More about MetaSL in 3ds Max 2011

Aloha again!

Sorry for not making a proper "post SIGGRAPH post", but I've been "post SIGGRAPH busy". And as always, me being Busy, means good things for you all.... in the future. :)



I've gotten a ton of questions about MetaSL in 3ds Max, and since the public beta mentioned in a previous post has now been discontinued (you can still use the 30 day trial if you like it will time out approximately the same time that the public beta would have timed out anyway), the interest in "what was the app actually doing and can I do it myself" has increased.

So let me explain the process 3ds Max uses to load/use a MetaSL shader:

Max uses configuration files located in the <3dsmax>\mentalimages\shaders_standard\MetaSL\Config directory to define how it works.


First there is a file in this directory named MaxMetaSLNodeTexmap.tbx. This file contains entries of which MetaSL shaders are shown in the MetaSL section in the Slate material editor.

By default, only a handful of shaders are actually in this file, but anyone can open up this file and add new entries for any of the standard MetaSL shaders that ship with max (and all the shaders in mental mill are included in this set).

So by adding a line like, for example


<palette_item type="node_class" node_class="generator_blend_ramp" image="conversion.bmp"/>


...will make the standard shader generator_blend_ramp visible in your Slate "MetaSL" toolbox! (NOTE: You must add it before the closing "<palette/>" line)



That's fine for "standard" shaders, but what about adding your OWN shader?

Well, when max is looking for a MetaSL shader name (technically, a MetaSL class name), it rummages through the file NodeToMsl_MappingTable.xml in that same directory.

This file contains entries similar to these:


<Item ClassName="Color_contrast" XMSLName="color_balance.xmsl"/>
<Item ClassName="Color_gamma" XMSLName="color_balance.xmsl"/>
<Item ClassName="Color_saturation" XMSLName="color_balance.xmsl"/>


This links a class name ("Color_contrast" for example) to a file that needs to be loaded to define that class name ("color_balance.xmsl" in that case).

If we further look into the file "color_balance.xmsl" (which lives in the <3dsmax>\mentalimages\shaders_standard\MetaSL\XMSL directory), we will find it consists only of this line:


<root>
<metasl_code file_name="color_balance.msl"/>
</root>


What we see is that this file simply loads the "color_balance.msl" file (which lives in the <3dsmax>\mentalimages\shaders_standard\MetaSL\MSL directory). Now this XMSL file could have defined a whole phenomena of it's own (of the desired class name), but in this case it didn't... it simply deffered to say "nah, to find that class, just load this MSL file, it will defined that class".

And if we were to open up "generator_blend_ramp.msl" we will find some shader code that indeed defines this shader.


So, to add our OWN shader, all we need to do are the following steps. Assume we have a simple shader that multiplies two colors, like this:

shader mul2colors {
  input:
    Color A;
    Color B;
  output:
    Color result;

  void main() {
    result = A * B;
  }
};

#1: We our shader code in a file in the <3dsmax>\mentalimages\shaders_standard\MetaSL\MSL directory in a file named multi_two_colors.MSL

#2: Create an XMSL file in the <3dsmax>\mentalimages\shaders_standard\MetaSL\MSL\mult_two_colors.xmsl that simply reffers to the MSL file, using the simple format above, e.g.

<root>
<metasl_code file_name="mult_two_colors.msl"/>
</root>


#3: Add an entry in the <3dsmax>\mentalimages\shaders_standard\MetaSL\Config\NodeToMSL_MappingTable.xml file for the new class, mapping the shader name ("mul2colors") to the .xmsl file name ("mult_two_colors.xmsl")

<Item ClassName="mul2color" XMSLName="mult_two_colors.xmsl"/>


#4: Finally, make it visible by adding it to the 3ds Max MetaSL Slate toolbox by adding a line to the <3dsmax>\mentalimages\shaders_standard\MetaSL\Config\MaxMetaSLNodeTexmap.tbx file (prior to the closing "<palette/>" line:
<palette_item type="node_class" node_class="mul2colors" image="conversion.bmp"/>

Note: The name of the bitmap isn't important since 3ds Max creates it's own bitmaps by actually running the shader w. it's default parameters to generate the toolbox icon.


Hope this makes sense?

ALSO, DO NOT FORGET that my FXPHD class is still running... we're in the week 5 "break week" currently. There is still time to sign up (FXPHD allows signups up until the 8:th class week). So be there, or be hexagonal! ;)


/Z

Heading off to SIGGRAPH 2010

A quick note: Heading off to SIGGRAPH right... now.

