I have been know to say in the past that to get toon renders out of Iray is a bit like driving a nail with a sponge cake. The sponge cakes must be pretty solid where you come from DT. Congrats on the product.

Here is my humble contribution. I post original render and sketchified render for comparison. I did not use the sketchy shaders on the eyes, but left them as my toon style eyes that were originaly made specifically to be used in conjunction with specialty render style shaders such as these.

Oh hey, one more note-when I apllied any of the 01 Full Shaders to my Keiko figure, the UV map bounced to Victoria 4. I had to manually change it back to Genesis 2 Base Female. Is it supposed to be doing that?

Ohhh I like that! That came out really cool!

Those eyes are incredible too. What character is that?

Genesis loads by default with the Victoria 4 UV Set so it wouldn't have been obvious with Hitomi.  A lot of people don't have the add-ons that let newer figures use V4's UV Set so it's not surprising the problem was missed.  (And naturally I trigged it immediately because I'm gifted at breaking things.)

I noted in the trouble ticket that you'd be submitting a fix to QA and resolved the ticket so all should be good on that end.

Thanks!

Q: If I convert a replicated object in real instances, are they separates objects or is it like a duplicated object?

I have to say that I thought that the answer to that was that it created separate objects - but I was wrong.  I just did a test with simple spheres and after real instances were created, there was still only one master sphere in the scene.

So I tried it with Victoria 4 - and again it worked to produce a number of copies, but still with one master object.  This is significant because normally you can't copy or duplicate figures, so this provides a way to do it. Each figure will still be a slave to the original - you can't for example pose the figures differently (oddly, you can move the skeletons, but the figures don't follow). But you can move, rotate and scale the figures individually, while still having just the one master.

Is it loading Victoria 4 UVs for you like it is with DestinysGarden or are they different UVs?  I wonder why it would be using V4 of all things, she certainly wasn't something I used when working on the set.  Those UVs are also only available as an addon on current figures so I'm wondering if the issue only hits those with the addon or if it's loading different incorrect UVs for those who don't.  I'll issue and update either way.

EDIT: It's only the first 10 Full Shaders that have the problem (Basic A-F and Sketch A-D).  Seems to have something to do with using Genesis (namely Hitomi) as the base character during the creation procuess but I'm still not sure why it'd only affect 10 of them in that case.  I'll have a fix posted here in a few.

I found a problem with the pack - the shaders in the "01 Full Shaders" set have the UV Set saved in the settings.  If you have a figure which can use the Victoria 4 UV Set (I have it for all 3 Genesis females), it will change the UV set to the Victoria 4 UV Set.  The UV Set can be changed back as a workaround, but the shaders ought to be fixed to have that setting taken out.

I didn't test every shader in the "01 Full Shaders" folder, but the first 5 all had that problem.  I spot checked the other folders and didn't encounter the issue so hopefully it's just that one folder.

If the shaders are used on a figure that doesn't have the Victoria 4 UV Set as an option, the UV Set remains unchanged.

I sent a trouble ticket in for this as well.

I spent a lot of time grouping my content. For example, anything for Victoria 4 starts with V4, like V4 Medusa. None of my genesis 3 products are there. Genesis & genesis 2 are in self created folders, however a recent purchase of Genesis 2 tribal dancer also requires searching for. Daz Connect does not have ANY genesis products. I could go on, but I find the whole indexing of products within Daz studio to grossly user unfriendly, and a shambles. I used to love using this program, but I'm looking at it as a waste of time and money.

Archaic Ruins by Merlin this time. The dancer is Sachra and the flames are from The Library on a cylinder with some volume. Lighting is from an HDRI and the flames being made emissive.

Click on image for full size.

I removed the volume from the cylinder and adjusted lighting and tone mapping on this one.

Click on image for full size.

 I have been know to say in the past that to get toon renders out of Iray is a bit like driving a nail with a sponge cake. The sponge cakes must be pretty solid where you come from DT. Congrats on the product.

Here is my humble contribution. I post original render and sketchified render for comparison. I did not use the sketchy shaders on the eyes, but left them as my toon style eyes that were originaly made specifically to be used in conjunction with specialty render style shaders such as these.

Oh hey, one more note-when I apllied any of the 01 Full Shaders to my Keiko figure, the UV map bounced to Victoria 4. I had to manually change it back to Genesis 2 Base Female. Is it supposed to be doing that?

Does anybody have a concise step-by-step tutorial on how to inject morphs into my Victoria 4.2 figure?

