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Skull Cove Island- How Do You Do The Water? Dome Light Questions

NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
edited May 2013 in The Commons

I haven't done many sets, and so not sure how to approach this. Have two questions-
First, finding the ReadMe's, I went into the C directory under the Studio/MyLibrary ReadMes and typed in the name (Skull Cove Island) and also the item number from the webpage. Not there. Also scrolled through my ReadMe files and didnt see it. I was wondering if it would tell me how to do the water. The product is loaded just fine, no issues there.

It has (In Content Library) the Sky Domes (very pretty, three choices, loaded no problem. My first use of a sky dome.)
For the water, it has "Materials" in a yellow banner across them. I tried selecting the water area (ground plane, as it were) and clicking on the water, nothing. (Universal tool used) So I thought, hmm, try surfaces- so picked the surface selection tool and Surfaces tab, no luck there either. (Desperate.) How do you get the water to load in the scene? (Skull Cove Island IS SELECTED in the Scene Tab.)

My island is high and dry- a sea monster must have had a slurpy. A big one.

Post edited by Novica on
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Comments

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/entries/21270966-How-to-use-the-Readme-to-find-Content-in-DAZ-Studio-4

    Well, according to this, I've looked both places and no luck. So no magic tricks to find a hidden ReadMe, eh? I would think with this being a new product, it would have one. HAVE I missed it?

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Novica

    Under Help (top of this page) is a link to the Documentation Centre (Wiki) which has a link on the far left of the page for Readmes http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/read_me/index/15958/start It states that for Skull Cove Complete there was an update to replace a missing texture so I am wondering if that is your problem. See if there is an update in your account.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    When you say see if there is an update in my account, you mean if there is an additional file?

    Which leads me to my next absolutely brilliant question- how DO you tell exactly which files have loaded to identify if you are missing any or there is an update?

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    If they did that in April, the files I downloaded a couple days ago when I bought it should have had the newest / fixed version. This was a recent purchase.

  • scorpioscorpio Posts: 8,312
    edited December 1969

    Have you tried rendering the water if its using a shader then you won't see the effects until you render

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    The DS trx is version 1.1 and the Skull Cove PS dpc is also a 1.1 so that's what I have. Still no aqua. When you have something labeled "materials" across it, don't you click on the item (in this case the ground plane) and then just click the materials item?

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    With an update you install the whole thing again and it will have a different version number.

    but given you DLed this recently I am at a loss as I don't have this set...too rich for me.

    Can you post a screenshot of your water loading Icon please, one with the yellow banner.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited May 2013

    Novica said:
    The DS trx is version 1.1 and the Skull Cove PS dpc is also a 1.1 so that's what I have. Still no aqua. When you have something labeled "materials" across it, don't you click on the item (in this case the ground plane) and then just click the materials item?
    yes you must load the geometry first and then apply the material preset or sometimes if it is a special shader you might have to select the geometry and select the surface and then apply the material.
    Post edited by Szark on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    scorpio64dragon said:
    Have you tried rendering the water if its using a shader then you won't see the effects until you render

    Well, I did that, but apparently I was spot rending the beach.
    My middle name is duh... (Laughing.) Seriously, hopefully this will help other folks, so I don't mind. SPOT RENDER WHERE THE WATER SHOULD GO!

    But OMG, how am I supposed to work on lighting when I am dealing with that huge gray void for water until it is s.rendered? UGH.

    And thank you for the suggestion. Szark thanks you too (Big grin. Actually, he just assumed I would have been smart enough to spot render the RIGHT spot.)

    skull.jpg
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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:

    but given you DLed this recently I am at a loss as I don't have this set...too rich for me.

    Lemme tell ya, this set is SO worth the money (and I got it on sale.) It's HUGE. It's taking me forever to zoom in and around to see things. When I load something I have to laugh, as it happens to be where I put part of my pirate ship. I was hunting for the Universal Tool Cube (That's what I call it) and had to translate Y to raise the stuff to see it. Love all the sea gulls- makes me feel right at home! (Pensacola, FL)

    Is that update thread (wherever it is) in alphabetical order? That would sure be nice. I just went through ALL my files to get the bedrock installers' latest versions, before DAZ takes them off starting today. There were a LOT with new updates. Do you happen to have that thread- and I'll post this in my art studio as 1. lesson learned on shaders and spot rendering (do they all do this? They don't show up at all?) and 2.) the update thread

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    LOL Thanks...Maybe one day I will have enough money to buy it, it does look good though.

