Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 10

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Comments

  • LOL! I don't know where I got "Angry" Orchard from! I must have been thinking of what a Whopper(tm) of a set it is? 

    Got my BK mixed up with my Tango Alpha. 

    Anyhow, it is one of my favorite pieces of content. We discussed a while back how you built the whole thing in Carrara. I still haven't put enough time into developing content myself - and imagine it'll be a long time if ever before I create something like this for DAZ or Carrara. Thanks for creating such a high quality set. 

  • cismiccismic Posts: 629

    LOL! I don't know where I got "Angry" Orchard from! I must have been thinking of what a Whopper(tm) of a set it is? 

    Got my BK mixed up with my Tango Alpha. 

    Anyhow, it is one of my favorite pieces of content. We discussed a while back how you built the whole thing in Carrara. I still haven't put enough time into developing content myself - and imagine it'll be a long time if ever before I create something like this for DAZ or Carrara. Thanks for creating such a high quality set. 

    Yes, very nice! Indeed.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,727

    Great job on the kit bashing!  Love both examples and its a good reminder that I should maybe do it a bit more than I currently am lol.

  • LOL! I don't know where I got "Angry" Orchard from! I must have been thinking of what a Whopper(tm) of a set it i

    Perhaps here

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  • NathNath Posts: 2,940

    Treated myself to the Centaur Female Pro bundle yesterday on sale; I've only been resisting since it came out - so today I got to put in a claim for it being even cheaper with yesterday's cart and today's Daz O sale... Yay :-)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,923
    edited January 2018

    LOL! I don't know where I got "Angry" Orchard from! I must have been thinking of what a Whopper(tm) of a set it i

    Perhaps here

    OMGosh, I Googled it to see if you had made that up!  My thread now has a new distinction. "Home of The Angry Orchard."  cheeky

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Worlds_EdgeWorlds_Edge Posts: 2,153

    I paid 20%.  I know I'm not great at shopping/saving.  But for this and a couple of other threads, I'm sure my percentage would be higher.  I hate looking at the "spent" amount though.  It's very scary!

    Angry Orchard would have been a great/catchy name for the product (though one might need a couple of angry birds to go with it).  

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,923

    Angry Orchard would have been a great/catchy name for the product (though one might need a couple of angry birds to go with it).  

    They'd need some green pigs wandering around too...

  • Worlds_EdgeWorlds_Edge Posts: 2,153

    Somene more skilled than me should render Angry Orchards filled with birds and pigs!  And scary trees.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,704

    Angry orchard is a popular hard cider where I live.

  • I paid 20%.  I know I'm not great at shopping/saving.

    That's pretty great though, averaging 80% off.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,727

    I won't even look at how much I've spent.... I did it once at the end of last year and was horrified.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,704

    I choose not to know how much I have spent. Next to Dunkin’ Donuts coffee this is my one vice. I choose to remain ignorant of the cost and simply enjoy my vice.

  • donovancolbertdonovancolbert Posts: 1,421
    edited January 2018

    So, I've been resistant to the Centaur even though everyone else was losing their mind when it first came out, but at $5.55 I couldn't resist, and saw no need to pay $35 for the Pro package. 

    I do have a question though - on the male centaur, can you hide the anatomical elements? 

    I'll show you why I ask, in a few minutes. 

     

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  • donovancolbertdonovancolbert Posts: 1,421
    edited January 2018

    G3M Centaur with G3F/G3M UV Swap and GenX2. The only problem is the dang... ly anatomical elements. If there is a way to hide them, I can't figure it out, so I'll have to always place my centaur ladies strategically so that there isn't any confusion. Getting the hair to parent without using autofit and autofollow was a bit of a headache. Sometimes when I just add a hair prop and then parent it, it doesn't follow poses right - but I've been told that is the way to go if you want the hair morphs to continue to work - and when I was letting it auto-fit, I was losing the morphs, causing the hair to disappear into the torso of the character. 

    ​Anyone have any suggestions on that? I tried parenting in place to both G3M Centaur and to the G3M head... but both caused some fits and seemed to keep de-parenting. 

    ​The sword was hard to set up too, because it expected to be further out and up higher than the G3M clone morph was at. So it was probably a lot more work than just getting the G3F Centaur... but again... I only did this because I've yet to see this character so cheap and I figured I could more or less get both male and female centaurs out of just the G3M version. 

     


     

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    Post edited by donovancolbert on
  • I had considered that you could probably use DAZ Horse 1 or 2 and make the neck and head invisible and just position a Genesis 1, 2 or 3 character near the torso and use some post-work to get a centaur too... Never really gave that a shot to see how it would work, though. 

