List all vray nodes in maya

It's a bit dumb but I didn't know how to do this.

Turns out the best way to is use the maya.cmds.pluginInfo command with some flags. See below for example:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

import maya.cmds as mc
vray_node_list = mc.pluginInfo("vrayformaya", q=True, dn=True)

Running Maya on high resolution screens

I've recently bought a Surface Pro 4 and it's a really high resolution screen which is great... except when you try and run Maya older that 2016 (where they seem to have introduced scaling options).

The way around this seems:

1. Find your maya.exe ( should be found in the maya install folder usually found here C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2015\bin )
2. Right click on it to and click properties
3. Open the compatibility tab and tick on the "Override high DPI scaling behaviour. Scaling performed by:" and select "System"

Hope this helps anyone that had the same issues as I did. 

Mayabatch and Python - Introduction & Part 1

Introduction 

I wasn't able to find much information about running scripts within mayabatch when I first started looking into how to do this myself. There's loads of info out there about running renders via mayabatch but not much about how to do other things with it (ie run scripts on a file rather than just rendering a file).

I hope to lay out some basic tutorials over the next few month on how to do this, as much for myself as anything else. For anyone else reading this please note the following:

This will only be relevant to Windows and possibly with specific reference to Windows 10. Sorry to Mac and Linux users out there but I've not got experience of using those systems so I have nothing to offer about how to do this on those OS.

These tutorials will also assume at least a basic understanding of Python. If you're not familiar with Python, then I would recommend checking out Jeremy Ernst's Vimeo channel, specifically his Building Maya Interfaces with Python series which starts with this video: https://vimeo.com/42848594

First I should start with how to actually run mayabatch.exe via the command line in windows, a very basic step but one that seems to be overlooked by others when teaching about this kind of thing.

Part 1 - Running mayabatch for the first time

There are two basic ways to get mayabatch up and running.

1. Run cmd directly in the Maya bin
2. Define where the mayabatch.exe actually is on the system before you try and run it.

Option #1 - Run cmd in the Maya bin

• Navigate to your maya bin folder. This is the program files of your windows machine. Most likely it will look like this:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2015\bin 

(obviously change the maya version to the one you're using eg 'Maya2016')

• Type cmd into the address bar of the explorer once you're here:

This is where you want to type 'cmd'

• This will open a cmd terminal looking like this:

This means that the cmd terminal will understand what and where mayabatch is. Note that this is different from running cmd from anywhere else in Windows. (ie from the start menu, the Run command, or the same process but in another folder)

• type in mayabatch.exe and hit enter, this will open a version of maya without a UI. 

It'll take a second or two to start but and once it's loaded it it'll close itself down again given that it's got nothing to do. You'll basically see something like this:

I'm not really sure what the error about Bifrost is about, something for me to look into another time perhaps.

Option #2 - Define where mayabatch is on the system

• Open a normal command prompt terminal. Type 'cmd' into the start menu and hit enter.

• This will bring up a command terminal much like the other but notice that the folder path is different. It should default to the current user's path.

• This time we need to specify where the mayabatch.exe actually is for it to run. Type in the file path for mayabatch (or copy and paste it). This will most likely be: 

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2015\bin\mayabatch.exe

(again change the version number to the version of maya you have installed)

Here's the error you get when you try to run mayabatch with a space in program files

•  The thing is this will cause errors in the command prompt because it can't resolve the space in 'Program Files' part of the path. The way around this is to change the path we're using slightly. Changing 'Program Files' to 'Progra~1' allows command prompt to read the path properly.

C:\Progra~1\Autodesk\Maya2015\bin\mayabatch.exe

Here we see mayabatch running. Note that where you put the '~1' is important as if it's in the wrong place you'll get an error.

That's the end of this part of the tutorial, next time I'll go into more details about how to open files in maya batch followed by how to run scripts on opend files.

Lighting Challenges: Fruit Project

I picked up this scene from the 3d Lighting Challenges website http://www.3drender.com/challenges/ to have a go at.

Some of the models aren't great so I did have to do a little bit of supplementary modelling/sculpting to get a more natural look.

I started out really trying to push for interesting angles and lighting using just a grey base shader. Here's contact sheet of all of them.

After I'd played with lighting I dialled in to one look that I really like and started working more on textures and materials. I did actually end up tweaking the lighting slightly but the overall look is similar.

Software used:

Maya

VRay

Nuke

Photoshop

Volkswagen Tiguan R-line

This is a personal project to learn more about Vray in Maya.

Lighting and Materials by me. The model is one I used from work that was generated from CAD data supplied by Volkswagen.

Back plate and HDR were from the Underground Carpark set from hdr-sets.com

Software Used:

Maya

Vray

Nuke

Photoshop

 Realistic Version

Stylised Version

"Thalassophobia" - A Vray and Maya Project

I actually started this project years ago with mental ray. But I never got around to finishing it off. I'd consider this a work in progress as it's far from perfect, but for now this is where I'm at.

All modelling, textures, lighting, materials and final comp by me.

Background image available here. https://i.imgur.com/guMCFeF.jpg

Software:

Maya

Vray

Nuke

Photoshop

Fantasy Table Still Life

Another modelling, rendering and lighting piece that I did to learn more about Vray. The context behind the image is unapologetically nerdy and needs a little explanation! The short version is simply that in the D&D game that I play in our party is called "The Firestarters". This badge is supposed to be our crest representing the four characters in the party. We have a Barbarian (the sword), a Bard (the lute), a Ranger (the bow and arrow), and an Avenger (the olive wreath), and the flame in the middle represents our group as a whole.

