Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 9
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Definitely!
BTW, I was agreeing with the having time to tweak things- in general. The clothes I've tried on G8F have all worked fine, perhaps I've just been lucky.
Got the DIM installed. NOT installing the new version of the studio until use the Content Database Maintenance and Export User Data (for newbies, if you have Smart Content pane selected, you go up to that triangle that has the lines and open that menu, and that's where the Content Database Maintenance options are.)
As I mentioned earlier, the latest release is basically a bug fix of 4.9.4.117. If you aren't having any issues with the release version currently installed, it might be a lot easier on you if you wait for the 4.10.0 version to be released. I'm still running .117 beta... with an even older release version on the beast.
Have you used FeralFay's vignette handle? She includes it with some of her poses, and it makes moving stuff a breeze. I
And the clearance sale got me too... Genesis 8 male had better not come out this month...
Fast Grab has changed and you really, really need to put 3 NEW PC+ (OR 3 NEW RELEASES FROM ANYWHERE) in your cart then test those. Nuff said.
Some neat products just released! (groan, our wallets.) The pose one looks like fun, and the UV's for Genesis 8. Darn it, there's no additional discount if you buy more than one New Release for today.
Some of the items in today's sales overlap with the Flash Sale...
That's not all, either! (Now I really am signing off.) Any 3 new releases will do, I tested with PC+ because they're the cheapest.
With the big sale I just got four ImagineX/DAZ products for around 90% off. They were already 58% off and with three new products and my $6 PC coupon - wow!
Luci45's Top 4 for July
What a Character for Lee 6 A nice variety of male Asian morphs. For the current RRRR contest. Render
Morpheus Mixed the four basic shapes and used face morphs. I don't usually like cartoons but this one is fun to play with. For the current RRRR contest. Render
i13 Sandwiches A very good food model and they convert well to Iray. For the current RRRR contest. Render
Raoul for Ivan 7 HD Raoul is really excellent and the Ivan HD Add-on makes a huge difference. The Beard is Unshaven for G3Ms from Mec4D, availabe on her website but not on DAZ yet. Render
She mentioned this in another thread, said it was completed too late, so it won't be coming to DAZ, but Unshaven 4 for G8Ms will be.
@luci45
Excellent list! Not surprised to see Raoul- he's neat!
Reminder everyone- the Top 3-5 need to be posted before Daz midnight tonight.
I was outside today for eight solid hours with the exception of a half an hour lunch, and it was 105-110 heat index so I am really tired. I decided to help the tree trimming crew, and glad I did because I paid the daily rate (not per tree or bush project) and we got it all done in exactly 8 hours. Had I not been helping to haul the branches, they most certainly would not have gotten everything done. Plus that freed them up to do the things I couldn't do as they had commercial chainsaws.
On top of that, only three hours sleep so I'm signing off for the night. Happy shopping and post those top picks if you get a chance. We want to know what you liked in July!
Thank you, Novica. I don't know how you function in that heat and I know it's humid there too (at least compared to where I live in California.) I would pass out.
L'Adair, I didn't see the thread. I don't know why Mec4D came out with Unshaven for G3M so late. I got it anyway as I have so many great G3M characters.
I think she said she'd some kind of hard drive failure and lost a ton of stuff that she'd been developing, including at least one shader set that consequently never saw the light of day. Maybe Unshaven for G3M was impacted or at least held up by all that too.
I recently purchased the Iconic outfit for Genesis 3 males This outfit includes a Fedora which I am going to try on other figures.
I also used I13 intricate male pose collection for the Genesis 3 males.in this image. This is a very versatile pose collection which includes partial poses.
I did want mention the new CC Cillian.... an interesting new G3M character. He is a bit wiry which is rare for the male characters; we get stocky, lanky, and athletic normally. His biggest virtue is a very interesting skin with slight wrinkles and freckles, an interesting take on the no brow look using L.I.E., and a lot of fibermesh facial hair. He comes other hairy or not, tattooed or not... I am very tempted to make no brow L.I.E. presets for more characters just to use the facial hair...
