Menu
RenderGuide.com
  • About
RenderGuide.com
daz3d render settings

Daz3d Render Settings: Basics & Tips

In this article we are going to look into the art of rendering. Try to explain everything a standard user needs to know about daz3d best render settings. How to tune them correctly and produce excellent pictures. 

If you prefer to watch, checkout our Youtube Video below, otherwise keep reading.

But first of all, what exactly is rendering? It’s a process of creating an actual image or series of images(animation) from your 3D scene. The best way to understand this is to compare it to taking a photo in real life. So if you want to take a good picture, firstly you would want to place everything correctly in the scene.

ultra iray hdri showing ideal render settings

Source Ultra IRAY HDRI With DOF

The second most important thing is the camera settings. Because it does not matter how good the scene is, if your camera settings are not right. Picture would be ruined. Absolutely the same things apply when you render your 3d scene in the Daz Studio.

That is why we decided to explain everything we know in this article. Knowledge about iray render settings in daz3d to improve your daz3d rendering quality.

The Daz3d Render Settings Tabs

Obviously the first thing is opening the Render settings tab. By default your interface in Daz Studio should look something like the screenshot below. And the rendering tab should be on the left side, where most of the common tabs are [1].

render settings tab inside daz3d studio

If for some reason you don’t have a render settings tab there, you can always open the new one. You should go into “Windows” menu [2] on top of the interface. And there, in the “Panes” option you can choose the window you want to open. In our case its Render Settings:

How to enable Render Settings inside daz studio

After this we will go through each and every tab inside the Render setting menu and explain.

General Daz3d Render Settings

The first tab is “General”. Here we have settings for “Dimensions”, “Destination” and “Misc”. 

general tab inside daz3d render settings

In the “Dimensions” you can set the size(resolution) and ratio of your render. You can choose from many presets or set it yourself. So if you want a FullHD picture you would set Pixel size to 1920×1080 and Aspect ratio to 16:9. For portrait pictures it would be 4:3 aspect ratio and so on. Easy to understand. 

“Destination” helps you to choose where your final render files would be stored and their type. So if you are making an animation and need a series of images, here in “Render type” you can change it from the default “Still image”. Also here you choose the name of your render file. “Render Target” decides whether you would see the process of your render in the new window or it will just save the file upon finishing.

“Misc” or miscellaneous is mainly for controlling headlamp. Headlamp is a tool that produces light directly from your camera view. It is useful only when there are no other lights on the scene and should be turned off if there are. That is the default option too. Also there are settings for Scripts, but it is too advanced and only needed for a small amount of people who are making scripts.

Daz Studio Render Mode

After “General” we have the “Render Mode”. Here we can only change the Render mode. 

daz3d render mode settings

As you see, we can only choose between Photoreal and Interactive iray render settings. Photoreal is the default and is simply put, a bit stronger type. To clarify, “Interactive” would also render everything in a really good quality though not as good as “Photoreal”. Good way of using “Interactive” is when you want to make your renders quite faster. 

Daz3d Progressive Rendering

Next tab is one of the most important ones. The “Progressive rendering” with “Update” and “Completion” subtabs. 

daz studio progressive rendering settings

When you press Render, you will see the picture that shows the state of render right now. The “Update” controls how much this picture updates. Default settings (on screenshot) mean that every 5 seconds it updates the picture if at least 1 sample were done from the previous update.

On the other hand, “Completion” is for deciding when render will be considered completed. Because theoretically Daz Studio Iray can render forever. So it needs some rules for knowing when the render is finished. 

First such rule that you can set is “Max samples”. That is to say, when rendering will reach this number of samples, it will stop and consider finished. Obviously the higher the number, the longer it will take. In return you will receive a better quality picture with less grain. 

So you need to find the perfect number that will both not take too long and get you the clear image. Sadly we cant provide you such a number as it depends totally from your scene and settings and changes from one render to another. The best way to find it yourself is to lower the “Max samples” value to a small number like 100 and go up from there.

Here an example render with 100 Max samples. Notice the grain on the face, especially on the left cheek.

Another example render with 500 max samples. You still can see grain in places, but it is much better, especially on the left cheek.

rendering with 500 max samples

Second option that you can set to stop rendering is much more simple. You can set the maximum amount of time for render. It can vary from just a few seconds to a couple of months. And in the end, how many samples were made in this time – that will be the final render.

