Low resolution decal rendering

[candymanman]

I know this has already been reported, but I wanted to chime in as well in case it help push it to the top of the patch list.

I purchased the full Substance 3D suite yesterday spefically for Stager. As a long time Dimension user, I was absolutely LOVING Stager, and made many vehicle wraps this morning with incredible results. I'm also very pleased that the GPU rendering works, unlike being hit and miss in Dimension.

Then, I tried to decorate a much smaller scale product. Instead of a car, it was a backpack. I simply wanted an up-close shot of a logo on the backpack. I realized quickly that on smaller models  the decals were being terribly downsampled even though high resolution PNG's (also tried vector SVG's) were inported. After trying multiple things (different resolution decal imports, scaling the model WAY up and WAY down, etc...) I then hit these forumns only to find out that the issue is known and a fix is in the works.

I purchased the suite not to decorate cars, but to do small product renderings for my company's new launch coming up. The decal issue makes Substance superfluous to Dimension for me.

I've read the many angry comments and I know you're already aware, so I will refrain from further bashing and be a tad more even-tempered. I am just plain baffled that such a serious bug has been present for so long that renders Stager useless for the many graphic pros looking to do product photo shoots for their companies and clients.

Unless I missed an update, it seems the previous forumn threads end without a solution, just a promise.

I will try to get a refund tonight by submitting a support ticket and go back to Dimension until this bug is rectified.

Any idea on an eta for the fix? I will most definitely re-subsribe when the issue is resolved.

I LOVE how well substance works, truly! I really hope the bug is fixed soon.

All my best,

__________
Greg Beck
Printing Specialty Inc.
Home of Candy Cartons
(636) 542-8560
Facebook.com/thecandyboxguy
www.GrowMyListings.com 

[candymanman]

In case it helps... I decided to try applying the same decal to a CUBE from Stager's "Basic Shapes." I saw that the 'add decal' button was grayed out, so I searched under the "object" menu to see that I could select the cube and "convert to standard model." Then the decal button became available. So, I sized the cube to the same size as the backpack model from the adobe stock store, then applied the same file/decal to the surface.

Whelp, it's GORGEOUS. Here is a scren shot comparison:

I'm guessing the issue is with Stager somehow mis-interpreting the models from stock.adobe.com as well as models from the substance store.

Next, I'm going to try a decal on one of my own folding carton models that I created using Illustrator and Origami. I'll post an update.

[candymanman]

I was incorrect actually, the cube, once I zoomed in further to render, downsampled the decal, though not as bad as the backpack.

I exported the backpack to OBJ then brought it into Dimenion and applied the sticker in the same spot. While it looked low rez in the viewer, it rendered CRYSTAL clear. I've read that Dimension and Stager use different rendering engines. I'm guessing that the Stager engine is mis-handling the decals and not rendering them at full resolution. It's almost like it's rendering the decal using the same thumbnail that appears in the pre-rendering viewer. 

[candymanman]

I just did a render of the same backpack with the decal in Dimension to show the massive difference. But I guess you've removed permission for me to upload images? Odd.

Greg

[candymanman]

I just did a render of the same backpack model using the same decal in Dimension to show the massive difference in quality. But I guess you removed permission for me to upload images? Did I do something wrong?

Greg

[candymanman]

These two photos comparing Stager and Dimension pretty much tell the whole story. Stager is not a program to be used (at this point in time) for close-up product mockups with decals. Which, unfortunately, is the entire reason I bought the full suite. I spoke with support to cancel and get a refund, but they talked me into 2 months free. So, I'm crossing my fingers a patch is released before then.

[candymanman]

I have tried increasing the "Resolution" setting on some materials to thehighest setting, and it helps. But, it's still not pro and has bleeding and pixelization when doing a closeup. Dimension clearly doesn't tie the decal resolution to the material resolution and seems to render the original sticker file rather than downsampling it first. Product renders like the following would end up amateur-looking in Stager. This was done in Dimension. I really hope the solution that is coming will completely untie the decal resolution from the marterial resolution like Dimension seems to do.

[DavidLloydImageworks]

Another month without any response from Adobe on when this will be fixed, or even if it will be fixed... 

[candymanman]

David, I've come to understand the problem, and how to work around it. But, I don't have time to type it all out right now. Call me if you want and I'll explain what you can do if you're in a bind. 636.542.8560. -Greg

[DavidLloydImageworks]

Hey Greg, I am unfortunately in meetings this afternoon. If you get an chance and are able to type it up, or you want to shoot me an email (david@dlimageworks.com), that would be great. I stopped putting myself in a bind with stager months ago, cannot rely on it, but I would love to finish some projects that I have a lot of hours into eventually...

[candymanman]

I'm using voice to text right now so forgive any errors. The root of the problem is when you place a small decal on a large object. The larger the object or 3D model, the worse it will become. Somehow dimension got around this by rendering the stickers at their own resolution and not the resolution of the surface. If you have a very large surface area, than the resolution gets worse the larger the surface. For example, all I wanted to do was place a sticker on a car. The problem is the car wrap was quite large and I only had a 3 inch sticker on the bumper. Anyway, the way I got around this is to cut out a small portion of the model using the wand tool, cutting it, then pasting it back in the exact same position. Then you end up with a separate model from the original and you would place the sticker on that smaller model cut out. Not sure if that makes sense but hopefully they can get us a fix where decals are rendered at their own resolution and not dependent upon the resolution of the surface they are placed on. Again, dimension had this problem to begin with and they somehow rectified it. But I do realize that stager uses an entirely new engine.