@nemesis10 Very nice! Yes, totally agree- he has a different look, which we definitely need more of! Thanks for showing him to us.
He does look really good, doesn't he. I think your image is actually better than several of the promos. And if you're planning on removing a lot of eyebrows, I can highly recommend Brow Remover from Zev0 and Draagonstorm, and saving each one as you go along. (I think it's great that more and more vendors are giving us mesh eyebrow options.)
I have Cillian in my cart. I love that he is so different from the typical male characters we see. I also have AQ Jenn in my cart. I don't really need another female, but I want to support vendors who take the extra bit of time to make their characters for both G3 and G8... with the females now, and males later. (Hopefully G8M will be as similar to G3M as G8F is to G3F!)
I'm also picking up the Kingdom of Marrakesh Iray Addon, (along with Kingdom of Marrakesh and Ochre City, both in Fast Grab today,) which gives me three new releases and 70% off the featured sale stuff. I really hate passing up an opportunity to save big on stuff. But the cart total has me questioning whether or not I should just wishlist one or the other of the two characters and drop all the 70% off stuff... decisions, decisions...
Yeah, I did two complete orders with the 70% from the other day, I ended up going back and keeping everything on both lists. Wish I could have rendered some of it for the thread, but had the outdoor work yesterday and now off to get tarps/plywood to cover up the bamboo stumps to try and and kill it. (Very sad about that, but they had grown to FORTY FEET and were taking over the neighbor's trees/ doing shade and killing her grass.) These were clumping (I'm no dummy), so they didn't run but the info ticket on the trees said they would go to twenty feet- yeah, right.)
I wanted to start a conversation actually on the thread, that I'm having with a lot of people via PMs and emails. This is just me thinking out loud. So folks- what are your thoughts? Here's the question:
Do you think it's a good idea to have such deeply discounted sales right before a major new release? I have no clue when Genesis 8 Male / Michael 8 will be released, but past trends show a big sale right before a big release, to get every penny out of what then becomes the previous generation. They did it for Victoria 7, before releasing the 8. The reason I ask if it's a good idea is because then buyers' funds are more limited to spend on the new release. This doesn't make sense to me though, as they would want the most people as possible to spend money on the new release. But these sales are crazy!
Everyone who did the Top Picks for July check your PMs for your number. SereneNight has been sent an email and asked to draw a number, as usual. She will post here.
BTW, how I do that- you are all assigned a number, not in order that people submitted their top picks. For example: in the list of folks their names appear like this. Notice how I assigned numbers: (and these are made up and do not match this months numbers)
Person A 87
Person B 43
Person C 25
Person D 96
Person E 74
But SereneNight receives the numbers as such and asked to draw a number: 96 25 74 87 43 (Persons D, C, E, A, B) and the order is never the same. I just make sure they're all scrambled up.)
So your numbers are randomly assigned, making sure no numbers are similar, and you probably don't repeat numbers. I never check, I just jump around each month. I do a number from each ten group, and pick different numbers for the ones. Serene's night list does not match the order that people submitted their picks.
It's a thought-out system, and if anyone ever does a draw-a-number contest, it is really fair.
So I've sent an email with the jumbled up list (as usual) and she'll be drawing a number as soon as she can.
Good luck!
BTW, I did just check using the Vendor dropdown (which as i mentioned, don't trust it) but I did the TYPE IT IN to check the vendor, and there is only one overlap with the vendor's stores from today- that is MeshItUp and it is a cartoon guy named Stickman. He would make a cute kid's toy, particularly with shaders. He goes to $2.62 And look at the props, can use for other toon renders or shader them to change them.
I did remember to undo the Hide What I Own
I have wondered about the Sale thing. They have talked elsewhere about sales 'cratering' when people know a new generation/figure is coming. But presumably the following surge makes up for it? My best guesses are that they have monthly sales quotas... that's what I assume is going on now. Tons of people are sitting on their hands because of upcoming PA/PC+ sales and they're desperate to meet some executive's projections. My other guess is that while there IS a surge following a new figure, they believe (perhaps with evidence) that the surge isn't affected much by previous sales for most people.
