mcjTeleBlender:Daz Studio scenes/animations w/Blender's Cycles Engine

mCasual

tofusan said:

There is also a method of selectively using 3 HDRI in the World node.
It's easy with LightPath. :)

it looks great and i think i understand the node graph!

one thing that adds realism is how the car's windows and interior look through them , with some soft shadowing inside the car

nakamuram002

Tofusan,

Can you post and label the images (small versions) that you used in your example, please? It will help us get a better understanding of how your nodes are being used.

Tofusan

nakamuram002 said:

Tofusan,

Can you post and label the images (small versions) that you used in your example, please? It will help us get a better understanding of how your nodes are being used.

Hi, Nakamuram.
These are the images I used in the sample car. These images are available for free in hdrlabs.com.
http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html
I have used is "Charleston Sunset". I used to flip horizontally some images. Therefore, I set -1.0 to Y Scale in the Mapping node.

nakamuram002

Thanks Tofusan!! Now I can understand better.

Tofusan

Hello, Casual.
I want to change a little to mcjBlendBot. Because, it is to get more realistic reflection . Fresnel can be exploited to express the reflection realistic. I use it with Glossy it often. In addition, I want to be able to also convert Opacity.
I have made changes to mcjMakeCyclesNodes.py. I think If you obtained your permission, I want to publish it. Or, so I will send you the source that I have changed, I want you to adopt it if it seems reasonable.

mCasual

i got the free Look-At-My-Hair Player from http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/21241/#314118

and downloaded the hair preset named Short Side Hair by TheSpisis

from http://www.furrythings.com/presets/

i created the missing folders as discussed in http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/21241/#314118

i loaded Aiko5, selected her head, went in the LMAH-Player panel

loaded the short hair preset

for the 5 or 6 material groups, i divided by 10 the number of hair ( maybe that was too harsh )

and halved the "complexity" setting

then exported this as .obj files, using the Player's exporter

deleted the LMAH hair

imported the .obj files from the previous step

"manually" applied the texture image associated with each .obj

exported to blender using mcjTeleblender

added a big block of light (emissive)

rendered with cycles

daveleitz

Blender 2.67 will support nodes for Luxrender 1.3. I was wondering if it will be possible now to make a conversion script for this since DS has Luxrender settings via Luxus.

mCasual

daveleitz68 said:

Blender 2.67 will support nodes for Luxrender 1.3. I was wondering if it will be possible now to make a conversion script for this since DS has Luxrender settings via Luxus.

i'll read about it eventually - i didnt eveb get around to know what Luxus is :)

i suspect that transfering node structures from one environment to another has irs share of issues

when i get time to get back to TeleBlender i'd kike to improve things for Carrara

( maybe fix Collada related issues )

nakamuram002

daveleitz68,

Is it true that Blender 2.67 Cycles will support Lux Render Nodes? If so, you might ask the authors of LUXUS and Reality to support Blender in addition to LuxRender.

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/21492/

3dOutlaw

Casual said:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

McjTeleblender 2 has arrived and will have its own web page

the old mcjTeleblender will remain where it is

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts3/mcjteleblender2

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What's new

This new version of mcjTeleblender and mcjBlendBot includes these additional features

- compatible with Blender 2.66.3 and up ( was also tested on 2.66a and 2.66.5

- the Tiling settings of the Daz Studio materials are conveyed to Blender

- the Bump map strengths of Daz Studio's materials are carried over to Blender ( Blender Bump Strength = ( DS Max - DS Min ) * DS Strength )

- If two identical figures or two identical props are in the Daz Studio Scene, and mcjTeleBlender's
"Rename Nodes" option is enabled, the two figures wont be mistakenly welded together in Blender

- There's now a button to set all those mcjTeleblender settings to a default state

- There's an extremely secret backdoor mode, available for the nerdy crew

Quick question...does this overwrite all of the old version scripts and files, or do I have to manually find/delete them and then load these? Thanks for the update!

EDIT: forget it, I was able to get it all updated. Unfortunately, I updated to Blender 2.67a, and I am not getting anything working right now. Still working on it though...

