Loading...
> >

How do we replace skydomes and horizon with iray?

rogerjhardy100rogerjhardy100 Posts: 289
edited December 1969 in Daz Studio Discussion

I would like to create Iray-rendered scenes that have people, buildings, distance and sky. I'm thinking of Stonemason's new Pool House where you can have an architectural scene with a surrounding environment. Iray does not work with 3Delight skydomes and trying to use HDRI maps doesn't work properly either because, in this case, I get ground texture in the pool and trying to move the HDRI origin distorts the image. Also, the choice of Iray-compatible HDRIs is very limited. The general HDR lights that come with the 'Painter's Lights' package are too bland and just give a general blurry ground/sky; they are lights not scenery. Plus there seems to be no replacement for the nice cloudy skydomes with Iray. Am I missing something or do I just want everything now? Now, now, now....me, me, me!

Comments

  • Herald of FireHerald of Fire Posts: 3,504
    edited December 1969

    Honestly, the best way to do it is either through the scene itself (ie, build a full scene complete with horizon) or render to a transparent image and insert your own.

  • rogerjhardy100rogerjhardy100 Posts: 289
    edited December 1969

    Thanks but I wanted more than a horizon....hills, fields, sea, that sort of thing. Also I don't know how to add a horizon to an architectural object. Is postwork the only solution?

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    You could also have a look at this thread here, which lists lots of HDRI images which are available to be used in DAZ Studio, some are free, most are non Commercial only : http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/57531/

    I find that HDRI images work great with Iray, and there are lots of free ones on the web. It is just a case of gathering up ones that you like.

    The one below is just a render which took about 2 minutes using CPU only, and a free HDRI, and it is done to about 300 iterations.

    JC_1.jpg
    626 x 646 - 297K
  • rogerjhardy100rogerjhardy100 Posts: 289
    edited December 1969

    Thanks. Is it straight-forward inserting these HDRI maps into DAZ Studio? How is it done: ie, which folder do the HDRI maps get unzipped into?

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    It is simple enough to do, yes.

    My images are all .HDR, and I store them in a folder called HDRI on my C drive. When using Iray, go to Render Settings > Environment > Environment Map, click on the image that is there (default DTHDR-RuinsB-500.hdr), and then use the Browse option to load your own HDRI image. These HDR files are quite large, around 250 MB, so they can take a few seconds to load.

    Then turn 'Draw Dome' on, also in the Environment option. You wont see anything in the viewport, but to orientate the image correctly, you can use the Window > Panes (tabs) > Aux Viewport, and in it's drop-down menu (where you select Texture Shaded or Wireframe etc.) change the selection to 'NVIDIA Iray'. It can take a little while to update, but it can be made very small, so that it update quicker, but at least it gives you an idea of what the orientation of the HDRI is.

  • AndySAndyS Posts: 1,438
    edited July 2015

    Hi Jimmy,

    JimmyC_2009 said:
    You wont see anything in the viewport, but to orientate the image correctly, you can use the Window > Panes (tabs) > Aux Viewport, and in it's drop-down menu (where you select Texture Shaded or Wireframe etc.) change the selection to 'NVIDIA Iray'.
    How do you do that?
    If I open the "Aux Viewport" while my render engine is iRay, I can't select anything on its dropdown menu. Only the option "make pane undockable" and "make group undockable". That's all.

    Andy

    Post edited by AndyS on
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Try this. You need to select the Draw Style as Jimmy mentioned which is beside the Camera Selection drop menu

    DrawStyle1.jpg
    448 x 482 - 139K
    DrawStyle.jpg
    448 x 482 - 124K
  • rogerjhardy100rogerjhardy100 Posts: 289
    edited December 1969

    Thanks all! Problems solved....and I didn't think we still had the effective IPR panel in DS4.8 but now I am sing it and it saves a lot of time..

  • AndySAndyS Posts: 1,438
    edited December 1969

    Wow Pete,

    that is strange.
    First (after some seconds) I get all the scene only with gray figures. All characters without their skin textures. :gulp:
    But after some minutes there the normal render comes. :gulp:

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    LOL Yeah I get that sometimes...haven't figured out the why yet.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited July 2015

    Szark said:
    LOL Yeah I get that sometimes...haven't figured out the why yet.

    I'm not entirely sure, but I think that's the equivalent of 3Delight's 'pause' for 'Optimizing images' the first time you render a scene...

    I've noticed that it tends to happen the first time or when first turning on the view. (if my under 2 dozen Iray renders count for much 'observation' time...)

    Post edited by mjc1016 on
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    2 dozen, that's one dozen more than me. :P

Sign In or Register to comment.