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Advanced Ambient, Spot & Distant Lights [Commercial]

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  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943
    edited December 1969

    Age of Armour said:
    ...

    The bad news is that the advanced lights are not working properly with shadow catchers, including pwCatch. This is perplexing to me because, even though the lights use a different raytracing function for shadows than other lights, they do pass information on to surfaces which tell it that the rays are indeed shadows. I'll have to do some experimenting to see if I can find a solution. At this time I can't promise shadow catchers will be supported in the future, simply because I don't know what the cause is, but I will definitely try.

    Any shadow catchers? Sorry, I can't test myself at the moment
    http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/interface/panes/shader_mixer/bricks/dzshadowcatcherbrick/start
    or readymade
    http://www.sharecg.com/v/70391/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/Shadow-Catcher-For-DAZ-Studio-4.5+?interstitial_displayed=Yes

  • millighostmillighost Posts: 261
    edited December 1969

    Age of Armour said:

    There is a bit of code in the shadow ray casting function that says:

    string raytype = "transmission";

.... "raytype", raytype, ...

    "transmission" is the type of ray used for shadows. This is also used in the "Object Cast Shadows" switch where, if the user selects "Always Cast Shadows" it renames the shadow rays to "diffuse" which confuses the renderer into allowing shadow rays even though the object is set to not cast shadows.

    So the peculiar part is that other things in 3delight are properly reading the rays as "transmission" (shadows) but the shadow catchers are not....

    Does not matter what the raytype is. The raytype is for shadowcasters, not for shadowreceivers. You can use an output parameter to pass shadow information to the shadowcatcher (the DAZ default shaders use "__inShadow") and that is probably what pwCatcher reads (probably, i did not actually test it).

  • SpitSpit Posts: 2,342
    edited December 1969

    Age of Armour said:

    ...


    The only feature which may not be working as intended is pwSurface's "Visible in Occlusion" switch. I need to read a little more to check how it is intended to work.

    So it looks like pwSurface is supported :) If anyone finds a situation where pwSurface and the advanced lights are not playing well together please post here and I'll see if I can track down the issue.

    I believe pwSurface self-occludes, ie AO is built into the surface shader and not dependent on lights. I don't remember if there's a master switch or not, though, since I haven't used the shaders for a while (I use the shadow catcher constantly, however, but it doesn't seem to catch occlusion from Uber either).

  • Jay Jay_1264499Jay Jay_1264499 Posts: 298
    edited December 1969

    Age of Armour said:
    Great renders again Matty and Cosmo! Sorry for the slow reply. Been a busy week.


    wowie said:
    Hi AoA,

    Is it possible to load HDRI texture for the Advanced Ambient Light? If it's not, can you add that in an update.

    Thanks.

    Not at this time. The intent of the ambient light is a little less suited for image based lighting but I am working on something which may incorporate HDRIs. it might be a little while though... Lots of experimentation and work yet to be done.

    JohnDelaquiox - 06 February 2014 08:14 AM
    After having bought the lights a few months ago I got so busy with work that I forgot I had bought them. Pulled them out a few weeks ago and so far they are the best things I have bought for daz. I have been able to complete several renders that I had not been able to before.

    I could use some help on my latest project. I am trying to get either an advanced ambient light or advanced spot light to shine through an object but in stead all I can get it to do is light up the object.

    What can I do to make it shine through the object but not the object its self?

    You do not want an object to cast shadows but you do want it to be illuminated correct? To do that just select the object, look under the parameter settings and set "Cast Shadows" to Off. Does that give you the effect you were after?


    I had someone ask me about the settings used for the interior scene in on of the promos. The scene used 1 advanced ambient and one advanced spotlight. I'll post some renders showing what the scene looked like with each of the lights and some screen grabs of the settings.


    Thank you for the breakdown of the interior image. These lights are awesome

    Cheers

    Jay

  • Age of ArmourAge of Armour Posts: 437
    edited December 1969

    millighost said:
    (the DAZ default shaders use "__inShadow") and that is probably what pwCatcher reads (probably, i did not actually test it).

    Thanks millighost! That did the trick :) I'll be sure to include it in the next update so that the lights work properly with shadow catchers.

  • JabbaJabba Posts: 1,460
    edited December 1969

    Age of Armour said:
    millighost said:
    (the DAZ default shaders use "__inShadow") and that is probably what pwCatcher reads (probably, i did not actually test it).

    Thanks millighost! That did the trick :) I'll be sure to include it in the next update so that the lights work properly with shadow catchers.

    sounds awesome

  • MattymanxMattymanx Posts: 6,955
    edited December 1969

    AAL, ASL, Subsurface Shader base and the volume camera

    172_-_SmokeMirrors.png
    720 x 1080 - 953K
  • Age of ArmourAge of Armour Posts: 437
    edited December 1969

    Nice Matty! Did you do it all in one pass or did you render the volume separately?

