anyone know how to render vertex alpha in maya mental ray?

malcolm

I've been helped out with vertex colour but we can't figure out how to render vertex alpha in maya mental ray anyone know?

warby

i am wondering the same thing ... care to elaborate how you teach mental ray to draw / consider vertex colors ?! because i am already stuck at that ...

ivars

Warby: Connect the colorSet[#].colorName from your objects shape node to cpvSet[#] in a mentalrayVertexColor node (you find it in the "textures" tab of the mr nodes)
Then hook up the outColor from that node to whatever you wan't it to control.

warby

ill try that thanks

warby

works like a charm thanks boys

mikelantel

Sorry, I'm still trying to figure this out. The explanation sounds like gibberish to me. I'm on Maya 2009. Could someone provide a more verbose explanation or screenshots?

warby

- open the hyper shade
- click on your objects material with right mouse button drag it down to graph network
- now in the window below you should see a really simple material network.
- open you outliner ( default h)
- find your object
- press the little plus on the left of your object ( might have to activate shape view first in the top left menu)
- select the child (thats the shape)
- drag it into the material browser with the simple material network shown ...a new icon will appear there representing your shape
- than middle mouse drag the shape onto you material and in the pop up choose OTHER
- a new window will pop up on the left find and select the colorSet[#].colorName
- and on the right find and select: cpvSet[#] ... both are pretty well hidden ^^


done

mikelantel

Awesome. I'll give this a try. Just wanted to post a THANKS!

mikelantel

Finding the left side output is a breeze. The right side however has nothing like noted in the post. Nothing cpv'ish. I did a wildcard search for it and couldn't find anything. I had show hidden on, looked through everything. Any ideas?

mikelantel

There is a colorPerVertex with a child vertexColor but neither are selectable.

ivars

Here you go. I hope this helps. (Don't forget to assign the material to the object)

EDIT: You might not have a cpvSets[0], but if you connect it directly to cpvSets it will create one. Or just hit the "Add new item" button in the mentalrayVertexColors node first.

Julinoleum

How come that when I connect this network in the exact same way, when I render the scene, the shader is pitch black. It's not at all the vtx color the same color as the used vtxcolor set. I tried many times without success. I am no beginner so, my mental ray is activated, I setted everything on the good nods, didnt forget to assign the shader to the object.

but still... no success....

Im using 2009