FG Caster Block with Texture

[Falam]

In my scene I'm using an object as a FG light object which has a constant shader applied to the object. I don't want the entire object to be a FG caster, when I apply a texture to the object to block out areas of the object on the constant material the constant material value is too low to light the scene, when I make the values high HLS/HSV (8-10) it overrides the texture I had on the object, therefore eliminating the blocking by the texture. If I plug the texture in on the radiance port on the constant shader as it says you would do in the manual to block out areas of the FG object, the object is not being block by parts of the texture, I'm stumped ?

[Kzin]

why not using an arealight? i think you make it to complicated. create a hdr texture in ps with hdr color values. then use the user_ibl_rect lightshader, apply the texture and you have a importance sampled textured lightsource. it creates detail lighting and shadowing where fg only creates a soft, interpolated solution. and because its a direct light its a good base for fg computing.

shader can be found here with inst guide. keep in mind to set the shadow mode in rendersettings to "enabled" and not "segment" when using ibl shaders.

https://www.si-community.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2359&start=50

[Falam]

why not using an arealight? i think you make it to complicated. create a hdr texture in ps with hdr color values. then use the user_ibl_rect lightshader, apply the texture and you have a importance sampled textured lightsource. it creates detail lighting and shadowing where fg only creates a soft, interpolated solution. and because its a direct light its a good base for fg computing.

shader can be found here with inst guide. keep in mind to set the shadow mode in rendersettings to "enabled" and not "segment" when using ibl shaders.

https://www.si-community.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2359&start=50

I knew, but I wasn't sure that either one of those shaders was what I needed, after reading the elemental ray article. Thank you for clarifying

What is different between the ibl shaders in the thread you posted and the ibl factory shaders that come with Softimage 2013, or can I use the factory ibl 2013 shaders ?

[Kzin]

I knew, but I wasn't sure that either one of those shaders was what I needed, after reading the elemental ray article. Thank you for clarifying

What is different between the ibl shaders in the thread you posted and the ibl factory shaders that come with Softimage 2013, or can I use the factory ibl 2013 shaders ?

there are no factory ibl shader in 2013. ad did not implemented them so you have use the two files which unlock user_ibl and user_ibl rect.
the user_ibl is a direct skydome/skylight shader. the ibl_rect is a importance driven area light shader for lighting with textures. for example, you can create your own hdr of a lightsource and use this image as input in ibl_rect. the light emission is then taken from your hdr texture. it creates all the fine lighting details you have in your hdr texture.

[Falam]

I knew, but I wasn't sure that either one of those shaders was what I needed, after reading the elemental ray article. Thank you for clarifying

What is different between the ibl shaders in the thread you posted and the ibl factory shaders that come with Softimage 2013, or can I use the factory ibl 2013 shaders ?

there are no factory ibl shader in 2013. ad did not implemented them so you have use the two files which unlock user_ibl and user_ibl rect.
the user_ibl is a direct skydome/skylight shader. the ibl_rect is a importance driven area light shader for lighting with textures. for example, you can create your own hdr of a lightsource and use this image as input in ibl_rect. the light emission is then taken from your hdr texture. it creates all the fine lighting details you have in your hdr texture.

There isn't, how come I had these nodes in my vanilla install of Softimage 2013 ?

[Kzin]

I knew, but I wasn't sure that either one of those shaders was what I needed, after reading the elemental ray article. Thank you for clarifying

What is different between the ibl shaders in the thread you posted and the ibl factory shaders that come with Softimage 2013, or can I use the factory ibl 2013 shaders ?

there are no factory ibl shader in 2013. ad did not implemented them so you have use the two files which unlock user_ibl and user_ibl rect.
the user_ibl is a direct skydome/skylight shader. the ibl_rect is a importance driven area light shader for lighting with textures. for example, you can create your own hdr of a lightsource and use this image as input in ibl_rect. the light emission is then taken from your hdr texture. it creates all the fine lighting details you have in your hdr texture.

There isn't, how come I had these nodes in my vanilla install of Softimage 2013 ?

you had installed it an your last si2013 inst?

[Falam]

you had installed it an your last si2013 inst?

I only installed Si2013 once, I never had it installed previously. It is installed in the factory of 2013, they are both the same ones, correct ?

[Fer]

user_IBL, BSDF, Ptex, and Alembic, are all activated in 2013 SP1.

[Falam]

user_IBL, BSDF, Ptex, and Alembic, are all activated in 2013 SP1.

That is what I was telling Kzin, User_IBL is a light shader already in the vanilla of Softimage 2013. PTex, Alembic & BSDF are not in 2013

[Kzin]

interesting. cant check it at the moment, but i install all the basic stuff after si installation, like ibl and bsdf.

[Falam]

interesting. cant check it at the moment, but i install all the basic stuff after si installation, like ibl and bsdf.

What is bsdf ?

[Kzin]

interesting. cant check it at the moment, but i install all the basic stuff after si installation, like ibl and bsdf.

What is bsdf ?

illum shaders which using importance sampling for better quality and faster rendering. the current one are a bit limited because no framebuffer support. but they can be helpfull in some cases.

[Falam]

interesting. cant check it at the moment, but i install all the basic stuff after si installation, like ibl and bsdf.

What is bsdf ?

illum shaders which using importance sampling for better quality and faster rendering. the current one are a bit limited because no framebuffer support. but they can be helpfull in some cases.

There are a few shaders with the word "bsdf" none of which I can drag into the RT, which one(s) are you referring to ?

[Kzin]

There are a few shaders with the word "bsdf" none of which I can drag into the RT, which one(s) are you referring to ?

all the "builtin" ones, like builtin_bsdf_lambert or builtin_bsdf_carpaint.

[Falam]

There are a few shaders with the word "bsdf" none of which I can drag into the RT, which one(s) are you referring to ?

all the "builtin" ones, like builtin_bsdf_lambert or builtin_bsdf_carpaint.

Access Denied is the message I get when I try to drag one of those nodes into the RT viewer ?

[Kzin]

There are a few shaders with the word "bsdf" none of which I can drag into the RT, which one(s) are you referring to ?

all the "builtin" ones, like builtin_bsdf_lambert or builtin_bsdf_carpaint.

Access Denied is the message I get when I try to drag one of those nodes into the RT viewer ?

to get access to bsdf you have to need to add the declaration in the base.mi for example or create a new mi file and put it in the mi file folder.
i think the once you have are the ones from mental mill? all the nodes are available but cannot be used (i think the declaration of it is not correct, dont know).