Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 9
Novica
Posts: 23,887
The previous threads / views as of June 9th, compared to January. I track this to show contributors how their contributions are continually viewed/helping people. The threads FOUR YEARS AGO are still being actively surfed. This is for only five months!
Thread 1 81, 805 (+557)
Thread 2 66, 316 (+543)
Thread 3 77, 281 (+702)
Thread 4 57, 095 (+703)
Thread 5 51, 603 (+457)
Thread 6 70, 937 (+2,693)
Thread 7 48, 944 (+3,287)
Thread 8 42,300
Total new views, excluding Thread 8: +8,942
TOTAL POSTS/VIEWS: 496,278 Only 3,722 short of half a million! Woot!
Edit: As of early August, we have over half a million views! See the current contest to celebrate, also here in the Art Studio thread.
This deserves mentioning- it's from one of my older threads- but if you don't know how to back up your content, SereneNight gives you a step by step. It's in the second half of the post.
If you want to post your images in a thread and not have them clunkily attached below your post, here's where you can post them!! (Note one problem with that- you won't be able to get the name of your original image by clicking on it, it's mumblymuck code. But you can always download it and rename it.)
Want to see some examples of older content? @Kerya , @Llanara , and @icedragonart have you covered! Thanks, ladies!
Examples of Generations 2 and 3 are here.
Older sets are here.
V4 and M4 Clothing Conversion to Iray is here
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This is the References post
The most used other thread I started is Free Backgrounds. Head over and grab a few, contribute a few, and enjoy!
**********References / Of Interest**********
Books, Digital: RScotJohns (Author) helped us with ebook (did a chat one evening)
Characters: I showcased Odelle, an older character from Rendo (that Daz rejected!)
Expressions: Here's some with sliders that are really fluid and usable. And Poses (scroll for both of these, numerous posts)
Hair: One of the funniest things showcased- vendor's names in hair!
HDRIs: Fishtales showing you some HRDI's
Free Infinity Cove 3 sets
Mountain Valley: Take a tour of this product as we drive around town!
See Nath's Elegant Swan- the ACTUAL PHOTOS from the museum, and the render. This car spewed steam and pooped yogurt, and was banned from the streets due to being a nuisance. (Ya think?) Now at HiveWire.
Special Honor: Rabbicus fun with RGcincy. It all started with a cactus on a shelf and I said it looked like a rabbit.
********** Programs **********
Special note: Script: David GB's G3 To G8 Pose Fixer To correct G3 Poses and get them to work with G8
Infinito: Infinito Experiments: If you have questions about Infinito, ask them here
iClone: iClone6 (I'll have to get back to it) Here's a nice video by Bigh and Bigh's thread on Iclone and Reallusions Thread The Path To iClone
Livebrush Pro (FREE) Livebrush Pro- link, it's now free
Mixamo How To Use (by Firewarden)
Motion Capture in general: Motion Capture products/ discussion linked from the Octane FaceShift question
Senosoft: Convert .rsr file types to pngs (P3DO Explorer)
ShapeMagic 2 ShapeMagic 2 By our very own RGcincy
Silo: Silo Modeling
Zbrush For Beginners: Zbrush for Beginners
********** TIPS **********
Tip: Bloom Filter- Settings
Tip: Characters- Where To Load From Loading Characters- does it matter if you load it from icons, the Genesis figure + Character List, or the Figure (Aiko 7, Girl 7, etc) + the Character List? YES IT DOES.
Tip: Charlotte Hair Tweaks- Turn fluffy into sleek and modern! New May 2017
Tip: Custom Categories for Sets Here's some suggestions and additions
Tip: Delete Items in Scene: Grouped items giving you fits? How to delete those polygons!
Tip: DIM download problems? Try this.
Tip: DIM downloading product to use with products from other sites
Tip: Dreamland Models in DS Learn how to work with Dreamland Models (Poser) in DS
Tip: Doors and windows that open, flat roof to add, pane of glass, good kit bashing items
Tip: Dome Orientation Results My experiments/settings for rotating the dome by changing the XYZ Dome Orientation. All settings given/ shown.
Tip: Fern Lake Instances and Water Instances in Fern Lake and Through The Woods And clearer water tip for it. My example.
Tip: Finding products in these threads, using Google NEW April 2017
Tip: Focal Length
Tip: Furries: How To Find Files and Pose (Llynara) And Capsces posted this for a few tips.
