Novica, Serene Night, & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 3

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Comments

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2014

    Agree with the shrink wrap. You should see it before I reduced the breasts, she could have hung out a red light and advertised for business.
    I do have products that fix the breasts (what's that one called that fixes this problem?) but when doing the reviews it's the out of the box.

    Thanks for the heads up on what you're doing.
    Question- I don't do a lot of men renders, but I put Angelo in a pair of short. Applied the toast (genitals for newbies who don't know that term) and there's no bulge when the shorts are applied, just some serious poke through. (My reaction? "OH." ) I downsized the toast, then found the crotch size morph and applied it. So my question to you folks who render dudes-
    1. do you leave the toast the size it is applied, or do you downsize?
    2. if you leave it the default size, what setting do you use for the crotch slider- and do most men's apparel come with crotch size sliders?

    In other words, how noticeable do you want that part of the anatomy in renders so that it is realistic when clothed?

    EDIT: Here's the link to the Morris post, so you don't have to keep trying to find it. I know it's on page 76 because I keep updating it :)
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/34269/P1125/#536907

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Tarina KiviTarina Kivi Posts: 488
    edited February 2014

    Novica said:
    Agree with the shrink wrap. You should see it before I reduced the breasts, she could have hung out a red light and advertised for business.
    I do have products that fix the breasts (what's that one called that fixes this problem?) but when doing the reviews it's the out of the box.

    Thanks for the heads up on what you're doing.
    Question- I don't do a lot of men renders, but I put Angelo in a pair of short. Applied the toast (genitals for newbies who don't know that term) and there's no bulge when the shorts are applied, just some serious poke through. (My reaction? "OH." ) I downsized the toast, then found the crotch size morph and applied it. So my question to you folks who render dudes-
    1. do you leave the toast the size it is applied, or do you downsize?
    2. if you leave it the default size, what setting do you use for the crotch slider- and do most men's apparel come with crotch size sliders?

    In other words, how noticeable do you want that part of the anatomy in renders so that it is realistic when clothed?

    I render only clothed characters so on men I usually use the Genital Bulge morphs 1 and 2 (if I remember to do it). Usually I do not dial them in fully, but it varies from render to render. I work with them as with all other morphs, dialing in the amounts that feel "right" for that particular character. Zev0's Shapeshift packages come with some additional genital morphs. For the G2M character to which I applied Beck textures I used Genital Buldge 2 at 1.0. I do not apply geografted gens to clothed figures.

    Post edited by Tarina Kivi on
  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 10,991
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:

    In other words, how noticeable do you want that part of the anatomy in renders so that it is realistic when clothed?

    I only use "bulge" shaping morphs, and have done relatively few nude renders of either sex in the past few years, mostly of the "strategic pose" type even then. Not fond of renders that make characters look like they've had plastic surgery, I go more for a "natural" shape in my human characters, both female and male. I think if "there" is where the eye of the viewer is drawn, it might be a little too noticeable. :)
  • Tarina KiviTarina Kivi Posts: 488
    edited December 1969

    tjohn said:
    Novica said:

    In other words, how noticeable do you want that part of the anatomy in renders so that it is realistic when clothed?

    I only use "bulge" shaping morphs, and have done relatively few nude renders of either sex in the past few years, mostly of the "strategic pose" type even then. Not fond of renders that make characters look like they've had plastic surgery, I go more for a "natural" shape in my human characters, both female and male. I think if "there" is where the eye of the viewer is drawn, it might be a little too noticeable. :)
    I agree on all counts. I forgot about the "strategic pose" ones, I think I've rendered a few of those as well. ; )
    The 1.0 value on those bulge shaping morphs might be a little too much for a clothed dude, I think I should have reduced it on Beck. ; )
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Well, since I don't remember that about Beck, it must have been fine :)
    Thanks for the input folks.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited February 2014

    Re:

    The female chest.

    The bigger the cleavage on a skinny/slender character the more outrageous the bosom tends to look to me. So, I often dial nearly everyone down to minimize the in your face quality. It is funny to me that there are so many morphs to shape the female breast, but very few to actually make them look proper in clothing. But then again genesis dough doesn't help.

    I tend to usually avoid the unfitted tops or tops without concealing detail.. But Clothing Cleavage modifier can help to a certain extent.

    I believe the real solution is to make a female shape that smooths and shapes the breasts or has the ridges and bumps of a bra or to make layered clothing which makes this more realistic.

