What to do after the download

  1. Exit all your 3ds Max sessions.
  2. Double click the .msi file - RichDirt/RichScene uses standard windows installers. Installation requires Admin privileges.

  3. The free trial of RichDirt does not require any license. You can now directly start 3ds Max, and use it.
  4. Start 3ds Max. Select the renderer ( V-Ray, Scanline or for older versions mental ray) (Rendering -> Render Setup -> Common Parameters , scroll to the lower end and open the ´Assign Renderer´ rollup)
  5. Create a box. Open the material editor. V-Ray users create a V-Ray material. Click the map button of the ´Diffuse´ color. This opens the Material/Map Browser. RichDirt is a map (not a material), and is found in the ´standard´ map Rollup.
  6. In the RichDirt map choose a Red color for ´Dirt´. Assign the material to the box that you created in step 5. Hit Render ! Congratulation - your first image with RichDirt !
  7. Where do i find RichScene ? If you bought RichScene - RichScene is installed automatically with RichDirt. So the first 5 steps are the same. RichScene however is a "material" , unlike RichDirt which is a "Texmap". You find RichScene in the material section of the Material/Map Browser. Drag it into the Material Editor. To apply it to the scene objects in the scene must have at least a material. Default wire frame color is not sufficient for RichScene to apply Dirt. You need at least 1 material assigned to 1 object. Like a Vraymaterial to a box.

  8. I bought an upgrade, and it seems it doesnt work. This is easy to solve. You need to enter both your original key and your upgrade key on the current machine. To check which keys are found go to the "incl/excl" rollup of RichDirt and press "show licenses". This will show any license (original and upgrades) found on the machine.
  9. V-Ray network rendering (aka ´Distributed Bucket Rendering´) Network rendering is more effort. This has changed massivly after Max 2021. For Max 2011 to 2021 simply copy C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 201X\plugins\richdirt\richDirt2.dll. to each of your slave machines (same folder on slave machine).

    In Max 2022 Autodesk changed the way plugins are loaded. They must now go into C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\. Every plugin must have a unique name, this is RichDirt3dsmax2023_vr5 for Max 2023 using V-Ray5. The dll must then go to the plugins directory as in:

    C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\RichDirt3dsmax2023_vr5\plugins\richDirt2.dlt

    More to do : 3dsmax 2022, 2023 also needs a file named "PackageContents.xml" to be happy. Get this from your main installation (= the installation created by the .msi installer) Then copy to the slave machines. It goes directly into \ApplicationPlugins\RichDirt3dsmax202X_vr5\
  10. Large number of slave machines.
    If you have a larger number of slave machines you might look for a way to install faster. The standard way is to install on every machine. This can be time consuming. One way that Autodesk did recommend is to use UNC paths that are visible the same way from all machines. You can then put the dll at a central place - it is visible for all machines. To use UNC paths your network must be prepared. When using UNC paths it is also important to handle Max 2021 and lower differently from Max 2022 and higher. Before Max 2022 plugins would usually go into C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 201X\Plugins. In Max 2021 no extra declaration had been necessary.
    Max 2022 and higher is different. In Max 2022 Autodesk did change the path for plugins. And it added a declaration file named " PackageContents.xml". If the declaration file is not found the dll will not be loaded. The default path is C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\ PackageContents.xml is found in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\RichDirt3dsmax202X_vr5 You can change the default path using the environment variable ADSK_APPLICATION_PLUGINS, if you want to point it to a UNC path. An alternative is to use the existing PackageContents.xml file and change the paths in it to point to richdirt.dlt on a UNC path.

    It is a good idea to test that the installation indeed worked - render an animation of 200 frames, a simple cube with RichDirt will be fine, if the installation didn´t work you would see drop outs in the animation. To really be sure you see the drop outs switch V-Ray to Bucket rendering: V-Ray - Image Sampler - Type Bucket. This makes sure you directly see drop outs on bucket boundaries. If you use progressive rendering the drop outs might be blurred over the full image so you would not see them clearly.
    If you don´t use UNC paths there are 2 ways to get things to run: - copy the dlls manually (+ PackageContents.xml in Max 2022 and higher) - or simply run the installer on each render node machine.
    Also note that there is a difference between network rendering directly with V-Ray versus network rendering using "BackBurner". Backburner starts a full 3dsmax and usually renders a full image on one machine. If you use BackBurner and want to test that your installation is good, it is best to render an animation. Drop outs would then show as full images without dirt. This is different from V-Ray network rendering which would show as drop outs in buckets.
Enjoy rendering with RichDirt !

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mental images and mental ray, are registered trademarks, and are trademarks of NVIDIA, in the U.S.A. and/or other countries. Autodesk and 3ds Max are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Adobe and Photoshop and After Effects are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.