This page provides information on the Object and Light Properties windows

Overview


In addition to the settings in the Render dialogue, 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 3ds Max object properties page. V-Ray also defines some additional properties which can be accessed by pressing the Object settings or Light settings button in the System rollout of the Settings tab in the Render Setup.


||Select object|| > right click in viewport > V-Ray properties


||Render Setup window|| > Settings tab > System rollout > Object settings.../ Lights settings... Cameras settings... button (when Advanced mode is selected)


Object Properties


V-Ray 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. If there are any 3ds Max selection sets in the scene, they appear in a list to make the interface more convenient and efficient.

Use default moblur samples – When enabled, the Geometry Samples value is taken from the global Motion blur rollout. When disabled, the number of geometry samples is taken from the Motion blur samples parameter below.

Motion blur samples – Sets the number of geometry samples for the selected objects, if Use default moblur samples is off. See the Motion Blur Samples example below.

Moblur duration – When enabled, allows you to control the strength of the motion blur effect on a per object basis. Larger values mean that the camera shutter is open for a longer time and smaller values mean the camera shutter is opened for a shorter time.

Velocity channel – Allows you to manually specify a map channel to be used as a velocity channel

Velocity chan mult – Allows you to control the velocity information on a per-object basis by multiplying the original velocity with the value specified here.

Generate GI – Controls whether the object(s) generates indirect illumination. You can supply a multiplier for the generated indirect illumination.

Receive GI – Controls whether the object(s) receives indirect illumination. You can supply a multiplier for the received indirect illumination.

GI surface ID – Prevents the blending of light cache samples across different surfaces. If two objects have different GI surface IDs, the light cache samples of the two objects will not be blended. This can be useful to prevent light leaks between objects of vastly different illumination.

Raytraced SSS ID – Used to tell VRayFastSSS2 that objects with the same ID need to share the same illumination samples when using raytraced multiple scattering. This avoids illumination seams between those objects.

Subdivs multiplier – A multiplier for the subdivisions of all secondary ray tracing done for the particular surface.

Generate caustics – When enabled, the selected objects 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 enabled, the selected objects become caustic receivers. When light is refracted by objects that generate caustics the resulting caustics are only visible when they are projected on caustics receivers.

Caustics multiplier – A multiplier for the caustics received by the selected object(s). Note that this value has no effect unless Receive caustics is checked. See the Caustics Multiplier of an Object example below.

Visible in reflections – When disabled, the object appears perfectly transparent to reflection rays. See the Visibility example below.

Visible in refractions – When disabled, the object appears perfectly transparent to refraction rays. See the Visibility example below.

Gen render elements – When disabled, the object does not appear in some render elements. The full list of the render elements affected is listed below.

Raw Lighting (VRayRawLighting)
Raw Total Lighting (VRayRawTotalLighting)
Raw Shadow (VRayRawShadow)
Lighting (VRayLighting)
Total Lighting (VRayTotalLighting)
Specular (VRaySpecular)
Shadow (VRayShadows)
Velocity (VRayVelocity)
Normals (VRayNormals)
Z-Depth (VRayZDepth

VRayToon outlines – Allows you to explicitly exclude an object from VRayToon. This parameter is ignored in V-Ray GPU.

LPE labels – Allows you to add an object labels for the object in order to use Light Path Expressions. See the Light Path Expressions page for more information.

Geometry – Allows you to override the Default Geometry parameter in the System rollout on a per object level.

Static – The geometry is pre-compiled into an acceleration structure at the beginning of the rendering and remains there until the end of the frame. The static raycasters are not limited in any way and consume as much memory as necessary.
Dynamic – The geometry is loaded and unloaded on the fly depending on which part of the scene is being rendered. The total memory taken up by the dynamic raycasters can be controlled by the Dynamic memory limit parameter.
Default – The option set in the Default Geometry parameter is used.





Example: Caustics Multiplier of an Object


This example shows how the Caustics multiplier of a table controls the amount of caustics received by the table.



Caustics multiplier = 0.2

Caustics multiplier = 0.5

Caustics multiplier = 1

Caustics multiplier = 2

Caustics multiplier = 3






Example: Motion Blur Samples


This example shows you how setting different values for the Moblur duration of an objects changes the amount of motion blur. Here we have two separate tiles - the right one has its Moblur duration enabled and set to 1 for all three renders, and the left one has its Moblur duration enabled with different values.

Lower values make the left tile look more static. Higher values produce more accurate motion blur for the set Motion blur samples.



