Novica & Serene Night's Renders, Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews Part 1
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L'atelier + La Dolce Vita + Opus Magnum
Photo 1
The rug, scaled down, now makes a nice topping piece for my glass cabinet. It also almost appears to match the ottoman fabric across the room, and compliments it without competing.
Photo 2
The "rug" (aka topper) in place. I want some of that gorgeous glass to show. I might scale it down further using Z to make it thinner. For now, it's okay. What do you think? Have you used a rug like this before? Go look at your rugs!
Photo 3
Now lets get some sophisticated artist supplies instead of those cartoonish paint tubes. The print on those is large and unrealistic. Winsor and Newton would shudder. Oh look- we're back to Opus Magnum again for more props. Surprise surprise.
Photo 4
Placing the colorful, attractive items on the shelves near the end, so they will be seen from different camera angles.
TIP: When you bring items into a scene, you can click all three in Scene tab and when you move them, they move in a group.
Photo 5
Tying in the browns/tans from the rug "topper" is an artistic looking container to blend those powders. This is a mortar pestle. And guess where I got it? Of course. Opus Magnum.
I'll resume the tutorial in the next day or so- it takes awhile to actually DO what I'm showing you, do screenshots, etc. We will be adding a big Opus Magnum prop on top of our glass cabinet (would you recognize this cabinet as the shabby thing in front of the window originally?!) so check back in a day or two.
The Under The Sea lights look really good- I'll have to keep those in mind! You've actually mentioned a product I don't have, lol. Do you have Lisa's Pond Life plants? Those, mixed in with Tropical Plants 2 would be suitable I think. (See images) Also see Pond Life image below.
I think she really only used cinnamon ferns and took out the jagged edges for some of those plants in the sea plant product. Compare my images for the Sea Floor and Tropicals 2. It might not be technically correct, but artistically pleasing anyway. And there are so many varieties of ferns and sea plants, I'm sure it's close to SOMETHING lol.
So you enjoyed playing with the jellyfish eh?!
I should have also mentioned (meant to and forgot) simple scaling of Y (up and down) will turn those tall stalky plants in Tropical 2 (middle of the picture stretching up to top, left side. The same ones as in the middle but not red) into identical sea life plants in her product.
EDIT: And fattening the pond plants that are slender will match the sea weed.
I'm going to have to look in my runtime and see if I can find anything which could pass. Off hand I think my plants might be a touch recognizable as terrestrial. I do hope more people decide to make plants for daz. I will be sad to not be able to buy them here.
I think you will like under the sea. I do think the promo art does not do this justice.
There are some good swimming poses also included in the set and the light really mimicking the underwater speckled effect
Yes I do think the jellies are fun. They also have a glow texture which I haven't played with.
Did you want to see the other things I bought? I don't want to derail your fine tutorial...
JUMP IN- would LOVE to see your stuff. I will be making a separate post tying in all of the tutorial for easy flow. I reserve sections (1-3 posts so they are grouped) so that you and other can post- love your renders and comments! You are my official co-product reviewer :) The tutorial is slow going, I do a day or two of making it then post- so it is going to be strung out a bit. Post away!
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/19756/P1260/#411015
Heads up to those subscribed to the thread- the tutorial on L'artlier / La Dolce Vita with Opus Magnum now playing a factor has been filled in. See how that rug changes and props are brought in.
Also, if you've bought a product and want to post what you've done with it and recommend it- post the name of the product in the title, THE PRODUCT PAGE LINK below that, and your comments. Lighting is always interesting- if you used the lighting that came with it, please relay that information. If you want to share some of what you did, wonderful! SereneNight is doing a fantastic job helping others, so if you'd like to jump in too, feel free. More than one person can cover the same product too.
Surfaces- Create Your Own
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/14082/#204267 has just been added to my links section. (you can get to the links from the very first post.) Explore the Polygon Group Editor Tool!
This will come in handy if I want to make the painting separate from the frames in my L'atelier tutorial. I approached it by inserting a plane and covering the image, but this is another way of making separate surfaces in case you didn't know how to do that.
