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DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
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© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Congratulations on your Anniversary Novica!!!
Thank you for posting that @memcneil70. I have wishlisted for now.
I have had several family members (cousins) get Covid. No deaths Thank Goodness!!! Many people at work have gotten it but not suprising because I am a nurse. Several of them were pretty sick which was scary because they were in better health than I and younger. Everyone has recovered so far.
Hey, some fun news. :) The facility Mom is at IS NOW OPEN TO VISITORS! Ci Pwff and I went today and I had Activities unlock her patio door, so we slid open the screen door and glass door and Ci Pwff raised up and she was able to have that fluffy dog snuggle right up into her lap!!!! First time since last September, when Activities took him in to see her. I'm not going in the room to see her until after I get vaccinated, there's no rush as long as we can chit chat through the screen door now instead of glass doors using speakers. I took dog toys for her to see and she rummaged through the bag, picked one, and gave it to Pwff. She totally had a blast! :) It was a lovely 68 degrees here to day. Cold tonight in low 40's.
Wow, 29 tornadoes last night. Nothing close to here :) Hope everyone else is okay.
I'm headed to bed (4:15am) later than I wanted to, have to get my shot at 1pm so need some zzzz's. Here's a really good article about the vaccinations.
@Novica Liked your render, thank you for using the background I made.
Your mother must have been very happy to be able to play with Ci Pwff. It is such a lovely dog.
Okay, back home from getting the Covid-19 vaccination. Piece of cake! Here's something I learned from the nurses-
If you take Tylenol, don't take it beforehand (I knew that) and wait about five hours afterward. For the second shot, things will probably be more intense as your body is "primed up" after the first shot and the second shot is when the antibodies really get revved up. Do NOT take any type of anti-inflammatory, as the shots are to get your body "inflamed." Stick with Tylenol.
You can get the second shot in the same arm, you don't have to alternate. Makes sense as you are not getting the second shot until weeks later.
The needle was so thin it wasn't even the typical "prick" you feel. My arm feels a bit different than the other one, but not overly sore.The nurse said moving the arm around would help the arm limber and keep it from getting stiff (and said small one pound weights were okay when I asked. I'm going to be very pro-active lol)
So far as the medical sheet you must sign- it took less than two minutes. Questions were:
have you had the virus, any symptoms of the virus, are you pregnant, have you had any of the vaccinations previously, any reactions to vaccinations of any type, allergic to any medications.
They give you the vaccination card to bring back one month later (28 days) for the Moderna vaccination. If you've had any breathing reactions, you wait 30 minutes instead of 20. I had a reaction to iodine back in the 80's (internal iodine) so I waited 30 minutes. A bunch of us were, lol. We all just sat around and chatted. It was a very pleasant experience overall, no drama, and met some nice folks. We of course were chatting about hurricane season starting in a few months. Everyone was delighted those confusing Greek names for storms are out the window.
I'm happy to get the Moderna with 94.1% prevention, and not the J&J. Although that one has a high rating for preventing the serious effects (no one has needed hospitalization) Here in Pensacola they are doing a clinic three days a week and not had any problem getting the Moderna. On the local CBS station, people from Baldwin County (Mobile, AL) are coming over here. Hmmm.
Anyway, I'm fine and I'll let you know how I feel this weekend as effects will likely be more noticeable tomorrow or later tonight. :)
Glad you got shot #1. My wife Nancy and I got the second Moderna shot this past Monday. First dose gave us a mild sore arm the next day. The second dose our arms hurt more, we both had slight headaches, and I was pretty sleepy the day after. A bit of Tylenol made it manageable. By Wednesday we were both back to normal. It's interesting how varied the response is among the people we know who have been vaccinated. By the end of the month (2 weeks after dose two) we should be at target immunity.
My husband and I have also had both Moderna shots, with very minimal side effects.
Mine was the Pfyzer, and I had those two days of hell after my second shot. But I am weird and react to all vaccines. Then the fall and hitting my head this past week, more headaches and confusion. I was trying to replace 0 byte thumbnails, one night I did without trouble, the next night I completely forgot the file path. The next morning I Googled it in the Forums and found what I needed the night before. I have been having lapses like that this week, driving me nuts.
Novica, I am happy you have your shot and the others have theirs. And so glad your mother had a chance to get an armful of your furball.
