NEW! Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 6
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Thanks.
BTW, anyone who has FotoSketcher, be sure you have the latest update. I was way behind the updates, and there's a 64 bit Windows version and that sucker zips along! Today I'm over at Envato, picking up PhotoShop effects. Gotta decide what I am going to do with my book when I start illustrating it. Not done writing it yet. But once I get some of these effects, I'll test them out and share some if I like them.
Oh here we go, another different type of sale. Penalizing customers for not shopping=not cool.
You'll end up getting a 64% discount once you hit the 40% off the 40%, in case you hadn't figured it. Before you buy, remember your PC+ $6 coupon for DOs (applies to NEW items) and your spend $18 get $6 off codes for PA items- and see if some of these more expensive items would be best if purchased with the $6 off after they aren't new.) You got new codes for September.
People who have both Pro Bundes of Scott and Karen start at the 40%- do they keep it? Or does it drop? (That would be crappy. I'm not one of these people though as Karen's Pro Bundle had, as usual, too much sexy and I'd never use it.)
I don't know if you add something to the cart from the REVs if it takes 10% off or if you have to wait, buy the REV item, then it kicks in? Because it says items must be in the cart simultaneously for discount to apply. Oh well, guess testing the cart is the only way to muddle through.
Cris mentioned in the other thread that the items are good for three days, so we will be able to plan our purchasing strategies. That's good.
How ironic about my previous post. However, note the freebie from yesterday is no longer a REV item. Not a mistake, it's no longer a three day option to purchase it and get REV.
Wanted to mention to be sure and watch Fast Grab, has been changing daily yesterday and today. At 40% off the F.G. price, Kiki Mai has some fun makeups you can use on other characters an she's $3.60. I got the cute wagon yesterday from F.G.
Check the freebies- they change too. The 60's dinette set is free. It can also be used as a kids table, shrunk down. Like an art table.
Wanted to show you what I've been playing with- experimenting with different Photoshop plugins. One tidbit I'd like to pass along for Graphic River (Envato) (as I've spent hours looking through 60 pages of plugins, only made it to page 43 lol) is that Adobe REMOVED the oil plug in in the CC 2015 version. Some people were saying in the CS6 version too, but I don't know as I am CC 2015. So if you are going to get an "oil painting" affect, be sure that it doesn't require the oil plug in. Some vendors will identify that for you and say "oil plug in not required."
But also, if you see CC+, for the ones I checked, it was okay. If it says CC 2014, that doesn't mean it works in the CC 2015 unless it also has only CC or CC+, or you ask the vendor.
Some of these, after running, have a ton of layers. So I played a bit. These are different plugins. A lot of changes were made to the first run, aka the default- they don't look anything like the original that the vendor produced.
I didn't fix the photo that I used, I wanted a routine, not-perfect photo.So the first one is the original.
I really like the second one. Almost reminds me of snow in some places.
The third one, the really sharp photo, I put in gradient lighting so the far left is darker behind the barn (as in the original, but enhanced.) Gradiant lighting is fun! Note the abstract leaves.So this one is a combination of watercolor texttures (note the roof, you can see it easily in the white) and oil painting strokes.
Heads up, earn %s off gift cards for the next few hours in the REV sale. (Of course, I've already purchased today. I should have learned my lesson by now. I am never buying in the morning for the rest of this month lol.) Go check out the promo banner.
when I first looked they were side by side, then I moved the scroll then back, and now they be in a Column
Strange, isn't it?
I know I am having a lot of trouble with loading images. Now it seems it's more common for me to have to do them two or three times before they load, whereas before it was off and on.
Anyone render Sasha yet?
Wanted to point out this hair, for those of you who adore the hair products with more morphs than you can possibly use. And the cowboy hat (wonderful quality, as seen in the promos) IS included. The store is one of the featured so you can get it for as low ast $6.83. I also can finally get Bellaluna whose eyebrows I love. I think she would make a great kid with those eyebrows and freckles. She's also about $6.83
Wanted to show you what I'm testing out for my book with the Photoshop plugins. I'm combining different ones (doing a PS action, then saving, then doing another action, etc. Customizing to get a unique look.) Anyway, also a reminder to you folks doing 3DL and not Iray, SereneNight and I discussed a couple threads back about the wonderful lights with Tomb of Helena. It works really well and also does nicely with Photoshop effects. Get it for $1.99 as PC+ member/ PC.
