The Blue City - beautiful!

JamieM

What a beautiful set The Blue City is! The Blue City Kit | 3D Models and 3D Software by Daz 3D

The house and shop lights render so gorgeously. It's a place made for stories.

As with a different artist's Australian Outback set Australian Outback Environment | 3D Models and 3D Software by Daz 3D a week ago, I am puzzled that the creator only gives "kit parts" and doesn't provide a preload or ready scene of any kind - just separate props.

This is clearly stated in the Promo - so no issue there - but, as much fun as it is to spend hours trying to recreate the images of that promo, I would often prefer to have the choice of a headstart with the Artist's best scene and then adapt from there. The Artist must have made the scenes to create the pictures - so why not share them?

As it is, I still can't make some of the images I see advertised. And that hill is a bit confusing ... 

 

caravelle

I saw ’The Blue City', and had to have it! I had noticed this wonderful and authentic environment before, as a background for Meshitup's 'Rabari Tribe Outfit‘, and I was excited to see it in the shop today. Unfortunately, I can download it only tomorrow, but I'm really looking forward to it! 

Sera

I do think it is gorgeous, but I was wondering what outfits would look best with it, considering its middle eastern fairy tale vibe. I am hesitant to buy it without first figuring out what the locals would wear.... 

NorthOf45

Maybe this discussion will help: Rabari Tribe Outfit - Help! Background Scenery. The PA (Meshitup) promised it for later, and here it is...

tsroemi

Truly beautiful, thanks for bringing it to my attention! It sort of passed under my radar before, but now I've wishlisted it. Lovely colors! I think it can be used with traditional Middle Eastern, Indian and Pakistani themes pretty well, maybe use white rather than blue for more realistic vibes.

Serene Night

Honestly, the repetitive textures are really hard on the eyes in this set. It is very hard on my eyes to look at.

Hylas

I don´t think I´ll find use for it, but I did notice this set. It´s gorgeous.

(I think it´s supposed to be Indian though, not Middle Eastern.)

 

Generally speaking I strongly dislike modular sets without presets. It absolutely influences whether I will buy a set or not.

I appreciate the flexibility that comes with modular sets, but if it doesn´t come with presets I might choose a similar non-modular set over it.

I have quite a lot of patience when it comes to meticulously posing human figures, experiementing with lights, and fiddling with surface settings. But when it comes to placing walls, floors, ceilings, and other architectural elements I get fed up really quickly. It´s just not something I enjoy doing.

LeatherGryphon

Interesting factoid:  Most early civilizations and primitive societies usually didn't have a word for the color blue.  It was often described as "dark" or a version of green or black.  The Egyptians were an exception. 

Sevrin

Yeah, it looks nice, but like @Hylas says, an assemble preset would have had me pushing the button.  Now I'll wait.

kyoto kid

...crikey how did I miss this yesterday when it was 8.99$

caravelle

certaintree38 said:

I do think it is gorgeous, but I was wondering what outfits would look best with it, considering its middle eastern fairy tale vibe. I am hesitant to buy it without first figuring out what the locals would wear.... 

When I see the promo pictures, I almost smell the streets of old Indian or Pakistani cities... Irresistible.

caravelle

Hylas said:

(I think it´s supposed to be Indian though, not Middle Eastern.)

Exactly.

Mark_e593e0a5

Sevrin said:

Yeah, it looks nice, but like @Hylas says, an assemble preset would have had me pushing the button.  Now I'll wait.

Same here. The promo video looks really great. As the PA had to build some scences anyway to showcase the product, I am wondering why those scenes are left out. It would require little extra effort for the PA and would provide added value for the undecisive customer. 

MelanieL

kyoto kid said:

...crikey how did I miss this yesterday when it was 8.99$

It wasn't released at that price, but the same as today (40% off) - I think that $8.99 price was part of the accidental glitch sale yesterday evening, so blink and you'd have missed it. 

MelissaGT

I wish the textures were a bit higher rez. I do have it in my wishlist for later...if the textures weren't so blurry I would have bought it yesterday. 

I instantly thought of Guild Wars 2 and the Free City of Amnoon when I saw it. 

Gogger

I liked it enough to go ahead and pick it up right away, but would gladly pay a little extra to get those scene presets because, yeah, setting stuff like that up can be a bit tedious. 

So, asking for a friend - if someone were to create some layout or scene presets is there any reason they couldn't share them here?  Maybe we could crowd source what all feel is missing.

FSMCDesigns

This would be the perfect oppurtunity for a user wanting to dip their toe into the freebie forum. just create some scenes with it and then share the preset, seems that some would be interested from veiwing this thread.

I like the design, but not fond of the textures

JamieM

I'm getting closer to one of the promo images I liked. 

