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Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 9

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    Valandar said:

    Just some old-timer info about the convos on the previous page about Michael 1:

    If you own Michael 2, you also own Michael 1 - just turn off the "Michael 2" base morph. They took the same clothes, poses, materials, everything, because M2 was just an expansion.

    @valandar  That' interesting! So I assume when M3 came out it was a different mesh and not just an expansion?

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    The Lucas Bundle does discount in the cart, there will be a 20% off message in your My Account messages if you bought the other Young Male bundle. I also used my PC+ DO coupon so the price went really low. 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • FistyFisty Posts: 3,416
    Novica said:
    Valandar said:

    Just some old-timer info about the convos on the previous page about Michael 1:

    If you own Michael 2, you also own Michael 1 - just turn off the "Michael 2" base morph. They took the same clothes, poses, materials, everything, because M2 was just an expansion.

    @valandar  That' interesting! So I assume when M3 came out it was a different mesh and not just an expansion?

    Yes

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    Novica said:

    SC Sally for Genesis 3 Female(s)     Ktarya Outfit for Genesis 3 Female(s) and Genesis 8 Female(s)      Idris Hair For Genesis 3 Male(s) and Female(s)

    IBL Skies -Thunderhead

    If you're looking for an absolutely fun, easy to use light set then check out the IBL Skies series, and get the bundle. Click on the image of the sky you want (and the thumbnails are excellent, very distinct, clear and easy to see) as it goes degree by degree across the sky (the lower the horizon, the closer the increments as changes happen more quickly. So the sun moves 1 degree, 2 degree then jumps to increments of 5, etc)  Then you click the dome rotation (again, clear diagrams) and then you can adjust your Tone Mapping settings (like Film ISO, Exposure Value, etc) and done. LOVE this set. Edit: When I use them, I'll give you the sky setting and the dome rotation setting like this: Clear Skies 35, Dome Rotation 30. Then (in this order, always do ISO first)  Film ISO 135   Exposure Value 14.20   And Bamm, you have this exact lighting.

    SC Sally has nice brows and very natural looking teeth. I think she'd do well as a kid too. She does have makeup on in these, an eyeliner. Without it, she has even more "natural beauty."

    Wow! They need to use your stuff for their promos. As usual, you have me throwing things in my cart and adding stuff to my wishlist. wink  Those lights, also, and the shoes... Makes me sad I passed on some of that when it was on sale... Now to wait for another.

  • cismiccismic Posts: 629
    Richard Haseltine said:
    Novica said:

    So question, I found it in DIM, Richard said in that thread to only have one installed, I am showing the Postgre SQL CMS (64 bit)  but also that with the words "From Valentina CMS Conversion."  So two installed. What do you folks have? (and why is this suddenly being a pain in the hiney? ) 

    The PostgreSQL Conversion from Valentina isn't actually postgreSQL, it's a utility that runs as it is "installed" to create a PostgreSQL version of an existing Valentina database, if present and as long as it hadn't become corrupt as they were prone to doing. It showed in the isntalled list so it wasn't run twice, but it was not actually doing anything once there.

    I know this isn't the DAZ forums but I did write a piece on how to connect to the PostgreSQL database and query the tables if your so inclined.  It was for my own education but thought I'd share it with you guys. https://josephkravis.com/2017/05/06/sql-many-flavors-postgresql/ ;

     

     

  • cismiccismic Posts: 629
    Novica said:

    Summer Footwear Collection Genesis 2,3, & 8 Female(s)        FWSA LightsFX Neutral Environment

    Okay,  I want to speed you up when you first go to use the product. So this is a "tips" type post too. If you haven't gotten this product yet, BOOKMARK IT! Your females characters will pout if you don't. Talk about getting your money's worth! (I'll have you know I got so "into" this that I never made it to the barn, and it's absolutely glorious outside. In the mid SEVENTIES!!!! So tomorrow I am going AWOL all afternoon.)  I said I would render what I bought, and heavens, this is going to take awhile! 

    First let's start by saying think "upper" and "lower." There's two separate designations in the Scene pane. Also think materials and shaders, and remember if you want to use shaders, apply the white materials. Let's do that, here's the steps I used for colored shoes.

