NEW! Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 6

11415171920100

Comments

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,387
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    FWSA Kresh for Cory 6 (DAZ Originals / Fisty & Darc / Fred Winkler Art / Sabby)
    http://www.daz3d.com/fwsa-kresh-for-cory-6

    Of everything so far, Kresh appeals to me the most.
    (EDIT: One of my main lights was a dull sage green.)


    Aha, with that greenish tint I can see why they called him "Kresh" - all he needs is some suitable ears!
  • FistyFisty Posts: 3,416
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    I changed the target to none and fiddled with rotating and translating and FORGET IT. The temple looks awful when you try to get the sideburns moved closer to the ear, and it would take an hour or more to get it even halfway decent- then the back doesn't do right even when you scale it to be bigger to fix the front. Not worth the effort.

    Deformers! 5 minutes and you're done, can even save it as a morph so you have it there for later use. =)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Yeah, my problem is I was literally running in and out all day long, trying to cut bamboo and haul stuff to the dump, then celebrate my son's birthday later tonight. I'd piddle with something, start a render, run. Come back, stop the render, fix something, out the door. :) I'll have to try the D-formers later.

    BTW, don't know when they changed the banner, but there is an 80% off V4 M4 sale and you don't have to buy anything to get that price- and there are several Genesis 2 Female items in there. (Several hair products by SWAM.) So you have about an hour and a half before that ends, it's today only.

  • atticanneatticanne Posts: 3,009
    edited December 1969

    I keep forgetting about Dformers. Thanks for the reminder, Fisty.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited April 2015

    The prices on Sergio are really good- that extra 40% on top of the discounted prices gives you $4.71 each for the poses (instead of the 30% 10.47) and $6.29 for Sergio instead of the $13.97 for the 30% off.

    FWSA Effie for Keiko 6 (DAZ Originals / Fred Winkler Art Sabby)
    Elegance Hair (DAZ Originals)
    Gardens of Poseidon - Super Bundle (Orestes Graphics)
    Eclypse for Genesis 2 Female(s)

    http://www.daz3d.com/fwsa-effie-for-keiko-6
    http://www.daz3d.com/elegance-hair
    http://www.daz3d.com/gardens-of-poseidon-super-bundle
    http://www.daz3d.com/eclypse-for-genesis-2-female

    Did a simple underwater scene (no dapples, etc) to show how the mertail from Coral looks on another G2F. Elegance Hair does quite nicely for underwater as you can expand out the strands with a thicker option, and windblown.

    I thought it would be simpler to link to the Super Bundle for all the underseas coral, rocks, plants. It will show you each individual product.
    And now back to yard work. (I really will post images when I get this all done. Cutting bamboo today. It's in the 60's right now- yippee!)

    EDIT: That top is from Eclypse. I added it to the list at the top. Good for a kiddie mermaid top. I like it because the bottom edge of it seems "floaty" and not tight.

    CLICK TO ENLARGE, CLICK AGAIN. Large render.

    effieMermaidEleganceHrEclypseTopSIG.jpg
    1476 x 1800 - 1M
    Post edited by Novica on
  • starionwolfstarionwolf Posts: 3,670
    edited April 2015

    cute render. The Lil' Mermaid for Callie 6 is still on sale. I should buy it before the sale ends.

    edit: I pressed the submit button early.

    Post edited by starionwolf on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    cute render. The Lil' Mermaid for Callie 6 is still on sale. I should buy it before the sale ends.

    edit: I pressed the submit button early.

    Thank you :) I wanted to be sure and get a render done of it on another G2F other than Coral. It really is easy to fit to another G2F, there are many, many sliders for the tail that have things like Gia Body, Teen Josie, Stephanie, etc. The top will take a bit more fixing if you go with the bra cups, but they too have many sliders. I think it's a good buy. :)

  • JessaiiJessaii Posts: 845
    edited December 1969

    Can it be added to a normal Genesis 2 female like the conforming tail made earlier?

    The mermaid set was not made just for Callie not sure why its not titled'Lil' Mermaid for Genesis 2 Female(s)' since it was made for all G2F characters with fits for the various shapes =/ Should work on most all G2F shapes without needing much work.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Totally agree- I think there would be more sales with that other title. I really like that tail- so flexible. Many, many morphs to get it to do whatever the artist wants it to do.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2015

    http://www.daz3d.com/one-man-band-for-genesis-2-male-s

    Promo pictures aren't very revealing. IMO they are pretty limiting regarding the character and hair. His face is mostly hidden, in shadow, or in the distance in all of the shots. There's not a single closeup. Also no closeup of the hair, or the hairline. Hat is always on. If anyone gets him and wants to post better images, feel free. The character could be interesting, but it's impossible to tell.

