Help please!! How do I make my renders look sharper?

montygm

Hi all, 

I am an avid user but not very experienced in all the settings. I use Daz 4.9 Iray on default settings and usually change my F-stop to F8 or 9,  my ratio to 1:1 or custom, and render at 2000x2000 pixel dimensions and above. I use the "sun and sky " mode to get some tonality and shadows on image. Render quality is on 3 and adjust my exposure mainly to brighten up images. I have even tried adjusting light quality from default setting of 512 to 1000 and that doesnt seem to do anything either. Unfortunately my renders never look very sharp.

PS: One more question if possible. Why is it when I go to the lights setting and add a light then go to adjust brightness and width and height etc...nothing happens? It all looks as before.

Is there a more in depth manual that can explain all the functions available in daz that I can read?

Thanks, Grace.

 

barbult

Hi, Grace. In the Render Settings pane, change the Pixel Filter to mitchell and set the Pixel Filter Radius to 1. That will make your Iray render sharper. You can experiment with the different pixel filters and radius values to see what level or sharpness you prefer.

 

tj_1ca9500b

Quick question:

Are you doing the 'render at double your target dimensions' trick and then sizing it down when you do the (hopefully) final render?  i.e. if you want 2000x2000, render at 4000x4000.  In Iray, this can help dial in edges/details a bit better in indirect lighting situations.  I've seen this recommended in a few places now, and while the renders do take significantly longer, they do end up looking more crisp IMHO.

barbult

What kind of light are you adding to your scene (spotlight or pointlight or distant light)? In the light's parameters, I think you need to change the Light Geometry from Point to one of the other choices to get the height and width to have an effect.

nonesuch00

There is not really a comprehensive manual on rendering and using, creating, or customizing light setups and shader setups although there is a fellow that said he is writing a detailed, if not quite 100% comprehensive tutorial and those subjects as a PDF Help document to be sold eventually in the DAZ Store. He previously wrote one on rigging in DAZ Studio and that costs $45. Here is a link so you'll know who the author is when his next tutorial is released.  His name is Thomas Windar

For now though, I'm far from being a good renderer myself but these products and tutorials helped me.

2 parts - Part One number 1 - number 4 cost money and still won't get good results until you learn the very basics of setting up a DAZ model for rendering in iRay as explained by Part Two number 4. In fact if you were to try one thing I write it would be for you to do Part 2 number 4 tutorial from ShibaShake and then do more of the ShibaShake tutorials. They are the most concise & easiest to follow that I have done.

Part One

1) Ghost Lights - makes your renders render faster in indoor scenes but you have to be careful to not use too much amibient light or use too much from too many places other wise your render will look washed out and flat. KindredArts is making a version 2 of this Ghost Lights concept that will reduce the possibility that one creates too much ambient light in an indoor scene such that the scene looks washed out (you know that noon sun on a hot white sandy beach in July washed out look). It will also include a very good tutorial on how to use Ghost Lights version 2 when released.

2) iRay Box Lights - I like these as they create the common types of lighting you'd see in studio portraits or in rooms with lamps. 

3) Painter's Lights - This is the most commonly used light set by the PAs that's I've heard identified what they use. However, they are primarily meant to make portraits on an abstract background so while quite pretty you may have other interests after doing a few portrait.By prepared to wait a longer time for trenders made using this light set to complete, especially if CPU rendering.

4) iRay Light Manager Pro - The last standalone light product I own but actually haven't used yet. It looks good though so I was try it tonight on a render I'm looking to enhance the lighting for, 

Part Two

Now I can tell you for the settings you are using and this is my personal opinion so feel free to wait on other's advice too:

1, square images are really only good when doing portraits of busts in closeup. I'd try a 16:9 or 9:16 ratio to create more interest.

2. I used to set Render Quality to 5 but really unless it's really a dim dark image that you are prepared to wait days for it to complete you don't need a Render Quality higher than 1. Think of it this way: you are learning so you want to create images that you know look good as quickly as possible to learn what looks good. And after satisfied you can increase the image size to 4K, and increase the min & max sample, the total seconds to render (or turn total time off), render to 99.6 convergance and all those things. 

3. For an emissive light change to have a noticable effect when you change it if must be an extremely massive change to notice it early in the render or for smaller changes you just have to wait long enough for details to be rendered in. Emissive lights are generally only used indoors though. When doing Sun & Sky just like in real life nicely lit scenes at dawn & dusk look nicer than noon sun renders. Latitude and Longtitude and day of year effects that type of lighting too. It's probably why we do studio and home lighting to be similar to that type of lighting.

4) For very simple and easy to understand how to make your DAZ iRay characters look more 'lively' and less 'flat' do the tutorial from Shibashake, who has renders consistently show up in the list of most 'liked' in the DAZ Gallery. It's the quickest and most no-nonsense tutorial you'll find out there and is free.

montygm

barbult said:

What kind of light are you adding to your scene (spotlight or pointlight or distant light)? In the light's parameters, I think you need to change the Light Geometry from Point to one of the other choices to get the height and width to have an effect.

I have tried various lights from the lights section and every time I go to make adjustments regarding opacity and strength etc...nothing seems to change. I dont know what I am doing wrong.

 

montygm

barbult said:

Hi, Grace. In the Render Settings pane, change the Pixel Filter to mitchell and set the Pixel Filter Radius to 1. That will make your Iray render sharper. You can experiment with the different pixel filters and radius values to see what level or sharpness you prefer.

Thanks. Will give this a shot.

