I just got a new computer...renders in less than 5 minutes what used to take 45 minutes. I installed only Daz Studio Pro 4.6 for 64 bit. I am using this new install manager to down load products I have accumulated over the last two years...back when i was using version 4 and 4.5 on the older computer. I still am a novice with this program and am still finding new surprises every time I open it to play with it. Good surprises and confusing ones. (I just figured out how to build a replica of Michael 4 using genesis base figure. I just figured out that all those "duplicate entries" in content library and smart content panes are not duplicates, but refer to different file extensions and products that work with different versions and different programs that use the same picture icon. Big step for me.) AND I do NOT use any other 3d modeling program....yet. I do not use Poser.

Just read all this thread. It came up when I searched the word "legacy"

My question, using the install manger I put everything I thought i needed from previous products on the new machine. I did NOT install any of the legacy versions. Given the above information, I assume I will not need them. Is this correct?

I have copied my content over to another drive partition, renamed the original folder on C: so that I can be sure that it's not being used (before I delete it), and then I reconfigured DS4 so that content would point to the new location.

Still could not find any content, so next I uninstalled DS4 and reinstalled it, then re-pointed the content location. This was slightly better because now I see some folders in the content tab. But not much better because the folders are empty and I still cannot select any actual characters outside of Genesis female.

This should be a lot easier than it is. I can't even "find a person" to put in my DS workspace except for two Genesis female sample characters; one with pants and one with shorts. Finding anything seems needlessly difficult because there are too many confusing folders, folder paths that end up in dead-ends, and folders that don't give you what you think you should be seeing. You click on Victoria 4 and all you get are poses and no actual character or "actor" to select. What, why is that?

Specific examples: In "My DAZ 3D Library" under "People", good luck finding any people. The Victoria 4 folder only contains folders for clothing (V4 Domino only, whatever that is), materials, and poses, but no person. Michael 4 only has folders for Clothing and Materials, and nothing else. To make matters even worse, Michael 4 folder has clothing/materials/epsilon and also a whole 'nother "Materials" folder NEXT TO clothing. Why two empty "Materials" folders in different places?

Under "Runtime" (I only looked because I hear that term all the time) I see some folders plus "Texture" and also "Textures". Now I ask this with all seriousness. WTF?

Most of these folders have nothing in them. "People" should show me "people", right? Or call them Actors, I don't care. But when "People" only shows me poses or something, that's just weird and illogical.

I have nearly 400 things in my library and I can't find even a dozen of them, how funny is that? Can't find any people/characters/actors except for two sample Genesis 2 Female figures. That's it. A reinstall of DS4 actually allows me to see a few more things than before, but no way can I find my entire library, and no people or animals.

I fear I need some help and tutorials aren't getting me beyond the clutter. I'm exhausted and now I'm starting to ramble.

Today's Review is: Michael 4 Comic Combat (poses) by Daz and :W.H. Whitney

http://www.daz3d.com/michael-4-comic-combat

What can I say? Love it. This pose set is a lot of fun and suits a tank cyborg character like Sarge to a T! Even though Sarge is genesis, and these poses are for M4, they can be easily adjusted with a bit of tweaking to suit larger sized characters.

It was fun to apply them to a modified Daz monstrosity I based on M4 genesis (shown here). I particularly like that a pose set for up ot 3 characters is included with this bundle. I would like to see more group poses for genesis W.H. Whitney does these well. They work fine on female characters too. This set renders easily, and really produces some nice fun combat action.

Here I have the fight in Stonemason's Cryo Environment.
http://www.daz3d.com/cryoenvironment

There are 21 poses in this set, including 1 multi figure scene. Facial expressions are included, but since I'm using genesis not M4, I did not test them out.

Image 1:

Sarge Fighting Daz Monstrostiy with a kick

Image 2:

Sarge up close and personal.

Lights are Lantios Night Lights Number 8, with a low-intensity distant light yellow light added at 33%. For some reason, I find this a good lighting combo for Sarge.

DaWaterRat said:

Barubary said:

DaWaterRat said:

SnowSultan said:

I'm as sick of that video as I am of this whole argument. Fans of skimpwear armor don't complain when practical armor is released, why do we have to listen to it every time anything that isn't head-to-toe platemail comes out?

Any time they tried giving Red Sonja more practical clothing, sales of the comic started to tank

This is the reason, right here. I made pics with women in more practical armor a long time ago too. No one looked at them. I started using skimpy armor. Many more people looked at them. Eureka.

