http://www.lightengine3d.com/index2.html
Has anyone been able to actually get this to work? I'm not talking about the plugin version, but the shader pack for MR. When I render, I either get black or an error.
Any help?
Thx.
Maybe I'm wrong I get the impresion that the shader pack is dependant on a plugin.
It doesn't seem that way--well, it would be kinda redundant. Both nearly have the same exact interfaces.
mmm, i think the plugin is a maya renderer plugin, whereas the shader pack is a mental ray shader...
an i also get only black when using the shader pack. although i'm not sure if the shader is supposed to be a material or volume shader...
I don't know why these ppl. don't take like 10 minutes to explain how to use their tools--better yet include an example scene.
yeah i must admit, a sample scene would speak a thousand words. in their defence however, they do look like they've had a decent crack at doing documentation for the maya plugin. i guess they just assume anyone getting into mental ray shaders is hardcore enough to be able to figure it all out themselves.
shame it aint so. 
It worked for me just OK. Set the output messages to progress and take a look at the information it spits out.
If the object you assigned it to does not show up in the alpha either, than there is a good chance that it is a setup issue. Otherwise the effect with the default settings do show up in the render.
Cheers,
Szabolcs
Could somebody please explain to the rest of us who havent been able to get it to work for mental ray just how you dit it. Is the custom node connected as a shader or volume or something else.
Thankx
Now there's an example scene included with the download, but it still doesn't work!
Nobody knows what the problem is? The author of the thing doesn't seem to know either, though. Geez.
Did you edit the 'maya.rayrc file?
Should have these lines included in it:
registry "{MRMAYA_START}"
link "{MAYABASE}/lib/base.{DSO}"
link "{MAYABASE}/lib/physics.{DSO}"
link "{MAYABASE}/lib/mayabase.{DSO}"
link "{MAYABASE}/lib/contour.{DSO}"
link "{MAYABASE}/lib/md_subScatter.{DSO}"
mi "{MAYABASE}/include/mayabase.mi"
mi "{MAYABASE}/include/base.mi"
mi "{MAYABASE}/include/physics.mi"
mi "{MAYABASE}/include/contour.mi"
mi "{MAYABASE}/include/md_subScatter.mi"
echo "mental ray for Maya - startup done"
crispy
yeah, if you don't put those things in the rayrc file, they don't even load up in maya...
the problem it getting no results from a render...
had some success (finally) after about an hour of trouble shooting
try a normal shader like blinn and apply to the object.
then get your sub surface node which is found in the miscelaneous section. so make sure u have show custom shaders in your env file turned to 1. (if u can see it in hypershade then it is loaded properly.. but also check the load info as mark suggests on his site)
plug the subScattering node into colour (or ambient whatever) of the normal maya shader
(i didnt have to plug into the mental ray material shader channel at all) . no need to access SG node... do not pass go etc etc
open outliner and select the subS node. open its settings in the attribute editor. then middle mouse the light and drag onto the mentalray subSurface tabs light section. then hit refresh and the light should read in the dialog box
then go to hypershade and middle mouse drag the
light node (go to lights) onto the subS node and attach 'message' to 'lights'
or (lights[0])
render with mental ray and turn on ray tracing
-gi or final gather not necessary to see some results
my address is phil@modernmayhem.com if you want any more help (although i'm just getting this working myself)
major props to mark for this one..
i was going to spend my summer making something like this but i guess he beat me to it
cant wait for the bssrdf implement too mark
BTW all, there is a new version of the shader out. it apparently more closely implements the BSSRDF paper. exactly what that means, i'm not sure.
hey phildog, it seems that once you mmb drag lights into the panel in the attrib editor for the sss node, you can just select them in that window, and it automatically connects up the lights. at least thats how it works with the new AEtemplate just released...
having said that, i still can't get the darn thing to do anything...
Hi guys!
I have a problem with the md_subScatter.
When Maya/mr starts to render, EVERYTIME Maya quits to the desktop without any errormessage or something.
Does anyone else has this problem too or is it just my config?
yeah, thats because you have more than one light linked to the scatter node... at the moment, it can only handle one light.
-quote-
yeah, thats because you have more than one light linked to the scatter node... at the moment, it can only handle one light.
-quote-
This is not the problem, as I use only one light in the test-scene.
1 Spot
1 Object (for the scatter effect
1 floor
And that's it. It's just a simple test-scene because I wanted to know how this looks like.
When I render with th eMaya renderer: no problem, but useless (of course)
As soon I use mr, it calculates 1, 2 seconds, and then Maya crashes.
Any other hints and tips?
well thats just a bugger then... sorry man, if its still crashing, i'm not real sure why that might be.
I was just browsing through this thread and tried the plugin. I had the same problem with the standard Maya renderer. My objects just went black, no matter what I tried. When I tried to change the light, I found a little check-box called "Emit Sub-Surface" under the boxes "emit diffuse" & "emit specular". Check the box and the render should work fine. Too bad it's only a 320x240 image you can render.
Or is there a full version available anywhere?