tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-369927152024-03-29T12:01:58.019+01:00zap's mental ray tipszap's repository of mental ray tips and tricks, frequent questions and their answers, and some smoke and mirror mental ray trickery you may not find elsewhere...Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-60180916907072592012019-06-24T14:05:00.000+02:002019-06-24T14:05:42.221+02:00Anyone on Android? I made a Silly ThingSo this is 200% off-topic, I'm aware of this, but I need some trusted beta tester. If your phone has Android, go to <a href="http://android.annoyedrodents.com/">http://android.AnnoyedRodents.com</a> and try this silly thing out. Tell me if it worked or not. If you like it - tell your friends! If you hate it, tell all your enemies!!!! :)<br />
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Thank you in advance. :P<br />
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/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com146tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-37051100776685382342018-06-26T23:51:00.001+02:002018-06-26T23:51:42.869+02:00Out with the OLD, in with the NEW: RenderingTips.comThe blog is dead - long live the blog!!<br />
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Since "mental ray tips" is not a very useful name for a blog when there is no such thing as "mental ray" any more, I decided to park this blog and I've started a brand new one.<br />
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It's called Zaps Rendering Tips and you find it over at<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.renderingtips.com/">www.RenderingTips.com</a></span></b></div>
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That's also where you learn what the heck "Uncle Bobs Shader Emporium" is.<br />
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Enjoy :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZPkkgECQ5-4ZhTyPUGMCSR3309BdUxtJkpaUMnkVYkwH5bYCFIzs_ZISnaomZoIVXOaw8uKDa2kVI903hyphenhyphenHmQSSg9Ztdu3vbxa4cOcaNcAZ3OaKKh_EAx-YjeUph_C7U_mmo/s1600/uncle-bob.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZPkkgECQ5-4ZhTyPUGMCSR3309BdUxtJkpaUMnkVYkwH5bYCFIzs_ZISnaomZoIVXOaw8uKDa2kVI903hyphenhyphenHmQSSg9Ztdu3vbxa4cOcaNcAZ3OaKKh_EAx-YjeUph_C7U_mmo/s640/uncle-bob.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-52322707837199513332018-03-23T21:33:00.001+01:002018-03-23T21:34:23.923+01:00OSL (Open Shading Language) in 3ds Max 2019Hello my friends.<br />
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It's been a long time since I posted to this blog. As you know, I do not work with mental ray at all any more. My work is in the 3ds Max rendering team. And I try my hardest to build features in 3ds Max that are <i>independent of what renderer you are using</i>.</div>
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The latest of these features is OSL - the Open Shading Language</div>
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I won't ramble here, but let me ramble on this video on the topic:</div>
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I hope you guys enjoy this, even though there is nothing "mental ray" abotu it. As always, I dream of renderer independent things, and amazing, physically based rendering. This project has been my little "pet" thing for the last six months. Please enjoy....</div>
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/Z</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-6576772454959525292017-04-13T15:37:00.001+02:002017-04-13T15:38:52.495+02:00Arnold 5 - 3ds Max 2018 - good bye mental ray - hello Arnold!!Hello everybody :)<br />
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As those of you who has downloaded 3ds max 2018, you've noticed two things: <b>mental ray</b> is gone, and in its place, you find <b>Arnold 5</b> !<br />
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Going forward, anyone wanting to continue using mental ray, should talk to NVidia, who will be releasing it directly to users. It will not be available through Autodesk any more.<br />
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<b>Arnold in Max</b></div>
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The last year for me has been busy as hell, but insanely fun!! We've done the impossible, and integrated a renderer fully in one year!<br />
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So when you do get 3ds max 2018 you will find <b>Arnold 5</b> inside it - in the form of the <b>MAXtoA</b> plugin. The one that ships with max is build 712.<br />
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If you instead go to <span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://solidangle.com/arnold/download/#3dsmax">http://solidangle.com/arnold/download/#3dsmax</a></span><br />
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...you will find a much newer version. (Yes, even same day as 3ds max 2018 was released <i>with</i> MAXtoA built in, we released a new MAXtoA that was 100 builds newer... :)<br />
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Yes, that's how we roll. Release newer stuff same day!<br />
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<b>Arnold 5</b> is an amazing piece of technology, and working with it has been a complete joy. It's a giant step up from the old <b>Arnold 4</b> both in features and technology, but more importantly in "cleanliness" of the API and its internal concepts.<br />
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The addition of "closures" is a complete godsend. This relegates the work of rendering to the renderer, as it should be. No longer are material shaders little dumb raytracers that count lights and shoot reflection rays. A material shader returns mix of BxDF closures, and the renderer itself takes care of doing "the right thing" with them.<br />