Tip: Gemology Shaders for Iray: Settings for best results, by vendor
Tip: Generation Tools: List of products which help you cross generations
Tip: Greek Houses: Fixing the water, landscape, and stone edge materials. All settings provided!
Tip: Growing Up: Making Chest look good
Tip: Hair: Different Settings To Increase Shine Also here
Tip: Harpsburg Night Lights Best way to apply them
Tip: Iray Organized References This thread links to the threads, but also categorized some of the topics within the thread so you can look things up quicker.
Tip: Iray Section Plane TabascoJack shows you how to use the Iray Section Plane
Tip: Madelyn Ears- How to remove those elf ears.
Tip: Manual Downloads in Product Library How to find them ultra-quick
Tip:/Info: Materials and Shaders: Difference in Materials and Shaders (from Commons)
Tip: Mermaid Top Family friendly suggestion.
Tip: Millenium Cat- Free Persian Head
Tip: Mocap Animations FREE Here (Mixamo)
Tip: Nobiax Free Iray Daz Textures
Tip: OOT Hair Steps
Tip: Photoshop Postwork Postwork Photoshop Tips (Laticis) and my example
Tip: Photoshop Plugins From Thread 6: Examples
Tip: Portrait Lighting Novica's XYZ Dome Orientation Quick Guide (Portrait Tweaks)
Tip: Pose Converter (Genesis 2 to Genesis 3) Where to find files (Scroll for discussion)
Tip: Combining Poses by locking body parts
Tip: Postwork The Postwork thread has a lot of good information!
Tip: RDNA How to find your purchases
Tip: Rigging How to import OBJ and rig in Daz Studio
Tip: Rigging Basic Rigging Preparation then Adding Bones for Rigging
Tip: Section Planes How To Use (by TabascoJack)
Tip: So Wet Bundle Examples
Tip: Skies of iRadiance Which are for high / low altitudes? Answer
Tip: Spectural Rendering tests for the studio
Tip: SubD: How To Add It (Darwins Mishap)
Tip: Texturing With DestinysGarden (DestinysGarden) New June 2017
Tip: The Briefing Room Lighting with Iray (V3Digitimes)
Tip: Ultragenesis: Faces of G has a variety of older faces.
Tip: Weight Maps: How To Remove or Change (Thomas Windar)
Tip: White Point Changing it- Examples
Tip: Walls- Sets Which Are Easier To Use- or Not. Sets that don't have separate walls and handy notes on a few sets
********** TUTORIALS**********
Tutorial: Bus, Noggins- Converting from Bryce to Daz Studio (RGcincy) Here
Tutorial: Breast Gone- In Hexagon (Smoothing Zev0s Grow Up product even more)
Tutorial: Clothing, Making in Blender SickleYield's tutorial on Deviant Art.
Tutorial: Create Categories Using Gen2F, I showed how to Create Categories and Export to save your custom categories. (Here's WHY you may want to do that with your characters.)
Tutorial: Custom Actions In Toolbar How to Create Custom Actions In Toolbar
Tutorial: D Former D Former Tutorial D Former tutorial and links
Tutorial: Depth of Field Flipmode provides a good depth of field tutorial for you.
Tutorial: Fisty's Shaders & Getting Rid of Gooey Lips This one shows you Fisty's shaders. Get rid of the overly gooey lips.
Tutorial: Fur Brushes Download and Video (Kathryn Loch)
Tutorial: Garibaldi Hair Doing a cat with Garibaldi Hair- Tutorial
Tutorial: GenX links on "how to use."
Tutorial: Generation 4 Materials on Genesis 2 This one put Generation 4 materials on Genesis 2 using Victoria 4 for Genesis 2 Female.
Tutorial: Geometry Shells How to do Geometry Shells (video tutorial the3dwizard) and doing makeup for different characters
Tutorial: Hair Shaders (Slosh, his product) explaining how to use them.
Tutorial: Iclone Iclone videos
Tutorial: Images- How To Put Them In Forum Posts Here's Putting Images in Posts
Tutorial: Instances: Using Ultrascatter
Iray Canvases- How To Do Lighting
Iray Ghost Lights 2: Portrait Setup in 13 Steps, All Settings Given
Tutorial: Iray Light Manager Pro Step by step screenshots
Tutorial: Iray For Beginners- Do A Scene Step By Step The Wanna Render? Iray tutorial walks you through Iray lighting for total newbies- including Crush Blacks, Burn Highlights, how the sliders work together and why in Tone Mapping, and Environment Intensity.
