iRay render in anything other than DAZ..?
DrGonzo62
Posts: 382
Hi,
I'm curious if there are any alternatives for doing a final iRay render other than in DAZ Studio?
There are other 3D apps out there that support iRay rendering (Maya, 3DS Max etc), but I don't think I've seen anything that comes close to DAZ when it comes to rendering people using iRay.
Most of the other apps render very beautiful interiors, landscapes, objects and such. But human characters, with realistic skin like I am able to render in iRay with DAZ?
Just wondering if I am missing something here.
Thanks for reading,
Kay
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...as far as I know the only other 3D programmes that have plugins for Iray are 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Rhino, and Maya and The cost is 295 USD for each and that is for a one year licence.
Aside from the version included here the only other "free"version of Iray is a 90 day trial from Nvidia.
You will find that ease of use and cost is why most render in IRAY with DS instead of another app. Most users here are hobbyists and don't have any knowledge of or access to highend modeling software or rendering apps outside of DS. There are quite a few other unbiased renderers other than IRAY out there such as Vray, maxwell, etc
check out sites like CGsociety to see what the rest of the larger CGI world uses/does with higher end software and rendering apps
oToy Octane Renderer is coming to Unity Free but I have no ideal of the time frame.
...but will the render engine be free as well? There is a plugin already available for Daz but you have to pay for the engine and the plugin separately.
It is my understanding the render engine will be free but let me search for an article stating that...
https://unity3d.com/company/public-relations/news/unity-unveils-new-tools-advanced-graphics-and-performance-introduces
https://blogs.unity3d.com/2016/11/01/unite-2016-keynote-wrap-up-news-on-graphics-platforms-vr-and-more/
finally, here it is...
Caution: this oToy rendered scene that they show in a bit in this video, while fake, is disgusting and indicative of extreme violence:
If you don't want to watch the summary is that yes, oToy Octane Renderer will be available in all versions of Unity including Unity Free in 2017.
...and it will support not just nVidia GPUs but AMD GPUs and things like Vulkan, Metal, openGL to make it portable & fast.
So you may want to consider getting a good work from to export DAZ Content to Unity working beforehand.
...impressive, but way out of my league and my system's capabilities, even for single still frame rendering.
Thanks for the feedback to everyone.
I had gone ahead and installed the Maya 2017 as well as the iRay for Maya trials.
While this would be a pretty pricey route to take - I won't have to! Yeah!
As far as I can tell this setup is really nice to render cars and sofas with iRay, but there aren't any shaders or textures to render humanoids with iRay.
Unreal.
So - it looks like DAZ is really the only game in town if one likes to render anything other than a kitchen with iRay.
Really sad, considering the many shortcomings I have run into with DAZ when it comes to animation.
No iRay animation batch rendering, flakey IK character posing, sub standard animation key control..
Well, you get what you pay for I guess.
Regards,
Kay
I just have to say that I'm baffled by the fact that DAZ is the only game in town for realist iRay renders of human subjects.
Yes, Maya or many of the other iRay supported 3D apps are not cheap, but - neither was my rig with dual GTX 1080's.
Or all the content I have purchased over the years.
So, I wouldn't even mind spending some money on another 3D app that can at least render as DAZ can, but it seems
that isn't even an option.
Weird.
Not weird at all IMO. the main difference between the DAZ/Poser community and other CGI communities is the plug and play aspect. When you are working with high end modeling apps like max, maya, zbrush, etc, you are expected to be doing most of the work which includes setting up the surfaces and shaders in addition to creating textures from scratch, etc, unlike here where everything comes into either app with a few clicks ready to render. I have seen some amazing renders of human subjects done in other apps, BUT the artists did all the work, so it is doable, just means a user would have to broaden their skill set and production time.
Then again, since you are doing animations, you'll find the majoirty of users here mainly do still renders which would explain why the animation tools are not as advanced as you might like.
Not really weird if you think about it; most content creators that use Maya or 3DS Max simply aren't interested in rendering the human figure in them, but may use Iray to do renders of environments they create in those programs. And most other applications that you can use Iray in to render a human figure, like Substance Painter, for example, are not primarily for doing highly detailed image renders like DAZ Studio is.
Surely if you are importing DAZ's figures into Maya, you could use the same textures as are available with those figures, assuming the UVs are not messed up during import. You would need to set up the Maya shaders, but I assume that is far easier than creating new textures from scratch.
Don't waste your money on Octane. I bought it late last year, and it was a waste of hundreds of dollars.
To be fair, it is a very capable renderer, but it is not at all compatible with Iray materials. That means you have to rebuild all the shaders from scratch, an extremely difficult (even impossible) and time-consuming task.
At this point it is neither faster nor better-looking than the free render software that comes with Daz.
That is a good point. I admit that I'd rather use a (more or less) ready to render character, instead of spending days to create one in Maya. Even the conversion of DAZ iRay materials to something that would look similar in Maya seems like a daunting and very time consuming task.
At least I am able to animate in Motionbuilder and bring the animation back into DAZ to render in iRay, and that is mayor helpful. MB is worth every penny IMHO.
All, thanks for your reply's and perspectives on this matter!