Welcome to the November 2012 Freebie Challenge!

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  • robkelkrobkelk Posts: 3,259
    edited November 2012

    jeeperz said:
    robkelk said:
    robkelk said:
    I know the November challenge is usually quiet - presumably because we've all come off the October "Music and Madness" challenge and are getting ready for the December "Winter Wonderland" challenge... but this is quiet even for November. I suppose I should put together an NAE or two...

    What do you know - I can do a speed render if I try... and if I don't have to hunt for freebies first.

    NAE (because I'm the host, and because there aren't enough freebies in this render, and most importantly because I did some postwork on the inset photo) - Wish You Were Here

    Not every sacrifice is obvious.

    \well if you can do a speed render then you'll be up for the mini contest in December. I do a 1-hour mini render contest where you have to do a render in under an hour. It's alot of fun.
    Well, that took me three hours... but it was two renders and a bit of postwork. :cheese:

    Post edited by robkelk on
  • Lord GanthorLord Ganthor Posts: 592
    edited December 1969

    DanaTA said:
    I've got a bunch of really neat ideas, but lack the material to work with. There just aren't too many freebies in the lines of uniforms for police, firefighters, rescue workers and the like, nor the military. I was itching to do something related to the Revolutionary War or World War I, but, alas, not a lot is out there for that sort of thing.

    Okay, I'm just trying to liven thing up a little 'round here...

    There are some things at ShareCG. I think I've seen some WWI vehicles and outfits, helmets, and such. If not, at least WWII things I'm sure of.

    Dana

    I've seen all sorts of odds and ends, as you mentioned, but what's really lacking (at least for free) are the uniforms. It's no big deal, really. November has always been an "off" month for me anyway. Besides, everybody else has been doing much better with this theme than I could. I'm still trying to recover from October anyway...

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    jeeperz said:
    robkelk said:
    robkelk said:
    I know the November challenge is usually quiet - presumably because we've all come off the October "Music and Madness" challenge and are getting ready for the December "Winter Wonderland" challenge... but this is quiet even for November. I suppose I should put together an NAE or two...

    What do you know - I can do a speed render if I try... and if I don't have to hunt for freebies first.

    NAE (because I'm the host, and because there aren't enough freebies in this render, and most importantly because I did some postwork on the inset photo) - Wish You Were Here

    Not every sacrifice is obvious.

    \well if you can do a speed render then you'll be up for the mini contest in December. I do a 1-hour mini render contest where you have to do a render in under an hour. It's alot of fun.

    And very difficult. I had everything ready to go, scene picked out, shaders identified. That clock goes by so "FAST". It is still lots of fun, but man oh man. :bug:

  • music2u4umusic2u4u Posts: 2,822
    edited December 1969

    Well, I love November because I was born in it !!!!! I gets to give thanks in it too by eatin' a bunch of turkey and cranberry sauce. Black friday is in November and ya gets to start a thinkin' what you gonna give fer Christmas and lookin'! So, November is a cool month for me.

    :-)

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    OK, LG said there were not very many uniform freebies, so I went on a hunt. And yep, he is right. But I did find a few things. So here is my second submittal:

    Old Soldier

    Rendered in DAZ 4.5, postwork to fix poke and add signature with Paint Shop Pro.

    Freebies:

    Environment: Lighting InaneGlory's Simple Soft Lighting by InaneGlory.
    Old Soldier: Boots * Geog Suit by ice-boy.
    Old Soldier: Helmet * Adrian Helmet by Gwynplaine.
    Old Soldier: Sabre * Just a sabre by Xorron.
    Old Soldier: Uniform * Mountie Set for M4 by Kar.
    Prop: Background Simple Backdrop by Flesh Forge.
    Prop: Bunting Curtain N180411 by Diana Shtok. Requires conversion to obj
    Prop: Bunting Veil 3D Model by Oleg Temonov.
    Prop: Bush * Bushes by Yughues.
    Prop: Flag Free Morphing Flag Prop by mostdigitalcreations. 12th down
    Prop: Picture Frame Frame 3D Model by Alexey Pavlov. Carrara
    Prop: Plant Stand Capital 3D Model by S. Gainsbourg.
    Shader: Metals * Ultimate Shader Pack for DAZ Studio by Georgehaze.

    No Count

    Prop: Banister Radiance of Spirit by Redhouse Studios. From the DAZ old Freebie Repository
    Prop: Plant Autumn Fern by Eric VanDycke. From RuntimeDNA weekly newletter 2010
    Micheal 4 and Morphs++

    Paid For

    Old Soldier: Texture and Morph Callum by Phoenix1966.

