Luxus discussion

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  • FusionLAFusionLA Posts: 249
    edited March 2013

    jimzombie said:
    czexana said:

    Second, use glossiness channels rather than roughness. Most of the DS shaders use glossiness so it's easier to autoconvert, and it means you can use a standard specular map in this channel to give meaningful variation (more specular materials tend to be glossier).

    So you want a uglossiness and a vglossiness rather than the roughness? When in doubt I just exposed the values/properties of LuxRender direct. I can see that in some areas it would have been better to abstract things. I still hold to the philosophy in general.

    Shouldn't we try to keep things as close to Lux values so as to make interpreting information from the wiki easier? A lot of Studio users are already familiar with roughness from using UberSurface.

    Agree, using Luxus has made me go to the LuxRender Wiki to read and try and understand it.

    Post edited by FusionLA on
  • TofusanTofusan Posts: 28
    edited December 1969

    Hello, Spheric. Thank you for making a great plugin.
    I tried to create and render a few scenes. But I found a problem. This scene of the mesh so that looks incorrect. So far, this phenomenon seems to occur only in "Streets of Asia" by Stonemason.
    I'm using Luxus version 1.0.0.4 and LuxRender version 1.2.

    d82_1.png
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    d82.png
    600 x 776 - 846K
  • willowfanwillowfan Posts: 238
    edited March 2013

    tofusan said:
    Hello, Spheric. Thank you for making a great plugin.
    I tried to create and render a few scenes. But I found a problem. This scene of the mesh so that looks incorrect. So far, this phenomenon seems to occur only in "Streets of Asia" by Stonemason.
    I'm using Luxus version 1.0.0.4 and LuxRender version 1.2.

    I had this happen on one scene I was trying to render. As above there were bits missing from nearly every element in the scene. Nothing I tried would fix it, including deleting and reloading elements of the scene, deleting and reloading lights, changing the background, using a different skin texture etc, I tried rendering the scene a few times and each time the same thing happened but not necessarily in the same way (ie different things were invisible each time)

    In the end I just assumed that the scene save had become corrupted in some way and abandoned it. Not had it occur since.

    Post edited by willowfan on
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    robert952 said:
    The promo page "what's included" tab says "1 Ready to render test scene".

    Where is it located? I figured might be worth looking at settings and such on a 'ready to render' to see what's set up as what.

    Thanks in advance.

    robert it is in the Content Library Pane under Daz Studio formats > My Library > Scenes > SphericLabs > Luxus > LuxTest.duf
  • SphericLabsSphericLabs Posts: 598
    edited December 1969

    fusionla said:
    Increase your reflection strength

    I will do some more testing and report the findings.
    Is this a bug or the way it should be?
    When I first noticed my renders didn't have gloss, you told me to change the glossiness setting.
    But then I noticed the glossiness setting was having no effect at all.

    Just trying to understand this, so I know that the glossiness setting in DAZ Studio want affect Luxus the way it does 3delight and also Reality (auto-convert to LuxRender)..

    Also do you know if there is an way to auto-convert the cornea and tears to glass (setting/extra setting)?

    V5/M5 all autoconvert(or they do for me) their corneas. I thought I had the autoconverting in more cases. It can be improved.

  • stump3point1stump3point1 Posts: 139
    edited December 1969

    tofusan said:
    Hello, Spheric. Thank you for making a great plugin.
    I tried to create and render a few scenes. But I found a problem. This scene of the mesh so that looks incorrect. So far, this phenomenon seems to occur only in "Streets of Asia" by Stonemason.
    I'm using Luxus version 1.0.0.4 and LuxRender version 1.2.

    I had this problem when I tried to render at too high of an resolution, What resolution did you set for this?

    I found with 8 Gigs of ram the max resolution could not exceed 2000X2000 so I set mine below that and didn't loose anything.

    Hope that help's.

  • CzexanaCzexana Posts: 167
    edited December 1969

    fusionla said:
    jimzombie said:
    czexana said:

    Second, use glossiness channels rather than roughness. Most of the DS shaders use glossiness so it's easier to autoconvert, and it means you can use a standard specular map in this channel to give meaningful variation (more specular materials tend to be glossier).

