Surfaces (shader mixer) question...

gederix

In learning the ins and outs of daz I have discovered the shader mixer after reading a post here explaining to someone how to apply surfaces using the shader mixer first then copying and pasting from surface to surface in the surfaces tab.
In experimenting with it I have found that sometimes the recipient surface does not take the application through the shader mixer, instead the target surface gets borked and I end up with surfaces where properties vanish, like the diffuse 'image' window. Still have a diffuse property and can select a color, but the image window to apply a material is no longer there.
I was just wondering why this happens and if there is any way to fix it?
I know my question might need more specific detail but Im writing this off the top of my head during downtime at work.
Its just that Ive noticed that even within say genesis 2 compatible items all the surface properties are not always there, like one item might have a translucency property, another does not.
So is there any way within daz to make a surface take on the properties you are trying to apply when its existing properties do not exactly match those being applied, and I get weird results like white surfaces with missing properties instead of the beautiful, detailed surface I am trying to apply?
Like say turning a genesis surface into a genesis 2 surface and vice versa?

DestinysGarden

I think I understand what you are after. You are just copying the shader parameters, you are not copying the base shader too. Shaders can different parameters that you can adjust, and not all of them use the same things, as you found out. The DAZ Studio default for example does not have nearly as many options as UberSurface, to give one example. An easy way to do it would be to load up the item with the surfaces you like. Have exactly one of the material groups selected in the surfaces tab. Go to file/save as/shader preset. Then have the new item selected in the scene tab and the surfaces tab and apply your newly saved shader preset. It will put all of the settings and the base shader too on the new item.
Let us know if you need screen shots.

gederix

Thanks for your help! I have just tried the save as shader preset function and it appears to be what I am looking for, very cool.
So the shader preset saves the whole shader for applying to other surfaces, but the shader mixer... is somehow different. It seems like its function is to copy the shader on a surface to apply to other surfaces in the scene but for some reason I am not grasping it actually does not do that, at least not as thoroughly as a shader preset?
If someone could explain I would greatly appreciate it:)

DestinysGarden

The shader mixer is for when you need to set up your own base shader with the functions and parameters you choose. You build a network of bricks to define how it functions. After you've set up what functions you need to perform, then you can plug images in and set up the parameters and save presets.
I wouldn't worry about shader mixer yet, unless you needed something really specialized.