Favorite 5 - What are your favorite 5?
Diomede
Posts: 15,158
Favorite 5
I'd like this to be a place where people can share their favorite 5. I am starting with my favorite 5 that I've used in Carrara (although this is the first time together), but are not listed as for Carrara. You are invited to share your favorite 5 that you've used in Carrara but that are not listed for Carrara, or your favorite 5 that are dedicated for Carrara, or you can come up with your own Carrara-related grouping of 5. For example, you could choose favorite 5 hair, and that could include both Carrara dynamic hair and Poser prop hair. Thus, you are not limited to one favorite 5 group. Just relate the group to Carrara.
I have included a render with my favorite 5 items I've used in Carrara that were not listed as Carrara items, but a render is not necessary at all. Similarly, I've included some associated store pics but again that is not necessary at all.
Background - In another thread, I was pointed to a Daz newsletter in which a person was asked his favorite 5 items in his content libraries. In that discussion, it was suggested to have a thread in which we shared 5 things that look great in Carrara but are not listed as Carrara content. I've just broadened the topic to include more groups of 5.
Here are my 5 Daz store items not listed for Carrara but that I think look great in Carrara. Three are genesis 2 female items, one is a V4 item that I converted for use with genesis 2 female, and one is a set.
1) Ultimate Merchant Resource Kit for Genesis 2 Female - by Fobiddenwhispers - I made the G2F skin texture from the hi res maps from Forbidenwhisper's product. Freckles!
http://www.daz3d.com/the-ultimate-merchant-resource-kit-for-genesis-2-female-s
2) Lotus character shape for Genesis 2 female - by Countess and Silver - I have the Lotus shape dialed at 80, no other shape morph. Lotus texture was replaced by Forbiddenwhisper based skin texture.
3) V4 SWAM Fantastica Hair - by SWAM - I love SWAM's products, but especially this one. Used Daz Studio to convert fom V4 to G2F item, then saved as wearable preset.
http://www.daz3d.com/fantastica-hair
4) Garden Party Dress - by Sarsa and Xena - OK, maybe this isn't really office attire.
http://www.daz3d.com/garden-party-dress
5) Working (an office set) - by i13 - As always, i13's products have great attention to detail.
http://www.daz3d.com/i13-working
What are your favorite 5?
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Comments
Very interesting, will have to think on this :)
And here are my Fav5 for items made dedicated for Carrara.
I won't put them in the same render because there are multiple environments. As I put this together, it seemed unfair because there are so many other products that I use in almost every render (such as Ringo's and Holy's shader packs). And there are other products that have influenced renders even if they are not in them because I used the products as mini-tutorials (including tutorials), such as Ringo's skin shaders and PhilW's hair products.
1) Dynamic Venus Hair for V4 - by 3DCelebrity
http://www.daz3d.com/dynamic-venus-hair
2) Carrara Environkit - Woodlands - by Dartanbeck
http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-environkit-woodlands
3) Secret Lake (Harpwood County) - by Howie Farkes
http://www.daz3d.com/secret-lake
4) Real Fur for the Millenium Dog - by Livia Zita
http://www.daz3d.com/real-fur-for-the-millennium-dog
5) Replicator Grass Pack - by MMoir
http://www.daz3d.com/replicator-grass-pack
My Five Favorite Figures have not been released yet.
They would be :
#1) The Millennium Cow
#2) The Millennium Cow
#3) The Millennium Cow
#4) The Millennium Cow
And, of course :
#5) The Millennium Cow
I'll gather links for my Top 5 Actually Released Figures and post this evening or tomorrow...
well V4 and M4 are obviously my most used DAZ items
millenium cat probably next
Urban Sprawl is no longer in store sadly but used a fair bit
all my Howie Farkes scenes obviously but I substitute Merlin"s trees mostly now for Octane which works well, all his sets full of trees and plants I use alone
Merlin fast becoming my favourite vendor for other props too.
