Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 9
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First of all, those Premium Portrait Poses-Wall need a second look if you don't have them. The walls are included as props, BUT SO IS THE LIGHTING. It's simple, but nice to have! Scoop 'em up now if you don't have them, they are in the 75% off store right now.
I'm testing the eyebrow product now and will let you know. I kind of prefer different brows than are popular here. I like really even straight brows and a lot of the men's eyebrows here are arched and feminine or spock-like. Replacing them will be great if possible and it looks realistic.
I'm confused by today's sale. I thought Victoria 8 was already HD. I thought that was a selling point of Genesis 8. Apparently now we "need" an add-on to make it so? I'm annoyed by that.
Only certain parts are HD.
I agree, selling HD morphs separate from the main character is a money grab. A character just isn't the same thing without their HD morphs. They should now be incorporated in the pro pack. Plus enough vendors now include HD morphs for female characters that I never buy them for the ladies anymore.
I have Oh My Brows for both G3F and G3M, so I didn't even hesitate getting both of the Super Natural Brows products. Turns out Redz didn't include the left/right morphs that Oh My Brows had, but with one person asking about it in The Commons, she provided a file that lets us add them. Great support.
Now, one of the really great things about Super Natural Brows is there are three material zones. If you want fewer hairs in the brows, you can hide one, even two of the material zones. And what I like most, you can apply different colors to the zones for a more natural brow color, and you can even add a touch of gray. All the other fiber brows I've got are all or nothing, or an hour or so with the geometry tool to select individual hair and create your own new material zone.
I'm working on a render now with Archie and instead of the brows that come with him, I'm using the Super Natural Brows. I'll have to post a WIP, when I have one.
My experience with the newly released eyebrow products by Redz for men is positive and I would definitley think buying the male version is a good investment if you want to get away from Daz's uniform dark odd eyebrow selection. I did not buy the female version. That product gets my full endorsement- especially with the color variegated eyebrows which I think DAZ really needed to do for Michael. (too bad that shader can't be applied to other bodyhair products.)
I hope Redz also releases a bodyhair product. I am experiencing a bit of technical difficulty with the Hair set product released yesterday. Namely the hair covers the nipples on the chest, and I can't find a morph to remove that, plus the arm hair seems a bit odd to me. Finally textures throw an error when I apply them. I will test a bit more, but I am kinda dissapointed about this release which seems to have been released with some bugs in the installer.
Nice one @Fishtales The billboards fit in well and I like the gritty look from the grime you added.
Okay, @Novica, this is for you: Archie with Super Natural Brows. I used pbs shaders from Mec4D's Unshaven 2, three different shades of red. Ginger was a bit too light so I tweaked the base color. I didn't try to make them asymmetrical yet. I need to shut down DS and restart for the additinal morphs to show up. However, I did use morphs to make them bushier and rotate the outer ends up a bit. This render was done in Scene Only mode with a ghost light straight ahead. Not the best lighting, but it is failry even over the whole face and gives you a good look at the eyebrows, (which was the whole point of the render, after all.)
I'm just getting started, but I must say I like Archie. I'm using the whiskers that came with him. (From Laticis, I believe.) Very natural looking.
Brenna for Ophelia 7 SwimWear for Genesis 3 Female(s) Audrey Hair for Genesis 3 Female(s) Premium Portrait Poses-Wall
This is using that Premium Portrait Poses- Wall pose, walls, and lighting. I moved one of the lights and changed the brightness (use Surface pane) You get one long rectangle mesh light to the side, and one torus (ring).
TIP: Using Metallicity and Metallic Flakes
What I'd like to show you is the addition of metallicity to your characters to change skin sheen. It helps if characters' skin is a bit flat, without highlights. Even those who aren't may benefit from a little more pizazz when lit. Metallicity to the rescue. To be more specific- a teeny, tiny, miniscule addition of it. Here is a few settings to get you started and you can play around with them from there:
Metallicity at .98
Glossy Reflectivity .80
Glossy Roughness .50
Base Bump 1.34
Metallic Flakes Weight .0010
Metallic Flakes Size .00070
Metallic Flakes Strength .35
Metallic Flakes Density .25
So open each in a separate window and click back and forth for the first four. The first one is the default skin, the second is mine with the metallicity and metallic flakes, etc (for the portrait one, and the first standing pose.) Then the last two are with the metallicity and fine tuning. I like a more "sweaty" skin for outdoor people, but even indoors- some of the characters seem a bit "dry." It will all depend on your lighting too.
@ladair Those brows look awesome!!!! (You should have done the main promo, using that render!)
@Novica, I REALLY like that second headshot (the one you said the skin was yours).
Aww shucks, Ma'am.
I've barely gotten started in that image. Still in the T-Pose! He's wearing Desperado HD and I'm using the Old West 4 vignette from Collective3D: Belly up to the bar, revolver in one hand, whisky in the other. (Workin' on it, anyway. He still doesn't have his drink.)
Went out for a few hours this evening so i put the render machine to sleep. Once I got back, the asymmetrical morphs loaded and I spent some time refining Archie's bushy brows. That WIP is rendering now. I think you're going to like it.
ETA: That touch of metallicity in your renders above makes all the difference in the world. Beautiful.
And as there hasn't been another comment yet, I'll just add the new image here..
@RGcincy Thank you!
Oh man they got me today. Lots of good things to buy including a nice hair by Redz, Michael 8 hd, and the military poses but sadly no obstacle,course....
