Rock Grass and Dynamic Nature Shaders For DAZ Studio (Commercial)

jakiblue

Spit said:

Oh man, oh man, oh wow, oh wow!! These shaders are terrific!! The grass is to die for--do you (AoA and DT) have any idea what a breakthrough the grass (well, all of them, I've just played with the grass so far) is...how much it changes the calculus for our outdoor scenes? Between you and Allesandro's animal furs I'm in heaven.

This really is a quicky. I clicked some icons and moved some sliders and got something that looked like cabbages LOL then I twiddled sliders a bit more, not knowing what I was doing, and got this. Added some Flink flowers, the little unicorn, a background sky, AoA ambient (natch) and one distant light, a melancholy filter (blurred edges) in PS and here ya go.

Spit, that looks FANTASTIC!!! wow!!!

Did you use the ready made terrains in the bundle, or did you just apply the grass shader to something??

Spit

I thought you might like to see the settings I used. I just fiddled the blades and the colors.

Spit

jakiblue said:

....

Spit, that looks FANTASTIC!!! wow!!!

Did you use the ready made terrains in the bundle, or did you just apply the grass shader to something??

Wow, thanks Jaki!

I applied the shader to one of AntFarm's BaseCamp bases. Ended up just showing the grass.

jakiblue

Spit said:

jakiblue said:

....

Spit, that looks FANTASTIC!!! wow!!!

Did you use the ready made terrains in the bundle, or did you just apply the grass shader to something??

Wow, thanks Jaki!

I applied the shader to one of AntFarm's BaseCamp bases. Ended up just showing the grass.

Thank you! And thanks for posting your settings too..tat was REALLY helpful. :D

CypherFOX

Greetings,
@Spit - That's adorable, and a great demo of the grass!

You should convert the mini-unicorn to a sub-d model to reduce the stair-stepping shadows, but that has nothing to do with the awesome grass! I'd have never thought of using the Base Camp bases as mini-surfaces to pave with shaders...

I need to think more outside the box... :)

Thanks!

-- Morgan

jakiblue

Cypherfox said:

Greetings,
@Spit - That's adorable, and a great demo of the grass!

You should convert the mini-unicorn to a sub-d model to reduce the stair-stepping shadows, but that has nothing to do with the awesome grass! I'd have never thought of using the Base Camp bases as mini-surfaces to pave with shaders...

I need to think more outside the box... :)

Thanks!

-- Morgan

that's exactly what I thought, about the Base camp base! I'd been struggling to put the shader on a surface that would suit...plane etc...so it was like a major OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH moment when I read what Spit used. LOL

Spit

Cypherfox said:

Greetings,
@Spit - That's adorable, and a great demo of the grass!

You should convert the mini-unicorn to a sub-d model to reduce the stair-stepping shadows, but that has nothing to do with the awesome grass! I'd have never thought of using the Base Camp bases as mini-surfaces to pave with shaders...

I need to think more outside the box... :)

Thanks!

-- Morgan

Thanks! I loaded up the scene and converted to sub-d. Nothing changed. upped the divisions a couple of times, no change. :( then it hit me. I upped the shadow bias to about 3.5 and that did the trick---even going back to base resolution. Thanks for pointing it out.

Oh, and to Jaki too--poking into AntFarm's folder is a wise thing to do anytime you're 'stuck'. :)

Ruphuss

did someone try the grassshader as hair already ?

jakiblue

ok, i'm going to ask a question here that will definitely show off my ignorance...but somehow, there's something I'm not grasping properly. Whether it's cos I'm OVER-thinking this, or whether I truly am not understanding...

The Rock shader......it says to use it on a subdivided cube.....my cube still looks cube shaped...as in square...it doesn't look anything like a rock or boulder shape. What on earth am I missing??

Tarina Kivi

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Richard Haseltine

jakiblue said:

ok, i'm going to ask a question here that will definitely show off my ignorance...but somehow, there's something I'm not grasping properly. Whether it's cos I'm OVER-thinking this, or whether I truly am not understanding...

The Rock shader......it says to use it on a subdivided cube.....my cube still looks cube shaped...as in square...it doesn't look anything like a rock or boulder shape. What on earth am I missing??

I haven't had time to read the docs, or play with the shader, but I think the idea of applying SubD to the cube is to avoid sharp edges which may get pulled apart, or at least look odd, with the displacement.

Herald of Fire

Holy smokes...

I have no idea what magic you did to pull this off, but these shaders are mindblowing. Even simple low polygon objects become complex, detailed terrain. I took some existing landscapes and replaced the usual grass texture with the grass shader, and the rocks with the rock shader. This was the result.

In a word, breathtaking.

Tarina Kivi

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TJohn

jakiblue said:

ok, i'm going to ask a question here that will definitely show off my ignorance...but somehow, there's something I'm not grasping properly. Whether it's cos I'm OVER-thinking this, or whether I truly am not understanding...

The Rock shader......it says to use it on a subdivided cube.....my cube still looks cube shaped...as in square...it doesn't look anything like a rock or boulder shape. What on earth am I missing??

Did you select the cube and go to edit menu - Edit/Object/Geometry/SubD ?

jaebea

Your grass shader is pure genius! I have been playing with it for hours! I am a huge scenery builder for my animations and very picky about the final product. I love the idea of the displacement mask and using the geometry shell so that dirt can show through. I have bought just about every grass prop ever offered and with this as a base, I believe I will be able to achieve pretty realistic and natural scenery! Thanks guys!! Now if Daz would just give us collisions, then I wouldn't have so much post work when the grass pokes through the feet of my characters!

