Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 7

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Comments

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    RGcincy said:
    Novica said:

    OH WOW. I've read about this, but never experienced it.
    We've had tornadoes in the area yesterday, today severe storms rolled through and then it's been sunny all afternoon. On radar, a few rain areas, nothing drastic. So imagine my surprise to have MY HOUSE SHUDDER and the sound of a rumbling combination riverberation fill the sky.  I thought "Tornado?" but it stopped after two almost-instantaneous booms.

    A paper mill about 40 minutes away in driving time had an explosion!  Can you imagine what the homes around it went through?  I called my neighbor and she was like, "What was THAT???" They just posted it in the online newspaper. Wow, to hear and feel an industrial structural explosion was really- different. Think of thunder and distant artillery combined.

    That must have been a huge explosion. Hope no one was killed in it. 

    I remember something like that in Peoria. It was a planned explosion- they were blowing up an old power plant to put in a Walmart Super Center, LOL. That explosion could be heard for miles and shook all the windows. It was surreal! (And this is the Midwest, we're used to tornadoes and thunderstorms so low to the ground they sound like cannon fire!)

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770

    OMG, I love that resort pool. And the books. Sigh. My wallet is hating me lately.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,858
    edited January 2017

      FWSA Piper HD (V7)   

    Posting this first- due to duplicate post. This looks more like Piper in the promos. Also notice the hair seems more brown since I am using different lighting.

     

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,858
    edited January 2017

    Well, my Piper isn't looking at all like this one.  FWSA Piper HD (V7)   

    (deleted) See previous post, which actually comes AFTER this one. I tested the lips, the pose on this one distorted the top one.

    I REALLY like her materials, so I showed them in shade so you can get a good look at them.  I'll do one with her turned into the sun. This is still the skies of iRadiance (the sunny ones.) 

    And I did a custom color for the Geneva Hair that I think is a perfect match for those brows (EDIT: under the Skies of iRadiance lighting. It changes, depending on what you are lighting with. You'll see in the next one.) The Geneva color that has red, has way too much red. This is the strawberry blonde that I made. Like it? Here's the new color tweaks:
    Load the blonde color for Geneva Hair, then change this in Surfaces (with all parts of the hair selected) 
    Base Color: 155 / 129 / 117
    Translucency:  180 / 162 / 148
    Glossy Color:  240 / 217 / 198


    This one, the lips are distorted due to the expression, So be careful!

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,858
    edited January 2017

    Today they're saying the explosion was heard 10 miles away. We're much further than that and it mildly shook the house. We're 22.4 miles, I just mapquested it. They showed the FDA sheet for the black ash and it corrodes metal! All those cars! pnj.com (if it doesn't open a window, just right click and go incognito.) 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • shadowhawk1shadowhawk1 Posts: 2,184
    Novica said:

    Today they're saying the explosion was heard 10 miles away. We're much further than that and it mildly shook the house. We're 22.4 miles, I just mapquested it. They showed the FDA sheet for the black ash and it corrodes metal! All those cars! pnj.com 

    If you heard it that far away I am betting they meant to say they FELT it 10 miles away, be it ground shake or shock wave. I have felt a few blast waves being over here and if you heard it at 22 miles, it was pretty dang big! I hope you are out of the fallout zone for the ash and crud that it tossed into the air.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,858
    edited January 2017

    I don't know what they meant, but we felt it- my neighbor and I chatted right away. We have Hurlbert Air Force field about half an hour away, and we can hear the artillery when they are dropping it. That's what I thought it might be, but immediately knew it was different. Brings back memories, I was an Army officer with 4th Infantry Division (so I knew after a few seconds that there wasn't any more thud-thud-thuds and it wasn't artillery that we normally hear) 

    Here's Piper as a child. Okay, gotta go Zbrush. Twelve hours yesterday and nothing to show for it. Still can't get my issue solved (posted in zbrush thread. I'm following a video tutorial and it just ain't happenin' !) 

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,858

    Really?  Come on Daz, that promo with the huge blob of white shirt poking through the jacket waist band? 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,018
    Novica said:

    Really?  Come on Daz, that promo with the huge blob of white shirt poking through the jacket waist band? 

    The Hoodie has a hood down morph, but if you try to use it when he has the Jacket on, it pokes through the jacket neck area pretty bad, too. This is a strange outfit.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,551

    The hoodie looks like a baby bonnet. I like the concept but it just doesn't have the realism I need with Iray. The bag looks useful though.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    edited January 2017

    Here is a quick render if the Traveller clothing on Darwin's Parker.  I did have trouble with the hood down position it doesn't fold down over the scarf correctly at all. I'm not getting any poke through that the promo render showed everything seems to fit fine.  The hood does have a widen morph which was helpful for covering the hair.

