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Excellent:)
Did a close up after working a bit more with surface settings, atleast the hair looks pretty clean now, although way too sleak for my taste. Been improving my skills with Garibaldi, maybe it's time for another long hair attempt...
Ok guys and gals, I need some advice...bought this "IRay only" set the other day, https://www.daz3d.com/urban-living_KindredArts , now I have spent the whole night trying to sort it out. Black spots all over. I've manage to fix most of them by adjusting the smoothing angle of the problem surfaces, but these I can not get rid of
. Converted to SubD, no luck, "use face forward" won't change a thing. On a side note, the diffuse textures have baked in shadows and occlusion. I could live with that, but definitely not the black spots. Anything more I could try, to salvage this set, or do I have to give up and ask for a refund? Would hate to add KA to my growing list of "don't buy from these vendors".
Ok this was a typical example of rage typing. It's a large set with lots of possibilities, so it's a keeper. Nevertheless would be nice to solve the problem...
@wowie
I know you've been busy improving aweSurface, looks like the next build will be a significant update. Just wondering if you've had the time to look into the trace bias issue?(Look at the shadows of the hair on her forhead, and of the top on her belly). And while at it, a reminder... the Genesis1 conversion script needs a little fix, the lashes have the "multipy reflection/refraction with opacity" unchecked;)
After some more fiddling around I have found that the set converts to vanilla 3DL just beautifully, no spots or problems. And obviously IRay works just fine.
That looks like a geometry problem. Easiest way to check is to see if that also happens in the viewport. Use 'Smooth Shading' mode to check, since that view mode doesn't use textures. One way to avoid it is just hide the offending stuff, either by enabling opacity and set it to zero, or just toggle off the polygons via the Geometry Editor.
Check the freebie thread. I've uploaded the new 1.3 build to my Google drive.
You can always edit that yourself, you know. I need to validate the changes to other shaders in the commercial pack first.
Putting this here for easy access
AWE Surface 1.3
Changelog
Point being it's a geometry problem only with aweSurface.
Can't find it. Changelog looks interesting.
Was mentioning it on behalf of possible new users;)
It will always be the aweSurface DS App Folder Files.zip in the root folder. You can find older ones in their own folders with version names as the folder name.
Got it, tks:) Am I correct assuming I only have to update the shaders?
aweSurface___displacement.sdl
aweSurface.sdl
...and aweSurfaceParams.dsa?
Edit: So I replaced these three components and it seems to work, found the new parameters in the surface tab and have a render running:) Very exciting!
So, with this new adaptive sampling feature, do I just enable it, use lower Irradiance and SS samples and hope for the best, or how do I handle that when opening scenes made with the 1.2 build? And you mentioned that you changed the specular levels back to what they were in 1.2, does this affect only strength, or is there more to it? Can't remember what the difference was.
Hmm that was shocking
. The new build is a totally new deal. Interesting! I'll just have to try and forget everything I thought I knew and start from ground zero again. After playing a bit with the portrait a couple of posts back one thing is clear, have to redesign everything that uses SS;) Here's a test with exactly the same settings as with the old build, except I lowered IRadiance samples and SS samples to 128/128 on the skin and hair, and enabled adaptive sampling. The old version also was rendered with non progressive at 12x12 PS, and the new one with progressive at 8x8 PS. (So not completely fair comparison).
Old build:
New build:
Granted, the new version rendered more than 4 times faster, and I had expected more noise with those settings;) So, yeah, specular highlights are more or less gone and the skin is oversaturated, probably because of the "use diffuse with SSS" settings. Testing to be continued...
Oh btw, the trace bias issue seems to be fixed
. Any particular reason why you wanted to go back to the 1.2 specular settings, wowie? Looks like we're having those dull eyes issues again...
Unfortunately, quite true. But it shouldn't be that difficult. I recommend starting out with 100% diffuse and subsurface strength, leaving every other subsurface parameters to your previous settings.
Yeah. It's faster by quite a bit.
You can correct saturation via the new 'Color Correct' options in the Mask section. Gamma correction generally works best when you're using an actual texture. This will also be taken into account with subsurface, more so if you use 'Use Diffuse Texture with SSS'.
