NEW! Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 6
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There's 20 new things in Fast Grab!
Sabby-Tiffany Pixie Perfect Hair for Genesis 2 Female(s) Desert Dancer For Genesis 2 Female(s)
Here's a 3DL render for you. Eclypse figure lighting with two very dim distant lights (4%), one from front and one from our right side. Even if you don't do desert scenes, this would be a really cute outfit for a Halloween party or desert themed birthday party. BTW, if you want a space between pictures try 10 for vertical.
Thanks! I was doing the right click thingie.
Dungeon Holding
This is iray without much twiddling, no Uber Base, default Environment map, second one is ISO 125, Burn Highlights .11, Crush Blacks .31 etc. Using finite- will have to do some tests to see what infinite vs finite does (how noticeable. I thought I read the finite keeps bouncing the light around and is better for portraits but I'm not sure.)
These views are all from the set camera views. One didn't make sense, I was staring at a wall, but when I hid the wall it was the cell. These two have different ISO (etc) settings. I was playing with "darker" -the first image, as the light area around the dome thingie was a challenge to not "wash out." Still needs more tweaking but I'm not using this for anything right now so moving on. (In other words, for this thread, it shows you enough of the textures that you know it's got nice ones.
I really like the textures- the floor and the stone are nicely varied, no glaring repeat patterns for the stone. Using the 3dl renderer and light presets from the product, you will get quite different results- a beautiful pattern on the floor from the dome, etc. The promos will show you that lighting.
EDIT: Doing Sun-Sky right now to show you how pretty the dome looks with the sharp contrast in lit/not lit. It really captures the gloomy cells.
I'll post the other tests here.
Okay, this is with the Sun Sky. I created a camera, then in SS NODE, selected that camera as my sun position. Wow, it's that easy. I wanted to spin around and that same section with light so you could compare the textures. Note this render isn't even done- it went for about 30 minutes. You can see the dots, that shows it was still going.
Look at the difference for the floor and the rim around the middle dome feature. So quite dramatic lighting is possible with this set, due to the open hole in the middle of the ceiling. LOL, that thing looks like a Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet.
I'm not sure why, and I mentioned this day before yesterday over in the Commons, but two products kept popping back and forth on the gallery page, then in the cart, and changed in the last page of the checkout- and now it's back to the price that originally kept changing. These two are now 51% off (and stayed that way through checkout so I am assuming this was what they were when first released, or were they?) Anyway, if you have been trying to get them the past day or so, they don't change in the cart last page- at least for now. Cross Examination Room and Prison Storage Room
FWSA La Llorona HD Dungeon Holding Dark Passion for Genesis 2 Female(s)
XTech Dreadlock Ponytail for Genesis 2 Female(s)
Well, me putzing with iray was frustrating on this one- getting more detail without washing out walls, keeping her complexion rather bluish-gray, etc. I wanted the overall image to remain darker and gray. It's not supposed to be a sunny picnic! I chose the black and blue hair to match the wisps of smoke to her hair. The black outfit made it easier for the smoke to show up. Look closely at the wisps of smoke on the left- curving around the bar of the cell in several places. Took about 30 tries to get those silly wisps right.
So going to take the opportunity to mention to artists who don't draw or paint how to do wall touchups. Below, you'll see the original, then with the wall to our left postworked (by hand, no special brushes, nada) then the smoke effects added. The last one is the smoke render with a simple 5% contrast added (corel photo paint.)
To do walls-
1. eyedropper your darkest color, then dot and dash it in. Avoid using strokes for the most part. A few are fine. Splotch, then splotch on top of your splotch, but OFF CENTER. Part of the splotch should go onto other areas.
2. work your way up to the lightest colors- use your medium color next.
3. layer your lightest on top.
4. take your dark color and make the lines of the bricks, using only 40% transparency to start with, and darken as needed. Skip places- don't make long lines.
Compare the wall on your left in the original (FIRST IMAGE), with the postworked wall (SECOND IMAGE, click to enlarge and click again.) I kept the shimmer highlights at about the same height. I also lightened her fingers a bit (on the left) and darkened the background. When I did the wall, I butted it against her finger so I did a touchup of a dark outline around it.
