One of the problems I've noticed is that emmissive lighting in Iray can be very tricky.  If you crank up the lumens so you have enough light in the scene, it goes white and loses all the detail you need for it to look like fire.  What I would do in post is create blank layer on top and use a flame brush that is similar in form to your fire.  Start with a small one for the center of the fire and the lightest color of flame and work your way bigger and oranger as you go.  turn the brushes a bit each time to get a more flamey look.Then play with modes like screen, overlay, soft light, etc and the opacity to see what happens.  You can get free brushes on Deviant Art.  Make sure you read the terms of use.  I would link some but I won't use any that requre me to give credit or link or whatever.  Not because I don't think they deserve it, they do, but I can use 20 brushes  and 40 layers and there is no way I have time to link to every texture and brush I use for one picture. so I only use ones I've paid for are have no restrictions.  Ron's brushes here are fantastic and worth every penny, and frequently go on good sales.  Orestes brushes here are also good. 

Best for in-DS landscape: Terradome 3 Iray

There's really no way to create skies and clouds in DS, what you will need are HDRIs which will work as both lighting and the background. I have a lot of free HDRI skydomes in my freebie gallery in my sig. Orestes Graphics has some incredible paid ones.

As far as waterfalls, Hidden Waterfall Pool is a decent set.

Again, the Pro Bundles are products that Daz has either commissioned from certain PAs, or were offered by a PA to Daz as a buyout. The other products you see that happen at a new shape's release are made by PAs who either weren't commissioned, or didn't want to sell their product to Daz. Those products belong to the PA that made them, whereas the products in the Pro Bundles become Daz Originals and are then the property of Daz to sell. 

Sometimes a group of the PAs will get together and decide to do a bundle of their own (in fact, Orestes Studios and I are in the midst of making one right now.) But generally these do not coincide with a Daz Original's new shape release (mainly because no one wants to compete against a Pro Bundle - even though not every one buys the Pro Bundles, there are a sizeable number of the customer base that do.) And there's the added factor that even if the PAs put together a bundle of their own, most customers wouldn't have the funds to buy both the Pro Bundle (with the new shape included) and the PA bundle (that wouldn't include the new shape.)

It's possible, but highly unlikely that customers would buy the PA bundle and the new base only shape. And even then, there's no guaranty that the PA bundle would fit the bill for all customers. It's really hard to predict what will sell (and sell well enough to put the effort into making it. For a lot of this, this is our day job to pay the bills and put food on the table.)

Because Daz owns the products in the Pro bundle, they can charge as little as they like on it, and it's not going to affect their bottom line. PA bundles on the other hand are a little different, as we're trying to give the customers a value, but at the same time, we have to split our profits between Daz (who does the marketing, QA, and technical/customer support) and all the PAs involved in the bundle. The more PAs involved, the smaller our profit becomes. PA bundles cannot afford the steep discounts that a Daz O Pro bundle can. It's not that we don't want you to be able to buy our products. I think it often gets lost in the mix that most of the PAs here are trying to make a living. Not all of us are stonemason, who's products sell no matter what they're priced.

I'm not saying to give up hope that the PAs won't give you what you want. It's important to let us know what you're all wanting in products. I'm listening and I'm taking on board the things that have been said. But I also see the production side of things and I know how you can put weeks, even months of work into a product that you'd think will sell, only to see it flop. Yes, one or two people will buy it (and we're grateful. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate each and every one of my customers' patronage. We all do.) but it's a duck shoot when it comes to creating a product that will put food on the table. With mortgages, we have to play it safe and create things that we know will sell (and yeah, a lot of it is the same old things - slutwear sells by a landslide) and then only when we have a moment of economic stability can we take a risk and follow our muses down a different path.

Does that make sense? I'm not meaning to be preachy or trying to shoot your suggestions down. I'm just trying to explain why you're not seeing a PA bundle that coincides with a Daz Original new shape release. There are so many factors that the customers don't see, and I felt you deserved an explanation. 

That makes excellent sense, FeralFey, and thanks for the highly educational post. As a mere civilian I'm ignorant of the ins & outs of bringing a product to market, especially a market like this. Gradually the light begins to dawn, though not as brightly as it used to, or as fast.

Well, maybe someone at DAZ 3D will see this thread and think "What a great idea! We'd sell more bundles and make bigger profits, even if it meant paying PAs twice as much for buyouts!" 

