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Bobby Parker 6/1/16 Bobby Parker 6/1/16

V-Ray SP4 is out!

Build 3.40.01 (official) (31 May 2016)
==============

New features:
(*) V-Ray: Add support for 3ds Max 2017 including:
- Initial support for the new Physical Material;
- Support for MultiTile in V-Ray RT;
- Support for ColorMap in V-Ray RT;
- VFB: Initial HiDPI scaling support;
(*) VRayDenoiser: Implement a new render element that contains a denoised version of the image:
- The denoiser can take advantage of hardware acceleration;
- The denoised result can be adjusted after a render is complete;
- The denoised result is updated periodically during progressive rendering;
- The render elements required by the denoiser are automatically added;
(*) vdenoise.exe: A new command-line tool for denoising still images and animations with frame blending;
(*) V-Ray: Enable GI by default;
(*) V-Ray: Add another deep output fragment merge mode, "None", where fragments are not merged at all;
(*) V-Ray: Add "layers" type to override material exclude list;
(*) V-Ray: Add refraction filter bake element;
(*) V-Ray: Lower tessellation rate for out-of-view hair and displaced/subdivided geometry to save RAM in heavy scenes;
(*) V-Ray: Move the VRayHDRI's Tiled textures options from the material editor's interface to the V-Ray's Settings tab;
(*) V-Ray: Print a warning if "Show GI only" is enabled;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Add support for Orthographic camera;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Add support for bump with procedural Noise texmap;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Print the memory usage in the VFB statistics;
(*) VFB: Add option to enable auto-saving to history if the render completed normally (i.e. is not aborted);
(*) VFB: Add option to keep the VFB history folder relative to the current project path;
(*) VRayAerialPerspective: Add "filter color" parameter;
(*) VRayIES: Add an option to select luminous intensity in candelas (cd);
(*) VRayInstancer: Add option to override the node properties of the source objects;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Add textured flakes support;
(*) VRayStereoscopic: Add support for vertical placement of the left/right views in addition to side-by-side;
(*) VRayTriplanarTex: Add random modes: "By particle ID"/"By instance ID" support;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Implemented ability to pop out and enlarge the render diagrams;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Implemented different interpolation types per point in the render diagrams;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Implement motion blur clipping by the Cutter geometry for non-Mesh modes;
(*) .vrscene exporter: Show progress bar instead of "not responding" during export to .vrscene;
(*) V-Ray scene converter: Convert rectangle/sphere/disc photometric lights without web profile to the corresponding V-Ray lights;
(*) V-Ray Installer: Attempt to uninstall previous installation without registry record;
(*) V-Ray Installer: Installation options can be set from the command-line;
(*) ply2vrmesh.exe: Store the textures names used by OBJ files into user attributes;
(*) vrayspawner.exe: Make it possible to run V-Ray from a remote location;

Modified features:
(*) V-Ray: Faster rendering with the light cache;
(*) V-Ray: Blend the "Fixed" and "Adaptive" sampler UI into a "Bucket" image sampler;
(*) V-Ray: Enable support for processor groups and more than 64 CPU cores by default;
(*) V-Ray: Rename "Color threshold" to "Noise threshold" in the Adaptive image sampler;
(*) V-Ray: Add texmap shortcut buttons next to colors for plugins with automatically generated UI
(*) V-Ray: Add UI mode views switching for the Image Sampler rollout;
(*) V-Ray: Make the DR settings window with persistent size;
(*) V-Ray: Remove the "Adaptive subdivision" sampler from the UI
(*) V-Ray: Slow rendering of objects visible behind multiple panes of glass;
(*) V-Ray: The log messages window text and background match the 3ds Max color scheme;
(*) VRayLight: Streamline the UI rollouts;
(*) VRayLight: When assigning a new VRayHDRI or a Bitmap texture through the UI, automatically browse for a file and set the mapping to spherical environment;
(*) V-Ray RT: Add information about the current noise threshold to the render statistics;
(*) V-Ray RT: Enable region changes without restarting the render in RT;
(*) V-Ray RT: Enabled by default the rendering of Proxies, X-ref, Particle systems, Displacement and Motion Blur;
(*) V-Ray RT: Make override material independent for production and ActiveShade renderers;
(*) V-Ray RT: Optimize export of scenes with many instanced geometries with many faces;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Add "bias" spinners support for VRayDirt;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Improvement automatic texture resizing, leading to reduced memory usage and better quality;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Optimized rendering of VRayBlendMaterial;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Speed up loading of resized textures to the GPU;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Warn the user if all the GPUs they have are used for rendering;
(*) VFB: Added a button to open the V-Ray messages window;
(*) VFB: Show warning when images cannot be saved in the history;
(*) VFB: The MaxScript command "vfbcontrol #clearimage" should not trigger confirmation dialog;
(*) VRayDisplacementMod: Automatically calculate the "precision" parameter for 2d displacement mode;
(*) VRayDisplacementMod: Enable the "static geometry" option by default;
(*) VRayExposureControl: Bring back for 3ds Max 2016 and newer;
(*) VRayFur: Faster hair strands generation;
(*) VRayHDRI: Implement drag and drop of texture files from Windows Explorer to the file edit field;
(*) VRayMtl: Improved GGX/GTR sampling to reduce fireflies;
(*) VRayMtl: The "Anisotropy" spinner has a lower step;
(*) VRayProxy: Optimize rendering;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Improved importance sampling algorithm, removed the "texture subdivs" parameter;
(*) VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Treat "num flakes" as square root of the number of flakes;
(*) VRaySun/VRaySky: Add "blend angle" and "horizon offset" options to the user interface;
(*) VRayVolumeGrid: Add option for changing the mesh preview color;
(*) V-Ray scene converter: Convert the 3ds Max Normal Bump map to VRayNormalMap;

Bobby Parker 5/31/16 Bobby Parker 5/31/16

Honda Dealership Renderings

““Bob is very flexible and easy to work with, and seems to be able to work with all types of files. The finished product was just gorgeous - it looked like an excellent photograph. We were very pleased!” ”

— Architect

A couple weeks ago I got a call about a couple proposed Honda dealerships and the need for a couple renderings. Like most clients, the client didn't really understand plans and elevations, so the architect reached out to me.

After a few iterations, working back and forth on some changes, here are the finals.

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Bobby Parker 5/18/16 Bobby Parker 5/18/16

Greystone on the Hudson

What a project! Yes, it is a single family estate and it is beautiful. The developer reached out to me and at first, we couldn't agree on a fee, but after much prayer I called him back and gladly took the project. Although there was a lot of obstacles I had to overcome, the project was a pleasure to be a part of and I look forward to the next one.