Tutorial: Iray Lighting- A Night Lantern Doing a night time lantern with Emissive Lighting.
Tutorial: Iray- Portrait Light Setup With Point Lights Portrait Lights: 3 Point Lights and a Spotlight- Settings Provided
Tutorial: Iray Skydome Super Pak The Explanation to use (magix101)
Tutorial: Iray Worlds Skydome Explanation on using it (rgcincy)
Tutorial: Maps for Iray and 3DL / Albedo Explanation Texture Maps: (Saba Taru) ALBEDO explanation, and where to put the maps for Iray and 3DL
Tutorial: Material Zones
Tutorial: Metadata- How To Make It Video Here (Slosh) and Here (3D Almanc)
Tutorial: Rigging and Weight Mapping- Beginners Through Advanced
Tutorial: Rigging Static Doors So They Open (RGcincy) How To Rig A Prop
Tutorial: Shaders- Mec4D's PBR Shaders Mec4D's PBR shaders: How to use
Tutorial: Tears by SereneNight NEW JUNE 2017
Tutorial: Teeth, Getting Realistic Shapes Getting realistic teeth shapes was here and slight tweaks here.
Tutorial: Texturing Texturing With DestinysGarden is a good thread- let a pro show you how!
Tutorial: UltraScatter Advanced Instancing UltraScatter Advanced Instancing: RGcincy's handy notes, how-to.
Victoria 4 for Genesis 2 Female: How to use the product.
Tutorial: Weight Mapping: How To Smooth All Face Groups At Once (By SickleYield)
Tutorial: Windows, Making Them From Planes And Cubes Realistically Making Windows using planes and cubes, with glass panes and images!
Fun / Interesting Threads
Photoshop Playtime! Where we showed you some really neat plug-ins to get cartoon, oil, watercolor effects.
Scripts: A one click solution to put things on your ground plane, under things, etc
Your Monthly Top 3 - 5 Picks
What were your favorite DAZ products used in renders that you did during the current month? (not what you BOUGHT this month, what you RENDERED) To be eligible for the $5 Gift Card drawing among the participants, you must pick a minimum of three, a maximum of five products, and follow the guidelines below. Have fun!
Now onto July.
Post your July renders/favorite products from August 7 through August 15th.
Guidelines: (and if you go to the end of this section, there is a link to each month and you can see the physical layout. However, this section has the rules which you should also read. Thanks!)
1. Please title your post: (NAME's) Top 3 For (Month) such as Novica's Top 3 For January (we usually put it in blue or red)
Link to the products (the product page) and your renders, IN ONE POST, using the product titles as the links. After that, put either "Render" or "Example" and link to your render. You can link to more than one. (Example, if you rendered the Daz Cat twice, you put "Example 1" and "Example 2" (without the quotes) and link to each render. So you would have:
Novica's Top 3 For July
Daz Cat (linked to product page) Example 1 Example 2 (and Examples 1 & 2 link to your renders.)
2. Your render links can be to Daz forums, galleries, or other equivalent major 3d website galleries. (DA, Renderosity, etc) No private website links. NOTE: Any renders that are in the Platinum Club forum should be put in your gallery and linked from there, as renders must be accessible to everyone. Thanks!)
If it is a link that goes off the Daz site, put the site in ( ) after the link or in the description. Also, if it is not family friendly (ultra sexy or nudity) please post "nudity" or "not family friendly" by the link.
PLEASE CHECK YOUR LINKS. If you don't have at least 3 working links, you can't be entered into the gift card drawing. You have until the cutoff time to fix them. If I find non-working links, I will post it in this thread, I don't PM. (You are supposed to check them after you post them.)
3. The top three do not have to be in any certain order. These are Daz products only, and may include freebies offered by Daz.
4. You must USE the product for it to be a favorite, and show us a render. The product does not have to be released or bought that month. Oldies are goodies! YOU JUST HAVE TO RENDER IT THAT MONTH. As usual for my threads, no WIPs. Only finished works. The renders should clearly show the featured product and be a major factor in the scene.
5. You can NOT REPEAT a product as one of your Top 3's. (See the summary, by artist- that will help you.)
6. a. Vendors can participate but can not list their own products. (If yours isn't your favorite, hmmm....)
b. Disclaimer- at least 5 people must participate for there to be a drawing
c. No person shall win MORE THAN twice in a row. We're obviously doing this for fun, not the vast wealth I am offering (sarcasm) but I would like multiple winners for the time period. (I will post my Top 3 but not participate in the drawing.)