    So you want a uglossiness and a vglossiness rather than the roughness? When in doubt I just exposed the values/properties of LuxRender direct. I can see that in some areas it would have been better to abstract things. I still hold to the philosophy in general.

    Shouldn't we try to keep things as close to Lux values so as to make interpreting information from the wiki easier? A lot of Studio users are already familiar with roughness from using UberSurface.

    Agree, using Luxus has made me go to the LuxRender Wiki to read and try and understand it.

    Ok, I see the points being made here and you're right - don't mess with the current shaders and the way they're mapped.

    Perhaps it would be possible to add an alternate version of the glossytranslucent shader that is set up with the additional greyscale mapped strength channels and glossiness rather than roughness? And maybe a volume option with transmission colour and depth rather than absorption? Then users could decide whether they want to use the native Lux channels or something that looks closer to standard DS shader settings.

  • SphericLabsSphericLabs Posts: 598
    edited December 1969

    czexana said:

    Ok, I see the points being made here and you're right - don't mess with the current shaders and the way they're mapped.

    Perhaps it would be possible to add an alternate version of the glossytranslucent shader that is set up with the additional greyscale mapped strength channels and glossiness rather than roughness? And maybe a volume option with transmission colour and depth rather than absorption? Then users could decide whether they want to use the native Lux channels or something that looks closer to standard DS shader settings.

    It certainly could be improved. In regards to changing the current glossytranslcuent, Eluxir should be able to do it. I need to get back rolling on that. That will be an excellent use case to make sure works.

  • CzexanaCzexana Posts: 167
    edited December 1969

    czexana said:

    Ok, I see the points being made here and you're right - don't mess with the current shaders and the way they're mapped.

    Perhaps it would be possible to add an alternate version of the glossytranslucent shader that is set up with the additional greyscale mapped strength channels and glossiness rather than roughness? And maybe a volume option with transmission colour and depth rather than absorption? Then users could decide whether they want to use the native Lux channels or something that looks closer to standard DS shader settings.

    It certainly could be improved. In regards to changing the current glossytranslcuent, Eluxir should be able to do it. I need to get back rolling on that. That will be an excellent use case to make sure works.

    I was trying to do this, and mapped out a network for glossy translucent plus volume (see image), but I can't get Eluxir to work currently. Whatever network I put on a surface I just get the following material:

    Texture "diffuse_color" "color" "constant"
     "color value" [0 0 0]
    
    MakeNamedMaterial "material0"
     "string type" ["glossy"]
     "texture Kd" ["diffuse_color"]
     "color Ks" [0 0 0]
     "float uroughness" [0.8]
     "float vroughness" [0.8]
    
    NamedMaterial "material0"
    

    I'm using Eluxir v0.0.0.4, latest 64-bit DS 4.5 (v4.5.1.56) and Luxus (v1.0.0.4).

    eluxir_GT_and_Vol.jpg
    1379 x 987 - 175K
  • SphericLabsSphericLabs Posts: 598
    edited December 1969

    czexana said:
    czexana said:

    Ok, I see the points being made here and you're right - don't mess with the current shaders and the way they're mapped.

    Perhaps it would be possible to add an alternate version of the glossytranslucent shader that is set up with the additional greyscale mapped strength channels and glossiness rather than roughness? And maybe a volume option with transmission colour and depth rather than absorption? Then users could decide whether they want to use the native Lux channels or something that looks closer to standard DS shader settings.

    It certainly could be improved. In regards to changing the current glossytranslcuent, Eluxir should be able to do it. I need to get back rolling on that. That will be an excellent use case to make sure works.

    I was trying to do this, and mapped out a network for glossy translucent plus volume (see image), but I can't get Eluxir to work currently. Whatever network I put on a surface I just get the following material:

    Texture "diffuse_color" "color" "constant"
     "color value" [0 0 0]
    
    MakeNamedMaterial "material0"
     "string type" ["glossy"]
     "texture Kd" ["diffuse_color"]
     "color Ks" [0 0 0]
     "float uroughness" [0.8]
     "float vroughness" [0.8]
    
    NamedMaterial "material0"
    

    I'm using Eluxir v0.0.0.4, latest 64-bit DS 4.5 (v4.5.1.56) and Luxus (v1.0.0.4).