I will interpret the question to be: What is most useful for short animations? (which is what I do, rather than still images)
1. Poser 7 Runtime (M4, V4, Morphs++, ...) (Yes, I'm cheating, sue me, but that's the first thing I add to Carrara's browser after a reset to clear the Content tab of runtimes from the last project)
2. Mature Mark Hair - Because it fits both M4 and K4, and has gray, black and other colors, it makes it easy to imply a father-son relation. Neftis Hair can be slow to render, but this one is pretty quick.
3. Realistic Seas for Carrara - Lots of convincing presets, and it solves the "horizon problem", i.e. that pesky meeting of the sky and the landscape. And I like ships.
4. Some billboard trees that came with FirstBastion's The Neighbour's Yard - Very convenient for blocking out areas, again to avoid the "horizon problem"
5. Body Language for M4 and V4 - From Eclipse Studios - 74 Poser format mocaps for fairly routine motions, much more useful than martial arts, etc. Also easily previewed with P3DO Explorer from Senosoft.
I am already having second thoughts, and will start revising the list shortly.
I do not consider saying M4 and V4 cheating as making point I prefer them to Genesis and other later figures, even in DAZ studio if needing more than one
more than 6 genesis, G2 & F shoots my DAZ Studio RAM usage up to 15 GB of my available 16 GB and Carrara actually copes better but files are too big to save there
I have had 50 gen 4 and under dressed figures in Carrara no probs and 26 dressed haired my max in DAZ studio
My top 5 PA items that I use could be:
Rolling plains - First Bastion
Easy Environments - Flip Mode
English Village - Phil W
Environ Kits - Dartanbeck
Light Domes - Tim Payne
Top 5 Daz Originals might be:
Michael 4
Victoria 4
Genesis
Genesis2
Top 5 non 3d items sold at Daz are:
Ron's Brushes x 5
Top 5 items from other 3D sites would be:
Mortem Vetus stuff
Nursoda stuff
ADH3d stuff
Vanishing Point stuff
Mr Sparky stuff
Top 5 Free stuff
Mr Sparky's stuff
Neil Wilson's planes
ShareCG
Pedro Caparros planes
Daz's Free Stuff board
Top 5 3D Software
Carrara 8
Carrara 8.5
Hexagon
Bryce
Poser
Top 5 Plugins used
Fenric's stuff
SparrowHawke's stuff
Fenric's stuff
Fenric's stuff
Daz Studio
that's all I can think of from the top of my head... it's lunchtime now
When I said I was "cheating", I was joking about listing the entire Poser 7 Runtime, including added items like Morphs++, as a single item of the five requested. I agree entirely about Gen4 vs. Genesis and later.
Hi thanks for starting this thread,
I think a thread like this is important because it shows Daz Pa's (should they look) that Carrara users do BUY their products.
Here is my list of non Carrara products that I use very regularly. I also use many many many more, 99.9 percent bought from Daz.
NON CARRARA PRODUCTS THAT I USE IN CARRARA
The Village Bundle by Faveral http://www.daz3d.com/the-faveral-village-bundle
Predatron Grass weeds poppys pack http://www.daz3d.com/grass-poppies-and-tall-weeds-bundle
Stonemason's http://www.daz3d.com/urban-sprawl-2-the-big-city
Children of the world for K4 http://www.daz3d.com/children-of-the-world
I think it's all the more poignant because, apparently, Stonemasons Pool House, one of his latest releases, does not come with Poser support. Only Dufs.
Sure Carrara 8.5 can use duf;s, but unreliably for what I have seen, doors might not open and shut etc.
In other forums I have seen Daz Pa's tell us that Carrara is not worth supporting because we don't buy anything......
well if they choose that route I certainly do not buy anything from them ....
.
I've started another thread on content compatibiity here.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/60075/carrara-compatibility-poser-and-studio-drifitng-apart
Maybe we can try to keep this thread more on Fav5, but I understand the point you are making in linking Fav5 to give evidence that Carrara users buy general content.