You use what you want and let us use what we want.

The argument in that video, as I always saw it, is the double standard. The Guys get realistic armor, and she's stuck in the bikini. And that's really the only thing about skimpy armor that gets me. The guys don't wear enough of it. ;)

Well, knock yourself out :D

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/ad-gladio-for-michael-4

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/hercules

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/shades-of-atlantis-anunnaki

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/godspeed

http://www.daz3d.com/spartan-warrior

http://www.daz3d.com/barbarian-king

http://www.daz3d.com/barbarian-outfit-for-m4

http://www.daz3d.com/primordial-barbarian-clothing

This is just what I found in the first 5 minutes, I have not doubt there is more. Obviously, it's mostly rooted in ancient, as opposed to medieval times, but I am sure for the sake of equality, we can make it work.

Wait, there is no 'Zardoz' costume, yet? O_o

Okay, I'm tired and cranky and I'm going to ignore the sarcastic, patronizing tone that my brain put on this post. If it was intended, I've got a whole rant about patronizing attitudes and inequality in pinup art that goes here.

All I am going to say is that I do own almost as much (or perhaps even slightly more) male skimpy armor as I do female skimpy armor. I just don't use it much because I don't do a lot where skimpy armor is appropriate for either gender.

Well I am often sarcastic and occasionally also patronizing, I'm afraid, but I certainly did not intend to offend you. If I came off that way, you have my apologies.

What I wanted to say was: If the only problem is that not enough male characters wear skimpy outfits in artwork, well then that's not because there are no skimpy outfits for male characters available. Yes, it's far less than one might find for female characters, but it is there.

If the problem is that not enough people render male characters in skimpy outfits, well that's another story and one that takes it closer to what art is 'supposed to be'. My personal take is that art only has to appeal to one person and that is it's creator. If there is not enough of whatever one wants to see then it falls onto oneself and no one else to create it. And it 'has to be' nothing. Not beautiful, not fair, not smart, not child-friendly, not useful, not mature, not funny or serious, not clean, not anything. Again, that's just my personal take.

Now, one might argue that art, what is and isn't expressed, particularly when it's expressed very commonly, can point to certain problems or at least conflicts in a society. But that's just it. An expression. An imprint. An echo. What it is not is a problem in itself.

But as I said, that's just how I view things.

If you still got that rant about 'patronizing attitudes and inequality in pinup art' ready, personally, I wouldn't mind hearing it. Even in a less ranty form ;D. Because I like discussions and I'd like to hear new opinions on art and everything else, even, no, particularly, if they are contrary to mine.

They all point to the same folder yes, and I just discovered that Michael 4 doesn't load from Products either. It seems the ones with the yellow scroll will not load from there,even tho the paths are the same. I get the same error about no Michael 4 support folder

Here are my screens...maybe that will help

dholm said:

Question. I'm under the 30 trial. Is there any more moves (Dance,walk Jump, and others?) other than the ones that are unlocked know?

I was trying different things and I see that Gen arms went behind her back. Is that because I started in a pre set pose? Or because I used the wrong Gen. A few days before I used a Gen. and all work right. Just not sure when one I used. Maybe from now on I will just stay with one.

There is a bit misunderstanding. The motions can't and don't need to be unlocked, the serial needed to get aniMate2 fully functional (beyond it's 30 days trial period) is for the plugin itself.
Until then and from then on aniMate will take any aniBlock you give it. You can even convert from a imported .bvh file.

If you're looking for additional aniBlocks beyond those freebies included in DS, you might want to have a look at GoFigure!'s (http://www.daz3d.com/gofigure) , SKAmotion's (http://www.daz3d.com/skamotion) and/or ReallusionAnimation's (http://www.daz3d.com/reallusionanimation) store here at DAZ.

There's a collection of a bunch of free motions, mostly for Poser (which can be used in DS, too) and some custom aniBlocks at shareCG (http://www.sharecg.com/v/64032/gallery/11/Poser/100++-animated-poses-for-poser-daz3d).

About the "disposition": the free aniBlocks in DS are made for Victoria/Michael 4, so yes, it's the wrong Gen... almost. They'll work on Genesis, too, but need adjustment because of the differences in the skeleton of theese figures. Which can be done within aniMate, but need a bit more knowledge about aniMate... and a lot patience wouldn't be bad, too.

