Hello Everybody and a Happy New 2014!
Special new years greetings with this little film my son made. Only thing I did was some "voice acting".
I pre-warn and pre-apologize to anyone who ACTUALLY knows Japanese. It's part of the joke...
So I know this blog is a bit dormant, but I promise that Hard Work is being done behind the scenes at my new job at Autodesk.
It'll be.... awesome. :)
Stay tuned....
/Z
2013-08-26
Movies using mia_material / Arch&Design ?
Hello!
I'm compiling a list of movies that use the mia_material shader (known as "Arch&Design" if you are a 3ds Max user). I need this to present in front of the Sci/Tech Oscars committee on September 19th 2013... so quick answers are better then slow ones :)
Did you work on a feature film?
Let me know in the comment field, or drop me an email, tweet me a DM @MasterZap or... whatever.
Thanks!
/Z
2013-08-19
Shinines vs Rougness vs XXX poll
I have a question about preference, since this seems to differ between people I talk to... and I'm starting to be curious as what is actually most "widespread":
The question: For a glossy reflection shader, what parameter do you want to define how "glossy" reflectoins are... and what "direction" should it work?
Clearly the name "glossiness" (that mia_material) uses is suboptimal, because some people associate "more glossiness" with "more blurry reflections" whereas others associate "more glossiness" with "more polished i.e. closer to a mirror".
So there are a few choices, either go with "shininess" which is easier to understand that a "higher" value is "more like a mirror". However, Physically Based Shading is talking increasingly about "roughness" as the value (the MILA shaders use that, for example). Unfortunatly, the "roughness" as defined in physics goes from "zero to infinity" in a very visually "nonlinear" way, and hence is very hard to map a texture to. In the other end of the spectrum we have "specular exponents" like Phong, that also go from "zero to infinity" but the other way around.....
So .... I just want to hear from you, the user community, what you think is preferred.
/Z
/Z
The question: For a glossy reflection shader, what parameter do you want to define how "glossy" reflectoins are... and what "direction" should it work?
Clearly the name "glossiness" (that mia_material) uses is suboptimal, because some people associate "more glossiness" with "more blurry reflections" whereas others associate "more glossiness" with "more polished i.e. closer to a mirror".
So there are a few choices, either go with "shininess" which is easier to understand that a "higher" value is "more like a mirror". However, Physically Based Shading is talking increasingly about "roughness" as the value (the MILA shaders use that, for example). Unfortunatly, the "roughness" as defined in physics goes from "zero to infinity" in a very visually "nonlinear" way, and hence is very hard to map a texture to. In the other end of the spectrum we have "specular exponents" like Phong, that also go from "zero to infinity" but the other way around.....
So .... I just want to hear from you, the user community, what you think is preferred.
/Z
/Z
2013-07-19
SIGGRAPH 2013 and Cinefex
Hello everybody! Sorry for the lack of posting.
SIGGRAPH 2013
As usual this time of year, it's time for the SIGGRAPH conference, this year in Anaheim. Yes, I am going, and as a matter of fact I am Speaking. Thursday, before lunch, in the "Physically Plausible Shading in Theory and Practice", I will hold a talk named "Everything you always wanted to know about mia_material * (* but were afraid to ask)", which will explain the story of how the mia_material (Arch&Design to 3ds max users) shader was developed, why it does what it does, why it is so hard to replicate... and a lot of funny anecdotes never ever heard elsewhere (and very very little math).
Show up - enjoy!
If you are attending this year, make sure to get the cool App, where you can see which talks I'm going to by "following" Zap Andersson. That is, if you are interested in hardcore rendering as I am ;)
See you all in Anaheim
HULK SAYS "GIVE ME ALL THE CINEFEX"
I bet nearly everyone reading this blog knows about the magazine Cinefex and is probably a subscriber. But I bet many of us has also looked longingly at the back issues and how many times have we not wanted to hold that issue about E.T. in your hands?
Well... you may be able to... soon... assuming your hands also hold an iPad!
A couple of people I know have gone through the audacious task of licencing all the Cinefex back issues and speant a year scanning every copy, OCR'ed it, marked it up for search.... etc.
Words fail me at describing this task, and I will let them describe it for themsleves, on their Kickstarter page, which you can find HERE:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/newscribbler/cinefex-classic-collection
Or watch this video:
If you find this interesting, consider throwing them a $ or more for the effort. I don't even have an iPad and still did it. Just the Blade Runner issue of Cinefex recently went for $250 on eBay. Here you ALL TEH CINEFEXES. That's...a deal.
/Z
SIGGRAPH 2013
As usual this time of year, it's time for the SIGGRAPH conference, this year in Anaheim. Yes, I am going, and as a matter of fact I am Speaking. Thursday, before lunch, in the "Physically Plausible Shading in Theory and Practice", I will hold a talk named "Everything you always wanted to know about mia_material * (* but were afraid to ask)", which will explain the story of how the mia_material (Arch&Design to 3ds max users) shader was developed, why it does what it does, why it is so hard to replicate... and a lot of funny anecdotes never ever heard elsewhere (and very very little math).
Show up - enjoy!
See you all in Anaheim
HULK SAYS "GIVE ME ALL THE CINEFEX"
I bet nearly everyone reading this blog knows about the magazine Cinefex and is probably a subscriber. But I bet many of us has also looked longingly at the back issues and how many times have we not wanted to hold that issue about E.T. in your hands?
Well... you may be able to... soon... assuming your hands also hold an iPad!
A couple of people I know have gone through the audacious task of licencing all the Cinefex back issues and speant a year scanning every copy, OCR'ed it, marked it up for search.... etc.
Words fail me at describing this task, and I will let them describe it for themsleves, on their Kickstarter page, which you can find HERE:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/newscribbler/cinefex-classic-collection
Or watch this video:
If you find this interesting, consider throwing them a $ or more for the effort. I don't even have an iPad and still did it. Just the Blade Runner issue of Cinefex recently went for $250 on eBay. Here you ALL TEH CINEFEXES. That's...a deal.
/Z
2013-06-20
Speaking at SIGGRAPH 2013
Less than a week to EUE, less than a month to SIGGRAPH 2013
This year, I am speaking in the course "Physically Based Shading - Theory and Practice"
http://s2013.siggraph.org/attendees/courses/events/physically-based-shading-theory-and-practice
and my talk is entitled "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about mia_material (But Were Afraid to Ask)"
It will be a rush through the history and development of good o'le mia_material (Arch&Design in max-speak) and it will be informative and fun. :)
See you all there!
/Z
This year, I am speaking in the course "Physically Based Shading - Theory and Practice"
http://s2013.siggraph.org/attendees/courses/events/physically-based-shading-theory-and-practice
and my talk is entitled "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about mia_material (But Were Afraid to Ask)"
It will be a rush through the history and development of good o'le mia_material (Arch&Design in max-speak) and it will be informative and fun. :)
See you all there!
/Z
2013-05-20
My Secret Garden: End User Event 2013 in Utrecht
It's that time of year again! Time for the worlds least-known most friendly computer graphics conference... the unmistakable "End User Event" in Utrecht.
I won't say more than of course I am going and of course I am speaking. Would you have thought otherwise?
All the details are at www.EndUserEvent.com
I have some previous posts on the topic below, since I've been there Every Time.
So be there, or be an equilateral 4-point polygon whos adjacent edge vectors has the dot product zero!!
/Z
I won't say more than of course I am going and of course I am speaking. Would you have thought otherwise?
All the details are at www.EndUserEvent.com
I have some previous posts on the topic below, since I've been there Every Time.
So be there, or be an equilateral 4-point polygon whos adjacent edge vectors has the dot product zero!!
/Z
2013-05-08
Get the Balance Right: mental ray thread priority in 3ds max 2014
Hello World!
As promised (but later than I promised), some news about the new 3ds Max 2014 release that may not be immediately obvious.
