Me195
Extraordinary
Yes. The transparency of the entire length of the hair is adjustable with the color ramp. I will try to make it less spikey and less clumpy.
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Poser fur - Superfly
- Thread starter Janet
- Start date
Aren't we all?I'm terribly impatient when it comes to rendering.
Me195
Extraordinary
Thank you Miss B.WOOT! Looking good Me.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. It takes a little less than an hour to render with my video cards with the it set to Ultra Non Branched Caustic and the samples bumped up to 120. I'm not sure how fast my CPU can render it. Theoretically it should be able to render it nearly as fast and it would look better, but I don't trust the cooling system to test it. My computer is built around rendering because I too am terribly impatient when it comes to rendering, and also because it's a part of my day job.Looking better and better. Good job!
How long did that take to render? Mine seem to take forever and I'm terribly impatient when it comes to rendering.
Me195
Extraordinary
I hate disappearing in the middle of a project, but it seems to provoke life into being crazy when I get to work on something cool.
Anyway I'm finally able to work on this again and post an update on my progress.
The last version of the shader seems to be holding up well for the fur, so it's basically done. I will be compressing it down to a compound node with a hopefully user friendly interface in case people want to start using it now. I will update it if I figure out how to make it better.
Here is where I am at with the fur as a whole.
I am still trying to find the proper settings for the hair room. I am getting closer, but I still have a ways to go. It's taking so long because I am trying to make it look like fur and keep it to only one hair group per joint. I can add hair groups now and make it look right, but it would greatly increase the render time. It also could make it unable to be rendered with a GPU. It's slow going but, I will get there eventually. However I complete understand why the Hair room drove AM to create LAMH.
Speaking of LAMH I used it to make a fibermesh version of the fur for Poser as an alternative to using the hair room. While the fur did look very good when I finally got it to render, it caused Superfly and the preview window to freak out. I'm not sure if there's something missing from my shader that's needed to accommodate the fibermesh or if it's just a Superfly thing. It also could be possible that it's just user error on my part. Even though it was initially a failure it's still worth looking into, and I will come back to it after I get the hair room version working.
On a brighter note I have figured out how to get the shader to better make solid light colored fur.
All I had to do was set the contrast to 0 on my translucency set up. I will try to better explain better when I post the compound node version of the shader. Wow the white fur shows that I have a long way to go with the hair room settings, but at least there is progress.
As always all comments, criticism, and suggestions are welcomed.
Anyway I'm finally able to work on this again and post an update on my progress.
The last version of the shader seems to be holding up well for the fur, so it's basically done. I will be compressing it down to a compound node with a hopefully user friendly interface in case people want to start using it now. I will update it if I figure out how to make it better.
Here is where I am at with the fur as a whole.
I am still trying to find the proper settings for the hair room. I am getting closer, but I still have a ways to go. It's taking so long because I am trying to make it look like fur and keep it to only one hair group per joint. I can add hair groups now and make it look right, but it would greatly increase the render time. It also could make it unable to be rendered with a GPU. It's slow going but, I will get there eventually. However I complete understand why the Hair room drove AM to create LAMH.
Speaking of LAMH I used it to make a fibermesh version of the fur for Poser as an alternative to using the hair room. While the fur did look very good when I finally got it to render, it caused Superfly and the preview window to freak out. I'm not sure if there's something missing from my shader that's needed to accommodate the fibermesh or if it's just a Superfly thing. It also could be possible that it's just user error on my part. Even though it was initially a failure it's still worth looking into, and I will come back to it after I get the hair room version working.
On a brighter note I have figured out how to get the shader to better make solid light colored fur.
All I had to do was set the contrast to 0 on my translucency set up. I will try to better explain better when I post the compound node version of the shader. Wow the white fur shows that I have a long way to go with the hair room settings, but at least there is progress.
As always all comments, criticism, and suggestions are welcomed.
Me195
Extraordinary
As promised here is the current version of the simple strand shader. Simple Strand.zip . You can install it the same way you install any other item from the store. The shader can be found under the materials tab in a folder called 'Strand Hair'. If you already have a directory in your materials folder called 'Strand Hair' it will simply add the shader to it. It will not overwrite anything.