Technically, the boosted specular was not physically plausible. With this build, I wanted to return to more 'plausible' settings, plus focusing on bugs squashing. You can still boost specular via 'Specular Exposure' or just enable Coat and Coat Specular (without Coat Reflection). I did tweaked the 'Specular Exposure' limits, because when you use too high values, it will actually clip and produce darker highlights.
The new adaptive sampling will trace more rays throughout the scene to find more diffuse path/contribution. So it will be slightly slower, though not by much. If you don't use HDRI or have a very well lit scene, you can probably turn it off to get a bit of a speedup.
The main purpose of adaptive sampling is for scenes I used as an example (interior scenes lit from outside light sources). Without adaptive sampling, raising samples even to something like 8192 will not produce enough diffuse path for the shader, leading to darker scenes and more noise. With adaptive sampling, darker area will shoot more rays (depending on illumination levels and irradiance samples) to find more light path. You can use it just with a HDRI, but using additional path traced area lights will speed up the render significantly. I think I saw something like half the render time when area lights are used.
It's a new feature, so I'm still going to tweak it around a bit.
Tks wowie:) Will be most interesting to try the UMB House indoor scene with adaptive sampling
I'm sure I'll be fireing off some more questions soonish, so try to bare with me:)
Here's one already: Any additional info or links on the tonemapping methodes? I mean Reinhard doesn't tell me much, what does it do differently than Unreal etc?
OK. So I noticed some problems post upload. One is a typo for the metallic fresnel, where the second specular lobe is using the first specular lobe Fresnel. Second is with adaptive sampling. I was using too high threshold for the variance. The hotfix addresses both issues.
I've uploaded a hotfix, so you should download the shader again.
Ok no problem, tks!
Reinhard is the default method and is the one used in previous builds. Unreal basically shares the same formula as Reinhard, but with modified values with a resulting curve that mimics ACES. ACES is a fast, luminance based ACES approximation of true ACES tone mapping. In renders, Unreal and ACES are rather 'filmic' in nature, so you'll get darker lower values and higher upper values.
Probably best to just show a comparison.
Reinhard
Unreal
ACES
Using the same upper luminance values. Currently, lower luminance value doesn't do anything. This is what's currently implemented, so they can still change.
Tks, nice example renders! Yet another thing to play with;) So Reinhard is the most "natural" method? I figure it would be wise to stick with that and learn how to deal with the new SS and specular levels, before starting to experiment with tone mapping.
I think, with the new SS and all, end users (like me) could really use an appendix to the user´s manual, shedding some light over the new features and how they affect eachother. I've been playing around a bit and seem to get pretty nice results, but not sure what I'm really doing=) Like, how much to blend in the shallow/deep color, and which color, how much of the new translucency boost (I think that channel needs a controlmap for proper results), and how much of the "use diff. maps with SS" to use. I think I like the fact that you now can use diffuse strength of 100 with SS strength of 100,( even the viewport looks better
). Not sure, but with that recipe the skin seems to appear a tad brighter than how I did it in the old build? Best way to deal with that , use 80/80 diff/SS strength, gamma correction/tonemapping or tweaking the lights? 
Oh almost forgot...if I want to make a map, say for the face, to use in the SS translucency boost slot, would I start from a mid gray one and make nose and ears a tad brighter (maybe cheeks too?)? And does grayscale or rgb make any difference? Or do I use a full color map?
Hmm where do I find the updated Environment light?
And that would probably mean I have to use mid gray maps for all the skin material zones?
Ok, trying to find my way back to this look
Old build:
I haven't touched the lights or environment thus far, need to establish a new point of reference in the awe universe. So still following wowie's advice to use 100/100 diffuse/SS strength as a starting point...but now I'm beginning to think that won't work out. Also trying to recreate the specular highlights from the old version. One would think it's simple, just increase the level, but that doesn''t seem to work as expected. I also tried setting both specular lobes to max on the cornea, and bumping up specular exposure...nada, eyes look dull. Will have to try using the coat layer to get additional reflections.
So this is how far I've come, thinking it's an improvement from the first 1.3 render, but still a long way home=) Made her a pair of Garibaldi brows along the way.
