Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 7

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Comments

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    Thanks Kerya. I just don't think any of my V4 skins are good enough to buy a third party to use on G3, when the skins I have for G3 are so much better. :) 

    Kerya said:
    jakiblue said:

    No V4 at all - I loathe her :D Her skins won't work on G3 (I know there is some process for it but it's rather complicated and isn't easy like the V4 -> G2 is)

     

    Look for CaymanStudios "Legacy UVs for Genesis 3" at Renderosity ...

     

  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943

    Oh well - I have some of the Elite textures for V4 and some of Danae's ...

    OK, doing a review for a change, instead of just commenting.

    Going for MortemVetus products (Morven and Ragnarok), which are made for older Poser versions.

    The first picture is loading Morven (on M4, this is the M4 version, not the H4 version which is included too), applying the Iray Converter for Gen4, loading some of the clothes (there are quite a lot of them in that product), add bumps maps and settings, change surface to Matte (instead of the automatic Glossy Plastic) running the simple "convert to Iray surface" script on the clothes. - not too appealing. Some of the bump maps are simply the texture maps plonked into the bump channel.

    Second picture:
    Then I did what I am used to doing with Poser content in DazStudio (and Poser - I would use EZSkin on the character, for example) - play with the surface tab, create a new surface for the Cloak clasp with the Geometry editor (originally cloak and clasp are on one surface, but I wanted to combine the clasp of cloak3 with the cloth of cloak4), add shaders, plonking down the original textures into the diffuse map slot again ... played a bit more with the Iray Convertor for Gen4 settings and added some birds. I am addicted to Ken Gilliland's birds. *grin*

    Conclusion:
    Load and render are not going to work with those products.
    With a little bit of fiddling, they don't look bad.

    Credits:
    Morven Dark Elf for M4 and H4 - MortemVetus http://www.daz3d.com/morven-dark-elf-for-m4-and-h4
    Iray Converter for Generation 4 - V3Digitimes http://www.daz3d.com/iray-converter-for-generation-4
    UHT Hair Shaders for Iray - SloshWerks http://www.daz3d.com/uht-hair-shaders-for-iray
    Ragnarok - MortemVetus http://www.daz3d.com/ragnarok
    Kerya's Very Cloudy Skies http://www.sharecg.com/v/38651/view/11/Poser/Keryas-Very-Cloudy-Skies
    Songbird ReMix Sea Birds 1 - Ken Gilliland
    Longitude & Latitude Lighting and Render Presets for DS Iray - ForbiddenWhispers http://www.daz3d.com/longitude-latitude-lighting-and-render-presets-for-ds-iray

    Leather Factory Shaders for DAZ Studio - JGreenlees http://www.daz3d.com/leather-factory-shaders-for-daz-studio
    Pd Iray Shader Kit 1 - Parrotdolphin http://www.daz3d.com/pd-iray-shader-kit-1
    Uber+ Iray Antique Metals - Traveler http://www.daz3d.com/uber-iray-antique-metals
    Iray Nobiax Shaders - Kaz42 http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/53881/free-collection-of-328-iray-ready-daz-texture-presets-made-from-nobiax-s-freebie-textures-v0-99/p1

     

     

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    M4MorvenIrayShadersX.jpg
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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874

    I can really see the difference! (Once I get past the lovely birds and your incredible sky lol)  And wow, thanks for taking the time not only to do that, but to write it all up. I know from experience, doing the writeup and linking everything takes some time!  I feel like I'm looking at a still from Star Trek, looks like Mark Lenard, Sarek- Spock's father. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    edited March 2016

    Here's a page that explains how to get DOF (Depth of Field) in the EASIEST way I've ever seen.

    Basically, when you select your camera in Parameters, (and then go to your viewport and select Perspective view, and look down from the top to see the two brackets to put your person/prop between)  to increase your DOF (more blurry) tweak your camera this way: (nice cheat sheet)

    SLIDERS:  focal length goes left,  focal distance goes right, and F Stop goes right   (edited that as I had it backwards)

    DOF makes a big difference in woodsy settings. 

