Suddenly DAZ decides it's not going to render Ethan For Lucian 7

ebonartgallery

Containment cell background. Ghost light above. 

So, what weird inexplicable thing is going on THIS time?

NorthOf45

You can read something about that right here G3M has seams and discoloration

ebonartgallery

NorthOf45 said:

You can read something about that right here G3M has seams and discoloration

OK, nothing about that 'fix' means anything - it just devolves into stuff about 'normal maps' and 'normal channels' like I know what any of that is or what they're blathering on about.

 

NorthOf45

I can't make it any clearer than this

"Ah-h, that does it. I recalled reading about Gamma Correction... the correct way? and set the image's Gamma Correction to 1.0, and all is good. Not the render Gamma, but the image itself. Go to the Surfaces tab and expand the (Genesis 3 Male) Surfaces group. Select, in turn, any surface with a Normal map and click on the file icon on the controller. Go to the top of the drop-down list and select Image Editor and set Image Gamma to 1.0. You can save the final result as a new Hierachical Material preset. I believe the image gamma is a setting that is saved in the material preset, not the image itself."

ebonartgallery

NorthOf45 said:

I can't make it any clearer than this

"Ah-h, that does it. I recalled reading about Gamma Correction... the correct way? and set the image's Gamma Correction to 1.0, and all is good. Not the render Gamma, but the image itself. Go to the Surfaces tab and expand the (Genesis 3 Male) Surfaces group. Select, in turn, any surface with a Normal map and click on the file icon on the controller. Go to the top of the drop-down list and select Image Editor and set Image Gamma to 1.0. You can save the final result as a new Hierachical Material preset. I believe the image gamma is a setting that is saved in the material preset, not the image itself."

What's a 'Normal' map? Do you mean 'base color'? 

I'm honestly more concerned about 1. how and why this screwed up right now, just today, 2. what specifically caused that to happen and 3. how that is actually fixed instead of the unsual nonsensical workarounds and cludges.

NorthOf45

The forum is not DAZ3D technical support, it is just a bunch of users like yourself who share their collective knowledge and experience for the benefit of those who need some help.

1. Don't know. Open a help ticket and ask DAZ3D.
2. Don't know. Open a help ticket and ask DAZ3D.
3. If and when it is actually corrected, this is exactly how it will be corrected. If you want to wait for an official update, open a help ticket and ask DAZ3D.

If you want to fix this yourself in 15-20 minutes and move on with your rendering, follow the instructions.

A "Normal Map" is used, along with Bump Maps and Displacement Maps, to give fine surface detail, well below that of the mesh. Open the Surfaces tab with Ethan selected in the scene. Since we only need to look at the Normal Map in this case, type in "Normal Map" in the search box at the top of the Surfaces tab pane. Expand the figure's Surfaces group to show all surfaces and start with Arms (we only need to do Arms, Face, Legs, & Torso). The Iray shader has a channel for Normal Map on each surface, which should now be the only parameter showing. If a surface does not have a Normal Map, move on to the next one. Next to the slider is a small image icon (usually looks purple for Normal Maps). Click on that to bring up a drop-down list of possible choices to use (typically every image file opened by something in the scene). Ignore all those and go to the top of the list and select "Image Editor...". It will open the Normal Map file, but all we want to do is change the Image Gamma. Move the slider to 1.0, or click on the numeric value and type in 1.0. Accept and you will see the results in the Iray preview immediately (you might need to nudge the slider to trigger the change).

Now you have the correct default material settings, and you can save it as a new Material Preset for your Ethan character so that you can re-use it without having to do this all over again.

ebonartgallery

NorthOf45 said:

The forum is not DAZ3D technical support, it is just a bunch of users like yourself who share their collective knowledge and experience for the benefit of those who need some help.

1. Don't know. Open a help ticket and ask DAZ3D.
2. Don't know. Open a help ticket and ask DAZ3D.
3. If and when it is actually corrected, this is exactly how it will be corrected. If you want to wait for an official update, open a help ticket and ask DAZ3D.

If you want to fix this yourself in 15-20 minutes and move on with your rendering, follow the instructions.