@memcneil70 I was going to ask how your injury was doing- are you getting better/ staying the same / improving in how you feel overall? And Bugsy, who also fell?
Bugsy had all four legs go out and hit his chest. Since he isn't all that tall, he just went 'splat' and spun. Today though, in the dark he was walking along snow melt and grass and dropped into a hole. I missed the pole hole that is inset for those temporary road signs (which I have stepped on myself) and would have guided him around it. It is a square metal cup and his paw and leg fit it perfectly. I am having to watch him carefully to make sure he doesn't break a leg on ice covered snow hills.
Me. It was like trying to remember where thumbnails go. I totally lost the /cloud/ part of the line in my brain, even though I used it the day before. But the headaches are what is killing me. Part of it may be the air pressure and the other the hit in the same part of the skull as the last time, just weeks prior. Just typing this, my mind is thinking one thing and my hands are typing something else. I have to go back and correct words. As an editor that is frustrating. But they are easing slowly. My doctor has been one those treating Covid-19 patients since last year, so I try not to bother him unless I need to.
And just two weeks ago, I had finished all other projects and decided I finally could work on my own things, which would be all those tutorials I had bought and never had time to go through. I got one done before the next major project dropped, the G8F prune. I should say that one was by Ice Dragon Art, on organizing your library. I had been trying to do what she said before this in Smart Content, but this is in the Content Library and although there have been discussions about this in the forum, her visuals are very helpful and clarifying. This is one tutorial that spoke to how my brain learns. Very useful.
And since finishing the G8F prune job, I have had major editing work come in, with extra reading needed and wiki fixing and stuff.
And Sunday, we have 2 - 4 inches of snow scheduled to arrive in the evening and on into Monday. Joy. I am over snow, ice, slush, and boots. So I guess this will be the year that Denver has snow on Memorial Day or the 4th of July. Just for fun.
Mary
Hel The Goddess of the Underworld Bundle G8.1F Orestes HDRI Skies -Cassini Legend of the Stone Keeper- Dreamlight
Bundle- I bought the bundle because with all three products I was on the fence. So love Belkahs sculpt and her skin looks good, I was leary of the hair but thought I would give it a try. And I wanted the shoes LOL. I am very happy with my purchase. My only complaint is this set states to be G8.1F but its all in the G8F folders.
Belkah HD- She has an awesome sculpt and HD details. Her eye shadows are ok but I don't really care for the lipsticks although I can see them being used in some renders, they have a thick look to them. HM included both a preset for the whole makeup set (eyeshadow/lipstick) and seperate options if you want to mix and match. There is also nail polish! Eye colors are good with a couple of more exotic colors and some more normal colors. Beware her subdivision is set at 4! But she didn't tank my computer as bad as I thought.
Hel Hair- I wasn't really sure with this one and when I first started simulating it I almost gave up and changed hair. The ends would lay well but the top of the hair was sticking up like she had a flash back from the 80s!! After playing with the sims settings included with the product (there are two differnet sets, idk why might be clear if I actually read the readme but what fun is that!) I finally got it to look more natural. There is also three options for hair quality. My computer did drop to CPU on the highest quality. There are quite a few color options and a couple of opacity options.
Hel Outfit- What can I say I have a shoe fetish lol. I really liked the shoes which was the reason i wanted the outfit. I also really liked the arm sleeve and was originally under the impression that the left was all there was because the right in the promos had a furry gaunlet over it. So i was pleasantly suprised when they both appeared. The outfit is not to bad either and looks pretty good just not something I use that often. It has multiple color options and quite a few morphs.
Cassini Skies- I know you can see much here, this is an older set and I originally was planning an open scene but ended up going with this one. But I still liked the lighting so I left it. I like the planets in the images.
Legend of the Stone Keeper is also an older set, still has good detail. The only complaint I had was the floor was completely flat. I did drop in a displacement that helped a little.
A rare event for down here
Orcas sighted in Gulf Of Mexico
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article250062074.html
Nice work
That was so cool! I'm always thinking the boat should slow down though, there were a few too close for comfort moments.
Well, my arm from the shot didn't get too sore, but I started getting a dull headache last night around 7pm and still have it so I just took a Tylenol.
