Novica & Serene Night’s Renders, Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews PART 2
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Thanks Serene Night and Scott-Livingston, I've had 220 Emotions in and out of my basket a few times because I wasn't sure if I needed more expressions. It sounds like a great value product, I'll grab it next time Smay's store is on sale.
Ryuu looks like a fantastic character, I like those that stand out in some way. I don't know if it would be better to pick up the M4 version or wait to see if one day I end up with M5.
For David 5, if you don't like the face he comes with (poor guy) I can recommend JoeQuick's extraOrdinary Men for D5 and Genesis. I think you'd like those morphs if you too like distinctive characters rather than pretty boys and girls who belong on a catwalk. (I think they'd work well as older characters)
PS Talking of interesting characters, would anyone be interested in a review of The Hunchback?
very true! Yes, I was disappointed about the crashing. I achieved the crashing by posing the character, applying the expression, removing it, and then trying the next expression. About four times of doing this would cause DAZ to crash. But not all expressions... Some seem quite stable. I'm not sure what the problem is... But I've encountered it with Zev's aging morphs as well causing daz to crash. There seems to be something about adjusting the parameter dials which generates an instability causing daz to crash.
It is a good product though.
I would like to see him, yes! I'm heading out to work now so won't be able to see him until later, but yeah! And thanks for the suggestions. Will check those products out. Yes- Ryuu is a must have to me. Great character, and as usual the PA makes fantastic and beautiful skin!
Would love to see The Hunchback too! :)
I have the 220 but haven't gotten to it yet since I totally started over and am reinstalling content.
I would like to see him, yes! I'm heading out to work now so won't be able to see him until later, but yeah! And thanks for the suggestions. Will check those products out. Yes- Ryuu is a must have to me. Great character, and as usual the PA makes fantastic and beautiful skin!The Ryuu International set is an excellent set. It's the basis for my character Kageto, as well as pretty much all of my male Japanese characters.
I always like Asian stuff! It is fun to see martial arts renders!
Today's review is Sea Turtle
http://www.daz3d.com/sea-turtle
This is a nice basic sea turtle which is also a platinum club item. It has no extras just the turtle with a couple movement options on the limbs to move parts around. He looks particularly nice from the shell side view, as I think the shell and skin textures still look detailed enough for my tastes. From the underside he can look a plain and blank.
This would work well as a background prop in your undersea environment. It is worth the price and worth adding if you like to do sea renders. Could it use an update? You bet. But for the cost, if you are a pc member, it is reasonable, and I like it.
1. Render 1- just the sea turtle.
2. Render 2-just my attempts to get fancy using ron's waterline
Edited to add: to get the effect of the turtle coming out of the water, I used ron's waterline to make a background of sea and sky (any cloud background would work, but in this case I used a purchased backdrop) and rendered 2 turtles against the background. One turtle was just with normal daylight lights. The second render had underwater lights. In photoshop I used the top half of the daylight turtle for above the water, and the dark half of the underwater lit turtle for below the water. I used Ron's waterline brushes and Ron's splash brushes to add some water froth and to hide the seam betwixt the two.
I like the look of that sea turtle very much, Serene Night. I'm noticing with the renders you've both been sharing that these animals look better than they did in the promo pics (Novica's hamster comes to mind). It makes these reviews all the more helpful.
Beautiful waterline effect. I'm waiting impatiently for Ron's brushes to come on sale, I didn't know how to use them at first but since figuring it out I want to build my library of brushes. They work great for me in GIMP.
Nice to see Ryuu/Kageto in action -- thanks for sharing those, Tramp Graphics!
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OK, so The Hunchback. As I've said elsewhere, I surprised myself with this one, but once I looked past the 'monster' label I was impressed by RawArt's fantastic promo images. While it might sound like a hunchback is going to be limited, those promos reveal that he is in fact very versatile and has bags of personality!
As a side note, I love RawArt's approach to these classic characters of fiction. Victorian era 'monsters' were often tragic characters who were horribly mistreated, not monstrous killers.
Anyhow, I highly recommend the official promos to get a feel for what you can do with this character: http://www.daz3d.com/monster-classics-the-hunchback
What you get:
Like most unbundled characters, The Hunchback is a morph and skin materials. I liked the bandaged look of his wrists and feet in the preview images, but you don't get those, he's in his birthday suit. His skin texture is unique, as you can hopefully see here. He's mottled, I guess you'd call it, but in a realistic way. His skin has quite a sheen but if you don't like that effect you can play with lighting or maybe his specular settings.
The morph is a full character (not separate head and body). This makes sense when you think about the way his chin, neck and shoulders need to blend together, but if you are used to separate head and body morphs you need to know to expect it.