Also, how do I access the panel that allows me to adjust certain body parts, such as stomach, muscles, etc.?

http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-for-genesis-2-female ;

Any plans for a G3F version of the product?

 

I'm glad to finally see some customer renders for this!  Thanks everyone,

Something to keep in mind is that these shaders aren't going to "toonify" textures in any way, like something along the lines of a Photoshop plugin would.  The general toon effect is all geometry based which is then more or less overlayed over the existing textures, so you're not going to get any toon edges on features coming from diffuse textures etc.  You can however get texture based features by using normal or bump maps since these modify what the renderer sees as geometry.  Doing so is more "advanced usage" since it can also kind of destroy the toon effect if your bump / normals contain too much detail to draw smooth lines over.

If you look at this render you can see what the bump maps are doing to the toon edge.  It'll break it up and take it away from being a line, turning it more into a shading effect.  In general if you're working with something that's already a toon figure like Star you won't have to worry about their bump maps doing this.  If you're trying to toonify Michael 7 though and want to use his bump / normal maps you'll have to be careful if you don't want it turning into shading.

Adding the geometry with bump / normal maps can be useful when dealing with surfaces that don't like to produce the effect in ways you want.  Eyes for example are spheres which will usually only show the effect on their outer edges (which on a character tends to be inside the eye socket).  Using the eye's bump / normal maps will help draw toon lines on things like the veins or other features contained in the map.  Using morphs like iris bulge can help with this too.  The Project EYEris / EYEray sets come with morphs that modify the iris in other ways that might help get lines in an around that as well.

One other thing you can try (your mileage may very) is adding a solid color to the normal map slot and adjusting the strength.  This will change the direction of the surface normal for the entire material, so you can theoretically make the renderer think that polygons facing sideways are facing the camera.  If you have interactive renderer on while adjusting the strength of a solid color normal map you can see the toon line more or less rotating around the figure it's on.  Push it too far though and you start to get geometry faceting errors (this is the main reason why I didn't include it as a feature within the product).  You can push it further without issue by subdividing a heck of a lot.  This trick will also muck up surface seams though (areas on things like Victoria where her torso texture lines up with her arms).  So it works best on objects that are only made up of a single surface.

In any case if you want to push bump / normal maps to their limits you'll likely want to disable the value limits that are set on the shader.  Since they do have the ability to ruin toon outline effects I have the strength limits for these values set to 20% or so just in case maps get auto loaded and produce some screwed up results for someone unfamiliar with what might be going on.

ag: luci45 #3
Pest Control
Tired of the costly relocation of illegal wildlife invaders, the city of Watchoo, LA, contracted the Reiver sisters (sisters-in-law to Mayor Lumpit) to help them out. The animals were painlessly turned to exotic metal alloys and sold at auction, with profits going mostly to city beautification. 

Used:
Apprentice Mage in the Tower
Victoria Iven for Genesis 3 Female(s)
Hinde
Unrealty Downtown
Wicked Pyjama Party (LB)
Alligator (LB)

Dynasty Textures for Wicked Pyjama Party
Morphing Python
Nox Hair
Buzzed Hair
LoRez Rat
Crow
Gargoyle Hound
Inked Vol. 2 for Genesis 2
Jepes Flames
CityScapes Backdrops
morphs
Anodized - Custom Shader and Preset Suite for Iray
Mina for Iven
RESURRECTION: Domina
Creature Creator G2Fs
Odelle (Rendo)
various moprhs

Probably this one (eyebrowse look identical):

http://www.daz3d.com/p3d-josina-hd-for-victoria-7

 

That looks right. Thanks for your help!

Launok - lovely work with the sketchup models and adding the people, adds to the scene. Looking forward to the animation.

Slepalex - the Victoria portrait looks nice rendered in Bryce 7 Pro

Electro-Elvis- thanks

Dan Whiteside - lovely crime scene, I especially like the killer's expression.

Rashad Carter - thanks for the comment and explanation about Scattering and Focused Scattering

 

 

 

Been seeing a lot of cool stuff in the shop. But, I want to know how do you make this yourself? I have some experience modeling in Blender. I don't know if these programs work together or not but is there some feature in DAZ that allows you to design your own models, props, clothing, jewelry, and whatever?

Like I was building a tree from a tutorial in Blender, how do I do that in DAZ?

What about hair and things like these great earrings http://www.daz3d.com/day-dream-cuffs-genesis-3-female-s-and-victoria-4

Point me to the tutorials *laughs* I am amazed at DAZ. So much to learn.

And no, I didn't finish the tree. The whole texturing and all that just is too confusing. Especiall if I can't really use it for anything. And no, I don't know what all the settings are for I just know a very small amount.

