ALRIGHTY then.

I now know how to do "sun" light in Iray.

I now know how to do different cameras.

I am working my way through getting things to use as a light.

I am slowly working through this.

I DO have to say..it is much faster at rendering.

It has allowed me to use full sets that just wouldnt render in poser before. Not only use them but the lighting and shadows were beautiful.

BUT I am still struggling with a few things.

the skin always looks so dry and flat.

How can I fix this. IN poser I would know what to do but I am struggling with in in DS.

Is there a way I can make "symmetric"? In poser when I wanted both sides perfectly matched up...I did one side, then went to symmetry, right to left (or what ever) and BOOM it was done for me.

How do I do this in DS?

I have poked around in what I THOUGHT it was but it didnt seem to work.

This is slow going but...I AM getting the hang of it...very slowly but.....

Some examples would help. Otherwise I am just guessing. :) 

Some guesses. :) 

For skin looking dry or flat, presuming you are using an Iray shader, you should be able to mess with the glossiness settings (Weight, reflection, etc.), though some people will add a thin film. It could be as simple as having the light level a little high as well though. :) 

What are you trying to make symmetric? Are you talking about a pose? On the Parameters Tab, right click and there is a choice for symmetry. 

o.0

"add a thin layer..."

wha?

and yes I was talking about a pose. Thank you for that.

Also, is there a way I can keep a color map(say stained glass window) But still add the setting of "glass" to it without changing the texture map?

Also, is there a way I can keep a color map(say stained glass window) But still add the setting of "glass" to it without changing the texture map?

Plug the image map into the refraction color and make sure the color chip is white. Add the refraction value and render. Laurie

o.0

"add a thin layer..."

wha?

and yes I was talking about a pose. Thank you for that.

Also, is there a way I can keep a color map(say stained glass window) But still add the setting of "glass" to it without changing the texture map?

Thin film. It is part of the Iray Uber shader designed to add a layer like oil to the surface of an object. There are other choices, those two were just the most obvious. :)

Also, is there a way I can keep a color map(say stained glass window) But still add the setting of "glass" to it without changing the texture map?

Plug the image map into the refraction color and make sure the color chip is white. Add the refraction value and render. Laurie

The surface window doesnt seem to allow me to "plug" in a node. Not like I do in poser material room. is there a tab I am missing?

In the surfaces pane many of the settings have a drop down for adding an image map. 

You are just starting, I don't recommend getting into the shader mixer tab yet. That lets you build shaders with spaghetti strings once you get your head around the concepts, but for Iray, unless you dig up a cool MDL you want to import, you can do everything you need with the settings on the surfaces pane.

In the surfaces pane many of the settings have a drop down for adding an image map. 

You are just starting, I don't recommend getting into the shader mixer tab yet. That lets you build shaders with spaghetti strings once you get your head around the concepts, but for Iray, unless you dig up a cool MDL you want to import, you can do everything you need with the settings on the surfaces pane.

So its like the material room in poser? Where I can change transparancy, reflection, refraction etc?

In the surfaces pane many of the settings have a drop down for adding an image map. 

You are just starting, I don't recommend getting into the shader mixer tab yet. That lets you build shaders with spaghetti strings once you get your head around the concepts, but for Iray, unless you dig up a cool MDL you want to import, you can do everything you need with the settings on the surfaces pane.

So its like the material room in poser? Where I can change transparancy, reflection, refraction etc?

In the Surfaces Pane. This should help.  http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/interface/panes/surfaces/shaders/iray_uber_shader/start

In the surfaces pane many of the settings have a drop down for adding an image map. 

You are just starting, I don't recommend getting into the shader mixer tab yet. That lets you build shaders with spaghetti strings once you get your head around the concepts, but for Iray, unless you dig up a cool MDL you want to import, you can do everything you need with the settings on the surfaces pane.

So its like the material room in poser? Where I can change transparancy, reflection, refraction etc?

