"Dynamic" wetness effect on Clothes
hansolocambo
Posts: 649
I tried recently a bundle that stated "dynamic" wetness in the title... and that's actually what it does.
This bundle does not rely on a "wet" effect dependent on pre-made transparency textures.
This dynamic "wet" surface gives the impression that the fabric sticks to the skin when it is close to it, and changes its appearance in a convincing way when it is further away from it. Surface "dynamically" creates this effect by taking into account the distance between fabric and skin. At least, that's what the trick looks like.
I did a few dForce tests, and the results were all pretty damn good. Only thing is... I can't figure out how this is done.
You see below a test on a sphere. I pulled parts of this sphere to really show how the cloth surface reacts to modifications in the curved geometry bellow. It's pretty cool, isn't it ?
Result looks especially good when SImulation runs with Simulation Settings>Simulation>Collision Mesh Resolution> set to Viewport (SubD 1 or more) rather than Base.
I can definitely imagine tons of other interesting ways to use that effect... if only I could figure out how it's done (⇀‸↼‶)
Could someone please help me crack out the mystery there ?
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Comments
I didn't realise this is what that product does. I didn't even think it would be possible. I'd also like to know because, I actually don't really like that product. I've seen it used a lot and don't really like the material that much, it always looks too transparent which, I think, isn't that realistic so, would love to know how I could do it. I've googled several times. Sometimes you have to type in the exact technical jargon to get the results but, I haven't had any luck.
It relies in the shader (basic Iray Uber Base) on sliders you'd use for water. "So" It is too transparent, somehow has to be.
Opacity map loaded in Translucency rather than Cutout Opacity, base color translucency scatter. Refraction Weight (~0.65 = transparent, ~0.90 = opaque), etc. Also Contraction-Expansion set around 95% to tighten cloth during simulation.
I just hope that managing carefully all those shader values one can make any T-Shirt behave more or less this way, even if less transparent.
I think I figured out all the necessary sliders for this to work... Except I replicated manually what seems to achieve the effect, on another scene with random primitives. But I can't get it right yet.
Even if too transparent out of the box it's quiet an achievement ! SWTrium probably chose to make the effect very obvious just to showcase "wetness" at its maximum. The problem is that he does not explain what values or colors the user should change to reduce humidity. And 100% of the provided thumbnails ("dry" "more dry" "wetness maximum", etc.) do nothing at all. Neither in Parameters nor in Surfaces. None of them work :/ When you apply any of the thumbnails, Iray preview doesn't refresh and the Undo queue doesn't change... Half functionning bundle that certainly doesn't help to figure the mystery out.
I'm too busy right now to experiment more. But I definitely keep Dynamic Wet T-Shirt in my list of interesting bundles. Not many content creators like to explore new and innovative techniques with the tools available in Daz and Iray. It is often very informative to "dissect" their bundles, see how they did this or that. Content creators such as Lully, Mada, Dogz, esha, SWTrium, etc. have brought a lot of innovative ideas.
dForce Dynamic Wet T-Shirt is too "wet" out of the box, yep agreed. But it's been made by someone thinking outside the box. That's what's motivating ;)
Hey, the easiest way to tackle this problem would have been to send me a message and I would have helped you out with setting your custom details up.
I have also provided a PDF (mini tutorial) along with the original product, that you can download from the same purchases page, which covers the basic settings and details on how you can modifiy various aspects of the fabric details and wetness effects. Please have a look at that document when you get the time to do so.
The two Wetness controller presets supplied in the [Utilities] folder are meant to be used along with the Wetness Controller nested under the main Wet TShirt asset, this has been covered in the mini-tutorial PDF under the sub-titled content: "2. Controlling the Wet Look Effect".
While this was originally a H.Material, I reverted it back into a targeted material for keeping it a little more compatible with custom user settings.
Also here's a very basic and quick comparison of the various Wetness Factors and the two Utilities-Dry shaders using the wet cotton material that the tshirt loads with:
The difference between the "Wetness Controller - Dry_Shader" and the "Wetness Controller - More Dry_Shader" (grammar be damned) is a much narrower gradient change compared to the stark shift from the base wetness and the Dry_Shader duo.
And I'm always more than happy to help anyone having any doubts or questions regarding any of my creations. But I won't know if you need any product support, unless you ask me your question :)
Wow, I did not know this product existed. But, then, I've mostly paid attention to what's new over here, and only occasionally pop over to the other sites to see what's new. That said, that sci-fi build kit by the same maker also went right onto my get-list along with this wet t-shirt thingy. Will there be a male version of the wet-tshirt thingy? Or a Genesis 9 version?
Some bundle that includes a G8F-G9 string bikini / briefs, along with a new and improved Wet TShirt + additional printed textures is...a very real possibility :)
Thanks SWTrium for the explanations. I guess my OP wasn't clear enough ;)
When I write "Could someone please help me crack out the mystery there ?" I don't mean : "how to use this Daz product", or "where is the pdf ?"
My only interest in anything related to 3D is to understand, always, what's under the hood.
Using things made by others... is nice. But making them by oneself from scratch : is better. It's only by understanding everyday more and more, that one gets better.
But thanks ;) Sure your explanations will be useful anyway.
Anytime, cheers. The PDF does throw some insight on how all of these mechanics come together, read-me(s) or any provided documentation are always the first places where I look for additional details (more-so if my own efforts to analyze the problem are not bearing fruit).
But to put it in a nutshell, the wet effect is achieved through using stacked layers of properly tuned Iray shaders (the texture maps also help add some depth and detail) in mesh+shell configurations.
I've been experimenting with switching from the Base Uber Iray to custom shaders for DS, in order to create more pronounced details as well as have been trying to incorporate animated textures to take the wet shader effects up another notch, but those things are still works in progress. Trying to make the pieces fit using any of the animated texture scrips should be an interesting journey to embark on, purely from a tinkering under the hood point of view IMHO.
Both of those things, the Genesis 9 versions as well as a dedicated wet tshirt wearable for male characters have now been released <a href="/forums/profile/384626/nomad-ads_8ecd56922e">nomad-ads_8ecd56922e</a>. Please do check out my new Dynamic Wet Tshirt Bikini Swimwear bundle/kit pieces on the store when you get the time to :)