One thing we changed in 3ds max 2014 was the thread priority of the mental ray render threads - they now default to "Below Normal", and when rendering in the background (i.e. via Backburner), one notch lower than that.
Most people praise this, and say things like "Woohoo, I can finally read my email while rendering" or "When we use the sales departmens machines as render slaves, they don't even know we are doing it any more, mouhahaha, hahaha, ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
However, once or twice someone says things like "Hey, my 3d screen saver on my render slave took all the CPU and now my render is still at 1% a week later, you suck!!"
So the question is - can this behaviour be changed?
YES IT CAN.
In your 3ds max directorys subdirectory "plugcfg_ln" you will find a file called "mentalray_cpu.ini", which is fairly self-explanatory, but reads something akin to this:
For thread priority we use the same parametrs as Windows does, where 0 is "same/Normal", -1 is "Below normal" and -2 is "Low". I advice you not to try a positive value, or you may not actually be able to move your mouse until the render completes....
For thread count, I made it such that if the value is zero, it does what it always did in the past - use all the cores.
However, if the value is positive, it will launch that number of threads - completely ignorind the number of cores on your machine. You can set it to 4 on an 8-core or 8 on a 4-core, doesn't matter, it's up to you - there may in some cases even be a benifit in using more threads than actual cores, but your mileage may vary.
Finally, if you set a negative value, it will take that many threads less than the available number of cores. This is really intended for the use case of using the accounting departments machines stealthily as render slaves.... leave them some CPU to do their spreadsheets on!
I hope this helps keeping your priorities straight!
/Z
As promised (but later than I promised), some news about the new 3ds Max 2014 release that may not be immediately obvious.
One thing we changed in 3ds max 2014 was the thread priority of the mental ray render threads - they now default to "Below Normal", and when rendering in the background (i.e. via Backburner), one notch lower than that.
Most people praise this, and say things like "Woohoo, I can finally read my email while rendering" or "When we use the sales departmens machines as render slaves, they don't even know we are doing it any more, mouhahaha, hahaha, ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
However, once or twice someone says things like "Hey, my 3d screen saver on my render slave took all the CPU and now my render is still at 1% a week later, you suck!!"
So the question is - can this behaviour be changed?
YES IT CAN.
In your 3ds max directorys subdirectory "plugcfg_ln" you will find a file called "mentalray_cpu.ini", which is fairly self-explanatory, but reads something akin to this:
;As you can see, we can set both thread count and thread priority by fiddling with this file. [Note: this file is read at Startup, so any changing of it needs you to restart your Max!]
; - mentalray_cpu.ini
;
; Sets thread priority and thread count for mental ray renderer.
; Meaning of Thread Priority numbers are
; 0 == Normal
; -1 == Below Normal
; -2 == Lowest
; Meaning of Thread Count numbers are
; 0 == Use as many threads as there are cores
; N == Use N threads
; -N == Use as many threads as there are cores, minus N
;
[Threads]
;
; Settings for normal / interactive renders in the UI
;
; Thread priority (defaults to -1 = "Below Normal")
RenderThreadPriority=-1
; Thread count (defaults to 0 = use all cores)
RenderThreadCount=0
;
; Settings for backburner / network renders
;
; Thread priority (defaults to -2 = "Lowest")
BgRenderThreadPriority=-2
; Thread count (defaults to 0 = use all cores)
BgRenderThreadCount=0
For thread priority we use the same parametrs as Windows does, where 0 is "same/Normal", -1 is "Below normal" and -2 is "Low". I advice you not to try a positive value, or you may not actually be able to move your mouse until the render completes....
For thread count, I made it such that if the value is zero, it does what it always did in the past - use all the cores.
However, if the value is positive, it will launch that number of threads - completely ignorind the number of cores on your machine. You can set it to 4 on an 8-core or 8 on a 4-core, doesn't matter, it's up to you - there may in some cases even be a benifit in using more threads than actual cores, but your mileage may vary.
