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Yep, been busy. Did a Luminara look alike using Amazing Skins. Now I'm fussing with skin tones in groups of people.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/673879/
and on for the next few pages there.
I still have a massive list of stuff I have yet to test first time, and some yet to install from last week. lol. Must have coffee, lol.
I decided to take a moment off from verifying installs of stuff, to play with primitives. A simple What if design concept, a random thought. lol.
The idea is for a 23inch (not 19 inch) 3U rack-mount computer, with ALL the plugs and stuff on one side. just a random thought in passing.
"Z" keep going on like that and you can be the new Google.....LOL....Did you get your brothers car fixed???
Yes, and I have my Jeep back in my driveway. I must apologize to a few, I allowed myself to get distracted last night with some render fundamentals, that get much more complex then what I'm about to post as a brief overview.
Today I have a few appointments and errands, so my time with Daz will be limited. I will do what I can, as I feel I had made some promises to a few, that I have yet to follow threw with.
Shading Rate and Pixel Filter Width, vs "Low-Pass Windowed-Sinc Filter", hmmm.
A thought that spawned from a question in a lighting thread, regarding how long dose it take to render. Yes the CPU matters, yes the output image size matters, however there is more that also effects the quality of the renders.
A few simple examples to comprehend the gravity of the render time. Every single sample in a pixel is passed threw a "Sinc" filter of window width X & Y. A "Low-Pass Windowed-Sinc Filter" is not a simple calculation in it's self, compound that by many samples per pixel and we get drastic render times.
I often prefer to try to visualize what I'm trying to comprehend, tho the exact methods used in 3delight is likely different, the basic principle is the same for all filters (Sinc, Box, Gaussian, etc). The Filter window width is the number of samples around the current one is passed threw the filter to determine the final value for the current sample. The bigger the window, the more math needs to be done (AKA longer render times).
Now lets compound this by the sample rate, the filter needs to calculate the value of each sample-rate sample. That works out to a lot of math really quickly, not even considering shader codes yet. The shader codes need to be calculated for each sample, weather this is only done once for each sample before the filter process, or for each filter loop, is beyond my knowledge. It doesn't matter, it's a lot of math for the CPU to do is the bottom line.
In the end, each computer has an optimum balance of render settings it can do well, that will produce good results without taking days to render an image. I had inadvertently typed 0.24 instead of 0.25 into the Shading Rate, resulting in render issues to put it lightly. Why would that make such a difference, I don't know entirely yet, tho I suspect it has something to do with fractions of a sample in there with 0.24 instead of 0.25.
For a detailed description how the Shading Rate is calculating check this out: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/3028/#38988
What also effects your render time and contributes to the quality are the Shadow Samples.
While setting up a scene and making only test renders, I prefer a Shading Rate at 1 and Shadow Samples at 8, this renders very fast and gives a good preview how the lights and shadows affect the scene.
For the Final Render, most of the time Shading Rate at 0.2 and Shadow Samples at 24 gives pretty good quality.
Shadow Samples 64 is the maximum value and the maximum shadow quality, but that also means a dramatic increase in rendertime.
You can also take a look at these free render profiles: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16085/
Thanks MN-150374, I kind of used adamr001's formula for that chart, along with info from DSP Filter code examples from elsewhere (C Language Algorithms for Digital Signal Processing). I wanted to have a grasp of what the settings are actually doing in the code running on my decrepid CPU, to get the most out of the settings (in combination) to get best results at the least amount of run time.
I have that script, and have yet to put it to use, as I have yet to iron out the best render settings for this computer.
It boils down to wanting good renders, and not waiting bloody ages to see what adjustments to lights have done in a scene. It would be nice if the lights at least looked as bright in the view field as they do in a render, however only the menu lights seam to do this.
Alternatives I know I will be barraged by, This is a 8600GT that idles at under 20watts. It dose not have Cuda cores at all. If I do that, I will need a multi-hundred-watt GPU that will raise my electric bill to the point I wont have anything left to spend at Daz3D, not an option. I need to see what my adjustments are doing with the lights now, not an hour plus after I made a change. Thus I need to find a combo of render settings that give me good info about the lighting, that renders, now.
Sorry for my absence today, tho I finally got to have some fun with a blender.
Storypilot, new vid really drove home the "Got to Chat on-line" mentality I dread in society today. Get your face out of that cellphone, and do something with your life, like learn how to make objects for games instead of just playing them all day. ugh.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/679584/
I don't have the funds left to get much, and I should have gotten Hexagon (Hex) to begin with. I was just to tempted by all the other stuff in my wishlist. Fisty brought up Hex as an alternative for making stuff in another thread, and this morning I decided to see if there were any how to vids out there...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usaxw0fkbLk
made it look super easy, and after seeing that I decided to give that migraine inducing Blender tutorial a try again. I still can't hit the pause quick enough to keep up with Jonathan Williamson. Tho after a day of looking at where he was clicking, and finding the stuff on the interface at this end, I made it to part 3 of 7... lol. It would be so much easier if I could just use VLC on my computer, instead of that some-times responsive webpage flash player thing.
