Novica, Serene Night, & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 3

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Comments

  • starionwolfstarionwolf Posts: 3,670
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    I have a comment about Ethriel's Bower: be warned if you have a slow computer. The ivy uses transparent maps. Rendering medium or high shadows can take a long time unless you use Age of Armor's advanced spotlight.

    Thanks for the tip :) Have you done any renders of it?

    No, not lately. I need to reinstall all of my fairy and fantasy related stuff. I can do a quick test render of Ethriel's Bower after I finish my tests with reingerject for Genesis 2 females.

  • Zev0Zev0 Posts: 7,089
    edited December 2013

    Thanks Estroyer. I had noticed some of the guys getting a wee bit overdeveloped in the chest region. Is there commercial use license for this product?

    Would be lovely if DAZ patched the product to include some chest fixes. =-)

    You can do what you want with it, except re-sell it of course lol.

    Post edited by Zev0 on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,654
    edited December 1969

    Hey thanks Zev! I always like to check, before use. =-)

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 2013

    Invited Guest Contributor

    And to start things off my TOP TEN LIST is now posted.

    I decided to show off a Cheap set West Park Day Room Clinical
    this set requires two other sets both also PC items
    West Park Day Room Recreation and West Park Day Room

    Why Did I pick this Item? Because I try to think outside the box. Most users see, a hospital setting when they look at this set. And yes in the render below that is how I used it, but it has much more potential than that. This set comes with two types of chairs a Book case a shelve unit and a low end table to name just a few. But the Clean room itself offers so much more. Many windows to set figures by, a beautiful Bay window also. The Fireplace speaks to me. Remove the florescent lighting fixtures, remove anything you do not need, it's modular so easily done. Now fill this wonderful room with other furniture and I see a fantastic loft type apartment. Shaders on the Wall's? Wallpaper of your choice, just that easy. Add good lighting a Background and really this one set rendered from different places has much more to offer the user than just that Westpark vibe. As a guest here I offer this to all users, when you look at items in the store do yourself a favor and think beyond that items one intended use or even the time it might represent. There are people in the world with us right now living very happily in medieval stone castles with modern furnishings.

    Four Mini Tutorials in the works explaining the so subtle things in this image that most will not even notice them.

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    Post edited by Jaderail on
  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:
    Jaderail said:
    Szark said:
    Novica said:


    Need someone to tell me the difference in AOIBL (which I used) and IBL. You get both light options with Barn Yard.


    Generally when I see that I see Poser IBL presets. What is means is AO = Ambient Occlusion plus IBL (Image Based Lighting or HDRI) and I would presume the IBL only would be Ambient light only but not conversed with Poser I cannot be sure.
    Actually my friend ArtCo does both versions in DS lighting. AOIBL and IBL versions. But yes one is with the extra AO settings and the other is without.So in UE2's case NO AO means Ambient Light Only. :PGo ask Neil of ArtCo, he does all the DS lights for the sets. And Very well IMHO.
  • mori_mannmori_mann Posts: 1,152
    edited December 1969

    I like that, Jaderail :) I love playing around with textures/shaders on walls and floors, removing and adding furniture to make a set into something completely different. Sometimes only keeping the basic shape. It feels liek doing some heavy redocorating, but without the mess that comes with actual redecorating, lol.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,891
    edited December 1969

    I am SO sick and tired of this stupid forum Cloud Fare. It let me type a reply in Chrome, THEN went 404 when I went to post it. Now in FireFox but lost the post. Going to do a brief one now instead.

    Jaderail- love the list- the jeans always look so real, the grass is my go-to for lawns, and I was surprised when I showcased the hacienda as to how large the set was! (And nice vegetation.)

    Your makeover reminded me I need to one day get back and finish L'Atelier. I, too, am a big fan of overhaul. :) It does take some time though as you come up with so many creative options. I was in the middle of taking out a door :) I like the radiator under the window in yours- at least I think that's what it is. Lighting is great!

    Gotta run take the blanket off the horse. Finally stopped pouring rain (and was 39 real feel. Ugh. Warming up fast so out the door.)

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,401
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    I have a comment about Ethriel's Bower: be warned if you have a slow computer. The ivy uses transparent maps. Rendering medium or high shadows can take a long time unless you use Age of Armor's advanced spotlight.