Finally, if you set a negative value, it will take that many threads less than the available number of cores. This is really intended for the use case of using the accounting departments machines stealthily as render slaves.... leave them some CPU to do their spreadsheets on!
I hope this helps keeping your priorities straight!
/Z
2013-03-27
Launching the 2014 product line...
In case you missed it, tonight is a "launch event" for the 2014 products from Autodesk Media and Entertainment, which includes some work I've done. I will be blogging more in detail later about what we added.
Here is the launch site:
You can also find the list of new features for 3ds Max. This is a very simplified list, though, and misses a LOT of stuff, like:
- Unified Sampling
- Image Based Lighting
- iRay 3.1
- Automatic Gamma Correction
- And more...
It also skips a lot of the "Small Annoying Things" we've fixed in the last year (where in our team alone nearly a 100 'tiny little things' and bugs and whatnot have been slain. Like for example:
- "Zoom about Mouse" is now the default - and works!
- mental ray thread priority no longer hangs your computer!
- New exception handling causes error handling to be much more robust
- Bugfixes. Bugfixes! BUGFIXES!!
- Etc. etc. etc.
Did we get to all I'd wanted to fix? For sure not. Max is a big product, and things like killing every bug related to gamma correction... well... that takes time :)
I'll blog on these things as we move forward. For now, have a fun Easter and enjoy the new release.
/Z
2013-03-18
So, Zap, what have you been up to lately?
Here's one answer to that question:
Enjoy.
Yes, this blog will see more activity soon.....
/Z
Enjoy.
Yes, this blog will see more activity soon.....
/Z
2012-12-18
Merry Christmas Everybody...
It's that time of year again... this time, in REMASTERED FULL HD GLORY:
For those really annoyed this blog has not been updated... I promise you 2013 will be The Year. For sure....assuming we survive the Mayan apocalypse. No not Maya, the Mayans.
Merry Christmas!
/Z
For those really annoyed this blog has not been updated... I promise you 2013 will be The Year. For sure....assuming we survive the Mayan apocalypse. No not Maya, the Mayans.
Merry Christmas!
/Z
2012-08-02
SiGGRAPH 2012
Sorry for the lack of posts, my friends, I've been busy.
But I will show up at SiGGRAPH 2012 in Los Angeles.
Follow my updates on twitter for more details.
/Z
But I will show up at SiGGRAPH 2012 in Los Angeles.
Follow my updates on twitter for more details.
/Z
2012-05-01
Prepare thyself for End User Event 2012
This alien has all that needs to be said said....
See you all there!
/Z
See you all there!
/Z
2011-10-16
Montreal Trip
Heading over to Montreal again.
I'm sorry this blog doesn't have much content these days, but I'm... busy. But being busy means good things for you guys, right? :)
In a while, there may be some new... interesting... posts here. For now.....
/Z
I'm sorry this blog doesn't have much content these days, but I'm... busy. But being busy means good things for you guys, right? :)
In a while, there may be some new... interesting... posts here. For now.....
/Z
2011-09-28
This is the 100:th post...
...and it's only appropriate that it is about the fact that I've been hired by Autodesk.
Yes, you've seen Ken spill the beans over on CGTalk. It is true. Autodesk has hired me to handle rendering and funky stuff like that. Pixels. Whatnot. Friday sept 30:th is my last day at mental images/NVidia (which I end by doing the meet-and-greet-3d event in Berlin, see previous post), and Monday October 3:rd my first day at at Autodesk... this time around (I used to work for Autodesk in the past, doing mechanical design software).
This all started around some discussion between my good friends Neil Hazzard, Shane Griffith and myself back at EUE (all good friends which will now be my actual colleagues). It was thrown out as an idea, we pondered the thought, thought it made sense, and I talked to my managers at mental images/NVidia, and everybody thought it made a lot of sense.
