Have read and searched, still totally lost applying shader
jdartcore
Posts: 7
Hello,
I am pretty noob-ish with DAZ 3d.
Im trying to aplly a shader to a primitive shape I have opened in my scene.
these are the steps Im following from the very beginning:
Create > new primitive.
Select surface selection tool > click on primitive
Go to content library > Daz studio formats > My DAZ 3d library > shader presets > Iray > Daz Uber > double click shader
nothing happens.
Select spot render tool > create selection for spot render
Nothing happens.
Sometimes there is a slight change to the surface of the object but most often it is black or grey. I think the only time it wasnt black/grey was when I selected the "emissive" shader. then it was white.
I get the same non-result when selecting any of the shader presets that came loaded with my copy of DAZ stufio.
I have perused the online tutorials but nothing seems to change the results.
I have seen reference to a "texture toggle" but for the life of me I cant find that and I dont know if thats the fix?
Can someone help?
Thanks for reading,
Joby
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Comments
With your primitive selected, try using the Surfaces tab pane - Editor to select the surface (there's only one on a primitive) before double-clicking the shader. You will see which shader is being applied at the top of the pane; it should say Shader: Iray Uber, and have some values in the parameters on the right. Make sure you have the Nvidia Iray engine selected in Render Settings - Editor.
What are you expecting to happen? Applying the iray Uber base to a surfae currently using the Daz Default Shader (as a newly created promitive in DS 4.10 will be - in 4.11 it will already be using the iray Uber Base) is meant to preserve the general settings, it isn't making specific changes to mimic another type of material (for that you want a more specific shader preset, some of which are included with DS - things like car paint, glass, plastics).
Thank you for your reply. When I apply a shader from the folder Shader presets > Iray > DAZ Uber I do see Shader: Iray Uber at the top of the surfaces pane and I do have Nvidia Iray selected in the Render Setting:Editor.
I have dscovered that some shaders do create an effect but still others are not. I have a attached a photo of what I see when I apply a shader that seems to have unexpected/unwanted results. This was with the shader "gold" applied
Is this a lighting issue? I did notice that with some shaders I had to have lights arranged with settings turned up to see them better. but I would think that "gold" would show up even easier than say "blue silk" which is one that I can apply and get results from.
Im also still unable to apply shaders from other folders for example here is the result when I try and apply the shader "flagstone" from the folder "shader mixer"
I guess I expect this object
to have the appearance of one of a type of material surface (i.e. rubber, gold, flagstone, etc) when a shader is applied from one of these menus (or any of the "shader" options in any of the "shader presets" subfolders)
Am I on the wrong track?
TL;DR I just want the cube to look like its made out of something other than the grey default. Ultimate I would like to create a wall behind a character that looks like it was made from stones.
Is there a straightforward path to this objective?
What are your render settings? Gold, and other metals, do need something to reflect - they are not coloured in their own right.
Well basically metals have no color, they refract/reflect light and their surface structure defines what wavelengths (read color) are reflected. So you need something (an environment, props etc) in the scene to be reflected in the metal surface. Take a piece of gold , go into a totally dark room. Will the goldpiece be yellow?
No, you're asking the right questions, mate, don't worry:) Yeah if you shine a light on it and it isn't in an empty universe it will reflect the surroundings with a yellow tint, in this particular case it will reflect the light source, that's the specular highlight, and the floor, walls and ceiling of the room. The light will also bounce between the room and the surface of the gold, in theory an infinite number of times but in a render you have to restrict the number of bounces in a way or another, or you would be facing life long render times:)
Did you render the scene? All I can see is screenshots of the preview window. You have to do a render to see what it actually looks like, the preview cannot display the reflections and light bounces, it's just a fast OpenGL render with a lot of limitations.
Regarding the shaders, if you have selected the object both in the scene tab AND the surface tab you should be able to apply any shader by just double clicking the shader preset. If you are in shadermixer there should be an "apply" button. Click it, then do a test render to see what it looks like, the change may not be noticeable in the preview window. If it still doesn't work, we'll try to figure it out;)
Here's a free tool to help with Iray lighting. Just drop it in your scene and you will get a better idea of what is going on: Light Probe Tool
Very smooth, polished surfaces will not give much diffuse reflection, so shining a light on it will not necessarily show any colour. That's where surface roughness comes in, among a slew of other effects that the shaders try to simulate on any given surface. In real life, there is always some kind of environment around, as vivid or bland as it might be.
An environment of some kind will reflect in a mirror-like surface, so in your Iray render settings set Environment mode to Dome and Scene. The default dome should be an HDR file (DTHDR-RuinsB-500.hdr) that comes with studio.
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The shaders from the Shader Presets/Shader Mixer subfolder are not Iray, they are custom-made 3Delight shaders, not the Daz Default, and will not necessarily convert to Iray well, if at all.
Regarding the shaders, if you have selected the object both in the scene tab AND the surface tab - This is key, you have to have the object selected in both tabs.
All your screen shots show the viewport render engine as set to "texture shaded" (the ball shaped icon at the top righ of the viewwport). Iray shaders have no effect in that setting. Change to Iray render (click on the icon and select the lowest item on the drop dowwn list). See what you get then.
Many iray shaders don't show any effect until they are rendered.
@jdartcore "TL;DR I just want the cube to look like its made out of something other than the grey default. Ultimate I would like to create a wall behind a character that looks like it was made from stones. Is there a straightforward path to this objective?"
1. Create and size your cube. Make sure your viewport is set to Texture shaded (see first attach). If you set to IRay render it will take longer to show and re-render everytime you change something in the scene).
2. Select your cube in the scene (it should already be selected).
3. Go to the Surfaces Tab and select the cube. In this case you want all parts selected. See second attach)
4. Go to the shader presets and pick your desired shader. Double click. Your viewport should show the applied shader (see thrid attach).
5. Render. see Attach 4
I agree with fastbike 1. When you are applying shaders, I have noticed that the Iray shaders work and look the way they are supposed to when you change your viewport to Iray. Normanlly your perspective view works with 3Delight, so setting up lights in the scene to work with normal surfaces will render in preview mode like what you set with 3Delight. Changing your view to Iray while you are setting up your cube using Iray shaders will allow you to see the shader like you want it to. Also when you create your wall use a flat primative and rotate it 90 degrees and expand up and down to make it the size you want.
My viewport is set to Texture Shaded (see item 1 in my post). Even with a 980Ti, Iray for the viewport is too slow when setting up a scene. The Viewport Texture Shaded setting should give a good idea of the shader for most items.