Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
The majority of my figure based work is just for fun. If I need accurate lighting representations I have the advantage of using Mental Ray in 3DS Max. This seems to knock the spots of Lux time wise and has much greater control.
On several occasions I have found it quicker to export assets from DAS into 3DS Max (even though you have to build the material files and adjust smoothing modifiers) rather than fight with Lux. It is such a shame because Lux shows what could be possible with DAZ if it shipped with a better renderer.
Using Omni lights and ambient effect cameras is certainly very effective in DAZ, and very quick. Its just a shame there isn't something like Lux which does what it says on the tin and doesn't take all night to do it.
I think despite its limitations, that I'll be sticking with Luxrender for the time being. If I were in the teaching profession, I know I could get the expensive software like Photoshop and 3D Max cheaper, but they are a bit rich for my hobbyist taste at the moment.
Luxrender (free) & Luxus $10 (offer price) Vs Thousands for 3DS & Renderer like Mental Ray or Octane. That also doesn't include the graphics card upgrade that would be required for the GPU.
So for the moment.
Just messing (on the cheap) with...
Lamborghini Gallardo 2007. The obj has a few errors which I really need to correct but instead just hid for this render.
Its not as good as I'd like but OK for my first auto render.
..The updated G2F Starter Essentials.
Just happened to see the new Quickstart Barefoot Dancer tutorial video by Emily on Youtube. Worth grabbing the updated essentials for the Toulouse hair, Costume and background environment. I found all the Barefoot Dancer files in the- Daz Tutorials Folder.
Just a quick mod of the provided scene.
Same, but with 1.5% Shadow Softness in the Light parameters Tab of the main light.
.. work in progress.
Using Utopia Labs, Mech 2012 & Cybermech M4.
Wings3D.
A geodome subd/face select/select edges & bevel/extruded.
Luxus/Luxrender render.
Need to add more ambient glow behind the rocket, add a fog plane in front of the lamp, maybe add some dof and rotate the camera a bit.
I wouldn't put the Rocket that close to the figure myself. They travel very fast, and it is Hiding part of your work as well. Much farther ahead and shown better would sell the idea more if you ask me. Which you didn't... so... NM.
Thanks Jaderail for the critique. TBH I'm still trying to get a decent smoke effect without resorting to any further purchases, turns pockets inside out. Still a work in progress, maybe it'll be finished before Christmas (2014).
What you using now? I might have a few Ideas. I prefer render in effects and know most. I also might know a trick or two you could use. Before 2014.
Yep, I'm trying to do the effect in camera as I don't like doing it in post. I'm using some random pillow shaped objects scaled and rotated instances, 50% opacity with 100% ambient and lit with linear lights so the light doesn't get to the skydome.
Attached a quickly re-jigged pic without proper lighting effect to show how I'm approaching the idea.
I first tried using Spacebones skytrails but they were too long and the one that looked best the meteor trial was also curved.
I don't have any specific smoke or fire props like Rons brushes to work with. With your greater experience I'm more than happy to take on board any suggestion you have.
Thanks.
That looks much better to me, I would Drop the OFF to the side smoke trails though, at speed from launch to target without a VERY strong wind that would not happen. For a simple rocket a Primitive Tube and Cone comes to mind, Small, just enough to know what it is. Then of course the back fill light to give SOME light to the person that launched it. This looks very good to me at this stage. Lit or not.
@Jaderail. Thanks for the advice /edit.
B2M
Just used the pic as a texture and output the bump,displacement & normal etc. without altering any sliders. Put the texture files onto a primative sphere just as a test.
3Dview. Cross eyes to see three images then focus on the middle one. Just like you did all those years ago trying to see the image in all that fuzzy stuff.
Wings3D and Luxus/Luxrender.
An Art Wade Sphere. The tutorial is on Youtube, the link is in Dave Brinnen's DS thread. It produces 2 objects and the cube is just a variant.
Wings3D WIP.
Just messing about to produce a background prop, will have to clean up and divide those poly's with more than 4 verts. Maybe I'll finish it, who knows. I'll have to try UV mapping, which I've stayed clear of up till now.
