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Author Topic: Problems with reflections on railings  (Read 3856 times)

trimitek

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Problems with reflections on railings
« on: December 09, 2014, 12:35:13 AM »
Hi there,

I'm using the standard "Wood handrail wall 1" preset from the library (without modifications) on a helix spline and I'm having problems on the reflection highlights (see pic).
These occur where the different segments connect and (it looks like) appear because the vertices of the segments are not welded together.
The [ ] Vertex Weld option however does not solve the problem, because I'm using VRay shaders and it looks like this option is not compatible with VRay.
The warning message I get when I click it says: "Turn off 'Display->VRay/Mental Ray Shader' parameter it before using welding', but there is no such option in the Display tab.
I can fix this by converting it to Poly and weld the vertices, but I prefer to be able to edit the RC object.
Any easy fix for this?

Rokas

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Re: Problems with reflections on railings
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2014, 08:18:24 AM »
If welding is fine for You, You can turn off geometry shader (instancing engine) and use welding within RC.
Rokas

trimitek

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Re: Problems with reflections on railings
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2014, 10:39:08 AM »
Thanks for the tip Rokas!
Turning off [ ] Use Geometry Shader fixed most of the issues, but it still remained where the 'HandRailsHanger' segment is present (I think the geometry from this part is preventing the borders to weld properly)
« Last Edit: December 09, 2014, 10:40:55 AM by trimitek »

trimitek

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Re: Problems with reflections on railings
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2014, 11:27:52 PM »
I had investigated a little bit more.
I moved the Hanger part a little bit forward so it will not appear on the intersection of the segments, but the problem remained.
Seems like the reason that these segments not weld properly is not the geometry of the Hanger, but some strange additional vertices:

 

There is some connection between the Hanger part and the appearance of these problematic vertices, but why that happens is a mystery to me.

Paul Roberts

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Re: Problems with reflections on railings
« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2014, 10:10:02 AM »
Hi,

The additional vertices are being caused by the slicing operation of the segment that meets the hanger. The default mode is to use tris to slice, but as you've seen this can create additional verts. If you switch the mode to operate on quads the problem should disappear.



I hope that helps, please let me know if you have further questions.

Many thanks,

Paul
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

trimitek

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Re: Problems with reflections on railings
« Reply #5 on: December 12, 2014, 11:40:00 AM »
Hi Paul,

Thank you for the quick reply!
Switching to quads cleaned up the additional vertices, but for some reason the segments where the Hanger is present still don't weld.

The experiments I had made:
1. I had tried moving the Hanger part so it is completely out of the volume of the Rail part to avoid all intersections of the borders, but still no luck.
2. Changes to the Generator Rules - Default, Corner, Evenly  - no effect on the welding problem.
3. After I convert everything to Poly the borders vertices weld without a problem.
4. If I turn off the Hanger in RC, everything welds properly.
 

Paul Roberts

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Re: Problems with reflections on railings
« Reply #6 on: December 12, 2014, 01:27:44 PM »
Hi,

As you've identified the problem is begin cause by an unweldable evenly segment. This is related to the way that RailClone's optimised welding algorithm works. To resolve this you could either place a weld modifier on top of the RailClone object. Instancing has been disabled anyway so there is no performance penalty for doing this. Alternatively you could slightly amend the style so that the evenly segments are in a separate generator and do not interrupt the hand rail:



I've attached this style to save you some time.

Many thanks,

Paul
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

trimitek

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Re: Problems with reflections on railings
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2014, 02:00:48 PM »
Thank you very much Paul!
Actually this is the best support I have ever encountered (not only software related).
I'm still learning the RC Pro tricks, but despite the problems I am facing from time to time, I think this is a brilliant tool and a great time saver.
I just wish I had more time to experiment with it, because it has a massive potential for creativity on a grand scale.

Maybe you should consider some 'I <3 RC' t-shirts  ;)