    OldSoldier-DAZ.jpg
    750 x 970 - 900K
  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    Here is the png I used to change the bump on the helmet. US emblem from WWI. Yours to do what you want with it.

    US-WWI-HelmetEmblem.png
    711 x 1035 - 507K
  • DanaTADanaTA Posts: 13,063
    edited December 1969

    Dollygirl said:
    OK, LG said there were not very many uniform freebies, so I went on a hunt. And yep, he is right. But I did find a few things. So here is my second submittal:

    Old Soldier

    http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?&ACT=50&fid=41&aid=32376_7HADnMmL7tqeesvqKfLy&thumb=1&board_id=1

    Really nice job!

    Dana

  • Lord GanthorLord Ganthor Posts: 592
    edited December 1969

    DanaTA said:
    Dollygirl said:
    OK, LG said there were not very many uniform freebies, so I went on a hunt. And yep, he is right. But I did find a few things. So here is my second submittal:

    Old Soldier

    http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?&ACT=50&fid=41&aid=32376_7HADnMmL7tqeesvqKfLy&thumb=1&board_id=1

    Really nice job!

    Dana

    Very nice job! I thought about using the Mountie suit at one point but I knew I'd have to change the textures and fool around to get it just right. In the end my insane obsession with historical accuracy just wouldn't let me go through with it. Just as well as this one would be a tough one to beat.

  • robkelkrobkelk Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    Dollygirl said:
    OK, LG said there were not very many uniform freebies, so I went on a hunt. And yep, he is right. But I did find a few things. So here is my second submittal:

    Old Soldier


    Why do I get the feeling this gentleman was part of one of the India Campaigns? :)

    The links all check out. ENTRY ACCEPTED.

  • robkelkrobkelk Posts: 3,259
    edited November 2012

    And, yes, it is difficult to find free uniforms out there... if you limit yourself to historically-accurate uniforms, or to M4. I don't mind a bit of artistic license in renders...

    Post edited by robkelk on
  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    Thank you all! Thank goodness you allow artistic license! This would not pass muster if you didn't. :-P

    Thank you LG. It is still not as good as yours are. I couldn't take the theme too serious because of me making do. You are much better at that than me. My husband says I should start modeling but gosh that is very scary but I keep looking at Marvelous Designer. There are some awesomeness going on there. I have this 14th century page outfit I would love to put on Genesis or M4 and I have a friend that recreates clothing of the 15th and 16th century. Really want to do some things with her.

    I may do one more. I figured out how to make a revolutionary uniform. There will be some license taking be assured. I still want to see something from LG. Pretty please.

  • Lord GanthorLord Ganthor Posts: 592
    edited December 1969

    Dollygirl said:
    Thank you all! Thank goodness you allow artistic license! This would not pass muster if you didn't. :-P

    Thank you LG. It is still not as good as yours are. I couldn't take the theme too serious because of me making do. You are much better at that than me. My husband says I should start modeling but gosh that is very scary but I keep looking at Marvelous Designer. There are some awesomeness going on there. I have this 14th century page outfit I would love to put on Genesis or M4 and I have a friend that recreates clothing of the 15th and 16th century. Really want to do some things with her.

    I may do one more. I figured out how to make a revolutionary uniform. There will be some license taking be assured. I still want to see something from LG. Pretty please.

    I'm still kicking some ideas around about doing one more, but nothing solid just yet. I've got something in mind, but I don't know if I can gather the required number of freebies as it's a really simple idea. Sometimes the simple ideas are the killers!

    What's the rule about retexturing objects? I've got some freebie boxes and cans that I'd like to switch out the labels on for effect. Most of them are fake "gag" labels and I'd like to replace them with something a little more realistic, otherwise it'll kill the effect.

  • DorseylandDorseyland Posts: 724
    edited December 1969

    DOLLYGIRL

    The Old Soldier render is terrific! I have 2 questions:

    1. What's "Marvelous Designer"?

    2. I was hoping to see someone use Yughues' bushes so that I could ask a newbie question. How do you make them work in DAZ? Where do the different mats go? What settings did you use?

    I think I used to know this, but now I don't. There's probably a term for it, but I've forgotten that too.

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    DOLLYGIRL

    The Old Soldier render is terrific! I have 2 questions:

    1. What's "Marvelous Designer"?

    Marvelous Designer is a dymanic clothing creator. It takes your pattern shapes makes a garment out of is and then applies dynamics to it as if it were real clothing. It is one of the fashion worlds 3D software codes. For 199.00 US you can buy the code. It exports out objs and you can use Poser to do the dymanics. They are talking about creating a plug-in for DAZ but with Opti-tex there are questions. Here is the link: http://www.marvelousdesigner.com/


    2. I was hoping to see someone use Yughues' bushes so that I could ask a newbie question. How do you make them work in DAZ? Where do the different mats go? What settings did you use?

    I think I used to know this, but now I don't. There's probably a term for it, but I've forgotten that too.

    Ok as for Yughue's stuff here is what I do. DAZ can handle tga files except for the opacity. DAZ likes jpgs or pngs better. So I take Yughue's translucency.tga file and change it to a black and white jpg. For DAZ totally visible is white and then DAZ goes to totally invisible when black is used. Grey's between white and black are partial invisibility. To make a DAZ trans map, I use Paint Shop Pro but the steps will probably be the same for any paint software. Check to see if the tga file has an alpha channel (that is a different set of steps). In this case it did not. So here are the steps:
    1. Turn the image into a greyscale image.
    2. Play with the brightness and contrast until you create an outline of the image. That is, in the light side of the image it would be a very light grey and in the darkside of the image a darker grey. These two greys should be evenly distributed in the two areas as much as can be. Life becomes more difficult if you don't do it this way. I have attached an image of this step for you to see what I mean.
    3. Convert the image to only 2 colors.
    4. Clean up any residual stray areas where white should not be or black should not be.
    5. Save file as a jpg.
    Load up the object. Select the object and then go to the Surfaces tab. For bush 01 he calls the surface default. Click on default and you will see a list, Diffuse, Specular, Ambient, Opacity, Bump etc.
    1. Select Diffuse and in the image box browse to the directory where the images are and select the diffuse.tga.
    2. Select Specular and in the image box browse to the directory where the images are and select specular.tga. I also set glossiness to something like 85% because plants do have a shine to them.
    3. Select Opacity and in the image box select the new trans map you created.
    4. Select Bump and set it to 100%. Set Negative Bump to -.45 and Positive Bump to .45.
    5. Select Normal Map and and in the image box select the normal.tga image. Render and tweak your setting as needed.
    6. Save your work as a sub-scene file and then next time you won't have to do this all over again.

    There you go. If you have more questions then don't hesitate to ask. Have fun with Yughue's stuff, his palms and tropical plants are wonderful. I have been working on his rock textures, as well, and I use them all of the time. To get you started I have attached the trans map for bush 01.

    translucency.jpg
    1024 x 1024 - 197K
    translucencyintermediarystep.jpg
    512 x 512 - 58K
  • DorseylandDorseyland Posts: 724
    edited December 1969

    Terrific, Dolly, I'll see what I can do. Thanks very much!

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    Terrific, Dolly, I'll see what I can do. Thanks very much!

    Your very welcome.

  • robkelkrobkelk Posts: 3,259
    edited November 2012

    I'm still kicking some ideas around about doing one more, but nothing solid just yet. I've got something in mind, but I don't know if I can gather the required number of freebies as it's a really simple idea. Sometimes the simple ideas are the killers!
    Tell me about it... :)

    What's the rule about retexturing objects? I've got some freebie boxes and cans that I'd like to switch out the labels on for effect. Most of them are fake "gag" labels and I'd like to replace them with something a little more realistic, otherwise it'll kill the effect.


    As far as I'm concerned, the rules for retexturing objects are the same as the rules for retexturing clothing (or anything else): If the new texture is available to everyone else, then it's a freebie; otherwise it's a no-count item. Edit: Unless you paid for it, in which case it's a paid item.
    Post edited by robkelk on
  • music2u4umusic2u4u Posts: 2,822
    edited November 2012

    So here is my take on it...A NAE...In the days of the depression, here in America, the war on poverty raged on everywhere. People were forced out of their homes to live in the streets. Many parished. Many children were abused and forced into working long hours for almost no pay. I pay tribute to all those who survived the great depression or have family members who went through them. It took a hero eveyday to keep life going.

    DepressionDaz6.jpg
    1280 x 1024 - 216K
    Post edited by music2u4u on
  • jeeperzjeeperz Posts: 1,102
    edited December 1969

    VERY nice music, DID I miss your birthday already this month??? *stands by with pies*
    couldn't get online yesterday and then was gone most of the day cuz it was my daughter's 40th birthday yesterday, damn I feel old now.

