Works OK for me - 50% off 2+ new releases and 60% off PA catalogs (70+% if DO).

As of 2:30 p.m. Central, there are several items that were part of the PA sale, which only show a discount of 30%. According to the catch up sale wording, ALL new PA items should be back at the 40% discount for one and 50% for two. I have several items in the cart waiting for this correction to be made.

Trish

The Mediterranean Look

There's a number of products in the Daz store that can give you a quick big city. I've featured some already (Dreamland models, Urban Sprawl 3, Medina Cityscape Generator, etc.) and have several more to show. This post is about La Piazza Realistic Mediterranean Town. It's an older 3DL product but looks really good and renders fast (on the order of a couple of minutes). It comes with lights and skydome and that's all I used in these renders. There's 50 cameras scattered about the city (the easiest way to find them is to use a default camera up high then you can spot where they are located). As with any older products, DS loads the materials with specular set to 100%, so select all the building and props in the Scene pane, select all of them again in the Surfaces pane, and set specular strength to 0-5%. The Mediterranean region covers a broad geographic area - I would say this most reminds me of Italy. No matter where it is, this city would be a great setting for an evening time stroll around the central plaza.

By the way, it's in Mega Fast Grab today.

Click on the images to see them full size.

I find myself buying very little content from any store - much as I admire the wonderful things made by PAs.  But I see that sales come around again and again.

Although I'm not in debt, thankfully, I'm always aware and worried about big things - my central heating is 21 years old - that's a big chunk of my savings about to vanish and I'm holding on for as long as possible.  My old car will need repairs at any time - as cars do.  I mainly do my own repairs but it still blows away a lot of cash.   Dental bills are about to happen and the cost of everything just rises all the time.

When I look at clothing on sale I think of what I need for my own wasted body.  How much life is left in my own shoes?  How shabby are the things I wear? (ANSWER ....ahem, better not go there).

Depending on your debt, which is your own business obviously, just buy an occasional item until things get better.  Don't forego things like having a haircut and eating decent food to own software items which will be on sale again.  (I don't know if its that bad - no offence intended).

Like you, using the various available tools and my own scripts/hacks, I try to keep up with all of my resources (your approach seems quite comprehensive and appropriate to your collection - wow.).

I want to also mention that for both DAZ and non-DAZ content browsing and analysis, I really like the "p3dO Explorer" package/tool. I get the indication that the developer is working to integrate the current DS formats (duf, etc.) in the tool. I hope so.

Sadly, I'm starting to believe (based on the evidence...) that I prefer collecting and managing content more than rendering my million ideas. sigh.

DAZ's DIM and connect (I don't/won't use connect) help with DAZ content, but don't integrate with anyone else's, so ... my investment in portability and vendor neutral data management supercede their data silo model, so DIM is a handy but minimal tool in my workflow.

I'm still looking for the tool that considers the content's meta-data with the seriousness of the data itself - descriptions, representative images, file-lists, and usage docs. Sure, DAZ has the content-library and smart-content databases, but again (and for obvious reason), they are DAZ-specific. So with my content collection being maybe 30% DAZ, and having no clean way to import/export that categorization investment, it's a no-go for me. Ironically, by attempting to force me into their data silo, they guarantee my rejection of it. 90% of the DIM "Product Info" resources are completely useless, (as are the readme's and howtos for the products of all except a those from a few precious PA's). This isn't just a rant, as the only way I'm likely to use a product *after I've bought it*, is to have the post-purchase ability to find and 'operate' the product - hence the need for a decent catalog.

'Print as PDF' is a minimum for me to ensure I've got a base record of what I have purchased and/or downloaded. After that it's the wild-west of hacks and patches we've been mentioning here.

I can't blame DAZ for their myopic interests, but can't help but believe that they would be grand-central-winners if they enhanced their tools to include the ability to import everyone-else's content into their eco-system (e.g. auto-import and 'to-DUF' conversion of poser libraries, etc.). The level of DS use and adoption would only go up, and they would certainly sell more materials and tools for users to better-render their new and existing Poser content.