This will also help you if you are playing around with the Area Base Lights. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/14536/
If you buy one of the promoted products today, there are two light sets that will be 40% off. Someone mentioned Set The Mood as they really liked it. Anyone have either of these and want to comment? I'm getting them to putz with, but can't guarantee WHEN.
http://www.daz3d.com/deep-space-for-daz-studio
http://www.daz3d.com/set-the-mood
I started a thread over in The Commons for Imogen, but will of course post her here too. When she is loaded, her skin is very light, almost glow in the dark. It made working with lights difficult; I can usually judge what MY light sets will do but it was almost impossible to see any effect until spot rendered.
I used Lantios Lights 2 http://www.daz3d.com/lantios-lights-2
And used number 4, in case you have it. For her, you'll DEFINITELY want to turn down the intensities. I darkened the Sun to 226/ 194/194 to a darker mauve. Still could use some tweaking but here she is. Wanted you to see her before I signed off, going on 3:20am.
New flash sale. Capsces Digital Ink 55% off
http://www.daz3d.com/capsces-digital-ink
Thanks for the heads up! SEE WARNING ON ONE PRODUCT, BELOW
This one for Aiko 4 really gives you the money's worth- this product I have actually played with a few months ago, some wonderful characters to be made! Take a look at the thumbnails!
Instead of $18.95 it's $8.53
http://www.daz3d.com/faerime
"Faerime is an enchanting Capsces' morph set inspired by anime and faerie magic. With 221 morphs for Aiko 4, you can have fun creating custom faces, or you can start with one of the 75 magical faces already included with Faerime."
I have the V5 and M5 poses from previous sales and the dairy bottles- love the way those look.
I have all the Scratchies products, wonder if you can apply velvet shaders or other shaders and make them stuffed toys? The Fabricator might have some fun with those! http://www.daz3d.com/scratchies is only one of the products.
http://www.daz3d.com/toony-cat BEWARE- Textures not included- AND NOT SOLD. 404 error on page that is linked. So what good is this unless you just use The Fabricator? And then you can't decide what goes where, such as the zebra stripes?
http://www.daz3d.com/ss-toonimal-kitty-mappak is the texture set, found it a different way. First search showed nothing, went with toon kitty the second time. It's only 1.99
EDIT: At least I THINK that's right. The Toony Cat requires Toonimal Kitty, so the Toonimal Kitty mappak should be the one used? There's not one for Toony Cat.
To reward the people surfing in to my thread, here is a hidden linked sale item. I won't tell you how I found it, but it is in the store featured for a flash sale, is NOT in the store, and is being discounted. Hurry up before it's fixed if you want a nice country item. $9.95 for $4.48 If you do see it in the store (I've gone line by line through all 3 pages twice) then they've added it. The mods and admin do of course read the forums and appropriately take action when snafus are noted.
http://www.daz3d.com/good-clean-tub-and-pail-set/
I don't understand " is in the store featured for a flash sale, is NOT in the store". I see it in the store that is on sale, so I don't understand how it is hidden.
I checked several times. It was NOT in the store at the time of posting. That's all I can tell you. :) There were 3 pages of items. From a lot of experience, things are fixed rather quickly when someone posts, that's why I mentioned to get it if you wanted it because sometimes they add the item, sometimes they remove the page (that isn't linked) because it's not supposed to be on sale. That usually doesn't happen with these minor items, they usually add them. I wasn't viewing cached pages because I hadn't visited that store previously. It is now showing row 2 on the second page.
Trust me, I have a lot of experience in knowing what they do when these things are posted anywhere on the forums.They fix it by adding or removing. Last year from Oct through Dec many people were finding glitches. When DAZ was really having trouble with their site and leaving pages up (like they did this time), many people got Carrara (Pro) for around $60 a year ago through an un-linked page.
Okay, I said I would show the items I like and got on sale and here's another one. =-)
Killlzones: The Pipes
http://www.daz3d.com/killzones-the-pipe
This is Killzones the Pipes by Antfarm. I originally bought it to display INFILTRATOR, but later decided INFILTRATOR is much too futuristic to be sliming around in the Sewer So I substituted a real snake:
Morphing Python
http://www.daz3d.com/morphing-python
with the Viper morph and a skin from
Cold Blooded
http://www.daz3d.com/cold-blooded
instead. Sarge graciously volunteered to go down into the pipes to show you how awesome it is, because Sarge just can't get enough of dank dark sewers, right sarge? What's that? I can't hear you? =-)
First off Killzones is a nice little environment. Easy to move your character around in, and pose your character in and there is a tunnel cap which can be removed to reveal another tube with bars, There are no lights, but it it is easy to light up with any lights you like.
