how do you get smooth shade view to increase contrast (make shadows darker)?

tmtmtm_f56c8d4bda

The default smooth shaded view in the viewport has so little contrast it's very hard to see the shape of things.

I'm moving to DS from poser. In Poser, I can turn all the lights off and use spotlights, and the shadows look pretty accurate in the viewport.

So far in DS I can't really get a result that reasonably accurately represents what the render will look like because there is no real shadows.

Is this a limitatino of DS? Or is there a way I can get a more representative viewport while posing my lights and figures?

Thanks.

XoechZ

Correct, the DAZ Studio viewport does not display shadows. There is no trick or workaround. It is as it is.
Sometimes it helps a bit to turn on "Per Pixel Shading" in Preferences - Interface. This makes lightning a bit more accurate, but still no shadows.

I (and many others) hope that DAZ will implement an improved viewport some day.

Edit:
One thing you can do is to enable "Progressive Rendering" in the render settings. This gives you really very fast renders, perfect for setting up lightning. You will see a good enough image within a few seconds.

tmtmtm_f56c8d4bda

Coming from Poser, I learned to like smooth shaded view because it shows your geometry really well, and also shows the light/shadow interplay so you have a lot less surprises when rendering. it really increases speed in morphing and posing workflow...

being new to DS, I now struggle to make it do what I want: show me the shadows cast by my lights!

Specifically, the contrast between lit areas and shaded areas is way too small for my setup - i't's white-> light grey.

I'm hoping to figure out a way to have this dramatically increased to light grey->very dark grey, so I can see the transitions and shadow interplay better. Is this possible?

XoechZ

You asked the same in the beginners forum. I answered there. Please have a look. Thanks!

Mod Edit: Threads merged to unify information into one place. New users is set up to help newbies with how to do things.

tmtmtm_f56c8d4bda

XoechZ said:

Correct, the DAZ Studio viewport does not display shadows. There is no trick or workaround. It is as it is.

Thanks for the answer. It doesn't make any sense, however. It's a 3D software, and of course the preview will display "shadows" because otherwise there would be zero sense of any dimension, i. e. a ball would look like a circle.

So maybe they aren't technically path traced real shadows, but there clearly is some approximation going on when posing figures or adjusting a morph. You have to be able to see the dimension somehow.

YouTube videos show the figure in smooth shaded, and it looks grey, with reasonably contrasted "shadows".

Mine looks essentially white.
I posed the question again because I couldn't find this post using the forum search, but then found it again with a google search, sorry about that.

prixat

I don't get an washed out preview, with 'smooth shaded'.
It displays the subtle self-shadowing I'm expecting.

Is your monitor due for a re-adjustment?

Herald of Fire

tmtmtm said:

Mine looks essentially white.
I posed the question again because I couldn't find this post using the forum search, but then found it again with a google search, sorry about that.

I'd double check the ambient color and strength. If it's showing as pure white, then chances are it's maxed out.