Third and last rule that you can set is rendering quality. You can set it off and on. It is kinda difficult to understand what exactly this setting does. In technical terms it means how much of the image has been put together properly. One might think that you should just crank up these settings then. But it is not true, because then render can take far too long. And doing so can be useless. Since the image could be looking good enough after an hour or less.  You should try things out and find your perfect settings to use.

You should also know that every of the three options above can work simultaneously. This means that you can set them to the desired values and when one of the options will reach said value – rendering will stop. This is useful, because sometimes reaching, for example, the set amount of max samples can take too long, thus setting the max time and rendering quality would be a good idea.

Alpha Daz3d Render Settings

Moving down the list, comes “Alpha”. Here we can change only one option – Default Alpha LPE(Light path expressions).

alpha render settings inside daz studio

Changing this setting is only needed if you render the alpha or have transparent objects. We do not recommend changing from the default “specular transmission objects”. The only situation when you would change this is if you have problems and your alpha is not rendered properly.

Daz Render Optimization

Below this, we have a very important “Optimization” tab. It is important because of the “Caustic sampler” option. Caustics is a coating of light rays reflected or refracted by a curved surface or object, or a projection of this coating of rays on another surface. You can find caustics a lot on a sunny day by just looking at any glass object.

Example photo of real life caustics

Caustics in real life created by wine glass – source Wikipedia

Daz Studio will create caustics to some degree even without turning the “Caustic sampler” option on. Then what does it do? Well it simply does enhance this effect. Making it look a lot more realistic and interesting. Though, you will trade render times for this improvement.

It is a small change that does not attract a lot of the attention. But it is making a huge difference to your scene. Making your scene look a lot more realistic on a subconscious level. Because the human eye can unknowingly notice the lack of such details as caustics and detect that picture is not realistic.

Below an example of a scene with the caustic sampler off.

example of caustic sampler deactivated

Example of a scene with the caustic sampler on.

example of caustic sampler activated

To notice the most difference in the provided example look at the points of interest such as: right below the red ball, white insides sticking out of the ball and shadow on the right hand side. 

Daz Iray Filtering Settings

Next we have the quite important “Filtering” menu. Available options here are: Firefly filter, Post Denoiser and Bloom filter. 

daz render settings filtering tab

Let’s go from the top. Under some lightning conditions and with a low amount of samples you may see bright spots occur. These bright pixels are called “fireflies”. You can see plenty of fireflies in the example below.

Example of firefly effect in daz render

The “Firefly Filter” tries its best to remove all of these fireflies.

Post Denoiser resolves a similar problem as Firefly Filter. But its purpose is to remove all of the noise(grain) from your final render. It searches the picture for the noise and then smooths it out while still maintaining overall sharpness. So you can sometimes on purpose lower the amount of samples made and then use Post Denoiser to compensate.

Example render with the Firefly filter and Post Denoiser activated.

daz render with firefly filter and denoiser activated

And the last from the filter section is the “Bloom Filter”. It does simply what it’s called. Adds some bloom to your scene. But to be honest, it is not the best. Especially as it is very sensitive and you need to change settings a lot to find the perfect combination. Much better to add a bloom effect in post production.

Spectral Rendering

“Spectral Rendering” menu is for turning on and off the Spectral Rendering. It analyses the components that make up the spectrum of light instead of faking it. 

Spectral Rendering in Daz Studio

Calculating the entire spectrum produces more accurate to real life colors. This comes with a price of longer renders and potentially more noise. 

Here an example render with Spectral Rendering turned off.

example of spectral rendering switched off

Spectral Conversion Intent setting can be changed from “faithful” to “natural”. And Spectral Observer changed from “cie1931” to “cie1964”. With Spectral Observer everything is quite easy. The cie1964 is the newer standard, so we recommend using it.

And what is the difference between faithful and natural? “Faithful” option tries to make more true to life colors. “Natural” on the other hand, tries to compensate for things that are out of gamma. And potentially can create problems. Let’s look at more examples:

Below an example render with Spectral Rendering turned on to faithful.

example spectral rendering with faithful on

Another example render with Spectral Rendering turned on to natural.

Spectral Rendering with natural enabled inside Daz Studio

You can see that both variants are different from the initial example without Spectral Rendering. One might say that colors are more interesting and realistic. 

