Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 12
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RTX is just Nvidia's name for their newest cards, the 2000 series. The RTX technology didn;t have any value for DS until 4.12 was released which can now take advantage of it.
Here's an article from Nvidia. I haven't read it yet, doing it now.
Well I spent over $100 buying the Crazy Chef Bundle, the New York Stores, the New York Brownstones and put all that bakery goodness along with just 2 characters into one of the New York Stores and it uses too much RAM (I have 16GB CPU RAM & no discrete video cards)! So I guess I will will upgrade to an AMD Desktop in the next year if if can't use DAZ Studio with the DAZ 3D store models that I find most interesting.
@RGCincy - a lot of times old computers in hot operating scenarios will break when they are turned off and allowed to cool off. I was systems administrator an a bank for a long time and we had machines that ran in 90F+ rooms, some as long as over 5 years before we decommissioned them. Many of them when turned off would break because a circuit on the motherboard would break when cooled off.
@RGCincy Too late now, I know, but if you have modular PSUs, which I am guessing that you do, since you mentioned 'using the old cables', unfortunately the PSU end of the connectors do not have a standard, so every vendor may wire them differently. The connectors for the motherboard, extra PCIe power for GPU etc are standard. I only became aware of this recently while reading forum posts while building my new PC. Fortunately, I never tried using old Corsair PSU cables with my new Seasonic PSU.
Well, it was pointed out in the sales thread that you could get more than 5 items with the code, so of course that (rightfully) got fixed right away. The centaur bundles are a good deal, if you like centaurs. I haven't even showcased most of the Genesis 3 ones, so even at 75% off, I'm not buying. Eventually that will be one of the 80 percent or free bundles. Eventually.
That's good you haven't. I relooked at the EVGA PSU installation booklet and in small type it says "using other cables may cause problems". It should say in big bold letters "STOP!! Don't use any other cables!!" Oh well, lesson learned.
The new hard drive is getting filled up. All my photos,videos, and documents have been restored. The main programs I use have been restored. I haven't tackled any games yet but that won't be a problem. Now I'm in the midst of installing Daz content. Fortunately I have 7000+ zip files in my backups so don't have to download all that many. I'm also being more selective with older content that I'm not really using. So far have 1800 products restored. I'm also going to use Novica's approach to package up all my non-Daz files into DIM-compatible packages, something I've been meaning to do. Probably several more days before I have that complete, then on to the new video card.
Well, that might be Novica's APPROACH but it doesn't mean I've kept up with it LOL. Particularly with the great Rendo sales this past month.
All in good time
I'm just getting back online and caught up with the forum posts- apparently things really were botched up when Cris and I were looking at things right after the store turned over. Yes, the discounts WERE doing most of the Still New, and apparently weren't supposed to. I was having trouble with it doing it on a particular hair, so I didn't buy anything. But glad I waited,( as I hadn't used the code yesterday), and I didn't think about Fast Grab this morning. So I picked up Bonjour Studioi in fast grab for 3.82 (86% off) and it has a lot of props.
In the main sale- getting the new releases for 80% off that are DO's (there's two.) So if you haven't used your coupon banner, remember to check out Fast Grab.
Also mentioned in the sales thread- PC+ memberships are getting discounted too.
I wasn't going to get the gift card at 19% off (remember folks not getting credit with banners for spending all that, if they bought it BEFORE the PA sale) but there's talk of a new character being released shortly so I am going to go for the 201.00 to get the 19% in preparation for that.
Just tested it, you can only get ONE gift card or the discounts go POOF.
Well, the blush is stark and I'm not seeing a natural option (aka Rosey). Shame that I can't tell if that blush is not optional. And reminder- if you are getting an amount free, that is AFTER the discounts. The discounts are APPLIED FIRST which bring the prices down. I keep forgetting about that.
Aven (Teen Raven 8) Gothy Punk (Teen Raven 8/G8F) Riviera Hair (Gen 3/ Gen8 M/F)
I don't like the eyebrows at all but those can be replaced. From a distance, they're fine.
Notice the bottom eyelashes don't go all the way over to the end of the eye, not sure if these start where they should. There seems to be some faint eyelashes. You can see it better on the eye on our right, they don't come over to the corner as much as I'd like. There's quite a few characters with eyelash flaws, if you start doing closeups you'll notice.