But it only adds to my puzzlement at the lack of a preset - because some buildings seem to really only fit into certain specific slots on the "hill". Which means that the user doesn't have a huge amount of choice as to what goes where. I had to fiddle a bit to work out what fitted and how. 

So why not simply offer it as a preload?

(I still think it's a gorgeous set.)

PerttiA

FSMCDesigns said:

This would be the perfect oppurtunity for a user wanting to dip their toe into the freebie forum. just create some scenes with it and then share the preset, seems that some would be interested from veiwing this thread.

I like the design, but not fond of the textures

It seems like there is quite a lot of variance in pixels/inch between different surfaces, especially the edge of the balcony jumped out. 

MelissaGT

JamieM said:

I'm getting closer to one of the promo images I liked. 

But it only adds to my puzzlement at the lack of a preset - because some buildings seem to really only fit into certain specific slots on the "hill". Which means that the user doesn't have a huge amount of choice as to what goes where. I had to fiddle a bit to work out what fitted and how. 

So why not simply offer it as a preload?

(I still think it's a gorgeous set.)

I still can't get over how heinous some of the textures are, illustrated particularly well by your example shot. 

And yes, if they don't snap together anywhere, like greebles, then there should be a preset.  

Sera

JamieM said:

I'm getting closer to one of the promo images I liked. 

But it only adds to my puzzlement at the lack of a preset - because some buildings seem to really only fit into certain specific slots on the "hill". Which means that the user doesn't have a huge amount of choice as to what goes where. I had to fiddle a bit to work out what fitted and how. 

So why not simply offer it as a preload?

(I still think it's a gorgeous set.)

How is it on resources? does it slow your pc down at all? 

JamieM

certaintree38 said:

JamieM said:

I'm getting closer to one of the promo images I liked. 

But it only adds to my puzzlement at the lack of a preset - because some buildings seem to really only fit into certain specific slots on the "hill". Which means that the user doesn't have a huge amount of choice as to what goes where. I had to fiddle a bit to work out what fitted and how. 

So why not simply offer it as a preload?

(I still think it's a gorgeous set.)

How is it on resources? does it slow your pc down at all? 
 

It seems pretty undemanding. I haven't noticed any problems when moving pieces around.  The render seemed relatively fast. 

Sevrin

JamieM said:

I'm getting closer to one of the promo images I liked. 

But it only adds to my puzzlement at the lack of a preset - because some buildings seem to really only fit into certain specific slots on the "hill". Which means that the user doesn't have a huge amount of choice as to what goes where. I had to fiddle a bit to work out what fitted and how. 

So why not simply offer it as a preload?

(I still think it's a gorgeous set.)

I like the look a lot, but in certain places, like the bench the character is sitting on, the textures are pretty yikes.  With careful camera placement and use of depth of field, you can compensate, but that does limit your options. 

My guess is that the PA was trying to find a compromise that allowed a large set of buildings to be used on a wider range of hardware.  There would have been, and might still be, complaints about the textures being too heavy if they had gone the other way.

Gogger

Sevrin said:

JamieM said:

I'm getting closer to one of the promo images I liked. 

But it only adds to my puzzlement at the lack of a preset - because some buildings seem to really only fit into certain specific slots on the "hill". Which means that the user doesn't have a huge amount of choice as to what goes where. I had to fiddle a bit to work out what fitted and how. 

So why not simply offer it as a preload?

(I still think it's a gorgeous set.)

I like the look a lot, but in certain places, like the bench the character is sitting on, the textures are pretty yikes.  With careful camera placement and use of depth of field, you can compensate, but that does limit your options. 

My guess is that the PA was trying to find a compromise that allowed a large set of buildings to be used on a wider range of hardware.  There would have been, and might still be, complaints about the textures being too heavy if they had gone the other way.

Some vendors provide hi-res and low-res versions of textures. That is a very professional solution that I like when it is offered and factors in to judging the asking price vs what you get. My system can handle the higher res, but I can empathize with the lots and lots of people who absolutely need the low-res option. Why can't we ALL win?  This is a very interesting set and could have been knocked completely out of the park with presets and alternate resolutions. 

Charlie Judge

kyoto kid said:

...crikey how did I miss this yesterday when it was 8.99$

Don't feel bad. That price was the result of a glitch that only lasted a very short time. 

Luciel

Gogger said:

Sevrin said:

JamieM said:

I'm getting closer to one of the promo images I liked. 

But it only adds to my puzzlement at the lack of a preset - because some buildings seem to really only fit into certain specific slots on the "hill". Which means that the user doesn't have a huge amount of choice as to what goes where. I had to fiddle a bit to work out what fitted and how. 

So why not simply offer it as a preload?

(I still think it's a gorgeous set.)

I like the look a lot, but in certain places, like the bench the character is sitting on, the textures are pretty yikes.  With careful camera placement and use of depth of field, you can compensate, but that does limit your options. 

