Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 13
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@ladair @barbult Thanks! Been out at the barn, I hadn't brushed Stetson in about two weeks so just wanted to spend some time with him. I got out there after dinner and put him in his pasture so he could eat some grass and run around (which he didn't do- just ate grass LOL.) He got brought in about 11am this morning due to the 108-112 degree heat index (normally it's noon everyday.) I think tomorrow is supposed to be the same.
I filled the bird bath and bird feeder up this morning so the birds wouldn't have to work hard to find food. If anyone else is in the heat, remember the night animals need water too- I always leave a planter tray with water for the rabbits, possums, armadillos, stray cats, etc. It's still warm and humid (yuck) right now, 84 degrees at 11pm!
83 with 85% humidity here in Harlingen Texas feels like 91
Is Texas getting any rain this week? We had a thunderstorm roll through last night, it looked bad but we got a mere 5 minutes of spritzing. Not even sprinkles! The rest of this next week is supposed to be hot and dry.
Not where I'm at nephew up in Northeast Texas said he had about 3" during the last week
I've just updated it (you'll be notified and can download the update directly from the program if you run it and have "Check for Updates on Startup" checked, otherwise use "Check for Updates " under Help).
I've added a new feature where you can select any of your products and then locate it in DS with a couple of clicks. You'll have direct links to all parts of a product on the same page, which is especially handy for Poser products which can be hard to find sometimes in the different folders. See demo here: https://www.screencast.com/t/ofZEsVpkwyN
Click "Online Help" under Help to go to the online tutorial which has a new Help section for the new version added.
BTW, there was a note on the webpage saying you would have to convert the database because the new version wasn't compatible with the old one. This is only for users of the old alpha/beta versions who are updating to the public releases (1.001 and 1.002). If you already have 1.001 installed the database (Product Data folder) is fully compatible with 1.002. The page has been updated now.
Whoa, I'm still uploading products (in a very organized way, so proud of myself :) ) and the Teleporter Fork Lift Truck Expansion is listed twice in DIM (ready to be downloaded) and one of them is a whopping ONE GIGABYTE while the other is 846.6 MB
Has this been discussed?
Same thing with Spy Kit for Genesis 8 Male(s) and Female(s) There's two of them in DIM ready to download 551.9 and 618.3 mb
There's a third part at 854.2 MB, for a total of 2.6 GB (2.8 installed) :-P
25 surfaces with 5 maps each at 4K resolution. Yikes!
ETA: for each of the twelve (12) presets.
Just shut down my render computers, but the iMac has my pdfs, I have a Teleporter Fork Lift Truck, SKU 67581, which has 6 material options and Teleporter Fork Lift Truck Expansion, SKU 67763 that requires the first one and has 12 material options.
That seems crazy, doesn't it?????
Yeah, I'm with Mary- I only have two, not three, for the Teleporter Truck Lift. And no way am I looking for that third LOL. Totally agree wtih you @Barbult!
Teleporter Fork Lift Truck Expansion - I bought every part of that set but that texture expansion as it wasn't stylistically to my liking and the "captured cage" & such addons for the fork lift as I didn't need those either.
I received a:
HP Pavilion Gaming laptop with intel i5 3900H with Intel HD Graphics 630 / 256 GB PCIe NVMe SSD / 8 GB DDR4 RAM / nVidia GeForce GTX 1650 4GB DDR5
so I made a simple scene that I knew would fit into the 4GB DDR4 GPU RAM on it to compare it the the CPU render time of the desktop I built last year:
Gigabyte B450M DS3H-WiFi MB with Ryzen 7 2700 2TB Sata III SSD / 32GB DDR4 / MSI Radeon RX 570 8GB DDR5
Here are the Render Times:
CPU: Gigabyte B450M DS3H-WiFi MB desktop - 3 hours 10 minutes 44.26 seconds to do 2045 iterations for a CPU render
GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX 1650 4GB DDR5 laptop - 1 hour 54 minutes 37.94 seconds to do 2045 iterations for a GPU Render
So these new Ryzen CPUs (mine is AMD Ryzen 7 2700 CPU) are getting short changed a bit when you compare CPU rendering to entry level GPU rendering in iRay. Still an hour and 15 minutes extra is a lot of time but who sits at their desk for 2 hours of GPU rendering? You could probably claim the same for CPU rendering on intel CPUs with 6 core or more.