Allinah HD (Teen Raven 8) Matilda Hair (G8F) dForce Kitten Dress (G8F) dForce Kitten Dress Textures
@windfield The hair is quite lovely! There's a lot of nice movement options with this hair. And the Kitten Dress extra textures are really worth a look.
I don't know about you but with each new Pro Bundle lately I have the feeling the quality of the human models is getting better and better. Some people might think I mean prettier but I mean more realistic looking, at least in my eyes. Pretty is just opinion to a large degree anyway. Of course I can't afford those pro bundles going on this cityscape/landscape DAZ model acquisition kick but they're something to buy later if the new pro bundles continue not to be toons (almost a sure bet there).
Just for fun, I'm playing with some things I got recently.
The Farm
Kids Play Time Bundle
Good Guys for G8M
dForce Overalls for G8M
Georgie Hair and Brows
iRadiance HDR Resources - Country Pasture
Scene Optimizer helped a lot!.
Which version are you all using?
I am still using 4.10 - it works (with very few issues) and I have zero time to invest it figuring out why something isn't working if a new version has quirks.
About two weeks ago, I started experiencing crashes - with the DS crash report window popping up - after a render completes. DS will not actually close until an interaction is made with the crash report window. This leads to several copies of DS open when i check my computer in the morning. (I use ManFriday's Render Queue) 4.12 had not been released when the issue cropped up. The crash happens whether I render "normally" or using Render Queue.
I submitted several of the crash zip files. Support finally got back to me today with a response that the issue is because I haven't updated to 4.12
@barbult Oh I love this one! He is having SO much fun.
Can anyone check the default makeup for Mee HD? I don't want her if that pink blush is mandatory as the "base" material. The product descriptions would be better if described as neutral, no-blush, whatever, or I'm not buying it, particularly when the renders all show that blush in the promos.
I'm in 4.11, no issues. Well, other than that STUPID DUPLICATE FILE MESSAGE still popping up.
Gotta love it when I'm shopping Fast Grab and getting an extra 10% off. That's when you know you've got a banner that hasn't popped up yet so you refresh the page LOL. (Banner is for folks who bought the teen bundle. Good all weekend, apparently unlimited use.) So don't forget Fast Grab.
If you don't see it, check your messages > exclusive offers.. My banner was covered over with a banner from a previous offer.
OK, I haven't been methodically reviewing products like I said I would. I guess no surprise there. So instead I will generally review products used in the next four renders obtained in PA Festival & other assorted sales since August 2019.
1st up: Buck & Bronco (supposed to be a play on Bucking Bronco)
The Toon Horse like other 3DU Toon animals still looks awesome but the flat toon style can look poorly in closeups.
The Genesis 8 / Genesis 3 DAZ / PA human based characters as always looks great. You really have to work at it to mess them up but as you see with toon morphs they still are a good combo with 3DU toon animals.
The ground textures in DAZ 3D world always give me fits and it's rare that I like the horribly busy but flat fake look. In this case I knew of Will Timmins TP3 procedural shaders on shareCG and used one for beach sand. Looks great too I think.
Old those PC+ Old West buildings still are geometrically great models & great bargains although many of the textures used are not of high enough resolution for 4K, FHD, or even HD resolution. SD resolution in closeups is as good as some of those textures can manage.
Still all of the products in this set an A. Although the old west buildings would get a C except they are at PC+ prices. At regular price those old west buildings do get a C.
Other Products:
Cowboy Outfit: A+
Old Forge
Old West Saloon
Old West Undertakers
Old West Mercantile
Old West Sheriff's Office
Old West Bath House
As you can see made a great typical "Old West" street as on TV or similar to Tombstone, Arizona.
To see individual products used follow the link to the gallery image on the thumbnail.
Next Up: Japanese Alley, Sakura 8, & various other products.
OK, so I messed up on the render by not highlighting the subjects Sakura & Eastern Dragon by using J.Cade's Painter's Lights or the Philosopher's BOSS Portrait Studio Lighting sets but I really like the products used in this render despite my artistic shortcomings.
