52. Effect of Density on Rotating and Horizontal Ropes.  I’ve conducted a lot of experiments, some work out and some don’t. This one was to see if you could use a helper sphere to swirl a rope around a central point.  I always start with default surface settings to see what happens and then look for adjustments. In this case, it turns out super low density values are the key.

a. Create a central pole with a cylinder of 4 feet length and 4 inch diameter. Create two spheres of 6 inch diameter, 16 segments, and 16 sides. Put one on the pole near its bottom and the other away from the pole. Parent the sphere that is away from the pole to the one on the pole.

b. Create a long cylinder that is 100 feet long, 1 inch diameter, with 100 segments and 6 sides. Position one end of the cylinder into the sphere as shown below. Do not parent the cylinder to the sphere. Add a dForce dynamic modifier to the cylinder. Turn self-collide off in the Surfaces pane.

c. Set up an animation timeline with 32 frames. Set a key frame for the sphere on the pole at frame 0. At frame 32, move the sphere up the pole and set Y-rotate to 1440 (which will give you 4 complete rotations). As the inner sphere rotates, the outer sphere will sweep in a wide arc around the pole, pulling the cylinder (rope) behind it.

d. Run the dForce simulation with default density (180). You will find the rope misbehaves, sticking to the center pole and wrapping up and over itself. The images below show frame 14 and 28 from both a top and side view. You can go here https://vimeo.com/281092215 to see an animated version of these simulations.

e. Density 25. This was the first density where the rope didn’t strike the central pole. The rope swirls around the pole but has an elongated shape.

f. Density 5. The rope mostly follows a circular path.

g. Density 1. The rope follows along a path that’s even tighter than a circle.

h. A density value between 1 and 5 seems to be best. These are much lower values than I would normally expect to use. As I mentioned earlier, an animated version can be see on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/281092215

i. I set up another scene with just one sphere and the rope embedded in it. I duplicated the rope multiple times and changed the density for each one. Below is an image showing the result of single frame simulations using default gravity and default surface settings, other than Density, which runs from 2 for the top rope (stayed horizontal), to 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, and 180 (default) for the bottom rope.

ADDED: As you can see, the lowest density value of 2 makes the rope fully rigid. Steadily increasing density values cause the rope to sag more near the point of attachment. I’ve noticed this sagging pattern before, where instead of a smooth drape from end to end, you get a lot of draping near the attachment point and a mostly horizontal section away from it. Since these were all done for the same time duration, it’s likely the horizontal section would fall further with added time. This also shows that dForce simulation appears to be working from one end to the other, rather than everywhere at once.

Hello everyone! I’m attempting to get something started and could use your feedback and/or help. I’ve been a gamer for a very long time and over the years my passion has shifted to MMORPG’s, which is short for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Technology for communication in these games has come a long way since the first MMO. Now lots of people are using a free software called Discord to communicate via Chat or Speech. It’s become so popular that even non-game related organizations are using it.

I thought it might be an amazing idea to create a Discord server for those of us that create 3D art. So I spent the better half of this morning populating a server with Categories for just that purpose.  I thought why not? Its free, easy to use and provides a real time discussion environment.

Discord can be used via a standalone desktop program or via an app on your phone, allowing members to communicate at any time or anywhere there is a reception for your phone or tablet.

What I need help with right now is feedback. I need willing individuals to join the server and let me know what could be added or even changed for a better flow in communication and information sharing.

I will need moderators and assistant admins if this catches on but I also have a few ideas for other roles for helpful individuals and the like.

You can read more about Discord here: https://discordapp.com
That page also has the download link for the program.

To join the server just click this link: https://discord.gg/VqXdRWt
Or search for 3D Art Central

Hope to see some of you join up and offer some feedback!

Bethesda Fountain at NYC's Central Park has a bird with a sense of humor... Or irony... I'm not sure which...

Actually, it's on the wall adjacent to the stairs in front of the fountain... 

In case it's not clear, that's a stone carving of a bird... A real bird built a nest under it in such a way it looks like the stone bird is a real bird sitting in a nest.

It took me a second or two to realize I was looking at a fake bird... The real nest was confusing.

Clever critters birds are sometimes.

I'm impressed!   

Dana

+1 lol

Bethesda Fountain at NYC's Central Park has a bird with a sense of humor... Or irony... I'm not sure which...

Actually, it's on the wall adjacent to the stairs in front of the fountain... 

In case it's not clear, that's a stone carving of a bird... A real bird built a nest under it in such a way it looks like the stone bird is a real bird sitting in a nest.

