What is a millennium environment?
Griffin Avid
Posts: 3,818
in The Commons
I have the space nebulae add-ons for this product.
https://www.daz3d.com/millennium-environment
But I have no idea what it is.
Is it:
a) A flat 2-D backdrop, like a SEARS photo set?'
b) A very small 3-d Set with a very short depth, sorta like a) I ask cause it mentions props...
c) A regular easy-environment with a confusing description
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Comments
I believe it's like a diorama. A 2D scenic backgroun, some 2D plants, some 3D elements.
Millennium Environment is a background and surface prop that can mimic various environments. It also includes imagery "props" which are also various objects on a flat plane to show certain objects in foreground. Here's an idea of the type of environments you can get:
-MJ
Yuck. Okay...
A similar product, SkySystem, gives a great example of how it works. Millennium Environment, and yet another similar product, Multiplane Cyclorama, all works in the same manner.
Good Luck!
-MJ
Environment figure itself is composed of 2 parts, a morphing terrain for the ground, and a backdrop with 4 half-cylinder layers: scenery, sky, clouds and weather.
You can load a second reversed backdrop to get a full 360° background.
Then there are various props: a skydome to put on top of the backdrop, a water plane, trees (trunk only) and "plants" made from a few transmapped planes.
I added 2 very basic test renders to give you an idea: one with the main environment and a few props, and one with the skydome (transparent pink) and back wall (green) added.
it actually works quite well in Physically based render engines as long as you are clever about the lighting.
its the best alternative to the popular skydome or skybox that would block physically based lighting and better than a HDRi background for moving camera animation
Its a cyclorama or backdrop
I use it and Dimension theory's https://www.daz3d.com/ecomantics-efficient-ecosystems a lot in Octane and iray, it's a well accepted photographer and filmmaker's tool.
Mil Environment can indeed still be very useful despite its age.
I find it especially good for making outer space scenes and could probably work well for distant skies as well. Just need to scale the set up (I think I went like 200% or something for may space backddrops.
The "Millenium Environment", the "Cyclorama", and both "WoodlandRealm-I & II" are my most goto scene environments. I have most of the catalog available scenes for all of them and have even made a couple of my own. They work well on their own, and for scenes visible outside of windows of architecture props. Although, it is a bit confusing because many of the catalog scenes available have images that work for one or two or all four of the sets and until you get them organized properly it's hard to keep them straight in your mind which icon in the studio inventory is for which set.
I like the idea of there being an actual ground. Anyone make anything to show extreme spaces....like outer space, distant planets....etc?
I use this: https://www.daz3d.com/planet-x-1
But I want something with landscape. Actual surface other than flat.
FirstBastion seems like the only clear answer - and of course he JUST went off sale.
I agree. I did a render with it a few months ago that I like:
I think it can hold up pretty well, particularly if you couple it with a depth of field camera.
Which rendering engine was used?
Iray.
Very nice.
-MJ
Im confused... why would you want a surface... in outer space?
-MJ
As soon as I typed that message I remembered that there are 2 space products for ME:
https://www.daz3d.com/the-heart-of-space
https://www.daz3d.com/heart-of-space-2-nebulas
And you can add whatever additional props you want/need in the scene as well.
-MJ
Those are the two that I own that triggered this thread.
They MIGHT have been freebies or flash or maybe I was looking for outer space backdrops.
I had no idea what they were, but I didn't own the required product.
iray? Oh no, now I'm really confused (again) I thought iray didn't play nice with skydomes....
I tried to mix two sets together as an experiment and one unknowingly added an HDRI background to the environment map.
So I kept getting renders with a foreign backdrop. I unchecked everything and deleted the skydome. No effect.
It took a while to figure out that one of sets was something like a millenium environment and loads a 2-d wall for the background.
I'm trying to mix 3D foregrounds with 2D backdrops inside a skydome and switch the lighting from each across the different sets for variety.
Iray doesn't play with skydomes. I used the props (grass, tree, etc) coupled with an Iray HDRI. :)
To use the props by themselves you can just drag them into the scene.
Long as I got you here and you'd probably know...
Sometimes when I load props into a scene and look at the list of materials....
The RSL and MDL (iray) can be figured out, sometimes they have two or three choices with the exact same name.
Hovering the mouse over those options does nothing....
Could that be a case of the vendor NOT naming the material for the proper engine?
Or something else? Sometimes I do see a name with shiny verse mat verse....
What do you do when this happens?
I really, really don't want to render each one and then write a note that says "The third one looked best"
Hmm That's a good question. I really don't know. Usually when I render in Iray I just use the Iray Uber shader on anything that doesn't show up as an Iray material. And if a material doesn't look right still I use one of the Iray shaders that I have. Like there's a nice nature shader pack that I use on a lot of the outdoor scenes.
I just pulled out the Millennium Environment again to check it out and it's a bit rougher than I remember it being. However I still think it looks ok if you use it with a depth of field camera and maybe an HDRI.
I just did this render with it ten minutes ago:
I definitely recommend a depth of field camera to smooth out a bit of it's roughness.
OHHO MY GOODNESSS.....
The shadow across her face!
The near plants blurred...oh that's a nice image...
Wow that looks great.-
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Agreed, LOL. I have a few of the products like this from back in the day and never really used them to my satisfaction, can't imagine using them now. Not much different than using a plane with a texture on it or applying a texture to the background in DS. If I don't have a 3D environment I use an HDRI or skybox plugged in to the lighting.
Awww Thanks! :D That's really nice of you to say!
This is Woodland Realm Playset Two Sun and Sky Only in Iray.
Click on image for full size.
All the products I mentioned have a ground plane but it's more than a plane. The Millenium Environment and I believe both WoodlandRealms have a bit of unevenness especially near the screen to help hide the juncture between groundplane and screen. And you can pop in some 3d rocks as needed. Here's a scene I did many years ago, as one of my Minotaur/Weretaur/Mythological series.
Decided they needed some fill plants to take away the bare look. Ihr and 40mins to render CPU only.
Click on image for full size.
The spaceships have to land somewhere, don't they?
Wow! That came out really cool! Nicely done!
No complaints with it, it adds nice depth when you have other props in the scene and at the forefront.