Material Method
This option
controls how the plugin generates materials. The BSDF method creates a
complicated node tree which attempts to mimic IRAY materials as closely
as possible in Cycles, even for characters with complex materials such
as Victoria 8. The material can also be rendered in Eevee, but the
results may be less faithful.
The
Principled method is centered around the principled node. It usually
works better with Eevee and render times may be shorter. Cycles can also
render such materials, but the result may not be identical to what you
get in DAZ Studio.
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Here are the corresponding node trees for the Face material.
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| Node tree generated with the BSDF method |
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| Node tree generated with the Principled method |
The default value of the material method depends on the active render engine: BSDF if the engine is Cycles, and Principled if the engine is Eevee.
In Blender 2.7x, there is a third material method, Internal. It generates materials for the Blender internal renderer and can thus not be used with Cycles.
Refractive Method
To illustrate how the Refractive Method setting affects the material, we consider the Victoria 7 cornea, which has both opaque and refractive components. Note that the main material method must be set to Principled for this option to matter. If the main material method is BSDF, a BSDF node group is generated for refractive materials too.
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| Material Method = Principled, Refractive Method = BSDF |
If the Refractive Method is Second Principled, a second principled node is generated for the refractive part of the material.
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| Material Method = Principled, Refractive Method = Second Principled |
If the Refracive Method is Reuse Principled, the original principled node is used for refraction and the opaque properties are lost. This can be useful if you want a simple material that can be easily modified.
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| Material Method = Principled, Refractive Method = Reuse Principled |
Note that for a purely refractive material, which does not have any opaque channels, the two last method result in the same node tree.
Hair Material Method
Hair BSDF:
Node tree with the Hair BSDF node. Works with Cycles only.
Render in Cycles:
Hair Principled:
Node tree with the Hair Principled node. Works with Cycles only, Blender 2.8x and later only
Principled:
Node tree with a Principled node. Works with both Cycles and Eevee
Viewport Color
This option determines the color of the meshes in the viewport. It does not affect renders, but is only an aid for working in the viewport.
- Original: Use the base color in DAZ Studio, without textures. This is usually white for all materials.
- Random: Use a random color for each material. Useful if you need to see where different materials apply.
- Guess: Assign a color based on the name of the material. The colors are the Skin and Clothes viewport colors in the import options.
Here is Aiko imported with different color choices:
