MANGA STYLE & VISUAL STYLE topic - Update Sept 23rd 2017: Fixed Dropbox links! [Commercial]
TheNathanParable
Posts: 1,044
The Manga Style shaders, from the creator of Visual Style, is now available in the Daz 3D store!
Manga Style Product Page:Click here!
Visual Style Product Page:Click here!
Update Sept 23rd 2017: So recently Dropbox changed the way that they handled file sharing, which meant that older Dropbox links no longer worked. This in turn meant that all the downloads in this post stopped working. I've now gone through and replaced the links with new ones, so they should hopefully work now. Let me know if you have any issues downloading them!
Documentation / Reference Guides
Click here to download the official Manga Style Documentation/Reference Guide.
Click here to download the official Visual Style Documentation/Reference Guide.
Step-By-Step Guides
How to apply the Manga Style presets to a Genesis figure, and other tips.
How to apply the Visual Style presets to a Genesis figure, and other tips.
Freebies
Click here to download the Manga Style Freebie Pack 1.
This freebie pack includes 5 Lights and 4 Render Settings presets, all made to work best with Manga Style. The Light and Render Settings can be found in the same place Manga Style installs to; My Library/Shaders/Manga Style Shaders/.
Click here to download the FREE Geometry Shell Outline shader.
This is an improved version of the Geometry Shell Outline shader originally included with Manga Style. This Geometry Shell Outline is completely free for anyone to download and use. BASIC GUIDE INCLUDED. Now compatible with UberEnvironment's Ambient Occlusion and standard Raytraced shadows.
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Comments
I've found the documentation much more reference than how-to, and my early experiments have been pretty hit and miss. Could you take us through setting up a Genesis figure? I'm particularly interested in how to restrict the amount of screentoning, the effects of retaining vs replacing textures, best lighting setups and their effects, and how to retain facial and especially eye details.
Cheers
John
Thanks for the docs I was wondering where that was, yes a monkey see monkey do tutorial would be good.
It picks up Displacement mapping very well and the transparency looks impressive to.
Well, most of those questions are answered in the FAQ. If you'd like though, I could see about making a video tutorial.
I second this, BishounenTaurus. A true "tutorial for dummies" would be nice. I´ve had your Visual Style Shaders for quite a while but I am still doing hit and miss a lot and I suppose it will be similar with Manga Style. You are so very knowledgeable about shaders, but many of your customers are not, some of them to the extent that they need you to hold their hand and show them everything step by step.
Well, I tried making a video tutorial, but I kept on flubbing it up and getting things wrong. -_- I'm gonna have to try again a bit later.
EDIT: Also, just so you know, while attempting to make the video tutorial I came across some minor issues concerning a couple of the presets. Nothing major, just an added annoyance (namely the fact that using either of the Opacity presets will turn the Specular Through Opacity setting OFF rather than ON, causing highlights to escape the confines of the opacity map).
I've updated the Opacity presets to automatically set Specular Through Opacity ON (like I should be for things like hair and clothing), and have added two additional Specular presets that simply turn it ON and OFF (I figured this would be simpler than having to fiddle with the parameter itself in the surfaces tab).
I've submitted the update to Daz, and hopefully it shouldn't take too long to roll out. Once that's done, i'll then make a full on video tutorial on how to make awesome Manga renders, so if there's anything very specific you want to know about now (and the Documentation doesn't explain well enough), better ask them now! ;)
I would also like to have some clear instructions on how to use Manga Style shaders,
not video one, but just step by step how to.
It will be very usefull to have such instructions about how to recreate the promo images, as well.
I too would prefer written instructions. Video tutorials are great but I can't look at it while I'm using DS4.5. I like to have something I can refer to while I using a product. Thanks.
Alright then, I guess i'll be doing a written step by step tutorial instead. I would prefer however to wait until the update gets rolled out before releasing it, as then it'll be a lot easier for everyone to follow.
Yay! Thank you.
Playing around a little bit. Is there a way to add my own screentones/overlays to the library?
All screentones and overlays are image files, so you can easily create your own in the painting program of your choice.
The overlay will accept any texture whatsoever, especially tiling ones. If you already own any tiling textures (for example, you might have previously bought Fabricator, which includes a whole load of tiling patterns), you can use them by manually changing the "Flat Overlay" texture in the Surfaces tab. It doesn't matter if the textures are coloured or grayscale.
As for screentones, they use grayscale gradient maps. If you go to "My Library/Runtime/Textures/BishounenTaurus/MangaStyle/Screentones", you can see what these textures look like. The whitest part is where the tone is smallest, and the blackest part is where the tone is largest. These are also tiling textures, and they must be grayscale. If you do make your own, you can use them as you would any other texture in Daz, by plugging them into the Screentone 1/2/3/4 parameters in the Surfaces tab. You could then save it as a preset if you want.
Of course, Manga Style comes with a whole load of screentone patterns already. They can all be found in the Partial Presets folder. They include dots, lines, diamonds, cross hatches, sketchy strokes, etc.
Btw, your Hiro5 looks quite bright. What lighting are you using? When using toon shaders of any kind it's always a good idea to use very simple lighting. In fact, most of the promo images use only one distant light. Also, be sure to have your Shading Rate set to at most 0.21, it will give you cleaner results. I'm curious to know how you managed to get his clothes to look like flat grey tones instead of screentones.
Today I have played with the Manga Style shaders, but has nothing to present yet.
I would like to create some Golden Age style images.
Any advice about what presets one can apply on the eyes of Genesis figure?
