Iray Viewport in DAZ Studio 6 Feels Less Responsive Than in 4.23
xatian23
Posts: 2
I have been using DAZ Studio 4.23 as my main working environment, while also keeping a close eye on newer versions. In my experience, DAZ Studio 6 is now significantly better than 4.23 in many areas, including loading speed and IK calculations, so I am considering migrating to it.
However, there is one persistent issue with 6: when Iray preview is enabled in the viewport, orbiting or dragging the view feels noticeably sluggish and unresponsive.
The issue can be reproduced with a very simple scene:
1. Create any empty scene.
2. Add four Genesis 8.1 Female figures.
3. goto "Environment Options" Node->Set "Environment Mode" = "Dome Only"
4. Enable Iray preview in the viewport and try moving the camera.
I recorded the behavior in both versions. You can identify each version by the version number in the upper-left corner.
DAZ Studio 4.23:
https://mega.nz/file/83kXSL4Z#eW8V8XeRWvnAx0ME13ipveEyYStu4DeeUJo5ORq2Ook
DAZ Studio 6:
https://mega.nz/file/oj1RzbiD#JvyInsykZgRMN1X96xEME93W7DFl9Zg8aiPeXvBXkLs
As you can see, 4.23 uses a clever approach to maintain responsiveness. When the viewport cannot render quickly enough, it use a very low Iray rendering resolution for the first few frames. Overall, it prioritizes keeping the viewport responsive and closely synchronized with mouse movement.
It seems that this feature may have been lost or overlooked during the development of daz 6.
This may not be a particularly serious technical issue, but it can have a noticeable impact on workflow efficiency. In more complex scenes, the lag makes it difficult to position the camera accurately while remaining in Iray preview mode. As a result, everytime when I want change something, I have to switch to a faster viewport mode, adjust the view, and then switch back to Iray.
Using a dual-viewport layout might be one possible workaround. However, in my experience, two viewports also have some performance issues. And as a matter of personal preference, I would also rather work with a single Iray viewport In most case.
Has anyone else experienced this issue? Is there a setting or workaround that can make the Iray viewport in 6 behave more like it does in 4.23?
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My system specifications are as follows:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
64 GB RAM
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Windows 11
I made sure that the tests were performed in a very clean environment, with DAZ Studio being the only application running after login Windows11. DAZ Studio 4.23 and DAZ Studio 6 were also tested separately, so the two versions were never running at the same time. There should therefore be no interference from other processes competing for system resources.
I have also checked the texture-related options in the settings and made sure that they are all configured for maximum performance. I understand that these settings are not intended for Iray, but I checked them anyway just in case.
I do not think this issue is primarily caused by differences in the Iray settings. I have some practical experience with simple DX12 PBR renderers.. using AI and daz doc, I believe I'm sure which Iray parameters are likely to have a meaningful impact on performance.
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Comments
It isnt you, in my usage, the viewport/redraw is horrendous. Load a genesis figure while it is in Textured Viewport mode, add a basic daz genesis texture to it. Watch how the surface turns blue and only shows textured when you mouse over the viewport. I have a 3090Ti, 64GB DDR4 and an i9-10900k.
Same issues on my side ~
Well, DS 6.x use the same technics, i.e. Manipulation Resolution in Draw Settings to improve responsiveness in Viewport, the default value is also 1/4.... so the lag may come from other reasons...
Before Daz really improves the performace, in Draw Settings, you can lower the value of Manipulation Resolution to 1/8 even 1/16, or change Draw Mode from Photoreal to Interactive, it can significantly improve the responsiveness.
I agree. I actually tried adjusting this parameter before, but honestly, the improvement wasn't very noticeable.
I recorded it again at 1/16:
https://mega.nz/file/Un0kgI5C#30xvR00n1c1bAOtOZsuzMOmileWIuDHAKYEkym0af7U
If this issue really is that common, hopefully the DAZ team can fix it soon...
Right ~ the performance with different cards may vary... Further change Draw Mode to Interactive, see how it works.
I just get a black screen changing the draw mode, doesnt seem to like my dimly lit scenes.
This actually works a bit better—I have to thank you for pointing me in the right direction!
That said, it's still nowhere near as smooth as 4.23, even with Interactive set to 1/32. So still hope the team can improve this.
https://mega.nz/file/Iv8WQTIJ#naTcQV3VP3RcoxNJITExQqlJwE2t-FChTNDKjjXPNw0