    Traveller Test w Parker.png
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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,018
    edited January 2017

    The traveler jacket is extremely disappointing. The textures look flat and painted on. The surfaces have normal maps, but perhaps the normal strength is too low. The jacket neck ribbing looks particularly flat and thin. The zipper isn't even a separate surface. The jacket loads with one set of Iray Uber settings, but if you apply the Iray material preset, the applied settings are different. One looks too bright and shiny; the other looks dull and flat.

    The scarf is vey loose around the neck. The scarf texture is very distorted around the front of the neck, like it is being terribly stretched. I would expect a wool knit scart in an outfit like this, but this one appears to be super shiny polyester. However, I discovered that like the jacket, the scarf Iray material preset loads different settings than are loaded when the scarf is loaded. The Iray scarf material preset looks much better to me than the originally loaded material settings.

    The little waist pouch looks pretty good. There is a hand pose to hold the stick.

    The first image (lighter, shinier textures) show the items as loaded. The second image show what the Iray material presets do to the surfaces.

     

    Darius 7 Traveler Hoodie Jacket Pants Scarf Gloves Pack Stick.jpg
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    Darius 7 Traveler Hoodie Jacket Pants Scarf Gloves Pack Stick material presets.jpg
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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,858

    I'm not liking the leather, either. It either needs more tiling or just something completely different. Thanks for the renders Ice Dragon Art and Barbult. smiley

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    There's another promos where he's showing us his right side, and you can see pokethru on the hem of the jacket there too.

    Look, I HAVE to ask this - am I the ONLY person who thinks that a LOT of jeans/pants for men, particularly PC items, looks like a bloody tube/cyclinder??????  

    Novica said:

    Really?  Come on Daz, that promo with the huge blob of white shirt poking through the jacket waist band? 

     

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    That's....a really terrible looking outfit. (Not from your renders Barbult, I mean the actual outfit itself. )

    The hoodie looks bad. The difference in the textures as Barbult showed is bad.

    The jacket is one of the worst modelled jacket's I've seen yet. It's almost back to M4's bowling ball shoulders except it's the sleeves that are HUGE looking and they gape around the wrist way too much.

    The jeans....oh man. They look stiff, the legs are just tubes and just downright dreadful. I mean seriously - if there are jeans like this in the store, where they actually LOOK like jeans, then why the hell is something like this being foisted off on us???? Yeah, it may only cost $3.49 and you may think "well for that price, I don't really expect something fantastic"...but it's $16.95 if you're NOT a PC member!!! Who in their right mind is going to pay 17 bucks for that?????????? Why are we STILL being sold badly made outfits like this??? 

    Rant over. 

     

    barbult said:

    The traveler jacket is extremely disappointing. The textures look flat and painted on. The surfaces have normal maps, but perhaps the normal strength is too low. The jacket neck ribbing looks particularly flat and thin. The zipper isn't even a separate surface. The jacket loads with one set of Iray Uber settings, but if you apply the Iray material preset, the applied settings are different. One looks too bright and shiny; the other looks dull and flat.

    The scarf is vey loose around the neck. The scarf texture is very distorted around the front of the neck, like it is being terribly stretched. I would expect a wool knit scart in an outfit like this, but this one appears to be super shiny polyester. However, I discovered that like the jacket, the scarf Iray material preset loads different settings than are loaded when the scarf is loaded. The Iray scarf material preset looks much better to me than the originally loaded material settings.

    The little waist pouch looks pretty good. There is a hand pose to hold the stick.

    The first image (lighter, shinier textures) show the items as loaded. The second image show what the Iray material presets do to the surfaces.

     

     

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,018
    jakiblue said:

    That's....a really terrible looking outfit. (Not from your renders Barbult, I mean the actual outfit itself. )

    The hoodie looks bad. The difference in the textures as Barbult showed is bad.

    The jacket is one of the worst modelled jacket's I've seen yet. It's almost back to M4's bowling ball shoulders except it's the sleeves that are HUGE looking and they gape around the wrist way too much.

    The jeans....oh man. They look stiff, the legs are just tubes and just downright dreadful. I mean seriously - if there are jeans like this in the store, where they actually LOOK like jeans, then why the hell is something like this being foisted off on us???? Yeah, it may only cost $3.49 and you may think "well for that price, I don't really expect something fantastic"...but it's $16.95 if you're NOT a PC member!!! Who in their right mind is going to pay 17 bucks for that?????????? Why are we STILL being sold badly made outfits like this??? 