This is a sorceress who has been imprisoned- or so they think- so it's disdainfully called...
"Seriously?"
In case you didn't get the email, (edit: there's also a banner) when you buy Mansion Backyard, you get 90% off for the Abandoned for the mansion. There's also a lot in the scrolling banner, including the 50% doorbuster on resources and add ons. Has some iray stuff in there in addition to DS. Lots of goodies. You must have a new item in the cart, so if you get the Mansion Backyard (or another new release) you get that 90% off for Abandoned, plus 50% off the doorbuster items. Win-win. (and other sales, such as 45% off catalogs and 60% undead items.)
Can someone who has done D-Formers lately go and proofread my D Former thread I did here in Art Studio? It's been over a year since I did screenshots and used D Formers and it's 7:15am and I've had no sleep so kinda foggy- I can't remember the last step on saving the darned things. If you can post over there so people will know how to save the morph, I'd appreciate it. I had a few questions on the various Save As options anyway. Going to get some sleep. (If I haven't worded something right, feel free to post. Like I said, it's been awhile.) If you haven't done D formers, this has screenshots which will help you.
Where the heck are the Millennium Cat textures? I've done that critter before, but can't find them anywhere. I've gone through the Poser Formats section of Content Library and it's not associated with the cat (aka, easy to find.)
OMGosh, have you seen this Persian head for the Millennium Cat? I'm going to try it. I tried Googling the textures but no luck, still haven't found the darned thing yet.
Going through all my DIM products and spotted Ron's War Essentials- did he do the right thing and give a discount to people who had already bought the lesser version? There should definitely be an upgrade price- you shouldn't have to pay for the product you already have. Anyone contacted Ron about it? I haven't used the brushes yet, they look really neat as usual. Anyone have renders done using the set?
Classic Cats 1 & 2 are the textures.
Oh for heavens sake. Someone needs to get the Millennium Cat ReadMe operational! Thanks so much! (And I don't know how the heck I ever found it the first time. HAD to be dumb luck.)
You probably bought the Bundle which contained all the textures, and were aware of what they were called soon after installation.
I found them in the store by searching "millennium cat".
Ron's War Elements and War essentials have some similar elements, but also some differences.
Ron's War Elements (Discontinued) contained: 434 brushes, the following PSD Components: blood, fire, gun powder, muzzle flashes, shells. It also has one layer style Ron's War Elements Styles
Essentials contains: Fire shots PSD and 554 brushes. It doesn't have the extra PSD layers, but it contains tools and it's own layer styles.
In comparing the two, it would be hard to choose one. War essentials doesn't contain Muzzle Flash brushes, which I think are really needed. especially from the front. Essentials has some, and the PSD files, but not nearly enough. It is tough to illustrate gun fire without a proper muzzle flash, and unless I'm missing it, Essentials doesn't have them. It is however better organized than Elements, contains some additional brushes which are great like the parachuters. I also really like Essentials layer styles... But... No muzzle flash... No....
I am curious how to use the War Essentials tools in the new product. I've never delved into that aspect of Photoshop.
Here you can see an attachment which compares what is included brush-wise in essentials vs. elements.
I haven't rendered much in Essentials yet. I've been taking a bit of a break from 3d. But I really in particularly like the hexagon brush, the layer styles for gunfire. One thing I have trouble with the Brushes is actually seeing them. Both sets contain a pdf so you can check the brushes out much larger.
I guess I'd have to say both sets are great. I hope to have a set though, that only has muzzle flashes. I'd almost rather have the brush sets smaller with similar items included in each set, than huge sets where brushes are tough to find. Photoshop doesn't really make it easy to see and organize brushes.
Okay, been fiddlin' for a couple days reading up and not understanding a word about the Uber Shader General Concepts. BTW, if you want the shortened version of that to put in your notes (yeah, I like paper notes, quick to flip to) it's the http:// then tinyurl.com / p7r7lfr (no spaces in any of that.)
