Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 8

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Comments

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited March 2017

    Very nice Bill! Thanks for sharing those, I really like the hand drawn too. 

    One thing to note on the bundles- be sure and read the description of what animals are in there, because Furries Bundle has lynx, cow, deer, dog, fox, wolf, skunk, rabbit, chipmunk, mouse, squirrel.

    The Red Panda is not. So those are the ones in the store that you would get so far as the basic animals. Also-  I got the Fisher Cat and Bast/Anubis, and the cat collar, cow collar. Hope this helps.

    ALERT- A lot of Flash Sales right now!

    Post edited by Novica on
  • RedfernRedfern Posts: 1,574

    The "Furries for..." Bundle contain the morphs, but no textures.  The other packs like "Rabbits and Mice", "Fox and Wolf", "Tiger", and so onhave the textures and additional "face poses", but those facial features will not work without the base "Furries for..." bundle.

    BTW, Novica, thanks for the kind words about my efforts.

    Sincerely,

    Bill

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    Redfern said:

    The "Furries for..." Bundle contain the morphs, but no textures.  The other packs like "Rabbits and Mice", "Fox and Wolf", "Tiger", and so onhave the textures and additional "face poses", but those facial features will not work without the base "Furries for..." bundle.

    BTW, Novica, thanks for the kind words about my efforts.

    Sincerely,

    Bill

    Thank you for this!  I went and picked up a bunch of textures as well.  That will save me from having to try and find them later.  I don't usually do toon style but I keep looking at these (and have for the last year lol) so I figure I might as well challenge myself to try a new style.

  • RedfernRedfern Posts: 1,574

    Most of the texture sets are as you say "toon", using broad airbrushed effects which is why I particularly like the "Fisher Cat" set.  In comparison, it is considerably more detailed and arguably "realistic".  I really wish Beth Capsces had released more like that.

    Sincerely,

    Bill

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    Redfern said:

    Most of the texture sets are as you say "toon", using broad airbrushed effects which is why I particularly like the "Fisher Cat" set.  In comparison, it is considerably more detailed and arguably "realistic".  I really wish Beth Capsces had released more like that.

    Sincerely,

    Bill

    yes I picked up the Fisher cat as well as the Bast, Lynx, Tiger and Cattitude.  It will be fun to do something a bit different.

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,454
    Redfern said:

    The purchased skins, but tweaked.

    K'th, the catgirl in legwarmers and leather jacket is sporting the "Fisher Cat" texture dialed down to roughly 87 percent and a neutral "tan" added to the base "diffuse" channel.  Mzzkiti, the catgirl in uniform, uses the "rabbit" texture with the stripes from the white tiger set turned yellow and matted in PaintShop Pro.  The bump maps, more noticeable upon K'th, come from a discontinued product, MergeVisible's "Big Cat" set.  the feet upon Mzzkiti are another discontinued item.  JENelson (aka Achronicity upon most other sites) sold a package at Renderosity that gave Melody "digitigrade" feet.  The package also offered plantigrade predator toeswhich I used with K'th.

    Sincerely,

    Bill

    Thank you, Bill for the info! I went ahead and grabbed just about everything after your pix and explanation. Should be fun to play with! :)

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,454
    edited March 2017
    Novica said:

    Very nice Bill! Thanks for sharing those, I really like the hand drawn too. 

    One thing to note on the bundles- be sure and read the description of what animals are in there, because all of these are included in the Furries Bundle:

    lions, tigers, and bears,  bobcat, lynx, ocelot, cow, goat, deer, dog, fox, wolf, skunk, stoat, weasel, civet, mongoose, rabbit, lemur, loris, tarsier, raccoon, chipmunk, mouse, and squirrel.

    The chipmunk and chihuahua are NOT, neither is the Red Panda. So those are the ones in the store that you would get so far as the basic animals. Also-  I got the Fisher Cat and Bast/Anubis, and the cat collar, cow collar. Hope this helps.

    ALERT- A lot of Flash Sales right now!

    It's definitely more than a little confusing! I wish there were more bundles to help.

    Silvina for Melody A3 is not showing up under the Flash Sale, but IS discounting in the cart at the Flash Sale discount. Nice texture!

    Post edited by firewarden on
  • xmasrose (aka tulipe)xmasrose (aka tulipe) Posts: 1,403
    edited March 2017

    Had already melody and micah bundle but had no texture so picked up Fisher cat.

    Looks good out of the box in Iray.

    Maybe I'll get more.