Look at the color gradation to the left of the sphere. Here you see the difference between “Faithful” and “Natural” and notice the problems that we talked about. The default render and “Faithful” have smooth gradation. While “Natural” is all divided into stripes and you can clearly see where one color becomes another. This happens because it tries to push out of gamma colors into more natural colors. The problem is that we lose part of the information. So in the end, we do not advise you to use the “Natural” option.

Daz3d Tone Mapping

Almost at the bottom we have the “Tone Mapping”. In this tab is the stuff that usually you don’t want to mess with. Because these options are for compressing the dynamic range of the image.

daz3d tone mapping inside the render settings

To say in other words, this tab controls the options that most of the people would do in post production. Things like Exposure, Gamma, Saturation, Film ISO and others. We also would recommend you to use any other software for these purposes. If you don’t use any other software, you can still play with different values, for example the Exposure Value influences the brightness for your render. In case the render is to dark you can reduce that value. As side note all kind of light resources of course make also an impact, including if on your camera the headlamp is switched on or off.

In general if you change something inside the Tone Mapping settings, it impacts the final picture right away. And if you don’t like the result, then you need to render again. Sometimes that can take a really long time.

But be mindful not to turn the Tone mapping off. Because this will lead to a broken render as seen below. 

broken render example daz studio

Daz Studio Environment Lighting Setup

The last menu we have on the list is the “Environment”. This tab is for controlling the environment of your scene, especially environmental lightning. 

daz3d environment render settings

Main thing we can control here is the “Dome” settings. Dome is the environment that will decide the lightning and reflections of your scene. To clarify, if your dome shows the sunny day in the forest, then your scene will be lit up and you will see the reflections of the forest in your reflective objects.

In the Environment Mode you can choose between a couple different settings

Environment Mode options inside Daz  Studio Render Settings

“Dome and Scene” will use lightning both from your scene(Spotlights that you placed) and from the dome. “Dome only” will not use your scene lightning at all. “Sun-Sky only” is using only the part of the Dome settings that control Sun and Sky. And “Scene only”, as the name implies, uses only the Scene lightning and not Dome. So for the most control of the settings you want to choose the “Dome and Scene”. 

First of all let’s try to set up the Sun and Sky dome. To do this you need to look into the settings that start with the SS (Sun-Sky). You can select the Latitude and Longitude of a real place in the world. Then you can choose the day and time. In the end you would have the simulation of where the sun was at that point of time at that place. Below an example of the Sun-Sky setup. 

sun and sky dome settings inside daz studio

Also you may change the Saturation of the sun-sky, how high is the horizon and how blurry it is. One of the important settings is “SS Haze”. It controls the hazines of the sky. By default it is set to 0, but the sky is never this clean. So for realism you always should change it to at least 1. Also the hazier your sky is – the softer are the shadows. At 0 haziness shadows are too crisp, which makes the scene surreal.

render using sun sky settings

Render made with the Sun-Sky settings showed earlier

But changing all of the settings for the longitude, latitude and time of day can be very fiddling. So instead of that, you can create the sun yourself and control it. To do this, simply create the “null” object in the create menu.

sun mode settings

Then in the environment tab find “SS Sun Node” and choose your null object here. Now the Null object is your sun, so you can place it wherever you want.

HDRI in Daz Studio

Instead of setting the environment as sun and sky yourself, you can use the High Dynamic Range Image or just HDRI. HDRI is the 360° image that contains information about the environment, such as reflections and lightning. After applying HDRI to your scene, all of the settings will be set for you, so no need in messing with settings. You just need to choose your image in the “Environment Map” settings.

Users would want to change only a couple of settings on the subject of HDRIs. First one is the “Environment Lighting resolution”. It controls the sharpness of the shadows. The best way to set up this setting is to match this number with the resolution of your HDRI. 

HDRI dome settings inside daz studio

Settings for HDRI dome

All other settings just control the Orientation and rotation of your dome in comparison to your scene. So changing these parameters can change the lightning. For example, you can change the position of the sun relatively to your scene.

Render example using HDRI in Daz

Render made with the HDRI

Where to Find Useful HDRIs?

