Messages

166

[Max] I need help! / Re: Camera and White Balance questions

« on: 2023-09-26, 18:29:19 »

I personally use the VFB, I just gave the OP a suggestion so he can use the workflow he prefers. Each to his own

167

[Max] I need help! / Re: Corona crashing when rendering in 3ds Max

« on: 2023-09-24, 08:15:18 »

No worries, glad to help.

168

[Max] I need help! / Re: Corona crashing when rendering in 3ds Max

« on: 2023-09-23, 13:53:50 »

First when I render your scene it crashed. However it looks like your paths are too long. It doesnt exceed 256 characters but when I dumped all your external files into one folder it worked.

You can use a program called suction to do this. You put all the files into one folder, then drop that folder into the suction window. It puts all child files into that folder, effectively removing all subfolders and only keeping files which shortens your path locations (attached).

When I said compression I was talking about save file compression (attached). Doesnt look like its an issue for this scene however.

169

[Max] I need help! / Re: Turn off max displacment but keep Corona displacment

« on: 2023-09-22, 10:36:55 »

Personally I dont use this option but maybe worth a try. In render settings there is a displacement option, also in the modifier. Is that what you are after?

170

[Max] I need help! / Re: Corona crashing when rendering in 3ds Max

« on: 2023-09-22, 08:31:03 »

You didnt attach any of the textures, did you relink them in your merged scene?

Looks like it renders ok here, no crash so far. How much RAM do you have? Are you using lots of 4k textures?

Also looks like you have compression turned on, try turn that off ive had issues with that in the past.

171

[Max] Corona Goodies - User Contributions / Re: Corona Physical to Autodesk Physical Material Converter

« on: 2023-09-21, 15:05:13 »

Yeah but watch what happens if you rewire that node lol, does some funky stuff.

Since it doesnt happen in 3dsmax2021 Im thinking it has to be a bug in 3dsmax2024 slate editor - not refreshing properly. Anyway if its still an issue after the next autodesk update ill take a look if it becomes a problem.

By design it replaces that node entirely. Like it does in 3dsmax 2021. That screws with my OCD :D

Before:


After:

172

[Max] Corona Goodies - User Contributions / Re: Corona Physical to Autodesk Physical Material Converter

« on: 2023-09-21, 13:46:05 »

By the way, I notice randomly when running this script in 2024 it creates a second normal node, its not connected but it has some weird phantom connection so when you re-wire it somewhere it adds connections to both. Kind of hard to explain but I cant replicate this in 2021 so I'm guessing its a slate editor bug in 2024. You can safely delete that second node otherwise.

Strangely I found that if I Hold the scene and then run the script and that extra node appears, I Fetch the scene, run the script again and then it doesnt do it. Which is why Im thinking its a random bug.

173

[Max] Corona Goodies - User Contributions / Re: Corona Physical to Autodesk Physical Material Converter

« on: 2023-09-21, 11:16:02 »

Ah nice, thank you for this little improvement! :]

No worries.

That's strange, if i drop the script on the viewport, Max reads the script from the folder i dropped it, but as soon as i restart the Max, it reads the script from usermacros folder,

Yeah thats the way macros work, for example .ms scripts are just run once and are not stored, but if you put a macro in the .ms file it puts it into your macroscripts dir so it can be loaded at start time. FYI if you are interested - lots of macros can slow max down at startup or even corrupt the ENU if something breaks. Just something to keep in mind if that folder gets mind boggling big and you dont use half of those scripts anymore for example.

where the script file has no versioning in its filename and its content is modified by stripping away the portion that is marked in your screenshot.

Yeah I wasnt aware of that being stripped once it sets it as a macro, but now it makes sense thanks for the heads up. I'll just do it this way from here on.

174

[Max] Corona Goodies - User Contributions / Re: Corona Physical to Autodesk Physical Material Converter

« on: 2023-09-21, 11:02:48 »

Ok I see what you mean, you can always open the attached .ms file and you will see it at the top. No these are not new, its always been like that. Ill just put it below the macro anyway so if you redownload 1.9 now it should be there for you.

