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This page offers information about V-Ray Enmesh in Maya. 

 


Overview

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Enmesh is a tool that uses geometry as a texture to “coat” objects. It can tile and repeat geometry infinitely, bend it over a desired surface or cut it according to the surface’s limits. It can randomize rotation and offset to produce non repeating geometric patterns.

Enmesh The V- Ray Enmesh geometry generates a render time patterned geometry over a mesh surface. The node can be used to create patterned fabrics, woven and knitted materials as well as chain mail. It can also be used to scatter grass, pebble patches, stone tiles and many more.

Enmesh can use multiple meshes as reference to "coat" the source mesh's surface. However it can be assigned to only one source mesh. The source object's material is applied to the geometric pattern, and the mesh's UVs determine the tiling.

crochet fabric, chain mail, nets, and anything that requires inflex geometry tiling.

Multiple objects can be included in the node's Reference Objects list to form a complex pattern sample and tile together over the mesh surface.

The Enmesh gizmo encloses the sample to be tiled. You can adjust it to fit all the reference geometry or crop it conveniently by modifying the size and position of the gizmo. Therefore, the gizmo is also referred to as Crop BoxV-Ray Enmesh works similarly to a texture, so UVs and their scale and tiling should be used accordingly to achieve the desired effect.

V-Ray Еnmesh is currently available only for CPU rendering.

 

 

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titleUI Path: V-Ray Menu > V-Ray Enmesh
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V-Ray menu > V-Ray Enmesh

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||V-Ray Shelf|| > Create V-Ray Enmesh button

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Workflow

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Select the meshes you want to turn into reference geometry. Then, select the source geometry.

Create The fastest way to create a V-Ray Enmesh from the shelf button or from V-Ray menu > V-Ray Enmesh.

The reference geometry is connected to a set called VRayEnmeshRefs. It can be accessed and edited from the Connection Editor or by using the arrow next to the Objects parameter in the Enmesh node’s Attributes. You can apply multiple reference geometries. For more information, see the Reference Geometries example.

The source geometry is connected to another set called VRayEnmeshSources. It can be accessed and edited from the Connection Editor or by using the arrow next to the Source Mesh.

Note that only one mesh can be used as a source. The source geometry is initially invisible in the render. That can be changed by disabling the Force Invisible Source option.

A gizmo is created. If the gizmo needs rescaling, use the Fit in Object Space button to rescale the gizmo exactly around the mesh, and the Crop Box X/Y/Z parameters - for further adjustment of the size, if needed. The tiling and randomization parameters can be used for various effects.

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Make sure the gizmo covers the reference object completely to see proper result.

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Try to avoid unnecessary big gizmos with lots of empty space, especially with Crop Box Y, as they slow down the render and do not actually change the final render result.

node, is to first select the Reference geometry, then Ctrl-select the Source geometry and click on the Image Added icon in the V-Ray Shelf. This way the source and reference are entered automatically.










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Create V-Ray Enmesh and assign the reference object using the Relationship Manager

 

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Basic Parameters

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Reference Objects – Shows the set containing the objects used as reference meshes. This is the object or objects that will be scattered on top of the Source.

Source Mesh – Shows the set containing the mesh used as a source. This is the base. Other geometries will be scattered on this object.

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 Make sure to freeze transformations of the Source Mesh to get the correctly scaled result. You can do so by going to Modify > Freeze Transformations.

Force Invisible Source – When enabled, the Source Mesh is invisiblehidden at render time, no matter if its own visibility is enabled or not.

Crop Box X/Y/Z – Sets the gizmo size along the X/Y/Z axis.

Height % – Sets the VRayEnmesh height based on the Crop Box Size Y value. 100% means it uses original crop box height.

Height Offset % – Sets the VRayEnmesh geometry offset along the surface normals based on the Crop Box Y size.

Fit in Object Space – Clicking on this option positions the Enmesh gizmo in the viewport exactly around the reference object.

Use Mesh UVW Mapping – Uses the source mesh UVW for shading instead of the Surface UVW. This option is disabled by default.

Use Proxy Mesh IDs – Uses Proxy Mesh IDs for shading the patterned surface if a VRayMultiSubTex or MultiSubObject are used.

 
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Tiling Options

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Tiling U/V – Sets a pattern tiling in UVW space. Use these parameters according to your UVs size.

Offset U/V – Sets a pattern offset in UVW space.

Random Offset U/V – Uses the static UVW offset as base and adds it when calculating the randomization effect.

Rotation – Sets a pattern rotation in UVW space.

Use Random Rotation Steps – Makes Random Rotation parameter be based on 360/X, where X is steps count. For example, if Random Rotation is set to 4, the pattern mesh is randomly rotated on a 90 degrees step (360/4) with a 30 degrees offset - 30, 120, 210, 300, 390 (30).

Map Channel – Uses the set map channel for the surface geometry.


See the Tiling example for more information.

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Example:

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This example shows how applying multiple reference objects affects the mesh. Click on the expandable field to see the original reference geometries and the order they were used in. A V-Ray Light material with varying Opacity is applied to the reference objects. 

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Tiling


The following example shows how Enmesh is used on a simple plane to coat it with a pattern of torus objects. The pattern is controlled via the Tiling parameters and the tori are included in the Reference Objects list.

The Crop box X, Y and Z are set at the following values respectively: 3.15, 1.125, 4.4.


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The V-Ray Enmesh gizmo box is set in such a way that its edges are in the center of the tori's periphery. Thus, the tori tile seamlessly.

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The tiling pattern changes considerably when Tiling values change:

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Tiling U and V = 8

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Original Geometry

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Tiling U and V = 12

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Applying one reference object

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Tiling U and V = 16

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Applying two reference objects

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Notes

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  • V-Ray Enmesh is incompatible with render-time created geometry like displacement and V-Ray Fur.

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