Here's what I'm doing- I was surfing the Fiddling with Iray Skin Settings and not understanding a word of it of course- somehow the fact all those settings were because the Uber Base had been applied was totally lost on me. Without that, those settings aren't in the Surfaces pane. (Don't ask how much time I wasted clicking on cogs to see if something was hidden.) SO if you view that thread, think Uber Base for a lot of the posts.
The General Concepts page frankly assumes you know all the terms, for me it's very poor from a usable standpoint for people who aren't photography pros or have really explored a lot of aspects of lighting. (which is everyone except me, apparently...)
So, I'm going to putz and change settings and try things out. The Fiddling thread talks about moving maps and I'm not doing that right now. I'm testing a few aspects at a time for my own benefit and sharing so you can see it. Note- as I go through this, use the settings from the very first render (#1) and assume only what I'm telling you has changed. Once something has been changed, THAT IS THE SETTING from then on, unless I tell you I've reset it back to the Render 1 settings.
Also, my test gal is Mei Lin. If you've never done Iray and have Mei Lin, load her up and follow along- this will get you familiar with all those Uber Base settings over in Surface.
First, why am I testing and tweaking the iray skin? Because it lacks sheen/oil/perspiration. Image one is the Mei Lin without the Uber Base. (and even with it, it needs tweaking, still a bit flat.) So the second is with all the changes applied, AND postwork (fixed the hue, lightened her. Made sure not to affect the highlighted area.) Compare the two. Until you change those Uber Base settings you really might not realize how flat your characters are. Now, the third image is what she REALLY looks like with those settings- much darker- but as you can see postwork (lightening, hue fix) is a fast and easy way to adjust it. So there's the settings I played with (any of Mei Lin's which weren't changed are not listed.)
Note some categories in the Surface options don't appear unless other things are selected. So if you're looking and saying "I don't have that" it's because you haven't selected something in my list. The PBR ones, for example, change the options which appear.
So this week, I will periodically be tweaking some of these combinations and I'll let you see the before and after (with the lightening and color hue) so you'll always have the same type renders to compare.
So keep in mind the second and third are THE SAME RENDER. The tweaks will give you the render in the third one- much darker.
EDIT: Images 3 and 4 (same render) And then keeping all the original settings, I put the Glossy Layer Weight back to default, which is 1.00, and did the same thing to it- lightened and changed hue.
So I kept twiddling (it's all personal taste but to me there was too much glare/reflectivity) and even though I was reading what did what on the docs page, I tested things whether it sounded like I should be using it or not. (What the heck.) This shows the final result, again I had to lighten it and desaturate it a tad, but it shows the sheen on the face, chest, and hand. I like it much better than the clayish look you get with iray out of the box. The Uber Base settings do need to be tweaked IMO, it's not a fix-it-all-with-a-click solution. The one thing I would definitely do is switch the PBR setting off of Metallicity/Roughness and over to the glossy option. I also lightened the Emission color (which was almost black) substantially. Tweaked on it for six hours, testing everything and documenting it with renders. They didn't go the full 100% but the same amount of time for each one. I might do a separate mini thread on the renders so it doesn't dominate this one as my 3DL thread visitors would be bored to death.
and I'm not sure what interest people have in skin settings experiments. These also will yield different results depending on the character's materials. I'm probably going to add a little more sheen, more tests needed. And still can't get the skin as light as I want it, and all the colors in the shader are already lightened. Some of the settings make the skin darker (saturated, less reflective, etc) so it's trial and error. I admit I don't know what I'm doing, lol.
Fire Lilly Outfit for Genesis 2 Female(s) Snapping Asian Interior Construction Kit Niaby Hair for Genesis 2 Females and Victoria 4
But for everyone, here's Mei Lin in the very pretty Fire Lilly outfit in the Snapping Asian building.
Milonga Shoes for Genesis 3 Female(s)
Think elegant, classy, and a lot of options when you get the Milonga Shoes. Kitty not included! Congrats to Indigo on a well made product, I really like the gold above the heel too. These shoes can be worn for work or for going out for the evening.
