Novica, Serene Night, & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 3
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I think that I would like to pick Zev0, it's not always easy to show-case a morph package but I find his products indispensable and use them in almost all of my images.
Render The Vendor: Zev0
Great choice! I will start posting the render links here.
Growing Up for Genesis2 Female(s) and V6
http://www.daz3d.com/growing-up-for-genesis2-female-s-v6
By tjohn: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/34269/P30/#507440
Growing Up for Genesis by Zev0
http://www.daz3d.com/growing-up-for-genesis
By tjohn: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/34269/P30/#507440
By Scott-Livingston: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/34269/P105/#508958
Skin Overlay Bundle
http://www.daz3d.com/skin-overlay-bundle
By Scott-Livingston: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/34269/P180/#510658
Invited Guest Contributor
Beck for M4 (DAZ 3D, Morris)
http://www.daz3d.com/beck-for-m4
Other items used:
Classic Deco (DAZ 3D, Jack Tomalin)
Berlin City Spirit Fashion for Genesis 2 Male(s) (outoftouch)
Pure Hair: Rock n' Roll (DAZ 3D)
Michael 6 HD Add-On (DAZ 3D)
Advanced DAZ Studio Light Bundle (Age of Armour)
Real Light HDR Gels - Bulbs (DimensionTheory)
Reinterject for Genesis 2 Female(s) (DAZ 3D, DimensionTheory)
Skies of Economy (DimensionTheory)
Michael 4 for Genesis 2 Male (Slosh)
Skin Overlay Bundle (Zev0, DraagonStorm)
Inspired by barbult's renders of Beck I thought I would try applying his textures to G2M. I got him as part of the Michael 4 Pro Bundle during the Giveaway promotion. The result was I got lots of content for free which I haven't used yet since I do not use Gen 4 figures. Barbult's renders got me curious about Beck and when I went to his store page it turned out I have him so I thought it was as good a time as any to try to render him.
To use his textures on G2M I first applied his materials (I chose the default ones which are the same as TorsoHair1) to genesis 1 and saved them as duf. materials preset. However since I did not like the shader he came with, I applied Bjorn's AoA SSS materials ( Michael 6 HD Add-On ) to G2M first (the shape I used is a random dial-spin) and then changed his maps to Beck ones (which meant I didn't need to save them as duf first). I left the Bjorn AoA SSS settings untouched. The veins displacement also came with Beck. I also changed his eyes to one of Bree's for G2F with Reinterject for Genesis 2 Female(s) applied. The light is one AoA AAL and one AoA ASL with Real Light HDR Gels - Bulbs gobo applied to it. The only postwork is DOF and Auto Contrast applied in PS.
Edit: I added a second image. For the lights this time I used SoE-Sunny9 preset from Skies of Economy (one Distant and UE2). Even though I reduced the SSS strength down to 50% and upped the diffuse strength to 70% the skin still looks too orange to me. The only postwork in this one is DOF added in PS. I also noticed that something weird happened to the pants, they deformed on the calves. I will have to try to correct that.
The seam which you can see on his neck was of course a silly mistake on my part (different displacement % on the neck and face). When I render a fixed version I will update this post.
Edit: I've added my latest attempt at rendering Beck on G2M. I removed his displacements maps because I did not like the look of the veins that came with him and added some using Zev0's Overlays. The SSS strength is 70%, diffuse 50% and I reduced both specular strengths to 15% and 5% respectively. I forgot to change them on the lip as well so it looks too shine (as if he were wearing lipstick). The lights are inspired by Jared's tutorial he posted on youtube. I would recommend it to anyone interested in how the promos for the latest g2 figures were set up. Instead of UE2 I used one AoA AAL and used a free backdrop by Aeon--Soul which you can get from their deviantart page. I'm not entirely happy with how Beck looks in my render but it seems to me that I'm on the right path to making his materials usable on G2M. There is no postwork on this image.
I had an idea of something to post here but my rendering of it is still not done. Hopefully it will come during the week so I can show you something useful.
Invited Guest Contributor
Continuing on your Morris theme: here's a quick look at Falcon for M4
I picked him up in the recent "Single Life" promotion having seen the texture used in the promos for the Ethnicity for Genesis bundle.
The first two images are Falcon out of the box (by which I mean that I'm actually using M4 rather than a Genesis figure, which is unusual for me these days!) As you can see, he's quite vein-y.
He's wearing Duarte Hair by 3Dream/Mairy and the cargo shorts from M4 Casual Wear by DAZ 3D/Lobo75.
