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224 S 200 W, Suite #250
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Thanks for sharing Philip's shape as well! I was pleasantly surprised to see our Akhane being part of the mix! Can't wait to use him!
You're welcome, FenixPhoenix! Akhane is awesome. I've been using him in a lot of my figure mixes lately. :)
Lee
I've been struggling with a string of migraine episodes since last week. Hurricane Idalia didn't help, though we were lucky. The center passed us by about 60-ish miles to our west. We lost power for 8 hours. That wasn't too bad. We know others in our county who were still without power at lunchtime today.
I did get a chance to peep around the store this morning and discovered the Classic Barbarian. Scooped his bundle up along with other items that had been sitting in my cart. :)
Here's a very rough, quick dial-up of my take on the Classic Barbarian(s)...
He's 20% Barras' The Barbarian (from Renderosity), 75% Classic Barbarian (from here), 10% each of Fibo, Hercules, and Goliath (from SWOLE for Genesis 9), a touch of Toon Hero, and a sprinkle of some extra physique shaping morphs.
Lee
Apologies for the double post.
Akhane was created to provide some cool mixes, so I'm glad it worked out! :)
I can empathize with the migraines, I get them as well (though luckily now, not as often except when/if I abuse caffeine). I'm glad you are feeling better! That barbarian DO bundle was a steal, so i also grabbed it. Your latest mix looks awesome.
Hey Lee, can you give us a review of Barras' Classic Barbarian, especially the G8.1 version if you've been using him? I'm tempted to get him but I see some funkiness around his inner tigh in the promos. But maybe I'm too critical. What do you think of the product?
Hi FenixPhoenix and Hylas!
So great to hear from both of you.
Thank you, FenixPhoenix, for the kind and thoughtful words regarding my migraines. I've just come out of a chain of 5 back to back migraine episodes spanning 15 days. I do feel much better, though I don't have a lot of energy at the moment. :). Specifically, my migraines are diagnosed as chronic complex hemiplegic migraine. My triggers and symptoms are more than 90% of what the lists show. That's a lot of triggers - the worst ones are MSG and chemical fumes/fragrances. I also experience all but one or two symptoms of migraine. Have been having these since I was 9 years old. I'm 65 years old now. By far, the worst pain I've ever endured come from migraine. I'm sorry that you also experience them as well and hope that yours continue to diminish over time. :)
Hylas, I'm tinkering around in DAZ Studio right now. A bit later on, I'll load up Barras' Barbarian and render a multi-view image showing the figure shape at various strengths. I do love the product, but not at 100% strength. I believe you may have the same opinion regarding full strength Barbarian as I do. He does work well with my usual character mixes. Stay tuned for that/those renders and a more detailed review later tonight. :)
Thanks again and I'll check in later on.
Lee
Hi Hylas!
I didn't really spend much time with these sample renders, but I hope they give you an idea of what the G8.1 version of Barras' The Barbarian HD looks like and also how he can blend in with the base G8.1M and other characters. You will immediately see the pronounced asymmetry of this figure. Barras told me this was their design decision and I respect their position on that. I do find that dialing The Barbarian down to between 10% to 35% on G8.1M works well to give a general "Charles Atlas" type physique. That allows me to dial in other shaping products and figures.
And here's Barras' The Barbarian on G8.1M at 100% with his materials.
You can also see that a lot of his details come from his materials (normal maps) and I've included a render using another texture set without any normal, bump, or displacement maps. That one shows the raw Barbarian character.
Here's the base G8.1M with The Barbarian shape dialed in at around 35%. This keeps the asymmetry more controlled and starts giving a muscular shape to G8.1M. Again, no bump, displacement, or normals used.
This one is G8.1M with some Swole morphs applied along with some various shaping morphs. The Barbarian is NOT used here.
The Barbarian is now dialed in at 35% on the same figure mixture I used (Swole, etc.) as on the previous render. This is why I really do like using The Barbarian. It gives me some additional overall shaping to G8.1M (and G9). The Barbarian at 25% to 35% strength applied to a muscular figure reminds me of the Charles Atlas style old-school bodybuilder physique (as I mentioned earlier.)
Again, I didn't spend a lot of time working with the G8.1M version, so I apologize for the rudimentary shapes and renders. I do hope that seeing the out-of-the-box shape and mixing potential will help you decide if Barras' The Barbarian is a product you'd be interested in. As a side note, I understand that there's a 3rd party add-on shaping product for the figure.
Take care!!
Lee
@leemoon_c43b45a114, I cannot imagine the frustration of suffering through so many migraine episodes in such a short span! I started getting migraines as soon as I was in High School. Mine started painfully (the feeling of someone drilling a hole in your skull), and, of course, they were accompanied by the sharpening of senses to the extent that any light was too bright, smell too intense (causing nausea often), and noises too loud. Plus, the dark clouds marring the sight. But then, when I was finishing my colleague, my migraines changed. The Doctor told me they were Migraine with Aura. I no longer get pain. Instead, half my body numbs, I can't see properly, and I cannot read (I see the words, but I can't tie them together. Like I see the word, but by the time I go to the next one, I forgot the first one) and then I can't talk at all. I would want to say one thing but end up saying something else. My brain feels like mush, and it's very frustrating and scary. But it's just one of the many types of migraines, and Docs can't do anything about them. I was driving the first time I had this new migraine, which was a very scary experience. Luckily, I was with friends, and one of them drove my car (though they were very confused when I couldn't talk, so was I).
Regarding the barbarian, your renders make me wonder whether I should take a second look at the product. I saw it when it came out but wasn't convinced I could use it. But the comparison between the normal maps is intriguing. Could you apply that normal map onto a less buffed character (your Lorenzo shape, for example)? I would be interested to see how it looks.