    The guitar material looks really funky to me, particularly the side view. I've not found any images of the wood going that direction. I might be missing some, but I went through three pages of Google images. Anyone own a guitar that has wood going the other way? Curious. (Edit- attached an image of the typical guitar, the product has it going left to right, not up and down (if the guitar were standing like this one.) )

    guitar.jpg
    426 x 640 - 45K
    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2015

    Happy Anniversary to one of my favorite vendors- going on her third year here. Love ya Aave Nainen- and thanks for the big discount today!

    Can't beat 29.95 marked down to 3.00 ! :cheese:

    http://www.daz3d.com/merimay-for-genesis-2-female-s

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Aave NainenAave Nainen Posts: 1,108
    edited December 1969

    Thank you Novica!

    The MeriMay dress has a load of options for sure and with the add-on texture design packs it is a scene designers dream and a ton of fun to play with!

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    And a wonderful family friendly dress by Cute3D. Wow, the poses with that- it's always nice to have clothes conforming to your character.
    http://www.daz3d.com/cute3d-s-beautiful-skirt

    And fun textures.
    http://www.daz3d.com/beautiful-skirt-textures

    Whoa, this bedroom is different. A nice shower (with water driplets) and a fishtank! That dragon has pretty materials, and I like the wall art too.
    http://www.daz3d.com/i13-late-night-fantastic

    Here we go again. Consistency from the marketing team. Today, the buy only one item to get the discount on the gift card, when yesterday, people had to buy two things. (At least today they have the right idea.)

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,387
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    ...

    Here we go again. Consistency from the marketing team. Today, the buy only one item to get the discount on the gift card, when yesterday, people had to buy two things. (At least today they have the right idea.)

    Oooh, thanks for mentioning that about the GCs - I just skipped over that information assuming it said "2" like yesterday - and I only really want the foxes bundle today. I just acquired my May "spare cash" so converting it to GC is nicely timed for me.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    :) Have fun with the foxes! (Let us know where you post them, or a sample here whenever you get around to rendering them. I have such a backlog from MM it isn't funny.) Glad you could use the GC, thank SereneNight because we were chatting and she mentioned it to me. I didn't see it either!

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    OT: Mobile Friendly Algorithm By Google

    Doing research today on children's books. For those of you who are author/illustrators and have your own website/blog, go here and type in your URL and see if Google will reward or punish you in their mobile search results. I tested the forum page and main shop page. See screenshots.

    This was announced back in March.
    http://blog.seoprofiler.com/2015/03/official-information-googles-mobile-algorithm/

    Here's the tool to test your website/blog. If you want people to find your illustrations/books, don't miss out on the mobile users!
    https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

    mobileFriendly.jpg
    1094 x 1969 - 220K
  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,387
    edited December 1969

    Invited Guest Contributor

    Well, I picked up the Foxes bundle (and a GC) and here's a pair of quick-ish renders of both foxes in their LAMH fur.

    First is the Red Fox by Alessandro AM. He's in one of the scenes from HDR ProSets Yosemite Pack Two by DAZ3D/DimensionTheory, standing on a felled tree from Nature - Trees Pack 1 by Andrey Pestryakov retextured (to fit in better with the background and proximity to the camera) using a Shades of Life - Nature projection shaders by DimensionTheory. No extra lighting (just what comes with the Yosemite scene).

    Second is the Arctic Fox by Alessandro AM, running though the snow in Easy Environments: Snowy Mountains by Flipmode. (I have all of the Easy Environment sets so far and I liked the look of this addition to the EE canon when Flipmode first posted some images in the Products forum.) The footsteps in the snow are created by one of several morphs in the snowdrift prop. Lighting the Arctic Fox is a bit trickier than the Red one - the fur can quite easily come out too bright white - and I think I still need to work some more on the lighting. Alessandro recommends using UberEnvironment plus a distant or spotlight but I'm not sure I've got the balance and brightnesses right. Anyway I thought it was worth adding here as a "first look".

    Fox-in-Snow.jpg
    768 x 1024 - 642K
    Fox-in-Woodland.jpg
    1024 x 768 - 668K
  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    edited May 2015

    I like how you positioned the arctic fox - good use of figure and environment!

