SolidRocks

Hello, simons, And thanks for

Hello, simons,
And thanks for your feedback, even if it's hard.
Only critics makes things better.
But...
I must say that less than 24hours of use is really short to post this kind of killing advice.
And I confirm that SR0.85b is fully compatible (and designed for) Vray 1.5 SP4.

Before answering, please note that if you're unsatisfied, just ask me, and I'll give your money back. No problem about that.

Let's try to find a way together. Solidrocks is in constant evolution and takes account of users complains.

First of all, SR is NOT intended only for newbies, but has evolved to match Power users requests. VrayMasters like Simmsimaging, glorybound, cecofuli, steelbug, phizikil, trick use it all the time...

I'll try to answer point by point :
optimize lights : Solidrocks quality algorithms needs first to unify subdivs values on Vraylights and Vray shadows (and glossies). The default value is 8 but you can change it. (see preset edit). Some newbies put extreme subdivs values on sun or other lights and this perturbate the solidrocks quality computation. That's why it forces the same subdivs value on all lights before.
Note that if this feature don't interest you, you can simply turn it off into the solidrocks configuration panel by switching off the "auto Vray shadows subdivs" option. (and, too, the glossies interpolation options)

AutoExpo and White balance have an important option. Perhaps you've missed it : into solidrocks configuration panel, there an option named : "ignore alpha pixels" or "whole image". This options forces the AutoExpo algo to take account of alpha pixels (background) or not to compute the exposure. Sometimes it fails, but this is caused by extreme camera settings. Try to start with standard cam values (f:8 shutter 125 and iso 100) to see if it's better. You can also run the tool twice to make the computation more precise.
Please note that a 1000 € reflex cam can often fail when computing White balance or Autoexpo ;)
But, you're right, the best thing would be realtime sliders ! I'm working on that point.

The default gamma is 1.8 (good compromise for newbies), but you can easily change this default value (and many others) to became YOUR default values. Watch the end of the demo video to see how to do that (init/save rollout, button named : >> Save actual settings as solidrocks defaults <<).
I've spended lot of time to develop this feature. Everyone can have it's own preferred settings when launching SolidRocks on a fresh scene.

Lots of materials causes troubles....!? did you take 5 minutes to give an eye on SolidRocks users gallery ?
Others users seems to have very good results, even with tons of complex materials...
For example : http://solidrocks.subburb.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=34&f...
Feel free to send me an email (or post on SR forum) to have a support for your problematic scene. It's included in the price !
Note that SolidRocks is a Vray settings automator.
As you are a power user, you can create your own preset (via the "edit" button near the preset dropdown list) to get the results you want.
There are also many options into the SolidRocks configuration panel wich can impact the final result, like glossies interpolation options.

About colormapping :
The Reinhard colormapping is a mix between linear and exponential. The slider helps you to determine the amount of linear and exponential into your final image. The goal is to keep the most linear as possible, and avoid red pixels (burned) in minipreview. You can low down a little bit the exposure to do this, or put 100% exponential if you're hurry.
You can also turn OFF the color mapping management in solidrocks (see SR configuration panel) and manage color mapping by hand if your prefer.
But, hey !! WHY damn are you using a standard cam ???? SolidRocks (And Vray!) are intended to use VrayPhyscam and sun/sky.

About lowering Hsph when raising quality... Are you sure about your skills on Vray ? Hsph is strongly tied with global multiplier...
Click on Adv tools button to see what's happening : for example, with interior preset :
- at medium, hsph is 16, but global multiplier is 2. The real subdivs value (as shown in adv.tools info panel) is 16*2 = 32
- at production, hsph is 12, but global multiplier is 8. The real subdivs value is 12*8 = 96.
That's why the preset editor asks you for the real desired hsph values and makes the calculation for you. Easy !
So just be comfident with SR settings.. If you don't understand something, just watch settings adjustements made by SR to understand what's happening progressively.
Of course, nothing is perfect because natively setting up a render engine is always finding a compromise between quality and render time, but i'm pretty sure about SR presets, as they have been progressively affined since 3 years with the help of many Vray power users (beta testers).

About the preview : Just hit the ESC key on your keyboard to abort ;)
The mini preview will be faster in the next builds, but will not be magical. If you need instant feedback, you need to buy Vray RT ! (SolidRocks and RT works fine together).

Hope it helps, and, like I said, if you're not fully satisfied with SolidRocks, just send me an email and I'll give your money back with no discuss.

Regards,

SolidRocks is now Vray SP4

SolidRocks is now Vray SP4 compatible !

Hi guys !

I've just updated SolidRocks. New version is 0.85b is compatible with new Vray SP4.

jerome Prévost (Subburb)