You might ask – where would I find these useful HDRIs?  Well, it is pretty easy to find them on the internet. You can just type “HDRI” into a search engine and find some sites that propose a big range of different HDRIs, some are even free. Or you can also find them on daz3d shop, where all of the HDRIs are created precisely for Daz Studio. Below a short list of high quality HDRI products.

  • iRadiance HDR Lighting for iRay
  • 180 HDRI Studio Light Pack
  • HDRI Toolkit
  • Ghost Light Kit 1
  • Ghost Light Kit 2
  • Ghost Light Kit 3
  • Fashion Lights
  • Sunsets and Deserts
  • Light Probe Kit
  • iRay Light Manager

Daz3d Render Settings Tips

In the end, let’s talk about some stuff about Daz3d render settings that one might want to know. Just some small tips and things.

Texture Compression High Threshold and Devices

First of all, look into your “Advanced” section of the “Render settings” menu. We are interested in two things there – “Texture compression high threshold” and “Devices”. 

advanced render settings inside daz studio

If you have problems with your textures, then you should try changing the “High Threshold” to something higher. Sometimes even up to 4096. This should help you, as your textures would not be overcompressed. 

Another very important thing you want to pay attention to is your Devices. You always want to choose your GPU there. GPUs are wildly better for rendering complex scenes and can improve your daz3d iray render time drastically. You can also try to combine CPU and GPU. But be vary that it can lead both to faster and slower renders depending on your computer.

Source Keriann HD for Genesis 8 Female

Oversampling

The last tip that we have for you today is oversampling. It is when you render your scene with a very high resolution as 4k, for example. But with quite a low sample number, so you end up with a grainy image. And then you scale down your picture to lower resolution as FullHD. After that, your grain should be gone. Sometimes oversampling can be faster than rendering with a higher samples number.

Conclusion about Daz3d Render Settings

In this article we introduced you to the daz3d render settings. Showed you all of the most important aspects and explained all of the main tabs of the Daz Studio rendering interface and what is done in which tab. In conclusion, you need to remember that there are no daz3d best render settings. Simply because they vary from one scene to another. All of the materials, lights, objects and even camera position change the way how you should come to the rendering. In the end, only a lot of practice will make you master of this art. Checkout also our other articles about Daz dForce, great morphs for Daz3d Genesis 8, or any of our model reviews such as Top 6 Bar 3d Models.

Receive our latest 3D Tutorials and 3D Model Reviews when they come out.

RenderGuide.com

RenderGuide.com is the place to find the Best 3D Models, learn 3D rendering with our step by step Daz3D Tutorials as well as our detailed Blender Tutorials. Take a look around and we hope you find some great inspiration for your next creative render projects.

Categories

  • 3d Models
  • Blender Tutorials
  • Daz3d Tutorials
  • Popular Posts

Popular Posts

  • how to use daz3dHow to Use Daz3d: Daz Beginner Tutorial [2022]
    This is a tutorial article. ...
  • best office 3d models6 Best Office 3d Models [2022]
    Check out the best office 3d ...
  • what is daz3dWhat is Daz3d: An Introduction to Daz Studio
    This article answers ...
  • house 3d model8 Best House 3d Models [2022]
    Are you seeking the best ...
  • dazd depth of fieldDaz3d Depth of Field: How to Use it
    This article explains ...
  • daz studio animation tutorialDaz Studio Animation Tutorial: Step by Step
    This article is a dedicated ...
  • daz3d iray lighting tutorialDaz3d Iray Lighting Tutorial
    This Daz3d Iray Lighting ...
  • 11 Best Car 3d Models [2022]
    What car 3d model do you want ...
  • Daz dForce: Basics, Tutorials & More
    Daz dForce is an exclusive ...
  • how to install daz studioDaz Install Manager DIM vs DazCentral vs Daz3d Man…
    This article how to install ...
  • what is daz3d used forWhat Is Daz3d Used For?
    What is daz3d used for or may ...
  • 6 Best Bar 3d Models [2022]
    If you are looking for a ...

Free 3d Models

Join our Newsletter

Renderguide Newsletter
  • Legal Notice & Affiliate Disclaimer
  • DMCA Notice
  • Privacy Policy
©2022 RenderGuide.com
We use cookies on our website to personalise your experience, to analyse website usage and for ad purposes.
In case of sale of your personal information, you may opt out by using the link Do not sell my personal information.
Read MoreCookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us advertize, analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non Necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Save & Accept