Also interesting, CPU rendering with 32GB RAM allows DAZ Studio to proceed so much faster setting up the scene for iRay to render than GPU rendering on a video card with only 4GB of RAM. It took less than 30 seconds for iRay to write the 1st iteration to canvas while it took about 2 minutes and 30 seconds for the GPU render to write it's 1st iteration to canvas. Quite a difference.
Now the GPU rendertimes of the high level nVidia GPU cards, eg nVidia GeForce RTX 2080 TI with 12GB DDR5 for this scene I'm guessing would be between 30 seconds to 2 minutes based on an earlier thread I read in the forums. The nVidia GPUs based on the 2060s & 2070s likewise would be only marginally slower.
By the way the recent Alexei for G8M skin material set has a problem with the materials for the mouth as you can see on the Jonathan HD for Ollie 8 I used here in this render test.
So sorry you have to reinstall everything, I have been thinking of doing the same but it's such a daunting task and I am not even sure where to start and if I remember correctly you have alot more content that I do.
I finally have a render and character to show.
VYK Zuri HD - She has deeply dark skin, fibermesh brows, along with painted ones, lovely eye choices, lip colors and makeups. It was the gold makeups that gave me the idea for render and an hour into it, a Marvel movie came on, and Wakanda and the Black Panther were in it. It does drive me a little crazy to not be able to see the makeup without Iray preview or taking camera snips.
The outfit of the full length portrait was a kitbash from Amazon Warrior, Cutsuit, and Warrior Queen.
I closed the eyes for the modern image close-up on items until just the Cutsuit was left and added Operator Hair. The makeup is from Zuri's street normal offerings, although I did use the leopard print eye shadow (do women actually do something like this in real life?)
The background is Temple of Sand and on the final render I finally remembered to turn off the areas not in scene!
It is funny; this is one of those products that makes me slightly unconfortable. The makeups and styling is lovely but it gives me that vibe of European fashion magazines when they paint European models with makeup that doesn't exactly look like Black skin and skirts the edges of mistrel. Granted, I am pretty weirded out by those Drow makeups too.
My daughter and I discussed this model earlier because I chose not to get it because to me it looks like a Caucasian person with Black materials. There's nothing about her that seems ethnic. More like a generic Barbie with different coloring. I can't think of how to put that more coherently. Long way to say, she felt the same and we were both uncomfortable about this product. Interesting designs and makeups, tho.
Personally I couldn't get her in the cart fast enough. She reminds me of a gal I was engaged to who was black and had a very fine European bone structure
Owners of all the 'Michael" generations get an extra 20% discount on their total cart, which includes gift cards, so combining that with the 15% off a $201 GC gets me 32% off. Nice.
It's surprising, but I'm really, really enjoying it. I have about 23,000 products from here and am categorizing as I go. What I'm doing, in case this helps you-
1. Open a window and never refresh it- have your Product Library there. When you buy products, it won't bump your page content to another page.
2. Print out a set of pages, perhaps 10 to 15 at a time. Just mouse over and select the products listed on the page and hit print, the print will be a light to medium gray but the font size is good and it's easy to read. It goes fast! Be SURE not to include the page numbers at the bottom, or the bogus stuff above where your products are listed.
3. Number those pages the same as the Product Library pages.
4. Make a main folder. (Daz Project).
5. Under Daz Project, make another folder called Downloads.
6. Make a second folder under Daz Project called Finished, then make a folder for each page. The first folder would be 1, then 2, etc.
7. Under Finished folder 1, now make a folder for each product on Page 1. Put any texture set IN the folder with the product with it's own folder. Hershey's Kisses has both White Chocolate and Almond. And I am obviously craving junk food. For example:
Daz Project
Downloads
(empty)
Finished
1
Kit Kat Candy Bar
Hershey's Kisses
White Chocolate
Almond
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
We're going to take care of 3 things at once. 1. Getting an image 2. jotting down what things are so we don't have to look them up again 3. decide whether we want to install them now or not.
4. You're going to have two windows open, make sure they don't overlap so they won't keep disappearing when you click back and forth. Have the Explorer file folders on your left, the Product Library on the right. In Product Library, click on your first product, Kit Kat Candy Bar, go to the image, click your mouse and hold it down, dragging the image into the Kit Kat folder. If you couldn't tell what the Kit Kat was due to it's title, you'd jot down a brief note to yourself on printed page 1 by the product name. TIP: if it's clothing jot down if it's fantasy, desert, modern, however you want to categorize it, so you don't have to look it up again. Be specific. Don't just put "dress." Is it a medieval gown? A modern mini?
5. On my printed page, I either put a checkmark or an X at the end of the name. The checkmark means I am installing it, the X means I am not.
