Iray Lighting Solutions Tutorial Set

Daz Studio Product Release

Details

Lighting your indoor or outdoor set in Daz Studio can be one of the most time consuming activities when setting up a scene for render. Most artists will have lighting as a pain point during their workflow and it is not always easy to get to the root cause of why lighting may not work on a set.

In this tutorial set, Drew Spence shows you how to set up lights from scratch for both indoor and outdoor environments. He also picks his top ten recommended resources from the Daz store and demonstrates how these work, saving you time in your workflow.

Drew has designed lighting for hundreds of sets for the production of his Force Six, The Annihilators and comic series and he is pleased to share his lighting experience and adventures in creativity.

This product includes

Search transcription integrated inside the videos. Find search results on the video timeline. Every word spoken is indexed. Maximise the use of your tutorial’s content. Tutorial videos include subtitles

About the Presenter Drew Spence

Drew Spence is a graphic comic writer and illustrator from the United States. He creates under the title of The Dynamic Universe . He has combined his music and video into several works- including Mark of the Griffin , which is both a graphic novel and web series. He is part of the instrumental group Fallout Shelter which provides the soundtrack. The other band members are Domino Grey , Dynamics Plus and Xodus Phoenix.

What’s Included and Features

• Iray Lighting Solutions Tutorial Set
  • Four MP4 videos
  • Searchable integrated transcripts
  • Subtitles included
• Part 1 : Indoor Lighting for Iray
• Total running time : 35 minutes (introduction) + 1 hour and 16 minutes (main session)
• Section 1 : Creating lights from scratch
• Case study used : Medieval chamber set with fireplace and candle lights; designing lighting for a fantasy set
  • Why monitor calibration can be essential for your art
  • Composition focus : ensuring the main subject(s) are well lit and highlighted
  • Point lights
    • How point lights work
    • Types of paint light
    • The advantage of linear point lights
    • Point light geometry
    • Recommended Luminous Flux Settings
  • Spotlights
    • Lighting a specific area
    • Positioning
    • Beam length
    • Applying to the main subject
    • Using a spot light to creating leading lines
  • Emissive Lighting
    • Adding an emissive.
    • Flame props

• Section 2 : Product Recommendations
• Case study used : Dramatic medieval keep set with three characters
  • Consistency in lighting for sequential art
  • How to use IRay light probes
    • Selecting colours and intensities
    • Keeping light levels low for light probes
  • Demonstration of flaming torch products
  • How to use a Ghost Light Kit
    • Selecting light colours
    • Placing ghost lights underneath characters.
    • Test of an Iray ghost light kit 3 (God Rays) through a window
  • Epic props : Godrays and volumetric light for Iray
    • Particle spread in god rays
    • Volumetric light through a window, great for dramatic atmospheres.
  • Recommended Learning Task Included
• Part 2 : Outdoor Lighting for Iray
• Total running time :30 minutes (introduction) + 1 hour and& 20 minutes (main session)
• Section 1 : Using DAZ Studio’s Built in Lighting
• Case study used : Using an island beach set with a single character
  • Picking the render frame size
  • The Sun
  • Default HDRI background : The default lighting conditions for a set.
  • Sky dome mode options
  • Dome rotation
  • Using Iray Sky 36
  • The headlamp off
  • Iray settings : About tone Mapping
  • Iray settings : Camera properties
  • Checking the sun in an environment
  • Duplicating the sun and using this as an additional lighting source
  • Blend renders in postwork (same scene lit differently) for final lighting options.
  • Using instances of DAZ Studio in your workflow for rendering
• Case study used : Medieval Melee action fight scene
  • Solving blown out lighting problems
  • Tone mapping
  • Fix lighting in the scene rather than in postwork
  • Environment mode, lighting resolution,
  • Turning off the HDRI default dome: lighting from scratch
  • Environment Sun node (special effect)
  • Latitude and longitude
  • Environment sun settings
  • Altering the sky backgrounds
  • Rendering night scenes
• Section 2 : Recommended Resources Demonstrated
  • Longitude and Latitude Lighting and Render presetsfor DS Iray
  • Dreamlight : Quick Iray Outdoor presets

Force Six, The Annihilators #46

Force Six 46 Mr. Jeopardy, the Man from Nowhere.

