lou_harper said:

Sorry to dig up this old post but I have questions.

From what I know of Canvases, you select certain object to be in one canvas. Like in a scene I would do foreground, middleground, and background each as a separate canvas. But with a complex environment like Ultrascenery, full of instances how do you pick what should be in a canvas?

From what I understand, you do a canvas of the whole scene only you change the type of canvas to "Depth" and then the further away from the camera objects are in the scene will render white and the closer will be black.
Though as it's creating an .exr file it will all just look completely white until you take it to the imaging editor.

When you import the .exr file into Photoshop or other imaging editor, you need to convert the HDRI using "Equalise Histogram" and then set that layer to 'Screen' with your regular scene render layer underneath.

You can get really as complex as you need using layer masks to get maximum control, but this is just a simple way.

Hope this helps.

If it is from Hivewire or Renderosity (or if you got it from a Daz purchase but manually installed) then it won't show in database driven views unless you import the metadata. Daz Studio Formats or Poser Formats directly show the files on disc, check the location from the read me (or zip structure).

Below is a copy/archive of the Deviant Art Journal I posted.

This is a detail write up on the experiments I've done and the methods with which you too can easily achieve the coveted (by select cinematography nerds like myself) "Anamorphic Bokeh" in Daz Iray.

TLDR instructions at end of the post.

MOONLIGHT (2016)  
Cinematography by James Laxton

Background

Ever since I started my Daz3D journey (roughly a year ago), I've been trying to find a way to achieve the "anamorphic look" with Daz Iray.

Blender Anamorphic Test

Since there are no render settings like the Aperture Ratio in Blender (other names/settings in other render engines), that can easily turn the bokeh into an oval shape, I first tried the post processing method - using a depth pass with a post process capable of producing anamorphic bokeh. In my case, I used a bokeh plugin in After effects, feeding the depth pass and adjusted the Aperture Ratio. 

As can be seen here, while it can be somewhat workable, the effect is nowhere near the desired look. There are obvious ghosting around the subject edges, bokeh exposure needs constant babysitting and so on. 

As far as I could tell, after a rather extensive set of testing of settings as well as different post-processing methods (photoshop, blender compositor, etc), the ghosting effect while minimizable to an extent, is not avoidable with the slew of options I had. (There are probably methods that doesn't have the ghosting problem, but I wasn't able to find one.)

* I've also tried Octane in Daz. But the plugin implementation was so half-assed and anti-user, I could not be bothered to give it a honest try. Where or not it has a bokeh setting I cannot remember. But hey, who needs Octane if it can be done in Iray, right? 

Method 

A while ago, by sheer accident/luck, I discovered the method by which the PHOTOGRAPHER 4 addon for Blender by chafouin uses for its bokeh effects - a physical obstruction in front of the camera to emulate the "failings" of a lens barrel in real life.

PHOTOGRAPHER 4 addon for Blender by chafouin

So, I employed the method in Daz Iray, and wouldn't you know it - IT WORKS.

Basically, set up a completely black mesh that absorbs all light, cut an oval in the middle, put it in front of the camera as close as possible so that there's a black border in your camera view.

Then, you can either adjust the scale or translation of the mesh in relation to the camera, which will produce different looks and different strength of the Cat's Eye effect.

The more the camera is covered, the stronger the Cat's Eye effect. It also means less light is hitting the camera, but that can be easily compensated to taste in Render Settings > Tone Mapping > Exposure Value.

The bokeh will follow the shape of the cutout - more vertical cutout = more vertical bokeh. It also means:

I don't think I'll ever use this effect but it works - and actual bokeh effect instead of faking through meshed objects in the background I've seen tutorials & products for, which I find to be even less useful. 

Barrel Distortion 

Hobbs and Shaw (2019)
Cinematography by Jonathan Sela

Another important part of the "Anamorphic Look" is the Barrel Distortion, where the image gets distorted along the edges.

This too can be achieved in engine, by using the variety of Lens Distortion in Lens settings on the Camera.

The various Distortion Types and Various Lens settings are poorly documented. You'd have to experiment with it yourself. But generally, I find adjusting in smaller increments of ± 0.1 to be more useful.

There are also different types of barrel distortion for Anamorphic which I won't go into here, but I believe they all can be achieved by using the inverted distortion or simply change to Positive/Negative Value. 

Attached zip contains the mesh and textures I use for your convinence.