7. The cutoff to post your Top 3 / be in the drawing for the gift card is Midnight Daz time, the last day of the stated time period.
I'll do one post at the end of the month with links to everyone's Top 3 posts- and put the twelve links, one for each month, here. Easy surfing!
For the participants/ anyone interested- here's the list of the participants and their choices. (Does NOT include links to the products. That is in the monthly links, below.) Because we can only select a product ONCE, this helps us month to month in picking new things to render.
SUMMARY LIST of products picked by each person: SEE NEXT POST
January 2017 Top Picks Random $5 Gift Card drawing winners: RGcincy, Llynara, Isidorn
February 2017 Top Picks Gift Card Winner: Ice Dragon Art
March 2017 Top Picks Gift Card Winner: Dreamfarmer
April 2017 Top Picks Gift Card Winner: RGcincy
May 2017 Top Picks Gift Card Winner: Barbult
June 2017 Top Picks Gift Card Winner: Ice Dragon Art
July 2017 Top Picks Gift Card Winner: L'Adair
Because we can't list a product more than once as a favorite, I'm doing this so we'll keep it straight. I'll alphabetize it for each of you so you can quickly scan and see if your product you want to mention is already there.
THIS LIST NOW INCLUDES YOUR PICKS FROM July. (the *July is to help tell me I've got your most up to date choices)
Here's the link to the current post that has their July Picks It lists the artist, and a link to their post which has the product link and their render links.
Barbult:
200 Plus Head and Face Morphs for Genesis 3 Male(s)
Ceridwen
Dale for Genesis 3 Male(s)
Darius 7
Diesel for Elijah 7
Elijah 7
Fern Lake
FWSA Halina for Kalea 7
Hair Lustre Shaders for Iray
Harpsburg for Daz Studio
Harpwood Trail
Nyarai for Genesis 3 Female
Taylor for Stephanie 6
Toon Generations Toon Mega Bundle (Gen3M/F)
Victoria 8
Deathbycanon:
Diesel
Dominator Planet
Staff Pack
Divamakeup:
Gwennili HD (V7)
Minnie Bow Hair
SF Ball Joint Doll (Gen3F)
Star 2.0
Urban Sprawl 2 The Big City
DonovanColbert:
Aiko 3 Pro Bundle
Big Bill Truck
Melody for A3
Rundown Bedroom
Ultragenesis Faces of G
Dreamfarmer (*July)
BOSS Pro Light Set for Portraits and Promos
DA Blue Bell Woods
Heath Hair for Genesis 3 Males And Females
LIE Makeup Presets (Gen3M)
Realistic Grass Evolution
SC Rain For Genesis 3 Female(s)
Ice Dragon Art: (*July)
A Touch of Dirt For Iray
Ahmad For Genesis 3 Male
Alien Metals-Iray Shaders
Aran (Gen3F)
BOSS Pro Light Set for Portraits and Promos
Creech Evolution
Damon (Gen3M)
Death Stalker
DM's Fantasy Bath
Epic Skydome Mystical Island Cave
Forest Daphni (V4)
FSL Elements of Magic
Iray Ghost Light Kit
Iray HDR Space
iReal Animated Butterflies and Wisps
Jepes Body Jewels 3 (Gen2F)
Legends Altar (Note the link is legends-alter. Daz screwed it up)
Medieval Study
Millenium Dragon 2
Minotaur 6
Muelsfell Atlantis Armour
Raptor Dragon
Robbus Goblin
Sickleyield's Dress Rig
Skin Builder 3 For Genesis 3 Females
Sorceress (Gen3F)
SY Rigged Waterfalls Iray
The Pharoahs of the Sun Dress Children of Aten 2 Texture
V4 Skins Batch Converter to Genesis 2 Female(s)
Water Dragon
Wild Dreads for V4
Isidorn: (*July)
Arkangel
Benita for Victoria 8
Careless Braid (Gen3F)
Droid
Easy Environments: Snowy Mountains
EJ Narumi (Gen3F)
Fast Fog Iray
IDG Iray FX Props and Shaders
Impossible Objects
Kawaii Dreams Outfit (Gen3F)
Kimo 7
Kobold Woodlands Spirit
Lethal Rogue Outfit for Genesis 8 Female(s)
Mullet Hair 80's Style
Nail Polish for Genesis 3 Female
Solitaire by Meipe
SY Confetti and Nature Effects
Tube Socks (Gen3F)
Z Creepy Manner-Morph Dial Expressions for Clarice
Zombie Walker
Jakiblue: (*July)
Bad Girl Textures for Genesis 3 Females Super Bodysuit
Beddy Bear
Bridget Hair for Genesis 3 Female(s)
Ceridwen and Fantasy Skins (Gen3F)