It took me a second or two to realize I was looking at a fake bird... The real nest was confusing.

Clever critters birds are sometimes.

I'm impressed!   

Dana

Bethesda Fountain at NYC's Central Park has a bird with a sense of humor... Or irony... I'm not sure which...

Actually, it's on the wall adjacent to the stairs in front of the fountain... 

In case it's not clear, that's a stone carving of a bird... A real bird built a nest under it in such a way it looks like the stone bird is a real bird sitting in a nest.

It took me a second or two to realize I was looking at a fake bird... The real nest was confusing.

Clever critters birds are sometimes.

...

...true, though here in the US many rural areas here have poor Net access and slow DL/UL speeds and if the place is too small to host a good market & such it can be a 30 - 50 (or more) mile drive to do your shopping.

Also living where it is warmer has it's drawbacks as well, like needing air conditioning in summer so your computer doesn't overheat, which really runs up the power bill.  I lived in the south in the late 70s and with only 1 air conditioner running, our electric bill was around 75$ a month (which would be at least three times higher today).  Also many homes and apartments in warmer areas are not well insulated (or insulated at all) and don't usually have central heating, so if there is a cold snap you feel it more than someone living in a northern location as you are not acclimatised to it (and those baseboard or "in wall" heaters are also very inefficient as well).

Wow that was cheap. We live in Ohio and our electric bill is around $250 a month due to TV's and computers running 24/7 cause the kids don't know how to shut them off.

...that was over forty years ago.  All we had were the lights, a stereo, and the air conditioner. The kitchen stove and oven were gas (which cost us something like 5$ a month), Hot water was centralised for the entire building. In the fall when temperatures fell enough to where we didn't need the AC, our electric bill was around 20$. It rose to over 40$ in the winter because of the cheap inefficient "in wall" heaters the place had.

In the mid-90s my electric bill in Texas was $35 a month, also without my using air conditioning, so prices have went up by 16% - 30% so that's a pretty big increase really even if it has been 20 years.

...

...true, though here in the US many rural areas here have poor Net access and slow DL/UL speeds and if the place is too small to host a good market & such it can be a 30 - 50 (or more) mile drive to do your shopping.

Also living where it is warmer has it's drawbacks as well, like needing air conditioning in summer so your computer doesn't overheat, which really runs up the power bill.  I lived in the south in the late 70s and with only 1 air conditioner running, our electric bill was around 75$ a month (which would be at least three times higher today).  Also many homes and apartments in warmer areas are not well insulated (or insulated at all) and don't usually have central heating, so if there is a cold snap you feel it more than someone living in a northern location as you are not acclimatised to it (and those baseboard or "in wall" heaters are also very inefficient as well).

Wow that was cheap. We live in Ohio and our electric bill is around $250 a month due to TV's and computers running 24/7 cause the kids don't know how to shut them off.

...that was over forty years ago.  All we had were the lights, a stereo, and the air conditioner. The kitchen stove and oven were gas (which cost us something like 5$ a month), Hot water was centralised for the entire building. In the fall when temperatures fell enough to where we didn't need the AC, our electric bill was around 20$. It rose to over 40$ in the winter because of the cheap inefficient "in wall" heaters the place had.

...true, though here in the US many rural areas here have poor Net access and slow DL/UL speeds and if the place is too small to host a good market & such it can be a 30 - 50 (or more) mile drive to do your shopping.

Also living where it is warmer has it's drawbacks as well, like needing air conditioning in summer so your computer doesn't overheat, which really runs up the power bill.  I lived in the south in the late 70s and with only 1 air conditioner running, our electric bill was around 75$ a month (which would be at least three times higher today).  Also many homes and apartments in warmer areas are not well insulated (or insulated at all) and don't usually have central heating, so if there is a cold snap you feel it more than someone living in a northern location as you are not acclimatised to it (and those baseboard or "in wall" heaters are also very inefficient as well).

My electric bill is $35 - $45 in the summer (I can't figure out why it varies that much it shouldn't actually but I don't use air conditioner) and in winter it is $55 - $65 but that is because I have gas heat which runs consistantly $45 - $65 in winter. In summer it can be above 100 some years and consistently gets for some days in the 90s. I the winter it have been -25 and -15 for a couple of days 2 of the 3 past winters! That sort of cold here used to be a every 30 year event. The flyers I get from the electric/gas company claim I have better energy savings than anyone else in my neighborhood but really that's because I don't use it not because the house is efficient. I need to re-insulate the entire house for it to be really improved. I think I will use Owens-Corning.

