NEW! Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 6

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  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    Pose is from DM's Sheer Class set - I overuse that pose I think. LOL. But it's the ONLY pose I could find that suited a young girl :sigh: We seriously need stuff in the store that'll work for young teens/children. Even clothing is hard, as a figure with a flat chest will get that dreaded "third breast" bump in a lot of shirts. As for poses....well, innocent poses are far and few between. 

    Rendering M7 in the Mega Wardrobe now - there are a gazillion morphs and lots of colours for the shirts and you can do the shirt, sleeves, and trim (and buttons) separately. So yeah, I'm thinking this is gonna be a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED one. LOL

    Have fun shopping at Walmart - enjoy the crazy people there and don't forget to bring us back some chocolate :) 

    Novica said:

    Those do look good! I like her pose too, fits her age. I haven't even played with the randomizer or the growing up yet...I don't want to stop converting my V4 skins to G2F as I have to start thinking about character choices for my book, even though I am a long way off from finishing the writing portion. Seeing what everyone else is doing with those two products is wonderful!  It's only 6am here but I am headed to Walmart to beat the Saturday crowds, back in awhile. Also downloading files to my external, haven't got that up to date from last week. Going to be in the 70's here today! More bad weather predicted for Monday. BTW that tornado that hit north of Pensacola in Century this past Monday was an EF3. Stayed on the ground without lifting up for half an hour, SIXTEEN miles. 

    Back in a couple hours. You folks have fun shopping! 

     

     

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    Daily Casuals MEGA Wardrobe for Genesis 3 Males - RECOMMEND

    This was a quickie in iray to test out the MEGA Wardrobe. With the pants you get six textures - pale denim, dark denim, two more darker denims and a black denim. There are 4 styles for the pants - full style (as in, full jeans); 7/8 length which is the length shown here in the pic; knee shorts which I used on my female above, and shorts. There are 5 shirts - tshirt as shown here in the pic; buttoned long sleeve shirt; long sleeve shirt; sweater; turtle neck sweater. There are 40 plain colours for the shirts - you can use them on the shirt, the sleeves and trims, and there are colours for the buttons also for the buttoned long sleeve shirt. 

    The jeans contain a stack of adjustment morphs (including a fit for the OOT Sneakers - not sure I know what they are, but I presume they should work for any other sneakers also) including adjustments for the crotch. There are also what are called "FX" morphs - pockets open and filled, different "open" for the jeans to show off the treasure trail :) , bulge morph (MOST important) and down and up type morphs. The t-shirt that I used contains adjustment adn FX morphs - i used Up on the left side here and you can also make it longer along with adjustment morphs (things that I know Novica really loves) and also a "fit pants", which brings the front of the shirt out a bit so it's hanging over the jeans. 

    Now, I'm not too keen on all the different colours for the shirt - in iray, I didn't think they looked THAT great. They are good, but I have seen better iray mats for things, so I held it up to a high standard. There is a texture add on for it by Shanas Soulmate in teh store so that may help. But all in all, I'm really pleased with this product. It's quite versatile with all the different styles for the pants, and the various shirts, plus there are a heap of morphs which is ALWAYS a good point. 

    As a bonus, the lighting I used is from Light It Up Iray Lights by dragonfly3d. I used Light 10 here, and hte environment back is #13. There are icons to change the intensity of the environment - I used the .50 one, which darkens it a bit. Render time was good, even with my ramping up the max time, max samples and changing hte rendering converged ration to 99%. I didn't even manage to get through a whole cigarette and it had finished :) Some of the lights from Naomi's Light It Up set take a bit longer, and some of the lights are really quick rendering. Also, I used the "skin shine" (01) on M7 here. With a different set of lights, the sheen was quite noticeable - it's not so noticeable here cos the lights are a bit darker. 

     

     

     

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859

    OOT Sneakers

    And yes, I do like the pulled up morph to make it look different. Everyone doesn't run around with tidy, perfect-across-the-lower-waist shirts. You did a good job with that! So what did you think of the skin shine?