Where did the man from nowhere come from? Who is truly in Jeopardy when Lucky Lucien pushes his…? It’s a terrible test when pins are pushed and levers are pulled. Somewhere in a dark corner, the snake coils. Wheels turn when The Dragon and The Doll story arc reaches its Part V. Mr Jeopardy, The Man From Nowhere. Pinned and penned by Drew Spence

Force Six, The Annihilators

They were a team of specialists assembled to bring order to a chaotic universe. Something went wrong when right became their final choice. See the transformation from Renegade outcasts to Legends. They are Force Six, The Annihilators. Drew Spence writes and illustrates a graphic comic, mixing science fiction with science fantasy. It’s a superhero space saga as a group of renegades, gifted with special abilities and artificial enhancements, charge and change the fate of all those they come across. They are the Force Six, The Annihilators and this is the story of their rise, fall and ultimate redemption.

OPTIMIZE: Render Engine and Scene Optimizations Tutorial

Details

Take the OPTIMIZE: Render Engine and Scene Optimizations Tutorial.

If you are running DAZ Studio on an older machine or one that doesn’t have many resources (CPU processor speed, RAM, and graphics card memory), then it becomes crucial to learn how to quicken your render times!

Two approaches to this problem are to optimize your render settings and be efficient with setting up your 3D scene in the first place.

This 2-hour tutorial has two artists discuss both of these approaches. Slater Lewis (Tugpsx) and Drew Spence (Griffin Avid).

Various render engines are examined by Slater including iRay, 3Delight, Reality, and Octane. Slater has been heavily involved with render engine beta testing in the past, so he has a good understanding of what works for render settings. He includes a PDF document of tips and tricks for Iray. The irony is that Slater uses quite an old machine for his DAZ Studio artwork (8 years old), so he is motivated to find optimizations for his own work!

Drew Spence talks about the question “Should art be limited by hardware?” and addresses how we can get around those confinements with several direct tips, as well as recommended DAZ Store products. Drew uses a variety of these suggested products on a mass basis for his graphic novel “Force 6 Annihilators”, where he creates hundreds of scenes to render for the artwork.

About the Presenter: Drew Spence

Drew Spence is a graphic comic writer and illustrator from the United States. He creates under the title of The Dynamic Universe. He has combined his music and video into several works, including Mark of the Griffin, which is both a graphic novel and web series. He is part of the instrumental group Fallout Shelter, which provides the soundtrack. The other band members are Domino Grey, Dynamics Plus, and Xodus Phoenix.

Drew Spence is a graduate of Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and holds various certificates from graphic arts to web design. Drew Spence was the CEO and Editor-in-chief of Producer’s Edge magazine, a quarterly publication dedicated to all aspects of music production. The magazine was packaged with a DVD which included sound samples, instructional videos, and software. He currently lives on Long Island, New York and produces his work from the aptly named Fallout Shelter Studios, where he creates crafty and clever comics using CGI and photorealistic image manipulation.

What’s Included and Features

• This Bundle Includes:
  • OPTIMIZE: Render Engine and Scene Optimizations Tutorial
  • Optimize video : 2 hours in length.
  • Slater’s Iray tips : PDF document
  • Video Content : Time Index
  • Part 1 : Slater Lewis
    • 00:01 Using Face Transfer to create a custom character based on
    • Willem Dafoe!
    • 00:02 Slater is working on an older 8 year old machine, with just a 3Gb RAM graphics card
    • 00:03 Recommendations if you have an i7 processor
    • 00:03 About textures
    • 00:04 Know your Iray sections
    • 00:06 Using a wet/moist skin shader for a character’s skin.
    • 00:09 3^rd party software recommendations to tweak shader maps and generate bump maps

