Luxus Dead? Not!
marble
Posts: 7,500
Hi,
I have both Reality and Luxus but have always preferred Reality since buying them both. Hence Luxus has "sat on the shelf" for all that time. However, I have now upgraded to Reality 4 and, as anyone who follows the Reality discussion at RDNA will know, I am less than impressed with it at the moment, so am looking at alternatives.
Luxus was the obvious alternative, especially since I already have it, so I checked for updates and recent activity with the program. It seems to have died although it is still being sold here. Are there no planned updates? Is there any support? Is it really dead? I've come across this before with both Garibaldi and aniMate (the Go-Figure website hasn't been updated for years).
So, back to Luxus. One of the concerns I had was that Luxus doesn't seem to handle subdivision nicely and, as I like to use the G2F HD models, I wondered if anyone has any experience using them with Luxus?
Another possible alternative might be to use mcjTeleBlender to export my scenes to Blender and then render them using LuxBlend. The fact that I am a Mac user might be a problem as that script is essentially a Windows script and I'm not sure that it is designed to export for use with LuxBlend. I'm not up on the technical aspects of these things.
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I think blender now has native support for luxrender, no script necessary. Do you have the latest version? Or is teleblender the script you are referring to?
Greetings,
My experience with Luxus is that it works fine, and doesn't really need much updating. If you need to do subdivision, do the subdivision in the Parameters pane, and then render. This is (was?) true of Reality as well. I'll admit, as the number of things in a scene which require subdivision increase, I'm not fully sure that particular answer scales... But the problem (and likely answer) is going to be the same using any external renderer, as far as I know.
-- Morgan
Yes, I only downloaded Blender a couple of weeks ago and, so far, I've only used the sculpting tools to make morphs. Blender is intimidating but I do want to learn it eventually. I'm not actually asking whether Blender supports Luxrender (LuxBlend is the the name of the "native" Luxrender interface, isn't it?). My question is: if I can export the scene using mcjTeleBlender (big assumption for a Mac user), is the choice of renderer now the same as it would be for a native Blender scene? I ask because the mcjTeleBlender script is promoted as a means of using Blender Cycles to render DAZ Studio scenes.
Depending on the blender version (I'm on most recent 2.72b), I installed lux 1.4RC2. After it was installed, I had to go into my blender addons and choose install from file > browse to lux install directory, and there is a luxblend zip file to use (in my case LuxBlend27_1.4RC2_64bit_OpenCL.zip).
Things seem to be working ok (I've used the GUI and luxconsole/gpu). Granted I'm still learning things so I'm not knowledgeable enough to put it through the ringer.
In both Reality and Luxus, to get the export working at full resolution, especially with HD morphs, you will need to set the subdivisions on the model beforehand. By default, Reality exports at whatever resolution the figure on-screen is, and the loop subdivision is done on that model. If you're using HD morphs, you'll lose the HD benefits if you don't set the subD first.
In both Reality and Luxus, to get the export working at full resolution, especially with HD morphs, you will need to set the subdivisions on the model beforehand. By default, Reality exports at whatever resolution the figure on-screen is, and the loop subdivision is done on that model. If you're using HD morphs, you'll lose the HD benefits if you don't set the subD first.
OK - so my method of leaving the Luxrender SubD setting (either Reality or Luxus) at zero and making sure that HD resolution is at 3 in DAZ Studio would work for both Reality and Luxus?
So, to be clear, are you exporting scenes from DAZ Studio to Blender or are you just talking about native Blender scenes?
So, to be clear, are you exporting scenes from DAZ Studio to Blender or are you just talking about native Blender scenes?
Right now just native blender scenes, but I was speaking more to the new Lux RC in the latest blender in general.
FBX from DS4.7 are coming into blender crumpled and in a mess so I haven't tested that route.
Right now just native blender scenes, but I was speaking more to the new Lux RC in the latest blender in general.
FBX from DS4.7 are coming into blender crumpled and in a mess so I haven't tested that route.
That's why I was mentioning the mcjTeleblender script which exports DS scenes to Blender. Not sure whether it uses FBX though.
By the way, for Mac users, I found this:
http://hype3d.com/better-daz-studio-renders-with-mcjteleblender2-and-blender-on-the-mac/
I'll give the teleblender a shot tomorrow unless someone beats me to it.
.. and I think the FBX issue is on blender's side. FBX files exported out of Poser come in all jumbled too.
I would not say Luxus is dead. I have just purchased both Reality and Luxus this month, and Luxus at least had answers for Install questions I had. Reality locks the manual away, so If you don't already know what your doing when installing the LuxRender adapter-thing, tough luck.
I've had Luxus for less then a week, actually installed, and as confused as I am with the Luxus Pro Lessons, I could probably push something threw Luxus at this point. I have yet to get Reality installed, and there are many other dreadful bugs and no uninstall for Reality4.
