3ds Max 2014 Visual Diagnostics Work Around

Currently I am trying out 3ds Max 2014. I have been using 3ds Max 2011 since 2010, so I thought it was time for me to make the switch. As expected, there are changes to get used to.

One such change is the Mental Ray visual diagnostics. (You can find this in Render Setup dialog > Processing tab.) I use it often to make sure that I have enough Final Gather points. To my surprise, the "Enable" check box is greyed out, unclickable.

Figure 1. "Enable" checkbox is unclickable

A quick search revealed that this is because the new default Sampling Mode "Unified/Raytraced" does not work with the diagnostics feature. (You can find this in Render Setup dialog > Renderer tab.) The work-around is by setting the Sampling Mode to "Classic/Raytraced". The visual diagnostics will work as previously.

Figure 2. Changing the Sampling Mode from "Unified/Raytraced" to "Classic/Raytraced"

Here is an article at Autodesk's AREA blog that explains this work-around: http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/maxstation/b001-mental-ray-diagnosis.

Edited on 5 March 2015.