Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 8
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Well, that was...strange. I load everything with DIM. All the other part loaded fine with DIM but for some reason, not these characters. I did a manual download and now they are showing as they should.
Budget blown or not, Fast Grab changed again and if you want or need weapons, take a look. One fun idea- take a look at the Staffs Of Destiny- you can embed those in the ground and use as torch holders. Or push them in the ground up to their tops and have neat path accents. For $3.89 I love the Fantasy Bows and Arrows!
For those who got On the Shore in Fast Grab, there seems to be a bug in the most recent version of Daz Studio which renders the rocks and ground black. It can be corrected if you apply the Iray Uber Base shader to those surfaces. Details here. Not sure if the problem is a bad shader in the product or a flaw in DS itself. I've submitted a bug report.
I'm just playing around, and from the Pro Bundle put FW Aran, $6.15 in the cart with at least one of the related items. Instead of buying the Pro Bundle (not doing demons in the book, so not buying, I don't need poses, won't use that hair, and the outfit is close to the vendor's Biker Bandit outfit I already have.)
I'm just getting a normal character, seeing what the sale does. Well, it's a good sale. It goes from $73.82 down to $28.60 for:
1 new character
3 sets
1 prop set
5 things divided by 73.82 is $14.76 on average, the sale brings these down to $5.72 a piece. Mostly for SETS!
This is rather neat (and thoughtful of the vendor) and is one of the discounted products when you have one of the Pro Bundle items (or the P.Bundle) in your cart. Crypt of the Damned has props separately so they can be hidden. Don't want those ticked off dudes on the wall? Poof, gone. Want that lid opened? Voila. ($7.18)
Looking for a very worn Ouija Board? Stacks of tires may come in handy to populate another scene too. Creepy Hollow. ($6.59)
Demon Barber of Fleet Street drops down to $3.09, scooping that up for sure. Look at what you get with it. A room. Shaving cream in different containers, towels and facecloth, coal burning stove, etc- and FORTY barber poses- and you can tweak those for other scenes!
The Gothic Desk and Chair is $5.58 and I've got so many sets that can go into- and that vendor's props are always so well made.
I had a lot of the Evil but Good items already. Managed to get the vintage furniture super cheap and did get the Pro bundle. I thought there was a lot of useful stuff in there.
I did not think I was doing any demon books until Anneka came out and I got an idea for a comedy series about hell. It's going to be a blast but will have to wait till the Supers are done. In the meantime, I'll collect the stuff at good prices and do some concept art. Fun, fun!
Before the end of the month, everyone keep in mind we'll be doing the Top 3-5 picks of the month for things you've rendered. So if you have a favorite item you want to mention, render it! I'm already thinking, "Man, going to be hard to choose" because I've showcased quite a few for you this month. I just did the balcony and the landscape combination, and can only pick one of those (if a favorite) as one product per render can be selected. And we've done a lot of portraits.
Ka-ching! Novica cost me money - she must be evil (or maybe just a good saleswoman). I had Demon Barber on my wishlist for a long time and couldn't pass up the price. I got the Wezor Hair as the trigger since it was by EmmaAndJordi. Total cost of both was only $9.24.
Since scenery is mostly what I do, I can't resist the challenge. Here's a scene combining Mountain Trail and Ancient Ruins. These are made by the same PAs (Andrey Pestryakov and Peanterra) who made On the Shore. I got all three on the same day last week from Fast Grab. This is pretty much how they loaded, one on top of the other. I rotated the ruins slightly to bring more of the stonework into view. Turned out to go together pretty well I think. I used High Peaks Skydome and HDRI for the sky and lighting. Lot's of vegetation in this. Click on image for larger view.
I LOVE that! Isn't it funny how we can plan and do good/great renders, but going by a set of rules and throwing it together with those guidelines creates equally great renders!
I never would have tried to put those two sets together other than your challenge. I remember when I got Ancient Ruins it looked a little flat and this gives it a lot of vertical dimension (and historically accurate, as many ancient ruins become hills as dirt collects over the ages and buries them).
