Displacement in 3DL
Choppski
Posts: 523
I saw a product in the story where the vendor said that the texture used displacement maps that would work in lray and one other type of renderer, but NOT in 3dl. I still use mostly M4, but I am moving on to genesis figures. I tend to render mostly in 3dl, but I see displacement maps working, even if I use genesis 1 with M4 UV maps. My question is this, does 3DL no longer support displacement or was that most likely just something specific to that product?
The ubersurface still has displacement and the default shader does too I thought.
I rendered an m4 figure in lray and I had to beef up the displacement a lot but it worked. In fact, the materials I use for 3dl (tweaked a lot already) looked ok as is in LRay thought the specularity was not what I would have wanted.
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I'm not sure what was meant by that, can you provide a link to the product, if it's in the Daz store?
The way the two renderers handle displacement is vastly different. As far as it goes, 3DL has three methods of displacement while Iray has only one.
It was with this product. https://www.daz3d.com/brahm-for-genesis-3-male
Perhaps I read the wording wrong. It may just be saying that these displacement maps won't work in 3dl, so perhaps it is the type. Since I have used ds3 for years and am just now learning ds4, I wondered if displacement had changed.
It's a vascular map...so the reason it may not work in 3DL isn't that it can't, but rather there isn't a place to insert it...Iray Uber base has more layers to allow more things like that, than the 3 usual 3DL shaders.
Nothing's changed, it's just that the Details text on the store page could do with a bit more detail. The "displacement vascular mapping" — which means it adds vein bulges to the figure when you render — is an additional detail you can use if you want. Many DAZ figures and characters use displacement in 3Delight, it's quick and easy, and always works (if it's been set up properly). Displacement in Iray is more problematical, because of the different way it's done in that renderer. Iray materials needing fine-detailed lumps and bumps like a figure's skin generally use a combination of Bump and Normals instead.
OK, yeah that makes sense to me. I have even used provided normal maps (for poser products) in displacement at times, though now there are normal map settings. So If I understand, the vendor likely means that the vascular mapping is NOT done with displacement, as it would be in 3dl, but with bump and normals?
NEVER use normal maps in a displacement slot...they won't work correctly, if at all.
No...it is possible that it is displacement based but is used in a layer that is not available in the 3DL shaders.
The 3 usual 3DL shaders, the DS default, omUbersurface and AoA SSS all only have a single layer. The Iray base has multiple layers and if the map is used in a layer in Iray, there would be nowhere to put in any of those 3DL shaders, without getting rid of the regular map. I'm tempted to grab him so I can see where that map actually goes and see what it would take to make it work in 3DL.
And yes, there has been a normal map slot in the 3DL shaders for a very long time.
Isn´t it possible to use the LIE editor and add the vascular maps as a new additive layer?
Depends on how they are set up...
Now my other question--what is anagenesis? and what is AOA?
AOA= Age of Armor, a vendor who among other things created a subsurface shader. https://www.daz3d.com/subsurface-shader-base (built-in), https://www.daz3d.com/subsurface-gummy-plastic-shaders , etc.
Yes, they work quite nicely in LIE, once you move the map from the Bump channel to the Displacement...
I created a colored overlay on the arm texture, just to show off the veins a bit more. There are no other tweaks than moving the bump to disp and using LIE to add the veins to the disp map. So obviously, they DO work in 3DL!
Okay, good to know! Thanks!
Thanks everyone. I suspected there might be a way to do it. The good thing about using Studio for years is that back when everything was poser we had to learn how to do our own materials anyway. I usually avoid LIE and just create my own maps in photoshop. That way I can use them with other textures more easily, especially if we're talking displacement. Thanks again.
Sheesh, I had the first and didn't even know it. The learning curve with ds4. I'm getting there. But I swear it's like having a program I thought I knew well explode with new options.
Yep the LIE editor is slow and not very practical to say the least, there is the lie-baker
which saves the mats in a folder of your choice and reduces loading times, I recommend it if you are using multiple layers with your custom mats!