Linday appreciation

123457»

Comments

  • MKDAWUSSMKDAWUSS Posts: 92

    I definitely get a lot of mileage out of their wet stuff.

  • kirbawirbakirbawirba Posts: 143

    Linday said:

    Hi everyone, thanks for your amazing support, renders are great and we really like to see your work with "our" products... 

    Perhaps you as users are more experienced in working with several hair products, and you are able to compare hair systems and their pros and cons. It'd be quite useful for us to know what works for you and when ( poses, scenes, lighting...) 

    Thanks,

    Linda and Richard 

    I didn't read the whole thread, but I had to respond to this request.

     

    Your hair is easily the best dforce hair available, and I'd love to see you revisit your classics and make them native to G9.  Classic blowout and soft classic hairs are fantastic.  They take up a lot of resources, but are almost always worth it!  The morphing options for simulation are excellent, and you even manage to be generous enough to include instructions on making our own morphs for pre-simulation.

     

    The vast majority of hair offered in the store is only good for static posing, with heads either slightly tilted or turned being the only things offered, and all of the strand based hair is either way too stiff for anything else, or some seem to melt entirely during normal simulation, with MAYBE one or two exceptions.  I feel that real, asset-based hair can look just as good as the omni shader, but is far superior when it comes to posing and simulating over clothing.  You have managed to excel for both.  The saddest part about most of the hair offered for G9 is you never know what kind you are going to get.  Most of it is useless for a non glamour shot type of render, but occasionally you get the kind that completely collapses in on itself.  Both take way, way too much tinkering to be able to get them to look good in many scenarios.  I have found almost all of the strand based G9 hair to be frustratingly close to being useful, or not close at all, and none of them offer the same morphing, straight out of the box, like you guys do.

     

    Please consider updating earlier offerings.  I know it can be hard, but I'd be willing to pay for them.  Sometimes auto fitting things between generations does crazy stuff while posing, or eliminates movement options altogether.

     

    In any case, thank you for your offerings here.  I love them, and I know you guys have a huge fanbase!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    I would Love to pick up where kirbawirba left off, from ym own perspective, if I may.

     

    The included educational material, as kirbawirba mentions, has taken me vastly beyond what I would likely be doing otherwise.

    Linday shader settings are absolutely abundant in presets, and uniquely engaging for those of us who like to go in and tweak stuff. The dForce material settings prove a massive amount of research, development, testing, and a love of perfection form the authors. This, of course, is also reflected with the Settings presets included with each of the dForce Linday products, giving us a first-hand view of their preferred default starting point, which is then brought up again in great detail within the included educational materials. Brilliant - and I thank you for that as it has made my life as an artist Much more enjoyable!!!

     

    Having my own IP character that I work with who is based off of my Real Super Hero - my beautiful, wonderful treasure of a wife, Rosie, it has always been a maddening struggle to try and get the hair right. For over ten years I've toiled with it - the latest major prior edition was Rosie 4 (V4 based) used four separate loads of Angelina Hair - feathers removed, and each consecutive load was crafted using my own morphs to "Add" to the previous layer, making the hair thicker, longer, and more full.

     

    I was strictly using Carrara for my animation work then. It wasn't until that delightful day when I saw "Classic Long Curly Hair with dForce for Genesis 8 Females" in the store when I finally decided to try working in Daz Studio for animations - which was Ludicrous! I mean... We All Knew that You Cannot Animate using Daz Studio!!!

     

    I bought the hair immediately. I mean... it looks Just Like the Real Rosie's Hair!!!

     

    Not really knowing how to use Daz Studio for anything other than the wonderful figure creation tools it has, and aniMate 2, I did look at all of the helpful materials that accompanied the product. My first attempt with dForce - ever.

     

    Wow!!! Using the included presets and tinkering away using advice from the authors, I had a perfect working animation simulation solution for the 3D personification of my Favorite Person Ever!!!

     

    It was so perfect that I could have easily just stopped collecting hair for her completely. But the others looked so good, that I just started collecting them - each teaching me something new and providing more and more options for different situations she might find herself in - especially this latest idea - she's an actress playing many roles!

     

    This latest dForce Wet Messy Bang Hair looked Way too good to pass up. Well, Rosie's hair need to be really long and really big. So to 'enlarge' this amazing new hairstyle, I ran it along with Wet Style Curly Hair for this amazing result!