I'll have to try a couple more combos.
Love the Ruins/Mountain Trail combo - it did bring my ancient computer to its knees though LOL
Yeah, I was watching The Weather Channel's show on the Earth reclaiming buildings, and it featured Detroit, New Orleans, several islands/locations near volcanic eruptions, and old temples. Rather weird to see buildings get totally covered up with dirt, mud, plants, ash, vegetation- and totally gone after decades.
This is the Creepy Hollow set with FW Aran HD (Gen3M) and Akiko for Mei Lin 7. She is wearing Shanda Hair (Gen3F) and he's wearing Asher Hair (Gen3M) She's wearing Athletic Gear (Gen3F) and he's wearing Run With It Outfit (Gen3M).
Comments about the Creepy Hollow set: really large terrain area, and I was surprised at how thick and how nice the grass is. I don't like the trees having large groups, would rather they be individuals. The wall does not have the ability to remove the blood via surface pane, (at least I couldn't select it) so you're stuck with blood. However, the wall is long enough you can x translate it and get it out of view for most shots. (see my render.) That's dear ole Lucille the zombie trying to introduce herself.
This is definitely worth picking up if it's still in Fast Grab.
Cool render - I bet that would look great as a night time scene. I think it'd give it some added creepiness. :)
That set looks cool. It's too bad it comes with the spirit board thing. I don't mess with those things and don't even want a digital version of one on my computer. haha
@divamakeup, I'm the same way. Those things creep me out!
LOVE the mountain trail and ancient ruins together! I have the mountain trial and the ancient ruins are in my wishlist. But, I have other ruins that are similar so I may play with that a bit.
It even slowed mine down - only took 1.5 hours to render but it had to go via CPU and it started over several times, plus made it hard to do much anything else on the computer. It's always a shock to check the render convergence and have it be lower than before!
I would think just about any type of ruins would go together with it.
Here's another combo of two scenes purchased one after the other. I got 1stBastions Highland Lakeside Cabin and Dock one day, then the next day On the Shore was in Fast Grab. I almost passed the latter one by as I thought I didn't need two sets with lake and buildings, but they are different enough I went ahead and got it (and I'm glad I did). One problem with OtS is the far shore of the lake is too circular and unrealistic (which shows up in the 360 render I did). This combo of the two solves that problem. I loaded both sets, moved the Highland set to 15,000 X and -5000 Z, hid the pontoons from OtS (as they were mostly underwater), and added the Highpeaks Skydome for the sky and background mountains. The water in this first render is from the Highland set. Of the two renders, I prefer this one, mostly due to the water color and ripples.
In this second render, I hid the Highland water and expanded the OtS water by 200% to fill the space in between the two sets. I also unhid the pontoons from OtS and lowered the Highland set to -100 Y. If I were to do this again, I would make the water a little less transparent to hide some of the underwater land from the Highland set.
Those two go quite well together, I like the rippled water too. Very nicely done!
I didn't combine two sets, just a quickie I did this morning of Crypt of the Damned. The building is one piece so you can't hide the walls, but it's fairly easy to get in there and swing around as the front is entirely open. I used Ghost Lights (one from our left, one from our right, above) and colored them green. I increased the bump on the tomb and sharpened in post work to create a gritty feeling. That's Tara & Sachra HD (V7) wearing Nox Hair (Gen3M/F) and the Soulless Outift (Gen3F).
I mentioned a few posts back, those statues can be hidden, and the lid of the tomb opens. That pose is from Capsces Vampy Arabella Poses and Expressions.
Click to enlarge.
I'll try combining two more sets for the next one, sometime tomorrow. You and I buy a lot of the same things Rich, lol! (Seriously, they changed Fast Grab again sometime this morning/today while I was offline. Wow. Love the shirt in this one and it's a separate item. The wrinkles are very realistic. The Rash Guards (see last thumbnail) makes an excellent 1960's-ish swimsuit. )
@RGcincy I really like both versions of the combined landscapes! Nicely done. I might have to borrow that idea sometime. Very cool!