     

    17_melody wild cat.png
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    Post edited by xmasrose (aka tulipe) on
  • RedfernRedfern Posts: 1,574

    Ah, yes, the "takeover" is going as planned! wink

    To paraphrase "The Simpsons'" Kent Brockman, "Yes, I, for one, welcome our randy catgirl overseers!" yes yes yes

    Sincerely,

    Bill

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859

    Um, they added more to the  Melody (Furries) sale.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859

    Fast Grab has changed too.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859

    @xmasrose   Fisher Cat looks very nice. 

    BTW, I edited my post, Chipmunk was in the bundle (but as pointed out, it was only the morphs)   @firewarden   Thanks for pointing out Silvina. 

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770

    @Redfern Bill, do you have this one: https://www.daz3d.com/catgirl-for-aiko-3

    I thought that was pretty cute and comes with hair. Not in the sale at the moment, but in my wishlist! There are addons too.

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    Novica said:

    Um, they added more to the  Melody (Furries) sale.

    Yeah, about that...I think I spent $30 on furries today! OMG, what is wrong with me???

    *Points @Redfern * I blame Bill! LOL

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,454
    Llynara said:
    Novica said:

    Um, they added more to the  Melody (Furries) sale.

    Yeah, about that...I think I spent $30 on furries today! OMG, what is wrong with me???

    *Points @Redfern * I blame Bill! LOL

    You are not alone. Should we start a support group? Get Bill to sponsor us?

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770

    LOL I think we should! 

  • RedfernRedfern Posts: 1,574
    Llynara said:

    @Redfern Bill, do you have this one: https://www.daz3d.com/catgirl-for-aiko-3

    I thought that was pretty cute and comes with hair. Not in the sale at the moment, but in my wishlist! There are addons too.

    Yeah, I purchased her.  She's more of the "neko-chan" variety, but at the time of its release, "Melody" was still a year or two in the future.  Of course, she's something of an "homage" to "Felicia" of "DarkStalkers", a videogame in the vein of "Street Fighter".  Keep in mind the hair ois not designed to be trans-mapped, instead, going for a purposely cartoon look with a solid mass.  Of course, functioning as "conforming" clothing for Aiko 3, the "gloves" and "boots" will fit Melody.  I'm not sure about the hair.  It might need some manual adjustment.  The body textures will align Melody, but not the facial patterns.  Melody has considerably different UV coordinates for the head.

    Sincerely,

    Bill

  • lulamfadalulamfada Posts: 69

    Hey, for all of you who use Melody, is there something special you have to do to get her to work in Daz? I got the morph bundle, but when I try to apply the faces, it seems to only half apply the morphs--like the rabbit will end up with round ears, not long ones, the faces will only partially apply--and the tails are all just sticks of various lengths--no poofiness at all, no matter the morph I try. I've never used any 3rd Generation figures before, so it's entirely possible I'm missing something really obvious.

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770

    I'm downloading now, haven't used her before either but maybe we can figure it out, though Bill, the leader of all things Furry, might know.

  • RedfernRedfern Posts: 1,574

    I'm a luddite Poser user, so I'm unfamiliar with the way figures and morphs operate in DAZ Studio.

    When first released, Melody had to go through a "keyed" installation to make sure one own the original Aiko 3.

    Withe the release of the "Furries for..." add-on, one was supplied with an "updated" figure (which again had to be "keyed" with A3 to properly install).  It contained the extra "morph channels" for all the new facial shapes.  Is it possible you are trying to apply the "pose" to the base Melody and not the enhanced "Furries MEL" figure?  (That's how she's named in Poser.)

    Of course, now that she's owned "in house" here at DAZ, the RTE "key" feature was dropped, so I don't know what else was altered.

    Sincerely,

    Bill

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited March 2017

    It's very confusing. I didn't expect any smart content, but wow, you have to hunt everywhere, and I've been working with Gen 3 a lot lately, so I'm used to it. The Melody textures are in a different folder than the head morphs. The head morphs don't seem to change the shape that much, but there are a lot of pose dials added to the Parameters and Shaping tabs if you highlight the "Neck" of the character in the Scene tab. That seems to be where Lady Little Fox likes to put her morphs in most of the things I've used, especally hairs.

    Some dials seem to do a lot, and others don't. I didn't know which Melody to load- FBM or LE, so I loaded them both up and am playing. The read me for Melody is outdated and talks about doing all kinds of nutty things with a key. I really wish these were updated to reflect how we currently are supposed to use them. That seems like a no brainer when you are putting something up for sale and especially when you're changing stores and methods of use. It shouldn't be so difficult for the customer to use the product they purchased. I have a lot of patience, but this is a bit ridiculous and confusing.

    melody for A3.JPG
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    Post edited by Llynara on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    edited March 2017

    I couldn't get the tail morphs to load either and am having the same issues with the head morphs.  I'm pretty sure I loaded the first Melody and not the furry add on one. She is a cutey though. Ignore the poke through.  This is 3Delight rendered to about 79%.  Its about bedtime here so will have to wait til tomorrow to do much more.