I think Stonemason's "Streets Of London" is also DUF only, so I will have to live without it. (I own half of his 140 products here at DAZ.) I read somewhere that Stonemason has been wanting to stop producing Poser format for some time, I guess he has his reasons.
And I agree DUF's have problems in my C8.5, at least the few I tried before I gave up on them. The format "Tower Of Babel" has gotten too tall for me here at DAZ, I'm sticking with Poser Core and Carrara formats.
I have Stonemason's Streets of London, and apart from a little texture fix, it seems to work fine in Carrara. His sets are the standard against which others are judged!
As usual, a day late and a Millennium Cow short.
My Top 5 Content items, with links even:
#1) The DAZ Cow
http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/o/cow-large.jpg
#2) 3DUniverse's Toon Cow
http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/960x1248/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/t/o/toon-cow-large.jpg
#1) The DAZ Cow
http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/o/cow-large.jpg
#3) Noggins Cow
http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/960x1248/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/n/o/noggin-s-cow-large.jpg
#1) The DAZ Cow
http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/o/cow-large.jpg
#4) BllyBull
http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/z/o/zoo-barnyard-for-heavies-hippos-0.jpg
#1) The DAZ Cow
http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/o/cow-large.jpg
#5) Clara Cow
http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/z/o/zoo-barnyard-for-heavies-hippos-1.jpg
#1) The DAZ Cow
http://www.daz3d.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/o/cow-large.jpg
At least they're numbered correctly!
OK, thanks, Phil, good to know. As I recall, his products are typically props, not figures, i.e. no opening windows/doors? So maybe that avoids the problems I've been having with DUFs in C8.5. I agree that his products I have in Poser format are very good.
Wow Steve, would you believe I never heard of Eclipse Studios before? One look at their website and I immediately added it to my bookmarks, their animations look top notch and very usable. Man, with M4/V4 this well supported, what's the allure of Genesis3? :) Thanks for the tip!
Great thread idea, I'll have to give it some thought and come up with a top 5 myself...
You're welcome. Just a heads up, I read a while back that the website had changed hands and a few people were having difficulties. I have not bought anything in a good while, so I'm not sure about the problems. Also, there are the occasional glitches, an arm moving wild or something for several frames, but usually easily correctable in the graph editor. So you might want to go slow until you're sure its working right, and you're happy with the products. I do have a number of their collections besides the set I mentioned above, and I'm glad I have them.
Besides the base figures, I'd say Stonemason, Stonemason, Stonemason, Stonemason, Stonemason. There's a part of me that feels like if it wasn't for that vendor I would never have started legitimately using DAZ/Carrara.
My favorite 5 DAZ items which are also used towards my Carrara renders are:-
Creature Creator HD for Genesis 2 Male & Female & Genesis (love my Critters)
Genesis 2 Male & Female
GenX2 AddOn for Genesis 2 (morphs are saved as Character.duf for further use)
Easy Environments
RawArts critters
Unfortunately I can't narrow it down to just 5 non-Carrara specific DAZ3D products, mainly because for Genesis 2, there are several individual products that combined together make it my favorite figure.
1) My top figure is Genesis 2 (which is free) with the following items that make it my favorite figure. (Having a couple additional characters is a plus as well, my favorites to use mix with other morphs are V6 and G6)
2) My favorite outfit - another category that it is hard to pick only one. There are a lot more than I listed below, but these come to the top of my mind right now.
3) For environments/architecture 3 vendors come to mind, Stonemason, Jack Tomalin, and The AntFarm.
4) For hair, the more recent G2F hair by goldtassle that I have works/renders extremely well in Carrara and Octane (no more annoying obvious baked in specular and great detailed transmaps). Georgia hair, Vida hair, Oron hair, Marielle hair, and Xenia hair from 3Dream/Mairy works very well on Genesis 2 and in Carrara (and Octane), but some of them (maybe all, I don't remember for sure) only come in the old .dsf format, so you need to re-save them as .duf using DS.
5) I almost forgot, Faveral has some great environments too, my favorite is Medieval Docks.
