November 2018 - Daz 3D New User Challenge - Materials
barbult
Posts: 23,137
New User's Challenge - November 2018
Sponsored by Daz 3D
Are you new to the 3D World? Are you at the beginning stages of learning 3D rendering? Have you been around for a little bit but feel you could benefit from some feedback or instruction? Have you been around awhile and would like to help other members start their creative journey? Well then come and join the fun as we host our newest render challenge!
"Materials"
This month's focus will be on Materials and Surfaces. One of the most important aspects of a great render is the effective use of materials. Effective surface settings can add realism, style, and visual interest to an image. This month we will be concentrating on how to create and manipulate the surfaces on the objects in our scene.
Also, keep in mind all the various items covered over the past several months. They will affect the way your materials look in your final rendered scene.
So far this year we have covered the following topics:
Inspiration:
Check out the amazing entries and discussion in last year's Materials challenge.
Other Helpful Links:
When following tutorials, be cognizant of the different applications (Bryce, Daz Studio, Poser, Carrara Blender, etc.) and different render engines (3Delight, Iray, Reality, etc). Techniques for one may not apply directly to another. If you have some favorite Materials, Surfaces, and Shader tips, please share them in this thread.
Daz Studio Tutorials:
Daz 101: Surfaces by Daz 3D (video)
Iray Surfaces and What They Mean by Sickleyield
The Iray Uber Base Shader by Daz 3D (video)
Daz Studio 4.0 - Surfaces by Daz 3D (older video, 3Delight surfaces)
Bryce Tutorials:
Scroll down to the Materials section by Daz 3D
I will be checking in as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need.
For a list of the current contest rules, please see this thread : Challenge Rules
Closing Date: November 30th 2018
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Comments
About Materials Presets, Shader Presets, and Shaders:
Both a Materials Preset and a Shader Preset can apply a different shader, as well as setting the values for the properties of the shader. The difference is that a Materials Preset has settings for one or more named surfaces, and will do nothing to surfaces that don't match its target names. A Shader Preset is indifferent to surface names and affects all selected surfaces on all selected objects. That sounds technical and complicated for a new user, so read on if you need some additional clarification and examples.
As a general rule, Materials Presets are tied to a specific object. For example, if a product comes with a red dress Materials Preset, that preset cannot be applied to the shoes in the same product or to a dress in a different product. In Daz Studio, Smart Content can be a big help in finding the Material Presets that are compatible with a selected object.
To apply a Materials Preset, first select the object (character, garment, vehicle, etc.) in the Scene pane. Then double click on one of the Materials Presets for that specific model. For example, load "Basic Wear Briefs" from the Genesis 3 Starter Essentials product. Select "Briefs" in the Scene pane. Now double click the "Snuggle Bear Briefs" Materials Preset. Notice that the briefs turn white, because "Snuggle Bear Briefs" is a Materials Preset for "Basic Wear Briefs". Now double click "01_Top" Materials Preset. Notice that nothing changes in the scene, because "01_Top" is a Materials Preset for a different object, not for "Basic Wear Briefs".
A Shader Preset is similar to a Materials Preset, but it is more generic. It can be applied to any surface. (Be aware, that Daz has not been consistent with terminology, and many Shader Presets are referred to incorrectly as Shaders. If you see something in the Daz Studio Content Library or Smart Content categorized as a "Shader", it is most likely a "Shader Preset" instead.) In Daz Studio, to apply a Shader Preset, you first select the object in the scene pane and then select the surface(s) that you want to change in the Surfaces pane. Finally, apply the Shader Preset by double clicking on the Shader Preset thumbnail. For example, load "Genesis 3 Female". Next select "Genesis 3 Female" in the Scene pane and then select "Fingernails" in the Surfaces pane. Now double click on "Car Paint - Cranberry" from the Default Resources product. Fingernails are not a car, but Shader Presets don't care; you can apply them to any surface.
