MoonRay for Modo 0.4

Native Windows experimental release for Modo 16.1v9. Download the kit and the windows-runtime ZIPs and follow INSTALLATION.md. The content ZIP is optional: it adds MoonRay's ten example scenes to the asset library. All three unpack to a MoonRayForModo folder; merge them into one. The kit finds its bundled runtime folder by itself, so no paths or environment variables need setting.

0.4 needs its own runtime ZIP: install the kit and the runtime together, not the kit over an older runtime.

The full list of changes, with pictures, is in What's new in 0.4.

New since 0.3.51.3

The preview window

• Three engines: MoonRay for the full render; MoonRay LS for a quick low-sample render; MoonLightIPR, which updates after each edit once you press RT Off to switch realtime on.
• Smart Render: MoonRay stops by itself once the picture is clean enough for the denoiser, and denoises it.
• Important Parts First: the buckets with the most detail render before the plain ones.
• Stop keeps a whole picture: MoonRay finishes the tiles it is on, so nothing is left dark or blocky.
• Denoised Beauty just works: choose it in the buffer list. Beauty is the default.
• The preview follows Modo's color management by default, and names the view and LUT at the foot of the window.
• Draft is much faster and follows the scene by itself; a Region is marked, then rendered when you ask.
• The status names the graphics card and processor; the Notices button is coloured when there is something to read.

New tools

• Compositor: a node graph over a finished render's buffers, in Options > Compositor. Its result is the Composite buffer.
• MoonLightIPR Playblast: renders an animation on the graphics card and plays it back.
• File > Open reads MoonRay scenes (.rdla, .rdlb), of any size.
• The MoonRay menu is regrouped by what each entry is for.

Closer to Modo

• Modo fur without a limit: every fibre Modo would grow, each as thick as the Fur material says. Remove Base Surface is followed.
• Keep Fine Detail when denoising: fur, hair and curves stay sharp over a denoised surface.
• Bump and normal images show on subdivision surfaces; an image layer's Low Value and High Value are followed.
• Cellular, Wood, Weave and Ripples layers render; a layer under the Render item shows on polygons with no material.
• Hidden items stay hidden: an item, or a light's material, with its eye off does not render. A preference chooses whether the environment lights the scene always or only with Modo's Global Illumination on.
• Rough Principled materials are no longer dark at low angles; imported MoonRay lights are no longer far too bright.

MoonLightIPR closer to MoonRay

• Shiny surfaces in bounced light, tinted glass, clearcoats and see-through shadows.
• Subsurface on small, thin and backlit shapes, and random walk subsurface as a real random walk.
• Per-ray visibility, Sample Clamp, and Blinn, Ashikhmin and GTR roughness.

Known limits

Windows and Modo 16.1v9 only; XPU and MoonLightIPR need an NVIDIA GPU and have been run on an RTX 3090 only. MoonLightIPR is an approximation of MoonRay, and updates after you let go of a drag, not while you drag. Smart Render and Important Parts First work on MoonRay renders in the preview window, not on Render EXR or animations. The compositor works on finished MoonRay renders. Random walk subsurface in MoonLightIPR is about 9% brighter than MoonRay's. Very smooth highlights are still dimmer than Modo's. A glowing VDB volume, or a light with a cookie filter, renders in MoonRay's slower scalar mode. Open issues are on the issue tracker.

What was checked

The packaged kit and runtime ZIPs were unpacked into an empty folder and checked there with tools/check_release_package.py. The content ZIP was checked for its layout and integrity, not installed from. The new features were each tried in an isolated Modo 16.1v9 on one machine (RTX 3090) while they were built; the project's unit tests pass. No clean-machine install was tested.