Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 13

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2020

    Before I went to bed, I made the mistake at looking at clickorlando.com   Remember that whopping 15'5" shark? 2076 pounds? Well, our buddie isn't with us over in Pensacola anymore, she is over there by St Augustine area, on the east coast of Florida. What a track! 

    https://www.ocearch.org/tracker/?details=355

    Post edited by Novica on
  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,119
    Novica said:

    Before I went to bed, I made the mistake at looking at clickorlando.com   Remember that whopping 15'5" shark? 2076 pounds? Well, our buddie isn't with us over in Pensacola anymore, she is over there by St Augustine area, on the east coast of Florida. What a track! 

    https://www.ocearch.org/tracker/?details=355

    Do you think she is meeting up with this male?

    https://www.ocearch.org/tracker/?details=369

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115

    That is freaky. Family reunion? Honeymoon? Or will there be a Baby Shark ... in the near future?

    @Novica, Right now, dentists are closed in Colorado. But I guess for a root canal they might make an exception. 

    I will look at the combos I did and see what comes up. Many of the Daz Core characters with some of the worst skin, had some PA add-ons with really nice skin textures.

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,119

    That is freaky. Family reunion? Honeymoon? Or will there be a Baby Shark ... in the near future?

     

    If you look just above it there is a cluster of males and a female from around the end of March.

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115
    edited April 2020

    My first render is with my Stephanie 8 and Nida 8 blend. I first selected the skin from Adelaide and the I used Onya. The hair is Qu Hair, and that color is supposed to be brown. Notice the difference depending on the skins, but I would call neither color a 'brown'. So if you are using it, you may want to do a test render of the hair with skin and makeups and lighting and see if it matches what you expect.

    None of the Stephanie Add-on characters had fibermesh brows. I am not sure when that was an option in DS.I just went with the painted on brows. I liked Adelaide's freckles.

    Nida's add-on characters had more choices but I went with Onya, just because I like her uneven skin 

    Mary

    Stephanie 8 and Nida 8 FWSA Adelaide HD skin.png
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    Stephanie 8 and Nida 8 DE Onya HD skin.png
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    Post edited by memcneil70 on
  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115
    edited April 2020

    Tackled my Bridget 8 and Mrs. Chow blend. On this one, I selected Zhirong as a very aged skin, Taryn for a character marked as 'for Genesis 8 Female', but part of Bridget's Pro and Starter Bundles, and so I also picked a third skin, Ellis who is for Bridget 8. Three distinct looks. Here I used one of my favorite hairs, Ping

    Zhirong skin. I made sure the skin was at SubD = 1 and Render SubD = 2 so the wrinkles are baked into the skin texture.

    Taryn has a lovely soft, milky skin that would be perfect for old-fashion wealthy lady portraits.

    Ellis, was a wonderful surprise. Her skin appears great in her promos, but she has a definite younger sculp that is very different from this blend. And yet, her skin materials are lovely.

     

    Mary

    Bridget 8 and Mrs Chow 8 Zhirong skin.png
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    Bridget 8 and Mrs Chow 8 Taryn skin.png
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    Bridget 8 and Mrs Chow 8 Ellis skin.png
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    Post edited by memcneil70 on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    @fishtales     Probably- the tracks make it appear there is a get-together going on LOL. The scientists are trying to figure out where the congregation / birthing / mating etc areas are, so they may be close to getting an answer.

  • dawnbladedawnblade Posts: 1,723
    edited April 2020

    Edward 8 + Dain 8, Kaleb for Edward 8 mats. Click N Render lights. Classic Side Part hair.

     

    Edward 8 + Dain 8, Finn for Edward 8 mats. Click N Render lights. MRL Buzz Cut hair.

     

    EdDainKaleb.jpg
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    EdDainFinn.jpg
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    Post edited by dawnblade on
  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115
    edited April 2020

    Here is my blended Christian 8 and Lucas 8 and I used Milo and Giuseppe for Lucas and Bain and James for Christian. Four white guys, but released 15 months apart and you can see the difference in the skins. I used Side Part hair on them. RedzStudio's short hair is perfect for normal, average, business-style hair. 

    Milo's skin made me see a friend's adult son. 

    Giuseppe is ruddy and the cleanest shaven of the four.

