UltraScenery - new(er) territory [Commercial]

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  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003

    well, i took the chance and updated DS to 4.23. Unfortunately rendering USC2 hasn't improved. For me its a waste of money so far. I MUST have something not set up correctly. When I updated to 4.23, I did have to uninstall and install USC2 again. Anyway, I still need to experiment, but using USC2, 128 resolution, Track 3 at 64M, Woodland 3, rendering time was 1 hour and 6 minutes. That just seems too long for my system, an 
    13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700KF   3.40 GHz
    32 GB DDR5-5600
    GeForce RTX™ 4080 16GB

    I know I have been ongoing with this, but it would be cool if someone could walk me through step by step the ultimate settings to get the most out of this system, and especicially using Ultrascenery. I did get a scene with no additional lighting using OAK 9 that rendered in 11 minutes, which is good in my opinion. I think it might be with using woodland biomes... maybe too dense or something? I'm going to go through each one of them and see what happens, using just sun/sky, 

    It would be great to have a benchmark ultrascenery scene, and a thread for it. 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,240

    Things that will impact the render time are also the pixel dimensions of your render, how much of the entire terrain you ae rendering, your render settings like convergence percent and quality, and the lighting you are using. Are you sure your GPU was used to render and not the CPU? Did you look at the DS log to confirm that GPU was really used?

    This is USC2 Track 03 Woodland 03 rendered to 98%, convergence quality 1, at a size of  2000 by 1500 pixels, with the Sun-Sky lighting preset included with UltraScenery. It was at 70% convergence in under 5 minutes and looked "done". I let it render to 98% and it took a total of 10 minutes and 16 seconds.

    I only have a 10 GB RTX 3080 GPU and a much older CPU than you have. I have 32 GB RAM in my computer. My driver version is 546.33. I am running DS 4.23.0.1 Public Build. Your performance should be better than mine. My scene and render are attached.

    duf
    duf
    USC2 Track 03 Woodland 03 Sun-Sky.duf
    2M
    USC2 Track 03 Woodland 03 Sun-Sky_Default Camera.jpg
    2000 x 1500 - 2M
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,240

    This closer render took 20 minutes.

    USC2 Track 03 Woodland 03 Sun-Sky_001_Default Camera.jpg
    2000 x 1500 - 4M
  • namffuaknamffuak Posts: 4,146

    barbult said:

    Things that will impact the render time are also the pixel dimensions of your render, how much of the entire terrain you ae rendering, your render settings like convergence percent and quality, and the lighting you are using. Are you sure your GPU was used to render and not the CPU? Did you look at the DS log to confirm that GPU was really used?

    This is USC2 Track 03 Woodland 03 rendered to 98%, convergence quality 1, at a size of  2000 by 1500 pixels, with the Sun-Sky lighting preset included with UltraScenery. It was at 70% convergence in under 5 minutes and looked "done". I let it render to 98% and it took a total of 10 minutes and 16 seconds.

    I only have a 10 GB RTX 3080 GPU and a much older CPU than you have. I have 32 GB RAM in my computer. My driver version is 546.33. I am running DS 4.23.0.1 Public Build. Your performance should be better than mine. My scene and render are attached.

    @barbult - the scene file is missing the two maps in your map directory -

  • thd777thd777 Posts: 943

    Hello!

    You do not need the maps. They get regenerated at render time. Simply skip the error and set your normal map directory in Ultrasceney 2. Then you can render.

    The full view took 4 Minutes 37 seconds to render to 98% on my RTX 4090.

    Ciao

    TD

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,240

    thd777 said:

    Hello!

    You do not need the maps. They get regenerated at render time. Simply skip the error and set your normal map directory in Ultrasceney 2. Then you can render.

    The full view took 4 Minutes 37 seconds to render to 98% on my RTX 4090.

    Ciao

    TD

    Thanks for helping out!

  • namffuaknamffuak Posts: 4,146

    Thanks @thd777 - first time I've used someone else's scene file for usc2

    98% in 18 minutes 20.6 seconds

    I7 5930K cpu, RTX 3060 and GTX 1080 TI, 64 GB

  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003

    barbult said:

    Things that will impact the render time are also the pixel dimensions of your render, how much of the entire terrain you ae rendering, your render settings like convergence percent and quality, and the lighting you are using. Are you sure your GPU was used to render and not the CPU? Did you look at the DS log to confirm that GPU was really used?

