Features that you could slap yourself for not figuring out sooner.

Cybersox

j cade said:

...And speaking of, something I discovered not too long ago that I wish I'd known years earlier. Customize Workspace is the best. Once youve added something to the scripts menu (right click > create custom action) you can move it to any other menu, or create a new menu, or new toolbar. For instance, I have a dropdown menu for all my favorite lights (its even organized with submenues) I now rarely ever have to go into the content library for lights. Its amazing how much time I save by just not having to scroll to lights and then back to people.

 

But seriously you can control almost everything with Customize workspace, every shortcut, every toolbar. Its glorious

 

 

This is a great tip, but I'd love to know how you're categorizing.  I tested this on my copy of DS at the office and the "rename" function doesn't seem to work, so all my added menus are called "new Menu".  If there's some weird trick to actually getting the names to take, like holding down Q, I'd love to hear it, because the manual for DS 4 is missing this section and the process described in the manual for DS 3 doesn't seem to be function.   

j cade

CybersoxXIII said:

j cade said:

...And speaking of, something I discovered not too long ago that I wish I'd known years earlier. Customize Workspace is the best. Once youve added something to the scripts menu (right click > create custom action) you can move it to any other menu, or create a new menu, or new toolbar. For instance, I have a dropdown menu for all my favorite lights (its even organized with submenues) I now rarely ever have to go into the content library for lights. Its amazing how much time I save by just not having to scroll to lights and then back to people.

 

But seriously you can control almost everything with Customize workspace, every shortcut, every toolbar. Its glorious

 

 

This is a great tip, but I'd love to know how you're categorizing.  I tested this on my copy of DS at the office and the "rename" function doesn't seem to work, so all my added menus are called "new Menu".  If there's some weird trick to actually getting the names to take, like holding down Q, I'd love to hear it, because the manual for DS 4 is missing this section and the process described in the manual for DS 3 doesn't seem to be function.   

IDK. For menus right click > rename seems to work for me. Or double clicking. I agree Daz should update for their manual because it is invaluable. (It's one of those things that I also thought I should write a forum tutorial for a while, but have never got around to because I am terrible at writing intelligable tutorials. Trying to explain things gives me anxiety, I swear)

Cybersox

j cade said:

CybersoxXIII said:

j cade said:

...And speaking of, something I discovered not too long ago that I wish I'd known years earlier. Customize Workspace is the best. Once youve added something to the scripts menu (right click > create custom action) you can move it to any other menu, or create a new menu, or new toolbar. For instance, I have a dropdown menu for all my favorite lights (its even organized with submenues) I now rarely ever have to go into the content library for lights. Its amazing how much time I save by just not having to scroll to lights and then back to people.

 

But seriously you can control almost everything with Customize workspace, every shortcut, every toolbar. Its glorious

 

 

This is a great tip, but I'd love to know how you're categorizing.  I tested this on my copy of DS at the office and the "rename" function doesn't seem to work, so all my added menus are called "new Menu".  If there's some weird trick to actually getting the names to take, like holding down Q, I'd love to hear it, because the manual for DS 4 is missing this section and the process described in the manual for DS 3 doesn't seem to be function.   

 

IDK. For menus right click > rename seems to work for me. Or double clicking. I agree Daz should update for their manual because it is invaluable. (It's one of those things that I also thought I should write a forum tutorial for a while, but have never got around to because I am terrible at writing intelligable tutorials. Trying to explain things gives me anxiety, I swear)

Just manged to get it to work.  Apparently the new name has to be highlighted in yellow with the highlight only over the new name, then click enter and then click ACCEPT.  

RAMWolff

Interesting, didn't know that could be done.  I kept wondering why I'd see stuff from the Scripts menu drop down on folks tool bars in screen grabs.  Must try this!

Cybersox

RAMWolff said:

Interesting, didn't know that could be done.  I kept wondering why I'd see stuff from the Scripts menu drop down on folks tool bars in screen grabs.  Must try this!

