VRayClipper

VRayClipper is a geometric primitive that can be used to clip away parts of the scene with a simple plane. It is a render-time effect and does not modify the actual scene geometry in any way.

Image courtesy of Brendan McCaffrey, © DK Books

Enabled – Turns the clipper effect on and off.

Affect lights – When enabled, the clipper affects area lighting as well.

Camera rays only – The clipper affects objects as they are directly seen by the camera, but they appear unchanged to reflection/refraction/GI rays.

Clip lights geometry – Enables or disables the clipping of lights geometry (for example a mesh light).

Use object material – When enabled, the clipper uses the material of each clipped object to fill in the resulting holes. When disabled, the material applied to the clipper object itself is used.

Set material ID – When enabled, you can specify a face material ID for the clipper object. This ID can then be used inside a Multi/Sub-object material to specify a different filler material for different objects. This option is available only when Use object material is enabled.

Material ID – Specifies the face material ID for the clipped surfaces when Set material ID is enabled. 

Icon text – Shows/hides the V-Ray clipper icon text from the viewports.

Mesh mode - Enables the clipper to clip against an arbitrary mesh object rather than an infinite plane.

Operation - Determines how to use the mesh when Mesh mode is enabled:

Intersection - Clips away anything that is outside the specified mesh; only renders objects and parts of objects inside the specified mesh;
Subtraction - Clips away anything inside the specified mesh; only renders objects and parts of objects outside of the specified mesh.

Replace mesh with clipper – Specifies what to do with the mesh that is picked through the Pick mesh button. When enabled, the mesh is moved as a sub-object under the VRayClipper object and the clipper takes the place of the mesh. If disabled, the clipper just references the picked mesh.

Icon Size – Specifies the size of the viewport gizmo in world units. This allows the gizmo to be static, regardless of its distance from the camera, or to be removed altogether.

Pick mesh – Allows you to pick a mesh object against which to clip when Mesh mode is enabled. This button is only active in the Modify tab of the 3ds Max Command Panel, and not in its Create tab.

Extract mesh as node – Extracts an instance geometry of the clipper mesh when Mesh mode is active.

Exclude – Opens an include/exclude list that allows you to select which scene objects to be clipped.