    Bain is the adult who grew up from a boy who bumped his face a few times.

    James' facial hair fit on the adjusted face. 

    As a note, when I use morph packs or fool around with the sliders, I grab skin textures without thinking if they will fit, just if they are the right generation. Other than not the look I wanted, I have never had a skin texture that didn't work with a morph sculp. But, I won't swear to an extreme morph, such as a monster.

     

    Christian 8 and Lucas 8 Milo skin.png
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    Christian 8 and Lucas 8 Giuseppe skin.png
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    Christian 8 and Lucas 8 Bain skin.png
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    Christian 8 and Lucas 8 James skin.png
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    Post edited by memcneil70 on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    edited April 2020
    Novica said:

    dup

    dup

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    Novica said:

    I'm just popping in to see what you all have been doing- looks really good!  I'm busy packing troop boxes, I ordered Walmart delivery and things are coming to my house really scattered/ piece meal. So it all finally got here and I was supposed to mail these out a week ago. Headed to bed as I have to take my son to a dentist appointment, he's going to have a root canal Saturday in all likelihood, so we go for x-rays today. So strange, I will wait in the car and they come out and get him. I like that, though.

    I am tired so probably just not thinking clearly- but here's a question. I don't think I've mixed two characters 50/50 before, and used one of the character's OTHER character materials on that combo. For instance, if I mixed Barbie / Ellen, if Barbie had a character named Kendra (lol, couldn't resist) would Kendra's skin work on the 50/50 Barbie / Ellen gal?  What I'm thinking is, it would be fun to do that with the base 8 folks we're using. You can either use the combos you did, and add one of their additional characters materials to them, or render a different 50/50 (still using one of their characters' skins.)  

    Since I normally showcase characters out of the box for you, I rarely do combinations so I don't remember if I've ever split two folks and used a third material set. Does that work well? 

    TTYL it will be tomorrow afternoon before I get back online. If this sounds like something ya'll would like to play with, feel free. Start a different list "TMC + 3rd Materials"

    To show the importance of skin material sets to a character's looks I think it would be interesting for those that have "UV Swap" to swap G8M Flagship characters with G8F Flagship characters or any G8M with G8F and vice versa. We can't do the 50 - 50 on the shapes though but that's fine as the results will emphasize the importance of material sets.

    And speaking of products it would be nice if DAZ Store products had presets that just let us change the diffuse/transparency images on a character or just the bump/normal/displacement or juse the glossiness/top coat from another character if you get my drift. Also, presets to blank out the current settings of say for example, the diffuse+transparency color slots or the normal+bump+displacement slots or the glossiness+topcoat slots, sort of in functional subgroups. Similar to how you can change makeup or oiliness or wetness or skin tone on some G8 DAZ Store characters, eg almost all G8F characters have makeup options, G8M Maxx HD has an assortment of tatoos, wide variety of skin tones, wetness, tan, and oiliness and other traits. Since it's an enhancement of existing products it does'nt make sense so much to create a new product but I guess those that owned enough of those products could do so easily enough and sell it as a bundle. It's the sort of basic help that hobbyists without a lot of 3D experience or operating systems administration experience need really.

    Novica said:

    Before I went to bed, I made the mistake at looking at clickorlando.com   Remember that whopping 15'5" shark? 2076 pounds? Well, our buddie isn't with us over in Pensacola anymore, she is over there by St Augustine area, on the east coast of Florida. What a track! 

    https://www.ocearch.org/tracker/?details=355

    Scary! I found a megalodon shark tooth as a 11 year old miraculaously just laying on the top of the sand Hannah Park near Jacksonville, Florida. It literary was almost the size of my 11 year old hand and deep dark granite grey. However, one of my older brother's friends stole it when I was in school (my brother & his friend skipping school for his friend to do that). What was so funny was his friend bragged about it to someone in the neighborhood and obviously word had gotten out all over the neighborhood that I had already found that shark's tooth (as I found it on a trip with a church and they all saw it) he was now claiming to have found so I almost immediately found out who stole it. Also got my fossil clam I found at Bernheim Forest a couple years prior. It didn't get the tooth or clam back for me that, he just stopped coming around the house then. While I was told it was worth $100, that was just little kid talk, like "wow! you're a millionaire!" Anybody remember the 1st doallr they held that was their's? Same feeling! laugh

    I'm visiting there again this winter just for the heck of it.