    Thanks for the tip :) Have you done any renders of it?

    No, not lately. I need to reinstall all of my fairy and fantasy related stuff. I can do a quick test render of Ethriel's Bower after I finish my tests with reingerject for Genesis 2 females.
    I have this oldie done for RRRR over a year ago, so it was fairly quickly done - the lighting was fairly simple: sunlight plus 8 other distant lights at different angles as per KickAir 8P's Simple Sunshine Sphere Tutorial set at ShareCG...

    RRRR-05_A_Moment_of_Reflection.jpg
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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,891
    edited December 1969

    Melanie- love that!!!! And can I have the kitty trotting out the door???

    BTW, opinions about the mohawks on sale? That hair doesn't look real at all to me. IMO would only be for anime. I am glad the wings did get out, it was in QA and the vendor said they hoped it would get through in time for the freebies. Love 'em! Also got the chapel. But the mohawk- nope. Just my personal preference. If anyone gets it, would like to see it with closeup lighting. It seems just too painted to me.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,654
    edited December 2013

    Today’s Review is:

    Shattered
    http://www.daz3d.com/shattered
    Dogz

    Other Content:

    Sci-fi Corridor 2013
    The Backstreets
    DAZ Monstrosities: Undead Fiend
    Mr. Hyde (shorts)
    Probes Mechanical Mayhem
    Millennium Cat (has someone snatched him? Couldn't find his link, although le one is there)
    Fairy Flower (Sold Elsewhere)
    East of the Sun West of the Moon (Sold Elsewhere)
    Sci-fi apartment 3DC (Sold Elsewhere)


    http://www.daz3d.com/sci-fi-corridor-2013
    http://www.daz3d.com/the-backstreets
    http://www.daz3d.com/undead-fiend
    http://www.daz3d.com/mr-hyde-for-genesis
    http://www.daz3d.com/probes-mechanical-mayhem[


    Wow! Words cannot express how much I enjoy messing with this set. Breaking glass and windows has never been so much fun, and finding windows to break never more of a challenge!

    The set consists of window glass props, several presets, textures, and glass shards. There are different types of glass to use, since glass responds differently to being shattered. There are also some plain glass props so you can replace the windows you might have erased when hiding the normal textures, which is useful since most textures make the window glass all one piece, and hiding one bit hides the rest.

    I would recommend bypassing the product view and pulling up the product from the daz props directory and making a category for this product using that folder and series of subfolders. The reason for this, is that there are lots of folders which make the product easier to understand, and product view sort of lumps them all in a single folder and not all textures work on the same prop. This will make it easier to sort.

    Now, the challenge is to find something to break. This can be sort of difficult because the ideal window isn’t going to have too much wood in the center and be flat, unless you want to replace all the tiny little windows. I was surprised at how many of my sci-fi windows were sort of unsuitable.. A nice bay window would be perfect., or you can pull up the building texture and remove the wooden frame to make shattering the window easier. I found it easiest to find a building that had windows set with opacity and turn the opacity off. Then set my window inside.

    You choose the type of glass you want after finding a suitable candidate and place the prop in the window frame. You can then adjust the shatter effects to suit your mood, from simply breaking the glass to bullet holes. I love the powerful effects that can be achieved. Here I shattered the windows of Sci-fi apartment, Sci-fi Corridor, and The Backstreets.

    This is a fun product, I simply love it and am still learning the ropes. Great job, and hoping for an expansion.

    1. Sci-fi Apartment Kitty abduction. I guess those aliens aren't just going for people anymore. =-) Don’t worry, no kitties will be harmed.
    2. My latest one I’m working on, something escaping the medical lab!
    3.Daz Monstrosity breaking out of the Backstreets
    4. Image 4 my current WIP on the Sci-fi corridor

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    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,654
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    Melanie- love that!!!! And can I have the kitty trotting out the door???

    BTW, opinions about the mohawks on sale? That hair doesn't look real at all to me.

    I like Design Anvel's content and innovation however mohawks aren't to my taste in general. I never cared for the hairstyle in the 80's either.
    Can't wait to see what DA comes up with next though. =-)

    I do however like the futucar. That is awesomesauce.

