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

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Comments

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Woa- owners of V7 can really have fun shopping- and stacking discounts too- thanks DAZ!!!!

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

    PC Coupons are active now, so if you see anything you want, might want to grab it.

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214
    edited December 1969

    PC Coupons are active now, so if you see anything you want, might want to grab it.

    why do they do that!!! I haven't used my June 6$ off 18$ yet and it's only 9:43 pm and now it's the July one. I had stuff in my cart to use the June one on but I hadn't purchased it yet, thought there was time still tonight

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583
    edited December 1969

    Kharma said:
    PC Coupons are active now, so if you see anything you want, might want to grab it.

    why do they do that!!! I haven't used my June 6$ off 18$ yet and it's only 9:43 pm and now it's the July one. I had stuff in my cart to use the June one on but I hadn't purchased it yet, thought there was time still tonight

    The June ones probably still work.

  • ZarconDeeGrissomZarconDeeGrissom Posts: 5,412
    edited June 2015

    Kharma said:
    PC Coupons are active now, so if you see anything you want, might want to grab it.

    why do they do that!!! I haven't used my June 6$ off 18$ yet and it's only 9:43 pm and now it's the July one. I had stuff in my cart to use the June one on but I hadn't purchased it yet, thought there was time still tonight

    The June ones probably still work. Yea, just try it. And if it works, checkout then and there with what you have, lol.

    As a proverbial point of view, Daz is here as a business to make $$$. And many people probably get funds on the first and third of the month. So it is in the favor of many businesses (Not just Daz), to have the best sales near the end of the month, and to have them end before the first kicks in. Tho that is just a random thought, and nothing more, lol.


    6 billion lives on Coriana. 3 billion lives on Centauri Prime. We have enough ships to make a stand at one of them, so which do you choose? It's numbers - cold, unsympathetic numbers. - Marcus Cole.

    Post edited by ZarconDeeGrissom on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651
    edited December 1969

    Kharma said:
    PC Coupons are active now, so if you see anything you want, might want to grab it.

    why do they do that!!! I haven't used my June 6$ off 18$ yet and it's only 9:43 pm and now it's the July one. I had stuff in my cart to use the June one on but I hadn't purchased it yet, thought there was time still tonight

    My theory is it is a time zone thing. It may still be June here, but not so much other places... ?

  • ZarconDeeGrissomZarconDeeGrissom Posts: 5,412
    edited December 1969

    Kharma said:
    PC Coupons are active now, so if you see anything you want, might want to grab it.

    why do they do that!!! I haven't used my June 6$ off 18$ yet and it's only 9:43 pm and now it's the July one. I had stuff in my cart to use the June one on but I hadn't purchased it yet, thought there was time still tonight

    My theory is it is a time zone thing. It may still be June here, but not so much other places... ?Usually, they do stuff 'Daz Time' rather the for other zones. Don't they? It may have been a goof as well.

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214
    edited December 1969

    Kharma said:
    PC Coupons are active now, so if you see anything you want, might want to grab it.

    why do they do that!!! I haven't used my June 6$ off 18$ yet and it's only 9:43 pm and now it's the July one. I had stuff in my cart to use the June one on but I hadn't purchased it yet, thought there was time still tonight

    My theory is it is a time zone thing. It may still be June here, but not so much other places... ?Usually, they do stuff 'Daz Time' rather the for other zones. Don't they? It may have been a goof as well.


    Well whatever their reasoning is it's just one more thing thing about this store!! haha... anyway I will try it and see if it uses the June one and if it doesn't then I will contact support or whoever to replace the July one, which I have had to do before when it was changed to soon in my time zone

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited June 2015

    One suggestion I was going to make earlier and forgot- for those of you who bought the mall, you can get shoes cheaply during this sale, to fill up the display windows. :) (Every woman loves shoes, right?) Many are for V4 and 80% off plus Summer discounts.

    Does the Summer sale discount end today?