Numpad "." to zoom to selected (or menu View > Align View > View Selected). "A" to select all (you may need to hit it twice), then Numpad "." will zoom to all objects. Or use Shift-C to reset view and recenter cursor.
In all the other software I use, the number pad is what I use to enter numbers, habit from the dawn of time. If I cant get a zoom and stuff for the view-field (Whatever they call it), some where else other then the number pad, we just are not going to get along, lol.
The on-screen view-field controls in daz studio, are so much easier to get along with. In fact with Daz Dtudio, the only reason for the keyboard so far, was to type in file names, and to enter numbers. Until this morning, my num-Lock key, has kind of been super-glued ON... for the past twenty some odd years. Full size keyboards my whole life, I don't need those extra arrow keys for anything other then entering lots of numbers. I just wish there was a couple more functions from my calculator over there (power, root, etc). lol.
So I managed to get part way into the 3rd vid at blenders site, and don't even care to save this, despite not knowing how yet, lol. Daz Studio, LASI 7, Eagle Cad, SonarX1, and Tina-Ti all get along with the same keyboard config (num-lock always ON). Blender, I don't know yet, tho not with the default control interface. I hope Hexagon is better in that regard.
I decided to take a day off to do a little experimentation with making stuff with primitives in Daz Studio, lol. Allot of work to put into this still, tho the goal of seeing it in 3D instead of on graph-paper was achieved. At least steps are not impossible to make without another program.
Good lord, you made that out of primitives? I believe you that it took a lot of time. Great job!
yes, lots of cubes scaled to the size of the steps, and a tone of finessing each one into it's place next to the others. I made the steps, and the railings separate exported obj, then started stacking them into the stair well assembly, with yet more cubes acting as the landings, and floors. At lest the concept anyways.
(EDIT)
I was a little startled at how well the stars came out, given how simple the parts are.
Yea, I should probably start using something that gives me more options then cubes and cylinders, lol. Yet I think I figured this out, doing that in another program would put me back at the starting line. Especially with the xyz space manipulators that I think I have a grasp of.
I took a small vacation from art to look at some more geometric puzzles. These electronic parts are made from yet more Daz Studio primitives, and I think I hit the limit of small feature location adjustments, lol. It's not a bad thing as I am concerns, as it is the over all puzzle I'm looking at, not the consistency of the individual resistor leads.
This is one of a dozen different RFI filter topologies I'm still looking at for the output of my Headphone Amplifier. I don't want to dwell on the technicalities of the LNA output filter, as I'm more interested in simple component placement possibilities. A simple geometric puzzle, using Daz Studio Primitives, lol.
http://www.zarcondeegrissom.org/ideas/017HPA17r16pg03.html#output_RFI_filter
Steampunk, fad or is it something more. A thought as I work with what some would call archaic electronic parts in a day and age when we have miniaturized mas-produced goods made with the cheapest parts and sold for the highest profit possible.
Perhaps in a day and age when cellphones are thrown out years before they become non-functional, perhaps it is the basic desire for good stuff. Items that were made to keep working, and could be easily fixed rather then just replaced, like a used piece of paper towel. Some things are made with a quality far beyond the norm, because replacing it is not economical, or it would simply be unsafe otherwise.
Perhaps the entire concept of Steampunk is not a drive for days long past, rather a desire for stuff that has reached the pinnacle of quality. Capturing that moment between improvement of a concept, and the downward spiral of cutting corners for a profit. In a world when every month a new version of what you have is released, that is so much better then what you got last month, that it must be thrown away. The railroad companies of the past did not outright replace there entire fleet of steam engines on a monthly bases, so why should I give into the monthly disposable household appliances craze.
Yes I think I'm happy with this layout now.
Great job with the primitives...I am impressed!
Thanks Scott, I'm hoping Hexagon will be almost as easy to get going for simple things like these. Honestly, the primitives as just like working with Legos. Just keep adding them and scaling the cubes to make rectangles. Pity there is not a basic triangle, lol.
In the mean time, I decided to replace the RN55D resistors with MR2010 surface-mount things, as a mere thought. I kind of crudely laid out the parts in MS paint, rather then a more conventional way for the surface-mount version. Mostly to get an idea of size limits with the minimum spacing of stuff.
Looking at some of my former works, PCB design is most certainly an art. Do the traces that make up the V-Amp stage form an ear, yes they do, lol.
