Novica & Serene Night’s Renders, Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews PART 2
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I really like the romantic render.
Looking through the back catalog environments I ran across Joelegecko who has a bunch of director's cuts for stonemason environments. He's set up a number of camera angles and includes about 20 sky textures for DS, Carrara and Poser. I'm going to test out the Street's of Asia version. It's different from Dreamlight's stuff in that it doesn't include lighting. I'm going to try a render tomorrow, hopefully the computer doesn't keel over and die at the size of streets of asia.
http://www.daz3d.com/joelegecko
Today’s Review
Vida Hair
http://www.daz3d.com/vida-hair
By 3dDream Mairy
Skin Used here is Bree which comes Genesis Female 2 starter essentials
Eyes are: Connie for V6
http://www.daz3d.com/connie-for-v6
Vida hair interested me, as it is a nice basic hairdo with a number of morphs and styles suitable for any sort of character. I particularly am intrigued by the extreme hair movement morphs, as these could be quite useful in water renders, which I like. Although designed for gen4/ and genesis, the hair applies nicely to V6, which is my stock female character. The hair has 15 styles and ten colors, and several adjustments.
The hair has some nice areas which provide a believable realism, especially in the front, however in some cases the hair appears to be clumpy and distorted when movements are applied. Adjustments can be made to prevent clipping, but I found the adjustments I attempted did not look as natural as I would like.
This hair still renders better than many new release hairs and may suit you if you are looking for something with this style. I find this hair to be a keeper because I am always needing hair with extra movement morphs.
Images 1, 2 hair with various movement morphs applied.
Image 3, default hair.
Saxon Settlement By Merlin
Sir Worthington
Predatron DS Lights
http://www.daz3d.com/saxon-settlement-by-merlin
http://www.daz3d.com/sir-worthington
http://www.daz3d.com/predatron-ds-lights
Don't ask what Sir Worthington is doing in a Saxon village, he just got lost. Translation, I am testing out outfits and I don't really care WHERE the character ends up while I'm doing it, lol!
I played around with Saxon Village, the bump/displacement settings for the thatched roof had major tweaks. I've got to say this is the first Merlin product where I felt I needed to tweak some things. The thatched/wood branch hut needed changes in displacement and bump, and that door overhang was very square, and the edges seemed too perfect for me. If you notice the branches on the side inverted V's, they are wiry, curvy, and would not conform to a perfect line. Even if they did, IMO, with weathering, there would be branches poking down. So you can see the original and with my postwork. Otherwise, it's Merlin, and the details are extremely nice as usual.
Added one distant light, coming from our left, onto the roof. Otherwise, this is 03 Raytrace from Predatron DS Lights.It was 20.6% and a light pink. UE2 turned down to 7.9% intensity and 71.75 intensity scale (Can't remember if that was the original setting or not.) If I recall, if you don't turn it down, it will be too bright. Infinite was changed to a darker mauve and 52.2%
Anyone tried the Voyager outfit for the Genesis 2 males? It did not load properly when the male was posed, but Sir Worthington did. The pose was NOT extreme either, just the one above. The pants loaded completely off the figure, they were behind him. I double checked and M6 was selected in Scene for both outfits. Tried it twice. I'm going to try it again from the T pose. My studio has been known to be funky, but then I wonder why the Worthington loaded up correctly within seconds of trying the other one. I'll let you know when I test it.
EDIT: Also, I put a few light lines in the boots, see how they stand out better? Subtle, but there.
Oooh, let us see it if you do!
One thing about the romantic render- keep in mind those filmy curtains might look good in another scene as a backdrop. :) They are very detailed (you can't tell because of my depth of field.)
They really should show that Vida Hair "in action" as none of the thumbnails do. That is really a bonus, totally agree about the underwater effect.
Question- when say you used Connie's eyes, was there any skin materials you needed to adjust? Did it go on the Bree skin without any tweaking?
I think Vida hair will look nice in an underwater render.
No. Just used the Connie eye color and it applied without adjustment. Connie's eyes and skin are beautiful and detailed. Bree's eyes were kind of bland.
I often do that with figures, mix-n-match the eyes.
Edit: Added one more render with a different shade of Connie's eyes and hair in default position.
I have to stay out of here you two make me spend money....LOL had to buy that water though looked really good in your render Novica...Trish
I should render a closeup of Bree's face. I can hardly see her makeup when the camera is far from her face.
Bree's texture is actually quite nice. She has a golden quality and isn't so pale she is tough to light. Her eye makeup options are nice. The eyes themselves are a bit generic but can be easily replaced. Her lipstick has a slightly chalky quality as opposed to the usual gloss, but overall, I like the figure's skin.
Using this tutorial:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/24093/
I was at last somewhat successful in converting some of M5's morphs to Michael 6. You can mix and match the morphs between sets with varying results:
Render 1 is:
Gabriel Head (Gen 5) 199%
Michael 5 (Gen 5) 100%
I mixed and matched this with varying degrees of:
Weight .10
Face Round .32 (I messed around with this option to change the cheekbones in both renders)
Head propagating scale: 2%
Eye Iris Size .42%
Lights here are Jason. Skin is Axel M5 with a slight golden diffuse
While the conversion is not perfect, and some of the facial poses seem distorted, I like the results so far.
