tried Shader Mixer with Daz3D's AI Victoria guiding me

Comments

• Richard Haseltine Posts: 110,225

  May 1

  A .dbm (or other .db? file) can be loaded into Shader Mixer using its own File>Load menu command.
• Bejaymac Posts: 1,978

  May 1 edited May 2

  DBM = Daz Brick Material

  It's a way to save your bricks for "easy" reload to carry on working with them, there's a Camera and Light version as well.

  Pretty much every Shader I've built in the SM since we got it with DS3 has been saved as a DBM.

  You load it into the SM, select the surface on the model, then apply it to the model from within the SM.

  Post edited by Bejaymac on May 2
• ibr_remote aka infinity10 Posts: 571

  May 2

  It very odd.  I used the Save Shader option in the File Drop-Down menu in the Shader Mixer, and save it to my Content Library under Presets.  My Windows 11 OS shows it has been saved as a DBM file, that's fine.  Then when I refresh my Content LIbrary and try to load my Shader Preset from my Content Library, it's not viewable where I saved it. Is there a different workflow to get my shader DBM onto my object's surface ?
• ibr_remote aka infinity10 Posts: 571

  May 2

  Also, I realise my screenshot with the nodes did not appear with my Opening Post, so I'll try upping it again now.
• ibr_remote aka infinity10 Posts: 571

  May 2

  For anyone who is curious how I worked with Daz3D's AI named Victoria, here is a screenshot of the AI guiding me through the horrifying mass (not mess!) of Bricks available in Shader Mixer.  There was one time I had to correct the AI on location of a particular brick.  There were many times when I had to clarify which brick and under which header.  I had to ask like a total noob .

   

   

  

  

  Screenshot 2026-05-02 013126.png

  1113 x 922 - 171K
• ibr_remote aka infinity10 Posts: 571

  May 2 edited May 2

  ibr_remote aka infinity10 said:

  It very odd.  I used the Save Shader option in the File Drop-Down menu in the Shader Mixer, and save it to my Content Library under Presets.  My Windows 11 OS shows it has been saved as a DBM file, that's fine.  Then when I refresh my Content LIbrary and try to load my Shader Preset from my Content Library, it's not viewable where I saved it. Is there a different workflow to get my shader DBM onto my object's surface ?

  Ah OK.  I have figured out the workflow to apply my DBM shader preset.

  1. Load geometry

  2. Select geometry surface in Surface tab

  3. Switch to Shader Mixer tab

  4. Click Open File for drop down menu

  5. Click Open Shader

  6. This opens a file window showing nothing - that's because the first file type the window offeres is the DBC or Daz Brick Camera format. 

  7. Do Not Panic - click the tiny arrow on the right of the words Daz Brick Camera to drop down the options, and there it is, the Daz Brick Material or DBM. And choosing that file format will show my Shader.

  8. Hit the APPLY button (in my Shader Mixer window, it appears at the bottom right of my monitor screen).

   

   

   

   

  Post edited by ibr_remote aka infinity10 on May 2
• ibr_remote aka infinity10 Posts: 571

  May 2

  It appears the system rejects my screenshot of the shader node set up I put together with Daz3D's Victoria AI
• Silas3D Posts: 822

  May 2 edited May 2

  When you create a custom shader in shader mixer, you have to save it as a shader definition asset from the main Daz Studio file > save as menu. So workflow is:

  1. Create your shader in the mixer
  2. Apply shader to a surface by clicking the apply button at bottom of shader mixer window
  3. Make any presentation tweaks to your shader parameters in the surfaces tab
  4. Save as shader definition asset.

  You'll be prompted for a location to save the shader, which is where you will access it going forward. If you were creating a shader based on Iray Uber, you would only need to save as a standard shader preset as you're not editing the shader mixer brick network. Hope this helps :)

  Post edited by Silas3D on May 2
• Bejaymac Posts: 1,978

  May 2 edited May 2

  Silas3D said:

  When you create a custom shader in shader mixer, you have to save it as a shader definition asset from the main Daz Studio file > save as menu. So workflow is:

  1. Create your shader in the mixer
  2. Apply shader to a surface by clicking the apply button at bottom of shader mixer window
  3. Make any presentation tweaks to your shader parameters in the surfaces tab
  4. Save as shader definition asset.

  You'll be prompted for a location to save the shader, which is where you will access it going forward. If you were creating a shader based on Iray Uber, you would only need to save as a standard shader preset as you're not editing the shader mixer brick network. Hope this helps :)

  If you are planning on sharing the shader then yes that is the safest way, but if it's for your own use then presets will do just fine.

  The Shader Mixer has always had one major flaw, neither 3Delight nor Iray can use the data in the bricks directly, it has to be compiled into a temp shader file, if that gets corupted then it wont render no matter how many times you reapply the asset/presets, the shaders internal ID was locked when you saved it, so DS will keep on using that bad file until you remove it.

  Post edited by Bejaymac on May 2
• Silas3D Posts: 822

  May 2

  I don't think it will ever happen, but it would be awesome if it was updated to be similar to blenders node editor
• ibr_remote aka infinity10 Posts: 571

  May 2

  Thanks everyone for adding the comments.  I hope others who are like me, only now learning to use the Shader Mixer, will find them useful.
• ibr_remote aka infinity10 Posts: 571

  May 2

  I have uploaded a video of the entire node setup done as a sscreencapture, if anyone is interested.  I checked the nodes with Victoria, the Daz3D AI.  It's supposed to be fine, but I still cannot get the banded effect of a celshader.  

   

  https://www.facebook.com/reel/957640633657428