    1. You add the upper part of the sandal/shoe (just going to use the word sandal in this post) by using the "Upper." This shows up as "G3F (or 2/8) Sandal Design (number)" and is a separate line in the Scene pane.

    2. Go to "Strap Mats". Use white. These are MATERIALS. (There is a clue given to use white MATERIALS before applying the SHADER tints.) 

    3.  TIP: If you what brighter colors- Brighten the white in Surfaces (Select the shoe straps using the Surfaces Tool -those three sheets of paper above the viewport) for the Base Color. The white default is a dull gray.   IMPORTANT: only select the straps in Surfaces. Many of these have buckles. And don't forget to do the buckles, there's options in the Strap Mats section. (NOT shaders.) 

    4. Then use "Shader Mats" and apply your color.  Lighten it in Surfaces if you want a lighter color. Easy! (both the Base and Glossy colors.)  So your top half of the sandal is done.

    5. Next, use the lower section to select which one you want (there's Lowers Wearable and Lowers)  That shows up as a separate line in Scene also. That one is the name of the shoe and will be something like "G3F S High Pumps."  TIP: it's important to remember the upper and lower each have their own designation in the Scene pane. Be sure you have the right one selected.

    6. Then use the Iray>Sole Mats and select the sole color and the bottom part of the shoe (including heel) color.  Tip: remember you could also do white materials and then use the tint shaders on the bottom part too.

    7. Then use Feet H Pose to put the foot nicely into the sandal. If you mess up and choose the wrong one, there's a reset for the feet to zero it.

    What's fun- the different sections of the straps have different material zones. You can go nuts putting the front of the shoe straps as a different color than the ankle/back of the foot section. The heels are also separate zones! (And even the sections of the heels are different material zones. Way to go @dogz

    I found the Gold to be too dark. Want mine? (I think it's perfect, I have to brag on this one!) 
     Base color 187 / 162 / 122     and     Glossy 246 / 238 / 147 
    All of the shoes have the base colors brightened to white from the default gray, like I "tipped" you above.    

     

    @novica, I've had these in and out of the basket and have seen the price fluctuate because of that. :-).  Great tips thank you!

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited October 2017

    First test render of Lucas 8, with defaults out of the box. He's wearing the Cool Style Outfit and Classic Side Part Hair. The pose and expression are from the Pro pack. Lighting is Sveva's Intensity 2.0. There are 4 rim lights on him and 1 front spot, adjusted for the pose. Two white, two light blue, 1 gray. He looks tan, but I don't think he looks too orange. Maybe borderline? Could always adjust like we did for Josie.

    Render quality 3, stopped at 85%, so a little grainy. No postwork. (Click for larger pic.) More renders to come with different scenarios, clothes, hairs, lighting, etc. 

    BTW- I had the orange banner with the extra 20% off. Add another new item in the cart, and he was $40, plus I got David 5 Pro and Brodie (already had Elijah 7 Pro.)

    Post edited by Llynara on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651
    edited October 2017

    I passed on Lucas. But did get his his items minus the weird plastics costume with the straps and armor which I refuse to pay for since it stretches and distorts. I realize I do have neutral lights.... I will have to pull them out and take a look

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    @serenenight  I think you'll really like the neutral lights. Taking a look at my render of them on a white house, I'd suggest 8,9,10 for the more typical lighting of white/whitish blue, with 8 being brightest, then 10, then 9. If you have a ruddy (red) character, lights 2 and 3 are the yellow / yellow green warm colors to counterbalance that.  1,4, and 5 are dark grays/blue.

    @llynara   Looking good!  I agree, I don't think he's too ruddy. I like the oil (sheen) in his skin and the amount of wrinkles in the shirt and pants look realistic. Thanks for showing him!
     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    I'm going to rustle up some renders of the new items for today and test them in different light sets for you. (Pro-Studio, the Neutral Environments, etc) We'll compare the same character/same setup with different lights. Check back in an hour (probably less.)  Lucas, Gunner, Milo coming up.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482

    Does anyone know if MFD for G8 will fit G3F decently? I have multiple generations of it, but didn't buy all the expansions for G3F. Wondering if I should get this while it is on discount or if it's still versatile.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    First, a quickie to show the skin differences. As Llynara mentioned, Lucas can be a tad on the ruddy side when compared to the other two men. Gunner has brown, and Milo is lighter in comparison. I started to say  the burnout on his arms is from the lighting being stronger on that side, but not true. His arm overlapping Gunner in the middle also has burnout, while Gunner's arm is fine. We'll be able to compare better when I do each man individually with the same lighting but each man at World Center.