Impressive stuff, ZDG. If you can do this with primitives, you'll be unstoppable when you are comfortable with Hexagon. Have you tried the free Geekatplay tutorials for Hexagon yet? You can find them here: http://www.geekatplay.com/hexagon-tutorials.php
Also, if you don't have them yet and have a few dollars you can spare, grab maclean's Everyday Morphing Primitives. There's so much you can do with them and great value too.
As tempting as the extra objects (Morphing or not) are, I've shied away from them because of Sharcg related terms and stuff. I'd rather just not bother with royalties if I can get away with it.
If it is basic primitives from free Daz Studio, and maps I made myself in MS paint, then all I need to deal with is the Daz Studio TOS. The instant I start using someone else's stuff, I'm shackled by there whims as well. I hope you can understand my desire to keep the TOS stuff simple for now. Daz Studio is enough for this n00b to grapple with.
Case and point... Andrea Priora - Beyond My Ice [vocal edit]
The singer decided she didn't want anything to do with the song after it was published, so Andrea Priora had to pool the song. And it was a good song. A victim of a dead heard drive years ago, think I can get a copy of it anywhere now, no. Aghh!
Speaking of maps, I need to finish this cup of coffee and compile some cool stuff for my other thread. Thanks Jindi for the compliments.
I've avoided most freebies for similar reasons, and have had to cut down on my in-store spending too. There's something satisfying about making your own stuff.
Agreed with the make it yourself bit, tho I have no intention of not letting others improve what I make from scratch, like that Roman floor mosaic. I will eventually upload that to sharcg as maps and a primitive plane with the stuff already applied.
As for other things I don't think I uploaded this render, FW Eve with the "Kiriko Outfit", and DG shader essentials on the floor perimeter and walls. The mosaic is from my other thread applied to a primitive plane. I started scaling the maps up to 4209x4209 pixels, and things got sketchy.
http://www.daz3d.com/kiriko-outfit
http://www.daz3d.com/fw-eve
The mosaic maps
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/613705/
And the shaders for the walls
http://www.daz3d.com/dg-shader-essentials
I used this room as it is in this render to test the entire Giselle6 pro line up plus Zayla, outfits and all, and I kind of overflowed my scratch-disk, oops.
http://www.daz3d.com/zayla-for-giselle-6
http://www.daz3d.com/giselle-6-pro-bundle
Apparently Daz Studio must be shut down once in a while, to flush out the unused tdl files on the scratch-disk (Both temp paths). And there is more I don't know yet with that.
I took last night off to work on another project, and ended up going back to Daz studio to get an idea of what I was looking at with all them numbers for the thing. The numbers are quite impressive, tho the looks of the thing is just plane evil. :coolhmm:
Well I did get Hexagon, tho I will need to keep a low profile till another order (three parts) arrive. I must be off to tend to bills, chat later y'all.
I ordered a drive, power cable, and a SATA cable, to migrate that tumor-folder over to from my boot drive. the ASOC (A State Of C) is not looking good at all, and I'm not thrilled by needing to wait for three separate shipments, tho that is life.
Well the new heard drive arrived today, yeah. So a funny note or two before I get to funny nuances of moving "Daz3D My Library" somewhere other then the boot drive.
It's been a while since I had seen these Errors in Daz Instal Manager, lol. Old orphan zips I never puled from the DIM folders, and the reason is quite simple. I don't have Photo Shop, nor Carrara. %-P (southern accent) I'm ah dumb and, been work-en at it my whole life, lol.
As for the orphan files still on my boot drive (top left), it will be a weeding out deal I guess. DIM didn't remove everything from the old CL path, when I uninstalled everything, including Daz Studio by accident. oops. :smirk:
(EDIT)
And I'm not convinced it all installed correctly anyways... not a problem, I'll get to this.
good-grief this mechanical drive is slow with this stuff, ugh. I should have got another SSD for the content library, “O” well.
Uninstall Everything, except Daz Studio.
Yes It will be in that epic list of installed stuff somewhere. This may take a few minutes on an SSD install. Select the top box to check everything, then scroll down to Daz Studio, and uncheck it. Then click that “Start” button, and walk away for a cup of tee or coffee.
(several minutes latter)
Changing the Paths;
To start with, Simply changing the drive letter in the Daz Studio settings wont make DIM put the stuff there, DIM also needs to know where that path is, and forced to use it as well.
I tried to simply add the new path in the DIM settings, nope. Got to remove the old one from that window before it will use the new path. :coolhmm:
I had randomly decided my new content drive would be after my midi-samples drive way out at the end. "Y", why not. lol.
I also decided to keep the rest of the path name the same, just to keep things from complaining to much.
Now the dread starts on the new drive. Select one thing, and try to install it with dim. Look in the old Daz folder path to make sure it didn't go there. All good, then go for the rest. I was somewhat lazy, and just ticked the top box and walked away. Raked the yard, cleaned the dishes, etc. The install on a Mechanical drive is no where as fast as on a SSD. At least it has more room to let me buy more cool stuff.