My guess is that the PA was trying to find a compromise that allowed a large set of buildings to be used on a wider range of hardware.  There would have been, and might still be, complaints about the textures being too heavy if they had gone the other way.

Some vendors provide hi-res and low-res versions of textures. That is a very professional solution that I like when it is offered and factors in to judging the asking price vs what you get. My system can handle the higher res, but I can empathize with the lots and lots of people who absolutely need the low-res option. Why can't we ALL win?  This is a very interesting set and could have been knocked completely out of the park with presets and alternate resolutions. 

Should probably make them seperate installation files though (so 1 base model then 1 high and 1 standard pack for textures). Otherwise you'll get complaints about using extra hard drive space (and/or bandwidth) needlessly.

Sevrin

Luciel said:

Gogger said:

Sevrin said:

JamieM said:

I'm getting closer to one of the promo images I liked. 

But it only adds to my puzzlement at the lack of a preset - because some buildings seem to really only fit into certain specific slots on the "hill". Which means that the user doesn't have a huge amount of choice as to what goes where. I had to fiddle a bit to work out what fitted and how. 

So why not simply offer it as a preload?

(I still think it's a gorgeous set.)

I like the look a lot, but in certain places, like the bench the character is sitting on, the textures are pretty yikes.  With careful camera placement and use of depth of field, you can compensate, but that does limit your options. 

My guess is that the PA was trying to find a compromise that allowed a large set of buildings to be used on a wider range of hardware.  There would have been, and might still be, complaints about the textures being too heavy if they had gone the other way.

Some vendors provide hi-res and low-res versions of textures. That is a very professional solution that I like when it is offered and factors in to judging the asking price vs what you get. My system can handle the higher res, but I can empathize with the lots and lots of people who absolutely need the low-res option. Why can't we ALL win?  This is a very interesting set and could have been knocked completely out of the park with presets and alternate resolutions. 

Should probably make them seperate installation files though (so 1 base model then 1 high and 1 standard pack for textures). Otherwise you'll get complaints about using extra hard drive space (and/or bandwidth) needlessly.

If we learn anything visiting the Daz forums is that there's nothing that can prevent complaints.  Something's either too confusing, too simple, too big, too small, too ugly, too pretty, too convenient, too inconvenient, too not-what-I-want-cost-be-damned, too what-I-want-but-can't-afford. or whatever.

nonesuch00

I like it but feel the textures aren't quite there too. I have visited Jaiphur and Mandawa, Rajasthan but not Jodhpur and it looks similar to areas in those places except the paints are much more earth tones and long worn away mostly in Mandawa compared to this Jodhpur/Blue City set.

That architecture is part of Indian culture, not just Mideastern. Indian is huge and diverse with Middle Eastern influences. The Mideastern culture has long been integrated and part of the Indian subcontinent's cultures. The Taj Mahal was built in Agra by a Muslim as a mausoleum for his dead wife and is even further northeast from Jodhphur and Jaiphur and southeast from Mandawa.  Jaiphur, Jodhpur, Mandawa, and most cities reflect still that influence from the past. The northern Indian subcontinent, including Delhi, had sultanates and Islamic empires for a few hundred years in past centuries.

NorthOf45

Finally got this loaded up. Did some tweaking on the surfaces. There are no bump or displacement maps, Normal maps provide all the detail, but they are cranked up to max, making everything look, um-m, too lumpy. Dialing them back to about 25%-50%, depending on how close you are, gives a better appearance (there are a lot of them). I find the walls and ground are quite shiny, so maybe roughen them up a little.

nonesuch00

NorthOf45 said:

Finally got this loaded up. Did some tweaking on the surfaces. There are no bump or displacement maps, Normal maps provide all the detail, but they are cranked up to max, making everything look, um-m, too lumpy. Dialing them back to about 25%-50%, depending on how close you are, gives a better appearance (there are a lot of them). I find the walls and ground are quite shiny, so maybe roughen them up a little.

Looks better but I'd dial them back more.

JamieM

Today a product called Blue City Kit Presets is in the shop. https://www.daz3d.com/the-blue-city-kit-presets

As someone who really liked the original Blue City set but complained about the lack of presets, I am not impressed to see these now released as a separate additional purchase. The extra elephant statue is nice enoiugh but the presets should always have been part of the original set. All they do is allow one to more easily make the images that  the original set advertised (but which were surprisingly hard to recreate).

If it is really a "kit" rather than just one scene made up of separate movable bits, it's odd that these presets don't offer us a wide array of interesting variations. that might make the new product more worthwhile. But basically all we get is the original "kit" pieces slotted into their original intended locations - with a few small variations. 

Are there Daz pecedents for this with an environment? I can't think of another purchase I've made where I was expected to buy a separate package to achieve the product results advertised in the original product.