TAPESTRY: The Art of Representation and Abstraction
Rhino + V-Ray: Texture Sharing
They're the same, but where you define them mattersThe other topics in this area are often written to address problems that people have with textures in the Rhino + V-Ray world. Check them out too if you're having problems. This page addresses just the issue of Rhino vs. V-Ray texture definitions
Relationship between Rhino and V-Ray Materials
If you choose "Plug-in" back up at the top of the Properties box, you are choosing to define your materials as the plugin (V-Ray in our case) defines them. (If you don't have a rendering plugin, this option won't even be available to you.) If you choose "Basic", you're defining a material the way Rhino defines them.
Rhino and it's various rendering plugins try to share data in a reasonable way, but problems can arise from time to time. Most of these, such as the transparency-map problems mentioned below, arise because of different arbitrary decisions taken by different teams of programmers.
How it's supposed to work
Images are used in both Rhino and V-Ray to define color, transparency, bump, and other textures. In theory, if you've defined a texture on one side of the "plugin boundary", but not on the other, automatic processes kick in to transfer data from one to the other.
Works Great
Texture Image-maps transfer fine between Rhino and the plugin.
Doesn't Work so Great
Transparency Black and white transparency-maps work in either Rhino or V-Ray, but not both. That's because they've made opposite choices as to which color means "100% transparent" and which means "100% opaque". If you plan to render with V-Ray, the thing to do is pick plug-in at the top, and define a transparency map using the V-Ray material editor, and leave the Rhino t-map option alone. It'll render opaque in Rhino, but fine in V-Ray.
Images with alpha maps can be used in Rhino & V-Ray as image maps, but don't produce the desired effect (i.e. the areas identified as transparent in the alpha channel don't appear transparent in the finished texture.) Loading them in the transparency map doesn't help.
Last updated: April, 2014
