Is there a legal way to share this? (more inside)
Testing6790
Posts: 1,091
I spent 3+ hours (lots of distractions) applying various Visual Style Shaders (http://www.daz3d.com/visual-style-shaders) to every surface aside from posters, etc in "Interiors the Classroom" (http://www.daz3d.com/interiors-the-classroom) in preparation for a toon classroom scene I'm going to make. I think it looks great, a very nice, toony classroom.
Is there a way to share this setup without infringing on either artist's rights? Something that would only work if they had the classroom and the shaders? I don't want anyone to have to go through what I did, lol.
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I think there might be a way through the Gallery, but I am not sure. So don't take my words too seriously, but might be worth checking up atleast :)
If you save them as Material Presets for the content, then you can distribute the DUF files that are created that way. Those files refer to the objects and shaders in your scene, but don't contain the source files for them.
eh, wouldn't you still be redistributing the shader?
there's a script for saving shader presets (so as not to redistribute the shader itself) included with visual style.
I figured that was the case, but I was a little reluctant to share a material preset that was using shaders, as I am a little fuzzy as to where the line was drawn.
Honestly, I still don't know the difference. I always thought shader presets were just someone selling a bunch of settings that everyone has access to, but not enough time / knowledge to do themselves. If that were the case I would definitely not want to step on any toes!
eh, wouldn't you still be redistributing the shader?
there's a script for saving shader presets (so as not to redistribute the shader itself) included with visual style.
I'm glad I asked! I'll look into it. How would I confirm that I am not, in fact, redistributing the shader?
eh, wouldn't you still be redistributing the shader?
there's a script for saving shader presets (so as not to redistribute the shader itself) included with visual style.Not unless the DUF files are significantly different in that regard from former DS files.
Material Presets should simply say "Apply this shader to these surfaces (with these settings) on this object." For example "Apply the Visual Style Shader to the Desktop surface of the Student Desk prop using the Visual Style Color - Medium Brown preset". A single Material Preset could also include the other surface definitions of the Student Desk prop like the legs, seat, etc.
The Material Preset should not include the actual code that is required for the shader to work.
A Shader Preset is nothing more than saying "I want to use the Visual Style shader with these settings". The key difference is that it doesn't have any information about what content, surfaces, etc. that those settings should be applied to.
I'm glad I asked! I'll look into it. How would I confirm that I am not, in fact, redistributing the shader?
If the shader is simply the settings to the default group of parameters that are standard to Daz Studio you could do some minor tweaks to them and redistribute them provided any textures, bumps or displacements, etc. are not included unless they are public domain.
If the shader is altering those standard parameter listings by adding or removing parameters to enhance the functionality of what Daz Studio wouldn't be able to do without it I would suspect you are redistributing someone's work tweaking those settings or not.
In the upper right hand corner of the Surface list you will see the name of the active shader, the first one is a stock Daz Studio plastic and I could use it publicly fro any surface I wished. The other two are proprietary and while I could save them to a material file or duf or whatever I could not legally distribute them to anyone since they required additional software to allow those settings in the list to work.
You can't distribute a regular preset as it would indeed contain the full shader code, since there isn't an asset for it to refer to - that's how Shader Mixer shaders are distributed. The supplied "Script - Create Visual Style Preset" will create a "safe" preset that needs to be applied after the base shader.
Huh?
What script? Where?
Huh?
What script? Where?
Library > Shaders > Visual Style Shaders
It's a script in the folder w/ the base shader.
Library > Shaders > Visual Style Shaders
It's a script in the folder w/ the base shader.
So the script is specific to the Visual Style shaders and not all shaders?
Because for everything else I've looked at...many shader preset duf files, some created just a week ago...and they all reference the INSTALLED files in the support folder (the definition files...which in turn reference the sdl file, elsewhere). In no case was there anything other than SETTINGS included in the duf file. And the presets for a ShaderMixer file call the specific bricks and have the settings for those bricks. According to that, any custom bricks would have to be included in the distributed files...but anything made with standard bricks, no actual shader code is involved.
Library > Shaders > Visual Style Shaders
It's a script in the folder w/ the base shader.
So the script is specific to the Visual Style shaders and not all shaders?
Because for everything else I've looked at...many shader preset duf files, some created just a week ago...and they all reference the INSTALLED files in the support folder (the definition files...which in turn reference the sdl file, elsewhere). In no case was there anything other than SETTINGS included in the duf file. And the presets for a ShaderMixer file call the specific bricks and have the settings for those bricks. According to that, any custom bricks would have to be included in the distributed files...but anything made with standard bricks, no actual shader code is involved.
That is true if there are compiled .sdl files in the application folder, or if a Shader Mixer shader has been saved as a Shader Asset. it isn't, however, true for a Shader Mixer shader that hasn't been saved as an asset, for that the preset contains the brick layout.
So the script is specific to the Visual Style shaders and not all shaders?
Because for everything else I've looked at...many shader preset duf files, some created just a week ago...and they all reference the INSTALLED files in the support folder (the definition files...which in turn reference the sdl file, elsewhere). In no case was there anything other than SETTINGS included in the duf file. And the presets for a ShaderMixer file call the specific bricks and have the settings for those bricks. According to that, any custom bricks would have to be included in the distributed files...but anything made with standard bricks, no actual shader code is involved.
That is true if there are compiled .sdl files in the application folder, or if a Shader Mixer shader has been saved as a Shader Asset. it isn't, however, true for a Shader Mixer shader that hasn't been saved as an asset, for that the preset contains the brick layout.
So how do I save a Shader Mixer shader as a Shader Asset?
File>Save as>Support Assets>Shader definition Asset, with an object and a surface using a Shader Mixer shader ion the object selected.
Thanks again!
eh, wouldn't you still be redistributing the shader?
there's a script for saving shader presets (so as not to redistribute the shader itself) included with visual style.
It mystified me why people would think saving Material Presets would be in fact distributing the shader itself... Material Presets require the shader to be installed or it wont work. If for example UberSurface2 is not installed but you apply a US2 Material preset on say a Figure for which the Material preset was made for, it will not give any surface information except the raw basics: Smooth, Angle, Diffuse Color and Opacity. - I tested this with both PA sold material presets using UberSurface2 and my own material presets which used that shader, they gave me nothing but the raw settings and the shader is listed as Shader:custom. It also wont open in shader mixer.
And considering Material Presets come with almost all content, Sold and Free, Id be very worried if Material Presets were distributing the shader it requires.
EDIT: I looked into the shader preset files, and looking at my customized version of AoA's Subsurface shader (which has a few added features from shader mixer), it appears to retain the requirement the dsf of the original shader, so would that also indicate that that shader presets also require the original shader itself to function? This topic really made me curious lol