So from a n00b like me point of view, Luxus is way better. Yes I said it, Luxus is much more n00b friendly then Reality4 with all it's teething pains.
There are shader sets made to work with 3Delight and Luxus, and Light sets as well. I haven't a clue with Reality, other then comments around the forum hinting that nothing will work out of the box with Reality without fussing with the settings for EVERYTHING. not something a n00b wants to read, having just spent money on the items I must now completely re-texture to work with something that dose not come with an Instal-guide.
3Delight was not this difficult to get going when I just got into CG near the beginning of the year.
Yes, I also commented (on the RDNA forum) about the manual being inside the installer. You can unzip the zip that is in one of the folders and find the manual there.
As for the bugs - that is why I have shelved R4 until it is fixed. I like Reality and have got used to playing with material settings but I'm finding R4 a nightmare. Besides, it can't hurt to learn another way of doing things. When I first got Luxus I couldn't produce anything but a black image - hopefully I will get further than that this time.
When I purchased Luxus last week, it was on sale along with a suggestion for this that was also on sale.
http://www.daz3d.com/luxus-pro-training
I got both for around twenty and change. The vids do jump around a bit as if there not in order, tho it is a "click here to do this" style that is very n00b friendly to get started. I've watched less then half the vids, as I've been directing traffic the past three days, so I'm no pro on the vid set.
I'm a tad hesitant to suggest the lesson set, as I've not watched all of it yet, I don't know if it would be useful to some one that knows something about LuxRender, and at full asking price it is a tad steep.
DestinysGarden was kind enough to give me some pointers with installing Luxus, and I am grateful for that. Plus Luxus is not as complex to install as Reality.
(EDIT)
"O" she even goes over some of the LuxRender window stuff as well. It was the end of the day when I watched them, and I was kind of burnt out by then. OK, exhausted from keeping Irate drivers from plowing threw people in the parades, lol.
Funny that I've just found those videos on my system - must have bought them in the original sale. I need to go through the basics first but I'll certainly watch those too.
@zarcondeegrisson
If you didnt install R4 how do you know Luxus is more user friendly?
As the owner of both plugins, for me R4 is a lot easier to handle than Luxus (and 2.5 was a dream come true for dummies). Its not valid that you have to edit EVERYTHING. Most genesis characters (and generation 3 and 4 tho I dont use them so I cant confirm) load with presets that you hardly have to tweak. Many clothes have presets too like Shifting Images adds reality shaders with her sets. There is a Preset manager with over 100 of ready to load shaders.
Sure it has bugs (sadly for me too), like every new software but not for everyone. For many people I know it runs flawlessly.
Installing is easy. The installer tells you exactly what to do. The most important is the first box. You must choose the folder where your Studio exe is.
The rest can go anywhere you want it.
That said I would recommend to roll back to 2.5 to get the hang of the program. Its the easiest to learn for a beginner :)
you can establish a lot of Reality will use as a setting within the Surfaces tab of Daz Studio., how the surface is defined in that panel will become the basis of what Reality starts with for those surfaces settings. Since 3Delight was not that picky about that some vendors achieved similar results with very different settings. In LuxRender it needs to be more uniform so some surfaces require you to change everything, some require you to do nothing but it all depends on how they were set in the first place inside Studio.
medeia, simple answer. Luxus is installed and working within days of purchasing it. The answers to my how to install and uninstall questions are coming slowly in bits and pieces spread all over the forum. Including here now, thank you.
I have yet to read the posts in the 'R4' Reality4 thread from the past couple of days, tho I have been following it for some time looking for crumbs of information relating to what to do for my setup. Not in dim, where is the installer then (answered), Where is the install guide (don't know), The manual is under lock and key (registration required for it to appear on the computer somewhere), If it causes problems for me how do I cleanly uninstall it without breaking the computer (yet to read anything, other then others having broke stuff trying), etc.
Your suggestion to go and purchase Reality 2.5 after purchasing Reality4, has me scratching my head about something to ask there. (can we n00b's get a temporary licence for 2.5 until some of the questions with Reality4 have been solved, lol).
(EDIT)
In all honesty, I am not buying yet another LuxRender adapter, as I have two of them at this point. Reality4 will simply sit off to the side till the time that the bugs have been worked threw (and a proper all in one place instal-guide appears, including uninstall procedure steps).