    Re:

    Male groin:

    A lot of mens clothing seems to have built in bulge. I don't usually have to add any more, and when I do it is slight. Since I have a lot of M4 clothing, sometimes the fit is poor down there, so I don't like to draw much attention to the groin, because of the way the clothing tears.

    In general, I'm okay with what comes naturally with the garment, adding some if it is too smooth or leaving it ken doll.

    EDIT: Of course the issue with clothing with built in bulges is that all characters look the same, which is a hassle. Would ultimately prefer to add my own morphs to the groin than have the clothing do it.

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Sure, feel free :)

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited February 2014

    @Novica:

    I like the way Chablis rendered and the lighting. The top has a nice texture and the swimming inflatable toys in the background are a nice touch!

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 10,991
    edited December 1969

    Invited Guest Contributor

    Gabi for V5 by DAZ 3D, Morris
    http://www.daz3d.com/gabi-for-v5

    I purchased Gabi as part of the Victoria 5 Pro Suite, and frankly, had not even tried the character as everything about her appeared too pale for my tastes. Seeing that we are featuring some of the Morris characters, I thought I would give her a chance.
    Gabi is pale, but when I changed her eyes to brown and added one of her darker makeups, she looked very 1940-ish to me.
    Adding Deeta Hair 2
    http://www.daz3d.com/deeta-hair-2
    made her look even more 40's to me so I dressed her in Frivolous Forties to complete the look.
    http://www.daz3d.com/frivolous-forties

    I used the light set that came with her but changed the one shadow-casting light to raytrace as I'm not fond of Deep Shadow Maps.
    I would work on giving her SSS textures, etc if I wanted to use her in renders, but now that I know what she looks like in a render, I believe I will work with her again.
    John

    Gabi_lights.jpg
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  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited December 1969

    @tjohn. Gabi looks great in that clothing. I think she turned out nicely. =)

  • luci45luci45 Posts: 2,648
    edited February 2014

    Invited Guest Contributor

    Here is my first Morris character, Angela.

    I was repelled by her when she and Angelo first came out, as they resemble the notorious Jersey Shore folks, Snookie and The Situation(?). Anyway I bought her a few years later on Fast Grab or something. She is a good comic character. The V4 morph is so buxom that she doesn't fit into most clothes. I made a similar Genesis version and stuff fits better of course. The third one is the texture on Genesis 2 Female, on a morph I made for a story.

    She has eight makeups, four fingernails colors.

    3_angelas.jpg
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    Post edited by luci45 on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited December 1969

    Luci45: beautiful job with that. I love what you did with those characters. =)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    It was good to see the Deeta Hair tjohn- I haven't rendered that yet and I like it. She does look like a prim and proper person, so that time period is perfect for her and the hair. Your lighting makes her look really good- and I agree, I never use deep shadow maps because I never know when those pesky artifacts are going to pop up.

    Luci- I love that V4 version- and they do look like the Jersey Shore people from what I recall. I never watched them (obnoxious from clips I saw) but I changed my opinion slightly of Snookie from Dancing With the Stars, I have to admit it. She changed her lifestyle (I think she became a mom) and was a real hard worker on the show. The second one captures her expression perfectly.

    Thanks to both of you for helping with Morris.

    Angelo has popped in poolside at Castel to pet Tayisha's puppy- and I am testing my primitive plane as the pool, and adding a spotlight to Tayisha so we can all see different lighting. Going to be awhile. ANGELO IS A HUNK!

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2014

    Well, I had a DUH. I said you could not ungroup the pool items in Scene tab, which is true (as no one has told me how to ungroup a vendor's group.) Well, I thought for sure I had checked in Surfaces to see if the pool sections could be broken down, but apparently not. So you CAN turn the vendor's water opacity to zero and hide it. My bad.

    I am testing the vendor's water with my water, and using a different water that I found on morguefile(.com) Don't forget that resource when you are looking for images.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited December 1969

    @Novica:

    You might try using the texture and surface settings for the water in DM fantasy bath and apply it to your plane. I think the water renders pretty nicely in that set.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    @Novica:

    You might try using the texture and surface settings for the water in DM fantasy bath and apply it to your plane. I think the water renders pretty nicely in that set.

    I actually thought about testing some waters from other sets- the pool one that was rendered here with that swimsuit looked really good.
    I think I've found an interesting workaround that might apply to other products, am checking it out. Such a simple solution I groaned when I thought about it, but whether it works remains to be seen. Thanks for the suggestion, I might check that out anyway!