• 00:12 Hunting down the cause of Firefly problems
• 00:14 About tone mapping with film ISO settings and aperture shutter speeds
• 00:15 The tone mapping gamma setting.
• 00:18 About the Reality plugin
• 00:19 Between 3DL and Iray : how to choose which render engine as an artist
• 00:20 Render Settings : render engines available.
• 00:22 Octane render engine : large materials library
• 00:24 Preset shaders for skin in Octane
• 00:31 A reminder that you can still use Iray with just your CPU.
• 00:34 Using two GPUs
• 00:36 Use a main and an auxiliary viewpoint
• 00:37 Draw settings on the Viewport
• 00:41 Top three Iray settings for optimisation
• 00:43 Remember to render to a new window
• 00:45 The number of iterations for Iray – where to set

• 00:50 The Environment map and replace the default HDR lighting for your project
• 00:53 IRay render engine sections

• Objects
• 01:19 Billboards
• 01:20 Composite rendering
• 01:21 Billboard products overview
• 01:24 A DAZ scene with several ideas to optimise the scene.
• 01:26 Past hardware limitations for creating your storyworlds
• 01:28 Canvases
• 01:30 Resource Saver Shaders Collection product : cuts down the render time of shaders
• 01:32 Tools for convert Iray shaders to 3Delight or vice-versa
• 01:34 The Scene Optimiser product
• 01:38 Settings in Scene Optimiser
• 01:43 Example of using Scene Optimiser

• 01:47 Fractal generator for creating backgrounds
• 01:57 Capture the information of how long a render takes
• 01:59 The DAZ Studio log file

https://www.daz3d.com/optimize-render-engine-and-scene-optimizations-tutorial

Force Six, The Annihilators #39

39 Look to the Heavens

Danger from the front and back! Some lessons need to be learned more than once- as Force Six member Alexi Alito squares up against the Synthoid threat. The edge of the circle is sharp in this arc and Mr Agility may get cut before cutting his losses. This is Part II of IV of the Spirit of the Invincible story arc. Force Six episode 39: Look to the Heavens

Available for sale on comiXology

Force Six, The Annihilators

They were a team of specialists assembled to bring order to a chaotic universe. Something went wrong when right became their final choice. See the transformation from Renegade outcasts to Legends. They are Force Six, The Annihilators. Drew Spence writes and illustrates a graphic comic, mixing science fiction with science fantasy. It’s a superhero space saga as a group of renegades, gifted with special abilities and artificial enhancements, charge and change the fate of all those they come across. They are the Force Six, The Annihilators and this is the story of their rise, fall and ultimate redemption.

Force Six, The Annihilators #38

Episode 38 Rare Window

The rear windows offers a rare glimpse.

It’s a simple mission to watch the Synthoid agent, Vyktor, and wait for him to expose their operation. A simple mission- until the stakes are raised and it takes more than a raised hand to earn the victory. Season IV of Drew Spence’s Force Six series presents episode 38 Rare Window. This is part I of the Spirit of the Invincible story arc.

Force Six, The Annihilators can be found digitally on comiXology and in print on IndyPlanet. The Dynamica Music YouTube channel has related content for the Force Six Series. For exclusive and early content, visit the Dynamic Universe’s Patreon page.  Thank you for your support.

Force Six Season IV Starts

Force Six, The Annihilators #32

Kat and Mouse Part I Party Girl

Housequake. Shut Up Already, Damn
Force Six, The Annihilators is back with Season IV. We took a brief pause to collect praise and pay accounts for all the feedback, comments, requests and compliments. It’s your deep interest that allows this series to grow and expand. As we enter our fourth season, we celebrate the realization of High Ideas. Thank you for your readership and support.

Kat and Mouse Episode 32 Synopsis
It’s a klepto-caper with a Kat-catastrophic Con-conundrum in an amazing maze that mesmerizes the mouse. It’s a simple mission of grab and get ghost until the guest guesses and the gal gets grasped. The Force Six series begins its fourth season with a shifting grifter gift-giving adventure. Played and penned by Drew Spence.

