Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 10
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Hmmm this is going to be a tough one!
The Summer Maxi Dress takes dForce rather nicely. Here are some images I posted in the dForce thead in The Commons:
I did use Weight Maps to control the influence on the bodice of both slip and overdress. And I simulated both at the same time.
I'm not linking to the original posts because some of the information is wrong. I actually used these weight maps without applying the dForce Weight Maps Node! Using the node is much easier. (Also, the I fiddled with the material settings to get the shimmery effect.)
AGENT UNAWARES' I GOT BACK INTO THIS IN SEPTEMBER SO I ONLY HAVE A TOP 7 FOR 2017
1. 100%, hands down, Singular Blues' G3 to G8 Morph Transfer Scripts. So much less involved than Transfer Utility. By enabling me to easily convert all my G3 characters and utility morphs, these scripts have had an impact on nearly every. image. here.
2. I can't deny the character morph that showed up the most in my 2017 renders was Raiya's Brooklyn. Not alone, but at full strength which is very unusual for me to do with a character morph. An absolutely stunning shape, I used her like a base figure and don't regret it. Toga Dress | Sundress | Suit Dress
3. Alessandro Mastronardi's Great White Shark. The model didn't last long in store here, but without it I wouldn't have been able to create one of my favorite renders. Dance
4. Slosh's Genesis 8 UV Swap sent me on a lengthy streak of seeing how all the Genesis 8 flagship girls would look as men. (Spoilers, great.) Brothers | Looking | Stefan 8
5. Which brings me to a model I didn't expect to like: Charlotte 8. Though I wish she came with fibermesh brows, the skin is beyond gorgeous. Charles 8
6. Raiya's Lainey was the first G8 model that really made me stare. The new eyes, lashes, and fibermesh brows alone are worth it. I feel every generation this PA makes incredible steps forward. Lainey
7. Again with Raiya, Dylan is stunning, with an excellent fibermesh beard in addition to his new brows, eyes, and lashes. Dylan
RGcincy’s Top 10 for 2017
1. Iray Ghost Light Kit, Iray Ghost Light Kit 2 and Iray Light Probe Kit Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 These three light set by the same PA make lighting Iray scenes much easier and faster.
2. LAMH 2 Iray Catalyzer Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Another product that makes rendering iray scenes easier and faster. This is a must have if you render in Iray and have any of the compatible AM animal products. Fun and fast. Bonus: example 3 shows Iray Worlds-Plus
3. Coastguard Cutter Examples A beautiful, detailed ship. Check out the night time lights.
4. Medina Cityscape Generator Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 A unique way to quickly lay out a dense, mid-Eastern city scene. My only disappointment is they have not come out with additional building types yet. Bonus: example 3 also shows Shaded Sanctuary
5. Collective3d Baseball Field Examples Just about every American city/town has a baseball field. This product doesn’t portray a pro team but more the local minor league or advanced amateur field.
6. Single Homes Bundle One Example 1 Example 2 Large Victorian era homes that you can use singly or apply the “make a road” preset to get a whole row of houses. Three houses in this bundle (and bundle 2 has three more).
7. Divided Highway Example 1 Example 2 If you make city scenes that represent any time since the 1960’s, a divided highway is almost a necessity. This one has a modern look with good signage and can be combined with other city sets like Urban Sprawl or River Front.
8. Road Trip Hippy Van Example Another reference to the 60’s. If you were a young person around that time like I was, this was the symbol to a carefree existence. The first popular van before custom vans and later the ever-prevalent mini-vans. Bonus: FirstBastion's Rural Crossroads
9. 1stBastions Neighbours: Front Drive Example 1 Example 2 More modern, suburban type houses that also come with city building billboards you can add to the background. Clean and tidy up-scale neighborhood.
10. Nimo Transit Bus and Nimos Coach Example 1 Example 2 Older products originally made for Bryce, comes in obj format that can be used in Daz Studio. With a little work, can be rigged so doors open. Another near-necessity for big city scenes.
Surprise! Say hello to "Lily." A shelter cat that I was able to place a hold on when her time was up and she was approved for adoption. I haven't given up on Eevie and still go to the shelter every 3-5 days, but as friendly as Eevie is, I'm pretty sure someone has scooped her up. (There's been no black cats on any of the roads, and via Facebook, a LOT of people all over this area were watching for her for weeks.)
