Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 4
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Here's the exact same FW Ja-Long HD For Lee 6, but with BWC Skies and in the DM Talca scene. If you load the figure and the scene, that wall appears nicely behind him. Didn't move him at all. Love it when that happens. :)
(EDIT: Oops, the necklace disappears a bit. Not going to re-render, but be sure and check that out if you use this outfit, because he is not in an extreme pose and that necklace should have been okay.)
wow, that is almost exactly what I've been fussing with the past day. before cleaning up a mess.
Assuming his neck is not using an extreme depth displacement map, it looks like the fit-to or the collision was not set quite correct. Tho as I've been fussing with those settings, They are kind of finicky. 10 is horrid, 11 is perfect, and 12 is no where close, for a particular tummy morph. The next morph slider requires completely different iterations or whatever.
I still like the render, the lighting pose outfit and FW Ja-Long HD looks good.
Malakai for Lee 6 (DAZ3D / Gypsyangel)
Jade Renegade Outfit For Genesis 2 Male(s) (DAZ 3D / Sarsa / Xena)
Kung Fu Hair For Genesis 2 Male(s) (DAZ3D / Goldtassel)
Monk Moves For Lee 6 (DAZ3D / Val3dart)
DM Talca (DAZ 3D / Danie / Marforno)
http://www.daz3d.com/malakai-for-lee-6
http://www.daz3d.com/jade-renegade-outfit-for-genesis-2-male-s
http://www.daz3d.com/kung-fu-hair-for-genesis-2-male-s
http://www.daz3d.com/monk-moves-for-lee-6
http://www.daz3d.com/dm-talca
So here is Ja-Long with Malakai, both are using the Monk poses. Scene is still DM Talca.
I hadn't had time to visit the other sections of the forum, and had been doing paintings all evening. I just read about Jaderail being ill and admitted to the hospital in one of the threads in The Commons. You'll recall he posted here a few days ago saying he was feeling under the weather. He is one of my Invited Guest Contributors.
Jaderail died earlier this evening. I am in shock and feel so hollow inside- he devoted himself to helping others and what a tremendous loss for the DAZ community and to anyone who was lucky enough to know him in person, in his daily life. This is the thread.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/44104/P30/#648396
I just wanted to add a personal note here to say how sorry I am. Jaderail's loss will be felt by all here, but I know that you Novica and several others who contribute here or post elsewhere in Art Studio could count him as a true friend. It's hard to know what to say but my thoughts are with you.
Yes Jindi...it's really hit me hard- I think my son was totally off guard this morning when I started crying as I told him one of my friends had died. What stood out to me was the huge, ginormous- can't really put a quantity on it- loss of talent and compassion that the DAZ community has lost. I started crying when I said he had an art studio thread with an ongoing story, and now those characters are forever still by Jaderail's hand, no one will ever be able to do the story exactly as he would. That's what REALLY got me crying. And...
That lonely RRRR pull sitting there in the thread, never to be done by Jaderail with his own unique style and sense of humor. I'm hoping maybe Spyro will do it, as Jaderail is the one who encouraged him to participate and he did so last month. I don't want that pull to just sit there, undone- I think Jaderail would get a kick out of seeing what could be done with it, in his honor.
It's kicking me in the gut to know there are no purple Drow avatars appearing in posts ANYWHERE in the forums today. I can't stop crying. I can't get that out of my head- I KNEW when I posted here, that Jaderail was watching and if I got stumped, he WOULD be here. I don't feel abandoned, there are so many helpful people...but it's not the same. He was my Alabama buddy- I'm in Florida- and we always knew what weather was rolling in for both of us in the wee hours of the morning. Those little things.
The loss is huge.
One thing that will always stick in my brain- Lee was released the day Jaderail left us- but every time I see a Lee character, I'm going to remember Jeff. Or a purple Drow. And I cherish my four threads because even before Jaderail was an Invited Guest Contributor (and there was never any doubt he would be one of course, even as busy as he was, he was so generous with his time) he was on my thread often, pitching in, just like in the rest of the forums.
