Hi all,

Regarding the randomly-changing randomness of the multi-sub map function, there is a 6-7 month old link at http://area.autodesk.com/forum/233782. However, since that thread is in 2011 and is also old, I don’t know if anyone is still subscribed to it.

My question is: has anyone found a solution to the randomly-changing randomize function of the multi-sub map yet? In v2012 it’s more unstable than it was in v2010. At least in v2010 the randomly-changing ids were linked to whether or not you hid or unhid objects. Now in 2012, if I even hit render twice in a row, CHANGING NOTHING, mental ray gives totally different results. See attached file to test it out.

In that prior thread, Chris was looking for a script to randomly assign Object IDs to a group of objects. I’m not sure if that will quite for proxies: In a quick test, changing the object ID of a proxy doesn’t make any difference - mental ray goes back to what the object ID of the original proxy object was (at least when I tried with rendering the object ID element). So in my case all the proxies of each type would still all look the same, and NOT be randomized.

Any solutions out there?

Thanks

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multisubmtlbug.zip

I don’t know if this relates but I remembered it from a while ago...sorry if it is off topic.
http://area.autodesk.com/lou...color_to_selected_objects

3ds Max 9 thru 2013
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit OS SP1
Dual Intel® Xeon® 6 core X5650 @ 2.67GHz CPU 36GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000
450GB HDD (x3) and 2TB HDD

3ds Max 2012 Certified Professional Models to Motion

Hi Ivan,

Have you tried with the file I uploaded to this post? Download that please, hit render twice in a row, and see if you get the same results. I did not, even without doing anything else but rendering twice in a row.

Thanks

Hi Flynn,

I just tested your file.
In my understanding (I could be certainly wrong) it is working as expected. The activated option in your example is “Random” and in any new rendering the tool (Multi/sub map) makes a redistribution of the color maps.
I think that is the right way; random. If you need to get the same combination by every new rendering you proceed, you need to choice another option; distribution by “Object ID” for example, or anyone else in the list of options, defining particular (non random) conditions.. 
The issue we discussed in the old post as far as I can remember, was that multi/sub map,
proceeded a kind of redistribution after hiding one or some of the objects in the scene.
Anyway, I have forgotten what all this was about and I have no time to test it again in 2011; it has actually no practical sense now.
From my point of view it is working the right way in 2012, at least I have not the issues I had in the past and taking into account I use the tool not that much, I can live with it. :)

ivan

You could always try my script materialIDRandomizer to assign random material IDs to your objects:

http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_tools/soulburnscripts/soulburnscripts.htm

I use it to do this sort of thing a lot.

- Neil

Thanks for taking time to test it, Ivan.

I went and re-tried with 2010, and 2010 acts like 2011, in that the multi/submap randomizer IS REPEATABLE twice in a row if you don’t hide objects. When you do hide objects, yes ok, the randomizer changes up the materials but then they still stay the same until you change/hide/unhide other objects. This allows for animations.

Version 2012 changed the randomizing function to where you can’t use it twice in a row, even without hiding/unhiding anything else. This is what is problematic - it makes using the 2012 randomize material function useless for animations - even on the same computer!

A 2010 max file is attached. Compare this with the 2012 version (at the top of the post). Simply hit render twice. In 2010 you get the same result. In 2012 you don’t.

It seems that the workaround is the more difficult task of breaking down my single material (with the diffuse color multi/sub map) into 20 separate materials, each with 1 diffuse map, and then applying each of those 20 separated materials onto randomly selected objects. If I ever want to change anything about that original material’s base settings, now I have to do it 20 times. Ug. Was just looking for an easier way.

Thanks all,
-Matt

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multisubmtl2010.zip