I think the biggest challenge in something like that would be how to handle all the foliage and odds and ends in a way that's realistic and doesn't go overboard on poly counts and texture sizes. 

For me personally, I prefer using photographic backdrops, and if it's for Iray, maybe an HDRi would provide at least some of the exterior view. I know I tend to get very frustrated when I do exteriors with lots of foliage, as everything slows to a crawl. I love Alessandro's Ultimo Paradiso, but I've never had the machine to do much work with a fully populated island. I *want* to use that set, but never really could without removing most of the plants.

I think I tend more toward interiors with simple views of the exterior, rather than the other way around. Jst the way my renders tend to go, I think. I do have some of Stonemason's sets for cityscapes, but they're not really full of plants and trees, and I know those add a lot to the CPU overhead.

I wonder if it would work to have one central building (maybe replaceable, with add-ons sets), and that one has all the trimmings. But the other buildings on the block are basically flat images, with maybe some plants and streetlights to give the illusion of dimensionality.

I'm sure others are different in their needs, but for my work, good full interiors are hard to come by, and what I tend to look for.

That's the tough thing about doing good, natural exteriors.  I don't know if billboards would work well for buildings, at least in the near distance (like the house next door to the main focal point, or even the one next to that), but I am working on doing the background houses and buildings that way.

I guess the way I'm approaching this concept is less about the backlot method (which, as I mentioned, I would love to do in some smaller, more limited capacity) but more of what could be built on a soundstage.  I think that gives the greatest opportunity for customization with the smallest amount of overhead.  And working from the inside-out, as you suggest, is probably the key way to go with things.  A full scale mockup of a house's interior could be done pretty quickly.  Then the "exterior" could be detailed matte paintings and a texture for the soundstage "floor" to make it look like a lawn or a driveway or a street.  That way you get the benefit of the nicely detailed interior, with something quick and easy to look at through the windows.

Instead of the actual shootable exterior being a full thing, it could be done the way old shows like Happy Days did it.  The front of the house is just an establishing shot, done either on a location or a backlot, and the exterior sets used for live action are just small soundstage mockups... the front of the garage as the back "wall", the side of the house as the left "wall", and a board fence as the right "wall".

There are lots of possibilities, almost all of them good ones, with the exception of highly detailed, large-scale exteriors, for just the reasons you mentioned.  Foliage creates a lot of CPU and memory overhead.

I think the biggest challenge in something like that would be how to handle all the foliage and odds and ends in a way that's realistic and doesn't go overboard on poly counts and texture sizes. 

For me personally, I prefer using photographic backdrops, and if it's for Iray, maybe an HDRi would provide at least some of the exterior view. I know I tend to get very frustrated when I do exteriors with lots of foliage, as everything slows to a crawl. I love Alessandro's Ultimo Paradiso, but I've never had the machine to do much work with a fully populated island. I *want* to use that set, but never really could without removing most of the plants.

I think I tend more toward interiors with simple views of the exterior, rather than the other way around. Jst the way my renders tend to go, I think. I do have some of Stonemason's sets for cityscapes, but they're not really full of plants and trees, and I know those add a lot to the CPU overhead.

I wonder if it would work to have one central building (maybe replaceable, with add-ons sets), and that one has all the trimmings. But the other buildings on the block are basically flat images, with maybe some plants and streetlights to give the illusion of dimensionality.

I'm sure others are different in their needs, but for my work, good full interiors are hard to come by, and what I tend to look for.

I was just looking at your catalog today. Apparently, I have all but 10 of your listed products! More, actually, because I see some of the things I own are no longer in your catalog.

I use the exterior only sets as much, if not more, than the complete sets. And when I need additional homes in an area, I turn to the low-poly bungalows.

I use Iray almost exclusively now, and I seldom use backdrops, millenium environments or cycloramas anymore. Then again, I like to render such scenes without drawing the dome, and use my own photography to fill the empty areas of the background.

