Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 13

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  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,056
    edited June 2020

    To be fair, trackpads are easily the worst way to interface with a computer. I might even prefer those little pencil eraser-style nubs that used to come on laptops.

    I might just be grouchy because I forgot to take my Marble to work today and am stuck with the trackpad on my Surface.

    Post edited by Gordig on
  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,444

    I wish Wacom would bring back a mouse and mouse support for their tablets I can't use mine now as my hand doesn't get along with the pen nerve damage causes a cramp and finger spasm that sends the pan across the room or locks up so tight that I've actually snapped one in half

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115
    edited June 2020

    I bought Helena HD for G8F earlier this month and just got to her today. I see that Novica did a render of her in the last thread on page 60 and used the medium transluceny. I chose the darker translucency settings as a challenge. The difference is remarkable just in the translucency settings.

     I wanted to place her in the Shabby Reading Room, which I got today as part of the BOGO, and when I saw the textures close up, I fell in love. So elegant and lovely. Helena was a perfect match. I used Vilma Hair, and the dForce ChicXlook Outfit, which gave me fits during simulation. Jewerly was Classic Diamond Jewelry and the ring is from Jeweled Excellence Rings 1. I tried out the new Real World Camera Collection, using FF35 85mm Lens No DOF which I found very easy to use. (I had to move the image up to avoid the bottom of the legs as the pants messed up in the simulation, even after adjustments.) I used Painter's Lights, Classical 4R, as I wanted that subtle, soft light look of old-fashioned rooms.

    Mary

    Helena HD for G8F II.png
    1200 x 1200 - 2M
    Post edited by memcneil70 on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131

    I have a regular optical USB mini-mouse off brand for $10 from WalMart. Should I ever get serious about modeling & Blender (and I haven't yet after years) I have a 8 year old Wacom Bamboo Create. I do intend to buy a FHD 27" IPS monitor in July to give me a dual monitor setup so I'll see how that goes.

    I said the heck with it this morning and I did drop a wad of cash (almost $40! So a PC+ discounted Pro Bundle price; expensive for me and my budget, that is) and bought GenX2 and all it's plugins and all the Generation 3 to Genesis shapes during this PC+ sale. I've also bought about 20 to 25 B.Y.O.B PC+ bundles plus about 10 or so of those PC+ for a Day offers over the course of this month's PC+ sale. I well & truly am running out of product to choose from at 5100+ products from the DAZ 3D Store. What's left is mostly that I won't buy ever or is just too expensive for my tastes, period.

    It's sort of exciting to have (99% mostly) wrapped up my DAZ 3D product collection. smileylaughyes

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    edited June 2020
    Gordig said:

    To be fair, trackpads are easily the worst way to interface with a computer. I might even prefer those little pencil eraser-style nubs that used to come on laptops.

    I might just be grouchy because I forgot to take my Marble to work today and am stuck with the trackpad on my Surface.

    My 8 year old laptop has both & I much prefer the accuracy of the pencil nub to the track pad on it.

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,056

    I wish Wacom would bring back a mouse and mouse support for their tablets I can't use mine now as my hand doesn't get along with the pen nerve damage causes a cramp and finger spasm that sends the pan across the room or locks up so tight that I've actually snapped one in half

    I don’t follow. What benefit does a tablet provide if you’re not using it with a pen?

  • NathNath Posts: 2,804
    Gordig said:

    If you have wrist problems, you want to look into a vertical mouse. 

    I don't like working with those - I've tried one once for a week or so at work, it was highly uncomfortable. I can use large regular mice easily, and oddly enough laptop mice. Ergonomic stuff always has individual aspects.

  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,444
    edited June 2020
    Gordig said:

    I wish Wacom would bring back a mouse and mouse support for their tablets I can't use mine now as my hand doesn't get along with the pen nerve damage causes a cramp and finger spasm that sends the pan across the room or locks up so tight that I've actually snapped one in half

    I don’t follow. What benefit does a tablet provide if you’re not using it with a pen?