The set even includes some small debris, including a bone, sledgehammer and odd looking wrench. Yuck. Having fun yet Sarge?
Here are some shots showing different lights. You can remove the ceiling to let the light flow in if it is too dark. You can achieve neat looks by adding point lights in the tunnels or adding the waterfall tool in the pipe to give the illusion of flowing water.
Scene number one is just the pipe with DAZ basic lights
Scene number two is the pipe with Predatron's light number 4 and an added distant light in pale yellow
Scene number 3, I threw the urban district psy center fog and rain panel and jimmied those until they were in the right place.
Four: Sarge in the pipes with Lantios Nightime lights number 8. Points in the snake tunnel on the cigar and the laser gun
Five: Sarge in the Pipe wtih Jason Lights, and the rimlight turned gray. Pointlights the same as above.
I have both of these. Of the two I prefer Set the Mood lights, however, Set the mood often throws artifacts (those little blue boxes) on my renders so I don't use them that much.
Here are two examples of set the mood lighting.
I like the hazy camera look.
OOOOOOH yes, I like the regular snake! Sarge doesn't seem too bothered, does he?! Nerves of steel, that dude. I'm sure you're helping DAZ sell a TON of him, lol. That set looks like it has a lot of versatility and your lighting really, really suits it. I like the addition of yellow for that second shot because it hints that it isn't totally dark outside but could be almost any other time of the day as we don't know how deep inside the room is located. I definitely like the first one of Sarge and the snake better, due to the outline of the snake. These are awesome examples!
Okay, so far as the artifacts go (those pesky boxes) is it because the Set The Mood has deep shadow selected (like mentioned before by you and Scott-L?) If so, are they turn-offable and switchable to raytraced? I don't have mine installed.
Yeah, I like the first sarge one too, but I wasn't sure how it would view on other peoples screens as possibly being too dark. I like dark shots, but depending on the monitor I wondered if detail would be visible on dimmer screen.
Sarge is a custom character made of M5 a touch of Freak and Raw's skin
BRENNEN
http://www.daz3d.com/brennan-for-genesis
Brennan is a great skin with lots of detail, and it is genesis. It is a great skin for sarge.
I like your render of G6. How does that skin look on v6? I admit I'm curious how that ports over.
I'll download and test shortly if you want to go ahead and explore your other goodies :) I need to learn how to use them anyway. Maybe I can find the trigger point that starts those little peskies appearing.
By the way, anyone have Carrara that can answer a question on installation for me? It's in the Carrara forums and no one has answered and it's been about an hour. I want to finish installing this thing. Haven't a clue how to use it but might as well get it on the computer.
This is my question: (MANUALLY INSTALLING)
I have three choices in the C>Program Files>DAZ3D section- Carrara 8, Carrara Render Node 8, and Content Management Service. I am assuming I need to put the After Effects Plug-In in one of these? I’ve extracted the files but dont know where to put them. That’s question one. Number two is - when extracted, all I have is Docs folder, and something labeled CarraraImporter.aex. What is that and what do I do with it?
I wanted to share a render I did of Chiara, playing with just 2 spotlights and 2 distant lights. It's similar to some earlier ones but the intensities are changed and so is the color scheme. One of my favorite concoctions. The two spot lights come from different sides, as do the distant lights, so you have combination spotlight/distant lights cross hatching each other as teams. Then put a point light above as the key light! This was done as a rather "low light" setting, such as toward dusk. All shadows are fairly soft, at least 40%.
Welcome Co-Host SereneNight!
I'm very delighted to announce that I have extended the invitation for talented artist SereneNight to participate as a co-host of my thread, to share her product experiences with you and also share those fabulous renders. She specializes in SciFi but also renders other scenes which is an added treat- as you can already tell from viewing her work the past week. SereneNight and I have been friends for over a year and I highly respect her opinion and her talent.
