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Hi Kerya! Good to see ya! Yeah I noticed that about the new postgre. While Studio is running it may have from one to several instances of postgre.exe running. When l quit Studio they all exit. Very appropriate, very nice indeed! :) I loaded in a Genesis 3 and got a rockem sockem robot looking thing. Not a Genesis 3 Female at all. And it was all dark. Gotta get up to speed on the simplest things first, I guess!
McG.
Robot looking ... either you didn't install the Genesis3Starter Essentials - or you have the preview in DS set to something bounding box ...
In the upper right corner of the preview window, to the right of the dropdown for Perspective View and so on - click on the little ball and set it to Texture shaded.
:)
Right, I did that and still have the robot. Cleared scene and managed to locate some DS content, all the DAZ .duf files for People in all my Genesis folders. Loaded in an Aiko 6, yaaaay! She loaded. Oops, neekid! No skin on! LOL! I tell ya, there have been some whopping changes since the 3.0 Advanced daze!
Having had to recently replace my power supply and vid card, there are no longer any heat problems inside the old PC. Plus, this TINY little video card, which at first I took for a joke, really works well. I mean at first I held it up between thumb and forefinger and wondered if it got bigger when it got older yaknow? ;) I know I know, this ain't a Right Guard commercial and the Nvidia GT 740 sc is using 4 generations newer tech, the die is smaller AND has three times the transistor count, runs twice as fast and half the power consumption. It literally paces the venerable old gaming warrior BFG 8800 GTX OC 768 meg card neck to neck at the finish line. Yes I AM impressed! DS 4.8 found the card but didn't select it in hardware for IRay rendering. So I DID and it rendered me that robot in just a couple minutes. Check render, blank scene ACK! I saved a .png, it was the default. I chose the location right. Yeah well its gonna take some getting to know, right? It's like driving a new car with a 6 speed manual tranny for the first time. I gotta FIND all the bells and whistles to USE them! LOL!
McG.
OH YES I did install the Genesis 3 Starter Essentials. Couldn't have found that one if I hadn't, heh!
There has been no change to how content is mapped/located in Studio since version 3, in fact I don't think there has been any change since version 1. DS content libraries most be mapped under both Studio Formats and Poser Formats as texture files are still stored in the Poser Runtime/Texture/ folder and sub-folders.
Something that would greatly help is folder naming iterations, so that we do not have to clean up somebody's mess every time they make a spelling error.
landscape vs landscapes folder
enviroment vs environment
etc
Not to mention folders that are empty, files getting completely misplaced (somewhere completely out of the normal file structure) and more of that fun stuff.... not!
Would it be too much to ask to stick to the filestructure, without creating random folders or near duplicates? Does anyone in Q&A actually pay attention to this?
Having to clean things up on a regular basis tends to get rather tedious.
OK! So I am seeing. That's great, a little familiarity in the beginning is a help for sure! At least 4.8 Pro is able to see all the formats and files the installers/zips put in the folders I chose. Yes, I got an Aiko 6 loaded, Toulouse Hair and AS's AlphaKini. Now it's doing what I hope is a quick render. :P
They only need to be mapped as poser content if it has poser user facing files in it ( cr2, pz2, etc). Geometries, texture, etc will be found just fine under a runtime folder that is in a directory mapped as a DS content folder.
They only need to be mapped as poser content if it has poser user facing files in it ( cr2, pz2, etc). Geometries, texture, etc will be found just fine under a runtime folder that is in a directory mapped as a DS content folder.
YES! I already noted that too while trying to find all the stuff I'd been working on in PP-2014. Then I kinda realized DS 4.8 might not show me the POSER files per se, but the .ds and .duf files residing IN those folders. It has no problem with any of the folder structures though!
Oh HO HO HOOO! I just now noticed when I right click for context menu in the content panel that it offers me the choice to save Poser Companion Files for the item selected! Gee golly whiz! LOL! :lol:
McG.
HALP! Hey folks, this one is gonna be a problem. I can't figure out how to get full color rendering. This is saving a .png then flattening the image, resize then save as .jpg. I've been playing with the Render Settings a lot, now I'm just confused! Any ideas?
McG.
Is it an Iray render or 3dl? If it is an Iray did you add lights? Change anything in the render tab?
IRAY! Yes it is set to IRay. Add lights? To the scene? I added a spotlight. Did I change any render settings? OF COURSE I did! Gee! I did say I was playing in the render settings a lot. Do I have an Nvidia card? Yes! An EVGA GT 740 sc 2 gig GDDR3. So, what's next?!
Goes and tries a few small renders (1200x900), still IRay, checked and made sure the spot light was pointed at the Figure face, made sure of some settings that always made sense in every other renderer. Same thing. A black silhouette. Hmmm.
And thanks!
McG.
Posting your render settings would be tremendously helpful.
