Un-Biased Reneder Thread - Post Your Renders!! (Reality/Lux, Luxus/Lux, Octane Render, and others?)
DustRider
Posts: 2,694
I was thinking about making a Reality 4 render thread. Well, actually, I was waiting for someone else to do it, because I'm really not the best thread host...... OK, I'm actually a horrible thread host (i.e. - I'll need all the help with this thread I can get)!.
The more I thought about it, I thought it would be nice to see renders using all the great plugins to un-biased render engines that are now available to DAZ Studio, Poser, and Carrara. All three have plugins from Otoy for Octane Render, and LuxRender plugins are available for all three as well (Reality for DS and Poser, Luxus for DS and Carrara). There are also scripts for exporting/importing to Blender/Cycles which does outstanding renders as well, and would be a great addition to the thread.
It would be great to see a collection of renders from these great render engines in one thread, along with information about using all of them. But PLEASE, don't turn this into any sort of app war. They are all great render engines, and all have their strengths and weaknesses. The idea is to just have fun posting your renders and ask/answer questions about how the images were made, hardware used, shader modifications/settings, and lighting.
I use both Octane and Lux Render, and find they both have their place, and they are both capable of producing outstanding images.
I'll start off the thread by posting my first completed render using DS and Reality 4. It's not nearly as good a render as it could be, but not too bad for a first attempt with Reality 4, and I haven't used LuxRender enough to really be able to predict what the exact effect of changing shader settings will be like in the render. I really like what Paolo has done with Reality 4, and i find it quite easy and intuitive to use.
All of the shaders on the figure and cloths (based on V6) were customized to my liking, as was the window glass (bump was still just a bit too high though). It was lit with an HDRI (from the Yosemite Set available here) and two mesh lights (one closely matching the position of the HDRI sun light, and one rim light behind and to the right of the figure). I had problems with sky in the HDRI over-lighting the calves of her legs, so I added a plane to the image above everything to block the offending light from the blue sky. I rendered the image at 1700x2000 , and it took about 43 hours to render to about 1,300 s/px (i7 Quad Core laptop). I could have actually stopped it after about 25+ hours, I was just trying to get rid of a few annoying red pixels. I never did get rid of all of them. The only post work done on the image was to add the signature, make a very slight adjustment to levels, and to remove a handful of red pixels.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what others (who have much more talent than I do) have done with these great render engines!!
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Here is my first Reality 4 render. Taken directly from my dA. Basically it is Dawn without any morph and materials are taken directly from the Reality Universal Presets.
Full version: http://mattiascibien.deviantart.com/art/Amethyst-Precious-3-500235435
An old Reality 2 render. I was playing with translucency on hair and vegetation. 1 sun and 1 mesh light. I dont remember the skin texture, but the clothes (if you could call that) is by aery soul, the hair is biscuits fashion and jungle ruins by stonemason.
Octane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJOnoP04jMw
not as exciting as the other renders but was thrilled I was able to get Forest superior into the Octane standalone, my video card cannot handle it well in the DAZ plugin too many textures, is low rez one
what impressed me was the speed of the render, 30secs a frame
(ok it COULD have been better if allowed to render longer but for an animation it actually makes this set usable).
I should have swapped the water for an Octane shader though
Here are two of mine. Both Reality 2.5.
Wow! What a great group of renders to start the thread off!
Hey Wendy! That's quite impressive for 30 sec renders. What kind of GPU do you have, and are you using the 1x or 2x version of the pligin? I've thought about getting Forest Superior for simpler renders - I may have to get it now!
Beautiful renders!! Would you share a little about your scene set-up? I'm especially interested in how you set up the fog/volumetrics.
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Thanks everyone for posting!!
This was my first R4 finished test render. I was just tweaking and adjusting the shaders to get a handle on how they responded to the changes, and doing “silly SSS tricks” with the must have pink ears when lit from behind. Still a bit of refinement to get the bump and spec perfect, but it was getting close with this render.
I liked the results, so I thought I’d share my “test render” just for fun. Bree textures on a custom V6 character.
1.2, I bought it 2 weeks shy of 2x release but used 2.06 standalone for this
not in hurry to upgrade plugin as too many bugs from what I have read
would sooner buy Carrara one and Poser maybe too.