Integration of mental ray and iray into Autodesk products have always been.. problematic. Integration work was done by Autodesk, but there was never a dedicated person with enough precise know-how of the nitty-gritty details to handle it (or sometimes simply not enough priority put on it). Well...... now I will be working there. 'nuff said :)
I think this will be interesting, and I've been "Shader Wizard" for mental images (now "NVidia ARC" - "Advanced Rendering Center") for 7+ years now, perhaps it's time to move forward to New Challenges. Todays physical rendering doesn't really require "shaders" in the same way it did in the past anyway..... 'tis all BSDF's and physics and shiny stuff :)
It's not like I'm moving far anyway. I will probably be in all the same meeting, just on the other "side"....
I think this will be really interesting, and the future is Bright (about 95000 cd/m^2 to be exact). Lets go there together.
With Sunglasses.
Also, as I type this I am finalizing some Really Cool Sh%t. Stay tuned - as always :)
/Z
Yes, you've seen Ken spill the beans over on CGTalk. It is true. Autodesk has hired me to handle rendering and funky stuff like that. Pixels. Whatnot. Friday sept 30:th is my last day at mental images/NVidia (which I end by doing the meet-and-greet-3d event in Berlin, see previous post), and Monday October 3:rd my first day at at Autodesk... this time around (I used to work for Autodesk in the past, doing mechanical design software).
This all started around some discussion between my good friends Neil Hazzard, Shane Griffith and myself back at EUE (all good friends which will now be my actual colleagues). It was thrown out as an idea, we pondered the thought, thought it made sense, and I talked to my managers at mental images/NVidia, and everybody thought it made a lot of sense.
Integration of mental ray and iray into Autodesk products have always been.. problematic. Integration work was done by Autodesk, but there was never a dedicated person with enough precise know-how of the nitty-gritty details to handle it (or sometimes simply not enough priority put on it). Well...... now I will be working there. 'nuff said :)
I think this will be interesting, and I've been "Shader Wizard" for mental images (now "NVidia ARC" - "Advanced Rendering Center") for 7+ years now, perhaps it's time to move forward to New Challenges. Todays physical rendering doesn't really require "shaders" in the same way it did in the past anyway..... 'tis all BSDF's and physics and shiny stuff :)
It's not like I'm moving far anyway. I will probably be in all the same meeting, just on the other "side"....
I think this will be really interesting, and the future is Bright (about 95000 cd/m^2 to be exact). Lets go there together.
With Sunglasses.
Also, as I type this I am finalizing some Really Cool Sh%t. Stay tuned - as always :)
/Z
2011-09-14
Appearing at Meet and Greet 3D
On Sepmber 30:th 2011 I will be speaking at the Meet and Greet 3D event in Berlin.
I will do a small sit-down session about Linear Workflow at 2 PM, and a big-hall presentation about the physics of light at 11.50AM. <=== UPDATED TIME!!!
Venue info etc. available at www.MeetAndGreet3D.com
Location:
- Forum Adlershof, Rudower Chaussee 17, 12489 Berlin
See you all there. :)
/Z
2011-08-23
User Survey (and a chance to Win a Quadro 6000!)
Just a quick note; We are currently running a user survey, and anyone who fills this in can win a NVIDIA Quadro 6000 graphics card!It's a survey about how you use mental ray, and we want to gauge how it is being used across all possible industries. Appreciate your answers!
So please take the survey by clicking right here!
/Z
2011-06-29
What if SIGGRAPH was held in a Pub?
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if SIGGRAPH was about 200 of your best friends, had all the cool talks but none of the showfloor commercial glitz... and was held in a pub?
If you think that sounds like a good idea, you should have registered for the End User Event (see previous post). Me? I'm packing my last thing, flying down there now.
If you wish you were there, well..... I told you already. In the aformentioned previous post :)
This year I'm going a bit more abstract than previous years, and will be talking about "the Physics of Light", and 'tis gonna be fun.
I will (connection willing) try to amend this post with some pictures, videos, and other stuff as the event happens.
For those who want the (likely) stream of crazy updates, tune in to my twitter at twitter.com/MasterZap.... connection willing, of course.
