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Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 12

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    I clicked on Earth>Mode>Ocean and I believe that's the waves?

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,119

    There's an app too, I have it on my tablet.

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.meteo.weather.forecast.radar.v2&hl=en_GB

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Hmmm, you know what happens when you forget to check your reward points elsewhere? You have 6,000 of them. I got $10 off an order, then $50 off another one. Those points had been accumulating for who knows how long. I went on a spending spree late this past winter (getting the materials for outfits sold here, and the outfits and materials there, etc, and a few sets/characters.)  I am definitely a character collector. So I went to check on my Daz stash and whoa. I'm not a collector, I'm apparently obsessive.

    So thought I'd ask- how many Genesis 8  FEMALE characters do you have JUST from Daz? Some of these are going to be duplicates, aka the same character but at a different age- but when you click in CONTENT LIBRARY and click on Characters for Genesis 8 Female, how many are listed in the avatar section? I'm showing a whopping 732. (To balance out the duplicates, there ARE some characters in the files that don't show up in the Character avatars you can just click on. And that always annoys me when I have to hunt them down.)   So is there a better way to figure out the exact amount of JUST characters you have for Genesis 8 Females? 

    And no, I AM NOT buying into Genesis 9 whenever that is released. I honestly like Genesis 8 well enough that I've more than enough to play with. What are your thoughts on the 9? (There was a thread and someone from Daz did say 9 is not going to be released this year.) 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245

    I have 70 G8F characters.

  • zombietaggerungzombietaggerung Posts: 3,726

    7 G8F characters.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    zombietaggerung said:

    7 G8F characters.

    Do you have a favorite generation other than G8? I remember converting Victoria 4 for a bit when the GenX products first came out, and they transferred nicely. 

  • zombietaggerungzombietaggerung Posts: 3,726
    edited September 2019
    Novica said:
    zombietaggerung said:

    7 G8F characters.

    Do you have a favorite generation other than G8? I remember converting Victoria 4 for a bit when the GenX products first came out, and they transferred nicely. 

    I kind of prefer G3, they seem to me to handle expressions better. But also I don't really buy female characters, I only have 17 G3F characters. And I only have Monique's pro bundle and a few other female characters for G8F.

    Edit: I do have 52 G8M characters, however. 

    Post edited by zombietaggerung on
  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,062
    Novica said:

    What are your thoughts on the 9? (There was a thread and someone from Daz did say 9 is not going to be released this year.) 

    Isn't the fact that 9 won't be released this year basically all we know for sure about it?

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    @gordig   Yes. Sorry if my question is confusing. I'm basically wondering if folks are thinking they're going to adopt another generation very quickly when it becomes available, regardless of what it offers. 

  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,062

    I'll certainly give it a shot. The reason I went all-in on G8 when I first started using DS was because it seemed, to my limited frame of reference, to be the most functional, and since then I've always found other generations frustrating to use. Based on all that, I could buy into G9 because I prefer to use whatever is current, or I could stick with G8 because it's what I'm used to and prefer using. We'll have to wait and see.

  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,447

    I'm showing 716 G8 females

  • frankrblowfrankrblow Posts: 2,052

    From just my main 'Characters' panel there's 116 G8F characters, though there are more variations of those characters in subfolders. As to G9, I will probably play around with the free base characters, but having spent almost $16K (US) here alone, I've decided not to 'invest' (ie: waste) more of my pension on a new generation. Of course, if G9 is fully backward compatable with G8, I may rethink my position.

  • xmasrosexmasrose Posts: 1,403

    I have 41. I still like G2.

    Will I use G9? No idea, I just hope I'll be able to transfer materials, morphs, clothes to it.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    If you bought the musculature morphs yesterday in that flash stacking sale, the bundle is in Fast Grab. Submit a ticket for 3.88 difference if you bought the two separately yesterday.

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131

    I have 20 and all but Genesis 8 Female Base and Victoria 8 are Toon Characters so I've been a bit obsessive myself. I didn't think I had so many but they're so good.

    21 I guess really since Cartoonized for Genesis 8 Female essentially creates a new character but that's sort of iffy though cause it's not a character by itself.

