| Windows 8 Consumer Preview 2012 |
| Deviant Login | Shop |
 | Join deviantART for FREE  |
Take the Tour  |
| Windows 8 Consumer Preview 2012 |
Getting the most out of your CSS Journals Part OneIf you're a subscriber, then no doubt you know all too well what you can now do with your journals. The possibilities are almost endless, limited only by your imagination. And there are some great designs popping up, `lonelyarethebrave, =Nameless-Designer, `depthskins to name a few. But surely there's more to CSS than just images and such? That's where this guide comes in.Getting the most out of your CSS Journals Part One by ~Grayda
Over a series of weeks, you'll see just what you can do with your CSS journal, from minor tweaks to full-blown redesigns. And you can help too! Just note your tweaks to ~Grayda and you can have your tweak included!
Let's begin!
Deviations Box
This is a commonly requested one. This snippet of code will let you display a column to the side of your journal, with some thumbs in there. Much like the little scrolling boxes you see on some people's eBay listing pages. It can display vertical scroll-bars if needed, or hide them completely. Here's the code:
HTML:
Insert your thumb codes in he
Getting the most out of your CSS Journals ThreeHello yet again! Welcome to part 3 of Getting the most out of your CSS Journals. If you haven't done so already, check out parts One and Two. In this edition, we'll be dealing with custom journal icon images, using Pasties in your journals, journal features (showcasing some of the top journals around dA) and as an added bonus, a really nifty PHP script you can download to compliment the use of pasties in journals. Onwards we go!Getting the most out of your CSS Journals Three by ~Grayda
Custom Journal Images
Sure, the little blue book works well with some themes, but it's not always the most gorgeous thing to see. Hiding it isn't always an option. Sometimes you just want to use your own journal icons. Unfortunately dA doesn't have a way to let you take care of this. But CSS does!
HTML:
CSS:
.journalbox .journaltop img {
display:none;
}
.journalicon {
top:12px;
left:5px;
position:absolute;
}
.journaltop h2
|
50%
50%
0%
|
| Taken from the official Planetside Forums - For general detail setup, to know what to change when trying to improve image quality, follow these rules: Do a test render with general default quality first. Remember that there are multiple places where detail settings are changed. Also keep in mind that there are lots more detail settings than before and they affect different aspects of the scene. Never assume that you just need to turn everything up or on for best results. Some settings are only necessary for certain scene types and will just slow down other renders. If you see noise in your clouds, increase cloud samples. If you see noise in the atmosphere, either below or above the clouds, or in light rays, increase atmosphere quality. For atmosphere samples I wouldn't go above 64 unless you have lots of rays, in which case you might go as high as 128. Don't go above that though as you get diminishing returns for very much longer render times. Cloud samples could be put as high as 256 in some cases, but 128 should be a normal maximum to give good results. Much lower settings should usually be fine, especially for default cloud settings. The *taller* your clouds (higher "depth"), the more samples will be needed for good quality. For clouds and atmosphere the quality is defined by number of samples and is indicated by the level of noise. If you don't see noise in your clouds or atmosphere but want higher "quality", don't increase samples, just increase Detail in the Renderer. Once you get a good level of noise-free results with clouds and atmosphere at 0.5 detail you can adjust other settings. If your lighting seems to need more detail or accuracy you can try increasing GI detail. I would try 1 level at a time, go from 2 to 3, then 3 to 4 if it's not enough. If you don't see noticeable differences in these changes then your problem probably lies elsewhere! Only enable GI Surface Details if you are doing a render close to the ground or with objects and the shadow detail on the ground or near objects is not high enough. This will cause a major render speed impact and is usually not necessary. If you see jagged edges on areas of high contrast (terrain against the sky for example) or object edges, increase Antialiasing. Note that in the free Technology Preview you can't go above the default of 3. For the Terragen 2 pre-purchase (available soon!) you can use whatever value you want, but I would not go above 8, and generally 3-5 or 6 should be fine. Finally, once you have a pretty good-looking scene and all your other detail levels have been adjusted appropriately, if you still feel that the *overall* scene lacks a bit of detail, then you can consider increasing the main Detail setting. But again I would recommend adjusting other detail first until you have a fairly consistent level of quality across the whole render. Even if it's less *ovearll* quality than you want, the main thing is that it be consistent - noise-free clouds, decent surface detail, good lighting quality, etc. Increase the main Detail setting incrementally - don't just jump to the maximum. Each 0.1 increase will have a big impact on render time as well as quality, but the render time impact is generally greater than the quality impact. 0.5 actually provides pretty good detail for many scenes. 0.7 or 0.8 can be a good detail setting for final renders while still saving time over 1.0. You might even use 0.9 for almost the same detail as 1.0 and less render time. Don't simply assume that you will always be able to see the difference because 1.0 has more detail than 0.9. TG2 renders *sub-pixel* detail, so it is not necessarily the case that you would see the difference between two high quality render settings (0.9 and 1.0 for example). That's it for now. I hope that will help give you a better idea of how to get reasonable render times *and* quality. - Oshyan |
!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!! 
^^
!
