Digital Art Zone

daveleitz68 - 24 January 2013 08:32 AM

Thanks, I will try out those suggestions.  I did read at least part of the manual

I’ve also noticed that some textures don’t get included in the ‘Maps’ folder.  I still don’t fully understand all the material options included with characters in DS.  Some are designed to work with special kinds of lighting and others trigger 3Delight specific options like SSS.  I wonder if this is a character specific issue, or does it have to do with material options?  It’s not a problem for me since I just copy the files from my DAZ textures to the working directory for the .blend file and then see what I like best. 

So much to learn and do and so little time!!

My current ‘cloth’ shader node group:

Only a few standard parameters and maps of the materials are exported,
you can see them in the .mtl file exported by teleblender/DazStudio.
When the material is a shader, all the non-standard parameters and maps are not written in the .mtl file,
so they don’t reach Blender.

one way to make sure a given non-standard image map of a shader makes the voyage to Blender
is to apply it to a channel like “Specylar Color” in Daz Studio. Once you’re in Blender, you can re-connect it.

reminding everyone that there’s environment maps in a format usable by Blender/Teleblender

right over here :

http://zbyg.deviantart.com/art/HDRi-Pack-1-97402522

this render used studiohdr017.hdr

which was part of HDRi_Pack_2_by_zbyg.zip

whivh i got from ... let me see ... http://zbyg.deviantart.com/art/HDRi-Pack-2-103458406

I have been using this plugin like crazy.  I noticed I have to put a texture file in Ambient which becomes Emission. Is there any way you can change the default strength to 1 instead of 100?

Oh and Also rather than pulling the Name of the object (like Genesis) is there a way to pull the Label Name?
When i have 3 Figures they group as one object because they all have the same origin name.  I mean I can change the name in Daz in the scene tab by going to Menu > Edit > Scene Identification and changing the Primary name.

wallace3d - 29 January 2013 12:26 PM

I have been using this plugin like crazy.  I noticed I have to put a texture file in Ambient which becomes Emission. Is there any way you can change the default strength to 1 instead of 100?

Oh and Also rather than pulling the Name of the object (like Genesis) is there a way to pull the Label Name?
When i have 3 Figures they group as one object because they all have the same origin name.  I mean I can change the name in Daz in the scene tab by going to Menu > Edit > Scene Identification and changing the Primary name.

the Diffuse Color of the surface can be used to lower the light strength, and to colorize it

for example in the image below i set the long light/plane’s diffuse color to RGB = 33,24,24

in the second image i used RGB = 240,240,255

( the quick and dirty pickup truck freebie can be found here http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/15760/ )

Casual - 30 January 2013 08:09 AM

wallace3d - 29 January 2013 12:26 PM

I have been using this plugin like crazy.  I noticed I have to put a texture file in Ambient which becomes Emission. Is there any way you can change the default strength to 1 instead of 100?

Oh and Also rather than pulling the Name of the object (like Genesis) is there a way to pull the Label Name?
When i have 3 Figures they group as one object because they all have the same origin name.  I mean I can change the name in Daz in the scene tab by going to Menu > Edit > Scene Identification and changing the Primary name.

the Diffuse Color of the surface can be used to lower the light strength, and to colorize it

for example in the image below i set the long light/plane’s diffuse color to RGB = 33,24,24

in the second image i used RGB = 240,240,255

( the quick and dirty pickup truck freebie can be found here http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/15760/ )

Perfect!
  thanks

I was trying everything in the ambient area and colors and nothing was changing. did not think to do it in Diffuse

wallace3d - 29 January 2013 12:26 PM

I have been using this plugin like crazy.  I noticed I have to put a texture file in Ambient which becomes Emission. Is there any way you can change the default strength to 1 instead of 100?

Oh and Also rather than pulling the Name of the object (like Genesis) is there a way to pull the Label Name?
When i have 3 Figures they group as one object because they all have the same origin name.  I mean I can change the name in Daz in the scene tab by going to Menu > Edit > Scene Identification and changing the Primary name.

on the topic of scenes with many instances of the same character ...

when teleblender exports the scene, it uses the export services offered by Daz Studio
and teleblender requests that the exporter uses the “Write groups / use figure name(s)” option
if i don’t do that each body part is a separate object and it looks quite nasty when it reaches Blender

unfortunately, as you could see, if 2 figures have the same name, they get welded

one way to prevent this is to rename the figure(s)

. . . oops after writing and posting the little script, i see you already had a way to rename the figure . . .
. . . well, it can maybe save you 1 second

here is a short script that will rename the selected figure to a different name, by appending a random number to it

you can download this script over here: under the name “mcjRenameFigureRandom.dsa”

the companion thumbnail is named mcjRenameFigureRandom.dsa.png

those 2 files should preferably go in your daz content folder, in the scripts/mcasual folder

Thanks for creating mcjTeleblender, Casual!!  I will post a render soon.  I agree with daveleitz68 regarding the Mix Shader vs the Add Shader.  I’m finding that most of my tweaking involves replacing the latter with the former.

nakamuram002 - 30 January 2013 10:00 PM

Thanks for creating mcjTeleblender, Casual!!  I will post a render soon.  I agree with daveleitz68 regarding the Mix Shader vs the Add Shader.  I’m finding that most of my tweaking involves replacing the latter with the former.