@daventaki I like the lighting on that too, it looks realistic with her face not being perfectly lit and having some shadow across it. I can see why you like the shoes. And lol is that blade big enough? I'd hurt myself trying to lift that thing!
A free PBR texturing program called Quixel Mixer
https://quixel.com/mixer
I get mine next Friday. I waited wanting to see the trends. I believe ours have mostly been the Pfizer but I wont know til I get there.
LOL I thought that too when I loaded the blade, I didn't really pay any attention to it in the promos, she must be very muscular!
Thank you! @Robert Freise
Well, the good news is after I took Tylenol, it only took about half an hour for the headache to go ka-put. I'm feeling normal :)
Coming up- featuring Zhi for Kayo 8 and looking at Nelmi outfits, starting with dForce Cora Outfit. It has a lot of materials, including Christmas.
Ive been seriously thinking about redoing my libraries. But im a little nervous of messing things up. I have wishlisted the linked tutorial which is just for the Content Library correct? Any suggestions for the Smart Content? Mainly for fixing the metadata I think because I don't use the library much but I do use Turbo Content which relys on Smart Content.
I´m currently re-doing my entire library. It´s this tight-rope walk between satisfying (in that nerdy, control-freaky kind of way) and tedious.
It´s kind of fun to do but I also wish I would be done already.
Very cool!
I was going back and forth on the Stonekeeper set. I ultimately decided not to buy it. Mostly because I already have enough fantasy dungeons; plus those barrels don´t look all that hot to me.
Those boots are indeed pretty neat!
I'm only on every now and again waiting for a working Mac version of DS.. but on covid shots -
I had my second Pfizer na few days ago. Both left me a bit sore and tired for about a day, but that's it. My wife had her second Moderna a few days before. The first was cake, but the second gave her a light fever and strong soreness for two days. Considering the alternatives, not bad. We lost two friends last May (NYC area). A young friend in Denmark (29 - she's a very athletic marathon runner) was very sick in October and currently dealing with long covid. It's pretty much destroyed her life. Get vaccinated when you can - you reallly don't want this and it protects others!
We have a six year old goddaughter we've been wanting to see for the longest time. My wife dreams of hugging her. I got in touch with our GP and asked if he'd write my wife a prescription to hug her when two weeks has passed since her second shot. Soon...
Looking forward to Daz finally getting a working Mac version out one of these days and returning to the hobby.
First speaking from hard experience, I highly recommend writing it down on something like Google Sheets and let it sit and think about it before you start to apply anything to your DS. I have two DS set-ups on different computers and my earlier attempts were done individually with Postettes and scribbling down, then loosing the Postettes and trying to remember what I had done on the other computer. The desktop has extra fans and is very loud, so I keep it off unless updating, downloading, or rendering - it is called Dragon for a reason. The laptop is quiet and where I work normally, but it can't handle UltraScenery and some of the more intensive work. It is Drake. So I now plan things on my DAZ Google Sheets where I track my characters, hair, and other things and have tabs to use as a scratch pad. It is accessible on all Window computers, and my iMac, iPhone, and iPads.
As everyone I read when I started wrote, you need to think about your needs. What do you render? What products do you use the most of? Which ones take the most time to find? Where is your focus?
What wastes my time? Searching for props or a pair of shoes or an environment. One day I spent two hours looking for an explosion effect I knew I had, but since the User Data Reset I had done and the Store Update, my Smart Content sorting ability was dead, except by A-Z or Z-A. So I stopped what I was doing and started a list of Effects and created sub-categories for them on my spreadsheet. I then started to apply them to my content. As the PAs gave us new products, I added new sub-categories. These are based on how 'I' think about things. You need to do it based on how 'You' think about things. I had done it with Furnishings, Environments, Footwear, Shaders, Lights/Render-Settings, Transportation, Plants (I am not a nature person and I expect I have errors, but again, how I think about things.)
I have plans for Food and Kitchenware.
But since reviewing Ice Dragon Art's tutorial, I have been working on using her ideas for G8.1. I have a plotted out graph, but I am not sure it is workable and may go back over her tutorial a few times to gather more insights.
Best word of advice I can give, think, write, think, re-write, think some more and if it stands up still, do. Try it with something smaller that will help you fast, build confidence. I have learned I can clean up misspellings. And don't forget to save.