DAZ had better not EVER lose these forum posts and "archive" them/ remove the images- or I swear I will never post again. Jaderail's life is in these forums- his heart and soul- and he posted SO many images to help get his point across. That takes time, believe me, I KNOW. Doing screenshots and then typing up instructions takes patience too. So these forums had better not go poof, or have the images screwed with!
Again, although I mentioned just a couple days ago that I need to work on my projects (stories), this really drives the point home. All the things locked in my mind (some deliciously funny, SeaNautica can be very...creative) will be lost forever if I don't get off my random rendering habit and start doing my stories. I think now that is going to move ahead of learning Silo, or at least get equal time.
I'm feeling queasy, literally, thinking about no Jaderail posts showing up anywhere on the forums today..I'm not even thinking about tomorrow, or the next day...I can't think about it. Well, I can. I am going to focus on what he helped everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) learn, and make more of an effort to read his tutorials and posts that are referenced in my first post in the References section. It is sad to know he won't be able to come on and answer any questions I have, but he participated in the forums because of the wonderful support that he also got- and those people are still here. We'll all have to "move forward" together- although yesterday is forever frozen in time.
(Left, came back. Had to think.)
To start getting out of this funk...
I just went to Jaderail's profile and retraced his last posts, I wanted to go where he went on the forums- and actually enjoyed it because he was SO enjoying himself. That's what I want to remember, and when I get sad, I will.
Nuff said, but never enough.
Jaderail would want this thread and all other threads to go on, and would undoubtedly remind all of us to pitch in help, to do what he can't do now- and to have patience and answer questions that have been asked over and over again because there's always someone who is new to attempting it. Doesn't matter if you're a newbie or not, people don't use DAZ on a timeline, we jump around with the tools. There's so many things I haven't tried yet, so much I forget as I don't get around to it, or get back to it very often.
But on a fun note-The new folks coming on will continue to see Jaderail's posts as any Google search will undoubtedly reference them- there wasn't much he didn't know, or contribute to. You are FOREVER, Jaderail! :)
I have been looking at one of Jaderail's children (he was the proud "Father" of the Stupid thread).
It was begun as a place of fun and laughter. It has been one of my favorite threads - I will eventually return to it and post there again, but not today. I can't even smile today.
John
What terrible news. (If I'd not dropped in here this evening I'd not have heard) I knew he was not in the best of health (understatement I think), but what a shock this is. I've just been to the thread above - wow, 11 pages already - which I'd not seen as it started after I signed off yesterday night.
Good to know I could help a little bit. I know my surfing the forums is sporadic, I haven't visited the Member's Forum in three or four days, many sections its been weeks. So thought I'd better mention it in case someone hadn't surfed in there yet.
Now, heads up. If you are a PC+ member, Dreamlight is 79% off. Otherwise, 70%. The prices are crazy at PC+ value-
Steam Punk Nest $4.19
The Sewer $4.19
Bachelor's Lair $5.24
The Pit $7.34
COMING
The Pit (Dreamlight)
http://www.daz3d.com/the-pit
I have a lot of Dreamlights products but haven't used hardly any of them. This took a bit of experimenting because I wasn't sure what I was doing. With The Pit, you can choose the high definition base (which I did), a low resolution, or a medium. This rendered at 38% at 41 minutes, and a very small render (600 pixels) then 44 percent at 1:15 so I canceled it. Now I am trying that same setup but in medium resolution, will test it awhile here and let you know how long it is taking.
Here's what you'll see- choices of Camera, Light Presets, Materials, Props.
In Light Presets, there's Area Dome, Base Lights, Flash Lights. (Those are the lights hanging on the walls in the scene)
EDIT: Okay, at medium resolution, it's much better.
It's 28% at 17 minutes, instead of 17%
It's 35% at 22 minutes, a much bigger difference.
Now 39% at 44 minutes
COMPARE: It's 44% at 56 minutes, when at high resolution it took 1:15 minutes.
Well, it really slowed down. I canceled it- again.
The base resolution one is okay for distance I suppose. I did postwork and sharpened the edges (corel photo paint, set at 15 with almost zero threshold.)