Anyone else have and trust any unmentioned librarian tool for their content addictions?

curious,

--ms

Strange, you find out that your information may have been compromised then you go to a page that asks you to fill in all your personal information again.  Not sure how this helps.

The irony of that was not lost on me.  I'm in the UK and from what I have heard on the news would not be affected as none of the 'services' they offer encroach on any area I am aware that I either use or have used by any local or central government agency.  And yes, I am pretty sure that a lot is done about which I, or anyone, knows nothing!  Got to love the internet! 

Thank you both @IceDragonArt and @Knittingmommy

The light in bot render is from the epic props Godrays https://www.daz3d.com/epic-props-godrays-volumetric-light-for-iray from thePhilospher. I love that light system!

Now I have been trying to learn some lettering for my story and i need your input

here is the krill farm and the main char and her brother give me some chance to try out lettering and making speech bubbles. There is a lot to learn on this one and I'm gratefull for all input on this.
For one I'm not sure if I want to put up those location infos in the upper left corner. I thought it might be some interesting aspect but on the other hand I wonder if it will be necessary or some distraction an people wonder who's eyes we look through to get this info. Sure here its out of context and then Info makes sense but withng? maybe I do it for scene changes.
The other thing is the dialoge. I like the half transparent bubbles and I think as I often will have low key panels, the light coloured text in the speech bubbles will work with that. What I'm more confused about is where to place the speech bubbles. I though in a conversation between two it makes sense to have them where I placed them but then they build a barrier between the persons talking and obscure the central part of the image. there woudl have been unused space more than enough on the right side and the bottom but putting the bubbles that far apart doesn't work either. So as I said Input welcome!

...micro quakes are rather common here (particularly with Mt Hood and St.Helen's nearby) that they pretty much go unnoticed. As I also live close to the train station probably wouldn't know the difference if it was a heavy freight train pounding by or an earth tremor.

I remember one morning when I was still living back in Milwaukee WI in 1969, the ground shook for a moment,  At first I thought a train had derailed as we were less than a block away from a major freight rail line (dual tracks).  I was surprised to hear on the radio that it was due to a minor earthquake in south central Illinois.  We thought, an earthquake, in the Midwest? Those only happened in California and Alaska.

Of course as we learned afterwards, the strongest earthquake ever recorded in US history occurred in that region back in 1811 along what is called the New Madrid Fault.  Of course (and fortunately) the region was sparsely populated at the time with St Louis a trading post, while Chicago and Milwaukee were outpost forts. Predictions are that if another quake of similar magnitude hit the area today cities like St Louis, Little Rock and Springfield would be flattened while Chicago, Des Moines, and even Milwaukee would sustain major damage since nothing in that region was ever built or has been retrofitted to withstand seismic activity like here on the west coast.

I'm very grateful it was just a fence.  I think our neighborhood faired very well.  We still have power, too.  I've heard there are close to 200,000 homes without power this morning in our area.  

I was just out taking video and photos of all of the damage in the backyard.  The tree that was down was taller than the house and now it is laying on its side and the entire root ball is up out of the ground with another section of fence sitting on top of it.  I don't know what type of tree it was.  It is some type that didn't have one central trunk, but had a lot of trunks close together and all of the roots kind of interlock.  I'll have to do some research and let you know what it is when I find out.  I'd say it was probably a good 20 feet tall and the base with all of the trunks together spread out about 5 feet.  I can't even get to the other side of the tree to take pictures because the branches are are spread out blocking the other section of the yard and fence.

This is the top of the tree:

This is the same tree with a side view of the tree and the fence:

The other section of downed fence:

That is part of the same tree that is down (off to the right of the downed fence there is a little tree and then the rest is the downed tree) and it blocks the rest of the fence so I don't know if that back part of the fence is still standing or not.  As soon as I can get out, I'll try to take some pictures from the other side if I can get to it.  I haven't checked to see if the curfew has been lifted yet.