  • MattymanxMattymanx Posts: 6,955
    edited December 1969

    Age of Armour said:
    Nice Matty! Did you do it all in one pass or did you render the volume separately?


    Single pass. I have yet to do the larger image to show her up close. I need to plan for that one as it will take a while. Its well worth it though

  • alexhcowleyalexhcowley Posts: 2,392
    edited December 1969

    Age of Armour said:

    I received a few notices about install issues. If you only see 2 parameters on the light then it did not install correctly. I don't yet know why the installer is working most of the time but not installing properly in a few cases but there is a manual fix.

    There are 4 files which do all the work of the light. Because of how DS reads shader scripts, these files must be in the Admin User's AppData folder, not the Content or My Library folder.

    Under C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\DAZ 3D\Studio4\scripts\support\AgeOfArmour\Light
    there needs to be:
    AoA_AOLightAttribs.dsa
    AoA_AOLightDef.dsa
    AoA_AOLightParams.dsa

    Under C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\DAZ 3D\Studio4\shaders\AgeOfArmour\Light
    there needs to be a file named AoA_AOLight.sdl

    Those are for Windows users. I'm not sure what the equivalent of AppData is for a Mac. Any Mac users want to chime in?

    Another issue to be aware of is the Shadow Type setting. This is normally hidden and should not be changed from the default "None"
    That parameter is for DS's built in directional shadows and is auto generated by DS when a light loads into the scene. I could not remove or lock it. The best I could do was to hide it. The renderizer setting should also be kept at the default.

    Where do I get these files from? I've made two attempts to install Advanced Ambient Lights from a 64bit Windows installer and they still haven't showed up in the appropriate directories on my C drive.

  • SpitSpit Posts: 2,342
    edited December 1969

    My lights work fine but they are not where listed below. Instead they are in the respective shader and scripts folders in the main Studio 4 installation in Program Files (I use Windows 7). I install with DIM and this is where they went.


    alexhcowley said:
    Age of Armour said:

    I received a few notices about install issues. If you only see 2 parameters on the light then it did not install correctly. I don't yet know why the installer is working most of the time but not installing properly in a few cases but there is a manual fix.

    There are 4 files which do all the work of the light. Because of how DS reads shader scripts, these files must be in the Admin User's AppData folder, not the Content or My Library folder.

    Under C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\DAZ 3D\Studio4\scripts\support\AgeOfArmour\Light
    there needs to be:
    AoA_AOLightAttribs.dsa
    AoA_AOLightDef.dsa
    AoA_AOLightParams.dsa

    Under C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\DAZ 3D\Studio4\shaders\AgeOfArmour\Light
    there needs to be a file named AoA_AOLight.sdl

    Those are for Windows users. I'm not sure what the equivalent of AppData is for a Mac. Any Mac users want to chime in?

    Another issue to be aware of is the Shadow Type setting. This is normally hidden and should not be changed from the default "None"
    That parameter is for DS's built in directional shadows and is auto generated by DS when a light loads into the scene. I could not remove or lock it. The best I could do was to hide it. The renderizer setting should also be kept at the default.

    Where do I get these files from? I've made two attempts to install Advanced Ambient Lights from a 64bit Windows installer and they still haven't showed up in the appropriate directories on my C drive.

  • Age of ArmourAge of Armour Posts: 437
    edited December 1969

    Yes, as Spit pointed out, they may be in program files or wherever DAZ Studio is installed.

    When I submitted them to DAZ I had put them in the appData folder because it was where many of the early DS3 and DS4 stuff was installed and it didn't need as many permissions as Program Files. In any case the scripts should work in the Program Files directory or wherever DS is installed.

    Try doing a hard drive search for
    AoA_AOLightAttribs.dsa
    AoA_AOLightDef.dsa
    AoA_AOLightParams.dsa
    And see where they were placed, if they were placed, by the installer. That's assuming that you are installing the ambient light. The spot has different file names.

    Are you using the EXE installer or DIM? Unfortunately the EXE version is kinda touchy so I'd recommend trying the DIM if you haven't already.

    If that doesn't solve it let me know and I'll see what I can do to get it working for you.

    Sorry about that hassle, I'd install them to an easier location if DS allowed it.

  • alexhcowleyalexhcowley Posts: 2,392
    edited December 1969

    Age of Armour said:
    Yes, as Spit pointed out, they may be in program files or wherever DAZ Studio is installed.

    When I submitted them to DAZ I had put them in the appData folder because it was where many of the early DS3 and DS4 stuff was installed and it didn't need as many permissions as Program Files. In any case the scripts should work in the Program Files directory or wherever DS is installed.

