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nice work swordkensia , I think the materials for Luxrender are still not finished but you did good job actually !! thanks for sharing !!
A big thank you Cathy for the free outfit today and the other two as well.
Thank you
You welcome ! and thanks for the support ! thanks for that I can make more nice freebies in the future
I was testing these out and decided to post a few DAZ Studio renders of them just to show how good they look out of the box. All images are rendered in DAZ Studio 4.6.3.50 using the Advanced Ambient Light and Advanced Spotlight. Character Skin is FWDan. Morphs are a mix of G2M morphs including Gianni. No surface adjustments on anything! I will post the Hoplite tomorrow if I remember to. Not all accessories are shown.
And the Spartan too.
A quick use of the Spartan outfit
Thanks for sharing guys !!
Simon I read some comments under your artwork ..
the fact that the Spartan was half naked is not a Hollywood fantasy, they indeed did not wear even underwear ..and cover themselves just with the cape and only for cold reason .. they believed that any sort of clothing will block the movements of the body while fighting ..there is an old painting by Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), Leonidas at Thermopylae inspired by ancient ceramic art... you can Google it.. attention include nudity ;) and there was actually 4000 Spartans under Leonidas not 300
LOL, thanks, Cath - I shall try to remember to pass that on :)
The Hoplite.
Finances only let me stretch to one set and I eventually settled on the Hoplite.
First quick render, wonderfully detailed set.
Looks GOOD!! thanks for sharing !!
Great renders folks! Got my two pack. Thanks Cath for the great work you do.. always! XOXO
Thanks Richard !! xoxo
Gratz on some great products Cath, All of the sets are very nicely crafted!
And TY to those who bought the Spartan Pose set as well.
Nice composition !! thanks! love the SPARTAN poses !!! they are great also to use with the other sets beside Spartan
thanks for making them!!
Cath
Just a small little picture, it's a mix of the Spartan set and the Hercules set :)
A spartan and his trusty sidekick
TOO CUTE ... I love raccoon !! I have a little raccoon family in the backyard in the middle of the city , they come at night and the little ones was so cute but not until they saw me i had to back off ..
I like the mix of the clothing .. the reason for that I keep the leather in the same tones ..so it can be match .. thanks for sharing
Thank you, MEC4D, for your always extraordinary work, and for the Hercules free sale, which I was able to catch.
Both models, Hercules and Spartan are beautifully detailed and the textures are incredible, and render amazingly. MEC4D. 'Nuff said.
There is one question, though, about the Spartan cape. I'm getting a very strange shadow happening on the shoulders. I also see the same issue on some of Design Anvil's excellent Spartan Poses promo images, so I know it's not my rig. Although the whole cape shoulder sits off the figure a bit, and should have a continuous shadow, the shadows are only showing up in the lowest parts, with very abrupt edges.
I've tried renders with shadow map and ray traced, but can't get a contiguous shadow line on the shoulders. Because the weird shadows are happening in such a prominent area, and are so glaring, I'm finding it hard to position Spartan so this odd shadow won't ruin an otherwise great scene.
Any idea what may be causing this?
Probably the angle of the lighting. :) Those shadows seem to be like that because it's not conforming to the skin like clingfilm (and nor should it). Those dips are where the human body is curving beneath the taut material.
Changing the angle of the lighting should alter that (or directing a secondary source of light directly on the torso).
Thank you and you welcome!
the problem with the shadow is in the light setting , the distance of the shadow is to great
I have the same issue when rendering with AoA light, I have to reduce the distance to 0.50 to get the shadows right ..
it have nothing to do with the clothing ..
I don't know what for light you use but check the shadow settings ( or increasing the shadow maps ) so the details closer to the body will cast accurate shadows ..
if the effect is created by ambient occlusion you need to change the distance
here you see 2 images
first is with standard shadow bias
and the second with smaller shadow bias .. the same light position different Bias and the shadows show accurate
the same go for Ambient Occlusion if the Bias is to great only partial areas will get darker that have greater distance and the closer one nothing
and here with AO
first have greater value and second lower Bias value for the finer details
Thank you very much. This shadow thing had me moping about.
