Novica & Serene Night's Renders, Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews Part 1
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Not sure what you mean by playing it safe, but remember that higher number for shading rate = lower quality
Thanks, I knew that, just posted the wrong thing. (the term shading rate, instead of pixel samples.) The shading rate had been lowered from .50 to .20 after the very first UE2 was used. I meant the pixel samples were increased. I changed it to reflect what I had actually done.
"Pixel Samples increased from 8 to 10 due to UE2 (playing it safe) Shading rate still .20"
I am just loading the lights- not turning the character at all. Aka, no adjustments. That way each lighting setup is being compared as apples to apples. So what you're saying is, they are appearing elsewhere and I need to go look for those. That makes sense! (The dz lights)
Well, thinking about it- it doesn't make sense. Shouldn't those lights be pointed at World Center, 0/0/0? When you load Genesis or Genesis 2, they are at those coordinates. I didn't move my figure, she is in the t pose and at World Center. So does the Starter Essentials have a glitch with the lights? (Someone want to load up Genesis 2 and test those?)
Jasmin For Genesis Lights
Still with shading rate .20, pixel samples 10
Even with those settings, I am seeing weird patterns. Faint, but there. Look to the left of her mouth on her cheek and by the mouth. So I am assuming the settings would have to be even better with this materials set. Jason is the same way. It is a wonderful light set however!
EDIT: Tried it again with pixel samples increased to 12, and it was better but lines were still there. So be aware you might have to increase that depending on the character's skin you're using.
Very unique.
Distant Light: Specular Highlights (No Shadows)
Distant Light: Diffuse Spotlight (Raytraced Shadows)
Distant Light: Rim Light (Deep Shadow Map)
Distant Light: Image Based Light (Soft Shadows)
The hair on the left has very nice highlights. And check out SereneNight's images that she posted a minute ago with the Jason lighting. Mine's coming up. Thank you SereneNight!
Jason For Genesis
Same lighting names as above, but in the viewport, her hair is glowing with blue streaks so it is a DIFFERENT light set.
EDIT: Brought in Chiara, my V6 gal who uses the Base Female UV set. Same settings.
The third photo is Chiara with Jasmin lights. I am not doing Jason as it would be about the same.
I am saying that when you load a premade light set, the set maker has moved and aimed the lights and set intensities, etc. When you load one of the DAZ default lights, like distant, point, spot, etc, YOU have to do all that yourself. Otherwise they just stay at default settings. They might even be inside your character, depending on where you put your character. I don't think it is a meaningful test of those DAZ basic lights to load them without trying to adjust them. That's what I'm trying to say.
Understood- but wouldn't the default setting be 0/0/0 where the default character loads? (World Center) That's where my figure is at.
Here are two sample images with Jason default lights.
The man crouching is just the default lights.
The man with motorcycle has rim light set to very light pale yellow.
WOW- very nice! I can see why you like them!
Take a peek at the Jasmin that I just posted- at the hair on the left side near the side of her face.
I do not see this. Where?
It's just been posted up under Jasmin. And Jason's is rendering now. With that deep shadow map, they are taking longer.
Funny thing is, I bought Jason just for his lights. I never use character. . Oh my, but worth the investment for the lights alone.
One thing I recently found I like doing, and well, it may be something every person does and I only just learned it, is I no longer move my character. Even in a large set... I move the set to suit the character. This way I find I can achieve some interesting looks with predone sets without lots of fuss.
Guilty too :) I move the sets.
Do you have your studio open? I am curious as to whether when Genesis loads up on opening, if you go to the Smart Content / Lights to the dzSpotlight, if it is shining on your Genesis? I didn't move my character so now I'm curious as to where that spotlight is shining. I can't stop what I'm doing at the moment (it's rendering Jason's lights.)
BTW, I love your skies. What is that from?
The sky is a backdrop from West of the Moon set on Renderosity.
The spotlight on mine points straight at genesis default.
I've closed my studio and am going to reopen it to retest the Jasmin and Jason lights. Did you see the lines? This same thing happened an hour or so ago (as per the post with Barbult.) So I am not trusting those results. Before I start, I'm going to go back to the spotlight and load it just as before. My version 4.6 does funky things that 4.5 didn't do (it wouldnt save scenes for two days, and cripes, done that hundreds of times, I know how to save a scene, so I know it wasn't me. )
So I'm hoping this will reset any funkiness. Thanks so much for testing it. I would think that's how it would be, otherwise surely someone would have reported it by NOW. I'll change the results if it comes up correctly.
EDIT: I did a Merge and brought the Kristena scene in on top of Genesis which loads up at the start- which loads at World Center, so I've confirmed she was at 0/0/0 a different way (had checked parameters tab before, and it said the same thing.)
Now I'm going to try the light.
