Need help with LIE

WillowRaven

I'm trying to place an arm patch on a shirt sleeve and am thinking LIE will be the most effective way, but is there a way to position and scale the image in an easier way than guessing? Maybe a preview or means to position in scene?

ArtAngel

You need a map. Not a bump map but a map. Because maps help people who are lost. What I do Is copy the image, open in an edit program, make a new layer, draw a grid of numbers on it, making each number a differnt color. I also use arrows pointing North South East and West (up down left and right) in bright neon colors. Load this, study it and that's your map. I affectionately named it my grid buddy (because I don't have many friends so the more the merrier lol). Merge this puppy and watch the weirdness happen. 

Edit; PS. Don't forget to view the back front and sides. Take screenshots and use them as a reference. I am not a Daz expert so this was the best solution I could invent that worked for me.

WillowRaven

Thanks ... A little confusing, but I'll try to figure it out. Does it matter than a shader is applied to the shirt?

Worlds_Edge

ArtAngel said:

You need a map. Not a bump map but a map. Because maps help people who are lost. What I do Is copy the image, open in an edit program, make a new layer, draw a grid of numbers on it, making each number a differnt color. I also use arrows pointing North South East and West (up down left and right) in bright neon colors. Load this, study it and that's your map. I affectionately named it my grid buddy (because I don't have many friends so the more the merrier lol). Merge this puppy and watch the weirdness happen. 

Edit; PS. Don't forget to view the back front and sides. Take screenshots and use them as a reference. I am not a Daz expert so this was the best solution I could invent that worked for me.

Could you post a picture as an example next time you are going through the process? 

ArtAngel

WillowRaven said:

Thanks ... A little confusing, but I'll try to figure it out. Does it matter than a shader is applied to the shirt?

Shaders? Are you applying them or creating them? I always create and apply what I want in photoshop and bring it back in. it becomes the new texture/tat/shader wart etc. 

SlimerJSpud

I think the user interface on LIE is pretty poor. I use it, but it's far from ideal. You don't get all angle rotation on the overlay, and the scale and x-y position interact. There's also quite a bit of lag moving things around. You're almost better off using Photoshop to make a new version of the texture, then swap that out in DS. I've done both (I use Paint Shop Pro). I use LIE mostly for tattoos, or eye makeup.

WillowRaven

It looks like I'll have to do it all in photoshop creating a new texture ... I managed to guess at where to place and size the patch on one sleeve, but no matter what I do, I can't figure out the other. It's just faster to apply a shader when it's the right color.

Thanks for the help :)

L'Adair

WillowRaven said:

It looks like I'll have to do it all in photoshop creating a new texture ... I managed to guess at where to place and size the patch on one sleeve, but no matter what I do, I can't figure out the other. It's just faster to apply a shader when it's the right color.

Thanks for the help :)

@WillowRaven, If the shader uses an image, it will be a seamless tile, and many shader presets set the Horizontal Tile and Vertical Tile parameters to something other than 1.0. When you add anything via the LIE, it will be applied to an image that is probably going to be tiled several times.

 

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Another option is to use Diffuse Overlay. You will need both the patch image and a transmap, (black image with white where the patch goes.)

1. Select your object in the Scene, (in this case, the shirt.)
2. Open the Surfaces->Editor and select the same object.
3. Take note of the number of tiles used for the shader.
4. If the object has more than one material zone, select the zone where you want to add the patch.
5. Double-click on the material zone and drill-down to the Overlay section. (This isolates just the Overlay settings in the right column.)
6. Set Diffuse Overlay Weight to 1.0. Additional settings will appear.
7. Click on the image icon for Diffuse Overlay Color and select Layered Image Editor…
8. In the LIE, click on the "+" icon to add a layer.
9. Select the new layer
10. Click on the Resource button and select Browse…
11. Locate the original texture for that material zone and Select.
12. In the LIE, click on the "+" icon to add a second layer.
13. Select the second layer
14. Click on the Resource button and select Browse…
15. Locate your patch image and Select.
16. Click on the Zoom to Fit button
17. Move the patch into place
    • "Grab" the patch with your mouse button and move it into place.
    • Underneath the Blend Mode button are several options to move, rotate and size the layer, if you need to.
18. Once the patch is in position, Select the lower layer, (the original texture)
19. Click on the "-" icon to remove the layer.
20. Click on Accept to save the image and close the LIE dialog window.
21. Click on the image icon for Diffuse Overlay Color again and take note of the selected image, (checkmark to the left of image name.)
22. Esc
23. Click on the image icon for Diffuse Overlay Weight and select the same image.
24. Click on the image icon for Diffuse Overlay Weight again and select Layered Image Editor…
25. In the LIE, click on the "+" icon to add a layer.
26. Select the new layer
27. Click on the Resource button and select Browse…
28. Locate your patch transmap image and Select.
29. Move the new layer into place by copying the values of the patch layer into the same settings as the transmap layer.
30. Select the patch image layer.
31. Click on the "-" icon to remove the layer.
32. Click on Accept to save the image and close the LIE dialog window.
33. Click on the image icon for Diffuse Overlay Color again and select Image Editor… (Not the LIE.)
34. In the Image Editor Dialog Window, click on the Instance Tiling tab.
35. Click on the value for Horizontal Tiles.
36. Divide the value by the number of tiles you noted for the shader originally. For example, five. The value becomes 1.00/5. (This allows DS to do the calculations for you.)
37. Click on the value for Vertical Tiles.
38. Divide the value by the number of tiles you noted for the shader originally, as in Step 36.
39. Click on Accept to save the changes and close the dialog.
40. Click on the image icon for Diffuse Overlay Weight again and select Image Editor…
41. Repeat Steps 34 through 39.

The Diffuse Layer is not visible in the Viewport except in Nvidia Iray draw mode. If the Iray draw mode is an issue, you can do a spot render to see if the patch is where you expect it to be.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to speed up the LIE. I believe it needs to create a composite image in memory with each change, (movement of a layer, new layer, added image, etc.)

WillowRaven

Thanks so much for the detailed steps, lol. I need all the instruction I can get, lol. I'll give that a try before giving up.

ArtAngel

WillowRaven said:

Thanks so much for the detailed steps, lol. I need all the instruction I can get, lol. I'll give that a try before giving up.

 

Keep trying. Don't give up.

 

Worlds_Edge said:

ArtAngel said:

You need a map. Not a bump map but a map. Because maps help people who are lost. What I do Is copy the image, open in an edit program, make a new layer, draw a grid of numbers on it, making each number a differnt color. I also use arrows pointing North South East and West (up down left and right) in bright neon colors. Load this, study it and that's your map. I affectionately named it my grid buddy (because I don't have many friends so the more the merrier lol). Merge this puppy and watch the weirdness happen. 

Edit; PS. Don't forget to view the back front and sides. Take screenshots and use them as a reference. I am not a Daz expert so this was the best solution I could invent that worked for me.

Could you post a picture as an example next time you are going through the process? 

After I get my new PC I plan to post some videos and hopefully I will remember to link them here, in my signature. Here is the original (forgive the gray box heads - Daz and I were having a moment) and here are the changes (red New York shirt and other items.(Pssst that's my book Josie is holding).