How to get metals glossy and shiny?

SubGeniusZero · February 2014

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forums, so please, be gentle! :D

I'm trying to render a simple scene in Daz Studio 4.6.2, but it's not coming out right. (See attached screenshots.) As you can see, I've got the Bot Armor applied to the Girl 6 figure and am using Fashion Hair (blueberry material), 1 camera, and 1 spotlight. The problem is this: When I preview the scene in the Daz Studio viewport, everything looks great! But when I go to render, the metal textures on the bot armor come out all grey and drab and uninteresting. How can I get 3Delight or LuxRender to give me that really cool "shine" that the metals seem to already have in the viewport window?

Thanks! :D

Richard Haseltine · February 2014

You need more lights for interesting specular effects and/or a scene around the figure for reflections (there has to be something to reflect, if it isn't using an environment map).

mjc1016 · February 2014

Can you post a screenshot of your Surfaces settings for the armor (one part is enough)?

SubGeniusZero · February 2014

Sure. How do I post a screenshot in a reply, though? Do I just drag and drop the image? (Ah! Figured it out!)

Chohole · February 2014

johnconstantine said:
Sure. How do I post a screenshot in a reply, though? Do I just drag and drop the image?

Save the screen shot somewhere on your PC and then use the attach button under the post reply screen, browse to wherever you saved it . It takes jpg, png or gif.

SubGeniusZero · February 2014

Thanks. I am a dork. :-) Please see the revised post for my surface settings.

Richard Haseltine · February 2014

You appear to have had the whole figure selected, hence all oft hose entries. Select just one material name under the figure.

SubGeniusZero · February 2014

Ah, okay, sorry about that .... please forgive my n00bishness. Here ya go..

mjc1016 · February 2014

Well...at least part of the problem is that while you do have maps in the Reflection channel, you have a Reflection Strength of 0.0%...so up that to some non-zero value (25% would probably be a good start).

SubGeniusZero · February 2014

Okay, done. Looks much better now! I've attached the first render of that scene with the reflection strength turned up on Bot_Torso_2 . . . however, the center of the torso is still that flat grey color, even with its reflection strength bumped up to 25% and the strength of its reflection map turned up to 100%. Can't figure it out; it's definitely the right object being selected, but for some reason, it behaves differently from the rest of the material. Oh well. I'll figure it out, given enough knob-twiddling! Thanks for the help so far, though!

I hate sounding like a bloody idiot, but as you can tell, I'm not only new to Daz Studio, but new to 3D as a whole, as well. ( figured I needed another hobby besides writing science-fiction; plus this way, i can bring my worlds to life in whole new ways, right?) I've always learned the "vertical" way, if you see what i mean — poking around with software, guessing at what the knobs do, and then asking if I get confused. I know there are better ways to learn, but hey, that's how I'm doing it for now. I've looked for good books on Daz Studio, but have so far found only a few, one of which i now own (The Complete Guide, by Ciccone). But I'm learning, I'm learning . . .

So just to make sure I understand — Diffuse, Ambeint, and Specular: "Diffuse" is the main color and/or image appled to the material, correct? And "specular' is the tint or color that it reflects back at you, right? But some of the others, I'm confused on. For instance, what does "Ambient" actually do? in terms of real-world physics? I.e., how do surfaces in 3D "work", so to speak? I know there have been massive tomes written on the subject of texturing, but if someone could give me the Cliff's Notes version, that'd be great.