Tutorial Rendering Animated VDB Volumetrics in Daz Studio Using Texanim

This Tutorial in MHTML format which should open in any browser ( and there's no virus in there contrary to what google hypothesized )

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yTjKCBRM3o8N3Sp3Z2LvYULaC1Ch_Y2y/view?usp=sharing

hi there babies i am your Host, the Legendary Amycorn

today we will be rendering animated volumetrics in Daz Studio

we will be using Jacques' free Daz Script named TexAnim 2022

The free TexAnim2022 script can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts/texanimfords3

First we must get our hands on some free series of .vdb files

So we go to openvdb.com or what was it what was it?

https://jangafx.com

we go in , Downloads, Free VDB Examples section of janga FX

we pick the smaller one that has only 128 frames so 128 vdb files

we're talking 1.7 gigabytes my man or woman if you are one

we unzip the 1.7 gigabyte archive in

are you paying attention?

just checking

so we unzip it in our download folder

we locate the vdb files

in this case the path to the VDB files is

C:\Users\jacqu\Downloads\TornadoLoopingVDB\TornadoLooping\TornadoVDB

we copy this path so we can use it in a minute or 5

we open Daz Studio

Now babies what we want to do is have 2 instances of the tornado

one of the tornados will be smaller and Yellow

the other tornado will be HotPink and encompass the smaller one

yes i used the word encompass, experts like me use those words

anyway

we now create 2 primitive spheres

it could be a cube but that's so, you know, blocky

anyway

those 2 spheres are just stand-ins for our tornados

but that's not all

i bet you thought, woop tee doo we're done

not so fast Bob we're just starting

so we select sphere and we rename it Tornado1 and the other, Tornado2

remember those names, with capital Ts for later

we select Tornado1, we go in Daz Studio's Tools Tab

We change the Active Tool to Geometry Editor

we select the material named 'Default' and we change its name to Volume with a capital V

we do i mean you do the same for Tornado2

i think the reason is that iRay or Daz Studio will treat that surface as a volume

So, we worked so hard but we're far from done, Rickles

we select the Tornado1 sphere surface now named Volume with a capital V

we go in your main Daz Studio Content folder

we go deeper than that

we go in Shader Presets\Iray\Daz Volume

and we apply the Volume shader named "Simple OpenVDB MDL Volume"

Now we go in the surfaces tab

and TADA the surface is no longer an uber iray shader it's a volumetric shader

did you notice, there's a Volume File property

so we click on that and select one of our vdb files

C:\Users\jacqu\Downloads\TornadoLoopingVDB\TornadoLooping\TornadoVDB\tornado_0064.vdb

that's the middle of our animated suite of vdb files

our Tornado became visible but it's imprisoned in the sphere

so we check the other Volumetric Shader properties

and we turn off the "Clip to geometry" option

now our Jinny is out of the bottle

but the tornado is laying on the ground

that's normal and due to different software's choices of X Y Z axis

so we go "pffft we know how to fix that"

and we x-rotate our Tornado sphere minus 90 degrees

then we move it up by, say, 300 centimeters until it stands on the ground

we repeat the process for Tornado2's sphere

but we shrink it down say 69% and X-scale 33% and Y-Scale 33%

so that Tornado1 encompasses Tornado 2

set the color of the tornados using the Scattering Multiplier of the volume shader

set the density of your tornados using the Density Multiplier

note that lights and emissive surfaces will light up the smoke/dust

i think some people use this to add fire to volumetrics

now listen, just you listen as RobertPlant sang

The Scattering Multiplier by default is limited to RGB 1.0, 1.0, 1.0

if you go in this channel's "Parameter settings" panel

you can turn off the limits

then you can pump the value of your color to whatever, in my case

3.0 0.0 0.1 for the HotPink Tornado1

and 3.0 1.0 0.0 for the Yellow Tornado2

But beware, babies, that Daz studio may reinstate the limits next time you load this scene

ok so we know how a comatose tornado looks like

To allow Texanim ( insert trumpet sounds here ) to do its job of animating the two Tornados

we must write a small text file which we will call The Job File

long ago in the 2000's and 2010s Texanim only animated run of the mill surface properties