And don't forget the Classical Morphing Bust HD , Classic Deco, Everyday Frames and Mirrors. The wall art is really a much smaller item that was scaled, so when you look at those products keep in mind any of it can go from big to small or vice versa. Nice set! She is wearing Arleya Dress for Genesis 2 Female(s). The gal is Genesis 3 Summer.
Remember the Stonemason section in the banner has the offer of a 5% discount on a gift card if one of those items are in your cart- if you are going to buy the pro bundle or spend a bit of money, you might want to pick up the outfit or the screen and get a gift card, THEN buy the pro bundle, etc.
Gorgeous render, thanks for sharing it Novica! If Gianni doesn't hurry up and arrive to take Summer out dancing, that cute kitty is going to convince her to curl up on the sofa and snuggle instead. :)
Your Mei Lin is beautiful too, nice work on the Iray materials. Her skin has a pretty sheen without being unnatrually glossy. It looks just about perfect to me, but how shiny or not people like a character to look does seem to be very much down to personal taste.
Lovely render of Summer with the Milonga Shoes, what's the sofa she's sitting on please?
Chair Time and it comes with several options. Glad you like it- the poses are nice too- but this one was one of mine after all the tweaking, lol. It's harder to get high heels planted than it looks!
LOL, you know me too well. Either Taric or Gianni will do. Actually, the cat is telling her, "Bring me back some steak from that dinner date!"
BTW, regarding Classic Deco (there's a bundle of the related items, GRAB it if you don't have it!) NONE of the items were optimized for iray. They render like that without any tweaking. And look stellar in 3DL too! I love the look of those lamps. The busts reflect nicely too and the black goes so well with the lamp posts.
Out the door (believe it or not at 5:50am) to go to Walmart and beat the heat and the crowds. Right now it's already 79 degrees, real feel 89. Almost NINETY. Ugh. So doing my grocery shopping now. Back in a few. In the meantime, what do you folks think of Bethany? I rather like the more filled out figure that isn't an Olympic athlete. However, once again, the bundles have outfits that I won't use. I might only get the base figure.
There's one vendor (Combination of folks) who really pleasantly surprised me when I rendered one of their hair products a few weeks ago. It was the first time I had bought hair from them, and I mentioned it on the thread that the morph options were insane- so many choices. So today it's a no brainer to purchase Von Erthal Hair for Genesis 3 Females.
It looks deceptively simple- but take the time to go to the product page and look at what you can do with it- the morphs are listed and you'll get a better feel for it. From that page, "The hair also includes 50 custom morphs. You can use the Mess, Move and Wind morphs, combined or used independently, to achieve a degree of customization that is not usual in hairs of this length. Also, there are Style morphs to make the hair longer, shorter, with more volume, or wider at the ends, so you give it a different and customized look." It has BOTH 3dl and Iray materials.
I am getting that hair and the Bethany Base figure. I know I will USE the hair and Bethany.
So tweak, tweak, tweak, and here is Mei Lin optimized and NO postwork. I like the sheen, it's subtle.
Interesting little tidbit from the Bethany thread in Commons from Daz Steve- "M7 is a few months out. You'll see more Genesis 3 females, and even some Genesis 2 males before he arrives."
I'm rendering Bethany with the same lights as Mei Lin for a comparison. Most of the Gen3 are quite ruddy IMO- but for this one I didn't want to change anything so she will be "out of the box." Using the Von Erthal Hair of course. Coming in about fifteen minutes I think (enough of it will be done.)
I admit I'm curious about that. I'm betting it will be Freak, or perhaps some other character. Odds are against, D6 or Hiro6. Can't wait to see your Bethany render!
Bethany 7 Von Erthal Hair For Genesis 3 Female(s)
Her skin is out of the box, I haven't tweaked it and would definitely get some more blues or cyan into it. This was a quickie to show you the hair. Look at the realistic ends, and on the forehead, the few wayward individual strands. Great work as usual!