  • I did a skin test using GDN Maria for G3F on this G8F character I dialed & morphed. I found the skin surface settings a bit odd since the top coat was using some kind of Fresnel setting. It also looked a bit orange & darker than I liked so I switched the Top Coat to weighted and used a very very light color( something like 1.00 1.00 0.93) and no textures for any of the Top Coat parameters. It actually came out "berry nice". I called it "Strawberry with a touch of cream on top".

    G8F Base
    Morphs used:
    14.7% Charlotte 8 https://www.daz3d.com/charlotte-8
    16.2% Adeline https://www.daz3d.com/adeline-for-genesis-8-female
    100% Aurore(HD Details only) https://www.daz3d.com/aurore-for-genesis-3-and-8-female
    20.6% Hinako(no Mei Lin used) https://www.daz3d.com/hinako-for-mei-lin-8
    Various other morphs used for the face & body:
     https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-8-female-head-morphs
     https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-8-female-body-morphs
     https://www.daz3d.com/ej-face-morphs-and-details-for-genesis-8-females
     https://www.daz3d.com/ej-body-shape-and-detail-morphs-for-genesis-8-female-s
     https://www.daz3d.com/rarestone-s-face-morphs-collection-for-genesis-8-female
     https://www.daz3d.com/musculature-hd-morphs-for-genesis-8-female (very subtle, mainly for the back, chest, and certain parts of the legs/glutes)
     https://www.daz3d.com/ultimate-natural-bend-morphs-for-genesis-8-female
    Skin used: GDN Maria for Genesis 3 Female
    https://www.daz3d.com/gdn-maria-for-genesis-3-female
    Streaming Hair for Genesis 3 Female
    https://www.daz3d.com/streaming-hair-for-genesis-3-female-s

    G8FMGDNMariaSk-1at91pS.png
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  • dawnbladedawnblade Posts: 1,723

    Teen Raven 8 + Charlotte 8, with DD Summer for Teen Raven 8 mats/brows:

     

    Teen Raven 8 + Charlotte 8, with Aisling for Charlotte 8 mats/brows:

     

    RavenCharlotteSummer.jpg
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    RavenCharlotteAisling.jpg
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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    The males look really different, depending on the materials :)  Hard to say which one I like the best, it's fun to compare Milo and Guiseppe due to the brows. 

    I'm a bit busy doing research tomorrow, regarding insurance (dental) for my son. The one he's on doesn't cover diddly squat. So I'll check back in but swamped at the moment. :) 

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    edited April 2020
    Novica said:

    The males look really different, depending on the materials :)  Hard to say which one I like the best, it's fun to compare Milo and Guiseppe due to the brows. 

    I'm a bit busy doing research tomorrow, regarding insurance (dental) for my son. The one he's on doesn't cover diddly squat. So I'll check back in but swamped at the moment. :) 

    Doesn't your husband's federal dental have good coverage? I know the best dental coverage I ever had still had me wind up paying closer to $1000 than to $500 for a root canal with a cap. And see as I've split a capped root canal molar in two just by the strength of my jaw I wouldn't go for a gold capped molar or gold capped tooth anywhere in the mouth where lots of bite strength is availble as gold is too malleable to withstand such a bite. 

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,119

    More Iray makeovers this time Freak4/Brock and She Freak4.

    2020-04-17 10:56:19.865 Total Rendering Time: 1 minutes 36.68 seconds

    Click on image for full size.

     

    2020-04-17 12:25:17.611 Total Rendering Time: 41.28 seconds

    Click on image for full size.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2020
    Novica said:

    The males look really different, depending on the materials :)  Hard to say which one I like the best, it's fun to compare Milo and Guiseppe due to the brows. 

    I'm a bit busy doing research tomorrow, regarding insurance (dental) for my son. The one he's on doesn't cover diddly squat. So I'll check back in but swamped at the moment. :) 

    Doesn't your husband's federal dental have good coverage? I know the best dental coverage I ever had still had me wind up paying closer to $1000 than to $500 for a root canal with a cap. And see as I've split a capped root canal molar in two just by the strength of my jaw I wouldn't go for a gold capped molar or gold capped tooth anywhere in the mouth where lots of bite strength is availble as gold is too malleable to withstand such a bite. 

