Hello,

I'm brand new to using this software, but I have read and googled on this topic as much as I can and must now ask for help. I have turned the camera headlight off, and ensured that my render settings match those of tutorials on how to use Iray. I've turned everything else off, even the grid on the ground, and tried toggling the viewport between UV and back again, and restarting the program. I'm not sure what is going on. As the topic title indicates, a skin texture applied besides the default (these screenshots happen to be taken with a Victoria 7 skin) seems to partly ignore the fact that preview lights is on. Other objects, such as hair, clothes, and even other parts of the body such as teeth, are behaving as expected by only being illuniated correctly by the spotlight, but the high resolution skin texture only dims a bit when preview is on, rather than only taking light from the single spotlight which is the only real light source in the scene.

Please see the attached images and let me know if someone can help.

I cant tell if carrara supports gn3 or v7 models or not

It doesn't. Only up to Genesis 2 for now. You do, or I did at least, get Michael & Victoria 5 & 6 Pro bundles if you buy Carrara which makes it an easy choice when you buy it doing one of the sales. 

@barbult, I am using 4.9.2.70

I have seen some scripts that fail to run because they were installed with Daz Connect. M4 Skins Batch Converter for Genesis 2 was one. I think it was looking for files where DIM puts them and not where Daz Connect puts them, but that is just my guess.

UHT2 has worked on the other hairs that I've tried it on.

@KevinH, I'm sorry I haven't been back to help. I didn't get a notification of any activity in this thread, but stumbled upon it today in "Recent Discussions".

I don't have Leandro Hair, so I can't test that. I did get an error message one time when I accidently had Victoria 7 selected in the Scene pane instead of the hair. I still was able to select the hair surfaces in the Surfaces pane, because Display Selected and Fitted Items was checked in the Surfaces menu. It really confused me until I finally figured out what happened. Like your case, the Use Original Scalp script executed without error, but the regular hair Use Original Textures failed. I recreated that here in the attached screenshot. See if you have your character instead of the hair selected.

Another tip for you: You can find the folder structure for products installed with Daz Connect at the top of the Content Library under Daz Studio Formats>Daz Connect. For UHT2, look in Daz Studio Formats>Daz Connect>Shader Presets>Sloshwerks>UHT2 Ultra Salon. Another way to find the folder is to right-click on one of the product files in Smart Content and select Show Asset In>Content Library Virtual Folder. In the Product or Category section of the Content Library, right click on it and select Show Asset In>Virtual Folder.

Edit: oops forgot the attachment.

I see we're all creeping back to the thread with only 28 hours or so to go!

Gopherus - thanks for your comments (you did have a busy time looking through all those posts!) - hope you manage to get your entry in before tomorrow midnight.
Karibou - shame you've not had the chance to join us this time (looking forward to the next time though)
purrkat #6 - I hope chef is talking to the mole rat not the monkey - bananas in fridges are supposed to be a bad combo! Nice idea.

I'm going to take a risk and hope to get another one done in time
Pull #5:
579 = Victoria 5 Starter Bundle (13495) [= V5, PH Bubblegum, Handy, Sexy Silky, SciFi Bunny, Gabi for V5]
2772 = Frost for Tertius (19151)
825 = V4 Elite Texture: Katie (10233)
2038 = Dazzle for Genesis 2 Female(s) (18117)
942 = Royal Stairs (5574) - LB
1715 = Sun Hair for Genesis 2 Male (17791) - LB

Of course I had to get a bundle...  (although I suppose I was lucky not to pull a bundle of environments at this last minute)

ETA: Thanks Saphirewild (I spent so long typing in my last pull that I managed to cross-post with you) I hope the coffee didn't do too much damage

Thank you guys I was excited to win a kindle its the first thing I ever won for not doing anything but filling out a survey.. :)

@Knittingmommy , I actually have a little more experience than what people think. I just try to keep to myself because I still have a stalker problem.

