Here, about 60 miles south of Buffalo, we had about 2" snow last night.  It was late coming, it had been expected the day before.  It almost waited until I was done with my Tuesday driving chores but Noooo, it had to force me to yet again dig out the car.  However, it was light fluffy stuff so it brushed off easily, and it's still coming down heavily.  Much more expected over the next couple of days.  I cut short my typical Tuesday driving chores because the roads were getting quite slippery.  I did, however, get my car to the mechanic to give me an estimate for critically needed frame repairs.  He showed me what was wrong.  ARGH, it looks like somebody threw acid under there.  Some areas are as soft as cardboard and there are gaping holes in critical support members!!!!   BUT..., he says as bad as it looks, he's fixed worse.  It does need new metal cut, shaped, and welded into place but the floor panel is OK and all the wheel mounts are OK.  The rear axle assembly has to be dropped to get at some places, and he has to remove the carpeting and rear seats to avoid burns during the welding process, but the total cost isn't too far outside my budget.  He pointed out that the car was never undercoated, probably because it began life in central Florida where neither road salt nor sea salt is a problem.  The repair cost includes undercoating (I get this image of closing the barn door after the horse escapes) but that should help slow further decay.  I need this car to outlast me.  New car $20,000.  Decent used car $10,000.  Current repair estimate $1,200.  This is a no brainer.  The car is 14 years old but is low milage, excellent body exterior and interior, motor has been well maintained, it gets reasonable milage (21 city, 30 on interstate), big, luxurious, and everything works.  Yeah, it will need things done now and then but there's life in the old gal yet.

I'm currently begging my best half for both the new PhilW Central Business District as well as the Animation Course... but it's not looking good right now... Daughter getting married is putting pinching onot the pennies! LOL

Some nice Freebies to help add to our Genesis and Genesis 2 Female collections:

• Cherry Blossom Dress for Genesis 2 Female(s)
• 
• Summer Casuals Fitted Sundress
• 
• Pure Hair: Cool for Genesis
• 
• Starlight Dress for Genesis
• 
• Cool Sports for Genesis
• 

 

I have Winter Flower for V4, so I also grabbed the freshly free Blooms for Winter Flower

• 

 

Thanks for the heads up!  I have been watching Blooms for Winter Flower for some time, but it always ended up being taken out of the cart for something else lol.  Cherry Blossom looks interesting too (the rest I already had lol).  And of course Phil's Central Business District looks wonderful, but I have shot my 'wad' for now, it will have to wait for another time. :/

Nice and also currently there is a sale going on so good time to buy, just checking if it is permissible to use Central Business District for Carrara and Night and Day City  in Game Engines like Unity?  Dowe need a licnese of some sort?

I am pretty sure that the Daz terms do not allow use in published games. If you are thinking of using it in Unity for your own private purposes, that would be fine, but for something commercial you would need a game licence - there are quite a few game licences from vendors on the Daz Store if you search for it. Let me know if this is your intention and maybe we can discuss offline if this is the case.  Also note the discussion above with avxp - it would be a non-trivial matter to get these products working in Unity.

Nice and also currently there is a sale going on so good time to buy, just checking if it is permissible to use Central Business District for Carrara and Night and Day City  in Game Engines like Unity?  Dowe need a licnese of some sort?

Of course, PhilW's new kit looks Fan-Freaking-Tastic!!!

Central Business District for Carrara

A must have!!!

Of course, PhilW's new kit looks Fan-Freaking-Tastic!!!

Central Business District for Carrara

As of 11:30AM Central/10:30AM Mountain, the "Get 50% off with two or more" new releases is still not working. Both DA Horse and Rider Pose Set and Central Business District for Carrara should be 55% off (the Bonus Buyer discount is working correctly, which would pull that over 50% with both the normal Madness and Two Or More discounts).

I've no idea what Day at the Office should be; I think this is the first new Daz Original that I've bought during The Madness this year, and I don't have a percentage to compare to. The cart should be stacking PC+, Madness, Two or More, and Bonus Buyer discounts all at once for that item. I'm assuming it should be lower than it is, though, if the "two or more" discount isn't working for PA products.

tag: luci45 #5
Sir Mandrake Boland - Unsung Hero of the Steampunk Era
Renowned inventor Sir Mandrake Boland arrives at his new home adjacent to his first experimental "steam farm." Sons Tad and Thad accompany him.  

Sir Mandrake, AKA Mr Poofy Pants, is best known for his role in combatting piracy.

Used:
Midnight Watchmen for Night Guard
Central Station
Adventure Land Outfit
Steel Town Refinery
Bus Rex (LB)
Contemporary Living (LB)

Also used:
Renaissance Male Clothing For Genesis
Unshaven Beard for Genesis
Aiden for M5
Various Morphs
Lorenzo Lorez 
Steam Truck Red Bizon

Poofy Pants are back!

tag: luci45 #5
Sir Mandrake Boland - Unsung Hero of the Steampunk Era
Renowned inventor Sir Mandrake Boland arrives at his new home adjacent to his first experimental "steam farm." Sons Tad and Thad accompany him.  