I got Alembic exporter on sale too and must try more in standalone with that, been a bit crashy so far.
have a GTX 760 and i5 3.30GHz CPU with 16GB RAM
I don't mind sharing, but you have to suffer through my extraordinarily bad memory...
"Spread Your Wings" is using the Bar Interior and two light sources. One light source is a really strong / large mesh light positioned outside of the window. It is coming in at an angle so that the shadows are somewhat hidden and the reflections are not direct. The other light source is actually all of the interior lights in the Bar (lightbulbs, etc.). The volumetric is a large Reality Fog cube that I tweaked to just barely be visible.
I rendered this with both light sources active, then exported three images. One with just the outside light, one with just the interior light, and then one with both lights. I layered these in Photoshop, adjusting the transparency until I was happy with the overlay.
"Forgotten Temple" doesn't have a Reality volumetric. I tried repeatedly with different ones, but I wasn't happy with the results. The fog is actually Nerd 3D's Fog Tool. There are three light sources, one above the statue, one shining from behind the camera and one red tinted mesh to get the pillars and bamboo to show.
I admit that I haven't quite worked out the nuances of the volumetrics with Reality 4 yet. It has been a bit of a learning curve there.
Forest Superior is an excellent model set as well. I have it and it is impossible for me to render in DS, but Reality / Lux has no problems with it. I just haven't had a good use for it yet.
And medeia, really nicely done there. Your color balance is superb.
Here are a few of mine. They were rendered in Octane 1.2 or 2.1 using a GTX 780ti GPU with 3Gb vram with the unbiased PMC kernel (the direct lighting one is actually a biased renderer). The first one is called "Good Morning" and is a collage of three renders (about 30 minutes each). The second one is called "Genesis" and took about an hour due to the refractions and reflections. In the third one I was playing with instances, it is called "The Odd One" and was done in about 20 minutes. And finally, we have an example with volumetric materials: "Abandoned". That one took about an hour to get rid of noise in the fog. When I an saying done rendering I am talking about 4000-6000 samples per pixel. On my system I get about 2.6-3.0 million samples per second with octane, depending on lighting and materials used.
Great renders everyone!
Ciao
TD
Woo! Thanks for remembering Blender. It tends to get forgotten, but is turning into a great renderer (SSS is GPU ready now!)
Neither good nor bad but I think it is the most different of the three, definitely in terms of setup but also look.
Anyhow, here's some renders: one is my current needlessly complex skin setup, the other an unfinished work on my favorite theme, seated ladies in green dresses.
I'm not a big fan of the "Sun" light myself, but you've really made it work to great effect in this render and you've made me want to give it another try. I love the backlighting on the hair. Stonemason's stuff works so well in Lux and I find I don't have to do much tweaking—that's quality work for you, it doesn't rely on fancy shaders or tricks, it's just great modelling and texturing.
Here's a render I did with Reality 4/Luxrender.
...I really like these, especially the top one.
I see very good renders here.
@dustrider Thank you. I'm glad you like it. Your skin is awesome. I still didnt try anything with the R4 SSS.
@Legionair I saw those renders before in the reality thread. They are great!
I'm not a big fan of the "Sun" light myself, but you've really made it work to great effect in this render and you've made me want to give it another try. I love the backlighting on the hair. Stonemason's stuff works so well in Lux and I find I don't have to do much tweaking—that's quality work for you, it doesn't rely on fancy shaders or tricks, it's just great modelling and texturing.
Here's a render I did with Reality 4/Luxrender.
Great image you did there! I still didnt render anything in R4 :/
Sun is fine for big outdoor scenes but you need to soften the shadows with a mesh light or two. The hair is tricky. If you set the translucency too high it loses its texture and the whole hair looks washed out. What I usually do is, (depending on hair density) I load 2-3 hairs and only set 1 to translucent. Then I move it behind the others and scale it up a bit. Try it :)
Excellent lighting on that.
A few old ones for me as I dont use Lux right now
Here's my first test render with Reality 4: Two mesh lights, one from the front, one from the side angle. Victoria 6 model. Great thread, but wondering if a FB group might be more user friendly with the ability to "like" and comment more easily?