but later the Normal maps of the DSDefault shader was added

then in 2022 the "File" property of surfaces like Volume Shaders

this is what our Job File created using a simple notepad app gives us

please use a text editor that saves text files in ascii format

Object Tornado1

Surface Volume

Property Volume File

Path C:\Users\jacqu\Downloads\TornadoLoopingVDB\TornadoLooping\TornadoVDB

Prefix tornado_

Padd 4

Suffix vdb

LoopStart 0

LoopEnd 127

First 0

Object Tornado2

Surface Volume

Property Volume File

Path C:\Users\jacqu\Downloads\TornadoLoopingVDB\TornadoLooping\TornadoVDB

Prefix tornado_

Padd 4

Suffix vdb

LoopStart 0

LoopEnd 127

First 0

so what do we see here?

there's always 2 columns

the columns are separated using one and only one Tab key or the spacebar key

there are no blank spaces

The keywords in the left column must remain exactly as they are

The right column is where we work

so we are telling texanim that

the object to animate is labeled Tornado1

the surface shader is named Volume

the surface property that will have animated vdb is named Volume File

the vdb files all have the filename prefix tornado_

the path to the vdb files is C:\Users\jacqu\Downloads\TornadoLoopingVDB\TornadoLooping\TornadoVDB

Now what is padding? it's zero-padding to be precise

since we saw that our vdb files are numbered 0000 to 0127

the padding is 4

Our vdb files have the .vdb filename extension, so suffix = vdb

If you were animating classic surfaces it could be jpg or png but here it's vdb

texanim can produce animations that are longer than the number of vdbs in our possession

when texanim finishes using tornado_0127.vdb the next vdb will be tornado_0000.vdb

since we only have 128 vdbs numbered 0000 to 0127 we declare our loop this way

LoopStart 0

LoopEnd 127

only one item and we're done

First = 0 means that the first frame of the rendered animation will use tornado_0000.vdb

so you could have First equal any number between 0 and 127

as you can see for Tornado2 all we had to change is the object name

we save this text file anywhere where we will remember it's located

for me: C:\Users\jacqu\Downloads\TornadoLoopingVDB\TornadoLooping\TwoTornadosJob.txt

---

Back in Daz Studio, we launch texanim2022.dsa

We click the "Load Job List File" button and select our TwoTornadosJob.txt Job File

if you made typos in the Job File, Texanim will punish you, just kidding, texanim will just refuse to work on that ill defined job

usually it's because you added too many tabs of blank spaces, or you misspelled something

now let's review the animation-render parameters

we will be rendering frames 0 to 127 of Daz Studio's timeline

we could render frames 300 to 12000 but we're being basic, which is different from playing it safe

the first output image filename will have a name like pic000.png

but if we were rendering frames 300 to 427 we would possibly prefer it to be pic300.png

the filename prefix will be pix

since our output frames fo from 0 to 127, a padding of 3 is appropriate

( but would cause problems if you render frames 1000 to 1127 later )

rendered image format will be png, note that it's not .png it's png

Then we select the destination of our rendered images using the "path to rendered image" [...] button

press the Preview Current button to test if texanim is able to do the job

you will see on-screen the tornados adopt the .vdb file corresponding to the current frame on Daz Studio's timeline

Just one more IMPORTANT point or two actually

At the top of texanim's window, there's a slider. It determines the number of milliseconds

that texanim will wait after applying the .vdb to the volume shader File Channel

before launching the frame's iRay rendering

This delay gives time to Daz Studio to update stuff, 500ms is 1/2 second,

since renders take many seconds, it's not a big loss.

what else what else

oh, very important

when texanim will manage the iRay renders, it will only change the rendered filename uh name

( pic0000.png pic0001.png etc )

it will also change the destination path to the one you specified

and it will set the render destination to "Direct To File"

and here's the important part ( s'about time! )

texanim wont change the rules specified in your iRay "Progressive Rendering" options

so if you left the default render settings,

one image will take up to 5000 passes or 7200 seconds to complete

Oh and i almost forgot, you have to click the "Render Range" button and Texanim will handle the rest