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Have you considered borrowing a shader you like in order to get a more stable effect?
Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean. Borrow a shader?
Yes... That and Filter Forge... AwesomeBump... Materialize... and a bunch of other old school methods.
Somewhat related question: can you bake scene lighting and all surface settings into textures inside Studio? For example, could I set up a scene and adjust all of the character's surface settings, then bake them and create new texture maps with the lighting, shadows, SSS, and everything permanently written into the texture map? I could then take those to Substance Painter and work on them, knowing this is exactly how they will look when back in Studio. I know that would only work for that particular scene, but it's something.
Mono: SSS amount is on all channels (RGB)
Chromatic: SSS amount split for each R.G.B.channel.
Well, that was my assumtion. The results on testing is unpredictable/inconsistant (appears to be buggy), but, I am using an older build of DS.
I will (later today) install DS 4.15 and see if I can get consistant results.
Oh don't do that just on my account, I wouldn't be at all surprised if nothing has changed since your older version. I just noticed this afternoon that the seam problems with Spectral Rendering are still there after all these years. I've never really been able to make much sense out of adjusting the secondary color anyway. Thanks for explaining.
I mean, use a shader for a skin that looks similar to what you're working on, and that you happen to like. Then load that with the PBR textures you're working on into that shader.
What generation were you using? I tried spectral rendering with an 8.1 figure a little while ago, and there weren't any seams, even out of the box. It might be because of the the new PBRSkin shader. I didn't test it, though.
In the Surfaces tab, there's a Shader Baker tab. I don't quite know what it's capable of, because Daz documentation, but it sounds like what you're looking for.It can be a problem (borrowing a shader), if SnowSultan would like to sell or give away such materials.
I used 8, so I will try 8.1 first thing in the morning when the cats wake me up at 4:45 as always. Thanks.
I've seen Shader Baker too, but it's yet another completely unexplored feature. Something else for you to learn, haha. I'll experiment with it tomorrow morning too.
Artini: No I think what UHF means is to just try different MATs that come with various characters and then apply my own textures to them. I've done that before with other DAZ textures, but it won't really help me much here because the problem is more with Substance Painter not being able to replicate Studio's shader. I'm basically giving up on trying to copy the look in Substance and just working with both windows open and previewing as I go. Less frustration all around. Also, I'm not selling or giving away anything texture-related, just a tutorial here and there these days.
I think I am now too curious.
I have been playing with some of the other bricks(shader mixer), such as the "Thick Translucent" which is giving me expected/consistant results. So I will play longer.
From my tests, it appears spectral seams don't show up at all in Dome or Sun-Sky mode, so all these images were taken in "Scene Only" mode with a single rectangular spotlight, 100cm x 100cm, 50,000 lumens. These are all Iray viewport draws, none of them are actual renders.
Victoria 8.0
Very noticable seams.
Bloom 8.1
An 8.1 generation character, but using the default Uber shader instead of the new PBR Skin shader. Seams are still there, but faded and blurry.
Victoria 8.1
Using the PBR Skin shader. Seams are barely visible, to the point you could pass them off as veins.
Bloom 8.1
Default skin manually replaced with the PBR Skin shader. No seams whatsoever, as far as I can tell.
Thanks for the explanation, @SnowSultan
By the way. Have you ever fixed issues reported in your other thread:
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/389531/how-the-heck-does-the-dforce-raiding-cloak-work#latest
Somebody has posted a solution, but it does not work for me.
It's giving me some interesting results too.
Like volumetric fog.
@SnowSultan
I was looking over the MDL documentation again when I found this: vMaterials | NVIDIA Developer
Apparently, this material library is supposed to work on Daz Studio, Unreal, and Substance Designer. It'll probably give you some good reference material when comparing how Iray works between applications. I'm going to d/l it myself and see if I can look at the shaders in the Shader Mixer.
EDIT:
I've now done so and posted my findings in the usual place. There's a bit about what actually constitutes an MDL file, if you decide to bite the bullet and write your own.
I like experimenting every once in a while but with my slow video card I don't do it too often as it takes too long to see if I like the results.