It really is hard to pick out just 5 favorites!! I think the important thing to note is that without all ability to directly use all the great DS/Poser content available, Carrara wouldn't be such a great tool for me. I really don't know what I would do, because neither DS or Poser offer the wonderful 3D tool kit that Carrara has.
It will be tough to narrow down my favorite 5. I think I'll cheat a bit and combine a model and separate texture set into one item since that is how I use them the most.
1. This combo has been used in more of my renders than any other item or pair of items. They're for M3, but nothing similar has been made for M4 or later and so I still use them frequently (see Intruder.jpg):
a. MOS Invasion
b. Starship Crew for MOS Invasion (I was a beta tester for this and confirmed that it works in Carrara, but it is not listed on the product page.)
2. Next on my list has to be something from TeamDystopia (Mobius87, Ajax, Nightshift3D, billy home, Lyrra Madril, et. al.). It is nearly impossible to narrow it down to one item since I own and use their entire product line - usually several items in the same render (see PortCicero.jpg). But the one I have used the most by far is Fengs Noodle Shop. (see EveningAtFengs.jpg)
3. Hardcore for M4: I've used this one in dozens of combinations of purchased texture add-ons and/or my own custom textures. (see Cops.jpg)
4. ToolBoi for M4: No longer in the DAZ store (moved to the big 'R'), but it is easily one of the most versitile pieces of male clothing I own. (see YuriBazarov.png)
5. Olympus Mons (original - not the Olympus Mons Hangar, which is also cool): No longer in the DAZ store, which is a real shame as it was very easily hacked into a much larger building that rendered beautifully in Carrara. (see PortCicero.jpg - it's in the background)
Although I'm favoring older items above, it is only because I keep coming back to these due to their uniqueness or versatility. I use plenty of recent content too (except for Genesis 3).
All images assembled and rendered in Carrara.
Some very cool images there RedHorse, I like that they are crowded and so full of detail!
Interesting list, I am also a big user of Gen4 content, and even Gen3 with Uzilite and others. I thought I had seen most of it, but the "ToolBoi" for M4 is new to me, very cool and now in my wishlist at Renderosity. Your image using it is very convincing, I live near the Houston Ship Channel with its many huge plants (used to work in them), and see guys like that all the time in Walmart, etc.
Non-Carrara:
1) Aiko and Hiro 3. They are some of the oldest figures I use on a regular basis, and in some ways, some of the best. I started off with A3 way back when I got into DAZ, and they were giving her away. She's cute, versatile, and the only reason I'll use Gen A3/H3 is on the ocassion I want to mix them a little with Hitomi, or the Gen animal packs.
2) RuntimeDNA's Scenescapes. A lot of modular props that you can use to build custom buildingscapes and the ilk. Really useful, if not, kind of old.
3) Skies of Economy. Whenever I need a cheap, easy to use HDR-- especially handy for interior scenes. I tend to use these more in DAZ than Carrara, hence its inclusion here.
4. MFD. Pretty versatile dress, lots of modability. Just wish the expansions were available for A3.
5. HW3D Horse. Very expressive creature, and I love my horses. The Beast is my favorite breed of all time!
Carrara:
1) HolyForest's Shaders. I own a good chunk of them, and they were worth the investment.
2) YAToon/Toon Pro! Both see equal use in my renders, as I generally love Toon looks, and find Carrara produces the best ones. Just skip the Toon Pro renderer, please; it uglys up my A3.
3) Anything Fenric. I'm preaching to the choir here, but his scripts and shading functions are incredibly useful, especially when it comes to importing Poser/DAZ Objects, creating great skin in seconds, or recoloring textures. His stuff = the awesome. I just got ERC, since I'm interested in learning Carrara animation, and I expect it to be equally useful.
4) Shoestring Shaders and Enhance:C. The additional noise patterns are amazing, and I love Shoestring's Fresnel shader.
5) Ground Control, which was very handy in handling a lot of my Terragen terrain exports early on. My first 3D works were Terragen, so...