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That allows seamless mixing of materials including the AOVs (which are actually light path expressions), as well as mixing C++ based shaders with OSL shaders however one wants.<br />
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I am extremely happy to be working with Arnold and the Solid Angle team, and it's a fantastic piece of technology. Arnold 5 is a pure joy to code for, and Solid Angles willingess to simply remove and delete old stuff is very uplifting (but scary too :) )<br />
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I hope you guys will enjoy playing with <b>Arnold 5</b> in 3ds max.<br />
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I will probably start a new blog for Arnold related rendering stuff going forward, coz posting it on a half-dead blog called "mental ray tips" seems.... well..... not exactly fitting.<br />
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Enjoy playing with it!<br />
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Render on!<br />
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/Z<br />
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<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #f8f8f8; border-collapse: collapse; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-20465033937013125862015-03-13T15:03:00.000+01:002015-03-13T16:35:07.972+01:00Out with the Old Blog, in with the New BlogAs you all probably have noticed, stuff on this blog has... kinda died down. This is because I do not work as directly with mental ray <i>per se</i> anymore. I do, however, work a lot in rendering. But it feels a bit strange to post stuff not about mental ray on a blog called "mental ray tips", don't you think?<br />
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Anyway, today, we started the Brand New Blog, called <a href="http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/therenderingalliance/welcome-to-the-render-team-blog" target="_blank">The Rendering Alliance</a>, which is the blog of the 3ds max Rendering team.<br />
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The first post is an introduction to our mad team<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_Y9K9jf-2Sz78SuD05x7rRaI5ap8enNoE_z9kM_9KhUAFGxV1WO3ANDfzrSuOqH23cZUCqX1zztyoQrWDH2H4ZwQ4PJ-Icl3PFZUVaIuOJyIYOn8vkW9ONmy3JevMKp_q9Mh/s1600/team2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_Y9K9jf-2Sz78SuD05x7rRaI5ap8enNoE_z9kM_9KhUAFGxV1WO3ANDfzrSuOqH23cZUCqX1zztyoQrWDH2H4ZwQ4PJ-Icl3PFZUVaIuOJyIYOn8vkW9ONmy3JevMKp_q9Mh/s1600/team2.jpg" height="320" width="314" /></a></div>
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Await a lot more posting by yours truly (and the rest of the guys and gals) on this new blog. I can kinda sorta almost promise something kinda sorta fun. Ish. Stay tuned..... :)<br />
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<li><a href="http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/therenderingalliance/welcome-to-the-render-team-blog">http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/therenderingalliance/welcome-to-the-render-team-blog</a></li>
</ul>
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/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-17328455591573834202014-05-21T16:46:00.000+02:002014-05-21T16:48:53.809+02:00EUE 2014 - it's that time of year again!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
You all know I love the EUE, the "End User Event", right?</div>
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It's Siggraph, shrunken to 250 of your best mates, and held in a pub.</div>
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Here's the lineup for the 2014 edition. Register at <a href="http://www.enduserevent.com/">www.EndUserEvent.com</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggiII5IktHwFlCkvmR5UVYAHaUiLJ8bHBugjbnDMaCG9_AzuglNhknSJWL-e5cQOMlZx4-5A-IoPW-eDwiYjJ5-hk06kdhLSvOGndmMLWDeywdZkFv6WHm95M38Bz-zW9jmH7K/s1600/eue_2014_poster_1600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggiII5IktHwFlCkvmR5UVYAHaUiLJ8bHBugjbnDMaCG9_AzuglNhknSJWL-e5cQOMlZx4-5A-IoPW-eDwiYjJ5-hk06kdhLSvOGndmMLWDeywdZkFv6WHm95M38Bz-zW9jmH7K/s1600/eue_2014_poster_1600.jpg" height="640" width="451" /></a></div>
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To show off the renewed push for 3ds Max development, product manager Eddie Perlberg will be there along with Martin Coven, plus my very esteemed collegues Daniel Levesque and Neil Hazzard.<br />
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Now the sad part: EUE this year is scheduled <i>exactly</i> on the same time that my son graduates from highschool, which, honestly, I had to prioritize. So I won't be there....<br />
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...in person. I <i>for sure</i> will be there in spirit!<br />
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But I'm shipping quite capable substitutes in the aformentioned people!<br />
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They will see you there!<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-33518859707798619322014-03-19T09:45:00.000+01:002014-03-19T09:50:19.623+01:003ds max 2015 new rendering featuresSo people have been wondering WHAT THE HECK I've been up to the last year, since I've been qute... silent....<br />
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The short story is... this:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0kiM_5iCYzM" width="560"></iframe>
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The main work that was done was to turn mental ray into an ActiveShade renderer, i.e. that you can work with interactively. Also, for the already ActiveShade-capable renderer iRay, we improved the responsivness of a lot of the updates (no longer waits for mouse-up to apply changes).<br />