Eva 7
GDN Kelly (Gen3F)
Go Go Outfit (Gen3F)
Modern Bathroom
Mst Mai (Gen3F)
Myrtle for Star 2.0
Razor ONE Hair for Genesis 3 Female(s)
Sand Serpent Outfit (Gen3F)
Slide3D Goth Boots
Star 2.0
Super Sleeky Hair
Tail Gunner V3
Toon Generations 2 Essentials for Genesis 3
Vagabond (G3F)
Knittingmommy
FirstBastions Highland Lakeside Cabin and Dock
Iray Clouds
iReal Animated Butterflies and Wisps
Mariposa for Genesis 3 Female and Genevieve 7
Sketchy- Toon Edge and Art Style Shaders for Iray
Tonal Rage- Tone Mapping Kit for Iray
War Bird Outfit and Poses
L'Adair (*July)
Centaur 7 For Genesis 3 Female(s)
DA Stonework and Masonry Shaders
DG Toon Style Hair Shaders
Double Trouble Braids for Genesis 3 Female(s)
Esha's Modern Chinese Bedroom
IDG Portrait Studio
Iray Ghost Light Kit
Kids Play Area Texture Add On
Party Gown Outfit for G3F
SF Unicorn for Daz Horse 2
Skin Builder 3
TerraLUNA 3
UltraScatter Advanced Instancing for Daz Studio
Llynara:
Body of Light
BOSS Pro Light Set for Portraits and Promos
Centaur 7 (G3M)
DA Real World Lighting
Digivault's Stardomes
Elijah 7
Evan (G3M)
First Light Skydome and HDRI
FW Noah HD (Dante 7)
FWSA Taia HD for Victoria 7
Iain (M7)
Legends (Gen3M)
M3 High Fantasy Character and Clothing Bundle
Mariposa for Genesis 3 Female and Genevieve 7
Skadi for V4
The Shader Plan - Iray Satined Textiles
Toon Generations 2 Megabundle (Gen3)
V3 High Fantasy Character and Clothing Bundle
Vega for V3
Wear Them All Autofit Clones Expansion (G3M/F)
Luci45: (*July)
Fantasy Creature Creator HD Morph Pack (Gen3F)
i13 Sandwiches
IDG Iray FX- Props and Shaders
Legacy UVs for Genesis 3: Michael 4
Low Poly Lightning Bugs
M3D Coen Shapes HD for Genesis 3 Male
Morpheus
N.G.S Anagenesis 2 Revolution
Portals- Tuscany
Post Apocalyptic Shelter
Raoul for Ivan 7 HD
Raw Dwarfology
Rock My World- Iray Boulders
Skies of iRadiance- Sunset HDRIs for Iray
What A Character for Lee 6
Wild Borders
Wyzaerds Too
MelanieL:
Brett (Dante 7)
Country Ford
Dale (G3M)
Novica: (*July)
Ancient Temple Courtyard
Bella Donna Poses Chaise, & Shaders
Clown Wigs (Gen3M/F)
Costume Jewelry Shaders for Iray
Desert Villa
Dmitri
Esprit d'Autrefois
Fantasy Hair for Genesis 3 Female(s)
FW Carson HD for Michael 7 and LI Carson Whiskers
FWSA Grace HD (V7)
Galene Hair for Genesis 3 Female(s)
Gentle Paladin
Greek Houses
Hat and Hair Helper for Genesis 3
Hidden Burial Ground
Hinata Dress (and Textures)
Honey Bolt
Honey for Genesis 8 Female(s)
Iray Converter for Generation 4
Iray Converter for Genesis
Iray Ghost Light Kit 2
Iray Glassworx
Isidora Dress
Mace for Genesis 3 Male
Makoa for Kimo 7
Molly HD for Genesis 3 Female(s)
P3D Duffy HD for Victoria 8
Rialto Glasswork Shaders and Props for Iray
Rundown School Classroom
SC Alice for Genesis 3 Female
Sexy Skinz Lace Bodysuits (Gen3F)
Wasteground Vignette
Woodman House: The Bathroom
YK Faith (Gen3F / Josie 7)
VYK Raine for Genesis 8 Female
RGcincy: (*June)
1stBastion's Mid Forest Vale
1stBastion's Neighbours: Front Drive
Ancient Ruins
Animation Four Wheeler Template
Coast Guard Cutter
Collective3D Baseball Field
Ecomantics- Efficient Ecosytems
Factory Warehouse
Iray Ghost Light Kit
Iray Ghost Light Kit 2
Job Site Scaffolding
Medina Cityscape Generator
Nimos Coach
Nimos Transit Bus
Nyarai for Genesis 3 Female
Old Beach Pavilion
On The Shore
Peaceful House
Sawmill
SC Alice for Genesis 3 Female
Shaded Sanctuary
Single Homes Bundle One
Step Van Bundle
The Briefing Room
Tithe Barn
Tramp Steamer
Sueya (*July)
Bikini Set A for Genesis 2 Female(s)
FW Dan Megapack
FW Monie for Genesis 2 Female(s)
FWSA Gabriel for Tween Ryan 7
Paige Dress
Scarf Braid Hair
Xmasrose (*July)
A Curious Tea
Beach Pod
Belle 6
Classical Pool
iRadiance Light Probe HDR Lighting For Iray Exp 1
Jewelry Basics for Genesis 3 Female(s)
