Maya Domemaster3D Presets
The Domemaster3D shader for Maya includes a collection of Attribute Editor presets to help with fulldome production.
On Windows the Domemaster3D attrPresets folder is located at:
C:\Program Files\Domemaster3D\maya\common\presets\attrPresets
On macOS the Domemaster3D attrPresets folder is located at:
/Applications/Domemaster3D/maya/common/presets/attrPresets
On Linux the Domemaster3D attrPresets folder is located at:
/opt/Domemaster3D/Domemaster3D/maya/common/presets/attrPresets
Large_Hyperstereo_Depth_65cm_Separation
Normal_Depth_6.5cm_Separation
Small_Macro_Scale_Depth_0.65cm_Separation
The domeAFL_FOV_Stereo presets provide a quick way to change the scale of the stereoscopic effect in your scene.
To apply the presets to the Domemaster Stereo Shader you need to select the center_domeAFL_FOV_Stereo node that is attached to the DomeStereoCamera rig. When you change the settings on the center camera's domeAFL_FOV_Stereo lens shader the settings are automatically pushed out to the right and left camera's lens shaders too.
You can choose from a normal "human scale" stereoscopic depth setting of 6.5 cm camera separation, to a large "hyperstereo" set up with a 65 cm camera separation for exaggerating the amount of stereoscopic effect in the scene, or a small macro scale scene with 0.65 cm camera separation for scenes with miniature objects.
gamma_1_correction
gamma_dot_4545_correction
The gammaCorrect presets are helpful when adjusting the gamma values stored in a file texture, or color swatch for proper linear workflow (in Maya versions prior to Maya 2015).
The gamma_dot_4545_correction preset applies a 0.4545 gamma correction to an RGB color swatch or a gamma uncorrected texture like an 8-bit PNG, TIFF or JPEG image. You would connect the gamma correct node between the surface material like an mia_material, surfaceShader, Blinn, or Lambert shading node and the file texture map.
For gamma corrected RGB color swatches you would connect the gamma correct node to a surface material and the gamma nodes' color swatch would be used with the 0.4545 gamma value being applied at render time.
GlassAmberCrystal
GlassFogged
Gold
WaterBlueWideOceanDeep
WaterBlueWideOceanShallow
WaterRustyIronLakeDeep
WaterRustyIronLakeShallow
The refractive water material presets have been prepared specially for use with the mia_material_x_passes mental ray shader. They would typically be applied to a water mesh generated either with Bifrost, RealFlow RealWave, or a polygon/NURBS surface with a water ripple bump/displacement map applied.
The first pair of presets are named "WaterBlueWideOceanDeep" and "WaterBlueWideOceanShallow" and are designed for rendering wide open ocean scenes with a tropical blue water effect called color absorption that colors the water as it gets deeper. The "WaterBlueWideOceanShallow" preset has the color at max distance value set to 2 units. The "WaterBlueWideOceanDeep" preset has the color at max distance value set to 50 units.
The second pair of presets are named "WaterRustyIronLakeDeep" and "WaterRustyIronLakeShallow" are similar to the wide open ocean material but are designed for rendering lakes that have a classic reddish iron water tint of murky fresh water bodies. The "WaterRustyIronLakeShallow" preset has the color at max distance value set to 2 units. The "WaterRustyIronLakeDeep" preset has the color at max distance value set to 50 units.
If you have a scene that uses a different world scale where the color absorption effect is either too strong or too weak, you may want to measure the distance from the water surface mesh to the sea floor or lake bottom and then enter that value as the color at max distance setting.
When these water materials are applied to animated water meshes it looks simply awesome. The presets work really well for LatLong and fulldome VR scenes as water is a perfect way to fill a fairly sparse Maya world out to the horizon.
The gold material preset looks best if there is an environment in the scene or an IBL image that is visible for the reflection. You should assign a bump map or displacement map to the gold material if you are trying to simulate the look of gold foil shielding that might be used on a space craft or satellite.
Note: The new Maya 2016 Hypershade Look Dev preview window does a nice job previewing these shaders in realtime with raytracing and refractions visible when the mental ray rendering mode is enabled and an IBL background is active in the Hypershade.
angular_180_degree_remap
angular_220_degree_remap
angular_270_degree_remap
angular_360_degree_remap
hemirect_360x090_degree_remap
hemirect_360x110_degree_remap
hemirect_360x135_degree_remap
hemirect_360x180_degree_remap
regular_mapping
If you want to adjust the "FulldomeIBL" or "HemirectIBL" shelf tool to work with environment mapped footage with different FOVs( fields-of-view) you can select the "mib_texture_remap" node in the Hypershade and apply one of the presets in the attribute editor window.
If you created your environment mapped background with the FulldomeIBL shelf tool you can use any of the "angular_180_degree_remap" to "angular_360_degree_remap" presets.
If you created your environment mapped background with the HemirectIBL shelf tool you can use any of the "hemirect_360x090_degree_remap" to "hemirect_360x180_degree_remap" presets.
The regular_mapping preset tells the mib_texture_remap node resets the node to its default value and will fit the texture map to the full 1x1 UV space range.
