Asking for recommended Iray effects products. (rigged water, smoke, fire, clouds,...)

Diomede

I have a little left over on my sale-budget-self-gift-card to buy a few more PA items in the Extended Cyber Monday Deal.  I have decided to focus on products that add effects into scenes instead of brushes and similar after-render postwork aids.  I mean items like rigged water, smoke, fire, clouds, magic effects, fog,...    I am not looking for Ron's photoshop brushes and similar (they are great, but I am focusing on in-scene items at the moment)

For example, EcVho has products such as the VDB Steam and Smoke megapack -  https://www.daz3d.com/vdb-steam-and-smoke-mega-pack

SickleYield has several water products such as the Splashtravaganza - https://www.daz3d.com/sy-splashstravaganza-iray

The good news is that the store has quite a few related products by Kindred Arts, Dimension Theory, MattyManx, and more.

The bad news is I can only afford 3 or 4 depending on their price and sale status.  

Positive experiences gratefully accepted.

Diomede

Decision made. 

In addition to the two listed above by (steam and smoke megapack - and splashtravaganza), I decided to go with...

- VDB Vortex Magic by Five13 - https://www.daz3d.com/vdb-vortex-magic

Given sales status, the three together came to $14.56, USD.  

I still have 0.44 to spend from my sales gift card budget. 

Woohoo!

xyer0

I'm glad you found some great products, Diomede! SickleYield makes some great water products that I used for this summer fun.

Diomede

I love that render, @xyer0.  The rainbow under the under the arched water stream is the perfect touch (and the jumping dog).

outrider42

Something to know, since you mention VDB, then that means you are using 4.20+. The Iray in this version changes how Thin Film surfaces work, and as such any surface with thin film 'on' may look a bit different in 4.20+. This is most visible with water products. I was using a 3rd party tear prop recently, and in 4.20 this prop takes on a black tint, as if the tear got some eyeliner in it. In 4.16 this tear prop is perfectly clear. This is not to be mistaken with the material that mimics crying with eyeliner. It is indeed due to the changes in Iray.

So keep in mind that any water products you are interested in may look different if they were created for previous versions of Daz before 4.20. You may be able to tweak the surface settings to replicate the intended look, but I did not try this myself.

Additionally, transparency effects are very different in 4.20 in general. The Ghost Light problem with 4.20 can extend to these products as well. Iray uses the opacity value with the light output calculation. If the product designed for older versions has any surfaces which are not 100% opacity and has light, then this light will be much weaker in 4.20+. If the product has opacity at 100% it will look close to its original intent...but not exactly. Sometimes it is subtle, but sometimes it is not. Results can vary.

So my advice is to make sure you test out all the effect props you buy before your return window closes, in case some do not work as well as you hoped. With 4.20+ you might want to focus more on props that came out after 4.20 released and use its features, like the VDB fog and clouds. These products should have been built with Iray's changes in mind and should work as advertised. Let's just hope Iray doesn't change yet again and alter how these work in the future. <.<

xyer0

Diomede said:

I love that render, @xyer0.  The rainbow under the under the arched water stream is the perfect touch (and the jumping dog).

Thanks, Diomede. The rainbow's from Iray EnviroCam. And thanks again for donating your birthday so we could have Thanksgiving! 

Diomede

outrider42 said:

Sometimes it is subtle, but sometimes it is not. Results can vary.

So my advice is to make sure you test out all the effect props you buy before your return window closes, in case some do not work as well as you hoped. With 4.20+ you might want to focus more on props that came out after 4.20 released and use its features, like the VDB fog and clouds. These products should have been built with Iray's changes in mind and should work as advertised. Let's just hope Iray doesn't change yet again and alter how these work in the future. <.<

Great advice.  I will make sure to test my new goodies while I have time to exchange them if they don't work as intended.  

Diomede

Quick Test Renders

I chose a couple of props from each package and did some quick test renders in empty scenes.  So far, they seem to be working.  Of course, I don't really know what they are supposed to look like.  SickleYield's splashtravaganza created some splashes.  Five13's VDB Vortex Magic created a spiral vortex.  And EcVho's VDB Steam and Smoke created some steam/smoke.  

So far, so good.  Thanks for the advice.