175

[Max] Corona Goodies - User Contributions / Re: Corona Physical to Autodesk Physical Material Converter

« on: 2023-09-21, 10:16:33 »

Script attached to this post

Version 1.9 Features:
- Updated CoronaNormal -> Normal node to work scene wide instead of locally. Should instance throughout uses eg. Bump, Coat_Bump etc.

All good. Maybe if you could move comments section after "macroscript" line, so that 3ds Max won't be stripping it away and the user would have ability to quickly check which version he's using, that would be nice.

Hey romullus, not sure what you mean by stripping away, when you right click on the button and select Edit Macro Script can you not see the section at the top? Or are you doing this a different way?

176

General CG Discussion / Re: Converting .TX (Arnold) images to TIF/JPG

« on: 2023-09-21, 08:02:00 »

You can drag and drop tx files into Corona Bitmap 'load map'. They are supported since Corona 9.

FYI just be aware when you convert those textures you lose the mipmapping, probably doesn't matter for your use case though I assume.

177

[Max] Bug Reporting / Re: Output handle is missing in some corona maps

« on: 2023-09-16, 14:32:35 »

Hm ok interesting. Personally I use both depending on what I'm doing, but I find the old one much faster to work with. From my perspective I like the fact its thin and vertical, instead of wide and horizontal. I also think nodes are overkill unless doing complex tasks or using multiple in/outputs. For me I much prefer layer systems over node systems, even though I use nodes for many different applications, its great for procedural thinking but sometimes I want to keep my thinking linear - reminds me of using photoshop vs nuke/natron.

Each to their own of course.

178

[Max] Bug Reporting / Re: Output handle is missing in some corona maps

« on: 2023-09-15, 18:22:19 »

Not here to provide any help, hope I'm not hijacking. I am genuinely curious why do you use the slate editor?

I understand that using controllers can be great for multiple inputs (like coordinates etc) otherwise why is it preferred over the standard material editor? Do you ever switch between them or you stay constantly in slate?

179

Off-Topic / Re: What cg-related blogs / websites do you read?

« on: 2023-09-15, 11:07:44 »

Podcasts I listen to are Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett, and The Collective by Ash Thorp.

I also watch so much of Steven Bartlett, he has a great way of interviewing people. Ive never heard of Ash Throp, thanks for the recommendation.

currently trying to get my head round Substance to see how it could fit into or improve my current workflows.

Not sure what your day to day kind of work is but Substance truly changed how I work and I use it pretty much daily. There is so much that can be automated and really helped me work way faster.

Now, Martijn Doolaard and his Italian cottage building on other hand is my perfect idea of procrastination.

Ha, I love these types of videos! Not sure why but I think its just human to want to be outside building something and doing something useful. Very tranquil.

A bigger issue is re-using assets from old projects but instead of having a coherent library with nice previews, it's always the same process of opening old scenes and trying to find it, copying it and merging into a new project. But I guess that just requires some dedication and time, and I'm sure it will be solved :)

Ah yeah I see. That is an ongoing process and will never be perfect I suppose. We used Project Manager years ago to do batch previews of common assets from previous projects. But as you said, it does require dedication since that's a never ending process of what your colleagues/bosses/customers like most and what gets re-used often etc.

And it's always nice to hear anything from your point of view Juraj. I'm also on the same boat with CommonPoint tutorials which I have started but find it difficult to finish it (even though it's so well laid out and all). The amount of information and tutorials out there is becoming so vast that at some point you even start to wonder if it's even worth learning it if you can't learn it all.

I have to agree with both of you, having a library of content is very useful even if you don't read/watch it periodically. I often find that when the situation arises where I need the information I will have some reference for it on file. I probably spend more time archiving old information and 'bookmarking' the best quality stuff since I will refer back to it more often. I find these are usually universal concepts and not related to technical walkthroughs, since most concepts can be related to other topics - such as color grading or modular workflows as Juraj mentioned.

180

[Max] Corona Goodies - User Contributions / Re: AgX in Corona

« on: 2023-09-15, 10:21:03 »

While they both have issues with blowout areas, from my perspective I like the AcesOT more than the AGXLuts. The AGX looks washed out to me, losing a lot of contrast. Maybe I'm just used to how modern phones adjust photos to look nice and punchy.