I hadn't even petted or observed Lily's behavior other than 30 seconds of her rubbing her cheek against the cage like "Pet me?" So what a delight to have a nothing-bothers-me cat with loud noises or car rides! Not a peep! (THANK GOD. Taking cats to the vet is always a chore with meowling the entire trip.) This is going to be my son's cat, and he named her Lily because she is "exotic and pretty like a Lily." She may be a Burmese (long hair Siamese) as I'm still looking that up. I know she's Siamese something, not sure if she's purebred Burmese or not (and it doesn't matter. Some have more rounded heads than others.)
LIly's story is sad. She "wandered up and had kittens under a trailer." THEY KEPT THE KITTENS of course, and threw away the mom. This cat is definitely used to being indoors and someone's pet. So I kept an eye out on Facebook in case someone had posted her. Since it's been a month that she was at the shelter, they don't get her even if they say she's theirs. They're not making the effort, that's for sure. I go twice a week and it's been a month, so eight times to check on Eevie so far. And still have folks looking and helping.
She's a purr bucket and frisky, I'm trying to keep her from playing. She's in the bathroom and will be let out into the bedroom tomorrow. Going to quarantine her for a couple weeks. Sorry for the manilla tint, the original is even worse, but it's bathroom lighting. Finally got her to calm down from head-butting- she'd been in a shelter cage A MONTH and is exuberant at being out in a room even the size of a large bathroom.
Remember, Adopt Don't Shop!
She looks incredible.
Thanks, I let her out in the bedroom for half an hour, unfortunately, she's also a "sharpen the claws" on everything. :) Will have to get a kitty condo / scratch posts tomorrow. I already have a small scratch thingie in the bathroom but it moves and isn't vertical enough. Also looking into the nail tips for cats. Edit- note from the vet said Blue Lynx Point, so I looked that up and she has markings like some of the kittens from a breeder, so who knows.
Did everyone get the $10 DO orange banner? It's good through tomorrow.
Lily is beautiful! I don't dare show hubby that image, or he'll be wanting one just like her! (After having as many as 7 cats at one time, I think 3 is plenty.)
Hopefully Eevie will come home soon, and the two become great friends.
We adopted an older cat a few years back; he was abandoned in the neighborhood, (possibly an elderly owner, either passed or was moved to a nursing home,) and we had neighbors from half way down the cross street bringing him to our door and asking if he was one of ours. Anyway, he was a real lover, climbing into your lap and up your chest to tuck his head under your chin, where he would nuzzle and purr for as long as you let him. We'd had him almost two years when he started staying out for a couple days here, then a couple days there. Finally, he stopped coming home at all. We thought he had died.
Two months later, when the jerks down the street finally let him out of their house, he came home for his canned food!
So I'm hoping Eevie's in someone's house as they try to make her their own. And I'm also hoping they let her go outside after six to eight weeks and she hightails it back to where she belongs!
Hugs.
Trip Down Memory Lane: SOME Thread Renders of 2017 Post 4
Still not done, through page 88 on Thread 8.
Animated Butterflies and Wisps IceDragonArt
Animation Four Wheeler Template (LOL get ready for motion!) RGcincy
April Rain GDN Kelly Eclectic Hair Novica
Casual Style Female Heath Hair Belle Dress Novica
Centaur 7 Adrian Hair and Beard Centaur 7 Male Hides and Breeds (and much more) RGcincy
Charlotte Hair Teagan 9 to 5 Dress Outfit Novica
Charlotte Hair Jakiblue
Coast Guard Cutter Ocean Wide Example 2 RGcincy
Costume Jewelry Shaders for Iray Novica
Country Ford MelanieL
DA Emissive Softbox Light Set Sexy Skinz Gloves (And I believe that is Hinata Dress) Cismic
Daydreamer Outfit Novica
Della Fane Hair Novica
Dmitri Adrian Hair Dmitri Jonas Hair After Party Suit Novica
Ekatrina Novica
Factory Warehouse RGcincy
Forest Superior Centaur 7 Darius/Awan/.Gianni morphs (together w/ Anicinabe materials) Leather Warrior/Havoc Outfit kitbashed L'adair
FW Aran Diesel Hair Novica
Genesis 3 Males Done Alphabetically (several posts scattered through several pages) Novica
Henryk with Pavel materials Novica
IDG Iray FX Props and Shaders Above The Fog DA Emissive Softbox Lights Sage (Gen3F) Cismic
Iray Bling It! Shaders Midnight Club Outfit Ron's Flourish Brushes Melanie L
Island Room Novica
Makoa for Kimo 7 Example 2 Novica
Rag-Erator Grime-inizer Ultimo Paradiso and more MelanieL
Shaded Sanctuary combined with Medina Cityscape Generator RGcincy
Siobhan (Rendo) Llynara
Warhol Inspired Spotlighting Vol 2 Odaa
What Are These? @valandar
Lily looks gorgeous (not Burmese though, and I think Himalayans are the longer-haired Siamese type cats).