Software Used:
Maya
Vray
Photoshop
Nuke


Below is the mock up of the crest that I did in preparation for this project.

Exporting Animation for Stand-in with Arnold

Note - hopefully I'll be able to update this with picutres or even a video, but for now here are text instructions.



Been working on this problem for a good few hours!! Not that intuative and the Solid angle website wasn't much help.

So... to export an animation for use with Arnold Stand-in's follow these steps.

1. - Open render settings (make sure Arnold is set as your current renderer)
2. - Under the "System" Tab there is a section called "Render Settings"
3. - Set the "Render Type" dropdown menu to "export ass"
4. - Open a "Render View" window in Maya
5. - Render your scene (Click the "Redo Previous Render" button, or use an alternative method [ie. select camera to render.])
6. - By default Arnold will create the .ass file in your data directory of the current project (I'm guessing it goes to your default one if there is no project set up)


NB. When you set to render make sure your frame range is set correctly as otherwise the .ass file won't be created properly.
the enabling of motion blur is also important if you plan to use it.



To Import an animated stand-in:
1. - Open the Arnold menu, go to "Stand in" > "Create" (ignore the option box for now
2. - Set the frame attribute to "=frame". Doing so will automatically create an expression to link this attribute with the scene's current frame.
3. - Make sure that Use Frame Extension is ticked on.
4. - Browse to the file you want to use. Remember that the .ass file outputs to the data director by default. Arnold will automatically recognise frame numbers, but it might also recognise a version number as a frame number so make sure you check this and enter the version number manually if you have one.

Maya Image Plane - Image Sequences

Had some trouble today working with Maya's ImagePlane Node.

Image sequences that you want to use with Maya's image plane must use quite a specific naming convention. The file name's frame number must be separated by a '.'

Eg:

MyImageSequence.001.jpg

MyImageSequence.002.jpg

MyImageSequence.003.jpg

MyImageSe....

rather than

MyImageSequence_001.jpg

or

MyImageSequence001.jpg

or

MyImageSequence-001.jpg

If you're using Adobe Media Encoder to convert a video to an image sequence, set the Output Name to the file you want the use two '.' then your image extension. 

Eg.

MyImageSequence..jpg

"Pro-ject Essential II" Record Player Project

I've been working on this model of my Pro-ject Essential II Record Player for a while now and finally got round to getting it rendered. Both images are more or less the same but with different saturation and contrast to account for different monitors etc. (when I check the Desktop monitor against my laptop the difference was crazy!!)

Software used:

Maya

Arnold

Nuke

Photoshop

Here's some the photo's I used for reference:

Arnold and Vray Rendering Work

I've been working on some Lighing and Rendering Projects in Arnold and Vray. These are the results of a couple of weeks of practice and experimentation. The wheels are from the Volkswagen Golf Mk7, the Arnold ones are the 17" Singapore wheel and the Vray one is a 17" Brooklyn alloy,

Software used:

Maya

Arnold

Vray

Nuke
Photoshop

Arnold Render (with extra detail)

Arnold Render

Vray Render

Maya 2013 hangs when switching between tabs in Hypersahde with Arnold

I found an annoying little feature with Maya and Arnold today. When switching between tabs (ie "Materials", "Textures", "Shading Groups"in the Hypershade window Maya was hanging for a few seconds (longer than normal).

This issue seems to be resolved when you change the file name prefix of your render settings. I had been using the quoted text below as my file output prefix:

     "<RenderLayer>_<Camera>_<Version>"
(For those that don't know these "<>" represent the tokens that maya can use to automatically name output, right click on the file name prefix area and you'll see them come up) 

By simply altering the file output prefix to something that didn't include a version number it seem to solve the issue. Eg:

      "<RenderLayer>_<Camera>_asdf" 

Interestingly even if when I replaced the token with arbitrary numbers it seems OK again. A very strange bug indeed and I'll edit this post if I find out anything else.

EDIT 01:
I'm pretty sure this is to do with loading the renderLayer nodes in the Hypershade. I need to have a mess around with some settings to see if you can set it not to render certain nodes etc. NOTE that by carefully selecting different nodes/materials etc you can avoid it calling on the renderLayer node. ShadingGroups for example call on the renderLayer node but a material won't.

Playblast Codecs

I've never really been taught anything about codecs to I thought i'd post up the results of a quick test that I did this morning. All test were conducted with the same PC on the same playblast settings, see below for details

MS-CRAM codec

The MS-CRAM only takes a few seconds to playblast, even at HD (1400x788) resolution. As you can see the quality is pretty good and this 3 second clip uses 47.0MB. I would highly recommend using this Codec because of the (relative) high quality, quick render time, and small file size.

IYUV codec

This codec produces similar quality results as the MS-CRAM codec. However the time it takes to render out is a lot longer than MS-CRAM. However, it is worth noting that this is only really noticeable at higher resolutions, when I did a quick test at a lower resolution the time taken by IYUV and MS-CRAM were much the same. The main problem with IYUV is that the file size is a lot lager (127MB), 2.6 times larger than the CRAM file. I would recommend this codec but only for low resolution playblasts.

MS-RLE Codec

This codec has the worst quality of all three that I tested and although it renders quickly, it is no faster than MS-CRAM. The main benefit to MS-RLE is the tiny file size, just 1.28MB, but this does come at a heavy price and the poor quality causes the video to be almost useless as it is difficult to see what is going on in the scene. I would only recommend this Codec if disk space is a serious issue, otherwise it is best left alone.

I did attempt to use the MS-YUV codec and the Toshiba YUV411 codec but both caused the following error message in maya:

"// Error: Unable to create video track. Check format. //"

I hope this has been helpful