I suppose they're also trying hard to get money out of those who have stopped buying as much because they haven't embraced G8 yet (like me).
There may be a strategy behind it, and I did take advantage of the stacking the last few days; cleared a bunch of items from my wishlist and deleted a further 30 - however, I won't buy anything except Michael 8 and maybe some PC items until the end of the month. Anything that is released after next Tuesday will still be within its new release price window when my credit card resets, so I can wait. And if things are released on a one or two day special sale, well, there's always another sale...
High Definition Characters ~~~ Comparing and Competing Against Each Other
Okay, I'm going to take a look at the HD's in the 70% (plus stacking for the gals, with 3 new releases, not hard as today is PC+ release day)
Some (in MY OPINION) make no sense whatsoever for me to buy, there's hardly any face changes. So the ones that do have changes in the face, I want to keep. If there's not enough of that, I don't really CARE what the body does. Some of these were surprising to me, in lacking enough facial AND body changes to keep my interest.
I'll let you know my opinion on these, feel free to disagree and also post renders. Yours are often better than the promos and may show details that I'm just not seeing. BASED ON THE PROMOS. As I render them, I'll post links and you can see if what I've posted here holds up. Edit: I personally don't feel they are worth buying, after doing the renders.
Michael 7 KEEP Yes, but I don't particularly like the stripe on the bulb of the nose. It drops to $8.39 which is 79% Keeping due to the body and because I have quite a few of M7's. And the gals I'm taking out of the cart actually more than pay for putting him IN.
ALL THE WOMEN ARE $3.37 in this list. (Edit- I have the UV product in the cart, plus two PC+ releases) That UV product seems to trigger the price. See several posts below.)
Lilith 7 KEEP The face didn't do enough for me- I can increase the bump on lips and the rest of the face was "meh" IMO But at 92% and $3.37 it's worth it for the hands/arms, etc Those are well done, she's a keeper. RENDERS
Rune 7 KEEP BEST OF THE BEST DEFINITELY KEEP WOW. Now that's what I'm talking about for changing up the face!!!
Renders
Olympia 7 OUT OF THE CART Disappoints everywhere- and I mean everywhere (to me) Those increased definition areas- not. This one got taken out of the cart, whereas Lilith's body justified staying in.
Lee 7 OUT OF THE CART I felt was too overdone, that body actually looked painful it was so tight and harsh- also sharp edges several places. If it was $3.37 I might consider, but otherwise, no. And I'm not saying there's not men ripped like this, but my first reaction was "ouch." The details/edges were too sharp, some areas a bit lumpy.
Bethany 7 OUT OF THE CART Well, I'm sure saving a lot of money by looking at these individually. She is even more disappointing IMO than Olympia. Her knuckles aren't even high definition. Her face has a change in the chin definition, but other areas are really lacking much, if any change. What a waste, unless it's the promo lighting. As usual, feel free to disagree with me, post your renders showing detail- but this is a massive "pass" so far as what you'd get compared to the other ladies. (actually, epic fail.) Out of the cart she goes.
Kenji 7 OUT OF THE CART. The face has the typical chin indentation and there are other minor differences. The chest/torso is ripped. The knuckles and knees are a big fail. So are the palms. No high definition.
Kalea 7 KEEP Squeeks by, because of having SOME definition in the knuckles and knees. There is more definition under the eyes, definitely in the septum/philtrum of the nose. The lips are disappointing as there's minimal change and the definition needs to be MORE in the areas mentioned. But for $3.37, yep, keep her. RENDERS
Mei Lin 7 KEEP SECOND BEST She's got details in all the right places- the face, legs, palms, hands. The reason she got second best is the "orange peel" texture above the knees. I don't personally like that to that extreme.