I've been doing the custom actions thing for a long time now and it's an incredible timesaver, but being able to add onto other menus and break the new items down into categorized submenus is a major quatum leap forward, as now I can put all my posing scripts in one sub menu, lights in a second, etc.  Now if there was only a way to back all that organization up in case I want to move it to a new computer or something cataclysmic happens.        

Richard Haseltine

CybersoxXIII said:

RAMWolff said:

Interesting, didn't know that could be done.  I kept wondering why I'd see stuff from the Scripts menu drop down on folks tool bars in screen grabs.  Must try this!

I've been doing the custom actions thing for a long time now and it's an incredible timesaver, but being able to add onto other menus and break the new items down into categorized submenus is a major quatum leap forward, as now I can put all my posing scripts in one sub menu, lights in a second, etc.  Now if there was only a way to back all that organization up in case I want to move it to a new computer or something cataclysmic happens.        

The settings are in DSX files in the C:\Users\YOU\AppData\Roaming\Daz 3D\Studio4\ folder (current) and in the user layouts subfolder (layouts you have saved). I did, however, have problems when I tried just copying the current layoits across on reisntalling Windows in February - but the one from user layouts then worked fine.

Cybersox

Oh, just thought of two that no one has mentioned yet. 

First - The puppeteer tool.  It may have been designed for animation, but I've found that it's even more effective as a way to adjust expressions when they haven't been supplied as morph dials, both to mix multiple expressions into new hybrids or to take existing preset poses and expressions and make them more or less extreme to fit a specific character.  To do the latter, just set up two poses - neutral expression and the preset - in the edit mode, then, in preview, move your mouse from neutral towards the preset until you get the result you want.  Yes, the expression/pose keeps getting stronger once the mouse passes the preset point, so you can get some really over the top stuff for yelling, toons, etx.  For mixxing multiple expressions, I usually just save each individual pose as a seperate point in a circle on the grid in edit mode, then roll the mouse around between them until I get interesting looks.  It's so simple once you think to do it, but like PowerPose, it's one of those tools that just doesn't get a lot of buzz. 

Second - Maclean's Room Creator Toolbar, which lets you move left, right, forward, back, up, down, rotate, zero or hide any single or group of objects in any direction all over your set just by selecting it/them and clicking on the appropriate direction icon mouse.  You still have to do some tweaking at the end since it moves in preset increments, but it's still insanely useful and comes free witht the already crazily useful room creator.  

maclean

CybersoxXIII said:

Second - Maclean's Room Creator Toolbar, which lets you move left, right, forward, back, rotate, zero or hide any single or group of objects in any direction all over your set just by selecting it/them and clicking on the appropriate direction icon mouse.  You still have to do some tweaking at the end since in moves in preset increments and doesn't adjust height, but it's still insanely useful and comes free witht the already crazily useful room creator.  

Actually, the toolbar in Room Creator Exteriors has a couple of height movements.

But what I really wanted to say was although the toolbar creation code is encrypted (I didn't write it, and the author insisted it be encrypted), you can modify the pose presets it references, which are included in the same folder. For example, in the first pose file - Xneg.dsa, you'll see these 3 lines at the beginning

var xPos = -170;
var yPos = NaN;
var zPos = NaN;

The first entry -170 is minus 170 centimeters, and NaN is Not a Number (or no change). You could change that to something like this

var xPos = NaN;
var yPos = 50;
var zPos = NaN;

which raises any figure/object 50 centimeters on the Yaxis.

