New Mental Ray shaders development

[Daniel Brassard]

there was a mental ray string tool, I can't find the thread ?

Here you go.

http://www.si-community.com/community/v ... =27&t=3312

[Falam]

I've been using the MilA between Maya & Softimage. I'm having an overall problem, the shader setup looks great, except when I apply a diffuse map, it's invisible, I've tried plugging it into the diffuse transmission, into the weight tint, nothing, I shifted around the layers, that breaks the desired look, arghh

[j3st3r]

Guys,

I've just tried to use this shader, but I got an error message and Mental Ray is disabled for the rest of the session. Does anybody can help me installing this properly under Softimage 2014 SP2?


Cheers


Szabolcs

[Kzin]

i quote myself here from the beginning of the thread.

new shaders are out as a betaversion.

download the shader here:
http://forum.nvidia-arc.com/showthread.php?12260-Layering-library

installation is like the user ibl:

- mi file in "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2013\Application\phenolib\mi"

- dll in "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2013\Application\bin\nt-x86-64"

i also copied the files from the commom\include into C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2013 SP1\Application\phenolib\include

they can be found in rendertree under nodes-->mentalray-->material, all with the mila prefix.

and dont forget to read the docs to know how to setup and how the parameters works because some things changed, like the glossi parameter. ;)


i like the new setup and most important features, importance sampling and correct lightsource sampling without to need a hell lot of rays.
sss works now without a lightmap, which makes it way easier to setup and tune.

edit: dont forget to use arealights. the shaders are designed for this type of light.

[j3st3r]

Thanks KZin, I followed this, and yet MR crashes...

What mi did you copied into the phenolib folder? mi file is mresent only in the common/include folder apparently

[Kzin]

Thanks KZin, I followed this, and yet MR crashes...

What mi did you copied into the phenolib folder? mi file is mresent only in the common/include folder apparently

are you sure you have the right mila package? there is one for mr 3.10 and one for 3.11 and you will need the 3.11 version for si4014sp2.

[j3st3r]

Yes. I doublechecked

[j3st3r]

ray-layering-shader-experimental-3.11-183520.13317 this is what I have from the download thread.

[rray]

It does that when anything else but a layer node is plugged into the mila material

[Kzin]

ok, step by step:

layering.dll --> ...\Application\bin\nt-x86-64

layering.mi --> ...\Application\phenolib\mi


and the files from this folder
\ray-layering-shader-experimental-3.11-183520.13317\common\include

go into this
...\Application\phenolib\include

[j3st3r]

Fine. The layering.mi is from the common folder, am I right?

rray: you must be right, I accidentally connected the mila_adapter node, since I had a warning that it should be connected, otherwise it seems to work fine now. Thanks guys the help!

[j3st3r]

So, when I connect mila_specualr_refelction into the mila_layer, MR hangs and then XSI crashes immediately.

[j3st3r]

Am I alone with the feeling that it produces very inconsistent results?

It might be the lack of knowledge, but

a) it crashes MR frequently (mostly when reflection is used)
b) it neglects XSI color management, so apprently linear workflow is not working
c) I do not get the idea behind layering, I thought it works like additive, but it seems that it's like the constrain system...

It looks promising, however...

[j3st3r]

consider c) as resolved I did my homwork and read the FM (RTFM)

[Kzin]

i dont have crashes like you. the only way mr or si to crash with mila is not using the mila_material node between mila_layer and surface material node.

linear workflow works like a charm. are you sure your setup is right in xsi preferences? can reproduce the breaking of it.
mr is using linear color values by default and its rendering "linear". there is no such thing in the renderer that needs to be activated. we have to input linear values to the renderer, like texture degamma for example for correct rendering of color values. and at the end we need to see it right on our screen so we have to add a 2.2 gamma. you dont activate or change mr to render linear or such thing, it is doing this by default. so if you have problems, i guess you use the wrong setup inside xsi for conversion or render view.

[j3st3r]

I have set everything in the Display Preferences.

When I render a simple Lambert shaded torus, it's obviously lighter than the one rendered with mila. With mila, the shadows are pitch dark, while the other object's shadows are bright.

MR crashes almost instantly when I try to reorder the layers (disconnect and reconnect the nodes)

I use the shaders for MR3.11 and Softimage 2014 SP2