It's a funny thing about Daz Studio. One uses features and tools every day, generally with the same basic settings, never wondering much about all the other settings that are usually left in default position, because there are so many. Then, some issue crops up, and the purpose of these unused values comes to light. Another tool ready to hand.
This shadow thing is a good example. I've never understood bias or how it's used. Never messed with it at all. I really appreciate your opening up these new doors. And, I'm really jazzed to find a solution!
There are moments, sometimes, when a render is just starting to take shape, and something unexpected and magical is happening on my computer screen, bucket by bucket, and I'm just blown away by what I'm seeing... Those times are why I mess with this stuff, always hoping to stumble upon another piece of magic like that, and learning as I go.
Your work does that to me all the time. Incredible. Thanks for putting so much into your artwork.
Thank You and You are more than welcome , I never came across this issue until the day I purchased AoA light set that has the setting for a big scene and not small details scenes by default .. it is good to know about Bias setting as it can give you pretty shadows on the eyes and eyelashes making it more realistic in place of use painted shadows on eyeballs textures to simulate the shadows , usually the clothing are almost melted with the surface so you don't notice the wrong shadows .. so you learned an important trick today that will improve your future work , what people do in cases like that is changing the light position thinking it is a DS bug , but for real that are wrong shadows or AO values
the AoA advanced lighting setting have the values in centimeters so it is easy to adjust the correct mini distances between the 2 objects
but the same with any other light
I learned a lot from unexpected issues ..or mistakes that open the doors to the next level or give me another great ideas .. so nothing wrong with that , and I am glad you ask about so others can adjust now the Bias ..just in case they experience the same rendering issue with the light .
That's true. But, there are some descriptions of ancient female "heroines" from Herodotus, Polyaenus and Pausanias.
The first one would be Artemisia I. of Halikarnassos. Fought during the second Persian Invasion (War) in her deceased husband stead on Persian side and commanded a small flotilla at Salamis. Had a price on her had (10.000 drachmas (a value equal to around 43,33 kg of silver!), most likely for being a woman doing a man's work and beeing a greece woman fighting against her home nation. A bit of a dubious character if you'd ask me. She's known for sinking an allied ship when chased by a ship of Athens, and for carrying different "colours" (flags) on board. When chased by an enemy, she'd command to change the persian one to a greek one and vice versa. A bit of an early Pirate Lady. Even if she'd be the most beautiful woman ever born... although I really, really like beautiful women, I'd always take the drachmas! Just to be safe.
:lol:
If your familiar with ships of that era, they all had a wide open deck, no railing or other things to hide behind to take cover. And you can`t command it from under deck. She'd most likely wore some kind of protection, even if she were surrounded by guards. Would be to dangerous without, an arrow or thrown spear could easily be a nasty and painful career end.
Amage was a Samartian Queen, who ruled on her husband's stead (no, not dead; partying and drinking, as they say.
As if a royal behaviour like that would be a real difference to nowadays!)
:lol:
She personally (so Polyaenus wrote) led a raiding party of 120 on a scythian prince's palace, who unhealthily refused to her wish to leave the people of Chersonesus alone (the prince, not the palace :)), killed the guards and the prince's friends and relatives. And the prince himself, too, of course.
In her case I'd also dissuade from a marriage, you'll never know if it would be very wise to say "no" if she'd want to have a new ring, necklace, dress, whatever. Unhealthy at worst and very costly at "best".
:lol:
Although it's most likely and merely a legend, but it's also been said, that every legend has a true essence:
Telesilla, a female poet of the city of Argos who led the defense of her city when the Spartans defeated the Argive army and literally wiped them out (510 B.C.).
"...So when Cleomenes led his troops to Argos there were no men to defend it.
But Telesilla mounted on the wall all the slaves and such as were incapable of bearing arms through youth or old age, and she herself, collecting the arms in the sanctuaries and those that were left in the houses, armed the women of vigorous age, and then posted them where she knew the enemy would attack. When the Lacedaemonians came on, the women were not dismayed at their battle-cry, but stood their ground and fought valiantly. Then the Lacedaemonians, realizing that to destroy the women would be an invidious success while defeat would mean a shameful disaster, gave way before the women."
