Working with ".vrscene" files

[mgibeault]

Having a team working with 3dsMax and us on Rhino, we're exploring how V-Ray scene files could help on some tasks.
So, when my colleague exports a .vrscene file from Max, he gets one (or several depending on the options he chooses) text files. I can import some of these in Rhino and make a render that looks pretty much like it did from Max. It seems that V-Ray is gathering the textures from their original location.
A few questions:
-What can I do with other .vrscene files, like filename_view.vrscene?
-In the V-Ray Asset Editor, I can change the vrscene object display, can I change other properties?
-If I change the preview of the object to full and then explode it, I have access to all the objects individually but I can't seem to be able to change its material.
-There's no material shown in the material editor. Is there a way to show them there?
-Is there a way to recreate the lighting?
-Is there a way to get the cameras saved in the Max file?
My goal with this would be to change the appearance of some parts in a complex scene that come from Max.

[mgibeault]

I'd really appreciate if somebody from Chaosgroup would step in as I need to find a workflow today.
I tried all I could think of and it seems like a .vrscene file is not editable in anyway and I can't access the material definitions, right?

[Peter.Chaushev]

Hello, Marc,

(...) a .vrscene file is not editable in anyway and I can't access the material definitions, right?

This is currently the case, yes. The only current control for imported vrscenes is their global lights toggle.
- being able to align your project camera to the vrscene render view is something which is possible to implement. I've notified the dev team about it. Adding camera selection is another task which I cannot comment on yet.
- there is currently no way to edit the vrscene materials individually or overall.
We are looking into expanding the vrscene import functionality. It is a big feature on our roadmap but currently I have no further info to share.

Kind regards,
Peter

[mgibeault]

Ok, thanks a lot Peter.

[seltzdesign]

Peter.Chaushev Has anything changed here in the last >3 years? Is there by now a way to actually edit anything about a .vrscene file like materials?

I like the .vrscene format because it "just works", but not having any way to edit is a real pain. From what I can tell the .vrscene file is just a normal text file and apart from the Meshes which seem to be encoded in some way, it would be quite straightforward to edit. So having even a simple editor to edit the settings of materials and other parameters embedded in it or deleting certain meshes from it, should be fairly simple. Does Chaosgroup offer anything like that yet?

[toniboni]

HI there, totally agree to seitzdesign!

[Peter.Chaushev]

Overwriting specific parts of vrscene data is available in some of our products, e.g. V-Ray for Maya.

As for V-Ray for Rhino:
Transformations of proxy scenes are something our devs are working on and may be (partially) available in one of the upcoming updates.
Manipulation of proxy scenes, on the other hand, (e.g. exposing and adjusting individual shaders and meshes) is a lot trickier. As previously statde, it is a grand feature and is definitely a direction our dev team is looking into. Overall, it is an endeavour that requires a lot more time and so far did not fit in any of our previous release schedules. Some changes to asset management is currently being developed and with that inevitably proxy scene improvements may follow at a later stage.

Kind regards,
Peter