There are lots of users, like myself that stay far away from FB. If it's important, you can just post "like" here, LOL.
Nice render.
I have been an unbiased renderer user for some time. Started with maxwell, tried Vray, then Octane and now find Lux to be what works for the immediate future. Next vidcard upgrade and I'll get back with Octane again.
Just started playing with Reality 4 and the new UI is killing me (so used to 2.5), but hopefully will have something new to post here soon.
There are lots of users, like myself that stay far away from FB. If it's important, you can just post "like" here, LOL.
Nice render.
I have been an unbiased renderer user for some time. Started with maxwell, tried Vray, then Octane and now find Lux to be what works for the immediate future. Next vidcard upgrade and I'll get back with Octane again.
Just started playing with Reality 4 and the new UI is killing me (so used to 2.5), but hopefully will have something new to post here soon.
I get the FB reluctance. I checked out your gallery - love your work! I'm having difficulties with the Reality 4 UI also, and some geometry from previously saved scenes not carrying over. I'm looking at Luxus as a simpler solution.
1.2, I bought it 2 weeks shy of 2x release but used 2.06 standalone for this not in hurry to upgrade plugin as too many bugs from what I have read would sooner buy Carrara one and Poser maybe too.
I got Alembic exporter on sale too and must try more in standalone with that, been a bit crashy so far.
have a GTX 760 and i5 3.30GHz CPU with 16GB RAM
Thanks Wendy, great render speed with your hardware. If you have to chose between the two, I'd go for the Carrara plugin (I have the DS and Carrara plugins). The Carrara plugin has been extremely stable for me, and doesn't feel like a beta version at all (where the DS beta definitely feels like a beta). If you get it while in beta, it will be half the price of the full version, there aren't any savings with buying the Poser plugin now or later, since it is no longer in beta.
Thanks Legionair, some great info there!!
All of the images are awesome renders! I really like all the little details in the "Good Morning" renders. I only have a 670M in my laptop, so I don't get even close to the speeds your getting, but I still really love using Octane for both the awesome render speed, and the improved work flow with near real time feedback when tweaking shaders and lighting.
Thanks for posting Kamion99! It's great to see some renders from Blender and Cycles (great renders too). How difficult is it to set up the shaders in Cycles? Nice to hear that SSS is now supported in GPU rendering.
I really like you skin shaders, great render!
Thanks for posting, I really like the lighting on the last one.
Outstanding first Reality 4 render! Thanks for posting your set up as well. That's definitely the kind of information that will help others!
I don't do FB either, but it could be a great venue for the exchange of ideas for anyone who does use FB.
I haven't used Reality 2x in quite some time, so Reality 4 has been a pretty easy transition for me.
This is a test render I did during the early stages of the closed beta for the Octane plugin for Carrara. I planned to add another figure, but changes to the plugin in the middle of working on the scene made the old materials no longer usable (the dangers of being a closed beta tester). Some day I'll revisit it and finish the image, but I still like how this one turned out. The only light in the scene is from the HDRI that is also the background. As I recall it took about 20 min. to render.
Please click on the image and zoom in the see the great details that are lost in the reduced size image here (original image is 2000x1429).
Below are a couple of test renders I did while figuring out SSS with the Carrara plugin for Octane.
Of course you just have to do the pink ears on any skin shader test. The head render is lit with one of the studio HDRI's that come with Octane, and one mesh light behind the head. The skin is set up with a Octane mix material using glossy and diffuse material types using the Bree texture set that comes with G2F.
The other image is the obligatory Stanford Dragon render trying to make my own Jade shader using Octane for Carrara.
Portrait of Mei Lin (Octane)
full version http://slide3d.deviantart.com/art/Portrait-of-Mei-Lin-Hair-test-500765923
Thanks, medeia, I will try it. I'm always looking for ways to improve transmapped hair as it tends to be one of the things that breaks the realism—that's a very creative technique you came up with.
When I did use Sun I used to increase the size (in Reality) quite a lot, and compensate with increasing the gain in proportion according to some formula to do with the inverse square law, which I have now forgotten. This gives much less harsh light and shadows while retaining that daylight look.