I'm SO tickled that she has graciously said "Yes!" to my invitation.
To denote her participation, the thread title has been changed to "Novica’s Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews With Co-Host SereneNight"
instead of Novica's Step By Step Tips From The Beginning. The thread has evolved from more than just tips- the focus is also on tutorials and product reviews.
It was hard to get a title with limited characters AND keep the title recognizable so we did our best when renaming it. The first words have stayed the same so just look for that (and the 24,000+ views should help, lol) Thank you for making this such a fun thread and popping in to share YOUR purchases / reviews / tips too- this is really everyone's thread to keep all of us hopping to the best deals, best products, and best guides to get things done in new ways!
Later today I will be posting the next series of steps on the La Dolce Vita and L'atelier makeover. I spent last evening (it's 5:15am here) doing the work and will get some sleep then post the screenshots. We're completely overhauling those flaking painted windows, will place objects on our glass topped cabinet and inside it, and I'll show you the test render of how depth of field looks with those re-done windows. IT IS RENDERING NOW AND IS A FULL RENDER, NOT A SPOT RENDER. The only lighting is what came in with the gals from La Dolce Vita Restaurant, no light has been placed streaming through the windows.
I got quite the surprise when I brought in the changes for the windows, and did screenshots for you of the spot renders that gave me the giggles. Experimenting and getting weird results is a lot more fun than the predictable stuff!
See you later this afternoon.
I'll try it in the next day or so :)
I must say your render of Chiara looks great, and I like the color choices and fabrics you used in this scene. =-)
Science Fiction Pistols
http://www.daz3d.com/science-fiction-pistols
This is actually one of my favorite go-to weapon sets. I know I'm not alone there. The set includes 4 pistols and MATS for DAZ. You can make some great looking scenes using these sets. I admit my preference is for the Beam Pistol gun, but there are 4 in this set.
And they are all really nice.
Set includes:
◦Electrolaser
◦Bullpup Pistol
◦Beam Pistol
◦Machine Pistol
Here are some renders of the sets... All weapons are on the tool bench from Botshop.
The lighter pic is using one of my favorite light sets... .The Jason Character set that came with Jason.
The second uses dark/night sky lighting from Enchanted Island.
Make sure to apply the Daz mats or they look very silvery and undetailed.
I'll talk about posing them, when I get home from work at night. =-)
SciFi Firearms Pack
http://www.daz3d.com/sci-fi-rifles
Science Fiction Pistols
http://www.daz3d.com/science-fiction-pistols
Perfect timing, I just came on also. Since you're at work I'll go ahead and jump in here :)
The Science Fiction Pistols are a subset of the SciFi Firearms Pack. If you have the SciFi Firearms Pack, you wouldn't want to buy the pistols.
From The SciFi Firearms Pack
Four smartpropped science fiction style rifles
Electrolaser Rifle
Gauss Assault Rifle
Particle Rifle
Security Ion Rifle
Four Smart Propped Pistols for M4 (.PP2 and .OBJ)
Electrolaser
Bullpup Pistol
Beam Pistol
Machine Pistol
My Own "L'atedolce Opus Studio"
L' Atelier
http://www.daz3d.com/l-atelier
La Dolce Vita Restaurant
http://www.daz3d.com/la-dolce-vita-restaurant
http://www.daz3d.com/opus-magnum
Opus Magnum
http://www.daz3d.com/studio-paris
Studio Paris
I'm creating a new, upscale art studio by combining L'Atelier (definitely not upscale), La Dolce Vita Restaurant, Opus Magum..and coming soon, items from Studio Paris. We might be swiping artwork from the Roman Bath and La Dolce Vita Restaurant, or substituting samples found elsewhere.
Compare Cassini's background with the shabby, flaking paint of L'atelier. Whenever you look at products, look at SURFACES. Unlimited opportunities.
To have continuity, I reserve chunks of three to five posts and let you know when they are filled in with the tutorial. Apologize in advance for those subscribing to the thread. I have about 60 images from just last night to do, (and still not done, this better be a masterpiece, lol!) but doing them takes time.Will do a few now, running errands / Life, then this evening will rock n' roll for several hours. And be sure to check back for SereneNight's SciFi.