The house looks fine, no missing roof tiles and nothing actually hit the house.  In the front, there are palm fronds everywhere and we have someone's recycling bin in our front yard near the new van.  It doesn't look like either of the cars got hit by anything, though.  I didn't see a single scratch on either one of the cars.  I only saw one coconut on the ground.  They keep the coconuts harvested pretty well around here.  Most of the coconuts in our tree are young ones and they are all still in the tree.

There are more photos here if anyone wants to see them.  I have a video, too.  As soon as it is done uploading and I have a YouTube link for it, I'll post that.  Just my little corner of the world.  There are a lot of homes that did not fair as well.  

edit: forgot one of the pictures so I had to add it.  

edit again:  Fixed pictures.  For some reason, the links weren't working where I have them posted so I just uploaded them instead and fixed the links.

oh that is LOVELY, Novica!!! Just gorgeous! 

P3D Caro       Cailin Hair       Goldberry Outfit (G3F)

For the catchup sale, keep P3D characters in mind. I scooped her up at $5.74 and the rest at $6.07 each.  

Pro-Studio lighting.

Hurricane update: 4 million without power in Florida (4:45am Central Time.)  90% of Flagler County is out of power. Wow. 

P3D Caro       Cailin Hair       Goldberry Outfit (G3F)

For the catchup sale, keep P3D characters in mind. I scooped her up at $5.74 and the rest at $6.07 each.  

Pro-Studio lighting.

Hurricane update:4:46am  4 million without power in Florida (4:45am Central Time.)  90% of Flagler County is out of power. Wow. 

5:25am:  5.7 million in Florida no power.

25,000 MORE (in addition to the 15,000) have now lost power in Florida, even as Irma is still out there and not even to the Keys. That's as of 8:40am Central time. Governor Scott is talking now. 

I think I'll buy the android from today and MRL Mutations. For the freebie, since I have so much V4 stuff, there's not a lot to choose from. Heavenly Demise works on V4 or The Girl, and I can transfer the materials to more current  generations. Take a look at the variety, if you are also trying to find something usable.

Well, I try, it makes me feel good too.

Not feeling good about this 11pm- if you look at the cone on the nhc.noaa.gov, it no longer comes in dead center at the tip. The stupid thing has shifted WEST and stays over the water a bit. I understand the track is just a guessimate, but it even states the ridge got stronger that will keep it going west. So actually not a guess. This means if it keeps shifting west, it is going to start being in the GOM. (Gulf Of Mexico)  And now will probably remain as a Category 5 on arrival. 

"Apparently the ridge to the north of Irma has been stronger than expected, and the initial motion remains westward, or 280/11 kt."

One thing I found out- the European model's input comes in the 5am discussion, it is running when the 2am comes out. (4am and 1am Central time)  So you will get more accuracy in the 5am as more models are involved (70 computers make up the European, only 20 for the GFS American model. They input different variables into each one, changing probably only one thing at a time if they are doing it using the correct scientific research method.) 

They totally called Jose wrong (first "only a tropical storm" THEN "only a Category 1) and now it's a Category 3! so this shift to the west has many in the panhandle watching this closely. I can't imagine it coming into the gulf on the west side of the peninsula- all the people who evacuated here would be thinking, "REALLY? Gimme a break!!" 

Good news- the two horses from South Florida arrived safely at the barn, four more arriving Sunday. It took an extra two hours for them to get from Jacksonville to Pensacola, normally 6- 6 /12 hours and took them 8. That's not bad. Tomorrow would be worse! 

Did the G3 version get updated? 

HA! Finally Solved the central bulge in tops when fitted to Growing Up. Took me long enough lol....I am in the process of making a Projection morph so tops fit flush and properly on flat chested figures. Update might not be ready for release but I'll try. If not it will be released soon after. I will also try and Update the Genesis 3 Female version of Growing Up as well. Might add this to Fit Control too if I can get it across.

Just wanted to say thanks for continuing to support your G3F version! I noticed the new 'GU Clothing Support' dial, and it works great!

