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Novica & Serene Night's Renders, Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews Part 1

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2013

    INFO: Simple Lighting Tips By Zigraphix

    A nice little blurb on keeping lights simple but effective. Thanks, Zigraphix! (Now back to my 12+ spotlights... I'm not saying at the moment how many I'm using, because I'm either incompetent, nit-picky, or both. Well, I KNOW I'm nit-picky...)
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/19877/P30/#302705

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2013

    YESSSSS!!!!
    I know, I know, you thought I was at the barn these past 7 hours. Nope, been working on the face four of those. Here's how it's coming. (I''m DELIGHTED!!!) Which leads me to a tip for newbies:

    TIP: Lighting And Lips- Change 'Em!
    1.) If you get the lighting you want but it makes the lips look funky, change the lips! (It's far easier!)
    2.) If you don't want to change the lips, or even if you do, remember to turn your character ever so slightly to see if it makes them look better. Look at the difference in the second image! (on right.)

    See the difference in the old lips (left) and the ones on the right? And of course, the lighting is (IMO) much improved on the right. (Keep in mind the hair collision/smoothing is turned off to speed up the render. This is a RENDER, not a spot render.)

    I worked SO hard to get that faint light strip down the nose!!!! Love, love, love it! Subtle but puts that badda-bing glow right where I wanted it.
    And yes, I know I still have to correct the neck/torso skin to match. :) Might work on the helmet thingie a bit more, still a bit bright.

    Going on 4am so that's it for now. Have a great weekend and I'll be posting more updates tomorrow, maybe the final render. These are for kids to learn to read, not an art gallery- so at some point I've got to just say "good enough," move on and practice different things- like posing action scenes. Coming up- something IS in the woods...

    BE SURE TO CLICK TO ENLARGE to really see the lip difference. And using that orange on the lips really gave it a glow (mentioned it near the beginning of this thread w/ images. Try it!)

    render2finalfix.jpg
    2000 x 1165 - 151K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2013

    Well, here tis for now. :) It's SIX am and I just couldn't sleep till I got this tweaked. Helmet tweaked, fingers curled, more lighting on the dragons, neck color fixed, etc. Still going to have to put more color back into face and darken a bit. But for now....

    "What Was That?"

    render2latestfix2.jpg
    800 x 640 - 214K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2013

    INFO: Handles On Clothing
    Good information- thanks to Patience55, fixmypcmike, HeraldOfFire, Richard Haseltine
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20881/#307014

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2013

    My Basic Tips On Lighting

    1. It's not what's lit- it's what lit AND ISN'T LIT.You get depth with things which fade darker as you "go back." (green dragon's tail)

    2. Working with point lights from the ground up gives you a nice filler glow on low objects (dragons' chests)

    3. Lower the spread angle on spotlights and focus on one small area (such as the bridge and outline of a nose) to give it that thin strip of a glow. It's what the backlight does for the entire area, but just targeted.

    4. THIS IS JUST ME- don't put lights directly ahead of the object or character. It's more interesting from an angle.

    5. In a forest with moonlight, dappled light means things are lit, not lit, lit, not lit- from above but also from DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. If you have a clearing or cleared area more light will be able to come through, both in large chunks and in small pieces.

    This doesn't apply to this scene, but it's related to above-
    6. If you put lights outside a window and have it streaming in, light coming from a window isn't necessarily evenly coming through. Move your light and it make the shadows inside uneven if you have trees or bushes outside the window. If you have a big bush on the left, why not take advantage of that? Instead of having a light coming in straight, put it where it intersects the bush so you cast different shadows!

    And use gobos, think it's the same as cell lights but not sure? Gobos-think a pattern, such as trees- where you have soft, dark tree branch shadows outlined)

    7. Use your Surfaces tab and use the diffuse, specular, and ambient settings to help with your lighting. Don't just rely on the lights! This is my BIGGEST tip. The chest and helmet were darkened, the face and hands were adjusted, etc. LOVE THE SURFACES SECTION!!! Just spot render tiny sections and play with those settings.

    8. Change your spread angles (Parameteres-Light) to target areas, but play with the intensity at the SAME TIME. You might find a combination you hadn't been trying for- that is better! :)

    9. HAVE FUN. Lighting is SOOOOOOOOO cool! Don't dread it!

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    INFO: If You Have Stephanie 5 And Want Morphs...