...true, though here in the US many rural areas here have poor Net access and slow DL/UL speeds and if the place is too small to host a good market & such it can be a 30 - 50 (or more) mile drive to do your shopping.

Also living where it is warmer has it's drawbacks as well, like needing air conditioning in summer so your computer doesn't overheat, which really runs up the power bill.  I lived in the south in the late 70s and with only 1 air conditioner running, our electric bill was around 75$ a month (which would be at least three times higher today).  Also many homes and apartments in warmer areas are not well insulated (or insulated at all) and don't usually have central heating, so if there is a cold snap you feel it more than someone living in a northern location as you are not acclimatised to it (and those baseboard or "in wall" heaters are also very inefficient as well).

Wow that was cheap. We live in Ohio and our electric bill is around $250 a month due to TV's and computers running 24/7 cause the kids don't know how to shut them off.

...true, though here in the US many rural areas here have poor Net access and slow DL/UL speeds and if the place is too small to host a good market & such it can be a 30 - 50 (or more) mile drive to do your shopping.

Also living where it is warmer has it's drawbacks as well, like needing air conditioning in summer so your computer doesn't overheat, which really runs up the power bill.  I lived in the south in the late 70s and with only 1 air conditioner running, our electric bill was around 75$ a month (which would be at least three times higher today).  Also many homes and apartments in warmer areas are not well insulated (or insulated at all) and don't usually have central heating, so if there is a cold snap you feel it more than someone living in a northern location as you are not acclimatised to it (and those baseboard or "in wall" heaters are also very inefficient as well).

@isidorn ... yeah, I'm thinking Serene Night is probably right that it's Ajax hair but like I said, between styles & morphs not shown in promos, and things we all do with hair products, like you say, splicing them together to get different looks, or turning off limits etc, you can go well off the map from how the base product looks.  And I'm with you and @IceDragonArt about how hard it can be to remember exactly what ingredients you've actually used in your soup by the time you get done trying 50 different outfits, poses, material presets, lights, outfits, secret decoder rings.  One thing I often wish is that Daz Studio would do like Photoshop and have an adjustable HISTORY LOG which depending on your preference and available memory to support it, could remember/undo/redo from 10 to ### many things you do in DS, and have a little panel where you could SEE the LIST of actions you've done, including what resources you clicked into the scene (and kept :) as well as the ones you swapped out. Even more glorious if you could just scroll through that list and click something you'd tried out but replaced much earlier and get that action/preset/etc back again instead of having to trawl back through the content system to find something over again, the same way pshop lets you instantly return to those prior states. Aside from the convenience while making try-out decisions for a scene, it'd be super to be able to see exactly what is present in the final scene in one central listing. ah... sweet dreams are made of this... :)
   ~Gen

...happy 64th trip around our central main sequence stellar primary. 

My Fun Thought For the Day!     Thanks!

...happy 64th trip around our central main sequence stellar primary. 

Here's where it's not a fair test, fully. 

There's a hundred reasons why it's not even test, at all. If we are going to put forth that the forum is 'too small' a sampling of the Daz customer base to warrant adding ANY CREDENCE to their opinions/desires/experiences --

(because, well, only on the Daz forum do concepts like Polls, Studies and Surveys not work)

-- then throwing up some free samples on your website and seeing who downloads them is WHAT?

---)) It's not always about comparing one thing to another. Because then, I should be able to argue against selling anything OTHER THAN women's skimpwear since SALES is your final measuring stick.

By that logic, we should remove Product Suggestions and NEVER ask for, suggest or mention interest in ANYTHING outisde of ladies-wear since it's obviuosly the only thing Daz sells in appreciable numbers.

(That and Stonemason sets. lol)

-----------------------------------------

On a more seious note, there's cross-buying purposes. Mayhaps, some of the other interests outside of character-driven portraits are here and buying stuff. My forum activity is tied to my central interest. If I'm a game developer, I might buy Daz assets, but I'm active on Gamer-design or 3D assets chucking forums and NOT the Daz forum. I don't care about iray or DIM or any of the things that befuddle the Daz forumites. I check the sales page when the email looks interesting....and other than that....

-------------

The big question I'd want to know is - is making male clothes profitable?

Not asking what sells more, but if it sells enough to be worth doing.

If that sounds confusing a think to consider- there are lots of vendors who make things that do not sell massive amounts of units.

And yeah, if your rent is paid by Daz Store sales maybe you don't decide to make Spoons as your staple. Silver Spoons, gold spoons, fancy spoons, toon spoons, medieval spoons, futuristic spoons, wooden spoons! 