/Z
2011-05-18
Welcome to EUE 2011
As several years previously, I will be presenting at the EUE (= "End User Event") 2011 in Utrecht, Netherlands.
The event is June 30:th/July 1:st, and it is held in the Florin, a nice old building that used to be a bank, but now is a pub..... with adjoined conference rooms.
Think of the event as the worlds smallest SIGGRAPH - only with the commercial glitz shaved off, and held in a pub. And if you walk outside, you are not run over by yellow cabs, but by blonde students on bicycles. Seriously, you almost need a bicycle helmet to walk the streets here. :)
Check out the www.EndUserEvent.com site for more details; there is even a Youtube behind-the-scenes channel where you can see the organizers setting up the event, which I found neat.
This year I will be talking about light, the perception thereof, and how to translate that knowledge to what you do in CG.
But I'm not the only one rambling, other speakers include:
See you in Utrecht!
/Z
The event is June 30:th/July 1:st, and it is held in the Florin, a nice old building that used to be a bank, but now is a pub..... with adjoined conference rooms.
Think of the event as the worlds smallest SIGGRAPH - only with the commercial glitz shaved off, and held in a pub. And if you walk outside, you are not run over by yellow cabs, but by blonde students on bicycles. Seriously, you almost need a bicycle helmet to walk the streets here. :)
Check out the www.EndUserEvent.com site for more details; there is even a Youtube behind-the-scenes channel where you can see the organizers setting up the event, which I found neat.
This year I will be talking about light, the perception thereof, and how to translate that knowledge to what you do in CG.
But I'm not the only one rambling, other speakers include:
- Jeff Mottle (CG Architect)
- Wayne Robson (y'know mudbox guy)
- Rune Spaans (about his work on Troll Hunter)
- Jamie Gwilliam (Autodesk)
- Neil Hazzard (Autodesk)
- Shane Griffith (Autodesk, will be holding an NDA session on future dev. of 3ds Max)
- Ted Boardman (often mistaken for a member of ZZ top)
- Johan Boekhoven
- Eric de Broche
- Yoni Cohen
- Borislab "Bobo" Petrov
- Hristo Velev
- ...and many more, see here
See you in Utrecht!
/Z
2011-04-26
Render Optimizer script for max 2012
I discussed progressive sampling in the previous post. Thorsten Hartmann and Artur Leão has collaborated on an "Über-script" for handling a ton of stuff. Torsten calls his variant "Render Optimizer" and can be found on this link:
http://www.infinity-vision.de/blog/render_optimizer
The Render Optimizer does a lot more than just turn on unified sampling, and Thorsten has several tutorial on the various subcomponents.
If you are overwhelmed by the number of tabs on Thorstens version, Artur also independently has a slightly different version on his site, called "mr Options Manager", which you can find here:
http://dimensao3.com/al/
I will be updating this post w. some tricks-and-tips myself shortly.
For now, Enjoy Thorsten and Arturs cool work!
/Z
http://www.infinity-vision.de/blog/render_optimizer
The Render Optimizer does a lot more than just turn on unified sampling, and Thorsten has several tutorial on the various subcomponents.
If you are overwhelmed by the number of tabs on Thorstens version, Artur also independently has a slightly different version on his site, called "mr Options Manager", which you can find here:
http://dimensao3.com/al/
I will be updating this post w. some tricks-and-tips myself shortly.
For now, Enjoy Thorsten and Arturs cool work!
/Z
2011-04-15
2012 and Unified Sampling
Hello World!
The new 2012 versions of the Autodesk products Max/Maya/Softimage are upon us, and they are loaded up with mental ray 3.9.
One of the cool new features in 3.9, which doesn't seem to be exposed in some of the products, is "unified sampling".
The new "Unified Sampling" is a new way to choose which and how many samples (i.e. "rays") are shot into a given pixel, and what position in space AND TIME those rays have.
This becomes very significant as we discuss motion blur.
