Simple Vue Problem, Cannot Figure Out!
DrowElfMorwen
Posts: 538
Okay, so I do a lot of images of killer whales, under water and above. If I am doing an image of one jumping out of the water, getting water bumps/displacement to show up is easy enough in DAZ--I just use a geoshell and slap a water shader on it, then use a bump map or a normal map of rain drops. And on the orca's model, I make the diffuse skin shiny.
But in Vue, the way to set up materials is so much more complicated. I *cannot* figure out at all how to seperate the orca's diffuse skin, from a water droplet bump map. In other words, I need to tile the water drops bump, and leave her skin at 1 x 1 scale. But I want my bump map tiled at something like 15 x 3.
How to do? :(
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I would suggest to use a layered material. Put the orca base texture with diffuse in the bottom layer and then add a water material on top using your droplet bump and the desired tiling. Tiling is independent between the layers.
Ciao
TD
Here is an example with an old shark model. I used a procedural drop material rather than a bump map, but the principle is the same.
TD
But, how does one DO that? That's the entire problem... I can't figure out multi layers in Vue, and trust me, I've tried. I don't even know what you mean by "procedural drop material"... Is there a way you can explain how to do it without using, er, technical terms? Assume I don't know anything other than how to get the materials box open. >_> :(
Your shark lookss nice btw. That is what I want to do.
Ah, I see. Sorry. Which version of Vue are you using? I can put together some screen shots and a short how to, but it will only be useful if our Vue versions are not too far apart. The interface has changed quite a bit in the details overview the past couple, of versions. I am running Vue 2016 Infinite.
Ciao
TD
It's Vue 2015 Complete. :) I would appreciate it.
Ok. 2015 complete should be close enough. I will put a quick how-to together using the shark model. Should be able to get it done tonight after work.
Ciao
TD
OK. Here we go. I try to illustrate as best as I can. Feel free to ask if something isn't clear.
1. Load the model you want to use and select the material you want to modify. I loaded the shark and selected the skin material.
2. Open the material editor (double click the material or right-click and selct edit). Make sure you are in theb advanced view. Now select "load Layer"
That's the small right facing arrow to the right of the layer list. The vue browser opens and you can select a material for the new layer. I wnet to the standard liquids folder and loaded the default water.
3. Now we need to set a bump that resembles drops. Go to the bump tab and right click the preview and select "load function".
4. The Vue browser opens again. We need to select a suitable bump function or map. Let's try a fractal based procedural first. The bump sub category in the browser has a default function that works. It is called "sick rock".In my screen shot it is the bottom center one. Choose that one to load.
5. Now you need to adjust the scaling. I cannot give you any exact numbers here because it depends on the scale of your model and the scene as well as the Vue version. I usually play around with the overall scale for the layer (next to the layer name, 0.1 in the screen shot above) and the bump scale (under the bump preview, split into x, y and z, keep them the same to start) until I get the look I want. There are more parameters you can adjust if desired and if you have some basic grasp on the function editor. For example you can adjust the scaling different in the three axis to get drops that are not round or you can modify the function that geerates the pattern to get a different look.
6. An alternate appoach for the bump is to use a bump map. You can use any tileable bump map you have available, for the example below I just quickly made one in FilterForge. Instead of loading the procedural bump as shown in step 4, you need to open the function editor, delete anything that is connected to bump on the right and add a "Projected Texture map" node (right click and select from the menu). Now you can load your bump map and adjust the scaling. Make sure that Tiling mode is set to "Repeat" in both x and y. Use the x and y scale to adjust the number of times the pattern is repeated. Connect the node to the bump output on the right and close.
7. Finally adjust bump scale and depth to get the look you want.
I hope this helps.
Ciao
TD
Thank you thd777 :o I'm going to try this right now!
I mean, a huge, appreciative thank you for doing all of this!
Hmm, this is weird. I added the new layer by clicking the arrow as you said, and loaded the defalt water. I see that your shark changed to add the water layer, but my orca shows nothing :( Still just dry skin.
Image below.
Have you closed the material editor and refeshed the preview? It doesn't always update automatically on my system.
Try to change layer id color ( the pencil symbol at the end of the layer line to something easily visible like red) That way you can see if the layer is there.
TD
Like this:
I would also recommend to change the mapping mode to "Object - standard" rather than world. You will also likely need a higher value for the bump depth and use a diffrent function, the default water is for large scenes and areas of water and won't show up well on a small model.
TD
Oh, and I think that the preview in step 2 and 3 above was not updated from an earlier test. So, do not pay too much attention to it. It looks more like the final result than the intermediate step.