Broadway Light Bulbs Letterings - On/Off mat prob
Doc Acme
Posts: 1,153
Just picked up the Broadway Light Bulb Letterings product (new just a few days ago I think) and having a bit of an issue with the On and OFF materials.
When I try to apply to a bulb, I get this error that it's missing assets:
users/admin/desktop/broadway_light_bulbs_letterings_ansiko/runtime/textures/ansiko/broadway light bulbs letterings/blbl_baselamp_basecolor.png
users/admin/desktop/broadway_light_bulbs_letterings_ansiko/runtime/textures/ansiko/broadway light bulbs letterings/blbl_baselamp_height.png
users/admin/desktop/broadway_light_bulbs_letterings_ansiko/runtime/textures/ansiko/broadway light bulbs letterings/blbl_baselamp_roughness.png
etc.
Yet they're actually in the \DAZ 3D\Studio\My Library\Runtime\Textures\ANSIKO\Broadway Light Bulbs Letterings folder.
How/can I easily correct this? I'll probably send a note in to tech support but thought maybe there's a quicker solution.
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Comments
You could create the folder where the software is looking for them and copy the files over to that folder.
Ya, but I'd rather it look in the correct place as in where the DIM installed them. Probably just some fiddle needed with the MAT file I assume, but not in my area of knowledge.
I'll drop tech support a note.
If the error message is giving the entire paths you showed in your first post they are using absolute addresses instead of relative addresses. You should report the product to CS if that is the case.
While you are waiting, you can edit the .duf file and change the path (wherever it is found) to the proper relative path by removing "users/admin/desktop/broadway_light_bulbs_letterings_ansiko" so that references start with "/runtime/..."
That's not just an absolute address — it's an absolute address pointing to a WIP folder stored on someone's Desktop folder. A definite QA fail there; or maybe the files put up on the DAZ server weren't the actual final files (been a while since that last happened to an actual DAZ product).
I have seen it several times when there is a 3DL version and an Iray version. The Iray version is clean, but the 3DL version has the path error, leading me to believe that 3DL doesn't get equal attention.
Thanks folks. Not a biggy at this point. I've a ton & 1/2 of other things to take care. Sort of sounds as if I'm the first to purchase though.
I did send TS a report so will let the propellor heads sort it out & put out an update. I've encountered worse bugs certainly.
Sent a 2nd note to Tech support. Usually they responded in a few hours or next day so just not sure.
Anyway, while there are some issues with two of the materials getting this error, and I could edit the DUF file, I think my main problem is not fully understanding working with Instance Groups. The are no docs with the product which doesn't help but tried to find info in the DAZ manual too and nada. Pretty much the same with YT.
So, might someone point me to useful info or vids on working with them, particularly in this case of applying a material preset. Do I need to toggle items as well as apply a surface? I've tried simply selecting a bulb in the GUI then applying any of the other ones that don't give an error yet not seeing what I chose getting applied even with toggling the ON/OFF items.
I don't have this product, but with instances, in general, any change to the master copy will also apply to instances made from it. What I believe the artist has made here is a way to show the lights on and off by switching visibility, instead of having to apply a different material for each case. There is often more than one way to achieve a desired result, and this is a good example.
To show the lights ON hide the "Blbl Bulb OFF" on the master object. To show the lights OFF, hide the "Blbl Bulb ON". Since they occupy the same space, one or the other might show if both are visible at the same time, depending on how the preview or render decide which to use. You can manipulate individual instances (visibility, position, scale) but not the materials. In this case, you should be able to turn on or off individual lights with the visibility because it does not change the materials, just shows one or the other. (If that is the intention).
Ok, I'll give that a go. Thanks.
Still not a peep from Tech support. Maybe I'll drop the vendor a note then.
I'm having this problem too, and that was the first thing I tried to do. It didn't work. Have sent a message to tech support, but yeah, that's a really weird file path (to admin desktop folder). I have no idea how I would edit it.
