Low Rez Horse and textures

shante

I am interested in buying Predatron's LowRez Horse Set here. I was wondering where it rates in resolution between the old P4 horse and the older MilHorse (first version). I am more concerned in the texture quality. I have some pretty hi res textures for the P4 Horse and of course the textures for the older MilHorse are darn good. Because I am trying to create a scene with a complex set, two Mil4 figures and two horse I am having memory problems doing so. Was hoping to get this horse set for the scene to better render it.
Does anyone know if the textures are interchangeable with the MilHorse 1or any of the third party props and accessories for the MilHorse 1 and if there are any third party accessories available for the LowRez Horse set?

Thanks in advance for your help.

BTW would the rigging set up here for the centaurs using MilHorse nd Mil4 figures also with with this lower rez horse?

FSMCDesigns

You could just reduce the textures you have now to help with the memory issue.

shante

I render for possible print repro quality 10 x10 inches at 300dpi (3000 x 3000 resolution) so detail is important. I could but then I would lose the quality in the textures of the horses. I am going to have to frame more carefully and delete any unnecessary background props and possibly turn off displacement and compensate some in post. The bucket size was already reduced to 8. What does that Bucket thing do anyway? Can it be turned off?
I think I am going to have to buy the LowRez Horse set anyway to at least be able to include more horses in background where the higher res is unimportant. Was just hoping others have worked with it and give me some ideas and (realistic practical encouragement)

icprncss

Have you tried rendering in layers and do a composite in your graphics app?

While TIFF tends to end up as a large file, I found saving the renders as a TIFF rather than PNG can give you all the channels and other data needed by the printer. Especially if you might need 4 color offset.

shante

icprncss said:

Have you tried rendering in layers and do a composite in your graphics app?

While TIFF tends to end up as a large file, I found saving the renders as a TIFF rather than PNG can give you all the channels and other data needed by the printer. Especially if you might need 4 color offset.

Not sure how to do that. My Digital environment Dunce Cap is so big it disrupts power line functions! :(

I am way unable dead-brain-wise to try any of the Poser 7 more exotic render and deeper tool functions despite attempts to try and try. Went from an inept P4 user to an equally unsophisticated P7 user and still don't even know how to create and spawn morphs. Just don't know how I manage to get decent renders despite my lack of skills. Still have not figured out all those functions in the Advanced Materials room going back to the old fashioned way of doing it. The Cloth Room is so cool but not for me! :(

I understand there is a way of rendering to another location (or window?) whatever that means to better deal with memory issues but also do not know how to do that. :(

FSMCDesigns

shante said:

I render for possible print repro quality 10 x10 inches at 300dpi (3000 x 3000 resolution) so detail is important. I could but then I would lose the quality in the textures of the horses. I am going to have to frame more carefully and delete any unnecessary background props and possibly turn off displacement and compensate some in post. The bucket size was already reduced to 8. What does that Bucket thing do anyway? Can it be turned off?
I think I am going to have to buy the LowRez Horse set anyway to at least be able to include more horses in background where the higher res is unimportant. Was just hoping others have worked with it and give me some ideas and (realistic practical encouragement)

I see. the reason I mentioned it is that texture size will impact memory more than mesh resolution which means that the lo rez horse might not be the answer. The decimator app for DS does a great job of lowering mesh for most figures in DS and works great for background figures.

shante

FSMCDesigns said:

shante said:

I render for possible print repro quality 10 x10 inches at 300dpi (3000 x 3000 resolution) so detail is important. I could but then I would lose the quality in the textures of the horses. I am going to have to frame more carefully and delete any unnecessary background props and possibly turn off displacement and compensate some in post. The bucket size was already reduced to 8. What does that Bucket thing do anyway? Can it be turned off?
I think I am going to have to buy the LowRez Horse set anyway to at least be able to include more horses in background where the higher res is unimportant. Was just hoping others have worked with it and give me some ideas and (realistic practical encouragement)

I see. the reason I mentioned it is that texture size will impact memory more than mesh resolution which means that the lo rez horse might not be the answer. The decimator app for DS does a great job of lowering mesh for most figures in DS and works great for background figures.

OK thanks I'll try it anyway but I will probably have to install the lower rez textures by hand. Wish I could figure out how to create my own MAT poses! LOL

icprncss

TIFF is an image format rather than a render setting. When you save the image, instead of saving as a jpeg or png, you would save as a TIFF. This format like psd and png saves any layer and channel information that can lost in jpeg. It is also a loss less format. It's an older format but many printers prefer it. 4 color offset if a printing method.

How and what gets rendered with what can depend on the scene. I tend to render more layers than I sometimes need. Generally it's environment with lights, background figures and props, mid ground figures and props and then foreground figures and props. If there is more than one foreground figure or big props, they might get rendered individually.

I do several light render passes as well as shadow render passes. P7 and up has shadow only rendering in the render settings.

You assemble some or all of these layers in your graphics app that supports layers. Because TIFF isn't transparent background, you will need to use masks. Also the eraser tool set so a very soft setting is very useful.

shante

icprncss said:

TIFF is an image format rather than a render setting. When you save the image, instead of saving as a jpeg or png, you would save as a TIFF. This format like psd and png saves any layer and channel information that can lost in jpeg. It is also a loss less format. It's an older format but many printers prefer it. 4 color offset if a printing method.