I love the whole "create-a-room" concept and expect to buy most, if not all, of the sets in that series. I do a lot of kit-bashing, and this series fits that mode of scene creation perfectly.

Thank you for such nice sets, too. Please keep them coming.

Sets that are kitbashing-friendly are exactly what I have in mind, and what the Create A Room was designed to be, so I'm glad that's really useful!

My personal take, doing both art and having worked in the film industry...

My "oh, joy!" product is a working exterior/interior. Even Universal Studios has many of these -- the corner diner made popular in the Back to the Future movies comes to mind. Some of the Colonial Drive backlot houses are more than just facades. While the interiors aren't full sound stages, many of them have working set elements. They do make movies in them.

To give you an idea of how it works in the "real world" -- plus it's fun just looking -- here's a virtual tour of the Uni backlot. Click on the Colonial Drive sets, then any of the numbered houses with interiors:

http://universal.filmmakersdestination.com/home/sound-stages-backlot/virtual-tour/

To me, if it's good enough for Columbo, Adam-12, and Emergency, it's good enough for making Daz scenes!

Since many of us are now using Iray, what is CRITICAL is removable walls and ceiling, so that we can rely on the easier-to-use HDRi's for lighting. Personally, I'd add an option of the missing wall in the three-walled set concept. That works in theater or live audience, but can be somewhat  limited when setting up shooting dramatic scenes for multi-camera angles. Have some pushbutton options for hiding and displaying all the exterior walls and ceiling, plus any interior wall that might make it too cramped when shooting a smaller interior.

(I know Create-a-Room is a three-walled set, and my notes above aren't intended to knock the idea. It's just that it's not as useful to me as a full interior where all walls can be shown or hidden.)

In case you're interested, the interior of the Munster house is Interior 8. I'm pretty sure the interior of it wasn't built up until sometime after about 1974, when I was last there. Uni didn't always have practical interiors for their Anywhere USA facades.

My renders tend to be fairly widespread in nature, but I'm always looking for a nice house, with kitchen, living room, and a bedroom. Example: click on Interior 9 on Universal's Colonial Street properties. That would make a terrific set (you don't have to provide all the rooms.) Interior 6 shows one with an open ceiling. Since we have the option of removing meshes, how about a control for show/hide the ceiling, as well as show/hide the roof. With both gone, the scene could be lit with a simple HDRi. Otherwise, every interior would need custom lighting, and that's a lot of work.

I can tell you in the movie biz, courtrooms, school rooms, jail/prison cells, and general offices are among those that rank high for pre-built interior set rentals. I'm guessing many of us Daz film makers have similar needs.

Finally, on "neghborhoods." The problem with building practical int/ext sets here is that it's unlikely a neighborhood would have all the genre types we might be inrterested in: a 60s split level, modern 2-story, single-story California ranch, farm, Psycho house, *and* Dune hut. I do like the idea of three neighborhood-friendly facades, with the possibility that in one of them, you make it a full interior set.

What ever way you go with this, good luck with it, and a loud thank you! for asking!

That backlot tour is absolutely amazing.  I think the biggest challenge in something like that would be how to handle all the foliage and odds and ends in a way that's realistic and doesn't go overboard on poly counts and texture sizes.  Something like that might need to wait for home computer technology to catch up a bit.  When a scene like that is done at a CG house, it's done on computers a lot more powerful than the average user has in their home (and than I have in my home), and rendered at a render farm, where 25,000 processors can work on it at once.  It would be incredible to be able to load in one of those backlot scenes, complete, and be able to put the camera just about anywhere.

I do like the idea of doing a central "hero" house with a partial or full interior, with the surrounding houses being less complete, or even just facades.

Overall, is it important for you guys to have all the stuff in the background (for instance, the row of houses behind the one you're shooting) or do you prefer to composite stuff like that in post?

In regards to an earlier comment regarding lighting sets... for Iray specifically, is this really as important as it might have been for 3Delight?  I find in Iray I can get along pretty well with the sun/sky or an HDRI, with a few omnis dropped into the position of whatever artificial light sources might be in the scene, adjusting the exposure as necessary.