  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 11,112
    edited December 2013

    Novica said:
    Melanie- love that!!!! And can I have the kitty trotting out the door???

    BTW, opinions about the mohawks on sale? That hair doesn't look real at all to me. IMO would only be for anime. I am glad the wings did get out, it was in QA and the vendor said they hoped it would get through in time for the freebies. Love 'em! Also got the chapel. But the mohawk- nope. Just my personal preference. If anyone gets it, would like to see it with closeup lighting. It seems just too painted to me.


    Looks best at a distance.
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    Post edited by TJohn on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,654
    edited December 1969

    Hah! Like the baby though. He has a cool expression. =-)

  • SasjeSasje Posts: 835
    edited December 1969

    Cooool Punk baby :lol:

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214
    edited December 1969

    Today’s Review is:

    Shattered
    http://www.daz3d.com/shattered
    Dogz

    Other Content:

    Sci-fi Corridor 2013
    The Backstreets
    DAZ Monstrosities: Undead Fiend
    Mr. Hyde (shorts)
    Probes Mechanical Mayhem
    Millennium Cat (has someone snatched him? Couldn't find his link, although le one is there)
    Fairy Flower (Sold Elsewhere)
    East of the Sun West of the Moon (Sold Elsewhere)
    Sci-fi apartment 3DC (Sold Elsewhere)


    http://www.daz3d.com/sci-fi-corridor-2013
    http://www.daz3d.com/the-backstreets
    http://www.daz3d.com/undead-fiend
    http://www.daz3d.com/mr-hyde-for-genesis
    http://www.daz3d.com/probes-mechanical-mayhem[


    Wow! Words cannot express how much I enjoy messing with this set. Breaking glass and windows has never been so much fun, and finding windows to break never more of a challenge!

    The set consists of window glass props, several presets, textures, and glass shards. There are different types of glass to use, since glass responds differently to being shattered. There are also some plain glass props so you can replace the windows you might have erased when hiding the normal textures, which is useful since most textures make the window glass all one piece, and hiding one bit hides the rest.

    I would recommend bypassing the product view and pulling up the product from the daz props directory and making a category for this product using that folder and series of subfolders. The reason for this, is that there are lots of folders which make the product easier to understand, and product view sort of lumps them all in a single folder and not all textures work on the same prop. This will make it easier to sort.

    Now, the challenge is to find something to break. This can be sort of difficult because the ideal window isn’t going to have too much wood in the center and be flat, unless you want to replace all the tiny little windows. I was surprised at how many of my sci-fi windows were sort of unsuitable.. A nice bay window would be perfect., or you can pull up the building texture and remove the wooden frame to make shattering the window easier. I found it easiest to find a building that had windows set with opacity and turn the opacity off. Then set my window inside.

    You choose the type of glass you want after finding a suitable candidate and place the prop in the window frame. You can then adjust the shatter effects to suit your mood, from simply breaking the glass to bullet holes. I love the powerful effects that can be achieved. Here I shattered the windows of Sci-fi apartment, Sci-fi Corridor, and The Backstreets.

    This is a fun product, I simply love it and am still learning the ropes. Great job, and hoping for an expansion.

    1. Sci-fi Apartment Kitty abduction. I guess those aliens aren't just going for people anymore. =-) Don’t worry, no kitties will be harmed.
    2. My latest one I’m working on, something escaping the medical lab!
    3.Daz Monstrosity breaking out of the Backstreets


    great review on shattered! I was debating about it , now its going on my wishlist for later. thinking of some neat effects I can do with it :)

  • SasjeSasje Posts: 835
    edited December 1969

    Invited Guest Contributor

    This is what I used:

    - Teen Josie 6 ( http://www.daz3d.com/children/teen-josie-6
    - Xeon Suit ( http://www.daz3d.com/xeon-suit
    - Nightfever Hair ( http://www.daz3d.com/hair/nightfever-hair
    - LoREZ Rat ( http://www.daz3d.com/lorez-rat
    - Toxic ( http://www.daz3d.com/toxic
    - Ron's Edge Grunge I use it in most of my renders ( http://www.daz3d.com/rons-edge-grunge
    Background is from DM's RoseMary's
    I used Luxus , the light bulb I turned into a light source also the green liquid turned into a light source but very low. And used two Area lights

    :-)

