NEW! Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 6
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Thank you Anne and Scott, I really appreciate it. There's so much to tempt us this time of year, and every day something new...
I'm trying to figure out which of the week's releases to pick up. While I don't actually need a new G2F character, there's something about the new gypsyangel girl that's hard to resist, and the voodoo dress looks like it would double up nicely as a historical gown.
LOL- well, it looked like green fruit and bird poop, and I thought I'd look like MORE of an idiot if I said bird poo and it wasn't...so went the safe route to focus on the green aspect instead :)
Congrats to Atticus Bones! I looked for an Art Studio thread from him but didn't see one to post in.
Interesting. While working in my "T" files, aka THE Freak 4 Starter pack, you are apparently supposed to "set" this on a dead entity...?
Congratulations! This is so cool.
That's a product that was given two different SKU's when they added more morphs to it -- only one of them is live in the store, but depending which bundle you got it in (or if you bought it individually) you might have either of the SKU's (or both). So both SKU's are in Product Library/DIM. I think if you bought both the Freak 4 Pro Bundle and the Hiro 4 Pro Bundle, then you'll have both of them.
Is there anything you don't know? :)
Tons. But there's always a question somewhere I DO know the answer to, so I can hide it pretty well.
Tons. But there's always a question somewhere I DO know the answer to, so I can hide it pretty well.
I have another question for you, sent a PM. :)
Build A Street: English Country Village (IndigoJanson)
http://www.daz3d.com/build-a-street-english-country-village
Okay, where was I?
Here's a few sample shots using Ruins of Angkor Wat Temple (Daytime) lights, with the UE2 lightened up from a mauve/rose to more of a light dusky gray/mauve. In other words, lighten it. To me, the "Daylight" is more like a twilight or a dusk. By adding one distant light from the side, you'd be able to change it into a nice dramatic shot. I use Ruins quite a bit as a base to work from.
I increased the bump of the stones on the building slightly. (personal preference.) Will add more renders shortly.
One thing you'll LOVE is that the set renders at a good speed, giving you really good opportunities to add more things to the scene.
Thought I'd show newbies an option for your Distant Lights if you want to add one to the Angkor Wat Temple daylight set. And give you a tip.
(We often forget there are newbies all the time who are brand new users, so don't want to talk over their heads if they have zero experience.)
If you're just learning how to use lights, whatever camera view you use to set your first distant light, DON'T use it for your render view if you are placing lights somewhere in the near vicinity. Why? Because if you want to add another distant light, you want to start from where your first distant light was placed and move from there. So if I put one on the front/somewhat on the side and then want to move around more to the front, or only slightly over or up, it's easier to do that when I know exactly where my first distant light is located that is somewhere near there.
1. So in Perspective View, get the view that you want to render for placing your light, (lets say the one below, which is on my left and above)
2. Go to Create>Camera>and you will get a popup asking for the Default Settings or the Active Viewport Transforms(Perspective View) and you select the Perspective View option. Name it or it will be done for you. (Like Camera 1) So now you have a camera with the exact same view as Perspective
I then can move the Perspective camera to setup the scene I want to RENDER, while Camera 1 will be used to create more lights- I will move from the known location of the last light that I did. You only need 1 camera for that.
3. Make sure your view is not Perspective- use Camera 1.
4. Go to Create>Distant Light and select the Camera 1 view. Your light is created. I named mine DistantFrtLeft as I name them based on MY view, aka, it's MY left. I do recommend naming your lights at their location- I have an A B C D E system for spotlights whereas A is high in sky, B a bit lower, C is rooftop, and D is mid-building. E is above ground and sometimes shooting up.
5. Select the lighting Scene tab and then go to Parameters, where you can click on Light, the color, and change it. For Shadows, use Raytrace. I put my shadows at 30% to 60% usually, which are soft, and shadow bias at .25 (See image)
6. After I make a distant light, using that view (Camera 1) I move to where I want the next distant light to shine from- sliding it up, down, or to the side. The nice thing is, I know exactly where the first light is because Camera 1 showed me the location. So after moving Camera 1 to wherever I want the next light (let's say dead center, front) I can go up and Create>another distant light FRNT, and select the Active Transforms (Camera 1)(in it's new location, dead center) and my light will be from the front.
So this is showing you the placement of one distant light- you are seeing the actual view of the light I added. You will see the difference in the viewport of a dulled gray/mauve light at 45.3% added to the Ruins of Angkor Wat Temple daytime lights. Then you can see the new render. :)
A look from inside- toss a rug on the floor, add some furniture and lamp lighting, and away you go. I am adding more distant lights (one from the front, for sure) and will render one more.
