Digital Art Zone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxNlAlOuQQQ

I thought you guys might be interested that 3Delight version 10 supports Ptex.  The video above shows you its power.  This does NOT mean that the version of 3Delight that DAZ Studio uses has that ability embedded (I’m hoping it does)... but perhaps in the future, we can get access to it.

PTex was developped as an adaptive mapping method that does not use static UVs, but rather assigns mapping dynamically so the texture artist can apply large amounts of detail where necessary.  There was a thread about UV stretching on Genesis breasts.  PTex would dinish that type of problem significantly.

Should it be supported in the version of 3Delight DAZ Studio uses, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for a plugin developer to access…

It should.  The question is, how to access it from the DS UI. 

The current beta is using version 10.0.70 of 3Delight…which basically means everything included in 3DL up to that version is available to DS (except network rendering)...but whether or not DS can actually do anything with it is another matter.  Many 3DL features aren’t locked out so much as there isn’t a way to use them in DS.

Look at the hair plugins…DS has had access to RiCurves for quite a while, now, but it’s only been about a year or so that the possibility of exploiting that access has become a reality.  Another example…pointclouds.  I was able to generate point clouds all day long, but they were pretty much useless, because without scripting it, there’s no way for DS to read that data…but there’s now a point-based occlusion render script included (going to try adapting that for point-based SSS).

Somewhere in the old forums, there’s a thread where Robwiz, I believe,  explains what is/isn’t in the DS 3DL…basically, network rendering ‘isn’t’...by virtue of being ‘locked’ and that the current version and DS versions will always be ‘off’ with DS being a bit older (it used to be almost a full version, now it’s just a few point releases back), but that everything else is just limited to whether or not there’s a way, already existing or if one needs to be created/scripted to get to a particular feature.

Re: Network Rendering, I’m hoping at some point DAZ or someone gives us the means to unlock or enable that.

Not being a programmer and having no real knowledge of how that works, I can only assume that most if not all of the 3Delight features that are currently not enabled in DS can be accessed…. at least I’m hoping that is the case.

The reason it’s locked is very sound…

And in order to unlock it, Studio would have to jump in price to make 3DSMax look cheap.

Great link but I want what this guy has…........amazing toy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKh4JGHwASc

I have 3D Coat I wonder how soon I can start adding my own ptex textures to Daz Models.

Silver Dolphin - 23 April 2013 12:14 AM

I have 3D Coat I wonder how soon I can start adding my own ptex textures to Daz Models.

The Beta supports the .PTX file format, so the answer is NOW.

wancow - 06 January 2013 02:29 PM

Re: Network Rendering, I’m hoping at some point DAZ or someone gives us the means to unlock or enable that.

Not being a programmer and having no real knowledge of how that works, I can only assume that most if not all of the 3Delight features that are currently not enabled in DS can be accessed…. at least I’m hoping that is the case.

I doubt DNA will ever let DAZ have network rendering unlocked. That would be giving 3delight away completely. The version DAZ is using has an unlimited core license - one machine with mulitple cores allowed. To buy that for Maya would be $900 for each license needed to run on each computer. If you had 2 computers on your network, that would be $1,800. 3 would be $2,700, and so on. They do have a volume discount. .

http://www.3delight.com/en/index.php?page=3DSP_pricing

Bejaymac - 23 April 2013 05:46 AM

Silver Dolphin - 23 April 2013 12:14 AM

I have 3D Coat I wonder how soon I can start adding my own ptex textures to Daz Models.

The Beta supports the .PTX file format, so the answer is NOW.

The happy dance your avatar is doing seems to be a happier than usual dance today

Kevin Sanderson - 23 April 2013 09:19 AM

wancow - 06 January 2013 02:29 PM

Re: Network Rendering, I’m hoping at some point DAZ or someone gives us the means to unlock or enable that.

Not being a programmer and having no real knowledge of how that works, I can only assume that most if not all of the 3Delight features that are currently not enabled in DS can be accessed…. at least I’m hoping that is the case.

I doubt DNA will ever let DAZ have network rendering unlocked. That would be giving 3delight away completely. The version DAZ is using has an unlimited core license - one machine with mulitple cores allowed. To buy that for Maya would be $900 for each license needed to run on each computer. If you had 2 computers on your network, that would be $1,800. 3 would be $2,700, and so on. They do have a volume discount. .

http://www.3delight.com/en/index.php?page=3DSP_pricing

Of course, your right.  What I meant was that I was hoping we’d have the means, as in, not give it away, but offer a solution which would allow users to order a network render within D|S.  I wasn’t asking for a free solution, and yes, I do understand it wouldn’t be cheap.  I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear about what I was thinking.

wancow - 23 April 2013 09:24 AM

Kevin Sanderson - 23 April 2013 09:19 AM

wancow - 06 January 2013 02:29 PM

Re: Network Rendering, I’m hoping at some point DAZ or someone gives us the means to unlock or enable that.

Not being a programmer and having no real knowledge of how that works, I can only assume that most if not all of the 3Delight features that are currently not enabled in DS can be accessed…. at least I’m hoping that is the case.

I doubt DNA will ever let DAZ have network rendering unlocked. That would be giving 3delight away completely. The version DAZ is using has an unlimited core license - one machine with mulitple cores allowed. To buy that for Maya would be $900 for each license needed to run on each computer. If you had 2 computers on your network, that would be $1,800. 3 would be $2,700, and so on. They do have a volume discount. .

http://www.3delight.com/en/index.php?page=3DSP_pricing

Of course, your right.  What I meant was that I was hoping we’d have the means, as in, not give it away, but offer a solution which would allow users to order a network render within D|S.  I wasn’t asking for a free solution, and yes, I do understand it wouldn’t be cheap.  I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear about what I was thinking.

I thought so! I was quite surprised by what you had written. I thought we had discussed this a long time ago.   Your best bet right now is building a multi cpu workstation since 3delight only looks at total cores on a computer. Someone has been running Studio for a while on workstation like that for some time now. They posted around a year or so ago.  There would be a big cost savings compared to buying multiple licenses even though building a multi-cpu workstation can be expensive. And you wouldn’t have any network issues to deal with, besides a lower electric bill.

I will tell you what I would REEELY like: and I don’t know why this is a problem, is the ability to render sequential images to RIB.  Dunno why, but I can’t do it.  I get one rib file from an animation, and that’s it… I’d batch render it in 3DL but there’s nothing to batch render…

wancow - 23 April 2013 09:43 AM

I will tell you what I would REEELY like: and I don’t know why this is a problem, is the ability to render sequential images to RIB.  Dunno why, but I can’t do it.  I get one rib file from an animation, and that’s it… I’d batch render it in 3DL but there’s nothing to batch render…

I tried that a couple years ago and it didn’t work, but someone mentioned in a thread they had written a script that would do it, but they never posted it for anyone. :(

That’s a shame :( Having to render out each frame to rib is a PITA…