    I Love Long and Curly!!! So I've discovered that this new hair works well with Primavera as well!!!

    (simulate one, then freeze and hide from simulation, simulate the next)

     

    As well as all of that, I am utterly Thankful for the Amazing work you've done creating Four-Wheeler Animation Template!!! I So Love This Thing!!!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    If you're ever watching one of my videos and see the hair looking like it does in most of this video, it's due to a misguided temporary lapse of reasoning on my part! LOL

    Thinking that I would poof up the top of the hair, I added Lani Hair for the 'topper'. It wasn't until I stopped animating to take a little breather, and sat back and watched. Oh my. I did That?!!! I immediately ran to my office and eliminated the Topper from the base starter scene!!!

    Since the Lani hair was just sitting there, not at all part of the simulation, when I remove it, the Classic Long Curly underneath still looks Great!!!

     

    Anyways, sorry for that!

  • I am another who loves 'Linday' brand hair. The cloth engine is one that produces the most realistic hairs that I have come across. And the different initial positions make the hair so flexible to use that it'a simply perfect. As time has gone on the simulation time has reduced. The first I got (Side Layered Messy Hair) takes the longest, and more recent ones are quite a bit quicker while having results that look a little better.  My one disappointment is that the hair that I feel looks best on my favourite character is not a Linday hair (being a SWAM conforming hair that for some reason is no longer available). Ah well, can't have everything, but.. having seen the materials moved from one hair to another, I may try at least once to make that hair a dForce hair (and watch the explosion!).

    The labelling of dForce SBH as 'dForce Hair' annoys me a bit and lead to accidentally purchasing SHB. I've never got to the point of using 0 tessalation SBH, but the older ones have succeeded in putting me off strongly. The SBHs I have tried just look wrong, in terms of drape, density etc. It may be that I haven't got the hang of working them properly, but I like to think I'm not entirely clueless & if I can't get it to look good in a reasonable time, then there may be something less good about it.

    I have to thank 'Linday' for continuing to support G8. This is much appreciated. So far I have failed to see any significant improvement with G9 that benefits my poor attempts at 'art', so sticking with G8 means I can get further benefit from some very good assets. Being able to add new ones still is really nice. 

    Finally, how does 'Linday' create such detailed & attractive props? I have the pleasure of playing with the Rococo Revival interior & chair props bundle. Just gorgeous. Inspired by something like Blenheim Palace or Versailles, maybe? And the poses with the set are truly impressive. I have often tried to get my own poses to look and feel so soft and relaxed in the past without ever succeeding. It's definitely a learning process when using the 'Linday' poses. They scream quality, and I hope the inspiration they provide will eventually trickle down into my freebie poses at some point and allow me to improve them too.

    Regards,

    Richard

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    Hey, have you explored the dForce Surface Material settings of Linday Hair?

    They can be a Huge boon to any attempts you make at simulating other non-dForce mesh hair - just don't be afraid to learn dForce Weight Map painting, if you haven't already. That's what'll help a Lot when difficulty arrises.

     

    But yeah... they sure do put a Lot of effort into making their work Perfect before anyone ever sees it - that's for sure. Very top-notch stuff!!

     

    Something else I forgot to mention above, is how amazing Linday Hair is designed in the layers that they are. Again, exploring the Surface Material dForce Settings, it's truly magnificent how well we can tailor fit our hairstyles to our liking! Longer on top, short on the bottom... the other way around... longer everywhere but differently for each layer... and then the same goes for actually coloring it. 

    For a while there I was mix and matching the color maps for different parts of the individual material, like using a map that was made for a different hair color in the translucency color channel, for example, and then also changing up base colors from one layer to the next... the way it's all organized and laid out... it's a Blast to experiment - it's like it Begs for it!!!

     

    As soon as I got dForce Wet Style Curly Hair for Genesis 9, 8, and 8.1 Females, I made a separate wearable of it after I made a Dry version tweaking the materials' appearance and using straight up (not wet) setting in the Simulation Settings pane. It's all very versatile.

     

    The Wet and Dry Boyfriend's Tee for Genesis 3 Females works beautifully in dForce! Just add the dynamic modifiers and let it fly!!! Amazing! 

