BlendColors node in Maya doesn't support V-RayMtl?

3DShaq

So I'm currently attempting to create a realistic eye using a specific workflow that uses masks:

The one I chose to follow was this one by: https://gumroad.com/tomnewbury 
He said that this method can be used with other renderers and for my project I'm currently using V-Ray.

So from reading the title you can see that I'm having an issue with the Blend node in Maya on this specific part where I connect the sclera and cornea shaders (VRayMtl nodes) into the BlendColors node: YouTube example: https://youtu.be/8gwIbBqn5No?t=27m35s

When I do this with the VRayMtl shaders, I get this 'unsupported' error: 


(When I render, the eyeball is completely black)

So my question is.. how do I do this method using V-Ray? (how do I make a specific area of a shader transparent using a mask so that the iris is visible?)

Would be really grateful if someone could help!

throttlekitty

Are you sure your renderer is set to Vray? I see a Mental Ray section in the AR on the right. The error you're getting is on the VRrayMtl not blendColors, so that would be the cornea/sclera_shdr nodes.

Otherwise, you could try passing the output of the shaders through a remapColor then to the blendColors to weed out any potential shenanigans, but I don't think that's necessary.

smbell

The blendcolors node is typically used to blend... colors not shaders, it does work with certain renderers like that, but it's not really designed to. There is a vrayBlendMtl that is made for that sort of thing and will give you better results.

3DShaq

I get the error after I plug in the outputs of the shaders into the color sections of the blend node.. and yes the renderer is set to V-Ray (I think I may have click I different node there)

I'm trying out the VRayBlend Material and It's seems to be somewhat working, still not sure yet though.

3DShaq

hmmm... so VRayBlendMtl seems to work, however it also masking out the shading (masking out the reflection)

In this image you can see the Sclera and Cornea, with the iris area being black (as a guide which will be masked out to be transparent) which is over the iris geo.



Here is a render using the VRay Blend Material:



If you noticed (top border of iris), the mask is also masking out the reflection which is not what I want (I only want to mask out the black). Any suggestions?

Thanks

3DShaq

So I updated my V-Ray to a newer version (3.4) and when I attempt the BlendColors node method, there is a new error this time: