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Finished the Nikita render and decided to change up her clothes. I also did some other adjustments from some tips I got from the DAZ3D Slackers Discord. DAZ Galleries link [x].
This will be my last render in DAZ Studio 4.15. Mostly because I've been doing other hobbies like writing or gaming, I haven't gotten around to updating. I read that 4.16 runs as well as 4.15. I don't know yet and I never backed up my 4.15 installer. My laptop is kinda old now, so this might be the end, but we'll see. X3
*EDIT: Did a quick test render, and 4.16 seemed to work the same. I hope I can create more renders and other art next year. <3
Little known fact, but none of my Iray renders have ever been done on GPU. I've always rendered in CPU and it's almost always close to 100% but that hasn't stopped me. XD
Yes, I use an older laptop. So rendering can be done but it's a very slow and painful process. That's why I keep my renders well-lit and minimalistic.
I have completed the render, but it wasn't meant to be a full-fledged illustration like my previous Nikita render. As I've said many times, I got into DS because I wanted to create my own drawing references and that's exactly what I was doing here. Usually, my ref renders are not presentable, but this one came out pretty. I'm even tempted to mess around with shaders and make it its own thing, but I'm more interested in the drawing. (Not sure if I should elaborate on my drawing project since the drawing itself is something completely non-DS related. But I drew most of it by memory. I just need to check with a reference to see if there's no weirdness in the anatomy or the posing.)
The character is the same dude I used for the shark boy renders, but with another skin and some tweaks to his face. (Digging the tweaks though.) The skin is Mousso's Asher HD, except with some PBR preset that came from Nikita.The hair is a G2M AprilYSH hair, but with an Iray preset from another newer AprilYSH hair.
I'm also going to talk about Medibang Piant Pro and how I like that it has a cloud save option where I can work on drawings from both my laptop and my phone. It's always a pain for me to whip out the laptop, which is why I don't really render nowadays, but I don't feel guilty about not doing my projects.
I'm also trying to make a new icon. Should've used Soto's eyelashes or Evelyn HD's eyelashes, but I was trying out Malika HD's eyelashes here and not digging the stray hairs. Also, I don't remember what eye materials I was using here, but I don't like them either. Speaking of Evelyn, that's the skin I'm using on my self-insert G8.1F from now on. Just seems better, and yes, this render had the PBR skin shader added to the skin and eyes.
The hair is Biscuits Flo Hair. Decided to try modeled dForce hair again, and this time the sim was less of a pain. (TBF, the first dForce hair I tried was one by Linday and their products are too resource intensive for me. I only get them if they're at a steep discount because maybe someday, I'll be able to use them, just like those Genesis 1 Neftis fibermesh hairs.)
It's been a while. You see, Pokemon Legends Arceus was released back on January 28, 2022 and that pretty much took up most of my time. Not that it mattered, since I like to go back and forth between my hobbies. Even found a NFP reference in the game. There was a recent update to the game, so this vendor doesn't say this anymore and just shows you three items you can buy.
Anyway, back to DS, I had to scrap that new icon attempt since I think my laptop isn't even strong-enough to use dForce cloth hairs (yet I've had no problems with the SBH.) I also have yet to update DS from 4.16 to 4.20, but that's because I've been busy playing games.
I also wanted to take the opportunity to call out HM's Belkah HD for G8.1F. She was for sale at a very deeply discounted price today, so I took a gamble and picked her up. I didn't care for her much since I don't render Big Titty Goth GFs™, but had I known about her more colorful makeup options, I'd have bought her sooner. The product promo pics only show two but not the rest. Here is a quick screen shot of all the 8 full-face, lip, eyes, and nail colors.
I haven't rendered her shape yet, but I like her skin. Of course, it's the PBR shader and it renders quite fast. Yes, I like this product, but am disappointed in how lacking the promos were. (I hope anyone with the DAZ-Deals browser extention will find my humble little forum post helpful.)
This is a render I've done with Belkah's skin. DAZ Galleries link [x].
