Volumetric Effects in Daz Studio.

barbult

Richard Haseltine said:

barbult said:

Richard Haseltine said:

ecks201 said:

I'm with barbult on the above, but specifically:

I don't really understand the thought process behind requiring a specific surface name. A person wouldn't apply the new volume shader to any surface that they didn't want it to apply to.

I'm puzzled too, only reason I can think is that there's an internal Daz problem to do with surface names/properties and this is a fudge to get around it.

There is, I gather, a distinction in Iray between volume textures and volume objects which introduces certain limitations and requirements.

So for our education, which of those is what is being used in the new 4.20 volumetric shader? Since it is a surface shader, I would guess "volume texture". But since we have to add a VDB file that defines a 3 dimensional shape, it might be "volume object". 

There is quite a bit of detail in http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/change_log_4_20_0_2#4_15_1_90

I infer from that, that the answer is "Volume Texture", although it does say "Added support for inhomogeneous volumes, both as “Volumetric Textures” and “Volume Objects”, when rendering with NVIDIA Iray". So maybe more capability is coming to DS in the future?

It is really hard for a user to comprehend what a he/she/they/insert-pronoun-here will see in Daz Studio based on the change log entries. For example, this is in change log entries for DS 4.15, but from a user perspective, this did not appear until 4.20. You have a special knack, Richard. Thanks again for the link and always being so helpful in the forum. We need you!

barbult

@AllenArt are you talking about the blocky bunny problem? I gave up on bunny, too. There is another VDB called bunny_cloud. That is the soft looking one that people have been posting colorful images of lately. Try that one.

Edit: I changed the bunny_cloud link to go to the OpenVDB download page instead of the file directly. I thought I shouldn't link their zip file directly here.

Richard Haseltine

fastbike1 said:

 Did you not see Stonemason's example on page 2 of this thread?

AllenArt said:

prixat said:

Hylas said:

Everyone's talking about Ground Fog... but what about Matte Fog? Was that always there? I don't remember...

Ground Fog was in the previous verson and possibly earlier. Matte Fog even earlier than that.

For those asking about the CUBE effect. It's the 'Scattering Offset' that has to be kept very dark or preferably completely black! Otherwise it allows scattering up to the edge of each Voxel, making them all visible.

The denoiser has a quite nice effect too.

Mine is black. I still get the Lego bunny. I've updated the drivers, updated the menus and restarted DS, redownloaded and installed the default filters....

Nada. I'm gonna take a break ;)

There should be no need to make adjustments to the "Simple OpenVDB MDL Volume" Shader Preset included in the updated Default Resources package as it does this by default. See the change log (http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/change_log_4_20_0_2#4_15_1_90)

AllenArt

barbult said:

@AllenArt are you talking about the blocky bunny problem? I gave up on bunny, too. There is another VDB called bunny_cloud. That is the soft looking one that people have been posting colorful images of lately. Try that one.

Edit: I changed the bunny_cloud link to go to the OpenVDB download page instead of the file directly. I thought I shouldn't link their zip file directly here.

Thanks! I do believe I have the wrong bunny ;). I'll try the bunny_cloud later and let ya know ;)

 

Sorel

Wonderland said:

Charlie Judge said:

I installed DS 4.20 on both my computers (one with GTX 1080 ti and the other with a lowly GTX 970). While I haven't tried volumetrics yet, I am definitely impressed both with the speed the DS program loads and with the  speed the Iray view port responds and renders.

I’m still on DS 4.14 beta because 4.15 and above crashes with my 1080ti. Are you saying DS 4.20 works with a 1080ti without crashing? 

Why wouldn't it work? I have a 1080 I've been using since it released with every version of DS that we've been given. The 1080ti is even a much better card.

AnEye4Art

So the surface has to be named "volume" to properly use the vdb file? I not too familiar with daz, so how do I rename the default surface on a cube surface to "volume"?

barbult

AnEye4Art said:

So the surface has to be named "volume" to properly use the vdb file? I not too familiar with daz, so how do I rename the default surface on a cube surface to "volume"?

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/7337311/#Comment_7337311 

Renaming the surface is only needed to control clipping.

Richard Haseltine

barbult said:

AnEye4Art said:

So the surface has to be named "volume" to properly use the vdb file? I not too familiar with daz, so how do I rename the default surface on a cube surface to "volume"?

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/7337311/#Comment_7337311 

Renaming the surface is only needed to control clipping.

I've been given a clear explaantion of how the terms relate:

it only needs to be named "Volume" if you want to treat the VDB as a "Volume Object" (i.e. not clip the volume by its intersection with the geometry of the node) rather than a "Volume Texture" (i.e., clipped by its intersection with the geometry for that surface of the node).

barbult

Richard Haseltine said:

barbult said:

AnEye4Art said:

So the surface has to be named "volume" to properly use the vdb file? I not too familiar with daz, so how do I rename the default surface on a cube surface to "volume"?

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/7337311/#Comment_7337311 

Renaming the surface is only needed to control clipping.

I've been given a clear explaantion of how the terms relate:

it only needs to be named "Volume" if you want to treat the VDB as a "Volume Object" (i.e. not clip the volume by its intersection with the geometry of the node) rather than a "Volume Texture" (i.e., clipped by its intersection with the geometry for that surface of the node).

It is starting to make some more sense now. Thank you and the devs that provided clarification.

Oso3D

Just a reminder to update drivers!

I was going... man, this volume stuff is great but it's killing my renders.

 

No, you dummy, update your drivers. Oooooh.

Gordig

Seems like a checkbox for "volume" on the primitive creation dialog would be a simple short-term fix. 

ecks201

Gordig said:

Seems like a checkbox for "volume" on the primitive creation dialog would be a simple short-term fix. 

Stop being logical! 

ecks201

Oso3D said:

Just a reminder to update drivers!

I was going... man, this volume stuff is great but it's killing my renders.

 

No, you dummy, update your drivers. Oooooh.

And don't be inquisitive and think "I wonder what this would look like with MARSA 3D". That will take a while to render too.

 

Gordig

Explosion in the Sky

AnEye4Art

barbult said:

Richard Haseltine said:

barbult said:

AnEye4Art said:

So the surface has to be named "volume" to properly use the vdb file? I not too familiar with daz, so how do I rename the default surface on a cube surface to "volume"?

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/7337311/#Comment_7337311 

Renaming the surface is only needed to control clipping.

I've been given a clear explaantion of how the terms relate:

it only needs to be named "Volume" if you want to treat the VDB as a "Volume Object" (i.e. not clip the volume by its intersection with the geometry of the node) rather than a "Volume Texture" (i.e., clipped by its intersection with the geometry for that surface of the node).

It is starting to make some more sense now. Thank you and the devs that provided clarification.

So just rename the cube to volume? I wish there was an instruction for all of this because I am confused. So Barbult, how did you change the surface name default to volume? Double clicking on it (default) does not allow a name change like double clicking on the cube.

Gordig

AnEye4Art said:

barbult said:

Richard Haseltine said:

barbult said:

AnEye4Art said:

So the surface has to be named "volume" to properly use the vdb file? I not too familiar with daz, so how do I rename the default surface on a cube surface to "volume"?

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/7337311/#Comment_7337311 

Renaming the surface is only needed to control clipping.

I've been given a clear explaantion of how the terms relate:

it only needs to be named "Volume" if you want to treat the VDB as a "Volume Object" (i.e. not clip the volume by its intersection with the geometry of the node) rather than a "Volume Texture" (i.e., clipped by its intersection with the geometry for that surface of the node).

It is starting to make some more sense now. Thank you and the devs that provided clarification.

So just rename the cube to volume? I wish there was an instruction for all of this because I am confused. So Barbult, how did you change the surface name default to volume?

To rename a surface, you have to use the Geometry Editor tool (Alt+Shift+G), then go into the tool settings pane. Expand the surfaces section, double-click on the name of the surface and change it to whatever you want ("volume", in this case).

ecks201

Gordig said:

AnEye4Art said:

So just rename the cube to volume? I wish there was an instruction for all of this because I am confused. So Barbult, how did you change the surface name default to volume?

To rename a surface, you have to use the Geometry Editor tool (Alt+Shift+G), then go into the tool settings pane. Expand the surfaces section, double-click on the name of the surface and change it to whatever you want ("volume", in this case).

 As per Gordig.

With the Geometry Editor tool active, this is what you're looking for in the Tools pane:

Double click the Default under Surfaces and change it to Volume

AnEye4Art

ecks201 said:

Gordig said:

AnEye4Art said:

So just rename the cube to volume? I wish there was an instruction for all of this because I am confused. So Barbult, how did you change the surface name default to volume?

To rename a surface, you have to use the Geometry Editor tool (Alt+Shift+G), then go into the tool settings pane. Expand the surfaces section, double-click on the name of the surface and change it to whatever you want ("volume", in this case).

 As per Gordig.

With the Geometry Editor tool active, this is what you're looking for in the Tools pane:

Double click the Default under Surfaces and change it to Volume

That worked. Thank you very much. 

WendyLuvsCatz

handy tutorial

can create the preview obj as well to use the volume shader on

ecks201

WendyLuvsCatz said:

handy tutorial

Nice find 
That makes it look stupidly easy to do.

DireWorks

WendyLuvsCatz said:

handy tutorial

can create the preview obj as well to use the volume shader on

wow, 3 mins, just in my attention time limit :D thank you!

WendyLuvsCatz

ecks201 said:

WendyLuvsCatz said:

handy tutorial

Nice find 
That makes it look stupidly easy to do.

it was the one I had been looking for I used for OpenVDB exports for Octane render and finally found it

my DAZ import is utterly minsicule though and not sure how to fix that!

I guess I need to scale my original object up in Blender, I just used frame 1 as it was a fractal I exported from Mandelbulber3D

OMG my obj is even tinier

on the brightside it doesn't come even close to clipping the cube

WendyLuvsCatz

I change resolution division from 32 to 100

this is frame 0 but one can have it smoke up on the following frames but it's very slow

of course thats why you use the baked cache afterwards in Blender 

just saving your scene and setting a cache location will create the VDB files as you click play BTW

intersting how the absorption has to be opposite to the colour you want, because it is not reflecting the rays to your retinas I guess 

bvknotty

Disney's giant cloud freebie. It's a monster but I'm loving how it reacts to light.

 

Richard Haseltine

Gordig said:

Seems like a checkbox for "volume" on the primitive creation dialog would be a simple short-term fix. 

For Iray, but Iray is not the only possible renderer.

Ghosty12

Rendercrate also has a couple of cloud freebies as well..

Gordig

Richard Haseltine said:

Gordig said:

Seems like a checkbox for "volume" on the primitive creation dialog would be a simple short-term fix. 

For Iray, but Iray is not the only possible renderer.

Yes, but what are the downsides of making this change? It would be an option, not something imposed on all users (and even if it were, what exactly would be the harm of that?). Also, Daz has certainly put its weight behind Iray since its adoption, it seems to be what the vast majority of users are using to render, and anyone who's doing volumetric rendering was probably already doing it outside of DS anyway.

AllenArt

The wrong object was the problem. Cloudy bunny achieved ;). 

New problem...it causes a weird artifacting in the shadow (or is it the edge of the volume bounds? Or both?). I don't know.

barbult

AllenArt said:

The wrong object was the problem. Cloudy bunny achieved ;). 

New problem...it causes a weird artifacting in the shadow (or is it the edge of the volume bounds? Or both?). I don't know.

I think that is a seam line in the ruins HDRI. Try other lighting.

AllenArt

barbult said:

AllenArt said:

The wrong object was the problem. Cloudy bunny achieved ;). 

New problem...it causes a weird artifacting in the shadow (or is it the edge of the volume bounds? Or both?). I don't know.

I think that is a seam line in the ruins HDRI. Try other lighting.

I think you're right. I rotated it again and boom...gone ;). I've never noticed that before since it's been included in DS o.O