And then branch out. Spoon poses. A spoon stand...a LADLE! ...

The vendors have answered this in other threads but:

1) The big question I'd want to know is - is making male clothes profitable?... For most vendors, probably not.... Sickleyield has show her data for her own products and the female product generally sells at a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio so, in general, a vendor who makes a male product generally makes out of love.  There are exceptions such as the vendors who make space suits and monsters but for seems to hold true for conventional clothes

2) Not asking what sells more, but if it sells enough to be worth doing. Maybe.... a cautionary tale would be Stonemason's clothing line which was beautifully designed, reasonably priced, and probably on a thousand wish lists but most people didn't buy it.  Male-3dia once created a wonderful biracial chacter that used a new texture resource made just for him and I think I was one of the few people who bought it.  

3) By that logic, we should remove Product Suggestions and NEVER ask for, suggest or mention interest in ANYTHING outisde of ladies-wear since it's obviuosly the only thing Daz sells in appreciable numbers. suggestions are nice when you keep in mind that they are suggestions and not bespoke orders.
 
and 4) The "spoons thing" is complicated because every time you make a spoon, all the people who asked for spoons tell you that it is either a horrible spoon and why don't you make a spoon that suites their specifc needs or tell you that it is a great spoon but they will buy it only when there is a matching fork.  So you make the matching fork, and they only buy the matching fork and tell you that spoon doesn't suit their needs.  Next you run into the bulk of the people who don't buy spoons and only use forks; they are will ing to buy forks at more profitable price points in three times the volume  and are less critical about forks...  You look at your unsold inventory of unsold spoons and your fellow vendor who sold loads of simple forks and din't have to field loads of complaints... and you get that complaint about why you don't make more spoons....

Here's where it's not a fair test, fully. 

There's a hundred reasons why it's not even test, at all. If we are going to put forth that the forum is 'too small' a sampling of the Daz customer base to warrant adding ANY CREDENCE to their opinions/desires/experiences --

(because, well, only on the Daz forum do concepts like Polls, Studies and Surveys not work)

-- then throwing up some free samples on your website and seeing who downloads them is WHAT?

---)) It's not always about comparing one thing to another. Because then, I should be able to argue against selling anything OTHER THAN women's skimpwear since SALES is your final measuring stick.

By that logic, we should remove Product Suggestions and NEVER ask for, suggest or mention interest in ANYTHING outisde of ladies-wear since it's obviuosly the only thing Daz sells in appreciable numbers.

(That and Stonemason sets. lol)

-----------------------------------------

On a more seious note, there's cross-buying purposes. Mayhaps, some of the other interests outside of character-driven portraits are here and buying stuff. My forum activity is tied to my central interest. If I'm a game developer, I might buy Daz assets, but I'm active on Gamer-design or 3D assets chucking forums and NOT the Daz forum. I don't care about iray or DIM or any of the things that befuddle the Daz forumites. I check the sales page when the email looks interesting....and other than that....

-------------

The big question I'd want to know is - is making male clothes profitable?

Not asking what sells more, but if it sells enough to be worth doing.

If that sounds confusing a think to consider- there are lots of vendors who make things that do not sell massive amounts of units.

And yeah, if your rent is paid by Daz Store sales maybe you don't decide to make Spoons as your staple. Silver Spoons, gold spoons, fancy spoons, toon spoons, medieval spoons, futuristic spoons, wooden spoons! 

And then branch out. Spoon poses. A spoon stand...a LADLE! ...

I don't think I'm allowed to attach an image as the ones in question are designed for print on HD acrylic and are for sale, or will be once sorted. But an image won't tell you any more than I've already explained.
If you look at my icon which is just the centerpiece of a wider image there are front rails. In that image the main light which casts shadows - the sun or distant light - is to the right and so all shadows angle to the left correctly. In the image I mentioned above it's the same rails but they're more distant (plus I use another shader on them). When the sun is positioned centrally the shadows on the centre rails are as they should be - l l l l - but the ones on the left begin slant bt degrees to the right [/ / / /] while the shadows on the right slant by degrees to left [\ \ \ \]. As said above a foreground building on the left has its shadow angled right while a distant building on the left has its shadow angled left. I only get this effect when the sun/distant light is centred.
In 2 images I have which are for sale there a four characters in each. One image has the characters centred and facing forward in the mid-distance so the centred sun creates shadows approximately like this though not as extreme: / / \ \. In the other image the characters are evenly spaced and right in the foreground and the shadows are the same. Re these images the shadows create a dynamic effect and so are fine, but in all landscape images I've tried in which buildings, props and characters are smaller with a central sun the shadows just look wrong as they're / on the left and \ on the right. The solve is easy: change the position of the sun! But Id like to know why it is that I'm getting these oppositely angled shadows.

