Quote - 3. maybe some kind of magnet technique to where if one obj collides into another the static obj deforms around the area using a subdivide on the area of effect to get it to kind of shrinkwrap in that area where the collision is taking place. For example, You have a framed portrait, you set the portrait group to target A which will deform in a shrinkwrapping way to say the hand of V4 which is set to target b so when the hand collides through the portrait the portrait obj has a dynamic effect shrinkwrapping to the hand, but the other areas of the portrait stay constrained until collided with by the other target. This would be great for portal effects as well, like say a stargate portal. I have tried this with dynamic cloth and it doesn't work to well even setting the settings to keep the shape, and with force objects. Maybe this can be done easily already but I have not found a way to do this without resculpting the models in other aps, or am too ignorant to get it properly done right.

This is one of my biggest annoyances and wish SM would improve.  Clothing is always a PITA. The loosen fit & tighten fit morphs are AWESOME and worth getting 2014 alone, but dinking around with that is still a big time sink.

I've purchased a lot of clothing, and haven't even used all of it, many used only once. :(

I wish that were true.  I have been playing around with it, and will use it when I can.  It fails when there is transparency, like a portrait of hair. 

I'll use it when I can.  It does shorten render times, and lets you set the focus distance and amount of blur on the fly which is very handy.

Quote - @BB: It's in the Python script panel under Render / IO. Also, I don't know if it's just me, but it gives the results in feet, regardless of what your preferences are set to use.

Those default crosshairs can be a pain. If my camera isn't focussed directly onto a characters head, but rather aimed at the body, I can never tell what portion of the face will be in focus. I found myself using a script by Semidieu to put visible planes on the camera that I can work with.

Yup, that's exactly why I use it.  If the face isn't in the crosshairs, it's difficult.

Yeah, I typically don't use such a shallow F-Stop myself.  That was an extreme that I noticed.  F-5.6 or F8 or so is where I usually roam as well.

But for the focus, the center point is often not where I want to focus, so I use the calculation.  I don't want to move the camera and mess up with the manual slider.

Right.  And that's where I noticed it, with a portrait shot with a low F-stop.  I think it may have been 2.8.  The eyes were a little blurry, but the neck and ear clear, which in real units would be a few inches behind.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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**Please lawd don't do this.  I have the Daz Install Manager and the directory levels in their downloads.  The way it's done here is excellent.

Simply:

1. Backup your downloads

2. Backup your Library directory

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Quote - Is the problem the same with "smooth polygon" unchecked?

That was it!  Ugh.  Can't believe after all this time I didn't try that.  Thanks to all for your help!  :)

It looks like that is it.  Even when I set bump to 0 on the material I still had the issue.  Here's a shot with the morph brush open.

Min at .8, still there.  :(

Quote - If that is the mesh poking through there is 2 methods I am aware that might fix it.  Apply a slight displacement to the pool coping or increase your render subdivision to at least one.  We would need to see the wire mesh first, though.

BTW, if you are indeed using DoF, you may need to push your pixel sampling higher to avoid a granular effect in your background.

I am.  Thanks!  Recommended setting when using DoF?

BTW, recommendations for Shading Rate?  I thought I knew all my render settings, then read a lighting recommendation thread, and now I don't know what I know anymore.

I was using .1 for finals.  .2 for Medium-high.  Then I got confused when I saw a few using .2 for shading rate, but 10000 and higher for samples under Indirect Light!  Yowza that took a long time to render, even at low res.

Quote - shadows min bias too low(0.1 or less)?

 

That might be it.  I checked the manual, and the preferences the units are set in feet, so I bumped it back to the default of .8.  The manual said if in inches not less than .1

I saw some in a draft render.  Medium still takes a while, I'll try that at lower resolution.

Pool coping material?  I'm not sure what you mean.

AO is off on all the lights, there are 2 infinite lights, but the shadows are turned off.  I used the lighting setup with the scene.