anikad said:

Just encountered a glitch on Carrera. I'd received an email telling me I'd get the upgrade price of $89.95 and a free PC subscription. I put it in my cart then today (UK time) I looked at my cart and Carrera was showing as $171 and I was getting a $167.05 discount (I'd used the PAFEST Coupon). In total, including the PC subs I paid $27.95.

Good for you! They fixed that fast I'm sure (not working now. I already have Carrara, never used it. Will eventually. You learn it, then you can mentor us, lol!)

I got the Michael 4 Pro Bundle because I had 3 things- going for lighting and poses-
Art Nouveau Fun Kit $7.48 http://www.daz3d.com/art-nouveau-fun-kit (20 poses for Gen 2, can mix so make 60 poses)

Fantasy Scene and Lights $9.98 http://www.daz3d.com/fantasy-scene-and-lights 10 light sets, 10 SUPER backdrops

Predatron Essential Lights & Skies $7.48 http://www.daz3d.com/predatron-essential-lights-skies 12 lightsets, 11 skydomes

ALL FOR Total: $24.94

I have everything in the V4 pro bundle. I didn't have one in the Michael 4 Pro (the $17.46 Epsilon, which I like- did you see that one SereneNight? Sci-Fi.) http://www.daz3d.com/epsilon-for-michael-4

I had everything else, but since I also got: 10 Additional Body Poses, 30 Facial Expressions I got the bundle FREE.

All this for $24.95 Those other products from the PA sale I got are worth looking at IMO. And the bundle was $69.97 on sale at 30%, free if you get 3 things today from the PA event. (Does NOT have to be a featured item. Can be in the stores. Predatron's lights and skies wasn't a featured item.)

Some items in the store are only showing 30% off. They are supposed to be 50% unless I'm mistaken.
Happy shopping!
Cathie

I don't want to sound greedy :roll: but there doesn't seem to be a way to use both the PAFEST-5 coupon and the MIC4PRO-FREE coupon at the same time. So when I try to buy 4 Festival PA items at over $30 plus the Michael 4 Pro Bundle, I can use the MIC4PRO-FREE coupon to get the Bundle free for a total of $30.42, or I can use the PAFEST-5 coupon to get the same lot for $95.39!

Is there no way around this?

Pull #2
#960 Beard for Michael 4
#3745 Vignettes for Cheirocrates
#2426 MORE Textures & Styles for Vintage Army (Rendo)
And my chain item is Agnes.

Right now you can get Michael or Victoria 4 Starter and Pro Bundles for free. All you have to do is purchase items from today's featured Premier Artists.

If you purchase 2 items you can get either the Victoria 4 or Michael 4 Starter Bundles for free. If you purchase 3 items you can get either the Victoria 4 or Michael 4 Pro Bundles absolutely free. All you have to do is add the qualifying items in your cart, as well as the bundle you want/qualify for (V4 or M4 Standard or Pro Bundle) and use the proper coupon code at checkout.

Victoria 4 Starter Bundle - VIC4-FREE
Michael 4 Starter Bundle - MIC4-FREE

Victoria 4 Pro Bundle - VIC4PRO-FREE
Michael 4 Pro Bundle - MIC4PRO-FREE

This is a great opportunity to get $100 worth of products for free. The best part is, you are still saving money on these amazing Premier Artist's stores.

The explanations of terms used in Daz3D files are not always easy to find.

For example, I am archiving copies of new programs that I have just downloaded. I just bought "Medieval Male Peasant Clothing for Genesis." I can ignore the Legacy file offered, but what about the 3rd file, "Medieval Male Peasant Clothing for Genesis PoserCF"?

What is a CF file? Is this PoserCF file to be used only by Poser users, or will I need it for installing in DazStudio 4.5 too, when I get around to needing the Medieval clothing?

Also, when I see a file like" Moroccan Dreams for Michael 4 StudioCF" for "Moroccan Dreams for Michael 4" I assume I need both files, but I'd like to understand the theory. Does the presence of a StudioCF file mean that mean that the main file, "Moroccan Dreams for Michael 4" is a Poser file that needs the StudioCF file to modify it to work in DS 4.5? Or does it mean something else entirely?

The old file formats for downloading purchases weren't perfectly clear in and of themselves, but it seemed easier to find posters who explained how to use them. Where is there a glossary for understanding the newer system?

As Vaskania mentioned, Leandro Hair is Prop hair which is parented to the figure. Normally that's done automatically as long as M4, in this case, is selected before you load Leandro Hair. You can also manually parent the hair to M4.

