Thanks, Szark, that's good to know.

Here's another test render, this time with a G8 that has 3Delight materials. I made sure Gamma was set to on and at 2.2. Haven't tweaked any surfaces yet. Used Orestes sunset as the HDRI and DA's Palm Island with the default loaded distant light still on (turned off the UE stuff though.) I added one pinkish spotlight at 50%. This rendered in 1 minute!

Same here, looks like lots of Featured Artists stores are at 58% off total when it should be 65% total with 30% Loyalty Discount and New Release. OOT, Orestes, SY, goldtassel, Aako, Stonemason, bluejaunte, Josh Crockett, AprilYSH, Cake One, Design Anvil, Kindred Arts, and more...

Edited to add that this was with Still New Releases, though it has since been fixed.

Anyone else having issue with both 2017 and 2016-1015 top seller not showing full discount even with a new product in cart?  2017 topseller used to give 65% (50% off with new item in cart and then 30% of loyalty reward) but now most product from that catogory only gives 58%. From the 2016-2015 top seller catogory most items gives 65% instead of the usual 72% with item in carts. 

I just refreshed my cart (Ctrl+F5), and I'm seeing the correct discounts.

Did not work for me, I even tried loggin out and back in again but still not working.

Working with the item I tested. What items do you have in your cart, assuming it isn't  alarge number? Are the new items recent or are they from earlier in the promo?

The cart contains 58 products   so took 2 pictures of a few of the products.. 1 picture shows the products that shows 58% instead of 65% and second picture show Orestes hdri, the naufire mountain and sporty ponytail hair that shows 65% instead of 72%.

That's a hard one because I have some good free stuff as well as paid.  Here some of my favorites.

https://www.daz3d.com/sci-fi-cockpit-interior

https://www.daz3d.com/orestes-iray-hdri-skydomes-vol-3-vega-system

https://www.daz3d.com/iray-hdri-space

Free:

https://sfman.deviantart.com/art/Free-Modular-sci-fi-kit-by-sfman-680313880

I use TerraDome3 alot to create alien environments. 

https://www.daz3d.com/terradome-3-iray

https://www.daz3d.com/terraluna-3

Hi @tkdrobert

I love both of the HDRI's you listed. I use the one by Kindred Arts the most. 

I also have Terradome 3. I didn't even think of using it for creating off-planet landscapes. Thank you for the idea!

Thank you for sharing the link to SFMan's deviant art page! The free modular sci-fi kit looks awesome. It has a creative commons license and I'm not sure if it can be used for commercial use--but it would be fun to use for general "in space" renders. 

Trish

That's a hard one because I have some good free stuff as well as paid.  Here some of my favorites.

https://www.daz3d.com/sci-fi-cockpit-interior

https://www.daz3d.com/orestes-iray-hdri-skydomes-vol-3-vega-system

https://www.daz3d.com/iray-hdri-space

Free:

https://sfman.deviantart.com/art/Free-Modular-sci-fi-kit-by-sfman-680313880

I use TerraDome3 alot to create alien environments. 

https://www.daz3d.com/terradome-3-iray

https://www.daz3d.com/terraluna-3

Also, you can create planets by creating primatives and applying textures to them.  You can download free planet textures like Mars and Jupitor, etc from NASA.

That's a hard one because I have some good free stuff as well as paid.  Here some of my favorites.

https://www.daz3d.com/sci-fi-cockpit-interior

https://www.daz3d.com/orestes-iray-hdri-skydomes-vol-3-vega-system

https://www.daz3d.com/iray-hdri-space

Free:

https://sfman.deviantart.com/art/Free-Modular-sci-fi-kit-by-sfman-680313880

I use TerraDome3 alot to create alien environments. 

https://www.daz3d.com/terradome-3-iray

https://www.daz3d.com/terraluna-3

I made this recently for Lola Lane's render a month challenge. 

There are 5 piles of bones which I covered, using dforce, with cobweb sheets from https://www.daz3d.com/orestes-cobwebs 

Ariadne's (far left) chiton and peplos (https://www.daz3d.com/hellenic-for-genesis-3-females) are also using dforce. With the chilton I used an influence map so that everything from the waist up is static. For the peplos I made the shoulders static.

