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Wow! Really great renders! I'm really so happy to see everyone is getting a lot of use out of the lights.
I have tried with both hitmode and primitive but same results maybe not quite as dark with hitmode. Does it make a difference with ambient light if the character usesDS ubersurface material preset?
Yeah that is a bug which is fixed but the update is not out yet. The light's main Shader Hitmode switch is not properly setting all surfaces to shader mode as it should.
One is the fix Muon Quark outlined. It sounds strange but adding a solid white image in the opacity slot of a shader causes DS to set that surface to shader hitmode.
The other solution is to flag the face (or any other surfaces that receive shadows from a transmapped surface) and set it to shader hitmode in the Lighting Control settings.
Again, this shouldn't be an issue once the update is out. There was just one bad line of code between where the base hitmode is set and the hitmode code for the lighting control/flagging. This is why Flagging it as shader hitmode works but the main hitmode setting doesn't always work right.
Sorry about the bug :(
Ah yeah, I'm keeping my eye out for the next update. I am still using the version before the current one lol
AoA I just wanted to say I use these lights for everything now. The speed and control I get is just so amazing. Looking forward to the new volume camera as well!
AoA, I installed the latest DS 4.6 Pro Beta to see if a figure posing problem had been fixed. It had, but your Advanced Lights (the only ones I use now) are borked in the Beta, even when i tell it to show hidden parameters, the only categories the lights show are Shadow (Do Not Use) and Light (just the simple strength and color settings). The lights still work fine in the latest general release, though (The Beta can co-exist with the General Release, so nothing lost). By any chance, is there a fix for this in the coming update you mentioned?
Thanks.
Humm.... I'll look into that. My first guess is that the beta is not seeing the files if they are in a different install location. I surely wish there was a way to make the install easier and work more consistently.
Does Uber Environment 2 work in the beta for you?
Humm.... I'll look into that. My first guess is that the beta is not seeing the files if they are in a different install location. I surely wish there was a way to make the install easier and work more consistently.
Does Uber Environment 2 work in the beta for you?
I know it may be a bit obvious but did you install the lights into the beta folder structure? As they can exist together these days I assume they have differing folder structures to some extent (not installed a beta for a while so not sure about this). As the lights rely on programming within the main program folder structure as well as the content structure if you don't install a second copy into the beta program folders it might result in this scenario.
I don't have a beta installed to this is largely guess work but thought I ought to mention it as sometimes we (well I do anyway) miss the obvious when things go wrong.
Humm.... I'll look into that. My first guess is that the beta is not seeing the files if they are in a different install location. I surely wish there was a way to make the install easier and work more consistently.
Does Uber Environment 2 work in the beta for you?
Yes. The Beta finds all of "My Daz Library" and so far everything I've tested including the standard lighting loads and works properly. I don't know if I'm fully understanding what you mean by "different install location" but all of my content has been installed through the DIM to their respective default locations, including the current DS 4,6 Pro General Release (4.6.1.33), the current Beta (4.6.2.23), and the Advanced Lights.
The Install location Age of Armor is talking about is not of the content - but of the Software DazStudio itself.
The Beta installs to a different folder than the General Release version.
You have to install the Advanced Ambient lights to the Beta version too, because of the Files that have to be in the folder of the Program.
(Sorry for the longwinded explanation - english is not my first language)
You're doing it better than me. I'm from Tennessee so English isn't my first language either. I speak fluent Hillbilly, though.
OK, thanks to everyone's patient advice I figured out where I went wrong, I was thinking of the lights as content that is part of DS, ie free, not as a purchased product that is more like a plugin. I found the two folders in the DS general release folders where your files reside, AoA, and copied those folders to their proper places in the Beta folders, and of course, they work perfectly now. Unless I miss my guess, I'll have to do the same thing with your Atmospheric Cameras?
:red:
ETA: Here's a small sample render from the Beta showing that the Advanced Lights are working as expected in a render file created in the General Release. Thank you all for your help!
John
That's great to hear. I suspected that is what would be needed for the beta but didn't want to make a strong assertion until I tried it myself.
Should not need to do any rearranging for the atmospheric cameras as they are all contained in the content folders... Not having scripts and such like the lights. The Cameras were built with Shader Mixer which bundles all the code up into one or two files per camera which is nice.
However Shader Mixer has some limitations and doesn't allow for direct access to the code. Because of this I wrote the light code in a text editor and used Shader Builder to generate the base UI. The resulting file structure is similar to how UberEnvironment2 is set up... More like a plugin or scripts for a lack of a better term.
I really want to see if DAZ and I can't get the install going smoother. I have a few other projects in the works which will also need this file structure.
One AAL, one distant light and lots of pwS2!
I really like the effect I got with this.
Thank you for the lights again AoA. They are saving me a ton of time with promos atm cause they go alone so well with your SSS shader that you made!
Nice Matty!
I find myself thinking about thread and hoping that button was sewn on with the poor quality sort ;)
One AAL, one distant light
Dolls in Love
Credits:
Ball Joint Doll for Genesis - Sickleyield, Fuseling
Udane Hair - AprilYSH
Medieval Female Peasant Clothing for Genesis - Cute3D
Project Eyeris - DimensionTheory
Burlap Dolly Genesis and Genesis 2 Female - Sickleyield, Fuseling
Dryden for Hiro 5 - Thorne, Sarsa
Xavior Hair - Neftis3D
Medieval Male Peasant Clothing for Genesis - Cute3D
Curious Chapel - Jack Tomalin
Pred Pack - Grass One - Predatron
Painted Daisy, Forget-me-not, Petunia, Mighty Oak - Lisa’s Botanicals
Songbird Remix, European Edition 1, European Edition 2 - Ken Gilliland
Advanced Ambient Light - Age of Armour
...that is so cute.