    Henryk for Michael 7 is a nice character that I just picked up from my wishlist a couple days ago from the featured stores in MM. He's definitely Anderson Cooper-ish. I like the bigger nose and thin lips, not a "pretty boy" male model but unique. The square jawline keeps him rugged. Norseman (G3M) is a very dark outfit and a bit tricky to light. I did postwork and  lowered the midtones/shadows and balanced it with the contrast (which darkens) but be really careful plopping anyone in front of dark vegetation or diark buildings wearing those pants!  Fern Lake has hidden instances, as noted in the Commons thread, which don't show up in the viewport but will in your render. Here's the solution. My question- how to spot what is an instance, and what isn't, in the Scene listings?

    See the difference with and without DOF. The first two are without.

     

     

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    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    edited March 2016

    And this shows the problem with those instances. I have a tree blocking the view completely, on the right, that does not show up in the viewport. Nasty surprise!

    Edit: here's the instances. EDIT: Be sure you grab these in the Display part of parameters. Stefan explained it to me here.

    ferntrees.jpg
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    ferntrees2.jpg
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    Post edited by Novica on
  • RenomistaRenomista Posts: 921
    edited March 2016

    Had the Same Problem.... makes Through The Wood really hard to use

    Is there any Workaround?

     

    Edit: Never Mind: I saw Stefans Response in the other Thread.

     

    Will try it out when I'm Home

    Post edited by Renomista on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    edited March 2016

    Be sure you open the group of instances and you need to select each one, not the group, or Display>Instancing won't show up in Parameters. The image Stefan (Stonemason) posted shows it clearly.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Sensual ArtSensual Art Posts: 641
    edited March 2016

    pls ignore this comment.

    Post edited by Sensual Art on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    edited March 2016

    FYI, that set is indeed not going to render ultra fast- it's going on 12 minutes with my computer and 0% render target canvas written. (14 minutes is 1%) And I am doing this in 4.9, my version 4.8 crashed twice. So if for some reason that happens to you, 4.9 is handling it for me.

    EDIT:

    13 minutes 1 percent

    15 minutes  8 percent (once it gets going, it starts picking up speed fast.) 

    25 minutes 23 percent  (look at that, about a percent a minute when it averaged out!) 

    28 minutes  29 percent

    WOW- 34 minutes DONE. 

     

     

     

     

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    mrinal said:

    pls ignore this comment.

    I'll ignore your comment but don't want you to be ignored. So hi there!

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    I ran into that last night (the instancing part and was horrified til I saw the work around lol (and yes, I ended up buying the bundle, you talked me into lol.  I picked up the Ronya bundle as well, since the pricing worked out so well).

    I rather like that outfit but can see how it might be difficult to see the pants against anything dark.

    I am really struggling with the fact that I need to pick up Michael 7 because I really like some of the other characters out for him.  BUT I can't stand him as a stand alone, he is too much of a pretty boy for my tastes.  I would use him with other characters but I resent the fact that i have to pay for him to be able to do so because I have zero desire to use him as is.  (sad, I know, but I can't help it lol) I am very slowly building my Gen 3 library but I'm not in a huge hurry since I have a TON of stuff for the previous generations. 

    I was playing with the new Iray render studio last night, I am going to have to work on that a bit more.  But I am running one of the preset scenes just to see how it turns out. The 10 page PDF is a must read though or its very difficult to figure out how to apply some of the special effects.  The pdf is easy to follow and clear though so that was a bonus

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,831

    I always get a kick out of seeing the unrealistic design of so much sci-fi, fantasy and dystopian women's clothing. Case in point: Wastelander for Genesis 3 Male vs. Wastelander for Genesis 3 Female. The male has full pants, a full t-shirt, metallic chest and shoulder armor, a metal helmet covering the full face and head, and is carrying a weapon. The female has more than half her skin showing, no chest or shoulder protection, a partial face mask, no head protection, no weapon, and is basically wearing a bikini for the beach. Whoa! She is either quite brave or likes to live life on the edge. Meanwhile, I guess the wimpy male in all his protection will be her guardian after she entices their enemies into the open. Gag! 

  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854

    Actually, per Mad Max, they are naked for enticement.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    Khory said:

    Actually, per Mad Max, they are naked for enticement.

    Yup lure them out to the poor helpless woman then ambush lol. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874

    I am really struggling with the fact that I need to pick up Michael 7 because I really like some of the other characters out for him.  BUT I can't stand him as a stand alone, he is too much of a pretty boy for my tastes.  I would use him with other characters but I resent the fact that i have to pay for him to be able to do so because I have zero desire to use him as is.  (sad, I know, but I can't help it lol) I am very slowly building my Gen 3 library but I'm not in a huge hurry since I have a TON of stuff for the previous generations. 

    What characters for M7 do you have in mind? We could show you on M7 vs on basic Genesis 3 male (if you don't have the characters and want to see them on someone else.) Or we could put the materials of the characters you like on someone else for you to see.

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,831
    Novica said:

    Dang it, we just had a hail storm. Something tells me this hurricane season is gonna be a doozy. First two EF3 tornados within a week, then a hail storm with 60mph winds. I only got the quarter sized hail, no damage to the vehicle. But seriously, right when I was headed out the door! 

    Looks like another storm is headed your way. Hope this one is less severe than those you've had recently. We are just getting into our stormy season. 78F on Easter Sunday, freeze warning and 30's this morning, back in the 70's tomorrow with thunderstorms the following day. Typically April and May are our tornado season, but most seem to stay across the river in Northern Kentucky and hit trailer parks.

     

    MelanieL said:

    Novica, those Brooklyn / Anjou Hair renders are lovely!

    Agree, nice showcasing of the figure. I like that background on 3-5.

     

    Khory said:

    Actually, per Mad Max, they are naked for enticement.

    Yup lure them out to the poor helpless woman then ambush lol. 

    I know. And Mad Max has an endless supply of gasoline even though society has collapsed!

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,831
    edited April 2016

    For whatever reason, it took forever to put this render together. I kept trying a bunch of different sets and grounds but ended up not liking them, so went to some plain grass and a brown background from Novica. I also had a couple crashes, usually after adding and deleting a bunch of stuff, and of course it would always have been a while since I remembered to save the scene. Oh well.

    This features a new wardrobe set I bought last week: Nordic Warrior for Genesis 3 Male. I show it on both G3M (right figure) and G2M (left figure). The fit to G2M went very smoothly using the clone from Genesis 3 Male for Genesis 2 Male. In addition to the clothes, G3M has Bold Hair and Whiskers for Genesis 3 Male. G2M has Ancient Combat Hair for Genesis 2 Male and Mec4D Unshaven 2 for Genesis 2 Male. It also has Aging Morphs 2 for Genesis 2 Male applied. Grounds and grass from Grassy Grounds Megapack. Lights were from Painter's Lights. Iray render.

    A few thoughts:

    1. I like the clothing. Good addition to go with other Viking-type clothes. The clothing textures are what come with the set. 
    2. I'm glad I got the clone for auto-fitting. Made it easy to use the clothes across generations. The weapon and shield did not auto-fit so well but they only needed translation to get in the right position.
    3. I used the Iray Smart Converter and Advanced Skin Managers for Genesis 2. Now I wish I had the Genesis 3 version as well.
    4. I miss not having the aging morphs for Genesis 3 - the G3M face is way too smooth. Zev0 is working on them. That will be an instant buy for me.
    5. I like the Mec4D beard much better than the Whiskers product, as it is more wiry and realistic looking. They are two different styles of beard though, with the Whisker's version being very full and dense.
    6. Several of the products I used I got based on the reviews in this discussion thread. It's so helpful to hear from people who actually tried out the products to know what to buy.
    7. I sure hope they don't come out with Genesis 4 for several years. I resisted Genesis 3 for a while but now I have a mix and keep finding I'm missing something for one generation or the other. 