Since you have R4 already, I'd suggest having a scan through the Runtime DNA forum. Some of your concerns are answered but, as Medeia says, some of us are hitting glitches which is why I've sidelined R4 for now. Otherwise, like you, I have both programs so it would be good to learn both and compare for myself. I'll quote a blog here and see if anyone agrees with the writer:
I have been using luxus for the previous 6 months and am very pleased with it. Prior to Reality 4 which just got released, it was the more flexible of the two- giving access to material shaders that luxrender can handle but were not available in Reality. For me things worked straight out of the box with luxus and I was blown away with the quality of the renders relative to the native Daz renderer. The downside of luxus was (is) the lack of a detailed manual and video tutorials, e.g. how to import script for new shaders etc. from the luxrender web site (Reality could not do this and probably still can't?). How to easily create fog and volumes etc. There is limited information in the forums. The software is extremely powerful as it provides access to so many of the luxrender features and is more for the purists who don't want to be constrained/limited in flexibility by the need to keep software simple to use. All the dials are present. But, one still needs detailed instructions on how use those dials. I like to tinker and explore so it was not a big problem for me except it did chew up many hours and distract from the art part of creation to the point of often giving up. Some issues I simply cannot solve by myself in a practical amount of time. In contrast, Reality 4 has an excellent user manual and many video tutorials already available. Thus, I also purchased Reality 4 and am very pleased with that product so far as well. It didn't work straight out of the box for me (caused strange silver colored lips on V4 that I saw others having problems with as well) but the information is there in the manual and in the tutorials and forums to fix issues quickly. I will probably prefer to migrate to Reality 4 as I see it as more user friendly (i.e. better documented) than luxus but now not as limited as it was in the past. I don't like that the default is the use of presets as luxus performed pretty well without presets. I have also just found that certain features like fiber hair or instances produced in LAMH cause luxrender to crash when the output is from luxus but not when it is from Reality 4. This may need a fix. I don't see anything in the user forums about this problem but I may have missed it or it simply hasn't been noticed because of the smaller user base of luxus. In conclusion, I think both softwares have positives and negatives. If the folks coding luxus provided a detailed manual, I think I would prefer that product in the long run as it will allow me access to a larger number of the luxrender features but right now Reality 4 is the direction I'm going in simply because it can let me get on with things instead of spending hours figuring out how to achieve an effect by trial and error as is necessary with luxus.
This is exactly why I started this thread. Has anyone heard from Spheric Labs recently? Do they still exist? Is there any support? What about the talk of an upgrade to something called Eluxir.
Everyone has his/her preference for programs. Some like DS and some Poser. Just go with the one its the most user friendly for you. But first, try both :)
I'm on windows7 so I dunno how those people managed to mess up their OS. You just have to go to your Studio plugins folder and delete the R4 dll. (or the whole Reality folder if you dont have R2) and the lights/props etc from where you installed them (mine are in Documents) and the R4 folder from Program files.
Hmm If you already bought R4 you should be able to get 2.5 for free. Try to download it with your R4 serial.
http://preta3d.com/download-reality/
I'll say this for R4 - when I eventually did get a render out of it, the skin looked superb. That's because Reality can now use SSS which 2.5 can't. So I want that but some of the other bugs are show-stoppers for me. Luxus is able to use SSS too which is why I am interested. Otherwise, I will take a holiday from this hobby and return to it when R4 is fixed (assuming Paolo doesn't dismiss all the bugs as "features").
Just be a little more patient marble :)
I saw a Luxus thread here with freebie lux shaders for M6 and helpful tutorials. Hellboy and some others had really nice renders too.
This is exactly why I started this thread. Has anyone heard from Spheric Labs recently? Do they still exist? Is there any support? What about the talk of an upgrade to something called Eluxir.
That is a good question. I just found out this weekend that InaneGlory had made lights for Luxus, and some time ago that DG has a shader set made to work with Luxus. Perhaps a PA may have had recent interaction at least.
"O" even the latest light set from them works with Luxus, hmmm. InaneGlory, DestinysGarden, or any other PA. I don't want to eat up to much of your time with silly trivial questions, so simply put, Dose Spheric Labs still exist and is actively doing stuff? (a simple yes/no/don't know will surface)
I know, I know :)
It is just that we were promised R3 for DAZ Studio (which somehow got skipped and we got R4) for such a long time that I was itching to get started with it. There are several threads about outstanding issues with R4 and I seem to have hit every one of them.
is there any news for Eluxir release? i'm still on the beta, don't know when it expires
I just sent a PM to SphericLabs so perhaps we will get some comment.
I know, I know :)
It is just that we were promised R3 for DAZ Studio (which somehow got skipped and we got R4) for such a long time that I was itching to get started with it. There are several threads about outstanding issues with R4 and I seem to have hit every one of them.
Yeah you got almost all the bugs :(
For me just 3-4 things dont work properly but I can live with those...for now.
what are you talking about "mess up",
if every other piece of software I use in a production pipeline is functioning nothing on the OS is messed up.
R4 serial wont work for R2