BTW, folks in the US need to remember that most of us are changing to Daylight Savings. Spring forward! I just lost an hour!
FYI- remember to set your Max Ray Trace Depth to more than 1 so the windows render correctly. I used 3. :)
It's a real treat to see these renders, Novica. Thanks for sharing the ray tracing tip with everyone too, I have mine higher as a default but yes a good catch as others might not. You might find flaws on the insides of these buildings (plus, no dividing floor for upstairs) as they were designed for exterior use.. but if you can make it work for you, that's great. I'm especially glad it's all rendering quickly, when I tried it out on my laptop last night it reminded me of what it's like to render on a slower system and as an impatient person myself, I don't want anyone to have to sit around for hours waiting on it.
@Teofa, thanks, it's exciting to finally see it released.
@fixmypcmike, so glad we have your knowledge and experience around here. :)
Invited Guest Contributor
I liked the look of the dress and accessories in the Voodoo Queen Bundle so although I promised myself to limit my spending on female stuff I ended up getting it anyway!
Here's a straight-out-of-the-box (well, with one of the make-up options) Monique 6 (DAZ Original) in the Voodoo Queen Outfit (Nikisatez/Shox Design/DO) - but being me the first thing I do is try some fabric shaders, so here I'm using some of the African fabrics from the href="http://www.daz3d.com/totally-bazaar-bundle">Totally Bazaar Bundle by Teresa Tyllo/Marieah. The dress and headwrap take the shader presets really nicely, no serious stretching. The dress can look quite Princessy with the right fabrics, as well as the "voodoo" look, so I'm very happy with the purchase as I should get a bit of use from it. The pose is from the included set href="http://www.daz3d.com/capsces-madame-mojo-monique-6">Capsces Madame Mojo Monique 6 (Capsces/DO) - my only minor disappointment is that the snake poses use the old DAZ Morphing Python (DO), not SickleYield's new Constrictor (which the product description clearly states, so this is not a complaint) - I took a look under the covers to see if they could be easily adapted but the old snake has far fewer bones for posing than the new one, so I think it will be a lot of work! The old snake doesn't look too bad though (I'm using the Cold Blooded texture set Anaconda by IgnisSerpentus/DO, which unlike the snake itself at least has proper DS settings).
I've used Age of Armour lights again - Advanced Distant Light and href="http://www.daz3d.com/advanced-spotlight">Advanced Spotlight.
ETA: I read in another thread that someone was having trouble working out where the snake poses were - if anyone here needs to know, you need to load the snake figure, parent it (just drag and drop will do) to Monique's Hip, then select Monique and apply one of the poses (the ones including a snake in the icon) and it will apply the pose to both figures - really clever, no need to position the snake at all!
Invited Guest Contributor
I was also taken with the Chandrani Outfit (DarkStarBurning/Mada/DO) so my resolutions on female attire are well and truly broken :red: In fact there was so little difference in the price after all the MM discounts that I picked up the bundle - just an extra $10 for some dance poses, two rather nice-looking darker-skinned female characters and another outfit (which I may or may not ever use) if you're PC Member and qualify for the Darius/Monique 10%.
I've not downloaded the two characters yet though, so here is the outfit on Nidale (Countess/Silver/DO). For once I even left the original textures in place on that outfit! The pose is from the included set Exotic Dance Poses (blondie9999/DO) - the dress is fairly easy to pose with a number of morphs provided.
Hair is Fishtail Braids (goldtassel/DO), jewellery (except the necklace, which is apart of the Chandrani set) is from Jewels of the Orient (Fisty) and the backdrop is A Thousand and Two Nights (DO). Age of Armour lights again.
Nice work Melanie! Thanks for telling folks about the parenting- I never would have thought about the hip.
I liked the Chandrani Outfit too- family friendly and interesting buttons down the front. She looks really good in that setting.
Excellent use of Fabricator- that came to mind for me when I saw the different material zones on some of the new releases. Haven't tried them yet though. The lighting on both these renders is very nice and I love the action with the snake. I'm sure others didn't really note which snake it was, either :)
Lovely renders, and two great outfits. They both caught my eye, and it's good to see what can be done with different shaders on these.
Thanks, both :)
@Novica: I did notice it was for the "old" snake before I bought, so like I said it was a "disappointment" rather than a problem (it just would have been nice if Capsces and SickleYield had been collaborating on that pose set)
ETA: Of course, maybe Capsces thought more people would already have the Morphing Python - it was a freebie once upon a time (I think I got it free anyway)
I got it February 4th of 2013 so that does make sense to use an older product. Hey, we can Fabricator the snake and make all kinds of fantasy critters....