Sakura 8 - you can see her - as a toon in context she can be a school child or change her hair & clothing & activities she can be a wise old woman. Excellent quality product Grade A+
Eastern Dragon - Is not a PC+ product and given it's age (product number 6112) and it's status as a DAZ Original should tell your this is an excellent product and consistent seller over the almost two decades it's been on sale. It even has an IK rig included (which causes a bug when duplicating node hierarchy in DAZ Studio 4.12+ by the way - a ticket has been submitted). Shortcomings: the textures look cheap, low-res, and too glossy. I sometime replace the textures with Jen Greenless' / DAZ Originals iRay Bone & Scale shader materials product because the Eastern Dragon does have enough geometry surfaces defined to do so. Still the product could stand a new custom made iRay material update exclusively intended for the Eastern Dragon. Due to it's DAZ Original higher pricing and materials problem & IK rig bug in DAZ Studio this product gets a Grade B.
Peony Kimono - A G2F era product that converts to iRay quite well but draping can be problematic.I didn't dForce drape in this scene but I did in the following scene and it dForce draped quite well. That improves this products ratings. Even at a higher DAZ Originals price for an older product this product still gets a Grade A.
Asian Accessories: A lot of care & trouble went into modeling this recent freebie product and it's excellent in quality. It's worth buying even if you missed getting it as a freebie. Grade: A
Japanese Alley. Having only visited Kuala Lumpur & Seoul I've never seen a real Japanese Alley but would very much like to based on the way this excellent product looks. The details are impressive. The value for unit money spent is also impressive. This product gets a Grade A.
Maia Hair for G3F: Gorgeous hair that includes many nice poses. However, follow SickleYield's tutorial on how to use this hair on G8F because autofitting the hair on G8F will strip it's rig and hence it's posability. Really, in this day & age with a catalogue like DAZ 3D has, a whole matrix of a compatibility fitting GUI for their products needs to be developed and integrated into DAZ Studio proper by DAZ 3D and not some PA. The hair gets a Grade B because of that irk.
Other products I've used only pieces of in this render won't be reviewed here because I have renders planned for them using a major part of those products (example Holiday Nook for iRay and Crazy Chef Bundle)
To see the entire listing of products used click the thumbnail link above to the DAZ Gallery render.
3rd up:
OK, I have to admit, I've wanted sugatak's complete catalogue in the DAZ 3D store for a couple of years now but have bought other things instead. Well now I finally bought 2 products from their catalogue & they didn't disappoint.
I've already reviewed Sakura, Eastern Dragon, and the Peony Kimono in this thread so see that post.
The Rairaiken Shinjuku 1954 is a beautiful and detailed set. It does require converting the pieces to iRay. The PAs might be dismissive of doing that conversion for the customers but I don't think they should be. When you look inside this somewhat haphazard and poorly constructed business made by poor people you might doubt it but having visited kinfolk in the poor parts of Appalachia as a kid I been in many a poor house and poor business that were similarly constructed from wood. They're mostly gone now those businesses but they existed. A successful business in those days was often hand to mouth. I give this product a Grade A because of all the historical detail included. It's really a nostalgic masterpiece.
Old Japanese Town Edo Vol 5: Another nostalgic masterpiece there are all sorts of authentic building details in this set. I've not explored as much as the Rairaken Shinjuku 1954 product yet as there is a lot to explore but it is quite lovely. As the render is of one room of the interior of the Rairaken Shinjuku set I should do another exterior render to review this set. This set is somewhat new and so the materials are in iRay format. This set gets an A+
Sewing Basics: I don't sew but was excited to see this product because it reminds me of my mom & my aunt going to sewing class when me, my siblings, and cousins were children in Little Village Chicago. Naive like children are we'd turn on the TV that coincidentally had a sewing show on at the same time as their class and watch for our moms to be on TV. We never saw them of course but sometimes we'd get a short glimpse of someone in the background that looked similar to them and get really excited. And when they'd get home from class we'd run to them excitedly hopping and hollering like calves greeting their mother's return to them. The product is a good nostalgic product as well as anyone that's seen modern sewing kits knows the new kits are much more technically advanced now. This product was a recent freebie and gets an A+.
Click the thumbnail above to see the full listing of products used at my DAZ Gallery.
Last Review for a while:
Well I did this render for one reason & one reason only. I wanted to see how The Harpwood Trail - Mallard Pond in autumn season would look so I'll get on with the review.