Mary
@Novica you've got a PM
Serene Night and I published an extensive list of categories waaay back in 2013/2014 ish. I hadn't seen anything like that published prior to that, I had searched the forums but there wasn't any organized list. Serene Night has a wonderfully organized library :)
The way I am doing it, is on my laptop in my Explorer files. When my external harddrive got knocked off and I had to download all my products from scratch (close to 30,000) I organized them. Did the downloads in batches, you may recall hurricane season was coming and I wanted to have all my downloads done by May. Smart move of course. So instead of surfing through the studio, I just look on my computer in my categories, and can see what I want to check out in Product Library. It keeps things out of my studio so it doesn't get bogged down too much.
Here's a small sample of my Buildings, Homes, & Rooms:
Then broken down into Homes, Apts, Dorms:
Apartments City Industrial
Apartments Modern
Attics
Bathrooms
Bedrooms
Cabins & Cottages
Closets
Dens & Extra Rooms
Dining Room & Kitchen Combos
Dining Room Only
Dorm Rooms
Estates & Mansions
Foyers
Garage
with a total of 25 categories under that. Then still under the Buildings, Homes, Rooms there's 32 other categories (Airports & Airfields, Alchemy & Scientific Rooms, Auditoriums, Balconies, Bars, etc)
Other categories are African, Alien, Animals, Arches for Gardens, Backdrops, Backyards, BBQ, Billboards, Camping, Chinese/Japanese, Cities & Ruins, Construction & Tunnels, Courtyards, etc. Each of these may have other categories under them, they are the main categories. There's 48 major ones (so far) counting the Buildings, Homes, Rooms. I am not even halfway through categorizing things. :(
One thing I did do which made it so much easier, was to differentiate between above ground and below ground, and man-made versus natural.
For buildings, I distinguished between waterfront, out in the water, derelict, rotundas vs pavilions vs towers, and for business buildings I broke it down into offices, commercial, and warehouses. (so the ice cream shops, barbershops, etc would go into commercial.)
Another one which I had established was the rentals and vacation vs resorts and villas. One is for smaller sets, the other is for the hotel type buildings.
Hope any of this helps.
Novica, your threads were my main tutorial for DS! And I remember having something like six different ones open to study at first.
So I have a question. Do I understand you correctly that you just downloaded the zip files for your content, but don't install it until you need it? If so, does it show as available in Daz Connect within DS?
I am curious because I am running out of room on my 4 Tb external hard drive for Drake and am thinking of uninstalling and finding another way to have less used products available.
Thanks,
Mary
@memcneil70 I don't use Daz Connect, but here's what I do. Everything is self-sufficient, I don't rely on Daz at all to keep my categories. Hope this isn't too confusing-
Okay, in DIM.
In the Advanced Settings (clicking the upper right hand cog) for downloads, I create a folder with the date. It goes under my main folder (Daz Downloads) on my computer. So let's do March 21 2021 or if I am doing a group of items (which is normally the case) I do Mar 18 to 21 2021.
In Dim, I make sure the Install After Download is UNCHECKED. I download and they go into that March folder and are waiting in the Ready To Install column now.
I want to keep those, so BEFORE I CHANGE THE FOLDER in the Ready To Install to one named "Install" that I created (which is what I call my breezing through folder, as the files just pass through to getting installed LOL) I select all the products in DIM (that are in the Mar 18 to 21 folder) which are waiting to be installed, and then hide them. Why? It tells me I have already "got" them in my personal file system, aka the Mar 18 to 21 folder.
THEN after hiding them, I go back in Advanced, for Downloads I then select the Install folder I made, (the ones the files will breeze through and continue into the Installed column on the far right) and hit Accept.
Your DIM will reset, the Ready To Download column will repopulate with all those products back again- but grayed out. (Be sure and click the Show Hidden at the far left.) And the Ready To Install will be empty because it has the Install folder.
Then you can checkmark any you want to install, clicking the Install After Download, they'll breeze through the Install folder and onto the Installed. (I know you know this, but in case any newbies are following along I don't want to lose anyone.)
So that's how I keep track of what I have already gotten done. The grayed out in the Ready To Download means I have them in my Daz Downloads, in the March folder, and now I am ready to categorize them. Works great.