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,891
    edited December 2013

    tjohn, you don't have to render it, but would you test upping the bump/ displacement and see if it makes the strands any better? EDIT: I'm talking about the mohawk

    Post edited by Novica on
  • KickAir 8PKickAir 8P Posts: 1,865
    edited December 1969

    tjohn said:
    Novica said:
    BTW, opinions about the mohawks on sale? That hair doesn't look real at all to me. IMO would only be for anime. I am glad the wings did get out, it was in QA and the vendor said they hoped it would get through in time for the freebies. Love 'em! Also got the chapel. But the mohawk- nope. Just my personal preference. If anyone gets it, would like to see it with closeup lighting. It seems just too painted to me.

    Looks best at a distance.
    I was happy about getting both G1 and G2 fits until I realized G2Females had been excluded. So if I got this I'd have to autofit or convert one of 'em, and it's been a while since I've done that on hair (last time I kept getting wandering polys). Anybody tried these on G2F yet? If the G1 version converts just as well I might get that alone and save a couple bucks since I'll have to do it to one of 'em anyway.
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,654
    edited December 1969

    Sasje said:
    Invited Guest Contributor This is what I used:

    - Teen Josie 6 ( http://www.daz3d.com/children/teen-josie-6
    - Xeon Suit ( http://www.daz3d.com/xeon-suit
    - Nightfever Hair ( http://www.daz3d.com/hair/nightfever-hair
    - LoREZ Rat ( http://www.daz3d.com/lorez-rat

    :-)

    Nice one. I like the toxic girl reaching for the poor rat. Great work with those brushes as well!

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,654
    edited December 2013

    Kharma said:
    great review on shattered! I was debating about it , now its going on my wishlist for later. thinking of some neat effects I can do with it :)

    This product is a great deal of fun. I'm enjoying it a lot in my test renders. I recommend it! Now I will try something fancy. =-)

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • luci45luci45 Posts: 2,765
    edited December 1969

    Thanks, SereneNight. I am really loving Shattered. Another one for my wishlist...

  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,341
    edited December 1969

    Another one of my Top Ten Tools...

    Luxus

    The bottom line: Luxus gives you a pathway to use the (free) LuxRender render engine with DAZ Studio, and for a very reasonable price. LuxRender is an unbiased render engine, and thus allows for more physically-accurate lighting than 3Delight.

    A few things to keep in mind when working with Luxus:

    - With Luxus, switching your render engine to LuxRender (for any given scene) is very simple. And Luxus handles most of the conversions pretty well by itself. But for good results, some extra effort and knowledge will probably be necessary. LuxRender handles lights and materials very differently from 3Delight.

    - Truly outstanding results are possible, but you might have to be somewhat of an expert to get there. Though, I suppose that's probably true of anything. Certainly my own renders using Luxus are far from outstanding, though I've done a few that I thought came out pretty well.

    - If you're just starting out with Luxus and LuxRender, I recommend that you pick up the excellent tutorial by Bluebird3D and/or a light set built for Luxus (such as this or this by InaneGlory).

    - Expect delays. Render times range from long to infinite (they aren't done until you say they are, with quality gradually increasing as time goes on, though after a while you won't notice any further difference).

  • starionwolfstarionwolf Posts: 3,670
    edited December 1969

    I bought Luxus for $9 a few weeks ago. It is a nice plugin. Unfortunately, Daz Studio 4, Genesis and Luxus run out of memory on 32 bit Windows.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,891
    edited December 2013

    Invited Guest Contributor
    Kharma

    Like to welcome the final Invited Guest Contributor (for awhile anyway! Capping it at around 15 folks.)
    Everyone knows her, she's a long time supporter of our thread (the longest, in fact) and her artwork and lighting have really caught our attention over on her Art Studio thread. Be sure and look at these in particular, I'm drooling. Don't make me look bad Kharma!

    Her Art Studio thread:
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/30296/

    LOVE these renders:
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/30296/P30/#507535
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/30296/P30/#507607

    That closes out our "Showcase Team" for awhile. We appreciate all of you joining in when you have time to assist with the product reviews. :) Your tips and tutorials are also invaluable, thanks for helping with those too. Any of you who have not posted your top 10 list, feel free if you'd like to do that. I'm curious!