What I read, it's Burmese on "long hair Siamese". (Looked all that up yesterday. I've owned himalayans and persians, different relationships IIRC ) And thanks! She's in there snoozing. VERY playful, and of course she was spayed today and it was a challenge trying to stop her from playing. Although it didn't look like she needed the pain meds, I'm giving them every 4 hours during the day anyway, per the vet's instructions. Edit- here was a Burmese kitten, labeled as long hair Siamese. The sites I went to state a long hair Siamese is a Burmese, so I really don't know.
Edit: She doesn't have four white paws so can't be a Birmese (definitely not Burmese, as was pointed out later.) She is a Seal Point Lynx Ragdoll.
Looking at today's new releases, I like the skin materials on BD Vale- but wondering if the vendor did a normal brow option too. (If so, it's not listed.) The one brow is scarred and I don't particularly need that. Yes, we can remove brows. But for me, having click options that change out the brows is much more appealing than having to remove them manually and then replace them, and pay for a brow product to do that. Otherwise, I like that her features and skin. Nicely done!
And what fun- the Vintage Shop Bicycle is unique and I can see folks who render nostalgic/historic images are squealing with glee.
Then maybe the definitions have changed or are Burmese different cats in the US and Europe? To me these are Burmese: https://www.google.nl/search?q=burmese+cat&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWpqn0w8DYAhWGL1AKHdyUCfQQ_AUICigB&biw=1219&bih=966
Attached the two my parents had when I was a teen.
Or are you thinking of Birmans? Those definitely are longhaired Siamese types
Edit: and I see that Google throws up different results depending on how you spell Birman/Burman/Birmese/Burmese.
On a sidenote (cats are after all the most important topic here, right?), I'll try and compile my list of 2017 faves over the weekend.
My brother's cat Holly (she was new for christmas the year she arrived) is called a birman (Burmese temple cat)
This is interesting- and of course, there's a lot of wrong information out there- the image I showed was burmese but looks nothing like those, and birmese also look like the silver one. To me it seems birmese is correct. The lynx, blue point, flame points give the correct information it seems, but burmese gives a wide variety. I let her out in the bedroom last night instead of just the bathroom, she wandered around for a bit (and is definitely a kneader, headed out shortly to get that scratching post kitty condo. But she got up on a bookcase/desk, sprawled out, and spent the night snoozing there. Didn't bother me at all (which is good, when you have a cat that kneads and I could just see my soft covers getting demolished!)
If you got the orange banner with $10 off the DOs (not new ones, not PC+) and own the Ready for Bed Pajama Set, the textures will cost you 47 cents.
This is Lily this morning feeling quite at home.
Pretty cat!
She is gorgeous! My cat is a shelter cat we got him when he was about 4 weeks old. He is now 15 going on 16. His buddy that we got the same day different litter passed a couple of years ago but they were/are both such good pets.
Beautiful cat! Congratulations on your sweetie!
What a pretty girl! Congratulations on the addition to your household.
Trish
http://www.vetstreet.com/cats/birman#1_ugw20zmq
https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/cat-breeds/birman/
Based on @Chohole's links, it looks like Lily is a Birman, perhaps full breed. I can see how easy it would be to extrapolate "Burmese" from "Birman," too, after reading they are Known as the "Sacred Cat of Burma" in the second article Chohole linked to.
ETA: Thanks for the rabbit hole, Cho... the Pets4Homes site is really interesting. I must stop with the cat breeds; I don't have a week to give to the rest of the site!
@chohole Thanks, that seems to be her.
Okay, really OT so if you don't have cats, skip this.
I shopped at Petsmart online and ordered a scratching post that was 25.00 off, it has a five star rating. I read it was ultra sturdy and 23 pound and 18 pound cats didn't even budge it, and that's what has been the problem with other posts. (toppling or rocking with aggressive clawing.) A five star rating by 8 people and the details they gave (lasting for years, getting another one as wouldn't do without it, etc) convinced me. It's one of the few that a cat can really, really stretch out on. 30" tall I think it said. See pic below.