    Take a peek at this if you have wanted more morphs for Stephanie 5. Right now it's 40% off, and this vendor says he will keep doing morphs for the various figures if there is enough interest. Thanks Male-M3dia! I just bought it, will have to download my gal Steph and give it a try later. :) Visit the thread to see some examples that folks are posting.

    http://www.daz3d.com/girls-of-summer-for-stephanie-5

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2013

    INFO: Shaders by Marieah- A Nice List
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20917/#307865

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2013

    INFO: Bundles List, Exclamation Points For Products, etc

    This is an excellenet composition of information for bundles, what to do if you see yellow exclamation points in the studio instead of your product, how to reset the content management service, etc. Many people put in a lot of work to keep this updated. Thank you!
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/3885/

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2013

    INFO: LuxRender, Luxus- Chat With Slosh!

    Stop by Slosh's Art Studio and see the David figure- and read up on Lux / Luxus- ask questions- a really nice guy who is doing art in Lux and Luxus. He has other works you can view from his signature.
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20943/

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2013

    INFO:Pattern Cooler Example By Barbult
    You just HAVE to see this fabric! This will take you to the image, then read the next few posts. WOW. (Way over my head right now, lol.)
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20962/#308585

    ***
    http://www.patterncooler.com/editor/

    EDIT- HERE'S THE TUTORIAL BARBULT DID- So very nice of Barbult to do that for us- took a lot of time. (anyone who has done screenshots step by step knows that)
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/21013/

    Post edited by Novica on
  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    INFO:Pattern Cooler Example By Barbult
    You just HAVE to see this fabric! This will take you to the image, then read the next few posts. WOW. (Way over my head right now, lol.)

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20962/#308585

    http://www.patterncooler.com/editor/

    that's ok - half the stuff you post don't have a clue how to use it .:)
    doing a great job - keep it up .

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2013

    Thanks bigh! I surf in to your regularly, am a big fan of the abstracts. (Take a peek folks! Here's one of the latest.)
    I always like safari / Serengeti type images with the gold / orange / dusk so of course the dino melts my heart. Well, as much as one of those big clod-hoppers can melt a heart, lol.
    EDIT- I had rhino, meant dino! I was thinking Serengeti and got Africa on the brain.

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/212/P825/#308616

    Post edited by Novica on
  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    Thanks bigh! I surf in to your regularly, am a big fan of the abstracts. (Take a peek folks! Here's one of the latest.)
    I always like safari / Serengeti type images with the gold / orange / dusk so of course the dino melts my heart. Well, as much as one of those big clod-hoppers can melt a heart, lol.
    EDIT- I had rhino, meant dino! I was thinking Serengeti and got Africa on the brain.

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/212/P825/#308616

    thank you :-)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2013

    INFO: Renderosity V4 "Not Developed For DAZ Studio"-But See Results Using Genesis- Gen X, SSS, and UberSurface

    I was delighted to find someone asked this question as I had fallen in love with Dublin- but it said not developed for DAZ. Take a peek! HeraldOfFire to the rescue with a great explanation and sample screenshots. HOF gives the textures a thumbs up! This vendor is also the featured one for April and is on sale. The Metropolitan Collection is so darned REALISTIC- you would swear you were looking at photographs. I'm jealous if you use Poser!

    LOOK AT THIS FIRST. WOW WOW WOW!!!! http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/the-metropolitan-collection---dublin-v4-2/90599
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20949/#308070

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2013

    INFO: Rosey Cheeks Fix Using Beige/Brown Lights
    Here's a couple settings to change your lights if your character's face is too bright (and you don't want to mess with your Surface settings.) and if it's too peachy for you. The one on the left is the previous render which has the face with too much illumination and is peachy. That spotlight is actually very pretty- I'm including the setting in case you can use it based on your lighting- or if you like it this color. Then there's the second color, a richer, warmer tone.

    The second image has the hair smoothing turned off to speed up the spot render. These are screenshots so they wont be as crisp as a saved render, just wanted you to get the colors.

    render2heads.jpg
    2000 x 707 - 375K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2013

    INFO: Cheetah3d For MAC Users
    Recommended by Totte

    3D Modeling
    UV Unwrapping, Texture Painting
    Joint Based Character Animation
    Global Illumination Renderer
    Node Based Material System

    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/21039/#309705
    http://www.cheetah3d.com/

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2013

    INFO: How To Setup DAZ Studio When Purchasing From Other Sites By Mark

    I've been in love with Danae's Metropolitan collection, (see the rest of that thread) so when someone mentioned it, I took the plunge. (And btw, if you are a first time Renderosity buyer, be SURE and look at your checkout page, center of page, right above where you enter your address, etc. They gave me a 35% off entire purchase code.