In the Surfaces Pane. This should help.  http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/interface/panes/surfaces/shaders/iray_uber_shader/start

OH! that is where I was reading about Iray render settings. I learned allot about that. But I didnt see the option to read about shaders...THANK YOU!!!

Glad I could help. :) 

Note the Surface pane once you apply the "Iray Uber" to a surface, gives you access to the entire MDL spec. 

You can build MDL using Shader Mixer, but for 90+% of use cases you don't need it. 

I am so confused. the Uber shaders. Like to give the dusty atmosphere...I have to apply that to an object? But shouldnt that be used on the Atmosphere?

This is so confusing. BUT good news I have learned more about tone mapping etc.

Still having an issue with candle light though. I took a candle in, changed the flame to emission setting. But it kept getting black marks through it. I changed it to a double sided light but...the shader that came with DS kept giving it black marks through it.

Not just straight light.

Physically based renderers doesn't do well with work arounds make to fool a biased render engine.
A lot of people use two intersecting planes to simulate a candle flame.  The black marks you see are probably edges.
You should build an object that actually looks like a candle flame (a tear drop or something) and aplly the shader to it.
The same goes with light bulbs.  The glass should have some thickness for light refraction

Here is a quickie Iray candle flame shader I whipped up.

It should give you a starting point

oh Thank you! I am really excited right now. I have an actual full on render going. My first one that I am happy with since popping open DS!

Ehm...ok...

Before I started to render. I made sure I hit the Iray render preset (advanced render setting).

Made sure headlamps etc turned off.

I am happy with the lighting etc...but not the graininess.

If  I shrink it down its nice. But full size (2000x3000) its very grainy.

How do I keep that from happening?

The same factors that make a photograph grainy apply here.

Film ISO (Speed) - lower for less grain (Kodachrome at ASA 25 gave remarkable detail in it's day)
F/Stop - besides governing amount of light, depth of field (relative amount of blur) decreases with higher values.
Shutter speed may needs to be changed for any adjustment in above values.

You also may have to let it run for more iterations.  If your max samples size is too low, the render will complete before max quality is reached.
I use 5000 to make sure quality doesn't get cut off.

Your monitor pitch can also be a factor, but most modern monitors are around 0.28mm which is fine for most purposes.

The same factors that make a photograph grainy apply here.

Film ISO (Speed) - lower for less grain (Kodachrome at ASA 25 gave remarkable detail in it's day)
F/Stop - besides governing amount of light, depth of field (relative amount of blur) decreases with higher values.
Shutter speed may needs to be changed for any adjustment in above values.

You also may have to let it run for more iterations.  If your max samples size is too low, the render will complete before max quality is reached.
I use 5000 to make sure quality doesn't get cut off.

Your monitor pitch can also be a factor, but most modern monitors are around 0.28mm which is fine for most purposes.

I tend to set it for 50000 iterations. (Use the little Cog to adjust the parameter min and max or just turn off the limits there. :) 

The same factors that make a photograph grainy apply here.

Film ISO (Speed) - lower for less grain (Kodachrome at ASA 25 gave remarkable detail in it's day)
F/Stop - besides governing amount of light, depth of field (relative amount of blur) decreases with higher values.
Shutter speed may needs to be changed for any adjustment in above values.

You also may have to let it run for more iterations.  If your max samples size is too low, the render will complete before max quality is reached.
I use 5000 to make sure quality doesn't get cut off.

Your monitor pitch can also be a factor, but most modern monitors are around 0.28mm which is fine for most purposes.

I let it run till it wasnt running anymore. o.0 it ran for 12 hours or so. Fstop was 4

shutter speed 60

and

film iso 200

it was so I could get the light pane to do the lights bright enough.

When I shrunk the image down it looked great...but full size it was noise EVERYWHERE.

ISO 200 will result in increased grain. Try increasing the luminance of the light instead

http://www.photonhead.com/beginners/filmspeed.php

ISO 200 will result in increased grain. Try increasing the luminance of the light instead

http://www.photonhead.com/beginners/filmspeed.php

Will do! I am still impressed with the image despite the grain. For running as long as it did...I am really pleased.