DAZ Studio 4.8 Iray Workflow Changes
algovincian
Posts: 2,636
First of all, let me just say that some of the Iray renders coming out of DAZ 4.8 are absolutely awesome!
That being said, I've been developing a Non-Photorealistic Rendering system that utilizes DAZ Studio. My workflow includes separate render passes output from DAZ (color, ambient occlusion, fresnel, specular/diffuse lighting, shadows, z-depth, etc.). Having access to the information separately is required. These separate passes are then further analyzed & processed outside of DAZ to produce final full color images, sketches, paintings, etc. (attached are some examples).
I installed one of the 4.8 betas a couple weeks ago and after some playing around, it seems that the custom Shader Mixer shaders I've authored to output the separate channels may not be able to be adapted for Iray. Can anybody with more experience chime in on this? Might it be possible, just not using Shader Mixer? I'm a little bit wary of continuing down the the path I'm on since Iray appears to be the new default render engine for DAZ Studio going forward.
Thanks for any information anybody can provide - I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts/comments anybody has!
- Greg
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Comments
3Delight is still included, and is in fact updated in the new version of DS. Default renderer just means it's the active one on a clean install.
Thanks for the fast response, Richard. Not sure if you know, or are able to share the info, but any idea how long the current contract with 3Delight lasts?
- Greg
These "styles" are great! Are you thinking of selling them?
Thanks for the fast response, Richard. Not sure if you know, or are able to share the info, but any idea how long the current contract with 3Delight lasts?
- Greg
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/778181/
Thanks for the fast response, Richard. Not sure if you know, or are able to share the info, but any idea how long the current contract with 3Delight lasts?
- Greg
I'm pretty sure Spooky (I think) said in one of the Iray threads that it was just recently renewed...so it's not going anywhere for a while.
Thanks, DancingCat. I'm actually planning on making the custom shaders (and the scripts that apply them) available for free. The output from DAZ would still need to be processed further, though. This has come up in the Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR) thread over in the Art Studio:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/54697/P30/#805488
The thread also contains the work of many other artists, so check it out if you get a chance:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/54697/
One more thing I should add - even though there is processing done outside of DAZ, it is completely automated, making animation possible:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/813425/
- Greg
Thanks, Male-M3dia - let's hope it was a long-term extension!
- Greg
Greetings,
You know...Iray has light paths that can output all of those render passes in one pass.
Just sayin'.
-- Morgan
If you want to use Iray then Lightpath expression is the way to go http://blog.irayrender.com/post/76948894710/compositing-with-light-path-expressions
In your DS render settings go to Alpha, set it to custom and put an expression. I found some informations about these expressions http://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/3DSMax/files/GUID-1B909AC5-5271-4AE3-8ABB-93A8771FD977.htm
Fantastic!!! I hope these illustration style render passes can be done without too much hassle, and that we won't need expensive external software. Then again, for those results I am willing to pay lol.
Idk about everyone else, but I'd LOVE to see those shaders in a marketplace somewhere -- I still see myself using 3Delight for many things, including non-photorealistic things. I've got the ability to render these channels in Poser, but never fiddled enough with them in D|S to get them down.
If you look at the "MDL Surface" (IRay) brick in Shader Mixer, it has no color & opacity inputs like the "Surface" (3DL) brick has. I was looking for a way to adapt the work on shader networks I've already done, as some of them are complex.
- Greg
Some of the Iray shaders in my library are different than the others. The first batch in the Daz beta were the uber shaders, with the 3 layers and the translucency and all that.
The later NVIDIA shaders aren't set up like that at all. No translucency. I don't recall a diffuse channel either.
Who knows what the release version will look like? I sure hope we keep the uber shader...
I might question why you'd want non-opaque bricks.
Yes, we can make transparent aluminum with the uber shaders, but we have reasons!
Thanks for taking the time to post and for the link, Takeo.Kensei - definitely going to read up on this.
- Greg
Fantastic!!! I hope these illustration style render passes can be done without too much hassle, and that we won't need expensive external software. Then again, for those results I am willing to pay lol.
Alas, the shaders that I wrote are only analyzing the 3D objects/scene. They are not sketching or painting - that is handled by a distributed network that I maintain. In the future, I hope to make the shaders (and scripts used to apply them) available for free. Then, people can transfer the output to me for processing.
I'll post more about this when the time comes in the Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR) thread over in the Art Studio:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/54697/
- Greg
I like Iray, but plan on using 3DL for a long time as well, Karibou. For me, my entire workflow is automated, and I've spent so much time writing shaders & scripts for DAZ (and thus 3DL). All of my work in DAZ is built on that foundation.
Rest assured I'm working on making the technology available. As stated before, I’ll post more about this when the time comes in the Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR) thread over in the Art Studio:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/54697/
- Greg