    Post edited by RGcincy on
  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,387
    edited December 1969

    Thanks, RG.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Melanie- thanks for sharing those! The Arctic one has a nice bluish-white sheen. Agreed the lights might be adjusted slightly. I like UE2 with distant lights for softer whites, but yep, it's tricky :) I, too, like the pose. Now the other fox- as I thought when I saw the promos- those eyes are freaky. IMO there's a darker area around the pupil, or the pupils are wider and longer slits than what the vendor did. Look at the second one- and the third!- even in bright daylight, those pupils are a lot larger than small dots.

    The last one shows the dark area of the pupil if the pupil goes to a slit- the iris is darker.

    fox5.jpg
    2000 x 1600 - 3M
    fox3.jpg
    284 x 177 - 8K
    fox2.jpg
    259 x 194 - 6K
    fox.jpg
    640 x 960 - 403K
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2015

    Rend is having a 50% sale off Daz Studio renderables. There are many textures (by artists here) for outfits sold here. Prime members are getting an additional 24% (look for the code.) One time use. So you can get 50% then 24% off the total cart. Some restrictions apply but sale items are included (if not Prime) There's some gorgeous texture sets! And if you don't have the outfits, then buy them here at DAZ! Some are PC/PC+ outfits. I love the textures for the Mongolian outfit.

    (Midnight Rogue, Sighni Outfit, Voodoo Queen Outfit, Witch Doctor, GIS Emperor, Mongolian Beauty, etc)

    Post edited by Novica on
  • atticanneatticanne Posts: 3,009
    edited December 1969

    Melanie, both are stunning. Thanks for sharing. I'm getting ready to immerse myself in learning lighting.

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,387
    edited May 2015

    Novica said:
    Melanie- thanks for sharing those! The Arctic one has a nice bluish-white sheen. Agreed the lights might be adjusted slightly. I like UE2 with distant lights for softer whites, but yep, it's tricky :) I, too, like the pose. Now the other fox- as I thought when I saw the promos- those eyes are freaky. IMO there's a darker area around the pupil, or the pupils are wider and longer slits than what the vendor did. Look at the second one- and the third!- even in bright daylight, those pupils are a lot larger than small dots.

    The last one shows the dark area of the pupil if the pupil goes to a slit- the iris is darker.


    Yes, I agree those eyes are a bit startling - you can partially close the eyes which helps a little. Unfortunately the texture is a single one covering the entire animal, with the eyes at the bottom - they are mapped a little unusually to my mind so not that easy to modify without a lot of trial and error. I wonder if they can be re-UV-mapped? Maybe I'll try when I have a moment (I'm spending far too much time at present trying to get to grips with Iray in the Beta).
    Post edited by MelanieL on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    At least you're tackling iray :)
    If you have photoshop and do a fox for something you want to keep, putting a rust around the pupil will make the fox eye more attractive. How are you liking iray?

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    IMO this is plain tacky. Daz is allowing show your butt main promo pictures, so people HAVE to see it. Has there been any main promos like this before?
    http://www.daz3d.com/i13-bella-pose-collection

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,387
    edited May 2015

    Novica said:
    At least you're tackling iray :)
    If you have photoshop and do a fox for something you want to keep, putting a rust around the pupil will make the fox eye more attractive. How are you liking iray?

    I'm liking the best stuff other people are coming up with (have you seen some of MEC4D's renders?!) but for myself I'm really struggling - the move to lumens/candelas for intensity is a bit flummoxing and I can't seem to get enough light on faces, but I'm soldiering on because it's evidently possible to do much better!
    Post edited by MelanieL on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    IMO this is plain tacky. Daz is allowing show your butt main promo pictures, so people HAVE to see it. Has there been any main promos like this before?
    http://www.daz3d.com/i13-bella-pose-collection

    Hey, I thought DAZ was the family friendly store. =-(

    Wasn't there a butt with a bow on the thong? I can't remember but I seem to recall it.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Heads up, check your emails to see if you got the 50% off promo code. Some people did, some didn't. But if you're shopping now, do check first.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651
    edited December 1969

    Yeah, no coupon love for me. But I find lately, I don't get surveys, special offers or, discounts. Not sure why. I guess I'm not in the popular targeted group.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Well, I didn't get that survey that other people got (I think it was $5 off?)

    BTW, to the thread viewers, if you haven't checked out SereneNight's thread (most of you do) she's got some cool renders over there.

This discussion has been closed.