Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 9
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I am sadly not impressed with M8 at all. About as impressed as I was with M7. Which is fine, I am more than happy with my G2M males and Gypsy Angel and Darwins G3 males. I will just move them up to take advantage of the improvements. I also realize that they can't please anyone (i'm actually one of the people who rather likes Vicky 8's strong face lol) and I do hope that he does well for Daz. Just, not my cup of tea. Although I am sure there will be plenty of add on characters that may tempt me and I am looking forward to the extra morph packages that hopefully will be coming out in the next day or two. Also, I already own all the previous generations so giving them for free has zero incentive for me to pick them up.
I just finished the women HDs, did Mei Lin. I am returning all of them. I don't think they're worth even $3.38. Some of them even take OUT detail. For those, I did them twice, just to be sure- and each time, I had the HD one turned off in Scene and I checked that several times before I rendered. The regular gal was selected and the eye turned on in Scene. So there's no doubt. For the others, the difference is very small, and areas which should look noticeably sharper- well, meh compared to what I was expecting, or not there at all. That dramatic lighting would catch every nuance and it's just not the same sharpness as the promos.
Some of you may find more details that what I'm seeing, with different lighting. If you do, let us know, I want to be fair about results. I would think, however, with dramatic lighting that shows contrasts, we'd be seeing lines and hollows that were added. I'm seeing things taken out that make it more bland IMO. (Load up both images and click back and forth.)
To answer a question I asked a long time ago, do the HDs get retained when using a character for that figure- we said yes, but I never saw much change. With this lighting, I can confirm that characters do keep the HDs (I did Kiaria on Mei Lin 7, she's there in the Mei Lin post.) But sadly, there's not much HD changes to keep as the HD wasn't great (because I thought I'd be getting what the promos showed) to begin with.
I am anticipating the men to be better, we'll see, and I have to proritize other activities so off the computer this afternoon. You folks take on Michael 8, I'm getting the Pro Bundle due to the additional discount (takes it to 66% off) but won't render him until later. I will be trying the same settings / lighting as Gwenbleiz and we'll see how he does.
I am returning the Cold Weather Outfit for reasons already shown, and the Sonja Hair, because it takes quite awhile to render and that's not surprising with fibermesh hair. However, it didn't work on one figure, and has very few morphs- and other than the bangs, none for movement. The morphs are really lacking for sides, back, and top of the head- even hair of that length blows in the wind!
I concur (Leo in "Catch Me If You Can")
Some of Ron's brush sets come with styles too, as well as PSD files, but unfortunately Gimp can't read them.
Not blown away by G8M (base figure. Can't get the eues to render normally in 3Delight (yes, using the right mats), they go all black. Perhaps my studio version is showing its age, but I'm afraid ugrading will explode the poor thing. Will try tweaking the settings when I actually have time. Mouth is odd, too. But I'm not fan of thick-ish lips.
I probably won't get M8 any time soon. I rarely do get the big main figures. Unless they have skin I like or if they come extremely cheap.
That wasn't supposed to go twice..
I'm popping in and out, cut bushes to put in the trash before it comes, and inside cooling off. So shopping.
If you want a G8F for under $8, check out 3DA Augusta over at Rendo, who is 50% off through Aug 24. (Oh, just added today!) You can use either the morphs to add to your gene pool, or the materials. (which you can always tweak. I like the rich tones. Also like the iris and the very thick eyebrows.)
One thing about the vendor- they aren't afraid to show you extreme closeups, which I appreciate very much. You can even see the subtle veins in the eyes.
I got a LOT of the characters last night in the flash sale from Fred. Did you folks pick any up?
I bought Cabaret for G2 when it was in Fast grab
This shows a couple of variations on the texture. The girl on the left is wearing the default texture. The peplum and top bodice has been hidden on the girl on the right and I used a purple satin texture which I bought from another site.
I picked up Galan for G3M because one can never have too many custom elf characters, especially if your interest is fantasy art!
Plus he has rune options, plus he is HD, plus he includes both 3DL and Iray materials, PLUS with my other purchases and monthly coupon he discounted to zero bucks!
But where's the render, you say? Haven't had time. I owe you one!
I'm loving G8M. He can play in my runtime any time he wants to! Here he is wearing Morningstar Wings for G3F/G8F. If you parent to chest instead of fit, they work fine. No trouble autoftting the Stone outfit or the Ajax hair to him. Love the expressions, and those eyebrows. Mmm. He's gorgeous!
Gianni vs Gianni HD
Doing different lighting for the guys (not testing all of them, and not at this size as it takes too long.) Only doing the head because if I don't like that, the body doesn't matter to me. This was first done at 600 by 600, then to be sure of what I was seeing, I increased the size. Got the same results.
It's 1200 by 1200 px so be sure and enlarge. First IS the default, second is supposed to be HD. So tell me why the chin indentation goes away slightly with the HD, among other things? Why there is MORE eye shadow in the default- when if you increase the lines, the HD should do that? (Also the bulb of the nose loses shadow too, and the nostril wings, particularly the one on our right.) The bottom lip does get a slight cleft in the middle of it, and the details on the bottom one change slightly.
There is no mistake, again I only loaded up the regular Gianni, there wasn't even Gianni HD in Scene pane, so the right one was selected. Then I deleted the Gianni and loaded up the HD one. This lighting will be representative of what you'll be using in many scenes, not ultra dramatic- and I'm seeing less detail IMO in many areas than with the default.
I mean, would you look at that second one and say, "WOW, look at that HD! Only $27.97!"
Is the top one the HD version?
NO! (Edit- and I double checked by opening up the post and checking the image, to make sure the first image attached, which is the default, is indeed the first one in the post. It is. Pretty sad, huh?) And here's the screenshot showing the second image's character selected. (I always delete the first one, the default, before I even start on the HD one.) It is indeed the HD rendered for the second one.
do you put the resolution at 2 or more n the figure?
Resolution Level: High Resolution
SubDivision Level 1
Render SubD Level (Minimum) 2
So does it have to be 3 or more? (Which, if you recall, the women were at and it didn't make any difference.)
I...don't know. LOL. I thought it had to be at least 2, but i tmay be more. I was just a bit flabbergasted at how the normal seemed to be MUCH better than the HD! I was scratching my head thinking "no, surely she's done something wrong or made a mistake!". That's....wow.
That's exactly why I hate showing these things, because people think I made a mistake. Gianni (the regular one) was the ONLY one loaded in the scene when he was rendered, and the image labeled Default. I deleted him and did the HD, and it was labeled HD in the file name. They were loaded in that order (attachments, below the post.) I double checked the image numbers and they are indeed loaded in the correct order. I am doing the same thing with Michael 7 right now.
To see what happens, I did Subdivision Level 2 (instead of 1) and SubD level 3 instead of just 2 on Michael 7, rendering now. Let's see what they look like. I am trying another light that goes better with Michael 7 (he's more pink) to get the optimum results. Will be back in awhile, it's 90 percent at 24 minutes, but I dropped it to a 900 x 900 for time's sake. (My computer is fast but I need to get several done.)
I'll post the default first, take it out of the scene, then do the HD.
Wow! Makes me glad I don't get the HD morphs unless they are steep discount. I don't have the Gianni HD morphs. Good thing, too, because I much prefer the default figure.
If I had a brain, i'd be dangerous. I didn't even notice the file names - i just automatically click on the ones inside the post to open in new tab and didn't take note of the names. LOL
Okay, here we go. This hot off the press, it's Michael 7, the default, with those higher SubD, etc. The HD hasn't even been loaded into Scene yet. I am now deleting this one from Scene pane. It will be about 30 minutes or more on the second one (HD), as I am keeping everything the same (more SubD and SubDivision Level 2.)
Default (click to enlarge, goes to 900px. This is 500)
One thing I question right away- does the beard stubble go into the bottom of the nose wing on our right? Right there where the nostril is?
Here's the HD with the same subdivision, etc. Click back and forth.
The ear lobe is definitely more defined/curved. The nose area between the eyes gets tightened/comes in. You actually lose some of the lip peaking. With that, it's a bit harder to tell if the lip lines are better or not, as the lighting changes due to whatever they did to the top lip. I think the top lip got tightened up/fine tuned. Edit- be sure and look at the nostril on our right, to me, the stubble gets onto the lower wing of it.
Out of curiosity, I've been running both Giannis at SubD 4. No substantial difference. Also, I turned off limits and yanked the HD Details for Gianni up to 2000%. This also had.... no visible effect. I'm honestly a little puzzled. I feel as if something must be wrong.
Most of the HD I've seen is Level 3 or higher.
The affects of HD are subtle. I find them more useful on other characters than the one they are designed for. For example use Leo or Ivan HD on base Michael.
It would be interesting to see an HD before/after on a different base. I don't see enough of a change in regular renders to make me want the HD version unless it is included with the base, at least at this time.
@crispalomino Michael had SubD Level 3, as does this one of Ivan. Doing the HD now. Funny SereneNight mentioned Ivan, I already had him going. Doing the HD now. We need more characters like Gwenbleiz and Ivan, they have a lot of history in their faces!
Ivan 7 Default (with SubDivision Level 2, Render SubD Level 3.)
Okay, to show you the difference, here's the HD Ivan BUT SubDivision Level 1 and Render SubD Level 3. There goes the details.
So this is with the SubDivision 2 and Render SubD Level at 3, just like the Default. As Barbult explained below, the SubDivision only affects the viewport, and has nothing to do with the render. This shows that is correct, as both this one and the one above (which is only a SubDivision 1) ended up rendering identical.
Both are Render SubD Level 3. And not as good as the Default when it is at 3.
Ever since we got Iray, it seems like HD morphs don't have as much impact as they used to in 3Delight days. Is it possible that the render engine has something to do with this?
BTW, all of these are done with Mitchell filter, with even less blur than your standard Gaussian 1.50- that is your default filter. So if you don't normally change up your filter settings, you're going to have more blur, and even less detail than what I'm showing you. These are using the Gwenbleiz settings that I gave you.
That's an interesting thought. It does seem like ages ago, when folks would post HD on my threads, that we saw a difference.
Keep checking back on the Ivan post, I did one to show how the SubD makes a difference. Now rendering with the levels increased, to compare apples and apples with the default.
I don't think it's Iray vs 3Delight - I've now done a double test render myself of Ivan/Ivan HD (I only have him and Michael in HD for Generation 3)
The first render is Iray, Ivan on the left, Ivan HD on the right. The second render is the same line-up, but in 3Delight, with 3DL skin maps applied. Render SubD for Ivan HD 3 in both renders.
Another thought: does everyone who sees little to no difference in the HD versions use a version of Studio 4.9? It could be 4.9 vs 4.8.
Yep, I'm the latest version of 4.9
Subdivision Level affects the viewport. It should have no impact on your render at all. Only Render SubD Level impacts the render. However for some unknown (to me) reason, Daz has coded Studio so that if you change Subdivision Level in the Parameters pane, it also automatically changes Render SubD Level, too. So if you had Subdivision Level 2 and Render SubD Level 3 and then you changed Subdivision Level to 1, Studio will change Render SubD Level to 2. (Grrrrrrrr). So you manually have to set it back to 3. Do you think this happened to your Ivan HD render?