  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    Novica said:

    I do have a quick question- if I am saving V4 skins as Material Presets (making DUF files) to use those materials on Genesis 2 Female,  would your settings transfer in those V4 Material Preset DUFS? I am so not technical, I don't know how these scripts work and what can transfer in Material Presets. 

    Yes it's been already answered here but I confirm. You can set up a skin on V4/M4, then save as material preset, and reapply on G2F/G2M.

    For your previous comment. You're welcome - and thanks you. I thought it was a pitty not to have something to make Generation 4 figures ready for Iray. There are so many great great skins sets for these figures, some of them are real masterpieces!

    That's great the job you do here, because it allows to have comments from someone "independent", and this helps to see how the product is percieved!

  • FistyFisty Posts: 3,416
    Novica said:

    One more- the Smile Delight are unique morphs and not just made with the existing sliders, and I do use those quite a bit to add movement. Believe it or not, the ninja gal had some Smile Delight in her scowl! I have all the other Smile Delights and Cake One always does a bang-up job with creating new morphable expressions.

    I LOVE Smile Delight, I use it almost every render, usually several of them at low level mixed.  #11 and #13 mixed at 15 to 30 percent each is my usual combo.  They get used more than any other morphs I have for G3 besides Vicky.  (and that's only because Vicky is the base shape for most of Fred and Sabby's characters)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2016

    Thank you V3Digitimes, I get a LOT of help in the reviews. Recently, the most active reviewers / contributors the past month who I would like to thank are: RGcincy (Rich), Barbult, Jakiblue, SereneNight, Kharma, Tjohn, Kerya, Fisty, ZarconDeeGrissom, and FirstBastion. (Hope I didn't leave anyone out.)  And Fixmypcmike, Chohole and Cris always seem to know when we need technical help- thank you too!

    Fisty- I'll have to try that combination, thanks for the specifics!

    Post edited by Novica on
  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,805

     

    Novica said:

    Rich, can you render a few of the Dial-a-Girls? If I recall, you got the Genesis 3 product after I showcased all these separately for G2? I'm picking this up now I think. With 3 things i the cart, 60% may be worth peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the rest of the month, lol.  

    Sure, I'll do a few. 

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,805
    edited February 2016

    Here are the 6 Budapest Express girls and 3 of the Next Generation girls from Dial-a-Girl: Genesis 3 Female(s) Edition. These shapes were added by one-clicking on the full body icon (you can also mix and match the body, heads, breasts and facial features separately through subfolder icons). They were applied to Genesis 3 base. Iray renders in DS 4.8 - sorry for the reddish skin. These are a quick way to get variety of shapes plus you can then use the shaping morphs to make further changes if you want. The first photo shows L to R: Dora, Hanna, and Jazmin. Second photo shows Liliana, Rika, and Tamara. Third photo shows Alexis, Ayaka, and Christine. That's 9 of the 17.

    Edit: I found the hair made it hard to see facial differences, so I redid without it.

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    G3 Dial A Girl - Lilana Reka Tamara.jpg
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    G3 Dial A Girl - Dora Hanna Jazmin.jpg
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    G3 Dial A Girl - Liliana Reka Tamara.jpg
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    G3 Dial A Girl - Alexis Ayaka Christine.jpg
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    Post edited by RGcincy on
  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854
    edited February 2016

    I'm sure I am suppose to remember if a product has been done but I'm an aging woman with a cold so.. At any rate I want to point out a product that I am currently totally and completely in love with. And since it is on sale right now as an editors choice I figured I would go ahead and mention it. The product in question is Hellboy's Buzzed Hair. I thought it was awesome when I saw it but I expected to just use it for post apocalypse or sci fi sorts of renders. But I was playing around with it for some promos and its also very high fashion tough girl so it is even more versatile than I expected it to be.

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2016

    Ahhh, Khory, I hope you get over your cold soon. Those are just miserable. And don't worry if something's been featured before, we do repeats all the time, there's NO way to remember and it's whatever we happen to be in the mood for. Your render is gorgeous btw- the lighting really accentuates her cheekbone. I'm glad you pointed it out, I have that hair but don't think I've used it yet. I wonder how it would do combined with that one I used on the ninja gal experiment- Aminata Hair. With Hellboy's as the "ground cover" so to speak, then Aminata with the raised mohawk type rows, that might be interesting. 

