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iRAY Lights and Materials?

SuperdogSuperdog Posts: 765
edited December 1969 in The Commons

There are a number of lighting and material products now available for iRAY. I've got a limited budget and limited technical knowledge so I wondered what others think are the most useful products to buy in the lighting and materials department atm? Dreamlight are also selling an iRAY light box on their own site so I wondered whether that was worth getting as well?

I'm hoping to buy the most versatile products that also cover bread and butter light settings rather than use a scattergun approach based on ignorance and buy every lighting product available for iRAY. Are the materials that come with iRAY sufficient on their own or is it advisable to buy these new material products as well?

Comments

  • The Blurst of TimesThe Blurst of Times Posts: 2,410
    edited May 2015

    Having used the beta, I'm comfortable with the freely available shaders. Same for lighting in Iray.I know what I've used, and I'm comfortable with that.

    I'm quite interested in the Iray offerings, but I plan to get them later. Ysabeau was the buy, and I'll wait and see on the Iray mats and lights.

    That being said, I've used the beta. I know my own usage has been adequate, but I've had time to learn. I'm sure the new products will get you running on Iray faster.i know I'll be able to learn things from the setup of the Iray products in comparison to what I already do. So I see value for sure, but I'm just trying to manage my budget.

    It depends on how tolerant you are with the learning curve for a new engine,I guess.

    Edit: To be clear, I feel as if I have sufficient shaders and lights for Iray with what I know. This covers skin, hair, fabrics, plastics, river, metals, wood, ceramics, etc. I have used a variety of lights. I know I can get better at setting up for Iray, but I feel confident in what I can do. The new products could certainly help,I think.

    Post edited by The Blurst of Times on
  • BeeMKayBeeMKay Posts: 7,019
    edited December 1969

    First, I'd play around with Iray a bit, and see what it does and doesn't do for you.
    When you've gathered a bit of a feeling for it, you'll usually know what to go for.

    Then, the question is - do you usually use a lot of premade shaders and light sets in 3Delight? Or are you one to create your own sets?
    If the first is true, you'll probably want to buy shaders and light sets for Iray, too.
    They are time savers, for sure. :-)

    For HDRI - they are good investments (as the quality and range is nice), but there are also free HDRI available if you just want to try out Iray.

    For Skins... now, that is a different book altogether. What I've learned in the 6 weeks of Beta is that skins will look okay with applying the G2F/M shader that come with Iray. But to get the really realistic looks, you'll need more than that, like Normal maps and various other maps that are a lot of work creating by yourself, and a dozen other twists and tweaks (like completely new eyes...).

  • alexhcowleyalexhcowley Posts: 2,392
    edited December 1969

    I've found Razor 42's freebie light and render settings enormously useful during my experiments with 4.8 Beta:

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/53797/

    Cheers,

    Alex.

  • SuperdogSuperdog Posts: 765
    edited December 1969

    Thanks for the advice. Most of the products are only 30% off and will stay that price for awhile so there's no hurry. There will probably be more new iRAY releases in the coming weeks so I'll wait and see what else turns up while I'm experimenting with iRAY and then decide what to buy.

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