Noodle the Toon Cat
Scarves for Genesis 3 Female(s)
V4 Cuore di Moda
Well, let's get the thread started with an awesome new release. Woodman House: The Bathroom
DT Ana For Genesis 3 Female(s) is wearing Anjou Hair (anything already featured repeatedly is not going to be linked, as per usual.) She's wearing Nighty Night Outfit for Genesis 3 Female(s)
The Film ISO was in the 600's for the preset, I prefer to lower that and increase Exposure Value and lower the shutter speed. Handles graininess better IMO
To get a daylight scene, here's the settings I used. Remember, you want to move ISO first to 519.16 which changes the Exposure Value slider, set that to 13.48 next. THEN change the Shutter Speed to 70.35 F Stop was 5.60
Next, darken the white shears hanging from the overhead light and the window curtains, to a bluish gray. I also did the light sconce over by the sink. I changed all the bubbles to a light blue through medium blue. The blue didn't show up, but it kept the bubbles from going too gray.
Image will take awhile, it's at 44% at 59 minutes (wow) and 4262 iterations.
Not liking that Yara HD has NO closeups of both eyebrows. Vendors shouldn't cover the main features of the face with hair. One eyebrow seems to be significantly different from the other, but it's covered up. The best one is the third thumbnail, click and then click again to enlarge. I do love that vendors are experimenting a lot with the eyebrows.
And hello Arran, he's already in my cart. What a discount that triggers today! As usual, I am waiting to see what else pops up in the banners, I learned a lot time ago NOT to check out early in the day (well, 2:20am, you know what I mean. For example, yesterday, that 10% gift card popped up later.)
~This was originally posted in Pt. 8, but Novica asked me to repost it here~
I was thinking about getting the billboard tool. Based on what I saw in the addons, I'd say rendering your own crowd should be relatively easy. Both 3Delight and Iray can render the subject without putting in a background, and saving a render as a png will preserve that transparency. I work more in Iray, so here's my take on rendering your own crowd characters:
What photoediting program will you be using? If Photoshop, I can give you specific instructions on how to work with both the main image and mask image at the same time. At least, they will be good in CS6...
Actually, having just glanced at today's sale page, I'm a bit peeved about the featured artists. Specifically, yesterday's sale limited the featured artists products to G3F items for yet another G3F stack up. I was hoping to pick up another great set from SloshWerks... Oh, well. I suppose I should go take an in depth look at today's sale page. The extra 40% off sounds good.
oops I posted at the bottom of Thread 8, in response to your comments about white point @Novica.
This is what i said:
Ah yes! I remember your posts on that! I'll have to go back and read them again - I've forgotten everything!
This is what the tone mapping settings look like - the white point is a blue colour and the overall colour of the lighting is a very very orange. What should I be changing the white point to, to get a less 'orange'?
What it's doing is whacking things to 70% with the new release in the cart. I'm going to get some sleep and shop tomorrow. Thanks for reposting that info, I didn't want it to get buried. I did post the bathroom render a couple posts back, took over an hour. I'll get the beginning posts done tomorrow, I am making a separate post for the top picks for each month and will copy what we have from previous months there. TTYL all- thanks for popping in!
Here's the wheel- use whatever color is across from the one you currently have- and don't want.
