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

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  • Thanks for letting us know Serene, it's good to hear Novica is okay,   the images coming out from the area are quite serious.  The power of nature is terrifying at times.  That same storm has tracked up here now,  nowhere near as intense though.  Stay safe!

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834

    Thanks for the update SereneNight. Glad to hear she's OK. Hope her horse is as well. I saw pictures of the apartment complex but didn't know how close she was. 

  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854

    Glad that Novica is safe. I was worried when I saw some of the images on the news.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,651

    No problem. Novica seems okay the devastation around her is concerning. She and her home are fine. She'll update me later. 

    Thanks

     

    Wynter

  • FistyFisty Posts: 3,416

    whew.

  • mori_mannmori_mann Posts: 1,152

    Scary stuff! 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited February 2016

    Hi folks, on for a few minutes, my son rigged my phone as a temporary hotspot. Thanks for the concern, we're good. There were 151 homes and a couple businesses (LARGE ones, like an entire industrial park that was acres big) totally destroyed or severely damaged/will have to be demolished. The storm could be seen on radar coming up from the Gulf of Mexico on the shoreline and the  horse is near the bay, about 15 minutes from impact. It was an EF2 where it came ashore, strengthened to EF3 and stayed on the ground two miles, and was half a mile wide.  Hit neighborhoods and townhomes on Scenic Highway, which runs along the bay with 158mph winds, went into the bay and then on to Pace/Milton and another tornado formed as an EF1.

    I stayed on my front porch listening for the telltale roar, and video taping,  and in and out the front door listening to the news- knew all the time where the radar located the tornado. So weird, as I knew filming the lightening and sky that there was a tornado coming. I've been in several tornados but this one had SO much rain pounding down, I know why those people said they didn't hear the tornado, they felt the pressure change badly only TEN SECONDS before it hit.

    What they say about rain wrapped tornados is true, you can not see the funnel cloud at all. It just looks like a heavy rain and a LOT of lightening. Do you know this area has had TWO EF3 tornados in a week, and it's been decades since we even had one? I'll have to post the lightening/rain that shows the clouds hiding the tornado, it was like a strobe light. 

    So I may be back on tomorrow, thanks for the thoughts, carry on! Also, the Reality thread already has Paolo answering questions, so feel free to chat with him. Gotta go!

                        

                                    

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    RGcincy said:

    Thanks for the update SereneNight. Glad to hear she's OK. Hope her horse is as well. I saw pictures of the apartment complex but didn't know how close she was. 

    About 18 minutes away. Scenic Highway runs along the bay and is THE prettiest part of Pensacola. Those townhomes that got hit (the blue ones) are down below Scenic, on the water, about 13 minutes away, and that apartment complex is further up the road. 

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834

    Glad to hear you and your family and horse are safe but sorry to hear so much damage occurred in the area. That's a lot of heartache for people to go through.

    I grew up in St. Louis and we had periodic tornadoes come through. I remember one where my mom sent my brother and I to move the car out from under the carport (she said in case the roof would fall in; but if that happened, the car was going to get smashed by debris anyway). After we backed the car out, it was rocking like mad in the wind and rain and suddenly the light in the lamp post went out, so we dashed back inside. The next morning on the way to school we passed the houses a half mile north of us where the roofs were laying in the yard. Later when I replaced the burnt out bulb, I was surpised to see the filament pulled to the side the tornado passed on and the tip fused into the glass. That meant we were outside just as the tornado passed a half mile away.

    A few years ago, another tornado passed along almost the same track. This was the tornado that hit Lambert airport. My mom was still living at our old house. The tornado kept skipping about, so it damaged houses a few blocks east, west and south but jumped over her house. Only damage was a medium-size tree branch that went through the roof. Fortunately she wasn't home but out with a friend so she didn't have to experience it.

    Cincinnati also gets them once in a while (we get a lot of watches but they always seem to hit further south in Kentucky at a trailer park somewhere). One time we had a warning that a tornado was on the ground in the county and so we went to the basement until we got the all clear. It was night, so my wife and I went back to bed. Suddenly there was this huge roar like a vacuum cleaner that sounded like it was directly overhead. My wife and I both jumped out of bed shouting "tornado" as we were dashing back down the stairs. But then all went quite and we looked out and nothing seemed amiss. Not sure what it was, but based on how people describe tornado sounds, I'm guessing it was a funnel cloud that lasted only about 10 seconds and was still high in the air. That's as close as I want to come.  I like seeing videos of tornadoes but not being in or near them.

     

     

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    edited February 2016

    A few days ago I posted an image of 3 men wearing t-shirts from Diesel Outfit for Genesis 2 Male with shaders from Totally Bazaar. I noted that on the left figure, the stripes on the sleeve did not match up with the stripes on the torso. As there was only one surface for the t-shirt, I couldn't adjust the striping so I decided I should take this opportunity to learn how to create a new surface using the geometry editor. Turns out it was pretty easy. I made two new surfaces - one for the shoulder and one for the arm trim. I found you had to make adjustments to the tiling of the arm and trim to match up the stripes. You also have to make the tiling on the trim be negative so the pattern goes in the right direction. I did renders in both 3DL and Iray. The 3DL render turned out the same as the viewport preview; the IRay render was different than the viewport preview so I had to change the offset of the tiling to compensate. Both images are below. I left the right shoulder alone so you can see what was changed. If anyone is interested, I could prep a short tutorial to show how to do this. 

     

    Remapped shoulder 3DL.jpg
    800 x 720 - 385K
    Remapped shoulder IRay.jpg
    800 x 720 - 349K
    Post edited by RGcincy on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    RGcincy said:

    A few days ago I posted an image of 3 men wearing t-shirts from Diesel Outfit for Genesis 2 Male with shaders from Totally Bazaar. I noted that on the left figure, the stripes on the sleeve did not match up with the stripes on the torso. As there was only one surface for the t-shirt, I couldn't adjust the striping so I decided I should take this opportunity to learn how to create a new surface using the geometry editor. Turns out it was pretty easy. I made two new surfaces - one for the shoulder and one for the arm trim. I found you had to make adjustments to the tiling of the arm and trim to match up the stripes. You also have to make the tiling on the trim be negative so the pattern goes in the right direction. I did renders in both 3DL and Iray. The 3DL render turned out the same as the viewport preview; the IRay render was different than the viewport preview so I had to change the offset of the tiling to compensate. Both images are below. I left the right shoulder alone so you can see what was changed. If anyone is interested, I could prep a short tutorial to show how to do this. 

     

    Most interested!

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214

    @RGQuincy I would be very interested in a tutorial on using the geometry editor. Knowledge is power :)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    That would be nice Rich, thanks!

    BTW, I'm baaaaaaack.

     

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214
    edited February 2016
    Fisty said:

    Thanks for that link Fisty, I have never seen that tutorial, marking it so I don't lose it

    Edit:  reading through that tutorial found I had seen it back in 2014 but guess I lost the bookmark somehow and forgot all about it blush

    Welcome back Novica!  Happy to see that you are fine despite all  the destruction down there. The reports on the news here were less than encouraging for alot of areas there

    Post edited by Kharma on
  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    Novica said:

    BTW, I'm baaaaaaack.

    Welcome back! Hope all is well at your place. Not a good sign to have storms like this so early in the year. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Abandoned District is 72% off right now. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited February 2016

    Well, those pajamas with the lapels I didn't like and shirt that didn't button at all, was a new release February 11th, and is already 85% off.  'Nuff said. 

    Here's two items on sale...let's look now at two similar products. Retro Outfit for Genesis 2 Males  vs  Vintage Boxing Manager. It's interesting to see the different approaches to these. 

    Retro- the hat has no stitching from what I can see, brim is a fold on both hats.  Vintage has a secondary row of stitching on the brim.  EDIT: Thanks to Rich,  corrected the hat review. The length on both hats are correct, the camera angle on the Retro cap seems to take it to the ear, but look at the seated on the bench promo for the Retro, which shows the height off the ear.  What would we look up to see which one is correct- what are these hats called?

    So far as the suspenders, Retro is straps and Vintage took the time to have the adjustable/thicker part and the connectors are more pronounced to add style, so Vintage wins on the straps (IMO)  The pants are a toss up, Retro doesn't have the wrinkles Vintage does (which I don't like, seem extremely stiff and "built in" look- they don't appear flexible)  but no kudos on Retro's fly- doesn't appear to have stitching, hard to tell. Both have very decent flow in the legs with nice morphs down at the bottom. Vintage has belt loops, which make sense, because the pants are supposed to be worn with or without suspenders. That would be a "no" for Retro, no loops.

