Iray ignores opacity and vertical offset Surface settings in DS 4.8...?

john_antkowiak

Hi. I'm fairly new at 3D modeling; I only play around with it as an idle hobby to see how much I can learn. But I'm finding it fun. I'm learning to use the Surface tab settings to accomplish a lot of unique looks. But there's something I never figured out, that it would probably help to understand before I can even explain my question with sufficient technical detail. But here goes:

At some point, it would seem that one system of surface properties was replaced by another, but I don't really get what I'm seeing. Sometimes the "Diffuse Color" is called the "Base Color," and sometimes the "Opacity Strength" property is called "Cutout Opacity." Sometimes the "Horizontal" and "Vertical Offset" properties aren't even among the choices. The DAZ tutorials I have for this tab only discuss the simpler system (which I guess equals "older" or "obsolete"? But I don't know that) and I can't find any forum threads about it, so I have no idea what most of the properties in the newer (?) system are supposed to do. I can't figure out how to learn that, but I'm getting fairly comfortable working with the older (?) system. But I'm stumped on this new problem. I've used these techniques previously with no hiccups, so I'm wondering what's different about this one. First, the opacity setting:

This is what my figure looks like in the viewport. Both the G2M Night Guard Cape Belts and the mouth portions of the G2F Ultra Cowl have an Opacity Strength of 0.0%. But when Iray renders it, it's like the engine didn't get the memo. Both areas are visible although it handled them differently. I don't even know what tabs and properties I should be showing you, where you might identify the problem. Has anyone run into this before?

 

evilded777

If you look at the very top of the Surfaces Pane (as in the image you posted) you will see the Label  "Shader:" Your image shows "Shader: Daz Studio Default". That is why you are seeing different named properties: you have a mix of shaders applied, both Iray Uber Base and Daz Studio Default, and likely others.

You want to standardize and use the Iray Uber Base, it will make your life easier.

Select each item in the Scene Tab, then select all the surfaces of the item on the Surfaces Pane (hmmm,,, just noticed I was calling things by Tab and Pane, and I don't actually know which one is right), and apply the Iray Base shader from either the Content Library or Smart Content.

maclean

If you're seeing Diffuse Color on a surface, that means it's a 3Delight surface and has to be converted to Iray. You do that by selecting the figure/object + surface(s), then applying the Iray Uber Base shader. (It comes installed with DS). The same applies to Opacity/Cutout Opacity. One is 3DL, the other Iray. And as far as I remember, there aren't any Offset options in 3DL, only Iray.

Generally, the best thing to do is load a figure, select it + all its surfaces, then apply the Iray Base. If you want to keep any textures already applied, hold down CTRL and apply the Iray Base. In the options dialog select 'Images> Ignore' After that, you can do all your tweaks and resave it with Iray surfaces.

john_antkowiak

Thank you for the clarification about the 3DL and Iray surfaces; that makes sense. But since I rely on the Vertical Offset function and it isn't available in the Iray settings (respectfully I think you have that the wrong way around, maclean), I'm not sure how using the Uber base is going to make my life easier. Maybe the CTRL key is the workaround I need. I'm going to start experimenting with that.

I'm not convinced that this answers the opacity question, though. It's never come up in my previous renders - but granted I've only done a couple dozen. Any insight on that?

Thanks again, and have a great day --

John

 

evilded777

That is very odd that the offset doesn't appear to work. I would open a bug report on that.

I have never really had call to use it.

maclean

The product I'm currently working on uses Offset and I'm actually making the textures for it now. I'm doing the Iray version first and using Horizontal Offset, so yes, it's there.

Actually, I did get it wrong. I said there was no Offset in 3DL. That's not true. It's in both versions. I just did a quick test in 3DL and it works fine.

john_antkowiak

So I've been studying and practicing with all of your advice. Maclean, I was especially confused by your remark about the Offset setting, since I had it in my head that Iray didn't use it. But I was confused; I believe it's the Specular setting that 3DL uses and not Iray. (BTW, what's the Iray equivalent of Specular?) 

I think I was also confused because of the number of different properties I was seeing - and I don't just mean 3DL vs. Iray. I mean, I discovered after I started playing around with it that Iray settings can be collapsed; in other words if the Emissive property is set to black, then all of its subproperties are hidden. So depending on what settings are used for the objects in a scene, when you scan the Surface properties of each object you can see wildly different numbers of properties. I get it now - and I didn't even know how to ask the question!

And I discovered you were both right: using the Daz Uber base shader makes an amazing difference even without manipulating all the properties it opens up for you.  But I did learn to use the Emissive settings on the mask in this one.

So here's what I mean by the Offset property not working in Iray. I'll have to do a lot of resetting to see if I have the same problem in a 3DL render; I just finished tweaking all of my render settings and preferences, etc to use the Iray engine. But when I started using this technique I wasn't having Offset problems. Now, here's what's happening. Note the Vertical Offset value. When it's 0, the symbol appears entered on the cylinder in the perspective view but displaced in the render. Not only that, but the value isn't consistent. I have other primitive shapes "tacked onto" other figures and vehicles that all have the same basic problem. I have to start at 0, render it, and then start a guessing game of how much to fiddle with the value until the render looks good. Simply plugging in a value of -3.32 doesn't do the trick.

Any thoughts on that, anyone?

Petercat

maclean said:

The product I'm currently working on uses Offset and I'm actually making the textures for it now. I'm doing the Iray version first and using Horizontal Offset, so yes, it's there.

Actually, I did get it wrong. I said there was no Offset in 3DL. That's not true. It's in both versions. I just did a quick test in 3DL and it works fine.

Whatcha doin?

C'mon, Maclean, what are you making? I've run out of McProducts to buy!