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Hi, I googled 3D Visual Novel and I end up here. :)
I'm starting making a VN and I'm in the pre-production process creating the characters.
It's about 4 fugitives fleeing from prison in search of revenge for who put them there.
what do you think of "visual novel maker"? is it more casual and restricting then renpy?
I don't know Visual Novel Maker, but I heard that it has a lot of features and is easier than Ren'Py. But Ren'Py is free and is capable to do what VNM do, however with a lot more work.
I'd like to know if is there anyone making its VN supported by crowdfunding and if it's really worth it?
Good luck with your novel, Leo Lee. I look forward to seeing more of it.
From what I read about Visual Novel Maker, I don't think it's worth it if you know how to use Ren'Py. For a while I considered buying it for making my novel, but I didn't do it.
I don't make my novel with crowdfunding. I just don't like to spend time on that and I have no idea either how much everything is going to cost in the end. I spend money on buying lots of things in Daz store and that's it for now. If I want to have voice acting, then I think I will have to do some crowdfunding, but I am not sure about that yet.
I have another update for my novel. Demo on itch.io is now +33k words.
Great shots of your VN!
I don't intend to make mine with crowdfunding, either. I've purchased a lot of stuff in Daz store and grab some free stuff. I believe I already have 80% of the assets that I need for the VN.
I'll take a look at your Demo. Seems really good!
And I'll upload some of my characters soon.
Thank you! The story so far in the demo can be a bit confusing I think, and that's because a lot of things are not what they seem to be and this will only be revealed later in the story. I am making that specific part now and I will add that the next time I update the demo. I didn't get many comments so far about my novel, so I am always looking forward to hearing about what people think about it.
@LeoLee, that's a very interesting way of presenting your characters!
@dirkbaeten, are you rendering with iray or 3delight? It looks like Iray to me with unconverted 3delight materials. If so, converting the 3delight materials to Iray via shaders will give a more cohesive look. Wood would render like wood rather than plastic. I had the same issue when I first started. I rendered things out of the box. Now that I have more knowledge, I re-did the old backgrounds for our VN using iray materials + better lights.
Here's an example of Cafe Luca rendered out of the box vs converting the materials to iray via shaders (these do have some postwork, but you can still see the difference):
Here's another example of one of my latest gallery entries: Wizard King. I used DMs Circle and rendered it out of the box. Then, I realized that it was 3delight, changed the materials to iray and re-render. As you can see, it does make a difference in the glass lamps, stone and metal:
Thank you for the advise. I think I am still a near total NOOB at quality rendering. I am not sure which of my pictures you are referring to. I render with Iray and I always choose Iray for any objects I am using, when I have the choice between Iray and 3Delight. For Café Luca, the description in the item in the store says "Cafe Luca is a flexible Cafe/Restaurant Environment built with Iray in mind (...) This set ships with Iray shaders only." So I suppose that it should be already adjusted to Iray out of the box.
@Dirkbaeten, you are correct about Cafe Luca, I guess those textures don't do it for me so I replaced them. I'll give some examples of how different a render can look (and gain dimension) by changing textures, increasing the bump in surfaces and using HDRIs for lights.
1. Okay, taking Cista Sanctus. That's a 3delight set. Below is an out of the box render, lit only by the camera headlight.
2. The next render I replaced the material settings (left the maps) with a shader from ingenious rocks (just use a shader color that's close to the texture map. Then press CNTR+click the shader. It'll open up a window and just make sure it doesn't replace the original maps). I also replaced the water with the shaders from SY Pool Waters Iray. This render is still lit by the headlamp in the camera, but you can already see a huge difference.
3. I selected everything, went to surfaces and scrolled down to the bump map. I upped that to 15 to intensify the texture. Then I hid some walls and part of the ceiling so that I could lit up the scene via an HDRI. The best bang for buck value would be to get any of iradiance HDRI's sets. I recommend the iRadiance - Light Probe HDR Lighting for Iray - Expansion 3 (it's my favorite, though all of them are wonderful). These aren't too bad on your system and will give you options for dramatic lights without having to position individual lights. I'm showing the overview (as seen through the viewport) of the walls I hid, then the actual render.
4. This last render is the result of adding the HDRI (soft version and lowering that intensity) + Ghost lights. This kit has the option to add a box, then lit that box with different "neon colors". If you don't have a good computer, this one will help tremendously with render times.
Though I didn't spend too much time on these, I hope you got the gist of it :). Adding some dramatic lights can lift up your renders.
@Gigi_FenixPhoenix that is a really useful walkthrough on how to change a set to Iray. Thank you!
My pleasure. Let me know if you'd like a more detailed post on how to add new textures via shaders (and keep the original maps).
@GiGi_FeniPhoenix I would love that, but please only do it if you have the time. I know how long these walk through's must take you.
Thank you very much for putting so much time in explaining this.
Is there a sure way to see if the material is for iray or 3delight? I know it can be mentioned as either MDL or RSL or sometimes it's referred to in the info label, but in this case for Cista Sanctus, I didn't find any reference to 3delight.
I get the impression from your pictures that the big difference is from the HDRI in step 3. That looks fantastic
In step 2, I can't see much difference aside from the water appearing??
For this scene in my story, I also have a view towards the ceiling. I did use a lot of ghost lights and I don't want any water to show. I never really wanted to spend money on HDRI or shaders as I thought it's not absolutely necessary.
This is in answer to both @Mollytabby and @dirkbaeten,
First let's go over some quick (non-technical) explanations. How to "borrow" iray settings from a shader pack to turn a 3DL model into Iray without replacing the textures. Here's a graphic with the steps:
As to how to tell when something has 3DL settings, the answer is to select the model and check the surfaces. Iray surfaces would look like something on the right. This is not an absolute rule, since there are iray shaders I've encountered which look very different. But this is a good place to start.