    Setting up an outside site directory (folder) is a good idea. Here's how to get it into DS (DAZ Studio.) Thanks to Mark!
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20949/P15/#309641

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    TIP: DO NOT EDIT YOUR SIGNATURES
    If you edit your signature right now (April 21st is when mine disappeared, and it is now the 23rd) it will disappear and they don't know how long it will take to fix it- it is like the Avatar problem. Do not submit a bug report, Richard H. said they know about it and are working on it. I will try to remember to put a link to my Art Studio in my posts, but if not, please remember to surf in. I appreciate your support SO very much as I try to find good tidbits for you- makes it worthwhile.

    Cathie

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited June 2013

    BASIC INFO: The Difference Between Materials & Surfaces By HeraldOfFire And A DM Set

    I kept seeing these terms and was looking at a product not designed for DAZ (one by DM on another site, gorgeous and 50% off-today only. DM's Patio Del Tiempo on Renderosity) HOF said they'd help me with it if I got stuck. Here's the thread about the surfaces/materials question (and further up the thread is the info about the product and what needs tweaked, in case you're interested. I have the other DM sets and this one is NOT ON DAZ. (Not recommending it as I just bought it, and don' t know how hard it will be to tweak or what needs it, but it sounds like no big deal. For $7.50 I'm trying it. It's not just the architecture, you get scene, poses, and lights to play around with. Take a peek, link included.)
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20949/P15/#310210

    http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=98803

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,340
    edited April 2013

    DM (Danie and marforno) stuff is great, in my experience. Read the fine print, though...like the one you mentioned, often they don't have DAZ Studio materials (well, all their recent ones that are sold here do, I think...but any others may not).

    That's another thing to keep in mind, that many people I believe don't realize (it took me a while to figure this out, at least): just because it's sold in the DAZ 3D store and is compatible with DAZ Studio doesn't always mean it has DS materials. A fair number of older products don't, and some newer ones as well. This shouldn't necessarily persuade you not to buy them...sometimes the Poser materials look pretty good in DS, and at any rate it is possible to alter the materials settings to something better suited for DS.

    Another set of instructions for adjusting Poser materials settings for DS is here (by adamr001): http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=156773 (it's on the old forum, so it might take a while to load)

    Edited to add: You mentioned that the Patio set comes with lights. Unfortunately, Poser lights don't translate well to DS either. :( You can load them in DS, but they won't look at all as intended...

    Post edited by Scott Livingston on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Scott-L! :) That is very helpful to know! HeraldOfFire said they'd help me if I get stuck, and it might be fun to play around with.
    If the lights don't work at all, no biggie for me as I want to experiment and do my own. But for the Poser users (and perhaps DAZ Studio if they work) it's with the set and they can use it. I basically want the set- that arched door is quite nice. (reminded me of Streets of Asia vaguely)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited June 2013

    Here's the tips (just in case they make the old forum go POOF. I've bolded and put in green/divided in sections for easier reading.
    Thanks to Scott-Livingston for pointing out this information, and to Adam of course!
    ***
    TIP: Converting Poser Settings For Use In DS By Adamr001
    http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=156773

    "I was asked in another thread what I go through when converting Poser settings for use in DS... Here's the checklist...

    Specular Maps - They don't get applied by default

    Ambient Maps - Again, they don't get applied by default (although these are pretty rare)

    Specular Settings - Color, Glossiness and Strength all need to be adjusted. I tend to use "common sense" here. If something is primarily green, I use a near-white-green as the color. Glossiness controls the "size" or "sharpness" of the specular response. Higher values have smaller appearance. Strength controls the intensity of specular response. Think of specular strength like the "distance" from the light source. 100% would be practically touching the light, while 0% would be so far away the light doesn't even shine on it.

    Ambient Settings - Often stuff comes in with 0,0,0 ambient at 100% value. Change the strength to zero unless it's supposed to "glow black". Tpically, you only need ambient when you WANT a glow... like I use an ambient color of 255,255,255 and a strength of 100% on the candle flames to make sure they're nice and bright. CAVEAT: Some vendors use ambient colors to adjust the color of the surface.

    Bump / Displacement - Remember, poser is unidirectional on these. Flatten the minimum value in DS to 0. I typically set strength to 100% and control the appearance by using the Maximum value. Figure you'll need to jump this pretty high on many things. (Like it'll come in at 0.010 and you'll want 0.20 or more).

    Default Shader Lighting Model - Everything comes in as plastic. Make good use of the Skin, Metallic and Matte presets as well. Note that the Skin preset tends to add a tinge of pink to the surface. Counter-act this (if desired) by shifting the diffuse color towards blue.


    That's get you the basics I go through on every surface... some surfaces demand more (like the application of EHSS or something and some of its settings for example)."