You might want to look at this (shameless self-advertizing :P) one, which adresses some (not all) of the major problems of aniBlocks made for the Generation 4 series of figures used on Genesis (http://www.sharecg.com/v/67223/view/21/DAZ-Studio/Genesis-Pose-Adjust-aniBlock). Works good on the basic Genesis figure and the Gen4 shapes, but needs further adjustment on V5,M5,S5... and so on.
It's free until January 1, 200,495. :)
Once I'll recover from my 99th nervous breakdown over it's hand zero-pose, I'll do that for Genesis 2, too. Or... if :P

You also might have a look at the animate2 User Guide (http://www.gofigure3d.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=86) and on the video tutorials provided (http://www.gofigure3d.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=56) if you start to get the "wtf-is-this-guy-talking-about" syndrome :).

Once famililiar with the bvh-to-aniBlock conversion process you also might have a look on Mixamo's store (http://www.mixamo.com/motions). Good thing is, they're decent motion captured and can be rigged for Victoria/Michael 4 in their build-in editor. Bad thing is, they're mostly [selfcensored] expensive. Nothing for those who want to "just-play-around".

Barubary said:

DaWaterRat said:

SnowSultan said:

I'm as sick of that video as I am of this whole argument. Fans of skimpwear armor don't complain when practical armor is released, why do we have to listen to it every time anything that isn't head-to-toe platemail comes out?

Any time they tried giving Red Sonja more practical clothing, sales of the comic started to tank

This is the reason, right here. I made pics with women in more practical armor a long time ago too. No one looked at them. I started using skimpy armor. Many more people looked at them. Eureka.

You use what you want and let us use what we want.

The argument in that video, as I always saw it, is the double standard. The Guys get realistic armor, and she's stuck in the bikini. And that's really the only thing about skimpy armor that gets me. The guys don't wear enough of it. ;)

Well, knock yourself out :D

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/ad-gladio-for-michael-4

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/hercules

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/shades-of-atlantis-anunnaki

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/godspeed

http://www.daz3d.com/spartan-warrior

http://www.daz3d.com/barbarian-king

http://www.daz3d.com/barbarian-outfit-for-m4

http://www.daz3d.com/primordial-barbarian-clothing

This is just what I found in the first 5 minutes, I have not doubt there is more. Obviously, it's mostly rooted in ancient, as opposed to medieval times, but I am sure for the sake of equality, we can make it work.

Wait, there is no 'Zardoz' costume, yet? O_o

Okay, I'm tired and cranky and I'm going to ignore the sarcastic, patronizing tone that my brain put on this post. If it was intended, I've got a whole rant about patronizing attitudes and inequality in pinup art that goes here.

All I am going to say is that I do own almost as much (or perhaps even slightly more) male skimpy armor as I do female skimpy armor. I just don't use it much because I don't do a lot where skimpy armor is appropriate for either gender.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think my first problem because of inexperience is knowing how to add texture to a character. My first object is to get the Justin figure to look more natural. There seems to be one Justin .mc6 file in the materials library but it does nothing, unless it is the basic greenish looking texture Justin loads with. I read where the Ashley texture was used in the picture of the tweens so I downloaded it and tried loading the default body.mc6. It doesn't seem to fit right. Probably just something simple I don't know about yet. I figured once I had Justin looking like a natural person I could play around and learn the morphs.

I have Michael 4 and in the materials library is a file called all natural.mc6. That turns the basic Michael into a pretty good looking figure. But getting Justin into someone more natural looking doesn't seem to be working as easy.

Thanks for any suggestions and help

DaWaterRat said:

SnowSultan said:

I'm as sick of that video as I am of this whole argument. Fans of skimpwear armor don't complain when practical armor is released, why do we have to listen to it every time anything that isn't head-to-toe platemail comes out?

Any time they tried giving Red Sonja more practical clothing, sales of the comic started to tank

This is the reason, right here. I made pics with women in more practical armor a long time ago too. No one looked at them. I started using skimpy armor. Many more people looked at them. Eureka.

You use what you want and let us use what we want.