    Yes with any Shader based material (as opposed to texture based) you want see the effects until rendered. That is the trouble with not having a lot of the content I can't check. :(

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    DId you notice my water has a huge fish trying to make a getaway? As it was spot rendering, I was like "What is THAT?" You'd be amazed at what I can do with that ink blot test....

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  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    ROFLOL That is so fuuny...I must be sane cause I can see the fish or a wonking wine glass. :)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited May 2013

    Or you see the fish because you have WORKED a wine glass....

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

    LOL This could be true if I drunk booze but I don't at all.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited May 2013

    I don't either but if I keep making these absolutely stupid boo boos (spot rendering the land to check for the water!) I just might start.
    Wanted to test the spot render times, so with just the two food carts, two buildings, water, and ship (that is the sail on the right) it took 12 minutes to fully do.

    Any suggestions for lighting on water? This is my first water scene (am playing around, no specific characters/storyline)
    And do diffuse/specular/ambient work on shaders?

    EDIT: This is straight out of the box with the provided lighting (skydome) The beach is pink because of the sunset that was selected. I've never used other people's lighting, how does that work? Can I go in and move it around?

    skull3.jpg
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    Post edited by Novica on
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Yes you should be able to move or adjust the lighting. What lights does this set use?

    If you want to do quicker spot renders adjust your Advanced render setting shading rate to about 2.00 or 4.00 that will speed thing up a little more.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Okay, that's a good question. I am in Lights and Cameras, and in Scene it's the Light Environment (Salmon Pink) so I went into the view and it appears I have 3 distant lights. (For newbies, go to "Create" in the upper left corner and then you can see what kind of lights it is, based on the symbols.

    skull4.jpg
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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited May 2013

    Wait a minute and let me open up the Salmon- back in a minute. Will edit. Okay- there's a screenshot. (LOL, just noticed that somewhere I have a "smirking mermaid!" She's obviously heard about my spot render.)

    skull5.jpg
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    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited May 2013

    And what is that solid cube vs the not filled in cube? (or whatever that is by Sun Target)

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    The "Image Based Light" made the entire town and landscape go black when turned off, only the sky showed.
    The other lights (in this scene's perspective) didn't change a thing when turned off.

    And the Smirking Mermaid isn't a figurehead on the ship like I thought- it IS the ship. Cool name!

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    OK very simple and crude lighting IMHO. If you want better lighting then Uber Environment and one Distant light would be a better choice but I warn you if you think that took long to render using UE2 will be even longer.

    Or you could add more distant lights.

    Think of it this way, you have a sun (one distant light) then you have light coming for the sky (4 or more distant lights) then you have bounce light bouncing of the ground etc (more distant lights facing upward). Then you have Ambient light (more distant lights set to a very low intensity with no shadows.

    This is how LDP2 (Light Dome Pro 2) works though it doesn't work in DS4.5. At default LDP2 uses 16 distant lights for the sky light set to Deep shadow mapping around 20% softness. Then 16 distant lights for the ambient set to 1% intensity with no shadows facing upward and one distant light for the sun.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    And what is that solid cube vs the not filled in cube? (or whatever that is by Sun Target)
    solid cube it then main node the groups all the light together and the not filled cube is what we call a NULL object, it has no geometry or surface.

    The Image Based Light, now I am not sure what light that is by the screenshot, but looking in the Parameters Pane when that light is selected will give us a clue to which light is really is. If it really is Image based lighting then my guess it will be Uber Environment 2 but I can't be sure.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited May 2013

    Back up a minute :) Since I've never used a dome- when I went to the view and selected sunlight and (2) and (3) they were all outside the dome I think. And here's the location of the Image Based Light too. Check this screenshot? Does this mean they are inside or outside of the dome- inside I think?

    EDIT: Top one is image based.

    skull6.jpg
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    Post edited by Novica on
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited May 2013

    As I thought Uber Environment has the same icon as a distant light so the lighting isn't as crude as I thought so I apologise to the vendor. :)

    So now it all depends on what lighting map it uses. Image Based Lighting is just that. UE2 use a light map called an HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image) converted to a .tif for which UE2 extracts the lighting information from the image to light your scene, So it depends on the quality of the maps used. Some people don't use use a map and just use the colour channel. This is not the best use of UE2.