Being Genesis (1), he can be dialled in at a lower value. My other image shows him at more or less 50%. Notice here that his custom teeth change too, but are still quite distinctive at 50%.
Hunchback Poses:
I also got the matching pose set: http://www.daz3d.com/monster-classics-hunchback-poses It's a separate item but reasonably priced. I don't tend to buy poses but, given that he's not your average perfectly proportioned figure, I thought these would be a useful head start on posing him.
Again, I loved the promo images. He has some amazing expressions -- but you don't get those. I know that's how it usually is with poses but I kind of hoped these would be part of the pose because they looked so good. I was also worried they were custom ZBrush expressions that would be impossible to replicate on my own.
However... the good news is you can get good expressions from the character using whatever expression packs you have. (Even when you add him to the scene without any expression, I think his lopsided features give him some character.) You do have to watch areas such as the bridge of the nose, because this has a wrinkle in his neutral expression that can become a sharp fold when you dial in an angry expression at 100%, for example, and these folds can end up rendering as black lines. Either careful lighting or a more subtle approach to expressions might make this a non-issue.
He has this wonderfully mischievous look when he grins that I think would have its uses in many situations.
The bottom line is that I'm very impressed with what has been achieved with this character. He makes a welcome change from all the perfect, symmetrical beauties. I suspect I'm going to be using him an awful lot.
Here he is looking more mischievous. Maybe about 75% here.
Thanks for the review on that Jindi! I enjoyed that. =-) I think RawArt always makes neat characters, and I honestly can't wait to see what he does with the high definition morphs! I see what you mean about the Sheeny-skin. One thing I like about Rawart's characters is that the skins sometimes do have that mottled look. It is a refreshing change from the flat monotone skins..
OMGosh you two! Those renders are awesome- I love the Sea Turtle splashing up out of the water the best, and the Hunchback is really good, particularly the lighting. That was a super job Jindi! I'm rushing out the door to take a teenager riding (she's so excited) so I have to go, am late.
Heads up! DAZ updated Genesis 2 female starter essentials with some new goodies for everyone. There appear to be new props, a new hair: Toulose hair, and an outfit as well as some textures and a new figure for a ready to render scene as well as new location: Pergola.
EDIT:
Here's the figure in the ready to render scene. I think it is a great idea to release a new base figure with a ready-to-render scene, to show the character's true potential and to help users learn. It would be great if they did that for all the new release figures. =-)
The top and hair in particular look great to me. The pants are not as detailed as the rest of the outfit... They have a painted on look but the rest of the character looks super! WOW, thanks for the free stuff DAZ.
1. Image Ready to render scene. =-)
User Guide And Quickstart Guide Have Been Published
http://docs.daz3d.com/lib/exe/fetch.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/daz_studio_4_x_user_guide.pdf
http://docs.daz3d.com/lib/exe/fetch.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/daz_studio_4_x_quickstart_guide.pdf
Files, Extensions, What They Do
Jaderail jumped in a few minutes ago to help me out. (Second link) so thought I'd share my previous post Oct 22nd which asks some specific questions, and the summary of what the files DO by Jaderail. :)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/31055/#460178
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/15792/#477078
Cockatiel Lighting Challenge
Along the lines of puzzles and spotting differences, I'm sharing the WIPs (Works In Progress) from when I experimented with the cockatiel. This is for your enjoyment, but also for newbies to fine tune their skills in paying attention to the small nuances from changing lights. You may think "By George I have it!" but don't stop there. Obviously save the scene, then tweak one more time... you never know, you might like it better.
These are the experimentations, building on each other, but note- just because something was added, doesn't mean it was kept AT ALL. And when a light was added or removed, the others were always tested and some were adjusted.
The use of shadows to add contrast is just as important as the highlighted areas. I moved lights to create the shadows, and the first render was after about 8 other tweaks.
I've labeled the bird so you can more easily note your observations. If you'd like to share what you've found, feel free, it would help other people. Here's what to do- start with the first render, and then look at the second render. (Label it Render 2- Difference From Render 1)
and compare those two. If you do post your findings, be sure and include "left" and "right" where applicable.
Next, "Render 3- Difference From Render 2" and so forth. You are only comparing the next one, to the previous one.
Again, these are changes and tweaks, you may like one better than the finished version. There are reasons for the finished version however :) (If you find all the lighting differences in that last one from the previous one, you'll know why.) I will put the last two in the next post as I am limited to five images per post.
I'd recommend opening a new window and comparing the renders side by side, it makes it very easy to spot the changes. Click to enlarge. Have fun!
EDIT: As the next post went to a different page, I am only posting the labeled parts image here, and the WIPs on the next page so they will all be together.
