Messages

16

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Chaos Corona 10 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2023-05-26, 20:23:04 »

With DB 5-23-2024 and Max 2024.1 the permanent freeze when hitting 'Ctrl-C' button in the VFB is back.  You have to kill Max, waiting doesn't help.  I will try to remember to get a dump next time. 

This bug had been gone for me in Max 2023 (and also previous DBs of Corona 10.)  I upgraded both Corona and Max at the same time so I'm not sure which broke.  Latest Windows 10, 3970x, 2080Ti.

17

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Max extremely slow to close

« on: 2023-05-25, 23:18:35 »

Just updated to 2024.1 and it still happens.  And for me it's not how long Max has been open, but rather the scene size.  I just opened a large scene, messed with the new slate material editor, and tried to close it after 5 minutes of being open.  It's been sitting there for at least 5 waiting to close....

Latest DB of corona, latest forest pack, Windows 10, 3970x w\ 128gb ram.

18

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Taking a break

« on: 2023-04-20, 21:40:01 »

Good luck, Ondra!  Time with kids is the best.  Thanks for letting us all know.

Cheers,
Daniel

19

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Chaos Corona 10 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2023-02-06, 04:53:34 »

I found the latest daily to introduce some lag with modifier spinners and certain selections while IR was running.  I don't know if it was just me or not...I had to downgrade because I am on a deadline but thought I'd put it out there in case anyone is experiencing anything else similar.  Things did seem back to normal when I downgraded to the next most recent daily, but I can always upgrade again when time allows.

Thanks,
Daniel

20

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Max extremely slow to close

« on: 2023-01-27, 07:05:39 »

I've been experiencing this on and off for years.  If you google around you'll see other people have similar issues (https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-forum/3ds-max-2019-3-slow-exiting/td-p/8504663)  The difference between me and that report is that with simple\nearly empty scenes it closes pretty quick.  But with anything moderately heavy it can take 10 minutes to close.  Some people in that thread seem to have solved it by enabling\disabling their network cards but I was never able to solve it that way.

Honestly what I normally do is just save the scene and then kill it through task manager.  Not ideal, but it saves a ton of time.

Running threadrippers on Windows 10 and have seen this issue in Max 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023...latest Corona, Pulze, Forest Pack, Railclone.

21

General CG Discussion / Re: Client Review/Collaboration Tools

« on: 2023-01-18, 06:39:08 »

We went down this route and tried a collaboration option or two a few years back.  Honestly most of our clients are architects who preferred to use Bluebeam to mark up our pdf rather than learn a new tool.  We went back to more or less the process you describe.

Others will surely have more to add, but that was our experience for what it’s worth.  Cheers!

22

Hardware / Re: Threadripper 5975wx VS 3990x

« on: 2023-01-11, 05:37:03 »

I've wondered about the Epyc too but can never find any information about what it would take to build a 2 CPU node\workstation. There must be constraints that make it less popular.

I'm still curious about the intel 13900k chip and whether or not the high single core speed affects day-to-day single thread workflow.  I haven't seen anyone make a comparison between that and a 39xx chip when it comes to workstation performance. 

23

General CG Discussion / Re: Vantage and Corona

« on: 2023-01-11, 05:32:22 »

+1+1+1

24

Hardware / Re: Threadripper 5975wx VS 3990x

« on: 2023-01-10, 20:21:45 »

We have both 3990x's and a 3970x.  I used to think the 3970x was snappier due to its slightly higher clock speed for single core tasks, but I think I was just fooling myself, they're really about the same for workflow.  The 3990x, though, is way faster when set loose on our farm.  I don't have exact numbers but when watching them all work away in our render manager the 3970x always seems about 30-35% slower.

25

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Corona Bump is so broken

« on: 2022-12-19, 17:14:31 »

Yes, agreed. For better or for worse my assumption often is that the software is right and I am wrong.  Plus I am busy, so I can’t report a hypothetical issue.

For what it’s worth we always tell junior staff to be careful with Bump in Corona because it’s unpredictable and not that great.  Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE corona and all its features and it’s our primary engine.  But bump is not its highlight in our experience.  When I reduce blur it is better but sometimes kind of ‘rough.’  Anyway, would be cool to see this revisited by the dev team…maybe an alternate filtering method?

How about explaining clearly how texture filtering works? I bet this would be much more beneficial to junior staff than „it’s unpredictable and not that great”.

We do explain filtering, too, of course.  That's kind of the point of this whole thread and also my comment:  even with a basic understanding of filtering, bump at glancing angles still acts in such a way as to deserve special treatment\explanation\occasional avoidance.  I'm thinking specifically about tree leaves.  We often leave bump off altogether for distant trees because we can get a natural look without it and find it to be more predictable when it comes to specularity (not to mention faster).  Again, YMMV but that's our experience and it seems I'm not the only one.

26

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Corona Bump is so broken

« on: 2022-12-19, 08:09:14 »

+1 for not agreeing with the “if people aren’t complaining then it must be ok”.

In this instance I can at least see why it was done but sometimes we just assume it works.

Sometimes it’s a stupid thing like uvw randomisation doesn’t work with certain shader setups. You’ll spend an age dicking around and then eventual give up and fudge it and assume that it must be user error.

Yes, agreed. For better or for worse my assumption often is that the software is right and I am wrong.  Plus I am busy, so I can’t report a hypothetical issue.

For what it’s worth we always tell junior staff to be careful with Bump in Corona because it’s unpredictable and not that great.  Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE corona and all its features and it’s our primary engine.  But bump is not its highlight in our experience.  When I reduce blur it is better but sometimes kind of ‘rough.’  Anyway, would be cool to see this revisited by the dev team…maybe an alternate filtering method?

27

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Chaos Corona 10 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2022-12-06, 06:46:01 »

I've been getting significantly more crashes with IR running and the latest Corona 10 daily (11-25.)  Grabbed a dump and posted it with ticket #70823.  It will occur randomly but most predictably when I hit 'Stop' in the VFB when IR is running.

Thanks,
Daniel

EDIT:  Actually it seems that the crash results from having two copies of the same PhoenixFD fire in the same scene with IR running and me hitting 'Stop'.  And the crash occurs with Corona 9 stable, too.  Hopefully this post and my ticket are still relevant and solvable.

28

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Chaos Corona 10 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2022-11-10, 16:11:28 »

Woooo!  Exciting. 

By the way, not sure if it's something you'd want to change for 10 DBs or even Corona 9 Hotfix 1, but when we install Corona 9 in our studio as an update it does not effectively check to see if a newer version of Max is installed.  So we recently installed 2023 and had to go to 'advanced' in the install when we upgraded from Corona 9 latest DB to Corona 9 official.  Not a big deal, but might make life a little simpler for people.  FYI.

29

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Clouds playground!

« on: 2022-11-04, 22:04:39 »

We continue to love the clouds.  However we're working on an island project right now where it's typical to see distant clouds on the horizon (pink at sunset, etc) but NO clouds above you.  It's just a certain 'look' we're after.  Is that possible with the corona sky clouds?  I've modified the seed endlessly, and dropped the height limit to as low as I can but just can't quite seem to create a 'horizon bias.'

Thanks!

30

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Chaos Corona 9 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2022-10-14, 17:14:09 »

Is there a way to make the docked viewport IR show lightmix?  Right now it seems to default to Beauty and I can't find a way to change it.  Could have sworn it used to goto LM before switching to these recent DBs but maybe I'm misremembering...

Thanks!
Daniel