For the sclera, you just need it to be bright white, which you can do with amping up the ambient colour of the default DS shader (or by using the blank Manga Style preset). For the pupil, it just needs to be black. The iris you can apply any of the golden age presets on, though I recommend one of the ones that's a flat colour with no pattern.
As for the cornea, you can either use the Manga cornea preset, or you could use one of SnowSultan's anime eye textures.
just a quick test.
I like these shaders so far. I figured since i liked the Visual Style Shaders I'd give these a shot too, and i was not disappointing. very pleased actually.
That is beautiful! :D
For the sclera, you just need it to be bright white, which you can do with amping up the ambient colour of the default DS shader (or by using the blank Manga Style preset). For the pupil, it just needs to be black. The iris you can apply any of the golden age presets on, though I recommend one of the ones that's a flat colour with no pattern.
As for the cornea, you can either use the Manga cornea preset, or you could use one of SnowSultan's anime eye textures.
Thanks a lot for the answer. I will try your suggestions in my scene.
How can I get the eyebrows better? They're part of the face texture so I can't select them separate.
See, this is why I wish more characters came with a "no-brow" option.
You could try plugging the face texture into one of the Colour parameters, but that would change the colour of the entire face and not just the eyebrows.
Do you have Hitomi? Her facial textures don't come with any eyebrows, and she comes with separate 3D eyebrows instead that you can apply different shaders onto and shape independently. I use Hitomi's and Hiro 5's eyebrows in all of my toon renders (for example, I used them in the Pop Art promo on the store page), I find them to be an essential part of my kit.
Do you have SnowSultan's Anime Eyes for Aiko4? If so, remove Jasmin's face texture, and instead use one of the eyebrow textures from SnowSultan's pack in both the Diffuse node and the red Colour node. You'll have to make sure the UV setting is set to Victoria 4 if doing this.
Do you have Genesis Eyebrows by Cris Palomino and WillDupre? You could remove Jasmin's face texture and use the eyebrow prop from that product instead (the included textures are realistic though, so they might not work too well with the toon style of Jasmin).
Thanks for this render. It looks like actual inked lines.
The line weight is impressive. I'm sold.
Ahh! That's better, now with Hitomi texture and eyebrows.
Thank you.
Much better! Hitomi's texture also makes her look a bit more sultry, as there's more shading around the eyelids.
Just so you guys know, I have completed a step-by-step guide on how to apply the Manga style presets to a Genesis figure (specifically Hiro 5). It covers how to apply the preset to Hiro without removing the textures, how to solve any issues with surfaces appearing darker than intended, how to apply the shaders to detailed hair (like PH Space), what kind of lighting you should and shouldn't use, how to solve any issues with noisy renders, and how to apply a Geometry Shell Outline.
Most of these are explained in brief in the documentation, but the step-by-step guide is for those who want to know more about the basic process in more detail. If need be, I can produce more step-by-step guides in the future, including ones on how to save presets that you can share with your friends (I've been informed that there is actually a way to do this in Daz 4.5 without needing to use RTEncoder. But it's a new feature, and as such hasn't really been fully documented yet).
Anyways, like I said, the first step-by-step guide is finished, but it requires the first Manga Style bug-fix update that hasn't made it past QA yet. Once the update is out, i'll then release the step-by-step guide, does that sound good? :D
Yes, it does! :-)
Sounds awesome. I have bought the shaders, but have no idea what I'm doing, so will be awaiting this eagerly! :-)
Thanks!
Great, looking forward to this step-by-step guide and hope for more guides, if possible.
I guess I'll post the finished version of the test render I originally posted in the other thread (and by finished, I mean I added a background! That makes it special!)
As with the previous Visual Style Shaders, I'm amazed that DAZ Quality Assurance let this go on sale without a detail step-by-step tutorial guide for newbies. In my opinion they need to ban all shader packages from the DAZ store until they include such tutorials. I've so far spent two days on trying to figure out shaders and Visual Style Shaders (and I've been using Poser/DAZ for around ten years. so am not a newbie in other respects), and am still getting nowhere near a final toon render. It's baffling without a detailed tutorial guide.
Exactly what part is baffling you? I can't help you if you don't tell me what you're having problems with. Have you tried reading the documentation? I've always tried my best to explain the ins and outs of the shaders In the official documentations (which there are for both Visual Style and Manga Style), and up until now nobody has ever requested me to write a step-by-step tutorial. Because of this, I didn't have one prepared for manga style, but I have now written one after a few people have politely requested one, and plan to write more if anybody wants to.
With all due respect, insulting the efforts of the Daz QA team and saying my products should be banned isn't going to solve whatever issue you might be having with manga style. It would be better if you explained your issue in detail so that I can help you like I've helped everyone else in this topic to the best of my ability. I really want to make sure everyone can enjoy these shaders like I do.
I agree with you that a step-by-step tutorial for newbies would be a very good thing - but I don´t think you are right that items should be banned from the store when lacking one. You could say the same about other items - lights, poses, even characters or hair. There always will be some newbie who will not be familiar with even the simplest features of DAZ Studio and will need a step-by-step tutorial for them. Surely you don´t expect vendors to include such tutorial in every product they release. Of course this all would be much different if we had a proper written manual for DS, which would explain such things and newbies would not have to go the hit-and-miss route.
Also, as written only a few posts above, a (free) tutorial for beginners is going to be released soon, so I don´t understand why you complain?
More step-by-step tutorials for shaders (both Manga and Visual) would be great, and they could even function as sort of advertisement for your shaders. I think people would be more inclined to buy shaders that are heavily supported by the vendor with detailed documentation suitable even for absolute newbies. Some people would even stumble over your shaders for the first time, while looking for a general shader tutorial, so this might attract new customers who would not have heard about your products otherwise.