    Post edited by Novica on
  • starionwolfstarionwolf Posts: 3,670
    edited December 1969

    I bought Luxus for $9 a few weeks ago. It is a nice plugin. Unfortunately, Daz Studio 4, Genesis and Luxus run out of memory on 32 bit Windows.

    Ignore my post. Most people are using Windows 7, 64 bit. :red: I feel like I am stuck in the year 2007. lol

    Novica, thanks for reminding me about Kharma's thread. I will look at her thread soon.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,891
    edited December 1969

    Starionwolf, there are a lot of people still using what you do- don't apologize! :) You never know what people are using- some folks are also still on older versions of DAZ Studio, some on 32 bit, some on older versions of browsers. (I never hop on the bandwagon when there's a new release of ANYTHING.) :)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,891
    edited December 1969

    Can anyone answer the question for KickAir? I didn't buy the mohawk hair so I can't answer it.

  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 11,112
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    tjohn, you don't have to render it, but would you test upping the bump/ displacement and see if it makes the strands any better? EDIT: I'm talking about the mohawk
    Sorry about the time this took, but I wanted to answer your question and KickAir's at the same time.
    DA Mohawk for Genesis (1) is the only one I bought. You can see by my use of it on the Baby that it follows well on extreme morphs.
    About the hair out of the box:
    There are three parts to the hair, none of which uses a Trans map, and Opacity is at 100% on all three parts.
    The largest part (from the base to the top, not including the spiky tips and a "transitional part" in the middle) has both a bump map and a displacement map. I increased the positive bump in the samples shown from the default of .5 to 1.0. I did not adjust the displacement.
    I think that increasing the bump helped a bit, but I noticed that the darker the color, the better the results.

    I was happy about getting both G1 and G2 fits until I realized G2Females had been excluded. So if I got this I'd have to autofit or convert one of 'em, and it's been a while since I've done that on hair (last time I kept getting wandering polys). Anybody tried these on G2F yet? If the G1 version converts just as well I might get that alone and save a couple bucks since I'll have to do it to one of 'em anyway.

    In the render attached, both are the Genesis (1) version of the DA Mohawk, which autofits well to both M6 and V6 , IMO, at least in the latest General Release of DS 4.6.
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  • KickAir 8PKickAir 8P Posts: 1,865
    edited December 1969

    tjohn said:

    I was happy about getting both G1 and G2 fits until I realized G2Females had been excluded. So if I got this I'd have to autofit or convert one of 'em, and it's been a while since I've done that on hair (last time I kept getting wandering polys). Anybody tried these on G2F yet? If the G1 version converts just as well I might get that alone and save a couple bucks since I'll have to do it to one of 'em anyway.

    In the render attached, both are the Genesis (1) version of the DA Mohawk, which autofits well to both M6 and V6 , IMO, at least in the latest General Release of DS 4.6.
    Thanks, appreciate your help!
  • luci45luci45 Posts: 2,765
    edited December 1969

    Invited Guest Contributor
    And yet another Dogz product:

    East Asia for Genesis 2 Females

    I love good ethnic morphs so I was happy to see these. DogZ has made 10 Asian female head morphs which are the best I have seen so far (with the exception of Tachi for V4.) These ladies look very real and not at all Caucasion. He also includes five petite (dialed) body morphs, which look a lot more like most Asian ladies' body types than the tall busty ones that have been offered so far. I thought the hands were a little bit big on the smallest one so I dialed them down a bit.

    It is just morphs so you need to find textures. I used Tachi on this one. He uses Naoki (which is now on my wishlist.)

    There is also included "smile assist morphs" for each morphs to use with 'Smile open full face' expression. I don't think they are working right, as I couldn't find them and the smiles don't look as good as his promos. (The smile on my renders I made with a combination of lip and smile morphs.) Anyway, the problem is something DAZ did, according to DogZ. He is looking into it and I'm sure it will get resolved. I will update this post when it is. I wanted to post this while they are still 30% off. I never know how long DAZ' sales last.

    The dress is Dogz' Super Dress, which I love. The hairs are [url= http://www.daz3d.com/pyrit-hair]Pyritt,Noemie and Bubblegum . I used short hair so their faces would show. He has long hair on his promo renders

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This discussion has been closed.