    This is my typical 135 Film ISO and Exposure Value 13.85, like I used on the houses. This is still the FWSA LightsFX Neutral Environment. Regarding those lights- it only took 16 and a half minutes to render an 800 x 900 pixel piece with the three men in it. The lights render quickly in my opinion so people with slower computers would do just fine with these. 



     

    Lucas Gunner Milo.png
    700 x 800 - 830K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NathNath Posts: 2,808
    Novica said:

    First, a quickie to show the skin differences. As Llynara mentioned, Lucas can be a tad on the ruddy side when compared to the other two men. Gunner has brown, and Milo is lighter in comparison. I started to say  the burnout on his arms is from the lighting being stronger on that side, but not true. His arm overlapping Gunner in the middle also has burnout, while Gunner's arm is fine. We'll be able to compare better when I do each man individually with the same lighting but each man at World Center.

    This is my typical 135 Film ISO and Exposure Value 13.85, like I used on the houses. This is still the FWSA LightsFX Neutral Environment. Regarding those lights- it only took 16 and a half minutes to render an 800 x 900 pixel piece with the three men in it. The lights render quickly in my opinion so people with slower computers would do just fine with these. 



     

    Looks like Milo has the "weird" Gen8 mouth, but the other two don't?

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651

    The mouths are frequently really “pursed” looking to me and they look off. I usually raise the mouth and use morphs to lower the corners of the mouth so it doesn’t look alien. 

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    Serene Night said:

    The mouths are frequently really “pursed” looking to me and they look off. I usually raise the mouth and use morphs to lower the corners of the mouth so it doesn’t look alien. 

    You made me laugh with your spot-on description! :D

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Also, increasing the cheek puffiness by the corners of the mouth and reducing the upper curves helps to reduce the "Joker" look. It's an easy fix. But yes, I prefer other mouths frankly. Back to rendering, took a break for lunch. Will wait until this evening to go to the barn, when I said I was going there all afternoon (yesterday) I didn't know this character was launching. 



     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    First, sticking with the Neutral lights- without looking at the tests I did on the building, I clicked on each and then decided on #7 for Lucas. Sure enough, that one has blue. It balances out the ruddy. I left the expression at the default, and you can see those mouth corners puckering a  bit. So to answer that question, Lucas has it also, but maybe not as much. I really like him!  Haven't done Gunner yet. (Lol, trying to do three for you and compare apples to apples can't be rushed...)

    Again, the speed of the Neutral lights is amazing. 94% in 4 minutes for a 350 x 800 pixel render. Character, clothes, hair.  BTW these are all Mitchell filter, not Gaussian. (Change that in Render pane>Filtering

    For Lucas (and all the men) it's Cool Style Outfit for Genesis 8 Male(s)  and Cool Style Outfit Textures. Sometimes I am not rah-rah about texture sets, the ones where it only looks like they change colors and slap a leather texture on it. But these have great patterns and a nice variety. If you get the outfit, get the textures!

    Lucas hair is the Classic Side Part Hair for Genesis 3 and 8 AND I USED THE STUBBLE.  That unshaven look is just sexy! If you don't have that hair, it's really nice- you have shorter and longer styles, messy and tousled. This is tousled.

    Am rendering a face closeup now with the same lights, then will do Gunner. Same position of World Center, same pose, but I'll have to change lights. I'll still use the neutral set but Gunner just won't do well otherwise. He's just too brown.


    This is Pro-Studio lights, 14R.

    LucasNeutral7.png
    350 x 800 - 394K
    LucasNeutral7 Closeup.png
    350 x 800 - 526K
    lucas pro studio 14r.png
    500 x 800 - 612K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    Gunner is darker so I tried another light (number 3, which has a tinge of green if you go back and look at the house renders) And yes, I am doing light 7 too (the one I used for Lucas.)  These again are the Neutral Lights.  I personally want him to have more sheen as I think he's a bit flat. (We'll see how the Pro-Studio lights do later.) Light 3 is less dramatic than Light 7 (I didn't change the rotation on any of these.) 

