How is the rendering in Daz Studio 4 compared to Poser 8 and the firefly renderer. Any improvement in Daz or do you still need a 3rd party render engine.

My only disappointment with previous versions of Daz was precisely the rendering issue, and therefore I abandoned it.

Could you expalin a little more regarding your rendering issue(s) with DS? DS still uses 3Delight, but since DS4 Pro is free, you now get UberEnvironment2 and UberSurface with DS4 (may have been available with standard DS4 too, but I don't remember). If your issue with DS3 was render speed, that hasn't changed a whole lot with DS4 (there may be improvements with 4.5, but I haven't tried it, and haven't kept up with info on it).

Since I'm not sure what your issues were with DS3, I'll throw out a few random thoughts here that might be of interest.

Getting decent renders out of DS 3 and 4 has always been easier for me than with Poser, but that's just because Poser lights and I don't seem to get along (some day I will get past this). Compared to Poser Pro (10 & 12) I think rendering in DS is slower. As far a fender quality, in the right hands I think either one is capable of achieving equivalant results. If you were to move up to P9, for the average user it seems that P9/2012 has an edge on DS4 for SSS, but I have seen DS4 renders where SSS looks every bit as good as P9/2012 renders (again, it depends on the experience and talents of the user).

A lot depends on the type of render you are looking for, and how easy that style/quality is to achieve in either application. I do most of my renders in Carrara, because I'm most comfortable there. But I have been able to achive results I like just as well in DS. Take a quick look at my gallery here (link below), and if there is anything you see there done in DS4 that interests you, I'll be glad to tell you more about it (there is one "DS" render done with Reality/Lux, all others are 100% DS), and how I set up materials and lighting. I'm still pretty much a newb with DS.

One thing have found with DS4 is that DOF is easier to set up and in some respects renders faster than Poser.

Both have their good and bad points which are too numerous to list but since I have both Poser Pro 2012 and Daz Studio 4 Pro I have no real worries.

Thanks guys. This is very useful. My last dalliance with DS was a while ago. The rendering engine was basically a very rudimentary scanline renderer with no AO or GI capabilities which really hampers realism.

Your images are quite impressive DustRider. If you achieved that in DS with no 3rd party add-ons I'd be confident to give DS another try.

My interest in DS was sparked by the Genesis models since they are not available to Poser.

bandolin said

Quote - Your images are quite impressive DustRider. If you achieved that in DS with no 3rd party add-ons I'd be confident to give DS another try.

Thanks for the compliment!

No plugins were used, but I did use a Photo Studio from DAZ for lighting (http://www.daz3d.com/shop/inaneglory-s-photo-studio/). This same lighting could be achieved using UberEnvironment2 and UberAreaLights - which are included in DS4 Pro. The Photo Studio lights are UberAreaLights, InaneGlory just took all the work out of doing the set up yourself (and added some very useful photo studio props and materials). I did modify the lights a bit from his default setup/values. The image titled "Bridget Practicing Her Craft (final)" was done for a contest where the requirements were that the image had to be rendered in DS 4, with no post work, and I followed the rules (didn't win, but learned a lot and had fun - so I guess I really did win).

All of my DS4 renders, with the exception of the one Reality/Lux render are pure DS4/3Delight renders. The Sienna renders used the included UberEnvironment, and no purchased light sets. For "Character WIP, and the "Practicing Her Craft" series I used Photo Studio for lighting. I did do some adjustment on materials/shaders on all of them, so they aren't 100% out of the box renders, but no special tricks. The skin shaders use HumanSurface Shader (HSS), which provides several additional settings (like SSS) that aren't included in the base DS materials. With DS$ Pro - HSS is included as well.

bandolin said

Quote - My interest in DS was sparked by the Genesis models since they are not available to Poser.

Genesis is really amazing ... and fun! Genesis was the main (only?) reason I finally sat down and began to really learn DS. I'm glad I did. The render speed can be a bit frustrating compared to Carrara, but DS 4 Pro has a lot of nice features, and I like the results I can get from it - especially with Genesis. In all of my DS4/Genesis renders, Genesis is wearing V4 content (except for the V5 Elite Ponytail). Not all of your V4 content will work perfectly, but most of it should, so you have an instant wardrobe for Genesis if you have stuff for V4/M4.