     

    Here it is, cropped a bit. Well... a Lot, actually :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    Sorry I can't put up any of my renders of the awesome new wet shirts! :(

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,678
    edited October 22

    Tried much less than I've wanted to. Life keeps interfering with playing. The other problem is that I don't want my 'Rosie' equivalent to a) recognise my DS 'Rosie 8.xx' equivalent character and b) Realise just the full extent of how dotty I'm about my real 'Rosie' equivalent. Current character setup in attached image.

    Regards,

    Richard

    Glamorous Vickie 47b R01.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 363K
    Post edited by richardandtracy on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    yesheart

  • TesseractSpaceTesseractSpace Posts: 1,406
    edited October 23

    I just want to add to the requests for a ponytail style. Ideally a messy style like "wake up, grab scrunchy" with wet and dry version. :) And oh yes, an updated version of the Satine Detective outfit with some dforce.

    Post edited by TesseractSpace on
  • kirbawirbakirbawirba Posts: 143

    richardandtracy said:

    I am another who loves 'Linday' brand hair. The cloth engine is one that produces the most realistic hairs that I have come across. And the different initial positions make the hair so flexible to use that it'a simply perfect. As time has gone on the simulation time has reduced. The first I got (Side Layered Messy Hair) takes the longest, and more recent ones are quite a bit quicker while having results that look a little better.  My one disappointment is that the hair that I feel looks best on my favourite character is not a Linday hair (being a SWAM conforming hair that for some reason is no longer available). Ah well, can't have everything, but.. having seen the materials moved from one hair to another, I may try at least once to make that hair a dForce hair (and watch the explosion!).

    The labelling of dForce SBH as 'dForce Hair' annoys me a bit and lead to accidentally purchasing SHB. I've never got to the point of using 0 tessalation SBH, but the older ones have succeeded in putting me off strongly. The SBHs I have tried just look wrong, in terms of drape, density etc. It may be that I haven't got the hang of working them properly, but I like to think I'm not entirely clueless & if I can't get it to look good in a reasonable time, then there may be something less good about it.

    I have to thank 'Linday' for continuing to support G8. This is much appreciated. So far I have failed to see any significant improvement with G9 that benefits my poor attempts at 'art', so sticking with G8 means I can get further benefit from some very good assets. Being able to add new ones still is really nice. 

    Finally, how does 'Linday' create such detailed & attractive props? I have the pleasure of playing with the Rococo Revival interior & chair props bundle. Just gorgeous. Inspired by something like Blenheim Palace or Versailles, maybe? And the poses with the set are truly impressive. I have often tried to get my own poses to look and feel so soft and relaxed in the past without ever succeeding. It's definitely a learning process when using the 'Linday' poses. They scream quality, and I hope the inspiration they provide will eventually trickle down into my freebie poses at some point and allow me to improve them too.

    Regards,

    Richard

    SBH has been a really big diappointment.  Maybe it just can't do what we need it to do, which is drape and react realistically.  Some don't even come with the option of adjusting the head size, and using the scaling parameter throws it completely out of whack!  I buy SBH thinking that it'll finally be the one to change my mind about it.

     

    Maybe we need a hair review thread?  I have many, many hair assets, and I wouldn't mind throwing my 2 cents in.  Maybe someone can even tell me if I'm doing something wrong... 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569
    edited October 29

    I love the way the new hair drapes and behaves! It's gorgeous!

     

    On another note:

    I'm experimenting with making my own Before Simulation and After Simulation morphs - currently for Rosie's Classic Long Curly Hair with dForce for Genesis 8 Females.

     

    It's a load of fun and, even this very first 'trial run' of it turned out really nice in quite a few animations - every animation I've tried with it, actually. Which is quite a few now.

     

    These are using my PonyTail Maker apparatus, which is why we see the little curls up high toward the back of her head. For that apparatus, I've created a "PonyTail Lift" morph, which lifts the hair affected by the gathering, and then forms the arc from the tie area to the rear drape. This morph gets applied After the simulation is completed.

     

    New, however, I've created a morph specifically to direct the frontal left hair to raise from the scalp and naturally fall over the left eye. This gets applied Before simulating.  After the first basic simulation, I sculpted the look I want the front left bangs to make as they flow up and out of her Headband, and another that I can use to gently alter how much the hair covers the eye throughout animations, and made them into morphs.  And it turned out Great!!! These get applied After the simulation is completed.