The 1.3 renders look surprisingly flat compared to the old build, and I'm not sure if it is the new SS kind of killing the shadows, or if it is a result of the revised blackbody (or something else that I've missed)?
So, before I start tweaking my light sets, would appreciate some feedback:)
It is the default method. Both Unreal and ACES will allow more high values. You mentioned 'dull' specular before, which is a natural byproduct of using Reinhard. Using Unreal or ACES avoids or lessens the impact of that.
Yes. As I said, I'll go into details later. Probably when I update the commercial pack.
But here's a quick, dirty version.
Here's some examples with Translucency Boost 100%, no Color Correction on diffuse textures and 'Use Diffuse Texture with SSS' set to 100%. All subsurface scatter/absorption settings are on default. I'm using pure red for Deep Color.
Left to right. Shallow Color Blend 100% Deep Color Blend 100%, Shallow Color Blend 0% Deep Color Blend 100%, Shallow Color Blend 0% Deep Color Blend 0%
It may be hard to notice, but you can see there'a color/saturation difference on the translucency between the second and third pic (the color in the third pic is closer to the default Subsurface Absorption Color)..
Here's the same settings, but with 'Use Diffuse Texture with SSS' set to 0%.
Shallow Color Blend 100% Deep Color Blend 100%, Shallow Color Blend 0% Deep Color Blend 100%, Shallow Color Blend 0% Deep Color Blend 0%
If you compare to the previous shots, there's an obvious difference between enabling/disabling 'Use Diffuse Texture with SSS' in color and translucency strnegth. Obviously, this will vary depending on the diffuse texture used.
What's your irradiance samples? I recommend at least 512 samples. Plus, tone mapping method also affects lighting (as it should).
Reinhard
ACES
Thank You! This was a crucial piece of info.
I understand this, but can't find the updated environment light.
...meanwhile, here I lowered skin diffuse strength to 90% and SS strength to 80% and got some of the shadows back, so not sure the 100/100 works very well.
Crossposting a bit:) 1024 on the last two renders, you're right 512 seems to be minimum.
...regarding the eyes...new render coming where I have both spec. lobes pure white, 100% strength, rougness 1%, base thin coat on at 100% with IoR 1.38, coat layer on with thin coat enabled, same IoR, coat strength 1, thincoat at max strength, specular exposure at 2, can't see any difference, still very faint reflection and highlights. Next step would be to try raising exposure for the area lights?
Edit: So coatlayer didn't help, but found a recipe that seems to work. Turned off those coat layers, dialed in 25% metalness, set spec. lobe 1 to specular only with a roughness of 4%. Spec. lobe 2 spec. and reflection enabled at 100% strength with rougness 1%. (That's the cornea I'm talkin about).
Ok so here's the version with the cornea using metalness. LOL now after tweaking the SS settings some more I seem to have made her a tad too pale. But tks wowie for your tips, I now know a lot more about the new SS. Getting there slowly but surely (hopefully)
. Used low settings for the hair + a lot of opacity optimization to speed up this render, so a bit noisy.
Just have to say I'm very happy with what you did to the trace bias thingy, wowie
Nonprogressive 10x10 PS, 1024 Irradiance samples, 256 skin SS samples, 50 min.
...another skintest with the same light set...that hair (Free Spirit Hair for G3F) takes forever to render. Ended up setting max diffuse bounce to 1 and specular bounce to 4, Irradiance samples at 128. Irradiance/SS for the skin at 512/128. Progressive render at 8x8 PS, rendertime over 60 min. Still, not much visible noise
. And with the new specular deal it seems like Garibaldi (the brows) is easier to handle without total blowout, used one lobe for specular and one for reflection.
Wait for the commercial pack update.
It will vary depending on texture. A lot of texture bake way too much brightness/subsurface. As you found out, dialing down diffuse strength helps. Using lowered gamma would also work, but can be tricky to use since it also affects saturation.
Probably will render faster with the hair shader. Found a fix for a long standing bug with it a few days ago. It also fix the annoying 'stuck-on-a-bucket' I kept seeing over and over again. Got worse when I added adaptive sampling to my shader. All fixed now.