    The bits and pieces are all over the place, one of the main reasons I keep 4.8 on my laptop is the blue bars that map out the new content.  I load the laptop first then load the pc and then follow the blue bars for both computers.  Really wish they would bring that back.

     

    Melody A3 Test.png
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    Post edited by IceDragonArt on
  • RedfernRedfern Posts: 1,574

    "LE" is the "limited edition" while "FBM" is the "full body morphs" version.  You'll definitely want the "full body morphs" version if you want any physique beyond Aiko's default.  This was originally done for those who only owned the LE version of A3, at one time, ages ago, a free product.

    Sincerely,

    Bill

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    I thought the LE was a lower resolution figure so I did click on the FBM.  I will play with it a bit more tomorrow and see if I can help narrow the issue down if its not figured out by then.

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited March 2017

    Looks like you can load different kinds of morphs for the tail in the Pose\CDI\Furries folder.

    Then navigate to the tail, and look in the parameters under Morphs. There are a lot of posing options down there, and quick a few bones. Lady Littlefox tends to put a lot of posing options in her items. It's one of the features I really like about her stuff. Sometimes it takes a little while to find them all, but there's a lot of control built into some of these very old items.

    Click for a larger pic and more detail.

    melody for A3_tail.JPG
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    Post edited by Llynara on
  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited March 2017

    I deleted everything and started all over again. I get errors when loading Melody in DAZ. Here's what the log says (click for bigger view):

    I do own all the required products and believe I have them installed correctly. See the error about the ears? I'm wondering if that's the problem? Back to the read me!

    melody for A3_error.JPG
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    Post edited by Llynara on
  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited March 2017

    Ok, so according to the outdated Read Me, we're not supposed to use the neck morphs, only the head morphs: 

    HEAD MORPHS:

    The head contains numerous morphs, however in mixing them; please use caution and common sense.  A little bit at a time will allow you to feel out the morphs and adjust a comfortable facial pose, while dialing everything to 1 will simply produce a mess.   All morph dials have been tested in the range of 0 to 1, and while they may work for negative settings, the morph negatives have not been tested nor are they supported.

    You may find additional morphs with similar names on the neck of the figure.  Please, DO NOT use these.  These are automatically controlled by the head morph and tampering with them directly will produce unpleasant ridges in the mesh.

    In addition to morphs there are 6 ear rotation dials, designated by names like LEar-Twist, REar-Back.  These, unlike the morph dials, support negative movement as well as dial settings over 1.  They are in Degrees, but please be gentle with them as they will break if you use them at too high of a setting or too many in combination. 

    And don't load the Props\Melody\Melody Prop Hair or Melody Figure Hair. Those are actually magnets to help pose hair, not actual hair, even though the icons make it look like that. 

    Post edited by Llynara on
  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited March 2017

    So here's what I managed to do so far: 

    1. Load Melody FBM  from Figures\Melody folder
    2. Apply textures in Pose\Melody folder (I used the Bast one)
    3. Apply morph from CDI\Furries folder (Used Cat Bast)
    4. Dialed in the ears the best I could to match the Cat Bast icon using the morph dials in the Parameters Tab. You find these if you click on Head in the Scene tab and then Morphs in the Parameters Tab.

    It would be nice if the customers didn't have to write their own directions to use the product they purchased. Just sayin'!

    melody for A3_ears.JPG
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    Post edited by Llynara on
  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited March 2017

    For the tail: 

    1. Load the morph you want to use from the Pose\CDI\Furries folder
    2. Select the tail in the scene tab. There are 26 bones in that tail. Seems like it's easiest to pose from tail2 bone. 
    3. Pose controls are in the Parameters tab under Morphs

     

    melody for A3_tail2.JPG
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    Post edited by Llynara on
  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    ok guys, I need help. I am utterly doomed - it's a SHOE sale!!! I am addicted to digital shoes (in real life, I own three pairs - I hate real life shoes), and my Genesis 3 Female needs a pair of sneakers. She has none at all. Can anyone help me decide between these three pairs:

    https://www.daz3d.com/treadz-athletic-collection

    https://www.daz3d.com/running-shoes-3-for-genesis-2-3

    https://www.daz3d.com/slide3d-sport-sneakers-for-genesis-3-female-s

    I'm hoping someone has any or all of those and can help me decide between them as I can only get one. I render iray, use G3F and while I don't really do "sports/exercise" renders, I'd like a pair to go with renders where she's wearing casual clothes or shorts - with the caveat that I CAN use them if I ever decide to do an exercise render. 

    Any thoughts? Previous reviews?

This discussion has been closed.