Usage:

• Import the OBJ (default settings should be fine).
• Plug in the desired texture into the Cutout Opacity of the OBJ.
• Make sure that the Glossy Layered Weight and Glossy Reflectivity is turned zero (so the mesh absorbs all light)
• Add a camera and zero it.
• Parent OBJ to the Camera.
• Adjust Translation + Scale for the vignette to taste.
• Camera F-stop (try 4, 8, 12) and focal length greatly influences the effect. If something doesn't seem to work or to your liking, try adjusting these first.

That's all. Hopefully this can prove helpful to any cinematographer nerds like me. Cheers~

Zev0 said:

"It would be nice if the script didn't break if the pose being converted isn't in /People."

This tells me nothing. What exactly happens? Regardless it is an issue we addressed.

 

Changes coming in version 1.1

- H. Pose Preset issues fixed (figure disappearing, and wrong result after cancelling)

- If user selects a native G9 pose, a warning is given.

- Added Mirror pose option.

- If user selects multiple items, popup box appears showing all listed instead of an error message.

- Metadata now considered when suggesting whether pose is G3 or G8 (before it was only based on file path)

- Added new launch script from product root folder."

Awesome, when can we expect this update?

"It would be nice if the script didn't break if the pose being converted isn't in /People."

This tells me nothing. What exactly happens? Regardless it is an issue we addressed.

Changes coming in version 1.1

- H. Pose Preset issues fixed (figure disappearing, and wrong result after cancelling)

- If user selects a native G9 pose, a warning is given.

- Added Mirror pose option.

- If user selects multiple items, popup box appears showing all listed instead of an error message.

- Metadata now considered when suggesting whether pose is G3 or G8 (before it was only based on file path)

- Added new launch script from product root folder."

What menu? Do you mean a content pane, if so which (and where) - only the Content Library under Daz Studuo Formats, Poser Formats, and Other Import Formats gives a direct view of files on disc.

I don't see it in my menu. I can only see it when I use import. Can someone help me install it,so I see it in my menu. It is a zip file.

You will get better results if you use the process in the 2nd post in this thread, the one in the video :) reverse source never really did it for me, which is why I worked out the swapping base shapes around method - to get a better fit. Its an extra step but you will get rid of the crunchy bit in the centre of the dress. You have to export the obj for the base figure and then import that to use with the transfer utility.

In the video you change the base shape from default to the masculine shape, then use create follower in dev tools to fit it to G9. You don't need the template for this bit, all you need is to be able to dial a morph up and down. Once you have the outfit fitted to G9 masculine - you can dial back down to base shape - and turn on smoothing if needed. Export an obj with the base shape.

Now you can import the obj that's shaped like the base and work from that.

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/7776621/#Comment_7776621

If you get constant crashes with the templates (still tracking the bug down since its not consistent enough to pinpoint a cause for everyone) you can try the alternative method of going to Utilities on Genesis 9 and loading the template you want to use in the scene. Use that to transfer from instead of G9, and use replace source with target under general options on the transfer utility popup - so NOT the one where you choose which figure to 

After using that method go to scene identification and rename the obj/node name before you save it

AutoFolow doesn't require any action - if a fitted item doesn't have a morph matching a morph on the base figure then it will try to project the morph into the fitted item, aiming to keep the same relation with the underlying surface. How well it works varies by outfit and morph.

As for the others, you need to reshape the clothing as required (to fit the target morph or to make the chnages required for the adjustment and export as OBJ, keeping the same vertex count and order as the original model (which can be tricky in marvellouse Designer if you are working from the original pattern as it will redo the conversion to geometry each time; you can reload the original exported OBJ and simulate that) and, in the case of morphs to match figure morphs, using the same name as the morph (you can get the name from the Parameter Settings dialogue in Daz Studio, click the gear icon on the slider). Once you have the OBJs import them using Morph loader Pro to create the morphs.

wsterdan said:

and you can then save the file and import it as a tidy, single file into your editing software.

Atleast this works like a charm, thanks again! 

Needless to say, I don't have all the fancy things for 8.1, in fact I don't have many for 8 either. So things like brows, lashes, and nose adjustment just aren't available to me. Really, I'm glad that I didn't do much with 8.1 cause just a few months later out come 9 and I'd have to start all over again. I think I just wait and use 8 until lots of freebies come out for the new one. Anyway, those sort of things aren't what I was concerned with. It was just the basic import. Mine still look to fat, not long enough compared to yours. I've attached a render of the front view of my import (with the best brows and lashes I have). As you can see it looks to fat. What am I doing wrong? Anyway no matter what I think of my import, I do like the you stuff, very much so. they are just about the only thing I use 8.1 for., so thanks a bunch for all your work and generosity.

