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VRay Object and Light Settings

General

In addition to the settings in the Render dialog, which are global for the scene, you can set different render settings on a per-object basis. Some of those properties (primary and secondary visibility, visibility to camera etc) are accessible through the normal 3dsmax object properties page. VRay also defines some additional properties which can be accessed by pressing the Object settings or Light settings button in the System roll-out.

Object settings

VRay supports per object control of motion blur, indirect illumination and shadow/matte properties. On the left is a list of all objects in the scene and on the right are the properties. You can select multiple objects. There is also a list of MAX selection sets to make the interface more convenient and efficient.

Object properties

Use default moblur samples - when this checkbox is selected the Geometry Samples value will be taken from the global Motion blur roll-out.

Motion blur samples - here you can set the number of geometry samples for the selected objects, if Use default moblur samples is off.

Generate GI - this setting controls whether the object(s) will generate indirect illumination. You can supply a multiplier for the generated indirect illumination.

Receive GI - this setting controls whether the object(s) will receive indirect illumination. You can supply a multiplier for the received indirect illumination.

Generate caustics - when this setting is checked the selected objects will refract the light coming from light sources that are caustics generators, so that caustics are produced. Note that in order to generate caustics an object must have a reflective or refractive material.

Receive caustics - when this setting is checked the selected objects will become caustic receivers. When light is refracted by objects that generate caustics the resulting caustics will be only visible when they are projected on caustics receivers.

Caustics multiplier - this value is a multiplier for the caustics generated by the selected object(s). Note that this value has no effect unless Generate caustics is checked.

Matte properties

VRay does not completely support the Matte/Shadow material of 3dsmax. However, VRay has its own matte system. You can control matte properties either on an object level through the Object settings dialog, or on a material level through the special VRayMtlWrapper material.

Matte object - checking this option will turn the object into a matte object. This means that the object will not be directly visible in the scene; instead, the background color will be shown in its place. However, the object will appear normally in reflections/refractions and will generate indirect illumination based on its actual material.

Alpha contribution - this allows you to control how the object will appear in the alpha channel. Note that this parameter does not require the object to be a matte object - this parameter has an effect on all objects. A value of 1.0 means that the object will appear normally in the alpha channel. A value of 0.0 means that the object will not be present in the alpha channel at all. A value of -1.0 will invert the alpha of the object. Note that turning an object into a matte object does not change its appearance in the alpha channel. You need to explicitly change its alpha contribution.

Direct light

Shadows - this will make the matte object receive shadows.

Affect alpha - this will cause the shadows to affect the alpha of the object.

Color - the color of the shadows.

Brightness - the brightness of the shadows.

Reflection/refraction/GI

Reflection amount - if the material of the object is a reflective VRay material, this controls how much of the reflection will be visible on the matte object.

Refraction amount - if the material of the object is a refractive VRay material, this controls how much of the refraction will be visible on the matte object.

GI amount - this controls how much of the indirect illumination received by the object will be visible on the matte.

No GI on other mattes - this will cause the object to appear as a matte object in reflections, refractions, GI etc for other matte objects. Note that if this is ON, refractions for the matte object might not be calculated (the object will appear a matte object to itself and will not be able to "see" the refractions on the other side).

Light settings

In this dialog you can specify properties of the lights in the scene with regards to caustics and global photon mapping. On the left is a list of light sources in the scenes and on the right are the light settings. You can select multiple light sources. There is also a list of MAX selection sets to make the interface more convenient and efficient.

Generate caustics - when this setting is checked, VRay will generate caustic photons for the selected light sources. Note that to obtain the caustics effect you must set the appropriate value for the Caustics multiplier below as well as put some objects that generate caustics in the scene.

Caustic subdivs - this option controls the amount of photons that VRay will trace to estimate caustics. Large numbers slow down the calculation of the caustics photon map and may take more memory.

Caustics multiplier - this value is a multiplier for the generated caustics by the selected object. Note that this multiplier is cumulative - it does not override the multiplier in the Caustics render roll-out section. The multiplier has no effect unless Generate caustics is checked.

Generate diffuse - when this is checked, VRay will generate diffuse illumination photons for the selected light sources. See the Global photon map section for more details.

Diffuse subdivs - controls the number of diffuse photons traced for the selected light(s). Larger values mean a more precise photon map, but will take more time and memory.

Diffuse multiplier - a multiplier for the diffuse photons.