Novica & Serene Night’s Renders, Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews PART 2
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LOL, I didn't feel bullied at all. I consider you a good friend that I can tease unmercifully. Sorry about the he/she. I tend to use the neutral out of habit from the use of "he" in books. I have been laughing at your RRRR's and the items you got stuck with! I'm not sure how I am combining a jellyfish and a bed- this should be interesting for my next one.
Tarina- ever thought about starting an Art Studio thread? :)
There is a very good solution to the Coalition armor products. Just load the FULL set CR2 when you need the full armor. They do not need a figure in them at all. All M4 poses will work on them. This also has the benefit of less overhead, RAM, needed for the Scene and the image will render faster as the Figure, M4 or other, will not be used in the render calculations. This is a Base CR2 load CLaymore set and a M4 Pose.
Sci-fi clothing is hard to come by, especially stuff that doesn't look buck rogers or skimpy. I prefer my science fiction outfit to be both utilitarian and at least somewhat realistic.
Tough call on M6. I think ultimately I am glad I picked him up. His figure is the best and he is quite realistic and I love the contemporary/sci fi clothing and poses.
Problem for me with M6, is I actually really dislike the M6 base head. The temples are too distinctive for me, and you can't even with the morph pack rub those out. It is like a boxy ridge up there. The rest of the face you can alter, but some reason even with the morph pack you cannot round that feature out. Very odd. Lots of people seem to like this look but for me, it bugs me big time. Everytime I see it I cringe a little. maybe as a morph it would be useful, but to me as a defining feature of the figure, it is too distinctive. I prefer a rounded forehead and less protruberant brow.
So far, I can say of all the M6 skins I've tried natively, the best one just got realeased today. It is Jepes Nathan. I'm testing it now and he looks pretty good... =-)
You can always put your jellyfish in a bedroom aquarium. Or sink your bed to the bottom of the ocean ala Titanic.
Very clever! Jaderail to the rescue (as usual.) Appreciate you poppin' in to help. (or as I said a week or so ago, "to piddle around."
Wow! That's a great solution Jaderail. You are awesome as always... =-)
I was actually thinking of putting the bed in an aquarium! I had seen one a month ago (yes, there is a product that is an aquarium) but I can't remember if I bought it. That way the person looking at it can be dressed in the Arwen outfit. I may reuse that fishing pole.
Yeah, SereneNight- I thought I was going to have trouble with the Ensign outfit, all I could remember when I saw that was the one for that number was "sci-fi." And I thought "Great. A fish, bikini, sci-fi outfit." But I chose the black one because of the wetsuit look. It really is a nice outfit. (I left off the boots and belt.) I had it mixed up in my mind with Astral for GIS until I checked on what it was. I was thinking a glittery silver.
Thanks for the tip Jaderail! Especially when using on a background character this is a great solution.
I like the idea of a bed in an aquarium. I think you should go ahead with it. :) I am curious how the story will unfold, if you are going to make your next render a continuation of the first one that is, I for one would love to see that, the story renders are my favourite ones in that particular contest. ^^
Fishing Pole Tutorial
Trust me, there are no good fishing poles. So vendors, take note please!!!!!
There was one on another site but it had no fluidity, seemed kinda cheesy, etc.
So, Medieval Barn to the rescue. The rake and the coiled rope.
I knew I'd have to use D-formers to curve the rope, but remembered the coiled rope because it already has a curve. I knew my dude would be behind her with the rope dropping down and dipping forward at the end. The coiled rope is perfect. Think making it longer with Y scale, and you've got a very good start! (In fact, if you don't know how to do D-formers, you could make this work with JUST Polygon Group Editing and Y scaling. Trust me.)
1. Load the coiled rope.
2. Tools>Polygon Group Editor.
3. Left click any section that you want to hide. It will turn yellow.
4. Right click and a popup appears. Polygon Selection>Mode> I use Drag.
5. You simply hold down CNTRL and drag your mouse over the ones you want to hide. They turn yellow. I do short groups. If you make a mistake, go up to Edit>Undo Polygon Selection.
When you have your first group,
6. Right click>Polygon Assignment> Create Surface From Selected.
7. Name it. the section will turn white.
8. Go to Surfaces. Your section will be listed as a subsection of your item. Turn the Opacity to zero. Poof, it's hidden. (But still there.) THAT IS IMPORTANT.
Why is that important? Because you are going to have to start really zooming in to get past those hidden polygons. If you are practicing with this coiled rope, you might THINK you are highlighting the next coil toward the inside, but you may be highlighting "air" (the hidden polygons.)