For anyone who have read the Samples Tips page over at lamrug.org knows that mental ray normally shoots rays roughly in a grid (but with jittering, so it is not exactly a grid) which it subdivides adaptively as needed, and for motion blur, mental ray actually (in the default raytracing case) shoots multiple rays into the same spatial position, but with different temporal positions (effectively rendering the subpixel sample at more than one position in time).
An image from LAmrUG.org
Now, Unified sampling unifies (hence the name) spatial and temporal sampling. Each ray has it's own space AND time sample. And not only that, the convergence of both is adaptive, so you simply set a lower limit on the amount of rays (say, 1) and an upper limit (say, 100) and simply turn a quality knob. This tries to adaptively resolve any noise from any source, be it soft shadows, glossy reflections, or motion blur with the SAME oversampling scheme.
Sounds nice, eh? So it's a pity it wasn't included in the 3ds Max UI, isn't it?
Luckily, the FEATURE is still there, and can be reached via Scripting.
In the Beta team, a set of people generated scripts to solve this issue (there are even several), and here are a few places you can download such scripts:
Arthur Leão and Duncan Howdin cowrote this script (pictured above) which you can download from Arthur's site
at http://dimensao3.com/al/ (file itself here)
It allows you to set the parameters and by doing this improve render times with motion blur and quality of quasi-random effects such as soft shadows and glossy reflecitons more easily than in the past.
These scripts utilize the MaxScript exposure of mental ray "string options". A problem with the string option MaxScript feature is that it the state of string options is NOT saved with the .max file. However, Arthur has solved this isse with a callback in the script ... or somesuch magic, I suck at MaxScript myself... ;)
Thorsten Hartmann (Infinity Vision) wrote another version which he has posted at http://www.infinity-vision.de/blog/unified_sampling which also contains some information and test renders.
Enjoy Unification day!
/Z
The new 2012 versions of the Autodesk products Max/Maya/Softimage are upon us, and they are loaded up with mental ray 3.9.
One of the cool new features in 3.9, which doesn't seem to be exposed in some of the products, is "unified sampling".
The new "Unified Sampling" is a new way to choose which and how many samples (i.e. "rays") are shot into a given pixel, and what position in space AND TIME those rays have.
This becomes very significant as we discuss motion blur.
For anyone who have read the Samples Tips page over at lamrug.org knows that mental ray normally shoots rays roughly in a grid (but with jittering, so it is not exactly a grid) which it subdivides adaptively as needed, and for motion blur, mental ray actually (in the default raytracing case) shoots multiple rays into the same spatial position, but with different temporal positions (effectively rendering the subpixel sample at more than one position in time).
An image from LAmrUG.org
Now, Unified sampling unifies (hence the name) spatial and temporal sampling. Each ray has it's own space AND time sample. And not only that, the convergence of both is adaptive, so you simply set a lower limit on the amount of rays (say, 1) and an upper limit (say, 100) and simply turn a quality knob. This tries to adaptively resolve any noise from any source, be it soft shadows, glossy reflections, or motion blur with the SAME oversampling scheme.Sounds nice, eh? So it's a pity it wasn't included in the 3ds Max UI, isn't it?
Luckily, the FEATURE is still there, and can be reached via Scripting.
In the Beta team, a set of people generated scripts to solve this issue (there are even several), and here are a few places you can download such scripts:
Arthur Leão and Duncan Howdin cowrote this script (pictured above) which you can download from Arthur's site
at http://dimensao3.com/al/ (file itself here)
It allows you to set the parameters and by doing this improve render times with motion blur and quality of quasi-random effects such as soft shadows and glossy reflecitons more easily than in the past.
These scripts utilize the MaxScript exposure of mental ray "string options". A problem with the string option MaxScript feature is that it the state of string options is NOT saved with the .max file. However, Arthur has solved this isse with a callback in the script ... or somesuch magic, I suck at MaxScript myself... ;)
Thorsten Hartmann (Infinity Vision) wrote another version which he has posted at http://www.infinity-vision.de/blog/unified_sampling which also contains some information and test renders.
Enjoy Unification day!
/Z
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