[Pausanias, "Description of Greece" 2.20.8 / 2.20.9]
Just a legend? Possibly. Believable historical event? Undoubtly for me.
Without going into detail, the adults among us know, what, uh, very, very, very "unpleasent" fate a female in thoose days most likely would suffer if her city got sacked by an enemy.
That's a gal of my liking! That one I'd marry straight from the spot, although her name sounds somewhat like "Teletubby".
:lol:
Wouldn't that be a nice new project?
;-)
Uh, what's "Jein" (Yes and No) in english?
If the ancient historians are believable, there were in fact only 300 Spartans with Leonidas. But hat doesn't mean that the were alone, they had allies at their sides. But that weren't Spartans by definition.
According to Herodotus [7.203-7.204], the original deployment at the Thermopylai has been around 5,200+ men.
Unfortunately "In addition to these the Locrians of Opus had been summoned to come in their full force" is a bit vague and could be any number between 1 and 1,000. Or a lollipop. Could have been more specific here, the old bloke!
:)
But he wrote also, that, after Leonidas sent the majority of his troops away, "... only the Thespians and the Thebans remained behind with the Lacedemonians". [7.222] "Lacedemonians" is an ancient "slang" for Spartan.
According to Herodotus' "Deployment List" Theban provided 400, and Thespian 700. In that case there have been a total of 1,400 men defending the pass against the Persians, because "...of the Spartans three hundred hoplites..." is what he lists for Sparta.
Yes, I know, that conflicts with the inscription at the momument: "Here once, facing in fight three hundred myriads of foemen,
Thousands four did contend, men of the Peloponnese." So, either or, one source isn't quite correct, the inscription or the "old bloke".
Or... both.
:lol:
Unfortunately, Herodotus is the most expeditous source for that event which occured when he was just around four years old... aaand the fact that he described the deployment of the Persians with around 1.7 Million plus 80,000 cavalry and 20,000 camel riders and chariots scratches a bit on his reliabilty. Served several years in the logistics branch of the german Army myself, the supply of 150 men could sometimes be problematic... the logistics for that number would have been a real nightmare!
Thanks to Matty and all the others for their nice preview renders.
Pretty, very pretty, but... where's my Hoplite?
:gulp: :red:
Nevermind, just joking!
:-P
Hi Stefan ,
thanks for the NOVEL .. reply haha
actually I am part West-German too from my mother side ..
Just because someone believe in something don't make it straight true , if historical legends was true then we have to believe in Dragons too or blue people that came from the sky ..etc
The Goddess Athena was wearing an armor .. and was portrayed androgynous so she gain more respect from the men as beauty would not take her far in this time , the same for Cleopatra ... or other powerful woman in the history but most of us want to believe other wise .. other ways no beauty with a sword in the temples would be portrayed today hahaha .. ( beauty regarding to our trends today )
as the beauties from yesterday was looking totally different and unless she wearing high heels in her armor there would be not much interest ...
Regarding your other Hoplite soldier .. it will come later since I am busy with other projects at this moment that have to be finished .. so patience my friend .. it is on my list and I don't want to rush anything ..especially if I am doing reconstruction .. waiting for the passionate moment again or I will burn up ending in underworld of Hades for longer than I want :)
I will be back again on the subject ! and for sure in a new thread with a new product.. so stay tuned
"True beauty lies within the eyes of the beholder..." ;-)
In case of the "High Heels" things haven't really changed... even if the wearer is a real cute one! Take DAZ's Olympia f.e.:
even there some of your fellow PA's feel the unfortunate need for their costumes to put her in that ridiculous inappropriate footwear!
I hope you'll never find the need to hop on that awful train, too.
Six million years of human evolution couldn't get rid of masculine chauvinism...
:lol:
***UPDATE*** For Reality 2.5 users, new ACSEL materials for Mec4D's Spartan are now available in ACSEL Share! Please download & enjoy! ( Hoplite & Hercules coming soon too ;-) )
Is Hercules still free if you buy Spartan or has that finished now?
I can only now afford to buy it, but it is not changing any prices.
I am sorry - that was only for the first day ...