     

  • Heh. After I got it to work and I was playing with poses, I was so smug and happy with myself for getting two characters for the price of one, until I selected a pose where the Centaur was rearing on its hind legs. I wish you all could have seen the look on my face when I realized the one flaw in my master-plan. :D 

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,704

    Photoshop? They aren’t that detailed you ought to be able to brush it away

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479

    Photoshop? They aren’t that detailed you ought to be able to brush it away

    This, or Gimp. Daz reserved the Mare morph for the female centaur. Or if you're good at using dForms, you might be able to create your own "mare" morph.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    edited January 2018

    G3M Centaur with G3F/G3M UV Swap and GenX2. The only problem is the dang... ly anatomical elements. If there is a way to hide them, I can't figure it out, so I'll have to always place my centaur ladies strategically so that there isn't any confusion. Getting the hair to parent without using autofit and autofollow was a bit of a headache. Sometimes when I just add a hair prop and then parent it, it doesn't follow poses right - but I've been told that is the way to go if you want the hair morphs to continue to work - and when I was letting it auto-fit, I was losing the morphs, causing the hair to disappear into the torso of the character. 

    ​Anyone have any suggestions on that? I tried parenting in place to both G3M Centaur and to the G3M head... but both caused some fits and seemed to keep de-parenting. 

    ​The sword was hard to set up too, because it expected to be further out and up higher than the G3M clone morph was at. So it was probably a lot more work than just getting the G3F Centaur... but again... I only did this because I've yet to see this character so cheap and I figured I could more or less get both male and female centaurs out of just the G3M version. 

     

    I got a resonable female centaur using Cross-Figure to increase the breasts and decrease the waist, before the C7 female was released. (You can check it out here.) One advantage to using Cross-Figure is fitting the clothes. G3M clothing fits because it's still a G3M, and you can get some really nice warrior type clothing, without the skimpwear aspect to it.

    Anyway to get weapons and such to parent where you need them, you might try bringing in a G3M, parenting the item(s) to that figure, then move one or the other until the two overlap where it counts, (for example, the right hands, for a sword.) Make sure you're set up to Parent in Place, and just drag the item from G3M to the corresponding bone in the centaur, (for example from one right hand to the other right hand.)

    I've never heard of, or seen, a prop "deparent" on it's own. Although I have gone too far with Ctrl+Z and unparented, as if it had never happened...  Make sure you turn smoothing on and set your centaur as the collision object. That will help. Also consider using hair that was sold for G3M. There are quite a few hair items that looke equally good on the males and the females. I should think Adrian hair, would look great, sans the facial hair, of course

    I hope some of this is helpful. laugh

     

    Post edited by L'Adair on
  • Ah, I didn't consider doing a little elective surgery post-production in Photoshop. I've actually been trying to transition from Photoshop to PSP 2018, because I hate the CC only model - and so far I've been pretty impressed. 

    I guess my female Centaurs are going to get sent to the vet post-production in the future! :D 

    I didn't try using any of the male G3M props... the truth is sadly, I don't have as much of a library of G3M content because there isn't as much out there *and* it tends to be less discounted than GF content (and we're full circle back to that 'I'm a cheapskate', conversation.) But what I have should autofit and autofollow. I'll look into that. Hair though - I'm sure I don't have a lot of long, flowing, braided G3M hair... which is what my mind's eye was calling for with this one. I suppose if I'm going to be a cheapskate and genderswap Centaurs to save $10 - I'm going to have to deal with doing a little more work. 

    I'm decent about DForms. I suppose I could also whip up some sort of geograft in Hexagon, possibly, too, and just use a Dform to push the area I want back up into the model. 

     

  • I love your G3M female centaur, L'Aidar. The moon and her skin compositionally, look awesome. 

  • So, I've been tempted several times by Sleepaway camp - but decided I'd see what I could do with some kitbashing. 

    ​This is Tango's Angry Orchard with the orchard deleted, the Pond Creator Kit, the Luxury Camping Snug, and Caravan, a Airstream trailer, from Rendo, plus some vehicles. It is a WIP... I'm going to add some additional campers a couple of dogs, and some fire pits. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Angry Orchard is a pretty complex set - but it took just under 17 minutes to render this on my 8GB Geforce 1070. 

     

    I hope that pond has a steep drop-off, otherwise that girl is gonna get seriously hurt hitting the bottom. The end of that pier is way too close to the other shore. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,923

    When I post I try to remember people make these products and while it's okay to voice displeasure, statement after statement of extreme adjectives belitting someone's work really isn't okay to me. These type of superlatives definitely don't foster goodwill for the vendors to come onto the forums to get feedback and hear what we have to say/ give input. Why would they want to?  Then the rest of us don't get heard with our helpful comments because the vendors are saying, "Screw this, I don't need this abuse."  RIGHTFULLY SO. 