In my opinion,, Daz has too many options for installing the same content.

1. Manual
2. Daz Connect ( inside Studio requires to login)
3. Daz Central (Newest and "simplest")
4. Daz Install Manger a.k.a DIM (oldest, most reliable, and most capable)

#2 Installs to a completely different directory tree and structure. Thus breaking most scripts and many products.
Can't be used to install Studio itself or plugins.

#3 Lacks some of the advanced options an experienced user will want. Including the choice to NOT update something.

#4 Needs to be told where you want to put your content library , and inside Studio the Content Library location needs to be set. Currently DIM and Studio don't talk to each other to sync this settings.w

If a user employees #2 and a combination of any of the other methods to install content they end up with what I call "Install Salad". Leading to unusable content and cryptic errors most new users can't decipher.

You are right, a point in time is coming when 1 method will need to be the focus at the expense of the others.

I choose #4 Daz Install Manager (DIM) as it does everything with the most options. Though I would like to see some dependency tracking and configuration syncing with the apps it installs content for.

Many new users end up logging in inside Daz which downloads database metadata for use with Connect (#2) then also install the same products with DIM, which uses a different set of metadata to accommodate the different file locations, and they end up with afore mentioned "Install Salad". Products installed twice with conflicting metadata.

Eliminating Connect and Central would go along way towards solving alot of the product install issues.

PerttiA said:

Ender said:

PerttiA said:

The problem is probably in having installed the Überarealight with DAZ Connect within DS.

Actually I didn't install anything with DAZ Studio Pro internally before this morning (this error is an incident of yesterday) and, moreover, using DAZ internal tools this morning to update/install packages helped me fixing many issues, for example the double instances of every asset belonging to "Genesis 8 Starter Essentials" caused by (I guess) some malformed record in the database, that is regretably not very easy to manipulate (despite I have been able to read it in a PostgreSQL client).

You do realize, that installing stuff within DS, installs products into completely different location and that installation steals priority over all the other instances of that product, even when the DAZ Connect installed version does not work due to decompression errors (happens quite often) or the product using scripts that don't work with the non-traditional location, or due to the product being otherwise incompatible with that installation location.

Since such products are essentially JSON files with cross references and some image files for texture mapping I can hardly believe that it is that hard to manage and eventually fix the Database. Even the PostgreSQL database is accessible.

In fact, based on what I am observing and my experience as a software engineer I would say that such problems are related to some issues with filesystem/database sync. The way I fixed the double Genesis 8 assets is quite twisted. I had 2 Genesis 8 Basic Female, 2 Genesis 8.1 Basic Female, etc. Both copies of each asset were pointing to the same filesystem resource (translated: the same path on disk). The solution came in "Products" tab of the "Smart Content" pane where I found 2 Genesis 9: one without thumbnail and with "Install" item in the contextual menu, able to open a Windows Explorer window opened in the containing directory; one with the thumbnail but uncapable to open the system Explorer. I updated the metadata of the first one then unsinstalled both somehow and reinstalled. I did the same with "Genesis 8 Starter Essentials".

I don't know what is happening yet but I can assure that I did nothing special before yesterday.

Hello all,

just for curiosity I attempted to merge "!UberAreaLight Base.duf" in to the scene (empty one). Suddenly DAZ Studio presented me a modal dialog with an error message, prompting me to search for more details in the error log.

2022-11-10 11:44:45.003 [INFO] :: Prepare asset load (open): /Light Presets/omnifreaker/UberAreaLight/!UberAreaLight Base.duf
2022-11-10 11:44:45.003 [INFO] :: Locking viewport redraw...
2022-11-10 11:44:45.003 [INFO] :: Viewport redraw locked.
2022-11-10 11:44:45.058 [INFO] :: Native format content directories: 6
2022-11-10 11:44:45.059 [INFO] :: Poser format content directories: 3
2022-11-10 11:44:45.059 [INFO] :: Other import format content directories: 0
2022-11-10 11:44:45.059 [INFO] :: Begin asset load (open): /Light Presets/omnifreaker/UberAreaLight/!UberAreaLight Base.duf
2022-11-10 11:44:45.072 [INFO] :: *** Scene Cleared ***
2022-11-10 11:44:45.072 [INFO] :: Determining missing assets...
2022-11-10 11:44:45.072 [WARNING] :: Invalid node selection for "preset_shader" type.
2022-11-10 11:44:45.072 [INFO] :: Error loading asset: D:/Program Files/DAZ 3D/Applications/Data/DAZ 3D/My DAZ 3D Library/data/cloud/1_13176/light presets/omnifreaker/uberarealight/!uberarealight base.duf
2022-11-10 11:44:45.072 [INFO] ::     Operation failed
2022-11-10 11:44:45.114 [INFO] :: Unlocking viewport redraw...
2022-11-10 11:44:45.114 [INFO] :: Viewport redraw unlocked.

