Atmospheric Cameras Update and Bonus Camera [Commercial]
Age of Armour
Posts: 437
There should be an update fro the Atmospheric Cameras coming soon. This update corrects some bugs which popped up in DS 4.6.
I have been working hard on Version 2 of the Atmospheric Cameras, writing the RenderMan code from scratch. This allows for better optimization, faster renders and a cleaner UI. My intent is for V2 to be a very low cost (hopefully free!) upgrade for owners of Version 1.
I was so excited about how the V2 Cameras were coming along, I simply couldn't wait to get them out to everyone so I have asked DAZ to include an example of one of the new cameras in the V1 update... The Easy Volume Camera.
The Easy Volume camera has only 5 settings (easier) and allows you to chose which lights in your scene will show "God Rays" and which will not (more control!) No more white outs from distant or environment lights... Unless you want that. This works with the standard DS lights, AoA Advanced Lights and others.
Anyone who has my Advanced Lights should be very happy as volumetric scenes can render many times faster when using them along with the new Easy Volume Camera. (Much, much faster!)
The release date is not yet certain yet but I expect a week or so from now.
Thank you for all your support!
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Comments
Awesome, can't wait!
Very nice! Looking forward to these!
This will be a very welcome update. Thanks.
Are you going to compile them with embedded source code in the sdls?
A distinct advantage is that they will then automatically recompile for updated 3DL versions...and they can also be manually recompiled to -O3 optimization level.
O3 isn't really the best one to compile at for the widest system compatibility...but recompiling them at O3 on YOUR own, on the system they are run on can provide a significant performance boost...on my system, with various shaders that I recompile it averages around a 10% boost...some shaders, especially volumetric ones, it's a lot more than that.
For this update, no, but it is something I will look into and consider for Version 2. The main reason for the revamp of the cameras is for better control and the speed increases from using category lights but having more compatibility with less maintenance was also a high priority.
The second part was primarily prompted by how bugs can sneak in when using shader mixer networks if there are any changes made by DAZ. The two bugs which are fixed in the update were due to very minor changes in a few Shader Mixer bricks. They were very simple to fix but took a long time to find the cause.
So, for right now I am aiming for new, clean, easy to update code and as few unknowns as possible. Once Version 2 is good, fast and reliable then I will look into extra features and speed-ups :)
I might be one of the bug reporters ;)
I love those cameras and any update to them and notes about even better ones is much welcome.
Great work AoA!
"More Gooder" LOL
I can't tell you how many times I hear that from the kids in the neighbourhood. :D
Wow. This update to the volume cameras alone sounds awesome as I can light my scenes more fully while still getting god rays!
Thanks a lot !
I just love your products, i'll be waiting for the v2
Looking forward to the much gooder update to the already good product :)
Excellent news... so this will enable single-pass renders that could previously only be done with a couple of passes - very handy for folk that are allergic to post work, hehehe.
seriously though excellent news as I use this a lot so the update and V2 will be a god send.
Is there a way to add AoA lights and cameras directly in the DS icons for fast usage ?
And as list like for the primitives ?
Right-click on apreset in the Content Library pane and select Create Custom Action. That will place it in the Scripts menu (and create the menu if necessary); you can use Window>Workspace>Customise to add the command to different menu or a toolbar.
Something else to add to the "must buy" category for DAZ Studio! :)
Thank you for reporting. Sorry finding the cause and getting the update out took me so long.
The funny thing is, I use the atmospheric cameras nearly every day but may not use all the features or certain combinations of features. Because of this I may go on months using the cameras daily yet not notice a pretty obvious bug.
I really appreciate when people report issues. If you come across something of mine that doesn't seem like it is working correctly it is probably best to post about it in the product's commercial thread as well as reporting it. I try to read posts in threads for my products right away. It also helps when others compare notes in the thread so I can better find under what circumstances the bug occurs
Of course it is always discouraging to hear something has a bug but I do need to know so I can fix it :)
Does the volume camera update fix the problem with the transmap ghosting?
The transmapp ghosting should become less and less apparent as you increase the quality setting on the old Volume Camera.
The new Easy Volume Camera does not appear to have any ghosting issues in areas where there are transmaps, although those areas can sometimes appear more grainy at low quality settings.
On the whole, there should not be any issues with transmapped items... Knock on wood! haha. Though again, you may just have to up the volume quality for those surfaces to look their best.