Again, the Pro Bundles are products that Daz has either commissioned from certain PAs, or were offered by a PA to Daz as a buyout. The other products you see that happen at a new shape's release are made by PAs who either weren't commissioned, or didn't want to sell their product to Daz. Those products belong to the PA that made them, whereas the products in the Pro Bundles become Daz Originals and are then the property of Daz to sell. 

Sometimes a group of the PAs will get together and decide to do a bundle of their own (in fact, Orestes Studios and I are in the midst of making one right now.) But generally these do not coincide with a Daz Original's new shape release (mainly because no one wants to compete against a Pro Bundle - even though not every one buys the Pro Bundles, there are a sizeable number of the customer base that do.) And there's the added factor that even if the PAs put together a bundle of their own, most customers wouldn't have the funds to buy both the Pro Bundle (with the new shape included) and the PA bundle (that wouldn't include the new shape.)

It's possible, but highly unlikely that customers would buy the PA bundle and the new base only shape. And even then, there's no guaranty that the PA bundle would fit the bill for all customers. It's really hard to predict what will sell (and sell well enough to put the effort into making it. For a lot of this, this is our day job to pay the bills and put food on the table.)

Because Daz owns the products in the Pro bundle, they can charge as little as they like on it, and it's not going to affect their bottom line. PA bundles on the other hand are a little different, as we're trying to give the customers a value, but at the same time, we have to split our profits between Daz (who does the marketing, QA, and technical/customer support) and all the PAs involved in the bundle. The more PAs involved, the smaller our profit becomes. PA bundles cannot afford the steep discounts that a Daz O Pro bundle can. It's not that we don't want you to be able to buy our products. I think it often gets lost in the mix that most of the PAs here are trying to make a living. Not all of us are stonemason, who's products sell no matter what they're priced.

I'm not saying to give up hope that the PAs won't give you what you want. It's important to let us know what you're all wanting in products. I'm listening and I'm taking on board the things that have been said. But I also see the production side of things and I know how you can put weeks, even months of work into a product that you'd think will sell, only to see it flop. Yes, one or two people will buy it (and we're grateful. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate each and every one of my customers' patronage. We all do.) but it's a duck shoot when it comes to creating a product that will put food on the table. With mortgages, we have to play it safe and create things that we know will sell (and yeah, a lot of it is the same old things - slutwear sells by a landslide) and then only when we have a moment of economic stability can we take a risk and follow our muses down a different path.

Does that make sense? I'm not meaning to be preachy or trying to shoot your suggestions down. I'm just trying to explain why you're not seeing a PA bundle that coincides with a Daz Original new shape release. There are so many factors that the customers don't see, and I felt you deserved an explanation. 

On the subject of storms, I've just gotta share this render I just did that I'm super-pleased with: the poor old Licorne running into a bit of bother...

There's nothing very new here - one of Orestes HDRIs and the iReal Ocean are the newest (full list of products on its page in my gallery), Ron's brushes (rain and waves) really do a lot of the work.

So, to fit the title of the thread, I'll offer a tip: The lightning bolt above isn't done in post, it's rendered. I found a nice picture of a bolt against a dark sky, then created a plane primitive to fill the whole picture behind the ship. I then used my lightning photo in its Base Color (obviously), but also in Cutout Opacity and in Emission Color. Whack the Luminance up to a suitably large number and you get a lightning bolt glowing in the existing sky. Very pleased with the end result!

I love this render - great atmosphere, it makes me feel cold and soaking - superb job

On the subject of storms, I've just gotta share this render I just did that I'm super-pleased with: the poor old Licorne running into a bit of bother...

There's nothing very new here - one of Orestes HDRIs and the iReal Ocean are the newest (full list of products in my gallery), Ron's brushes (rain and waves) really do a lot of the work.

So, to fit the title of the thread, I'll offer a tip: The lightning bolt above isn't done in post, it's rendered. I found a nice picture of a bolt against a dark sky, then created a plane primitive to fill the whole picture behind the ship. I then used my lighting photo in its Base Color (obviously), but also in Cutout Opacity and in Emission Color. Whack the Luminance up to a suitably large number and you get a lightning bolt glowing in the existing sky. Very pleased with the end result!