Lights are from InaneGlory's Photo Studio 3 (the Photo Studio Lights X1 set) augmented with an Advanced Spotlight at 40% intensity.
Background is from InaneGlory's Photo Studio 2 (the Prop2 Back Drop out of the box).
In the second render I swapped his default texture for the "hairy" body and "scruffy" face - for this close-up I turned down the lights a bit so his teeth didn't entirely dazzle me (they are very white). He has four eye colours, but I've left these at the default dark brown shade.
The last image shows two of the "tribal make-up" options. (The figure on the right has Soto's Shaved Hair for Michael 4, a freebie from ShareCG).
Beck for M4 is also a bit too "vainy" for my taste at default settings. Falcon looks nice in your renders. Have you tried applying his textures to G2M? With Beck I'm getting this awful seam and I was wondering if it was the conversion thing causing it and if other of Morris's M4 characters had this issue when applied to G2M.
Invited Guest Contributor
Here are a set of (old) renders I did when I first got Zev0's Aging Morphs for Genesis - I found them lying in my renders folder and thought they might like an outing.
The character is a mix of presets from Axel International M5 by ForbiddenWhispers/JSGraphics/Male-M3dia. I wanted to see how the aging morphs could work on one character. Cant remember the lighting setup now (I no longer have the scene saved) but it was probably an area light as I was playing with Luxus at the time (these are all DAZ Studio/3Delight though).
Beck for M4 is also a bit too "vainy" for my taste at default settings. Falcon looks nice in your renders. Have you tried applying his textures to G2M? With Beck I'm getting this awful seam and I was wondering if it was the conversion thing causing it and if other of Morris's M4 characters had this issue when applied to G2M.
I have transferred the character to Genesis 1 (with GenX) and he looked fine except for "flat" eyes. I converted his skin preset to .duf to use on G2M, but I don't remember whether I rendered him there yet - about to go for lunch, but I'll try him this afternoon and see how it looks.
ETA: Where is the problem, face/neck or further down the body?
Nice example of what Zev0 Aging Morphs can achieve. : )
@everyone ... love all your renders of Freak and Morris products. I just realized I haven't installed Freak since my category meltdown so this has inspired me to get him back and try some renders. Love the Morris products, I too have quite a few, nice to be able to see some I don't have yet.
@Novica .. just curious on that water in the pool .. is it possible to insert a plane over it and then apply your own texture to the plane to create a clearer pool? I don't have that product and not much experience with planes, so just curious if that is a possiblity, or not
Nice example of what Zev0 Aging Morphs can achieve. : )
Sorry for the delay...
OK, so I don't have "Skies of Economy" but I do have "Skies of Reality" (which use 2 distant lights - diffuse and specular - and a UE light) so I tried to reproduce your seams problem using the V1Sunny2 lights.
First image is Beck - left to right is original M4 version, Genesis (using GenX and M4 UVs), G2M (with texture .duf saved from M4 version but still with the G2M Basic Male face - I'm eagerly awaiting GenX-ver2!) I haven't played with the shaders so this is using the DAZ Studio Default shader, exactly as Beck M4 comes.
Second image is the same for Falcon. (Incidentally the little fleshy blob between the necks of Genesis and G2M is M4's arm - should have hidden it before I started the renders but as they took 15 mins each I didn't want to go back and redo)
To be honest, I'm can't see any line where you got one, but perhaps you can? If not, then maybe it's something to do with the AoA SSS settings? I don't have the Bjorn materials so can't try to reproduce that process.
Thanks for posting those. Now I at least know that the seam line is a user error. =P I will have to experiment a little to find out what's causing it for me.
Could it be that you have left a Bjorn bump or displacement on the neck or face of G2M? Or you have more bump or displacement % on the neck than the face?
How did you convert the textures to .duf - on M4 (like I did) or via Genesis? Maybe it makes a difference?
Lots of questions and I may not be here for the answers - signing off for a few hours I'm afraid. I'll be in later tonight...
Could it be that you have left a Bjorn bump or displacement on the neck or face of G2M? Or you have more bump or displacement % on the neck than the face?
How did you convert the textures to .duf - on M4 (like I did) or via Genesis? Maybe it makes a difference?
Lots of questions and I may not be here for the answers - signing off for a few hours I'm afraid. I'll be in later tonight...
When you are back I will hopefully have the answer. It's probably some silly mistake. ; )
Edit: It was of course a displacement issue as you have suspected. ; ) I'm still such a newbie at this. =P
LOL. I haven't visited the thread for a few days and had a lot to catch up on. I have a quite few of Morris' so will be posting a few renders soon.