Rendered in 3Delight.

I really wanted to check out the sales pages for many of the HDRIs like this one https://www.daz3d.com/mec4d-hdri-gardens-vol-1-megapack and all from Mec4d, Orestes, maybe others but they crash on my iPad. I do all my shopping on my iPad or iPhone and I'm sure many others do too. Please make the web pages viewable on these devices. Thanks 

I have a hard time learning software. Eventually I gave up trying to learn the other software titles, including Hexagon. 

Nice that you are honest. I'm in the same boat (move on over, will ya?!) but it's possible to use Hexagon from a zero-base sort of standpoint, eg. right now a beginner could have zip-all, nothing under their belt, and with Hexagon you could at least make SOMETHING after jumping through some of the inevitable hoops.

In my case I have absolutely zero clue what I am doing, but I was able nonetheless to draw an outline of a steel rail, in Hexagon (there is a sort of poly "line tool" in the package) and from there I kind of extruded the "rails" in this scene. Okay so the rail's aren't perfect and I didn't spend a lot of time cutting and pasting them but still... I forget what the main prop is, probably a cave by Magix or Predatron and I didn't do as well with the broken up barrels and staves by Orestes.

Like anything worthwhile, Hexagon takes a bit of time and effort. I'm not 100% defending it, or the sparse documentation and indexing (try searching "mesh density") but then again, you could say that the Blender people have a larger variety of tutorials on Youtube, eg. for a beginner that might be a bit of a plus.

Anyway good to hear about progress in the category; at first I thought they were trying to sell more tutorials, eg. that was the reason it was brought up to the main page, in the DAZ store, in late 2017.

nice job

I have a hard time learning software. Eventually I gave up trying to learn the other software titles, including Hexagon. 

Nice that you are honest. I'm in the same boat (move on over, will ya?!) but it's possible to use Hexagon from a zero-base sort of standpoint, eg. right now a beginner could have zip-all, nothing under their belt, and with Hexagon you could at least make SOMETHING after jumping through some of the inevitable hoops.

In my case I have absolutely zero clue what I am doing, but I was able nonetheless to draw an outline of a steel rail, in Hexagon (there is a sort of poly "line tool" in the package) and from there I kind of extruded the "rails" in this scene. Okay so the rail's aren't perfect and I didn't spend a lot of time cutting and pasting them but still... I forget what the main prop is, probably a cave by Magix or Predatron and I didn't do as well with the broken up barrels and staves by Orestes.

Like anything worthwhile, Hexagon takes a bit of time and effort. I'm not 100% defending it, or the sparse documentation and indexing (try searching "mesh density") but then again, you could say that the Blender people have a larger variety of tutorials on Youtube, eg. for a beginner that might be a bit of a plus.

Anyway good to hear about progress in the category; at first I thought they were trying to sell more tutorials, eg. that was the reason it was brought up to the main page, in the DAZ store, in late 2017.

Hats off to Aave Nainan for this gorgeous render of her new dForce Fringed Breezy Dress for G3F and G8F. Love that she included items used. I was surprised to discover this is the Fantasy Hall by Imaginary House . I never even noticed the window much before, and didn't think to use it this way. Very beautiful, especially with Dumor's Rhododendrons. The image demonstrates the product wonderfully. I'm sold on it! 

@FirstBastion Those autumn renders were incredible! Sold me right away on those sets. Orestes always has great promos but lately that PA is just knocking it out of the park! 

Thanks, Liana! That's actually Orestes Dreadful Clouds HDRI. I also used Ron's Fog Brushes to add some extra dark clouds in because I didn't want the sky upstaging her (it was too bright in some places.)

I've stopped buying HDRI. I used to be a total addict, but I find too much sameness in the quality of light and they don't produce results I can use.

I've only been using daz for 10 months but I've picked up a few of the hdri's. these are the ones I've picked up this past year. 