Just make a simplified scene then, with your troublesome lighting and a few cube and cylinder primitives placed where the rails and buildings would be. A picture is worth a thousand words, you know.

I don't think I'm allowed to attach an image as the ones in question are designed for print on HD acrylic and are for sale, or will be once sorted. But an image won't tell you any more than I've already explained.
If you look at my icon which is just the centerpiece of a wider image there are front rails. In that image the main light which casts shadows - the sun or distant light - is to the right and so all shadows angle to the left correctly. In the image I mentioned above it's the same rails but they're more distant (plus I use another shader on them). When the sun is positioned centrally the shadows on the centre rails are as they should be - l l l l - but the ones on the left begin slant bt degrees to the right [/ / / /] while the shadows on the right slant by degrees to left [\ \ \ \]. As said above a foreground building on the left has its shadow angled right while a distant building on the left has its shadow angled left. I only get this effect when the sun/distant light is centred.
In 2 images I have which are for sale there a four characters in each. One image has the characters centred and facing forward in the mid-distance so the centred sun creates shadows approximately like this though not as extreme: / / \ \. In the other image the characters are evenly spaced and right in the foreground and the shadows are the same. Re these images the shadows create a dynamic effect and so are fine, but in all landscape images I've tried in which buildings, props and characters are smaller with a central sun the shadows just look wrong as they're / on the left and \ on the right. The solve is easy: change the position of the sun! But Id like to know why it is that I'm getting these oppositely angled shadows.

Thanks for the feedback above folks! I'm rendering in 3DL re the images I have where shadows are noticeably as such when the sun is centre: /////llll\\\\ - but it's mostly on landscape images (not indoor). I'm not using a wide angle lens; Lens Distortion Type is "none"; and Headlamp Mode is Auto. An Off render is the same as Auto, but On has no effect on the shadows. All camera settings are default. On various images I'm using various lightings, some environment defaults but always with extra lighting and often altered diffuse/filter colours. Only the Sun is ever set to produce shadows. Shadow type, intensity, etc, makes no difference, plus I've tried altering numerous other parameters, but all to no avail. In all renders which have the Sun well off to left or right of centre the shadows all go in the same direction, so it's only when the sun is central or just off centre I get the left side shadows angled right and the right angled left.

Kitbashed a uniform to make it close to the Discovery Era suits. 

Here's a fun kitbash I just threw together...

She's a Free Worlds ship.  According to FASA lore, the Alliance of Free Worlds (aka Baker's Dozen) is located between Federation, Klingon, and Romulan Space, with dozens of worlds contained within this neutral space.  The AOFW has 12 member worlds, with a 13th World considering admission.

As the AOFW needs to defend itself from incursions, well they scrape together whatever they can.  The Hanger pods were acquired as a result of a cross-dimensional accident...

Her name (Alliance) is a nod to her Federation Donor ship as well as an apt name for the flagship of the AOFW.  She fromerly served in the Federation fleet under the registry NCC 2113 Alliance, a Federation Class Dreadnought.  The AOFW recovered her saucer section from the scrap heap....

Much speculation has been made about what happened to the Alliance's original secondary hull...  well I KNOW but that's a completely different kitbash...

This kitbash (of four different models, including the Ares tail section) was done almost entirely in Daz Studio, with the exception of the clamshell doors on the central shuttle bay, which I sent into Hexagon real quick.  I needed to add some thickness to the primitive sphere I used, after I made some geometry deletions to said sphere into 'pie sections' in Daz Studio.

I used Photoshop for the AOFW logo textures and FWS Alliance tags, and of course a small amount of post work (weird lighting issue).

Anyways, enough silliness for now.  Enjoy!

edit: Fixed a typo in the image

Looks like you used some parts from the Battlestar Galatica, too. 

thats said, Orchard Music relentlessly pursues me and other users on youtube for using public domain music even done by Kevin McCloud's Incompotech with the creative commons attribution 

Well that's a case of Orchard Music needing a counter suite for frivolously abusing the public. Being a passive-agressive entity using cries of wolf to abuse and intimidate the innocent is illegal too. The jurisdictions in question, likely all in the USA and/or the EU I'm pretty sure, should have a central database of such activities and do some mathematical crunching on that database. They'd quickly figure out when places like Orchard Music are abusing the public with lawsuits that amount to lies.