General shader question

StrangeFate

Quick question, I hope...

If I was to buy a shader like the UberSurface2 shader ( http://www.daz3d.com/ubersurface2-layered-shader-for-daz-studio ;) and use it on my work, would other people need to own the shader too in other to see what was done with it, or is everything required to make the product work as intented saved along it, when you give it to other people ?

Thanks

 

mjc1016

As far as saving a preset for it...yes, in order to use the preset, the person needs to have US2 also.

But. when you render, the finished render is just an image...so, no, nothing else is needed to view a render.

barbult

Or if you save a scene file and give that to someone else, that other person has to own all the products that you used in your scene, in order to be able to see everything.

StrangeFate

Gotcha, that's what I figured... which leads me to the next question:

If I was doing some weapons ( http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/86541/new-here-and-another-weapon#latest )  and wanted to put some blood on the blades that people could turn on or off for example, how would this be tipicly done ?

I can think of 2 ways:

1. I simply make additional textures of the sword with the blood on it, that can be swapped out. (I imagine I'd set them up with a shader too, so people can swap blood/no blood shaders, rather then having to swap out diffuse etc maps).

2. I make the blood texture separate, with an alpha transparency map that can be overlayed on top of the sword texture, but since I see no way to apply or blend 2 materials on the same geometry with the default shaders, I'd have to duplicate the geometry of the blade, and apply the blood with the transparency there.

 

Is there a better option ?  Ideally, I'd be able to assign 2 materials/shaders to the same mesh, kinda like Photoshop layers with alpha transparency and all, but I don't see Daz being able to do anything like this (?).

JD_Mortal

1: Create a "Shell", place any overlays on that component of your item, with alpha.

2: Use Iray's projection, and select UV-mapped as the projection type, to match it to the item. Or normal projection to just display it over the item where you want, so they can move it, if needed.

3: Other than those two pre-fab ways, you can make your own shell-layer, as a new layer and UV-map that as needed.

4: As you stated... Make a variation of the blade texture, as bloody... Offering it with the package as one of the styles/materials for selection, instead of as an option within the actual blade itself. (That can get tedious to manage with various blades. Unlike the other methods, which simply let you turn it on or off, for any created blade.) The UV-swap could be managed by a script, for turning the bloody UV-map on/off. However, having a material for the blade, in smart-content, is sufficient.

StrangeFate

Thanks a lot JD, I think alternate textures may be the most straight forward and compatible solution in the end.

I discovered the 'layered image editor' this morning that allows you to blend several textures together using their alpha inside a shader after all, but it's too buried in the shader options to be useful for the end user... and too much of a hassle.

 

Thanks again!