EDIT: It's at her feet, pointing to the back! She is coal black. Ducky, just ducky.
Hate to ask, but can you give me the XYZ translations on the essentials lights so I can at least set it up and give this the proper review?! I don't trust any of the three at this point.
machine is rendering, but will check as soon as it is done. sss shaders hog my poor computer's resources.
Thank you very much! I just hope this doesn't happen to newbies who wonder what they're doing wrong. I at least know what World Center is and how to check the coordinates, where the figures load in at, etc. Glad Barbult pointed out those weren't the results that I should be getting though (Thanks Barbult, in case I hadn't mentioned it!) :) But this is a good thing, at least if anyone else is relying on those lights while adding them to a scene- they need to know they might not be shining where they think they are (IF their studio is doing what mine is.) This is just funky.
The defaults appear to be zero on all lights. I am not sure is there a specific light set you are looking for. All my lights default to zero. Maybe I am misunderstanding? =-)
No, you're fine. I was just hoping you'd have some numbers because some of these light sets do. Normally in the rotation though. (X rotate, for example, in Jasmin) I'll just have to skip those. :(
Create Fiery Genesis In DAZ Studio FREE!!!
http://www.daz3d.com/create-fiery-genesis-in-daz-studio
Lights:
2 Spotlights (1 left and 1 right)
2 Distant Lights, Specular (white, 150%) (white 100%)
UberEnvironment 2 (Occlusion with Directional)
Genesis Essentials- Preset Light 2 Don't know how else to put it, it's that outcropping that is an inverted cone. It has the most blue glow. It's the first one listed in your Smart Content. It says "Light." (It will say preset light 2 if you load it then go to Edit>Delete.)
Again, reminder these lights will look different depending on where your figure is in the scene. If your character is at 0/0/0 where it loaded in the beginning (unless you used a preset) this is what you can expect using The Sisters Adv SSS materials.
NOTE: I did this three times, closing the studio, coming back in, reloading everything- this IS the result I got three times. Retested some of the other ones, they tested true after re-opening the studio, so this is correct. Monsters, anyone? SKIPPING THE OTHERS- they are bright yellow, etc.
Lights:
6 Spotlights
EDIT: Brought in Chiara, my V6 gal who uses the Base Female UV set. Same settings.
Third image is Chiara, Genesis Essentials "Light" Fourth is with Fiery Genesis.
Dragon Slayers (Lights)
http://www.daz3d.com/dragon-slayers
Lights:
Distant: Right Side
Distant: Left Side
Distant: UberEnvironment2 white, 50%, Occlusion With Soft Shadows
Point: Overhead Glow (100%, light peach)
The Windmill (Moonlight)
http://www.daz3d.com/the-windmill
Lights:
UberEnvironment2: 100% intensity, med grayish blue 178/172/255 Occlusion with Directional Shadows
4 Point Lights
I Distant Light (200% white)
You will probably get a different result when the figure is turned, guessing by the light coming from the left.
EDIT: Brought in Chiara, my V6 gal who uses the Base Female UV set. Same settings.
Third image is Chiara, Dragon Slayer lights.
Fourth image- render took three hours- but what a treat- is Chiara The Windmill (Moonlight)
DMs Courage Realm Pz3-01 Lights
http://www.daz3d.com/dms-courage-realm
The pixel samples were 10, shading rate .20, pixel filter width 8.04 and those lines still appeared on the forehead.
(Shadow samples are always 32)
Lights:
5 Distant (gray, blue, 2 dark maroons, pink)
EDIT: Brought in Chiara, my V6 gal who uses the Base Female UV set. Same settings.
She's the second one.
Toon Amy For Genesis (Character And Hair)
http://www.daz3d.com/toon-amy-for-genesis-character-hair-1
Again, the render rates are of a very good quality, yet I am seeing lines/patterns on the face. I would just assume that you aren't going to have them and note only the lighting. I've restarted the studio twice, tested the other lights and they were correct again, so this is the result I am getting for this.
EDIT: Brought in Chiara, my V6 gal who uses the Base Female UV set. Same settings.
Lights:
Distant: Specular Highlights (No Shadows)
Distant: Diffuse Spotlight (Raytraced Shadows)
Distant: Rim Light (Deep Shadow Map)
Distant: Image Based Light (Soft Shadows)
You folks who are surfing in at 4:20am- backtrack. I am going back and putting Chiara (my V6) who uses the UV set Basic Female under these lights. She is also at World Center 0/0/0 and performing quite nicely. The render settings are quite high quality for both The Sisters Adv SSS and Chiara's Basic Female- they are identical.
Shading rate is .20 and all other settings are between Adam's really high quality and insane (gotta love that). As my studio acted up with the Genesis Essentials light, I was feeling a bit uneasy showing results with those lines. It might still BE my studio, wouldn't surprise me!