     

    Then I clear the simulation and make the whole setup (collision helpers included) into a Wearable Preset, so I can go back and load this modified version onto any of my many saved animation scenes.

    Image removed

    I have a Lot more Linday Hair experiments going All the Time, so I'm working on a full-blown course study on the whole thing. It's truly mind-blowing what can be achieved here - from simple, basic operation (but with a few flicks of a dial here and there) to really digging in and doing something really complex and fun!

    Stay Tuned! :)

     

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    Note:

    Classic Long Curly Hair with dForce for Genesis 8 Females does already come with nice morphs for achieving one side covering the eye on that side - Left Split and Left Split Up, Right Split and Right Split Up.

    The one I made above is a bit different and designed for my own needs. Just a testament to how flexible this whole hair design of Linday's is for folks who really need to have a specific look for their character - especially if that character is shown moving at all!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    I also have incredible case-studies on how I created an underwater swimming effect with the hair - and it looks Great in motion!!!

    RT824KadisAlpha_WalkFemIP_B165.png
    1280 x 720 - 458K
  • kirbawirbakirbawirba Posts: 143
    edited October 29

    Dartanbeck said:

    I love the way the new hair drapes and behaves! It's gorgeous!

     

    On another note:

    I'm experimenting with making my own Before Simulation and After Simulation morphs - currently for Rosie's Classic Long Curly Hair with dForce for Genesis 8 Females.

     

    It's a load of fun and, even this very first 'trial run' of it turned out really nice in quite a few animations - every animation I've tried with it, actually. Which is quite a few now.

     

    These are using my PonyTail Maker apparatus, which is why we see the little curls up high toward the back of her head. For that apparatus, I've created a "PonyTail Lift" morph, which lifts the hair affected by the gathering, and then forms the arc from the tie area to the rear drape. This morph gets applied After the simulation is completed.

     

    New, however, I've created a morph specifically to direct the frontal left hair to raise from the scalp and naturally fall over the left eye. This gets applied Before simulating.  After the first basic simulation, I sculpted the look I want the front left bangs to make as they flow up and out of her Headband, and another that I can use to gently alter how much the hair covers the eye throughout animations, and made them into morphs.  And it turned out Great!!! These get applied After the simulation is completed.

     

    Then I clear the simulation and make the whole setup (collision helpers included) into a Wearable Preset, so I can go back and load this modified version onto any of my many saved animation scenes.

    Image removed

    I have a Lot more Linday Hair experiments going All the Time, so I'm working on a full-blown course study on the whole thing. It's truly mind-blowing what can be achieved here - from simple, basic operation (but with a few flicks of a dial here and there) to really digging in and doing something really complex and fun!

    Stay Tuned! :)

     

    I am definitely staying tuned!  That sounds like a must-see for me!  I dabble, and only produce morphs I really really need, otherwise I just shoehorn the process to get the correct look for the camera angle/scenario.  Would love to see how others do things, and find ways to implement them! 

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    Looks like it'll be Saturday, November 23rd

    The Creative Cart - Episode 009 - dForce with Linday in the Urban Future

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    dForce with Linday in an Urban Future

    Finally!

    Saturday, November 23rd 2024, I'll be demonstrating a whole bunch of techniques and settings that I use for Rosie's Classic Long Curly Hair with dForce for Genesis 8 Females, by Linday - along with looking at many other dForce Hair products by Linday, and why they are So Freaking Good!!!

     

    I have been really eager to show the Urban Future series, by Stonemason. This is a series of really nice Sci-Fi rendering extravaganzas that spans nearly the entire historical timeline of Daz 3D and each of them exude the high-end quality of what we get when we buy a Stonemason kit. 

     

    Of course, I use a Lot of various animation products when I'm working with Linday's dForce hair. However, one particular artist has made a series of animation kits that work especially well for working out new techniques, settings, and experiments when it comes to dForce hair and clothing - Havanalibere. I'll go through why I feel that way as well as demonstrate how I use them for these purposes.

     

    We'll also be exploring some cool new interiors that work great with the whole Urban Future atmosphere by a relatively new kid on the Daz 3D block - CyborgNinja

     

    Exciting Stuff!