    I am seeing green along the hairline and if you go back to the trio, his arm is green where it intersects with Lucas. What surface setting does that? It needs to be toned down.

    Light 3

    Light 7. Only doing the closeup. This is the same light (and Tone Mapping settings) as Lucas. He has more sheen with this light.

    This is Pro-Studio lighting, one of my favorites. It's 14R (also love 14L) 


     

     

    GunnerNeutral3 Closeup.png
    350 x 800 - 531K
    GunnerNeutral3 Body.png
    350 x 800 - 386K
    GunnerNeutral7FACE.png
    350 x 800 - 534K
    gunner pro studio 14r.png
    498 x 769 - 652K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    Light 7 again. Milo has messed up eyelashes. His skin shows burnout easily, it wasn't because he was on the far right of the trio. He is at World Center. I even tried postwork with contrast, midtones, shadows, highlights- trying to get them to balance and blend (which frankly I'm quite good at.)  So a bug report needs to go in on this dude.  When he gets fixed, I'm changing that skin to fix the glare. He is wearing Lyall Hair for Genesis 3 & 8 Males.

    OMGosh, he looks like Anderson Cooper! (CNN)

    Read below about the tip of the nose, then come back and look at this again.

    Milo has different skin values on the end of his nose. And the bridge. They're both lighter, which makes the length of the nose look like a strip wedged between two light zones. It's NOT the lights. Go look at the promos. And I test two other light sets.

    MiloNeutral7FACE.png
    350 x 800 - 502K
    miloProStudio14R.jpg
    500 x 800 - 286K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited October 2017

    Nice renders, Novica! I really like the one with Gunner. I haven't tried him yet. 

    Here's one more of Lucas 8, no morph adjustments, that's all him. With Sebastian Hair, he really does look a lot like FW Sebastian HD, one of my favorite G2M's. Both have fantastic faces, in my opinion. Just a little fiddling with morphs and I think Lucas would be a dead ringer for Sebastian.

    I used Redz's Supernatural Brows on him. The LIE makeup is from DarwinsMishap's Ren for G3M and G8M, who comes with a ton of LIE makeups. The tattoos are from Darwin's LIE Tattoo set. Outfit is Hellion for G3M from the Damien Bundle. The barbwire necklace was difficult to adjust to the pose (oops, forgot to fix that!)  Lights are Marshian's Rim Light Rig Iray. Set is After the War by Stonemason.

    I gave him the full postwork treatment on this one, I think he earned it. angel

     I think I'm in love. Brings back happy memories of my teenage years with Billy Idol plastered all over my bedroom walls. heart Putting this on my desktop wallpaper for a while! laugh

    Post edited by Llynara on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    @llynara   He reminds me of Billy Idol too! That's quite a nice combination of products, they really go well together. I like the subtle light on the top of his hair, there's no burnout as the strands are softly lit. They keep their detail.

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    Llynara said:

    Nice renders, Novica! I really like the one with Gunner. I haven't tried him yet. 

    Here's one more of Lucas 8, no morph adjustments, that's all him. With Sebastian Hair, he really does look a lot like FW Sebastian HD, one of my favorite G2M's. Both have fantastic faces, in my opinion. Just a little fiddling with morphs and I think Lucas would be a dead ringer for Sebastian.

    I used Redz's Supernatural Brows on him. The LIE makeup is from DarwinsMishap's Ren for G3M and G8M, who comes with a ton of LIE makeups. The tattoos are from Darwin's LIE Tattoo set. Outfit is Hellion for G3M from the Damien Bundle. The barbwire necklace was difficult to adjust to the pose (oops, forgot to fix that!)  Lights are Marshian's Rim Light Rig Iray. Set is After the War by Stonemason.

    I gave him the full postwork treatment on this one, I think he earned it. angel

     I think I'm in love. Brings back happy memories of my teenage years with Billy Idol plastered all over my bedroom walls. heart Putting this on my desktop wallpaper for a while! laugh

    Gorgeous!!!

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited October 2017

    Thanks, Novica and firewarden! Marshian's Rim Light Rig (both versions) is really wonderful for lighting. It has it's own backlight shaders, which are great for dramatic lighting. For softer stuff like this one, I've been using PhilW's Hair Lustre over the original textures. That product does a very good job of reviving old hair textures (though some of the really old hairs just don't look good in Iray, it depends.) I have it here at 40% strength. 