 

 

 

If you are already becoming familiar with Blender, stick with Blender for modeling.  The program doesn't really matter, just how comfortable you are with the program you are using.  Blender is a great program and anything you make in there can be exported as a .obj which DAZ Studio can import.  

This thread Blender to DAZ tutorial should get you started on bring things you've made into DS.  I've made several things in Blender and the transition between the two programs isn't very difficult.  If you happen to already have Hexagon 2.5, that is also an option and the transition between the Hecagon and DS is even easier because of a bridge between the two products.  Some find Hexagon and the bridge a little glitchy.  I've never had a problem with so I don't know anything about what happens with those glitches other than some say sudden crashes.  

I like Blender and I'm finding it easier to use with each model.  I have not rigged anything yet, but a quick search of YouTube shows a few Rigging in DS videos and there are paid tutorials for it her in the shop, too.

If you want to see what I've been doing in Blender, my adventures start here in my thread.  I have some Blender projects interspersed throughout from there on.  I haven't had a chance to add them to the index at the beginning of the thread.  There are a couple of posts that list specifics about bringing models from Blender to DS in there.  I also have a few projects I've made that I haven't had time to bring into DS, yet, but will be doing soon so there will be more posts on my Blender to DS adventures including a project I almost have finished in Blender that will need to be rigged so I'll be posting about that as well.

Probably this one (eyebrowse look identical):

http://www.daz3d.com/p3d-josina-hd-for-victoria-7

 

Just a few vendors I have checked, to get a better orientation about the items with SKU numbers lower than 16000. Listed the last item with a SKU lower than 16000. Items earlier released have pretty sure even lower SKU numbers.

3D Universe - Skull Cove Complete - SKU:15958

Age of Armour - Metalized Glass Shaders for DAZ Studio - SKU:15595
Alessandro_AM - INFINITO 1.1.0.1 - SKU:13700 ( Look At My Hair - SKU:15548 )
Andrey Pestryakov - Forest Winter - SKU:15837
AprilYSH - Reinoa Hair - SKU:15860

Cute3D - Female Business Suit - SKU:15735

Danie - DMs Aramonk - SKU:15359
DestinysGarden - InaneGlory's Photo Studio 3 - SKU:14906
deviney - Ron's Apocalypse - SKU:15850
DimensionTheory - Project EYEris - SKU:15922
DraagonStorm - Sheer Greatness! - SKU:15900
Dreamlight - 3D Space Battle Master - SKU:15643

E-Arkham - EArkham's ZWorld The Hallways - SKU:15472
Elliandra - Fantasy Poses for Aiko 5 - SKU:15778
Esha - Precious Princess - SKU:15858

Faveral - Le Faubourg - SKU:15525
FirstBastion - Land of the Ice Cold Sun - SKU:15912
Flipmode - Easy Environments Top of the World - SKU:15821
ForbiddenWhispers - Sheerly Great for the Sheer Greatness Pantyhose - SKU:15993

Goldtassel - Swim Cap Hair - SKU:15951
Gypsyangel - 50 Lips For Genesis - SKU:15949

IgnisSerpentus - Guardians of the Dead for Serpent Goddess - SKU:15811
InaneGlory - Ring of Light - Environment Lighting - SKU:15836

Jack Tomalin - Bridge of Cheirocrates - SKU:15795

Kibarreto - Shuttlestar Extra Textures Package - SKU:15823
KindredArts - none less than 16000

Luthbel - Jack of Hearts for Genesis - SKU:15985
Luthbellina - none less than 16000
Lyoness - none less than 16000

maclean - Everyday Morphing Primitives - SKU:15892
Marforno - DMs Aramonk - SKU:15359
Mattymanx - Braces - SKU:15967
Marshian - none less than 16000
Mec4D - none less than 16000
Merlin Studios - Infinite Gardens - SKU:15981
midnight_stories - Pale Shadows - SKU:15708
Morris - Anastasiya for A5 - SKU:15920

Neftis3D - Momotsuki (Pink Moon) Hair - SKU:15826 
Nightshift3D - Odysseon Station Observation Deck - SKU:15973
noggin - Ghoul Girl Poses - SKU:11936

Orion1167 - Alice Redemption - SKU:15381
OziChick - none less than 16000

PandyGirl - none less than 16000

Phoenix1966 - Ibrahim for M4 and Genesis M5 - SKU:15947
Porsimo - Age of Steel - SKU:15874
Predatron - LoREZ Daffodils - SKU:15871

