Getting the most out of a little
Oso3D
Posts: 14,908
in The Commons
On the topic of prices, I was contemplating how much stuff is free, and how far you can get with the least. I'm away from my house so posting from phone, but if it were me, the products I'd get: Aging and Growing up, base morph packs for Genesis or Genesis2, GenX2 to maximize sharing of skins and morphs. I'd probably work in Iray because 3dl would push me toward more base purchases. Then I'd dive into the freebie section and get Dietrying's base morphs and collect free stuff madly.
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MFD (Morphing Fantasy Dress) for the Girls and Valiant for the Boys and then have a look at all those lovely freebie textures for those items.
And then of course everything from Wilmap's to have decent clothing for everyone. :-)
One can also do quite a lot with just the primitives in Daz. You don't need Hexagon to create a simple chair, table or cabinet, wall, candle, ballpen etc. And the good thing is that you don't have to worry about UV-mapping because they accept textures right from the beginning.
The PA who makes the "build a room" sets has done a wonderful job of giving us a location that can be used for a number of different interior situations. Amazing the amount of mileage you can get out of a wall.
If you've got a bit more cash up front, or you wait for the right sale, Stonemason has several huge set pieces that have enough angles that it would be the equivalent of having a small city to shoot in . The options from one of those sets, if not endless, can certainly keep you going for a long time.
For those who like to construct their own houses, temples, etc. and are interested in classical architecture: Summoner65 (look at sharecg) has a GREAT collection of free (untextured) architectural elements on his website. 'Roman-Greek Construction Bundle 1-7' contains countless excellent Doric, Ionic, Tuscan, Corinthian, Romanesque, Mixed, and even Gothic elements; all made with skill and great knowledge about the authentic styles. They were made for Poser, but can be used in DS as well.
My "absolutely must haves" (Besides figures, hair and clothing):
Maclean's Everyday Morphing Primitives: www.daz3d.com/everyday-morphin…
DZfire's Real Lights: www.daz3d.com/real-lights-for-…
Total cost is $30.00 for both, but they are often on sale.
My quick and dirty tutorials on creating lamps and other useful things using only those two products:
http://cat-man-dancing.deviantart.com/art/Cheap-and-easy-iray-DAZ-lighting-tutorial-589098114
http://cat-man-dancing.deviantart.com/art/Primitives-Tutorial-for-DAZ-608280754
Petercat, I don't know how I could live without Maclean's Morphing Primitives. You are right: Absolutely must-haves!
@Petercat - for some reason, your links go off to the "Now Leaving Deviant Art" page.
Thank you both! I love hearing comments like these! It means I'm doing something right - lol.
mac
I would throw on SickleYield's "SY SuperCloth DS". Not available at DAZ but simply found.
It is an affordable, versatile prop that easily morphs and takes Iray shaders very well.
I have ownerd it for ages and still use it for little details that might be missing when kit bashing or connecting things together.
+23 for Maclean's Morphing Primitives.
PC+ is a must, the Iray shaders alone pay for themselves.
While more expensive, Mec4d shaders pay for themselves as well just by the number of times I use them and the life they bring to old props.
I agree with this list completely and my purchases are now focused on a more utilitarian eye. A new character or outfit I might use once or twice? Just does not fit into the economic reality.
A shader kit that I will use for years and multiple times? Does.
For poses I would reccomend Ironman13's pose systems where they break down the poses by body parts. Literally 1,000's of combinations to be had.
Another vote for the Morphing Primitives, and there's plenty of mileage to be got from Maclean's Suburban House for less than ten dollars too. A product I wouldn't want to be without is Mech4D's Iray shaders, particularly pack two. Not the cheapest product in the store, but they make everything else so much more versatile. Mine are pressed into service with virtually every render, and so 'cost per use' would be a fraction of a cent by now, even if I'd paid full price. Well worth waiting to see if they come up on sale.
Good thread, Will.
Ippotamus: I agree, SY Super Cloth is a great product; strongly recommended! PC+ is a must. There you'll get the Feral Fey poses, my personal favourites, for little money. i13's pose system is great, but I think mostly if you like pinups and such. I prefer their environments; they have really fine models.
Maclean: Thank you, and I would be really glad if there was a Vol. 2 for the MP...
I interpret it to mean that you're doing something wrong - not creating more of them!
Greebles are nice, but not as morphable.
That's wierd, they work fine for me. Anyone else have this problem?
In the meantime, you could try clicking on my DA account below, then "Browse Gallery", and open the "Odds and Ends" folder. That's where I've stashed both of them.
Gotta catch 'em all. I'm working on your catalog, 12 items to go... I figure, by gosh, I'm going to own at least one artist's complete catalog! Since I already own most of yours, it's the cheapest path to 100% ownership.
Hey, we all gotta have goals.
Not to mention his "Everyday" series!
Some products here that I had never come across. Does the Super Cloth have cloth-like wrinkles or folds? I'm always wishing I had sheets or blankets to partially cover a figure but I dislike using Optitex (complicated, time-consuming, doesn't scale).
I used to use The Fabricator (3Delight fabricshaders) but I have not tried it with IRay. I have a lot of Maclean products but stopped using them while I was rendering with Reality/Lux ... for some reason they were slow to render. I must revisit them now I'm using IRay. The Morphing Primitives look interesting - like a mini Hexagon.
I have some of the PC+ IRay shaders but can't figure out how to reset them to a kind of default setting - especially lace and shiny cloth. Just clicking the Uber shader doesn't remove the previous surface settings. Speaking of PC+ ... anyone starting out should buy the Deco Living range and also pick a few of the Dream Home rooms. They always look good and render quickly.
The link in the earlier message to the Morphing Primitives page actually is
http://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?http://www.daz3d.com/everyday-morphing-primitives
Something else of note about freebies is that it varies per figure. You can get more for Genesis and Genesis 2 than you can with Genesis 3.