    Post edited by Novica on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,247
    edited December 1969
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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2015

    Tamara for Monique 6
    Laney Hair for Genesis 2 Female(s)
    Galaxy Outfit for Genesis 2 Female(s)

    http://www.daz3d.com/fwsa-tamara-for-monique-6
    http://www.daz3d.com/laney-hair-for-genesis-2-female-s
    http://www.daz3d.com/galaxy-for-genesis-2-female-s

    I've done Tamara before, this time I made changes. I lowered the mouth, did upper lip curves and took out top lip peak a bit to see how flatter lip would look (don't like it), and reduced the lip size on both lips. (I found the Crazy Locks Hair one I did with the original Tamara, see below. No tweaks to face. EDIT: That's Grace Dress.)

    Galaxy is one outfit that surprised me at how much I like it. The trim makes it so classy! Good for Sci-Fi but also for evening dressy. The textures are beautiful. Laney Hair looks good without any smoothing, this is out of the box.

    Tamara was lightened postwork (overall, entire render, including hair) so her skin is a bit darker. She does well in postwork so you can get a nice variety of African-American skin tones with her by merely adjusting brightness, contrast, midtones, etc.

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2015

    barbult said:
    I have the last two items on your list. I am a big Dogz fan. I made you a picture, rendered in Iray, although the products come with only 3Delight materials:

    That looks really good- I'm wondering what he's thinking. Like "Well, THAT was some school day!"

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

    Which leads me to a question. You did an iray for a 3DL product, so for the ones that are iray some of them say surfaces may need tweaking (I think it was glass and metal, which was most of the scene so I didn't touch it.) Any of you bought the products that say that, and rendered in 3dl? What's involved with the "tweaking?"

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2015

    Classical Morphing Busts

    The readme says:
    "Some HD morphs such as Leonardo have stretched the base geometry in a few places such as the beard and hat this can result in some texture stretching. Check for a UV set to try to minimise these effects"

    My first reaction is- I appreciate the honesty- very forthright. But perhaps tell the buyer what solves the problem if it's a known one? That way everyone doesn't have to reinvent the wheel and experiment to solve it.

    Kudos to an informative ReadMe. Be sure and read it if you bought the product.
    http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/read_me/index/22167/start

    Here's what it looks like when you load the product and what's in Scene and Parameters. In the Content Library, not shown, is the next section over which says "Materials."

    I'll probably play with this today or tomorrow, it's 5am and I am headed out to do yard work (already 87 degrees heat index.) Looks like a really neat product!

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2015

    Played around a bit.
    First is my new guy, with a longer nose, slightly flared nostrils, eyes tweaked, etc.

    Next went to the Characters under Actor and changed him:
    HD Hercules 10
    HD Lincoln .28

    But then I stopped.

    In the ReadMe it says:
    All HD Character morphs have eye details on by default (sculpted Iris and Pupil), for a different look you can turn these off by going into HD/Eyes and setting HDEyeDetails to zero.

    It was on zero by default. I checked before I started. Then added some of the character morphs.

    IF YOU ADD THE CHARACTERS MORPHS AT ALL, YOU NEED TO GO BACK AND RESET THE "HD EYE DETAILS" TO ZERO if you don't want pupils and irises. And if you tweak, don't forget to go back again and reset!

    You could seriously play with this all day :)

    I found Distant Lights and UE2 worked well together on the black material. I went around the bust and put a distant on both sides, then both side-fronts, and one front.

    EDIT: One thing I am confused about, when I tried to add Beethoven into the mix, the outfit came with him and disrupted the other outfit, even though I put all clothes as zero. How do you get only the character and not the clothes when you are mixing these dudes?

    .

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

    Tamara looks great- Like your edits. The bust also looks fun.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Thanks, I've quit fooling with it as I'm in and out doing yardwork. I never did figure out how to not have one character's clothes come in on top of another one- I zeroed the clothes and still had problems with dear ole Beethoven when I tried to add him. Lincoln and Hercules didn't want him messing them up I guess.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    If you own the previous version of Mane Hair you will get 40% off when the new version is put in your cart. You should have a blue popup banner at the top of your shopping pages. Stacks with summer savings.

    http://www.daz3d.com/mane-hair-for-genesis-3-and-2-female-s-and-victoria-4

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    FIRST, use your Summer tier discount and buy a gift card! That's money saved right there. Stupid me loaded up my cart then had to empty it to go get the gift card. Duh.

