There are a couple general methods<\/strong> on how you can work with surfaces in Daz Studio. And they range from the quite easy<\/strong> ones that just use ready-made presets to the advanced ways of making textures practically yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We will look into a few main ways and explain them<\/strong>. So you could choose whatever is most fitting for your needs, skill and experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will start from the easiest method <\/strong>both in understanding and use – Shader Presets<\/strong>. Before that – we need something to test them on. I have just created a default Genesis 8 figure with generic clothing and hair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As we work with materials, we will need a specific tool<\/strong> that will help us in this. It is called \u201cSurface Selection Tool<\/em>\u201d and can be found on the toolbar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With this tool you now can select any surface of your object<\/strong>, instead of bones or whole objects. For example I can select the main part of the shorts without selecting the elastic band above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the surface selected<\/strong> go to the \u201cSurfaces<\/em>\u201d tab of the interface. It should be open in the \u201cEditor<\/em>\u201d section by default where we can see that I have indeed selected \u201cMainShorts<\/em>\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From here proceed to the \u201cPresets<\/em>\u201d section. If your object has some specific materials presets – they will be shown here. My example shorts have them, so I can change it here right away and see the result. If you are planning to use Iray for rendering – you need materials that have \u201c<\/strong>MDL<\/em><\/strong>\u201d written on them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it is totally possible that your object does not have anything inside the \u201cMaterials<\/em>\u201d window except default materials. Worry not, because there are alternatives<\/strong> – \u201cShaders<\/em>\u201d. Here you can choose whatever you want. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though again, if you are using an Iray rendering engine – you better select something from the \u201c<\/strong>Iray<\/em><\/strong>\u201d sub-tab<\/strong>. There could be problems otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And now you can apply any of the shaders to any surface of your scene<\/strong>. There are no limitations to this. It is just better to use NVIDIA Iray preview shading to see how your objects will look on render.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With this knowledge you can mix and match shaders however you like<\/strong>. Experiment, try things out. For example I have created something like a glass statuette look: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another big advantage of using shader presets<\/strong> is that it is easy to get them. Even though there are a quite interesting collection of shaders built-in the Daz Studio – you can always find more in the Daz3D Shop<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n And there are a bunch of different shaders for different purposes. You want to change how your clothes look<\/strong>? Use 4K Fabric Shader Presets for Iray<\/a> or <\/p>\n\n\n\n Regal Riches: Historical Pattern Iray Shader Presets<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Source 4K Fabric Shader Presets for Iray<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to make the floor more interesting<\/strong> you can use Patchwork Chic Floor Tile Iray Shaders<\/a> that adds a lot of different tiles shaders with extra versatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source Patchwork Chic Floor Tile Iray Shaders<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n For walls and other environments<\/strong> there are Brick Wall – Iray Shaders<\/a> and Iray WoodWorx Shaders<\/a> that can fit your goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Source Brick Wall – Iray Shaders<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also possible to edit materials<\/strong>. It is quite hard to create something absolutely different in this way, but you can change the look a bit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s take this T-Shirt as an example that I will edit in different ways and change its look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still in the same \u201cSurfaces<\/em>\u201d tab, but now in the \u201cEditor<\/em>\u201d section you can see a menu with a lot of different options and settings<\/strong> on the right side. This is what will be used to edit an object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a bunch of settings here, but I will only make notes on ones that I am going to use and that make a big difference.<\/strong> So most will be skipped. First is the \u201cMetallicity<\/em>\u201d, but right now our object is not reflective or glossy<\/strong>, so this will only make it darker. Will return to it later<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBase Color<\/em>\u201d should be quite understandable. You change its color and it changes the color of selected surface<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGlossy Reflectivity<\/em>\u201d and \u201cGlossy Roughness<\/em>\u201d will decide how reflective your object is<\/strong>. Reflectivity to 1 and Roughness to 0 for maximum reflection:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGlossy Color<\/em>\u201d will change the color of gloss<\/strong> on your object. Default is white, because it is similar to the real world. But you can change it to match your scene lighting or to achieve a chameleon-like effect:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, when T-Shirt <\/em>is reflective and glossy <\/em><\/strong>if I change \u201cMetallicity<\/em>\u201d – it will really make it look like it is made out of metal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEmission Color<\/em>\u201d adds emission to the object <\/strong>and you can control its color. Any object can be a light source. Don\u2019t forget to also add more \u201cLuminance<\/em>\u201d after you changed the color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last setting from the Editor for today is a \u201cCutout Opacity<\/em>\u201d – changes how translucent the surface is<\/strong>. At 0 value the object becomes invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the knowledge of all these settings and how they work – you can try to create a material yourself<\/strong>. This can be hard, but possibilities are big. Especially if you combine this technique with others. For example use some shader and then edit it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have made a metallic material that applied to the whole body of a character to create this super-heroic metal-man:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also we used this Material Editing technique in our Daz3d Change Hair Color<\/a> article that you can check out too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last thing about which we will talk today is that you can apply textures to the surfaces<\/strong>. This is simply just adding a picture to the object. I will show on a simple cube for a better understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now in the \u201cEditor<\/em>\u201d tab of \u201cSurface<\/em>\u201d menu you can find an arrow <\/strong>button next to the \u201cBase Color<\/em>\u201d setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the drop-down list that appears after you press the arrow you can choose to \u201cBrowse<\/em>\u201d. This will open your OS window where you can select the path to the desired image<\/strong>. This image will be applied to your object. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example I have put a Daz3D logo on the cube:<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this is literally just an image that is placed on your object<\/strong>. It is flat and has no information about anything else except colors. And this can be different. With a much better result<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Introducing PBR materials. PBR stands for Physically-Based Rendering. So this is materials that are made specifically for realistic render<\/strong>. In our case – Iray is exactly a physically-based rendering engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Settings that we edited manually in the previous section – roughness, glossiness and other things such as bumps of the object – can be stored in images and used later. So information about, for example, what parts of the surface should be reflective and how reflective – can be stored in special images that are called maps<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These maps usually come in bundles that, when applied, create a full material. And these bundles can be found pretty easily on the internet<\/strong>. For example on the textures.com<\/a> I have found this<\/a> material that I think should look really interesting on my cube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source textures.com; Tufted Chesterfield Leather<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n This material proposes a total of 5 maps<\/strong>: Albedo, Height, Normal, Roughness <\/strong>and Ambient Occlusion<\/strong>. I have used only the first four in the final result, so you can skip Ambient Occlusion if you follow me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Download maps somewhere on your computer. Select the object surface and we still need \u201cEditor<\/em>\u201d in the \u201cSurfaces<\/em>\u201d for this. Here we just need to match the image according to settings<\/strong> how we did before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The only problem is that names do not match<\/strong>. That is because other software can call it in another way. For example the Albedo map is also known as Diffuse map or in a case of Daz Studio – Base Color. So apply Albedo to a \u201cBase Color<\/em>\u201d setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we already know this just applied an image to our object<\/strong>, so right now it does not look good at all. So let\u2019s proceed to the following step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next we have a \u201cRoughness<\/em>\u201d map. It does match the name of a setting in a way – \u201cGlossy Roughness<\/em>\u201d. That is what we need to apply our map to. Also set the value of setting itself to 1<\/strong> so it takes an effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After that we have a \u201cHeight<\/em>\u201d map. The best match in Daz Studio would be a \u201cBase Bump<\/em>\u201d setting. It simulates as if your object has more geometry than it really does<\/strong>. So in our case it tries to simulate pressed parts of the texture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bump map has a lot of control and you can set it up to a value of up to 50, in which case details become more prominent<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly there is a Normal map. It is really similar to a Bump map. It also simulates geometry and details that you don\u2019t really have there<\/strong>. And generally speaking Normal maps are \u201ccheaper\u201d. Meaning that a Normal map will render faster<\/strong> than a Bump map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Above is a result of just a Normal map<\/strong>. You can easily use only a Bump or a Normal map based on what you like more. There is no need in both of them simultaneously. But you can do that too, as shown below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that is the final result<\/strong> of the PBR material on the cube. You can also change other settings, such as \u201cHorizontal Tiles<\/em>\u201d and \u201cVertical Tiles<\/em>\u201d to change the scale of a texture if you want:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are more to PBR materials. For example metallic material can have a Metallic Map<\/strong> or material of a lamp – Emission Map<\/strong>. You will need to figure out yourself what goes where if you will see something new. But it is quite easy to understand after some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lava PBR material with Emission Map<\/p>\n\n\n\n Same as with shaders, PBR materials can be found easily in a <\/strong>Daz3D shop<\/strong><\/a>. Materials that are made specifically with Daz Studio in mind. And maybe they are exactly for your set of clothes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take a look at the PBR Textures Pack 04<\/a> by dglidden <\/a>that proposes a total of 49 materials<\/strong> of concrete, ivory, marble, wood and other<\/strong>. Author also has another three PBR texture packs in their profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source PBR Textures Pack 04<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Or check out the Brick Collection Merchant Resource – Vol4 (PBR Textures)<\/a> by iSourceTextures<\/a>. A pack of quite interesting materials that are built around bricks and moss<\/strong>. There are a lot more great assets that we did not cover in our Daz3D texture tutorial but just browse the Daz Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDaz3D Texture Tutorial: Shader Presets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nDaz3D Texture Tutorial: Editing Materials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nDaz3D Texture Tutorial: Using Ready Textures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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