    Rant over. 

    Because we are silly and pay money for it? In my case, I never would have purchased this based on the promo images, but I wanted to use the "spend $10 on new items and get $12 DOs". I used the cheap new PC+ items as the new items. It was probably a bad idea.

     

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,025

    After buying it and then reading the comments in here I did a quick render with a few adjustments. Nothing fancy 25 minutes to render CPU only in Iray.

    Click on image for full size.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    I think it will be fine for what I want it for.  I will most likely redo the mats anyway since I am learning to texture stuff myself and, well, its fun lol. the duffel and the walking stick will be most useful and there are almost no scarves out there for men so with a bit of playing I think it will work.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,858
    edited January 2017

    Another product that I wasn't really impressed with, is Island Room.  With only one knick-knack (someone must've stolen the other ones) The islands have lush tropical flowers and that ONE potted plant in this set could be found in the Midwest, nothing island-exotic about it. I'd like to see bamboo blinds or tropical printed curtains. That door looks like it has plain panels, didn't do anything for me.

    The resorts have tropical prints for the bedspreads, wall decor that is nautical or floral, and overall island themes. No, no, and no.  Did you see the painting? THE ALPS or somewhere up in the mountains.  The other print was so-so (hated the glaring red though.) Even if this is someone's home, this doesn't have the theme of an "island" room.

    To really sink the theme, that bed is absolutely stagnant- nothing tropical about it. No tiki headboard or anything striking or different from any other set. That one chair in the main room reminded me of something you'd sit in at a back room poker game, not comfortable at all, and doesn't match the tropical chair at the desk. The lamp on the desk just has a thin stick for the base, not a dolphin, fish, seashell- just a thin stick.

    What's with the small window? When I think of all the island homes and resorts I've stayed at, they take advantage of trade winds and have large windows- the views and breezes are basic elements.

    So while this may appeal to some,  this one just doesn't do anything for me.  What I suggest taking a look at for islands and tropical:

    First, get Modern Living.    Then South Beach Deco 5- Living   Put THAT furniture in any other room, and you've got tropical! And oh yeah, it's  $1.99 and $2.99. 

    Tiki Island   Wonderful props. Shrink those down, put on a table, or even in the middle of a potted plant

    DA Palm Island     I used this for my Merry Christmas render. Love it. Put your room looking out to this view!

    Summer Island  Use that long pier and the tiki house at the end to connect to your room. Shrink down two kayaks and criss-cross them for wall decor, or just use one. Use the kayak as the base of a lamp. Embed it 95% in a plane, shader the plane, frame it, and use it as wall art. Look at those food props! Put those on a table. And the set has two shells, again you can put them in wall art, in a planter, on a table, or even embed them in the headboard of a bed, one on each top corner.

    Tropical Coast (part of a bundle)  Although old, with depth of field, it has a waterfall and can be used in the background. (Or Uber Base and water shader it for closer views. Haven't tried it.) 

    Ultimo Paridiso   a lot of tropical plants on the beach- very lush. If I remember though, this one renders a bit slowly. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) 

    Tropical Plants    Pred Pack-Palm Trees (has that nice spikey tree trunk, like my palms outside by my pool) 

    DG Iray Tropical Fabric Shaders  (LOVE THESE)  Use on curtains, bedspreads, even planes for wall art or use on the frames

    Traveler's Naturals-Tropical Anemones Vol 1 , Coral Vol 1,  and Tropical Coral Vol 2   all wonderful art decor, put in plants, knick-knacks (use shaders and turn these into real pieces of art!) ,  and shader/fix up for Iray this fish tank or turn it into a terrarium and use those for decor (shader them into ceramics) 

    Deco Rest Spot    Good lord, I've had this how long? And haven't rendered it. Looks adorable!  to use with South Beach Deco Pavilion and you can use that vase, the floral metal wall art, the ceiling lights and wall lights are adorable!!!, and jazz up a room to be tropical. That bench would make a good shelf to put tropical plants on! South Beach Deco  (why roses though?) has that bed and headboard that I was thinking about.

    And of course,  the products Rich and I just showcased included Peaceful House (linking you back to Rich's renders, which also has the link to the product) and then scroll through quite a few posts on it. That outdoor pool would look great outside the door. 

    How about a Tiki Bar?    Use the tables and wicker items (Uber Base for Iray) from Bistro Miami, which also has nice square tabletop candles.

    Noggin's Real Macaw for wall art or the real bird, or for a knick knack.