Wallace3D

3doutlaw said:

Quick question...does this overwrite all of the old version scripts and files, or do I have to manually find/delete them and then load these? Thanks for the update!

EDIT: forget it, I was able to get it all updated. Unfortunately, I updated to Blender 2.67a, and I am not getting anything working right now. Still working on it though...

Everything working fine at my end using D|S 4.6 and Blender 2.67a

No GPU crash like before

mCasual

3doutlaw said:

Quick question...does this overwrite all of the old version scripts and files, or do I have to manually find/delete them and then load these? Thanks for the update!

EDIT: forget it, I was able to get it all updated. Unfortunately, I updated to Blender 2.67a, and I am not getting anything working right now. Still working on it though...

the python-script files which are in the package called "mcjBlendBot2.zip"
go in the C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.67\scripts\modules folder

the Daz Studio script(s) are to be unzipped in a Daz Content folder

usually the programs to extract/unzip the files will over-wrote existing foles of the same name, and sometimes alert you to the fact that over-writing will occur

once i'm done with the Aiko3 clothes i'll get back to mcjTeleblender, because i noticed there's oddities related to material banes ( for example when many objects with the sam names exist in the scene )

3dOutlaw

OK, thanks, I have it working now. I also figured out why my camera never matched the camera in DS. In the doc's for the Scale% it says the default is 1, but the screenshots had 2...so I had set mine at 2, since I only skimmed through that section of the docs quickly and took what was in the picture.

Do you know if it is possible to setup something like a "shadowcatcher" ground plane in DS -> Blender, or just in Blender after importing from DS?

mCasual

3doutlaw said:

OK, thanks, I have it working now. I also figured out why my camera never matched the camera in DS. In the doc's for the Scale% it says the default is 1, but the screenshots had 2...so I had set mine at 2, since I only skimmed through that section of the docs quickly and took what was in the picture.

Do you know if it is possible to setup something like a "shadowcatcher" ground plane in DS -> Blender, or just in Blender after importing from DS?

there must be a shadowcatcher system in Blender

i didn't search for it yet, last time i needed shadows, i placed a white plane under my character and rendered this

then i used photoshop to isolate the shadows, then overlaid this onto my render of that scene without the white plane

it was for the Louis XVish chair i think ...

.... there this video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU-YhDh1r1k

( i youtube searched : blender cycles shadow catcher

3dOutlaw

Hmmm...it appears that I will have to use a workaround like that. Here is a bugtracker event that was closed as rejected, even though the comments say that it will be looked at in 2.67?

http://projects.blender.org/tracker/?func=detail&atid=498&aid=34272&group_id=9

mCasual

3doutlaw said:

Hmmm...it appears that I will have to use a workaround like that. Here is a bugtracker event that was closed as rejected, even though the comments say that it will be looked at in 2.67?

http://projects.blender.org/tracker/?func=detail&atid=498&aid=34272&group_id=9

maybe this image http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nFi-b5ek2kE/UZuhkx4g07I/AAAAAAAACZ4/VbNOO2tHS_Y/s1600/renderPasses01.png

from this blog means something to you http://digitized-life.blogspot.ca/

( i dont have much layers/passes experience

3dOutlaw

Yea, I cant' get the environment to cause a valid render pass. There are so much discussions and bug tracker items I have found, that its hard to piece together if it works or not. I am just using a sphere and plane for testing, with a HDR background image.

There is an Object property that you can turn off the camera, but leave shadow on, but that does not seem to work, unfortunately. I will try some opacity settings on the material next and see if that works, though it should not, based on expectation of the light response.

mCasual

3doutlaw said:

Yea, I cant' get the environment to cause a valid render pass. There are so much discussions and bug tracker items I have found, that its hard to piece together if it works or not. I am just using a sphere and plane for testing, with a HDR background image.