Chiara is breezing through these light setups and render settings so you can use her as your standard too. :) Hope you're enjoying this as much as I am (angst aside from those blasted lines) and be patient, with these settings even these small renders are 25 minutes up apiece. I've got to get some sleep soon, but we'll continue tomorrow!
Cathie
EDIT: Back at it since 9:30am so go all the way back and see the Chiara's. ALL DONE..
Well, what a pleasant surprise. My characters will be headed to the Barn Yard (AOIBL) in the day, and both theTsukikos look good for evening. Jasmin, Jason, and Amy are going to become my good friends, lol. (Can see what you mean about getting Jason for the lights, Serene Night!) Some of the other ones have a nice mystical or moonlight quality.
And no, we're not done. I'll be doing renders periodically throughout this afternoon/evening but Life dictates I have to do household chores at the same time, also go out to the barn because I did this instead of seeing Nova yesterday. I'm sure he's pouting. :)
So what do you think so far? Which ones are your favorites?
EDIT: I have put a link in my first post so anytime you want to pop in and refresh your memory, you can go straight to these light examples.
Gabi For V5
http://www.daz3d.com/gabi-for-v5
Lights:
3 distant, including UE2: white, 65% Occlusion with Directional Shadows
3 point lights (all white, between 25 and 50%)
At this point, I am discontinuing tests on The Sisters. I am getting lines and patterns on the face, and am not willing to put the render settings at a higher quality than what I have. Again, DO YOUR OWN TESTS as it could be my studio acting up. All I can do is report what is happening in MY studio. For The Sisters, using the ADV SSS Mats>Default>Full MAT Bald for Kristena, I upped the pixel samples to 13 with a shading rate of .20 and still got patterned results and the renders of course are taking too long to continue. The pixel filter width was 8, shadow samples are 32, gamma off. I shouldn't be having these problems even with UE2.
Especially for Chiara with the same lights, it was 10's and a rate of .30 and you can see how well she is doing.
I will be using Chiara (V6, Basic Female UV map) from here on out, but if you are getting good results with The Sisters with the light sets please do post them. I can only share what is happening when my studio renders it. I can't do these at .010 or .020 as there's too many light sets to showcase. I'm not doing my renders at that setting either, so it's not practical. I will say, I've had problems with version 4.6 off and on, but not lately- but I want to repeat that and say don't blame The Sisters- it may be on MY end. Feeling very apprehensive, but when I'm getting these kinds of results with Chiara, I just can't explain the other.
GIS Terminal
http://www.daz3d.com/gis-terminal
With any products, read to see if the lightsets are included. I am only linking to the main product. This has a separate product with lights, but lights used in the promo are also included.
RESULTS: Cancelled after 72%, it is totally rusty and dark, very grainy. See screenshot.
Royal Stairs
http://www.daz3d.com/royal-stairs
As you'll recall, I did a product review for clothing with Cassini, and loved this lightset so I already know you will be pleased. It's only $1.99 PC.
Lights: (this is my normal setup for many of my renders- 4 distant and 3 spot, or 3 distant and 4 spot. Nice for side lighting with the distant as a fill.
The distants were 18-20% and white, with one dull blue.
4 Distant Lights
3 Spot Lights
Helena For V4 Light 01-01
http://www.daz3d.com/helena-for-v4
Yes, let's get our friend V4's lighting into the mix.
This rendered VERY fast. (Royal Stairs was good too.)
Lights:
2 Distant (Both were almost white)
2 Spotlights (Both were 60%, almost white)
Helena For V4 Light 01-02
Same, 2 Distant and 2 Spotlights, same or almost the same colors.
Note her right cheek is darker, so spotlights are placed differently.
Predatron DS Lights 01 Raytrace
http://www.daz3d.com/predatron-ds-lights
I just did a review on how this works well as your first attempt with UberEnvironment2. It's what I used for the Tamesis / Venomwhip / Herbeast render at The Mill, remember? See below. That is using THIS lighting.
This is showing from World Center, and my scene and figures were further back. I added a spotlight from one side and changed the brightness and color (it was white) of the existing lights, and it wasn't hard to tweak at all. So just temper this one with the realization the lights are easy to turn down and will give you a nice outdoor light set. the sun light is 100% and WHITE, so it's an easy fix.
Lights:
3 Distant (Sun, Specular, UberEnvironment2- white, 75% Occlusion with Directional Shadows)
Lantios Lights 2 01
http://www.daz3d.com/lantios-lights-2
Loaded ultra fast. ZIP!
Lights:
2 Distant: Sun, UberEnvironment 2 (50% white, with an image that has blue)
Lantios Lights 2 02
Lights:
2 Distant: Sun, UberEnvironment 2 (60% white, with an image that has blue)