I had to do two renders, to avoid the clipping on the headset. The character is from "Luana Morphs for Genesis 3 and 8 Female" by dieggomasamune. She doesn't come with a skin, so I used Belkah's. The HDRI background is a freebie by Traveler for Star 2.0, and it is found here.
I keep getting distracted by other hobbies. In this case, it's been either gaming or writing. For the latter, right now I'm trying to write a story that's basically my interpretation of "The Witcher" based on posts I've seen on Tumblr and Twitter from both the Netflix show and the games. Since I assumed I was going to be completely wrong, I actually went ahead and changed the characters' names in my story and have plans to submit this to Archive of Our Own as an "Original Story," but with the explanation of what compelled me to create this. (So I promised to update this forum post with a link, whenever I finished it. So here you go, a somewhat typical "fanfic," but not really. [x])
Anyway, the first thing I've rendered in a while is my knockoff version of Aeon Soul's Alice, named "Alessandra." Here is a DAZ Galleries link [x] and my favorite of the test renders.
I'm still not sure if I should do renders of how the characters in the parody story look like. It would seem like a fun project to do.
I'm still trying to figure out the secrets of PBR. (It renders so fast on my potato laptop that I don't even want to go back to the Iray Uber [PBR] shader.)
This is a test render of the knockoff Geralt-inspired character I alluded to in my previous post, except I decided to give him claws, "wolf" ears, and canine teefs. This test render is also the one that's made me realize that I do not have any good "gold" eye colors installed in my PC. I might have to go ahead and try to edit some maps to use with GIMP. (Most likely White Priestess' eyes.) I also need to figure out a good hair color. I used the SloshWerks ColorWerks shaders, but they don't render well with the headlamp. I could always do my own manual shader mix like I did with the Kent Hair for Alessandra. It needs to be an off-white color.
I think this render is amusing because this character mix uses Kota 8.1, and those ears are from Acicia. Basically, I've made a wolf with parts of fox characters. Those teeth and claws are from Landon 8 (actual werewolf character), so I guess that cancels this out.
This is the same character as previously, but as a brunet with shorter hair, and in default HDRI with headlamp.
This is literally the same skin texture without any modifications as previously. But somehow, he got darker here. PBR mystifies me.
Felt like designing this particular character. (Guess she can be my OC.) Her name is "Georgina Silverhand," but she goes by "Gina." She's supposed to be one of those very small slim women who can't find mature clothing in her size and is stuck wearing awful neon-colored "teen" girl clothing. I was also trying the Kherington Hair by MH on her, and she ended up looking like 90s MTV Aeon Flux.
Not shown in this screenshot, which I couldn't post right away thanks to a Cloudfare Error, but her body is just three morphs: Edie 8 @ 40%, Sakura 8 @ 30%, and Shoulders Width @ 40%. For the sake of clothing fits, I don't like to stray too far from the "Base" characters, and then just use few of them with minor adjustments. Might change her skin to something else. I love how her face looks in the smooth shaded mode. Too busy playing Pokémon Café ReMix on the Switch to do more proper rendering. XD
I don't remember if I downloaded Mely3D's/Valandar's "Build a Cyborg Bundle," because Gina is supposed to have (wooden but also robotic-looking) prosthetics and not regular arms and legs like this. Interesingly, she looks more like a "Mousso girl," with White Priestess 8.1's skin and Kala 8's eyebrows than she did with the actual Mousso skin (Xion) I used previously. As previously said, I really needed to use the shoulder width morph because both Edie 8 and Sakura 8 made her shoulders way too narrow. Though I might also need to use "Aurore Size," morph too because she's supposed to be a tiny [but angry] gal.
Full body pic:
Face close up:
(Literally, none of these renders make her look like a "medieval" chick. But then again, in the story she's from is basically "renaissance fantasy," except like The Flintstone's-styled because as "fantasy" it doesn't need to be "historically accurate." And they have enchanted mirrors, like in The Beauty and the Beast, except it's compact mirrors, so it's actually a magical flip phone. Plus, there's Steampunk Venice, except it's called "Vaporezia," but Gina ain't from there. She's from some other place called "Gumdrop Village.")