Raiya - Olivia for V5 - SKU:15926
Ravenhair - Night Guard for Genesis Male - SKU:15953
RawArt - The Igigi - SKU:15986

Shox-Design - ShoXoloR for Wild Orchid Hair - SKU:12890
SimonWM - Dynamic Supersuit Set 2 Cosmic Gods - SKU:14959
Silver - ToXic Pure Hair: Sweet - SKU:15974
SKAmotion - Midnight Moves Animation for Victoria 4 - SKU:14473
SloshWerks - none less than 16000
smay - Stalker Girl Hair - SKU:15884
SoulessEmpathy - SciFi Interior - SKU:14231
Stonemason - CryoEnvironment - SKU: 15992
Surreality - Modern Muses Summer - SKU:14999
SWAM - Yunko Hair - SKU:15933

The AntFarm - HS PowerUp - SKU:15691

Valandar - Adventure Outfit - SKU:15889
Valea - Pepper Hair - SKU:15832

Xena - Retro Party Wear - SKU:15767

Yura - none less than 16000

~Wolfie~ - none less than 16000

Feel free to post more vendors and the last item in the shop with an SKU lower than 16000. Your help is appreciated and the list will be expanded.

Is see both sides of the argument exaggerating to make the emotions behind their arguments felt. I appreciate it.

I can dig it. As the OP said, details can be updated later.

And if they can't, a vendor has many options on how to fully describe their product. Most use something.

Here's my anecdote. Last night while cruising through older items, looking for a big discount, I came across an item called "Defender of the Temple!!!!!" or something like that. 

It doesn't say whether you're buying a figure, props, a pose, a temple etc...it's just an awesome render of a figure leaping through the air.

ONLY from experience do I know that I need to STUDY that product to see exactly what it is.

Modern products include the props (usually). The gun...comes with the outfit....Look, the newest release the fencing pose product.

http://www.daz3d.com/magna-flux-sabre-poses-for-genesis-3-female-s-and-victoria-7

Comes with the sword! And it says Genesis 3 AND VICTORIA.

Look at the promo pics! Several....examples.... Oh lawd, it mentions both rendering engines...

I had to look up "Magna Flux" to see what it was...

http://www.daz3d.com/magna-flux-for-genesis-3-female-s

And it's not a REQUIRED ITEM.

And the title says POSES.

I can't imagine what more midnight_stories could do to present his product. Great, great job.

Quite possibly, that's what you expect when you shop here and the OLDER products aren't updated or the store wasn't this streamlined in the past.

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

In the end there are three sides to this.

Old Buyers/Users - everything is fine, leave everything the way I'm used to it working. I adapted, you'll adapt too.

Vendors/Daz store - we work within these limitations and are doing the best we can.

New Customers - who are still falling for every pitfall imaginable. 

And there are too many to name. I don't know how to fix them aside from some kind of major overhaul to EVERY part of this entire Daz system.

And it might be too late to make that big a sweeping change without building a whole new store and/or suffer a massive downtime.

I've only been here 4 months and I see the same issues/problems over and over again.

Sure, after 6 months, I'll probably know enough to navigate the vast Daz sea, but this beginning really hurt. My feelings and my wallet.

Someone just installed Daz and they are joining us during March Madness.

I envy them for the sales and discounts and the wideness of the world they will encounter.

I feel bad for them when they try to use stuff and don't know about the Genesis differences...compatibility....Install Manager...the Library system...

Their C: drive filling up. Black renders. Overnight render times.

Where's my hair? A morph and a figure...?

That figure I bought is naked and bald?! What about the business suit in the picture?

I thought a bought a place? This is only a backdrop?

Why won't these damn heels fit?

Why is his butt poking through his armor?
Wait, why do I have to buy this to use this?

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

It's a learning curve for sure. Certainly worth it, but a  steep curve and I don't really mean the Daz Software. (that's a whole nother can of worms)

I mean how this whole product/store/discount thing works.

So yeah, you learn to have sympathy for the vendors and also for the new customers who are probably the life blood of Daz. Who else is going to spend thousands?

Yes, respect the elders, the founding fathers who built this place through their faithful purchases and renders.

The money THEY SPENT to assure you have a place to spend yours (and get awesome products to fuel your imagination).

Honor the great moderators and users who post tirelessly- answering the same damn questions every day.

Heap attention on all the artists who share their work and inspire new people to push harder towards that perfect render.

The future user, though. That person is going to pay next month's bills.

A special nod to them. 

I've gotten a handle on some things, dealt with some issues and know what to look for (pretty much).
We gotta balance these perspectives. All of us. Keep it realistic when it comes to expectations.