Repeat the steps over and over again until you have one lonely strand of rope. Doing the bottom half is a breeze, but the top half is more tedious. Remember, if you select a strand that you don't want, Edit and undo it. You should be left with only the small section of rope as shown in the image. YOU WANT TO KEEP THE CURVE AT THE END. Keep more than you need, it's easy to remove it later. (I don't know how to undo a polygon selection once it's in a group. You might be able to select it and rename it into another group?)
Next, for the rake, it's EASY. Thanks to the vendor, the handle is separated from the rake end so all you have to do is go to Surfaces and turn those parts to zero for opacity. (Be sure you have them selected in the viewport with the Surface Selection tool, that looks like three sheets of paper up above the viewport next to the Universal Tool.)
This is important- Pose your character NOW. Put the rake handle in their hands. Use Y Scale to make the pole long enough, and other scaling to make it thinner. For my fishing pole:
Scale was 112%
Y Scale 102%
Z Scale 98.8%
My next post I will show you stages of doing the rope (so you'll know what you're in for if you try this. Like I said, doing the bottom part was easy- the top loops, a bit tricky.) There is bound to be a very easy way to model this, but it was a learning experience for me and frankly, a challenge to see if I could turn a rake and a COILED rope into a sleek flowing fishing line and pole.
Sci-fi clothing is hard to come by, especially stuff that doesn't look buck rogers or skimpy. I prefer my science fiction outfit to be both utilitarian and at least somewhat realistic.
Tough call on M6. I think ultimately I am glad I picked him up. His figure is the best and he is quite realistic and I love the contemporary/sci fi clothing and poses.
Problem for me with M6, is I actually really dislike the M6 base head. The temples are too distinctive for me, and you can't even with the morph pack rub those out. It is like a boxy ridge up there. The rest of the face you can alter, but some reason even with the morph pack you cannot round that feature out. Very odd. Lots of people seem to like this look but for me, it bugs me big time. Everytime I see it I cringe a little. maybe as a morph it would be useful, but to me as a defining feature of the figure, it is too distinctive. I prefer a rounded forehead and less protruberant brow.
So far, I can say of all the M6 skins I've tried natively, the best one just got released today. It is Jepes Nathan. I'm testing it now and he looks pretty good... =-)
Yeah, unfortunately I have noticed the lack of good sci-fi clothing as well, I really hate the whole skimpy stuff most. So ridiculous and useless looking, though I admit that I used some I had from the bundles for kit-bashing.
I can understand what you mean about M6, maybe someone will release a morph that will take care of that particular feature. It's always risky to make a base figure too distinctive looking... I will probably buy him in the end simply because many future characters for g2m will most likely require him to work properly, the skin looks good as well. I am curious to see Nathan reviewed by you, I was debating whether to buy him earlier. I am waiting for Male-M3dia and Zev0 products to come out though and have a feeling that I have enough white skinned characters for M5 and M4 to use on G2M, for now at least. Nathan certainly looks interesting and I would buy him if I did not have to prioritize.^^
Wow! Now, that had to take some creative thinking to conceive! I'm officially impressed with your kit-bashing abilities Novica. Many thanks for the tutorial on how to achieve sth like this. :) WOW
This is an example of why you should zoom in when you are doing polygon selection. Pictured is the entire bottom of the coiled rope going bye-bye.
And this is after hiding all the coils. Once I removed the top of the last coil, I had my fishing line!
Now, not shown (because it's so easy)
1. Go to Create>New Primitive> Sphere. I started out with 2 INCHES (don't keep it on M which is meters!) and shrank from there. I attached a sphere (red) then created a smaller one, and also created a cylinder (same way- go to Create>New Primitive>Cylinder) Turn your Diffuse down to 67% and your glossy down to 33% to get a nice shine.
2. For the hook, Create>New Primitive>Torus. Then make half of it go poof using the Polygon Group Editing Tool. You have your hook :)
3. Using a D-former, you can make your line flow different directions. (Not going to teach D-formers, it's been covered.) You do NOT need to use a D-former if you did what I told you and left a curve at the bottom of your coiled rope. That's why I used it instead of a straight rope. Just use Y Scale to lengthen your rope. Easy Smeezy.
Enjoy the closeup. Hooking that loop with the fish hook was a challenge!
For a small sum, NONE, I will tackle (pun implied) a proper fishing pole and possibly a Rod and Reel once I finish the Bungalow project I'm doing now. I think they are needed items.
Okay, then make a copy of your rope and Polygon Group Edit off the end, so you have a STRAIGHT ROPE. That will run parallel with your pole and you'll touch it to the original rope, which will hang down.