I really appreciate the extra facial option and the less prominent temple. I'm still working on it, just thought I'd share. =-)
I'd say I'm sorry, but misery loves company :) (Misery of the money going bye-bye, but happiness at rendering it.) I did decide to hold off on everything in that order except AirSled and Warhead- spent $8.46 instead of $56.00 I am SO proud of myself. I had to ask myself if I would use those items anytime soon, as they were 50% off, vs these others at 65% off and the Warhead looks very versatile (both air and water scenes.)
What have you bought lately, other than the water?
A 68 Camaro....and a toon VW.....LOL Trish
I like the shape of the lodge with the antlers. Very intriguing. An interesting triangle. You were good to identify the problem areas in the thatch of the roof. Too bad there isn't more detail there. Painted on textures like that make the roof look like it is wood, not thatch which could be an issue.
I passed on the Voyager outfit.
The Crypt Of Pralleus
http://www.daz3d.com/the-crypt-of-pralleus
For your textured beings, you can't go wrong with the light set with The Crypt Of Pralleus. NO LIGHTS WERE ADDED OR EVEN CHANGED.
This is one of my textures created from scratch- actually two of them. The diffuse is an olive green one while the bump is a blue texture. Using two different colors is interesting.
It's going to be almost 70 degrees today (it's 3:30am, headed to bed) so I'm going to take advantage and go riding out at the ranch. I'll pop back in sometime later tomorrow evening. Enjoy the first day of December :)
It is supposed to be cloudy and around 70 degrees in north Florida (Pensacola to Jacksonville). That is nice weather for riding a horse. I want to move to Florida to escape the cold weather. lol Enjoy your day.
Lora For V5 And Young Teens
Adarian
Xenia Hair
Genesis Supersuit
Portrait Studio Props
The Executioner For Genesis
Pin Up Poses For V5
http://www.daz3d.com/lora-for-v5-and-young-teens
http://www.daz3d.com/adarian
http://www.daz3d.com/xenia-hair
http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-supersuit
http://www.daz3d.com/portrait-studio-props
http://www.daz3d.com/the-executioner-for-genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/pin-up-poses-for-v5
While exploring what I've got loaded in Content Library, I came across Lora. And then wow, the head options. There's Lora, Karina, Ayako, Yelena, Haley (who I am using) Phoebe, Caitlyn, and Kellie! In other words, a lot of gals to choose from. And what I really like- the makeup options. You can go close to natural, all the way to sultry. There's the choice of EHSS Mats, or default Mats, and you can chose different bodies to go with the heads.
I did have to apply a smoothing modifier to get the hair to look less chunky, but it looks that way due to the extreme lighting. Under normal lights, you can see it looks much better. Xenia Hair went on easily and I did not tweak it AT ALL.
The Portrait Studio Props is PC and worth getting.
The Pinup Poses V5 does have a few nice sitting ones that with slight tweaking, do not look pinup at all. They look like portrait studio positions.
This is my first Genesis Supersuit, and I have a lot to learn. Please go to the Adarian outfit and take a CLOSE look at it. I added all the black lace under the shirt top, added the black lace gloves that are under the Executioner Arm Wraps. (I love those, the ribbons are different colors, I made them maroon and changed the color of the other part of them too.) You'll like the Adarian Boots (not shown) because you can use The Fabricator and add the material (like my black lace) to parts of the boots there too. I would have liked to have the top come around more under the underarms but the option I chose didn't have that. It had large sections that continued up on the chest (like a t-shirt, not what I wanted.) By simply turning your camera angle, this would look just fine. I wanted you to see it. :)
The first picture I put a collar on just to see how it looks. I took it back off, I like the plain better, but this will show you what you can do.
I love the forearm/gloves black lace under the wraps!
EDIT: I might fix this later but wanted to show you one of the things I am still learning about- see the white line on the arm/underneath glove on our left? That is one of the lines from the Supersuit. I was wondering if there was an option that did not have the sections marked by lines, because I had to go in and get the teeny tiny dividing lines separately. That is one that I missed.
FYI, the smoothing iterations were 11. Collision was 6 (You need to go to Scene, have Xenia Hair selected, then go up above the word "Scene" to that little square menu box and do Edit>Add Smoothing Modifier. This hair doesn't have one. Then it will appear in Parameters for you)
Novica: do you have this?? will it help my renders any??.....Thanks Trish
All software and shaders are50% off! http://www.daz3d.com/back-catalog-software
Be warned that Lux is way slower than 3Delight. Here is a thread about Luxus that should be helpful: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/21492/
Sorry I couldn't help you more.
