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I'm calling this post The Power of the Re-Render.
One of my favorite things to create are slice-of-life pictures. Granted, sometimes slice-of-life for my folx includes battling literal nightmares, but I love the juxtoposition that exists in urban/modern fantasy.
That's why I was stupidly happy when I found a set that had a ramen cup in it. It's not the world's best ramen cup, largely because the back is completely blank, but also because I get a little annoyed when PA's have to brand everything with their name. (Maybe at some point I'll be feeling ambitious and a little masochistic and try to fix it in GIMP, but that day is not today, and tomorrow's not looking good, either.) Because Grace does love her ramen cups, and for that alone it seemed like a moment I ought to capture. Just... that three-minute wait of sitting there, waiting for this lump of mostly-flour-and-salt to become food. I even put a fork down on top of the cup lid because that's how I always keep mine shut while it self-steams. (I have no idea if most people do it or not; it's nothing anyone taught me.)
I liked the render quite well enough and moved on.
And then at some point later, I got https://www.daz3d.com/baking-tools which has both a measuring cup and a better timer (one that turns, so you can set it to whatever time you like!), and in the meantime I'd also figured out a way to kitbash the kitchen to fix the fact that I really didn't like the door handles. (It wasn't as simple as adding a door handle, because if you mess with the door handle with geometry editor, it removes the ability to open and close the doors. So I had to take everything apart in a separate scene, remove the door handles in those, and then slightly thicken those doors and parent them to the originals and THEN add the door handles.) And I had acquired my happy Harvest Gold fridge that so reminds me of the one that came with my house (and that my now-teen was absolutely enraptured with as a baby). So I swapped in the new stuff, added the measuring cup (because really, there should've been one in the first place) and now I love it even more.
Is it the final version? Maybe not. I'm not in love with the sink/stove/washer, and might swap them out someday if I get better. But that's one of the things I really, really love about Daz: I don't have to be paralyzed by whether something is complete. For a lot of things, I can do a "good enough" render and come back to it later, updating with minimal fuss.
So here, the evolution of a ramen cup: version 1 & version 2.
I just wanted to say, I am loving your slice-of-life fantasy stuff, I really wish there was more of that sort of thing out there! I also really like your "Art Soup" analogy, I'll have to use that next time I am floundering trying to explain my art process to someone ^_^
And I use the fork to keep the lid shut on my ramen, as well. Also without being instructed to. It must be some kind of natural human instinct XD
I'm glad my renders are bringing you a smile! Right now, having finally buckled down and gotten the bookshelves in the living room properly dealt with (lots of geometry editor and/or retexturing spines), I'm in the process of re-running all the relevant stuff so I have updated versions that aren't bugging me when they come up in my wallpaper rotation, but after that there will definitely be more incoming.
Interesting on the fork. Kind of cool to realize it's not just a me-being-odd thing.
You know how sometimes you go to put something away, and then somehow you wind up with the entire contents of the bathroom closet all over the floor as you reorganize everything?
That's this scene.
It started out as something (relatively) simple and light-hearted. The height difference between the two characters makes for some extra work when it comes to using a pose from a pack, but it didn't fight me very hard. I had the idea that it would be neat to set it in Grace & Kira's kitchen... but it turns out Ethan's height meant I couldn't get a camera back far enough to get the shot I wanted in a space that size.
...so hey, why not throw it in at the Magic Bean? I spent all that time making it, and I haven't really used it for anything yet. And it would give me an excuse to finally get Ann (rabbit pooka) and Maggie (boggan) set up, which I'd been intending to and had even gathered all the stuff for, but it just hadn't been top of the list.
Turns out Maggie is straight up Bixie Tinkerbit with the only alterations being a little more weight and a slight reduction in scale. Once I had the hair on her, I realized that this was exactly how I'd envisioned her anyway, so I left it. One of the pre-done makeup options was even perfect, which was awesome because as someone who only knows how to do makeup for theater, I haaaaaate having to pick it out for characters.
Ann was more of a hassle because the only decent way to put together a rabbit pooka is with the Betty Bunny set from G8, and I'm not used to working with G8, nor do I have any G9 -> G8 converters, so suddenly a bunch of my stuff wouldn't work on that character. I like how she came out, though, regardless. It's not the color set I had in mind for her, but it was closer than the other options that came with the set. It'll do well enough. Not 100% certain about the hair, either, but I didn't have a real clear idea of what hair she had anyway. Again, it'll do. Something better comes along later, I can change it up.
And then I realized that the Bean was looking a bit dated. I have a lot more shaders to choose from than when I initially put it together, and more props, and a far better idea of how to make things sit up and do tricks. I had no idea one could edit or assign geometry back then, either, so... yeah.
The counters and back cabinets got redone as I now have https://www.daz3d.com/z-coffee-shop-environment-with-poses-for-genesis-3-and-8 thanks to the pose-a-palooza a while back, and with a bunch of geometry reassignment and fussing around with tiling and offset I got https://www.daz3d.com/bistro-chic-iray-flooring-shaders-vol-2 applied, giving it the indy-artsy look I was after.