I'd say give it a try, and feel free to ask questions (I'll be off line a lot next week).

Good Luck!!!

One of the best things about Daz Studio 4.5 is that the Autofit tool does not strip out the clothes morphs like the current version does. With the exception of J-Suit which acts weird when using the zipper dials..

Not sure if it was just this one time but the Linear Point light seemed to make the render take longer could have been that or the shadow settings I had it at.. lol :)

Quote - Thanks guys. This is very useful. My last dalliance with DS was a while ago. The rendering engine was basically a very rudimentary scanline renderer with no AO or GI capabilities which really hampers realism.

Your images are quite impressive DustRider. If you achieved that in DS with no 3rd party add-ons I'd be confident to give DS another try.

My interest in DS was sparked by the Genesis models since they are not available to Poser.

Actually your characterization of the rendering engine is inaccurate.  The 3Delight renderer is excellent.  The shortcomings were in how much of it's functionality Daz used, which was very little.  Most of the features of that engine you can not even see or address in vanilla Daz Studio.  Most of the add in shaders you see are just giving you ways to address that hidden functionality. 

Thanks for the clarification. Not familiar with 3Delight. I have my hands full with Firefly and MentalRay.

Quote - My last dalliance with DS was a while ago. The rendering engine was basically a very rudimentary scanline renderer with no AO or GI capabilities which really hampers realism.

Must have been quite a while ago, DAZ Studio has had AO and GI for years.

Coldrake

as Dust Rider breifly mentioned before: In Addition to Daz Studio's ability to use 3Delight (in a very simplified form and the more "realistic" Uber Envirornment) both Daz Studio and Poser can utilize the LuxRender engine which approaches rendering very differently than 3Delight and Firefily.

for Daz Studio 3.1.2.34 you have two options with LuxRender

Reality (www.preta3d.com, and here on renderosity.com)

and the free LuxRenderDS (http://www.luxrender.net/wiki/LuxRenderDS) plug-in

In Daz Studio 4 you can only use Reality since LuxRenderDS is not available.

In Poser you can use the Pose2Lux plugin (http://www.pose2lux.com/)

Check out http://www.luxrender.net/ for details on LuxRender

In all honesty, the results between the two programs will vary DEPENDING on who is doing the work and the skill level involved.  I personally prefer using DAZ Studio instead of Poser but I own both, yes I mean P8, and I know that if I wanted to and invested some time, I could learn P8 a lot more and render in it.  But I wont and its just a personal preference that is partially determined by the UI.

Here is a link to my gallery over at DeviantART - http://mattymanx.deviantart.com/gallery/ - you may judge for yourself as to the quality of the work. 

There are seven images near the top that were rendered with LuxRender via Reality, all the rest are DAZ Studio 4, 3, 2 & 1.  Except for the two Poser renders and the on Carrara render.

I must agree with mattymanx - it depends on the skill and (artistic) talent of the user much more than the program.  I also have both.  Every once in a while I get Poser out again and try it again.  It is a great program - no doubt about it. But after 8 years (I think) with DAZ it is hard to change horses.

Quote - How is the rendering in Daz Studio 4 compared to Poser 8 and the firefly renderer. Any improvement in Daz or do you still need a 3rd party render engine.

My only disappointment with previous versions of Daz was precisely the rendering issue, and therefore I abandoned it.

Thats coincidence... :D

I just expirience it the other way round. Stable, fast 3Delight and unstable, slow Firefly.

What 3rd party renderer? Reality/Lux, external 3Delight? I've got never any trouble with 3Delight inside DAZ Studio 3 and 4.

What rendering issues you got with it?

I have my hands full with Firefly and MentalRay.

btw, when you use MentalRay for what do you need 3Delight?

I use MentalRay in 3ds Max. Why is MentalRay available for D|S?

Quote - I use MentalRay in 3ds Max. Why is MentalRay available for D|S?

Not directly, but it is far superior than 3delight that comes with DS. You can always export your DS scene to any 3rd party renderer, just a bit more work involved setting up the shaders/textures.