Mental Ray Light Shader rollout missing

[Anonymous]

Hi all! i'm on 3dsmax version 17.0 SP2 commercial.

I'm trying to use ambient occlusion by assigning an AO map to the light shader in a standard omni light, according to this tutorial, but it seems that rollout is missing in my modifier panel.

I searched HELP and everything seems to be in order, ie mental ray extensions enabled and mental ray renderer assigned. There was even an article for the light shader rollout which leads me to assume the methods are still the same for Design2015 as with previous versions.

Also, i found this thread on manually altering a directory file but that seems to be specific to the 2009/10 ver.

Would really appreciate any help!

Thx!

ian

[Steve_Curley]

That's odd - I just loaded Max 2015, switched to MR (default is scanline), added an Omni light and the rollout is there (on the Modify Panel). Try that - clean load rather than loading a scene just to determine if it's the scene which is at fault or Max itself.

[Anonymous]

thx for replying Steve! 

I tried that but its still not appearing. I realized that what was just "mental ray" in my previous 2010 is now "nvidia mental ray". I'm assuming that's normal, since there's no plain "mental ray" anywhere 😛

Now i'm wondering if reinstalling the whole thing will help.

[Steve_Curley]

Not yet, try resetting your user settings first. See if that helps before resorting to a complete uninstall/reinstall.

Btw, in the interim I downloaded the scene for that tutorial and loaded it here - no problems, so the issue is your install of Max (or your settings) rather than a Max issue per se.

[josemanuelelizardo · Accepted solution]

This is one of those default settings that is different between 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design. To access these rollouts in 3ds Max Design, easiest way is to set the Default Switcher back to 3ds Max. Follow these steps:

- Customize> Custom UI and Defaults Switcher...

- Select Max.mentalray from the list on the left

- Press Set

- Reset 3ds Max Design

That should do it for you. Let me know how it goes.

P.S. when you select Max.mentalray as a default, scroll down in the window to see what is being set by the switcher. In there you will see that the additional rollouts on the lights is listed.

Jose Elizardo

[Anonymous]

Thx Jose! That absolutely did the trick.

However, i have to admit that this has now got me questioning my proficiency as a visualizer. According to the descriptions i found in that UI customize panel just like you mentioned, each preset seems to be intricately geared towards a specific workflow depending on your respective field.

Gone are the days when there was just that one software for everyone, whoever you were. Now I'd be hard pressed to revisit my entire method as a visualizer, as utterly laborious as that sounds...

Thx too Steve! If i haven't already tipped the world off to my status quo bias; i just went straight for the quicker sounding fix 😛 

[apeniche]

I had the same issue.  Now fixed.

Tnx!!!