    If you are willing, please pm me a link to that shader and I will make sure it works.

  • Joe CotterJoe Cotter Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    czexana said:
    ...I'm using Eluxir v0.0.0.4..

    So, from the version number am I to take it it's not finished? ;p

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    It has already been stated by Spheric that it is in Beta.

  • Joe CotterJoe Cotter Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    um, it was a joke about the (almost overkill) of the version number ;)

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Gedd said:
    um, it was a joke about the (almost overkill) of the version number ;)
    It's all right Gedd not all of us are as slow as Jimmy is on ocassion..... ;) :P

    Sorry Jimmy..really I am, you know me I can't stop myself.

  • SphericLabsSphericLabs Posts: 598
    edited December 1969

    probably should just call it 0.4

  • Joe CotterJoe Cotter Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    It's fine imo, it's actually kinda fun :)

  • chsmo69chsmo69 Posts: 29
    edited March 2013

    Well, it took 2 weeks of studying the Wiki, following the discussion here and Bluebird's tutorials, but I'm finally getting the hang of Luxus!

    By experimenting with lighting and render settings (and networking 2 rigs), I drastically cut my render times down and reduced a helluva lot of grain and noise. This render is after 41 minutes.

    Thanks for this plugin, Spheric Labs! Nice to have an alternative for rendering. :-)

    d59.jpg
    768 x 1000 - 351K
    Post edited by chsmo69 on
  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    Sorry Gedd, I just didn't get it, must be my age? Thanks Pete, I'm sure I'll get you back soooon ;-P

    I am so used to the DS version numbers, maybe Spheric is now too, and has become infected :-)

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Hehehe. :P

  • Herald of FireHerald of Fire Posts: 3,504
    edited December 1969

    Quick question: Is there an easy way to use mixed materials? In my case I want to blend a glossy surface with a mirrored surface to get more accurate reflections. It looks fine when I add it in manually to the LXS file, but is there a shortcut method I can use so I can do it directly from Daz Studio?

  • ketthroveketthrove Posts: 63
    edited December 1969

    Quick question: Is there an easy way to use mixed materials? In my case I want to blend a glossy surface with a mirrored surface to get more accurate reflections. It looks fine when I add it in manually to the LXS file, but is there a shortcut method I can use so I can do it directly from Daz Studio?

    Eluxir can do the mix pretty easy. A sample was posted here that is a mix.

  • glaseyeglaseye Posts: 1,305
    edited March 2013

    It's been a while since I last used Luxrender (well, about a year ago using the poser/pose2lux combo :lol:)
    Now trying my luck with DS/Luxus
    Still got about 60+ pages of this thread to read :-P now doubt containing some useful tips on improving the (material-) settings, but nevertheless a 1st effort here:
    Lighting is 2 mesh lights, a small one for the key-light and a larger one for the fill light, with the lux light settings applied, tweaked the lights further in Luxrender itself.
    Set in a fully enclosed space/room..
    rendered to ca. 630 S/p

    Not really fond of the colour version, as stated still got a lot to learn for the mat. setup, but kinda like the B&W version....

    Kids-01[Kodak_Portra_160VC].jpg
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    Kids-01[Agfapan_APX_100_BW].jpg
    800 x 1200 - 314K
    Post edited by glaseye on
  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    I like the B&W version too, they always seem to have more character to me. I think the real art is knowing when to use each one.

    I like your images.

  • TofusanTofusan Posts: 28
    edited December 1969

    stumpc said:
    tofusan said:
    Hello, Spheric. Thank you for making a great plugin.
    I tried to create and render a few scenes. But I found a problem. This scene of the mesh so that looks incorrect. So far, this phenomenon seems to occur only in "Streets of Asia" by Stonemason.
    I'm using Luxus version 1.0.0.4 and LuxRender version 1.2.

    I had this problem when I tried to render at too high of an resolution, What resolution did you set for this?

    I found with 8 Gigs of ram the max resolution could not exceed 2000X2000 so I set mine below that and didn't loose anything.

    Hope that help's.

    The resolution of attached picture is 600x776. When I use the "Streets of Asia", this phenomenon occurs every time. Oddly enough, the defect has a different shape every time. Probably there is a problem with the output processing of the mesh. It is obvious if you look at the shadow.