    EDIT: For a close-up of the outfit on G2M, see this post

     

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    Post edited by RGcincy on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    RGcincy said:
    1. I used the Iray Smart Converter and Advanced Skin Managers for Genesis 2. Now I wish I had the Genesis 3 version as well.
    2. I miss not having the aging morphs for Genesis 3 - the G3M face is way too smooth. Zev0 is working on them. That will be an instant buy for me.
    3. I like the Mec4D beard much better than the Whiskers product, as it is more wiry and realistic looking. They are two different styles of beard though, with the Whisker's version being very full and dense.
     

     

     

    That's a big difference in the skin I am going to have to seriously consider the skin converters for G2 at least. And I like the rugged look the aging morphs gave to the one character.  It really adds to the picture.

    Novica, Its Dash for MY and Gray and Ragnar for Gianni 7.  I really like Gianni 6 but I have the same problem with 7 as I do with M7.  They are all kind of slender and ugh I can't think of the right word, I want to say smooth lol.  Does that make any sense?  I like really rugged types and these are not really it. Now there were a couple of renders  I saw of Ragnar that totally fit the bill for the type of male character I prefer to use, more rough looking, less smooth.

  • Sensual ArtSensual Art Posts: 641
    Novica said:
    mrinal said:

    pls ignore this comment.

    I'll ignore your comment but don't want you to be ignored. So hi there!

    Wow! that was nice of you. I actually misread Novica for novice. Realised it only after posting. I have bookmarked this thread so will be watching this space. And thanks for these tips.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    edited March 2016

    LOL- well I'll be darned. I haven't seen a rabbit in my yard for years, and a couple days after Easter I have one, sitting there in broad daylight! He startled me, I went out the front door and when he shot away I saw his white tail and thought the wind had blasted a piece of paper across the yard! 

    Yeah, I know about the storms, I am headed to the barn shortly because it's going to be nice the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow, but I never trust the forecast for the next day. We had a 30% chance of rain then fifteen minutes later (I am NOT kidding here) we had a flash flood warning and 90% chance with 2-4 inches. And the entire panhandle was covered in dark green with NO breaks- so how'd thety get 90%? It rained 7 hours straight. Sheesh.

    BTW, the Commons thread had a nice suggestion on making the water clearer- change the SSS Amount to .0000410   and I changed the water color to 232  233  222   (EDIT- that is REFRACTION COLOR) Those two changes are shown below. I don't particularly like the top on the gal, it's a Genesis 2 top, but wanted to show you the water anyway. EDIT: And trust me on this- do NOT put a blue in that color. It needs to be almost white with BARELY a hint of blue or your water will really go blue. 

     

     

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    Post edited by Novica on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    Testing out the easy presets for the new Iray Render Studio.  The presets are very easy to use but I would recommend reading the pdf that comes with it there are a couple of things in odd places that might not be obvious or easy to find. This is straight out of the box no color or intensity changes.  Definitely not my usual style but I think easily adabtable.  Would work maybe for sci fi or alien lighting as well. This is VG with Hannah head morph, a free garden swing and the pj top from wilmat for G2  The rest is all Iray Render Studio.  I think this one is going to be an awful lot of fun to play with.

  • RenomistaRenomista Posts: 921
    Novica said:
    BTW, the Commons thread had a nice suggestion on making the water clearer- change the SSS Amount to .0000410   and I changed the water color to 232  233  222   Those two changes are shown below. I don't particularly like the top on the gal, it's a Genesis 2 top, but wanted to show you the water anyway. EDIT: And trust me on this- do NOT put a blue in that color. It needs to be almost white with BARELY a hint of blue or your water will really go blue. 

