Twilight at the old sanctum

Now we're cooking. So many experiments in this one render -- and they all worked out. This is Michael 8 standing in DM's Abiding Sanctum, with Iray lights set, and Iray creating the sky (iue., "Draw Dome" is turned on). I've also changed the shaders on the costume; the DOF is set on the camera ... and the whole whole thing rendered in six minutes while the computer stayed cool as a cucumber!

I'm juuust about through the experimental phase, in many ways. Everything is working just fine, and I've also thrashed out how to get the third party content to install properly, and (just as important!) be FOUND after it's installed! Turns out, it's the SAME file path to install both DAZ Studio Content and Poser Content. Studio reads the content differently and pushes it into two different menus, when you come to load it into scenes (which I wish it didn't), but during installation, it's the same file path. So we're happy here.

Next, I'll be installing lots and lots of third party content (something like 250 items), and then ... we're good to go. This is juuust starting to turn (back) into real fun! 

Installing third party shaders in DAZ Studio 4.14 ... done!

One thing at a time! I wanted to be sure all the old Studio content has installed properly, so -- can we get Victoria 4.2 to load properly, and render nicely? Answer --

-- yes. That's Victoria 4.2 rendered in Iray, with one of the old costumes given a makeover with Iray shaders, Not bad. In fact, the low-poly models render FAST; just keep in mind that when you get very, very close to them, Iray shows up all the cockroaches. You will see polygons, if you get too close! So keep these figures for background scenes, presumably.

The next question was, since the old 3Delight render engine is exactly that, old, does that mean simpler renders -- raytrace! -- will go fast, because they're not Iray renders? Answer -- a resounding no! Not only do raytraces take about 4x longer than Iray renders, when you see the results side by side, they're disappointing...

 That's still just the old low-poly Michael 4, wearing Neftis's Mon Chevalier hair (which is a Poser prop), and Xurge3D's Mediaeval Royalty costume (also optimized for Poser). So the surfaces had to be adjusted for Iray, which turned out to be tricky but far from impossible. The thing is that M4 renders up quite nicely in Iray ... in four minutes. The raytrace is cartoonish, and was at least 20 minutes, even with The Hulk running "high and hot." Hmm.

I rather think I'll be sticking to Iray from here on out. So that's another question answered. Next: how in the hell do you install all your Renderosity content into Studio 4.14, under Windows 10? I knew the answer to this for Studio 3 and Windows 7, but this is very, very different. Well, one step at a time. I installed a pile of shaders first, and it turns out, they work just fine. So far I've applied them to many props, costumes and so forth, and they look a treat:

I did the ground, the column and so forth, in shaders to make the simple old props look good. This little scene here has 10 props and four lights ... I think I've got the photometric lights worked out (bear with me; I'll write about this as we go, when I'm sure). Right now, the only thing I can pass along with confidence is the answer to this:

Where do you put third party shaders from Renderosity into DAZ Studio 4.14, to have they work properly?

Here's the file path:

C:\DAZ 3D\Applications\Data\DAZ 3D\My DAZ 3D Library\Runtime --

After which, copy shader sets (or packs) into Runtime\Iray or Runtime\Shader Presets.

It gets more complex if you're installing props, because you need to know if the assets you're installing are DAZ 3D format, or Poser format. In the case of the Xurge3D (Poser) costume Michael 4 is wearing here, I've got it to work, but I want to check the installation process a couple more times before I quote you exact addresses. It can be bloody confusing!

More experiments to come. I need to thrash out a lot of questions about lighting, and then I need to install about 500 Renderosity items, from shaders to lights to poses to hair to costumes and props. This will take a wee while. Patience! 

So, does Michael 4 work in Iray?

 

Michael 4 in Iray; costume by Xurge3D

The short answer is -- yes, Michael 4 does work in Iray ... it just takes a bit of nipping and tucking! The top image is the Genesis 8 figure, Michael 8, with all materials, textures, surfaces designed for Iray -- it's plug and play, just click everything into place and hit render. This took about eight minutes (!), and I'm fairly happy with it. (The lights are unimaginative, but they're not the focus of the experiment. Time to get fancy with Michael 8 as we go along.)

But about 95% of everything I have is designed for the old raytrace engine; it's thousands of bucks worth of stuff ... surely there has to be a way to save it? I can't actually afford to buy everything again! So the question uppermost in my mind as always been, "Does Michael 4 work in Iray?"

Here's the answer to that! If you can configure the materials, surfaces, textures, the old low-poly models render up very nicely indeed. They don't have the "oomph" factor of the Genesis figures -- but they also render in a tenth of the time! Not too bad at all...

I've worked out how to install shaders and Poser content, and third party content to DAZ Studio 4.14 in Windows 10 -- and I'll share the details in my next post. I'll also share how to fix the surfaces to get Iray to render the old models nicely. So far, so good!  

In at the deep end! First render off the new computer

 

Okay ... the oars are at least dipping into the water LOL! First render off the new computer, first glimmering of mastery over this version of Studio. The challenge was to FIND everything, which is far from easy, as yet. Then to configure everything (ack). Then to get the DOF figured out. No problem there. Am still faffing on with the lighting, but I'm about halfway through the process. Don't get too excited yet: almost everything you see here is a preset, just arranged and configured.