From what I labeled the original photo, apparently this was Mara for V4 and Genesis (LOVE the thicker eyebrows!) , in Florabelle for V4 and Genesis, with Midsummer's Night Dream Hair for Genesis (can hide the horns BTW. Nice hair!)
BTW, in case some of you are not familiar with Photoshop's options, with the Creative Cloud, you do not actually purchase the program anymore, you rent it. While getting all the creative tools can cost $50 a month, if you only want Photoshop, it's $20 a month. If you're doing a book, or want to have a blast playing, it's worth it. The effects are only $2- $8 on average over on Envato (Graphic River section.) Blame Serene Night for getting me hooked. I bought a lot of effects yesterday because I have to nail down my characters and style for the book.
With ebooks, I want it to be bold, easily seen, and I like this style, so it's the frontrunner at the moment. If you look at the thumbnail below, you'll see why I like it. Even on small, tiny devices, it will look really good IMO. I'll attach the original so you can see the Tomb Of Helena lighting in a regular render. That image is buried somewhere in the past threads, but it's been awhile.
I put a pattern overlay on top of the image, not sure if I'll keep it but I rather like the texture, sorta like older books.
I like that. I like the bold style of that.
Thanks. I'm still playing, did my dragon from awhile back. Pick one from your thread and let's see how it does? Bold lighting is best. (If I massacre it we'll skip it, lol) Let me know the post # and I'll grab it.
From earlier this afternoon, I putzed with the Wine Walking render (It was RRRR contest, weird sports. I drew a circus arena, a sci fi bar, a character, and whatever that Mayan temple is- yeah, THREE sets-and had to put them all in a scene. So I did Wine Walking Limbo as a sport.) Anyway, here's a small section of it, done in two different styles. The second reminds me of old fashioned cartoons. I had to laugh at how the Photoshop Action changed the look on Nidale's face, sitting to our far left.
These aren't the exact style I am using, I'm playing around. Be SURE and click and then click to enlarge. Nidale's face is a hoot!
Edit, I noticed the Hall of Flame Winners of Wine Walk Limbo are still readable. (Luci, Scott-L and Melanie)
EDIT: And Ben looks snockered!
Here's the dragon from a previous render (all these are 3DL lighting) It's one Photoshop action, then with another action (different product) then another action. Once you "run" one of the actions, you can go in and change the gamma, contrast, saturation, brightness, etc to suit your tastes. I deliberately changed the furthest wing so you can see the different effects possible for the membrane. You can also change the hue, intensity, etc.
Will this one work? http://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/FileUpload/bd/743a8c242124b760c87d98441d356a.jpg
LOL that is EXACTLY the one I thought of! I'll do it in a few hours, Steton's high velocity fan broke and it's going to be 107 heat index so I have to run to Home Depot and get a fan for his stall. (All the horses are brought in during the summer around noon for the afternoon. Florida is hot hot hot!)
Invited Guest Contributor
Sorry I've not been by for a long time - I've barely done anything recently - but I picked up a few things in the sale so thought I ought to do something with them!
Here is my first look at Venice by Aurelio. I couldn't resist it as (a) I love the place and (b) it got me a REV-UP point. This is a simple render in 3Delight - I've not tried it in Iray yet but since it uses DS Default shaders and no displacement it's probably easy enough to convert (though maybe the water would benefit from specialised Iray shaders).
The skydome is from a FirstBastion set, with just an 8-point distant light setup (to simulate sun and ambient). I discovered I'm a bit short of boats, so gave Jolly Boat a paint job and shrank down and repainted Drakkar and removed its sails (both PC items).
I'll try and add an Iray render later.
Wow! That looks cool Melanie L
Hi, back from the barn. Stetson got spoiled with carrots and red seedless grapes. Big thunderstorm came and it was relaxing but noisy to hear the rain on the roof. Then comes the humidity after the rain....ugh.
Anyway, totally agree about the render being really nice- especially the water. Looks as good as the promos! The entire lighting overall is nice and crisp. Thanks for sharing!