Fantasy IBL - Above the Clouds HDRI ( just started setting this up but so far looks good)
SLP Iray HDRI Mastery ( use once in awhile) 
Studio Light PRO Iray HDRI - 180 Maps ( works excellent in open spaces, and some in rooms )
Iray Promo Lights & HDRI Render Settings ( used on a couple of images mostly rim lights)
Orestes Iray HDRI Skydomes Vol 4 - Sunset ( I have used this with sucess in several images )
Iray HDRI Storms Lightning and Desert ( I used this a lot for zombies and cemetary stuff)
First Light Skydome and HDRI ( just started using this so far looks good) 
Orestes Iray HDRI Skydomes Vol 3 - Vega System ( I like the rotaions with these hdris)

I use the Mars 360 often as well. Can get some great backgrounds. I just find that positioning items is the most time consuming thing to ensure that image really works with background.

With rotations around and up and down with most of the hdri's you can get some great images.  Each kit has something different. 

I know you can dial in many of the settings but the one click has captured my attention. For Bloom, intensities etc. I keep one window open on one monitor with settings and another with full view of the viewport before images are added and I can rotate quite fast to see how I want the dome's to appear. With each set I watch the settings to see what effects things. I found that the dome multiplie set any whare from 1 to 300 works. Well, with enough clicking :-) I can actually see the domes get tighter and more clear with the light dome multiplier settings.  For example. This image not yet complete as I keep buying things to add. Next will be towels.  etc. :-)

I'm going thru and documenting image this week as I try and now where I'm using things.  I'm just curious and try various settings to see what works especially after watching the forums and coming up with a base set of settings that I use on each image.  Still learning myself. 

Gemini,

I've never found one. There are some web props, https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/spider-web-3d/101617/ and https://www.daz3d.com/orestes-cobwebs, but not web lines.

Would love to buy pumpkins mega pack with vines and leaves attached with green and dead leaves, with flowers and new baby pumpkins. The new one out now is great but would have been even better if it had vines and plants attached.

Working this week on Parts 3 & 4 of the Beautiful Hair tutorial and getting my Black Kat promos ready for Halloween. Hoping to use some of those wonderful pumpkins Orestes came out with, but hard pressed to find a really good black cat. ​Unlucky Charm will be free on Amazon from Oct 29-Nov 2. I'm still working on the next book, Kat & Mouse, which should be out this winter. 

well, i got my light issue sorted out--thanks, fastbike1!--and i've been playing with the rain for the past week.  (even gotten it to produce a really nice snowfall effect.)

now i'm wondering if it's possible to eliminate the cylindrical artifacts i get when i'm using j.cade's fantastic painter's lights with the rain planes.

if you hide off either the rain prop or the painter's lights sets, the artifacts vanish.

and they do really seem to be cylindrical...which seems pretty strange to me, as the rain prop seems to be a pretty linear beast. 

in the interest of rounding out lighting information, the primary lighting in the scene is one of orestes graphics' hdris.

interesting stuff.  curiouser and curiouser...

j

I pulled into a roadside farmer's market about an hour north of here just the other day,  and  I pretty well saw this image. It's that close to reality..    So detailsed, vivid autumn colors,  and as Orestes Graphics mentiones Epic pumpkins.  

Working great, just wish I'd seen this BEFORE I checked out with a cart full of Orestes fall goodies ( @dreamfarmer - I'm with you there!) 

But there were other things I wanted today that I had resisted. Not so much now that there's 5 extra free things on top of the 3 Halloween items, the BYOBs, the daily spotlights and everything else. Wow! Brutal to the willpower! 

I checked out way too soon when Lucas 8 arrived. Ended up reordering everything and adding in others to get better discounts, and had to ask CS for a refund on the original order. (I figured that would be the easiest for everyone. No math involved! lol)

So now I'm waiting before I check out. Worked out really well today, that's for sure.

Working great, just wish I'd seen this BEFORE I checked out with a cart full of Orestes fall goodies ( @dreamfarmer - I'm with you there!) 

But there were other things I wanted today that I had resisted. Not so much now that there's 5 extra free things on top of the 3 Halloween items, the BYOBs, the daily spotlights and everything else. Wow! Brutal to the willpower!