Is you DS the free Pro version from the store, or the direct download? If it’s the direct download I think you need to buy the free version in the store and download that, using the serial number that will be placed in your account pages, to get Shader Mixer.
I am a beginner and the only tutorials I can find that deal with the Shader Mixer have been for DS3.x Advanced. I downloaded all of Carnite’s Videos on the subject, but I’m using 4.5 Pro, and the layout is way different. I know I have the Shader Mixer because I can find the place where the files are stored. I just need to find a tutorial that is up to date for working with it in 4.5 Pro. Since I am a beginner, it will need to be as clear an concise as it can be, like the ones Carnite made for 3.x Advanced. Does anyone know where I can find at least one or two?
Thanks in advance.
I am a beginner and the only tutorials I can find that deal with the Shader Mixer have been for DS3.x Advanced. I downloaded all of Carnite’s Videos on the subject, but I’m using 4.5 Pro, and the layout is way different. I know I have the Shader Mixer because I can find the place where the files are stored. I just need to find a tutorial that is up to date for working with it in 4.5 Pro. Since I am a beginner, it will need to be as clear an concise as it can be, like the ones Carnite made for 3.x Advanced. Does anyone know where I can find at least one or two?
Thanks in advance.
That’s pretty much all there is…
Things in 4.5 aren’t THAT different (as far as SM goes…yeah, the bricks line up the opposite direction and some of them them are in different locations). The basics covered in those older tutorials are still valid.
I’ve been using a displaced Weave with color occlusion to attempt a “nonskid steel plate” effect, but so far, all I’ve got looks like wire-weave. How do I reduce strand width in the Weave node (Shader Mixer, DS 4.5.n) without decreasing the scale of the weave itself?
Good question….I’ll have to have a look. It won’t happen tonight as I’m braindead. One and half days to go till I’m on holidays for most of January and work’s very hectic.
Okay…finally got chance to look at it.
I’m assuming you want a mesh with gaps between it but still interwoven?
If you don’t you could probably simulate a mesh with square holes using a basic image map as an alpha and also for displacement to give its more depth.
If you want a woven mesh with gaps between it is probably beyond my abilities to help. I’m not sure but would image it may require using some of the math bricks.
I’ve been using a displaced Weave with color occlusion to attempt a “nonskid steel plate” effect, but so far, all I’ve got looks like wire-weave. How do I reduce strand width in the Weave node (Shader Mixer, DS 4.5.n) without decreasing the scale of the weave itself?
Good question….I’ll have to have a look. It won’t happen tonight as I’m braindead. One and half days to go till I’m on holidays for most of January and work’s very hectic.
Okay…finally got chance to look at it.
I’m assuming you want a mesh with gaps between it but still interwoven?
If you don’t you could probably simulate a mesh with square holes using a basic image map as an alpha and also for displacement to give its more depth.
If you want a woven mesh with gaps between it is probably beyond my abilities to help. I’m not sure but would image it may require using some of the math bricks.
That weave pattern is mathematically generated and compiled into the shader…so without changing the formula and recompiling you won’t be able to get what you are after. It’s the same for most, if not all, of the patterns. They are formula based and start life as ‘include’ files that get compiled into the shader.
I think you’ll have better luck with using a tiled displacement or normal map and using an actual image of the diamond plate to start with…
That weave pattern is mathematically generated and compiled into the shader…so without changing the formula and recompiling you won’t be able to get what you are after. It’s the same for most, if not all, of the patterns. They are formula based and start life as ‘include’ files that get compiled into the shader.
I think you’ll have better luck with using a tiled displacement or normal map and using an actual image of the diamond plate to start with…
I’m actually getting rather good results now, as long as I don’t insist that the bumps be particularly diamond-shaped. I just had to level the threads with a “Max” modifier at about .75 or so.
Yeah, that will work, if you don’t strictly need the diamond pattern.
By default, at least some of the patterns are included in almost all displacement shaders written in RSL…whether they are actually used in that shader or not. It isn’t an ‘expensive’ thing to do, as most of the formulas are just a few bytes in size. But by being hard coded, like that, it does limit what can be done to the patterns.
I am a beginner and the only tutorials I can find that deal with the Shader Mixer have been for DS3.x Advanced. I downloaded all of Carnite’s Videos on the subject, but I’m using 4.5 Pro, and the layout is way different. I know I have the Shader Mixer because I can find the place where the files are stored. I just need to find a tutorial that is up to date for working with it in 4.5 Pro. Since I am a beginner, it will need to be as clear an concise as it can be, like the ones Carnite made for 3.x Advanced. Does anyone know where I can find at least one or two?
Thanks in advance.
That’s pretty much all there is…
Things in 4.5 aren’t THAT different (as far as SM goes…yeah, the bricks line up the opposite direction and some of them them are in different locations). The basics covered in those older tutorials are still valid.
I took your advice and was able to make a Shader Preset of my own today and save it to my content. There are a few things that are different in the new version that make it confusing if you don’t pay close attention. I followed Carnite’s tutorials rather than the one called Shader Mixer Tutorial 1.
Shader Mixer Tutorial 1 is a good bit more complicated, and I’ll need to do a good bit of practicing before getting into that one. As it too is for DAZ Studio 3 Advanced, there are some differences that make it difficult to follow when using 4.5 Pro. The Bump, Displacement, and Normal Map Bricks are no longer unattached from the main network by default. This of course threw me up against a brick wall (Pun Fully Intended, lol) I read beyond it to see if clarity would be forthcoming, but alas I find that one of the Image Bricks is used in the Bump and Displacement network, and because the generated bricks are not in the same sequence as in the tutorial, nor do they have the same names, I am at a loss as to which Image Brick is the correct one to use for that network.
So for now I will keep it simple and get some practice under my belt. As for the Shader Mixer Tutorial 1, I am glad I got it free because if I had not, I would be very disappointed indeed.
Stay Awesome!
That weave pattern is mathematically generated and compiled into the shader…so without changing the formula and recompiling you won’t be able to get what you are after. It’s the same for most, if not all, of the patterns. They are formula based and start life as ‘include’ files that get compiled into the shader.
I think you’ll have better luck with using a tiled displacement or normal map and using an actual image of the diamond plate to start with…
I’m actually getting rather good results now, as long as I don’t insist that the bumps be particularly diamond-shaped. I just had to level the threads with a “Max” modifier at about .75 or so.
Hi Eustace, would you be able to post an image of your network so others can use it to create their own shaders? I would be interested in knowing how you space them further apart for using in other shaders…
