I am posting this in the general Renderkit section because I am not certain which RFRK toolset I should be reaching for. I've been with Realflow since R3, and have worked with precalculated meshes for Hybrido in RF2012, but have never gotten my head around RFRK. When I finally took this on, RF2013 was already announced. I eventually found Luis's 2010 video series on RFRK and Max, but having heard that Hybrido2 was going to be entirely different, I shelved the idea and decided to wait till the new version to really tackle it.
So now I am deep into a project and am hoping/expecting to be able to translate these wonderful simulations into realistically rendered sea water. I've saved out the hybrido domain sim via RPC and each of the foam and splash sims as BIN files. So far, the only toolset I have been able to find that seems to import all three at once is the Rf3Mesher Object. I've done this by importing all 3 sequences under the Add Sequence particle files section. There's a separate issue with not being able to preview meshes (hitting manual update and waiting but then no preview.) But before I am go after this question (my renderings shows the fluid so it must be working during render) I want to be sure I am even working within the correct RFRK module. I suspect I am not going about this right because I realize that there is no way to assign separate materials to each of the water, foam, and splash sequences. Having reviewed Luis's Hybrido1 video, I see that assigning material in RFRK is not necessarily an intuitive process. I have tried to find analog settings, buttons, etc within the RFRK tools to what he used and have so far come up short.
Can anyone briefly outline the file formats, RFRK toolset, and steps one should take for bringing a Hybrido2 sequence into 3dsMAX Mental Ray scene setup? I have looked over the Manual. But as others have already pointed out, these sections are descriptions rather than explainations of how they can and might be used. Thanks in advance for any light any of you might be able to shed!
-Frank
RFRK and MAX2013 Mental Ray Workflow
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LuisMiguel
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 2:37 pm
Re: RFRK and MAX2013 Mental Ray Workflow
Hello Frank,
The process to work with Renderkit is "easy". You'll just load the files (particles files) depending whether you want to render as particles, for that case you would use the RFRK Particler, or if you want to create a mesh with the loaded particles, and for this case you would use the rfrk Mesher. If you wanna render a mesh you have created in RealFlow previously, you'll do the same process that importing particles to mesh, it means by using the RFRK Mesher, but there is a field to select a mesh sequence created in RealFlow called "BIN Mesh". Keep in mind that rfrk mesher and particler are maps, so you'll to drag and drop from the control panel to the Material editor to display the parameters.
If you wanna use the Cloud, you'll need to check the Autovolume to render it properly.
About applying materials, it is more a Mental ray working way than renderkit
I hope it helps.
luisM.
The process to work with Renderkit is "easy". You'll just load the files (particles files) depending whether you want to render as particles, for that case you would use the RFRK Particler, or if you want to create a mesh with the loaded particles, and for this case you would use the rfrk Mesher. If you wanna render a mesh you have created in RealFlow previously, you'll do the same process that importing particles to mesh, it means by using the RFRK Mesher, but there is a field to select a mesh sequence created in RealFlow called "BIN Mesh". Keep in mind that rfrk mesher and particler are maps, so you'll to drag and drop from the control panel to the Material editor to display the parameters.
If you wanna use the Cloud, you'll need to check the Autovolume to render it properly.
About applying materials, it is more a Mental ray working way than renderkit
I hope it helps.
luisM.
Re: RFRK and MAX2013 Mental Ray Workflow
hi luis,
thanks for the quick reply. my confusion was in my expectation that importing a hybrido simulation with foam and splash would all be done within a single 'container' in the MAX scene. because I will need to transform them once imported (scale, rotate) to sit correctly in the scene, I was thinking of them as a single object. it sounds like each of these need to be imported a separate operations. perhaps I can group them before transforming so they share a single axis and behave as a single object.
when I mentioned that the applying of materials via RFRK was not an intuitive process, I was referring to the dragging and dropping rfrk mesher and particler "maps" from the control panel to the Material editor to display the parameters. watching your 2010 video tutorial had me scratching my head as to why we'd need to do this. but I will dig in and learn the workflow. one question: does a hybrido mesher require the same process as a rfrk mesher? one of my earlier attempts produced an error message about MR not recognizing the format and outputting in RAW instead. after I saw the error message I assumed that I was proceeding in the wrong direction.
thanks again for the feedback. I will tackle this head on once I am back in the studio tonight.
-frank
thanks for the quick reply. my confusion was in my expectation that importing a hybrido simulation with foam and splash would all be done within a single 'container' in the MAX scene. because I will need to transform them once imported (scale, rotate) to sit correctly in the scene, I was thinking of them as a single object. it sounds like each of these need to be imported a separate operations. perhaps I can group them before transforming so they share a single axis and behave as a single object.
when I mentioned that the applying of materials via RFRK was not an intuitive process, I was referring to the dragging and dropping rfrk mesher and particler "maps" from the control panel to the Material editor to display the parameters. watching your 2010 video tutorial had me scratching my head as to why we'd need to do this. but I will dig in and learn the workflow. one question: does a hybrido mesher require the same process as a rfrk mesher? one of my earlier attempts produced an error message about MR not recognizing the format and outputting in RAW instead. after I saw the error message I assumed that I was proceeding in the wrong direction.
thanks again for the feedback. I will tackle this head on once I am back in the studio tonight.
-frank
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LuisMiguel
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 2:37 pm
Re: RFRK and MAX2013 Mental Ray Workflow
Hey,
does a hybrido mesher require the same process as a rfrk mesher?
In order to create a mesher is the same process if you have the exported particles. If you have the mesh already simulated in RealFlow, you just must load it into "Insert Bin mesh" parameter once you have created a rfrk mesher.
luisM.
does a hybrido mesher require the same process as a rfrk mesher?
In order to create a mesher is the same process if you have the exported particles. If you have the mesh already simulated in RealFlow, you just must load it into "Insert Bin mesh" parameter once you have created a rfrk mesher.
luisM.