    Note the Retro pockets have no striping so they make a fashion statement. So for pants,  I would have to go with the Retro primarily because I just can't get past the stiff feel of the wrinkles on the Vintage. However, the Vintage vendor took more time with the stitching and details so if the wrinkles are okay for you, the Vintage seems higher quality to me with the stitching, loops, and suspender attachment details. 

    Shirts- apples and oranges obviously. Really think the cuffs on Retro look painted on, no depth, major fail. The collar is raised and has good depth. The buttons, don't see a closeup so don't know the quality on those. The shirt has good waist morphs. So other than the cuffs, it would be fine. The Vintage shirt has good seamwork which is raised and very realistic, nice ribbing, and morphs at the side. Definitely a go.

    Shoes- I like the diamond sides of the Retro, very sleek. The Vintage has more heavy duty type shoes and are also well made. 

    So.... hats: Retro has less detail, Vintage has better stitching.  Both have correct fit. Suspenders: Vintage has more variety, more detailed connectors. Pants: Retro seems more fluid, but no belt loops. Vintage wrinkles seem stiff. Retro pockets has plain material, you may or may not like that, and the zipper area doesn't appear to have any stitching detail. (Anyone who has this can you check that?)   Shirts: Vintage wins for me due to the raised stitching and good ribbing, and I hate painted-on looking cuffs (Retro.) Retro otherwise has good morphs, good collar, good fit and flow. Shoes on both Retro and Vintage are appropriate regarding their styles, Retro shoes have wonderful side angling- sleek! (I think for the time period, "Dapper!") 

    Which do you prefer? My vote goes Retro because the pants are such a big part of this outfit that I just can't get past the crotch wrinkles on Vintage (which I do think has more attention to detail in every aspect. The shorter hat though also seems "off" to me.)  You definitely have to have two windows open, side by side, when comparing. Otherwise it will drive you nuts going back and forth!

     

     

    Post edited by Novica on
  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834

    Most interested!

    I'll put something together then. The link provided by Fisty is a good start and shows how simple it actually is, but the shirt has more complexities in terms of selection and what you need to do to align textures. So I'll build on top of what that link already shows. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited February 2016
    Kharma said:

    Welcome back Novica!  Happy to see that you are fine despite all  the destruction down there. The reports on the news here were less than encouraging for alot of areas there

    Thanks. They've upped the destroyed /severely damaged homes, moderately damaged homes now from 150 to over 300, (Edit, now 360) and haven't finished counting in the other county across the bay. The second tornado, an EF1, came in less than seven minutes away from Stetson's barn. (By tornado path,  driving distance about  twelve minutes)

    Post edited by Novica on
  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    Novica said:

    What would we look up to see which one is correct- what are these hats called?

    Here's a wikipedia article about them. They call it a flat cap but it goes by many names that are listed. I looked it up using "bicycle cap" because I use to have one and wore it while biking before helmets came along.

     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Hmmm, so the dude with the headphones, his cap is the short version, and the Retro is correct too. That one promo image of Retro where it looks down to the ear is the camera angle, looking at the one where he is seated on the bench, it shows the correct length of the cap. Thanks Rich. (I am trying to imagine you in one! I had something similar that I wore when driving my convertible MGB back in the 80's. My "driving cap." Man, showing our ages much?)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited February 2016

    Laughed at this main promo pic.  Never noticed the gal in the background. "You're breaking up with me because of HER????" comes to mind.

    (Someone really should teach the vendors how to do promo art-  Art Basics 101 teaches you not to have telephone poles coming out of heads or touching hands on women's chests.) 

    EDIT: Dang it, I got distracted. What I wanted to say was Modern Brides looks nice, anyone render it? Love the jewelry and with the Iray Shaders, those pieces could be stunning. You need to have Evening Gown. All on sale. BTW, don't forget to use your PClub coupon for your Daz Originals, I'm getting $6 off these ridiculously low prices! Almost the end of the month.