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Be aware that not every scene edit is supported in ActiveShade, but a lot more than what was supported before now works much more streamlined. In 2014, running iRay ActiveShade was a bit of a pain. Now, in 2015, running both mr and iRay ActiveShade should be a much more pleasant experience where you can actually get real lighting- and shading work done.<br />
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About the other features mentioned in the video - I will post more about those as time permits, but the short story is that we enabled iRay string options, and made iRay LPE's (Light Path Expressions) into render elements, which can be quite powerful!<br />
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More details later....<br />
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<b>UPDATE: There is one minor ERROR in the above video, though. As a matter of fact iRay does not have a "Shadow" pass. iRay LPE's are about light, and shadows are the absence of light. Only oldschool "non-physical" renderers saw shadows as a "thing" that you can output separately. What you do in iRay is instead to separate different types of lights. You can get a similar amount of control (in a more physically correct way) by balancing lights. But there is no "shadow" element. As a matter of fact, anyone who took my mry201 mental ray FXPhd course know, that "Shadow" passes are evil, bad, and never actually work anyway (with the exception of shadow passes for the background for compositing, of course)</b><br />
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/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com64tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-14399604710787587482014-01-01T12:59:00.002+01:002014-01-01T12:59:43.668+01:00Happy New Year . 2014 will be awesome!Hello Everybody and a Happy New 2014!<br />
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Special new years greetings with this little film my son made. Only thing I did was some "voice acting".<br />
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I pre-warn and pre-apologize to anyone who ACTUALLY knows Japanese. It's part of the joke...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RqCxvXXvLaw" width="560"></iframe>
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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.<br />
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It'll be.... awesome. :)<br />
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Stay tuned....
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/Z
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-38042138664165325942013-08-26T09:33:00.003+02:002013-09-10T15:05:37.468+02:00Movies using mia_material / Arch&Design ?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBBmmjqZkEI4ezR49a9sEmw8A3tpGT169926r2FFXuzuFXmFpQK5Fow5XHosH2-tUL5wFS3gKHtL7RRfVXxWsyjADbU7KL6hyphenhyphenNLrQ3vHEDvUOt8c76z9Dgt6bQqH80_8GEPQ3Z/s1600/ocke.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBBmmjqZkEI4ezR49a9sEmw8A3tpGT169926r2FFXuzuFXmFpQK5Fow5XHosH2-tUL5wFS3gKHtL7RRfVXxWsyjADbU7KL6hyphenhyphenNLrQ3vHEDvUOt8c76z9Dgt6bQqH80_8GEPQ3Z/s1600/ocke.png" /></a></div>
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Hello!<br />
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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 :)<br />
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Did you work on a feature film?<br />
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Let me know in the comment field, or drop me an email, tweet me a DM <a href="http://twitter.com/MasterZap">@MasterZap</a> or... whatever.<br />
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Thanks!<br />
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/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-64030495625850077222013-08-19T09:31:00.003+02:002013-08-19T09:37:19.632+02:00Shinines vs Rougness vs XXX pollI 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":<br />
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The question: <b>For a glossy reflection shader, what parameter do you want to define how "glossy" reflectoins are... and what "direction" should it work?</b><br />
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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".<br />
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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, <i>Physically Based Shading</i> 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.....<br />
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So .... I just want to hear from you, the user community, what you think is preferred.<br />
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/Z<br />
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<iframe src="http://strawpoll.me/embed_1/345160" style="border: 0; height: 880px; width: 580px;">Loading poll...</iframe>
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/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-51251696875272836642013-07-19T11:45:00.000+02:002013-07-19T11:45:29.730+02:00SIGGRAPH 2013 and CinefexHello everybody! Sorry for the lack of posting.<br />
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<b>SIGGRAPH 2013</b><br />
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As usual this time of year, it's time for the <a href="http://s2013.siggraph.org/" target="_blank">SIGGRAPH</a> conference, this year in Anaheim. Yes, I am going, and as a matter of fact I am <b>Speaking</b>. Thursday, before lunch, in the "Physically Plausible Shading in Theory and Practice", I will hold a talk named <i>"Everything you always wanted to know about mia_material * (* but were afraid to ask)"</i>, which will explain the story of how the <b>mia_material</b> (<b>Arch&Design</b> 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).<br />