The argument in that video, as I always saw it, is the double standard. The Guys get realistic armor, and she's stuck in the bikini. And that's really the only thing about skimpy armor that gets me. The guys don't wear enough of it. ;)

Well, knock yourself out :D

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/ad-gladio-for-michael-4

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/hercules

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/shades-of-atlantis-anunnaki

http://www.daz3d.com/clothing-accessories/godspeed

http://www.daz3d.com/spartan-warrior

http://www.daz3d.com/barbarian-king

http://www.daz3d.com/barbarian-outfit-for-m4

http://www.daz3d.com/primordial-barbarian-clothing

This is just what I found in the first 5 minutes, I have not doubt there is more. Obviously, it's mostly rooted in ancient, as opposed to medieval times, but I am sure for the sake of equality, we can make it work.

Wait, there is no 'Zardoz' costume, yet? O_o

I'm not getting any displacement maps applied. This is what I did:

Load Genesis Basic Male
Select Genesis in Scene Tab and Surfaces Tab; verify UV is Michael 4
Run Gen4UV script
Select head diffuse and body diffuse Vascularity; Process
I see the veins in the diffuse in the viewport preview.
In the surfaces tab, there are no maps in the Displacement Strength channel for any of the head or body surfaces.

Am I doing something wrong?

The Gen 4 Throwback Special has been extended. Right now purchase any 3 PA Festival Items and get the Aiko 4 or Freak 4 Pro bundles. If you participated in the Gen 4 Throwback previously, this deal works the same as the Michael 4 and Victoria 4 Pro Bundle deal. Qualifying items must be from a featured Premier Artist's store. All items (including the free bundle) must be in your cart at checkout for the coupon to apply.

Here are the coupon codes:
Aiko 4 Pro Bundle:
AIKO4PRO-FREE

Freak 4 Pro Bundle:
FREAK4PRO-FREE

If you missed out on Michael 4 and Victoria 4 Pro Bundles you can still get them. The MIC4PRO-FREE and VIC4PRO-FREE coupon codes are still active.

Hello,

Storypilot said:

lord.siotrad said:

Hello,

My first Render post on this forum ... Fairy Afternoon.

Welcome! A pleasant atmosphere in your picture.

Thank you :)

Week 3 PA contest

Demonic Break

Light Dome PRO-R
Iyeyasu's Tomb
Gazebo of Mog Ruith
Night World Mourning Sun for Michael 4
Just Dance

Ken OBanion said:

Totte, your sample title in the Entries-Only thread reminded me of an old Texas joke:

Q: Why did the armadillo cross the road?

A: Um..., it didn't.

And on that note, here's draw #2:

1931 - Takeo for Hiro 5
645 - Expansion Pack for V3 MFD
750 - Future Light

And my Chained item, from Draw #1...
Hmm, Let's go with the 19th Century Suit for M3

This is liable to get weird. (Lord, I hope so!)

And..., it did.

What is this strange fascination I have with vampires all of a sudden?

This one turned out to be a real beast! (Mostly because - hell, you know me; "nothing in moderation!") Characters were built in Poser 9, and the scene was assembled and rendered in DS 4.6, with a bit of post-work in GIMP. (Yeah, that damn alpha-channel reared up and bit me on the tuchus. Again!) And the render damn near brought DAZ Studio to its knees!

Also Used:
Street Mage for Genesis
Onyx for Genesis Male (Boots)
Dryden (body shape for Hiro 5)
Pure Hair Space
V3 Hooded Cloak
Black Rose for V3/SP3 MFD
Kozaburo's Kyoko Hair MK3
Mon Chevalier Hair
Michael 4 (Repeatedly)
Victoria 4 (Twice!)
Space Dweller for M4
Cosmic for Space Dweller
Glyn Hair by AprilYSH
M4 Tuxedo
Frightfully Debonair
Rock Star Hair
Lynette's Dark Nights
Diamond Hair
David
Edwardian Evening Suit for David
Nosferatu
Laques Hair for David (a ShareCG freebie)
Sensibility
Lyda for Sensibility
Andy Hair

TAG: obanion#02

(Edited to correct a typo. Yep, Freddie Fat-Fingers strikes again!)

Title: "I'm Just Sayin'...."

"Look, all I'm saying is that it's just a bit..., probabilistically anomalous..., for there to be so many people here dressed as vampires."

"Dude, could you at least try not being a statistician for one frickin' evening? Lighten up, man! It's Halloween! It's a costume party! By the way, what are those things on your neck?"

equinoxx5 said:

Just posted these up at ShareCG, in case there's any interest... they're for Nadino's Mach 1.6 Bodysuit (which was based on joequick's Mach 1.5 suit). The material presets are for DS (both .dsa and .duf formats), but all the maps are there for the Poser peeps to work out.