Excellent image. And the tip to use such a high contrast image in Cutout Opacity, as well as Base Color and Emission Color is a good one. Can't argue with the result, that's for sure. What a great way to blend the lightning with the rest of the sky. Now I'm off to give the image a Thumbs Up in the gallery. (Which would have been a tad bit easier if you'ld linked the image to the gallery page... hint, hint.)

ETA: Here's the link to the gallery, for anyone else who wants to give it a Like: The Storm

On the subject of storms, I've just gotta share this render I just did that I'm super-pleased with: the poor old Licorne running into a bit of bother...

There's nothing very new here - one of Orestes HDRIs and the iReal Ocean are the newest (full list of products on its page in my gallery), Ron's brushes (rain and waves) really do a lot of the work.

So, to fit the title of the thread, I'll offer a tip: The lightning bolt above isn't done in post, it's rendered. I found a nice picture of a bolt against a dark sky, then created a plane primitive to fill the whole picture behind the ship. I then used my lightning photo in its Base Color (obviously), but also in Cutout Opacity and in Emission Color. Whack the Luminance up to a suitably large number and you get a lightning bolt glowing in the existing sky. Very pleased with the end result!

Yeah, that looks like my friend, Orestes Studio's handiwork. He's got loads of bones sets to chose from. 

https://www.daz3d.com/orestes-graphics

Any of the Them Bones sets will help you out.

Yeah, I'm too dumb for all this lol. :( I only have a slight idea as to what you guys are talking about haha. You're all great for the answers, however, and I'm honored you'd answer here FeralFey! :) Your post in the Genesis 8 Male parity topic was awesom and reassuring! I do look forward to whenever you do decide to make flip flops with the great rigging. There's not enough details and thought going into G8M and his products!

Thanks! It's very kind of you to say such nice things, but I'm serious. I only want to make the best products I can. I build products that I would pay money for. Why should I crank out something half-@ssed, if it's something that I wouldn't buy? That doesn't make sense to me. When I build products that I feel good about making (or feel inspired to build) the quality comes through. And I agree that there's not enough male content out there. But that belongs in the other thread, right? 

What I wanted to say is that currently I'm working on a project with Orestes Studios. We're actually working on an outfit (male and female, so there's your parity - lol) to go with a larger project we're working on. And to make a long story short, we're looking at doing a texture add-on for the outfit to take it in a completely different direction. And something that would improve that add-on set (and make it more appealing for customers to buy) is to include those flip-flops. 

I'm going to pow-wow with Orestes and get his imput, but I think this is something doable. And you'll get some kind of flexible sandal/flip-flop/geta before the end of the year. (Hopefully sooner than that. I have to get my head wrapped around dForce for our outfit first.) 

So I want to thank you for starting this thread and getting me thinking about how to come up with a flexible shoe. This should be an interesting endeavor. (Fingers crossed that Daz accepts it. Building it is only half the battle. Making it Daz quality is the other half. )

Ironically, this is something that Orestes Studios and I have discussed way back when we first did the Electromancy sets. We're currently working on another project at the moment, but when that's finished, I'll poke him and get him started back on this, because, yeah, it'd be cool to have it in the store.

What she said. lol Its something thats been on the the 'to do' list for a while. I've got some projects to finish up on first, maybe I could work on this then.

Nice to meet you as well, timmercado1975. :) It's always a pleasure meeting customers. 

I can't promise that it'll be a quick turn around. I tend to be one of the slower PAs, because I spend a lot of time with the details on any of my products. I can, however, say that a rope belt is in the works as we speak. I've been working with Orestes Studios on a new project (we're making an outfit together - he's modeling it, and I'm rigging it, so we'll have to see how that turns out.) You could probably kitbash our belt for your purposes...unless I decide to do a Cthulhu priest/priestess outfit on my own. I did start a priestess outfit last year that has been languishing on my computer. Maybe it's time to pull it out of the closet and work on it again (and build a priest version while I'm at it)? 

Ironically, this is something that Orestes Studios and I have discussed way back when we first did the Electromancy sets. We're currently working on another project at the moment, but when that's finished, I'll poke him and get him started back on this, because, yeah, it'd be cool to have it in the store.

Oh I see what you're after. Yes, that would be cool. I think in order to pull something like that off, one would need to make a geograft I think, where whatever "whole" body part is removed and the "corrupt" body part, with all its lovely bones and goo showing through. Hmmm... I might need to mention this to Orestes. 