Last question from this set:  would "so-so" foliage from me, that is included in the set, be preferable to, say, just adding your own foliage?  For instance, Predatron and XFrog, among others, have wonderful foliage sets and do them much better than I ever could.  In fact, I use them a lot in my own promos.

I got this too.

I switched to the other tabs like 'shader mixer' then opened and closed one of the right hand panes like 'parameters'. That fixed the scaling of those central panes for me.

It's funny, when I was like six years old my mother took me to Central Park with pastels and paper and we drew a bridge and scenery and I was shocked to discover it recently in storage and see how I got all the light gradations and shadows at that young age, purely visual, no tech... Hell, maybe I should go back to drawing...

Just want to add, from a sales perspective, it would benefit Daz to simplify things a bit for newbies because there could be many new potential customers who just want to do pretty pinups or cute fairies and all the high tech stuff, although great, could dissuade them from starting with DS. If I didn't already have years of Poser behind me and if this wasn't now my actual career, I might have been scared away. I think Daz should do what Apple does, have all the bells and whistles but have a very easy user version so even a child could pick it up. Children, especially little girls, could be great customers of Daz if they could easily create cute dolls and fairies and boys too, could render spaceships and superheroes easily. This could be a whole new source of income for Daz. Hey, Daz, want to hire me for marketing????

Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same issue that I am or if there's some setting I've overlooked...I updated to 4.9.2.0 Pro 64bit this morning and I'm having a new odd issue where if I have both the left and right panels of the workspace open, the large central viewport area doesn't resize itself correctly so the view controls, etc become hidden under the right-hand panel. If I collapse either of the side panels it's fine, but not if both are open. (File attached showing the issue)

That's a major change from the previous workspace (and makes it extremely tedious to navigate now) and seems to occur no matter what style I select (normally I use Darkside). Is there some setting that controls that behaviour that I've somehow overlooked?

         

Just as a kind reminder in the case that an unpleasant dispute over the Scotts verges on the point of breaking-out (and not saying it is) that I intended this topic to focus primarily on NON-CAUCASIAN ethnicities. 
 

Actually, you kind of set things off on the wrong foot by saying both "ethinicities" and "non-Caucasian nationalities".  Which are not the same thing.  An ethnic group is "a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like."  Race MAY be a factor, but it may not be.  A nationality is a geographic or political description.  For example, the genotype of most Latinos is a mix of various Caucasian and Native American strains, but it's a bell curve with a sizeable number on either end who are almost completely one or the other.  And while they may seem similar physically (which, really, is what differentiates one DAZ figure from the other) they don't belong to the same ethnic groups.  Someone from Central Mexican, someone from El Salvador, and someone from Puerto Rico would be far more prone to see each other as different ethnic groups based on other factors than simply skin color, while someone from Brazil might as well be from another planet.  Ditto with Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc., all of whom are theoretically represented at DAZ by the generic Asians Lee and Mei Lin.  Finally, consider that that a large percentage of middle easterners come from the same base Caucasian stock, with the genetic background of the "average" Arab and the "average" Jew being almost identical... and yet it's hard to imagine two groups that have a wider cultural gap, while the cultures and lifestyles of the Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, Sikhs are all incredibly different from each other. And yet, for the purpose of a DAZ figure, there would be little reason to make more than one figure to cover all of them.   

 

 

Well, obviously that's the case. But let's keep in mind that this is DAZ 3D marketing we're talking about here, where those things don't necessarily apply correctly (understatement of the day). Also, by that logic, there's no need for Kalea or Kimo as they're specifically Tropical, which can probably be just as easily covered by Monique & Darius if leaning more towards Pacific Islander or Mei Lin & Lee if more akin to Hawaiian/Filipino/Indonesian, etc.
This is why I think an official Native couple would be most appropriate as they seem to be the only other base skin color and general culture/nationality/etc. that's not on the list. Recall the Ethnicity Morphs I mentioned in my OP.
Well, that and of course the more Hispanic and Middle Eastern folk.

