Just trying out some different film responses in Luxrender

Genesis with a combination of V4 and V5 morphs. Texture is Cherry from Addy at DAZ. (click for larger)

@Tollaris: No men to enjoy the company of those ladies :)

@JtheNinja: Yes, I know how to achieve that effect. The reflection of a TV or cinema screen doesn't seem to work as nice, but I'll keep trying it.

Reality HQ

Is that Charlie I see, hard at work?

The images in the elevator are not mine, they were done by Callad (I hope you don't mind), and the ones on the wall are the creator himself. The one on the right was taken from a video he did on backfocus for replaceable HD lenses (hope he doesn't mind either).

Cool pic Doc

I'm honored Doc, especially because you have looked at the backfocus adjustment video, that is from my previous life :)

Attached Link: Doll Madonna

Quote - Reality HQ

Is that Charlie I see, hard at work?

The images in the elevator are not mine, they were done by Callad (I hope you don't mind), and the ones on the wall are the creator himself. The one on the right was taken from a video he did on backfocus for replaceable HD lenses (hope he doesn't mind either).

ooOOoo! LOVE it Anton! Wonderful setup and lighting!  (I don't mind at all you using my pictures Anton, you know that :) )

So you were taking pictures while I was at work?? Just as I was opening that blue envelop in which it says howmany taxes I must pay.. The shop alone won't cover the amount they want.. So how am I going to fix that? Hmm.. I'm sure you come up with an idea! wink :)

Another render added to the gallery here to help boost Reality's ranking.

Gallery has it in its full 2000x3000 glory...

Doc,  I loved the image of Reality headquarters, it's such fun besides looking great!

Nice stuff Tollaris

Boom you may have been right, ever since my machine came back from servicing. I am getting crazy @ss fast times with ibl lighting...

I see Reality HQ has a very relaxed attitude towards office attire!  Nice render Doc.

Abi.

"A little tidbit that was a bit mysterious to me was the render speed on it.  Now, granted my computer and my wife's computer are both primarily gaming boxes so render speeds are a LOT slower than most of the other folks in here; but, this one was crazy slow to start with."

Reading through the posts again this made me curious.  Why would a gaming box be so much slower than one used for rendering?

@Bob, glad you are getting good results with IBL! One mesh and a choice IBL is my defacto set-up these days for a simple scene.

@Xandi; I was a little curious about that statement too when it popped up. Gaming machines typically make fantastic render rigs, as all the right pieces come together for similar tasks: Fast CPU's, lots of memory, Top-of-the-line video cards, etc etc.

Now on older machines (dual core and older) that used to be a great gaming rig, that's not so true anymore. Maybe that was the author's note??

Saturday Night

A good friend and I were talking about the making out we used to do when we were younger (not together, unfortunately). The conversation was mainly about what was allowed back then, and what wasn't. So I dedicate this render to my good friend, and I hope this revives some good memories.

With enough light you can even do high speed photography in Reality/LuxRender!

(sadly 25 hours of rendering is not nearly enough to get rid of all the noise in water, I'll replace it with a better one later)

Cheers!

Quote - Saturday Night

A good friend and I were talking about the making out we used to do when we were younger (not together, unfortunately). The conversation was mainly about what was allowed back then, and what wasn't. So I dedicate this render to my good friend, and I hope this revives some good memories.

This is one of the best pictures ever, Doc. This brings up memories. Thanx for that ...

The spotlight plane I set in Reality to glass with the reflection & trasmission both set to 50. I also dropped the light down to .5

Doc, as you can see from the DS pic, I did get the buttons to work :) so much easier.

Thanks John! I'll try this out later tonight.

And thank you for your props in the Reality HQ render, it worked very well :)

I can't seem to find the answer to this question, so I'm hoping that someone here might know.  If I make a new texture for an existing piece of clothing, do I need to make a new bump and transparency map as well? 

If the existing clothing has them, then yes, I would have thought so. I'm no expert mind.

Quote - I can't seem to find the answer to this question, so I'm hoping that someone here might know.  If I make a new texture for an existing piece of clothing, do I need to make a new bump and transparency map as well? 

As Doc pointed out, the answer is yes. The old bump map will reflect the high and lows of the old texture. Fortunately, this is easy to do. I did an in-forum tutorial several pages back (I think for Sharky?). I'll take a look for it and PM you if you're interested.

