Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 9
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Agree, I follow Mousso and check out Anagord pretty regularly. Mousso had a sale June 28 so I got a couple, haven't had a chance to even install them yet. But the nice surprise was going to Gifts in my account and while I won't mention the vendor (wasn't any of the three you mentioned), it was sure sweet of them to send me a couple things, for buying from them on a regular basis. Have you checked your gifts lately? I didn't even know how that worked. I always think it is so sweet of the vendors here to do the freebies at Christmas, that really takes time where they could be working on for-profit things. We all really appreciate that!
Hmm. As much as I like Olympia 8, I'll see how see looks to me tomorrow - my runtime is full of characters I like.
I just assumed she had fiber brows, like Victoria 8. Your comments made me look closer at her promo page and, yep, she has separate eyebrows.
So no need to use Brow Remover on her... I hope they keep this up. "Mix and match eyebrows" for the whole "8" lineup...! Of, course, we'll still need Brow Remover for most/all of the G8F characters from PAs. And this is the first pro bundle in a long time that I liked both hair products.
Not that I'm buying any "8" figures anytime soon. So far, I've only succumbed to buying shoes for G8. (I got the Mega Wardrobe, too, but that was so I could use it on G3F,) two of Cayman's Legacy UVs, (G2F and V4,) and two pose packs that included G8F, (Khory's Well Heeled Poses and Dragon Reign Poses.)
I am tempted to buy today's hair, though, (One is even named after me, Anita Hair...! LOL Not that I ever wore my hair like that...) Using Sickleyields tutorial, I could make those work on G3F... It's close enough to August, if I wait, I can use next month's coupon. And if the promo is still active, get a couple of multi-generation hairs from my wishlist, too. (Fingers crossed.)
@jakiblue Thanks for recommending the Simple Details products. I use Generation 4 a lot, and these look really good, so I picked them up with the Rendo coupon that's good through the end of today. Here's the product on GypsyAngel's Jericho for M4. I used Anagenessis 2 on the skin and added a free bulge morph from Adam Thwaite's site. The pose is from M4 Comic Combat. The shoulders look very good here. I double checked to make sure the morph was working with his morphs, and it does work just fine. Will do a V4 with Simple Details soon too.
Click and zoom in for details. Not sure why it looks blurry when reduced, but I didn't get a lot of sleep last night so everything is blurry! LOL
Yep, I knew it. Just getting back online and sure enough, an orange banner for previous owners. I hadn't checked out as I figured that would happen. I did get the 25% but still not going for the Pro Bundle. I've given this some thought all day, and down the rabbit hole again. I thought about the two UV releases, getting those of Victoria 5 and Victoria 6 to work on Genesis 8, just because the facial expressions are SO much better. But that led to - what UVs are actually V5? Am I right that Genesis UVs won't work with Cayman's V5 product?
All I found for Victoria 5, when selecting it in the dropdown (do NOT use search, that's even worse) and NOT Genesis, are:
Gemma Isla Rayne Meara Kostia Olivia Lora Emiko Edit: Found "Gabi for V5" in my list in the studio, so obviously the figure selection route will not work in the gallery shopping page.)
And I don't own most of them. So Genesis UVs don't work? And is there a way to see if some of the Genesis just didn't show up in the store dropdown, that do use Victoria 5? (A way in the studio? I am NOT going character by character and checking UVs. They (the Victoria 5, and the Genesis) both say "Base UV" so I am confused)
Sorry, misread the question, very tired here. I think I have those products for G3F so I can try some different skins for you if you like and see.
Now I am really unhappy. No orange banner for me at all. Given the amount of money I have spent, I have to say, I'm really irritated. Especially since I have purchased almost every major character from Genesis up. Oh well, that just cements the no more buying characters for me.
Olympia 8 Review:
With the orange banner of 15%, my PC coupon and a small amount of store credit i had, the Olympia 8 base was only $8.80 So I picked her up today. I'm 98% certain i will be returning her today too.
Serious question: does the new skin shading on the 8 line mean we have to change our lighting techniques? Do I have to learn a brand new way of lighting, buy different light sets and HDR's to get the 8 line looking good? My setups for G3 are just no good anymore?
There's an error with Olympia 8's eyebrow mats - throws up a message saying files are missing...the Victoria 8 eyebrow uv's specifically. O8's page doesn't say she needs V8 to work, so either they forgot to move the eyebrow uv's to O8 or they have stuffed up in making her. I've sent in a ticket about them - Olympia 8's eyebrows look like massive slugs on her face.