...Serpent: happy 57th trip around the central main sequence stellar primary.

If stretched out in a straight line that would put you 33,288,000,000 miles from earth. Welcome to interstellar space.    Party Time!!!!

+1 Happy Happy Joy Joy!

...mmm slithery tasty.

...Serpent: happy 57th trip around the central main sequence stellar primary.

If stretched out in a straight line that would put you 33,288,000,000 miles from earth. Welcome to interstellar space.    Party Time!!!!

+1 Happy Happy Joy Joy!

OMG I LOVE THAT CAKE!!!!!!!  And thanks!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

...Serpent: happy 57th trip around the central main sequence stellar primary.

If stretched out in a straight line that would put you 33,288,000,000 miles from earth. Welcome to interstellar space.    Party Time!!!!

+1 Happy Happy Joy Joy!

OMG I LOVE THAT CAKE!!!!!!!  And thanks!! 

...Serpent: happy 57th trip around the central main sequence stellar primary.

If stretched out in a straight line that would put you 33,288,000,000 miles from earth. Welcome to interstellar space.    Party Time!!!!

Awwww, you're so nice!!! 

If I'd  known I was going to end up so far away I'd had packed more booze!!!

...Serpent: happy 57th trip around the central main sequence stellar primary.

If stretched out in a straight line that would put you 33,288,000,000 miles from earth. Welcome to interstellar space.    Party Time!!!!

+1 Happy Happy Joy Joy!

...Serpent: happy 57th trip around the central main sequence stellar primary.

If stretched out in a straight line that would put you 33,288,000,000 miles from earth. Welcome to interstellar space.    Party Time!!!!

Just as a kind reminder in the case that an unpleasant dispute over the Scotts verges on the point of breaking-out (and not saying it is) that I intended this topic to focus primarily on NON-CAUCASIAN ethnicities. 
 

Actually, you kind of set things off on the wrong foot by saying both "ethinicities" and "non-Caucasian nationalities".  Which are not the same thing.  An ethnic group is "a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like."  Race MAY be a factor, but it may not be.  A nationality is a geographic or political description.  For example, the genotype of most Latinos is a mix of various Caucasian and Native American strains, but it's a bell curve with a sizeable number on either end who are almost completely one or the other.  And while they may seem similar physically (which, really, is what differentiates one DAZ figure from the other) they don't belong to the same ethnic groups.  Someone from Central Mexican, someone from El Salvador, and someone from Puerto Rico would be far more prone to see each other as different ethnic groups based on other factors than simply skin color, while someone from Brazil might as well be from another planet.  Ditto with Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc., all of whom are theoretically represented at DAZ by the generic Asians Lee and Mei Lin.  Finally, consider that that a large percentage of middle easterners come from the same base Caucasian stock, with the genetic background of the "average" Arab and the "average" Jew being almost identical... and yet it's hard to imagine two groups that have a wider cultural gap, while the cultures and lifestyles of the Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, Sikhs are all incredibly different from each other. And yet, for the purpose of a DAZ figure, there would be little reason to make more than one figure to cover all of them.   

Greetings:

I would like to store my content on my HD with a specific file tree structure.  Question is, can DS be made to see the individual branches, or does everything have to come from a central "pool".  Also, is it possible to set up a similar structure within DS?  Here's a small example of what I want:

FIGURES
   Male
      M3
      M4
      G2M
   Female
      V3
      V4
      G2F
SETS
   Buildings
      Interiors
      Exteriors
   Vehicles
      Land
      Sea
      Air

Well, the same can be said of many ethnicities.  Mexico has a very diverse range since you have Spaniard, Indigenous (which also varies), Black and even Irish and Chinese and more in varying mixtures.  My brother is darker complected than myself.  Most mistake me for Italian.  Even in Africa, those from the different coasts, central, northern, southern areas are very different.  Many people have a very narrow idea of what they think a nationality looks like due to their own experiences, is what I have found.