So then I open two windows, one is the folder I'm working on (March), the other is my Product Library, so I can view the images. I make a folder for each product (there's two files) then when looking at the Product Library, I determine which category they go into, and move them there in my harddrive. I leave the latest empty dated folder (aka March 19) so I know where I left off, but also the ghosted out products in the DIM tell me where to start :) System works well for me. So basically, I only install what I want to work on, with the exception of the G8F because I showcase a lot of them. My studio is pretty slow to populate as I do have thousands of things installed. Just couldn't resist.
So you do yours on a spreadsheet, and then what? I hate this new system on the forums, where you can't see the previous posts! FIX IT DAZ!!!!
@Novica, the spreadsheet started so I could track my characters, morph packs, and hair and I make notes on the characters there. I am pretty 'anal retentive' about things and even for my fun things I have to have charts, files, and all ways to cross-check stuff. The Google doc charts are one. File folders are another. Each time I buy a product, I download the promo pages as a .pdf and file them in folders consistent with their purpose or how I want to use them. For example props that are actually environments, all get put there under the PAs name, or Daz Originals, or by type if a one-off by that PA. A material texture set is kept with its primary set.
For new purchases I have a folder that has subfolders with purchase date and includes the shopping cart printout, the confirmation email, and the .pfns. As I make sure everything has downloaded correctly and it works, I then move the .pfn to the category folder where it is further filed. If there is an issue with a product, That sub-folder stays open, and copies of all reports to Customer Service are printed and kept. My oldest one goes back to 26 Feb 2020. The same for utilities/scripts I want to study before filing them away. That is a challenge for me because my 'free' time is generally in the early evening when I am mentally tired. But when all is done, the sales documents are filed in a folder for 'Orders' separated by years & months.
But when the store goes crazy or after that User Data base reset I did on Drake happened and messed up Smart Content so badly, I rely on my external tools so much. Also my online Product Library to locate something I know I have, but can't seem to find anymore.
On the character chart I list the name, generation, sex, height, SKU, PAs, Notes (Briefly what is included, but also ethnicity (so I can find skin materials for projects), and what I liked or what I need to be careful about. The hair it is much the same, except I have columns for all Generations and tick the box if it can use that hair, even if not designed for it originally; simple hair length; 3DL or Iray mats; comments where I give more details.
My tutorials are also listed. I looked at them as whether they are basic, advanced, post-work, or creation-advanced.
I gave up on wardrobe, environment, props, and the rest. Just too much. And I have about half of what you have.
What I found that I really appreciate about the folders, is when a product has been removed from the store and you can no longer find a promo page for it and your Product Library page does not tell you what the product was designed to work with: eg, it is a texture set for an outfit, set or prop. I have the printout that I made when I bought the item. (That is if I can remember what the item was originally attached to!)
I think what everyone has to deal with is we are all individuals and what works for one, may not work for another. That's okay. We all have other things we have to do besides artwork in DS. Arranging our 'tools' so we can sit down and get to work when we have a moment to do so, is what this is all about. We just have to share out ideas and pick the ones that can work for us.
Okay, everyone check your PMs. It's not related to Daz but some of you may be interested. If you didn't get a PM, feel free to PM me. Not trying to be mysterious or leave anyone out. I just don't want to derail the thread :)
@memcneil You're a lot more organized than I am. For orders, in my email, I just have a folder for them.
Oops, I did forget to mention grabbing the images from the Product Library when I do the folders. After I typed all that up, I was thinking about the Product Library and I knew I didn't have to rely on it. It's been awhile since I categorized so I had to go back and look. (Yep, I am way behind! But haven't bought much in MM except the 2.99 items and few things. Haven't done any of them.) To get the Product Library images, for those who are new, all you do is have two windows open, click and drag across into the folder. So when I click on my folders, I have an image. :)
For me, since the buildings are set up, that is easy. The clothes, I have set up but man, characterizing them is another story. Fantasy and Woodland are really close, or both. Ugh. Sci-Fi is easy. I have one category called Kit-Bashing, the ultra sexy ones where I just want the gloves, or shoes, or top. :)
For the thread visitors who got PMs, the ski resort chair lifts have been tested and look good/decent. (Not by me, but I saw the render. We're not talking Stonemason lol but they do the job nicely.)