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Show up - enjoy!<br />
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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" <b>Zap Andersson</b>. That is, if you are interested in hardcore rendering as I am ;)<br />
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See you all in Anaheim<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>HULK SAYS "GIVE ME ALL THE CINEFEX"</b><br />
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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?<br />
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Well... you may be able to... soon... assuming your hands also hold an iPad!<br />
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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.<br />
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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:<br />
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/newscribbler/cinefex-classic-collection">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/newscribbler/cinefex-classic-collection</a><br />
<br />
Or watch this video:<br />
<center>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="400" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/newscribbler/cinefex-classic-collection/widget/video.html" width="550"> </iframe>
</center>
<br />
<br />
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. <i>Just</i> the Blade Runner issue of Cinefex recently went for $250 on eBay. Here you ALL TEH CINEFEXES. That's...a deal.<br />
<br />
<br />
/Z<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-35751167662132616912013-06-20T11:40:00.001+02:002013-06-20T11:40:57.037+02:00Speaking at SIGGRAPH 2013Less than a week to EUE, less than a month to SIGGRAPH 2013<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://s2013.siggraph.org/sites/default/files/logo_0.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://s2013.siggraph.org/sites/default/files/logo_0.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This year, I am speaking in the course "Physically Based Shading - Theory and Practice"<br />
<a href="http://s2013.siggraph.org/attendees/courses/events/physically-based-shading-theory-and-practice">http://s2013.siggraph.org/attendees/courses/events/physically-based-shading-theory-and-practice</a><br />
and my talk is entitled "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about mia_material (But Were Afraid to Ask)"<br />
<br />
It will be a rush through the history and development of good o'le <b>mia_material</b> (Arch&Design in max-speak) and it will be informative <i>and</i> fun. :)<br />
<br />
See you all there!<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-18897038113934566932013-05-20T16:36:00.000+02:002013-05-20T16:36:56.075+02:00My Secret Garden: End User Event 2013 in UtrechtIt's that time of year again! Time for the worlds least-known most friendly computer graphics conference... the unmistakable "End User Event" in Utrecht.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.enduserevent.com/images/banners/andre2.png" width="650/" />
</div>
<br />
I won't say more than <u>of course</u> I am going and <u>of course</u> I am speaking. Would you have thought otherwise?<br />
<br />
All the details are at <a href="http://www.enduserevent.com/">www.EndUserEvent.com</a><br />
<br />
I have some previous posts on the topic below, since I've been there Every Time.<br />
<br />
So <i>be there</i>, or be <i>an equilateral 4-point polygon whos adjacent edge vectors has the dot product zero!!</i><br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-19563902261141759212013-05-08T09:34:00.003+02:002013-05-08T09:37:11.398+02:00Get the Balance Right: mental ray thread priority in 3ds max 2014Hello World! <br />
<br />
As promised (but later than I promised), some news about the new 3ds Max 2014 release that may not be immediately obvious.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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"<br />
<br />
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!!"<br />
<br />
So the question is - <i>can this behaviour be changed?</i><br />
<br />
<b><u>YES IT CAN.</u></b><br />
<br />
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:
<br />
<blockquote>
;<br />
; - mentalray_cpu.ini<br />
;<br />
; Sets thread priority and thread count for mental ray renderer.<br />
; Meaning of Thread Priority numbers are<br />
; 0 == Normal<br />
; -1 == Below Normal<br />
; -2 == Lowest<br />
; Meaning of Thread Count numbers are<br />
; 0 == Use as many threads as there are cores<br />
; N == Use N threads<br />
; -N == Use as many threads as there are cores, minus N<br />
;<br />
[Threads]<br />
;<br />
; Settings for normal / interactive renders in the UI<br />
;<br />
; Thread priority (defaults to -1 = "Below Normal")<br />
RenderThreadPriority=-1<br />
; Thread count (defaults to 0 = use all cores)<br />
RenderThreadCount=0<br />
;<br />
; Settings for backburner / network renders<br />
;<br />
; Thread priority (defaults to -2 = "Lowest")<br />
BgRenderThreadPriority=-2<br />
; Thread count (defaults to 0 = use all cores)<br />
BgRenderThreadCount=0</blockquote>
As you can see, we can set both thread <i>count</i> and thread <i>priority</i> by fiddling with this file. [Note: this file is read at Startup, so any changing of it needs you to restart your Max!]<br />
<br />
For <i>thread priority</i> 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....<br />
<br />
For <i>thread count</i>, I made it such that if the value is zero, it does what it always did in the past - use all the cores.<br />
<br />
However, if the value is <i>positive</i>, 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.<br />