A shader is the underlying technology for both Material Presets and Shader Presets. A shader is a subroutine or script that tells the render engine how to calculate the RGB values for a specific pixel. The shader is what determines what properties are available for a surface in the Surfaces Pane. Shaders are designed for a specific render engine, and often don't look "right" when rendered with another render engine. Examples of shaders are Daz Studio Default (3Delight), AoA_Subsurface (3Delight), Iray Uber (Iray), MC6 (Poser). In Daz Studio, shaders can be created and modified in the Shader Mixer. Don't be intimidated! Most Daz Studio users never create or modify shaders, but instead use Shader Presets or Material Presets that are bundled with Daz Studio or are purchased in the Daz Store.
I've gotten started on an idea for this month that is rendering as I type this. While I'm going for a Shadowrun type of setting, my goal is to be more along the lines of the planning of a run rather then in the middle of things like I normaly do.
Here we are with my set for this month. I need to do some more surface work and populate the scene, but this should give you an idea of what I'm going for tone wise at least.
What has been worked with on this version surface wise is the tables and surfaces that shared the texture as the metal on them, the seats, floor, windows, and lights(making them black lights to set the mood inside). I also made the screen in the background a light source and lit and led under it.
You are off to a good start! It is interesting already.
Version b up. I've added my first two runners at the main table, did some grunging of the map that was laying on said tabel, and some texture work on the sitting runner's clothes.
@barbult thanks for your feedback on version a.
Now that you've added the characters, I'm having a hard time seeing them. The left side of the image is very dark. I understand that you are going for a certain mood, but I think it needs more light to see what is going on. See what other people think about this when they come along to comment.
Made some adjustments to the render settings, and did some tweeks to the screen and the arm of the standing guy.
I can see the characters better now, Shinji Ikari 9th, and you still maintained the dark moody atmosphere.
Shinji Ikari 9th I really like what you did with the the furniture in this, makes it much more realistic I think
@barbult and @IceDragonArt, Thanks for your comments, I try to use the feedback that I get to decide what changes I should make with the next version.
That being typed, I'd rendered version D of this before I saw what the two of you had typed. What I'd done was add a third character standing across the table from the seated character (at least from the seated guys pov I think.) which gave me the feel that the seated guy is being questioned about the last run he'd been on.
When I got the feeling that the seated guy in my main render was being questioned about his last run, I got the idea of trying to tell some of the story in a second render. Not just that but I decided to tell it from his pov.
Lara in the Bedroom version 1
I have changed the texture of Lara's dress to turn it into a nightdress and I have also changed the textures of the furniture and the bedclothes
Here we go with version b of my second idea. I've done some more texture work but can't remember where other then the door. I also added the main character's fellow runners and did a lot of retexturing of the clothing of the one at the door.
I got derivative, and decided to take a page out of the great Jepe's book. So here's a statue, version one.
Welcome to the challenge, TigerAnne. Please tell us how you used materials to change up the look of your image.
Welcome. This is my entry for this month.
I am here mainly to get inspired and hopefully inspire some of you as well. So I will give you a short insight into the creation process of this thing.
I had the idea to create a close-up of a scene containing no more than 2 or 3 materials, to keep the focus on this month's topic. I thought of a doorknocker, something we all know, and furthermore, when we see and use it, it is normally close. Seems to be a good candidate. And the door is also close. So there we have our limited number of materials in a very detailled view.
I wanted to use an old Daz3D asset, The Wither for Genesis 2, because I liked the style very much. There is a newer version, probably better quality, but the style is different. So I wanted to use the old one, meaning I had to deal with geometry and textures that were not meant to show off a few centimeters away in a high res render. I did a test render with the original asset on a wooden door and I realized that some work was coming my way. Especially as the head looked rather amusing than creepy :)
The wood base texture was not too much work, I used a scanned texture with normal map, baked some additional maps for the PBR metallic/roughness workflow and placed the material on a simple plane.