    Thanks Rich! The only one I didn't like....wait a minute, the last time I said I didn't like something...(but it evolved into Rabbicus, so that worked out very well)...anyway, that last gal looks kinda like an alien to me. I keep expecting to hear "We come in peace..."   The breasts on all of them seem to have quite a spread too (easily tweaked.)  You sure get a lot for your money with that product! I had to still wishlist it though because I got the Wear Them All (more practical, use it for more things), the Mega Wardrobe (again, can use shaders and have a lot of clothes), Smile Delight (Gen3), and Fast Grab had two sets for 70% off so I got the Collective 3D Derelict Victorian Dining Room and Movie Sets Haunted House. You folks also convinced me to get the Painter's Lights, you've featured those several times and they look good.

    I'm on the fence with Theo. That vendor doesn't have many products, and may not go on sale very often. Two, if we don't support the vendors who are new, and who do the men quite nicely (from the looks of the promos) then they may not do them. So far as the price, remember The Girl base price is $45 (a rip off IMO) and this man is $24.95 marked down to $17.47 so based on my first observation and not gambling that he'll go on sale anytime soon, if you wait 60 days to use your PC $6 coupon you'll still be paying $19. So that's another reason I'm sitting out the gals, I think I will get him. Still thinkin'.

    I almost choked on my Pepsi as I was looking through that vendor's other product. OH MY. Talk about promos! Look at the last one for this product... how did we miss that and it not get mentioned????  

    Edit: And I think one of the promo shots featured Hellboy's hair?

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859

    That said, has anyone tried the Human Essentials for Iray? (A Great sale idea: Pay full price and that dude comes with it.) 

  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854
    edited February 2016

    I don't have Aminata but I bet they would blend pretty well. I know that Hellboy's was really easy to play with color wise to get matching, or contrasting for that matter, to someone elses textures. If you have the hair already you really need to find an excuse to use it because it does render out beautifuly.

    And thank you for noticing the lighting. I'm revoltingly proud of how that set has turned out. I've not done a lighting set till now and was actually inspired by how much I like the default texture settings on v7 and m7 now. It was so nice to do all my promos for a set and not end up fussing with anything.

    Edit to add: About my cold.. I'll be glad when it is totaly gone but found the funniest way to cut down on the coughing and so forth. You put vicks vaporub on the bottom of your feet then wear heavy socks over it. Sounds crazy I know but it worked for both myself and my 84 year old father.

     

    Post edited by Khory on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859

    Interesting! Not crazy if it works!

    Do you think that one thumbnail promo from Human Essentials for Iray uses Hellboy's hair?

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2016

    Okay, I noticed Reality is included in the 60%. (get 3 products promo) Looking at it. Read this:

    "3Delight and iRay conversions

    Reality automatically converts the Studio shaders, whether they are designed for 3Delight or iRay. Right out of the box you get great results with the automatic converter. The Reality Material Editor gives you the power to tweak and perfect those materials by taking advantage of the Reality Physics-Based Materials for superior realism and stunning results."

    Are you kiddin' me? I could use all those 3DL shaders???? Plus, what also got my attention- are you tired of tweaking water?

    "Water, with multiple ripple patterns. The most realistic water you can have in Studio."

    Who has Reality?

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2016

    If you go to the scrolling banner, the Reality 4.2 has the items you can get for 70% off if you buy Reality 4.2, which happens to also be in the Best of 2015 items, (get 3 things and it's 60% off, not the 40% off in the banner) so you can get Reality for $11.99 if you get two other things from the 2015 sale. (I got the Space Station Living Quarters that I had put back this morning, due to cost, but if I had to buy two other thiings, I am getting what I would use) and also the Anny Hair, which I thought would be good for kids.) If getting Reality for $11.99, I felt buying the other two things in the 2015 sale made it worth it. (But wish I'd put Reality in the cart this morning, darn it!) 

    Reality is supposed to render a lot quicker too. 