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited December 1969

    Hmm.... I realize I have other Morris content. Since I have already done a few, I'll let others do these, but if anyone wants to see something let me know. =-)

    Aspen
    Soulmate Poses
    Post Apocalyptic for Cyberpunk
    Brock Expansion for Freak
    Aaron for M4

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,049
    edited February 2014

    Vendor: Morris
    Product: Trey for M4
    Trey is a male character morph and dark skinned texture for Michael 4. He comes with several options for facial hair and eye color. He even has a choice for more or less bushy eyebrows. He has optional painted head hair and optional tattoo. He has optional shaved or body hair textures. He comes with genital texture, although I didn't test it. You can also choose optional painted on red or black briefs. So, you can see that you can have quite a few combinations. Trey renders very well, with his default settings. In the images here, I rendered with Trey's default settings and the same lights I used for Beck. I was pleased with the results overall.

    This is an older character, and there are a couple things that bothered me a little about the textures. The red and black briefs have some strange colored splotches and text on the back that must be a mistake. The skin color transition is too abrupt for me between the dark skin and the light palm and foot. The skin texture has baked in specular highlights that may look out of place if they don't match your lighting.

    Edit: in the interest of thoroughness, I went back and tried the genital texture. Yup, it works fine, but of course I can't post it here. :red:

    Trey_briefs.jpg
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    Trey_for_M4_no_adjustments_3.jpg
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    Trey_for_M4_no_adjustments_2.jpg
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    Trey_for_M4_no_adjustments_1.jpg
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    Post edited by barbult on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited December 1969

    Nice job Barbult. Trey looks great! he sure is a handsome fella. Agree with you about those boxers. The lettering I could deal with but the odd splotch is problematic.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Wow, that definitely is a difference- quite a cutoff in the light and dark. Your second render shows that really well.

    I'm not familiar with "baked in specular highlights." What exactly is that and how do you know your character has them?

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,049
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    Wow, that definitely is a difference- quite a cutoff in the light and dark. Your second render shows that really well.

    I'm not familiar with "baked in specular highlights." What exactly is that and how do you know your character has them?


    It means that the character's skin was photographed under lights that caused a specular highlight on the skin, and the camera picked that up. When you look at the texture JPEG files in a photo editor or even in a windows preview, you can see the white sparkles on the skin. For example, open the texture file that has the ears in it and see the white speckles in the ears. This shows up on the dark skinned character pretty obviously. In most renders, you probably wouldn't notice. If you had an area in shadow and it still had white specular highlights, it would look kind of out of place. I mentioned it, because it is a big deal to some people.
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,049
    edited December 1969

    Nice job Barbult. Trey looks great! he sure is a handsome fella. Agree with you about those boxers. The lettering I could deal with but the odd splotch is problematic.

    Yes, I can't see any man wanting to be seen with that splotch between the cheeks. I've written a bug report.
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Is that a printed slogan above the splotch? Is the splotch supposed to be an insignia of some sort? I am doing the inkblot thing, trying to make sense of it, lol.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    Is that a printed slogan above the splotch? Is the splotch supposed to be an insignia of some sort? I am doing the inkblot thing, trying to make sense of it, lol.

    Okay, you forced me (heh), to pull it up in Photoshop to take a look. I am a very curious soul.

    It says 'don't play with fire!'

    and then has something in fire on it. I can't make out the image, 'tho.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,049
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    Is that a printed slogan above the splotch? Is the splotch supposed to be an insignia of some sort? I am doing the inkblot thing, trying to make sense of it, lol.

    Okay, you forced me (heh), to pull it up in Photoshop to take a look. I am a very curious soul.

    It says 'don't play with fire!'

    and then has something in fire on it. I can't make out the image, 'tho.
    Strange. It seems to be written backwards. I have a hard time believing this was intentional. If it was, it is very bizarre.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    The splotch are logs burning- I can see the round end of one on the render on the right. Picture two crossed logs in an x shape. Like your typical campfire. I am just going by Barbult's image, haven't pulled it up in the product.

