November 2015 New User Contest "Materials" (WIP-THREAD)
Cris Palomino
Posts: 11,480
New User's Contest - November 2015
Sponsored by DAZ 3D and DzFire (DzFire is awarding from his store here at DAZ, 1st place 3 items, 2nd place 2 items and HM 1 item)
Are you new to the 3D World? Are you at the beginning stages of learning 3D rendering? Have you been around
for a little bit but feel you could benefit from some feedback or instruction? Have you been around awhile
and would like to help other members start their creative journey? Well then come and join the fun as we
host our newest contest...
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"Materials and Surfaces"
This month, our attention will be on 'Materials and Surfaces'. One of the first things you see in a render is the effective use of materials or shaders. How the artist has controled subsurface scattering, specularity, depth details and such. This month we will be concentrating on how to create and manipulate the surfaces on the object in our scene.
I will be checking in on the WIP thread as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need, so feel free to ask questions.
The Golden rules of rendering can be found:
Bryce http://www.daz3d.com/golden-rules-composition-helpers-for-bryce
DAZ Studio http://www.sharecg.com/v/67783/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Golden-Rules-Camera-Prop-v1.5 Also, DS has a built in thirds golden rule just show thirds guide).
Here are various links to other things that may help you in this months contest. Credit is given to Szark for this wonderful thread.
Tutorials by Szark http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/2765/
More info that will help with this months contest can be found:
for DAZ Studio
IRay
http://thinkdrawart.com/water-shader-tutorial-for-daz-studio-iray
http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Iray-Surfaces-And-What-They-Mean-519346747
http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Mini-Tutorial-Iray-Progressive-Render-Settings-557481988
http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-Getting-Started-With-Iray-519725115
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_10 New Horizons - Page 23 DS Creative Magazine Issue 10 - Iray Introductory Tutorial
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_12 Gemstones in Iray - Page 22 DS Creative Magazine Issue 12
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_13 Iray for Beginners - Page 46 DS Creative Magazine Issue 13
3Delight and General
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_01 Understanding Displacement, Bump and Normal Maps by Totte Alm - Page 42 DS Creative Magazine Issue 1
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_02 Displacement, Bump and Normal Maps Part 2 by Totte Alm - Page 60 DS Creative Magazine Issue 2
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_04 Recolouring Content by Camilla Drakenborg - Page 44 DS Creative Magazine Issue 4
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_05 Creating a Mapless Shader by Szark - Page 32 DS Creative Magazine Issue 5
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_05 Making Mirrors by Phil Thompson - Page 38 DS Creative Magazine Issue 5
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_07 Plants from Textures - Page 52 DS Creative Magazine Issue 7
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_14 Making Holes by Lucinda Atman - Page 21 DS Creative Magazine Issue 14
http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_14 Geometry Editor by Totte Alm - Page 36 DS Creative Magazine Issue 14
DAZ 3D - Introduction to Shader Mixer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAxDWbbo85U
UberSurface2 Introduction Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wti6MawSLAA
for Poser
POSER Tutorial Lesson 4: Materials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVCI6CNz-4
Poser - Material Room 101
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--ZDrBtxrZQ
Poser - Material Room 102: Reflections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BBoUlh6QSQ
Poser - Material Room 103: Transparency
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXwmpYbuk38
Poser - Material Room 201: The Advanced Room & Root Node
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbazSTiYOeA
Poser - Material Room 204: Scatter and Custom Scatter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4c1y8uwwMA
for Carrara
Carrara Cafe - shaders http://carraracafe.com/tag/shaders/
Terrain Shading Tips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ236C6vu-g&list=PL7Fcs8awDd0JjtCKC4pS1jeHSo_BopKsk&index=23:
Building Better Bricks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLcZIjbTtz8
Natural Shaders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wxLtVQMUAM
Carrara Information http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/15970/carrara-information-manual#latest
for Bryce
Bryce: Bryce Texture & Material Effects Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awwMgKYfXg8
Bryce 7 In Depth Metal Material Tutorial
https://vimeo.com/20300389
Bryce Mat Room (PDF) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19JhjigT8XbWDAxTGRpZnZpNDg/view?usp=sharing
Material/Surfaces Basics
Difference between materials and shaders?
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/29645/difference-between-materials-and-shaders
Surface Basics (PDF) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19JhjigT8XbUnlhbHp4NGliYjA/view?usp=sharing
Ubersurfaces, Part 1 (PDF) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19JhjigT8XbVVhjU2hlVUdTQlU/view?usp=sharing
Ubersurfaces, Part 2 (PDF) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19JhjigT8XbWjMxMWgtN0dTcU0/view?usp=sharing
Other
Geometry Shell Grunge Map Tutorial http://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/FileUpload/24/04f39864b428cbaff809b13d937b6a.pdf
For a list of the current contest rules, please see this thread : Contest Rules http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/3440/
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
For those veterans of the forums that would like to help, because this contest is designed for the beginner
to learn from, we will be randomly selecting posts offering helpful tips and/or critiques to receive a
special voucher as well so, whether you are a seasoned artist or an aspiring one, there is fun for everyone!