Take note that Daz automatically changes 3DL mats to "uber based" for rendering in Iray. However, the result is that everything has a "plastic" look, which bouces the light around. If you have the camera headlamp on, then everything will look lighter and very flat. Though stone and wood might not look too bad (they'll look very glossy, though, with no wear and tear to them) it's very evident when you have something with glass or metal.
Here's some examples and comparisons:
Notice how the floor now looks like it's old and used, unlike with the 3DL mats where it looks new and glossy. It's a matter of preference, but the second one is more realistic. That's because the bump maps are being utilized properly and the materials are now absorbing light when they should. That's also why the whole scene looks darker once the headlamp is turned off.
I personally think shaders are a good investment because they open up a lot of possibilities to change environment to better meet your ends/style.
Take the following example. The original maps have a very eastern europe feel.
However, using shaders you can very eaily transform that into something modern or something worthy of a monestary.
Shaders are also excellent for kitbashing outfits or just giving old wardbrobe a new feel:
Wow @Gigi-FenixPhoenix that’s amazing! I had no idea how different a scene or outfit could look through the careful selection of shaders. Thank you for showing me how to do this. I’m going to look at older models in a whole new way because your example going from Eastern European to Stone Monastry is an eye opener. It looks like a totally different set.
Also the tip about picking up the Iray shader from another object is inspired. All this time l’ve so many ready made shaders in my catalogue without realising it.
Glad the explanation was helpful, @Mollytabby. Yes, you'd be surprised by how well some old sets look with Iray settings. It makes getting them so cheaply a complete steal!
@GiGi_FeniPhoenix Thank you again for the detailed, illustrated explanation. It's good to know how to be able to identify 3DL and you showed very well how you can improve the result by switching to iray.
I never use the headlamp in my renders. I either use the built in lighting from scenes or dome and ghost lights.
There's a free webinar tomorrow: https://digitalartlive.com/event/comic-book-workshop-share-and-connect-with-artists/
Maybe see you there?
That's the first time I see something like that and I would love to participate. However I will probably not be back home on time when it starts. I will probably be 15 mins late. I can't predict exactly. Thank you for the announcement.
I see you can register for the webinar anonymously, but I am also trying to make an account on that website and so far I only see how to login with an existing account ...
You can create one when you check out a purchase. Not sure why there's no account creation otherwise, but perhaps it's to avoid spam registrations?
It's the third free community webinar for comics so far, and there was always a lot to learn from each other... plus you can showcase your work if you want.
Wanted to mention there is a Degica Games RPG Maker bundle in the Humble Bundle currently, which has their Visual Novel Maker product, as well!
They are also having a indie game dev contest. Which VN can enter
https://itch.io/jam/igmc2018?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=Sendgrid&utm_medium=Email
These are the main characters of my Burning Babes Gang's VN. There are more characters, but the main are ready. On this Holiday I'll have more time to dedicate to the VN and more will come up in 2019.
Happy New Year for all!
Define "They."
Also, if you can give me a clear example? I love a good challenge.
Here's a thread from awhile back centered around one of the major characters for the VN I'm currently working on. I'm trying to get a vaguely Anime look for pretty much everyone on board. All 40-ish of them.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/60527/rumiko-for-g3f-wip/p1
hahah Awesome characters! :)
If I may make a suggestion? "Michel and Sci-Fi Armor" for G8M is a pretty good anime-style male for Genesis 8 Male. If you already have any toon textures/hairs in your library, they'll suit him quite well. Here's a quick Iray render of Michel I made using the skin/eyes/brows of Toon Generations (G8) and the hair of Matt (G3M) by 3DUniverse.
Another update for my visual novel https://imavera.itch.io/7th-goddess
The main story (kinetic version) is almost done.
I have started adding choices now. This will be a lot of work. So far I have only choices for the first day of the story.
All comments are welcome! Thanks!
I have added choices for day 2 and 3 now to my novel. https://imavera.itch.io/7th-goddess
I would very much like to have some feedback about how people experience the story up until day 3. Do you like the choices being offered and does the story seem consistent related to the choices you made?
I don't know how the mods are with thread necros, but as there is already a thread for VN support I did not really want to create a new one. This way it keeps the topic contained (as it does not appear to be a widely used purpose, at least in the forums).
I arrived here months ago as the reason I started looking into Daz was to review its feasibility (for me) in creating art assets for a VN. While I'm satisfied (more than so, really) that it can create great art, I only just stumbled onto a method I can reliably use it to create backgrounds and characters that were somewhat seamless. As a bonus, this method lets me use emissives from the set and avoid lighting replication issues. As an added bonus, it it very easily applied:
Iray Matte. The advanced Iray parameter lets you turn any surface into a shadow and reflection catcher. These are stil preliminary test renders but it shows the basic premise. Setup the scene and cameras and render (without the figure).
Then duplicate all the emissive set surfaces and visible set surfaces (at least the ones that will potentially get shadows) and set them all to a Matte surface in the parameters. Remove any visible dome/ground (in this example I also removed the dome as it was not providing scene light). Then render your figure.
In your VN maker of choice, use the character image as your character.
Overal render time is quite diminished. As well, iterations of expression/poses can be saved as separate frames and rendered as a batch.
Depending on your lighting, this will add a small amount of extra shadow. This can be edited out later (or left as desired).
If I were you, I'd create a new topic in the new users subforum for just this. What you described here is a very interesting way about getting around correcting lights for spot rendering characters into scenes. Of course there are ways which others will argue are easier to set up, such as using iray canvases, but your method will benefit other renderers like filament too.