Loading...
> >

NEW! Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 5

1…4445474950

Comments

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,560
    edited January 2015

    Yes, the PC coupons changed over early. I was using mine on the Holiday sale which was nice.

    I like the muscularity morphs (for men) and the hair. But even at 40% off, they seem kind of high-priced for me. I'm passing.

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 11,010
    edited December 1969

    Invited Guest Contributor

    In case anyone was wondering what the Muscularity Morphs looked like on a familiar character, here's Big Gianni. :)
    Gianni 6
    http://www.daz3d.com/gianni-6
    Muscularity Morphs for Genesis 2 Male(s)
    http://www.daz3d.com/muscularity-morphs-for-genesis-2-male-s

    Also used:
    Real Short Hair for Genesis 2 Male(s)
    http://www.daz3d.com/real-short-hair-for-genesis-2-male-s
    MMA Shorts and Gloves for Genesis 2 Male(s)
    http://www.daz3d.com/mma-shorts-and-gloves-for-genesis-2-male-s
    MMA Shorts and Gloves Textures
    http://www.daz3d.com/mma-fighter-textures

    Rendered DS 4.7>Reality 4>LuxRender

    John

    Big_Gianni.jpg
    1467 x 2000 - 369K
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,560
    edited December 1969

    Nicely done. I like the way the render looks in reality. Very natural colors.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    You beat me to it, I was going to say he's got Reality nailed down nicely! The morphs are interesting too. My main dude is Taric and he is muscular enough for me, but those changes look really good. Thanks for showing us!

  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 11,010
    edited December 1969

    Thanks! This is with the All Muscle Volumes slider maxed out, but you can add as much or as little muscle as you want.
    The Flexions On/Off is set to on, so if the pose would normally cause a muscle to flex (such as the biceps here) the flexing is automatic, which is very cool. :)

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,560
    edited December 1969

    tjohn said:
    Thanks! This is with the All Muscle Volumes slider maxed out, but you can add as much or as little muscle as you want.
    The Flexions On/Off is set to on, so if the pose would normally cause a muscle to flex (such as the biceps here) the flexing is automatic, which is very cool. :)

    Have you done any more renders? I'd love to see them. One thing I'm curious about is it seems to be a bit dark between the pecs... Is this an effect of the depth there?

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    BRRRRR.
    Pensacola, Florida- temperature 18 degrees. Real feel 6 degrees. ARGH. My horse has two blankets on, and btw, got his second antibiotics shot yesterday. Hasn't had a temperature in 4 days and they have been bringing him into the barn (along with the other four who are sick) as no one has had a temperature, no runny noses, all eating and acting normally. The real feel high to day is 34 degrees (actual temp 40)

    How cold is it where you are?

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,560
    edited December 1969

    Temperature is 64 degrees in central coastal California. I love it. We are getting sme warm weather after a cold spell.

  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 11,010
    edited December 1969

    26 F here in southeast Tennesse. Expected high 27 F. 2 more days before the Arctic mass moves back north.

  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 11,010
    edited December 1969

    SereneNight said:
    tjohn said:
    Thanks! This is with the All Muscle Volumes slider maxed out, but you can add as much or as little muscle as you want.
    The Flexions On/Off is set to on, so if the pose would normally cause a muscle to flex (such as the biceps here) the flexing is automatic, which is very cool. :)

    Have you done any more renders? I'd love to see them. One thing I'm curious about is it seems to be a bit dark between the pecs... Is this an effect of the depth there?
    Sorry I didn't answer sooner, but the reason for the shadow is 2 lights in the scene, one on the right, one left, none in front.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Busy shopping this morning. As I said, I like woodsy so Midnight Rogue fit the bill. It seems a bit busy to me with perhaps too many buckles/fasteners, but overall I like it and I needed a New Release.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited January 2015

    Predatron Cherry Trees (Predatron)
    http://www.daz3d.com/predatron-cherry-trees

    I have a lot of trees I haven't explored, and picked up a few more during the recent Predatron sale. Here's two of the cherry trees. Yes, that autumn tree is a cherry tree, so wishlist this if you are in the market for those.

    Wonderful bark texture! Showing the blossoms up close and the tree overall. Very bushy. IMO the leaves are better from a distance. They are extremely pretty in scenes- your typical use.

    Large renders. Click to enlarge/ click again.

    EDIT: BTW, these render fairly quickly too!

    cherrytree5.jpg
    771 x 900 - 641K
    cherrytree4.jpg
    771 x 900 - 673K
    cherrytree3.jpg
    771 x 900 - 312K
    cherrytree2.jpg
    1200 x 1400 - 1M
    cherrytree1.jpg
    700 x 900 - 753K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited January 2015

    Predatron Common Ash Trees (Predatron)
    http://www.daz3d.com/predatron-common-ash-trees

    I looked up Ash tree leaves. The edges are slightly jagged or slightly wavy at places along the edges, with most of the different varieties of ash leaves. IMO, in close ups- these look more like groups of diamonds. However, when you back away, the diamond clusters give the illusion of ash leaves overall. And again, so beautifully bushy.

    I like the tree trunk texture.

    It's nice to have the different colored leaves- the golden autumn and the summer green. The bare tree (not shown) shows the beautiful bark texture.

    click to enlarge.

    ash3.jpg
    771 x 900 - 794K
    ash2.jpg
    771 x 900 - 717K
    ash1.jpg
    771 x 900 - 652K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Predatron Fir Trees (Predatron)
    http://www.daz3d.com/pred-pack-fir-trees

    Lots of needles!

    To me, in the closeups, some of these branches look like 2 x 4s, very squared off. Again, I looked up the trees, particularly the branches, and most of the ones I saw had character- little dips and bends. But distant shots and the typical landscape, these do nicely.

    fir2.jpg
    600 x 900 - 275K
    fir1.jpg
    1029 x 1200 - 1M
  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,806
    edited December 1969

    Thanks for the tree renders! They do look good at a distance and the bark looks good close up.

    Rich

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited January 2015

    RG said:
    Thanks for the tree renders! They do look good at a distance and the bark looks good close up.

    Rich

    You're welcome :) More coming sometime today I think. I have company arriving tomorrow so housecleaning, but I'm going to try and start some renders while doing it.

    And welcome to the thread.

    EDIT: Rendering now- Horse Chestnut Trees

    Post edited by Novica on
  • IndigoJansonIndigoJanson Posts: 1,100
    edited December 1969

    Looking forward to those horse chestnuts, Novica. It was good to see a couple of others by Predatron that I have on my wishlist (I already own the fir trees). The cherry blossom is lovely.

    His bundles are especially good value if you don't already own some of the included products. Unfortunately I always seem to.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited January 2015

    Predatron Horse Chestnut Trees (Predatron)

    http://www.daz3d.com/pred-pack-horse-chestnut-trees-12261

    Wow, these put the bush in bushy. Very dense, quite lovely. Closeup, they are a bit flat, would like to see more twist and variety but again, I don't think you'll be doing this close in your renders very often.

    I'd fast track these on a wishlist if you didn't grab them during the sale. The first image is an extreme closeup, this is one of the trees that at a regular closeup will look good. Edges of leaves look good too.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_hippocastanum tells you the medicinal purposes of horse chestnut- and the fact it got its name because people thought it was a chestnut (and isn't!) and that they thought it would cure chest complaints in horses (it doesn't- poisonous!) So we have a chestnut that isn't, and a potential killer of horses nut. Wonderful. And the nickname stuck.

    Renders at a pretty slow rate, very slow compared to the others. But wow what a tree! (But I have this first one at .20 shading rate) and 1200 pixels- big. I'll leave the others at that rate but make them smaller images.
    For the first one:
    65% at 10 minutes going good- then slowed as details coming in.
    80% at 30 minutes.
    83% at 40 minutes (ugh. 10 minutes for 3 percent)
    85% at 48 minutes
    87% at 56 minutes
    92% 1 hr 20 minutes
    96% at 1 hr 35 minutes
    done at 1 hr 52 minutes

    BTW, I am curious. A long time ago, I turned off progressive rendering because everyone was doing that at the time- (it was a big discussion.) Since Faveral suggested I turn it on for the Lake Village render, and it did so beautifully coming in and I was able to watch it, I've left it on. So the question is- do you Progressive render or not? It's really cool to see it develop as it renders (yep, I use the Aux Viewport too when creating the scene.)

    Click to enlarge- big render.

    horseChestnut3.jpg
    800 x 1200 - 658K
    horseChestnut2.jpg
    800 x 1200 - 627K
    horseChestnut.jpg
    800 x 1200 - 973K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,136
    edited December 1969

    Progressive render used to be more or less broken and crash DAZ frequently. It has since been fixed and works quite well. I find the final quality to be slightly different than my normal render settings, though, because it uses box instead of sync, I think.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Better or worse quality?

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,136
    edited December 1969

    A little worse in my opinion, in the ones I've done both ways and compared. I don't know if that is a universal truth.

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,806
    edited January 2015

    And welcome to the thread

    I find this series the most useful one to visit on the DAZ forums. Gives lots of ideas of what is useful, which means I've made a number of purchases and added a lot to my wishlist from reading these posts.

    EDIT: Meant to add a big thanks to you and the other contributors for sharing their work.

    Rich

    Post edited by RGcincy on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited January 2015

    Good to know Barbult. I may do a comparison sometime soon and we'll see. If anyone else wants to do that, feel free.

    Rich- I know I've bought things too- I have great contributors! :)

    This full length Horse Chestnut tree coming up, I left every setting the same. It is 89% at 43 minutes so going faster.
    92% at 44 minutes

    Doing the rust colored one.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • IndigoJansonIndigoJanson Posts: 1,100
    edited January 2015

    Novica said:
    Predatron Horse Chestnut Trees (Predatron)

    http://www.daz3d.com/pred-pack-horse-chestnut-trees-12261

    Wow, these put the bush in bushy. Very dense, quite lovely. Closeup, they are a bit flat, would like to see more twist and variety but again, I don't think you'll be doing this close in your renders very often.

    I'd fast track these on a wishlist if you didn't grab them during the sale. The first image is an extreme closeup, this is one of the trees that at a regular closeup will look good. Edges of leaves look good too.


    They look very nice indeed. Did you get these all together in the tree bundle, or just buy separately? Which do you personally like best out of them and the other trees that you have? I have several trees and some of the flowers by Predatron wishlisted too, and also like the look of Andrey's ones (I have his plants bundle), so I'm going to have to decide which is my priority.

    I did trim my wishlist quite a bit these last couple of days. I figured if I wasn't buying things that have 70% off in the current sale, I probably never will buy them, even if I once thought I would.

    It's good to have you back in the forum and see this thread busy once again!

    Post edited by IndigoJanson on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Hmm..not sure. I was in Washington DC during the cherry blossom time, so those are kinda special- but most of these bushy trees render quite well for normal / long distance and it's hard to pick a favorite. I've got quite a few more to go too.

    It's showing I don't have 134 of 265 items, but that's not right as some of those are bundles and I have all those items in the bundles. So probably don't have about 125 of his items. Didn't need the willow trees as I have others of those plus those in sets already.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited January 2015

    Predatron Silver Birch (Predatron)
    http://www.daz3d.com/pred-pack-silver-birch-trees

    Coming up, Silver Birch. Added more Horse Chestnut so be sure and go back and take a peek. Silver Birch will go in this post.

    silverbirch3.jpg
    800 x 1200 - 594K
    silverbirch.jpg
    800 x 1200 - 1M
    silverbirch2.jpg
    800 x 1200 - 667K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited January 2015

    Predatron Stone Pines (Predatron)
    http://www.daz3d.com/predatron-stone-pines

    Coming, rendering now.
    These render quickly- I'd say if you want a scene that won't get bogged down with the trees rendering, this one is a good consideration.

    The full length one: (third render)
    40 seconds 52% with an 1800 x 1800 render and .20 shading rate!
    58 seconds 60%
    1 minute 30 seconds 68%
    2 minutes 10 seconds 74%
    3 minutes 30 seconds 82%
    4 minutes 30 seconds 85% (slowing a bit, fine tuning)
    6 minutes 89%
    8 minutes 30 seconds DONE


    Oooh Jindi- I think I've found my favorite! Renders so fast and love the detail.

    To answer a PM- it is using 4 distant lights. One all the way around and one from front. One is turned on stronger for more dramatic side lighting.

    stonepine3.jpg
    1800 x 1800 - 1M
    stonepine2.jpg
    800 x 1200 - 875K
    stonepine.jpg
    800 x 1200 - 935K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited January 2015

    Predatron Cypress Trees (Predatron)
    http://www.daz3d.com/pred-pack-cypress-trees

    The full length one is in progress, it is a very large render 800 x 1800. The others were a maximum on one side of 1200. So hard to compare. But this isn't a fast rendering tree at a .20 shading rate. Only going to do one render of this one, tying up the computer for several hours! After 3 hours, I'd say this is one to avoid if you have a choice of trees and not going for something regional. It definitely is not a quick tree. Final was almost FOUR HOURS.

    2 minutes: 35%
    5 minutes 47%
    7 minutes 15 seconds 54%
    14 minutes 30 seconds 62%
    53 minutes 78%
    55 minutes 82%
    1 hour 15 minutes 82%
    1 hour 30 minutes 85%
    1 hour 55 minutes 87%
    2 hours 30 minutes 92%
    2 hours 45 minutes 93%- crawling along.
    3 hours 20 minutes 96%
    3 hours 58 minutes- so almost FOUR HOURS. 'Nuff said.

    cypressLONGrender.jpg
    800 x 1800 - 505K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    http://www.daz3d.com/lucky-break-software-sale

    In case you are not getting the Lucky Break messages (I only got the first email, but the link works for all the changes) the software stuff is on sale.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Pred Pack- Alder Trees (Predatron)
    http://www.daz3d.com/pred-pack-alder-trees

    95% 4 minutes 30 seconds
    97% 5 minutes
    Done 5 minutes 25 seconds.

    More my speed! This render is smaller (about 725 by 1000) but still a large size.

    alder3.jpg
    727 x 1000 - 586K
    alder2.jpg
    727 x 1000 - 718K
    alder.jpg
    727 x 1000 - 545K
This discussion has been closed.