    Try doing a hard drive search for
    AoA_AOLightAttribs.dsa
    AoA_AOLightDef.dsa
    AoA_AOLightParams.dsa
    And see where they were placed, if they were placed, by the installer. That's assuming that you are installing the ambient light. The spot has different file names.

    Are you using the EXE installer or DIM? Unfortunately the EXE version is kinda touchy so I'd recommend trying the DIM if you haven't already.

    If that doesn't solve it let me know and I'll see what I can do to get it working for you.

    Sorry about that hassle, I'd install them to an easier location if DS allowed it.

    Thanks for the responses, guys. I've checked the program files and they are in there. I use Windows 7, too.

    I was using the .exe installer. Incidentally, I downloaded DIM a while back and it immediately demanded that I uninstall 284 items! At that point, I became disillusioned with it and uninstalled DIM instead. I've been using the zip downloads ever since.

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 14,313
    edited February 2014

    What kind of message were you getting that it "demanded" you to uninstall? DIM don't tell you that at all. It gives you a list of all your products and installs them for you. Are you using the default location(MY DAZ 3D Library) do install files to or are you installing DIM products to My Library?

    Post edited by frank0314 on
  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited February 2014

    I think that Alexh pointed DIM to the My Library folder which gives a WARNING that installing to that folder is not recommended. It would have worked just fine but could have done odd things if My Library held the OLDER content that had the none updated files in it. That would only cause errors if the OLD content from DS4 was in the folder. The newer content now has some different paths, so the new content could over write the old files but leave behind older parts that DIM does not know to remove when installing the newer files. That is one reason I just started with a 100% clean content folder for DIM.

    Post edited by Jaderail on
  • alexhcowleyalexhcowley Posts: 2,392
    edited February 2014

    Frank has taken my remarks rather more literally than I intended. It is several months since I experimented with DIM so my memory of some of the details is somewhat hazy but I was definitely recommended to uninstall my existing products at some stage and then re-install them with DIM. Whether this was by the software itself or the supporting documentation I cannot remember.

    To get back to the main subject of this thread, I am broadly impressed with Advanced Ambient Lights. It's a significant improvement over Uberenvironment 2 in most respects with lots more control.

    I do have a problem with mottled skin on Victoria Six HD, however. This seems to happen in the areas of the figure that are heavily morphed. It doesn't happen to the same areas when using UE2. I'm at work at the moment so I can't post any examples but I will when I get a chance.

    Post edited by alexhcowley on
  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943
    edited December 1969

    Mottled skin ... it may have to do with the ambient occlusion samples settings:
    http://www.ageofarmour.com/3d/tutorials/AoA_advanced_ambient_light_help.html

  • Age of ArmourAge of Armour Posts: 437
    edited December 1969

    alexhcowley said:

    Thanks for the responses, guys. I've checked the program files and they are in there. I use Windows 7, too.

    I was using the .exe installer. Incidentally, I downloaded DIM a while back and it immediately demanded that I uninstall 284 items! At that point, I became disillusioned with it and uninstalled DIM instead. I've been using the zip downloads ever since.

    Cool! So you did get them installed and working properly then?

    Yeah the DIM installing content to a new folder, suggesting that you redownload and install everything can be off-putting. However, you do have the option to only download and install what you select. That's how I have my systems set up and I only download stuff I purchased after the date of adding the install manager.

    Again, I can understand why the DIM may not appear all that appealing at first. I, myself, was one who took a while to embrace it. However, I think it is worth considering it and giving it a second shot. It works very well, DIM files smaller download sizes than EXEs and it is nice to know right away if a product has been updated.

    No pressure... Just a friendly suggestion.

    About the mottled skin, Kerya is probably right, it likely has to do with sample count or shading rate. Could be the SSS sample count if the surface uses subsurface scattering.

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 14,313
    edited December 1969

    alexhcowley said:
    Frank has taken my remarks rather more literally than I intended. It is several months since I experimented with DIM so my memory of some of the details is somewhat hazy but I was definitely recommended to uninstall my existing products at some stage and then re-install them with DIM. Whether this was by the software itself or the supporting documentation I cannot remember.

    To get back to the main subject of this thread, I am broadly impressed with Advanced Ambient Lights. It's a significant improvement over Uberenvironment 2 in most respects with lots more control.

    I do have a problem with mottled skin on Victoria Six HD, however. This seems to happen in the areas of the figure that are heavily morphed. It doesn't happen to the same areas when using UE2. I'm at work at the moment so I can't post any examples but I will when I get a chance.

