Daz2Octane or best workflow to render daz3d scenes in octane

[spawn2002]

Hi Tugpsx,
Can u point me in the right direction for this plugin plz? Even tho' it's demo version would still like to trial it.Obj into Octane works like a charm,very fast.Only prob' is V4 eyes.Wrote reply bout that over at Daz tho.

[t_3]

Hi Tugpsx,
Can u point me in the right direction for this plugin plz? Even tho' it's demo version would still like to trial it.Obj into Octane works like a charm,very fast.Only prob' is V4 eyes.Wrote reply bout that over at Daz tho.

the best way to get the eyes right is to add a portal material to the eye surface (and switch it to "off"!), this "hack" actually makes this specific mesh layer invisible (because imo it is not needed). next apply a specular/glass material to the cornea, and attach the opacity map for the eye to the cornea mat (important - otherwise you won't see the iris/pupil mat). attach another mat (best is a diffuse sss/glossy mix) to the sclera, using the eye textures (diffuse/bump) that came with the texture set, and at last a diffuse mat (again using the same eye textures) to iris and pupil nodes. this will give you control over the brightness of the sclera (e.g. through texture gamma) and of course the overall appearance of the sclera, and also the appearance/color of the pupil. often texture sets have only on map where the sclera is included, so you can always use this for the sclera mat, and change only the iris/pupil mat for different eye colors...

[spawn2002]

Thanx very much for this brief but detailed explanation.Gives me a better idea of exactly what & how to do the eyes.
Much appreciated.

[Tugpsx]

@t_3 Thanks for the awesome settings. the technique i uded dated back to the begining of Octane and some steps have been greatly improved.
Using the DAZ2Octane plugin some surface information carry over so it will make it easier in some cases.

[t_3]

@t_3 Thanks for the awesome settings. the technique i uded dated back to the begining of Octane and some steps have been greatly improved.
Using the DAZ2Octane plugin some surface information carry over so it will make it easier in some cases.

you're welcome took me one or the other hour to find a usable setting, maybe not the best around, but it looks nice in most setups. still it is often needed to mix texture sets, because many of them use pupil textures with "included" reflections. of course this might conflict with "real world" reflections appearing on the eye, if a nice light setup is used. would be possible to edit them reflections out in photoshop, but of course it is easier to use a set without reflections. also there are a lot sets, which have some sort of shading applied, darkening the upper half of the sclera/pupil. these are also no good, because octane is (of course ) able to produce the shadows where they belong to be in the end i often use the v4 hi maps for all opacity slots, and also scleara bump & diffuse because they are very well balanced.

here are a few screens of an actual setup, to give you a little more idea about it...
lacrimal - to be honest, this is pure overkill; a simple glossy mat would be more than sufficient:

sclera - specular/sss-glossy mix mat. here it pays off to throw in a little complexity (most important part of the eye imo):

iris/pupil - a simple diffuse mat works best imo, glossy would also be ok; just depends on:

cornea - glass-like specular mat with the needed opacity map (standard m4/v4 is usually the best):

[t_3]

ps: one other word about the cornea opacity; i just found out that the opacity map i use on the cornea actually makes the cornea invisible. would be the same effect, if you add another off-portal to this part. the problem with the cornea is, that with m4/v4 eyes, the iris/pupil seems to be just a 2dimensional circular surface, directly connected to the cornea geometry; maybe it is just the uv-mapped bottom surface of the lens (haven't checked that yet. so if you apply a real specular material to the cornea, octane distorts or darkens the iris/pupil texture to an extent, it just becomes useless. somebody please prove me wrong

example...
with specular cornea mat - the lens geometry is visible, but the pupil texture turns to something strange because of the refraction (even if ior is set to "1"):

without a cornea mat (portal set to "off" applied) - the lens geometry is of course gone, but the pupil/iris is clearly visible:

i think i need to examine the actual geometry of the eye; maybe it is just insufficient for "physically correct" texturing...

[t_3]

one more
got it. the cornea is just a coplanar surface. and as it has no volume, octane will no way be able to calculate a correct refraction out of it. so whatever (specular) mat is applied to the cornea, it'll look wrong. note: in this example the pupil appears to be visible through the specular cornea mat, only because light can enter from the side (the blue part is the eye surface btw - another coplanar and therefore insufficient geometry for specular materials)...

all in all i'd say skip the cornea and use just another fake "null" material (portal set to "off"). not very elegant, but works

[teecee2107]

I agree with you,t_3, I usually set the opacity value for eye surface and cornea to zero. It's the setting that gives me the best results.

[spawn2002]

Thanx guys for adding more info regarding the eyes settings.As someone just finding Octane & being accustomed to other 3d progs,they are a bonus.
Just a simple question regarding the daz2octane plugin.Can I only access it if I am a licensed user?Meaning do I have to purchase Octane to be able to evaluate the plug?If so,it's a shame as ppl like myself would soon be converted to octane as their renderer.

[Tugpsx]

Daz2Octane Demo II released.

http://www.refractivesoftware.com/forum ... p?id=13766

Over 100 DLS so This link may be short lived.