When you apply the "mib_texture_remap" texture presets the IBL texture maps will appear flipped due to an inside vs outside view issue that is common in the Maya mental ray IBL shape node. You can correct the environment map direction by typing a "-1" value into the first field in the "mib_texture_remap" node's transform matrix cell grid.
screen_space
uv_texture_space
These two presets make it easy to change a mib_texture_vector node between the most common texture projection modes - UV mapped textures, and screen space which is how the domeAFL_FOV_Stereo node's control texture maps are configured.
wireframeGridToon
wireframeGridToonTiny
wireframeGridToon is a simple preset that applies a wireframe style outline to a polygon mesh using the Maya paintFX toon shader system. This can be used to render a fulldome compatible wireframe with the "DomeAFL_FOV" shader.
You can apply a paint effects toon preset by switching to the rendering menu set and opening the Toon > Assign Outline > Add New Toon Outline menu item.
In the pfxToon Attribute Editor window select the Presets button.
In the presets menu you can choose between the two Paint Effects Toon presets wireframeGridToon and WireframeGridToonTiny.
If you have a model that is medium sized the wireframeGridToon preset is a good choice. If you have a small model that is only a few centimeters across the wireframeGridToonTiny preset might work better.
You should convert your paintFX Toon strokes into regular polygons if you want to render them with mental ray or any other renderer that has difficulty handling Maya Paint Effects strokes and curves natively.
The Paint Effects stroke / fill / outline conversion is done by selecting the toon outlines shape in the outliner or 3D viewport, and then selecting the Modify > Convert > Paint Effect to Polygon menu item.
After the conversion is complete you will probably want to choose your own color for the polygon based pfxToonShape strokes. You can do this easily by opening the Attribute Editor and switching from the pfxToonShape tab to the surfaceShader tab.
The color you specify in the surfaceShadrer tab will be used at render time. In the screenshot below I switched the Out Color swtach from a black color to a bright yellow.
regular_settings
ldr_to_hdr_boost_05x
ldr_to_hdr_boost_10x
ldr_to_hdr_boost_15x
ldr_to_hdr_boost_20x
ldr_to_hdr_boost_25x
ldr_to_hdr_boost_30x
If you have an 8-bit style PNG/JPEG/TGA/TIFF/IFF texture map or image sequence that you want to use as a final gather or light emission material you can use a remapColor node to boost the highlights.
These presets will let you use the brightest areas in the low dynamic range image for use as a light source. The "ldr_to_hdr_boost" presets will take the bright areas in the image that are at least 96% bright ( a 244+ value in a 0-255 color range, or a 0.96 value in a float range) and boost them dramatically.
As far as the preset naming goes, the "ldr_to_hdr_boost_15x" preset will boost the maximum image value by 15 times which means a value of 1 in the float color range will be boosted to 15.
If the "ldr_to_hdr_boost" preset doesn't make the scene bright enough for light emission you can expand the remapColor nodes' Input and Output Ranges section and change the Output Max value higher. The Output Max control is a direct multiplier on the image brightness.
To apply a remapColor node to an environment texture like the ones used in the FulldomeIBL and HemirectIBL tools you can place the remapColor node between the "mib_texture_lookup.OutValue" and the "mentalrayIblShape1.color" attributes.
You can also brighten an environment map's reflected color or primary visibility brightness settings in the mental ray IBL shape's indirect lighting section. You can access this by opening the Maya render settings, selecting the Indirect Lighting tab and clicking on the the "Image Based Lighting" section's navigation arrow.
This will load the "mentalrayIblShape1" shape in the Attribute Editor window. Expand the Render Stats section.
To adjust the brightness of the visible background image, enable the "Adjust Environment Color Effects" checkbox.
The Color Gain checkbox can be used to boost the overall brightness of the background in your rendering by setting the color picker to HSV and then entering a floating point value "V:" setting as a brightness multiplier. A "V:" value setting of 2.0 will brighten the scene by 2x.
To make the background visible in renders you need to enable the Primary Visibility checkbox.
Note that since the background of the IBL image is rendered with an alpha channel you will need to turn on "ignore alpha" in your compositing package too if you want to see the background environment map image in your PNG or EXR files.
To adjust the brightness of the IBL image based lighting "source image" used with Final Gather and Light Emission enable the "Adjust Final Gather Color Effects".
The Color Gain checkbox can be used to boost the overall brightness by setting the color picker to HSV and then entering a value "V:" setting as a brightness multiplier. A "V:" value setting of 2.0 will brighten the scene by 2x. A "V:" value of 10 will brighten the scene 10x.
safe_viewing_zone_blue
zero_parallax_orange
The "domeAFL_FOV_Stereo" node uses two distinctive colors on the dynamic preview shapes. An orange color is used to indicate the dome radius (zero parallax zone), and a light blue color shows the safe stereo viewing zone.
linearWorkflow
sRGB_workflow
You can apply the "viewColorManager" presets by opening the Render Window, then select the Display > Color Management... menu item.
In the viewColorManager Attribute Editor window select the Presets button.
You can choose either the linearWorkflow or sRGB_workflow preset entry to adjust the renderview gamma values.
The "linearWorkflow" preset sets the Render View's Color Management settings to "Linear" for the rendered image's color input profile and "sRGB" as the display profile. This will make it easier to view 16 bit half float EXR renders correctly in the Render View.
The "sRGB_workflow" preset sets the Render View's Color Management settings to "sRGB" for the rendered image's color input profile and "sRGB" as the display profile. This will make it easier to view 8-bit style output PNG/JPEG/IFF renders correctly in the Render View.