    If you installing the DIM files to the same location that you were installing the exe's then you would need to uninstall and reinstall to avoid conflicts. That is why they have a separate default folder for DIM stuff. You will have no conflicts. All DAZ stuff will go to My DAZ 3D Library and all your outside stores go into My library

  • alexhcowleyalexhcowley Posts: 2,392
    edited March 2014

    Kerya said:
    Mottled skin ... it may have to do with the ambient occlusion samples settings:
    http://www.ageofarmour.com/3d/tutorials/AoA_advanced_ambient_light_help.html


    About the mottled skin, Kerya is probably right, it likely has to do with sample count or shading rate. Could be the SSS sample count if the surface uses subsurface scattering.

    Thanks for your comments. It's going to be the weekend before I can do any more serious testing so I'll report back after then.

    Cheers, Alex.

    Post edited by alexhcowley on
  • Lissa_xyzLissa_xyz Posts: 6,116
    edited February 2014

    I finally packaged up my Plasmaball that I first posted sometime late last year. Requires AAL to look right. :)

    http://www.sharecg.com/v/74972/view/21/DAZ-Studio/AAL-Plasmaball
    Daz thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/37798/

    Plasmaball_statue.png
    500 x 625 - 376K
    Plasma03.png
    300 x 300 - 129K
    Plasma02.png
    300 x 300 - 130K
    Plasma01.png
    300 x 300 - 128K
    Post edited by Lissa_xyz on
  • greysgreys Posts: 335
    edited December 1969

    Took me a little while to figure out, but used the Advanced Spotlight and the volume cam to fake a stained glass effect. Still tweaking somewhat. Looking forward to version 2 of the cameras, these lights have spoiled me on render times which made waiting for the volume to render almost painful.

    Lysaac-Wedding.png
    1428 x 2000 - 5M
  • Age of ArmourAge of Armour Posts: 437
    edited December 1969

    Vaskania said:
    I finally packaged up my Plasmaball that I first posted sometime late last year. Requires AAL to look right. :)

    http://www.sharecg.com/v/74972/view/21/DAZ-Studio/AAL-Plasmaball
    Daz thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/37798/

    That looks very cool Vaskania! I'll go download it right now!

    What make it require the advanced lights? Using a special illumination category or just the being able to be separately flagged?


    Took me a little while to figure out, but used the Advanced Spotlight and the volume cam to fake a stained glass effect. Still tweaking somewhat. Looking forward to version 2 of the cameras, these lights have spoiled me on render times which made waiting for the volume to render almost painful.

    Very nice temporal.ranger.

    Yeah, I think people, especially those how have the advanced lights, will be happy with the new Easy Volume Camera. The lights and new camera were designed specifically to work together.

    I hope this doesn't sound braggadocios but I'm really happy with the new camera. Volume rendering still takes some time but it is way faster than before when used with the advanced lights.

    Here is the Volume Camera update thread if anyone is interested: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/37949/

  • Lissa_xyzLissa_xyz Posts: 6,116
    edited March 2014

    Age of Armour said:
    Vaskania said:
    I finally packaged up my Plasmaball that I first posted sometime late last year. Requires AAL to look right. :)

    http://www.sharecg.com/v/74972/view/21/DAZ-Studio/AAL-Plasmaball
    Daz thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/37798/

    That looks very cool Vaskania! I'll go download it right now!

    What make it require the advanced lights? Using a special illumination category or just the being able to be separately flagged?
    Thanks!

    I just couldn't seem to get the same bright, popping glow by using a 2nd point light. The ball really looks pretty dull with AAL off.

    Here's a render with the AAL off. There is still a backdrop, but the whole thing is just crappy without that AAL. lol

    Plasmaball_withoutAAL.png
    800 x 450 - 263K
    Post edited by Lissa_xyz on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,860
    edited December 1969

    The DIM has an update for Advanced Spotlight today, but the readme offers no clue about the change. Does anyone know what the update is for?

  • Age of ArmourAge of Armour Posts: 437
    edited March 2014

    Honestly, I don't know. It was news to me haha.

    I'll sift through it and see.

    I spoke with QA and the update was for metadata. Nothing exciting.

    Post edited by Age of Armour on
  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,249
    edited December 1969

    ...BTW, thank you very much for the Advanced Distant Light.

  • IppotamusIppotamus Posts: 1,580
    edited December 1969

    Kyoto Kid said:
    ...BTW, thank you very much for the Advanced Distant Light.

    Indeed, Thanks!
    It made purchasing the presets that much easier. :)

  • BeeMKayBeeMKay Posts: 7,019
    edited December 1969

    This is great news! :D Thanks for the new Distant Lights.
    I'm using the Advanced Lights a lot when I have time to set up a picture properly, and it's a wonderful tool you have created there.
    Thank you.

  • vivayovivayo Posts: 52
    edited December 1969

    Many thanks for the distant lights !!

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