There is an Object property that you can turn off the camera, but leave shadow on, but that does not seem to work, unfortunately. I will try some opacity settings on the material next and see if that works, though it should not, based on expectation of the light response.

just a wild wild idea ... how about baking the shadows in the materials of the shadow catchers

mCasual

quick tip

if Blender opens with an empty scene

close blender, look in the folder where you specified the .obj file should be written to

example you selected c:\myrenders\ommo.obj

there should be a file named ommo.bat ( same prefix as the .obj filename )

'run' it by double left-clicking on it quickly

Blender still opens on an empty scene but you now see the ''blender console'

and it contains messages that can help you figure out what;'s going on

--

in the example below, we see Blender encountered an error

it saw the name "NaN" but it doesn't know who or what is "NaN"

by inspecting ommo.py ( same prefix as the .obj filename )

i noticed a line that reads

mcjBlendBot.setCyclesSettings( "EXPERIMENTAL", "GPU", "CUDA", NaN )

if i check other .py files that were generated for successful renders i notice they look like

mcjBlendBot.setCyclesSettings( "EXPERIMENTAL", "GPU", "CUDA", 333 )

where 333 is the number of samples (quality) i had specified

so i started mcjTeleblender and saw that the number of Samples specified was "1--" (instead of 100)

and .... "1--" is ... Not A Number

so i changed it to 100 and was able to render without a hitch

3dOutlaw

For the Blender shadow catcher plane we were discussing, this seems to be a good solution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmzzfVYN39Y

EDIT: ...but I forgot that the Shadow Pass render does not work for Environment lighting. This example uses a lamp. They are considering allowing the shadow pass from environment lighting, but it would be a future release.

3dOutlaw

tofusan said:

Hello, Casual.
I want to change a little to mcjBlendBot. Because, it is to get more realistic reflection . Fresnel can be exploited to express the reflection realistic. I use it with Glossy it often. In addition, I want to be able to also convert Opacity.
I have made changes to mcjMakeCyclesNodes.py. I think If you obtained your permission, I want to publish it. Or, so I will send you the source that I have changed, I want you to adopt it if it seems reasonable.

Casual, did these changes/enhancements get integrated?

mCasual

3doutlaw said:

tofusan said:

Hello, Casual.
I want to change a little to mcjBlendBot. Because, it is to get more realistic reflection . Fresnel can be exploited to express the reflection realistic. I use it with Glossy it often. In addition, I want to be able to also convert Opacity.
I have made changes to mcjMakeCyclesNodes.py. I think If you obtained your permission, I want to publish it. Or, so I will send you the source that I have changed, I want you to adopt it if it seems reasonable.

Casual, did these changes/enhancements get integrated?

i don't really remember this post, i guess i told Tofusan he could post his modified version, but i didn't attempt to integrate Fresnel to the versions on my site -- i just know that recently i tried it on (Aiko5's ?) hair and the effect was neat -- i read a while ago that for water effects it's ideal, because when you're straight on top of a water surface looking down, you see through the reflection, but when your viewing angle is not straight down, the reflectivity is stronger -- and they were saying that's how reflctions on water works.

i hope to improve the handling of the materials next time i return to mcjTeleblender -- maybe derive the materials from Daz/Renderman shaders instead of from default materials

3dOutlaw

OK, I don't see it on his Skydrive, so I will ask him via PM.

Also, I was wondering if you had any problem with this script always having a glossy node attached to most of the clothes and materials of V4? Before render, I always have to go in and remove or modify a glossy node for a lot of the materials in Blender before final rendering. Perhaps it is just reading it on the materials in DS...but Blender handles the nodes different?

Here is another render in Blender via your script :) (click HERE for bigger version)

mCasual

3doutlaw said:

OK, I don't see it on his Skydrive, so I will ask him via PM.

Also, I was wondering if you had any problem with this script always having a glossy node attached to most of the clothes and materials of V4? Before render, I always have to go in and remove or modify a glossy node for a lot of the materials in Blender before final rendering. Perhaps it is just reading it on the materials in DS...but Blender handles the nodes different?