I guess I could be called a professional student, I'm always taking classes or learning something new.. I've been working as a Illustrator since i got out of school in the 80's  back then then it was Coral Draw,  and a windows PC's  was not even in existence. computers were as big as a car.   I got Adobe Certified in Photoshop, Illustrator & Flash n 2007 well after Adobe took over Macromedia.& I became a Adobe ambassador for 4 years endorsing and demonstrating Adobe Software. I was at Siggraph in 2010 help running the creative Suite Booth..lol  Back then it was cs2,  What is cool is have met and worked with some really cool influential people that have help me grow my career , & I was inspired by people like Christpher Vachor.  But that was a long long time ago when most art work was drawn by hand..lol   Back in the 90's I traveled a lot with different photography crews as a contractor working with them for planned page lay-outs for magazines and TV spots that were ordered. The internet was just in its infancy  then and windows XP was just released..lol  . In 1999  I had worked with a team of people  Broadcast.com in conjunction with viacom media to have the first ever web cast on the internet using RealPlayer for a Victoria Secrets fashion show during the Super Bowl XXXIII haf time show in 1999. that took place in Hyde park NY  it broke viewer records that still stand today. I'm proud to have my name attached to that work.  wow that was 16 years ago..lol    right now my studio is working as a contractor with DHO  (Disney Home Office out of Orlando Florida.)  spamming people with  Disney cruises and resort ads  & I work as a contractor artist to help people referred to me by godaddy.com  who need special art work for front end web site development. Godaddy sells web sites and hosting.  I've been trying to get into  Mountain State Health Alliance.  for the last month working in their IT Dept. so I can wind down to retirement.  The reason I started with Poser back in 2008 was I found I needed some art work I just could not create with Photoshop or Illustrator. and then I found Daz in 2010 because I was using poser the rest they say is history..lol

So  I've actually done more than 9 book covers for Frank Buddy Vaiden.  & I also built his web site , though it needs to be updated .  I have built 100's of web sites for people over the years  though its not really my primary job function . Its was just kind of a side of effect from learning MS Visual Basics,C+++ ,HTML  and Adobe creative suite products . this is the latest site i did http://www.farhorizonfarms.com/ its  a personal site, for these ladies that sell Organic beef   you'll love the pictures. I think baby cows are so cute.  this is the first time I won anything so I was very excited  can you tell..lol

I wishlisted lennon, whilst I thought about the character.

http://www.daz3d.com/hpvyk-lennon-for-genesis-3-female

or

http://www.daz3d.com/hpvyk-ashton-for-genesis-3-female

The new character was released by the same artists, and I was tempted as a good price which (imo) reflected the absence of anatomical bits; however, I couldn't see the skin; PAs the most important part of a character is the skin - at least for me.

So I rejected the Ashton character, and am unlikely to buy it as I can't see the textures. There are plenty other characters for sale by a number of PAs, I won't bother with for the same reason.

Couldn't agree more!!! It's why I buy more characters from other stores than here, I want to see all of the product. I find it odd that the thing that takes the longest, creating an original texture for the character is the one thing many vendors don't want to showoff. It's not about perversion or being naughty, it's about seeing what you are buying. If you are an artist that never renders nudes, then the skin isn't as important to you, I get that, but not everyone renders that way. There are a few vendors that sell at other stores also that refuse to post nude promos, well they are on my don't buy list since they either don't care enough or don't want to include when they clearly have the option which is sad because some of them do great work, but I am tried of having to fix textures in photoshop when I find they don't meet with the look I (or a client) needs after purchasing.. When I see a new character at other stores, the first promo I look at is the nude one which decides if I look more closely at the product or move along

If I had to choose between the two nicstt, I would go with Lennon as I like what I do see of the skin more and she has a unique face morph.

I bought Lennon. :)

Fix? Oh yeh, I've been working my way through my purchases - been doing it ever since DRM appeared - and I found four characters from one vendor with issues; I opened a ticket. I'd have returned them but sadly they are a few months past the 30 days. And the response was, they've confirmed the issues I reported. Always glad when it isn't something I've done wrong. :)

I buy something now, it get's checked immediately.

