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  • Hmmm. I'll wait to see if Jim has anything to say on that before I just go ahead and try it out with a freebie somewhere.

    Thanks, :)
  • Hm. Not sure, either. I know you can in Studio. I'm rather interested in that answer myself!
    "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it. " Mark Twain.
  • Yeah, that's why I asked. I know Studio can do it, but there are quite a few Poser products I want to use, but since I prefer to render in Studio, I would have liked to be able to export them out. We'll see what Jim has to say.
  • I don't believe so, either, but then I never tried. Got a Poser Manual?
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Oooh, nice shirt! Me likey, :)

    Question to Poser people. If I were to purchase a product that uses the material room and/or procedural shaders, is there a way to "bake" the results into the underlying character texture to render the scene elsewhere? 


    Yes and no.

    Yes, it's possible to use Poser to bake a standard texture out of procedurals.

    No, in that the results probably won't be what you want, and it's not one-click simple.

    What you need to do is create a no-light scene with the texture projected onto a plane prop that exactly fills the preview window, and using the front camera to render.  No diffuse channels are used, you use the ambient channel, instead, with a value of 1.0.  This renders the combined shader out as a texture.  Set your render dimensions to 4000x4000, and you should end up with a texture that's sufficiently detailed for most purposes.  Also, you may want to make sure the ground plane is hidden.

    In setting up the scene, the 1x1 square primitive at 1000% scale will produce a 1PNU square.  Set the front camera's settings to 100% scale, x-Tran of 0.0 and a Y-tran of 0.5 so it's pointed at the center of the square.  With the preview window set to square values (like, say, 600x600), the square prop will exactly fill the preview window with no fiddling required. 
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • So basically, "baking" = "rendering flat."
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Too which I have to add: One of the points of using shaders instead of painted-on highlights and such, is that shaders interact with the lighting *as it actually is in the scene* in much more interesting and realistic ways.

    Therefore, using only a diffuse-channel texture with no particular highlights or shading gets you the look of a badly-painted plaster figurine--unsatisfactory for still artwork, but possibly just the ticket for animated game figures--it takes a load off the rendering engine.
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Example coming up.
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Takes a bit to render out the images, hang on.
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • I know many artists that use baked on textures as Nan said-for gaming purposes only. I don't know how well a procedural will do as a baked on texture. Too much is dependant on lighting for the actual results-in my mind. Can't wait to see Jim's Example. :D
    "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it. " Mark Twain.
  • Okay.  Captain Weupe from The Barbarians uses a somewhat complicated shader that layers two textures and throws in a bit of translucence to give her skin a snow-white appearance and a texture similar to chamois, and also have her wear a skin-tight uniform.  She looks like this:


    image
    weupe.png
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    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • The simplified version of the shader (sans bump, used for shots that aren't close-ups) looks like this:


    image
    shader1.jpg
    1024 x 768 - 159K
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • As you can see from the above image, the shader uses blend nodes and masks to combine two different textures (skin and uniform) into a single texture.  This is a method I laid out a couple years ago, it can be used to add wounds to an existing skin, or even tattoos or other marks.  It can also be used to create tan-lines.
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Hmmm. Ok, that makes sense. So basically, since shaders interact with light, probably best to just render "in-house" so to speak. 

    Thanks guys! Learned something new today, :D
  • To render out a single diffuse texture, I must first rearrange the nodes thusly:
    image
    shader2.jpg
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    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • As you can see, now the combined output that normally goes to the diffuse channel is redirected to the ambient channel, and all other channels are switched off.  We now save the altered shader to the library temporarily, then assemble the scene.
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Step 1:  Our 1x1 poser square primitive, scaled up to 1000%.
    image
    step1.jpg
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    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Step 2:  Front camera selected, and set to Y-tran of 0.5  Preview window is set to an even number (in this case, 600x600)

    image
    step2.jpg
    1024 x 768 - 90K
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Here's the render settings we use - we're just wanting to render the texture, so all the special stuff is off.
    image
    step3.jpg
    1024 x 768 - 132K
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Render dimensions.  4000x4000 is about the largest you'll want to bother rendering out, because that's the largest you can then turn around and feed back into Poser as a texture.
    image
    step4.jpg
    1024 x 768 - 105K
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Apply the texture to the square, hit render, and save the result.  Done - the diffuse texture, which was a complicated set of blend nodes, is now combined into a single texture.  Similarly, completely procedural shader networks can also be rendered out into a texture using this method.


