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Any views on pwEffect?

Sid_1500574Sid_1500574 Posts: 30
edited December 1969 in The Commons

Hi

does anyone use pwEffect (http://www.daz3d.com/shop/pweffect/), can you advise on how good it is? Does it offer more than normal shaders do in terms of effects that can be achieved? I have looked on the poseworks site but it doesn't show how it looks in proper renders. I mainly do superhero type renders so always on the look out for cool effects - are there better alternatives available (in Daz, not post effects)

thanks

Comments

  • NeilV_1NeilV_1 Posts: 442
    edited December 1969

    I have used it quite a bit over the years and have never regretted buying it I find the shaders are very usefull for background effects like forcefields and and stuff like that and the plasmas effects are great for explosions http://neilv.deviantart.com/art/Xplosive-99510512?q=gallery:neilv/1236308&qo=167 ;-)

  • GranvilleGranville Posts: 696
    edited December 1969

    I have found it really useful on several occasions to create ghosts.

  • Sfariah DSfariah D Posts: 26,258
    edited December 1969

    Does it work with Ds4 or DS4.5?

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,765
    edited December 1969

    Miss Bad Wolf said:
    Does it work with Ds4 or DS4.5?

    Yes. Only pwSketch was not updated to DS4, and shadrs don't need to be updated for 4.5

  • Sfariah DSfariah D Posts: 26,258
    edited December 1969

    Richard Haseltine said:
    Miss Bad Wolf said:
    Does it work with Ds4 or DS4.5?

    Yes. Only pwSketch was not updated to DS4, and shadrs don't need to be updated for 4.5

    Thanks, I will try to get that when I can.

  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited August 2012

    Are there any tutorials on actually USING pwEffect, pwGhost, pwSurface2, etc.? I can apply the shaders to an object, but they render out as pure white regardless of what I try. The documents on Posework's site are *somewhat* out of date, and fairly technical -- long on "this is what feature X is for", short on actually how to implement feature X. I've seen some beautiful work done with them and I'd love to know how to use them myself. (Plus, I'd like to be able the justify the money I paid for them -- not such a bargain if they ain't gettin' used, know what I mean?) Thanks...

    Post edited by Morpheon on
  • AscaniaAscania Posts: 1,849
    edited December 1969

    The shaders come with their own help directly accessible from the library where the shaders are.

  • Sid_1500574Sid_1500574 Posts: 30
    edited December 1969

    I found them very frustrating to work with.

    Some of the effects look good straight off, but trying to tweak them to get exactly what I wanted was too much trial and error that I didn't have time to do. The lack of visual clues as you change parameters makes it hard to work intuitively.


    I hope to get round to looking at it in a bit more depth at some point.

  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited December 1969

    Ascania said:
    The shaders come with their own help directly accessible from the library where the shaders are.

    Thank you, but those are the exact same documents on the Poseworks' website. Try this, instead: Reality works with DAZ Studio 4, but NOT DAZ Studio 4 RC2 (and presumably RC3) -- as I understand it, Pret-a-3D is waiting for Studio to get nailed down solid before he updates the plug-in to work with it again. Might this not be the same problem I'm having with with the Poseworks' shaders? I'm using DS4P RC3, and even though they were updated for DS4, is it possible they don't work with the later releases and no one has said anything about it yet?

  • Sid_1500574Sid_1500574 Posts: 30
    edited August 2012

    Sarsifus, what have you got your light settings set to? I can't remember which way it is, but I think it doesn't work if you have it set to raytrace shadows or something like that - could that be the problem?

    edit: - ah, it was the render settings I was thinking of. You have to use 3delight render setting or it doesn't work.

    Post edited by Sid_1500574 on
  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited August 2012

    sidneypoitier said:
    Sarsifus, what have you got your light settings set to? I can't remember which way it is, but I think it doesn't work if you have it set to raytrace shadows or something like that - could that be the problem?

    edit: - ah, it was the render settings I was thinking of. You have to use 3delight render setting or it doesn't work.

    Here's what I'm trying to do: I've got a square stone chamber, with a burner (linear spotlight) in each corner and a well in the center. I've been trying to apply one of the pw shaders to the water in the well to make it glow. Now I can set the well water's ambient color to white and boost the intensity, but I don't care for the results. Has anyone else had any luck getting the pw shaders to work in DS4P RC3? And if you can, can you tell me how you did it? Thanks...

    *** LATER ***

    What I find the pw shaders to be doing is that, upon application, they inject all the extra channels for their given effects and also change the diffuse/ambient/specular/etc. colors. What one shader will create as pure white, another will create in a shade of green, and still another in a shade of blue. However, I still cannot get them to render their intended effects, either by applying one of their presets or by twiddling with the dials.

    Is anyone having any luck with the pw shaders in DS4P RC3, and if so, can you tell me how you're doing it? Thanks...

