Winter time user baffled by new nuts and bolts

Winter Throwback

So... I do lots of things and every so often I re-pick up DAZ3d and start working on stuff again. Well, I guess it's been a little over a year according to my last saved image... but...

WTH HAPPENED? Nothing seems to work right *full panic mode incoming* OMG the renders take over twenty minutes instead of 10 seconds? What's an LRay? Is that like God Rays? I don't use lightning! We're on V8 now? And Genesis 3? I swear I didn't think I needed to upgrade! I have a bunch of V4 M3 stuff and I don't want to lose it! Was Genesis really that important? What colour is an orange? Why does scorpio light beams only work when parented to a Gen character? Don't they have their own .obj files? I bought the sumo ring and the Mysterious tomb and both do take an ungodly amount of time to render to the point where I simply wont use them. Level 19? Dark Fantasy weapons? V6 string bikini? I-I Didn't buy these! I swear to god I'm not a thief! Take them back, take them baaaaaack!!!

FIX MEEEHHHH!!!!

Also, hi! Haven't used these forums in a couple years so... yes I'm "returning" but no, I don't remember anyone :)

 

1. V4 transition V8/Gen3 : I guess I need to start this transition, as much as I detest the thought of it. I hate the idea that I'm losing all the old outfits and gear for kitbashing and need to start over. Someone told me I could reset my V4 gear for V6-8 or G3? Is that true? How do I do that?

2. Why do some renders take 20 minutes?  As an example https://www.daz3d.com/mysterious-tomb ;  takes around 20 minutes to render properly. It seems to make things FAR overly complicated compared to, say, the old generation and Half-Life  inspired https://www.daz3d.com/industry-one which takes about 10-15 seconds.

3. What colour is an orange?   This plays into the above as I've noticed (distressingly so) that my edit tab where I change colours and add layers to opacity or new "skins" to items and people have CHANGED. No longer my friendly Opacity, Spec, A, and D options I've got a SLEW of new sliders, none of which seem to cause a positive effect. Really terrible is the https://www.daz3d.com/sunstone-chamber which, while allowing for fast renders which I'm thankful for... comes with these new, twisted and strange options. The Fire you see in the example pics above always comes out BLACK for me. I've taken my time, selected each piece of fire and each different slider, one at a time, and I cannot get the fire to match it's painted, natural colour.

4. Seorpio : https://www.daz3d.com/soldiers-of-magic-serpio Does anyone use this? I've fought with it off and on and finally gave up. It looks like it'll be amazing but short of me loading an invisable Genesis character and attachin gthe lightning to that character I can't come up with any idea that might make this work.

5. Platinum Club Member : Apparently I am one... but I don't remember joining this club (It costs extra and I'm not known for whimisical join-the-club purchases). Can anyone point me in the direction of finding out what this is, does, and what benefits I should have been getting for the last 5 years?

6. https://www.daz3d.com/poser-format-exporter-pfe : Anyone use this who can point me towards a tutorial? This would be super cool and get me started doing poses even if it's older model stuff.

I have thousands of questions I'm sure but for now I'll leave it here. I'm Pacific time but I work graveyard so I'd be checking the forums between 8pm Pacific up to 11am Pacific.

Richard Haseltine

1. The various Genesis figurs come with "AutoFit" clones, allowing you to convert (with the loss of any custom bones) older clothing for the new figure - you can AutoFit Victoria or Michael 4 clothing to Genesis, then Auto Fit that to either Genesis 2 or Genesis 8 (there are also add-ons in the store to skip the Genesis stage). Moprhs can also be cnverted, using the Transfer Utility - there's a long thread on the geenral method, though it's mainly about Genesis 3 to Genesis 8. Victoria 4 and Michael 4 maps work on Genesis, using them on later figures requires add-on products.

2. Iray renders do not have a fixed progression the way 3delight does (and 3Delight iss till there - select it in the Editor or Advanced tab of the Render Settings pane), they look to see if the pixels are sufficiently "converged" (have stopped chnaging with each pass). An enclosed scene will usually have less light available, and will rely much more on light rays bouncing around to reach recesses and corners - that slows the convergence process down. More lights to help fill in shadow areas will help.

 

Winter Throwback

Awesome. Thanks Richard, any answers on the other 4 questions?

Richard Haseltine

5 https://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-plus - though you are not a member as far as I can see on the forum side.

Mattymanx

Winter Throwback said:

6. https://www.daz3d.com/poser-format-exporter-pfe : Anyone use this who can point me towards a tutorial? This would be super cool and get me started doing poses even if it's older model stuff.

I have thousands of questions I'm sure but for now I'll leave it here. I'm Pacific time but I work graveyard so I'd be checking the forums between 8pm Pacific up to 11am Pacific.

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/6869/ - Please note, I have not used that plugin in a very long time so I honestly dont remember how to use it.  If you have any questions about it, post it in the thread there and hopefully someone can help you.

 

If you are looking to save poses for Genesis figures, then you dont need the PFE.  The PFE is only needed if you want to save poses in the poser format.  Daz Studio DUF files are best if you are going to use the poses in DS instead of poser, even if its not a Genesis figure.

Winter Throwback

Could still use some help here.  The color is by far the most aggressive problem. Any tutorials for the new DAZ3D Actors, Wardrobe & Props window?

 

2. Why do some renders take 20 minutes?  As an example https://www.daz3d.com/mysterious-tomb ;  takes around 20 minutes to render properly. It seems to make things FAR overly complicated compared to, say, the old generation and Half-Life  inspired https://www.daz3d.com/industry-one which takes about 10-15 seconds.

3. What colour is an orange?   This plays into the above as I've noticed (distressingly so) that my edit tab where I change colours and add layers to opacity or new "skins" to items and people have CHANGED. No longer my friendly Opacity, Spec, A, and D options I've got a SLEW of new sliders, none of which seem to cause a positive effect. Really terrible is the https://www.daz3d.com/sunstone-chamber which, while allowing for fast renders which I'm thankful for... comes with these new, twisted and strange options. The Fire you see in the example pics above always comes out BLACK for me. I've taken my time, selected each piece of fire and each different slider, one at a time, and I cannot get the fire to match it's painted, natural colour.