<br />
Finally, if you set a <i>negative</i> value, it will take that many threads <i>less</i> 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!<br />
<br />
<br />
I hope this helps keeping your priorities straight!<br />
<br />
<br />
/Z<br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-56330662182078998652013-03-27T13:21:00.002+01:002013-03-27T13:22:29.157+01:00Launching the 2014 product line...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;">
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. </div>
<div style="text-align: start;">
</div>
<br />
Here is the launch site:<br />
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://area.autodesk.com/2014unfold/"><img alt="The "Unfold" Event" border="0" height="37" src="http://area.autodesk.com/2014unfold/img/label-unfoldevent.png?1361483137" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://area.autodesk.com/2014unfold/">http://area.autodesk.com/2014unfold/</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
You can also find the <a href="http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-3ds-max/features.type-new" target="_blank">list of new features for 3ds Max</a>. This is a very simplified list, though, and misses a LOT of stuff, like:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Unified Sampling</li>
<li>Image Based Lighting</li>
<li>iRay 3.1</li>
<li>Automatic Gamma Correction</li>
<li>And more...</li>
</ul>
<div>
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:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>"Zoom about Mouse" is now the default - and works!</li>
<li>mental ray thread priority no longer hangs your computer!</li>
<li>New exception handling causes error handling to be much more robust</li>
<li>Bugfixes. Bugfixes! BUGFIXES!!
<li>Etc. etc. etc.</li>
</ul>
<div>
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 :)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'll blog on these things as we move forward. For now, have a fun Easter and enjoy the new release.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
/Z</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-60191641633978929172013-03-18T16:32:00.000+01:002013-03-18T16:32:28.546+01:00So, Zap, what have you been up to lately?Here's one answer to that question:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/S15zfWdrwE8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Enjoy.<br />
<br />
Yes, this blog will see more activity soon.....<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-14484468327956632492012-12-18T13:33:00.002+01:002012-12-18T13:33:22.967+01:00Merry Christmas Everybody...It's that time of year again... this time, in REMASTERED FULL HD GLORY:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U5kftWr-Bxs" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas!<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-86729191725860786482012-08-02T14:06:00.000+02:002012-08-02T14:06:01.941+02:00SiGGRAPH 2012Sorry for the lack of posts, my friends, I've been busy.<br />
<br />
But I will show up at SiGGRAPH 2012 in Los Angeles.<br />
<br />
Follow my updates on <a href="http://twitter.com/MasterZap">twitter</a> for more details.<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-9142531195261691072012-05-01T19:45:00.004+02:002012-05-01T19:57:23.833+02:00Prepare thyself for End User Event 2012This alien has all that needs to be said said....<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oHQvOJvGr8o" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
See you all there!<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-46065684712630512422011-10-16T10:46:00.001+02:002012-02-26T09:41:48.658+01:00Montreal TripHeading over to Montreal again.<br />
<br />
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? :)<br />
<br />
In a while, there may be some new... interesting... posts here. For now.....<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-89939529006207345752011-09-28T17:30:00.001+02:002011-09-28T17:31:06.185+02:00This is the 100:th post......and it's only appropriate that it is about the fact that <i>I've been hired by Autodesk</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://dominguezmarketing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/autodesk-logo-black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://dominguezmarketing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/autodesk-logo-black.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Yes, you've seen Ken spill the beans over on <a href="http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7125191&postcount=56">CGTalk</a>. 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... <i>this</i> time around (I used to work for Autodesk in the past, doing mechanical design software).<br />
<br />
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 <i>everybody</i> thought it made <i>a lot</i> of sense.<br />
<br />
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 :)<br />
<br />
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 :)<br />
<br />
It's not like I'm moving far anyway. I will probably be in all the same meeting, just on the other "side"....<br />
<br />
I think this will be really interesting, and the future is Bright (about 95000 cd/m^2 to be exact). Lets go there together.<br />
<br />
With Sunglasses.<br />
<br />
Also, as I type this I am finalizing some Really Cool Sh%t. Stay tuned - as always :)<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-55311742573304850452011-09-14T14:58:00.001+02:002011-09-28T18:22:22.330+02:00Appearing at Meet and Greet 3D<img align="right/" src="http://www.meetandgreet3d.com/images/stories/sponsored/lb4d.png" /><br />
<br />
On Sepmber 30:th 2011 I will be speaking at the <a href="http://meetandgreet3d.com/"><b>Meet and Greet 3D</b></a> event in Berlin.