    Check out the Episode Web Page on my site

     

    At this stage of the game, it's a little strange putting together a promo video, since so much of what we'll be seeing is absent from the video. But I wanted to get something out there to announce the show, so here it is:

    dForce with Linday in an Urban Future

    Saturday, November 23

     

    Event Times for the Free Webinar:

    • 8pm BST

    • 3pm EST

    • 2pm CST

    • 1pm MST

    • 12pm PST

  • BarubaryBarubary Posts: 1,211
    edited November 15

    kirbawirba said:

    Your hair is easily the best dforce hair available, and I'd love to see you revisit your classics and make them native to G9.  Classic blowout and soft classic hairs are fantastic.  They take up a lot of resources, but are almost always worth it!  The morphing options for simulation are excellent, and you even manage to be generous enough to include instructions on making our own morphs for pre-simulation.

     

    The vast majority of hair offered in the store is only good for static posing, with heads either slightly tilted or turned being the only things offered, and all of the strand based hair is either way too stiff for anything else, or some seem to melt entirely during normal simulation, with MAYBE one or two exceptions.  I feel that real, asset-based hair can look just as good as the omni shader, but is far superior when it comes to posing and simulating over clothing.  You have managed to excel for both.  The saddest part about most of the hair offered for G9 is you never know what kind you are going to get.  Most of it is useless for a non glamour shot type of render, but occasionally you get the kind that completely collapses in on itself.  Both take way, way too much tinkering to be able to get them to look good in many scenarios.  I have found almost all of the strand based G9 hair to be frustratingly close to being useful, or not close at all, and none of them offer the same morphing, straight out of the box, like you guys do.

     

    Please consider updating earlier offerings.  I know it can be hard, but I'd be willing to pay for them.  Sometimes auto fitting things between generations does crazy stuff while posing, or eliminates movement options altogether.

     

    In any case, thank you for your offerings here.  I love them, and I know you guys have a huge fanbase!

    I kinda have to echo that comment. Linday hair is, like, almost the only good dForce hair around (there are a few other good options, mostly for Genesis 8, but none 'that' good). It's really kind of amazing that, after all this time, only a single PA has figured out how to make it all work.

     

    For Genesis 9, unless it's a simple headshot, where a static hair will do, I pretty much go straight to Linday hair at this point. 

     

    Love their other products, too - I think I own most of their catalogue at this point. But the hair is really a standout in the entire shop.

     

    The Messy Bob / Bang hairs were a recent favorite and I would love to see some more shorter hairstyles, like a classic, straight bob cut for example.

     

    Anyway, whatever is up next, I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for the amazing products :)

    Post edited by Barubary on
  • chris-2599934chris-2599934 Posts: 1,810
    edited November 15

    Love Linday and love their hair. They seem have really mastered the look of wet hair - not even the mighty outoftouch has done better.

    With that in mind, I'd love to see them do a hair that is so wet it's slicked back close to the scalp. The only hair I've seen that does this at all convincingly is Most Digital Creations' wet hair (below), but that's an ancient V4 product. I'd love to see Linday do something similar for G8 & G9. 

     

    Post edited by chris-2599934 on
  • MasterstrokeMasterstroke Posts: 1,984

    chris-2599934 said:

    Love Linday and love their hair. They seem have really mastered the look of wet hair - not even the mighty outoftouch has done better.

    With that in mind, I'd love to see them do a hair that is so wet it's slicked back close to the scalp. The only hair I've seen that does this at all convincingly is Most Digital Creations' wet hair (below), but that's an ancient V4 product. I'd love to see Linday do something similar for G8 & G9. 

     

    You must have watched the Highlander show from the 90s ;) 

  • MasterstrokeMasterstroke Posts: 1,984

    dForce Wet Messy Bang Hair for Genesis 9, 8 and 8.1 Female | Daz 3D 

    So this is a real master piece to me. 
    What makes a product great to me, is not what it is out of the box, but how much I can customize it to my needs.
    And by that, this product is a ten out of ten.
    I'm all excited.
    I've been looking for a long time for a polygon based dforce hair that looks like an untied versin of a OOT updo hair.
    So here it is.

    Left OOT updo hair 2
    Right Linday Wet Messy Bang Hair (not so wet and not so messy)
     

    Hair_Up.jpg
    1487 x 1322 - 899K
    Hair_Down.jpg
    1487 x 1322 - 941K
Sign In or Register to comment.