Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 7

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875
    edited April 2016

    The 50 new PC things are all Poser, but we are discussing it over in the Platinum Club thread. They are rendering well in Iray. Here's a few I did (quickly- keep that in mind, I used the same light setup that I used on Hye, no tweaks. It's 4:30am and I need to get some sleep.)

    The main thing is these are found in the Poser Format>Daz>Props in Content Library, and where you find them is scattered. The vendor put ! in front of the files, they are not named logically (Joshua Trees are in the D's under DNA_Desert for example, and others are !whatever at the top.) 

    Second one is RDNA XenoFlora Vol 1

     

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    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875
    edited April 2016

    Last quickie. Forest Prime Evil 2- Megapak

     

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  • RenomistaRenomista Posts: 921

    I'm curious about this Portals Of Power that is currently in Fastgrab. 

    Very interesting Concept but still pretty expensive for a many years old Fastgrab Item....

    Does anyone of you Own It

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    There was an update over in the Platinum club, the maker has verified that they are indeed compatible in Daz and the items are being update to reflect by Daz as we speak.

  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854

    It isn't that old and is a huge volume of items hence the origial price of 30.95.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    Renomista said:

    I'm curious about this Portals Of Power that is currently in Fastgrab. 

    Very interesting Concept but still pretty expensive for a many years old Fastgrab Item....

    Does anyone of you Own It

    I don't but it does look very interesting.  It does come with a LOT of stuff 4 different portals and lots of special effects.  I am supposed to be on a buying hiatus and I broke down and bought some of the plant packs on sale today so I can't justify buying this even though I would use this often I think

  • RenomistaRenomista Posts: 921
    edited April 2016
    Khory said:

    It isn't that old and is a huge volume of items hence the origial price of 30.95.

    Yes you are right it is only 2 years old. The SKUs escaled more quickly in the last 1-2 years so I assumed from the 18000 SKU that it must me older.

    Probably going to buy it tomorrow. I think it is seriously Iray pimpable

    Post edited by Renomista on
  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854

    I was thinking the same thing Renomista, that it would look awsome irayed out.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    Khory said:

    I was thinking the same thing Renomista, that it would look awsome irayed out.

    Especially with some of your new Iray glow product.  which is at the top of my currently huge wishlist.  Maybe in a couple of days if its still on sale....

  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854

    Just remember that you may need to put maps into the color or strength channels in order to get the light to pop. I don't have the product so I'm not sure how all of it is mapped. But I do know that is a step people forget.

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214

    Did anyone pick up any of the Grasslands Foliage plants?  I was hoping to see some renders of them before I purchased..I already have a cartful of stuff but so far the renders I have seen look really good in Studio and who can beat 1.49 for them all :)

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583

    Portals of Power is a fantastic set, here's a 3DL render from when it first came out:

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  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214

    Looks great fixmypcmike!  I have that product also and it is a fantastic set...mind you I love IgnisSerpentus products and I have several. . the color schemes are amazing and there is so much packed into the sets! 

  • RenomistaRenomista Posts: 921

    Portals of Power is a fantastic set, here's a 3DL render from when it first came out:

    Wow!

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    Portals of Power is a fantastic set, here's a 3DL render from when it first came out:

    You had to do it didn't you lol.  I went ahead and bought it.  But I am staying OUT of the store for awhile.

     

    Khory said:

    Just remember that you may need to put maps into the color or strength channels in order to get the light to pop. I don't have the product so I'm not sure how all of it is mapped. But I do know that is a step people forget.

    Thank you I had no idea....

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875

    LOL, do you seriously think anyone else is going to provide a render example after you post THAT masterpiece?!!!!  Kudos, it's gorgeous!  (Yes, I have the product but haven't used it yet. I fell in love with it the minute I saw it and got it when it was on sale awhile ago.)

    I am buying most of the vegetation today, will render the grass but not sure how soon. I have to shop first, download a copy to external, then re-download a copy to the studio. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875
    Renomista said:

    I'm curious about this Portals Of Power that is currently in Fastgrab. 

    Very interesting Concept but still pretty expensive for a many years old Fastgrab Item....

    Does anyone of you Own It

    If that is in Fast Grab and you want it, I would fast grab it lol. You never know how long it will be there, they have pulled some in less than half a day. It's usually a day (but then it can go four days. Ugh.) 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875
    edited April 2016

    The prices drop to $1.19 (some $1.20, who knows why) when you add a New Release to the cart.

    For the heck of it, I was doing some testing in the cart and if you are putting most of the Shineys in the cart, you'll save about $15 (which is almost the price of the barbershop!)  So if buying a lot of them, don't forget to put a New Release in the cart because the discount of 20% pretty much then pays for the New Release.

    If you are not a member of the PC Club and privy to the discussion, but are considering joining, the PC price for these will be $2.99 in the future. So buying these with a new release saves $1.79 each from the PC price. 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875

    A lot of Flash Sales right now, be sure and check the scrolling banner.

     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875

    An update to DIM was released, and of COURSE it crashes and won't let me install it. In Commons, a note was made that if it crashes then manually install it from Product Library. It wouldn't let me download anything, kept doing ring-around-the-rosie saying to install the update, but wouldn't let me do it, until I went and searched out the thread. Supposedly only a SMALL amount of users visit the forums, so they released this update that doesn't work, and how are non-forum members supposed to know to go get it manually? And why should they have to do that? So get the DIM update before you need to use DIM. 

    So in case you're wondering why I haven't rendered the grass for people who asked to see it- DIM problems. Also moving at a snails pace, I am geting 105MBPS and DIM was downloading at 67kbps, then dropped to 28kbps for ten minutes. Not my computer, definitely was DIM. It's done that all week, someone else mentioned it too.  Then it speeds up to normal. So hopefully you've been lucky to be using it when it was doing okay.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,609

    I really like those alien plants, thanks for rendering them.  I picked them up this morning. DIM didn't crash for me, but I forgot I had Studio open and installed stuff. Hope I Didn't kill my database again.

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,831
    edited April 2016

    I'm back from my trip to Tucson. Novica, I didn't quite find Rabbicus but came close. I also found some of his bloomin' cousins. I still have to catch up on what's been posted.

     

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875

    Hey Rich, missed you! Wondered how your trip went. So we have Rabbicus and now Rabbicuz (that cousin of Rabbicus!) (Hee hee hee. Sometimes I even amuse myself!) 

    Folks, all I can tell you is this- DIM for ME is totally screwed up. I wouldn't install that new update if I had to do it over again. Here's what happened to me:

    Opened DIM. Popup said new version, wouldn't load anything unless I clicked it (studio just sat there spinning.) Right before that, my download speed was 103MBPS and the DIM was anywhere between 87 kbps and 124 kbps. VERY LAME. Been doing that all week, even in the wee hours of the morning. But this morning, I was able to load those things and render for you. Not now.  So I got the stupid update popup, when I tried it, IT CRASHED and said "can't install." In the thread about the new update, it has in red to the effect that if the install crashes, install it manually. 

    Okay, if you KNOW it's crashing, why release it? Anyway, so I installed via product library.

    The first time, it came up and five failed downloads after FORTY FIVE MINUTES. So I exited. Now it sat and spun for ten minutes. I exited. Won't do anything. Spins.

    So if you want to do the update, good luck. Let us know if it worked for you. If you can download using DIM and get around the update popup, I'd recommend doing that. That is only based on what's happened to me. If you do the update and it works, I am happy for you. I'm not rendering anything new until they get this fixed. Someone else noticed it may be going to a different link when DIM is activated, see the discussion of the update over in Commons. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875

    Other people are also reporting "fails" with the DIM. So isn't just me. To answer someone's question behind the scenes, yes, the installs show. You can still use it for the "i" and to see where things are installed. It's the downloads that are totally missing, that list will not load at all.

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214

    I did the DIM update on both my laptop and desktop today with no issues but the downloads are extremely slow. My speedtest says I am getting 3.50 Mbps but dim is only going at about 608 KB/s but I have found DIM to be exceptionally slow lately

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875

     It was my Windows Firewall blocking it (we think.) I manually added the DIM and it is slowly downloading. Pitiful speeds. Daz changed to a new server, host, or something and it's been awful, slow downloads even in the middle of the night. (with most the US sleeping and offline.)  But I'll do some renders soon. Wasted so much time on this that I'm headed off to work on my book and ditching the renders for tonight. Everything's still slowly downloading anyway.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,050
    The DIM update worked fine for me. DIM is downloading products at about 2.5 MBps, which is as fast as it has ever been.
  • Tramp GraphicsTramp Graphics Posts: 2,408
    Novica said:

    An update to DIM was released, and of COURSE it crashes and won't let me install it. In Commons, a note was made that if it crashes then manually install it from Product Library. It wouldn't let me download anything, kept doing ring-around-the-rosie saying to install the update, but wouldn't let me do it, until I went and searched out the thread. Supposedly only a SMALL amount of users visit the forums, so they released this update that doesn't work, and how are non-forum members supposed to know to go get it manually? And why should they have to do that? So get the DIM update before you need to use DIM. 