Yeh, I've started buying elsewhere, ever since the turn of the year.

I can say from a PA's point of view- there are nudity guidelines here that are not on the other sites that we all have to follow.  However, personally, I still like to attempt to show as much skin as possible in my previews for that very reason.  I also like trying to get different types of brows from all over the place, not just MR's- but some are quite varied if you hunt them down. I've also gotten into making morphs that use little to no other morph packs so even if all someone has is the base G3 figure, they can use them, even if the pack has a specific character base for the "main" morphs.

As a customer, I like variety in things as well.  Morphs-eh, I can do my own, but idealistically even if the common skin textures are out there, if there's enough uniqueness to them I will and have purchased sets for that alone and will continue to do so.  

I buy most of Lyoness (not everyone on release, but many) as she now includs a no brow option, various brows, and anatomical elements. I remember asking about the no brow options and she (I hope she not he) said would do for the next character as well as include anatomical bits. So the quality is excellent, and there are options included to. A win win. :)

This is an excellent example of showing the skin texture.

http://www.daz3d.com/hongyu-s-bikini-for-victoria-7

Funny that it's about the bikini. So whilst Daz has strict guidelines on nudity, the bikini doesn't break those rules.

I never purchase a character that only looks like a slightly modified Victoria. That's what this looks like to me. It's nice, but it's not different enough. We have a ton of these characters already. 

Recently, I have been having an issue where whenever I load the Genesis model, it will automatically apply the Victoria 5 morph, as well as the Breasts Heavy, Breast Small, Chest Depth, Areolae Depth, Collar Bone Detail, Love Handles, Navel, Navel Size, Nipples, Nails Length, Glutes Volume, Hip Volume, Glutes Upper Depth, Glutes Width, Sacral Dimples, and Thighs Tone morphs. Granted, I can undo these changes manually or by zeroing the character model, but it'd be nice to not have to do that each and every time I load the genesis model.

My second muse is Rebeca by BestmanPi. I've been obsessed with this character for ages and when BestmanPi released her as a freebie I thought I was dreaming. I've been having SO MUCH FUN with this character and can't stop rendering her. She's AMAZING and I'm very very thankful to BestmanPi for his extreme generousity in sharing her with us! :D

 

Forgive her crazy outfit, I was just being really really silly with her! lol 

Here she is with some modifications I made to her mats:

More mat mods (I think I might like the original mats more, but I think the mods give slighly more realism to the skin perhaps):

I definitely adore this character and am more than thrilled to have her! Thanks so much BestmanPi! 

She is a great character! You got a link? The darker, more detailed skin makes her look super exotic. I dig the contrast with her light eyes.

- Greg

Sure! Here's the link to her shape: http://www.sharecg.com/v/85539/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/Rebeca-R3.09

And the link to her shader: http://www.sharecg.com/v/83595/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/Rebeca-shaders

You have to have Victoria 7's mats to make her look right. Though if you don't have V7 I supose you could use any other G3 mats on her, it just wouldn't look quite the same. :)

The morphs will alomost certainly be in the dress already - look to see if there is a Pose Controls or similar group in the Parameters pane with the dress selected.

Thats what I expected too, but there is just isnt any

Shaping with the dress selected

Poses tab with the dress selected

shaping with the figure (victoria 7) selected

These are somewhat bulky but probably as close as you can get that still show the female form:

http://www.daz3d.com/zero-gravity-for-victoria-4

http://www.daz3d.com/mars-explorers-for-genesis-2-female-s

http://www.daz3d.com/mars-explorers-for-genesis

I've got the same question with today's SciWizard dynamic cloak.  How well does the dynamic work on it?

Wow that's awesome :D Never would have considered this. 

Why should Victoria have all the fun? 

Slow down there Speed Racer lol

Yes those things are all technically possible but if you are brand new to Daz and 3D art, I'd advise starting small. You won't be able to do that right out of the gates. It may take some time to learn all the various methods and techniques to acheive the desired results. How much time depends on how much time you can spend learning. I've been doing it for almost a year and still consider myself a newbie. I know people that have been at it for much longer and still run into problems too. This forum is going to be your best friend as you learn. It's a great resource to not only ask questions but also to read other peoples questions. But since you asked for specifics I'll try to answer them.