Closing Date: November 30, 2015
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Comments
I have a feeling this will be a very educational month. (as always)
I haven't done too much with surfaces yet except slap one on and hope it works. It will be fun playing with the settings and seeing what we can do with them.
Woot! A chance to to learn how to use all those yummy shaders I have purchased!
I've never even looked at the shader tutorial. Like Knittingmommy I just slap on a shader, for me so far without much luck. This is certainly going to be a learning experience
I need to tell a story so that we are all on the same page. As you know 3D rendering is really just a bunch of equations describing the virtual world that has been created in the 3D program of choice. People become confused when trying to describe how these equations are applied across the image. Some call them materials, others call them shaders and some call them textures and there might be other terms that are used to try to descibe the results of a render in general human speak but all of them are just a bunch of equations that pop out a color value with hue and saturation for every pixel in the render.
Fortunately for us there are people out there that love physics, math and computers and dig just seeing what they can do to make things look different. These guys are called texturers and they write code that the renderer, like 3Delight or IRay or Lux, can read. In the code the texturers have created the equations that say make the light go here and there and at this frequency and intensity. You get the idea. This code is the "shader".
When a director of the movie comes to see what the renderer is doing the texturers can have the shader activated and vala out pops an image of a sphere the color of red. Now you know directors, they are never happy with just the color of red. Nope they want pink or purple or black or some color never seen before. So these clever texturers say don't worry, be happy and with just a few changes to "parameters" they have created the most beautiful pink sphere you have ever seen. The director cries and says they are brilliant.
The texturers sit back and just smile until the next time the director comes back and says he needs this color of chartreuse with pink highlights and green wispy glowing things coming out of the shape. So back to the notepad they go to come up with the equations to do just that.
If you have not gotten it yet I am referring to you all as the directors and because the texturers are busy writing equations that create things we have never seen before and so wish to be left alone they have created a way for you the director to use the equations. In Studio we call it the Surface Tab, in Poser it is the Material Room, in Bryce is it called the Materials Lab and Carrara it is called Texture. What you see are the elements of the equation that can be changed to get the chartreuse, pink and green glowy thing you wanted. If you are a geek, then this is your input deck, where you put in the values for all of the user defined parameters.
As you can tell when you go look at the Surface Tab or go into the cloth room or open the Materials Lab there can be many parameters. They are different based upon what kind of shader you want to apply to your object. They are different based upon what renderer you are using. There is however, certain elements of all shaders that have a similar function across each of the renderers. They are the Diffuse, Specular and Ambient parameters. It is these three elements of the shader equation that must be defined. Each of the renderer engines may call them something a little different but we as humans only really need to know that there are three key elements.
So what are these elements? Well diffuse is the color you see for the pixel and the specular is what the light does to the pixel saturation. Ambient is what color (hue) the pixel should be based upon what the specular value is for the pixel.
Kind of confusing, it is easier to just think in the following order. First comes diffuse color, then add on what specular strength will do to the color and then add ambient strength. So if we start out with a pink but we have a harsh light so the color becomes closer to white but the light is really yellow so the color becomes a light pink with a yellow cast to it. There we have just made our first shader. Now all we have to do is find the equations. Just kidding.
You as the director do not have to worry your pretty heads over that part. But you do need to understand what is happening when you pick a color or add a texture or change the strength of a parameter. Not so much as a number from an equation but "if I do this, this is what will happen". Experimenting is the best way of finding what works and what does not and I can tell you that the renderers do not react the same so if one thing works for one renderer it will be different in another and you as the director have to understand that this is the case and adjust accordingly.
Now that you have some understanding I am going to show you my workflow for how I mess with the surfaces of the objects in my render. I have for you the Millennium Girls mesh http://www.daz3d.com/millennium-girls. I picked her because she does not come with all of the fancy textures that you get for a figure like Genesis 3 Female. Also she is from the days when Poser format was the default. Yes, Studio can read the older Poser files (pz2 format) but most of the time can not implement all of the instructions in the file. Remember what I told you about renderers not reacting the same. In the case of Studio, what happens is you may get the diffuse files but the bump, specularity, opacity and ambient files and other parameter values will not import correctly. So I think she will be a good example and will allow me to tell you so much that your brains may explode.