The shader will look like this. Here are some "quick" instructions on how to use it. First on the 'Image Texture' node click on the bottom where it says "No_map" you will be brought to a dialog box where you can browse and find your desired texture. (in the preview picture above it says "Borge Ice" because that the texture I loaded) Once the texture is loaded you can make adjustment to the strands appearance using the controls on the 'Strand Hair W/Texture' compound node. It should be noted that I have it set to preload the most common values as seen above, but feel free to experiment.
The first control is 'Texture<>Transmission'. This control how much of what you see in the render is from the transmission from the hair and how much is from the texture. The value entered will be between 0 and 1. If you enter 0 all of what you see in the render will be from the texture. It will render much faster however there will be no Translucency of the hair. If the value is set to 1 then all of what you see in the render will generated by the transmission of the hair with the color being derived from the texture. This will look very cool, but it will greatly increase the time it takes to render. I have found 0.7 to be a good mixture of the Texture and the Transmission.
The next two controls work hand and hand. The 'Translucent Brightness' and the 'Translucent Contrast' together control the Transmission color AKA Translucent Color of the hair strand. By default the settings will create a realistic translucent color. However if the hair or fur is white or blond this setting will cause a reddish brown color to be generated as the translucent color. To remedy this just set the contrast to 0.
The last four controls also work hand and hand. The 'Root to %25 Transparent', '%25 to %50 Transparent', '%50 to %75 Transparent', and '%75 to Tip Transparent' all control what part of each individual strand is transparent. The default setting has just the last quarter of the strand transparent. This gives it a more soft and tapered look that is especially good for fur. However you can set the transparency any way you want. Just remember in Superfly Black is opaque and white is transparent. These last four controls are not ideal because it increases render times unnecessarily. This is because there is no cycles Color Ramp node. I will update the shader once I magic together a solution most likely from Mix nodes.
I hope this makes the shader easier to use. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free. I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.
The shader will look like this. Here are some "quick" instructions on how to use it. First on the 'Image Texture' node click on the bottom where it says "No_map" you will be brought to a dialog box where you can browse and find your desired texture. (in the preview picture above it says "Borge Ice" because that the texture I loaded) Once the texture is loaded you can make adjustment to the strands appearance using the controls on the 'Strand Hair W/Texture' compound node. It should be noted that I have it set to preload the most common values as seen above, but feel free to experiment.
The first control is 'Texture<>Transmission'. This control how much of what you see in the render is from the transmission from the hair and how much is from the texture. The value entered will be between 0 and 1. If you enter 0 all of what you see in the render will be from the texture. It will render much faster however there will be no Translucency of the hair. If the value is set to 1 then all of what you see in the render will generated by the transmission of the hair with the color being derived from the texture. This will look very cool, but it will greatly increase the time it takes to render. I have found 0.7 to be a good mixture of the Texture and the Transmission.
The next two controls work hand and hand. The 'Translucent Brightness' and the 'Translucent Contrast' together control the Transmission color AKA Translucent Color of the hair strand. By default the settings will create a realistic translucent color. However if the hair or fur is white or blond this setting will cause a reddish brown color to be generated as the translucent color. To remedy this just set the contrast to 0.
The last four controls also work hand and hand. The 'Root to %25 Transparent', '%25 to %50 Transparent', '%50 to %75 Transparent', and '%75 to Tip Transparent' all control what part of each individual strand is transparent. The default setting has just the last quarter of the strand transparent. This gives it a more soft and tapered look that is especially good for fur. However you can set the transparency any way you want. Just remember in Superfly Black is opaque and white is transparent. These last four controls are not ideal because it increases render times unnecessarily. This is because there is no cycles Color Ramp node. I will update the shader once I magic together a solution most likely from Mix nodes.
I hope this makes the shader easier to use. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free. I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.