Ok, so I did a bunch more chopping and editing of the cargo holds in that central hub and got curious and exported the files out from Truespace and into DAZ to make sure I got the sizes right and could keep going the way I have been. The sizes are right but I have mesh errors all over the place (I hadn't optimized it or anything) but with some actual people in the sets along with shuttles, in this case the Defiant shuttle, the Weyland shuttle and the Volga runabout. Where the one character is hovering is in front of where the control room is going to go. The big yellow object is actually the lower part of Deck 2 and this bay resides on Deck 4 according to the Whitefire blueprints.

mac n cheez !!  bananas with rediwhip for dessert.  or desert?  never can remember

 

mac n cheez !!  bananas with rediwhip for dessert.  or desert?  never can remember

desert 1. a place mostly devoid of vegetation and life, harsh, arid.

desert 2. to abandon friends, family, military unit, lifestyle, etc.

desert 3. rewards, earned.  As in, "He got his just deserts!"

dessert - pastry, cake, ice cream, etc., usually as the last course of a meal.

Dana

5) "Deseret" a large ranch in central east Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deseret_Ranches

Umm...NO.  Unless, even in 3Delight-land, you are doing metals, the specular color should be WHITE (maybe a grey, because as a grey it actually works as another sort of strength control...but that's another matter, entirely) and only WHITE...for EVERYTHING, all the time and forever!

A grey, unless your specular maps are pretty heavy. Remember the reflectance thing, specular is also part of it. 

And coloured highlights are a nice enough "cheat" for the iris, Zarcon is right. We won't get caustics with the cornea geometry of DAZ figures.

The way most of the coding is for the shaders in Studio, the color and the map get combined, so what is being fed to the final calculation is a grey.  But using a color to compensate for nonlinear/other problem is not going to help anything. 

As to the geometry...yeah, but that is the reason those damnable baked highlights came into being and are still around...and unless there are none, I don't bother trying to compensate for the lack of 'real', because any baked in ones will just make it worse.

In an "oldschool" scene that doesn't use GI, a few percent of ambient can fake SSS in a pinch. Of course whenever GI kicks in, ambient goes out unless we're talking emissives.

And that's the problem...a few percent, tends to be 'more than 10' in most settings...which WAAAAAAAAAAAY too much (3-5%...maybe, more than 10%...glowbug central).  Those eyes at 25% are going to blow out in just about any render.   If you can remove all lights from the scene and still discern details, the Ambient is definitely way too high.  (Maybe for a Drow, that would be fine for a setting...but definitely not for a human...)

Here's those eye settings without any lights...rendered with 'normal' Studio 3DL settings, Progressive OFF.

Melissa- are you referring to Amazon?

if your books have a theme (let's say Paris) then you'd put Paris in the search and come up with all the images/people from Paris, and those folks would be a good target audience for your book.  Here's a few tips for Instagram: (I'm a new user, but I did about a week's worth of reading so I did it RIGHT.)

Anytime you post an image, put #(keyword) at the end of your description (and having a description may get more comments/likes.)  One common # is #newphoto.  

Try to check at least once a day for followers, check them out, and follow back if they meet your criteria.

 Many people unfollow if you don't reciprocate after a couple days. (That's what I do too. If I support you and you don't support me, I don't want only a few followers and a ton of people I am following. People look at that and wonder why everyone else isn't following you.)  You will see I currently follow 33 people and have 13 followers. Four of those are from today!  The people who I commented on and are following who don't follow me by tomorrow will be removed, and a new batch will take their place.  This is a slow and steady process, which is why I say start as soon as possible. 

I think it's okay to put a link in your bio (which goes at the top of the page) to your books. Not sure on that. Anyone know?

Also, know the most popular times to post. It's Wednesday, between 5-6pm. That may be good or bad- your posts could get buried. I had luck today between 3-5pm Central time.

Get Instagram apps- there's great ones for tweaking your images, adding text, etc.