One thing I noticed about the set was that one door without anything in front of it. I mean seriously, even a boat going up to a door has to have something to anchor it! This set and the treehouse make me wonder what vendors are thinking- the treehouse had the ladder going up to it but didn't make sense either (I forget if it didn't go up far enough or there were no sides to protect people on the platform, or no handrails to grab.)
I'm wondering if a plaform or something can be put in front of the door (surface select other things and opague them out. I think that's what I'll do if I get the set.
I'm a couple days behind on buying, I don't need Venice for Rev up (it was Wed/Thurs/Fri but from Thursday the ones I'm picking up (that expire after today for Revs) are the badminton, Sela Hair, Everyday Drinks.
So the male products are showing up- yes!!! Keep 'em coming. I'll get Savage Hunter tomorrow (it was a Friday release and after Sunday no Revs)
I am loving the variety of these products, I'm very pleased with the vendors- a heartfelt thank you for all you do. The beach scene is EXACTLY what I need for my book (setting is an island) so I'll get that in a few days.
What are the rest of you picking up? I got Sasha V7 but no other characters yet.
I picked up
Savage Hunter
and Sasha
Savage hunter if you aren't into post apocalyptic stuff looks like it would be nice to kitbash with.
Wou'dve bought the space environement and the Everyday Drinks But they are IRAY only and I still use 3delight mostly.
I wishlisted Kiva Hair and Power Hair, since I do not have enough Rev's to give me much of a discount.
Fastgrab has a crocodile I don't own which looks fun.
Power Hair, I'm trying to figure if some of the poofy can be taken out, and if so, how much. If/when you get it, would love to see it. (Or anyone else who already has it.) I'm getting Sigrid even though I'm not sure about the eyebrows/makeup. I know that a lot of the characters look very different when I render them (lol, that doesn't say much for my renders I guess.) And Muscleman poses- I don't have the hero ones so guess I'll bite and get 'em.
Thanks, Serene and Novica - I didn't manage an Iray render tonight (got involved in some Bryce tutorials - yes, that's one of the things I've been spending my time on) - maybe tomorrow.
I also finally caved and bought Vicky 7 - with my Rev-Ups and PC coupon the Pro Bundle came in at $28 so I couldn't really turn it down any longer.
Okay, going to show newbies what a Photoshop action looks like. An "action" is like an effect. For this one, you click, it does its thing, then you change whatever steps you want to change. So this shows you the changes as I do them (and you can quit anytime at any step)
The first is after the action is done and I've already changed one section (you can do normal light, linear color, vibrant, etc. You right click the section and it opens a popup (shown below the image.)
Second, the image is done with "Normal" light. If you take the time to change / test the settings, you can make your images pop, darken, whatever you want to do. I switched to "Overlay." So with the second image, look at the one on the left, then the Overlay on the right. Ba-zing!
Third is showing you what happens when merely changing the Contrast lighting. Going wild. (Don't worry, didn't keep!)
Fourth is changing contrast lighting from Pass Through to Overview. (More pop, but subtle.) I included the one from the Second image so you could compare. The newest one is on the right of the two.
Coming up, the original, the finished, and a slightly different version.
So here's the original, then the finished, and another version of the finished with saturation, contrast, and hue changed. Hope this gives you some idea of what can be done. This particular product has TEN oil painting techniques, this was only one. Price of the action- what would you guess? Mouse over to see the price: $4.00
That looks neat Novica. I really like those:-)
Congrats on getting such a good deal! I thought it was great that Fast Grab had so many bundles offered. That's a sure sign IMO there's a new figure coming.
Bryce, eh? Hope that goes along well for you.
Here's a sample from Topaz Glow. Tons of effects! I'll put one of them in the post.
You gave me a neat one to experiment with. It's so funny because as I said, that was the exact one I would have picked! :)
You can make PowerHair more flat looking, though you cannot remove some 'poofyness' - I guess due to to how it was designed. I quite love the new OOT hairs due to them being able to be used in action shots fairly easy without me jumping through D-Former hoops or similar :)
The picture below should have probably been rendered with collision to make it better, as I applied quite some negative values in some morph channels and parts easily vanish into the head then.
Oooh, I like that Renpatsu! I also really like the shine. Thank you very much for showing us that render.