    To the vendors who surf this thread- while we might not always be over the moon with certain aspects of any given product, speaking for myself I can only say I appreciate the time you take to get our input/opinions and help us along by fixing things or changing things in the next product. 

    Read below. These were comments found on page 3 of the Owen thread, and really not necessary. I edited the second comment (not much was taken out) 

    ***First post: Nice base skin and character morph, relentlessly ugly clothes and hair in the bundle. Even the freebies can't justify that purchase to me.

    ***Second post, by ONE person:  "relentlessly ugly", nice turn of phrase.  I was leaning towards "fashion run-way disaster", but I think you win..... not buying the Pro Bundle because those clothes are hideous. ...... Or here's a thought: stop making these wretched outfits that invariably have bits (like shoes) that look to be clunky cartoonish hack pieces and concetrate on making a single, versatile piece that I might want to buy. 

     

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,704
    edited January 2018

    I really like the new guys clothing personally, (phew, no conan or roman wear) .there are a couple of problems with some of outfits in the promos, but I haven't loaded them up to see if it can be fixed. In general I bought the new character to kitbash, as I don't have a specific need for this figure type or all the content, but I do like the content for the most part and my wallet can attest that I bought every chracter and outfit and texture expansion released today costing me well over a hundred dollars and that was without todays discount.

    Is every character or outfit perfect? No, but I really need men's stuff and it was a bargain, especially with the other characters I don't own thrown in.

    With men's content, we tend to get only clothing characters and outfits when new characters are released. So I buy it all when it is released.

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • I can only say the only reason I have any of the Owen clothes is that buying his whole pro bundle cost less than buying him and the hair and pose pack I wanted.

    I mean look at this:

    First, I do really appreciate that there are dForce male clothes now.

    Second, why even with dForce the coat is still glued to his leg? This is the kind of thing that shouldn't be happening even in a properly boned conforming outfit.

    I do really like the shoes and hat in the Hipster Outfit, and the beanie in the Alt Style Outfit. I'll always take more headwear for both genders even though I never actually render it. Just knowing they have hats feels nice I guess.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,923

    And you're exactly reinforcing what I'm saying. You are very tactful and considerate when posting what you like and don't like. Vendors need to hear honest responses and opinions so they can use the input to make things better or offer different options. (Or they might choose not to.)  IMO it will help their sales and help products improve. 

    I haven't used Dforce so I'll sit out on that. You guys do a wonderful job of covering it, thanks so much! 

    And thanks Daz for the orange banner discount to help with the character or Pro Bundle. Wondering why the starter bundle would be left out though. (I haven't surfed the forum very much, I'm sure that was already asked?) 

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,704

    There is a texture expansion for the red quilted vest outfit that adds some interesting transparent sleeves and I like the boots a lot. They might make nice rainboots. I wish the top had a bit more detail. I think the outfit would’ve gotten more approval if the shirt had more detail and the vest was black and perhaps a different material.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    edited January 2018

    I love your G3M female centaur, L'Aidar. The moon and her skin compositionally, look awesome. 

    Thank you. smiley As that is the male, the, um, male bits, are strategically hidden. lol

    There is a texture expansion for the red quilted vest outfit that adds some interesting transparent sleeves and I like the boots a lot. They might make nice rainboots. I wish the top had a bit more detail. I think the outfit would’ve gotten more approval if the shirt had more detail and the vest was black and perhaps a different material.

    I really don't like that vest. But I honestly don't know anything about "grunge" fashion. For all I know, those vests could be all the rage.

    Either way, it didn't stop me from putting the pro bundle in the cart. I kitbash all the time anyway, so now I'll have another pair of boots, another pair of pants, and new shirt that should work well with just about any vest or jacket I want to use.

    And I'm really happy about the 30% discount. Just a shame it didn't apply to everything else in the cart. (Yes, I'm quite "frugal," not to mention rather spoiled with all the deep discounts from the last several months of 2017.)

    Post edited by L'Adair on
  • I can only say the only reason I have any of the Owen clothes is that buying his whole pro bundle cost less than buying him and the hair and pose pack I wanted.

    I mean look at this:

    First, I do really appreciate that there are dForce male clothes now.

    Second, why even with dForce the coat is still glued to his leg? This is the kind of thing that shouldn't be happening even in a properly boned conforming outfit.

    I do really like the shoes and hat in the Hipster Outfit, and the beanie in the Alt Style Outfit. I'll always take more headwear for both genders even though I never actually render it. Just knowing they have hats feels nice I guess.

    I think that this suit has some Sci-Fi possabilities 

This discussion has been closed.