    The discount code for today works on PC and PC+ items too- scoop 'em up :)

    I shopped for sets because the other sale was people (the 60% off Gen2, 70% Genesis, etc)
    So...
    You get whatever discount you have on the gift card.

    Your Summer tier discounts (5-25%) (and if you are one or two punches away from the next tier, those items might pay for themselves by getting into the next tier because...)

    They stack on this 30% discount offer

    And those featured stores start at 46% so everything stacks with that too. Lots of poses available!

    Sets I picked up:
    http://www.daz3d.com/castle-turret
    http://www.daz3d.com/scifi-interior
    http://www.daz3d.com/canal-street (I got my revenge. Remember when this was Fast Grab and it lasted a day or less? I got it CHEAPER.)
    http://www.daz3d.com/sun-hall (look how tiny the people are- this thing is huge.)
    http://www.daz3d.com/sci-fi-industrial-colony
    http://www.daz3d.com/castle-window
    http://www.daz3d.com/ubiquitous-rooftops-and-ladders

    The props I got, I was waiting for good stacking discounts as I (we all) love Ness Period Reproductions. Excellent quality!
    http://www.daz3d.com/the-billiard-table

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2015

    Other than me, is there anyone else on this planet who hasn't tried Iray yet?
    Well, I'm going to try it due to the discounts I got with the Summer Sizzle sale stacking with the iray products, and I'm using this as it's nice to have someone talking me through TRYING it. He pretty much says it all at the beginning- "we're going to have fun."

    http://www.daz3d.com/super-quick-easy-ds-iray-tricks

    I'm only in the the third segment, but yep, have to admit- I am actually having fun- not stressful at all. Iray is too much gobbleygook in the forums to wade through, no logical sequence on a lot of the threads because everyone is at a different skill level. Val skips things and says not to worry about it, then introduces one thing at a time. I'm baby stepping.

    So far I would recommend it, especially if you have stacking discounts with the Summer sale and get a couple (or three) new releases, the discount on the video series then almost pays for the new item you bought to drop the prices. Depends on your tier and how many new releases you get. (LOVE that Stonemason, and the new 3d Universe character.) So I didn't want to wait till the end of the day when I will probably be further along in the videos, as some of you may have already shopped and everything has to be in the cart at the same time.

    Will show you my putzing along iray renders, doing only what he says to do (not exactly what he does, but for example, he'll say play with the ISO and so that's ALL I fiddled with, even if other things needed fixing.) He uses Desert Outpost in the video, which is Stonemason, so if you think you'll use this video series and want to compare exactly with what he's doing, that is one of the featured stores right now.

    So if you want to start from scratch, yes, so far I'd recommend it. Trust me, you can follow along easily. :-)

    Here we go then. Changing only ISO.
    Beginner Iray Tip: The higher the number of your ISO, the more light sensitive it is- think of it as letting in more light, being able to see a bit better in the dark, etc) It is set at 100 and washed out the scene. I tested it at 45, below. Too dark. Did not do ANY postwork (like increasing contrast, midtones, etc.) This is out of the box.

    Testing it now at 65. Only changing the ISO. Will add that to this post. Next in the video I will move the sun.
    Is anyone interested in this btw? Don't want to waste my time if everyone is already an iray pro lol.

    EDIT: Added the 65 ISO render, which after hours, was still in progress but will show you the areas show the light better.
    EDIT: Am learning :) These are with the Environment Map. They took longer than when I deleted it and used time of day (see future posts about Environment Map vs SS Sun)

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  • Tramp GraphicsTramp Graphics Posts: 2,412
    edited December 1969

    I haven't tried it yet either. My computer can't handle it since it's only a 32 bit system, not a 64 bit one.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2015

    I haven't tried it yet either. My computer can't handle it since it's only a 32 bit system, not a 64 bit one.