Although I think Dreamlight prices are high at full price, I can't argue with 79%. Very generous. I wasn't sure what to pick up, I've seen with the older items that they had lighting that is troublesome or won't work now in Studio so it has made me wary. I hope others won't trip up on that. However, we ought to be fine with the newer releases.
It's a shame though that The Pit is taking so long to render. Thanks for the preview of it, and for all your efforts here...in particular for the not-trivial task of carrying on after this unexpected loss.
I still have no words that seem appropriate. I think the number of thread views in The Commons says it all, with everyone reading and then reading again and trying to come to terms with the loss of someone who was such a part of this forum that we could never have been ready for this.
He'd be the first to cheer you on with the Sea Nautica series, Novica. I didn't have the pleasure of knowing him as well as several of you here, but it was clear that Jaderail understood about the need to tell a story, and about finding the time and courage to put it out there in the world.
It makes me smile that you found the threads where he was enjoying himself. This morning I was searching to find out things and he was there in all those threads helping others who had questions and problems. This forum is full of Jaderail and a true tribute to him. You are right, he'll continue to help newbies even now. That's an uplifting thought.
Can't say it any better than that.
Thanks Jindi.
I made it a point to go to the New Users forum this morning to see who needed help. People already had their questions answered. l have always been so pleased with our experienced users and how they pitch in.
Here's what I am doing at the moment- I took screenshots.
Need some help. I want to do it as a tutorial, STEP BY STEP, because I am the least technical person on this planet. I've read posts and watched videos, so I am going to try to use Victoria 4 For Genesis 2 Female and V4 Skins Auto Converter For Genesis 2 Female(s)
I am finding the threads mostly have chit chat between people that are already using it, and I want a step by step that any idiot (me) can do. I've yet to comprehend how these two products relate to each other in the sense of what you do FIRST. So I tried it. First, though:
This will cover:
V4 Skins Auto Converter For Genesis 2 Female(s)
Page: http://www.daz3d.com/v4-skins-auto-converter-for-genesis-2-female-s
ReadMe: http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/read_me/index/17102/start
Thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/29498/
Thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/29558/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGbm8f0Y_GA
Victoria 4 For Genesis 2 Female
http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-for-genesis-2-female
Which includes:
Victoria 4 Compatible UV Set
Victoria 4 Autofit Clone Shapes
Victoria 4 Clone, more Compatible with Shoes
Victoria 4 Skirt Clone, more Compatible with Skirts
Victoria 4 Character Shape
Victoria 4 Head Morph
Victoria 4 Body Morph
The first thing I noticed was the Auto Converter said the V4ForG2F (Victoria 4 For Genesis 2 Female) was needed to get the UV Map for Victoria 4.
So step one, I installed that in addition to the Auto Converter.
Now, if anyone is interested, check out this thread, where I'm asking all the questions I need to, then if I am doing this right, I'll post the screenshots here. I got through the process of applying the materials, but like others, had the pesky ear problems. If anyone can give some guidance, it would help. I am using LY Emily, in case you have it, and haven't tried this yet.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/29558/P30/#649357
Well, your post earlier prompted me to stop by in the New Users thread too, and I was delighted to give someone an answer. :) Great to see the tireless work people like Scott and chohole do over there too, and your name was also there on many of the newest posts.
I was working on a render for a review here but am out of time tonight, I'll try and finish and then post it tomorrow.
Unfortunately I have zero experience of the auto-converter product you're using but did very recently convert V4 skins to G2F via Blacksmith3D. I'd be happy to share more, although it does require an additional piece of software (either Blacksmith3D or the stand-alone texture transformer) from a different site so it might not be of much interest. I'd guess the auto-converter way that you are trying will be more familiar to more people here.
I'll be interested to hear about it and to compare the processes. Hope you find someone who can help you get started.
Well, I'm going to post the screenshots here and show the results, and if I'm doing something wrong, someone can spot it easier. It's been hours and I've posted twice so people know I am still trying :) but no one is available at the moment to assist. "Tweak the maps" just doesn't do it for me- the sliders for V4 and G2F are different so how do you "tweak" them to line up? Haven't got a clue (no surprise.) So here's the screenshots which may help someone get a better feel of it.