MelanieL, I loved the aging morphs on Axel. It is nice to see them used subtly where they aren't cranked all the way up!
Just a heads up: Canary3d store is on sale for 24 hours! I have 3 of her morph sets and I LOVE them. I just bought Sculptural Genesis Ultra Fun Kit. I have these and they are great:
http://www.daz3d.com/art-nouveau-fun-kit
http://www.daz3d.com/doomed-poet-poses-and-expressions
http://www.daz3d.com/teen-angst-poses-and-expressions
@MelanieL: I like your renders of Falcon. I've been curious about him, since I like his mid-tone skin, and I too saw him in ethnicity for genesis. He has a charming smile, and I like the veins and head sculpt. I also like your age progression and your... Three-headed demo models. =-)
Invited Guest Contributor
Today will will do something that we're not gonna finish in one post only. We're gonna use the free Ivy Generator to create some nice ivy for our DAZ Studio renders.
First we need to download the stuff. We use the browser and surf to http://graphics.uni-konstanz.de/~luft/ivy_generator/ and download two important things. First the program, then the texture pack.
The program has versions for both Windows and Mac OS X (Iested on Mac OS X 10.8 and 10.9 and it works). I know there are several ports of it for Windows but for now we use the4 original program. I have no clue what Windows versions it will run on or not.
So, download the program and replace the textures folder in the program folder with the downloaded one.
Now, we need something to whine about (sorry), to drape in vines. I decided to use the Fallen pillar from Merlins Saxon Ruins.
I added it to the scene, and made a quick render just to show how it looks. Now, Ivy Generator requires meshes with triangles only, and most Poser / DS content uses quads. DS has a nifty feature, Triangulate (which I had forgotten but Jaderail reminded me of). Select the object, then do Triangulate (found under Edit->Object->Geometry.>Triangulate), then we export the object using the settings shown.
Now we start Ivy Generator, and do Import obj + mtl. When you have done that, you will have a screen looking lite the one down below, but with the object you choose. I added two look of the other two tabs just to show the possible settings.
Now, it's time for some gardening, I hope you have green fingers ;-) First, this was so obvious that I missed it when I first tried to play with Ivy Generator, double-click in the scene to place the starting point for the Ivy to grow. As you see a little green dot appears.
Now, switch to the Growing Tab. I did not change any parameters, but as you see there is enough to play with to keep you busy for days. I just clicked Grow and let let grow. The blue lines kept growing until the logics could not create more branches and the growing process ended. I now went to the third tab, Birth, and clicked Birth, and voila, there was a great ivy.
So, I now went to the first tab again and did export obj+mtl, and went to DAZ Studio and imported it. I created three different ivys with different starting points, and saved them all.
When they come into DS they are all great and textureless. Fort this session I just selected the ivys, then went to the Surfaces tab choose the branch and set diffuse to the one that comes with it (found in texture that came with Ivy Generator), and I used to corresponding normal maps as DS handy uses Normal maps. I did the same thing for the two types of leaves, young and old. For the leaves there is a transparency map too.
Now I hid the columns and just rendered the ivy to see how lit looks, pretty nice, and at last a render of the complete scene. Now, if you place your textures in your Runtime folder in a folder you create, you can then save the Ivy as a prop to reuse. But if you want different textures? Yes, that is what I will be doing in part two, where we will delve into texturing our ivys.
So, what are the mistakes I did? Have you spotted it? Good, I should have have a ground plane in the export so that Ivys would grow down below the ground.
Last, I should have spent time to learn the settings. There is a short tutorial downloadable from the site that takes you quickly through the basic settings, so you can learn to tweak the ivy to grow as you like them to.
Edit: And the images once again showed up not in the order I added them, gaah, stupid forum.
Ivy Generator is a great little app but if you have a small system that has a had time with high poly models then you will need to start playing with all the dials to find a perfect fit for you. Without adjustments the avg model will be a couple 200,000+ poly.
Is this another hidden sale? I didn't see it in the rotating banner (or is it my cookies again...) Anyway, I really like this and have used it a couple times, great to get characters in position and then tweak (or leave them the way they are.) Thanks for pointing out the store to folks. :)
http://www.daz3d.com/teen-angst-poses-and-expressions
Wow, I go get some sleep you and folks are like busy lil beavers...