The lipstick is very defined on the lips - it doens't seem to blend naturally like O7's.
Her skin....what can I say about her skin? Other than...ugh. She looks orange. It doesn't look natural at all. I'm really curious what lighting her promos used, because she's orange in my lighting.
Her face is bland. It seems to have no...definition at all. It's like a shapeless blob.
When you put her next to Olympia 7, it's like putting Victoria 3 next to G3.
Makeups don't show in preview mode, only in render. Not a deal breaker cos at least they work but it's just a bit of an annoyance when you're setting up a scene and you can't remember which makeup you used.
Olympia 7 was my all time favourite girl - didn't like her on release, fell madly in love when I rendered her and use her ALL the time. Had really high hopes for Olympia 8, but they have been cruely dashed. LOL. I just don't like the 8 line at all.
Quick comparison render. Same lights, same hair, same pose, same clothes, same everything. Translucency Medium used on both 7 and 8.
Click on image to see larger, will open in new window.
From the other threads in the Commons (which had already discussed it) it seems it is 15% if you own one of the Olympia Pro bundles, (and maybe the Starter ones?) and 25% for owning two. It is a very targeted approach. I've missed quite a few orange banners by not owning the directly related items, but I understand how you feel. For the other major characters that you've bought, if it's the Pro or Starter bundle, you'll probably get the related banners.
Interesting from the Commons thread. Look at this comparison between Olympia 8 and Ophelia 7. But then the bodies are so different!
I didn't have any of the characters or clothes. So, for me it was a no brainer @ $66.00. I've found that G8 imports 90% of all old items. However, shoes remain difficult from older generations. . But, now just need props rather then extra characters.
Thank you for taking time to evaluate her and report your impressions.
you're welcome, Barbult. I really think it's going to be different strokes for different folks. There are people who love the 8 line and are really happy with Olympia 8. I'm not one of them, but everyone likes different things.
I'm giving this so much thought I'm surprised I don't have a major headache. I do NOT like Olympia 8 (the eyebrows, her overall face) but with no GenX2 to transfer morphs up (and not wanting to go through the other processes required, as I have over 230 characters just from ONE of the previous generations) I am thinking it might be best to:
1. buy Olympia 8 so the V8 / Gen8F morphs work as they should (she's 63% off and $16.52, so that's fine. I already used my DO coupon so no love there.)
2. buy a couple (or three) of the new Olympia 8 characters to get more morphs (aka the nose, the mouth)
3. use only the skins from previous generations as I can't get the morphs right now (No GenX2) but this way, I can use Gen8F for those great expressions, instead of Gen3F. I already have for the Gen8F/Victoria 8 Elizabeth, Camille, P3Duffy, Raw Honey, Rebekah, VYK Raine and those have a good variety of nose and mouth variations.
AHA, found the list. Thank you to the vendor- here's who uses the Victoria 5 UVs. Makes it worthwhile. And what a CRAPPY STORE FILTER DROPDOWN! Compare this list to the piddly list I provided. However, I don't have most of those so that was a time saver. So I'm going to surf that thread and read more about the wrongly identified UVs. What a pain.
EDIT: Wow, I have almost all the list from Victoria 6, that UV one is zipping in the cart. The materials on many of these are really excellent! The Genesis 2 F is a big category for me (as was G3F.)
So checked out, used my $6 PC+ one for vendors- (spend $18) so the Restaurant outfits went 77% off and down to $4.67 each, the Chamber of Sorrows 77% and $5.36 (it has a couple separate rooms, and with shadering might even look like modern deco style. Think outside the box. Those stone "benches" along the wall could be made separate material zones, etc.) Phyrra for Mika 7 went to $4.43 at 77% off. Rescue Equipment was $5.32 at 67% off.
I got Sharah, Kacia, Daphne each at $6.97 so I have morphs to apply to my skins from the other generations. (And Olympia 8 so the morphs are doubled- can use the G8F figure, which these will work on and look different, plus the Olympia 8 figure for them.) And I did get the Legacy UV's for Victoria 6 to go on Genesis 8. Too many V6 gals not to take advantage of the better expressions. I'll try to render a few of these gals for you using the Pro-Studio lights, as usual. Then tomorrow, since I literally wasted all day today on this, I'm not posting much.