The only real fly in the ointment today was trying to get Affinity Photo to play nice, and it refused; and finding out that my Wacom Bamboo will need to be re-re-reconfigured for the new computer; as it stands, it just doesn't work, and/or is pure torture.

So ... first render. The Genesis 8 "Rex" character, plus shirt, plus hair, plus a shader on the shirt, and a necklace; add a set, add a backdrop, suitably blurred to match the DOF; add lights. Render --

Results? This hairstyle never would render on my old computer. The GPU "choked" before it was finished, at about the two hour mark. This was the work of about four minutes flat, rendered at 2000 pixels wide, and middle-high quality. Smiling there! 

I needed to paint part of the shirt for "poke through" that couldn't be fixed prior to rendering, and if I'd been able to do it in Affinity Photo, I'd have been delighted with today. Nope. Had to start up the old system, and used Photoshop as a tide-over. These problems will be addressed tomorrow, when I'm not so tired!

All in all, I'm quite happy with this as a first experiment. Lots and LOTS of problems to iron out, but now we're on our way! 

The Hulk has landed!

Eventually, the day had to arrive. HAPPY NEW COMPUTER! It's been a year since I turned off my old sesktop before I fried it; I haven't even tried to do art in that time -- therefore, the old machine still works, and will stay right here it is. And the new machine, designated "Hulk" on the LAN, is here some weeks early (thank you, Dave!) ...

It's humongous. Also whisper quiet and running cold even i the hot weather since summer began. Look at the size of the main cooling fan; there are two more in there. Whooooo!!! 😁😁😁 Dave hooked it up for me (saves my back and knees the hurt of climbing around under the desk; and I appreciate this muchly) ... and I took over, to install software. It's my Christmas present, of course. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

For those who are into the hardware side of things, here are its specs:

• AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT, 
• 12 cores threaded as 24; 4.7Gh; 70MB cache. 
• B450 Tomahawk motherboard (MAX AM4); 
• 16GB of RAM (Thermaltake ToughRam Z-ONE RGB, DDR4 3200Hz, CL16 Memory). 
• Hard drives: SSD, Samsung 970 EVO 1GB boot + 2GB internal. 
• GPU: the MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Super Ventus GP OC Edition, 8BG, with another dedicated cooling fan (Thermaltake Pure 140mm). 
• Bluetooth 5.0 (NIC Herald).
• Power source: Thermaltake -- Suppressor F31, with its own big cooling fan. 
• 8 USB ports, half of them USB3, one USB C, plus ethernet, 4x speaker-line outs etc.,
• Win10 64. 
• "Water cooling ready;" and we can double the capacity of the GPU and RAM, if needed

Sooo, the first thing was to "migrate" from one machine to the other...

A couple of days saw me slogging through the job of installing miles of software.Word 2016, Affinity Publisher, Affinity Photo, Krita and Irfanview were all quickly on, though I needed to import about 750 fonts, plus 4,500 brushes to the photo and paint programs, from my old system. Turned out to be easy. Next came Amberlight (on and tested) ... then, when everything was set, I got into the big stuff, for which The Hulk was built (by IT Warehouse at Marion).

First bit of bad news along this road: Bryce 7 Pro is a 32 bit program only, so it will not run on The Hulk. End of statement there; and all the more reason to keep the old computer on and working (it's a Windows 7 machine, 32 bit, and though Bryce stresses it, it will run okay).

DAZ Studio was an all-day install job, to get the new version (4.14) plus enough "assets" to get my oars back in the water. Done. Then, start up DAZ and ... urk. Talk about a learning curve! The interface has changed significantly from the 4.11 I was accustomed to; and I've simply forgotten a lot. I have to relearn some things I used to do automatically. Also, Studio is simply not cooperating in one or two ways, though I'm sure there's either a solution or a work-around. I'll get there; I;m just not quite there yet! 

I also have to manually install many hundreds of third-party assets, from Renderosity and various other 3D marketplaces. That will be a loooong job, so I'll do it a bit at a time. Not a problem, just a chore.

First bit of fabulous news: the unbeatable "file save error" I was getting on the old system right throughout 2018 and 2019 has not, repeat not, recurred in Studio 4.14 under Win10. I can now build a project, save it, reopen it, and have everything right where it should be.

The downside? I can't seem to get raytracing to work! This is terminally weird, and I'll be working on the issue. It's way beyond odd. But that's my problem, and I'm on it, albeit slowly.  

Can't wait to see how this system handles the workflow. I'm hoping that what took three hours last year will take twenty minutes now. At the moment, everything is working fine, and the system is dazzlingly fast; I just have to climb halfway up the learning curve before I have pictures to upload here; and I'm thinking that I might blog my progress in Studio 4.14,  just as I blogged my baby steps, 11 years ago, in Studio 3! Stay tuned, and bear with me. At the same time as all of this, I'm editing a novel, and while it's not actually difficult, it just guzzles time. Eats up your day and pushes art to the sideline. Done by Christmas, though, and then ... art!!