As I said in the previous post there are three key elements that need to be considered, the diffuse color, the strength of the specularity and ambient effects. The specularity and ambient effects get some of their information from the lighting set up in the scene. So lighting strength and color are the base information used in calculating the amount of influence these two parameters have on the end result of the pixel. So, the first thing I do is consider how I am going to light my scene. How you light a scene affects dramatically how you apply textures, materials and shaders to the surfaces of the objects in the scene. In my workflow fiddling with the surfaces is about the last thing I do. For this example I will be using some freebies and the only thing that is bought is the Mil Girl herself. Here are the links to the character Nelly, her bear and the set of clothing I used.
Nelly
http://www.sharecg.com/v/66743/gallery/11/Poser/Nelly-2
Pookie Bear
http://www.faeriewylde.com/FW3/index.php?topic=92.0
Clothing
http://www.sharecg.com/v/67222/browse/11/Poser/SukiUniform
Hair
http://digitalbabes.jp/dload/KyokoHairMK3.html
This is the 3Delight light set and the backdrop that I used in the example as well.
http://inaneglory.deviantart.com/art/Simple-Soft-Lighting-Freebie-193115008
https://sites.google.com/site/fleshforge/Home/free-stuff-1/simple-backdrop
For the Iray render I dropped the environment Intensity down to 0.5 to give a more in studio image which is the preset I chose from Inane Glory's light set for 3Delight.
If we look at the renders we can see that there is minimal detail. Things look flat and smooth. The pixels change little from one to the next. The color on the surfaces is not very interesting to me. Nelly's skin although pretty is just a bit to perfect to be human and I can't see any of the life glow you see when you look at a person in real life. So it looks like I need to 1. Do something about subsurface scattering (This will get the skin that healthy glow) 2. Introduce some texture to the surfaces to simulate cloth, velvet, leather and lace. and 3. Fix the highlights or specularity so that lips and eyes look wet, leather has a sheen to it and to fix the highlights on her hair.
So what do you think should be done to improve these renders? Your comments, observations, and questions are most welcome or just follow along and see how I work on my materials, textures and shaders.
When I find all the pieces of my exploded brain I will start to try to understand all of this.
Well, I am with isidorn I am still picking up pieces of my brain as well. I think for the clothing textures you can apply different textures that are cloth or leatherlike individually to the pieces to give them a more realistic texture. I have no idea how to do add shine to lips or hair, the little bit of time I have had to play this past couple of weeks I just move the sliders around til it looks decent but I don't know what the sliders are doing. I do know how to change colors and that depending on which one you change colors on you get different effects. And that's all I got lol.
So what does baking mean and how does one do it? Something to do with fusing something to the bump or displacement map to create correct shadows?
Thank you DollyGirl, those posts helped a lot. I wasn't sure, for example, if there WAS a difference between shader, texture, etc., so now I know. And basically just play with the controls until you get something you like - pretty much what I've been doing otherwise, just not with the shaders yet. The hard(er) parts come when you want to apply specific changes to bump or specularity or such, then you have to apply a map and hope it matches up with your diffuse/color map. And understanding UV maps - I'm begining to, or at least just modifiying existing maps.
My brain too is scattered around the room, but that intro at least helps put the pieces back in a certain order.
YAAY So excited for this challenge! I feel like this is where each artists unique style is really definied! I can't wait to see the renders this month...
On an unrelated note: does anyone have any tips or solutions for kinky hair? I honestly have no idea what causes this or how to fix it... this has got to be my biggest pet peeve so any insight to the problem is greatly appreciated!
I had an issue once with kinky grass. I was advised to try appling subdiv. Some items already have subdiv applied to them. If that is the case you might need to increase the values. Go slowly. It increases render time.
If subdiv isn't applied you need to add it to the hair. I cannot remember the process off the top of my head and I am not at my rendering computer.
I will check back in when I get home.
Baking is a technique that allows the artist to just apply a texture with no other instructions via the shader to the object. All of the bump, specularity, ambient, displacement, information has been done prior. This allows for faster render times because the equation only has one input. So you might imagine it as a through put.
I told you all that your brains could come apart but hopefully after the month you will all have a better understanding and that playing with the controls will have a bit more intellegence behind your choices and you will get to the end result faster. As for messing around with maps I will show you some techniques that will help you get good results. In fact I am working on that tut right now.
In the Scene Tab choose the hair. Click on the icon made up of lines and an arrow > Edit > Geometry > Convert to SubD
Under the Parameters Tab > Mesh Resolution > Increase SubDivision Level
In Image 1 is a cattail grass prop with no adjustments. You can see the kinking in the grass blades
Image 2 I applied SubDivision. No other adjustments. Just doing this got rid of most of the kinks.
Image 3 I increased the SubDivision Level under the Paramaters tab from 1 to 2.
hmmm...the Milennium Girls model says it's compatible with Victoria 1 or 2.
What are the options if I don't have Victoria 1 or 2?
