Are there any good Iray render tutorials out there?

Malandar

I ask because I finally have the ability to do IRAY renders, but my very first try was an inch square on a 43 inch 4k res screen... So any help anyone could give, advice or just directions to a good tutorial would be greatly appreciated.

nemesis10

I would start with Sickleyield in DeviantArt...

 

pds

Sickleyield's tutorials on DeviantArt and YouTube are a great starting point as @nemesis10 said. https://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-Getting-Started-With-Iray-519725115

The new features announcements by Daz when it released v4.8 of Studio is still a good source of info also: http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/new_features/4_8/start

In simple terms:

1. set up your scene (characters, props, environments)
2. configure your objects' surfaces for IRay
3. set up the lighting for your scene
4. Configure your render settings

Setting up your surfaces to work with IRay can be as easy as adding an object that loads with IRay materials by default, but of course you can apply your own materials or shaders and tweak to your heart's content, especially skin (an art all by itself). Recent G8F characters look pretty great even without tweaking any of the skin settings. New products mostly have their default materials ready to go with the IRay engine, but older ones do not; for those, you can select the object, then select its surfaces from the Surfaces tab and apply the IRay Uber Base shader (supplied with Studio). If you press CONTROL/CMD while double-clicking on the shader, you get the option to retain the existing textures while applying the IRAY Uber Base. Not everything "automagically" converts, particularly emissive surfaces, but it's a good starting point. Setting up (or converting) a surface to be emissive is easy:

1. Select the object's surface you want to be emissive from the Surfaces tab (make sure the surface is already set up with an IRay shader)
2. Scroll down through the settings until you get to Emission Color. Any color other than black with emit "light"
3. Adjust the effect using:

• Emission Temperature (K) - measured in Kelvin. If you want to replicate conventional light bulbs, set the Emission Color to white, then adjust the Emission Temperature value to match the desired light source. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature
• Two Sided Light - whether your surface emits light from both sides
• Emission Profile - you can load IES (Illuminating Engineering Society) profiles into this channel. These profiles define the intensity of a light source (how it scatters). These are great for creating more realistic light patterns (like different types of flood lights, spot lights, flashlights, etc.)
• Luminance - The brightness of the light. Values will vary based on the Units chosen.
• Luminance Units - Most of the options are in some form of  "candles per area-squared", but you can also choose Watts (W).

Generally speaking, I find it helpful to approach working in IRay the way I would approach a photo shoot. In other words, decide on what my subject/scene will be, then decide how I want to light it. For example, are you working with a single figure or multiple figures? Is the environment something simple like a plain (or plane ) backdrop, a large-scale environment, or an interior environment? What mood do you want to convey?

Answers to these questions will help determine your approach to lighting the scene, and that’s a huge part of rendering with IRay. The lighting environment options for IRay can be configured by going to Render Settings > Environment and choosing one of the following options from the Environment Mode drop down menu:

1. Dome and Scene (lets you mix an HDRI environment "dome" with spotlights/emissive lights)
2. Dome Only (use the "Ruins" HDRI that loads by default into the Render Settings > Environment > Environment Map, or load your own HDRI)
3. Sun-Sky Only (uses latitude, longitude, date, and time to replicate the position of the Sun in the sky)
4. Scene Only (lights you configure using spotlights or emissive surfaces)

Once you pick one of these environment options, you can finish setting up your lighting.

Again, it helps to think like a photographer. Scene lights are artificial lights (like studio strobes, speedlights, and constant lights) and can be "modified" much the way such lights can be in the real world, with the digital equivalent of scrims, softboxes, gels, etc. to shape and color the light sources. A simple 3-point lighting rig (main/key light, rim light, and fill light) is fairly easy to replicate inside Studio and works well with single figures. There are quite a few products in the store that can replicate much more complicated "studio" style lights and modifiers. "Dome" only renders using an HDRI can create some highly realistic outdoor renders and are easy to use. Think of "outdoor" HDRIs and the Sun-Sky option as the equivalent of natural light, but with the added advantage of being far more configurable. "Indoor" HDRIs can be used to create a source of light (and reflections of light sources). you can kind of think of these as ambient sources. By using the Dome & Scene option, you get the best of both, much like a photographer who uses artificial light to augment ambient/available light.

Other useful render settings (available from the Render Settings tab) include:

• General - this is where you'll set up the size of your render, aspect ratio, whether you want to display your render or save it to a file automatically, and even where you can render an animation if you've created one in the Timeline.
• Progressive Render - Set your Max Samples, Max Time, Rendering Quality, and Rendering Converged Ratio. Depending on your lighting (which is greatl influenced by Tone Mapping settings), you may need to seriously up your Max Samples/Time to minimize graininess in the final render.
• Filtering - This is where you can activate the Bloom Filter and control its settings http://docs.daz3d.com/lib/exe/fetch.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/new_features/4_8/bloomsettings2.png and Pixel Filter Radius, which adjusts the overall crispness of the render. Default is 1.5. I often prefer somewhere between 0.5 and 1.0.
• Tone Mapping - this is a biggie. You can Adjust the brightness of your scene without messing with your lights once you're basically happy with them, which can decrease the time it takes to finish a nice quality render (you can always darken the final image in post). http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/interface/panes/render_settings/engine/nvidia_iray/tone_mapping/start

Sorry for the long post. There's lots to know, and I'm still wading at the shallow end of the IRay pool, but hopefully this will help get you started with a minimum of frustration!