...though that meant I had to move the pastry case to the corner of the work area because after I fussed around for an eternity getting the counter how I liked it, I *then* discovered that the way the geometry is set up, I couldn't cleanly shorten it. And I was way too stubborn to let all that effort go to waste, so... move over, pastry display. I definitely could have just used the cabinets, as those *were* able to be cleanly separated -- largely due to their previous incarnation as refrigerators, given the names of the different material zones. I like that it doesn't all match perfectly, though. And I think I ultimately like the pastry case better in its new location, too. I fussed around with that a bunch, as well... even though it isn't even in this shot. But it's ready to go for some future shot, so there's that.
I also redid the other props slightly as I now had a cup organizer and a coffee bean dispenser to add to the party. And also something decent for a tip jar. I'm a little disappointed that the "sugar" printed on the crock doesn't show up, as I found it amusing. But I figured that an old sugar canister found at a thrift shop (or perhaps it's just been around for decades; the Bean's been going since the 60's) would be perfect. Only thing I've used out of that asset set so far ( https://www.daz3d.com/everyday-crockery ) but even if I don't wind up using anything else, it's worth it.
And then after I ran the first render, I realized the back hallway was dark because I'd forgotten to put a light back there. So I had to add one and then run things again.
This is also an example of my very limited postwork abilities: trying to do four characters at once has my CPU begging for mercy, so I'll run multiple with various characters turned on/off and then layer the images and crop layers until everyone's in there.
So anyway. The story, should anyone be curious:
Maggie is the owner/freeholder of the Bean. Ann is often on shift with Grace. Both Maggie and Ann are having Hopes that something romantic is going to come of this. Grace's odd place in the social landscape of Changeling society, combined with other backstory and narrative factors (including the fact that she's a heck of a workaholic) means she doesn't let her proverbial hair down much. And she pretty universally gets along with trolls, in large part because trolls pretty universally respect that her House threw in with the underdogs when things got rough, so there's a strong kinship of purpose and honor there. And Ethan is as much of a giant nerd as she is, so they're thinking it's a perfect match.
They're right, in a manner of speaking. They are perfectly matched, and they do end up oath-bound as warriors, and they consider each other family. But neither one of them is looking for romance-type partnership. (Because romance doesn't need to get shoehorned into everything, gosh darn it, and also because they both put their feet down on that one the second I wondered if that was where it was headed.)
But in the meantime, Ann and Maggie are both in awe that Ethan got her to take a break from scrubbing tables to have a quick twirl around the serving room... especially since Grace categorically insists that she's a musician, not a dancer, and Does Not Dance.
Given that neither Ann nor Maggie would be in Grace's kitchen, I'm thinking it's a blessing in disguise that my first idea didn't work out. For while I have zero doubt it happened, and it still makes a good story... I think this scene shows more complexity. And I'm always a sucker for that.
It's been a complex month-and-change in a way that didn't leave a lot of brain cells to be creative with when I could sit down. I was able to poke at my dollhouses a bit, especially the Magic Bean, which got ANOTHER update. I'd never been happy with how flat the walls looked, but had been at a loss as to what to do about it until I found a solid wallpaper texture set amongst the amazing PA sales... and while I was at it, I reworked the wainscotting. And the walls, out of necessity, because when I originally created them I just changed the scale to cover the area needed, and the wallpaper didn't play nice with that. But now they're instanced, so that's an extra improvement.
When I did have a bit of Daz time, I was usually devoting it to putting together a cart or two off of some of those amazing sales. My allotted budget stretched much further than I expected, with the excellent problem that it's going to take months to get all my new toys logged in my tracking system so I can find them when I need them.
All that to say, it was strangely intimidating when I did finally get a chance to create. When I was still working on my pencil drawing, often when I'd sit down after an absence it would feel like I'd entirely forgotten how to draw. Writing can likewise cause a sort of panicked blank after a bit away. I wasn't expecting it from this, but here we are. A pantry full of ingredients, and I couldn't figure out what on earth to make for dinner.
I wanted something comfort food-ish, though, so I eventually landed on this. I'd found the perfect pose for it in one of the packs I'd picked up in the pose-a-palooza sale a while back, and had it earmarked. Problem was that they're watching fireworks, and there really are no good fireworks to be had unless you're using the animated pack.
...and then I thought... hey, do I really need to /show/ the fireworks? Maybe not. Maybe if I just use one of the magic special effects packs for the lighting, and have it off camera, you'd never know the difference.
It didn't quite work how I wanted, and I might fuss with it more later, but for now I just really wanted to feel like I made something without beating my head against it for days.
So here's Grace and Kiera on the roof of one of the local freeholds enjoying the Aquatennial fireworks show. It's been a tradition since they were childlings and their mentor (who was head of security for the freehold/club) took them up there every year. And with as busy as I've been, it was nice to give them a moment to relax.
(As a side note, at some point when I get around to posting something from their kitchen from the right angle, there's a photo of the Aquatennial fireworks among the ones they have on the wall.)
Sometimes one prop gives you an entire image.
I was hunting for decent fried chicken for a different idea, and while I didn't come up with anything that suited my needs that would cooperatively load into Daz, I accidentally ran across a Hot Pockets box. And I do like doing juxtaposition/companion pieces, so here's the complement to Grace waiting for her ramen... Ethan back from his shift as a resident at St. Joseph's. Sometimes a freezer meal is all you have the energy and enthusiasm to make. (Though he does really like them, so there's that.)