Is it legal? Yes. It's my understanding that anything bought in Daz and used in Renders is available for use in commercial and personal renders. Now, other sites that are great for materials (Renderosity for instance) have End User License Agreements (EULA) but even most of those say it's okay to use for commercial purposes. But it's always a good idea to read the EULA before purchase so you don't spend money on a pair of shoes for instance that the vendor does not want to be used for anything but private use.

As far as character customization goes, yes you can do most of those things using body morphs. I would reccomend the "Growing Up" bundle. I have it and it's very easy to work with. It comes with settings that you can just click and it will make a character anything from a toddler to a late teen. There are also slider controls. I use these more because the characters seem to look about 35yr old to me. Using a slider I can make them juuuust a little younger without dropping them to High School age.

Features: Make sure whatever hair you buy comes with the shade of hair you plan on using. Some hair offers more options than others. Ditto for eyes. Characters tend to come with a few different eye options so you won't be in trouble there. Unless you're looking for a red eyed demon then you'll have to purchase another product/add on. Height and facial changes can be achieved using body morphs. These are things you'll have to purchase but they don't tend to be too pricey and are always handy to have.

Making your own backgrounds: There are a few different methods you can use as far as scenery outside a window for instance. But if you're talking about making Iray optimized 3D environments, you're talking about some serious skill type stuff. Not saying you can't learn how but it is no easy task I'm sure. Personally, I leave it to the pros and just purchase ones that will work for whatever theme picture I am doing.

A little advice on something I didn't know when I first started....I don't know if you've made any purchases just yet but if you haven't, tread slowly. I saw a figure I thought looked amazing, great hair, nice outfit, beautiful! So I purchased it, downloaded it and loaded it into my scene. She was bald, naked and didn't load right because she was built off of Victoria 6 which I did not own. My point it, the advertisment isn't what you get and you have to pay attention to REQUIRED PRODUCTS. And if you have not purchased anything yet, I highly suggest joing the Platinum Club. It will save you far more than it costs. I haven't heard anyone say it was a rip off or they don't get any use out of it.

That's my advice. Happy Daz'ing, stop here an ask questions any time. The amount of people and experiance on this board alone will be enough to answer any question you can come up with.

Why should Victoria have all the fun? 

thats cool.

lol i had a similar idea but i just didn't have the stuff to pull it off, but what i wanted to do was make Vultan from the old Flash Gordon movie. "dive!"

Oookay.  There's apparently been some drinking on the job going on at DAZ.  Today's ad says "Over 400 popular Michael & Victoria items only $4 each", yet I count only 90 items in the MIchel section and 60 in the victoria section.  Then there are another 20 items pet cat shown on the page, but there are still around 200 items missing.

I'm showing 384 and 104 if I unhide stuff I own.

I'm not sure what the difference for some others is but I'm showing the same as ChangelingChick

Just a heads up, there are some freebies with the Vintage Victoria sale - six items from what I can tell.

http://www.daz3d.com/vintage-victoria-products#order=price^-1&filtered=1

I'm not sure if they are always free or just free because of the sale. 

Since none of them have a price, and three of them can be gotten at the author's website (EvilInnocence), it's safe to assume they're perma-free.

There are some new freebies I noticed with the Vintage Victoria sale, if you don't have them already: http://www.daz3d.com/vintage-victoria-products#order=price^-1&filtered=1

Just a heads up, there are some freebies with the Vintage Victoria sale - six items from what I can tell.

http://www.daz3d.com/vintage-victoria-products#order=price^-1&filtered=1

I'm not sure if they are always free or just free because of the sale. 

90 and 60 for me as well. No matter if I go from landing page banner or from sales page links.. ?

http://www.daz3d.com/vintage-michael-products

http://www.daz3d.com/vintage-victoria-products

Does it open different pages for you then ?