Moblur duration = 0,5

Moblur duration = 1

Moblur duration = 2






Example: Visibility


This examples shows how the Visible in reflections and Visible in refractions options control the visibility of separate objects. When Visible in reflections is off, the teapot is transparent to reflection rays, and respectively when the Visible in refraction is off, the teapot is transparent to refraction rays. When both options are off, the teapot is neither visible in the mirror planes nor in the glass cup.



Visible in reflections on, Visible in refractions on

Visible in reflections off, Visible in refractions on

Visible in reflections off, Visible in refractions off

Visible in reflections on, Visible in refractions off



Matte Properties


V-Ray does not completely support the Matte/Shadow material of 3ds Max. However, V-Ray 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 – When enabled, turns the object into a matte object. This means that the object is not directly visible in the scene; instead, the background color is shown in its place. However, the object appears normally in reflections/refractions and generates indirect illumination based on its actual material.

Matte for refl/refr – When enabled, makes the object a matte object when viewed through reflections or refractions. This means that whenever the object is reflected or refracted, the background color is shown instead of the object color.

Alpha contribution – Allows you to control how the object appears in the alpha channel. Note that an object doesn't have to be a matte object for this setting to work - the alpha contribution can be changed regardless of whether the object is matte or not. A value of 1.0 means that the object appears normally in the alpha channel. E.g. if the object is opaque, the alpha is white; if the object is fully transparent, it will not influence the alpha channel at all. A value of 0.0 means that the object, regardless of its actual opacity, is not present in the alpha channel, although it is present as normal in the RGB channel. A value of -1.0 means that the object's alpha is cut out from the alpha of the objects behind it. E.g. if the object is fully opaque, its alpha will be black and will be blocking the alpha of the objects behind it, whereas if the object is fully transparent, it will not influence the alpha at all. 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 – Makes the matte object receive shadows.

Affect alpha – Causes the shadows to affect the alpha of the object.

Color – Specifies the color of the shadows.

Brightness – Controls the brightness of the shadows.


Reflection/Refraction/GI


Reflection amount – If the material of the object is a reflective V-Ray material, this controls how much of the reflection is visible on the matte object.

Refraction amount – If the material of the object is a refractive V-Ray material, this controls how much of the refraction is visible on the matte object.

GI amount – Controls how much of the indirect illumination received by the object is visible on the matte.

No GI on other mattes – Causes 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 appears a matte object to itself and is not able to "see" the refractions on the other side).


Trace sets


Reflection Exclude list – An Include/Exclude list that allows you to specify which objects are going to be visible in the reflections of the current object.

Refraction Exclude list – An Include/Exclude list that allows you to specify which objects are going to be visible in the refractions of the current object


Light Properties


In this dialogue, 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. If there are any 3ds Max selection sets in the scene, they appear in a list to make the interface more convenient and efficient.

Generate caustics – When enabled, V-Ray generates 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 – Controls the amount of photons that V-Ray traces to estimate caustics. Large numbers slow down the calculation of the caustics photon map and may take more memory.

Caustics multiplier – 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 rollout section. The multiplier has no effect unless Generate caustics is checked. See the Caustics Multiplier example below.





Example: Caustics Multiplier


This example shows how different values of the VRaySun's Caustic multiplier change the generated caustics.



Caustics multiplier = 0.2

Caustics multiplier = 0.5

Caustics multiplier = 1

Caustics multiplier = 2

Caustics multiplier = 3


Camera Properties


The options here allow you to control the motion blur generated by the camera movement.

Use default moblur samples – When enabled, the Geometry Samples value is taken from the global Motion blur rollout. When disabled, the number of geometry samples is taken from the Motion blur samples parameter below.

Motion blur samples – Sets the number of geometry samples for the selected objects if Use default moblur samples is off.


Notes


  • Objects with Gen render element unchecked still appear in the Z-Depth pass, but with constant Z-Depth of 1.0
  • When creating a matte object with Object and Light Properties and using the V-Ray CUDA engine, please note the following:

    • Alpha Contribution should be set to -1.0;
    • The Matte Surface, Affect Alpha and Shadows options should be enabled.
  • Since V-Ray 6 the Generate diffuseDiffuse subdivs and Diffuse multiplier options have been removed from the UI.
  • In V-Ray 5, matte objects always show the background. Since V-Ray 6, however, the matte objects show the V-Ray Dome light instead of the background when a V-Ray Dome light is present in the scene.