    Post edited by Morpheon on
  • ReDaveReDave Posts: 815
    edited December 1969

    They appear to work normally for me on DS4 RC3, Win32. I have to admit the sheer amount of sliders has always intimidated me, so I only experimented when I first bought them, a few years ago. The presets do render very similar to their respective thumbnails for me (except perhaps Ashen Mountain). If you're twiddling dials try not to overdo the Strengths, try to keep their sums to around 100%, and/or avoid too many lights.

  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited August 2012

    ReDave said:
    They appear to work normally for me on DS4 RC3, Win32. I have to admit the sheer amount of sliders has always intimidated me, so I only experimented when I first bought them, a few years ago. The presets do render very similar to their respective thumbnails for me (except perhaps Ashen Mountain). If you're twiddling dials try not to overdo the Strengths, try to keep their sums to around 100%, and/or avoid too many lights.

    No, I've been testing them in a very simple setup: just a plane with a cube, a sphere, and a cone primitives, with a single spotlight. When you apply a preset, should it be apparent in the preview window, or is it only noticeable after rendering? For example, on my machine, selecting the cube and then clicking on the pwEffect shader will add all of the other channels to the cube's properties list in the Surfaces tab, but doesn't visibly change the appearance of the cube.

    In the second image, I've selected the "lava skin" preset, and you can see that the cube has turned to pure white (you can also see that the specular color has changed to a brownish color more appropriate to lava), but it will render out as pure white, not as a lava cube.

    BTW: I know about holding down the CTRL key (in Windows) when using Omnifreaker's tools, and then selecting between "Replace" or "Ignore", and this would seem to be similar, but neither option makes any difference with the pw shaders. The extra channels all seem to start out set to "None" or "No Modifiers", which I thought was part of the problem, but even manually setting them makes no difference.

    The only other difference I can see is that I'm running the 64-bit version of DS4P RC3, and you're using the 32-bit.

    Sarsifus_-_2012.08_.08_-_DS4P_RC3_-_SKETCH_-_pw_Shaders_Test-bed_02_.png
    1200 x 675 - 522K
    Sarsifus_-_2012.08_.08_-_DS4P_RC3_-_SKETCH_-_pw_Shaders_Test-bed_01_.png
    1200 x 675 - 442K
    Post edited by Morpheon on
  • KickAir 8PKickAir 8P Posts: 1,865
    edited December 1969

    Sarsifus said:
    When you apply a preset, is it apparent in the preview window, or is it only noticeable after rendering? . . . I've selected the "lava skin" preset, and you can see that the cube has turned to pure white (you can also see that the specular color has changed to a brownish color more appropriate to lava), and it will render out as pure white, not as a lava cube.

    From what I recall (it's been a while since I've used these), the effects only show in the completed renders, not in the preview window. Render your lava-skin test and see what that gets you.
  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited August 2012

    KickAir 8P said:
    Sarsifus said:
    When you apply a preset, is it apparent in the preview window, or is it only noticeable after rendering? . . . I've selected the "lava skin" preset, and you can see that the cube has turned to pure white (you can also see that the specular color has changed to a brownish color more appropriate to lava), and it will render out as pure white, not as a lava cube.

    From what I recall (it's been a while since I've used these), the effects only show in the completed renders, not in the preview window. Render your lava-skin test and see what that gets you.

    It gets me a pure white cube, not a lava cube. (This is REALLY annoying and frustrating...)

    Sarsifus_-_2012.08_.08_-_DS4p_RC3_-_SKETCH_-_Lava_Skin_.jpg
    480 x 689 - 58K
    Post edited by Morpheon on
  • KickAir 8PKickAir 8P Posts: 1,865
    edited December 1969

    Sarsifus said:
    KickAir 8P said:
    Sarsifus said:
    When you apply a preset, is it apparent in the preview window, or is it only noticeable after rendering? . . . I've selected the "lava skin" preset, and you can see that the cube has turned to pure white (you can also see that the specular color has changed to a brownish color more appropriate to lava), and it will render out as pure white, not as a lava cube.

    From what I recall (it's been a while since I've used these), the effects only show in the completed renders, not in the preview window. Render your lava-skin test and see what that gets you.

    It gets me a pure white cube, not a lava cube. (This is REALLY annoying and frustrating...)
    Huh! I can imagine. :shut: Okay, I've got nothing, sorry.
  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited December 1969

    KickAir 8P said:
    Sarsifus said:
    KickAir 8P said:
    Sarsifus said:
    When you apply a preset, is it apparent in the preview window, or is it only noticeable after rendering? . . . I've selected the "lava skin" preset, and you can see that the cube has turned to pure white (you can also see that the specular color has changed to a brownish color more appropriate to lava), and it will render out as pure white, not as a lava cube.

    From what I recall (it's been a while since I've used these), the effects only show in the completed renders, not in the preview window. Render your lava-skin test and see what that gets you.