Thanks so much!

HA! Finally Solved the central bulge in tops when fitted to Growing Up. Took me long enough lol....I am in the process of making a Projection morph so tops fit flush and properly on flat chested figures. Update might not be ready for release but I'll try. If not it will be released soon after. I will also try and Update the Genesis 3 Female version of Growing Up as well. Might add this to Fit Control too if I can get it across.

Just wanted to say thanks for continuing to support your G3F version! I noticed the new 'GU Clothing Support' dial, and it works great!

Thanks so much!

What ticks me off is it WAS working this morning. Zero discounts on these and I have a new debut in the cart.

(new debut)    https://www.daz3d.com/ly-zara-hd-for-genesis-8-female

Mega Fast Grab, no discounts: were discounted this morning

https://www.daz3d.com/x-fashion-combat-outfit-for-genesis-3-male-s

https://www.daz3d.com/femina-furens-for-genesis-2-and-genesis-3-female-s

https://www.daz3d.com/lady-darkness-for-genesis-2-female-s

Are you sure those are Mega Fast Grabs? Femina Furens was a PA item in the Fantasy Clothing and Accessories list, now removed.

 Sorry, not Mega Fastgrabs, they were ALL IN FANTASY CLOTHING. I listed all three in my Art Studio thread as they appeared, time was 1:27am Central time.

Prepare!

I've moved to NY State so I'm no longer in the path but I lived in Melbourne, FL (central east coast Florida)  for several decades.  And according to latest predictions Irma is going right up the east coast.  I was there in 1979 Labor Day Weekend and went through the eye of "David", then in 2004 was hit by all four of the hurricanes that hit Florida that year (Charley, Francis, Ivan, Ivan(again), and Jeanne).  Tree on house, leaks, power out for several days, blue tarps for weeks, major tree removal process afterwards, four feet deep of palm fronds blown into the long double wide driveway.  Try putting that next to the curb for pickup!  Shingles and roofing nails all over the lawn.  Not fun.  And they were only category 1, 2, 3, and weak cat 4 hurricanes!  I have relatives on both coasts and in the middle so wherever Irma hits, someone I know will be affected.

I've got one daughter in the Redlands and one daughter with my 4 grand kids in Miami Springs ,and I'm scared silly for them!! Then there's my parent in Dunnellon in Central Florida ......plus my friends in Cutler Ridge ........

oh and my daughter's husbands and their families .....

Thanks!

Hey, to start everyone's day off here's a LIVE video of the Soggy Dollar Bar, in the British Virgin Islands. Windy and balmy,  and to me, eerie. 

EDIT: And here's the Weather Channel streaming on YouTube.  Remember, I have Roku, so I don't get this channel anymore. Glad I found it!

EDIT: The eye of the hurricane is now only two and a half hours away from the British Virgin Islands, so that feed should get interesting before it gets knocked off air. (8:35am central time, so about 10:30am central it will hit) 

oh that's exciting!!!!! fantastic!!!! 

HA! Finally Solved the central bulge in tops when fitted to Growing Up. Took me long enough lol....I am in the process of making a Projection morph so tops fit flush and properly on flat chested figures. Update might not be ready for release but I'll try. If not it will be released soon after. I will also try and Update the Genesis 3 Female version of Growing Up as well. Might add this to Fit Control too if I can get it across.

G3 also has 4 carpals. They move around when you drag the fingers with the universal tool as well. Looks like I did that for some poses.

Yes, the brandname is a diffuse overlay. No base texures on the frame, just color. The bike is new, so no need for rust and scratches... ;-)

And yes, "he" is correct.

Unfortunately as a "he" I don't have much for him... meaning Genesis Male figures to contribute to this thread.

That why my promos only have Blueman... ;-)

But here is what I could do with Genesis 3 Male, Mec4d HDRI Central Park NYC - Megapack (beautiful!), On the Town Outfit and Sunny Hair (for her).

I gave him a metal shirt to fit the long hair :-)

Kind regards, Eagle99