    This is USC2 Track 03 Woodland 03 rendered to 98%, convergence quality 1, at a size of  2000 by 1500 pixels, with the Sun-Sky lighting preset included with UltraScenery. It was at 70% convergence in under 5 minutes and looked "done". I let it render to 98% and it took a total of 10 minutes and 16 seconds.

    I only have a 10 GB RTX 3080 GPU and a much older CPU than you have. I have 32 GB RAM in my computer. My driver version is 546.33. I am running DS 4.23.0.1 Public Build. Your performance should be better than mine. My scene and render are attached.

    thank you ... GPU for sure doing the render. I did your scene and it completed in 5min. 43 seconds. convergence 95%  , this is where convergence is set. I was using a render setting from Col Jackson, Pro HDR Skies, which I have been using for a few years. Rendering quality is set to 1.0. I usually use 1800x1013 (16:9 screen ratio - widescreen) 

  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003

    just did the closeup -- 11 min. 11 seconds to 95% convergence. 
    So now I need to try with my lighting, but need to get to bed. Way late for me :)

    test render close.jpg
    2000 x 1500 - 3M
  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003
    edited October 10

    trying another woodland 3 render with sun/sky. Now the scene just locks up pretty much in the viewport. Had to shut off viewport visibility of the aspens to enable scrolling at all. The scene rendered a bit over 7 minutes, however. Very acceptable. The next at 6:30. Then I have rendered with PRO-HDR-SKIES Vol_1 for TerraDome 3 | Daz 3D, my goto. The GPU heating up, fans kicked in, they usually don't. Anyway -:10 minutes 18 seconds. Render attached. it does look flat though..needs more shadow for sure. 

    render test.jpg
    2000 x 1500 - 4M
    Post edited by daveso on
  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,114

    @daveso, I don't want to assume anything but I have a Win 11 laptop with equipment similar to yours. Have you enabled 'culling' behind your camera you are rendering from and the 'backface culling' to blank out things behind hills and objects within the view of your camera? Two different locations for these options.

    I also had to untick the CPU totally now in the Render hardware settings because Daz Studio is defaulting to it without my permission, I have it set to use the RTX-4090 first. I tried a USC2 scene this morning, fighting against something going on (Window updates yesterday out the wazoo) and (first time using USC2 after update to 4.23.0.1 Beta) but the scene only took a little over 5 minutes. It wasn't huge or anything. It was aspens though with a river and a path. But I used the culling features that are available.

    Mary

  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003

    memcneil70 said:

    @daveso, I don't want to assume anything but I have a Win 11 laptop with equipment similar to yours. Have you enabled 'culling' behind your camera you are rendering from and the 'backface culling' to blank out things behind hills and objects within the view of your camera? Two different locations for these options.

    I also had to untick the CPU totally now in the Render hardware settings because Daz Studio is defaulting to it without my permission, I have it set to use the RTX-4090 first. I tried a USC2 scene this morning, fighting against something going on (Window updates yesterday out the wazoo) and (first time using USC2 after update to 4.23.0.1 Beta) but the scene only took a little over 5 minutes. It wasn't huge or anything. It was aspens though with a river and a path. But I used the culling features that are available.

    Mary

    i see culling within USC2 but where is the other? Alos, do you have to specify the radius? and how would you even know that? 

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,114

    When USC2 came out I also bought https://www.daz3d.com/ultrascenery-2--a-comprehensive-guide and Martin J Frost guides you to ways to save your computer, like using the culling features. I highly recommend it.

    Under 'Optimization' you will see 'Camera' and an option for choosing your culling camera for the render and below that two lines to set radius to include and to exclude. When he shows how to do this, he has a 'birdseye' camera setup and it really makes it easier to see what it does. Why I recommend his course. I am more of a visual learner.

    Just below the 'Camera' you can see 'Preview Density' and there you can adjust the amount of the objects you will see in your screen. I really suggest dropping Forest down from 100% to close to 25% or less to work. Then play with it later to check what is in the way of your rendering camera.

    Under 'Layer Settings' at the very bottom of the block are two tick boxes: Ignore Culling and Backface Culling. I have not used 'Ignore Culling' yet, but 'Backface Culling' I have. Again, MJF explains culling really well.

    One thing, he does say that the tutorial was written while the USC2 was still being tested, so he may not have covered everything. And now that it has been in the field for a while, Totte's add-ons are coming on-line now. So, it is a baseline, and then this thread would be a continuation along with each add-ons threads.

    I have gone back and forth a few times looking at things that have given me trouble since I have not been able to devote a lot of time to USC2 since it came out and I found that very helpful.