Sir Mandrake, AKA Mr Poofy Pants, is best known for his role in combatting piracy.

Used:
Midnight Watchmen for Night Guard
Central Station
Adventure Land Outfit
Steel Town Refinery
Bus Rex (LB)
Contemporary Living (LB)

Also used:
Renaissance Male Clothing For Genesis
Unshaven Beard for Genesis
Aiden for M5
Various Morphs
Lorenzo Lorez 
Steam Truck Red Bizon

...and here are some promo images, the first four using just the Central Business District set and the last two used together with Night & Day City.  These are renders of the sets as distributed, including people, vehicles, trees, etc, nothing extra has been added.

I have a new set coming out for Carrara entitled Central Business District for Carrara. It can be used on its own, but is also a complementary set to Night & Day City. It should be launched next week.  Here is an overview video that tells you all about it!

Thanks, Gopherus!

Ostadan #1 LOL, you really matched your boring pull with the situation and the guy's pose! Nice one. And welcome back!

Pull #5:
Midnight Watchmen for Night Guard
Central Station
Adventure Land Outfit
Steel Town Refinery
Bus Rex (LB)
Contemporary Living (LB)

...true, PC sales have tapered off due to tablets, Smartphones, and Netbooks as the majority of users do not require a lot of horsepower for routine functions like reading emails, commenting on FB, tweeting, watching videos on You Tube, managing photo galleries, creating memes on Cheezburger, etc

The next largest segment is business where one often finds low to medium power desktop PCs networked to a central server.  After that is the gaming crowd who have heavier requirements for system resources to get the best detail, sound, refresh, and fame rates (media enthusiasts also fall into this area). Finally, there's us, the 3D CG enthusiasts, who yes, make up a very small segment of PC users compared to the general and even gaming population.

Dart,

One good turn deserves another...This  link will take you to "The last Valley"... a terrific flick that takes place during the thirty years war. It is a wonderful cast including Michael Caine and Omar Shariff. The thirty years war has dragged on for years and most of central Europe has been plundered and impoverished. Omar Sharif is a scholar on th run and stumbles upon this untouched valley high in the alps...Unfortunately, so does a a scavaging band of mercenaries led by Micaael Caine.  They have long ago lost any resemblance to amilitary unit with uniforms and instead  wear any form of military equipment they can find or take from those they defeat. The story soon becomes a survival situation  and a battle of wits .  For some reason the link brings up the movie a couple of minutes in..You will have to move it back to the beginning.

The whole movie is available in 8 sections online...and  can be enlarged up to HD.........Enjoy. It has been one of my favorites.

Dziels already recognizes this necessity, but he has reminded me of something I should share with everyone.

There is a bit of terminlogy I want to make sure we all agree on for this thread to avoid confusion.

Key Light- This is the equivalent of Direct Light in CG conceptualization. Such as light from the default Sun and light from indiviudal radials and spots. Key lights cast cleary discernable shadows onto nearby objects. Key lights also elicit specular reflections.

Indirect Light- Light from sources that are not point-like in nature, such as the light that sheds down from the sky. Coming in from lots of angles, skylight produces very soft shadows compared to those of the sun where all the rays face the same direction. Indirect light also comes from surfaces as they reflect the input of key light sources. True Ambience specializes in this type of lighting.

Fill LIght-The term "Fill Light" has a very specific meaning in real world photography. It is usually a single light bulb softened by a scrim that is placed to the left or the right of the model to illuminate the shadows along angles which diverge from the angles being lit brightly by the key light source.

3D Fill Light- This is a special cluster light form found in only one application as far as I know...Bryce. Unlike the photographical Fill light that comes from a point, the 3D Fill is actually a bit of a volume light, coming from an area instead of from a central point. The size of that area can vary from nearly point like, to world encompassing.

When we discuss the lighting in our scenes, we should draw a clear distinction between a traditional "Fill" light and the Bryce specific 3D Fill Light. Thus, the extra typing required to indicate 3D Fill is worthwhile.

Sometimes, all you need is a Fill light, which you'd apply with a single radial to the left or right of the target model. Other times you need something to solve the indirect light for more than the mere target object, but for the rest of the room as well. Those are the situations when you want to use the Bryce 3D Fill.

Thanks

For further reading:

Specular Channel: In Bryce, the specular channel of the material lab allows surfaces to reflect the images of light sources themselves and only the light sources.

Reflection Channel: True reflection however, allows the surface to reflect the images of all items within the scene, not just the light sources.

In the real world all "reflections" are the same, they are all specular in nature capturing both light sources and nearby geometry. But for biased engines like Bryce, Poser, Carrara, 3DL, "reflection" has been broken into two separate parts.

Vivien- Glad the thread is useful. Every few years I like to kick up the dust again with a new lighting thread. Problem is, rarely is there anything new to discuss. Still, going back to the basics and rebuilding ourselves is part of the fun. I have no special qualifications mind you. No one should be quoting me as the gospel. But I do have a great deal of interest in the subject and I've had a powerful computer for some years now to test things out that previously could not be tested effectively, so I know how the tools work even if I don't know how to make decent art with them. Anyhow, as you gain more experience you will find yourself agreeing and disagreeing with me at certain points. Just know that I can be wrong, so trust your own instincts and pursue any idea that comes to you.