    If this is a glitch, (the main banner saying 40% but it's 60% in another promo) it's been like this ALL DAY so they should have spotted it by now.  If it's supposed to be this way, I'd say think about it!  If you do get it, do go to the banner link and look at the 70% associated products. 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2016

    This gives you more information on LuxRender, which Reality uses, and tells you more about Reality.

    Users Guide

    So I've jumped in and will try it, anyone else taking the plunge?

    EDIT: Here's the forum thread on it. 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854
    Novica said:

    Interesting! Not crazy if it works!

    Do you think that one thumbnail promo from Human Essentials for Iray uses Hellboy's hair?

    I did a couple of test renders and I am going to say I think not. It doesn't really have the same amount of side burns.

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    @Novica, do you know if someone has written a "dummy guide to the new 4.9 and how to check out if your smart content is right and if you have clothing showing in Figures/People, how to fix it" yet? I can't work out what the greyed out icons mean, and what that funny little icon up the top right on an icon means, and why there is clothing showing in Figures. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2016

    Can you do a screenshot? I'll go check Figures/People. EDIT:  In Files, when I go Figure>People I only have people. 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281
    edited February 2016

    I'm under Products. The Skychaser outfit and the Pale Shadows outfit both show up in Figure->People.

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2016

    How strange is that. I have Sky Chaser, and the only one in Females is the preloaded, aka, on the figure. (Different image, not what you have. It shows the person with the outfit on them, like a T pose but with arms down.)  EDIT: I have Pale Shadows, checked just now, it's installed- and not showing up there at all.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2016

    Wait a minute, you're in Products, I'm in Files. Let me go back and check, I'll edit and be back in a few minutes. Well this is whacky. I have Sky Chaser but the icon is a group of people!  And Pale Shadows is a group of three people. What the heck?

    Post edited by Novica on
  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    That's weird. 

    The simple reason I'm not using "Files" is because I cannot for the life of me figure out what half the files are. The names are like "noai_well" and I'm like WTF is it????????????? So I'm sticking with Products. 

    I am seriously confused with Smartarse Content. I can't work it out and I can't work out how to get products that aren't in there, in there!

    Also, what's the difference between "All" and "Available"????  

    Novica said:

    Wait a minute, you're in Products, I'm in Files. Let me go back and check, I'll edit and be back in a few minutes. Well this is whacky. I have Sky Chaser but the icon is a group of people!  And Pale Shadows is a group of three people. What the heck?

     

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    And if hte product doesn't have a pretty picture icon, how do you get one in there??

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2016
    jakiblue said:

     

    Also, what's the difference between "All" and "Available"????  

    I don't even have All and Available. Isn't that down there by Tips and Info normally? EDIT: In the Files section, for me, they are all by name except some have a ! in front of them. But they all make sense. This is SO weird. EDIT: I think Available means they are available to be downloaded but haven't yet? Are there images that are grayed out?

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859

    Are you in 4.8 or 4.9? I am 4.8

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    yep, it's down the bottom. 

    I figured it out - "All" is installed AND available combined. 

    But there's this: I have two DAZ Monstrosities installed in "Figures->People". The other one, the ogre, is actually in "Figures ->Creatures". :sigh: 

    Also in the Products view there is "Figures" which contains People, yet further down, you can see "People" as a category of it's own. :rolls eyes:

    Plus I need to figure out how to get pictures/icons in there for the products that don't have them (Baby Luna, Dawn, Dusk etc in the screenshot)...cos it's bugging me. LOL

     

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  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    One thing that occurred to me, it's no longer going to be enough to call a character by just a name - it's going to need "....for Victoria 7" etc after it. Instead of just "Kelly", it'll have to be "Kelly for Victoria 7" cos otherwise I will have NO idea if Kelly is for Genesis, G2, G3 or V4 or for the Freak, or what. 

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    AH! I'm in 4.9

    I installed it tonight cos I figured I'd better check it out instead of just complaining about it without even using it. LOL 

    Novica said:

    Are you in 4.8 or 4.9? I am 4.8

     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859

    I guess you could look in your file structure (pick a character beforehand) and see where the image is installed, then do that for the ones you're missing? Good luck with Smart Content. I'm a strictly Content Library-er, using the Daz Studio Format section. (then creating Categories from there.) 

This discussion has been closed.