    The Wacom mouse provided all the same abilities as the pen and was easier to use

    Post edited by Robert Freise on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    Gordig said:

    I wish Wacom would bring back a mouse and mouse support for their tablets I can't use mine now as my hand doesn't get along with the pen nerve damage causes a cramp and finger spasm that sends the pan across the room or locks up so tight that I've actually snapped one in half

    I don’t follow. What benefit does a tablet provide if you’re not using it with a pen?

    They support via their drivers, Apple/Smart Phone style 'finger gestures' and also track pad/touch screen style mouse-style UI I/O. Even my 8 year old Wacom Bamboo Create supports that although I always turn it off as the 'dual use' aspect of it's annoying when you are just trying to sculpt or draw in Blender with it and not control the other UI elements in the OS.

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115

    The main criterion are the individual and the shape of their hands, what they are doing data entry or design or drawing, how they work (short bursts or long stretches; proper desk or cobbled together work space in cramped location). Whatever you find that works for you, is the best. This is why I prefer to go to an actual store and test the shape of the mouse, or the action of a keyboard, or how a pen feels in my hand before I shell out a lot of money.  

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    Gordig said:

     I might even prefer those little pencil eraser-style nubs that used to come on laptops.

    Early in the computer era I had an IBM keyboard with the built in tracking stick (the nub you mentioned). I loved it as you didn't have to keep moving your hand off the keyboard for the mouse and you could easily position the cursor with your index finger. Made spreadsheet typing much more efficient.  A normal mouse was still available but I seldomed used it at the time.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Got kids or grandkids? Or if you want to have some fun yourself!  Floating art! 

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115

    That looks like fun stuff. My granddaughter would love it. Thanks Novica.

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,119

    This is Mace for Genesis 3 or it was until I got tampering with his surfaces smiley

    Mace Original

    2020-06-29 08:57:34.700 Total Rendering Time: 19.20 seconds

    Click on image for full size.

     

    Mace with my changes.

    2020-06-29 09:48:26.145 Total Rendering Time: 24.14 seconds

    Click on image for full size.

    I lost the render settings after that one but here are some new ones smiley

    2020-06-29 16:44:29.121 Total Rendering Time: 47.20 seconds

    Click on image for full size.

    2020-06-29 17:15:51.326 Total Rendering Time: 44.7 seconds

    Click on image for full size.

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115

    @Fishtales, the different skin tones are really striking. I must say, this is one guy that really looks good in a beard. It accents his face and bone structure.

    Nice job.

    Mary

  • cismiccismic Posts: 629

    Years ago. 2006, I bought 4 ot these microsoft optical mice https://www.trackballmouse.org/microsoft-trackball-optical/ they are still going strong. 

    And, I can only brag about my thumb powers. 

    microsoft-trackball-optical.jpg
    800 x 876 - 130K
  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,119

    I found this hair in my Runtime and Sandirayed it. It looks really good. It come up as Antonia Flo Hair and loads as flo-app but it isn't in the store. I did this short Animation to show it.

    https://www.ftscotland.co.uk/gallery/piwigo/galleries/Videos/DAZ 3D Animations/flo-hair-001.mp4

     

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115

    @Fishtales, that is a nice hair. I found an image that may be it by googling. 

    Flo Hair.jpeg
    200 x 200 - 10K
  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,119

    @Fishtales, that is a nice hair. I found an image that may be it by googling. 

    That's it and that is the model that shows up in my Runtime too. I did another Animation using her but she doesn't have any skin or UV map so I made her a statue :)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    For the flash sale of three items, I went to the Featured Stores (60% off) so that extra 50% took them to 80%.  If you didn't know/remember, Joanna has characters AND hair in one product. 

     Shopping Cart

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Grand Total $15.37

    80%

    Subtotal $76.85
    Discount -$61.48
    Estimated Tax $0.00

     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2020

    BD Lenore (V8) 

    I am finding the BD gals have horrid teeth. I've tested under multiple lights. Even changing things to white doesn't seem to have much impact. (Original surface settings are greens and blues!)  How do you substitute in someone else's teeth?

    Take a look at Jaiyana's teeth (also a BD gal) and Lenore. Also shown is Jayde.

    Jaiyana is with whitening and changes in multiple surfaces. They still look yukky.