    I hope that this problem will be solved as soon as possible.

  • genz44genz44 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I left off at page 53 so I apologize if any of my questions have already been addressed. I've got the latest versions of DAZ and Luxus and the latest test build of LuxRender. My renderer is set to sampler using metropolis. The test renders I've been doing consist of a genesis figure with clothing and a Sun Sky 2 light at a dawnish angle. The character is using Elite Nicole textures, Hampton hair, and the Royal Princess dress. I've got 364 S/p at 56 minutes in with an efficiency of 220%. The size of the render is 700x807. I'm curious how I can improve my efficiency to something closer to a 1500% I saw elsewhere in this thread. Anything in my setup jumping out at anyone? I don't have any kind of primitives in my scene for backdrops and I'm using default texture settings only. I've got an AMD X4 955 processor with 8Gb memory which will be upgraded soon to an 8-core processor and 16 or 32 gigs of memory. Attached is a current pic of my paused render with a lighting tweak in the Lux gui to remove some of the dawn orange.

    On a side note, is there any interest in a forum created specifically for Luxus in DAZ?

    d71.jpg
    700 x 807 - 509K
  • cwichuracwichura Posts: 1,042
    edited March 2013

    genz44 said:
    I'm curious how I can improve my efficiency to something closer to a 1500% I saw elsewhere in this thread.

    You don't.

    Efficiency is kind of a misnomer for what that stat is reporting. It is an indication of how many rays got splatted on the film from a single ray launched. Basically, to get very high efficiency numbers, you have to have a lot of material and/or volumetric settings that result in heavy scattering. (Placing a lightsource inside a sphere set to roughglass would be one way to artificially induce this, for example. Warning: it's slow as molasses to actually converge...) Your scene will have whatever efficiency it has and don't worry about it, because you should be setting up your materials for the way you want the scene to look, not to try and raise a stat that is mostly meaningless. The only time you should worry about the efficiency stat is when it is BELOW 100%. That is an indication that light rays are not making it to the camera, and usually means you have some geometry that is blocking all/most of a lightsource. (E.g., using sunsky (or an infinite light) and a skydome at the same time -- the skydome will block the environmental light source.)

    Efficiency really doesn't tell you much about how long your scene will take to converge. You can have high efficiency numbers and take 5x as long to converge as if you had something getting 1/10th the efficiency. Convergence speed is dependent on a LOT of factors, such as where and how many lights you have, the material settings you are using, etc. (FWIW, 250-400 efficiency is around what I'd consider "normal" for most "basic" scenes.)

    Post edited by cwichura on
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Good to know cwichura thank you.

    While your here would you know why the KS/s and KC/s would stop at 000 while the render is still counting up in time. It is a memory bottleneck?

  • kittenwyldekittenwylde Posts: 151
    edited December 1969

    I made this silly little scene a few days ago, just trying to get textures right. I left it rendering all day while I went away to work. Then I came home and found the latest update. So of course I updated and let the thing render all day again. Same image, no changes in settings or anything, but that update sure made an enormous difference. The girl doesn't look that great, 'cause I'm still learning all this stuff, but the textures on the structure look awesome. Thanks, Spheric Labs!

    rolereversal_update.png
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    rolereversal.png
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  • cwichuracwichura Posts: 1,042
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:
    While your here would you know why the KS/s and KC/s would stop at 000 while the render is still counting up in time. It is a memory bottleneck?

    Two things come to mind:

    1) You have a halt condition set and that condition has been reached. (Lux can be set to automatically halt after a specific amount of time, a specific S/p is reached, or a specific noise threshold is hit. Note that use of noise threshold should be considered experimental -- particularly if you are using the bidir surface integrator.)

    2) You are using hybrid rendering (GPU acceleration) and your GPU settings are wrong. Nvidia's OpenGL drivers, for example, will fail like this if workgroup size is set to 0.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Nice thank you

    Latest Luxus update default render settings, just with Hybrid, LInear Tone mapping and Path choosen.

    with ATI 5440 with the lastest drivers set from AMD. I will go looking to see what I find. Again thank you for your help I really appreciated it.

This discussion has been closed.