Kit Kat Candy Bar Chocolate wafer candy bar. X
6. Now let's setup the downloads. We're going to set up folders for each page. TIP: you need to anticipate internet outtages, and varying internet download speeds. If the products are downloading quickly, then prioritize grabbing a lot of pages of products. If it's slow as a turtle, you'll have folders full of products you can work on. So now you'll have this:
Daz Project
Downloads
1
2
3
4
Finished
1
Kit Kat Candy Bar
Hershey's Kisses
White Chocolate
Almond
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
2
(products from Page 2 of your Product Library)
7. In Dim, upper right, click the cog and go to Advanced Settings. Under Package Archive, you'll pick your Daz Project>Downloads> 1 (or whatever page you're on. You change this once you finish a page.) In DIM, in the Ready To Be Installed (2nd column) only your Page 1 downloads show up. Keeps it manageable.
8. Download your Page 1 products from DIM. They'll go to Downloads>1.
9. Now back in the Explorer files, in Downloads>1 you'd have the Kit Kat Candy Bar, Hershey's Kisses, etc files.
OPTION 1: Move all files in Downloads (folder 1, 2, etc) for each product into the products' Finished folders, regardless of whether you are eventually installing them right away or not. So you have the photos, files, and are done so far as having a complete product.
When you decide to install the products, create a folder (let's say "Install These") and just copy/paste (DO NOT MOVE!) the product files into it. NOT THE IMAGES, those are for your use. You can do multiple pages at a time. Example, I want to install some products from page 1, 2, and 3, so I copy/paste the files of the products I want to install from all three pages into Install These.
Next, set Install These for the Ready To Install path (like Step 7) in DIM. Just keep going through your pages and copy/pasting the files you want to install into Install These.
Then install them. Easy!
When to use Option 1: When you want to focus on downloading a lot of product files so you'll have them, or because downloading is really fast at the moment. This is the option I always use.
Option Two: Work on downloading AND installing products you want in the studio at the same time, doing a page at a time.
In Explorer, if you are going to install the product, COPY/PASTE into the product folder in your Downloads>1,so you have a copy but are leaving the product in DIM. Then install.
For the ones you are NOT installing- MOVE the files into the folders just like Option One.
Note- In DIM, you can checkmark the products you didn't install, then right click it and select Hide Package. The product will gray out. You'll note at the top of the columns there is a "Display Hidden" and you can always checkmark a product, right click, and unhide it.
NOTE: It's really annoying your DIM products won't be in the same order as your Product Library. If there is a gap, like this in DIM
Product A page 1
Product B page 1
Product C page 2
Product D page 2
Product E page 1
Product F page 1
then I will go ahead and download Product C and Product D and put them with the Page 1 items, and simply mark them on Page 2 that they are with page 1. That way, the entire block of products in DIM is done. Usually it's only a page ahead which is mixed in.
TIP: If you are downloading a lot of pages, to keep your cursor from jumping back to the beginning on the Ready To Download (1st column) in DIM- whenever you change the Ready To Install path (step 7) BE IN THE READY TO INSTALL SECTION.
10. Regardless of using Option 1 or 2, make a folder with your Categories. You can either make a copy, or move your folders from the Finished Folders into your Categories. I move them, because I sure don't want double the file sizes by having two copies of each product! (one in the Finished, one in Categories)
Examples (with categories under each, these examples are the main folders)
Airports and Airfields
Animals
Backdrops
Billboards
Buildings and Outdoor Structures
Food Kiosks Carts
Furniture
G8F
G8M
Music Related
Nature So far I have these:
(Barren/Broken/Desolate) (Beaches And Ocean) (Clouds And Skies) (Deserts) (Forests And Woods) (Gardens) (Grottos, Lagoons, Waterfalls) (Hills) (Mazes) (Mountains) (Nests) (Parks) (Plants) (Rivers and Streams) (Trees) (Ultra Scenery)
Props
Robots
Shaders
Utilities
Vehicles
Weapons
So I hope this helps. If you have questions, always feel free to PM me. Dealing with 23,000+ products, this is the organized, fast way that works for me. Two days in a row, when the DIM only had a 9mbps speed, I was sure glad I had a lot of files downloaded and waiting for folders to be made. And it was easy, because in Downloads, I had page 1 product files, and could use my printed pages for reference to make the folders, then drag in the files. (And you don't need internet connection.) The third day, my speed was 263mbps so I did nothing but download. DIM was zippy!
