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Question about scenery

TabooGoodTabooGood Posts: 32
in Daz Studio Discussion

So I've got a room downloaded to Daz 3D in which there are windows, these windows doesn't actually show anything right now and I'm wondering how I can add a view to them, like putting an image right behind them facing the inside of the room so the windows wont look empty

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 108,347

    Iray or 3Delight? (Iray is the default.) In Iray you can use an environment HDRI and set Draw Dome to On (Render Settings>Editor tab, in the Environment group). You can also add a backdrop image via Window>Panes(Tabs)>Environment, but that will be flat on which may not be right for your scene.

  • TabooGoodTabooGood Posts: 32
    Richard Haseltine said:

    Iray or 3Delight? (Iray is the default.) In Iray you can use an environment HDRI and set Draw Dome to On (Render Settings>Editor tab, in the Environment group). You can also add a backdrop image via Window>Panes(Tabs)>Environment, but that will be flat on which may not be right for your scene.

    I'm very new to this and not entirely sure what the difference between Iray and 3Delight really is though I tend to go with Iray when it's an option, also what I'm trying to do is put like a wall with the scenery image on it outside the window to create a scenery if that's possible

  • JonnyRayJonnyRay Posts: 1,744
    Promille said:
    Richard Haseltine said:

    Iray or 3Delight? (Iray is the default.) In Iray you can use an environment HDRI and set Draw Dome to On (Render Settings>Editor tab, in the Environment group). You can also add a backdrop image via Window>Panes(Tabs)>Environment, but that will be flat on which may not be right for your scene.

    I'm very new to this and not entirely sure what the difference between Iray and 3Delight really is though I tend to go with Iray when it's an option, also what I'm trying to do is put like a wall with the scenery image on it outside the window to create a scenery if that's possible

    First, a quick and dirty summary between Iray and 3Delight.

    3Delight is based on the Renderman rendering engine that Pixar created. It tries to approximate how light interacts with various surfaces, but takes several shortcuts with the calculations. It is still capable of creating some wonderful images and animations. But as we as consumers want more and more realism in what we see, rendering engines like this are slowly being phased out in favor of physically based rendering (PBR) engines.

    Iray is a physically based rendering engine created by Nvidia. PBRs are built from a different starting point. They are based around a sophisticated light based engine so instead of approximating light and surfaces, they start with trying to define very precisely how light works. This tends to simplify some things like how light bounces from a wall and shines on the floor. A more traditional engine like 3Delight has to add all sorts of helpers to make that work, where that kind of ligting is built into a PBR render like Iray.

    Second, as to what you are trying to do, yes you could create a new primative - plane, add your city or landscape that you want to see outside and orient the plane so that from your camera it looks like that's the view you have outside the window. But you're going to struggle a lot with getting the image oriented so that it is at the right angle and the lighting makes sense, etc.

    Built into DAZ Studio is the ability on the Render Settings -> Environment tab to load an environment map. Think of this as a dome that is wrapped around your scene. It will be easier to adjust the angles so this looks correct through your window. The Environment Map is also used by the rendering engine to add light to your scene. So if the image has a bright spot (say the sun) in the image, then that bright spot shines light on your scene as well.

    As Richard mentioned, you can also go to the Environemnt tab and add an image as a backdrop. Think of this like the background on a theater stage. it is flat, doesn't surround the scene, and what you see through the window isn't very easy to control.

    Finally, you have the option to not use either of those. In that case anything that would be in the bacground would be rendered as transparent in the PNG file for your render. Then you can use a tool like Photoshop or GIMP to layer your render over the background of your choice. This gives you more control over the placement of the background than the Environment tab we just mentioned.

  • TabooGoodTabooGood Posts: 32
    JonnyRay said:
    Promille said:
    Richard Haseltine said:

    Iray or 3Delight? (Iray is the default.) In Iray you can use an environment HDRI and set Draw Dome to On (Render Settings>Editor tab, in the Environment group). You can also add a backdrop image via Window>Panes(Tabs)>Environment, but that will be flat on which may not be right for your scene.