Dkgoose

For the files do I need both the zip and windows 64 exe

TJohn

A bit of fun with the Grass Shader and some of Joe Quick's anthros for Genesis 1.
Mr. Turtle Mows The Lawn
Mr. Mole and Ribbits the Frog have dropped in to "help".

MelanieL

I'm loving all these shaders, they are really clever :-) But trust me to put them to odd uses:
First up I had to try on a human form - a little grassy hair and rocky "skin" (had to turn the displacement well down to keep the human shape without too much distortion). The background is the Bonus Grassy Hill scene from the Rock & Grass Bundle.
Second I tried them on a more complex structure (part of Jack Tomalin's Danaides) and got a serendipitous sketchy/drawing effect (more obvious on the full-sized image). The lighting ia a single AoA Advanced Distant Light, no postwork.
Finally I thought I'd apply the Nature Shader to clothing (one of Aave Nainen's Miss Fisher dresses) and hair - here are the results of my first attempt, with a plain backdrop then with some of the included presets.
Thank you AgeofArmour and DimensionTheory for some fun new toys to play with.

MelanieL

@HeraldofFire - that landscape of yours is terrific.
@tjohn - I love your Mr Turtle pic!

jakiblue

tjohn said:

A bit of fun with the Grass Shader and some of Joe Quick's anthros for Genesis 1.
Mr. Turtle Mows The Lawn
Mr. Mole and Ribbits the Frog have dropped in to "help".

LOVE LOVE this! I can't be the only one thinking Wind in the Willows? :D

Spit

Tarina Kivi said:

@Spit: That is lovely! The grass looks amazing and the unicorn is cute. : )

Thanks, Tarina!

A bit of fun with the Grass Shader and some of Joe Quick's anthros for Genesis 1.
Mr. Turtle Mows The Lawn
Mr. Mole and Ribbits the Frog have dropped in to "help".

Charming +1. I love it!

@MelanieL Clever use of the products. I'm especially taken by the Nature Shader on the dress!

Spit

Oh, I have a question on the grass. I'm assuming there's an underlying 'noise' for the displacement? Is there any way (or is it even possible) to change the noise density?

TJohn

Spit said:

Oh, I have a question on the grass. I'm assuming there's an underlying 'noise' for the displacement? Is there any way (or is it even possible) to change the noise density?

http://www.ageofarmour.com/3d/tutorials/AoA_grass_shader_help.html

Spit

tjohn said:

Spit said:

Oh, I have a question on the grass. I'm assuming there's an underlying 'noise' for the displacement? Is there any way (or is it even possible) to change the noise density?

http://www.ageofarmour.com/3d/tutorials/AoA_grass_shader_help.html

Thanks. Yeah, I read the docs. The image map method would be great for roads, paths, bare patches but I mean an overall change in density blade next to blade. I've never been successful with Photoshop or anything else getting a noise map that was between clumpy and extremely tight dots.

TJohn

Spit said:

tjohn said:

Spit said:

Oh, I have a question on the grass. I'm assuming there's an underlying 'noise' for the displacement? Is there any way (or is it even possible) to change the noise density?

http://www.ageofarmour.com/3d/tutorials/AoA_grass_shader_help.html

Thanks. Yeah, I read the docs. The image map method would be great for roads, paths, bare patches but I mean an overall change in density blade next to blade. I've never been successful with Photoshop or anything else getting a noise map that was between clumpy and extremely tight dots.

Then my answer should have been "I don't know." :)

MelanieL

Spit said:

@MelanieL Clever use of the products. I'm especially taken by the Nature Shader on the dress!

Thanks. I plan to spend more time today playing with the various settings (and on some other buldings/clothing/hair) - there are lots of dials and presets there waiting to be used. And I may even find time to do some actual grass and rocks renders of course! :)

Tarina Kivi

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Age of Armour

Wow! Such great images everyone! I mean really really great!

Spit said:

Oh, I have a question on the grass. I'm assuming there's an underlying 'noise' for the displacement? Is there any way (or is it even possible) to change the noise density?

Do you mean like more spacing between the blades themselves? Like a ground with sparse grass, only a blade here and there?

The Rock shader…...it says to use it on a subdivided cube…..my cube still looks cube shaped…as in square…it doesn’t look anything like a rock or boulder shape. What on earth am I missing??

When you go to Create - New Primitive, make sure the cube settings only use 1 division. After subdivision, and before the rock shader is applied, the cube should render as a sphere. The rock shader will then distort the spherical sub-d cube to look more rock like.

You can use a sphere primitive too but that uses more polygons and spheres have too many edges coming together at the top and bottom poles which can sometimes cause wobbles or artifacts. They aren't really any big deal, it is just that a sub-d cube is cleaner and more efficient.

Let me know if that works. Oh and to be clear, you can use the shader on anything you like... It is just that a sub-d cube makes a quick, easy, very low poly rock.

Thanks for sharing all the excellent renders everyone.

Age of Armour

dkgoose said:

For the files do I need both the zip and windows 64 exe

No. Either one should cover it. I would go with the zip. The exe is for installing a macro which the shader uses to allow flagging with the Advanced Lights. The zip has it also but the exe is better at ensuring that the macro is installed to the correct location. If you have the latest update of the advanced lights then the macro is already installed on your machine.

I would only install the exe if you have the advanced lights but flagging doesn't appear to be working with the grass or rocks.

jaebea

Here is my submission. I add the shader and tweeked it to one of the scenes in the animation I am working on. The woman is only in there for perspective. The shader is fabulous! What would have taken me days to do, this shader did after a few tweeks. Definitely one of my favorite tools now!