  • jeeperzjeeperz Posts: 1,102
    edited December 1969

    another great one from dollygirl too again.
    yes the mini can be nerve wracking but oooh so fun at the same time. I even found when I did the one en Feb a few years ago that the one I did you show how it's done came in just in time, but then I added lighting and stuff too. I made the mistake of rendering at full rrender instead of making the quick render first. took dang near 30 minutes to render.

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,645
    edited December 1969

    A nice one Music, love that lighting, and thanks Jeeperz.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Nice stuff people. I'm so following right along as it goes. I was hoping for more to join the fun this month. It's still a nice month so far and only half over. Maybe not enough have noticed that the Prizes are back.

    Have fun one and all. I'll be proud to Sponsor this contest as long as I see work like I've seen so far this month.

  • jeeperzjeeperz Posts: 1,102
    edited December 1969

    this time of year tends to be that way Jaderail, and more will come in later in the month as well. You should try a hand at entering too if you get a chance.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    jeeperz said:
    this time of year tends to be that way Jaderail, and more will come in later in the month as well. You should try a hand at entering too if you get a chance.
    I've been around for a bit jeeperz, I know this time of year slows down and expected it. I was just trying to nudge any who might still be sitting on the fence into action. Thank you for the invite to join but I'm not able to due the theme (Which I like). I'm Depressive and fighting off a bout right now. I'll just watch and enjoy. I'm looking forward to those who are taking their time and will join when they get ready.

    Luck to all. Happily on the sidelines.
  • robkelkrobkelk Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    Jaderail said:
    . . . Thank you for the invite to join but I'm not able to due the theme (Which I like). I'm Depressive and fighting off a bout right now. I'll just watch and enjoy. . . .

    Oh, dear - I hope you're over your current bout soon!

    And - assuming I get to host again next year - I'll offer a happier theme next time...

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    Rob you could alwasy offer to host an earlier month and do something crazy, like I did with the February free for all, that was great fun really, even though it was hard for me running it, and the New Users one and keeping my end up in all the things I was doing for Daz at the time.

  • robkelkrobkelk Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    music2u4u said:
    So here is my take on it...A NAE...In the days of the depression, here in America, the war on poverty raged on everywhere. People were forced out of their homes to live in the streets. Many parished. Many children were abused and forced into working long hours for almost no pay. I pay tribute to all those who survived the great depression or have family members who went through them. It took a hero eveyday to keep life going.

    (nods)

    Your scene's adult is sacrificing his own life to look after the youngsters - maybe not willingly, but he still is. He and millions like him should be remembered.

  • robkelkrobkelk Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    chohole said:
    Rob you could alwasy offer to host an earlier month and do something crazy, like I did with the February free for all, that was great fun really, even though it was hard for me running it, and the New Users one and keeping my end up in all the things I was doing for Daz at the time.

    That's a thought... Sometime after March, though.

  • Lord GanthorLord Ganthor Posts: 592
    edited December 1969

    robkelk said:
    I'm still kicking some ideas around about doing one more, but nothing solid just yet. I've got something in mind, but I don't know if I can gather the required number of freebies as it's a really simple idea. Sometimes the simple ideas are the killers!
    Tell me about it... :)

    What's the rule about retexturing objects? I've got some freebie boxes and cans that I'd like to switch out the labels on for effect. Most of them are fake "gag" labels and I'd like to replace them with something a little more realistic, otherwise it'll kill the effect.


    As far as I'm concerned, the rules for retexturing objects are the same as the rules for retexturing clothing (or anything else): If the new texture is available to everyone else, then it's a freebie; otherwise it's a no-count item. Edit: Unless you paid for it, in which case it's a paid item.

    Hmmmm....I'll have to go back and rethink this again. I'm not even sure if I can find the freebie new textures or not! I gotta start keepin' lists.

    PS: Music, that is one outstanding render. You captured the whole era in one bold stroke.

  • jeeperzjeeperz Posts: 1,102
    edited December 1969

    Jaderail said:
    jeeperz said:
    this time of year tends to be that way Jaderail, and more will come in later in the month as well. You should try a hand at entering too if you get a chance.
    I've been around for a bit jeeperz, I know this time of year slows down and expected it. I was just trying to nudge any who might still be sitting on the fence into action. Thank you for the invite to join but I'm not able to due the theme (Which I like). I'm Depressive and fighting off a bout right now. I'll just watch and enjoy. I'm looking forward to those who are taking their time and will join when they get ready.

    Luck to all. Happily on the sidelines.


    well in that case I have some pies if you need help encouraging people... This time of year affects me that way too, this forum help keep me out that zone.

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