Daz Tutorial Woohoo! nVidia vMaterials working in Daz 4.12

m4dsk1llz

m4dsk1llz

Engaged Member
Feb 13, 2019
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Here is how to get the nVidia MDL shaders working in DAZ 4.12

Go to the following page on nvidia.com,
You must be registered to see the links
. Download one of the vMaterial application appropriate for your installation. Since I am a Windows user the rest of the instructions will be specific to Windows but will apply generally to other OS's.

  1. Install the current version of the vMaterial catalog into the default subdirectories. During the install you may be asked to also install the MDL Exchange application, make sure you do this!
  2. After installation navigate to C:\Users\<account name>\Documents\mdl. Right-click on the vMaterials subfolder and select Copy.
  3. Navigate to your DAZ application folder (not your Library folder). We are going to paste the nVidia vMaterials folder into the following location, C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\shaders\iray\nvidia (this is the default DAZ installation location in Windows).
  4. Download the following two DAZ DIM install zips from Sharecg.com
    1. You must be registered to see the links
    2. You must be registered to see the links
  5. Install the two files from sharecg using your preferred method of installation into your DAZ library.
  6. Open Daz Studio and go the the Shader Mixer tab. If you don't open Shader Mixer by default you can access it with the Window > Panes (Tabs) > Shader Mixer menu selection.
  7. In Shader Mixer select Edit > MDL Directory Manager...
  8. In the MDL Directory Manager click on Base Paths and then the Add button.
  9. Add the path to nVidia's MDL Exchange directory, the default is C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA Corporation then accept.
  10. Profit!
That should be it. A few things to note;
  • MDL shaders from nVidia are generally better quality than the shaders provided by DAZ3D.
  • Forget all you know about tiling, nVidia doesn't tile, it applies textures via percentages using the Scale parameter in the surfaces tab. A factor of 1.0 is apply the texture at full size, fractions decrease the visual size of the texture, numbers greater than 1.0 increase the visual size of the texture.
  • All nVidia material textures appear gray in the viewport unless you are using the Iray renderer. Don't worry, they will render just fine.
 
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rayminator

rayminator

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Respected User
Sep 26, 2018
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I'll give big thumbs if you post the files from Sharecg.com to here so other members here don't have to sign up on a site they don't want too
 
kkoolldd

kkoolldd

Newbie
Jan 30, 2018
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Where are the shaders available? I did all your steps, but I can seem to find any new materials anywhere... hmm..
 
Bip

Bip

Active Member
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May 4, 2017
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That rocks! :love:(y)

It worked out of the box without half of the steps :)
I did not installed the "nVidia thing.exe". I just opened the .exe with 7zip and extracted the vMaterials folder to the desired location.
I didn't install the MDL Exchange application either.
I did not add the directory in the Shader Mixer (There's no need as long as you install your vMaterials folder in the C:\...directory to DAZ program...\DAZStudio4\shaders\iray\nvidia. It's the default directory, Daz already know it).
 
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D

Deleted member 1121028

Well-Known Member
Dec 28, 2018
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vMaterials 1.7

(..and iray 2020.1.1 released :))

You must be registered to see the links


Over 150 new materials (overall more than 2150 now), including:

  • Fine woven fabric
  • Roughly woven cotton
  • Weathered concrete
  • Spongy concrete
  • Bark
  • Metallic chameleon car paint
  • Wood cork
  • Long carpet
  • Granite paving
  • Clinker brick

[
You must be registered to see the links
]
 
Ifmonger

Ifmonger

Newbie
Dec 4, 2019
39
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Bip said:
That rocks! :love:(y)

It worked out of the box without half of the steps :)
I did not installed the "nVidia thing.exe". I just opened the .exe with 7zip and extracted the vMaterials folder to the desired location.
I didn't install the MDL Exchange application either.
I did not add the directory in the Shader Mixer (There's no need as long as you install your vMaterials folder in the C:\...directory to DAZ program...\DAZStudio4\shaders\iray\nvidia. It's the default directory, Daz already know it).
Click to expand...
Great tip, saved many steps, thanks :D
 
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