    So in case you're wondering why I haven't rendered the grass for people who asked to see it- DIM problems. Also moving at a snails pace, I am geting 105MBPS and DIM was downloading at 67kbps, then dropped to 28kbps for ten minutes. Not my computer, definitely was DIM. It's done that all week, someone else mentioned it too.  Then it speeds up to normal. So hopefully you've been lucky to be using it when it was doing okay.

    One more reason why I download and install everything manually

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,875
    edited April 2016

    Ratings: Recommend:  Sweet Darling Outfit and Groceries for Genesis 3 Females   Daz Horse 2      Northwell Horse Stables     Paisley Hair (G3F)

    The Sweet Darling Outfit comes with groceries, and they are very original and fun. The milk carton is of course a favorite. I asked over in Commons about the posing, make a note of how to do it. Emma and Jordi are always ultra quick to hop in and help with their products. The Daz 2 Horse mane REALLY bugs me, too much is clipped down the neck for many Western riders, only a small bridle path is necessary. But I'm a bit confused. When you click on mane, you get right or left, and both of those have half the mane missing. But in materials, the images seem to show short hair where there is none. Or is it the camera angle?  Anyway, I hate the mane if it is that clipped for the only option. There needs to be a longer version for ALL the mane. 

    BTW, if you don't have the Fit Control  series, wishlist it and get it. Period. Fix the cling-wrap breasts and sunken hollows inbetween them. I used it on this outfit. SO many morphs. You select the piece of clothing and tons of morphs are added (yes, I said tons.) Then you move the slider and move the material.  Nifty! 

    Then, base on MY EXPERIENCE, there's the not so nifty. PLEASE SEE EDIT BELOW. 

    Ratings: Not Recommended for version 4.8:  Priya for Genesis 3 Female(s)   (Tested in Iray) Recommended for 4.9 MUCH BETTER. SEE NEXT PAGE.

    Original, Left.  Two hours of tweaking skin, Right.

    Edit: This review was based on rendering in 4.8, and the materials are optimized for 4.9. I am changing this post to reflect my experiments were in 4.8 and you will get MUCH different results in 4.9.  Also, the vendor has posted that changes were made to tweak the materials on the hands, so expect that sometime soon (probably next week, as it is the weekend coming up.)

    This light setup is what you've been seeing on the thread the past two or three days. Same lighting as the plants, SAME LIGHTING AS HYE.  

    So I decided to tweak the skin, but here's something to note- and I'll try to explain this in a way that makes sense because I don't do UV mapping and have no clue other than having a slew of characters and not seeing this on them:  The light part of the palm appears to go to the backside and OVER ONTO THE TOP OF THE HAND, look above her thumb, from the V of the thumb and second finger- and how it continues toward the wrist on TOP of the hand. The entire thumb is too light.  Even my tweaks can't hide it, because when I lightened the skin and got rid of the orange that part of course lightened too. So I provided some closeups of the hands.  Note in the promos, the hands are not shown except for the palms.

     If anyone has renders of Priya that turned out well, and can show the hand where it looks normal, please share. I want to be fair to the vendor, and my results are only those of one person.

    Priya is in the horse image, my skin. The hands are easily seen there.

    EDIT: Anyone with 4.9 version who has tested her, please post. Assuming results will be different. However, version 4.8 users will see the results above.  EDIT: The 4.9 version does MUCH BETTER.

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  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    edited April 2016

    Wow.... that's really really orange.  I don't have her so I can't test her but .. wow.   I have the fit control and completely agree that its a must have.  I use it in almost every single render that has womens clothes in it.  There is a male one as well which is on my wish list.  I don't  do that many men at the moment so its not quite as important to me.

    Post edited by IceDragonArt on
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