 

 

kitakoredaz

just to confim, if you set "sun-sky only" in rendersettings>environment mode?

if you choose the option, it can not eimit "ds photometric light "in the scene. (all daz photometric lights are ignored ,only emit by sun-node , and  geometry in the scene with emittion applied,  can emit too)

to use "sun-sky" node light with ds scene lights, you need to set "Dome and scene", then set Environment map as none. now you can use "iray sun" with daz scene light. 

montygm

Thanks kitakoredaz,

That was exactly the problem. Trying to use lights with sun and sky setting and not using enviro map at none setting. Thanks again for the help. I was starting to pull my hair out.

fastbike1

@gmmontagnese_50ee6c46dc  "I use Daz 4.9 Iray on default settings and usually change my F-stop to F8 or 9,"

Bear in mind that the F/stop setting in the camera tab has no effect unless you set Depth of Field "ON". You might also want to check where your camera is actually focused. The easiest way to do this is to select the camera, then go to Perspective View and see where the camera cross hair is. Barbult's advice on the mitchell filter is also good. You may still want to treat your render like a photograph and post process Sharpen in an editing program.

 

 

That's really not what the "double size" trick was about. The purpose was to reduce noise. The double size render was also not supposed to run to completion, but rather to an acceptable visual level. The render is then downsized which can make noise less apparent. Of course one could also just light the render appropriately then eliminate the minimal noise at completion via post processing.

tj_1ca9500b said:

Quick question:

Are you doing the 'render at double your target dimensions' trick and then sizing it down when you do the (hopefully) final render?  i.e. if you want 2000x2000, render at 4000x4000.  In Iray, this can help dial in edges/details a bit better in indirect lighting situations.  I've seen this recommended in a few places now, and while the renders do take significantly longer, they do end up looking more crisp IMHO.

 

Ruri

Thanks for the great tips.

montygm

fastbike1 said:

@gmmontagnese_50ee6c46dc  "I use Daz 4.9 Iray on default settings and usually change my F-stop to F8 or 9,"

Bear in mind that the F/stop setting in the camera tab has no effect unless you set Depth of Field "ON". You might also want to check where your camera is actually focused. The easiest way to do this is to select the camera, then go to Perspective View and see where the camera cross hair is. Barbult's advice on the mitchell filter is also good. You may still want to treat your render like a photograph and post process Sharpen in an editing program.

 

 

That's really not what the "double size" trick was about. The purpose was to reduce noise. The double size render was also not supposed to run to completion, but rather to an acceptable visual level. The render is then downsized which can make noise less apparent. Of course one could also just light the render appropriately then eliminate the minimal noise at completion via post processing.

tj_1ca9500b said:

Quick question:

Are you doing the 'render at double your target dimensions' trick and then sizing it down when you do the (hopefully) final render?  i.e. if you want 2000x2000, render at 4000x4000.  In Iray, this can help dial in edges/details a bit better in indirect lighting situations.  I've seen this recommended in a few places now, and while the renders do take significantly longer, they do end up looking more crisp IMHO.

I prefer if possible to keep renders at 2000x 2000 pixel dimensions to 3000x3000 maximum. Tried renders at 4000 plus but even for small item renders it takes way too long and too much effort on processor. One thing I am very confused about is the ratio setting....does this effect quality o f render also or is it only changing the shape of your layout?

PS: Thanks also for the tip regarding F-stop and the "depth of field" on. That would make sense. Now I have to go and find where the damn thing is hiding.

Also not quite sure when you say render at double dimensions then sizing down. Havent worked out how to do that one I'm afraid.

Thanks everyone for much needed help. Was really excited last week when I finally figured out how to use shaders. Yipee. Now I am out of control spending for more shaders in the Daz store.

Thanks again guys, you are all great.

 

 

montygm

I prefer if possible to keep renders at 2000x 2000 pixel dimensions to 3000x3000 maximum. Tried renders at 4000 plus but even for small item renders it takes way too long and too much effort on processor. One thing I am very confused about is the ratio setting....does this effect quality o f render also or is it only changing the shape of your layout?

PS: Thanks also for the tip regarding F-stop and the "depth of field" on. That would make sense. Now I have to go and find where the damn thing is hiding.

Also not quite sure when you say render at double dimensions then sizing down. Havent worked out how to do that one I'm afraid.

Thanks everyone for much needed help. Was really excited last week when I finally figured out how to use shaders. Yipee. Now I am out of control spending for more shaders in the Daz store.

Thanks again guys, you are all great.

Ongoing Moment

gmmontagnese_50ee6c46dc said:

I prefer if possible to keep renders at 2000x 2000 pixel dimensions to 3000x3000 maximum. Tried renders at 4000 plus but even for small item renders it takes way too long and too much effort on processor. One thing I am very confused about is the ratio setting....does this effect quality o f render also or is it only changing the shape of your layout?

PS: Thanks also for the tip regarding F-stop and the "depth of field" on. That would make sense. Now I have to go and find where the damn thing is hiding.

Also not quite sure when you say render at double dimensions then sizing down. Havent worked out how to do that one I'm afraid.

Thanks everyone for much needed help. Was really excited last week when I finally figured out how to use shaders. Yipee. Now I am out of control spending for more shaders in the Daz store.

Thanks again guys, you are all great.

I think the ratio only effects the render dimension size. I think they are saying render twice the size you want after resizing/downsizing in post, or Photoshop. Render 2000x2000 to downsize in ps 1000x1000

fastbike1

@gmmontagnese_50ee6c46dc  "PS: Thanks also for the tip regarding F-stop and the "depth of field" on. That would make sense. Now I have to go and find where the damn thing is hiding."

Select your camera, then go to the Parameters Tab and pick Camera. Screen shot attached.

montygm

Thanks fastbike1. Was trying to find where F-stop is hiding for a while now and was starting to pull my hair out.