    Hope this helps,

    Mary

     

     

  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003

     

    thanks Mary. I bought the tutorial, but as usual, have not watched it. That woodlands ecology in USC2 is pretty dense overall. Culling will be good to do. Thanks for the tips. I usually just let everything default, but its time to learn the finer points :) 

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,114

    daveso said:

    how much overlap in these products?
    UltraScenery 2 : A Comprehensive Guide | Daz 3D
    Ultrascenery : The Ultimate Guide | Daz 3D

    The first is USC2 and for the new plug-in version.

    The bottom one is for USC1, but if you still have it installed it is worth it. And don't forget the general tips & tricks that slip in on these from a master of the programs and of art.

    I would also recommend Totte's/Code66 tutorials even if for the older products. There are a slew of great ideas in them too. 

    It is also why I am investing in all of 'The Creative Cart' series by Dartenbeck. He and the PAs have dropped such great ideas in just in their conversations that I am amazed. And it is fun to explore the product lines.

    Of course there is this thread. With the forum members who share their experience here, it is a running education.

    My thanks to everyone out there.

    Mary

  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003

    memcneil70 said:

    daveso said:

    how much overlap in these products?
    UltraScenery 2 : A Comprehensive Guide | Daz 3D
    Ultrascenery : The Ultimate Guide | Daz 3D

    The first is USC2 and for the new plug-in version.

    The bottom one is for USC1, but if you still have it installed it is worth it. And don't forget the general tips & tricks that slip in on these from a master of the programs and of art.

    I would also recommend Totte's/Code66 tutorials even if for the older products. There are a slew of great ideas in them too. 

    It is also why I am investing in all of 'The Creative Cart' series by Dartenbeck. He and the PAs have dropped such great ideas in just in their conversations that I am amazed. And it is fun to explore the product lines.

    Of course there is this thread. With the forum members who share their experience here, it is a running education.

    My thanks to everyone out there.

    Mary

    thanks. I'll watch the USC2 one then and maybe grab the other at a later time.  

  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003

    must be getting close to a new release. Its getting quiet in here. 

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,114

    I think folks are playing with filatoons and rediscovering the 3DL roots.

  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003

    memcneil70 said:

    I think folks are playing with filatoons and rediscovering the 3DL roots.

    could be. I'm passing on that. Have enough to learn about ultrascenery laugh 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,240

    memcneil70 said:

    I think folks are playing with filatoons and rediscovering the 3DL roots.

    That is a very astute and interesting observation. Here we are, all excited about essentially regressing a decade. laughFilament is a much faster renderer (Viewport) than 3DL, though, and the outline is interesting.

  • paulawp (marahzen)paulawp (marahzen) Posts: 1,369
    edited October 17

    barbult said:

    memcneil70 said:

    I think folks are playing with filatoons and rediscovering the 3DL roots.

    That is a very astute and interesting observation. Here we are, all excited about essentially regressing a decade. laughFilament is a much faster renderer (Viewport) than 3DL, though, and the outline is interesting.

    Not to derail this thread, my only "toonish" interest was in being able to create coloring book page-type images, particularly including USC. One of my coworkers was creating coloring book pages to distribute at work and I offered to help, thinking that I could whip up something from Daz. Never made a single one. 

    Post edited by paulawp (marahzen) on
  • davesodaveso Posts: 7,003

    paulawp (marahzen) said:

    barbult said:

    memcneil70 said:

    I think folks are playing with filatoons and rediscovering the 3DL roots.

    That is a very astute and interesting observation. Here we are, all excited about essentially regressing a decade. laughFilament is a much faster renderer (Viewport) than 3DL, though, and the outline is interesting.

    Not to derail this thread, my only "toonish" interest was in being able to create coloring book page-type images, particularly including USC. One of my coworkers was creating coloring book pages to distribute at work and I offered to help, thinking that I could whip up something from Daz. Never made a single one. 

    with the new line making capability, would it be possible to create a coloring book page? Using ultrascenery could result in some really interesting coloring work.  

  • paulawp (marahzen)paulawp (marahzen) Posts: 1,369
    edited October 17

    daveso said:

    paulawp (marahzen) said:

    barbult said:

    memcneil70 said:

    I think folks are playing with filatoons and rediscovering the 3DL roots.

    That is a very astute and interesting observation. Here we are, all excited about essentially regressing a decade. laughFilament is a much faster renderer (Viewport) than 3DL, though, and the outline is interesting.

    Not to derail this thread, my only "toonish" interest was in being able to create coloring book page-type images, particularly including USC. One of my coworkers was creating coloring book pages to distribute at work and I offered to help, thinking that I could whip up something from Daz. Never made a single one. 

    with the new line making capability, would it be possible to create a coloring book page? Using ultrascenery could result in some really interesting coloring work.  