BTW, some stats regarding activity. (views plus posts. I track to see what people like so we can keep our visitors happy) In 12 hours, from 2:45am to 2:40p, there's been 444 views/posts. That is 37 per hour every hour which is at least one view/activity every other minute for 12 straight hours! (2:45a 25,897 and 2:40p 26,341) Yesterday was 687 views/activity- We really appreciate all the ICGs and other folks who hop onto the thread to share what they know. :) Our busiest day was about 1200 last month (1194) our average per week is usually between 300 to 500 daily. We do have quieter days which average about 275.
It's nice to know the art is appreciated and your experience can help other people, and the vendors who work so hard to make their products worthwhile. For the quiet surfers, don't be shy about telling us your experience if we're showcasing something you've used and really like- or what you'd like to see different with the product. And of course- if you find a great deal or "silent sale." (I keep thinking it's my cookies, but maybe it isn't.)
Okay, I'm going through the posts, will note Totte's tutorial back on the products page (page 1) where I'm going through and putting tutorials at the bottom of that for now, and will grab the DOF tutorial when I get to that post (don't want to jump around) and I'll update the Morris, Zev0, and Muscleman links as new renders get added.
Luci- looking forward to the Morris, Melanie you sure gave me a start when I saw those three heads together! (Thanks for trying to figure out the seams)
Kharma- yes, it's very easy to insert a plane, I mentioned putting my water image on one and experimenting with the settings and seeing how it looked (since the pool one has the inherent materials that we can't get rid of) but I didn't mention putting the plane on top of the pool- good thinking! :) I think it's good to show what you'll get out of the box, but another thing I should also mention is that with even more additional lighting (since I was showing Chablis lights, with two distants added) the pool will change more and maybe not be so milky. I'll have to go back and see / test the lights that come with Castel as that might fix the pool milkiness. You got me thinking.
The Canary3D Store is in a 48 hour Birthday Sale now. It was announced at the bottom of the last Daz Newsletter.
http://www.daz3d.com/canary3d
Oops Luci, I see you already mentioned the teen poses. Great minds think alike is my excuse.
Melanie- thanks for Falcon-wow, sure does have veins!
Oh yeah, that reminds me...Jaderail, I am still not getting the newsletters and you were going to ask about that for me? (Or if someone knows which department I should bug?) That's one reason too why I never switched to annual on the PC membership- because people had so much trouble with suddenly being dropped. It was chronic last year, dont know if that's been fixed. But during big sales, and on weekends of course, people in the members forum would come back on and say they were dropped (and it was the annual membership.) I figure with the $6 coupon and what I save, I'd rather have my "never been screwed up" monthly fee. Are you folks annual or monthly?
My newsletter stopped in December, without warning.
Castel (Nathy)
Chablis for Genesis/V4 (DAZ 3D / Morris)
Cat Character And Hair (Hair Only) (Valea)
B25 Business Casual (DAZ 3D / Bobbie25)
At Home Poses For M5 and V5 (Bluebird 3d)
Saba'a AlKair Table and Chairs (Jack Tomalin)
Poolside (Floats) (DAZ 3D / Propschick)
http://www.daz3d.com/castel
http://www.daz3d.com/chablis-for-genesis-v4
http://www.daz3d.com/cat-character-and-hair
http://www.daz3d.com/b25-business-casual
http://www.daz3d.com/at-home-poses-for-m5-v5
http://www.daz3d.com/saba-a-alkair-table-and-chairs
http://www.daz3d.com/poolside
Chablis lit easily and her skin tone isn't as dark as Tayisha, so she is more easily seen with the Chablis lighting. (Which of course was developed for her.) As SereneNIght also mentioned, the three products she owns all come with lighting (including this one) so it might be the same lighting on all the characters or perhaps not. I'll have to dig and find out when I get time. This gal is busty so you might want to dial down the breasts and nipples a bit.
Okay, let me mention a few things about Castel (I kept DOF fairly clear so you could see more details with this one.) You would really like this set because it has such a nice, big patio area- can do full scale parties and have a beautiful stairway in the background and nice balcony posts. The ivy is really nice too. I like the patio stones and the pool is separate and can be placed anywhere you want- some of the promos even embed it in the patio. So this set is very flexible. I know it's expensive, but when it's on sale be sure and give it a look. (Watch for Nathy.) The set renders fairly quickly too.
I didn't want to do a typical "dressed for the pool" render, I wanted the folks to be either "just-returned-home" or "we-have-to-go." so both Chablis and Tayisha are dressed up.