    Here is a very good resource on learning UE2 http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/5320/ but it is complicated but well worth learning.

    Post edited by Szark on
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited May 2013

    Novica said:
    Back up a minute :) Since I've never used a dome- when I went to the view and selected sunlight and (2) and (3) they were all outside the dome I think. And here's the location of the Image Based Light too. Check this screenshot? Does this mean they are inside or outside of the dome- inside I think?

    EDIT: Top one is image based.

    When look through a distant light it will visually show what is in the scene if you hide the dome the distant light will zoom in more. If you select a distant light and use the Perspective camera and use the Frame object icon you will see that the distant light may actually be at world centre.
    Post edited by Szark on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:
    OK very simple and crude lighting IMHO. If you want better lighting then Uber Environment and one Distant light would be a better choice but I warn you if you think that took long to render using UE2 will be even longer.

    Or you could add more distant lights.

    Think of it this way, you have a sun (one distant light) then you have light coming for the sky (4 or more distant lights) then you have bounce light bouncing of the ground etc (more distant lights facing upward). Then you have Ambient light (more distant lights set to a very low intensity with no shadows.

    This is how LDP2 (Light Dome Pro 2) works though it doesn't work in DS4.5. At default LDP2 uses 16 distant lights for the sky light set to Deep shadow mapping around 20% softness. Then 16 distant lights for the ambient set to 1% intensity with no shadows facing upward and one distant light for the sun.

    Let me break this down-
    1. Finding the Uber Environment light- where is it?
    2. So this setup is LIKE LDP2? If so, are you referring to this? I noticed it does NOT have the studio version it works with... http://www.daz3d.com/light-dome-pro-2-0
    3. Does Uber Environment work with domes the same way it works with other light sets, or is it FOR domes? I asked a long time ago (last sept) what UBER was and no one answered :(
    4. So basically, I can just turn all these off if I want to (except for the one that lights up the town so to speak) and add other lights just like normal- except, correct me if I'm wrong- a dome makes light bounce more? (Reflective? And would it change those settings?)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    We're both typing at the same time. Let me go back and read what you just posted, and do a screenshot if it applies. :)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Tell ya what, I'll go read that and putz a bit, and chat later when I can be intelligent :) Plus, it's 5am here and I'd better head to bed. We're on opposite sides of the world I think? I'm USA- what time is it there?

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited May 2013

    Novica said:
    Szark said:
    OK very simple and crude lighting IMHO. If you want better lighting then Uber Environment and one Distant light would be a better choice but I warn you if you think that took long to render using UE2 will be even longer.

    Or you could add more distant lights.

    Think of it this way, you have a sun (one distant light) then you have light coming for the sky (4 or more distant lights) then you have bounce light bouncing of the ground etc (more distant lights facing upward). Then you have Ambient light (more distant lights set to a very low intensity with no shadows.

    This is how LDP2 (Light Dome Pro 2) works though it doesn't work in DS4.5. At default LDP2 uses 16 distant lights for the sky light set to Deep shadow mapping around 20% softness. Then 16 distant lights for the ambient set to 1% intensity with no shadows facing upward and one distant light for the sun.

    Let me break this down-
    1. Finding the Uber Environment light- where is it?
    2. So this setup is LIKE LDP2? If so, are you referring to this? I noticed it does NOT have the studio version it works with... http://www.daz3d.com/light-dome-pro-2-0
    3. Does Uber Environment work with domes the same way it works with other light sets, or is it FOR domes? I asked a long time ago (last sept) what UBER was and no one answered :(
    4. So basically, I can just turn all these off if I want to (except for the one that lights up the town so to speak) and add other lights just like normal- except, correct me if I'm wrong- a dome makes light bounce more? (Reflective? And would it change those settings?)

    I: I think you are using it already but it is located in Smart Content under lights or Content library Under Daz Studio Formats > My library > Light Presets > omnifreaker >
    2: No the Skull Cove setup is not Like LDP2. I was explaining how LDP2 works to get across another way to light an outdoor scene. LDP2 will only work in DS3.
    3: Yes UE2 works with dome as any light will but UE2 will not provide a decent quality image for a dome.
    4:The dome plays no part in lighting it is just a backdrop and yes you can change the lights, or delete one or all, it is your choice. Just right click on a light and remove from the scene.

    Also back to the NULL Target this is used in combination with the Point At feature in the Parameters Pane so the light will point at the Null object.

    Post edited by Szark on
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