Update ~~Update ~~Update ~~Update ~~Update ~~Update ~~Update

at mcjTeleblender’s homepage, i added a file named mcjMakeCyclesNodes_MIX_instead_of_ADD.zip

it contains an alternate version of mcjMakeCyclesNodes.py which creates MIX nodes instead of ADD nodes

go in your blender’s “modules” folder, which is where you did install mcjBlendbot ( a kit of python scripts )

make an archive copy of the existing file mcjMakeCyclesNodes.py

then unZip the new version, thereby overwriting it

here are the changes i made to obtain this

 
.
.
.
addNode = nodes.new(‘MIX_SHADER’)
  addNode .location = ( ox - 300, oy )
  links.new( mixNode.outputs[0], bsdfNode.inputs[0] )
  links.new( bsdfNode.outputs[0], addNode.inputs[1] )
  links.new( glossNode.outputs[0], addNode.inputs[2] )
  links.new( addNode.outputs[0], outNode.inputs[0] )

  KaMap = getMap( mat, ‘Ka’, ‘Ka.’ )
  if KaMap:
      emNode = nodes.new(‘EMISSION’)
      emNode.location = ( ox - 600, oy + 300 )
      emNode.inputs[1].default_value = 100
      links.new( mixNode.outputs[0], emNode.inputs[0] )
      links.new( emNode.outputs[0], addNode.inputs[1] )
.
.
.

the second image shows how the diffuse channel’s color and optionally diffuse image map are fed through the emission node for materials that emit light

the third image show there’s one rock with an emissive strength of 1 , which is like a surface lit with a 100% ambient light

Thanks Casual!!  I’ll try it out, but I’m concerned about the Emission Node.  I use the Emission Node for lights, not for “normal” diffuse textures.  This is how I use the mix node.  Note that Diffuse and Glossy have the same input.

nakamuram002 - 31 January 2013 12:14 AM

Thanks Casual!!  I’ll try it out, but I’m concerned about the Emission Node.  I use the Emission Node for lights, not for “normal” diffuse textures.  This is how I use the mix node.  Note that Diffuse and Glossy have the same input.

welcome.

about the emission node, it still works like before: if you apply any image to the ambient channel of a surface in Daz Studio, teleblender will export it as an emissive surface, the diffuse color can be used to weaken the strength of the light, and give it a tint. The diffuse color can have an image map applied to it (see figure 4), but if there is none, the node graph looks pretty much like yours ( fig 3 )

Here is the result of my experiments with mcjTeleblender.  It has also been uploaded to shareCG, as I did not realize that we could upload large images.

mcjTeleblender makes things easy—Thanks Casual!!

nakamuram002 - 31 January 2013 10:26 PM

Here is the result of my experiments with mcjTeleblender.  It has also been uploaded to shareCG, as I did not realize that we could upload large images.

mcjTeleblender makes things easy—Thanks Casual!!

welcome.

overall it looks good.

in my images sometimes i wish there were more ambient-occlusion types of shadow
maybe it’s a matter of using smaller lights, and adding obstacles in the scene
in your image, the thigh skin i think look better because there’s shadowy areas caused by the desk and books.
the books themselves look quite realistic, and there too i think the shadows help
the chair’s painted metal should probably be more shiny.

trying to think of an image where i obtained interesting shadows ....

maybe this one

i guess the trick is to create recessed areas that dont get too much light, maybe also use many sources of lights, and not flood the scenes too much with light. I noticed when i let the walls be too glossy, they help flood the room with too much light. matte walls often look better.

I take no credit for the skin textures.  That’s just a matter of selecting a superb product, in this case Danae’s Lyon.  My lighting is the world, plus setting the emission shader on the overhead florescent lights.  Too bad there is no ambient occlusion for the emission and/or lamp output nodes.  Maybe that will come in the future?

I’m trying to get the aluminum frame around the backboard to look like aluminum, instead of steel.  I just using a white anisotropic shader there.  How can I get lighter than white…..

Overall, I’m impressed by how easy it is to get a good render using your tool, Casual!!

Casual - 30 January 2013 08:34 PM

wallace3d - 29 January 2013 12:26 PM

I have been using this plugin like crazy.  I noticed I have to put a texture file in Ambient which becomes Emission. Is there any way you can change the default strength to 1 instead of 100?

Oh and Also rather than pulling the Name of the object (like Genesis) is there a way to pull the Label Name?
When i have 3 Figures they group as one object because they all have the same origin name.  I mean I can change the name in Daz in the scene tab by going to Menu > Edit > Scene Identification and changing the Primary name.

on the topic of scenes with many instances of the same character ...

when teleblender exports the scene, it uses the export services offered by Daz Studio
and teleblender requests that the exporter uses the “Write groups / use figure name(s)” option
if i don’t do that each body part is a separate object and it looks quite nasty when it reaches Blender

unfortunately, as you could see, if 2 figures have the same name, they get welded

one way to prevent this is to rename the figure(s)

. . . oops after writing and posting the little script, i see you already had a way to rename the figure . . .
. . . well, it can maybe save you 1 second

here is a short script that will rename the selected figure to a different name, by appending a random number to it

you can download this script over here: under the name “mcjRenameFigureRandom.dsa”

the companion thumbnail is named mcjRenameFigureRandom.dsa.png

those 2 files should preferably go in your daz content folder, in the scripts/mcasual folder

 

Will give this a shot because Daz Studio does not keep the names changes for the genesis figures. it renames them back to there default name when re opening the file :( so hitting this script will reduce that frustration
and thanks for what you do. Awesome Plugin for sure.

@nakamuram002,

That’s a nice render!