The .duf should be a plain text file. Paths are relative to the Library root, so, anything before "/runtime/..." can safely be removed, as I mentioned earlier. If you are afraid of modifying the file for fear of making a mess of it, save a copy of the original. You can always re-install to get back the originals, or get a fresh copy it out of the zip.
As for the On/Off, what exactly is the problem? Do the lights not turn on or off?
Something is bothering me about those instances. When I make instances of a group or hierarchy of objects, I get an Instances Group with single entities for each instance, not repeated groups or hierarchies. Try unparenting the master ON and OFF objects from the Base and see if the appearance and behaviour changes.
Thank you for that! I may try editing the .duf file. I already have copies from downloading manually.
As for the lights, they don't turn on and off. Each instance (and there are a LOT of them) has an "on" state and an "off" state in the scene tab, but also there's high intensity, low intensity under the materials tab as well.
It's all rather confusing!
Well at least I'm not alone with this. Still no word from Tech Support nor the vendor. Suspect the first is also trying to contact the second, but they should reply to that effect.
I'll give the path edit a shot with your notes NorthOf & see if that at least corrects the error.
Well, I've had that error a couple of times from this vendor. It was just a reference to the resource URL that doesn't seem to make a difference, so I never followed up on it, since everything worked. You'll get rid of the error messages, for sure. Don't know if that's enough to take care of the bigger problem, but you never know...
Well, after making the DUF edit, I made some progress in that I no longer get the error, and after a couple wasted hours of testing, all I can get are Frosted globes with light On, clear globes Off, but can't get a clear globe with filament On High, etc.
Nor have I figured out how to get a mixture of on & off. I'm sure it's stupidly simple, once you've seen it.
Also, where might I find a Legend of sorts as to what the Node hieroglyphics in the Scene tree refer to? An eyeball or camera is kinda obvious, but most of the rest ...
Since there's been ZERO response from the author & Tech Support, I just cut to the chase & reverse engineered things via Lightwave. I tried the Instances to Objects script on the Daz scene and it would fail; basically just goobered the scene with rogue willy-nilly placed sockets & bulbs.
Although I could go with an instancing approach in LW, cloning the hierarchy gives me much more control for the moment. Perhaps when many more copies are needed I'll look into that.
I broke the bulb geometry out to separate layers. There was a lot of "why'd they do it that way" with the Daz model so I could simply get rid or just hide much of it. By breaking out the filament, I turned it into an actual light rather than just luminous polys so shadows will be different. I can now individually change color, make globes flicker, etc.
Still fine tuning some surfaces such as the glass but they're pretty much in the "season to taste" realm. Using a Dielectric material for that. This test is just an HDR enviro with a shadow catch ground plane and volumetrics set & enabled.
I have the other two sets of letters & numbers with lights, and each one has a different approach (maybe I need a third?). Marshian's uses copies (not instances) of each light with bulbs that can be textured individually (clear, color frosted). Point lights for the clear bulbs, emissive for the frosted. Nikisatez's uses instances for all additional lights, so they all follow the master bulb. Clear or frosted, on or off, all the same. This one seems overly complicated, but what was the intention?
There is still something bugging me about those instances. If you don't mind indulging me for a couple of quick checks, maybe we can uncover something. Going by the image you originally posted, the master "Blbl Bulb ON" and "Blbl Bulb OFF" are parented to "Blbl Bulb Base". There are also two child element instance nodes attached to a base bulb instance (i.e., Blbl Bulb OFF_Ins_0 and Blbl Bulb ON_Ins_0 as child nodes of Blbl Bulb Base_Ins_0). I think what is happening is that there are two clones of the ON and OFF objects all in the same space.
Select the Blbl Bulb OFF_Ins_0 and drag it a little to one side, and do the same with Blbl Bulb ON_Ins_0 to the other side. If they were the only copies, there should be nothing in the original bulb position. If there is still a bulb showing there, try hiding the master ON and OFF bulbs one at a time to see what happens.
Ya mean somthing goofy like this?