A "Normal Map" is used, along with Bump Maps and Displacement Maps, to give fine surface detail, well below that of the mesh. Open the Surfaces tab with Ethan selected in the scene. Since we only need to look at the Normal Map in this case, type in "Normal Map" in the search box at the top of the Surfaces tab pane. Expand the figure's Surfaces group to show all surfaces and start with Arms (we only need to do Arms, Face, Legs, & Torso). The Iray shader has a channel for Normal Map on each surface, which should now be the only parameter showing. If a surface does not have a Normal Map, move on to the next one. Next to the slider is a small image icon (usually looks purple for Normal Maps). Click on that to bring up a drop-down list of possible choices to use (typically every image file opened by something in the scene). Ignore all those and go to the top of the list and select "Image Editor...". It will open the Normal Map file, but all we want to do is change the Image Gamma. Move the slider to 1.0, or click on the numeric value and type in 1.0. Accept and you will see the results in the Iray preview immediately (you might need to nudge the slider to trigger the change).

Now you have the correct default material settings, and you can save it as a new Material Preset for your Ethan character so that you can re-use it without having to do this all over again.

OK, thank you; that was very informative.

Now, I've never saved a Material Preset. I had all the Surfaces still selected, and did Save As --> Material Preset. I see where it created the new material preset. 

Is that it? And then when I load Ethan again, all I need to do is.. what? Select his figure and click that Material Preset to set his skin?

nemesis10

ebonartgallery said:

NorthOf45 said:

The forum is not DAZ3D technical support, it is just a bunch of users like yourself who share their collective knowledge and experience for the benefit of those who need some help.

1. Don't know. Open a help ticket and ask DAZ3D.
2. Don't know. Open a help ticket and ask DAZ3D.
3. If and when it is actually corrected, this is exactly how it will be corrected. If you want to wait for an official update, open a help ticket and ask DAZ3D.

If you want to fix this yourself in 15-20 minutes and move on with your rendering, follow the instructions.

A "Normal Map" is used, along with Bump Maps and Displacement Maps, to give fine surface detail, well below that of the mesh. Open the Surfaces tab with Ethan selected in the scene. Since we only need to look at the Normal Map in this case, type in "Normal Map" in the search box at the top of the Surfaces tab pane. Expand the figure's Surfaces group to show all surfaces and start with Arms (we only need to do Arms, Face, Legs, & Torso). The Iray shader has a channel for Normal Map on each surface, which should now be the only parameter showing. If a surface does not have a Normal Map, move on to the next one. Next to the slider is a small image icon (usually looks purple for Normal Maps). Click on that to bring up a drop-down list of possible choices to use (typically every image file opened by something in the scene). Ignore all those and go to the top of the list and select "Image Editor...". It will open the Normal Map file, but all we want to do is change the Image Gamma. Move the slider to 1.0, or click on the numeric value and type in 1.0. Accept and you will see the results in the Iray preview immediately (you might need to nudge the slider to trigger the change).

Now you have the correct default material settings, and you can save it as a new Material Preset for your Ethan character so that you can re-use it without having to do this all over again.

OK, thank you; that was very informative.

Now, I've never saved a Material Preset. I had all the Surfaces still selected, and did Save As --> Material Preset. I see where it created the new material preset. 

Is that it? And then when I load Ethan again, all I need to do is.. what? Select his figure and click that Material Preset to set his skin?

That is it and please submit the ticket to get the official repair....

NorthOf45

To save a material preset, you really only have to select the figure in the scene. You will have the option to selectively remove individual surfaces or settings before finishing. That's when you don't want to save everything, which can be useful for applying materials to some parts without disturbing others.

And, yes, just apply the new material preset to Ethan when you load him. If you want to save that one step, you can overwrite/replace/rename the original default material preset with the new one. I'm sure you don't want to use the old one anymore, and you can always get it back from the original product archive. The other two tattooed skins will need the same treatment.

NorthOf45

Actually, that last bit isn't quite right. The default texture settings are in the Character preset (Actor), so you would need to save a new one of those to get Ethan to load with the corrected Normal Map gamma settings. A character preset includes shaping and materials, and you have the option of excluding one or the other.