The thread mentions using DS files from People and not Poser files from Pose, but LY Emily files are Pose. I followed the video and am to the point of saving, but won't because the ears are wrong. Again, this is LY Emily. I will put 4 images here.
Image 1: loaded G2F and the Skin Auto Converter. (there are 2 images put together as one)
Image 2: shows path to file (Daz>Content>Runtime>Library>Pose>Daz Victoria 4>Characters>Lyoness>LY Emily
Image 3: what was selected
Image 4: Clicked on it and the popup appeared saying I might need to apply a V4 UV map. Shows Surface tab and that the V4 map was automatically applied. When I started, it had said Base Female.
Reserved, continuing the screenshots.
Thanks, Jindi, I appreciate that. :)
It does feel like there's a really big void right now. For me that part has sunk in; the idea of losing my friend, and frankly, my mentor, is just starting to...
...but you know, reading through the Jaderail thread...it's remarkable how many people have gained so much knowledge and support from him. And that impact lives on, and will only grow in time, as we all share things we learned from him with others, and pass on support and encouragement to new users the way he did for us when we were new. [edited to add: ...and not-so-new! ;-)]
Scott-L-
When I thought about Jaderail, I thought about you. It just seemed natural. When I post about problems I am having, the people who would pop in and help me were "Jaderail, Scott, Richard, FixMyPcMike, Chohole," among others. And I tried to imagine how you folks behind the scenes were doing and I want to personally tell you that you being on the forums and continuing to share what you know and what you've learned from Jaderail...it's a big comfort to MANY people. I'm already stuck on something, lol! (So where have you been, dude?)
I would personally love to see the farewell to Jaderail as a sticky- forever on the first page of The Commons- so the post doesn't disappear in the realm of Time.
So just wanted to add my thanks, and let you know you were in my thoughts the past two days- and so glad you're here :)
Cathie
Thank you, Cathie. :)
Actually I don't own the V4 Skins Auto-Converter, so I can't help with that...though if you need assistance with converting them manually I can offer some input.
Thanks- I'm going to get to the bottom of this, since I bought the product. But some day I might explore that other method. I do think people need a specific answer on those ears, and I'm going to be a bulldog until someone gives a straight answer.
This made me feel good- I popped in to help New Users (thinking about Jaderail) and there was a thread about putting things on D drive. Jaderail and fixmypcmike and mcj1016 spent HOURS with me going through that- and for a brief few minutes, I was able to relive the feeling that Jaderail was right here. It's so neat that he had literally gone step by step through it with me, and now today, it's a specific topic and I was able to give Jaderails exact information to someone. You rock, Jaderail :) :) :)
This is the thread asking about how to put everything on D Drive.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/44198/
And this was my thread with Jaderail as my mentor with the patience of a saint. (Not to mention fixmypcmike and mcj1016. Kudos!)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/39030/
Nice work on the Pit! I like it. I ended up picking up that one in the sale.
Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. (Don't pick high resolution unless you have a LOT of time for it to render- like overnight!) I don't know how much time the lights add to that render time though. I didn't experiment enough. Sarge should love this set for a playground!
@Novica: Ja-Long looks really good. Lee 6 imo is one of the best gen6 releases to date, along with Gianni. I have high hopes for the future male DOs, hopefully DAZ has still quite a few of them in store for us. The pit also looks like an interesting set, a pity high resolution textures take such a long time to render. I'm looking forward to the rest of the screenshots on auto-converter.
I don't have that v4 to G2F skin thing yet, I'm at odds about distorting mats to drape over a different polygon-shape. I'm thinking an insane resolution conversion of each jpg would be better, if it were possible.
Looking at your screencap #3, I don't think it works on the 91x91 pixel icons. I think it wants the 4000x4000 pixel mats? or the DUF (whatever) file. Question is there, do I need to hunt down each individual jpg file, or just the 'Matt load' CR2/DUF?
