Luxus Plugin Vs Reality Plugin for using Daz Studio with Lux Render
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Posts: 53
Today it has been known the new Luxus plugin to be able to use the external Lux Render in a much easier way.
Luxus allows you to render a DAZ Studio scene to an image using LuxRender. Luxus will automatically translate your scene to LuxRender, or you can control the translation by adding parameters specific to LuxRender in your DAZ Studio scene.
But as may probably know this is not the first one, as before there was available the Reality 2 plugin, although is the first one to be available in the DAZ store.
So I wonder which one is better, easier and have more features and gives better quality or is chosen to work with.
Perhaps is too early to know the best of these two, and I do not have any experience with Reality and Lux Render
So I am asking here to others that have already much experience and have used much before the Reality Engine and what they think about the new Luxus Plugin.
One thing I can easily compare is the price, as Luxus cost $19.95 (today with 30% or 50% discount) and the Reality cost $59.95, so the Luxus is much cheaper, although what is important I think is how good Luxus is and although it may be much cheaper, it may be less good than Reality.
Please, would be much appreciated the possible comments of Reality users that have also have seen or bought this Luxus and would want to share their opinions and experiences, and render examples if you want and have them.
Thanks very much
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Sorry, my post was to the Members forum.
Posting links to Members Only forums don't help many people.
This thread has been left as a comparison thread, whereas the other thread is a general discussion thread.
Hi everyone.
Both Luxus and Reality are simply file translators. LuxRender is what does the render.
In comparing, you would probably want to limit the comparison to
* automatic translation of existing materials
* manual material setup process
* integration.
* installation and usability
* does it do what you want.
The actual LuxRender engine is a separate purchase correct?
LuxRender is a GPL product. Its free
- http://www.luxrender.net/en_GB/index
Thank you, knew that but forgot it. Including the link was helpful also :)
When I use the 'hybrid' option from inside Luxus, the results seem to be worse thatn with the CPU alone.
Is there another setting I need to use. I remember using this before with Lux, and it resulted in a faster and better render.
There is no charge for Luxrender.
My question is will this Luxus work in DS3 Advanced? Reality has dropped support for version 3, and there were a whole boatload of issues rendering older meshes in Version 2. Those of us that don't use Studio 4 are still limited to Reality 1.25, and have to stick with Lux .8. I'd love to use a newer version...
..Joe
It says DAZ Studio 4.5 on the Product Page, so I don;t imagine it works in DS4.0 either, sorry
As they stand at the moment (I have Reality 2.5 and Luxus) they both, in gross terms, do exactly the same thing: they take the scene within DAZ Studio and submit it to LuxRender. The approach taken is different, with Luxus visibly extending the Surfaces/Props tabs within DAZ Studio to allow detailed 'tinkering' with material/light definitions for LuxRender. Reality does something similar but 'hides the mechanics' under the covers.
Luxus exposes some of the inner settings of LuxRender so some things can be done without the need to hand edit the .lxo file (which, for some things, you need to do if you want/need them when using Reality).
How each product deals with DAZ Studio material settings will also vary - they cannot help but do so! - and to get the best results will require modifying the settings on a per-surface basis. We do a lot of that in Reality, which can, in a large scene get a little confusing with all the material zones, whereas with Luxus you'll 'apply' Luxus/LuxRender material extensions to each material you deem needs it and adjust those settings. Both settings will get saved (I am assuming!) with a scene, so no fundamental differences there.
Luxus is another tool in the box, and from initial (very short) glance a worthy one.
Thanks for the words and you understand Luxus.
The settings are saved with the scene and you can save out shader and material presets to use other places. Its nice.
The Luxus plugin seems to be more closely integrated into Daz Studio - especially due to the surface tab and scripted render tab use, which is a bit similar approach like Tofusan's LuxRenderDS plugin took (still love said plugin and missing it dearly in the higher Daz Studio versions). With Reality I kind of dreaded this 'separate' plugin window to adjust materials - just due to the way I work with Daz Studio.
I would like to know some bits if possible:
- Does the Daz Studio integrated copy from/paste to surface include the Luxus information when copying and also does it apply them to materials on paste, which didn't have the Luxus information before (I assume it does, as it also preserves them on saving presets) ?
- Is there a (reasonable) automatic conversion of materials present, if the Luxus material information is not manually adjusted? Perhaps some render examples of automatic conversion versus manual 'tuning'?
- Which generic shader types of Daz Studio does Luxus support? E.g. I am using pwSurface2 and uberSurface2 shaders frequently in Daz Studio itself, would I be able to add Luxus information to the surfaces in such a case?
- Are lights getting transferred (if they are reasonable), e.g. uberArea light planes, uberEnvironment as IBL lights etc.?
- Which GFX hardware modes of LuxRender (e.g. SLG only?) does Luxus support?
I think that is it for now, I can probably come up with more questions later ;)
I am assuming they both render the same, by using samples? Yes? If so, I am wondering if there is any difference in how fast they are. Does one render faster than the other? Inquiring minds want to know.......
:-)
Yeah, I was just hoping...
Yet another method by which DAZ shoots itself in the foot. There is a huge community that won't go to 4.0 or 4.5 because of the horrid, laothesome interface. With the surfeit of Genesis-only products, and now this, it's amazing how much money DAZ is willing to lose by trying to force users to move up to a version they hate.
