Lights and shaders in 4.6?

brainmuffin

Which lights and shaders actually work in 4.6? I some of the Uber items, they don't seem to work well. Supposedly 4.6 comes with a SSS, doesn't do anything. In the past, I've used Light Studio/Dome Pro, but they are not compatible. Even Reality doesn't do well. If it matters, I'm using the 64bit Mac version.

Sisca

Not sure what you mean by not working?

UberLights are a bit different than regular lights so there may be a bit of a learning curve for those. There are several really good tutorials on using them here on the forums, I'd start with Szark's UA Basics tutorial (http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/14536/).

There's a new version of Light Dome Pro (http://www.daz3d.com/light-dome-pro-r). I never used the original but from what others have said this isn't the same at all. The main focus of this one is to get you out of DS and into Photoshop to do the lighting effects using postwork.

There are SSS that come with DS4.6 and they work just fine (I haven't tried them on my Mac lately but they worked fine a few weeks ago at least). You do have to make sure you've installed the SSS Base product (http://www.daz3d.com/subsurface-shader-base), it should be in your product library or available via the DIM if you use that. It's not automatically installed with DS.

There is supposed to be a Reality 3 for DS coming but I have no idea when that will be. If you want to use LuxRender there's Luxus (http://www.daz3d.com/luxus) that's a plugin for DS and it works fine. Of course it's LuxRender which is a whole other learning curve :).

As far as basic lights there are the standard Ambient, Spot, Point lights built in.

If you're looking for pre-packaged lighting setups everyone has their favorites. I find I use Dimension Theory's Dimension Lights (http://www.daz3d.com/daz-dimension-lights-1) both set 1 and 2 quite often. Also if you're a PC club member he released one of his HDR Pro Sets there a few weeks back (http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items/hdr-prosets-yosemite-pack-one) and you really can't beat the price for that set. Predatron's lights and skydomes are also frequently used tools (http://www.daz3d.com/predatron-essential-lights-skies)

As I said I don't often use my Mac for rendering but when I do I've not found any of the stuff in my library that didn't work the same as it did on my desktop. Perhaps if you could give us some hints as to what you find isn't working we can provide better answers.

kyoto kid

...Dimension Theory also created the SSS Toolbox which has a number of presets which make a good starting point.

http://www.daz3d.com/subsurface-toolbox

I too bemoan the loss of the original Light Dome Pro. It was simple, elegant and worked so well. LDP-R is more complex and requires an expensive application to work. Supposedly there is to be an update for GIMP but I have yet to hear any news about it.

Been struggling with the Uber Area Lights myself but have learned how to create Mesh Lights after reading Szark's tutorial (in the link above).

As to the light sets I currently use in 4.6: Lantios2, Cloud9, and Skies of Economy (which also works in Carrara and Poser). For indoor scenes I usually have to work up my own. or go with what is included in a given interior set.