    In fact after telling myself I wasn't going to buy Toon Boy, Toon Girl, Toon Hero, Toon Larry or the toonish Gustave HD for Genesis 8 Male and Emil for Genesis 8 Male but buy all of them I did, The only Genesis 8 toon character I haven't gotten yet is Toon  Dad and it's on my list now. Arguably Carryn 8 HD for Genesis 8 Female, Tobyn 8 HD for Genesis 8 Male, and Babyfication for Caryn 8 and Tobyn 8 are all cartoon type characters on my buy list.

    I had told myself at first only 3DU toon characters or DAZ Originals toon characters but you see that plan was a flop!

    My Genesis 8 Females are actually a short list: here are the 20:

    Genesis 8 Female Base, Victoria 8, Betty for Genesis 8 Female, Hanna for Genesis 8 Female, Dolly for Genesis 8 Female, Sakura 8, Paige for Genesis 8 Female,  Dorothie for Edie 8, Edie 8, Pix Tilwig for Edie 8, Etta HD for Edie 8, FWSA Destini for The Girl 8, FWSA Lyla for The Girl 8, The Girl 8, Hazel for The Girl 8, VYK Betsy for The Girl 8, VYK Judy for The Girl 8, VYK Midge for The Girl 8, Toon Generations Essentials for Genesis 8 Female, Toon Girl for Genesis 8 Female

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    edited September 2019
    Novica said:

    @gordig   Yes. Sorry if my question is confusing. I'm basically wondering if folks are thinking they're going to adopt another generation very quickly when it becomes available, regardless of what it offers. 

    I almost definitely will not be. Really, I need a new computer as a laptop from 7 years ago can't justify me making enough renders made fast enough o buy more content. Also, the animation tools need to became noticeably easier to to use than Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, iClone and other animation tools and should have better results than those others to boot. 

    The strand based hair needs to be very easy to style. I mean comb, scissors, and curlers easy or better yet, easy ways to create quick hair groupings basic on polygon selection and grouping like is done with Surfaces. The painting should only be for fine tuning those geometry groupings. Way to select groups of hair and type in numbers for length and simply spline formulas for wave or curl - that should be gobsmackingly easy for DAZ 3D to implement. Can you imagine being able to style hair in the viewport just by select a hair group and changing the length and waviness of the hair just by typing in a few numbers?!  

    The dForce needs to become really fast with a boat load of presets for us to apply to existing clothing to work around common problems - eg pockets falling off or collars exploding or clothing drooping like is is drenched cheesecloth and so on.

    So as I don't see all of those remedied by the time Genesis 9 comes along I doubt I'll be buying anything at all unless I wind up making clothing myself to sell & need the G9 models as I am saving to buy Marvelous Designer this November if it goes on sale for $240 again as in previous recent years.  

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651
    edited September 2019

    Genesis 3 and Genesis 8 are basically the same. Gen 8 has better bends and the expression improvement are there but it isn’t a new figure. Gen 8 gens are gen 3 gens as well. 

    I will buy gen 9 male if expressions are better. Most of the male expressions still are quite frightening. I’d like a more realistic smile for example..

    but I won’t buy another slight rework of gen 3. I would want real improvements.

    i would prefer that they release figure upgrades rather than new figures if the updates are minor like what happened between gen 3 and 8.

     

     

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 101,002
    Serene Night said:

    Genesis 3 and Genesis 8 are basically the same. Gen 8 has better bends and the expression improvement are there but it isn’t a new figure. Gen 8 gens are gen 3 gens as well. 

    That isn't really correct - the two series do use much the same techniques, but base figure mesh and rigging are different.

    Serene Night said:

    I will buy gen 9 male if expressions are better. Most of the male expressions still are quite frightening. I’d like a more realistic smile for example..

    but I won’t buy another slight rework of gen 3. I would want real improvements.

    i would prefer that they release figure upgrades rather than new figures if the updates are minor like what happened between gen 3 and 8.