Depending on how you set up the parameters and the rest of the scene, the default brightness of that spotlight will be either "anaemic firefly" or "WW2 searchlight". Try the default Environment light, I've found it works fairly well for quick test renders. Note that the Environment dome has the sunlight coming from the right hand side of the scene — go into Render Settings, select the Environment parameters, and you can set the Dome Rotation value (from 0° to 360° turning clockwise). There's a lot to re-learn from scratch about the new Iray lights, they're nothing like the old 3Delight system.
Thanks Lee, I did mention some of them. Is there a way I can just dump that info to a text file or copy to clipboard? That would be really useful too! Screencaps are messy as there are so many tabs and settings groups to open and close.
Update: IRAY produces the silhouette. 3Delight produces the expected color and lighted image. Attached image is 3Delight render.
McG.
Depending on how you set up the parameters and the rest of the scene, the default brightness of that spotlight will be either "anaemic firefly" or "WW2 searchlight". Try the default Environment light, I've found it works fairly well for quick test renders. Note that the Environment dome has the sunlight coming from the right hand side of the scene — go into Render Settings, select the Environment parameters, and you can set the Dome Rotation value (from 0° to 360° turning clockwise). There's a lot to re-learn from scratch about the new Iray lights, they're nothing like the old 3Delight system.
Thanks SpottedKitty! I will get on this right after I get back. Gotta take laundry out and grab a quick bite somewhere. Back in a bit!
McG.
Thanks Lee, I did mention some of them. Is there a way I can just dump that info to a text file or copy to clipboard? That would be really useful too! Screencaps are messy as there are so many tabs and settings groups to open and close.
Update: IRAY produces the silhouette. 3Delight produces the expected color and lighted image. Attached image is 3Delight render.
McG.
Okay... let's eliminate this one step at a time. :-)
Ttry this:
Select your Spotlight. Make sure that "Photometric Light" is set to "On".
Turn the lumiance to around 50.000 units. (Because Photometric lights do not get controlled by "Intensity".)
The Render settings should be "Scene Only".
This should give you a character that has at least a bit light on the places where the Spotlight hits to make her visible.
If that way, we would know that the scene light setting, and your spotlight, are working.
Okay... let's eliminate this one step at a time. :-)
Ttry this:
Select your Spotlight. Make sure that "Photometric Light" is set to "On".
Turn the lumiance to around 50.000 units. (Because Photometric lights do not get controlled by "Intensity".)
The Render settings should be "Scene Only".
This should give you a character that has at least a bit light on the places where the Spotlight hits to make her visible.
If that way, we would know that the scene light setting, and your spotlight, are working.
Lumens are set to over 50,000.00 now. Some things were changed over in render settings too. Things that definitely increased render time from 1.5 seconds to near 5 minutes now. Still, the silhouette pops up quickly, then IRAY iteration 001 occurs, then 002 and so on. It will go to its end. Hopefully it will paint an illuminated pic before it finishes!
...this GTX740?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487047
FWIW, here's the sort of thing I get with a plain G3F plus hair and clothes, all Iray materials, all settings left at default except:-
Headlamp on camera turned to active Off (just in case, I've sometimes seen the Headlight come on when the scene should have been properly lit by Environment or mesh lights.)
Dark grey background turned on in Environment tab.
In Render Settings>Progressive, I've turned the Render Quality up to 2 and Converged Ratio to 100%. In Environment, I've set Dome Rotation to 60° so the light's coming from G3F's front; check the shadow (which you can see because I left Draw Ground turned on).
One small gotcha, which might possibly be the one causing your "black renders" — I've left the Render Settings>Tone Mapping values at default, this works because they're about right for a bright, clear sunny day, which is what you have on the default Environment Map HDR pic. If your lighting setup doesn't use that, then your lights might need to be turned up to what used to be thought of as insanely high values.
Working with the new release I get a new idea about the issue mentioned above. It is not so automatic as my previous request, but I would like to share the idea and get some opinions before submit it as a feature request. Maybe as at the moment we have a limited amount of presets using Iray is the best time to implement a new Iray Root Category which can benefit immediately all users. Something like this:
...this GTX740?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487047
No, mine is the 2 gig DDR3 single slot card. This one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487045&cm_re=evga_gt_740_sc-_-14-487-045-_-Product
Nice seeing ya again too! :)
I got mine through WalMart Online. No shipping fee, in-store pickup. Just a couple miles from me. The folks in the pickup area see me coming, grin and run to the back no questions asked. I order a bunch of odds and ends online that aren't carried in the store proper. Heh!
Okay... let's eliminate this one step at a time. :-)
Ttry this:
Select your Spotlight. Make sure that "Photometric Light" is set to "On".
Turn the lumiance to around 50.000 units. (Because Photometric lights do not get controlled by "Intensity".)
The Render settings should be "Scene Only".
This should give you a character that has at least a bit light on the places where the Spotlight hits to make her visible.
If that way, we would know that the scene light setting, and your spotlight, are working.
That was simple enough. FAIL. Selected Spotlight, Photometric ON, Luminous Flux (Lumen) = 50,432
Over in render settings, set to Scene Only.