I wouldn't mind seeing some bones.

I would direct you to check out Orestes Graphics' catalog. He's got loads of bones.

Well, it was nice to get all the pumpkin products at 70% off. Love these Flash Sales. The Orestes Epic Pumpkin Bundle ($49.95) was $14.99 and that's 3 products, so $4.99 each, the Corn Stalks and Fields ($19.95) was $5.99,  Autumn Leaves ($14.95)  was $4.48,  Harvest Hay Bales ($15.95) for $4.79.  Used the gift card that stacked this past weekend (21%) too. Thank you to the vendors who do the Flash Sales. We do appreciate it. (And I bought a 30% New Release with it.)

I've spent most of the day on the other computer, working on a new scene. It was very hard not to take advantage of those flash sales, (I really, really want that pumpkin bundle,) but somehow I managed to go another day without spending any money! Yay, me! lol

Well, it was nice to get all the pumpkin products at 70% off. Love these Flash Sales. The Orestes Epic Pumpkin Bundle ($49.95) was $14.99 and that's 3 products, so $4.99 each, the Corn Stalks and Fields ($19.95) was $5.99,  Autumn Leaves ($14.95)  was $4.48,  Harvest Hay Bales ($15.95) for $4.79.  Used the gift card that stacked this past weekend (21%) too. Thank you to the vendors who do the Flash Sales. We do appreciate it. (And I bought a 30% New Release with it.)

Mega flash sales:
https://www.daz3d.com/sickleyield#&filter_new=0&filter_platClub=0&filtered=1
https://www.daz3d.com/orestes-graphics#&filter_new=0&filter_platClub=0&filtered=1
https://www.daz3d.com/esha#&filter_new=0&filter_platClub=0&filtered=1

Mr. Tumnus

---

Another instance of using a Ghost Light, this time as a fill light. The HDRI I used to light the scene was actually from Orestes Sunny Day set. The snow behind Mr. Tumnus is from KA's Iray Snow, Ice and Ash product I got in 2016 as a Christmas freebie. (It's available in the store, now, and well worth the investment,) and shows up beautifully when the "sun" is in the right spot. I rotated the dome and found some "dead' spots, where I had to move the snow object or the dome. I moved the dome. That left the subject in shadow, except for his right shoulder. Iray Ghost Lights to the rescue.

I'd also like to mention, I used the snow shaders from KA's Iray Snow, Ice and Ash on the rest of the environment, replacing the snow shaders on the tree and bush. I used Secluded shoreline as the base environment, removing anything I didn't need, applying snow shaders to things I did need: the water became a field of snow, "smaller" rocks were completely covered, the cliffs got spotty coverage by creating a geoshell, applying the snow shader, and manually adding a transmap, (found in the snow product's texture folder,) to hide the snow in spots, and increasing the tiling. (Thank you so much, Andy.)

Top work L'Adair, i'm pretty amazed that you got this kind of render out of secluded shoreline and other knick knacks, that's a lot of kit bashing. I'm glad people are using the snow set, daz hid it in the back for nearly a year and i was so pleased to see it back. It's a Daz original so i'm sure everyone will get the chance to pick it up super cheap over the next few chilly months  Thanks for popping by L'Adair!

Mr. Tumnus

Another instance of using a Ghost Light, this time as a fill light. The HDRI I used to light the scene was actually from Orestes Sunny Day set. The snow behind Mr. Tumnus is from KA's Iray Snow, Ice and Ash product I got in 2016 as a Christmas freebie. (It's available in the store, now, and well worth the investment,) and shows up beautifully when the "sun" is in the right spot. I rotated the dome and found some "dead' spots, where I had to move the snow object or the dome. I moved the dome. That left the subject in shadow, except for his right shoulder. Iray Ghost Lights to the rescue.

I'd also like to mention, I used the snow shaders from KA's Iray Snow, Ice and Ash on the rest of the environment, replacing the snow shaders on the tree and bush. I used Secluded shoreline as the base environment, removing anything I didn't need, applying snow shaders to things I did need: the water became a field of snow, "smaller" rocks were completely covered, the cliffs got spotty coverage by creating a geoshell, applying the snow shader, and manually adding a transmap, (found in the snow product's texture folder,) to hide the snow in spots, and increasing the tiling. (Thank you so much, Andy.)