Now, obviously that breaks the preset for use in Room Creator, so my advice would be to make the presets you want from the existing ones,  saving them under new names, then make your own toolbar. The only difference with the Room Creator toolbar is that it installs into the UI with one click. Other than that, it's just a normal toolbar (with my icons, which you can either steal.... er.. adapt... or make your own).

mac

Fishtales

nonesuch00 said:

Fishtales said:

If you are using one of your own pictures, taken with a camera, as a Backdrop under the Environment Tab, not the render Environment, then set the sun to the Lat/Long for where it was taken, Google it. Look at the  EXIF for the picture and set the time of day; set the Tone Mapping to the same settings as the camera, if they don't look right then look for the EV setting and try that and also set the White Point if it gives a setting for it; set the camera to the same as the camera used, frame size, focal length and F/Stop if you want to use DOF. That way the lighting will match the photograph and then rotate the camera to point in the direction you were facing when the picture was taken. Front is facing South so if you were facing West turn it to the right and East to the left, or any points on the compass. You can then zoom the camera in or out to get the added elements into the positions you want them. That is the fiddley bit and every image will be different so then it becomes trial and error. You can move the camera up or down or zoom in or out but not left ot right or you will lose the sun direction and the shadows wont match the photograph.

Love this tip!

It is the EXIF you look at not the IPC.

Cybersox

maclean said:

CybersoxXIII said:

Second - Maclean's Room Creator Toolbar, which lets you move left, right, forward, back, rotate, zero or hide any single or group of objects in any direction all over your set just by selecting it/them and clicking on the appropriate direction icon mouse.  You still have to do some tweaking at the end since in moves in preset increments and doesn't adjust height, but it's still insanely useful and comes free witht the already crazily useful room creator.  

Actually, the toolbar in Room Creator Exteriors has a couple of height movements.

But what I really wanted to say was although the toolbar creation code is encrypted (I didn't write it, and the author insisted it be encrypted), you can modify the pose presets it references, which are included in the same folder. For example, in the first pose file - Xneg.dsa, you'll see these 3 lines at the beginning

var xPos = -170;
var yPos = NaN;
var zPos = NaN;

The first entry -170 is minus 170 centimeters, and NaN is Not a Number (or no change). You could change that to something like this

var xPos = NaN;
var yPos = 50;
var zPos = NaN;

which raises any figure/object 50 centimeters on the Yaxis.

Now, obviously that breaks the preset for use in Room Creator, so my advice would be to make the presets you want from the existing ones,  saving them under new names, then make your own toolbar. The only difference with the Room Creator toolbar is that it installs into the UI with one click. Other than that, it's just a normal toolbar (with my icons, which you can either steal.... er.. adapt... or make your own).

mac

Yikes.... somewhere along the way I must have deleted the height functions from my toolbar, but I just reloaded and there they were.  No idea how long it's been like that since I almost always use MCasual's scripts for moving things vertically.  But knowing how to adjust the movement presets now is an awesome bonus! Adjusting original post to remove the errata.    

MelanieL

Repeating this from something I posted in another thread:

When loading a new morph which requires you to Adjust Rigging to Shape, you may want to deselect a body part and all it's children (e.g. the whole lower body). Rather than having to scroll through all the body parts and deselect them individually, you can right-click any part (e.g. pelvis) and you get an option to deselect that item and all it's children. Much quicker than the multi-click alternative.

nicstt

MelanieL said:

j cade said:

...And speaking of, something I discovered not too long ago that I wish I'd known years earlier. Customize Workspace is the best. Once youve added something to the scripts menu (right click > create custom action) you can move it to any other menu, or create a new menu, or new toolbar. For instance, I have a dropdown menu for all my favorite lights (its even organized with submenues) I now rarely ever have to go into the content library for lights. Its amazing how much time I save by just not having to scroll to lights and then back to people.

But seriously you can control almost everything with Customize workspace, every shortcut, every toolbar. Its glorious

Oh wow, what a great idea! I can well image you saving a lot of time that way - I seem to spend ages hunting down the light sets and hence losing my place on whatever I previously had in the content tab. I didn't realise new menus and submenus could be created - I have several things pinned to the "Scripts" menu item, but they are a random mess (order of addition as a custom action). I must try this.... thanks!