    NO my sons are over the age limit, in their mid-late twenties. I will tell you after doing research, everyone may want to  look into this but don't buy it from that site, the family plan if you call the company direct is only $105 dollars. Your dentist will NOT tell you if they are a partner with this, because it splits the costs from 30% to 50%. A LOT of providers too. Note there IS NO WAITING PERIOD, and it's for the entire family or individual. Artists should look into what they are currently paying, and see what this network includes. Your dentist may be in it! (I spent two days looking up all the dental plans. For folks in their 20's up, this is the best one in my opinion. The focus for us is endodontists, that's what gets expensive (root canels, implants, extractions, etc as you get older.) 

    Then, if you look into installment plan companies, the iCare allows you to make payments. So split the cost, then take your time paying. If you pay within 12 months, there's no interest fee.  I'm not sure what the signup URL is, but you can google around and find it. Anyway, you get the idea. Thought this would help during these trying financial times. Even when not in a virus pandemic, dental costs are way out of control and ridiculous.

    Don't ever sign up from another site other than the direct provider, as you can see the Aetna was marked up eighty dollars!

    Post edited by Novica on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,244

    There is hope in this world! Daz finally fixed a bug that I reported over 3 years ago. It was a simple surface setting error on Karen 7 fingernails and toenails. I was shocked, but pleased, to get the message that it was fixed after all this time.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    barbult said:

    There is hope in this world! Daz finally fixed a bug that I reported over 3 years ago. It was a simple surface setting error on Karen 7 fingernails and toenails. I was shocked, but pleased, to get the message that it was fixed after all this time.

    Are you serious? Wow. About time!

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2020

    BTW, that clickorlando.com page really does a good job of showing the chart day by day for Florida, and they break it down day by day. I think we're still supposed to peak around April 21st. Not encouraging though when we hear the peak for the United States is lasting longer than what they thought. I haven't tuned in to any briefings the last day or so though. 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    Novica said:
    Novica said:

    The males look really different, depending on the materials :)  Hard to say which one I like the best, it's fun to compare Milo and Guiseppe due to the brows. 

    I'm a bit busy doing research tomorrow, regarding insurance (dental) for my son. The one he's on doesn't cover diddly squat. So I'll check back in but swamped at the moment. :) 

    Doesn't your husband's federal dental have good coverage? I know the best dental coverage I ever had still had me wind up paying closer to $1000 than to $500 for a root canal with a cap. And see as I've split a capped root canal molar in two just by the strength of my jaw I wouldn't go for a gold capped molar or gold capped tooth anywhere in the mouth where lots of bite strength is availble as gold is too malleable to withstand such a bite. 

    NO my sons are over the age limit, in their mid-late twenties. I will tell you after doing research, everyone should look into this but don't buy it from that site, the family plan if you call the company direct is only $105 dollars. Your dentist will NOT tell you if they are a partner with this, because it splits the costs from 30% to 50%. A LOT of providers too. Note there IS NO WAITING PERIOD, and it's for the entire family or individual. Artists should look into what they are currently paying, and see what this network includes. Your dentist may be in it! (I spent two days looking up all the dental plans. For folks in their 20's up, this is the best one in my opinion. The focus for us is endodontists, that's what gets expensive (root canels, implants, extractions, etc as you get older.) 

    Then, if you look into installment plan companies, the iCare allows you to make payments. So split the cost, then take your time paying. If you pay within 12 months, there's no interest fee.  I'm not sure what the signup URL is, but you can google around and find it. Anyway, you get the idea. Thought this would help during these trying financial times. Even when not in a virus pandemic, dental costs are way out of control and ridiculous.

    Don't ever sign up from another site other than the direct provider, as you can see the Aetna was marked up eighty dollars!

    Cool. thanks. I'll check those out myself. I've been wanting an implant for the gold capped molar they had to pull after I split it in two but it is like $2000 up front. (Lemon Heads - love them laugh)  So it's either save it or find a plan that will let me make payments.