     

    There are no words for Lenore. Can someone double check her to see if my studio just loaded something wrong? This is the default materials. I did it three times, from scratch, different lighting. And these are lights I use all the time, it's NOT the lights.

     

    I lightened Jayde's too but they weren't as bad IIRC.

    BD Jaiyana 2.png
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    BD Lenore Teeth.png
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    BD Jayde 2.png
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    Post edited by Novica on
  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115

    Novica, I have four of the BD characters: Bronte, Corsen, Jayde, and Willow and I will check after renders are done on both of my computers and I have rebooted. 

    Mary

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,384

    Novica - is it the shape of the teeth you don't like or just the colour?

    If it's the colour, you could select the teeth in the Surfaces tab then CTRL-doubleclick another character's materials and apply to selected surfaces ony.
    (If it's the shape, then you might have a lot more work to do to fix them)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    MelanieL said:

    Novica - is it the shape of the teeth you don't like or just the colour?

    If it's the colour, you could select the teeth in the Surfaces tab then CTRL-doubleclick another character's materials and apply to selected surfaces ony.
    (If it's the shape, then you might have a lot more work to do to fix them)

    It's the color. My gosh, it's horrible. I'm doing London now and same thing. I looked at the map in Surfaces and the teeth are brownish in the map, so just changing the other surfaces (again, they were blue and green) won't help much. I'll show you the default London in a few minutes. :)  Then I'l try what you suggested. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Novica, I have four of the BD characters: Bronte, Corsen, Jayde, and Willow and I will check after renders are done on both of my computers and I have rebooted. 

    Mary

    I think you're going to be in for a "What the heck" moment when you do LOL. (I may be wrong.) 

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479

    @Novica, I've not been particularly happy with teeth Iray materials in general. I get the best results, imo, by using the soft plain wax shader from the Subsurface Workshop product.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    L'Adair said:

    @Novica, I've not been particularly happy with teeth Iray materials in general. I get the best results, imo, by using the soft plain wax shader from the Subsurface Workshop product.

    really? Okay, I'll test that too. Good to know. 

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115

    I did another search of my character chart by PA name and found I had six more characters by Belladzines: Anya, Aven, Brooklyn, Era, Rumer, and Sorcha for base characters. So far, only Corsen and Willow have had decent teeth color in Iray renders. I am setting up Jayde now. I found that PRO-Studio HDR Light 02 left and right the best, as when I was posing Corsen, her mouth sculp put her teeth into shadow. I had to add Painter's Lights and change the HDR. Jayde is rendering and her teeth so far look okay.

  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,115
    edited July 2020

    So here are the first four characters:
    BD Bronte for The Girl 8 - yellow teeth
    BD Corsen for Victoria 8 - teeth okay
    BD Jayde for Teen Josie 8 - teeth okay
    BD Willow for G8F - too white, solid (I didn't dig into this, but I tried 3 or 4 eye colors and only the default one appears in the render, no change.)

    I did not try to adjust the teeth color. I did my best to pose them to be visible. A child with a big smile is a scary thing.

    Mary

    BD Bronte for The Girl 8 Teeth Check.png
    1200 x 1440 - 2M
    BD Corsen for Victoria 8 Teeth Check.png
    1200 x 1440 - 1M
    BD Jayde for Teen Josie 8 Teeth Check.png
    1200 x 1440 - 1M
    BD Willow for G8F Teeth Check.png
    1200 x 1440 - 1M
    Post edited by memcneil70 on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    edited July 2020

    I have a question for those of you that have laptops with nVidia Graphics cards.

    I now have a HP Pavilion 15 Gaming Laptop with 8GB RAM and an nVidia GTX 1650 with 4GB DDR5 RAM. It's last year's model as the CPU wasn't available until mid-2019. Now I know that on a desktop with a discrete nVidia GPU if the scene is too big for the GPU RAM during an iRay render the render is booted from the GPU and becomes a CPU render. My question is though since this is a laptop is the system RAM shared as video RAM with the nVidia GPU's video RAM such that the effective video RAM is larger?

    Not a big deal if it doesn't as I doubt I'll install all my DAZ products on this laptop since it's all on my desktop already but I was curious. Well, maybe I'll install the G8F & G8M bases just to see how much faster such a GPU render.

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
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