Ya, that's what I was referring to with the geometry in LW. I thought at first it was due partially to export choices, but the surface names separate things quite well & it's not duplicate geometry, so pretty deliberate.
Here's what I mean: This is just a few polys selected for clarity. Each rectangle is actually two coplanars but with different names The black line is just the outer surface in the bg; still two coplaners w/ different surfs & their normal faces the same as the Highlighted poly. The other two face the opposite. So for the ON Globe, you've 3 sets of geom, slightly scaled differently and with alternating normals.
Okay, that's what I thought. You can clearly see that the ON and OFF have different materials. There is still something at the original bulb position: the clones of the child nodes of the master grouping ("Blbl Bulb Base", "Blbl Bulb ON" and "Blbl Bulb OFF"). When you clone a parent node, everything under it goes along for the ride. If you unparent the ON and OFF objects, their clones (the ones still in the original middle position) should disappear. The clones of the individual ON and OFF objects (the two you moved to the side) should stay, since they were cloned independently.
Now try unparenting the "Blbl Bulb ON" and "Blbl Bulb OFF" from "Blbl Bulb Base" so that they are at the same level (don't touch the instances). You could also move those apart a little to see how the materials apply without one hiding the other. That will leave one of each in all the instances in the group. Set the original "Blbl Bulb ON" and "Blbl Bulb OFF" to some suitable materials, and try hiding the master OFF and ON to see what happens. Fearless prediction (assuming the materials apply correctly): with OFF hidden and ON visible, all bulbs look ON; with ON hidden and OFF visible, all bulbs look OFF, which is what it should do in that config.
That actually helped a great deal... in letting me know that I won't have the control I'd like in DS. So, will continue on translating to Lightwave.
The materials CAN'T be assigned individually it seems, or at least not w/o a great deal more work. The Masters are at the bottom and arrows indicate what was applied. With those separated, you can now individually toggle bulbs on or off, but those are the only choices. You can't have just one bulb out, another dim, etc.
Too bad. Gorgeous model but hobbled in potential. Oh, discovered another DUF that needs editing; 4 - ONLY Bulb Filament Low Intensity ON.duf.
Thanks for your help NorthOf. I really appreciate it since I can't seem to find any useful docs or tut's on this stuff.
Correct, you cannot change the texture of the cloned bulbs, but nothing says you have to keep the clones. You could replace them with pairs of real objects, like the originals (create duplicates, not instances). Then you can apply a texture to the ON bulbs (each one different, if you want), another for the OFF bulbs, and hide/show the ones you want. You have all the material you need. It will require some set-up time, and uses a bit more memory, but we're talking light bulbs, not dozens of high-poly, high-resolution bitmaps.
True, but that's pretty much what I'll be doing in Lightwave anyway and with simpler geom for the bulbs. Even so, it's still quite a collection of assets. Would be nice if it worked in DS but that wasn't my original goal.
Woo and Hoo! Got a product update this evening & can now set bulbs & filaments correctly in DS. Squeeky wheel does it again!
In any case, thanks Ansiko.
https://www.daz3d.com/broadway-light-bulb-letterings
@Doc Acme
I have just purchased the product and am experiencing the same problem. Now I read that a product update has been published where the problem has been solved. How can I still get this update somewhere?
Updates will appear in the DIM "Ready to Download" column. If you recently purchased, the update was probably already applied. If your still having the issue, perhaps get in touch with the artist directly.
Thank you for your response. I recently purchased this item and hoped that everything would work, but I also read the alternative here in the forum and I followed this and it works reasonably well. Unfortunately I cannot get the white color of the glass burning, but only the transparent glass with filament. That was enough for me to make something in my scene.
It's still not entirely intuitive but having slogged my way through DS's interface I've slowly decyphered some of it.
Take a look at these screen grabs. In essence you need to fiddle with settings for surface & emmissive for the filament and bulb glass surfaces.
Oh, you only need to change things with the uppermost Base node, not the instances other than to hide a bulb if needed.
Just perfect! Thank you for the screenshots ;)