Nightwing also wears the M4 Trekker boots; I've included a preset for them as well. The mask is from Joe's StreetLVL Justice set.

The Flashes also use Joe's Nadino Mask and bits from his Golden Age Heroes set (neither of which are currently available, but it wouldn't hurt to try asking politely, else you'll have to find your own workarounds), as well as aztecmarco's Head Wings.

Huge props and thanks to equinoxx5, joequick and Nadino for sharing these resources :-) Nightwing and Oracle face shapes by me :-P

Have been wanting to do a Nightwing render for ages and after mulling it over realized that Nightwing + Oracle = Dark Knight :lol:

Novica said:

Mon Chevalier Hair (M4)
Tankini- Genesis Starter Essentials

http://www.daz3d.com/mon-chevalier-hair

I tried different light products and ended up using my own. Dyson uses the Michael 4 UV map and I changed the Specular to a light blue 210 / 238 / 255 I left the diffuse at white. The lights are all bluish too. This render has a shading rate of .40 so it took awhile.

The Mon Chevalier Hair went on without any problem, but those stray long strands can drive you nuts. Clothing with ANY type of collar are going to have to be double checked for disappearing ends. There is a good "shorten" option to get it above the collar. I like this hair- very tousled, very carefree, rugged on the guys. Fits easily into different historical periods and modern times.

Cute! Very nice Novica! Like him a lot!

Mon Chevalier Hair (M4)
Tankini- Genesis Starter Essentials

http://www.daz3d.com/mon-chevalier-hair

I tried different light products and ended up using my own. Dyson uses the Michael 4 UV map and I changed the Specular to a light blue 210 / 238 / 255 I left the diffuse at white. The lights are all bluish too. This render has a shading rate of .40 so it took awhile.

The Mon Chevalier Hair went on without any problem, but those stray long strands can drive you nuts. Clothing with ANY type of collar are going to have to be double checked for disappearing ends. There is a good "shorten" option to get it above the collar. I like this hair- very tousled, very carefree, rugged on the guys. Fits easily into different historical periods and modern times.

tjohn said:

Did you remember to put the Michael 4 Bundle itself into your cart too before using the coupon?

That wasn't made clear as part of the instruction for the deal. The instructions listed on the graphic of the offer were simply:

Buy Any 3 Festival Items - Get Victoria 4 or Michael 4 Pro Bundle Free!
Just enter one of the following coupons at checkout (which I did with Mic4Pro-Free)
'all items must be in cart simultaneously for coupon to apply' which only implies the items being purchased must be in the cart for it to apply.

I actually sputtered a laugh at the thought of putting a $100 bundle into my cart and hitting the buy button and hoping the DAZ store might mot screw up and charge me. No way was II about to try that, with the poor performance record it has so far, lol! :)

Jonstark said:

Also did not work for me (not that I really care as I already have most of what's the pro bundle for V4 and M4 as it was included with Carrara 8, but I see a couple of items that somehow are part of the bundle but previously weren't available to me). Loaded up my 3 orders, it seemed to accept the MIC4PRO-FREE coupon, but I don't see any trace of it in my account downloads. Honestly I don't know why I bother over something I care as little about as this, but it is frustrating not to get what the deal offered. :(

Skyshorr said:

One more question.
The decision kind of boils down to this.
If I go with Carrara pro, will I be able to continue to buying items from the Daz Store and install them in this bigger, better program?
I don't remember seeing that the Daz store products are compatible with any thing but D.S.
Thanx

Carrara 8.5 was specifically designed to try to be Genesis compatible. In addition, all of your legacy M4, V4, etc. content should work. And, other props and figures will work in Carrara. The attached image was thrown together in less than 5 minutes (it shows), entirely with figures, props, and poses available in the Daz store. In this case Michael 4 figure, conforming clothes, and props.

Hi my friends!
Suppose I'd like to make more caricaturesque (if that's a word) character
using Michael 4... let's say I'd like to make the jaw more extreme, more grotesque... but the Morphs
dial only dial to 1,500
For example with the G3 characters like M3 and D3 you can make way more extreme faces
My question is: is there a way that I could make Michael 4 more extreme? More Toon?
Thanks so much in advanced!!