    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
    Jim Farris, Author, Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Oh, that's interesting. Very interesting. Thanks!
    Though the shader I had in mind seems like it needs lights to actually look like it should, so perhaps with that one I'll just render in-house. 

    Thanks again! Interesting stuff.
  • Ooh, I get it!
  • Help! How quickly can anybody models set of manacles to hang from M4's mage belt?
  • Computer laboring on a render... And quickly isn't exactly my middle name...
    Suspiro ergo sum.
  • I'd just take a set of manacles and bend 'em in the middle with a magnet or if the chain was moveable, and stick 'em where I want 'em.  
  • Um. In a month or three? Not I, sorry doll.
    "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it. " Mark Twain.
  • There are free manacles and chains in the RDNA freebie forum. Check them out.
  • Raetjor said:

    Help! How quickly can anybody models set of manacles to hang from M4's mage belt?



    Dammit, you asked in the middle of the day. I can't even get to my modeler for another couple of hours.

    Say, what KIND of manacle?? Picture, please?
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Like these?

    image
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • And what about the bendy of the chains, hmm? That's rigging a couple of easy-pose chains from the link on the belt. Or IK-connected chains.
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Eh, it's probably getting past Raet's bedtime now, or will be by the time I worked on this. The modeling would be dead simple. I haven't done a ton of easypose rig, but have Easypose Underground, so that's merely slippery, not impossible.
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Jim, thank you for the tutorial on the "baking!" That's fab for making textures that'll only be seen at a distance!
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Oooo, dollface! I'd LOVE a set of those manacles with the bendy chains and such. Most of the ones I have don't have the option of posing the chains-they're nailed to something and useless or hanging from chains that haven't been riggged. If you make it, (eventually) I will dl it. *Lean, stagewhisper! Grin!* Time for me to head out, the weekend (and more work) awaits! Exit! Stage Left, Batman!
    "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it. " Mark Twain.
  • LOL @ Batman exiting.

    Well, I could give it a try, eh? I'm trying to get undies for Anastasia completed and working on the dynamics of this Mega Shirt project this weekend already. And I have to say hello to the Honorable GF at some point as well. ;)
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Nano, you are a star for giving it a shot. I have found a couple of tutorials for making chains online but either don't have the programmes to make them  or my befuddlement at the applications interface makes me worried about the success of such a venture. You are eminently more qualified to model and rig it than I am,  and believe me I'd be eternally grateful.
  • Nanobot said:

    Like these?

    image



    yeah, like these, possibly with slightly broader cuffs and a touch less modern looking, but yes, those are what I had in mind. Bendy chains would be great for versatility, i.e. allowing them to swing if a character is in a twisting motion for example. I don't know whether easypose or ik chains has advantages there: I have always found easypose less than easy, if you catch my drift and I'm not sure that a python script I had for poser 6 for posing long easyposee tubes that made the whole thing easier still works in 2012, but hey, I'll give it a shot.

    (sorry, just came home from the pub, so my typing is not exactly unimpaired, and the same goes for sentence structure)
  • Pub! LOL

    Well, yeah, the locks are jarringly modern on those. The shapes are simple, however.

    I was just looking up making IK chains, and it's practically automatic, but I think one bones the figure first. And gee, two cuffs and eighteen links...well, one could mess up, but in theory, it's not too hard. I was thinking IK might be easier if both ends have to be positioned and you didn't care too much about the middle. Of course, one can always move it one link at a time to a "hanging from the middle pose."

    Actually, I've wanted to do something like this just *because* I wanted to see how it worked.

    Right now, I have a naked angry Elf to deal with... in the Pose room, that is. Hopefully not in person, that could be scary.
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Naked angry elves! Weeeeeee! :D
  • He's a-rendering as I type.