This is another OC I'm trying to make. His name is Giacomo Fabiolo Tarassaco. He's supposed to be a skinny little rogue guy. Pretty much looks like he could easily be bard or a jester. The challenge here was recreating his likeness based off a drawing I made at work. And yes, he uses Ollie 8 and Toon Dwayne 8. He's supposed to be like a male lolita character.
There was another outfit I designed for him. (The one in the sketch is simplistic.) Let's just say the other outfit is one of those concept drawings that wouldn't be practical in 3D. X'D
Anyway, as you can see, this is one reason why I often say I can't recreate the guys I draw in 3D. For some reason, I can easily recreate the women, but not the men. They never look cutesy like in the drawings.
I have been too busy doing other things, namely gaming and writing to use DS. This is a scene I managed to set up but don't have time to propely render because I always run out of time on the weekdays, and I'm busy doing errands/chores on the weekends.
This is the bootleg!Geralt character. Turns out Torment 8.1's skin is a perfect pale skin for him. Now, the issue is figuring out how to not make him look like a buff Torment.
Other problem I've been having lately is trying to save content to a SSD. Not sure what's going on, but everything saved over there (except poses) loads as boxes. I'd love to see how others set up their external drives to figure out what I'm doing wrong. But it feels like that's a want similar to asking, "What character is that?" (Best if I take it as a cue not to buy any more stuff. If I don't have space, then I shouldn't bother.)
Briar, Bramble and Bean might be a good base for Giacomo.
I forgot I had them. Tried to mix it in, but I need to figure out which other toon morph to reduce/remove (I think it's D.Master's Potono) to reduce the eye size. They're supposed to be round but not overly huge, since he's supposed to be slightly stylized.
I have finished this bootleg!Geralt render. It's part of a small photo set in the DAZ Galleries [x].
Good news, I've fixed my SSD content library, so there will be plenty of more varied renders from now on. I also need to update the Acicia bundle, since I use it way too much that it deserves to stay on my laptop.
I have finally changed my icon. Decided to imitate the NF/P-style, even though the hair and the hat are not DAZ Originals. (The hat is the JK Hat from the Acicia Bundle and the hair is a freebie hair by zoro_d, called "Candy Braids Hair for G8F".) Might do a photoset at another date, with the full-body shots of my avatar.
DAZ-wise, I need to figure out when I'll buy an annual subscription. Mine doesn't expire until next January, I think?
Project-wise, likely going back to focusing on my writing. Specifically the [very long] second part of my absurd project which is linked in a previous forum post. This second part is different, since it's partially AI-assisted. I've done other AI-assisted works for fun, but this one is one where I'm trying to incorporate the generated snippets so they'd match my style. I have no idea when I'll finish this one.
I've tweaked Gina's head morph, and decided to use Aurore's pale skin with White Priestess' shaders. No idea what happened yesterday, the Iray preview crashed twice when I was trying to render Gina. Today, it didn't crash. I'm still trying to figure out the PBR shaders for her. She's meant to be a pale "goth chick" with very dark hair and icy blue eyes. These previews make it so obvious that she has the Tasha 8 head morph dialed in at 50%. I also need to figure out the color palette for her temporary kitbashed outfit. Since she is clearly meant to be a knockoff version of Yennefer of Vengerberg, her outfit should be black, dark blue (since black dye is expensive), silver, and possibly gold. I'll get around to it eventually.
Here she is shown with a compact mirror by @felis from a product suggestions thread I made. The gag with the compact mirrors is that these work like the Enchanted Mirror from "The Beauty and the Beast," but like a fantasy flipphone. Gina doesn't have her own, but she borrowed it from her BF/husband.
On a side note, Gina got me thinking if psychics count as magic users. Her powers come from her mind and require extreme concentration. She's an "Earth Witch," not because she has power over the ground/soil (she doesn't), but because she has some control of the gravity of something that's around her, making it lighter or heavier than usual for a short amount of time. (This is how she can levitate and why wearing high heels won't hinder her in running around.) Her powers were something she was born with, and later learned to control.