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2013

    INFO: Global Illumination, Ambient Occlusion

    Thread here, link by Kerya- thank you! Ambient Occlusion adds to your render time, the question was about turning it off. You need to know what it does before you do that (that's why I asked, lol.)
    ***
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20842/#310651
    http://forum.runtimedna.com/showthread.php?13107-Ambient-Occlusion-questions&p=129253
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_illumination
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_occlusion

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    In honor of Ken's bird sale- here's Tripoli, my Yellow Nape Amazon I had (she went to a millionaire's home with a 2,500 sf aviary, air conditioned gazebo) in free flight. Her favorite game was to sail over my head at the computer hutch, land on top of it, but the wind would scatter my papers. Tripoli would laugh (MY Laugh) and sail off again, to be back a few minutes later. I just couldn't keep her knowing what a great home she'd have (this woman and her sons had birds for twenty years, and her sons were very much interested and continuing the love of birds, whereas mine weren't interested. These birds live 80 years.) Tripoli also now has another Yellow Nape to chat to- Pepe and she carry on conversations. (Yes, they have the IQ of a 3 year old. Tripoli actually changed to pronoun "I" when referring to herself.
    Enjoy!

    tripfly25Ken.png
    400 x 327 - 94K
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2013

    PWSurface 2
    http://www.daz3d.com/pwsurface-2

    Anyone have this? It's on sale for 50% off, read about it if you're interested! It has good examples on this page. Read more about diffuse, ambient, etc- whether you buy it or not- really well explained with examples. I found it because this used it-
    http://www.daz3d.com/animals/aquatic/beluga-white-whale

    http://www.poseworks.com/shaders/pwsurface2/index.html

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Support Ikyoto- Platinum Club Forum Administrator With Brain Stem Tumor

    If you are a Platinum Club member and haven't seen this, please visit these threads.
    Doing a squirrel in the renders will send a smile to Ikyoto!

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20289/

    post your squirrel renders here
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20900/

    So squirrel decided to join Kaetl in wondering what was coming at them from the woods. Did this to show you how fast and easy it is to add a squirrel to an existing scene :) PC Members- Please do one for Ikyoto!

    Title: "Why no, I thought YOU invited him!""

    squirrelandkaetl.jpg
    445 x 622 - 161K
  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    In honor of Ken's bird sale- here's Tripoli, my Yellow Nape Amazon I had (she went to a millionaire's home with a 2,500 sf aviary, air conditioned gazebo) in free flight. Her favorite game was to sail over my head at the computer hutch, land on top of it, but the wind would scatter my papers. Tripoli would laugh (MY Laugh) and sail off again, to be back a few minutes later. I just couldn't keep her knowing what a great home she'd have (this woman and her sons had birds for twenty years, and her sons were very much interested and continuing the love of birds, whereas mine weren't interested. These birds live 80 years.) Tripoli also now has another Yellow Nape to chat to- Pepe and she carry on conversations. (Yes, they have the IQ of a 3 year old. Tripoli actually changed to pronoun "I" when referring to herself.
    Enjoy!

    thats super - good on you

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Thanks- it actually wasn't very hard to let her go to a home like that, and Tripoli's boy friend, a severe macaw named Pompeii, went with her :) The funniest incident was when the birds were making a racket in the bedroom / bird room, and I opened the door and said, "The next bird who makes a sound goes in their CAGE." I shut the door and within a minute I hear squawking. I open the door. IMMEDIATELY, Tripoli began pacing back and forth across the top of her cage and said in great consternation...

    "Pompeii BAD...Bad boy. Tripoli good!"

  • bighbigh Posts: 8,147
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    Thanks- it actually wasn't very hard to let her go to a home like that, and Tripoli's boy friend, a severe macaw named Pompeii, went with her :) The funniest incident was when the birds were making a racket in the bedroom / bird room, and I opened the door and said, "The next bird who makes a sound goes in their CAGE." I shut the door and within a minute I hear squawking. I open the door. IMMEDIATELY, Tripoli began pacing back and forth across the top of her cage and said in great consternation...

    "Pompeii BAD...Bad boy. Tripoli good!"

    love it :-)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Fascinating- EasyToy Modeler

    I found this on YouTube and it was so much fun to watch! I did notice how they said the mesh was "fairly clean." (Hmmm) Since I'm not anywhere near ready to mess with mesh, just having fun with what comes up on YouTube. This appears to be an old program but its still around with downloads, geared toward making characters for toys.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g4FhESB31M

    http://www.livesforce.com/Easytoy_eng.html

This discussion has been closed.