I changed the head's geometry a bit in areas where it did not look nice. Now I did a new UV unwrap for the figure's head and increased the polygon count, enough to make it look nice in the final image. In a next step I increased the polygon count of this scene object even more so that I could use this new mesh to bake a few maps (cavity etc.) that would be helpful for painting new textures. After modelling the ring it was time to paint all required textures. This is the part I love most because I can use a pen :) After texturing the head, I added some damage and decals to the wall. To support the wood texture and the focus on the doorknocker, there are no camera or object angles or perspectives. Some depth comes from the sun and environment lighting.
Title: "Welcome"
Renderer: Iray
I hope that some of you feel inspired. Please do also give us an insight into your techniques and workflows, as every task can necessitate different solutions.
@barbult Thank you!
I made a new version, with some accents. What I've done, is I've taken a GF8 model called Delaney, put her in a dancing pose, and used a "cast iron" shader on her. The dress she's wearing has had the skirt turned into "jade glass." It's the Hinata dress, BTW. The bodice is the same material as her body, because making it transparent made it look like she had nipples (she doesn't). 
I made the base from a large planter that I flipped upside down, and added a "granite" shader. The accent flowers came with the "Essence" set for V4, and I applied the same shaders to them. I felt they added an Art Nouveau feeling to the sculpture.
I'm in two minds here. A part of me wants to change the lighting to something sunnier, but my friend thinks it looks good with the overcast light. The dancer still "pops" pretty good against the dark trees, but I feel like the flowers don't.
That is a great start. Thanks for the description. It looks like you've made good use of DOF, too.I'd experiment with brighter lighting, to see if you can bring out the details. I think your idea to try something sunnier is good. You don't want to wash out the bright shader areas, but I think some additional contrast would be beneficial. Save this version of the scene, so you can always come back, if the lighting experiments don't work out to your satisfaction.
That is pretty amazing! Thanks for the detailed description of how you achieved it. Most new users (or even long time users) will not be up to that level of technical sophistication yet, so it is interesting to see this level of of work. You really made a drastic improvement to what you started with.
Thanks, barbult. Yeah, the description is short, but I had to spend some time on this one :)
TigerAnne, I agree with barbult. This is a very nice scene. The homogenous colors of environment lighting, background and the reflection of the statue are great. To make the statue more prominent, playing with light should work. Other tricks like specularity / glossiness might not help because they also need light to work, but make things more "unreal". The same applies to a self illuminating material on the statue - it can improve the situation, but it will swallow reflections, curves and details and not look natural. If you don't want to illuminate the environment more, a subtle spotlight or even better, smooth area light(s) could perhaps help. But in case we are totally wrong - keeping a backup of the scene is a good idea :)
@TigerAnne, if you're using Iray then you can make adjustments to the render settings. When I've liked my lighting but have gotten feedback that it was a little too dark to see the characters what I do is change the exposure value under tone maping. Note that shutter speed will be tweeked as well acordingly as you do so.
Nice start by the way.
Thank you for the feedback, everyone! I've safely saved this version.
This is a great start TigerAnne. After reading Fisherman_B's suggestion to you I immediately thought of a ground spotlight. This would allow you to keep the subdued environment lighting but allow a source of light to highlight the statue.
I am looking forward to seeing your next version.
Wow. This is an amazing transformation. It really shows all the work you put into this image. I am definitely inspired.
I see continual improvement in your images Sueya.
It might be the camera angle but is the swan on the end table?
I was listening to music and Metallica Atlas, Rise! came up, then this sort of happened.
I think every surface has a material added or changed except for the ivy. I made a marble texture for the columns so they would look different than the statue.
@dtrscbrutal That is so. Freakin. Cool! I love the reflections, and how you can see the moon mirrored on the Earth-globe.
x 10!
Diddo from me dtrscbrutal. I fully agree with Tigeranne, you have a great start here.