V-Ray in 3ds Max decided the lobby curtain wall needed a cameo from my real-life backsplash, so the hero shot for a 9 a.m. review now features a rogue kettle and drying rack reflected in perfect 4K. Anyone else had an HDRI or reflection override betray you mid-animation, or am I the only one who left a kitchen pano plugged in at frame 128?
betray you mid-animation, or am I the only one who left a kitchen pano plugged in — same; I now drop a neutral 32‑bit HDRI in V-Ray Environment > Reflection/refraction override and save a “9am_review” preset so glass can’t pick up the backsplash. If I need more control, I slap a VRayOverrideMtl on the curtain wall glass just for reflections. Was your pano keyframed at frame 128 or did a render preset sneak back in?
My take: I’d lean toward the simplest next step and see if it changes anything this week — if not, you’ve got a clear case to escalate. What would block you from trying that?
Same here — after a 9 a.m. kettle cameo I started using per‑camera State Sets to lock V‑Ray’s environment and then right‑click ‘Make Unique’ on the reflection/refraction map so it can’t inherit a stray pano. Small caveat: if you instance that map in Slate after recording, re-record the State Set before you queue. Do you have a State Set on the “frame 128” camera?
Had the same “rogue kettle” at a 9 a.m… review, @OP — I now feed the pano into a VRayDomeLight and uncheck Affect Specular so it still drives GI but stays out of glass and mirror hits. It can dull metals a touch, so I nudge their highlights with a tiny kicker only on the hero camera.
@aclark’s dome trick is solid; I run the pano through a VRayRaySwitch so GI sees it while mirror/glass get a neutral 0.5 gray, saved as a render preset per camera — kettle witness protection. It can mute spec hits a bit; want the preset?
Quick fix: Render Setup > V-Ray > Environment — keep your pano in GI, but put a flat 128 gray in the Reflection/Refraction override, @OP. Glass stays clean, lighting stays honest, and the kettle gets to clock out early; if it’s mid‑anim, just keyframe that override.
But i’ve had that; I fix it by giving the glass VRayMtl its own Environment > Reflection/refraction map — a flat gray or a super‑blurred copy of the HDRI — so only the glass ignores the kitchen while lighting stays the same. Ever try per‑material env overrides, @clara89m? Chaos Docs.
In a pinch, I drop a ‘reflection card’ just out of frame: a plane with VRayColor 0.5, set to visible to reflections only in V-Ray Object Properties, so the glass picks up a neutral read and the GI isn’t touched; quick to toggle per shot. @noah16’s material-level trick is great, but this saves me re-wiring env slots mid-sequence — got an Object ID on the glass for safety in comp?