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...interesting, the installer I downloaded and installed yesterday with the DIM just says "Advanced Spotlight" whereas the manual .exe installers I just noticed on my Product Library page are split into 32 and 64 bit versions so I'm not sure which version I have installed. The only .zip I see is for the Mac. There's also a "Download and Install" button for all of them as well but never seen that next to an .exe before. Usually the DIM installers are listed on separate lines. A bit confusing.
When I opened up the DIM on the workstation there is no update for the Spotlight in the Ready to Download tab. I looked at the settings and yes, "Plugin" is checked.
Yeah, QA said the 32 and 64 bit versions were the same but, because it is a plugin the web system requires a version for both. So I would say, if what you have installed is working then just stick with it :) No need to download the installer for 64 bit because it would be the same either way... I think haha.
I can't understand what the new Dimension Theory HDR Gels product http://www.daz3d.com/new-releases/real-light-hdr-gels-bulbs does. Can anyone explain it? Does it make the light source look like a bulb with filaments? Is it just a new set of Gobos for the Advanced Ambient Spot light?
Yeah, QA said the 32 and 64 bit versions were the same but, because it is a plugin the web system requires a version for both. So I would say, if what you have installed is working then just stick with it :) No need to download the installer for 64 bit because it would be the same either way... I think haha.
...yeah, it's the nuts & bolts of this stuff that throws me.
So since this is a plugin, where is it supposed to install to? I have a two drive setup, a smaller C: drive where the apps go and a larger D: drive where all the content goes. Currently it is installed to D:/Daz3D/Studio/My Library. Is that correct?
It doesn't change the display of the light source of all, rather it changes the way the light is cast using a set of gels or gobo presets for the new spotlight. They were shot in HDR format to more accurately reproduce the properties of the lights used.
It doesn't change the display of the light source of all, rather it changes the way the light is cast using a set of gels or gobo presets for the new spotlight. They were shot in HDR format to more accurately reproduce the properties of the lights used.
I'm still confused by the description of head on view vs side view, and the promo images. I'm not sure what each promo image is demonstrating. Sorry if I'm dense on this, it just hasn't clicked.
The head and side views are just different textures showing each light from a different angle. Light cast by a bulb in real life depends on how it sits in it's lighting fixture, some lamps have the bulb sitting in a way that makes light come out from the side (table lamp with a shade) while others restrict it so the light only comes from the top (a spot light or desk lamp). Here's a couple of illustrations that hopefully show what I mean, in general you'll want the gobo blur much higher for realistic results but I want to show the different textures here. These are both the same real life light bulb, only photographed from the side and from the top to make sure both options are available to use with different lamps in DS.
The head and side views are just different textures showing each light from a different angle. Light cast by a bulb in real life depends on how it sits in it's lighting fixture, some lamps have the bulb sitting in a way that makes light come out from the side (table lamp with a shade) while others restrict it so the light only comes from the top (a spot light or desk lamp). Here's a couple of illustrations that hopefully show what I mean, in general you'll want the gobo blur much higher for realistic results but I want to show the different textures here. These are both the same real life light bulb, only photographed from the side and from the top to make sure both options are available to use with different lamps in DS.
OK, thank you for the explanation and extra images. It makes a lot more sense now.
So far, I love the Spot Lights! And easier than I thought to use. Work good with the volume carmera as well So far. Thanks Age of Armor!
Well I WON'T return them. I want to understand them. The camera when using it keeps throwing Severity notes at me during rendering. I tried using the Fog Camera and the same thing happens except the background is white instead of black (which I got when rendering through the other camera I tried before (Volume and then Color cameras) with BrunoD & the wall I have him posed on. I loaded up a backdrop but not sure if that's not coded in to be rendered with your cameras, that might be a reason I'm not seeing anything else in the scene.
I like the Vignette effect so I hope you can get that repaired.
I just checked DIM and there is no update for your products in the line up.
Since I've updated the Advanced Ambient Light, the "Flag Surface Shaders With" drop down has some new items. I assume the new box "Diffuse, Ambient, or IOR Value" is where I enter my selected value for flagging, like I select Ambient and enter 1%. However, the list for "Flag Surface Shaders With" still includes Any of These, Diffuse Strength 99%, and Index of Refraction 1.1. Those three selections don't seem to work anymore. The PDF doesn't seem to have been updated to describe these new flagging options either, so I'm looking here for help. Are those three original options broken now?
The error message you see is documented in the PDF instructions for the Atmospheric cameras. It says "You may see an error in the render message window similar to "3Delight message #145 (Severity 1): S2073: 'SceneMin' is not a parameter of shader 'brickyard/{ba652b84..." I believe it to be a DS internal error which I have no control over. This should not cause any problems."
I get this error message, too, but it does not prevent the camera from working. Do you have something with geometry (even a primitive plane is OK) behind your scene? The DAZ build in backdrop is not good enough.
OK, good to know. It's too bad the camera's can't have that bit of code that allows the backdrops to be rendered. I'm in the midst of building poses for the BrunoD character I developed for Hivewires Dawn so I really don't want allot of stuff in the scene when working on the poses so the backdrop seemed like a good way to get SOMETHING else rendered for showing the poses.
RAMWolff, here is an example of a simple scene. I have 3 white primitive planes forming the floor and two walls. I have a prop (chair) and one DAZ spotlight shining on the chair. I have a volume camera. I think the only change I made to the volume settings was to increase light density from 0.0010 to 0.0050 and increase the quality to 50. I hope this helps.