Arabella 7 KEEP Same as Mei Lin. More orange peel look to knees, actually on the knee cap. I think for both of those, it will depend on the lighting a great deal and may look quite good. Not seeing much change though- as I said, it depends on the lighting. RENDERS
Eva 7 KEEP The face isn't as outstanding as the others mentioned, there's more detail to the eye and nose than the non-keepers, the lips have detail. The palms have detail but the knuckles are only so- so. The torso has more details. (All the ones marked "Keep" do.) RENDERS
Kimo 7 KEEP Wow. Details AND veins. Enough said! Worth the $8.39 at 79% off. He'd be worth more!
Leo 7 KEEP Another wow, details and veins. Also a bit of "orange peel" added to face, but it's good/reasonable. Both of these are a LOT BETTER THAN M7.
Gianni 7 KEEP. DROOL. Details, veins, and the right amount of orange peel on legs.
The Guy NO. Unless you want muscled body. What's up with this? Does NOT show upper face/eyes at all, which isn't good. Palms have details, knuckles, no. Body is ripped, that's the main thing.
Scott 6 KEEP (note the 6) Details in the face, hands, knees and body. Again, the body is a bit sharp for my personal tastes (particularly the pulls between the pectoral areas) but details in the face and hands are good.
Karen 7 KEEP Details are not ultra great, but all areas have improvement. It's the low price that gets this a nod, if it were higher I would pass. Definitely not in Rune, Mei Lin, or Arabella's league of superstars. RENDERShttps://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2741531/#Comment_2741531
Ninive 6 KEEP (Note the 6) Has more orange peel on the face than others, some parts of the forearm seem a bit streaky, but the face has good detail and the knuckles are improved (medium detail, not like the "best" ones.)
Gia 7 KEEP Another TIE FOR SECOND BEST Great details in every area. RENDERS
So hope this helps, to at least pinpoint some areas to scrutinize. You may like some of these more than I did, depending on your personal tastes and taking more of a look at the torso than I did.
The sales are daz originals so I suspect it doesn't matter to them if we buy old stuff or Michael 8. Since both are daz originals Most people will eventually buy m8 if they want to render men so they know we will buy him... eventually. It's the vendors for the expansion stuff who will lose if people overspend prior to the release of a new shiny daz original. But I've noticed male content is usually more expensive than similar female content so that enters into play as well.
I suspect those waiting for the release of a male figure will buy him regardless if he looks decent
How did you get the female HD morphs down below $4? They are over $6 for me with 3 new items in the cart.
Happy to help- here's what's in the cart- the Genesis 3 Character UV for Genesis 8 Females and 3 of the PC+, but two should trigger it. I just checked out with a bunch of the HDs in case this is a glitch. But for right now, that's what should trigger it. Check it asap and let us know if that works for you. Maybe anything from that item's sale page will trigger it?
I got all those HD's plus some more I am currently listing for you (due to the price, I quit posting on that and checked out, added more to the cart!) such as Karen, Gia, and Ninive, they are all "decent." Some are very good. 15 of the HDs for $85.59 That included the men I listed! So averaged $5.70 a piece due to the SIX men!
Must be the UVs. I already bought that.
If you want the HDs just buy it and cancel the other one. Would you mind testing and see if that is the trigger?
Yes, the UV in the cart triggers further discount. I can't cancel the other one, because I used it as a new item to buy some other 70% off things. I didn't buy 15, though. so maybe I could rebuy all of them. Sounds like too much work, though. Hmm. I'll ponder it. I didn't catch the HD bargains at the time, or maybe they weren't as much of a bargain when I looked.
Edit: I used a PC coupon on that order, too, so it is too hard to try to undo all that. I can continue to live without the HD morphs.
I got Lilith and Rune for only a few dollars each, which are both nice.
You scored with Rune :) My favorite choice! Yeah, I try to use my PC+ on orders that are already complicated too LOL. You get the best use out of them that way.
Well, for anyone else, you may take a look at things from that day's sales, or the UV product, to score on these HDs.