I have been using the same materials from model to model - but I’m getting this weird AO in the corners of this particular file. I can’t sort it out - I have an AO render layer that I have turned off that I usually manually blend in Ps after render - but this gets cooked into the file.
Problem:
Two other models, same materlial on the walls:
I cannot help with your issue, but I just wanted to say I think your work is great 
Thanks. These are ‘good enough’… still lots to learn. Every year I do 4-6 plans for this client and always jump through hoops on the VRay side.
I was hot to learn V-Ray for a while, but my subscription lapsed, and put it aside for now – thus can’t check this out. I never played with AO in V-Ray. It wouldn’t be SketchUp’s AO added into the mix, would it?
Oh that is an interesting idea. I don’t think so but I’ll have to check.
I’ve since copy pasted the geometry into another file. Removed materials and then stripped VRay information… then brought it back. Same result.
I am using the same base templates, but it’s possible that I’m in a ‘presentation’ style where I do use subtle AO when I go to LayOut. I’ll have to double check when I get back in the office.
These also took 2 times more credits in Chaos cloud than other, more involved interiors.
So I have no idea where this one went off the rails - I started a clean file, then copied in everything but the walls and roof. I brought those into a separate file, exploded, removed materials, stripped VRay materials, then made new components, then brought them into a new file.
It was not the inbuilt AO… ¯_(ツ)_/¯
So far it appears to have solved the issue.
I think something like this has been discussed before, but I don’t know the words I should search for. Maybe @eric-s would have a clue.
I was going to say, if you haven’t tried it yet, save a copy and reset all your V-Ray settings to default. It looked to me more like a setting issue than material given the difference between multiple files.
Edit. If you have your original file still, perhaps try resetting to default settings and see what happens.
Where / how does one do that?
I’m not sure where I would have changed things that could have caused this.
AFAIK I can use AO as edges / dirt (didn’t apply to that material or any material in that scene), or generated as a render layer… I think globally there is no more AO setting?
There still is a global AO setting..it’s hidden under the ‘Advanced’ Global Illumination settings in the Asset Editor.
Went back to the previous file and this was it. For whatever reason it was turned on in this particular file (this is the 12th set I’ve rendered from the same templates - 4 different projects, 3 setups each - interiors, isolated and environmental).
Glad the mystery has been solved. Have you saved your standard V-Ray Settings as a SketchUp Template yet? It’s great as every time you open a new SU file from your template, V-Ray remembers your settings. Huge time saver but more importantly, creates consistency 
Not sure how to do that much less how to do a reset all as you mentioned before.
I assume just open my template file, start VRay, then save a new template file in SKP?
Correct. Set up V-Ray for how you typically render, if you have a standard that is. Then save the SketchUp file as a new template, or your default depending on your settings.
See example of some of the settings I like to reuse.
Render Settings: turn off progressive, turn on denoiser, set to mild, lower quality, set camera to ‘match viewport’, turn on AO.
Render Elements/Channels: enable Light Mix and add Material Random Color (ie MatID - to speed up post processing)
Lights: add dome light, infinite plane, turn off sun, (add other standard lights as needed):
Lastly, to reset all settings, it’s at the bottom of the Render Settings section. Be sure to save a copy first just in case - also note, don’t purge your V-Ray template as you’ll lose any settings that have yet to be applied to entities in the model. Cheers.
Thanks. What does Light Mix and Material Random Color do?
I generally work with Object ID, AO, Atmosphere layers.
And I use Chaos Cloud for finals, not sure if Progressive makes a difference there or not.
Light Mix allows you to make changes to the visibility, intensity, and color of lights AFTER render completes. That means you don’t need to get the lights perfect PRIOR to rendering. Just make sure the right lights are in the right places. The fine tuning can happen later - ie no more need for 100 lighting test renders.
The Material Random color, for me, works best for a MatID selection channel for post-production. ObjectID requires setting the objects IDs manually - and can work just as well if pre-configured based on your post-production process/needs. I’ve found that when I make edits, I tend to make across all materials at once, rather than at an object-by-object basis. In fact I should start to look for ways to use both Random Color and Object ID for greater level of control!
Thanks. Good info on the Material Random. I’ll have add that to my mix. I use Object ID and Atmosphere to create masks in Ps (for exteriors) and then blend curves and adjustment layers.
I don’t render finals locally so I imagine light mix doesn’t apply? Unless I am missing a trick on rendering in the cloud but being able to bring it all back into the frame buffer to assemble / adjust? Usually I render TIFFs and bring it Ps for adjustment. These interiors are pretty basic but I also have some evening landscape exteriors with fog / atmosphere and moody skies, vegetation, etc.
I appreciate the help - there is so much to learn and the hole keeps getting deeper the more I get to do.
I would think you can achieve Light Mix functions in Photoshop as an alternative if you export the right files or file with layers? It seems a lot like “painting with light” in real world photography. It would be a lot of work if you had to make multiple renderings with each light source alone and then combine them in PS as layers, but if you’re going to do other work in PS anyway, it might make sense to go there.
I think you’d be surprised how much of that you can do inside the v-ray frame buffer - you can create curves and apply them globally to the image or to an object or to a single material too.
If you download the EXR file (which is the original 16/32but full dynamic range image , you can open that in your local VFB and do it there - also with that exr you can open that EXR in the camera raw filter where you will be able to fully adjust the exposure, color correct and tone map the image in one fell swoop.
The tiff may allow that also, but the EXR is as close to a raw file that you will get in a renderer