The Harpwood Trail - Mallard Pond is very pretty. You can see it is in the render. It's pretty in summer and autumn season versons. However, the autumn season version does suffer from one problem I think. I think the grass is much too green, growing, and lush in appearance for autumn season but otherwise no complaints about this product at all. Despite the lush foliage I had no trouble rendering it although it takes a very long time even in DAZ Studio 4.12+ because of all the translucency/opacity maps involving leaves & water. The product gets a Grade A. It would have been an A+ had the autumn grass been more seasonal in appearance.
Ezra for the Brute 8 - LOL, he's in this scene because I didn't have Noggin's Mallard Duck product and the newest character I've bought. I'm glad I did decide to use this model because I learned a very basic concept on DAZ 3D's iRay human skin model design that Oso3D explained yesterday in one of his shader threads. I bought it yesterday for $6. You can see it's an excellent model. As usual when I render a DAZ human model in iRay material format it renders much darker in skin tone that what it appears to render in ad copy. I know from reading some of Oso3D's threads about his shader products that is because of the iRay volumetrics (reflected in parameters like transmitted color, SSS color, translucency color). Essentially since the textures have the colors already included when you use volumetrics to add yet more colors via iRay those similar colors are included for a second time which invariable makes characters have a darker skin tone than what they realistically would have (the so-called common complaint of orange-toned skin others in the forum often complain about). To work around this, not being a shader genius, I just changed the translucency color, SSS color, and transmitted color on the surfaces for this character to white, or nearly white, and the effect is the character looks more like you'd expect from the ad copy because mostly only the texture is giving colors and not the iRay volumetrics. Setting the translucency color to low values of 25% or less has a similar effect but can give a plastic look to your characters. Ezra gets a Grade A although I considered giving him a Grade B because of this iRay shader materials for human skin problems all realistic DAZ characters with iRay materials have.
Short Wet Hair for G8F & G8M - This is a great product although I use only the skin wetness geoshell and skin waterdrops geoshell and not the actual hair. You can see the Ezra character looks wet with no effort on my part (not counting effort to get the money). I give the product a Grade A.
Ryan Hair G3 & G8 - The hair itself looks good with the typical assortment of natural colors. The pose presets were lacking, although they aren't particularly needed, to have presets with an icon that shows the effect of the major contributing morph pose used in the preset is helpful to folk that can't iRay Preview in their viewports. I guess for folk that have computers with enough horsepower to iRay Preview render in their viewports it's a moot point but for folk that don't have that, posing/styling the hair is a guessing game. The product gets a grade B+.
dForce Swim Shorts - These are surfer shorts actually not swim shorts. They are for surfing or being fashionably trendy. A swimmer swimming laps would eventually split the seam on the heiny doing flipturns (it's happened multiple times). Actually a surfer not interested in eventually going naked on a public beach wouldn't surf in those either. In spite of the real world practical limitations of those surfer shorts it's a great product that dForce drapes very well and has appropriate material surfaces zones. The product gets an Grade A- because I consider them somewhat pricey.
Gingham and Stripes IRay Shaders - I've liked and been dress in such weave patterns since childhood but I think this product is lacking in enough different patterns and they all seem too dark. There is not enough contrast between the contributor colors in the fabric weave. It's a PC+ item which saves it value wise. I give it an B+ as a PC+ item and a C- as a full priced item.
Done!
Fun image!
She does have a tiny bit of blush on her default skin, but I don't think it's that bad.
@nonesuch00 Of course my favorite is going to be the horse! Love the action on that one!
Reminder though- the product links and image are supposed to be in this thread, so people don't have to go elsewhere to see it. The reason gallery images were included in that was due to the gallery loading up at different speeds, depending on traffic, and people's computers. It's less common nowadays than when the galleries first launched (I think). It's fine to also mention it's in the gallery with a link to it, to get more likes too. The main reason though- by putting links in this thread, you're getting double hits from the Daz Deals app as it will show up in the forum links, and the gallery links. Some people use one more than the other, or both, and they'll be able to read your description here about the products as there will be a link in this thread. You put a LOT of work into those reviews.
@sabataru Thanks! Wish they wouldn't do that though. :( I'll wishlist as not having a no-blush option makes her a not-a-priority gal.