Quote - Doc, I got your projector idea to work. All it took was a DS spotlight with a plane with a texture applied to it (as Paolo suggested) and another plane used as a screen. And everything in side a large cube.

The spotlight plane I set in Reality to glass with the reflection & trasmission both set to 50. I also dropped the light down to .5

Cool setup John, thank you for testing it. I actually suggested to simply apply the texture to the spotlight, without using the plane. That will convert to spot into a projector. It would be great to see if that works too.

Cheers.

I'll go look for that tutorial, Superboom, so you don't have to pm me.  I'm anxious to see it. 

I have another problem too.  This darned stocking.  I can't ever seem to get my stockings to fit.  Callad mentioned mesh smoothing.  Is that what I need and if so,  how do I it? 

Quote - I actually suggested to simply apply the texture to the spotlight, without using the plane. That will convert to spot into a projector. It would be great to see if that works too.

That is actually what I tried. Since a spotlight has no surface parameters, this will have to be done in Reality? Whichever way, I couldn't get it to work.

Quote - That is actually what I tried. Since a spotlight has no surface parameters, this will have to be done in Reality? Whichever way, I couldn't get it to work.

Of course it's in Reality, I  thought this was the Reality thread ;) Light control in DS is not good for you if you are using Reality/Lux, you need to add the texture in the Reality light editor. Add  the spot to the scene, call Reality, edit the light and add the texture of your choice. 

Cheers.

Quote - I'll go look for that tutorial, Superboom, so you don't have to pm me.  I'm anxious to see it. 

I have another problem too.  This darned stocking.  I can't ever seem to get my stockings to fit.  Callad mentioned mesh smoothing.  Is that what I need and if so,  how do I it?  

Mesh smoothing might work, but since you have a very close bend, the mesh might screw up where the bend is. normally if you don't have 2 body parts intersecting, mesh smoothing works great.

Just got back from a trip to New Jersey, so I was inspired to do something a little dark and disturbing.  I really hate that place. 

Quote - Just got back from a trip to New Jersey, so I was inspired to do something a little dark and disturbing.  I really hate that place. 

Great image, personally I'd prefer it without the arm and pool, just the trike and the merri-go-round alone shout desolate to me.

Abi.

I give up.  I went and looked through this forum and couldn't find the tutorial, Superboomturbo. So, pretty please could you send it to me? 

I'm still fussing with the stocking.  How do I mess.. Hah!  freudian slip!... I mean to say, how do I mesh smooth?

Quote -
I'm still fussing with the stocking.  How do I mess.. Hah!  freudian slip!... I mean to say, how do I mesh smooth?

In DS4 pro, edit > figure/object > geometry > apply smoothing modifier. Make sure in the parameters tab you have genesis selected as the collision item. From there you can adjust the amount of smoothing/collision. Keep in mind that some mesh will not work depending on how it was modeled.

Thank you tons!

Attached Link: Memories

Quote - "A little tidbit that was a bit mysterious to me was the render speed on it.  Now, granted my computer and my wife's computer are both primarily gaming boxes so render speeds are a LOT slower than most of the other folks in here; but, this one was crazy slow to start with."

Reading through the posts again this made me curious.  Why would a gaming box be so much slower than one used for rendering?

Not sure on the exact pro's and con's xandi.. I just know that each configuration has a different focus.  Doesn't help that this computer was new in the summer of '09.  It could stand a complete rebuilding anyway.  What I'll probably do is let the kids use this one to watch netflix(caillou and backyardigans re-runs) and for my teenager to do his home-schooling on and then build a serious box for me to render with

Quote - I give up.  I went and looked through this forum and couldn't find the tutorial, Superboomturbo. So, pretty please could you send it to me? 

 

I'm still fussing with the stocking.  How do I mess.. Hah!  freudian slip!... I mean to say, how do I mesh smooth?

I had to go digging myself, but it's on page 22 about 4 or 5 down from the top.

For the stockings, there's also a fairly useful command in the Edit tab under Edit-->Figure-->Transfer Active Morphs if you've futzed with the shape of your character that sometimes (!!) helps pull tight clothing onto limbs. It also sometimes (!!) screws the pooch, but I suggest saving your scene in full before trying it, just in case...

Quote - I'll go look for that tutorial, Superboom, so you don't have to pm me.  I'm anxious to see it. 

I have another problem too.  This darned stocking.  I can't ever seem to get my stockings to fit.  Callad mentioned mesh smoothing.  Is that what I need and if so,  how do I it? 