    Resort Lagoon, just tested- the shells are separate material zones but are one large group, but you can put these on a wall and get that island feel. (This is when you know you buy too much stuff, when you look at something and think, "I don't think I bought that" and the red "purchased" glares at you when you get to the page.) 

    Quickly, a couple other resort and beach products:

    The Resort Pool    Beach and Pool Fun  (Again, think about scaling and using for other things such as knick-knacks or wall art.) 

    Poolside

    And I can go on and on, but this will get you started. 

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,858

    @fishtales-  Yours looks decent. I like that the jacket doesn't come down as far as the shirt, that's realistic. Clothes rarely line up perfectly and the styles today include longer shirts and shorter over-apparel. I haven't rendered this yet as I refuse to get further sidetracked LOL (those links above took me over an hour. I hope someone finds something they hadn't considered before.)  

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,018
    Fishtales said:

    After buying it and then reading the comments in here I did a quick render with a few adjustments. Nothing fancy 25 minutes to render CPU only in Iray.

    Click on image for full size.

    How did you make the clothing fit tighter - like the cuffs? It looks better that way.

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,025

    I didn't touch the cuffs only the scarf and hood using smoothing and collision so whether that has done something I don't know. I'm doing a closeup of the head ATM so I will have a look later.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,018
    Fishtales said:

    I didn't touch the cuffs only the scarf and hood using smoothing and collision so whether that has done something I don't know. I'm doing a closeup of the head ATM so I will have a look later.

    Maybe it is just the angle of the render then that makes the cuffs look tighter.

    I noticed that the scarf is sticking way out from the back of his neck in your side view. Is that the way it loads, or did you adjust that? I haven't rendered a side view.

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,025

    Thata's the way it looks...........but, I have just found the adjusters for that and I am experimenting with them as we speak :)

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,018
    edited January 2017

    Traveler looks much better when retextured. I used several Iray shader sets I own. Still, the front of the hoodie has a terrible UV that is all distorted up by the neck. This makes retexturing a challenge. Even the original hoodie texture is all distorted at the front neck (and also the top front of the hood) because of the bad UV. The jacket doesn't even have a separate surface for the zipper, so when retexturing the jacket, the zipper disappeared completely. I do like the retextured stick much better. I used a wood shader from Mec4d PBR vol 2.

    I rendered a side view, but the scarf is not poking out away from the body as it did for Fishtales.

    Darius 7 Traveler Hoodie Jacket Pants Scarf Gloves Pack Stick material presets retextured_002 front.jpg
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    Darius 7 Traveler Hoodie Jacket Pants Scarf Gloves Pack Stick material presets retextured_002 side.jpg
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  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,025

    I've now got a headache trying to get this right. This is the best I could do but someone with more patience than me could probably get it better :)

    Click on image for full size.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,551

    I think the scarf needs thickness. It makes me sad though that men's clothing is in such a state. Pa's say men's stuff doesn't sell but often there is a reason.

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    I agree with that. I want more men's clothes, so I want to support PA's that make it, but I'm not going to buy something if I don't like it or think it's badly made.  

    I think the scarf needs thickness. It makes me sad though that men's clothing is in such a state. Pa's say men's stuff doesn't sell but often there is a reason.

     

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,025
    edited January 2017

    A quick one which I stopped early as I have to go, Added some hair and facial stuble.

    Click on image for full size.

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,858
    edited January 2017

    Well you people have more patience than I do. I'm simply going to use the outfit in a crowd and in the background, or take out some of the clothing to kitbash. This is ridiculous. And totally agree with SereneNight, if you make men's clothes with stiff crotches, built in crotches that look ridiculous, sprayed on pants, barely any morphs, poke-through, bad uv's- the list goes on- then don't blame us for not buying it. 

    Hang on, i have to go start a new thread. It's 30 posts x 100 pages so we need to hop over to another one. Bookmark it and help keep it going- remember you are needed and appreciated to showcase products too!

    Here it is, Thread 8   I was curious and checked the stats- the 7 threads are now at 445,057 views/posts. The first six threads, not counting this one, had over 6,000 new views since September, so it's nice that folks are still looking up the product showcases. Appreciate the support! 

    Compared to end of September:  As of January 26, 2017:  Thread 1  81,248 (+730)      Thread 2  65,772 (+467)      Thread 3  76,579  (+930)    Thread 4  56,392 (+505)   Thread 5  51,165 (+494)    Thread 6  68,244  (+2986)   Thread 7  45,657  (+24,180)    

    Total: Threads 1-6  (+6,112 new views/ no posts)      Total Threads 1-7  (+30,292 posts/views)  Total: 445,057 views/posts.

    Post edited by Novica on
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