After that is all done installing, a restart of things probably wont be a bad idea. Looked in Daz Studio, and almost everything was orphan links in the start menu.
Broken Smart Menu.
Now I still had to "Reset Database" and "Re-Import Metadata" with the CMS thing, and that took a bit more time. That fixed the broken Daz content, tho now I'm not sure where all my auto-fits went, lol. First I need to remember where I saved all of them clothing and hair "figure/prop asset" files, that I had diligently placed into the proper Smart tab categories somehow.
Some Fisty envy, as I plow threw the CL finding stuff for the first time that I purchased months ago. Fisty is a PA that has a few solo items, and has worked with other PA's to make all kinds of stuff.
http://www.daz3d.com/fisty
This "Four Seasons Faylinn Outfit for Genesis 2 Female(s)" was made by Fisty (If I understand that text correctly above the Promo Pic). It is extremely nice to have ALL of the articulation controls available for the wings, and the textures are quite nice I will add.
I apparently got all kinds of stuff made by Fisty. Stuff I know I had used a few times in renders around the forum. Xiao Mei's Finery, Serena Show Girl, Wachiwi's Finery, to name a few.
As for this render, well It's about as violent as I want to get with my works. The title is aptly named, "Wrong Gate Address", lol.
http://www.daz3d.com/sunehri
http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-2-female-mixed-morph-resource-kit
http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-2-female-morphs-bundle
http://www.daz3d.com/filosofy-hair
http://www.daz3d.com/spex-for-genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/fisty/faylinn-4-seasons-character-outfit-and-poses-bundle
http://www.daz3d.com/nephilim-portal
http://www.daz3d.com/sea-scapes
http://www.daz3d.com/millennium-big-cat-le
ArchaeopteryxDR
O.K. I found my former created Auto-fit/smart-tab saves. I just need to figure out how to get them back into the proper categories, so they show up when G2F is selected. The hair should be easy as it is all Hair. The cloths will be a tad more work to get it back into the proper category.
Huston, We have a problem. So I just right click it, and select "Show in smart tab" correct? then where did the rest of the G2F hair go. And when I select another category, and go back to hair, It isn't there any more... Really!?
So I'm going to have to go threw all of this again, and recreate the Auto-fit Assets from scratch again from the looks of it.
"Show in smart tab" dose NOT work.
Just tried that Categories thing on all six in that folder, still not there.
(EDIT)
And apparently going threw the "Contend DB editor" was a complete waste of time. Well, ok, there is now pretty labels in the CL for the items. There just not in the Smart tab under hair (With or without G2F selected), and they still don't import into the smart tab with reimporting metadata.
:ohh: >:-( :coolgrin: (Slamming head against wall smiley missing)
And that was all the time I had today to fuss with this. Chat later y'all, I have to be on the radio tonight.
(EDIT2)
Looks like I really messed that up...
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20018/
O.K, to start with I didn't even have the correct categories selected for Hair, and Hair presets. "Follower -> Hair" not "Prop -> Hair", for the Type, lol.
Morning. Well after putting the correct metadata into that Content DB editor, and, Then "Show in Smart tab", it worked!
So the million dollar question is, did it put the data into the duf files in question, or just the CMS database. Will I have to do this again when I upgrade the computer? Or can I use this to make color presets for that "zdg stool"? Plane gray is kind of bland after a while, lol.
http://www.sharecg.com/v/76494/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/1940s-style-Machine-Shop-Stool-v4.1-DazStudio.
(EDIT 2015Jul01)
Zdg Stool Revised and with Color presets now.
O.K. color presets for clothe. As an example, I made a dark gray no-map variation for the "Wachiwi's Finery" Moccasins (Shoes).
Another Fisty Item :lol:
1) you need to select the item up top.
2 click the "Type" drop-down text menu in the middle bar, and select "Preset > Materials", and click "Accept".
3) select the "Category" tab.
4) right click the item in the lower list pain to "Add root category to selected files"
5) Find and click "Default / Materials / wardrobe" in the huge pop-up list.
3) select the "Compatibility" tab.
3) right click the item in the lower list pain to "Add Compatibility to Selected files"
4) find the item it is compatible with in the pop-up dialog window. It has a search, that is helpful this time.
5) Accept out of the pop-up window,
6) An "X" should appear under "Type" and "Compatibility" in the top pain for the item.
7) and Accept out of the Content DB editor.
The screen-caps are for example, After I had figured it out. There probably not in a particular order, and I'm probably missing something critical to make this a sharable color preset that should show up in he smart tab.
(EDIT)
As a hint, if you don't know what category, or compatibility something should be. Brows over to the Daz content, and look at a similar item. Hair, color settings for things, etc. Make screen-caps for notes when you go back to your custom duf, to edit it's metadata.