Real Lights For DAZ Studio Iray - Monitor Screen Shader

Xenomorphine

Had my eye on this for a while and recently procured it:

http://www.daz3d.com/real-lights-for-daz-studio-iray

But how do we get the 'Monitor Screen' shader to function? I've tested it in on the computer monitor textures in Shuttlestar and Stonemason's Sci-Fi Bedroom and only seem to get a single colour showing on them, completely different to the beautiful illuminated textures shown in the product's promo visuals.

I've tried clicking CTRL when applying the shader to them, telling it to ignore the selected images, but the render still has the screens showing a single light yellow colour. What I want it to do is to give the existing image/texture on the screen a slight realistic glow. It's an effect I've been wanting to reproduce for a very long time!

Any ideas?

Tobor

I have Real Lights -- bought it the day it came out -- but I have not used it yet. I really have to add it to my runtime!

Anyway, I bet the issue here is that the textures needs to be added to the Emissiion Color input node ("channel"). Just note the texture used for Base Color, and apply that to the Emission Color as well. You'll probably need to jack up the luminance a bit to brighten it. Change the emission color, and color temperature, for the look you want.

Xenomorphine

OK, tested that technique and it seems to work! Not sure if that's how it's meant to be used or if there's an easier 'official' method, but it made the original textures nice and bright. :) If that is how it's meant to be used, it really does look fantastic! Doesn't drown the surrounding environment out with a glow, but makes the actual screens easily readable.

If the product's creator is reading this, could the shader be given a small auto-update through the DIM, so that texture retention would be automatic for that specific shader?

Tobor

Xenomorphine said:

OK, tested that technique and it seems to work! Not sure if that's how it's meant to be used or if there's an easier 'official' method, but it made the original textures nice and bright. :) If that is how it's meant to be used, it really does look fantastic! Doesn't drown the surrounding environment out with a glow, but makes the actual screens easily readable.

If the product's creator is reading this, could the shader be given a small auto-update through the DIM, so that texture retention would be automatic for that specific shader?

This IS the official way to do it.

The texture was never in the Emission Color node, because for other renderers, that node does not exist. It has to be placed there, either manually, or by a script. It is possible to write a script that copies a texture from  Base Color and puts it into Emission Color, but I'm sure there are some products out there that use the 3DL Abmient Color channel, and who knows what else, to achieve a similar result. It just so happens on the material you used, Base Color held the monitor texture. It's probably best just to do it yourself, because then there's no guesswork.

Xenomorphine

Learn something new every day!