Wow! I think it's looking great! I do have some "feel" for making the hair lie and clump and all that. The head is the big "kicker"... I think Tiny said she ended up making like 10 different groups for the head and I believe her This is an older Firefly render with most of the hair "styled" except the head.
I'll have to try your shader on this in SF
Thanks for all your hard work!
This is an older Firefly render with most of the hair "styled" except the head.I'll have to try your shader on this in SF
Thanks for all your hard work!
would love to see the comparison between this and the SF versionWow! I think it's looking great! I do have some "feel" for making the hair lie and clump and all that. The head is the big "kicker"... I think Tiny said she ended up making like 10 different groups for the head and I believe her
I'll have to try your shader on this in SF
Thanks for all your hard work!
Me195
Extraordinary
You are very welcome. I'm just glad to finally be able contribute to the 3d community even if it's something this small. If you like this shader I am also going to post two more shaders. It will be one for transparency hair and one for dynamic hair that is not texture driven.
Thank you very much. I'd say you have a talent, but I respect your humility. I agree the head is definitely the big kicker, and I definitely believe tiny when she says it took 10 groups too. I am trying to use as few groups as possible because after a certain amount it won't be renderable with the GPU, but it might not be possible to get a realistic looking fur with the amount of groups I want to use.Wow! I think it's looking great! I do have some "feel" for making the hair lie and clump and all that. The head is the big "kicker"... I think Tiny said she ended up making like 10 different groups for the head and I believe her
I'll have to try your shader on this in SF
Thanks for all your hard work!
That is a fantastic render. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.
You are very welcome.
You are very welcome Miss B. I hope it helps. I should also be posting a non texture driven dynamic hair shader that will hopefully resemble the firefly hair node soon.Thank you, thank you, thank you! Downloaded, and will take a look sometime today.
Well, it's a good thing I saved your instructions, as I forgot to add the texture image, and it kept rendering stark white.
This first render is a regular Superfly render of Dawn with Biscuits Echo Hair. Needless to say, I played around with the styling.
This second render is with your Simple Strand Hair material. Don't mind the difference in color, as in the first render I played with the Diffuse color, which I didn't see how you could do with your setup. I even went into the compound node and saw the HSV, but that didn't really do anything. Anyway, I like the darker version in any case.
What struck me however was the tips of the bangs across her forehead, and on the left side of her face near her left eye. I tried playing with your 4 settings, but nothing seemed to help. Any suggestions?
I am going to try it with other hair, and a simpler style, perhaps one without bangs. Oh, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with for dynamic hair, as I have 2 of those I can now use more often with this new-ish laptop.
Me195
Extraordinary
There seems to be a conflict in terminology with biscuits' hair. Echo Hair is not strand hair it's transparency hair. It's remarkably detailed transparency hair, so I was confused when I first when I saw the results. I even went to rendo to check the description and it even said strand hair. My shader will only work on dynamic hair like what's made in the poser hair room or from fiber mesh like what's made from Zbrush or LAMH. I have a Shader for transparency hair that I will hopefully be able to post some time tonight that will work with transparency hair like the echo hair.Well, it's a good thing I saved your instructions, as I forgot to add the texture image, and it kept rendering stark white. View attachment 64724 Anyway, I did a couple of renders before logging off last night, and thought I'd upload them for you to see.
This first render is a regular Superfly render of Dawn with Biscuits Echo Hair. Needless to say, I played around with the styling.
View attachment 64725
This second render is with your Simple Strand Hair material. Don't mind the difference in color, as in the first render I played with the Diffuse color, which I didn't see how you could do with your setup. I even went into the compound node and saw the HSV, but that didn't really do anything. Anyway, I like the darker version in any case.
What struck me however was the tips of the bangs across her forehead, and on the left side of her face near her left eye. I tried playing with your 4 settings, but nothing seemed to help. Any suggestions?
View attachment 64726
I am going to try it with other hair, and a simpler style, perhaps one without bangs. Oh, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with for dynamic hair, as I have 2 of those I can now use more often with this new-ish laptop.
On a side note I have to admit I did use my confusion as an excuse to buy the Echo hair; it's been on my wishlist forever.