If you don't feel like downloading, you make your folders and have them ready. Or maybe you're in the mood to start installing. This system gives you a lot of options, keeping downloads and folders in progress (in Finished) separated. The > by the folders in Finished will keep you on track as to which ones have content, aka folders made or completely done. (TIP: You can add DONE by the 1, 2, 3, etc. or just checkmark the printed page at the top.)
I used it on Kayo 8. Got the pro bundle, and the $15 off DOs in all but one category. Also bought 4 Eastern Beauty products. Then I chose my eight 70% off Kayo's Choice from vendors in the Eastern Beauty sale… I had to revamp my cart, but it was well worth the effort.
@nemesis10 I understand your feelings. I also went back and forth on her.
I love having a broad range of racial and ethnic diversity of characters. The one shade of skin I have had the most problem lighting has been the deeply rich dark tones of brown and near blue-black. I bought her to see what I could do with her. And as I said, it was the gold makeup that triggered that particular set of render choices I made. I do not generally enjoy doing fashion/fantasy renders.
I have seen people who have recently immigrated to Colorado from Eastern Africa with that skin tone and features that are different from the Western African peoples. Africa is just too large and diverse to pin down just one facial or body type as the only one. As someone noted in another thread in the past, what tribal group do you want clothing/accessories from, there a XXX number of them.
Two questions I do have for those who are African Americans is how do you feel when you see non-brown/brown-black eye colors offered with a Black character? Or a render with that character with blue, hazel, green, or grey eyes? (I remember Novica earlier in this thread annoyed because one White character didn't come with even one brown eye color option.)
As a disclaimer, my family is multi-racial but it is Native American and European and I am the one that carried the Native American genes - brown hair, dark hazel eyes, medium height, while my siblings looked European, blondes & red heads, light hazel & green eyes and tall. So I have been fascinated by genetics since a class in high school.
Mary
She looks Indian-subcontinent to me or like those folk I see on rare occasion that were born in Florida and spent their whole lives on the beach.
I did another render of VYK Zuri HD for Genesis 8 Female and kept her in a normal everyday outfit and setting. I found PRO-Studio HDR Lighting System Light 21L complimented her skin the best. She has dForce Afro Styles Hair which I find so reliable. The dress I have highlighted before, dForce Midsummer Outfit and a jewerly set I go to often by esha, Colorful Jewerly. The set is from DM's Plaza Romantica which reminds me of the southwest and of the Med.
@firewarden & @nemesis10: I too had similar thoughts about Zuri. I understand what you're saying... I don't think I fully agree but it's worth thinking and talking about.
I agree that the model doesn't have very prominent facial features that are often associated with black people. But I don't think it's unrealistic for a black person to have features like that. I'd say that Halle Berry has somewhat similar facial features (but significantly lighter skin.)
I did notice that Zuri's skin is very even, almost unrealistically so. I wouldn't say that it's impossible for someone to have skin like that, but the combination of those particular facial features with that very even skin does remind a little of those awful Vogue shoots that pop up like with disappointing regularity.
@valzheimer Happy Birthday today! PA who has the fun hair I rendered.
(Edit-sigh- I started to post the render again but then remembered all my renders are gone. I could go back and dig it out from this thread, but gotta get busy with my files. I'll be going back through all my threads and grabbing my renders sometime in the future.)
I went the horror route. The five I snagged went 76% off. Again it doesn't pay to shop the sales when they are first offered. Got that extra 20% off stacked with the 70%. (up to five items, if you buy two horror, which got the additional 20% off too stacking with their discounts.
@Novica wow that's really organized! You won't have to wade through pages of products to find what you need. thanks for the rundown of how your organizing everything, I will keep it marked for when I do mine :)
I think the overly even skin tone is part of it. And it's not that her facial features are not prominently Black as in African subcontinent because I realize there are huge variations, but that they seem overly generic Caucasian. I'm also from a rather weird family in that we are mixed European Heinz-57 American, but some of us look classically dark Italian (my dad was a first generation American) with olive skin and brown eyes and associated facial features and the other half look classically red-head Caucasian with associated facial features and non-tanning skin. A few of us are in the middle.
@kharma Yeah it's like setting up my own little studio with the file structure :) instead of doing it IN the studio. And I'm duplicating this external harddrive so if something happens I'll have another. I got the 4TB that I mentioned earlier in the thread when it was $75 for Deal of the Day at Best Buy. (I got three of them (120 TB total and $225) for $25 more than ONE 10 TB ($200) normally cost.)
I'll put the link in the Tips section first page so you won't have to wade through and find it. I guess I'll put it under Downloading / Organizing Products.