Thanks, Lee! Very helpful.
Do you find that he has good JCM's? I find that's always such a pain with muscular characters.
I think I will get him eventually, wishlisted for now. The truth is that between SWOLE and The Brute (and Dain, and Scar, and probably some others I'm forgetting) I have enough muscle morphs so I'm in no hurry.
Hi, Lee: What is the FACS Detail Strength? For the Flexion Automatic Strength -- Is this when a figure flexes? And the Body Pose Detail Strength -- is this when a figure is posed?
I'm still trying to figure out what these things are.
Are these things available for the Genesis 8 figures, or only for the Genesis 9 figures? I loaded a G8 figure in a scene and I don't see FACS or the other strengths in the Parameters Tab.
If the Detail Strengths (FACS, Body Pose and Flexion) are not available for the other Genesis figures, how do we get the G8s, G3s, to look as fine as the G9s, or is that possible?
Hi, inquire!!
I found these 2 forum threads which provide explanations of the G9 parameters you mentioned in your 2 posts above. They were quite helpful to my basic understanding of what each thing does. As far as G8 goes, I think there are a variety of products that likely accomplish the same functions.
Here are the forum links:
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/609576/what-does-facs-detail-do
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/597696/genesis-9-where-s-the-muscles
Those probably explain what everything does better than I can summarize. LOL! :)
Hope all is well with you and I'm happy to hear from you.
Lee
Hi, FenixPhoenix!
Many apologies for being so very late on replying to you. I actually rendered Lorenzo with the Barras Barbarian normal maps for you a while back. It seems I was having trouble uploading images at the time and forgot about them.
If it's not too late, here are my renders. They range from 0% Barbarian normal map strength to 100% strength in 25% increments.
Lee
Hi, Hylas!
I've been using Mechasar's Natural Movements Pack for G9 lately. Haven't ventured into adjusting the strength or by-body-part options yet. Just turning it on in automatic mode and letting it do it's thing. I do need to make small adjustments to pre-made poses that I apply, mostly at the shoulders (the traps don't look quite right otherwise.) The nice thing is you can turn the effect on/off globally on your character to see what the differences are. The effects are quite nice with the details that come into play. I do think that my muscular charactes are doing well enough when dialed up to moderate muscular mass, likely from things like Swole's JCMs. Pushing the muscularity too far does cause trouble regardless of which products I'm using. I'm always on the lookout for improvements/products that give better bending to G9. :)
Lee
I've been doing a variety of mixes using G9 Dain and Zack. I like these 2 characters quite a lot.
Still working out a mix that might work as a shaping preset that I can share here.
Until then, here's a little head portrait that I slapped together today during my testing.
Lee
That is a good mix.
@leemoon_c43b45a114: Hi, Lee. I sent you a PM Note over on DA. It's about RenderPretender's use of Stable Diffusion 1111 in this DAZ Forum: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/389081/auto-muscle-enhancer-hd-commercial#latest
Oh, interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Here's something I put together after reading a forum post inquiring about bodybuilder characters/shapes.
This is Genesis 8.1 Male using Auto Muscle Enhancer, Fibo, Ezra, Sagatto, and my usual shaping add-ons. :)
I always enjoying working with G8/8.1M, though I continue to experiment with G9 most days.
Lee
I've been messing about with variations of my go-to lighting environment and ghost light rig.
Here's a test where I tried to recreate the lighting from an older (2022) render using Genesis 8.1 Male (and other products.)
I like this character mix and may need to revisit his shape. Maybe put him on a parameter dial diet to see if I can achieve the same/similar look with fewer required products.
Lee
Both of those guys look great Lee. I really look forward to hopefully one day having the auto muscle enhancer for G9.
Can you explain a little more about your lighting set up? I'm not that familiar with a ghost light rig.
Beautiful work Lee. You always do such great work.
What are the products required to get that guy to look that way, Lee? I admit that I've not loaded down some of your presets because I don't own all of those products.
If you do put that guy on a "diet" and achieve just about the same look, please list again which products are needed.
Ohhhh I like this one
I'm enjoying the new Omni Hair Shader product by chevybabe25 (along with the Omni Hair Shader tech from NVIDIA and DAZ.)
Here's a small sample I put together earlier today using 4 different dForce strand-based hairs (from Redz and AprilYSH.)
I'm using them on one of my G9 dial-ups with the only real problem being these hair products were all created for Genesis 8 Male. While they autofit G9 just fine, they don't reload properly from a scene subset. So you have to delete the hair, autofit it fresh, and apply the changes that you originally made - if you remember what you did. That's a bummer. :(
Still, not a problem with the shader or with strand based hair designed for G9 or any properly working autofit SBH.
Please remember that this is my first go at the new shader and I was staying with slight variations of brunette tones. Also, I applied the shader to the eyebrows and other places not shown here. :)
Lee
Could you provide a link to that Omni Hair product? I looked in the DAZ Store, and I looked under the Vendor. I'm not sure which product you are referring to.
Hi there, inquire!!
Here's the forum thread discussing the new Revolution - Omni Shader Presets product:
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/675841/omni-shader-hair-thread#latest
And here's the link to the product:
https://www.daz3d.com/revolution--omni-shader-presets-for-strand-based-hairs
Note that you need the latest version of DAZ Studio (or the latest beta) and the updated DAZ support files in order to use the new Omni Shader (and thus chevybabe25's shader presets.)
I hope those links help!
And here are a couple of my early tests with some strand based hair.
Lee
Thanks Lee. I'm on my iPhone right now. I'll have to check this out later on the Mac computer. OK, checked these out on my Mac computer. They all look very impressive, Lee. Your work looks marvelous.