Those who want to follow me do it most easily on twitter, and I may post some neat stuff on QiK once in a while:

twitter.com/MasterZap

facebook.com/MasterZap

qik.com/MasterZap

Enjoy

/Z

MRY201 mental ray FXPHD course to be RE-RUN for July 2010 term

For those of you who missed my FXPHD course back in January, fear not, because it is being run AGAIN this upcoming July term!







Scroll down to my previous postings about the course for more info! Now, this is a re-run, so it is the same classes as before (with some minor updates and corrections, especially to Class #1), but I will still be available in the FXPHD forum for the new students to ask their questions!

For more info about the course click here or just go to www.fxphd.com

For now, though, I'm off on some vacation, coming back in time for SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles! More about that in a later post!

/Z

MetaSL in 3ds Max 2011 - demo

After posting my last post, I've gotten a lot of questions around the MetaSL implementation in 3ds Max 2011 and the Mental Mill SE 1.1 beta. Well... to demonstrate this, I've made a little video presentation (actually a shortened version of what I showed at the EUE event mentioned two posts back).

So click here to check out the video, it's 15 minutes of me rambling....




The presentation shows my MetaSL "eye" shader (to be posted soon) run in mental mill, mental ray, 3ds Max viewport, and the Quicksilver renderer.

Enjoy! :)

/Z

mental mill 1.1 Standard Edition public beta 2

Notice: There is a new public beta of mental mill 1.1 Standard Edition

One particular neat feature with this beta is an exporter I built for it that exports MetaSL shaders to 3ds Max 2011 directly from inside the mill.

The workflow is basically this:

• Build your shader tree in mental mill
• Select the root node
• Go to File->Export
• Choose the "Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 (Slate Extension)" exporter
• (First time only: Select your 3ds max installation directory)
• Hit "Export" button.
• Start Max

Now you will see the shader in the Slate material editor "MetaSL" category.
These shaders now...

• ...work in the 3ds Max viewport
• ...render in mental ray
• ...render in Quicksilver
• ...and any other MetaSL compatible renderer!

And the coolest part is that it works even with your own custom made MetaSL shaders, in all above renderers! This is different than the MetaSL support in Max 2010 that was locked to the shader set shipping with it. Not so in Max 2011, you can build your own shaders. They compile automatically in the back and "just work". Even raytracing calls in the shaders get converted to the automatically generate cube reflection maps for Quicksliver, which is quite neat :)

Expect lots and lots of posts on this topic coming soon - for those that are curious about this workflow and want to see it up close, and see me debug some shaders live, pop up in Utrecht, Netherlands, next week (June 3-4, 2010) at www.EndUserEvent.com (see previous post)

Known Issues:

• There are some known issues with the Lookup_Texture_2d node not showing in the viewport with gamma correction enabled, but I hear this should be fixed in a 3ds Max service pack (hopefully). It still works in mental ray / Quicksilver.
• If Texture2d inputs exist inside a phenomena in your mill graph but are not exposed to the interface of the Phoneomenon, they will not get properly filled in when loaded into 3ds Max. To fix this, simply expose the "Texture2d" to the interface of the Phenomenon.

Find the download for mental mill 1.1 Standard Edition here

Have fun!

/Z

End User Event, Jun 3-4 2010, Utrecht / Netherlands

A heads up:

On June 3/4, my good friend Joep van der Steen, author of "rendering with mental ray & 3ds Max" will be - again - hold the "End User Event".

Imagine it as a very tiny and very European and very personal mini-version of Siggraph. There are two days filled with lectures and talks and mingling, and, yeah... it's held in a bar. :) (Well, a bar with conference rooms on the sides)

Sign up now if you want to join in on the fun. I'll be speaking there about MetaSL in 3ds Max 2011 and some other mental-ray-y things.... see you there.

www.EndUserEvent.com

/Z

FXPHD, closed, done, complete, over. PHEW

Well, that was an interesting ride of 10 weeks of doing FXPHD. And while I really enjoyed doing it, well, it was quite a lot of work (since I'm such a nerdy perfectionist and want to embellish everything to the border of insanity) so I won't be doing it again any time soon....

I have not heard if the FXPHD guys plan to re-run the course, at least it is not being re-run immediately for the current April term starting up in the next few weeks. And of course, if/when it is re-run, it's the same classes run again, so all I have to do then is to hang around in the forums for questions, which is much easier....

It was quite fun to see the progress of the students and I saw quite a few nice renders done by them. I think I made several people see the light of linear rendering... :)



I'll let you guys know when more similar stuff happens. Next up is EUE (more in a future post)

Also, expect some trickle-down effect for the blog. I created some nifty Phenomena for the FXPhd course that I will post here after some polish.... stay tuned!

/Z