Force Six comics are available on comiXology in digital format

Killer Butterfly Issue 10

KB#10 The Butterfly Effect

Killer Butterfly issue 10 The Butterfly Effect
Wings flap in a quiet field as a bird of prey swoops down on the fearful mouse. Young Kuse Yatsumi faces the fearsome Mishin Miyazaki over the fate of a thief! It’s a day of reckoning for all under the eye of the eagle. Odion Adisa starts his journey to the Eagle Fortress. He goes forward with less that he expected. The Killer Butterfly series continues in issue 10 The Butterfly Affect. 40 Pages, full color. Chopped and cropped by Drew Spence.
The entire first season is available on ComiXology.

Force Six comics are available on comiXology in digital format

We are The Dynamic Universe. We create graphic comics. They sit between traditional strips and a 3-D style of photorealistic drama. Enjoy the science-fantasy action adventure with terrific tints, great graphics and compelling story-telling. Read the comic and enjoy the soundtrack. Story and art by Drew Spence.

Character Development for Visual Stories

If you’re building a 3D character, have you struggled to find a consistent method to make sure they are distinctive and recognizable? Or are you just using trial and error….feeling your way to a possible result?

Drew Spence has solid experience in building dozens of 3D characters, including those for his Force Six Annihilators graphic novel series.  In this tutorial, he’ll show you his approach to developing distinguished and memorable characters, with Daz Studio at the heart of his workflow.

Included is a bonus tutorial that provides a great foundation for understanding basic elements of a character as well as character archetypes.

Content for this 3D Character Development Tutorial Includes..

• Building your story world
• Identifying characters and roles
• Who is your character design aimed at?
• Character strengths and weaknesses
• Define the character’s “look and feel”
• 15 Recommended products for developing characters in Daz Studio.
• Writer and reader perceptions of characters
• Making the character distinctive
• Real world checks on your character
• Dealing with an ensemble of characters

Bonus tutorial : Creating Compelling Characters by Peter von Stackelberg (part 1 only)

• Our understanding of the characters is shaped by the actions they take
• Elements to understanding a character
• Key Properties of Characters
• The Characters Populating Your Storyworld
• Major, Minor and Placeholder Characters
• Character Archetypes
• Avoiding Clichés and Stereotypes
• Raising the Emotional Stakes
• Why is it important that characters be distinctive?
• What makes a character distinctive looking?
• What keeps characters from looking distinctive?
• Purposeful Resemblances
• Challenges In Distinctive Features
• How characters are typically differentiated
• Ways to test your cast’s distinctiveness

You can find other series that Drew Spence has created with Digital Art Live for purchase in the Daz Store. https://www.daz3d.com/digital-art-live You can take classes, watch tutorials and attend webinars and much more https://digitalartlive.com/events/

How to Create Sci-Fi Special Effects (in Daz Store)

Drew Spence webinar tutorial product available in Daz Store!

In order to create an astounding Science Fiction Universe it requires numerous special effects!

Want to know how to produce laser swords, energy bolts, explosions, laser blaster effects, battle damage, starship jets and contrails to give your artwork extra dynamics? Drew Spence takes you on a step by step journey to help you generate some Sci-Fi vitality in your renders.

Drew uses both Daz Studio and PhotoShop to show must-have resources and techniques to help build a better looking Sci-Fi Universe. He goes on to using ParticleShop and a mix of other powerful resources rarely considered to create stand-out effects.

This product includes tutorials totaling 2 hours and 55 minutes and many supporting files to get you started fast in making your own special effects.

Software required to follow along with these tutorials:

• Daz Studio
• PhotoShop
• ParticleShop is used to a lesser extent

Tutorial Content Summary

Laser swords:

• Laser sword effects
• Laser sword trails
• Sabre locks : laser swords clashing
• Cutting and slashing effects
• Recommended lighting for laser sword effects
• Best laser sword related products

Laser Guns/Blasters/Phasers:

• Laser blaster effects
• Sci-Fi muzzle flash
• Blaster explosions
• Blaster scoring effects
• Shattered glass
• Streaming phaser beam
• Best blaster/laser/scoring brushes and products

Spaceship jets, contrails and damage:

• Jet effects – using authentic lighting
• Jet engine trails and high energy plasma exhaust
• Battle damage : dirtying up a spacecraft in a laser battle
• Best brushes and resources for jets and contrails
• Bonus : Must-have – three incredible resources – surprising source of special effects you wouldn’t expect.