Margrave: Seams definitely show up in Dome mode if you're only using an HDRI for lighting, so maybe adding a scene light helps? I'll try that shortly. I'm about to test 8.1, but I'm sure your tests are accurate. I'll also try to take a look at your new MDL discoveries soon, I'm getting overloaded with tests and stuff to figure out at the moment. :)
EDIT: I get the same results, seams are almost invisible (not quite) with Victoria 8.1, but strong with 8.0 with both HDRI only and with additional spotlight added. Also can't figure out baking yet, it looks easy to do, but I cannot select a directory in the panel and the textures never seem to actually get baked or applied even after using the bake function.
Artini: I haven't use that cape in a long time (and because the Fur Cape is much more stable), but I'll try to get around to testing that too. Raising dynamic cloth above the head does often work, but of course, collision and the mesh itself plays a part. I have my doubts anything has changed with that cape unless it was updated since I last used it.
Wolf: Substance Painter offers three types of SSS (Redshift, "Skin", and Translucency), but I don't think they have any effect on the exported textures themselves. They're mainly just there to help visualize SSS while working and how it might look in other software.
When I tested out the dome and the sun-sky, I used the dropdown in the Environment tab to disable scene lights. It probably just depends on the SSS settings. Speaking of, I rarely use the PBRSkin Shader, so it's possible I just ruined the SSS completely and didn't notice, so my test may not be that accurate.
We cross-posted, your tests appear to be correct.
@Snowsultan I asked because Daz studio Iray Uses volume based SSS
for that very distincive Skin look we see in genesis renders in Daz studio
Thomas Larson had to create special shader nodes to replicate that look in ,Blender cycles, via the Diffeo plugin.
Not really sure how one would get an accurate preview of how genesis skin shader will look, in another programs preview engine that is not
replicating the volume based SSS that DS uses.
I just remembered something.
Most of us ignore them because they look fugly, but Iray actually has three rendering modes: Photoreal, Interactive, and Realtime.
@SnowSultan are you sure Substance Painter is using the Photoreal Iray mode?
Because, IIRC, the other two skimp on SSS and translucency to render faster.
It is possible to get Substance Painter textures to look almost identical in DS but you have to make certain adjustments. SnowSultan, talk with Ann about it and she can give you some tips on how to set it up.
Margrave: I think Substance Painter only has one rendering mode that cannot be changed, and I don't know if it ever says what it is. ;)
Frank: I have not been a PA for a very long time, so I don't have access to them like I used to. Do you mean Aundrea? I am friends with her on FB, but if it's someone else, I don't know how to contact her. I am absolutely all ears though, so please let me know what I can do to facilitate such a conversation. Thanks.
edit: oh, one brief thing, I just read that texture baking within Studio only works with 3DL. Is that still true? It would make sense, since I can't get it to work with Iray.
You can change the rendering mode in Daz, though. It's in the Render Settings, under the one tab I'm sure nobody ever uses. And, if the Interactive mode looks exactly like Substance Painter, then you'll have your answer.
Yes, sorry, Aundrea (my wife). I'm so use to calling her Ann since that's what this community knows her by. We even use Ann here at the house on our calender and when labeling things, lol.
Margrave: I'll test it, but I noticed almost no difference in Studio renders whenever I switched from Photorealistic to Interactive, so I don't think it's going to make Substance stuff look any closer.
Frank: Oh, I didn't know you were her husband! Hope you're doing well and staying healthy. Thank you, I will send her a message on Facebook shortly and ask if she can help whenever she has time. Much appreciated.
Hi,
I had a quick look at "Substance Painter". In its installation directories there where various .mdl files. I attempted to load them into DS. They did not completely load (multiple inputs where missing) and gave log warning of "API db error". Looking through the .mdl files(in text editor) they are tagged as being specific for designer.
I will see if I can find some time to look into that.
I made a quick search and found: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/136716/substance-painter-to-daz-studio-commercial/p1 which may be of interest.
No problem, thank you very much. I think I have things under control with Substance Painter now that I know Studio's SSS and translucency cannot be accurately replicated in it. I'll just keep both programs open and refresh the exported maps if I really need to work on that sort of thing.
I do have that tutorial wishlisted, but considering it's quite old now, I'm pretty sure I already know just about everything that's in it. Thanks though. :)
Hi SnowSultan,
Good to hear things are under control.
I will still keep playing, as not only am I still curious, it is as much of a case as me being , what is the saying, "Dog with bone"
I had another look at the painter bricks. My error about the missing inputs, I should of change the brick setting to "Show Advanced". So, playtime it is.
If I find anyting interesting, I will post back to thread.