What version of Daz Studio are you using? (These remind me of what happened when Daz first updated Iray in 4.9, with a correction that made all our skin shaders from 4.8 wrong...)
the latest build. 4.9.4.117
I decided to pick up the base. I like her shape and think I will find her useful. Some of her makeups are interesting.
I passed on the other bundle contents.
Egptian Warrior look: too niche. Very cool but just don't need moreEqyptian women's clothing.
Pinup corset is not properly boned and looks odd to me.
She doesn't fit my image of an archer so the archer poses are a pass.
The lethal Rogue is about the only outfit I could use from the set, and the celtic buckle makes it look lika fantasy suit.
Unfortunately no deal for me to buy just the base, but I'll get her anwyay. Her genes will be useful
Well, then...
I have to agree with you. She doesn't look tan, she looks orange. Like she used too much Coppertone QT.
The 25% banner changed my mind about O8. It brought the Pro bundle down to $49.60 and with the O6 add on bundle for free on top of that, it was a lot of stuff for that price. With the 25% also off for the other new non bundle items, I picked up three of those too.
Now I just need to get something rendered...
Yeah. I'm getting orange skin, but the promos show MUCH lighter skin. I really think that the changes in the 8 line mean having to redo all my lighting. What was working perfectly fine for G3, looks absolutly ghastly for G8.
I'm testing the default light (dramatic shadows though) then will be testing the Pro-Studio lights that I normally use.
Here she is, default lights. Lingerie Robe set. Comes with poses that affect the robe, using the Base poses.
Click to enlarge, it's 1500 pixels.
Rendering more now. This is 10L. These are all full size at 600px.
This is 14 L.
I have to agree that in some lights, she is indeed showing quite a bit of red. Other lights, with a slight hint of blue, balance it out more. This one, I tried not to change it TOO much, so the saturation was -2 and I went just a nudge in the blue direction (and I mean barely moved my mouse) to take out some of the red. She's still a bit red.
I do NOT like those eyebrows, there isn't much depth. They didn't react/throw worthwhile shadows like you'd find in hair.
The Pro-Studio lights...do you mean these ones?
https://www.daz3d.com/pro-studio-hdr-lighting-system ;
And this was, as I mentioned, my first pick- and I really just got Olympia 8 so I'd have the right morphs for her instead of just using Gen8F. Perrin Hair is shaded with Slosh's shaders, as was the other Olympia 8 hair.
Right. Your link doesn't work btw, gives 404. It's the first one of the Pro-Studio sets. It has blue and red and other slightly tinged lights, so you can usually find a great one to balance whatever color you're trying to negate. I use it a LOT for the portraits on the thread, so I am comparing apples with apples when I tell folks what color skin the characters tend to have. And there's dramatic top lighting, side lighting, underneath lighting added to some- and by merely changing the ISO and Exposure Value, you can create nice dark images. These also work well for scenes!
Edit- there's 163 gallery links, that should tell ya something :)
Ah, it's that magically appearing semi-colon that gets added to the end of the link, for reasons that no-one on earth understands. LOL. Yep, the first one is the one I have. It looks like I'll have to completely redo ALL my lighting setups for Olympia 8, as my normal ones make her look orange. I used the Pro-Studio first set, the light was "Light 10R", just default. Her skin came out MUCH lighter. It still looks a bit plasticy to me tho, although it looks a HUGE improvement on my first one with my standard lights. Also I forgot to add a light to add highlights to her eyes. And I had to use the "painted" eyebrows with the makeup, as the accessory eyebrows included with her don't take the included mats unless you have Victoria 8. Grrrrrrr. (they really need to put that on her product page) Render time was fairly decent too, for a change. Honestly, there are times when I think DS is very arbitrary with its render times and grain for me :sigh:
Yeah, the render times on these lights is good- very good, usually. The 1200 to 1400 pixel ones were taking me about 12- 18 minutes depending on how close up they were. Edit- and agree, she could use some bump and other tweaks. Edit- I'm at 71 percent in nine minutes for this next one.
Also recommend Dumor's Apocalyptic lights- do you have those? Those may tend to be slightly orange, I'm trying to remember. And don't forget you can piddle with changing the White Point in Tone Mapping to get rid of orange- red. You're trying for complementary color on that, so to get rid of the red, we'd use a light blue or gray. The trouble with White Point thoughis it changes the entire render, not just the skin, but a small tweak there can really make a difference, and sometimes the white of the eyes and the white teeth benefit from White Point turning things blue.