    It gets me a pure white cube, not a lava cube. (This is REALLY annoying and frustrating...)
    Huh! I can imagine. :shut: Okay, I've got nothing, sorry.

    That's cool. Thanks for the help, and thanks to everyone who's helped with this.

  • ReDaveReDave Posts: 815
    edited December 1969

    Set all colours to black and see if a render gives a white surface still. If it does, file a bug report about the 64 bits version of pwEffect. The log file (Help->Troubleshooting->View Log File, scroll at the bottom just after applying pwEffect) may also contain some useful information

  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited December 1969

    ReDave said:
    Set all colours to black and see if a render gives a white surface still. If it does, file a bug report about the 64 bits version of pwEffect. The log file (Help->Troubleshooting->View Log File, scroll at the bottom just after applying pwEffect) may also contain some useful information

    Thank you, I tried that. I went through and changed every single color channel to black -- and then the object rendered out to a neutral grey. What it looks like is happening, is that when I apply pwEffect, the pure white is the ambient channel being set to white at 100%. When I cranked it back down, the object was simply neutral grey, even with all of the other channels set to black. I just don't think the 64-bit pw shaders are working with DS4P RC3 64-bit.

  • ReDaveReDave Posts: 815
    edited December 1969

    Oh good point, Ambient in pwEffect acts as minimum colour of a surface, which is different from what DS uses (DS is the odd one out in that regard). You really have to dial it back a lot if you are used to the DAZ default material.
    I tried applying the shader to Genesis' torso, without applying any preset, and setting the Diffuse, Ambient and Specular colours to black yielded what looks to me like a black torso.

    PW_AMbDiff_Spec_AllBlack.png
    900 x 675 - 142K
  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited December 1969

    So in your render, does that count as a success or a failure of pwEffect?

  • JabbaJabba Posts: 1,460
    edited December 1969

    Haven't used much, but a very handy tool to have at your fingertips.

    http://fav.me/d4spdh0

  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited December 1969

    Jabba101 said:
    Haven't used much, but a very handy tool to have at your fingertips.

    http://fav.me/d4spdh0

    Yeah, the effects look great -- that's why I finally bought them a month or so ago. I've been beating my head on my keyboard, trying to figure out what it is I'm doing wrong, and then it hit me that even though they've been updated, they probably don't work with the RC3 version of DS, much like Reality isn't working right now. I've submitted a bug report with some test renders and a copy of the log file, so maybe I can get some help with that.

  • JabbaJabba Posts: 1,460
    edited December 1969

    Just checked... PW effects not working in DS 4.5 RC3

    my render linked above will have been with DS 4.03

  • RenpatsuRenpatsu Posts: 828
    edited August 2012

    Just tried myself and pwEffect is working in 4.5 RC3 here (not ordered in bundle, but as single product). Do you got the latest version? As they got updated for the RC3 build according to the RC3 announcement as well.

    10. We would suggest that in order to use the PW Shaders you should reset your downloads to get the latest version to run with DAZ Studio 4.5 RC3.

    To add: My download is "5387_pwEffect_1.2_ds.zip".

    Post edited by Renpatsu on
  • JabbaJabba Posts: 1,460
    edited August 2012

    D'oh... hadn't updated :bug:

    thanks for reminder mate...

    ...I reset download (the PW bundle) and working like before now

    :-)

    Post edited by Jabba on
  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited August 2012

    Hmm. The current installers are 1.2; mine are all 1.1:

    4464_pwcatch_1.1_ds.exe
    5387_pweffect_1.1_ds.exe
    4345_pwghost_1.1_ds.exe
    8258_pwsurface2_1.1_ds.exe

    I gotta try these.

    *** A few minutes later. ***

    YAY! They work! They pw effects are NOT apparent in the preview window (at least on my machine; I dunno about anyone else's) other than the object they're being applied to changes color. You have to render to see the full effect -- but, at least they work now...

    Post edited by Morpheon on
  • ReDaveReDave Posts: 815
    edited December 1969

    Sarsifus said:

    So in your render, does that count as a success or a failure of pwEffect?
    Yes, it does, especially in light that the presets worked for me.
    Glad you got it working! I forgot to say I had reset my downloads. :-S
  • MorpheonMorpheon Posts: 738
    edited August 2012

    Wasn't anything I did -- simply a matter of having installers that work. I figured it was an incompatibility with the RC3 release and not something I was doing wrong, and it's a relief to know I wasn't making a mistake somewhere. Now I can try all the ideas I've been working on. :) Thank you to everyone who helped with this.

    Post edited by Morpheon on
  • krickerdkrickerd Posts: 188
    edited December 1969

    Jabba101 said:
    D'oh... hadn't updated :bug:

    thanks for reminder mate...

    ...I reset download (the PW bundle) and working like before now

    :-)

    I'm late to the party but I just updated my version and it works for me as well. NICE! I formerly had the same problem as you. Now, no problem! ;-)

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