Just converted GKanes Babylon5 Starfury MK2 LWO to OBJ using Poseray and Wings3D. Wings3D is a bugger for amalgamating different surfaces into one, it was a real pain. But by using Poseray to convert first and then importing into wings3D to assemble the parts I eventually managed to keep the surfaces. Just a small matter then of re-applying the maps.
This one was a lot easier as its a straight obj convert from a blend file. B5 Station by KuhnIndustries over at Blendswap. An excellent model, think I need to add some missing spec maps though as I think I may have missed some out. Will have to have a look at the mtl file.
Kuhn Industries has also started to model the TV version model of the Firefly/Serenity ship.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.525624987525630.1073741863.345392525548878&type=1
/EDIT
Also found an interesting tutorial on building Serenity in Lightwave.
http://www.foundation3d.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1281
Blender.
A KuhnIndustries Starfury Blender Render using the supplied scene blend. Not sure if any textures are missing, as when I exported the obj, I noticed that the mtl file makes ref to gun mat and discoloration png's, I'm not sure if they're packed into the blend file, as I couldn't find them rummaging around in blender.
The KuhnIndustries obj rendered in Daz Studio needs some textures.
Finally got around to using the Steampunk train, when I saw this background station, the FF type image popped into my head.
Pity I couldn't find any free spikey solid anime type hair though.
I was just checking out your thread ,
you got some really nice renders , for messing around :)
Thanks Ivy, your comments are appreciated. I tend to enjoy the journey towards the finished render more than the end product itself and I usually have an idea rattling around in my head which I have to start at the expense of another. I've got a load of half finished projects that I may re visit later, a bit like my home DIY. Doh!
Converting LWO's to OBJ's.
Just came across the Foundation3D website, where they have a nice selection of Lightwave sci-fi models. So I converted the Meurig Omega Class Destroyer to go with GKane's MK2 Starfury.
Looks better full size.
Just for a bit of fun.
I wanted to put a cow on the back of the saucer but didn't have one in my runtime.
The moon is a Realmoon Blend form Blendswap converted to obj.
Blender.
Following Andrew Price's tutorial on modelling an airplane/aeroplane 747-400. I just wish he had the screenkeys on all the time, as every now and then I had something a little different on my monitor and found myself looking up how it was done before I could progress further.
I thought I'd model the turbines and append them into the scene, bad idea, as I couldn't find it in the view windows, even though it was under scene tab. So I had to model it again. Bugger.
It took me way longer than the length of the video, with lots of saving stages, but it's a sorta fun way of learning Blender if your prepared for the occasional head stratch or two, three, four.....
Right that's part 1 the modelling done. Now to look up part 2 and the UV mapping.
Blender Part 2.
Just got around for finishing up part2 of the tutorial and as per part 1, I had to pause the video in numerous places while I looked up a Blender or Gimp, how to video. Now I know quite a bit more than I did before I started the tute's.
Maybe my next PC will have a twin monitor graphics card. Now that would make following a tutorial much easier.
So I'm reasonably happy with my first Blender model, it needs some more texturing and post gimp work, but I've left it as it was rendered.
I've recently heard on a podcast, 'art is never finished, it's abandoned'. So that's enough for me on this particular Blender outing.
/EDIT (Blender Cycles Render)
Luxus/Luxrender NK files.
Thanks to Marmalade Boy's post over in Nuts and Bolts section about Metal2 shaders in Luxrender.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/36929/
Led me to the RGB to NK conversion program by Tinman.
http://www.renderlight.co.uk/files/rgbtonk.rar
It's a really handy utility for converting RGB values into the incomprehensible NK jargon.
All I need to do now is figure out the other settings, Absorption and Reflectance.
Changed values to red and saved out the NK file. Easy. Then just load it into the Metal2 NK File window.
Luxrender Glass..
Luxrender Glass2 and Script - Whiskey Fogged Glass LBM.
Just testing some materials out. I know that the vase is not fully down on the deck. :-P
Been quietly following these experiments with interest. I hope you don't mind if I throw in something from the Bryce corner. Bryce can be a bit tricky to coax into exotic effects (SSS/caustics) but it is possible if you are very patient. Here's an example scene and here's the material was set up if you are curious. Bryce 7.1 Pro Advanced - SSS effect for mesh models - by David Brinnen