Well, my experiment with the billboard imaging program is partially successful. The first image seems to do fine, a figure with blank background. Each image does have two, and the second image is all black with the figure in white and added to the opacity channel it is a .png too. When I add a new layer to that window with a white figure and black background, the whole thing disappears. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, and whether it needs to be saved idfferently. Tried making the figure bit, empty of texture but that didn't work either.
I don't have the program but you might try inverting your B&W image in a photo program. Sounds like it may be reversed and is hiding the figure.
Yeah without anything in the opacity channel the billboard will show the person with a white background. So the opacity channel layer is clearly punching out the area around the figure. I can see how it functions with the ones that are premade. All those seem to have a silohuette of the figure in white on a black background saved as png. When. I do that though it just blanks out the whole character so I think there must be something more happening in the opacity channel layer.
Arran says hello back
This was a quick setup (so please don't make any purchase decisions based on this) and was supposed to be a quick render, but I stopped it after a bit over 6 hours. It was around 81% converged at that point. On top of that, I messed up with the hairline, causing some oddities at the top of the forehead. I've made a quick dirty fix for that in post, but if you look closely you'll probably see something strange there. All in all, a good looking fellow, but I have to say I think he needs some proper facial hair product. At least for closeups.
I will try that. The premade ones look black. What would've been awesome with this product would've been a template.
Also check to be sure Cutout Opacity is at 100%, as it's the image that controls the opacity, not the slider. I sometimes have that set wrong.
I don't own the billboard product, so if they've done something nonstandard, my suggestion may not work.
I've tried the obvious things. Cutout opacity is at 100 percent in the vendor supplied product. There is just something easy I'm not seeing and since I started to mess with it at night before bed I may be able figure out what I'm missing. When I plug my characterbillboard into one of the pa's it creates a keyhole effect of cutting out wherever the Template in the opacity channel dictates. The template just looks like a plain mask of black background white figure plus a bit of shadow so I'm not getting something obvious I think. Maybe I'll paste mine onto theirs and see whether that works
Silly question, but are the UVs the same between your planes and theirs?
I was basically putting my stuff in their plane why reinvent the wheel just loaded an image of a man with a suitcase replace that with my png of a cop striding a long with clear background just like theirs. That worked good but the opacity map of suitcase guy was making a suitcase guy shape in my cop. I dunno the readme I found just talks about using the premades which is super easy but not how to make my own which most people will want to do. Maybe I'm missing the real directions somewhere but it isn't a very complex product. Just figuring out the proper saving technique for the opacity map seems to be the kicker.
I refuse to get sidetracked (as usual!) as all this is currently going in one ear and out the other, but question- anyone have the Surface Mask Creator, and does it work in the current version of the studio? And is this what you're talking about, that you're doing? And the Mask and Multipass Toolbox works with 4.9, but isn't that with 3DL lighting to create it? I'm always confused, and probably the only one who is!
Well the first image creation is straightforward. You just make a basic render of a person with transparent background and save as png. Done!
For each billboard there is two parts. The image above and then what appears to be the same image in silhouette. The silhouette appears to be the same figure white figure on black. When combined on the billboard the black bit seems to erase the square surrounding the character and the whit bit is transparent so it shines through.
I suppose you could use a masking tool but it is a fairly quick process to make a silohuette in Photoshop using the layer selection tool.
Would this be of interest to anyone? While searching for something else, I found this and again, not trying it right now- but so clearly explained by SnowSultan!
Iray Shadow / Reflection Catcher Canvas Tutorial Neat!
For folks new to the thread, the tips will be in the Reference post, which will be the second post of this thread. (And we do product render showcasing, it's a mix of tips and products like the thread name suggests.)
Also, just getting online- be sure and check for the orange banner for the up to 85% of V4/M4 items. Victoria 8 should be coming VERY soon with all this going on.
I haven't even looked at the V4 stuff yet, but I got to thinking. We covered it (wow, years ago now!) and keep in mind- the pose converter products for V4 and M4 worked quite well, there's a slew of converters.
One of the V4 ones is V4 Pose Converter for Genesis and Genesis 2 Female(s)
Also some of the ones I have are Pose Builder (Mixing poses from Genesis/G2/G3) In this bundle: Pose Builder Genesis 3 Bundle I like that it's for both male and female, very handy.
If I recall correctly, you can use the V4 pose converter to get them to G2F, then use the next product to take them to G3- right? I'm curious now, and looking- is there a direct pose product going V4 to G3? My mind is getting confused with all these. (Back in a few.)