EDIT: She can chase people down in the same way as these meme.
Here's a sketch and partial line art of Gina I drew at work without references. The project with her is odd because I'm going out of my way to "faithfully" recreate her and her friends in DAZ, as if I were making a render comic or illustrations for a visual novel, but I actually plan to draw everyone by hand because nothing I've made to date with DAZ feels like my art style. So this means I might eventually redo this pic with the DAZ character posed as similarly as possible.
Design-wise, she is very sci-fi inspired. Even her powers are meant to be outer space-related. You look at her and being a Yennefer clone isn't what comes to mind at all. If anything, I accidentally ended up making her more like Raven from Teen Titans. XD
I've drawn other characters and posted these doodles on my thread before, but yeah. Drawing is really the only way to go because it's extremely difficult to get males to look in this same style for some reason. Might as well get some approximations and wing it from there.
This was lined on Medibang Paint Pro app on my Pixel 4 (4G) phone with a stylus that's on the end of a pen. I'm at the point where this digital inking is the same quality of my ballpoint pen inking. What counts in art is the end results, not the methods or medium.
I know this is an old post, but this is hilarious! ROFL
This is crazy cute! You have mad skills!
Yeah to get the look like you're wanting for Gina, like your drawing but with a 3D model in Daz Studio, you'd have to go extremely stylized. You could start with something like Toon Eren ( https://www.daz3d.com/toon-eren-for-toon-generations-2 ) and then modify her from there to look more like Gina.
Thank you. I just wish I have more energy to draw. So I can go between my random creative projects.
I wanted to use G8 though. But, now that you reminded me, I did pick up Toon Generations 4 Mega Bundle when it was in the PCFAD once at an extremely steep discount. Might dial that in, though I like the "semi-realistic" G8 look I gave Gina. (But it never hurts to have a more stylized variant of the same character.)
The challenge here is trying to get all four of these characters to look "stylistically" similar, yet unique. I'm quite happy with the two on the outside. The middle ones are a work in progress. Although all of them were screenshot at base resolution, the middle ones' faces lack "detail" I might even have to end up redoing them. The middle G8.1F is supposed to have roundish features. The middle G8.1M is supposed to look "jokerish" but also adorable/whimsical which already means I'd somehow make him look creepy for everyone else. XD
I have redone Giacomo. (Previous pics [x][x].) Keep in mind that he was intended to be a bard/jester/rogue character who was meant to be adorable in a lolita/doll-like style. But since I wanted to do a test render, I just grabbed bluejaunte's Shaved Head geoshell for G8M (converted it myself for G8.1M) and the Q-suit, and some sunglasses...and he looks like a "Millenial Dale Gribble" now.
Toon Giacomo and Toon Georgina. I used the respective gender morph from the Toon Generations 4 on them @ 25%. I think the age I used for them was either 21 or 22.
I like this render, and scrap the previous Gina render in favor of this one. Must be the makeup, eyebrows, etc. but Gina looks like a cross between Elizabeth Taylor and Megan Fox. (That wasn't my intent.) Anyway, this is not a final render, since I need to figure out how to change their skin shaders so they'd match. In fact, this test render shows my biggest pet peeve I commonly see in DAZ, the male skin looks "normal" and the female skin makes her look like a fake mannequin. Or maybe I should find him some smoother skin, so he can look fake too. XD
I finally picked up Bonnie 8.1 a little while ago, I read in a forum comment, that the skin was great. I was already interested in the shape since it's unique to the gene pool.
I decided to test it out on Pei, who I finally decided to download into my SSD (and copy over her character morphs to my PC.) This is Pei with Bonnie's skin and brows, and both fit her nicely, IMHO.
Among the G8.1F "Base' characters; Bonnie, Brooke, White Priestess, Clara, Jinx Jones, and Noska have been the only ones who've remotely interested me. I have all of these now except Clara and Jinx. Clara seems like I could recreate her with characters I have, just like I did with Kanade. Not sure about Jinx yet. I need to figure out and see if her skin is any different than Noska's. They both look dark and freckly.
I highly recommend Jada, if only for the skin.