Just posted another one of my "epic" (in terms or how long it took to set up) works over on the RRRR Challenge thread. Again just used AAL's and ASLs for lighting.
a Thing i noticed working with AAL it is smoothing the face so much
it looses much of its Expression
first is one Default aal
second are 2 Default distant lights
Ah, I'd say you're not quite comparing like for like - compare AAL with UE2, both fill-in too much if the light intensity is too high... Advanced Spot is a better comparison to standard distance/spot lights.
Try cutting intensity by half for starters and see how that looks - if you need more direction from light (or simply more zing to your highlights and shadows), try adding a spot that will cast directional shadows in addition to the ambience.
will try that
thx jabba
Just thinking,
What, if anything, can the AAL do with FiberMesh or Garibaldi hair when it comes to render speed? They are both different from ordinary hair and both can, I believe, affect render times.
CHEERS!
AAL has a Garibaldi setting ...that much I can say.
Oh cool,
Not that I've really done much with either yet.
CHEERS!
Nice Matty!
I find myself thinking about thread and hoping that button was sewn on with the poor quality sort ;)
Yeah, sorry, its sewn on pretty good.
But if you want to stare at it at a higher resolution then you can do so here - http://mattymanx.deviantart.com/art/Relaxing-2880x1800-416148130
I haven't dared render anything out that big, as I tend to post most of my stuff on here I stick to around 600 x 600 or thereabouts.
CHEERS!
Here’s a kind of sucky scene that illustrates the time savings.
The red head is wearing Garibaldi hair while the brunette is fibermesh (historic curls) with diffuse set to 99% for flagging purposes.
There is 1 infinite AAL set to 50% and 1 AAS at 100%. Both have alt samples set to 2 with no other setting changes.
The render system is a quad core duo @ 2.4 GHz with 6 MB of RAM - not exactly cutting edge. :)
The first render has the lights at default hitmode shader for all surfaces. It took 1 hr 1 min 37 sec.
Second render has flag set to any (Garibaldi and diffuse 99%) using hitmode primitive and alt samples. It took 4 min 54 sec.
Last render used hitmode primitive for all surfaces while keeping the flagging so hair used alt samples while the rest used default samples. It took 4 min 45 sec.
The first and second renders have no discernible difference in quality but a big difference in time.
Thanks for that,
I have a laptop with a quad core and 6gb RAM and it would have keeled over if I'd tried to do what you just did with a UE setup. AAL really is starting to prove its worth, great renders and less time taken to do them. Beat that Lux!
CHEERS!
...the scene I submitted to this month's RRRR challenge took just over two hours. OK that may seem long but then consider:
...a whole lot of reflectivity (pretty much everything in the set used and on four of the characters).
...transmaps
...eight characters, several with SSS
Render Size 1,400 x 1,050.
With UE it probably would have taken over a day to render and that is on a system with a 2.8GHz i7 and 12 GB memory.
Check the RRRR Chain 2 Entries Only Thread.
That was a biggie!
Really nicely done too,
I'll probably only render out to 600x600 or thereabouts, it's fine for here and doesn't take up much hard drive space. I do, using instancing, want to do a big scene at some point, but, not after I've got better at everything else first.
CHEERS!
...thanks
For challenges, big can be better as you can show more detail which is important if you have a lot going on in the scene. Some challenges even have a minimum size requirement.
Still getting used to having the system resources that lets me render in a large format. The largest I have done so far is my "Ooooh Pretty" pic for last month's RRRR challenge which is 1,600 x 1,200.
Portraits actually work better in a smaller size as one is focusing on just a single character. I usually render my head/shoulders and complete figure portraits at 600 x 800 which is still small enough for most displays today.
Others have pretty much covered it. The lights have control settings which detect Garibaldi Hair then you can tell the light to use different settings for the hair. I recommend setting the light to "Flag surfaces with - Garibaldi Hair Shader" and "If Surface is Flagged - Primitive Hitmode and Alt Samples".
Garibaldi hair uses no transmaps so Htmode Shader and Hitmode Primitive (on the lights) should look identical but Primitive renders much faster.
An alternative is to set the light to "Garibaldi Hair Shader" and "If Surface is Flagged - Primitive Hitmode and Alt Samples" just like before but then set the Alternate samples to 0 (you will need to turn off limits in the current release to get 0 samples). What that does is tell the light to illuminate the hair but do no AO for it. You can then use the AO that is built into the Garibaldi hair shader by setting the hair shader's "O Shader Intensity" to 1.
In either case I suggest you leave the hair shader's A Specular, A Diffuse and A Transmission Hitmodes set to Primitive.
Now for fiber mesh hair you can do a similar thing as the first Garibaldi suggestion but just set either Diffuse Strength, Ambient strength or Index of Refraction on the hair's shader to 99% (or 0.99 for index of refraction) then set the light to "Flag surfaces with - Ambient Strength Of... ", "Diffuse Ambient or IOR Value - 99%" and "If Surface is Flagged - Primitive Hitmode and Alt Samples".
Same as Garibaldi hair, fiber mesh hair probably does not have any transmaps so primitive hitmode will look the same as shader hitmode but render much faster.
I hope that isn't too confusing. Not your fault if it is... I was confusing myself as I was typing it hehe.
That's fine,
I got most of it. These lights do look as if they will solve a lot of the render headaches I used to have. They ought to be a standard part of DS5 like your shaders are for DS4.
CHEERS!