Yes I typically convert all my v4 and m4 poses to gen 2 and then take them to gen 3. I keep a specific folder of my converted poses so I never have to go through that mess again
So just for fun- how many pages of items do you NOT have for M4? V4? (click the M4 and V4 in the BANNER. That way we're comparing apples and oranges.)
2 pages for M4
8 pages for V4
What I don't have that I'm getting. At these prices, why not? What are you getting, give some suggestions!
TIP: From past experience- while the pages are working, shop. The discounts are correct. Second, Daz has been known to add and remove items from a sale. Don't assume because they are in the sale today, they will be there tomorrow. Whether on purpose, or not. With these prices, IMO it's not worth it to see what new things may or may not be added tomorrow. I'm just aware of what might go wrong, or be removed. Again, that's just my opinion. (As you may have guessed from four years of heavy shopping- it's not my first rodeo.)
FROM THE M4 SECTION ONLY:
armory 1 2, and 3. Easy to use the new Iray shaders on- will look stunning with shiny metals. 52 cents
Royal Hearts I own all that stuff, so why not? Cute for fairytale references in books. 30 cents
Kurta Pajama May be versatile, with shaders am wondering what kind of uses (NOT PJ's) this could have. Long shirts and baggy pants could come in handy. $1.36
Classic Pipe Collection Good to put on coffee tables/end tables, on shelves- general knick-knack purposes. Particularly libraries $1.89
Princely Make sure you own the required outfit, I already do. The products have crowns (for kids' play) medals, fancy necklaces, fancy swords, and oh, that hat LOL! 30 cents
Play Like An Egyptian 14 things. Not sure how accurate they are, but price is right. 1.36
Alatar If you own the Mage- look at the brown outfit. Shader that belt metal, increase the bump on the outfit, and UberBase it for a decent brown Iray outfit. 30 cents Then look at the Grey Alchemist. 30 cents So if you don't have the Mage, you might want to take a peek at that one, but grab the M4 Hooded Cloak as it's also required (and cheap.)
Okay, look at this- Gallery (and give it some love- like it/comment?) and Gallery 2 You go @adrianS !!!! I absolutely adored the simplicity of these wings, put it in my cart, THEN saw the gallery render. OMGosh! Dreamer Wings TOP PICK 29 cents!
Flyer Jacket for M4 and V4 I actually like this one a lot. Look at the hugging one- the stitching details along the upraised arm. The shoulders seem to fit without those awkward sharp bends. It's $2.41 and I think well worth it. TOP PICK
Wow, we're on thread 9 already??? Been a bit busy outside lately now that kids are off school. Not as much computer time.
Quick comment on M4 and V4 stuff- so much of it converts beautifully to Iray and current generations. The original Wear Them All does a pretty good job with those, and most of the Gen 4 stuff is high res enough to look decent in Iray with a little tweaking. After working with Generation 3 for a while, Gen 4 is a breeze. And yes, I'm definitely having fun in the old stuff section today! A lot of DM sets in there. We've got an old set thread going on how stuff looks in Iray. Many of them convert very well. Feel free to jump in!
It's good to get them considated in one place, I enjoyed surfing it a couple days ago. Nice job! I have to say (just being honest) that my threads go back four years, and so I've already showcased quite a few of them and won't be revisiting them as there's so many newer sets I haven't shown yet. My threads aren't indexed so far as product posts, and they're monster threads of 100 pages each, so having them in one thread is such an excellent idea- plus most of them were 3DL renders and with Iray options, it will be fun to see what can also be done that way. You're performing a great service by calling attention to the older sets and I'm cruising in to see the results!
I also am focusing on projects now (video game characters for my sons) and although I said I wasn't doing a thread 8, we cruised through it in five months, which tells me I'm just hopeless (as are the rest of you dazaholics.) But I do have to limit my time on here a bit more (today's the exception, I have to set up the thread and there's two gigantic sales going on, the sci-fi and M4/V4) so I'd be remiss not to focus on Daz today, and projects the rest of the weekend/next week.
I'm hoping you'll share some of your M4/V4 older stuff wisdom too- I haven't focused any time on that in the past couple of years.
Oh thanks everyone for trying to help me. Turns out the final step I was missing is the image in the opacity channel needed to be grayscale. Once I made that change, it all worked fine!
That's good to know. Glad you got it working. Looking forward to seeing your render with them.