Edited that- it was 2013 not 2014.
Mindy for V4 and Genesis (Daz Originals)
Harlow Hair 2 (AprilYSH)
Classy Casual Outfit for Genesis (Daz Originals / Sarsa / Bobbie25)
Gossip Outfit for Genesis (outoftouch)
Cuban Diabolo for Genesis (unknown, no longer in store)
http://www.daz3d.com/mindy-for-v4-and-genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/harlow-hair-2
http://www.daz3d.com/classy-casual-outfit-for-genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/gossip-outfit-for-genesis
Interesting, the Cuban Diabolo shoes are not in the store any longer, and they are really fun- several nice materials. If you do own it, refresh your memory with the various color options and patterns- there is a nice black and white striped pair which I have shown you in the render.
I basically used a pillar to prop Mindy up against, wanted to render Jindi's ground and also test my light set combination. So this isn't a scene to make sense, just to showcase the kitbashed outfit and shoes.
This is the Angkor Wat Temple set with three additional distant lights.
Kitbash! If you have the Gossip Outfit, keep those pants in mind. They go quite well under really short dresses. So its Classy Casual and Gossip Outfits combined. One thing I would have improved, is the sleeve length. It's too short and doesn't come down far enough to her wrists. The jacket can be removed, which is nice.
Harlow Hair is really classy. Not a speedy render but not one of the slowest either. Mindy lights really easily too. Note the star makeup- that isn't dirt by her eye. I did a double take after it rendered as I hadn't noticed the stars from the side- thought it was dirt! She also has plain makeup options.
That humble pillar is such a workhorse :). I stick it in all kinds of things.
It has beautiful textures :)
Novica, thanks for the distant light mini-tutorial, especially the tip to position a camera than locate the light with it. Works like a charm. Rich
You're so welcome. :) There's several ways to do lights and I used to do it with sliders trying to figure out where the lights were!
For folks who may not know this other tip- once you have the lights created, if you change from Perspective view to the say, Spotlight 1 as the VIEW, (it's in the view dropdown) when you move in the scene you are moving the LIGHT. It is not just a view!
In case you didn't know, you get the Holo Map Console FREE when you have two new releases in your cart.
http://www.daz3d.com/holo-map-console
And the rotating banner says $10 off $50 (new releases and gift cards excluded) So hit the featured stores where you're getting the 50% off if you have two new releases (and possibly 10% more if you own both bundles.)
And the Freebies in the rotating banner changed (I think today)
I think Fast Grab changed too but not sure on that one.
Thanks for the reminder about the freebies. Lots of stuff I don't own. Will download the files, and keep the textures hidden in dim unitl I buy the corresponding outfit.
I like the angor wat setting for your figure.
I am taking the plunge and downloading the new DAZ 3d beta. I am itching to try the beta render engine.
Gift cards are on sale. (Would have been nice at the END of February so we could have bought them then, but...)
A suggestion- if you haven't downloaded the recent version of Daz Studio from your product library and stored it (like in an external hard drive) then I would secure it. They are beta testing the next version, and I'm going to be Debbie Downer (my apologies to all Debbies) for now- because from reading posts, it seems a bit complicated and that's not what I want to be forced to use if my computer crashes and I dont have my recent version of 4.6 to re-install. I have all the versions since Sept 2013 and glad I do. I'm sure once I tackle it I will love it, but I DO want the option to revert back.
(Newbies- once a new version is released, you do NOT have any other versions in your Product Library.)
Here's the link. Be sure and go to that video that someone links to that shows examples of what the new render engine can do. Although frankly, I am seeing a bit of graininess in some of the posted renders. I'm sure when I try it, mine will undoubtedly be the worst. (Like "Wow Cathie, nice desert sandstorm! ...Oh, it's not?")
Here's the thread in case you missed it. Meanwhile, get your copy made of the current version as you never know when the switch will be made in Product Library.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/53671/
You'll still be able to use the regular 3Delight render if you want, it's not going away. But get a backup anyway. :) (Says the woman still using 4.6 'cause it's less buggy than any version of 4.7)
Well, so far, it is 4.8 is Okay, but the new render engine, takes too long at least in my first, and somewhat inexpert attempt.
I'm the girl who doesn't like to render HD figures with full HD, because of the time. And, so, I'm unlikely to use this for now....When I'm content with the older one.
Curiosity - because I can't play just now - did you use one of those Iray lights like sun or did you try with DazStudio lights?