number associated with the selected season in the list.

Here is an example of a name on such a CoronaSelectMtl “Season - Leaves - AM_Birch_01-04”

However, it appears to me, when I select a season in the material editor, that the CoronaSelectMtl can’t be reached per say????

Here is an example ….

sceneMaterials["msEvermotion_Forrest_Beech_Undergrowth"].materialList[2].selected = 3

So the line above refers to a multisub material, named "msEvermotion_Forrest_Beech_Undergrowth", which has a CoronaSelectMtl in the 2nd slot which now has changed the value to 3!!??

Are there no way I can let a script collect all the CoronaSelectMtl’s in the scene - check if it has “Season” in the first part of the name and then change the selected value to them all?

Help!!?

11

[Max] Feature Requests / Re: In scene variable gizmo for Corona SelectMaterial / SelectMap

« on: 2021-10-28, 21:04:11 »

You are right Romullus, I didn’t think of it. I have now linked all the select Materials with a Floating Limit Controler in the Additional Parameters, it could be cool though to have some interface in the scene workspace to handle the switch, but haven’t found a smart way yet to do this.
Any suggestions?

12

[Max] Feature Requests / In scene variable gizmo for Corona SelectMaterial / SelectMap

« on: 2021-10-28, 14:52:21 »

Sitting with a collection and trees and make Material setups for the four seasons. I do it by making a CoronaSelectMtl with four materials - which work fine  - BUT it could be SO much cooler if you could switch the Selected material by a global variable in your scene  - could be a Gizmo with number list or textbox. You could then reference this Variable Gizmo on all the relevant selectMtl's and you could fx. change season on a whole scenes vegetation by one click!

This could be relevant for both the SelectMap and the SelectMtl.

By the way, it could be a big help too if you could add a customized tag to each item in the SelectMxx  - like you can in the MultiSub Material - this could make selection choices more clear.

Thanks

13

[Max] I need help! / Re: Liquid in Glass - Bug or is it me

« on: 2021-07-29, 15:19:05 »

MARU, I have just been looking at your two examples.
Have you noticed that your images also have artifacts in the refraction when the glass and fluid are one and same object

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[Max] I need help! / Re: Liquid in Glass - Bug or is it me?

« on: 2021-07-29, 15:09:10 »

b) there are some strange artifacts in the attached objects, some black lines - I can’t find out where they come from  - it's not a reflection of the texts - as I have tried to render the scene without and the artifacts were still occuring .

Is it a bug or am I doing something wrong?

Check if your glass surface is touching the floor. You want that the glass object would float ever so slightly above the floor, not touch it and not go below it, otherwise you will get incorrect results.

Everything is “flying” 1 mm above the ground plane

15

[Max] I need help! / Re: Liquid in Glass - Bug or is it me?

« on: 2021-07-29, 15:06:16 »

This is the same in V6 and V7 regardless if the legacy mtl or physical mtl is used:
https://corona-renderer.com/comparer/fSfEaR

We can report this and probably some improvements could be made, but:
- how much of a problem is this for you? (and possibly other users - if we could hear some other voices)

well all is relative, I prefer to have things like these as a single object.

When making larger setups I often distribute them using either RailClone or ForestPro - and then it complicate things when they are groups instead of single objects

- is it a problem when creating new models?

not really

- is it a problem when importing existing models?

well that depends. Different renders has different ways of handeling these things, - so 8 out of 10 times you have to remodel the fluid anyway

Btw in that connection - how do you make a correct looking fluid simulation, if the fluid need to be intersecting the container???

On the other hand this can be seen as a feature that could probably help in some cases so I am not sure if we want to get rid of this option completely.