  • Tarina KiviTarina Kivi Posts: 488
    edited December 1969

    Invited Guest Contributor

    Andrei for Freak 5 (DAZ 3D, Morris)
    The Executioner for Genesis (Age of Armour)

    http://www.daz3d.com/andrei-for-freak-5
    http://www.daz3d.com/the-executioner-for-genesis

    Other items used:
    Tech Soldier: Special Forces (DAZ 3D, Valandar)
    Pure Hair: Classic for Genesis (DAZ 3D)
    Advanced DAZ Studio Light Bundle (Age of Armour)
    Project EYEris (DimensionTheory)
    Growing Up for Genesis (Zev0)
    Freak 5 Action Poses (DAZ 3D, etujedi)

    Andrei for Freak 5
    Andrei is a character preset for genesis Freak 5. He comes with default mat option (shaved) and a vein option. There is also a gen mat. He has no hairy option or any additional eye colours. He is smaller in posture from the default Freak 5. He uses a DAZ default shader. Over all he is a nice light-skinned character. Unfortunately at this time you can only use him on genesis 1 and only if you have Freak 5 since he uses his UVs. It seems that the textures are the same as Beck' for M4 (modified). One thing I really do not like about his textures is that he has painted nostril shadows. It makes them look too dark and unrealistic under most lights.

    The Executioner for Genesis
    It's a set of clothes for genesis 1 by Age of Armour that autofits well to G2 figures. Great for kit-bashing. It is very detailed and it's materials look quite realistic when rendered. There are two options for the trousers, boots, belt and arm wraps: light and dark. The hood comes with dark and light options in two variants (frayed and). For the axe there is only one aged mat. There are also some adjustment morphs included, as well as "hang forward" morphs for the hood and the belt. The axe is a smart prop. This outfit is suited for all kinds of fantasy/medieval themed images and not only for your executioner characters. I would recommend it to anyone since it's an excellent high-quality set.

    Images:
    There is no postwork on any of the images. All use the same light setup (1 AoA AAL, 2 Distant, 2 Distant specular only). The backdrop is by Aeon--Soul from deviantart.

    Image#1: Andrei shape preset with default materials.
    Image#2: Side by side comparison of two renders. One with default Andrei materials (vein preset), the second with AoA SSS applied and EYEris for the eyes. The shape is my attempt at making a teen version of Andrei character using Growing Up for Genesis .
    Image#3: Close up of Andrei with AoA SSS applied (50% strength) and EYEris Shader for the eyes.
    Image#4: Comparison between the default Freak 5, Andrei, teen Andrei, M6 and V6. You can see how well the Executioner outfit autofits to g2 figures. Pose used on the characters came with the David 5 base shape.

  • Tarina KiviTarina Kivi Posts: 488
    edited December 1969

    @tjohn: Nice image. Gabi looks good in it.

    @Luci45: Great looking, interesting characters as always. : ) The last one is superb.

    @barbult: Nice renders. A pity about the baked-in specular. Otherwise it looks like a very good texture set.

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,091
    edited December 1969

    @Tarina - sorry I didnt get back last night after all - glad you sorted out your Beck problem. And thanks for the Andrei/Executioner piece - I have both already, but it was interesting to see the "youthening" and the those garments on characters I'd not tried them on.
    @Luci - thanks for the comments - I'm hoping to spend some more time with the Aging Morphs, that was just a quick play when they were first released - I recall you did some lovely renders (this thread or elsewhere?) with them a couple of weeks ago. I think there's terrific scope with them in character creation. Funny, your list of targets in the Canary3D sale are exactly the same as mine!
    @SereneNight - thanks for the comments on Falcon. I also like his texture for (Asian) Indian characters, they work quite well - ideally without the tribal painting though :)
    @Totte - interesting tutorial on the Ivy Generator - may have to add this to the (long) list of things to try.
    @Novica - sorry to startle you, the "Cerberus-Michaels" do look a little odd out of context I suppose! Thanks for the "Wide-shot" of Castel - it helps to get an idea with these large-ish building sets. And for the hint on morguefile resources - I'd not come across that one before.
    @Barbult - thanks for the piece on Trey - I have him but haven't used him much as I've never quite managed a decent render of him.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited February 2014

    If you're not watching the Flash sale thread, two awesome coupons! Save $1 off $5 excludes new releases, OR save $2 off $6 and INCLUDES NEW RELEASES!!! I picked up the PHC Natural for ValenTina Hair ($9.95 on sale $6.95 minus $2 for $4.95)

    EDIT: And if you use those codes you get even better ones. You can use one or the other, not both, one time use.

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/36593/

    Post edited by Novica on
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