How do I make eyes look more alive in close-up Iray renders?

Comments

• kpr Posts: 420

  March 26 edited March 26

  Firstly, there's lots of eyesets available - some come with characters, some are standalone and paid-for. They can make a big difference. Many of the standalone also come with tricks (catchlights in the eyes is one trick that can work).And you can buy just the catchlights themselves: https://www.daz3d.com/catalogsearch/result?q=catchlights

  You can though do much yourself for free.

  Lights in the eyes: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#gallery=all&sort=popular&page=1&image=1390761 <-- like these

  Any decent eyeset will reflect, it's just a matter of lighting - and, sometimes, having something in the eyeline to reflect (light, positioning of model and the 'thing to reflect')..

  Use your fav search engine to find a bunch of youtube videos, and typed how-tos, on "Daz Studio lighting eyes" - here's one by Jay (there are tons of others): https://www.versluis.com/2018/12/creating-eye-reflections-in-daz-studio/

  And then it's practice and patience 

  Post edited by kpr on March 26
• Masterstroke Posts: 2,447

  March 27

  azagelinkanka said:

  Hi, I am still new to Daz Studio and I need some help.

  When I make close-up renders in Iray, the eyes look okay, but they still feel a little soft and flat to me. I want them to look more alive and a little more reflective, like real eyes, but I do not know what I should change first.

  Is this usually a material problem, or more of a lighting problem?

  I am still learning Daz Studio, so simple advice would really help. I just want to know what I should check first to make the eyes look better in close-up renders.

  What figures are you using?
  With G8.1 and G9 you have some great options at hand for more "life".
  Pupils are most underrated. Switch the pupils material to IRAY Uber, NOT PBR.
  Remember pupils are basically holes.
  Since the UV maps makes a red retina possible, you will have even more realism. You can even get red eye glow, when lights shine directly into the eyes.
• joshua.r.fletcher Posts: 69

  April 1 edited April 2

  You could also get https://www.daz3d.com/sy-eye-brightener-genesis-9. I've been using this recently and the eyes definitely look better, especially in lower light.  The catchlights that come with it are helpful but I usually need to move them closer than the default, especially in indoor locations.

  Post edited by Richard Haseltine on April 2
• lilweep Posts: 2,841

  April 1

  The G9 eyes are pretty good, so you should be using G9 for realistic eyes. You can port G9 eyes to G8 if youre still using G8.
  
  For textures, Chevybabe has a natural eyes set with good textures and high quality HD morphs/displacement maps for the iris detail.  For shape, you should add iris depth. Some creators add iris depth morphs like Bluejaunte characters, and there are some on the Chevybabe set i mentioned above (or so i recall).  I think Chevybabe's set comes with morphs for the carbuncle also, which will add realism.
• FizzleMyth Posts: 102

  April 4

  lilweep said:

  For textures, Chevybabe has a natural eyes set with good textures and high quality HD morphs/displacement maps for the iris detail.

  I think that’s the Natural Eyes 9 Merchant Resource for Genesis 9, right?
• jjoyner Posts: 815

  June 12

  joshua.r.fletcher said:

  You could also get https://www.daz3d.com/sy-eye-brightener-genesis-9. I've been using this recently and the eyes definitely look better, especially in lower light.  The catchlights that come with it are helpful but I usually need to move them closer than the default, especially in indoor locations.

  Hello.  I bought SY Eye Brightener Genesis 9 (https://www.daz3d.com/sy-eye-brightener-genesis-9) yesterday as a tool to whiten the sclera of a Genesis 9 character that was designed with dark whites of the eye.  The character’s eyes have EyeMoisture surfaces.  I rendered the character with three different eye material options.  I’ve attached three quick renders that use a single distant light pointed at the character.

  • Character with default eye materials
  • Character with Eye Brightener G9 Eyes material applied  [Looks the best, I think.]
  • Character with Eye Brightener G9 Eyes FOR EYES THAT ONLU USE EYEMOISTURE material applied.

  Info provided by @Sickleyield:

      It WILL work with characters like CJ Aeon that use the EyeMoisture layer for the main texture, using the preset called “SYEB Eye Brightener G9 Eyes FOR EYES THAT ONLY USE

  EYEMOISTURE.

      If you click on the Eye Brightener and it doesn’t seem to do anything in your render (it will never do much in the viewport), check in the Surfaces tab to see if there is an image in the Diffuse line in one of the EyeMoisture materials. If there is, you may need the second preset.

  I don’t think I need to use the eyemoisture material because there is no Diffuse map in EyeMositure.

  I want to make sure that I am using the product to the best of its capability, though.  Any advice from a user will be appreciated.  Thanks!

   
• nemesis10 Posts: 3,968

  June 21 edited June 21

  You can look in the Surfaces tab to see if eye moisture is used.  One thing I highly recommend is to use a good HDRI so that there is something for multlple light sources to enter the eye.  I recently did a render with ChangelingChick's Caius and had light entering the eyes from several sources. As always, click on the image to expand.

  

  

  

  caius_visage.png

  1821 x 1112 - 2M

  Post edited by nemesis10 on June 21
• chris-2599934 Posts: 1,971

  June 22

  jjoyner said:

  I’ve attached three quick renders that use a single distant light pointed at the character.

  No you haven't
• jjoyner Posts: 815

  June 22

  chris-2599934 said:

  jjoyner said:

  I’ve attached three quick renders that use a single distant light pointed at the character.

  No you haven't

  Hmmm ... I don't know what happened to the three original renders.  I'll make another set of renders and attach them.

  Thanks for letting me know.