January Show Off Thread 2022

[Kathryn]

I also had a play in Daz Studio... This is a character for G2M called Jayden.

[Agent0013]

I'm using DAZ Studio with the 3Delight render engine. As much as I want to get with Iray, I cannot afford the computer that can handle it. I have no Invidea Graphics Card, which is what supports Iray.
I mistakenly said the Parameters earlier, but the features I mentioned are under the Surfaces Tab. There are settings for Iray there also. I wish that Iray did not have such a need for all that power in the graphics department, but it does. That said, for 3Delight, if you scroll down the list in the Surfaces Tab Editor, you can find the refraction settings. An object needs to be somewhat transparent, but with the right shape and texture the settings can make an object refract in interesting ways. I even made a lens in Wings 3D, imported it into DAZ Studio, worked the refraction index, and got a result of magnification of other objects seen through that lens. Not bad for the 3Delight render engine.
If you are using DAZ Studio, it still has 3Delight as well Iray. You can use either, I'm sure, but I have not had many bad results with 3Delight.


Excellent render Kathryn. So far as I know, this is the first time I have seen it.

[Agent0013]

OOOO Kathryn! You posted that one while I was typing my previous reply. I think I have Jayden also. Will have to check. He is a G2M character.
Awesome render!

[Llola Lane]

I'm using DAZ Studio with the 3Delight render engine. As much as I want to get with Iray, I cannot afford the computer that can handle it. I have no Invidea Graphics Card, which is what supports Iray.
I mistakenly said the Parameters earlier, but the features I mentioned are under the Surfaces Tab. There are settings for Iray there also. I wish that Iray did not have such a need for all that power in the graphics department, but it does. That said, for 3Delight, if you scroll down the list in the Surfaces Tab Editor, you can find the refraction settings. An object needs to be somewhat transparent, but with the right shape and texture the settings can make an object refract in interesting ways. I even made a lens in Wings 3D, imported it into DAZ Studio, worked the refraction index, and got a result of magnification of other objects seen through that lens. Not bad for the 3Delight render engine.
If you are using DAZ Studio, it still has 3Delight as well Iray. You can use either, I'm sure, but I have not had many bad results with 3Delight.


Excellent render Kathryn. So far as I know, this is the first time I have seen it.

ooo I've not tried with 3Delight... I'd love to see what you come up with Agent... 

[Agent0013]

This one is to show that 3Delight can do refraction and magnification through a lens object. I made a model in Wings3D of a lens. I UV mapped it so that it would accept materials and shaders. The lens has two material zones: "Glass" and "Edge". After exporting the .obj, I imported it into DAZ Studio. There I used the Centennial Silver Metal Shader for the Edge, and assigned it also to the Glass. In the Surfaces Edit pane I removed any images that were assigned to the shader, set the Opacity to 13%, the Refraction strength to 75%, and the Refraction Index to 1.52 (the refraction index of fully clear glass). I added a couple of objects to be seen through the lens, and 1 Distant Light, which I used my favorite settings on. Upon rendering, I did not get the correct amount of magnification, but that is due to not knowing what to set the Refraction Strength to. I had to do several renders before at last reaching something that could show the possibilities using this feature with the 3Delight render engine. Yes, the effect is making the closer object appear to fill the lens, but at least you can see it really works. To make it work like a real lens, I will have to do some time consuming tests, so that I can find the correct strength setting. Once I find it, I will save the settings in a Notepad document. Then I will upload the resulting image for you all to see.
My point is that you don't have to use Iray to do this in DAZ Studio, as a 3Delight render will work. Now when you are composing your scene, you will not be able to see the effect, but when you render it, the effect will show up in your image.
I have done this in Bryce also, but the method is way different than the one in DAZ Studio. I don't profess to know how it works if you use Iray, but if your computer cannot handle Iray, this method will work with 3Delight.
Cheers!

[Agent0013]

By the way, the object being magnified is a shipping container like the ones used on cargo ships and intermodal railroad cars.

[Llola Lane]

Oh that does work nicely Agent... Thanks for the info... I must admit that I've not used 3Delight since I got this new computer.  I've let it go to the wayside.  The few things I have rendered with 3Delight have taken way longer to render than Iray!  Go figure.  Guess the new computer likes Iray better... lol

[Agent0013]

Thanks Llola. I have a better render now, as I spent several hours exploring the settings. I had to do some changes in my 3Delight Render Settings also. I'm posting all of my settings for others to grab and use in their own creations.


Surface Settings Glass - 3Delight

These are the best settings I have found for the Refraction Index and other settings for Clear Glass. I used them for my Lens Model which was made and UV Mapped in Wings3D. These settings were determined to be the best ones after testing several. It turns out that I had to do some settings for the 3Delight render engine also.
All settings are under the heading of the pane they are found in.

Render Settings
Progressive Rendering - On (Found under the Render Settings "Progressive")
Max Ray Trace Depth - 4 (Increased from the default 2)

Surfaces Settings
Shader used was Centennial Silver with all attached images removed.
Lighting Model -Glossy (Plastic)
Diffuse Color - Full White (255 255 255)
Diffuse Strength - 100.0%
Glossiness - 100.0%
Specular Color - Medium Gray (153 153 153)
Specular Strength - 100.0%
Specular Through Opacity - On
Ambient Color - Full Black (0 0 0)
Ambient Strength - 100.0%
Opacity Strength - 0.0%
Bump and Displacement settings are on the list but unused.
Normal Map - None
Reflection Color - Full White (255 255 255)
Reflection Strength - Can be whatever you want, but I used 21.7%.
Refraction Color - Full White (255 255 255)
Index of Refraction - 1.30
Tiles Settings are not used.
UV Set - Default UVs
Smooth - On
Angle - 89.90

The above Bold Italicized text can be selected and copied to paste in a document for your own use.


Here is the image I did early this morning with the above settings. The ship that is the subject of the magnifying lens is one I made in Wings3D, UV mapped and imported into DAZ Studio, where I converted it into a DAZ Studio Formatted Prop.

[Agent0013]

According to my research results, the index of refraction for normal clear glass is 1.52, but for the 3Delight Render engine I had to decrease that to 1.30, to get the results I needed. If you are using a different render engine, you will likely have to find the right setting to get the right look.
The Render settings I gave are needed to stop the darkening of the subject area of the Lens, as thge Ray Trace settings would only allow light to pass through 2 surfaces. In creasing this to 4, and turning the Progressive Rendering On helps to fix this problem.

[Agent0013]

Oh that does work nicely Agent... Thanks for the info... I must admit that I've not used 3Delight since I got this new computer.  I've let it go to the wayside.  The few things I have rendered with 3Delight have taken way longer to render than Iray!  Go figure.  Guess the new computer likes Iray better... lol

From what I have read, the render speed for Iray depends on which NVidea Graphics Card your computer has installed. Yours must be quite robust to give you such awesome render speed.