I posted it on page one iirc; hit F3 to bring up the option.

nicstt

MelanieL said:

Repeating this from something I posted in another thread:

When loading a new morph which requires you to Adjust Rigging to Shape, you may want to deselect a body part and all it's children (e.g. the whole lower body). Rather than having to scroll through all the body parts and deselect them individually, you can right-click any part (e.g. pelvis) and you get an option to deselect that item and all it's children. Much quicker than the multi-click alternative.

I knew I'd read that somewhere; nice to be reminded, and hopefully I will remember when I next need the option.

marble

MelanieL said:

Repeating this from something I posted in another thread:

When loading a new morph which requires you to Adjust Rigging to Shape, you may want to deselect a body part and all it's children (e.g. the whole lower body). Rather than having to scroll through all the body parts and deselect them individually, you can right-click any part (e.g. pelvis) and you get an option to deselect that item and all it's children. Much quicker than the multi-click alternative.

I used to have a shortcut key combination for exactly this (and another for Zero Selected) but my shortcuts were reset when I installed an update. Must remember to do that again.

Szark

AlienRenders said:

If you want to set your own Sun location when using Sun-Sky setting, just move your camera to where you want the Sun to be. This way, you'll get a good view of what angle you're illuminating your scene. Then create a new Null object and select the option to copy the viewport's transforms. Now set that null object as the Sun node in the Environment settings. Move the camera back to its proper location. You can now move the null Sun node later if need be. You can use this technique to position all sorts of things. New cameras, lights, etc. If the option to copy the viewport's transforms isn't there, create a camera or null and parent the new item to it.

There is a tool inside DS called the Sun Dail to do just that. It is housed in the Render Settings Pane under Presets > Iray. 

L'Adair

I can't believe I didn't share this one first...!

In the Progressive Render settings for Iray is an On/Off button for Quality. If you turn it off, Iray stops trying to reach convergence, leaving Max Samples and Max Time as the only limits to your render. And if you set Max Time to 0, (zero,) you've essentially disabled that limit as well. Then you can use Max Samples to control how long your image renders. And if the default limit of 15000 samples isn't enough, you can go into the parameter's settings and turn limits off.

I now have a file that is loaded at startup and New which is set up that way as the default. I like to let my renders run at night, while I'm sleeping, and when I get up, I decide whether or not to continue rendering. Assuming it hasn't finished already.

nonesuch00

L'Adair said:

I can't believe I didn't share this one first...!

In the Progressive Render settings for Iray is an On/Off button for Quality. If you turn it off, Iray stops trying to reach convergence, leaving Max Samples and Max Time as the only limits to your render. And if you set Max Time to 0, (zero,) you've essentially disabled that limit as well. Then you can use Max Samples to control how long your image renders. And if the default limit of 15000 samples isn't enough, you can go into the parameter's settings and turn limits off.

I now have a file that is loaded at startup and New which is set up that way as the default. I like to let my renders to run at night, while I'm sleeping, and when I get up, I decide whether or not to continue rendering. Assuming it hasn't finished already.

Is max samples the same thing as iterations in the rendering progress dialogue?

L'Adair

nonesuch00 said:

L'Adair said:

I can't believe I didn't share this one first...!

In the Progressive Render settings for Iray is an On/Off button for Quality. If you turn it off, Iray stops trying to reach convergence, leaving Max Samples and Max Time as the only limits to your render. And if you set Max Time to 0, (zero,) you've essentially disabled that limit as well. Then you can use Max Samples to control how long your image renders. And if the default limit of 15000 samples isn't enough, you can go into the parameter's settings and turn limits off.

I now have a file that is loaded at startup and New which is set up that way as the default. I like to let my renders to run at night, while I'm sleeping, and when I get up, I decide whether or not to continue rendering. Assuming it hasn't finished already.

Is max samples the same thing as iterations in the rendering progress dialogue?

For our purposes, yes. The fact they have different terms may mean something, but if you set Max Samples to 2500, the image will stop rendering after completing 2500 iterations. It is more exact than using Max Time. If you set Max Time to 1800, (30 minutes,) it will complete any iteration it's on at the 30 minute mark, regardless of how long that takes.