The reel part didn't get as detailed as it would be, if it was a closeup. I took a primitive Cone, Polygon Group Edited out a bunch of the corners after I had D-formed it to get it curvy and sleek. Add an elongated cylinder to the side, sticking out halfway, to give it a custom look instead of a plain wavy whatever-it-is. Note the handle is inserted in a round cylinder because it has to be able to turn. If I continue working on this, I will eliminate that sharp corner that flares up and make it like the reel pictured below. Wanted to provide that so you have something to work from.
Funny note- I had used text (product- Send A Message) and put "Hooked" where the hand is, for the name of the brand :) It doesn't show.
The finishing touches are to put toruses along the top because your "line" has to go through them. They are the guides. Put one at the very end of your pole. Then have fun getting your coiled rope line to match up with your other rope. :)
Enjoy!
EDIT: The number 2 is where I would create an opening for the line to enter.
I just got the giggles. Yep, I am continuing the Morgan/Gunner story- same setting. Hopefully I can pull this off, it's quite funny. Never tick off a jellyfish. Ever.
Awesome sauce! would love that Jaderail. =-)
Maybe this would have worked for your fishing line. http://www.sharecg.com/v/54282/View/11/Poser/Easy-Pose-Rope?interstitial_displayed=Yes
And this even has a fishing pole. http://www.sharecg.com/v/26422/
Yours looked good, though, and I bet you learned a lot.
That would be really cool. I could NOT believe there wasn't one in any of the products here that were water related. You know how many products I have, and I was wading through all the ones I could think of that would have that. Nada. Ziltch. Zero.
Today’s Review
Jepe’s Nathan for Michael 6
http://www.daz3d.com/jepe-s-nathan-for-michael-6
By Jepe
Okay, I admit it, I’ve bought every M6 skin in the store. So I’ve seen most of them and how they render, and so far, I have to say I like Nathan’s skin the best. Of course your mileage may vary, and what I like, may not suit you, but Nathan has a nice basic skin, and the character has a handsome mature appearance, with the usual options, extra facial hair, several eye colors, different body hair options. And of course since he is a M6 morph so he has all of M6’s fluid grace and flexibility.
The skin is EHSS and applies nicely. There is unfortunately no parameter dial to dial in a little Nathan. You have to click to apply the face and click to apply the body. I prefer the parameters, because I love mixing and matching, but even without the parameter dial, I do love this character’s body and face. They apply easily, and play nicely with other body morphs.
Overall, this is my favorite character by Jepe, and my favorite m6 character to date. Looking forward to seeing more work by Jepe, and this skin and character are a great addition to any runtime. Nice work!
Here are 3 images of Nathan
1 Nathan
2. Nathan- body hair option
3. Nathan buffer using various morphs from the gen 2 male pack, and wearing the Rogue outfit for gen2 females… Heh, I like the way it looked.
So where were you when I needed you? :)
I think the facial hair looks a LOT better than the promo art. :)
He is quite a handsome fella, especially with a little bodybuilder dialed in, and the dark hair. Xpressions set by Cake one gives him a lot of character.
So where were you when I needed you? :)I have used that one, the Toon, myself. But when I build us one it will be more a proper M4 V4 V6 M6 type pole with mat zones for easy shader use so every render will not need to look the same. Thinking now on that STRING, fishing line, and how I can handle it for those near real renders so many users try for. That means a Cane pole will be the first item made for testing as I learn what will work and what will not.
One thing I'll mention- where the fishing line goes over the end of the pole is a real pain. To get that to curve and drop down with a graceful arc was just UGH for me. Since I don't know how to model or create more sections, I was just plain stuck and the rope had REALLY long polygon sections. That was going to be my next set of questions, on how to add polygons to a mesh so you can then do more with the polygon editing tool.
What's he wearing in that third render?
What's he wearing in that third render?
That's the Rogue outfit by Stonemason for V6 fitted on him. I thought it didn't look too bad. =-) I saw someone else use it on a male figure, and thought hey... Looks pretty nice.
EDIT Here are some renders with the full outfit. I kind of like it I admit... EDITED to remove the GIA pose.
So where were you when I needed you? :)
I was right here, but you were cryptic about what you were working on, so i never had the chance to jump in and rescue you. :lol:
Edited to add: I was impressed when I saw your result, though.
Glub...glub...glub....
The sound of Novica disappearing into the watery depths, as Barbult holds the life preserver (carefully attached by a wonderful jointed rope found on another site) looking at the bubbles floating to the top and thinking, "Well, she could have TOLD me." Then out of nowhere, a purple figure appears, leaping forward and excitedly exclaiming, "No problem, I can make one for......you....where'd she GO?"