Still produces a silhouette. But seeing as I have gone through and twiddled all the little dials and knobs (WELL!) might be better to reset all this stuff to defaults and start with your suggested settings from there.
McG.
I'm going to agree that you should hit the default button in the render settings. Then you should be able to get a render of some kind with just the HDRI that loads in default. Unless you have a good deal in the scene that is going to block the light you should at least be able to start getting an idea of the sort of light that an hdri will give you. You also may want to look at some of the Iray threads and a few tutorials. SY has several good ones. http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-Getting-Started-With-Iray-519725115
This looks really good. And it's an IRAY render right? OK over in Render Settings, I selected IRAY and pressed the DEFAULTS button, hopefully that reset all my twiddling. Selected 3Delight and did same, apparently the DEFAULTS button covers the whole Render Settings page. Hid the spotlight, loaded a Distant Light. In 3Delight I get the expected color illuminated render. In IRAY I still get the black silhouette. I left the default tone mapping alone as you suggested. Gonna save this scene and explore DS 4.8 for a while. I am getting frustrated with this IRAY thing, need a little break.
Thanks!
DOH! Success! I was about the save the scene and forget the IRAY thing for a while, and then I saw a finished .png render on screen. Huh?! It looked similar to the 3Delight render, but the overall skin color is softer, lighter, no issues I could see. I glanced at render settings, yeah it's set to IRAY. The only difference between the silhouette renders and this is I turned off the spotlight and added one Distant Light, set that to a nice angle for shadows, then clicked render. Wow! LOL! It really IS an IRAY render!
Thanks everybody! This was fun. LOL!
Here is an Aiko 6 with regular skin and makeup, AS AlphaKini, DM's CLOCK floor and gears. Very simple scene, surprisingly fast render. Just a couple minutes.
McG.
Glad to hear it worked for you. :-)
I was about to suggest that you tried uninstalling, re-downloading and re-installing this set: "Default Lights and Shaders for DAZ Studio 4.8+".
It's part of 4.8, but a separete download. It's possible that the 4.8 update flattened the light install, and now the default lights don't work.
But as the render now completed, that is good news.
Thanks! I also got Genesis 3 Female to load, skins, hair, clothing, materials ALL of it to load in with no problem, finally. DAZ PA's sometimes put the right things in the wrong places. Like stuff that goes in the data\ folder. I've discovered that for POSER just ONE data folder is fine, but for DS? TWO! There has to be one OUTSIDE of the Content folder at the same level with Content and Runtime for lots of 3rd party created stuff. I have a LOT of stuff so it isn't hard to see.
Also, every panel and module is now un-dockable from the main program screen. I use dual widescreen LED monitors and this makes things really interesting! And useful! Ah! fresh G3F render is done. Seems the IRAY thing 'dots' the image in until its complete. It allows one to cancel and save the current unfinished results. I have not added a light, but left the render settings at default and the image looks just as good if not better like this.
Thanks for the help, I plan to participate in this thread and others for a while. Just so long as the ol rustbucket holds together and keeps chugging along letting me have fun, I will be here. Losing bits and bobs inside the old rig is the only reason I dropped out last year. Lost 2 HD's, my entire installed gargantuan single Runtime went *POOF!* and pulled a Houdini on me, then a clogged (cat hair!) fan caused my old vid card to overheat, overload and pop my old 600W PSU. Just kept busy buying and replacing parts and building up 30 brand new little runtimes. The old one was near 700 gigs. About a third of that was fully assembled and ready to go Figures. Most were V4, some M4, ALL my Centaurs and Chataks (Felitaurs), all my saved PZ3 scene files. Ok I am depressing myself now so ON WITH THE (NEW) SHOW! :D
That sounds like you've got some things installed to the wrong depth -- you should not have one data folder a level above the other. Do you have a folder named Content inside your actual content folder?
That sounds like you've got some things installed to the wrong depth -- you should not have one data folder a level above the other. Do you have a folder named Content inside your actual content folder?
No, I looked for that months ago, and just now too! LOL! I hear what you are saying. DAZ uses ZIPs now and that makes things feel safer to me and installs go faster. Not easier. I see the same thing every other non-Mac user sees. The first folder is CONTENT. Always, for everything. So how can data get outside of Content? I put it there. Why the heck for?! Cause that is where the PA/Vendor sends the program LOOKING for stuff it can't find when I try to use it. The JEAN skin for G3F for example. It wouldn't even load until I copied something about shaders from Content\data out of there to data\. Now it loads fine, DS finds everything. But I DO install all the stuff to the default folders. First, I unzip the package to a temp folder, then I simply drag and drop CONTENT to whichever runtime base name I want it. This way if it is DS content its fine. If its Poser content, well, I don't even worry about Content folders. I grab the Runtime and data folder UNDER Content and drag that to the runtime base I want it in. I realize I COULD just allow Poser to use the Content contents for its base, but that just grinds. If it's THINGS, the top folders in there are Content, data, Runtime, ReadMe's. Nice and clean. Things are very confusing inside Content though.
McG.