Hey Trish :)
I don't have it...I've got so many programs that I don't use, that it is ridiculous. I ended up returning the latest Carrara because the first one has just sat there (same with Bryce so far as not having time to explore it.) I think if you're going to use something often, it might be worth looking at, but also to make an informed decision, this was in the reference section of this thread for Luxus and LuxRender. (It's me and Slosh talking about it- he's very experienced with it.)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20943/#308748
Buddy Bot
http://www.daz3d.com/buddy-bot
Just wanted to show you the nice textures on Buddy. He was one of my favorites on my wishlist and I realized that I've had him awhile and not rendered. HE RENDERS FAST. So if you need a bot, Buddy's your dude.
He's huge too! This render is 2000 pixels, click to enlarge then click again for excellent closeup.
EDIT: Rendering now, a full size one with UE2 lighting.
Okay, here's the big guy again. He truly renders fast, so keep him in mind if you need a scene with a lot of bots. This was at a .30 shading rate too!
Again, click to enlarge/click again. It's 2000 pixels tall and you can scroll to see all the details.
Headlight eyes are cool. :)
Thanks. I didn't do anything with any of the lights, I'll have to experiment with those FX effects and I believe it's called AreaLights? I'm a noob on lighting when it comes to the other products, I have to get busy on that. I was just telling SereneNight in an email that I posted some questions on this thread in case anyone knows the answers. It might help out some other people so I didn't post it here.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/33367/
Buddy Bot has some other lights that could be lit up too, I noticed.
That bot looks good! he is a cutie! Someone hasn't been maintaining him though- he's all rusty. I like the lighting too.
I have the uberpoint lights. Very good for lighting small things and creating certain effects.
Removing Hair Cling
Here is a basic tutorial for how to remove the hair ‘cling’ to ears that are sharp and pointed. For this purpose I am using FW Dan, with M5’s Mats applied. Don’t ask me why I applied M5’s mats, I was just a bit bored and experimenting and I can't say it looks that great, but what the heck.
Step 1: Select a figure that has pointed ears, or create your own using Morphs
Step 2: Apply the hair of your choice to this figure. Hair will conform unbecomingly to the ears.
Step 3: Select the hair in scene view. Make sure you are in the Parameters tab and Select “Show Hidden Properties”
Step 4: Once hidden properties for the hair are visible, go down the list and zero out anything that has the word ear in it. Hair will stop conforming to the ears. Voila! hair cling is gone!
Screenie 1: Default figure
Screenie 2: Hair is applied!
Screenie 3: Show hidden properties tab
Screenie 4: Finished hair
Very clever!
Still can't say I'd want to hang out with that dude, lol!)
Young Teens 5 Julie
Deborah (for Young Teen Julie)
The Time Traveler
DM Aramonk
The Ruins of Angkor Wat
http://www.daz3d.com/young-teens-5-julie
http://www.daz3d.com/deborah-for-julie
http://www.daz3d.com/the-timetraveler
http://www.daz3d.com/dms-aramonk
http://www.daz3d.com/the-ruins-of-angkor-wat
When you see The Time Traveler, you think Steampunk, because the gold and bronze is featured. Be sure and look at the other color options. This outfit is great sans the helmet. With it, IMO, it looks too much like an alien. Of course, that could be a nice perk if you're looking for mysterious and attention-getting. It will certainly do the job!
Tip: Take the niche from the set and use these to stretch it behind the throne, it will make a perfect wall and expand your set horizontally. This depends on your camera angle, but all you have to do is just use Y translation to hide the arch of the niche. I made a long wall along the back, then used the panels to make a separate wall on the left. (not shown yet.)
The Ruins of Angkor Wat has that nice panorama that makes an easy background for this temple. I used the skydome also. I did have to add three spotlights, one of which was just specular. Place one distant light on each side, one in front (not directly, off center just a tad) and make the center one the specular. They were all off white to slightly pink.
DM Aramonk comes with poses- to sit on the throne, sit on the steps (although I really tweaked it, this looks more like my version than the one that came with it. I had to adjust the pose due to the long hair.
The hair tweaks in back, but unless I'm just missing it, there aren't a lot of sections to choose to bend. You can shorten it of course, but the ends bend so it can flow onto surfaces if she is sitting down. There are no blond options for the hair, only white and silver and the darker colors. If the forehead seems to exposed, just use the right and left "show eye" to bring the hair over. It makes the forehead seem less high.
For one of the images, I did not do depth of field so you can see all the details in the set.
Compare these two first. If your character is looking a bit chalky, it is probably the UE2 lighting, even though you might have it really turned down. I changed some of the lights to a light rose color. Also turned down UE2 more, and ADDED a spotlight above the head- note the glow on the stones around her, as it's shooting down. In postwork, you can either leave it or dull it down.
EDIT: Click to enlarge and click again. Because these are 2000 pixels, when shrunk down, they darken substantially.
You can always make the white or silver hair options blonde by adding a darkened yellow in the diffuse color
And part of the set. I'll try to rotate and show you more tomorrow. :)
One thing that gave me the giggles, there is a repeating smiley face in the columns because the texture is tiled. Do you see it?