If you're interested (and it's a great deal right now, still not cheap but as it lasts for years I figure it pays for itself and mainly it's STURDY) it's called SmartCat Cat Scratcher and it's 49.99 (50.00 LOL, gotta love marketing) instead of 75.00 right now. It can only be shipped to your home- FREE shipping though. (and that right there is a deal.) That 25.00 off deal can change anytime as promotions usually change on Saturdays/weekends.
I'm going to put carpet / cut a bath mat and put over the wood at the bottom.
The other thing which is an ultra deal is the Nature's Miracle Advanced Hooded Corner Cat Litter Box. It's really large inside, has high sides, and unless you have a male that sprays up fairly high, has good ratings. (It's misleading with 3.7 rating, I read through all of them and that one thing was the consistent problem. Really due to the pet, not the litter box construction.) I went and picked up mine from the store and all my cats hopped right in and it is indeed huge inside. And 20' tall compared to 11-14 inches of other ones. That litterbox is really on sale, normally 39.99 (40.00) and they're only 17.91 AND 10% off that if you pick it up at the store! (16.12) The picture on the site is really misleading, it is BIG and great for multiple cats.
Spotted a good gallery image and I love the snow! Have you seen Mr. Tumnus? By our very own L'adair! Take a peek and give it a Like if you're in a snow-loving mood. (Hey, it warmed up here in Pensacola today, it was in the 50's and ONLY going to be mid 30's tonight. This is ridiculous for mid-thirties to be warmer than previous nights of low twenties.)
BTW, thinking about all of you in Boston and areas that got slammed with ocean floodwaters. It's bad enough in the summer when it's warm, but BRRRRRR. Icy floodwaters are just unthinkable.
Thank you for pointing him out. @L'Adair did an incredible job. Just WOW!
I've added some backgrounds to Novica's free portrait backgrounds although a couple of them aren't really for portraits...
Thank you for the kind words, Novica. (The snow did come out really nice, thanks to KA's Iray Snow product. I think it's a must have, much like all of his utility products.) Personally, I prefer snow where I can drive to it if I want to play, so I'm happy to hear your weather has taken a turn for the warmer.
Thank you, @firewarden.
I'm glad you like the image.
OT, I figured it out, as I got to thinking about a Houston neighbor who had a purebred cat and I figured out who Lily reminded me of. We're all wrong, going down the Birmese path, due to the requirement of four white paws. So off I went on another hunch- I think Lily is a Seal Lynx Point Ragdoll. The shelter led me down the wrong path with Siamese. What they're doing is labeling any cream cat with blue eyes a Siamese, which led down the Birmese rabbit hole. To be on the safe side, I researched only using breeder sites and respected info sites. I can't really pick her up the way you're supposed to pick up cats (midsection/towards back end, and under front arms) because of her surgery, so don't know how "limp" and ragdoll she goes.
She has the exact rust on her nose, the tabby markings (which is what Lynx means, btw. It's NOT having Lynx tipped ears.) So you can see side by side- the first is Lily, the second two are Seal Point Lynx Ragdolls. I found some Blues and some Chocolates, but the pads on her feet are not cinnamon. They are dark. Take a look at this page, it does the best in describing them. I really think the Chocolate one looks like her, but again, it's the pads that are wrong.
And she's shaved for surgery, so her stomach hair is a lot longer. She has the soft babypowder fur that Ragdolls have, the earshape is exact, the nose outlined with darker and lighter in the middle, and her head is exactly the shape of the second cat below. So I think that's what she is. Although it's insane to have a purebred wandering around, I've had neighbors who let their red (flame) persian out every evening, it was a "he" and not fixed. (Don't get me started.) Eevie got out the door and she could have been a purebred, so who knows. I had a purebred collie from an Austin TX shelter, and my Pekingese from a rescue group is purebred. People see them and think there must be something wrong with them or they wouldn't be at a shelter. It's the people, not the animals, and in this case, not knowing a Ragdoll when they see one. (Like me!)
My current cats rejected the scratchers we tried, so Himself (my late partner) made one. It is made from 4x2 untreated wood. An upright which is taller than full stretch for the larger of the 2 young cats and 4 shorter pieces of wood to make a solid stand for it. It stands butted up to a shelf unit, so making an extra corner. The only treatment it gets is an occasional spray of cat mint. Cats are 6 years old now and no furniture has been scratched. It doesn't look so pretty, but is very effective.
@chohole Would love to see a picture if you get time. It sounds wonderful! I did check on nail tips for cats, and the vet charges 46.00 to put them on and there's no guarantee as to how long they would last. I figured since these scratching posts were on sale for 50.00 that would be the equivalent of one post, so trying them first. Sounds like your late partner was very handy with tools and imagination!