About Business Casual- I, too, reduced the chest on Chablis, it's very large and this shirt (no way is this business attire) is very clingy. Note this is a V4 product on GENESIS. Went on like a dream. I left the shirt as it appeared after the breast reduction- however, with it being a V4 product on Genesis, you can see it pulls a bit underneath the breast. So if you are messing with chest, you'll see a distinct cutoff from when the shirt is okay, to where you might want to say, "Okay, I'll add a centimeter back to the breast and the shirt looks okay." The materials are very pretty with this, and note there ARE other materials available where that tweak probably won't show up, as this one is very shiny, plain, and it would be noticed. There are some print options.
The pants are also Business Casual. They have a nice rumpled area at the bottom and I did put pumps on her and they looked good. I might do a full render if I get a chance.
The At Home Poses are wonderful- what I like is the "sitting on the couch" one I used has the character slumped backwards, and isn't your typical sitting pose. There are subtle differences in these. You'll like them! Watch the hands- this one poked through just slightly on the legs, but the finger details were very good. (Not just plop and drop in the lap.)
Saba'a Alkair Table and Chairs are great for outdoor patios- don't think exotic, think elegant but used. I wanted you to see the closeup details. They'd also go good in regular households, but when I saw Castel I thought of this set immediately for elegant but family friendly.
Cat Character And Hair- Is a good deal because it is both Genesis and V4. (Anytime you think prices are higher, check to see if the product is pulling double duty. I have to keep reminding myself of that.) Note this hair for African American and ethnic renders- it swings forward and back, can go thicker with the strands, and you can change the do-dads on the ends of the braids to black, gold, silver by default, or use the silver and diffuse color it to whatever you want. EDIT: be sure and zoom in and look at the great details at the temple. Really fine hair wisps at the hairline. Excellent by Valea, as usual.
Pick up Poolside if you are a PC member, for $1.99 you get a cart, glasses, lemonade pitcher, floats, etc. A good deal!
LIGHTING: Again, this is to test the Chablis lights- I did add two distant lights as this set was huge. You'll like the lighting! :)
EDIT: Note I did the lip color in diffuse. Her lips are very frosty as a default. This is with "makeup" as she is dressed to go out. (Or just came home.) You can see the regular lips on SereneNights render)
And what's with the pink ear? SereneNight, will you check yours and see if her ear renders pink? It's not my lights, they are bluish white.
Here's a screenshot of Castel because you really need to see the great opportunities for rendering- look at the different levels of the building and the length of it by default. Lots of nooks and crannies, and that first floor porch would be awesome for an intimate table for two setup.
You can also shoot from the balcony looking out- I did a screenshot but it was rather dark so not going to post that one. With the proper lighting, you'll see the arch of the balcony, the patio, the pool (if you have it) and the green lawn. Expansive view.
Will start on Angelo. Anyone else working on a Morris, please let me know which one so I won't duplicate efforts. :)
Oh yeah, that reminds me...Jaderail, I am still not getting the newsletters and you were going to ask about that for me? (Or if someone knows which department I should bug?) That's one reason too why I never switched to annual on the PC membership- because people had so much trouble with suddenly being dropped. It was chronic last year, dont know if that's been fixed. But during big sales, and on weekends of course, people in the members forum would come back on and say they were dropped (and it was the annual membership.) I figure with the $6 coupon and what I save, I'd rather have my "never been screwed up" monthly fee. Are you folks annual or monthly?
My newsletter stopped in December, without warning.
Hi @Novica,
My PC membership is yearly and I was able to pick up a really good deal on the annual renewal the end of December. So far (don't want to hex myself), I haven't had an issue with my membership. As for the newsletters, I've not had any challenges there either, although I had to initially place them in my address book and add them to my safe list because they were ending up in my junk folder. Perhaps the newsletter has triggered the spam filters and isn't even making it to your inbox--just a thought.
Trish
I don't have any more Morris products, sadly, or I'd do more. The mat for the ear does have a pink tone. I checked out the head maps. Here is a closeup render.
Nice tutorial Totte. I have this installed and even managed to get some nice looking ivy out of it but never used it in any of my final renders - yet. It's fun to use, though quite heavy on resources.
Hi,
I know that this query was directed at SereneNight, however I did a render of this character last March. I don't know if I had a red ear (used hair to cover them) but the skin on the knees and elbows had a reddish pink tinge to them similar in appearance to your image; my lighting was golds and light yellow which probably just exacerbated the issue. If you want to see the image, I can post it.
Trish