Inside a Spaceship:

• Creating a convincing spaceship interior scene using modular elements in novel ways.
• Unexpected uses for Sci-Fi props and gadgets.
• Lighting and dressing up your own Sci-Fi set using Nurnies and Greebles
• Creating a star-gazing viewport scene with modular parts and the supplied galactic backdrops.

We’d like to thank ERA-7 for providing a free Sci-Fi Textures Pack included in this product.

About the Presenter : Drew Spence:

• Drew Spence is a graphic comic writer and illustrator from New York. He creates under the title of The Dynamic Universe. He has combined his music and video into several works- including Mark of the Griffin, which is both a graphic novel and web series. He is part of the instrumental group Fallout Shelter which provides the soundtrack. The other band members are Domino Grey, Dynamics Plus and Xodus Phoenix.
• Drew Spence is a graduate of Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and holds various certificates – from graphic arts to web design. Drew Spence was the CEO and Editor-in-chief of Producer’s Edge magazine, a quarterly publication dedicated to all aspects of music production. The magazine was packaged with a DVD which included sound samples, instructional videos and software. He currently lives on Long Island, New York and produces his work from the aptly named Fallout Shelter Studios, where he crafts crafty and clever comics using CGI and photo-realistic image manipulation.

You can find other series that Drew Spence has created with Digital Art Live for purchase in the Daz Store. https://www.daz3d.com/digital-art-live You can take classes, watch tutorials and attend webinars and much more https://digitalartlive.com/events/

Sci-Fi Special Effects Webinars Saturday & Sunday June 1 and 2nd

Creating an astounding science fiction universe requires numerous special effects. Want to know how to add laser swords, energy bolts, explosions, starship jets and contrails to give your visuals extra dynamics? Drew Spence takes you on a step by step journey to help you create some sci-fi vitality in your story world. He’ll use Photoshop to demonstrate the best techniques and brushes as well as other must-have resources to help you build your sci-fi universe.

Sci-fi special effects webinar entry

$55.00

Sci-fi special effects webinar entry. Includes HD webinar recording and any materials that the presenter includes for class members.

Part 1 : Sci-fi weapons

Date: Saturday 1st May

Duration: 1.5+ hours.

Laser swords : “An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.”

• Laser sword effects
• Laser sword trails
• Sabre locks : laser swords clashing
• Cutting and slashing effects
• Recommended lighting for laser sword effects
• Best laser sword related products

Laser Blasters : “Sorry about the mess.”

• Laser blaster effects
• Sci-fi muzzle flash
• Blaster explosions
• Blaster scoring effects
• Shattered glass
• Streaming phaser beam
• Best blaster/laser/scoring brushes and products

Part 2 : Sci-fi Starships

Date: Sunday 2nd May

Duration: 1.5+ hours.

Spaceship jets, contrails and damage : “I’ve outrun Imperial starships, not the local bulk-cruisers, mind you…”

• Jet effects – using authentic lighting
• Jet engine trails and high energy plasma exhaust
• Space warp/jump effect including star trails
• Battle damage : dirtying up a spacecraft in a laser battle
• Colors for jets – what works?
• Best brushes and resources for jets and contrails
• Bonus : Must-have – three incredible resources – surprising source of special effects you wouldn’t expect.

Inside a Spaceship : “Would it help if I got out and pushed?”

• Plasma tubes
• Classic Sci-fi corridors – dressing and lighting for different scenes
• Sci-fi control panels : from kit bash to a graphic dashboard

Postwork help

During the webinars (If there’s time) or afterwards in the FB Digital Art Live community group…

• We’ll assist you with your own sci-fi/fantasy scenes to give you feedback on adding/adjusting special effects

You can find other series that Drew Spence has created with Digital Art Live for purchase in the Daz Store. https://www.daz3d.com/digital-art-live You can take classes, watch tutorials and attend webinars and much more https://digitalartlive.com/events/