    The trouble is any update that makes noticeable chnages will break backward compatibility in at least one respect (otherwise there'd be nothing that couldn't be done with an add-on), so those have to be kept back for new figures.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651

    I am going to disagree with your Richard. I think the differences are pretty minor, and not substantial to warrant a new product.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    Richard Haseltine said:
    Serene Night said:

    Genesis 3 and Genesis 8 are basically the same. Gen 8 has better bends and the expression improvement are there but it isn’t a new figure. Gen 8 gens are gen 3 gens as well. 

    That isn't really correct - the two series do use much the same techniques, but base figure mesh and rigging are different.

    It's not really obvious to the users, though. The UVs are the same Base Male and Base Female as G3. In fact, if G8 hadn't removed the heel bone and gone to the A-Pose for default, from the user's perspective, wardrobe and hair would be completely interchangeable. That may not actually be true, but it is how it appears on this side, where we don't really know what's "under the hood" of figure development.

    Richard Haseltine said:
    Serene Night said:

    I will buy gen 9 male if expressions are better. Most of the male expressions still are quite frightening. I’d like a more realistic smile for example..

    but I won’t buy another slight rework of gen 3. I would want real improvements.

    i would prefer that they release figure upgrades rather than new figures if the updates are minor like what happened between gen 3 and 8.

    The trouble is any update that makes noticeable chnages will break backward compatibility in at least one respect (otherwise there'd be nothing that couldn't be done with an add-on), so those have to be kept back for new figures.

    Rhetorical questions: What is that "one respect."? If the customer can't see how backward compatibility is broken, then they jump to their own conclusions. (I'm as guilty of that as anyone.) Regardless of the reason why G8 went to the A-Pose, had G8 kept the T-Pose, would the JCMs been any different for clothing between the G3 and G8 figures? Regardless of the reason why the heel bone was removed from G8, had G8 kept the heel bone, would G3 shoes still have problems fitting G8, and vice versa? Regardless of the reason why G8 separated the eyelashes from the figure, had G8 not separated the lashes, would materials for both G3 and G8 be useable, (without jumping through hoops,) on both generations?

    These three issues are the most visible differences between G3 and G8. Without understanding the technical reasons for these changes, It's easy to conclude they are marketing decisions intended to strongly encourage customers to invest in a new generation. (Which entails purchasing the same products, in many cases, that have already been purchased for G3.)

    Opinion: It is very difficult as a user to see how adding the face rigging for better expressions would affect wardrobe and hair. Nor is it obvious to users how improving the joint bends would somehow break the compatibility of existing clothing. Because we don't understand how the technical changes break compatiblity, and because with a bit of fiddling we can make the products of one generation fit the other, no one should be surprised a significant number of customers aren't feeling excited about yet another generation of figures.

    And to prove my point:

    Serene Night said:

    I am going to disagree with your Richard. I think the differences are pretty minor, and not substantial to warrant a new product.

    All that said, I'm actually pretty happy with my G8 characters. But I don't see how I can afford to invest in a new generation…

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 101,002
    L'Adair said:
    Richard Haseltine said:
    Serene Night said:

    Genesis 3 and Genesis 8 are basically the same. Gen 8 has better bends and the expression improvement are there but it isn’t a new figure. Gen 8 gens are gen 3 gens as well. 

    That isn't really correct - the two series do use much the same techniques, but base figure mesh and rigging are different.

    It's not really obvious to the users, though. The UVs are the same Base Male and Base Female as G3. In fact, if G8 hadn't removed the heel bone and gone to the A-Pose for default, from the user's perspective, wardrobe and hair would be completely interchangeable. That may not actually be true, but it is how it appears on this side, where we don't really know what's "under the hood" of figure development.

    Richard Haseltine said:
    Serene Night said:

    I will buy gen 9 male if expressions are better. Most of the male expressions still are quite frightening. I’d like a more realistic smile for example..

    but I won’t buy another slight rework of gen 3. I would want real improvements.

    i would prefer that they release figure upgrades rather than new figures if the updates are minor like what happened between gen 3 and 8.

    The trouble is any update that makes noticeable chnages will break backward compatibility in at least one respect (otherwise there'd be nothing that couldn't be done with an add-on), so those have to be kept back for new figures.