    And remember, you can always use your shaders on these dresses, they seem to have nice flow. (I'm guessing, haven't got them yet)

    Post edited by Novica on
  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    edited February 2016
    Novica said:

    Which do you prefer? My vote goes Retro because the pants are such a big part of this outfit that I just can't get past the crotch wrinkles on Vintage (which I do think has more attention to detail in every aspect. The shorter hat though also seems "off" to me.)  You definitely have to have two windows open, side by side, when comparing. Otherwise it will drive you nuts going back and forth!

    I was looking at the Retro outfit yesterday but was put off by how the lower suspenders float in air. That seemed unrealistic based on what I recall of people wearing suspenders. If elastic, they are much more form fitting. Even if leather (search Google), they tend to stay close to the body when standing. In the first promo, they form fit the upper chest but stick way out in the abdomen area. It would help if they had morphs or rigs to adjust the fit. Just my opinion.

    Novica said:
    Man, showing our ages much?

    Yes!

    Post edited by RGcincy on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Have to agree on the float. I ended up not buying either one. I did get five things for about $6, including the Modern Brides. Would be a nice background scene (there are some wedding things in the store) and having a wedding scene in a book allows for SO much to happen/go wrong or just to showcase gorgeous plants/flowers/formal setups.

    I got Dark Fantasy Weapons (.98)

    Dual Wielding Poses (Gen2, Gianni) ($1.25) GREAT starting positions to tweak for other poses

    Aim And Shoot  (Victoria 6 and Olympia 6) ($1.36) as I have NO clue on posing for archery and at that price, it wouldn't be worth my time to do it anyway!

    That Platinum Cocktail Dress  ($2) and  Modern Brides ($1.20)   all added up to $6.79 with the PClub discount of $6. I'm done.

    And no, no Encrypted stuff for me. I'm not one of the adamantly opposed people, but  1. I am using 4.8, building extensive custom Categories, and not switching back and forth to 4.9. I don't have the time or patience to make a list of what is encrypted and what isn't, so I'm keeping it simple and avoiding encrypted unless it really has a WOW!!!!!!! factor. Even then.....2. I have more than what I can use in a year. So if I still want it (I don't NEED anything at this point) then I'll get it.

    BTW, let's chat about that. This is a "no one is going to judge you whatsoever" if you get encrypted content. Feel free to showcase it (as I won't be getting most of it probably, depends on the releases) as we want all products covered. You don't have to explain why you got it, defend it, nada. If it's good and you want it, and are comfortable with encrypted, or are using 4.9 so it doesn't matter if it's encrypted, would love to see it showcased too. Just please identify at the time that it is encrypted, it's a hard habit to break to NOT look and see first, and I keep forgetting. It will help those people who are not using 4.9 (and may have nothing to do with encryption.)  

    Happy rendering. I have to go read the Reality Users Manual and get questions ready for Paolo on the Reality thread here in the Art Studio. Tune in tonight at 8pm Eastern (7PM Central time and 6 PM Mountain Time and 5PM Pacific Time. I was curious- In Alaska, that will be 4PM and Hawaii 3PM) Even if you aren't there when it starts, you can read up/catch up and Paolo will take additional questions as the evening goes on.

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214
    edited February 2016

    Just curious if you had or showcased the outfit Smells like Fall , I was thinking it might be ok for a young teen or younger? It's on  sale for $3.07 right now

    Edit:  Sorry I don't know how to make the link open in a new window blush

    Post edited by Kharma on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    Kharma said:

    Just curious if you had or showcased the outfit Smells like Fall , I was thinking it might be ok for a young teen or younger? It's on  sale for $3.07 right now

    Edit:  Sorry I don't know how to make the link open in a new window blush

    Not a problem. To open in a new window, when you do the link, in there's a second tab called Target. Select the New Window (_blank)

    I have that outfit but haven't rendered it. The jacket only has Widen for chest (doesn't help with pokethrough at all, is my guess. What about the poking FORWARD aspect?) The shirt however, has widen front and widen chest, not sure what the difference is. Perhaps Front also deals with the abdomen. As long as the chest isn't huge, it will probably be okay. The skirt part has more morphs than the top and looks fairly flexible for movement. If you get it, let us know what you think!

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Oh, good article. Bump, Normal, Displacement Map explanation.

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214

    Ok fixed my link, thanks for the help :)

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited February 2016

    Sure!

    I'm totally lost on IOR (Index of Refraction) but found this list when I googled. 

    EDIT: Okay, here's an explanation.

    Post edited by Novica on
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