    Water Color means only Base Color or do you also need to adjust the Glossy Color(s)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874

    BTW, the Commons thread had a nice suggestion on making the water clearer- change the SSS Amount to .0000410   and I changed the water color to 232  233  222   Those two changes are shown below. I don't particularly like the top on the gal, it's a Genesis 2 top, but wanted to show you the water anyway. EDIT: And trust me on this- do NOT put a blue in that color. It needs to be almost white with BARELY a hint of blue or your water will really go blue. 

    Renomista said:

    Water Color means only Base Color or do you also need to adjust the Glossy Color(s)

    The ONLY thing to change is the SSS Amount and Refraction Color. I tried to go in and edit that "water color" and we lost connection to our internet, for heavens sake. Ever since that tornado weeks ago, it's been on the blink and goes off in the middle of a post. 

  • RenomistaRenomista Posts: 921

    Ok, Have to retry when my render is done.

    Changing Base Color also gives an interesting effect...

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    I saw this yesterday when the outfits were released. Honestly, I couldn't believe it. I felt like posting about it and and pointing out how this is exactly the "skimpwear" problem a lot of us talk about. Two outfits, same name - so they are obviously supposed to "work" together - and while the male gets full body covering (with a pair of pants that look really really bad) and a funky chest armour, the female equivilent is a bikini. Unbelievable. 

    And then you see Bluebird3d - "Rough Rider" - a male and female equivilent. And both of them are very similar - no friggin' bikini in sight! I tell you, I know exactly which vendor I would be supporting if I had the spare cash. 

    Unreal.  

    RGcincy said:

    I always get a kick out of seeing the unrealistic design of so much sci-fi, fantasy and dystopian women's clothing. Case in point: Wastelander for Genesis 3 Male vs. Wastelander for Genesis 3 Female. The male has full pants, a full t-shirt, metallic chest and shoulder armor, a metal helmet covering the full face and head, and is carrying a weapon. The female has more than half her skin showing, no chest or shoulder protection, a partial face mask, no head protection, no weapon, and is basically wearing a bikini for the beach. Whoa! She is either quite brave or likes to live life on the edge. Meanwhile, I guess the wimpy male in all his protection will be her guardian after she entices their enemies into the open. Gag! 

     

  • KeryaKerya Posts: 10,943
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    Kerya said:

    OMGosh, I'm laughing so hard right now. I decided to put that link in the first post of the thread, and I got that Captcha thing (apparently when you edit a post you get it)

    Well, I had to identify all the images that had a limosine- and there was a car coming out of the carwash pointed straight at me, making it look like a typical car, only the front of the hood showing, and I'm thinking,"Um, is that a limo or a regular car? Is this a trick?"   Nothing like overthinking it. I looked at the rest of the images which were BOATS. DUH.  The reason I started laughing is that I imagined me failing by not selecting it, and a voice coming from the computer saying, "ARE YOU SERIOUS????"

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    edited March 2016

    Congrats to knittingmommy on being one of two featured artists in the PC Newsletter! (It looks really good, remember this is a screenshot.) 

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  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,605
    jakiblue said:

    I saw this yesterday when the outfits were released. Honestly, I couldn't believe it. I felt like posting about it and and pointing out how this is exactly the "skimpwear" problem a lot of us talk about. Two outfits, same name - so they are obviously supposed to "work" together - and while the male gets full body covering (with a pair of pants that look really really bad) and a funky chest armour, the female equivilent is a bikini. Unbelievable. 

    Yeah, didn't buy either outfit. I would've too, since it could easily be used for sci-fi. But those pants... And the helmet just don't look convincing to me. The female outfit looks like more harem-esque than I would prefer on my tough wasteland survivor people.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    edited March 2016

    SereneNight- I can't remember, did you get the Interstellar outfit? Based only on the promos, I really like the streamlined look of it. Very sleek and not cumbersome. I like that the backside isn't two hiney plates. It looks just as elegant as the front, with the two slanted vertical bands. I've got it in the cart. 

    Also, everyone-  Legacie Hair has SO many options- don't let the main promo fool you, take a look. There's several options, including without the ponytail. And it's for Gen2, Gen3 and V4!

    Post edited by Novica on
This discussion has been closed.