Very nice render of the combined sets, @RGcincy!
Thanks @Knittingmommy and @TabascoJack. It's been fun to see what comes up when combining two sets together.
"Mom's Not Happy"
This is Nyarai for Genesis 3 Female. She's wearing Hobby Clothes. Hair is from Gurumarra, the Australian Aboriginal (I had trouble fitting it but used Novica's tip of fitting a G3F hair first, then fitted the G2M hair to that, then hid the G3F hair). Setting is A Cozy Kitsch Living Room. Lights are Painter Lights and one ghost light for fill.
Mom most certainly is NOT- love it!
IMPORTANT: Be sure you add one of those items from the PC Savings Plus sale (the wizards are a couple bucks) to drop prices if you are buying more than one or two.
Been awake since 3am, I'm getting back on track and at least staying awake most the day (bed 7pm) Wanted to do that because it's 75-78 degrees this week and going to the barn. Instead of rendering, I wanted to tackle the sales and see what I could discover for you. I can't possibly list all the products that are affected, but I'll steer you where you need to go.
I am running into problems- which made this confusing for me- while some artists are listed in the Artist dropdowns for Vendor A (say Vendor B was listed) when I went to Vendor B, Vendor A was NOT in theirs. That is with the Hide What I Own unchecked too, just in case that makes a difference. (It didn't.) So you can NOT cross reference with any reliability IMO. (Edit- tested, and this is true. Those lists appear to be messed up.) Anyone have any ideas? No specific figures were selected, so all should be showing. The numbers change as to the amount offered by the vendor, and vendors are missing.
I would have to do ping pong all over the place to double check, and I don't have time to do that with all these vendors. So this is what I caught, and if they weren't in the dropdown Artist list, we're out of luck unless I happened to catch it. (which is noted in red.)
I looked at what sales overlapped, and what triggered what. Some things I can't explain, either, I get a weird percent. Now all this assumes you are a PC+ member, and do what the sale tells you to do (aka, if a new release of any kind is needed, or a new release from that particular sale page.
First I'll list the sale, then I note any vendors who appear in other ones. Go to the vendors' stores then click the second person's name in the artist dropdown. (EDIT- they may or may not be there.) All products will be listed which overlap from DIFFERENT sales. There may be more, these took awhile to cross check and I may have missed some.
If vendors are in the same sale, they won't do anything, so not noted as collaborators.
Once I started hitting the artist dropdown list mistakes, it got confusing. Let me know if you found any mistakes. Thanks!
PC Savings Plus:
Emma and Jordi is also Need A Vacation sale (goes up to 45% any new release, 20% more places and things, etc)
dglidden has an old product with AnnaBenjamin from the demon sale.
ozichick has products with bobbie25 in Damien Demon sale.
Damien Demon:
AnnaBenjamin overlaps with dglidden. Old product.(Mentioned already above)
Bobbie25 joined with Swam from Doctor sale It is not listed in the Artist Dropdown- Swam is not in the list. They share 3 products.
Bobbie25 also has products with ozichick from PC Savings Plus sale. (already mentioned above)
Need A Vacation Sale THE DROP DOWN ARTISTS IS NOT CORRECT. Spencer is with Ozichick, who is not listed. There may be more. I have the hide what I own unchecked, all products are showing, and no Ozichicks.
Silver (Also Platinum Loop sale) overlaps with Ozichick from PC Savings +.