    Rhetorical questions: What is that "one respect."?

    I didn't mean always the same respect, just that any change beyond new morphs or a new UV set is going to break something - adding vertices will break morphs, changing the rigging will break fitting existing items and posing, adding new surfaces will break materials, adding bones beyond the initial set without changing the inital set won't break anything but nor will the new bones work correctly with existing poses, etc.

    L'Adair said:

    If the customer can't see how backward compatibility is broken, then they jump to their own conclusions. (I'm as guilty of that as anyone.) Regardless of the reason why G8 went to the A-Pose, had G8 kept the T-Pose, would the JCMs been any different for clothing between the G3 and G8 figures? Regardless of the reason why the heel bone was removed from G8, had G8 kept the heel bone, would G3 shoes still have problems fitting G8, and vice versa? Regardless of the reason why G8 separated the eyelashes from the figure, had G8 not separated the lashes, would materials for both G3 and G8 be useable, (without jumping through hoops,) on both generations?

    These three issues are the most visible differences between G3 and G8. Without understanding the technical reasons for these changes, It's easy to conclude they are marketing decisions intended to strongly encourage customers to invest in a new generation. (Which entails purchasing the same products, in many cases, that have already been purchased for G3.)

    Opinion: It is very difficult as a user to see how adding the face rigging for better expressions would affect wardrobe and hair. Nor is it obvious to users how improving the joint bends would somehow break the compatibility of existing clothing. Because we don't understand how the technical changes break compatiblity, and because with a bit of fiddling we can make the products of one generation fit the other, no one should be surprised a significant number of customers aren't feeling excited about yet another generation of figures.

    And to prove my point:

    Serene Night said:

    I am going to disagree with your Richard. I think the differences are pretty minor, and not substantial to warrant a new product.

    All that said, I'm actually pretty happy with my G8 characters. But I don't see how I can afford to invest in a new generation…

     

  • Worlds_EdgeWorlds_Edge Posts: 2,152

    351 Females

    177 Males

    Don't ask how few I've actually rendered...

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited September 2019

    Genesis 8 Males I'm showing 241 when I do Content Library>Genesis 8 Males>Characters.

    @worldsedge   LOL. I'm with you. I did start doing something that has helped me when showcasing products- I started a render folder and I make a folder for each one, with the file name in this order:

    Character/Outfit/Hair (without the / so it would be like  Sapphire SaxbyHr GoddessTop)    so I can easily go down the alphabet and see if I've done the character before. If there is a set involved, the set comes before the character.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited September 2019

    Well, add two more G8F. I picked up Camila and Eryn at 73% off (with that 10% Victoria banner, and buying 3 things. I got the Ultra Scatter Pro, but talk about an awful description!  I seriously didn't want to give the vendor my money!  (And wouldn't have except it made the third product to get to the 70% off.) "Upgrade to UltraScatterPro and enjoy the extra functionality of the Pro product."  Again, where was QUALITY CONTROL to say, "WHAT EXTRA FUNCTIONALITY???????"

    By the way the two sales stack to create the three products. You can get two from one, and the third thing from the other. You have 15 minutes before the store turns over in case you didn't know this already.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,447

    Genesis 8 Males I'm showing 301

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Okay, hope this link works. Get ready for some cake! 

  • xmasrosexmasrose Posts: 1,403

    The link works and that's amazing! Good find.

    G8M : 19

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131

    Well if G8 wasn't released as a cycle now & DAZ 3D had instead came out with the Edie 8 Pro Bundle, the Girl 8 Pro Bundle, Toon Dwayne 8 Pro Bundles, Crazy Chef Bundle and all the various PA G8 Toon characters were DO G3 Pro equivalent bundles PA G3 Toon characters I'd still of bought them because they were lacking in m DAZ Library and I liked them (well the Girl 8 Pro Bundle was arguably redundant to the Girl 7 Pro Bundle but the Girl 8 Pro Bundle characters in my eyes was stylistically so much better and more flexible than the Girl 7 Pro Bundle characters).