Looks really good. I think someone could make some dough making a bunch of presets for the two lights and the cameras. Seriously. I'm pretty lazy about this part of the whole 3D thing. I can build a morph and clothing but lighting and all that.... I want point and click and render! lol
Presets would be great! I spent a lot of time with trial and error before ever getting anything to work for me in the beginning, so I feel your pain! I was sad to hear that some parts of the camera don't work in the latest DS versions, but I look forward to the future upgrade that will have even more capabilities. We sorely need the ability to limit volume to non-ambient lights.
When using volume camera, I usually add a light dome to my scene (just the dome, not the lights, and also check dome ambient setting is set to zero).
That way I don't need to worry about background planes etc, and it won't disrupt lighting even if using distant lights, albeit I mostly use spot lights for volume unless it's meant to be sunlight streaming in a window and then I'll use a distant light if scene is a sealed room with window(s) as 'external' light source.
Unfortunately not currently, but it is part of the volume revamp I am working on. After releasing the atmosphere cameras I kept running into the same need you expressed and started working on a solution. The main reason the advanced lights have the __category text parameter is to allow for that control in the revamped volume camera.
Finally figured that out after much pulling out of hair and banging of head. I'm trying to work around it by rendering 2 passes: 1 with normal camera and AAL, 1 with volume camera and ASL. Then I hope to blend those in Photoshop as layers.
...too bad we couldn't flag just the spotlights to have the volume effect. I really sierra-uniform-charlie-kilo at compositing.
That's part of the volume revamp he's working on. ;)
Or at least something like it to do that.
Really looking forward to something like that.
...that would be a nice feature.
On another note. How does one go about using multiple AALs without overlighting the scene? I've seen examples of this so I know it's possible. In the scene I am working on I have one main AAL at the 0,0 coordinate. I need one down a back alleyway to provide background lighting without having to load the scene up with a bunch of point and spotlights to do the same. I would also like to stay away from UE lights because of the bloated render times.
I set a falloff radius and moved the light down the alleyway which I thought how that is done, however it still lights up the whole scene as if it were at the default 0,0 coordinate.
You can't preview the radius in the viewport. You'd have to do a test render.
My viewport's lit, but the test render shows my 3 meter radius properly.
...I've been doing test renders (way too many which is beginning to fuel up the frustration index), only to see the same thing happening over and over Not sure if I am setting the falloff correctly or what.
Interesting. so what I may need to do is use more than one AAL to give some ambience to the entire alleyway for if I expand the falloff for a single one too much it will light up more than I want. Trying to go for the ambient city light glow effect from surrounding streetlights to give just a little definition to the surroundings.
Are you changing the falloff or the radius? They're two different settings. It's the Light Radius you'd want to change. The falloff blend just indicates how much you want the light to blur with shadows around it (0 for real crisp- no blend, and 100% for really blended).
Have you considered using Omnifreakers Uber Volume shader that is built into Daz Studio?
The first image below has a standard spotlight with a parented & scaled volume cone applied and a single Advanced Ambient light (at 32 AO Samples), positioned above the standing stone.
The second image has the AAL removed but is otherwise the same.
Unfortunately there appears to be no way to flag the cone so that the AAL does not illuminate it as the shader does not have any of the settings that the AAL uses for this purpose.
Note that there was little difference in render times between both scenes on my system, an old Intel Core 2 Q8200 (a 2.33GHz quad core) & 4 GB of ram, the AAL scene took about 10% longer in this case but I must admit to not noting the exact times but it was a bit under three minutes for the AAL version.
..the falloff radius.
..the falloff radius.
There is no falloff radius. There is light radius, and falloff blend.
Change the one I highlighted to change how far the light illuminates. Again though, this isn't visible in the viewport.
Have you considered using Omnifreakers Uber Volume shader that is built into Daz Studio?
The first image below has a standard spotlight with a parented & scaled volume cone applied and a single Advanced Ambient light (at 32 AO Samples), positioned above the standing stone.
The second image has the AAL removed but is otherwise the same.
Unfortunately there appears to be no way to flag the cone so that the AAL does not illuminate it as the shader does not have any of the settings that the AAL uses for this purpose.
Note that there was little difference in render times between both scenes on my system, an old Intel Core 2 Q8200 (a 2.33GHz quad core) & 4 GB of ram, the AAL scene took about 10% longer in this case but I must admit to not noting the exact times but it was a bit under three minutes for the AAL version.
... the second one looks pretty good. Since one cannot flag the light cone, can its opacity be adjusted? My only concern is usually UE effects really slog the render time down.
There is no falloff radius. There is light radius, and falloff blend.
Change the one I highlighted to change how far the light illuminates. Again though, this isn't visible in the viewport.
...apologies, mix up of terms from using Linear Point Lights for so long.
Been experimenting after seeing your example above. and I think I may be getting it. ran a couple tests with an second camera that just looked down the alleyway and it is beginning to look the way I was hoping for.
... the second one looks pretty good. Since one cannot flag the light cone, can its opacity be adjusted? My only concern is usually UE effects really slog the render time down.
You can not turn down the Opacity of the volume as it is set to zero in the shader but you can turn down the density of the volume, the image below is the same as the previous one but with the volume density turned down from 0.01 to 0.001, a reduction by a factor of 10.
Note, this time I checked the render time, 3 minutes 11 Seconds for this one.
Also couple of test renders using two AALs in a scene I put together for the Out of Darkness contest, before I populated it.
First image has two AALs, the first has a Radius of 0.00 Metres so it illuminates everything, positioned at ground level roughly in the middle of the junction. The second with a radius of 3.00 Metres positioned in the alley to the left of the scene, with a fall off of 0.00% to show the edge of the illumination clearly.
Got to go now, things to do today but should be around on and off and again this evening (UK time).
Edited to fix my snipping screw up