The transmapp ghosting should become less and less apparent as you increase the quality setting on the old Volume Camera.
The new Easy Volume Camera does not appear to have any ghosting issues in areas where there are transmaps, although those areas can sometimes appear more grainy at low quality settings.
On the whole, there should not be any issues with transmapped items... Knock on wood! haha. Though again, you may just have to up the volume quality for those surfaces to look their best.
That's good to hear. The biggest thing I'm looking forward to is to be able to include other lights that don't affect the volume. And speed improvements, will be nice, of course.
Yeah. I found myself constantly wanting to only have volume for certain lights and I figured most people wanted the same for most situations. The Easy Volume is really designed for just that... No special dodads, just make volumetric light cones for select lights :)
Yeah. I found myself constantly wanting to only have volume for certain lights and I figured most people wanted the same for most situations. The Easy Volume is really designed for just that... No special dodads, just make volumetric light cones for select lights :)
Hmmm....that should make my wife happy.
Why, you ask?
That's one project that I can shelve/retire or whatever...since I was still in the preliminary stages of trying to cook that up for myself, I don't feel bad about letting someone else do it. :-)
Great news. I am looking forward to version 2 and Easy Volume, then.
This sounds great. Ability to select which lights affect volumetrics is great new feature.
sounds fantastic and so does the money off (free perhaps) for people that bought the first lot.
I have purchased the first but haven't played with it yet :/
btw price thingy I'm willing to spend 10$ at least on it as I'm sure it will be awesome :D
Oh, just to be clear, the Easy Volume camera is going to be included in the current version as a free bonus. If you have the current Atmospheric Cameras then the Easy Volume cam should show up in your downloads in a few days :)
The complete version 2 thing is still going to be a little while before it is done. The main goal is to recode the existing cameras for a nicer UI and faster rendering. If the project ends there, without any new super exciting features, then the V2 upgrade is almost definitely going to be free.
Now, there is another camera feature I'm working on, unrelated to volume, which could be a product in and of itself. However, I may just build it into the V2 atmospheric cameras. If that is the case then there might be a small upgrade cost. At this time it is hard to say but I am leaning towards making the volume-unrelated thing a separate, but compatible product.
I'm not trying to be super secretive or anything... It just seems that, when I say too much, I jinx things hehe. Also there are always surprises when making things where I suddenly find out "Oh wait! If I add that one feature then this other one won't work anymore." So I try to be vague until the project is finished and I know everything works.
So again, the Easy Volume camera is free to anyone with the existing cameras.
Oh no. I installed the DIM update for Atmospheric Effects Cameras DS, and the camera is not there. There is nothing in any of the places that the readme says the files should be:
You can find new icons for loading this product in the following DAZ Studio Folders:
“Cameras:Age of Armour:Atmosphere Cameras”
“Cameras:Age of Armour:Atmosphere Cameras:Presets”
You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Documentation”
“Presets:Cameras:Atmospheric Effects Cameras for DAZ Studio”
“Presets:Property-Links:Atmospheric Effects Cameras for DAZ Studio”
A product was created in the Content Library, but there are no icons in it. I even reloaded metadata. That didn't help. I even uninstalled, rebooted my computer and reinstalled. Still nothing. It looks like some files were installed into the directories on disk, but I can't access them from DAZ Studio.
I am using Windows 7 64 bit and I installed with the DIM. Help!
Are they maybe under /Camera Presets/Age of Armour/ ?
Funny thing is the release was delayed due to figuring out if they needed to be in Cameras or Camera Presets. I thought they were supposed to be under Cameras but QA moved them to Camera Presets haha.
If you don't find them there please do a hard drive search for "Easy Volume.duf" and see if that locates it for you.
Yes! Thank you!! Crisis averted for now. I still haven't tried to use them yet. So much for DAZ readme documentation. :shut:
I reloaded metadata AGAIN. Now I can see icons in the product. Maybe my CMS was just slow??? I don't know why I would have to reimport metadata at all, let alone twice to get it to work.
Cool! Glad they were found :)
QA did that with my ToonyCam Pro cameras, too... and I don't agree with the switch, actually. It seems to me that "Camera Presets" ought to be used for loading standard DS cameras to specific locations and orientations, not for loading completely different cameras that have different parameters and create different effects.
But enough about that... how are you getting volumetric effects without having to use special lights???
(You are so cool.)