In Poser:

1. Select Leandro Hair, right click and select
2. Change "LeandroHair" Parent to>Michael 4>Body Parts>Head

There is a UP_Michael4.pz2 hair fit pose included with the hair. After the hair is parented to M4, apply the pose to Leandro Hair. The pose will position the hair to fit perfectly on M4's head.

Just something to think about since you mentioned brand, The GIRL 's male counterpart here at DAZ is named Guy 4.

http://www.daz3d.com/guy-4-michael-4

Hello. I have a project idea for a series of stills (for now). Involves animals big enough to ride and one or two human-like characters to interact with said animals. Undecided at the moment, but I'm thinking either horses, pegasus, unicorns, dinosaurs, or dragons.

I have Victoria 2.0, 3.0, and 5.0, as well as Michael 5 and a bunch of "stuff" that goes with them. Whichever character I choose, they will need some riding gear, maybe a harness or saddle for the animal, and anything I am forgetting.

I'm a bit at a loss for where to begin, and that's why I am posting here.

I sometimes see things like clothing, accessories, or poses in the store for Michael 4 or Victoria 4 (neither of which I believe I have). I also see some of these such products saying that they're maybe Poser and DS compatible, but often Carrara is not mentioned. I have Carrara 8.5 Pro and would like to try using it for this project if possible.

I'm just not sure where to start, except that I have realized that a lot of this is all about "Project Management" in a way, yes?

For some examples,
* I need to figure out the story or an emotion I want to convey (or just let the viewer's imagination have fun?)
* I need to decide on the actors
* I need to be my own propmaster and either make or purchase what I need
* I need to design and um... "breed" the animals I'll need, right?
* I need an animal handler/trainer for those scenes (ie, poses, movement if the scene calls for it)
* I need a location for the shoot
* Music, foley, and special effects (for video)
* I've seen some YouTube videos that have some rather lengthy and detailed credits, which I think is cool.

Man, this is like making a movie!

For this project, I want to keep it simple and manageable. One human first for mostly face still shots, maybe with a fairly simple background and lighting. Eventually to add the person's animal(s) and then later more characters and animals, to impart the feeling that all are part of a larger group.

I know everybody eventually develops their own workflow, and I expect that I will too, but for now, would anybody have some suggestions for things to consider for still scenes?

I'm just .. aaaah, groping around in the dark a little bit; any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I added the second dude (Michael 4, wearing the Cheyenne tunic, Slicer pants, Gabriel skin, and Cuffed Hair tail + a warhammer from Valandar, I think). I worked on him and his materials in a separate scene, saved as a subset, and added it to the main scene.

Posed him, lost my mouse pointer, tweaked the pose, lost my pointer, adjusted the knight's expression, lost my mouse pointer... It's driving me batty.

Anyway. First "full scene" draft render, with a horrible shading rate and resolution. Next on the list: finish the sword; try adding reins or what'sitcalled to the horse (failing that, paint them afterwards); finish posing the horse (facial expression, eyes...); and, I think, render.

wilmap said:

I have some Free Genesis clothes at ShareCG, which includes lots of everyday male clothes.:-)

See link under my signature.

That's right, those sets are really selling-quality. As of male characters, Raiya has wonderful ones. My favourite elderly male is her Sad Clown Theo, Jesse makes a cute teenager and adult men range from Neo and Benjamin through Josh, Damon, Sean, Noah and Gabriel to Manly Men Shapes. I also like adult Sliman and Zaid and teenage Aaron and Edward M. Odd (but those are from different vendors).

There are fine guys in the shop, you only need quite a time to find them.

Hi,

I'd buy this item: http://www.daz3d.com/faery-wings I would like to know if it is compatible with Carrara 8.5. The site says: Compatible 3D Figures Genesis, Victoria 4, Michael 4, Aiko 4, The Kids 4, The Girl 4, Stephanie 4, Hiro 4 , Genesis is included in Carrara bundle, so I think that's okay.

Thanks and forgive if the question is silly, but before I spend my money, I would be safe. :)

Max.

Ok, innovative solutions time that I thought I would share.

There aren't a lot of run animations for Genesis, at least not one's I'm happy paying the price for. I own Poser Pro, which has Walk Designer, but loading Genesis into Poser Pro to attach the morphs to directly doesn't work because it doesn't seem to have any Inverse Kinematics, which is required for Walk Designer to work. Also, this is how to get your character running along that perfect path.