Linwelly

Szark said:

AlienRenders said:

If you want to set your own Sun location when using Sun-Sky setting, just move your camera to where you want the Sun to be. This way, you'll get a good view of what angle you're illuminating your scene. Then create a new Null object and select the option to copy the viewport's transforms. Now set that null object as the Sun node in the Environment settings. Move the camera back to its proper location. You can now move the null Sun node later if need be. You can use this technique to position all sorts of things. New cameras, lights, etc. If the option to copy the viewport's transforms isn't there, create a camera or null and parent the new item to it.

There is a tool inside DS called the Sun Dail to do just that. It is housed in the Render Settings Pane under Presets > Iray. 

Gosh, I knew that one once and totally ofrgot about it... this will be helpful again

Szark

I have a scene loaded with a CAM with Headlamp OFF and Sun Dail when I start DS. :)

Sfariah D

Not sure if it is mentioned but I found that panes can be undocked into their own window.  Useful for my dual monitor situation.  I can have aux view on my netbook screen while the main screen is on the monitor on the desk.

Beat578

DaWaterRat said:

Better still, you can look through distant and spotlights (select from the camera dropdown) to "see" their position...

That was my big slap Moment.... I dont' know how hoften i waited for hours for a Render just to find out my lights still don't point where i wanted them!

maclean

Beat,

See my post on the previous page about the cameras/lights tutorial. It covers this and more

http://digilander.libero.it/maclean/DStutorial.htm

RKane_1

This thread is amazing and should be stickied. :)

Sfariah D

RKane_1 said:

This thread is amazing and should be stickied. :)

But stickies tend to be ignored sometimes I think.

RKane_1

Miss Bad Wolf said:

RKane_1 said:

This thread is amazing and should be stickied. :)

But stickies tend to be ignored sometimes I think.

I look there often. If it is stickied, then we can continue to post great tricks and, hopefully, someone will be able to refer to this in the future to learn what is shared here.

RKane_1

How about converting 3Delight skydomes to IRAY just by converting the texture to Uber Iray base and then making it emissive (You still need to fiddle with the luminance and such but if you have a favorite sky, this might help salvage it.)   :)

Snuggins

I animate keyframe by keyframe, and it has to be the day I discovered if you make two consecutive frames identical, it nullifies the over and undershoot.

jakiblue

oooohhh I just remembered one! I can't recall if someone told me this or if I found it here on the forums, but this one is for Smart Content. 

If you want to see all the products of a particular vendor that you own, in the search bar at the top of the Smart Content pane, type "key::FredSmith

with FredSmith being the vendor name. It will show all the products by that vendor. You can also save that filter by clicking the little arrow under the magnifying glass, then Save Filter, and in the 'menu path' hit the dropdown and select Vendor and just put the name in at the bottom. 

Really helps when you're wanting to use something that you forget the name of, when you installed it, what it was categorized as, but can remember the vendor who made it. :)

edited to add pic

Richard Haseltine

jakiblue said:

oooohhh I just remembered one! I can't recall if someone told me this or if I found it here on the forums, but this one is for Smart Content. 

If you want to see all the products of a particular vendor that you own, in the search bar at the top of the Smart Content pane, type "key::FredSmith

with FredSmith being the vendor name. It will show all the products by that vendor. You can also save that filter by clicking the little arrow under the magnifying glass, then Save Filter, and in the 'menu path' hit the dropdown and select Vendor and just put the name in at the bottom. 

Really helps when you're wanting to use something that you forget the name of, when you installed it, what it was categorized as, but can remember the vendor who made it. :)

edited to add pic

"key::FredSmith" - if there's a space in the name missing the closing quote will stop it from working. You can auto-fill the filter field by clicking (ctrl/cmd clicking to add to a filter) on an artists name in the Tags page at the bottom, if you have one of their items selected. http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/interface/panes/smart_content/advanced_filtering/start