    Post edited by Llynara on
  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    Llynara said:

    Here's one more of Lucas 8, no morph adjustments, that's all him.

    I gave him the full postwork treatment on this one, I think he earned it. angel

     I think I'm in love. Brings back happy memories of my teenage years with Billy Idol plastered all over my bedroom walls. heart Putting this on my desktop wallpaper for a while! laugh

    Just stunning!

    Is the ground also from Stonemason's After the War? It looks really good close up, which I know from experience isn't the case for a lot of the parts in that set...

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited October 2017

    Thanks, L'Adair! Yes, that's just the default Iray load of the entire set. I ran the free "reduce textures" script on it so everything would fit on my card. I love how the ground turned out.

    Here he is in DM's Courtyard. I really like the stone textures in this set as well.

     

    Post edited by Llynara on
  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281
    edited October 2017

    Dresses - particularly long dresses - are notoriously difficult to autofit well. And....actually I don't know if G8 shipped with a G3 clone? If you use G8, definitely get that for her. If you didn't get the extra expansions for G3 - the bustle and stuff in the expansions - maybe wait till the PC+ sale goes further along, cos they may turn up in further sales.  

    edit: of course G8 shipped with a G3 clone, that's the whole point of the supposed "backward compatible" of her. Excuse my dumbness - I've just woken and hadn't finished my first coffee as yet. 

    firewarden said:

    Does anyone know if MFD for G8 will fit G3F decently? I have multiple generations of it, but didn't buy all the expansions for G3F. Wondering if I should get this while it is on discount or if it's still versatile.

     

    Post edited by jakiblue on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651

    G8 is G3 with a few modifications. Really it isn’t a new generation just an update

  • EtaminEtamin Posts: 129
    jakiblue said:

    Dresses - particularly long dresses - are notoriously difficult to autofit well. And....actually I don't know if G8 shipped with a G3 clone? If you use G8, definitely get that for her. If you didn't get the extra expansions for G3 - the bustle and stuff in the expansions - maybe wait till the PC+ sale goes further along, cos they may turn up in further sales.  

    edit: of course G8 shipped with a G3 clone, that's the whole point of the supposed "backward compatible" of her. Excuse my dumbness - I've just woken and hadn't finished my first coffee as yet. 

    firewarden said:

    Does anyone know if MFD for G8 will fit G3F decently? I have multiple generations of it, but didn't buy all the expansions for G3F. Wondering if I should get this while it is on discount or if it's still versatile.

     

    Will Dforce fix this?  I haven't downloaded DS 4.10 beta, but the renders I have seen in the Dforce thread https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/203201/daz-3d-introduces-dforce-physics-engine/p1 so far look pretty impressive.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651
    edited October 2017

    I think Lucas looks the best. The others have kind of odd eyebrows. Gunner almost looks like a Vulcan. I prefer a regular normal sort of eyebrow shape for realistic characters

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281

    I haven't tried DForce yet, I'm waiting till it's more stable. It's not so much "fix it" as do something different LOL. It's dynamics on non-dynamic clothing, if you get what I mean.

    Basically, I have no idea. I loathe G8 and hate using her, so I don't really do much unless I have to (promos etc) 

    Etamin said:
    jakiblue said:

    Dresses - particularly long dresses - are notoriously difficult to autofit well. And....actually I don't know if G8 shipped with a G3 clone? If you use G8, definitely get that for her. If you didn't get the extra expansions for G3 - the bustle and stuff in the expansions - maybe wait till the PC+ sale goes further along, cos they may turn up in further sales.  

    edit: of course G8 shipped with a G3 clone, that's the whole point of the supposed "backward compatible" of her. Excuse my dumbness - I've just woken and hadn't finished my first coffee as yet. 

    firewarden said:

    Does anyone know if MFD for G8 will fit G3F decently? I have multiple generations of it, but didn't buy all the expansions for G3F. Wondering if I should get this while it is on discount or if it's still versatile.

     

    Will Dforce fix this?  I haven't downloaded DS 4.10 beta, but the renders I have seen in the Dforce thread https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/203201/daz-3d-introduces-dforce-physics-engine/p1 so far look pretty impressive.

     

This discussion has been closed.