You don't need Victoria just the MilGirls model. What you do get is all of the free or paid for textures and poses for Victoria you have or can find will also work with this little girl. Even the M2 poses will work. I am using the Bishonen for Michael 2.0 pose for her in the example.
Okay I have all the pieces to put this together and play along. Don't think I will start til tomorrow though as its getting late and I have to work tomorrow. I don't have that pose but I am sure I have something close that I can use.
Great! Thanks, DollyGirl!
I will work on getting these pieces together tomorrow. Getting kinda late here and I have an early call...
Oh and a quick note in case everyone doesn't know, there are freebies in every issue of the ds creative magazines. So while you are reading up on materials you can download some freebies while you are at it. And you can go back to all 17 issues each of them has two freebies and the anniversary edition has more.
The link for creating plants from textures is wrong its issue 07 http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_07
Thank you so much! This made a huge difference, it wasn't a 100% fix but I definitely had an "A-ha" moment experimenting with it. Cheers!
Here's the start of my idea
Look out - she's back! Well,I hope so anyway, it depends on how many curves and fastballs aimed at my head that life continues to throw. My dad has been in and out of the hospital - this time he's in and once again it's not looking too good. I hope I don't have to disappear, but if I do, that's why.
I hope I can participate with this one because when I jumped into Daz for the first time and entered the May contest I was working on customizing textures and shaders for my own use. I've snagged a number of new Iray shaders recently just not only cause they're really cool but so I can learn from them. I never leave them with just the stock settings, I'm mixing and experimenting and usually creating general chaos.
The fun part is combining things that were never meant to go together. Sometimes it's a hideous disaster, but every once in awhile it turns out amazing - combining the custom character mat with two different Iray skin set ups almost blew up in my face but I managed to salvage it and I think it looks halfway decent. I'm going for that really light sheen of sweet - not soaked or totally dry but very light so the skin is slightly reflective especially in a contrasting light like sunset. This is the Atlas character for M4 and the "legacy" Kouros Hair. This time I'm converting everything to iray, even the stuff we can't see.
I finally have the Iray shaders set on his skin, hair, and sword, but the lightning emissive needs more work and I haven't even touched the background stone textures yet. I fiddled with a lot of environment settings this time around too since light is oh so important in Iray. I like the direction it's going so far. I don't like the pants, grieves and bracers, so I'm probably going to change those out. He's a real challenge when it comes to poke-thru. I swear, nothing fits him! lol! Anyway, whatcha y'all think so far?
This problem bugs me as well, I tried @Kismet2012 suggestion with SubD, for some reson it didn't seem to make any difference at all! I thiink I must have done something wrong applying the SubD?
Hi Kathryn,
Glad to see you're going to try and join us this month. You are one of the reasons I got into this last month!! Looks like a good start on your render. I can't wait to see what you do with it. I'm still thinking about mine. I've been busy playing with a new sewing machine so haven't actually been playing with DS today. I was in the middle of a quilting project and, of course, my 20 year old machine died. I was 'forced' to immediately go out and buy a new one. It has so many features my old one didn't have that I've done nothing but play with it all day.
I vaguely remember someone else in the forums having the same problems with the exact same outfit. I thought I bookmarked the forum post, but, of course, now that I want it, I can't find it. I can't remember if they found a solution, but I do vaguely recall subdivision mentioned and it not working for this particular problem. Maybe, because it is a shader issue? I'm not sure. I know the forum post was several days ago and I don't even recall the post title. But, you may want to try searching the forums and see if you have better luck than I did.
I do have a bear cub render that I started working on while waiting for the new thread that I might use as I can already see an advantage of changing surface settings and changing shaders might help. I haven't done much other than throw the little guy into Worldbase and pose him, but I have some thoughts marinating in the back of my head. I'm actually thinking of dropping the skydome and swapping everything over to Iray. AM has a tutorial on his youtube for getting the LAMH product to work in Iray and this will give me a chance to try it out.
From a song LORDE - Royals ,hi guys just wondering am i on the right track with this for the competition or should i try something else?
Thank you soooo much for this lesson! This has aggrevated me for over a year. Wow, what a simple fix! Attached file is a test application of your instructions. Again, thanks.
Wow, this is hardly a day old an I already leaned something completely new! Thanks Kismet,
and Thanks to dollygirl for the heads up, this thing with materials shaders an textures was confusing to me for a long time.
I will linger and learn more!
Hi wflaks - this is an intriguing render. I like the lace and the skin is pretty nice too. The crown looks off to me. The render is okay but it's how it fits on her head. The side isn't bad but the front - there's no depth or shadow on her forehead which makes it look like it was put on her head in postwork in Photoshop rather than rendered in scene. It also feels a little small for her head too.
Keep it up! I think it's a fun render.
Cheers,
Kath