    The new stuff is only in 4.23 beta, right? I have to admit I'm a little reluctant to upgrade my beta instance, which is still on a somewhat older 4.22.1.x version. It's the only way I can render many/most USC scenes.

    ETA: I see that it looks like 4.23 is available for general release. That I will try, not today but soon. I've been a little out of touch the last few days with work stuff.

    Post edited by paulawp (marahzen) on
  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,114

    I am on 4.23.0.4 Public Build on my Win 10/Win 11 computers and have no issues so far on any plug-ins or scripts. I haven't upgraded my MacBook Pro M1 to 4.23 nor to Sequoia due to so many warnings and lack of information on impact. I have tried to research but only found out a new update to Sequoia is due out in a few weeks that may fix problems the most recent fix didn't address. And I still haven't heard a clear answer if the M1 chip plays nice with Sequoia and Daz Studio. I just don't have it in me to clean up another disaster. 

    I did make headway on filament/filatoon this morning. And I have been setting up Alienator Pro sets for USC2. Kept wondering if it is possible to restrict the plants to specified areas, as in a garden? 

  • alexhcowleyalexhcowley Posts: 2,386

    Has anyone tried DS4.23 general release on Win 10 yet?  Are there any issues for US2? 

    Cheers,

    Alex.

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,114

    alexhcowley said:

    Has anyone tried DS4.23 general release on Win 10 yet?  Are there any issues for US2? 

    Cheers,

    Alex.

    I opened it up on my desktop Win 10 with a GTX 1080 card. I saw a lot of white fields initially, it took a long time for the screen to fill up and I had to select a workspace, add the USC2 pane and found the scripts and favorites I may have had before were gone, so I added Code66's Alienator Pro II scripts and his Toobox scripts quickly and also serial numbers for new plug-ins. When I rebooted Daz Studio, I had to redo Daz Studio totally, only the plug-ins stuck. I made sure to save in Content DB Maintenance 'Export User Data' before opening USC2. 

    Again, a lot of white for a period of time, that resolved into what I expect. But after trying to create a test scene, it through an error, not specified. So I went back and closed the cameras on a number of items, tried again. I received a notice a render was in progress!? No sign of one on my screen. I changed to filament and the render ran. I think I will stay off of the D|S 4.23.0.1 for any work in Daz Studio. It is just weird after working with the Beta for years. (I will freely admit this 2017 computer is having serious issues and why I bought the Win 11 laptop. So my experience may not be a valid test.)

    Mary

  • alexhcowleyalexhcowley Posts: 2,386

    memcneil70 said:

    alexhcowley said:

    Has anyone tried DS4.23 general release on Win 10 yet?  Are there any issues for US2? 

    Cheers,

    Alex.

    I opened it up on my desktop Win 10 with a GTX 1080 card. I saw a lot of white fields initially, it took a long time for the screen to fill up and I had to select a workspace, add the USC2 pane and found the scripts and favorites I may have had before were gone, so I added Code66's Alienator Pro II scripts and his Toobox scripts quickly and also serial numbers for new plug-ins. When I rebooted Daz Studio, I had to redo Daz Studio totally, only the plug-ins stuck. I made sure to save in Content DB Maintenance 'Export User Data' before opening USC2. 

    Again, a lot of white for a period of time, that resolved into what I expect. But after trying to create a test scene, it through an error, not specified. So I went back and closed the cameras on a number of items, tried again. I received a notice a render was in progress!? No sign of one on my screen. I changed to filament and the render ran. I think I will stay off of the D|S 4.23.0.1 for any work in Daz Studio. It is just weird after working with the Beta for years. (I will freely admit this 2017 computer is having serious issues and why I bought the Win 11 laptop. So my experience may not be a valid test.)

    Mary

    Mary,

    Many thanks for your comments.  My render PC is a  bit more up-to-date than yours but it is still two or three years old. I think I will continue with the latest 4.22  Beta for the moment. 

    Cheers,

    Alex.  

  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,456
    edited October 19

    Experiments with UltraScenery 2 rendered with FilaToon.

    What a difference - rendering time almost instant.

    Also used a little Gimp touch.

    us2at20241019sc07.jpg
    1920 x 1200 - 1M
    Post edited by Artini on
  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,009

    How are you rendering USC2 with FilaToon? Are you setting up converted copies of assets with FilaToon and swapping in with Alienator, or is there an easier approach?

     

     

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