Dziels- Thanks so much!! I must admit, there is no translucency anywhere in the Bryce renders. The look of the SSS is faked by the use of an upward facing True Parallel light, that keeps the shaded regions of the foliage from becoming so dark we notice that there is no translucency there.

TA has some quirks. If you are getting odd results from certain angles it sounds as if Focused Scattering is at play. Make certain in the Render options that Scattering Correction is enabled and that Focused Scattering is disabled. Please report back on if this change in setting fixes the issue you were observing. Sorry to give you homework with this thread and the other one. I just want to learn as much as I can from you. Thanks.

Hansmar- Yes, I agree about seeing light and shadow at the same time being somewhat rare. But in fairness, I have pushed the levels a bit to fake the appearance of translucency that isn't actually there. So you and David are correct, the light is bright, but it is not by accident, and I think it still works generally.

How do we know the true brightness and color of a surface? This is the central question to all lighting.

I think often in Bryce we concern ourselves with making an item look good for the current shot only. So we adjust the sunlight and other lights to the point where the target model appears as we desire it to in our mind's eye, which can be a very abstract place. In our mind's eye, there is no burn-out, and there are no deep shadows. The problem is, our abstract minds often don't consider issues such as time of day. How this object will look "differently if it is placed into the shaded regions of the image, or if the time of day indicates the sun is placed at a high angle or extremely low angle. Instead of asking ourselves if a surface looks plausible in an abstract sort of way, we need to ask ourselves if the surface looks correct under the specific current given circumstances, such as the time of the day and the weather conditions and nearby geometry such as walls, buildings etc. How should this sidewalk appear when lit by the sun at 75degrees in altitude? This is different than the way the same sidewalk appears when rendered in the evening, when the sun strikes said surface from a shallower angle lending much less light than it does at other times of the day. Unless you test it in multiple times of the day, it can be difficult to discern the true color and brightness level a surface should be placed upon. That's part of why the MegaScapes are built as they are, to allow users to free themsleves from concerns over the look of any surface from any one angle. Sometimes, surfaces should be brighter or darker than we assumed but we don't notice it until we view them from a different angle. More on all of that in the near future. Also, do I have your email? I'd like to send you the file. Drop me a PM please. I'll double check my records to see if I can find it.

Part of the issue with the renders we are seeing is the extremely low resolution of the images, only 600 pixels. These same light settings rendered at a higher resolution, the distraction of the noise disappears. I think AA is a bigger problem than the actual light levels.

Congratulations Peter Wade!

42 of course! Like everyone in Central Europe Timezone who had not the chance to get her: I wish I had two heads. I could have hours of fun banging them against a wall.

The funny thing is that, these unreal ideas are giving scientists true directions to look to. Warp Drive is an idea that they are giving serious thought to, although likely not at all the same as used in Star Trek. String Theory is such an idea to open up possibilities of many things we all "Know" to be unreal, though, if it (string theory) truly is real, than our unreal is no longer nearly as black and white as we make it.

I am not physicist, but I do enjoy watching their movies on science and speculations. It's... how should I put this... A real Blast!

 

 

(it was also a 15 certificate, compared to the more usual 12A - more swearing and lots of slashy slashy)

15 certificate and 12A - Must be UK terms?

The funny thing is that, these unreal ideas are giving scientists true directions to look to. Warp Drive is an idea that they are giving serious thought to, although likely not at all the same as used in Star Trek. String Theory is such an idea to open up possibilities of many things we all "Know" to be unreal, though, if it (string theory) truly is real, than our unreal is no longer nearly as black and white as we make it.

I am not physicist, but I do enjoy watching their movies on science and speculations. It's... how should I put this... A real Blast!

 

 

The fact that they are calling it a warp drive, warp bubble etc., is directly down to Star Trek. Of course, it may never happen, at least not in our lifetimes. But it's still cool nevertheless. Star Trek has inspired a lot of real science, scientists and inventors.

Right. Which is my point. So often folks dismiss fiction as being an impossibility, so they choose to dislike it. But then Science comes along and makes some of the most far-fetched ideas a reality.

Personally, I don't care about how 'possible' things are. If the movie is fun, I usually have fun. But I have my taste issues too, so I can't knock other people's ideas of what they like and dislike - nor the reasoning behind it. I have no idea why I simply cannot stand watching a lot of comedy movies, even though I love comedy when it comes into the non-comedy movies that I watch. sometimes I might object a little, but for the most part I just laugh and enjoy it. But movies based on comedy as the central format generally turn me off - but not all. I loved Airplane and the Naked Gun series and Hot Shots, for example.

Now, I'm really confused. Because, where I'm sitting, it still IS Sunday. I happen to be in Europe, which is several hours ahead of DAZ time. So if it's 11:30 AM Sunday morning in Central Europe, it should still definitely be early Sunday, i.e. 3:30 AM, where DAZ is located.