    See, you're ahead of me. I didn't have a clue that it requires a 64 bit one :)

    Beginner Iray Tip:
    You can change how the sun looks based on longitude and latitude. (When I worked with my kids in elementary school, I remember teaching Latitude as "Lat Sat." In other words, it's the horizontal line. LOL, that was a while ago!) Here's a good map to change your Longitude and Latitude to play with the sun positions

    http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-maps/world-map-with-latitude-and-longitude.html

    For those who haven't tried iray yet (and who can...sorry Tramp!) simply go to Environment under Render Settings and you'll see SS Longitude and SS Latitude. EDIT: if you have an Environment Map selected (In Environment) the SS Sun, Latitude, etc will not show. You must delete the map.) See http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/52145/P915/#853508

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

    Beginner Iray Tip: When you render in iray, it will look like Progressive in 3DL, where your scene keeps coming in and getting less grainy. YOU decide when to stop it. But how? There's only the cancel option! Which is what you do. (I know, the first time you hit cancel you grit your teeth and hope you don't lose your masterpiece.)

    To stop the render and save it:
    1.) Hit cancel
    2.) In your studio, go up to File>Save Last Render.
    Done!

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Beginner Iray Tip (From VWrangler)

    How to get the Photometric Spotlight:
    The darned thing isn't in Create by default. In the video series, Val simply goes up and creates one. No go. It won't be there if you're in iray as a renderer. Here's how to create one!

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/58704/#853379

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2015

    Beginner Iray Tip (From Barbult)

    In the video, Val discusses the latitude/longitude, time of day, SS Sun. It wasn't showing up for me in Environment. In Environment, if you have an Environment Map (that's what it is labeled, very straightforward).....

    (Barbult) "The Sun settings and HDRI environment map are mutually exclusive. If you have something loaded in the environment map, you can’t use or see the settings for the sun. Delete that environment map and the sun settings will be displayed again."

    So I deleted the map and poof, all the other things appeared.

    Also, here's a good place to start with the description of what settings are in iray and examples of what they do.

    http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/new_features/start

    Question: I asked how to get that map back once I deleted it. I did mouse over the image before I deleted it and wrote down the path. Barbult came to my rescue again. Here's the answer:

    Barbult: "The environment map image that preloads with DS 4.8 can be reloaded by clicking on the currently loaded environment map icon in the Dome section of the render settings and selecting Browse. Then navigate to the path that you wrote down. You can always save a Render Settings preset to easily reload any group of render settings you like."

    Post edited by Novica on
  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 11,107
    edited July 2015

    You don't need to delete the Environment map, just change the Environment Mode to Sun-Sky Only.

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  • atticanneatticanne Posts: 3,009
    edited December 1969

    I haven't tried it yet either. My computer can't handle it since it's only a 32 bit system, not a 64 bit one.

    That's my situation too--32-bit system.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    tjohn said:
    You don't need to delete the Environment map, just change the Environment Mode to Sun-Sky Only.

    Thank you!!

    AtticAnne- apparently a lot of people are in that situation. I wonder why a 32 bit wasn't possible- but then again, I'm the least technical person on this planet so the explanation would probably be over my head anyway.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited July 2015

    Here's keeping the ISO at 65, I had already deleted the Environment Map (which the first two renders testing 45 and 65 ISO used, and took longer)

    So this was with the SS Sun section activated- I changed the time of day to 2pm. The date was March 10th so I left it at that. Below I'll show you how fast it came in (compared to hours with the Environment Map in the first two renders testing the ISO).

    So far, the things in this film series which are different (due to it being made during beta) are:
    1. the Photometric Spotlight is not in Create when iray is the renderer. We already covered how to activate it by doing a spotlight in 3DL first.
    2. the SS Sun, date, time of day etc will only show up when you do what is suggested by tjohn or barbult (one of two methods.)

    The time of these (SCREENSHOTS) were 22 seconds, 33 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 4 minutes.

    EDIT:
    Adding differences here, as I encounter them.
    In part 1 segment 4, he says the Aux Viewport doesn't work with iray. It does. In the Aux, when you mouse up to the top and it says Perspective View, move your mouse to the left and you'll see your wireframe, etc options. IVIDIA Iray is the last one. Be sure and switch off of it before you render as it will drain (or possibly) crash your system.

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