EDIT: It went to a different page, so I am posting the images here and simply leaving the cockatiel parts which are labeled on that page.
EDIT: I thought having a duplicate page would make it easier but not sure if that is more trouble than it's worth, lol. I might try to resize and post a second group of images here so you can see smaller images side by side for those who would want that. (Nope, they have to be too small. You can't see details.)
Wow. this is quite a challenge. =-) I'm going to have to look at this carefully. =-)
If you'd like to see a really good use of Girl 4 and some fun costuming, check out Galactica1981's Art Studio thread that was just started. The clothes and the set are very well orchestrated and I think you'll find it very interesting.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/32132/
Today's Review is: FM Solar System
http://www.daz3d.com/fm-solar-system
By Flipmode
Inevitably if you do sci-fi renders you will want to do a render involving deep space, or have a space backdrop or planet showing outside your starship's viewport. Finding a general use product to generate a nice detailed starfield can be a bit of pain and using NASA photos can pose its own set of problems. Well, I'm pleased to say that FM Solar System takes the pain out of making a nice space scene or solar system render for your space-age render.
By default the set is designed to render OUR solar system. It comes with all the planets, the sun, several lights, and different options you can hide and make visible such as the rays of the sun. In fact there are so many options, I haven’t used them all. =-) The planets are initially labeled but you can also remove those with a convenient hide feature.
Where the set is invaluable (to me), is the non-standard solar system features. It has 9 great star fields including Black Hole, nebula, sun etc. These are perfect backdrops for deep space exploration, and perfect for portraying solar systems UNLIKE our own. While there are no unearthly planets, you could mix and match some planets from other sets, or use some of the lesser known planets and scale them or give them more satellites to market hem appear less like they are from our solar system.
One thing that is great is that the set really does load and render quickly. Making a large render with default lighting wasn‘t a problem. Adding spaceships and planets and satellites should be likewise a breeze… but, if you simply want to use the star fields outside your starships‘ viewport Flipmode gives you nine to select from.
I would love an expansion. Large asteroids, more stars, and some alien worlds and satellites would be welcome. Plus, of course, different types of suns.
This is a top notch product, and the best star field product I’ve used yet.
Image 1-3 Different nebulas using the star prop. They are all quite beautiful
Image 4 Jupiter
Image 5 The sun with Shuttlestar orbiting. Extra spot, and two uberpoint lights added to the rear engine lights.
I can see where those would be gorgeous as seen through a spaceship window. Even with depth of field (or the way you do gaussian blur) it would be a pretty background. It's nice that it renders quickly, that's an added bonus.
Did you drool when you saw the sci-fi vehicle today? So detailed. http://www.daz3d.com/skybike2
I spent too much during the animal sale so I'm passing on all these as I don't know when M6 is coming out or how much he is. I did look at the Genesis 2 female price so am guessing it will be about the same, depending on what's in the bundle.
Still thinking about your turtle. I think that one is your best render yet. (Coming out of the water.)
It is a surprisingly simple thing, but there are few really good basic starfield products. I ended up buying the backdrops since you need them a lot outside windows and viewports. Flipmode did a great job here. In fact, I bought this product a while ago, and didn't realize it had so many nice starfield textures. It is worth it for me alone to get that. Clicking to enlarge the renders will show how beautiful they are. I realize I could've done pictures of the planets, but I'm honestly quite excited about the stars and the promo art covers the planets pretty well.
Yes... I love Stonemason's stuff. I like the bike, and took advantage of the coupon to buy: Desert outpost. wishlisted the bike and the outfit too, because I'm waiting for M6. It is not just M6 himself, but if V6 is any sign, there will be hair, clothing, and poses made by others at the same time which will be on discount which I will snap up. (At least I hope), plus the inevitable parity converters, and probably genx for both figures etc.... And skin converters, and figure converters... And... the list goes on.
Glad you like the turtle. I generated a few more waterline backdrops to illustrate person in the same way. Unfortunately the perspective is somewhat limited given that it is slice from the side. But Ron's Waterline is a very useful product, and so easy to create a nice sea render.
I must say that I am pleased with Desert Outpost. The rocks are the best I've seen and don't have that pixelated low resolution look I have come to dread in rocks. (don't know why, but so many are bitmapped looking). Very realistic. The best part is you can unparent it, so you could make a watery grotto or plunk it down in one of flipmode's scenes. The top where the towers were looks a bit ragged, but nothing that can't be concealed.
Image 1: Rocks in Desert Outpost
Image 2: Outpost Landing
Image 3: Rocks in Desert Outpost+ River from Thunder River
Just some fun things to do with this set. Sorry, the images got out of order there.