  • gitika1gitika1 Posts: 948

    It has been months since I have had time to sit and catalog (which ends up being alot of playing with each product) what I have purchased this year.  Today, I am working through them. I am having problems with the DGV Vintage Signage Vol 1 set.  The product folders are not nested in one master folder and getting the light(s) to work has completely baffled me. Has someone else played with them and could point me in the right direction?

  • WonderlandWonderland Posts: 6,880
    Novica said:

    I'm just popping in to see what you all have been doing- looks really good!  I'm busy packing troop boxes, I ordered Walmart delivery and things are coming to my house really scattered/ piece meal. So it all finally got here and I was supposed to mail these out a week ago. Headed to bed as I have to take my son to a dentist appointment, he's going to have a root canal Saturday in all likelihood, so we go for x-rays today. So strange, I will wait in the car and they come out and get him. I like that, though.

    I am tired so probably just not thinking clearly- but here's a question. I don't think I've mixed two characters 50/50 before, and used one of the character's OTHER character materials on that combo. For instance, if I mixed Barbie / Ellen, if Barbie had a character named Kendra (lol, couldn't resist) would Kendra's skin work on the 50/50 Barbie / Ellen gal?  What I'm thinking is, it would be fun to do that with the base 8 folks we're using. You can either use the combos you did, and add one of their additional characters materials to them, or render a different 50/50 (still using one of their characters' skins.)  

    Since I normally showcase characters out of the box for you, I rarely do combinations so I don't remember if I've ever split two folks and used a third material set. Does that work well? 

    TTYL it will be tomorrow afternoon before I get back online. If this sounds like something ya'll would like to play with, feel free. Start a different list "TMC + 3rd Materials"

    I use other skins all the time and mix tons of characters and morphs. I rarely render anything out of the box except for a test. Yes you can put G3 skins on G8 characters and vice versa and use any combination of morphs! 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    gitika1 said:

    It has been months since I have had time to sit and catalog (which ends up being alot of playing with each product) what I have purchased this year.  Today, I am working through them. I am having problems with the DGV Vintage Signage Vol 1 set.  The product folders are not nested in one master folder and getting the light(s) to work has completely baffled me. Has someone else played with them and could point me in the right direction?

    Sorry, I own it but haven't played with it. Did you figure it out?

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Want a smile?  Just adorable. :) 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    And the groundhog with pizza is hilarious, particularly since IMO he seems to be absolutely TAUNTING the dogs. "Look what I have, mutts!"  And the penguin touring the aquarium. I think it's so neat they are letting animals roam around and get out. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Tornado on the ground less than 4 miles from here. Watching radar. May lose power shortly. The path of the tornado should take it straight east (I wouldn't be online if it were moving north!) 

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,119
    Novica said:

    And the groundhog with pizza is hilarious, particularly since IMO he seems to be absolutely TAUNTING the dogs. "Look what I have, mutts!"  And the penguin touring the aquarium. I think it's so neat they are letting animals roam around and get out. 

    Edinburgh Zoo have a penguin parade most days smiley

    It has been an attraction since 1951.

    https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/astonishing-story-how-edinburgh-zoos-16182527

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    Novica said:

    And the groundhog with pizza is hilarious, particularly since IMO he seems to be absolutely TAUNTING the dogs. "Look what I have, mutts!"  And the penguin touring the aquarium. I think it's so neat they are letting animals roam around and get out. 

    I've got a huge fat woodchuck and huge fat raccoon that waddle through my yard occasionally making the rounds to other neighbors houses on the look out for dog or cat food being set out.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    Novica said:

    And the groundhog with pizza is hilarious, particularly since IMO he seems to be absolutely TAUNTING the dogs. "Look what I have, mutts!"  And the penguin touring the aquarium. I think it's so neat they are letting animals roam around and get out. 

    I've got a huge fat woodchuck and huge fat raccoon that waddle through my yard occasionally making the rounds to other neighbors houses on the look out for dog or cat food being set out.

    lol

    Before we installed a cat door in the back, we tried leaving the big garage door up a few inches for the cats. We stopped doing that after I had to chase a big raccoon out. He was nearly to the door to the house, in the back of the garage, helping himself to the dry pet food! I've gotta say, though, raccoon kits are adorably cute. Too bad they have to grow up…

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