Here is another render in Blender via your script :) (click HERE for bigger version)

the alternative of not adding any gloss to the materials would mean i'd have to add them manually to Aiko3's numerous skin nodes, which would also make animation renderings impossible. For clothes, and other materials you want to be matte, you have to set the specular color to black in Daz Studio's surfaces tab. For strong gloss you set the specular color to white. For Aiko's skin i usually leave specular color to dark gray color. If you want shiny materials, you apply a texture image to the reflection channel of the material in Daz Studio's surfaces tab (and set its strength to 100%). There's also 2 global controls for glossiness in mcjTeleblender called "gloss factor" and "roughness". The kit of shaders( default Daz shader actually ) over here : http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16798/ show that matte, glossy and shiny materials can all be obtained by tweaking the specular color and the reflection channel. For recent ( crop-top for Aiko3 ) renders i set mcjTeleblender's "gloss factor" to 0.1 and roughness to 0.3.

There's also mcjTeleblender's material library system which lets you re-use your hard-earned blender materials

if you set mcjTeleblender's "gloss factor" to 0, materials in blender will all be matte, yet they will have a glossy node which you could then "manually" crank up

mCasual

a few notes

mcjTeleblender seems to work well with the upcoming Blender 2.68

a few rough benchmarks , Blender cycles 777 samples

Blender 2.67b 32 64bit version ::::::: 2:44
32 bit version ::::::: 2:34 )

Blender 2.68 ReleaseCandidate 1 64bit :::::::::: 2:24
32 bit version 2:22

that's a worthy improvement

and i just saw someone mention GPU-accelerated hair!

a few weeks back i tried ( very quickly ) Cycles-CPU hair

mCasual

well some kinda bad news, apparently Daz Studio 4.6 uses a good chunk of the video card's memory
so if you render in Blender-Cycles-GPU while DS4.6 is running, it can preclude the Blender-Cycles render

at first i did like i often do, when rendering Aiko5 and her Timeless hair, i exported the scene with texture-maps
and i resized everything to under 1K x 1K

but that wasnt enough!

my CUDA card has 2G of memory

since i didn't want to render in CPU mode, i closed DS4.6 and .... the render now proceeds

but but ... maybe it's because i recently set the Daz Studio interface to use high-quality settings for the OpenGL display ?

so ... i'll try again ...

mCasual

DS4 / mcjTeleblender Tip !

when your scene contains high resolution texture maps

and Blender-Cycle-GPU renders run out of memory

go in Daz Studio Edit / Preferences / Interface

and set the Texture Resources to "Performance" if is currently at "Quality"

this should free up some of the graphics card memory which Blender Cycles needs

---

if that doesnt work, you could try closing DS4 during Blender-Cycles renders

---

also you could set mcjTeleblender to collect the texture maps ( in a folder named Maps )

and resize the biggest ones to under 1024x1024 pixels

if your scene uses a big Environment map ( example: 8000x4000 ) then you could use a lower-resolution copy

mCasual

lighting setup idea

panels of emissive surfaces behind the subject, and behind the camera a huge white/glossy wall that sends back the light from the scene into the scene

at one point i thought, well i could place a white emissive wall instead of a mirror-wall, but the glossy walls averages the tints in the scene and it probably looks better

i think in the end i settled for glossy-beckman, white, 1.0 roughness

---

the pose and ladder ideas are from a Ju Da Ha photoshoot here http://korean-hotspeed.tumblr.com/post/29677619208/corea-ju-da-ha

3dOutlaw

Ya know, in looking at this render, it makes me realize that some hair can probably be made to look "toon" by not applying the textures, but by just applying a basic color. :) I have not tried the new Toon shader in 2.68 either.

Thanks for the tips on the video card stuff. We are still out here! :)

kitakoredaz

Hi,, I am now really exciting, because,, by your amazing tool, with tweaking collada files,,
I suceed to move genesis2female in blender with bone, clothing, and hair as rigged figure ;-P

there are some difficulity, to export collada from daz, keep rigging and weight with clothing and hair, but I found good way now.
then export genesis scene and obj by your tool, with mat, and tweak node a little, then apply the material to collada genesis
which import from daz studio.:lol:

your tool is really amazing,, then thanks so much!!!!