What catches my eyes (thanks to my experience as a software engineer) is the line stating `[WARNING] :: Invalid node selection for "preset_shader" type.´ even if I don't know what exactly means apart from the fact that there should be a `preset_shader` property somewhere in that file and it is invalid enough to fail the flow of the program.

While I continue investigating I would really appreciate if anybody has a clue about this.

Thanks all for your help

hasu0703 said:

ManFriday said:

hasu0703 said:

Hi. I am very happy with the new product, all the complaints of the previous one have been resolved.
The queue saving method has been changed to json, can this be rewritten during batch rendering?
I would like to create scenes on another pc while rendering and then add the new scenes to the queue.

I'm assuming you are talking about two PCs accessing the same queue file over a network while rendering. I wouldn't recommend that.

The new Render Queue 3 stores a lot of progress information in the JSON queue files while processing the queue and keeps writing it to disk while rendering. If you launch a queue on machine 1 and have the same queue file open on machine 2, machine 1 will keep overwriting any changes you made on machine 2. It's like working on the same Word document on a network from two machines when user 1 keeps saving changes to it. 

So my suggestion is to use a second queue file. Hope this helps!

Thank you for your response.
I wanted to create scenes one after another and add them to the queue as I rendered them.
But other than that, I am very satisfied.

I'm afraid using the same queue file from two computers is not possible under the current design. However, I might add an "import queue" button where you can merge the scenes from one queue file with another. This would allow you to use a temporary secondary queue file that you can add scenes to, and when the first queue is done rendering, you can add it.

• 2022-10-25 Updated:

  • Reduced shorts and shirt textures from 4k to 2k

  • Updated metadata

  • Fixed morphs on the shirt

  • Fixed a problem with Proportion Smaller Body Only

Sven Dullah said:

Using DS 4.20 on Mac/Monterey (IntelXeon)

I have two major problems:

1) If I render to movie I get an error...unable to save animation, would you like to try again or use a different name. 

2) If I render to image files, all RiCurves remain static, ie all brows and bodyhair I make with GB Express or using "create SBH" refuse to conform to anything else but the pose where the timeline pointer is, before I hit render. However, rendering any frame as a still works perfectly fine.

This leaves me with the option of rendering x number of stills and importing them to my video editor...

Is the RiCurves problem documented somewhere? Do they work under Windows? 

Help!

ETA: adding testrenders with SBH; frame 0 and 30, to clarify what happens.

 

Rendering to a .mov file is definately broken, and has been for a while.

I can't help with the RiCurves, but if you're rendering a set of images you might try using Quicktime Player to "Open Image Sequence"; it's a little faster and more lightweight than most movie editing software, allows you to choose the framerate when you import (every now and then I accidently render in the wrong frame rate, this fixes it on import and the audio lip syncs perfectly in the movie editing software) and you can then save the file and import it as a tidy, single file into your editing software.

prinzeugen said:

Any way to make V9 feet fit into a pair of V8s shoes ??

Flat shoes should work fine with autofit. High heels as always will take more work - its not a straightforward rig that I can transfer with a template. A lot of it depends on the foot pose, height of the heel etc - plus the fact that you have to bake in joint rotations for high heels to work properly. Its all the same problems we run into with transferring high heels from previous generations to the next.

If you really really want to have the shoes and don't mind if they're props you can try lining up G8 as close as possible to G9 feet and export that as an obj, then import and parent. They won't bend on the toes but you'll have something to use :)

edit: of course you need left and right shoes in that case - so either use the geometry editor after importing to delete the extra shoe, or use a modeler to delete so you end up with a left and right shoe obj

benniewoodell said:

Did you import the objects on like frame 10 and moved them on frame 0 to where you wanted them? There would have to be a keyframe on the objects somewhere that's causing them to move. Check the objects and make sure there's not a keyframe set. 

I never moved anything in that room. Only with the character, but he does not play any role in the animation

Did you import the objects on like frame 10 and moved them on frame 0 to where you wanted them? There would have to be a keyframe on the objects somewhere that's causing them to move. Check the objects and make sure there's not a keyframe set.