UI VRay User Interface Lesson Introduction Orientation This

UI: V-Ray User Interface

Lesson Introduction - Orientation • This presentation will take you through the basics of the V-Ray UI for Maya • This lesson topic is approximately 40 minutes in length • Presentation covers all 3 Learning Cycles for the Lesson Topic – Lecture, Demonstration, and Activity. • Learning Outcomes: You will be able to navigate around the V-Ray additions to the Maya User Interface and know where to find the different options and settings

Lesson Topic: V-Ray UI • Objective – We will go through the process of rendering a scene with V -Ray to understand where to find different settings and create V-Ray components • Outcome – You will be able to render a scene with V-Ray and know where to find the different VRay controls

Lecture: Terminology • V-Ray connects into the Maya UI in multiple places It’s important to know where to navigate to when looking for something – Plug-in Manager • V-Ray is a plugin for Maya that needs to be Loaded to work within Maya – Render Settings • The core of V-Ray and the place to tweak your output – Create menu • Lights, Cameras, And other special V-Ray components – V-Ray Attributes • Additional settings that can be added to Maya and/or V-Ray objects for more features – V-Ray Shelf • Common V-Ray Tools in one convenient place

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Maya Plug-in Manager – Load vrayformaya Plug-in to access V-Ray in Maya • It’s recommended to Auto load so this process doesn’t have to be repeated every time Maya launches

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Render Settings – Output – Image Output, Render Cameras, Resolution, etc. • Common render options that are typical for most Renderers in Maya – Render View • Access the V-Ray Virtual Frame Buffer (or VFB) • Convert image to s. RGB for Render. View important for Linear Workflow

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Render Settings – VRay tab – Production engine • Production engine – which engine to use for production rendering – Image sampler • Sampler type see Sampling Training module for more details – Color mapping • See Color mapping Training module for more details on Type – Render region division • Bucket size when rendering with one of the Adaptive sampler types • Autoscale regions (advanced setting) will divide buckets at end of render into smaller pieces to complete render faster

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Render Settings – GI tab – GI • Primary and Secondary bounce Engine types • More information covered in the GI Training module

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Render Settings – Settings tab – Default displacement and subdivisions • Globally control the quality for displaced and subdivided geometry – Distributed rendering • Set up multiple machines to render a single image – VRay UI • Add/Remove the V-Ray shelf • Control how to handle Swatches rendering – System • Advanced settings used for memory management and optimization

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Render Settings – Overrides tab – Camera • Override Maya’s default camera to control field of view, depth of field, motion blur etc. – Geometry • Enable or disable the rendering of different geometry types – Lighting • Globally control the illumination of the scene

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Render Settings – Overrides tab – Materials • Allows you to control different shading features globally – Textures • Allows you to control different texture features globally – Rendering • Allows you to override certain aspects of the way a scene is rendered

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Render Settings – Overrides tab – Environment • Allows you to override the environment when its directly visible or for GI, Reflections and Refractions • Allows you to create the V-Ray Sun and Sky system – Volumetrics • Allows you to override and control certain aspects of rendering volumetric effects

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Render Settings – Render Elements tab – Elements or Passes (or Arbitrary Output Variables) used to composite renders back together for more control in post processing – Can be viewed individually (are rendered) from the Channel selection from the VFB window • More information covered in Render Elements Training module

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Render Settings – IPR tab – Real Time rendering replaces Maya IPR • Great for look development and setting lights • Can be used together with Distributed Rendering for very fast results

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • V-Ray Shelf – Quick access to common tools • Allows you to get to many useful tools without having to dig through multiple submenus

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Quick Settings – A handy way to control the most common aspects of V-Ray and to quickly switch between different GI solutions and quality settings – It is intended to give new V-Ray users the ability to set up scenes without worrying about all the different V-Ray options available in the Render Setup dialog • Arch. Viz Exterior – useful for architectural exteriors, without too much bounced light • Arch. Viz Interior– useful for architectural interiors where light bounces are important • VFX – useful for VFX-style scenes which may not need global illumination • Studio Setup – useful for product design visualizations

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Create menu – Lights • Access to V-Ray’s physical lights • More details can be found in the Lighting Training module

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Create menu – V-Ray submenu • Additional V-Ray components and Tools can be found here • More details found in other V-Ray Training modules

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • V-Ray nodes from the Hypershade – Surface – Volumetric – 2 D & 3 D Textures – Env Textures – Other Textures – Lights – Utilities • Shaders for objects • Fog nodes • Unique textures that can be used within shading networks • VRay Sky • VRay Ptex (more details in another module) • Light Shapes • Additional nodes to help with unique situations

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Extra V-Ray Attributes – Camera Attributes • There are several useful V-Ray Attributes that can be added to the Shape node of any camera in Maya • The most important is the VRay. Physical. Camera, which allows you to use real-world parameters to set up the virtual CG camera (e. g. F-Stop, lens focal length, etc)

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Extra V-Ray Attributes – Mesh Attributes • The V-Ray Additional Attributes can be added to any polygonal object by selecting its shape node and choosing the desired attributes from the Attributes > VRay Menu from the Attribute Editor • Currently there are nine different sets of extra attributes that can be added

Demo Topic: V-Ray UI • Extra V-Ray Attributes – Light, Textures, and more (too many to cover in this presentation) • Light – gives standard Maya light more V-Ray (physically accurate) controls • Texture – used on standard Maya texture; Texture input gamma useful on File nodes for Linear Workflow • Transform – useful for Object IDs on Transform nodes, which can be used with Multimatte Render Elements

Lesson Topic: Lecture Conclusion • Plug-in Manager – Without loading it, there is no V-Ray in Maya • Render Settings – Quick or traditional • Create menu – Access to almost everything that’s not a render setting • V-Ray Attributes – How to get the most out of components in your renders • V-Ray Shelf – Common tools right in front of you

Lesson Topic: Time to see it work! • Demonstration Cycle! • Watch while I demonstrate where to locate the different UI elements for V -Ray in Maya • The following slides will illustrate as I go through the different areas where the V-Ray UI is found

Lesson Topic: Time to do it yourself! • Activity Cycle! • Now it’s your turn!! • Use the provided scene file to work through the activity as you have seen me demonstrate