    I'm very new to this and not entirely sure what the difference between Iray and 3Delight really is though I tend to go with Iray when it's an option, also what I'm trying to do is put like a wall with the scenery image on it outside the window to create a scenery if that's possible

    First, a quick and dirty summary between Iray and 3Delight.

    3Delight is based on the Renderman rendering engine that Pixar created. It tries to approximate how light interacts with various surfaces, but takes several shortcuts with the calculations. It is still capable of creating some wonderful images and animations. But as we as consumers want more and more realism in what we see, rendering engines like this are slowly being phased out in favor of physically based rendering (PBR) engines.

    Iray is a physically based rendering engine created by Nvidia. PBRs are built from a different starting point. They are based around a sophisticated light based engine so instead of approximating light and surfaces, they start with trying to define very precisely how light works. This tends to simplify some things like how light bounces from a wall and shines on the floor. A more traditional engine like 3Delight has to add all sorts of helpers to make that work, where that kind of ligting is built into a PBR render like Iray.

    Second, as to what you are trying to do, yes you could create a new primative - plane, add your city or landscape that you want to see outside and orient the plane so that from your camera it looks like that's the view you have outside the window. But you're going to struggle a lot with getting the image oriented so that it is at the right angle and the lighting makes sense, etc.

    Built into DAZ Studio is the ability on the Render Settings -> Environment tab to load an environment map. Think of this as a dome that is wrapped around your scene. It will be easier to adjust the angles so this looks correct through your window. The Environment Map is also used by the rendering engine to add light to your scene. So if the image has a bright spot (say the sun) in the image, then that bright spot shines light on your scene as well.

    As Richard mentioned, you can also go to the Environemnt tab and add an image as a backdrop. Think of this like the background on a theater stage. it is flat, doesn't surround the scene, and what you see through the window isn't very easy to control.

    Finally, you have the option to not use either of those. In that case anything that would be in the bacground would be rendered as transparent in the PNG file for your render. Then you can use a tool like Photoshop or GIMP to layer your render over the background of your choice. This gives you more control over the placement of the background than the Environment tab we just mentioned.

    Thank you for such a detailed answer, it really explained some things that I was wondering about, didn't know about the PNG option, since I'm more familiar with Photoshop than DAZ Studio I might give this a try.

  • PaintboxPaintbox Posts: 1,633

    I had this exact question! Are there any products recommendations you could share?

  • JonnyRayJonnyRay Posts: 1,744
    Paintbox said:

    I had this exact question! Are there any products recommendations you could share?

    If you're talking about the HDR images that go into the Render Settings -> Environment tab, then yes, I have a few "go to" vendors on those. First, let me note that you can just google "HDRI image" and you'll come up with links to several free resources. So it isn't required to buy products, but there are still some vendors that I feel make such high quality products that I don't mind paying them for their time.

    First, for general HDRI stuff, note that DS Pro 4.x comes with the HDR Outdoor Environments. I use these all the time when I want a quick outdoor background or even just for realistic outdoor lighting when I'm going to composite over my own background images.

    The next level up for me is Dimension Theory's iRadiance series. I've purchased several of those packages and have never been disappointed by the quality and utility of them.

    The UltraHD Iray HDRI with DOF series by Bob Callawah and Cake One have a unique feature of being able to blur the background for more realistic looking photograph style renders. I love their Sunny Beaches Pack 1 for when I want to put my models on a beach somewhere.

    Finally, The Philosopher has created his Epic Skydome series which have some really unique features like built-in ways to interact between your objects and the water in the scenes. The Mystical Island Cave and Ocean Mountain Sunset are particularly interesting sets that I picked up when I could.

  • PaintboxPaintbox Posts: 1,633

    @johnyray, thank you for those suggestions, I put a few on my wishlists and reasing the desriptions now.

    Also good to know there is a package with DAZ itself, so I can first try the mechanic of it all before buying. The beach one is lovely I must say.

     

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