    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Lol angry elf ! And here was me thinking they'd all be resting within themselves and biddable like no other raise due to their longevity. Goes to show what I know. Then again, if you lived almost indefinitely, you would probably get pretty sick of people faffing about.
  • Angry Naked Elf- can be an interesting thing! XD  Can't wait to see him, Nan. I do love admiring your figs.  *Grin*

    Angelus- Tell me if this is something you'd use?  The renders are raw, just finished, and the M4 uses Creature, ++ and Base morphs only I believe-maybe a little Enhanced.  The skin texture came out of the Creature set, and the eyes are Fantasy Eyes or something from Nathy.  Wardog for the beret, too.  Why?  I dunno, maybe he's a soldier that ran into some Hazardous materials or trpped a spell from some angry mage.  Who knows? XD

    Oh..and guess what I got last night from the maaaaaaaaaail maaaaaaaaan?  My power supply!  *Dance* It took a while getting everything yanked out and put back where the old supply box was but I managed to get it done and these renders out.  I had started on making the morph inj cr2's, but Studio harfed on me and is now saying my graphics card needs updated and won't open.  *snort* When it started up and got the model twiddled fine, and even started a render before I tried to cancel it due to the wrong settings on the lighting. 

    Meh.  I'll work on that later, must get ready for work.

    Good morning peeps!
    hunchback3.jpg
    980 x 1000 - 199K
    hunchback2.jpg
    980 x 1000 - 344K
    hunchback.jpg
    980 x 1000 - 299K
    "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it. " Mark Twain.
  • the cuff part's made. Needs a uvmap, a chain and bones and we're nearly there.
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Raetjor said:

    Lol angry elf ! And here was me thinking they'd all be resting within themselves and biddable like no other raise due to their longevity. Goes to show what I know. Then again, if you lived almost indefinitely, you would probably get pretty sick of people faffing about.



    Hey, he might be young. My very elder Elf, Ariolas, is a mellow trickster. The other one, Coruanu, is young and grumpy. This guy is basically Dar's Scion (tweaked his nose a little), and yeah, the attitude conveys.

    Dar, my love, Scion applies to M4 and something really bizarro borks up the joins at his upper arm to forearm. There's an, uh, dislocation. I can hide it in the render, but it requires some detective work in Poser to figure out. Not sure what happened exactly.
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Describe the nature of the dislocation. I have witnessed one on my own morphs at one point that was rather interesting, it looked as though th shoulder into collar section had been moved in a parallel fashion giving you what I can only call a "ledge". And thanks for swinging into action with the mAnacle modelling, I really owe you big time for that.
  • Ooooh...crap. I forgot about that. I scaled the arms longer for a piece, the legs, too. I'm so sorry about that! When i last rendered him that didn't happen because I did the pose manually- the morph doesn't bork. ::sigh:: as soon as I can I'll fix him and send the files over. I have to fix the upload, too. ::facepalm::
    "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it. " Mark Twain.
  • OHhhh. Raet, you nailed it. That's exactly what happened. Poser does have a limb lengthening thing in the body dials for Morphs++.
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • GRIM said:

    Ooooh...crap. I forgot about that. I scaled the arms longer for a piece, the legs, too. I'm so sorry about that! When i last rendered him that didn't happen because I did the pose manually- the morph doesn't bork. ::sigh:: as soon as I can I'll fix him and send the files over. I have to fix the upload, too. ::facepalm::



    What are friends for, but finding weird things sticking to your figments?

    Yeah, I had a NURB stuck to my foot last night, too.It was jealous of the attention the polygons were getting.
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Well, here are the manacles in Modo, having been UV mapped and the chain and other cuff replicated. Now I get to figure out how to bone them in Poser to make a figure. :D

    image

    ETA - they look like Disney manacles with just the material zones on them. LOL!
    manacles-mapped.jpg
    866 x 345 - 32K
    * A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!
    * Isn't it wonderful how cute weapons of mass distraction can be?
    * Those are my principles. And if you don't like them, I have others.
  • Wow. Looks quite good so far, doll!  Very 18th century. 
    "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it. " Mark Twain.

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