 

After 30 years in graphic arts etc. I am lucky enough to have a beast renderer with 2 Titan x 12 GB Pascals, 64 Gb ram, intel 7i-6850K 6 cores, EVGA SuperNova G3 1000 watt, Aus x99 Deluxe II and 2x2TB 960 pro ssd M.2 internal drives not to mention multiple external storage units, so I don't have to wait for overnight renders or sluggish loads. Autofit takes care of most poke through issues so I dont consider them an issue, and obviously I, like some others here, have invested in technology that saves me time ... which is why I hate wasting it.

Been seeing a lot of cool stuff in the shop. But, I want to know how do you make this yourself? I have some experience modeling in Blender. I don't know if these programs work together or not but is there some feature in DAZ that allows you to design your own models, props, clothing, jewelry, and whatever?

Like I was building a tree from a tutorial in Blender, how do I do that in DAZ?

What about hair and things like these great earrings http://www.daz3d.com/day-dream-cuffs-genesis-3-female-s-and-victoria-4

Point me to the tutorials *laughs* I am amazed at DAZ. So much to learn.

And no, I didn't finish the tree. The whole texturing and all that just is too confusing. Especiall if I can't really use it for anything. And no, I don't know what all the settings are for I just know a very small amount.

 

 

 

It's that time again! Posting the top favs of the month. and I'm surprised I didn't post more renders in February. It really turned out to be a crazy one for me. 

Llynara's Top 5 DAZ Products: 

1. Mariposa for Genevieve 7; Renders 1 & 2 Easily one of my favorite gals to work with. Genevieve 7 brings some interesting looks and morphs to the gene pool and so does Darwin's latest female character. Great combo! 
2. First Light Skydome and HDRI: Render 1 This is a stunning set, limited only by your imagination. Mariposa is in this render too, as well as Diesel for Elijah 7,
3. Elijah 7 : Render 1 : 2 This is actually Darwin's Diesel for Elijah 7, who isn't out yet, so I'll just say Elijah 7. Like Genevieve, he brings some interesting new shapes and morphs to Genesis 3. 
4. FWSA Taia for V7 ; Renders1 | Renders 2-4  I hadn't gotten around to rendering her till this month, and wow! She really is a knockout! Lots of incredible makeup options too. Her skin looks different under different lights as well. A gorgeous and versatile character, she'll be starring as my trouble maker Karma in my Black Kat series- a Super with luck powers. Here she is painting the town in a blingy Elvis suit!
5. The Shader Plan: Satin Textiles: Renders 1 & 2 Just beginning to play with these. They are very beautiful and can totally change the look of an outfit. Here Hugh is wearing Casual Styles for G3M dressed up with the shaders to look more formal. Barbult has done some very nice renders with these shaders too. 

Llynara's Top 5 Non-DAZ Products: 

1. Sveva Lumiere Lights: Wow, are these ever beautiful. I used them in the hot tub render and in the FWSA Taia renders mentioned above.
2. Lil Flame Heart Bath for DAZ: A beautiful and versatile set that I used in the hot tub render (along with textures and poses listed here.) This is a complete romantic photo studio with bath tub. I got it for $4 and it's now on Prime Flash again for the same price. Great deal! While you're at it, grab Sveva's astounding Passion for Heart bath texture set and Zeddicuss' Sensual Bathtime Poses to go with it. All are on Prime right now for cheapie cheap! 
3. EVGA GeForce 1050Ti 4GB DDR5 Graphics Card: Can't say enough great things about this card. Just upgraded from a 750Ti 2GB card, which served me well. Probably the most painless upgrade I've ever done. Being a bargain queen, I used Amazon gift cards from Christmas and paid less than $100 to upgrade to this great, affordable card. I highly recommend it if you're on a slower card and have an older computer like I do.  
4. Huion New 1060 PLUS Graphics Tablet- An early birthday present to myself, bought on recommedations by other artists in the Create Amazing 3D Art FB Group. I love it! Still getting used to it, but nice, large tablet with lots of programmable buttons. The wireless, rechargeable pen holds its charge for a long time. Loving the results in photoshop! My first efforts with pressure sensitive brushes are below. 
5. Rebelle Painting Program: A friend in one of the DAZ FB Groups told me about this groundbreaking program, which allows you to paint watercolor, acrylics, and other mediums in traditional ways on the computer. He created some beautiful backgrounds he made with this program for a rendering challenge. My renders are posted below. Grab it with this Smith Micro coupon for just $19 (offer still works, though it says it expired.)