I see there has been an answer already but this particular pose will cause trouble. When you mesh-smooth the stocking it will 'blow up' on the part where the stocking is touching itself.

Also there is one other thing. You will have to shrink the stocking using scale x, y and/or z, or use a deformer so that it is just about 'inside' her leg for the most parts. You will have to 'fiddle' with the amount that is inside/outside.

Mesh smoothing only affects parts that are 'inside' and it will not affect the gap between her upper leg and stocking. It is a process of trail and error but if you got it right it looks very natural :) 

Paolo or anyone else, Question Time!

I'm working my usual monster outdoor scene and thought I'd try the ol' sun for a change.

Out of curiosity, I whipped out the google-fu while positioning things and did a little research on Lux's volumetric light, looking specifically for how to recreate a distance haze.

I didn't find much for how this might be done in Studio, but I did stumble over what I presume is the equivalent of the fog prop for Blender called 'dirty air'.

Going that route (the fog prop), is there a way to make this effect for a city? Or does Lux automatically calculate something similar for a hazy/dust-in-air look if one were to have a canyon-esque length of buildings?

I'm trying a trial render with the city in question - no fog prop - but it's a little slow going (as would be expected)...

Cool setup John, thank you for testing it. I actually suggested to simply apply the texture to the spotlight, without using the plane. That will convert to spot into a projector. It would be great to see if that works too.

Gave it a go Paolo, it works but it rotates the original image. The top plane has the texture applied to it while the bottom one is from the spotlight (set in Reality).

SBT, I would include th city in the fog prop, set the parameters to the faintest level of density and give it a try.

John, there is indeed something funy with the rotation of the projectors, have you tried rotating the spot?

Just tried it Paolo, weird, rotating the spot does not seem to rotate the projected image, I thought it would of done.

Attached Link: The chase

Had a quick question for those who may know.  It's about the "render in a cube" method for speeding up rendering smaller scenes.

When I render "in a cube" it doesn't seem to speed up my renders at all.  In fact, I've removed the cube some times and my render speed has increased.  I checked the last time I got this phenomena to make sure that my lights weren't intersecting the cube at all and everything was free and clear.

Now.. the question is.. does "render in cube" mean to use the cube primative or to make a cube out of 6 individual planes or does it make any difference?

I usually use a cube primitive but I doubt that it would make any difference to use six planes, except that there is much more work involved. 

To be able to undertand whan happens in your case I would need sme screenshots of the DS viewport with all the elements in your scene visible. There are many variables that can vary. Keep in mind also that using a cube, or any environment, is not just a way of getting images faster but, more importantly, a way of improving your renders. Without environment you lose indirect lighting, something that we observe in real life every day, all the time. Without IDL you end up with images that look artificial.

Hope this helps 

I also nopticed that putting a scene inside a cube hiding unseen parts ect seem to do didly squat alot of times. If a scene is going to to take long its going to take long. Matter of fact I stopped hiding unseen parts quite a while ago..

Quote - I also nopticed that putting a scene inside a cube hiding unseen parts ect seem to do didly squat alot of times. If a scene is going to to take long its going to take long. Matter of fact I stopped hiding unseen parts quite a while ago..

Hiding is a way of saving memory, not a speedup, although in several situations it might help in saving time. Anyway, hiding, that is hiding a node in the Scene tab of Studio, causes Reality to avoid exporting the affected geometry. This can save a lot of memory, which is a good strategy for machines with low amount of RAM (4GB or less).

Cheers.

Quote - > Quote - I also nopticed that putting a scene inside a cube hiding unseen parts ect seem to do didly squat alot of times. If a scene is going to to take long its going to take long. Matter of fact I stopped hiding unseen parts quite a while ago..

Hiding is a way of saving memory, not a speedup, although in several situations it might help in saving time. Anyway, hiding, that is hiding a node in the Scene tab of Studio, causes Reality to avoid exporting the affected geometry. This can save a lot of memory, which is a good strategy for machines with low amount of RAM (4GB or less).

Cheers.

Ha which is why I probably dont see a difference the only memory issue I was having was rendering scenes which multiple characters which was easily resolved by exporting option..

The first is a strapless demi-bra and the second is a platform/shelf bra.

How does one remove an IBL light from a scene? With mesh lights you remove them they are gone with ibl eve though I delete the ibl sphere it still present in the lights option if I remove the Reality data then it wipes it from everything...