How and what gets rendered with what can depend on the scene. I tend to render more layers than I sometimes need. Generally it's environment with lights, background figures and props, mid ground figures and props and then foreground figures and props. If there is more than one foreground figure or big props, they might get rendered individually.

I do several light render passes as well as shadow render passes. P7 and up has shadow only rendering in the render settings.

You assemble some or all of these layers in your graphics app that supports layers. Because TIFF isn't transparent background, you will need to use masks. Also the eraser tool set so a very soft setting is very useful.

I was a retouch artist so I know PhotoShop real well and working in layers and compositing are several of the few things i do excel in. It is rendering in Poser the different.....Layers?....I have no idea how to do in Poser7. Do you render say the background with lights w/o figures first. Then Figures with shadows w/o background, etc. And then composite them in PhotoShop or is there a function in Poser7 that does that via the Render Preferences i am not aware of. I know about the Shadows in the Render Preferences which I always keep on but not familiar with those other options.

icprncss

It's not really layers. It's a matter of rendering various parts of the scene rather than try to render the entire scene at once. I do this for large or resource intensive scenes.

One of the first renders I do is the environment without any figures or props. Just the lights. I do this by hiding the figures (this can be done by selecting the figure in the figure drop down at the top of view port and then hitting the hide figure command in the Figure drop down at the top of the UI. Props and other objects can be hidden by selecting, going to the parameters tab and unchecking visible.

Depending upon your environment, you can either leave it visible as you add/hide the various figures and props and render the scene. If I use something like TerraDome, I will add the props and figures I want to render and then hide it just before hitting render. If it's a simpler environment like one of Flipmode's Easy Environments, I leave it visible.

I render figures and props in at least three stages: background, mid ground and foreground.

Since my main app is Poser, I have used Advanced Render Settings from RDNA since Poser 7. If you are using Poser 7 or better, I highly recommend this set of scripts. I will give you everything you need. Especially for multiple light passes and shadow passes.

In the end, these are all renders. Best either saved as png, psd (although I can't remember if P7 can save as a psd off the top of my head) or as a TIFF. An image format that saves as much information as possible and are loss less.

Hope this helps.

If you are using DS or want another look at things, you might want to take a look at this tutorial

http://www.daz3d.com/making-of-the-raptors-in-daz-studio

Yes, it's older (originally for DS2), and specifically uses the vendor's light products but it gives some useful information. It's also not too expensive.

http://www.daz3d.com/2d-postwork-master

Same vendor but more generic but pricier.

shante

icprncss said:

It's not really layers. It's a matter of rendering various parts of the scene rather than try to render the entire scene at once. I do this for large or resource intensive scenes.

One of the first renders I do is the environment without any figures or props. Just the lights. I do this by hiding the figures (this can be done by selecting the figure in the figure drop down at the top of view port and then hitting the hide figure command in the Figure drop down at the top of the UI. Props and other objects can be hidden by selecting, going to the parameters tab and unchecking visible.

Depending upon your environment, you can either leave it visible as you add/hide the various figures and props and render the scene. If I use something like TerraDome, I will add the props and figures I want to render and then hide it just before hitting render. If it's a simpler environment like one of Flipmode's Easy Environments, I leave it visible.

I render figures and props in at least three stages: background, mid ground and foreground.

Since my main app is Poser, I have used Advanced Render Settings from RDNA since Poser 7. If you are using Poser 7 or better, I highly recommend this set of scripts. I will give you everything you need. Especially for multiple light passes and shadow passes.

In the end, these are all renders. Best either saved as png, psd (although I can't remember if P7 can save as a psd off the top of my head) or as a TIFF. An image format that saves as much information as possible and are loss less.

Hope this helps.

If you are using DS or want another look at things, you might want to take a look at this tutorial

http://www.daz3d.com/making-of-the-raptors-in-daz-studio

Yes, it's older (originally for DS2), and specifically uses the vendor's light products but it gives some useful information. It's also not too expensive.

http://www.daz3d.com/2d-postwork-master

Same vendor but more generic but pricier.

appreciate the help. sorry took so long but the bad bot never got back to me so didn't know there was a respons.
do you by any chance have a link to these scripts you mentioned for poser 7?

shante

still thinking of getting the low res horse but wonder if the milhorse maps or high res p4 maps out there i have used through the years will work on it?

nDelphi

shante said:

still thinking of getting the low res horse but wonder if the milhorse maps or high res p4 maps out there i have used through the years will work on it?

The MilHorse textures will not work on the LowRez Horse. I just did a test for you and even though I can apply the textures the eye sockets are at cheek level, for example. Definitely not compatible.

shante

nDelphi said:

shante said:

still thinking of getting the low res horse but wonder if the milhorse maps or high res p4 maps out there i have used through the years will work on it?

The MilHorse textures will not work on the LowRez Horse. I just did a test for you and even though I can apply the textures the eye sockets are at cheek level, for example. Definitely not compatible.

Thank you sir. I appreciate the time and effort you took with this. I wish it had been mapped to take the same textures or at least the old Pf Hi res textures. The textures on it are a bit flat and shiny, to say the least. :(

Wahil

FSMCDesigns said:

You could just reduce the textures you have now to help with the memory issue.

How does one reduce the texture?

Do you open the texture image and resave at a lower pixels per inch? If so what ppi is considered standard, low, and high?

Most textures I see only list dimensions, not resolution.