<br />
<br />
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. <b><u><=== UPDATED TIME!!!</u></b><br />
<br />
Venue info etc. available at www.MeetAndGreet3D.com<br />
<br />
Location:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Forum Adlershof, Rudower Chaussee 17, 12489 Berlin</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
See you all there. :)<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-13860910265134326352011-08-23T16:16:00.001+02:002011-08-23T16:16:50.298+02:00User Survey (and a chance to Win a Quadro 6000!)<img src="http://www.mentalimages.com/typo3temp/pics/74e5645bab.jpg" align=right> 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!<br />
<br />
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!<br />
<br />
So please take the survey <a href="http://www.mentalimages.com/index.php?id=1033">by clicking right here</a>!<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-42469869168059260332011-06-29T10:34:00.010+02:002011-06-29T12:17:19.910+02:00What if SIGGRAPH was held in a Pub?<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12601747@N00/3702413520/" title="Hotel Florin (EUE 2009) by spunior, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3486/3702413520_2e29da098e.jpg" width="250" alt="Hotel Florin (EUE 2009)" align=right></a><br />
<br />
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 <i>held in a pub?</i><br />
<br />
If you think that sounds like a good idea, you should have registered for the End User Event (see <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/2011/05/welcome-to-eue-2011.html">previous post</a>). Me? I'm packing my last thing, flying down there now.<br />
<br />
If you wish you were there, well..... I told you already. In the aformentioned <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/2011/05/welcome-to-eue-2011.html">previous post</a> :)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
I will (connection willing) try to amend this post with some pictures, videos, and other stuff as the event happens.<br />
<br />
For those who want the (likely) stream of crazy updates, tune in to my twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/MasterZap">twitter.com/MasterZap</a>.... connection willing, of course.<br />
<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36992715.post-58943512120648388952011-05-18T08:09:00.001+02:002011-06-29T11:59:12.793+02:00Welcome to EUE 2011As several years previously, I will be presenting at the EUE (= "End User Event") 2011 in Utrecht, Netherlands.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.yelloyello.nl/assets/images/aeYNKcVtCr3yASaby-aabx.show.jpg"><br />
<br />
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. :)<br />
<br />
Check out the <a href="http://www.enduserevent.com/">www.EndUserEvent.com</a> 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.<br />
<br />
This year I will be talking about light, the perception thereof, and how to translate that knowledge to what you do in CG.<br />
<br />
But I'm not the only one rambling, other speakers include:<br />
<ul><li>Jeff Mottle (CG Architect)<br />
<li>Wayne Robson (y'know mudbox guy)<br />
<li>Rune Spaans (about his work on Troll Hunter)<br />
<li>Jamie Gwilliam (Autodesk)<br />
<li>Neil Hazzard (Autodesk)<br />
<li>Shane Griffith (Autodesk, will be holding an NDA session on future dev. of 3ds Max)<br />
<li>Ted Boardman (often mistaken for a member of ZZ top)<br />
<li>Johan Boekhoven<br />
<li>Eric de Broche<br />
<li>Yoni Cohen<br />
<li>Borislab "Bobo" Petrov<br />
<li>Hristo Velev<br />
<li>...and many more, see <a href="http://enduserevent.com/speakers/speaker-bios.html">here</a><br />
</ul>While waiting, what about the trailer for Troll Hunter that Rune worked on? Think of it as "Cloverfield goes to Norway. With Trolls". :) <iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vy2nAOdBUlw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br />
See you in Utrecht!<br />
<br />
/Z<div class="blogger-post-footer">Subscribe to this blog via <a href="http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/atom.xml">RSS Feed</a> - <a href="http://www.master-zap.com">www.Master-Zap.com</a></div>Master Zaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08935910250942359436noreply@blogger.com2