Fun In The Sand
Violet For V4
Surfer V4
Philly Hair
Easy Environments: Greenlands
Ultimo Paradiso
Willow Spring
http://www.daz3d.com/fun-in-the-sand
http://www.daz3d.com/violet-for-v4
http://www.daz3d.com/surfer-v4
http://www.daz3d.com/philly-hair
http://www.daz3d.com/easy-environments-greenlands
http://www.daz3d.com/landscapes/ultimo-paradiso
http://www.daz3d.com/willow-spring
Render time: 15% at 1 hour 15 minutes. Final render time: 4 hours 20 minutes.
Shading rate .30, all other settings also high quality.
I've got to divert for awhile and work on the RRRR contest so I covered quite a few products in one swoop.
Although I just used the default for Fun In The Sand, you get 4 textures for the wood around the sandbox (Natural, Red Stained, Red Painted/Weathered, and Blue Painted/Weathered. You can morph the sand, and the water is muddy where the sand is "dug up." The default toy dump truck has sand in the truck bed and THERE IS A MORPH TO SHOW IT DUMPING. You can also remove the sand from the truck bed (there's a morph, no need to use Surfaces and opacity. The plastic bucket can be with the handle up or the handle down. There is a shovel included.
Now for a VERY pleasant surprise- Surfer V4. Frankly, the promo image doesn't do it justice by a LONG shot. I already had V4 posed and the outfit went on like a dream- and look at that pose! There are so many options, and they are quite delightful. In the promo, the back looks stiff and almost like plastic- it's not that way at all. If you need some good, casual clothes for V4, pick up this set for $1.99 PC Club. The sandals went on without any adjustment too.
Violet For V4: Very easy to light, haven't done a closeup of her but the skin materials seem very easy to work with. This is out of the box except I changed her eyes to green. No facial or body morphing. However, I will have to get some input on how to keep the figures from that ghostly glow that UE2 gives- I think it's the specular, right?
Keep Easy Environments: Greenlands (EEG) in mind if you need a large grassy area. You can also hide the mountains so they don't overwhelm the main scene by putting a wall and adjusting your camera angle up and down. The EEG has boulders and birch trees seen in the background.
Ultimo Paradiso- the vegetation on the left hand side of the scene. Most of it cut out, but trust me, if you need trees and bushes, it's got really nice ones.
Willow Spring provided the wall, stretched and scaled to extend across the entire width of the scene.
Philly Hair: just playing with it, rotated it and testing to see how it looks from different angles. Did NOT load onto the head. So load hair first before you pose.
TITLE: "If That Kid Doesn't Come Back Soon, I'm Taking This Stupid Thing Home."
What a challenging image! I'm not sure what I would've done if I had to put all those separate products together! I agree with you about the surfer v4 outfit. That is nice. Wish there were outfits like that for gen2 female. Good work.
Dark Places Bundle is 65% off: http://www.daz3d.com/dark-places-bundle If you are a PC club member. You can also use your stonemason PA coupon which stacks on this.
This is the closeup of Violet.
I personally am not a huge fan of UE2 because characters seem "ghostly." They don't look natural to me. While I like the white fuzz all around the outside edges, it also means it is white fuzzing all over the skin. And people are not outlined in white at almost every edge. So Violet's skin materials need tweaking I think, but specular was only 28% in lighting so if that impacts it (which is just sheen) let me know?
I agree with you about the UE2 lights.
For me- my peeve is the SSS lightbulb head. I'm not a huge fan of the SSS skin, althought I know lots of people love the pink-face look.
http://www.daz3d.com/fun-in-the-sand
Okay, now it's on sale. 50% off. Flash Sale!
That item also stacks with the Mega coupon. So its even more than that off!
Ya know, your comment made me blink twice. Here I sit, tier 2, Stonemason is 50% off, and I get 50% off the 50% and not doing it.
I'm sure no one else was that DUH. I got my wishlist stuff which was his large sets (Utopia Labs, Planet Lava, Planet Alpine, Desert Outpost (was happy to see you feature that one, I was getting it anyway though. Been on my list ever since it came out) and I also got a lot of other stuff. I am never going to get a better price anytime soon than 50% of 50%. (75% off.)
If you ever wonder how to quickly figure that, if you're not a math whiz, always use $100. Because the money amount is the same as the %
50% of $100 is $50
then 50 percent (half) of that is $25.
So if you spend $25 then you are getting $75 off, or 75%.
I wasn't going to spend that much, but I worked to get those tier 2 rewards and this alone makes it worth it. I wonder if DAZ is feeling the heat from the "mega prize" from quite a few people and due to the backlash is making it worthwhile to have achieved the tiers.