DemonicaEvilius overlaps with Silver here, but Silver is also in the Platinum Loop sale. (Just do DemonicaEvilius and check Silver in the dropdown, and vice versa LOL)
Silver overlaps with Dragonfly 3D (Platinum Loop sale) GREAT buy on the Sugar Skull Bundle. $13.19
Platinum Loop Has Silver, Adiene, Dragonfly3d, which means
As mentioned before, Silver joins demonicaevilius from the vacation sale
Adiene teams up with Silver (Vacation sale)
As mentioned before, Dragonfly3d teams up with Silver (also in Vacation sale)
Goldtassel has Silver (Vacation sale), bobbie25 (Damien Demon Sale)
Doctor, Doctor Swam is the big player here, with products with:
goldtassel (Platinum Loop)
bobbie25 (Damien Demon)
NOTE BELOW- Silver also has Bobbie25 AND Swam. SIGH. Good luck shopping, just go to each vendors' individual store page so these will show up.
Well, so not cool. You get different artist's lists depending on which way you enter the page, and it doesn't depend on new releases from what I can tell. So good luck shopping. I'm going to start going to the DIRECT STORE PAGE to test the options.
Oh brother, sad to say, it seems to be true. You enter from a sale page, click on an artist's store, and that Artist's list of other vendors may not be correct. Using Silver, above, I tested to see if the hidden vendors who ARE in the other sales and hidden from you, have those products discounted. THEY DO. Knowing how glitched up the store is, I'm not surprised it works from B to A, just not A to B, or vice versa- so items in multiple sales are being hidden on some pages.
Let's check the missing SWAM (who is in the Doctor sale) against Silver's store (direct link, where showing) vs the sale page entry, where SWAM is noticeably GONE. Oh yes, that dress (one of the three) indeeds discounts.
At least my thread followers will know to always go to the direct vendor store page. And I am going to the barn shortly, if anyone has an idea why this is happening, love to hear it. No figure was selected in either vendor's store.
Edit- I just marked a few of the changes, there's more. Adiene for example, has 3 vs 5, WildDesigns 17/19, etc.
I'm going to quickly list some products for you, and found something interesting. I kept a copy of the cart open (always a wise idea) and I can copy the links straight from there without having to click on the product. So this isn't fancy, but here you go. That other mess wasted my time four hours, trying to figure it out, and I've GOT to get going. I put the price by it that I got when I put one new item from today in the cart, and the EDIT: WARLOCKS from the PC Savings Plus sale- that $2.09 item will drop the price on a lot of these. These are a few I tested.
http://www.daz3d.com/urban-strap-boots-for-genesis-2-female 2.10
http://www.daz3d.com/sugar-skulls-bundle-characters-accessories-and-poses DEAL!!! 49.95 > 29.97 > 10.55 PAY LESS THAN 22%
http://www.daz3d.com/akimitsu-for-genesis-3-female-s 4.00
http://www.daz3d.com/shinya-dress-for-geneses-3-female-s 5.87
http://www.daz3d.com/belleza-dress-for-genesis-3-female-s 3.80
http://www.daz3d.com/brittany-for-genesis-3-female-s 3.79
http://www.daz3d.com/totally-hipster-for-genesis-3-female-s 3.58 and textures 2.73
http://www.daz3d.com/gemma-for-genesis-3-female 3.79
(Do I hear cha-ching? Did I do my job getting you in to those stores, whether you bought these or not? These are items I didn't have, I didn't have time to shop through stuff I already have.)
I think you mean the Warlocks from the Magical Platinum Loop sale.
Yep!
RGcincy very good work! Today came the update for "On the Shore", and other products, that eliminates problems with the white and black spots in the DAZ Studio 4.9.3.166.
Good morning Andrey! We're having fun with your products, thank you SO much for allowing them to be in Fast Grab! I did a render late last night, Rich and I are playing with combining sets and I combined the Hidden Burial Grounds with Sleek Interior Room. We're limiting the combination to the last 10 sets we bought, and if possible, combining two that are back to back purchases. When I chose these two (back to backs, btw) I did so because I thought it would be a challenge to take an old burial ground, very aged, and put it with a sleek, new inside scene. I think people are going to get a laugh at my approach, coming in about ten minutes. What I didn't realize at the time, was that the room had an elephant picture on the wall!!!!