    So I really can't say I definitively won't be buying any Genesis 9 characters but my library is pretty well rounded now so it's going to take technical improvements of prior lines and that would mostly involve weight maps for soft body surface distortion, muscle flexing, and hair movement - something even if available would be difficult for customers to use as they'd require very careful posing and use of picture references too just to get the poses correct. 

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    edited September 2019

    I have Genesis 8 Male, Michael 8, Marc for Michael 8, Tyrone for Darius 8, FWSA Gunner HD for Lucas 8, Lucas 8, Milo for Lucas 8, Giovanni for Genesis 3 and Genesis 8, Gades for Genesis 8 Male, Fiore for Genesis 8 Male, Pace for Genesis 8 Male, Ollie 8, Jonah HD for Ollie 8, Toon Dwayne 8, Brandon for Toon Dwayne 8, FWHP Boris HD for Toon Dwayne 8, The Brute 8, Mr Rubble HD for Brute 8, Toon Generations Essentials for Genesis 8 Male, Maxx HD Mega Pack for The Brute 8, Toon Boy, Toon Hero for Genesis 8 Male, Alistair HD for Genesis 8 Male, Toon Larry for Genesis 8 Male, Matias for Genesis 8 Male, Luke HD for Genesis 8 Male, Jepe's Roderick for Diego 8, Emil for Genesis 8 Male, and Gustave for Genesis 8 Male

    So that makes 29 male characters if I count Mr Rubble for the Brute 8. 8 of them I've actually bought hugely discounted since this Aug 2019 and haven't even used. I tend to go with Genesis 8 Male when I need a generic face since he's used less frequently than the named characters.

    I count Fiore Maxx HD, and Mr Rubble as toon characters so that makes 14 toons G8M toon characters I have. Arguably The Brute 8, Emil for G8M, and Gustave for G8M are borderline toon characters but  pass also as realistic.

    Of the realistic Genesis 8 characters I have bought, I am surprised, I like the Brute 8 best even though I typically only dial in his head and not his body.

    You hoarders that aren't rendering to Cesar don't fret - I've rendered G8M, The Brute, Pace, Mr Rubble, Tyrone for Darius 8, Giovanni, Gades, Ollie, Jonah, Toon Dwayne 8, Boris, Brandon for Toon Dwayne 8, Toon Generations, Maxx HD, Toon Boy, and Roderick and some of those I only used partiel morphs and texture sets rather that 100% the complete character so that's only 16 of 29 characters I've bought that I've rendered so far. Truthfully I am likely to never render Lucas, Milo, Michael, Gunner, and so on as I don't do enough realistic renders. 

    I bought Michael 8 strictly for the eyebrows if you can believe it. Same with me buying Victoria 8 for the eyebrows only. So I sort of wasted money a little not knowing about this new way of doing eyebrow less characters until G8 came out. I would of liked G8M & G8F to have fibre eyebrows instead & saved me money. I've bought 4 G8 pro bundles: Lucas 8, Toon Dwayne 8 (which was the cheapest G8 pro bundle ever I think), Edie 8, and The Girl 8. Only one I'd change is I'd buy Floyd 8 instead of Lucas 8. And in addition to the 2 female pro bundles I'd add a third, Mabel 8. So not bad, I haven't been too wasteful.  I'd buy the Mrs Chow & Mr Chung (I forget his name - the old Chinese guy) pro bundles too but now you are starting to talk quite a few pro bundles..

    Now clothing is another matter : the Latin & Oriental themed pro bundles have a lot of clothing & hair I'd like to buy but will have to pick off one by one as I can afford them.

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • HylasHylas Posts: 4,988

    4 G8F characters... one of which was a freebie (V8 during her birthday)

    5 G8M, one of which I deinstalled again. If you count the 5 guys from the SWOLE package it's 10.

    I only got into DAZ about 1 year ago and I focused on getting anything but characters. I figured I could dial-spin my own characters. Only now I'm starting to look into getting some more characters into my library... I'm still big on spinning the dials, but it does have its limits.

    No interest in G9, especially if the difference between G8 and G9 is similar to the difference between G3 and G8 (which is to say, not that big.)

This discussion has been closed.