1. Load M4 into Poser. (other figures will probably also work, but I worked with M4)
2. go to Figure/Create Walk Path.
3. Go to Display/Camera View/Top to switch your viewpoint to overhead.
4. Pull the top camera back until you can see all the walkpath and about the distance you want your figure to run over.
5. Pull the control handles on the walk path into the shape you want your character to run in.
6. Go to Window/Walk Designer.
7. Tweak settings until you get a walk or a run that you like. Leave the figure type as the default figure. the walk button will loop the example character walking/running.
8. Left-click the Apply button (you can also save your walk if your particularly impressed with it's settings)
9. In the Apply Walk panel, Figure should be Michael 4 (or whatever character you chose), Follow Path should be checked. I like to Align the head to next sharp turn or one step ahead. New Animation Layer will be checked and leave your start/end frames alone.
10. Left-click ok and the figure in the scene will now have the animation applied. You can scrub the sequence forward and back to make sure you like it.
11. Select the Pose Library.
12. Go to a folder you like and click the + button to save the animation.
13. Enter a name you like and click ok.
14. Make sure Body Transformation is checked and Morph Channels is unchecked. The Body Transformation is what makes your character run along the path even though the path isnt in Carrara. Left-click on Ok.
15. Choose to save the whole animation and click ok.

Now open Carrara.
1. Load Genesis into Carrara.
2. In your content library, go to the Poser Pose library you saved your walk/run into.
3. Drag that pose onto Genesis.

And that's it. The feet line up when they hit the ground, I'm not able to see any sliding. I'm including a youtube video I did of Genesis running with the run that I put on him. This way, if you own poser (or know someone who does) you can make some nice run cycles for your Genesis Figure.

Boojum the brown bunny

http://www.youtube.com/embed/tAXiPmuQPsE

Here's the final product:
CyberMech4 (.CR2 and .OBJ)
-Self posing hydraulics

CM_RattleGun (.PP2 & .OBJ)
CM_Sidearm (.PP2 & .OBJ)

Mapped and Raytraced Materials (.PZ2 and .DSA)
-Mech
-Marine
-Police
-UCop
-Worker

13 Poses (.PZ2)
-Simple and Weapons
-Size ups
-Zero

14 Texture Maps
-11 4096x4096
-1 2048x2048
-1 1024x1024
-1 512x512

Product Compatibility
-DAZ Studio 3+
-Poser 4.01+

Michael 4 (and Michael 3 with minor tweaking) poses will work on the CyberMech 4.1. The pauldrons over the shoulder will need to be adjusted up or down depending on the pose to fill in the shoulder zero space. Some poses out there may cause the feet and/or hands to separate from the Mech. This is due to IKs being saved with the poses (not mine). If this happens, just zero the xyz trans in the feet and/or hands. To zero the pose, use the Zero Pose included or the pistons will explode.
I really can't wait to see how everyone uses it in their artwork.

Yay! Thank both you for your reply!

Yes, the "Content Managment Service" is running on my Windows 8 machine.

I searched for "Michael 4" and also for "Michael 5". It does not spit out anything not even "Victoria 4" or "5". I have to search for it manually which is quite annoying... I bought the pro packages and I want to play quickly whith all the material, props, etc...

I attach a screenshot for you!

Poser or DAZ Studio are fine. If you are really interested in animating the figures you may want to look at Carrara. We just launched Carrara 8.5 and a good chunk of the new features focused on updating the animation tools in Carrara. You can also use Genesis in Carrara, as well as Michael 4 and Victoria 4 and their 4th generation friends.

If you are serious about getting into animation then Carrara 8.5 will probably be for you. If you want to test the waters I recommend trying DAZ Studio since it is free. There isn't a free version of poser, but I may come off as biased since ya know.. I work for DAZ 3D. Hopefully someone else can chime in and offer an opinion.

When I use autofit I only get the option for Victoria 4 and Victoria 4 skirts and Genesis. How do I get autofit to show me options for other figures like Michael 4 and Kids 4 so I can fit these clothes on the Gen 2 figures?

Now that was helpful! I loaded my Michael 4 base character instead of the skeleton and was able to apply the skin. Thanks!

There is such a steep learning curve for newbies and it's confusing with the different models and their versions. I wish DAZ would enhance their documentation. When someone sells a product there should be a link or note on how to install it.

myregistration said:

I purchased a skin materials package in DAZ store to use for Michael 4 named "Zombie for Genesis and M4"

http://www.daz3d.com/zombie-for-genesis-and-m4

I purchased a skin materials package in DAZ store to use for Michael 4 named "Zombie for Genesis and M4"

http://www.daz3d.com/zombie-for-genesis-and-m4

How do I load a Zombie for Michael 4 / Genesis add-on "skin" to Michael 4 skeleton? Thanks!