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DAZ Studio 4.8 IRAY - need MDL reference for DAZ Studio

seven2seven2 Posts: 7
in Daz Studio Discussion

I found that the way MDL is implemented in DAZ Studio 4.8, is non-conformant to nVidia MDL - that is, further additional scripting needs to be done to make nVidia MDL actually work the way it's ment to be. These additional scripts, I need a reference or cheat table, or better, a video or written tutorial.

Comments

  • EsemwyEsemwy Posts: 578

    DAZ seems to be using MDL 1.2. The MDL Handbook for 1.2 only recently got released (August 10), but the MDL Language Specification has been out since April. The annotation block, which is what I believe you're referring to, is indeed documented, but rather poorly, in the current spec. I give an example of how to add annotations and wire up shader bricks in this thread. I posted another example shader here, where you can find a download with lots of example annotations that you can compare to the stock files I reference.

    If it's shader mixer that you're refering to, most of what I've learned has come from Carnite/Caroline on YouTube (here, here, here, and here).

  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300

    As with Esemwy, I've created several MDL shaders from existing Iray documentation, with no alteration, and they've worked as they're supposed to. These have been very simple functions, such as a revised gem shader that has only the three nodes it needs to reproduce the typical gem. (This example was found on the Internet, and I used it as-is without modification in D|S 4.8.)

    If you mean differences from a shader definition file, then yes, but these are not MDL files. They are merely the inputs to the MDL functions stored elsewhere.

    @Esemwy, thanks for the tute on the silk MDL. I somehow missed it when you originally posted it.

  • seven2seven2 Posts: 7
    Esemwy said:

    DAZ seems to be using MDL 1.2. The MDL Handbook for 1.2 only recently got released (August 10), but the MDL Language Specification has been out since April. The annotation block, which is what I believe you're referring to, is indeed documented, but rather poorly, in the current spec. I give an example of how to add annotations and wire up shader bricks in this thread. I posted another example shader here, where you can find a download with lots of example annotations that you can compare to the stock files I reference.

    If it's shader mixer that you're refering to, most of what I've learned has come from Carnite/Caroline on YouTube (here, here, here, and here).

    Thanks for sharing the info. I already feel much better having some details about IRAY.

  • DrPingyDrPingy Posts: 78

     

    Esemwy said:

    DAZ seems to be using MDL 1.2. The MDL Handbook for 1.2 only recently got released (August 10), but the MDL Language Specification has been out since April. The annotation block, which is what I believe you're referring to, is indeed documented, but rather poorly, in the current spec. I give an example of how to add annotations and wire up shader bricks in this thread. I posted another example shader here, where you can find a download with lots of example annotations that you can compare to the stock files I reference.

    If it's shader mixer that you're refering to, most of what I've learned has come from Carnite/Caroline on YouTube (here, here, here, and here).

    I found a lot of MDL examples and want using that.

    Now I read your interesting posts and I use your shader example. It works fine!

    But there is an addition on your example. I mean the lines that start with anno::

    Where can I find the description for that?

    It is special for DAZ?

     

  • EsemwyEsemwy Posts: 578
    edited September 2015

    They're described in the MDL specification v1.2 in chapter 14, but truthfully, you're better off looking at the examples in the shaders/iray subdirectory in the Studio application directory. On OS X, that's /Applications/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4 64-bit/shaders/iray/. In there, you'll find the directories daz_3d and nvidia, both of which contain a number properly annotated MDL shaders.

    P.S. If you've found something cool out in the wild, please share. laugh

    Post edited by Esemwy on
  • Eustace ScrubbEustace Scrubb Posts: 2,701

    Thanks!

  • DrPingyDrPingy Posts: 78

    Thanks for the tip.

    Unfortunately most of the examples that I have found, are always the same as for DAZ.

    This is a good start:

    http://www.migenius.com/articles/mdl-diamonds

     

  • EsemwyEsemwy Posts: 578
    edited September 2015
    DrPingy said:

    Thanks for the tip.

    Unfortunately most of the examples that I have found, are always the same as for DAZ.

    This is a good start:

    http://www.migenius.com/articles/mdl-diamonds

     

    I guess I don't understand the problem you're having. If I place the MDL from your example above in a directory that shader mixer searches (/Applications/DAZ\ 3D/DAZStudio4\ 64-bit/shaders/iray/local/diamond.mdl in my case), I can drag and drop the MDL file directly into Shader Mixer and get a brick that looks like this.

    For goodness sake, don't start with the shaders in shaders/iray/daz_3d. They're nasty complicated. The shaders in the nvidia directory are much more approachable.

     

    Edited to actually be responding to the correct question frown

    brick.png
    379 x 264 - 18K
    Post edited by Esemwy on
  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300
    DrPingy said:

    Thanks for the tip.

    Unfortunately most of the examples that I have found, are always the same as for DAZ.

    This is a good start:

    http://www.migenius.com/articles/mdl-diamonds

    As I noted above, I've successfully used this example to create a new shader in D|S. I guess we're not understanding what you mean by "unfortunately." The MDL files, and those you may find on the Web, follow the MDL specs. Be sure to use the most current version of the specs. This is technoliogy that's changing fairly quickly, with new features added on a regular basis.

    The anno:: block goes back several iterations of the specs. Here's a recent one (1.1.3, June 2014). See page page 76, "Standard annotations."

    http://www.nvidia-arc.com/fileadmin/user_upload/iray_2013/documents/MDL_spec_1.1.3_11Jun2014.pdf

    Be sure to read the full MDL specifications document, not just the MDL handbook. The handbook is like a tutorial, and it does not contain all the information you may need about MDL files.

  • DrPingyDrPingy Posts: 78

    "unfortunable" means that all examples for DAZ, max3d, maya and so are the same.

    It means not that the examples not working and it is very good that all examples are running with DAZ, max3d, maya ....!

    So there are no specials for DAZ!

    Now I have testet a lot of this and it also works for me.

    Sorry for the misunderstanding.

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