Thanks,
..Joe
Regarding automatic conversion. There is a reasonable conversion. Almost everything in the promo images was auto-converted.
In regards to copy/paste from the manual:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Will Copy/Paste of materials work in DAZ Studio with regards to the LuxRender parameters?
Yes, but the DAZ Studio action “Paste Selected Surfaces” will ignore any parameters which the surface being pasted to does not have. In other words, run the “Luxus – LuxRender Material” action to add the LuxRender properties before pasting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I usually make my material into a shader preset to apply to other places, then you don't need to run the “Luxus – LuxRender Material” action.
I assume this will work with both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Daz Studio--is this correct?
i have used both reality and octane, and have tested the octane daz plugin.
(in my opinion) Octane is the better choice, by a long shot.
I don't think anyone can tell you what the best product is for your needs, but you would be wrong to think it's as simple as the few posts thus far on the topic.
What I can say about octane:
- There is a detailed user guide.
- There is a vibrant octane community.
- If you have a good nvidia (gtx500 series or better) video card, your renders be be very very very fast. (5min vs 30 min for reality)
- Octane is updated about once a month with new features.
- The daz octane plugin is not a converter, but has the octane render engine in the plugin so when you update the plugin, the render engine is updated.
- The current feature set of Octane way out number the feature set of Reality. Like pano renders.
You can find out more about octane here:
http://render.otoy.com/
This is not in octane, but by the company the developes octane: http://raytracey.blogspot.co.nz/
Octane is certainly nice, but it got different kind of limitations. E.g. it won't work on my MacBook Pro (ATI graphics) and also even if I'd have a NVIDIA card I'd have to keep graphics card memory in mind when it comes to texture slots and texture sizes. It beats LuxRender on speed for sure, but it is not an option for me at all.
It comes with a 32bit and 64bit version
I'm so glad to see an alternative to Reality available at a price that is more than reasonable. Not a knock on Pret-a-3D but having cornered the market with a plugin using a FREE GPL licensed renderer it seemed to me a bit overpriced so I use Tufosans DAZ Luxrender in Studio 3.
I will be purchasing this ASAP.
Grant, Octane Render needs CUDA Nvidia driver and not to mention, it's 279 € for a single license. It is expensive.
That's one reason I was saddened that Tofusan never updated his plugin to be usable in DS 4.x...it was the only other alternative. And yeah, I got tired of exporting entire scenes in obj format and retexturing them in DS3.
Since this is a comparison thread between Reality and Luxus, can we please keep the Octane stuff in the other thread - http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/18556/
I dont want to see this thread go off topic when people are looking to compare two simular plugins for the same render engine.
I have a few questions for users of Luxus.
1) Does it have support for Luxrender's homogeneous volumes? (largely used for cool things like SSS)
2) What materials options are available? I mean the main ones like metals, glossy, and matte. Perhaps even cloth?
3) What level of customization do you have over each material?
It'd be interesting to have a decent comparison between the two converters. I already know what Luxrender can do so I want to see what Luxus can do.
1) Yes.
Thos smoke with the light streaks in the Promo Image is done with the homogeneous volume. Select the surface, do the "Luxus - LuxRender Material" action. Choose glass2 or null for the type, click volume paramters. Find you parameters on the surface (typeing Lux) in the search field is pretty handy. Change the volume type to homogeneous and adjust your paramters.
2)
Every single one on this page, except the Mix and Layered
-> http://www.luxrender.net/wiki/LuxRender_Materials
to use Mix and Layered, take a look at my current WIP, Eluxir, a hypergraph for LuxRender
-> http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/18555/
3)All parameters should have all options available on them.
Wow, with the Eluxir plugin you get pretty much get it all. If I'm reading it right I could, for example, render the same scene with Luxrender, with normal 3Delight shaders, OR with BT's Visual Style Shaders. (The project I'm planning has a mix of photo-real and anime-style art, so this is definitely what I've been looking for.)
I can't wait to get off work so I can download the Eluxir plugin and start playing with it. Thank you very much!
Edited: Sorry, I meant that one could set up the same scene with different shading systems if desired, not that one could mix shading systems in the same render. With clever settings, one could appear to have mixed them, and maybe I'll become that clever someday.
It's the SAME renderer - Lux. It's just two different ways of exporting the scene to that renderer.
I wonder why they never updated that page to include the 'cloth' material. You can still find it in the Wiki, but there's no mention of it with the other materials. How strange.
Still, if I saw that correctly, then you can use the Shader MIxer to create custom materials using Luxrender bricks? Does this mean, for example, I could attach a homogeneous volume to a skin for SSS effects in Luxrender? I noticed the bricks include 'Exterior' and 'Interior' plugs, so it should be at least theoretically possible, right?
I have to admit, I'm still chomping at the bit for getting realistic skin effects. I take real issue to the plastic look that skin usually gets in Lux while everythig else in the image seems to look more vibrant and real. It's incredibly distracting for me and one of the major reasons I still largely use 3Delight for my render work. I've simply never been able to get the same degree of flesh realism as I can using UberSurface and 3Delight.
With Reality 3 a long way from completion and manual editing of files proving more trouble than it's worth, this would definitely tip the scales heavily in Luxus' favor.
You can do a glossy translucent material with a homogeneus SSS volume in Luxus. In Eluxir you have even more control.