Caustic sampler being a b**ch
Dumb and Furious
Posts: 21
Hey there. It seems like with some figures (in this case Murphy), whenever the caustic sampler is enabled, this garbage happens (loads of blue fireflies overtaking the entire figure). It's especially noticable from far away as you can tell but it's just as much an issue up close as well. Is this simply a limitation of the software or is there a way around? Can the surfaces be tweaked in some way? Thanks in advance for replies
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Why are you using the caustic sampler?
Trying to do a scene where glass objects are present and I want caustics to come out of them for realism purposes
What version of Daz Studio are you using?
Have you enabled Spectral Rendering?
I'm using version 10 and I tried all styles and options regarding spectral rendering, that made it worse by adding yellow fireflies into the mix. Same thing happens with Michael 8 and Zander and probably more but with red fireflies and not to the same extent. I think it might be a problem to do with the surfaces of the figure itself or just light skin in general
Should also be mentioned that yes, firefly filter is enabled. I don't wanna talk about what happens when disabling it
Can now confirm that it's only the blue fireflies that are a problem, the red ones are actually fixed by the firefly filter. The problem is just as bad on Apryl for the record
Here's a side by side comparison with Murphy and Mabel 8. It's not really a problem for Mabel 8 and the firefly filter is off here for added effect, but having it on doesn't make it any better for Murphy or Apryl
When you say 4.10, is that 4.10.0.123, or an earlier version of 4.10? The release announcement for 4.10.0.123 mention a caustic filter fix in the Iray engine. Spectral Rendering has been known to cause problems, too, so that is why I asked about that. You could also try the 4.11 Beta version of Daz Studio. I also wonder if the problem could be related to your lighting.
I have both Michael 8 and Zander, but not Murphy. I haven't noticed a firefly problem with them, but I'll try them agian ths afternoon.
I never use spectral rendering tbh, and this happens with both the default lighting and sun-sky only. I did one sun-sky render some time ago though with the same figure and caustic sampler on and the thing didn't happen, no idea what played into that. Also didn't know there was a new version out :p It would seem I have this latest version already, no idea how to get my hands on 4.11 though, I'm assuming that's something for the platinum club so far?
Ok I retract my previous statement about version 4.11, thanks for your help barbult!
4.11 Beta is available to anyone. You "buy" it (it is free) in the Daz Store and install it with Daz Install Manager (DIM). You can run both 4.10 and 4.11 Beta on the same computer, but they use separate preferences, etc. If you have costomized 4.10, you will need to redo that customization on 4.11 if you want them to look the same. There is a script in the Wiki to help copy customization from one to the other.
I have never seen the big blue dots that you showed in your attachment. It is puzzling.
The big blue dots are due to the firefly filter being off, they're more akin to the first image I posted. Thanks again!
Oops, I missed the comment about firefly filter off. Sorry.
By the way, it is unacceptable to post "nudity" in the Daz forums according to the Terms of Service of the site. The black bars are not an acceptable means of hiding nudity, either. You need to put underwear or swimwear on the character. Images with nudity will be removed by forum moderators. Here is a forum message to help understand what is acceptable.
This is Michael 8, Mabel 8, and Zander rendered with the default HDRI, Caustic Sampler On, and Firefly filter On. They look fine to me. I'll also attach the scene file so you can compare my Render Settings with yours.
Edited to add: This was rendered with DS 4.10.0.123.
Whoooops! Thanks for the warning!
Switching to 4.11 did the trick, now to see if they fixed the demonic eyes thing that happens when a figure gets too far from the world centre as well
I'm not saying the problem is exclusive to these figures, these were just the figures I tested on. However the problem is gone now so no reason to bother with it further, but thanks anyway!
Oh, great, you are back in business!
There are good improvements in 4.11, but fixing the "demonic eyes thing that happens when a figure gets too far from the world centre" is not one of them. In fact, for me, it seemed worse. I haven't tested in the latest and greatest version of 4.11, though. See if it seems better for you. When I tested, it was still necessary to move the whole scene to put the character very close to world center.
Ack, too bad, no better on this end. I guess my "It Follows"-inspired scene is gonna have to wait a while longer. Well now I'm out of things to complain about, good luck on your end!