Even though I used a different method, I'd agree with Zarcon here. In the process I used, I chose 4000 by 4000. Although I imagine that's what you were loading too via the apply all icon.
I'd love to tell you the specifics of how it worked, but it just started with an exported CR2, then did some behind the scenes magic, and the output was the 4000x4000 mats plus a single MAT file in the Poser runtime that I was able to use to apply everything at once. From there, I tweaked the textures (the eyes needed a bit of work) and saved as a material preset in My Library.
Some turned out better than others in terms of how the skin surface looked. This one is Amy (excuse default lighting).
Stetson, charming as ever. Photo taken yesterday by my friend when she was out with him in the arena. We take turns visiting him so he gets out to play more (the arena is huge, we let him loose and just let him run.)
His summer coat is fun- he is coal black but look at those gold areas and dapples!
Keep in mind I am LOUSY at keeping file extensions straight. Any tech talk and I start going bonkers. But this is what the description says:
"This script will read the .DS, .DSA and .PZ2 files and do all of the work for you."
That 91 x 91 was the only file in the Pose file so far as the skin goes. That's where the V4 files are located for Emily. I don't know where else to go.
The ear issue seems to be that the diffuse texture map doesn't automatically get loaded to the ear surface (material zone) the way it should. Or at least it didn't, in your case. Since I don't own the AutoConverter product I can't tell you exactly how to solve that. I thought it would be helpful to give you a link to the file list for the LY Emily product so that you know where to find the texture maps, but unfortunately the file list, which should be accessible here, is not.
So...here's how I do it. Some people prefer using the AutoConverter, but if you can't get the hang of that, you might give this method a try:
1. Load the Victoria 4.2 figure (note: you can use Genesis instead, but you'll be missing the Eye Reflection surface, so for best results use V4)
2. Apply the texture you want to use to V4, including eye color, makeup options, etc.
3. Save a Materials Preset. (File>Save As...>Materials Preset) Make a note of where it's being saved.
4. Load Genesis 2 Female. (You can remove the V4 figure from your scene if you wish)
5. Apply the materials preset you saved to G2F. You should be to navigate to the appropriate location in the Content Library.
6. I'm not sure, but as I recall you need to manually change the UV set to V4. Go to the Surfaces pane, select Genesis 2 Female, find the UV dropdown, and select "Victoria 4." Note: you need to own Victoria 4 for Genesis 2 Female or the Victoria 4 UV set won't appear in the list.
If I were you, I'd set both DAZ Studio and Windows to always show file extensions. I personally find this to be a big help. It's in Preferences somewhere...let me know if you need help finding it.
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/read_me/index/18596/start
That's Emily's page. There's nothing under Materials:Feminine (can't even find it) and I've gone through all the Materials, V4, etc files- this is ridiculous. I'm checking everything-
Under Content>Materials, nothing. Just good ole Merlin.
Under Content>People>Victoria 4>Characters not there.
Content>People>Victoria 4>Materials not there.
Content>People>Victoria 4>Textures not there
So down to Runtime (which I had already checked, but here's where I looked.)
These are all Runtime>Libraries:
Character> Not there
Materials> Not there
Materials>Daz VIctoria 4 Not there
Pose>Lyoness is there and three characters, but NOT LY EMILY. They each only have the stupid 91 x 91 image for the skin
Props>Not there
Textures>Lyoness- ALL FOLDERS ARE EMPTY.
Great. Will someone check any of the following in Runtime>Libraries>Textures>Lyoness and see if there is anything in the folders? Check Emily, Karine, Kennedy, Locklyn, Montana, or Waverly.
LOL Scott- we're posting at the same time. (Took me awhile to compose this.)
My problem with file extensions is that I'm pretty duh with them. But I do already have them showing :)
And you did answer one question- I wanted to know what that product did (Vict.4 for G2F) and if I had to do anything other than install it. Yep, that V4 option is in the list.
I'm wondering if I just picked a bad one to start with. None of Lyoness' characters have anything other than the 91 x 91 image for the material- that I've found (see previous post, I've looked everywhere I think.) It might be my error, but look at everywhere that I've looked! What a waste of time.