Yeah, today was...expensive. Some textures for Josie's clothes, Carrara 8.5 (for $5.67 or something like that with reductions, it's worth seeing if I can get into it; I've used previous versions but it never 'clicked' and I never got good results from it), the Old Chap, the Ghost Chamber and the Redz hair (which looks like it's close enough to Agent Hair that I can drop that from my wishlist).
@Nath, you should visit the Carrara forums and check out all the links etc. Made the learning curve in Carrara less steep. Although I still have a LONG way to go lol.
Thanks, I'll do that once I find time to install what I bought, and to play a bit.
@L'Adair you did a great job with the brows :)
Snapped up the Old Chap for the fabulous HD ageing details. I also think he might make the basis of a nice older woman.
Here he is with the G8F clone morph dialled in and wearing V8's skin.
Thank you, @Redz.
I've got Old Chap in cart, too, along with your latest short hair. I've learned not to check out immediately, though. Sometimes Daz adds a Flash Sale, and sometimes @Novica comes in here and recommends something I realize I really want and add it to the cart before checking out.
Anyway, I was just thinking how I hope Kayleyss willl come out with a comparable product for the gals. Not sure what they'd call it, though. I imagine some would find fault with a product named "Old Lady"...! Maybe "Gracefully Grandma"...? I love Zev0's Aging Morphs, but have often wished for a simpler product to just dial in a few years. It's always been hard for me to get a 35 or 40 year old with the tools at hand. Old Chap is going to change that a bit.
Oh, if you're taking requests for future products, (speaking of eyebrows,) I'd really love to see an add-on for the Super Natural Brows that gives us those errant long hairs that curl a bit and stick way out in the front. Those are great for old men, especially set to gray. My husband—65 going on 6—regularly has me trim those for him. They are sparse, but often well over an inch long by the time I cut them. I just think it would be an awesome addition to Super Natural Brows. And I've seen photos of older women who have them, too. I suppose it would be a limited market for them, but I'd snap those up in a heartbeat.
Regardless, I am truly happy to see you as a vendor here at Daz. My wallet, maybe not so much. (But I seldom listen to the wallet anyway. It whines too much.)
That's really good, glad to see it can transfer over.
@ladair Yeah, right back atcha. You do realize that very often when you post something, my wallet takes a hit. So happy to return the favor!
@redz That V8 skin looks really good with Old Chap!!!!
I picked up a number of items during he sale.
Campus library https://www.daz3d.com/campus-library has an unfortunate mix of Iray and daz default textures. I know this is ok with daz but it doesn't thrill me. I'll be returning it
Civilized man https://www.daz3d.com/civilized-man-for-genesis-3-males I felt the texture of the sweater looked flat and painted on. In this day and age I expect more from textures than the painted on fabric look. There are no shoes
Fg fancy bath. https://www.daz3d.com/fg-fancy-bath you can hide the ceiling in case you are thinking about this set
Here's the Old Chap (30% Old Chap, 50% Garrett) with the Side part hair.
And here's a quick (as in quickly set up. Rendering took almost 10 hours) render of the Side part hair on a G8F.
The earrings are from Gem Jewelry for Genesis 3 and 8 Female(s), which seems to be loading its content onto the character in a weird way. Anyone had any experience with those?
@isidorn Sorry, I don't have the Gem Jewelry. What's it doing? The hair looks really good! Love the way your lighting catches the back strand.
Breezeway and Balcony Ren for Genesis 3 and Genesis 8 Males After Party Suit for Genesis 3 Male(s)
The After Party Suit is for Gen3M and fits nicely onto Gen8M. The shoes- no. Those are from Henley Shirt and Jeans Outfit (Gen8M)
He is wearing Morley Hair (Gen3M / Gen8M)
LY Camille (Gen8F) Vertigo Ponytail (Gen8F) Goth Outfit (Gen8F) Goth Outfit Textures
I'm not into Goth, but this outfit is really cute. You can't go wrong with red and black, it's always a stunning combination. I'll be doing a closeup of Camille sometime today, so you can see her better.
FYI- the lighting is from Pro-Studio. Yep, portrait lighting! I wanted an overall fill end-of-the-day look (it did take Camille all afternoon to shop after all) and this did quite nicely I think.
One thing I encountered that I hadn't remembered- if you use a background, it doesn't DOF. You have to blur it! It looked SO funny to have everything blurry then a clear, crisp sky and cliffs behind them!
Here's Ren who is thinking:
A. "I don't care about your latest shopping trip." (which was my original thought.)
B. "Wish I were on the forums."
C. "OMG, who is that? Wonder if she's single? Act cool. Act cool."
Ha ha, I love that one, Novica! Great job on that scene.
Has anyone purchased Layla for G3 and G8 yet? I'm not buying as many women lately, but I really like her options and the fact that she's for both generations. I prefer characters that come like that, as I don't own a lot of tools for G8 yet but have tons for G3. I find myself flipping back and forth between the generations. I'm really impressed we got new stuff for G2 today. That was a nice surprise. he's got 3Delight and Iray materials, plus he's Poser compatible too!
Lots of great stuff in Mega Fastgrab and featured artist. Having a tough time whittling my cart down today.
PS. Check out Francis Coffill's TOA clothing. Some are in the sales today. Very nice sets, very versatile with many options.
I know what you mean about the cart- yesterday was the most amazing day yet IMO, and today is ultra-tough too. I kept thinking (as my funds got lower and lower) that it was near the end of the month so I could hang in there. Ugh. With these offerings, it's really hard to pick and choose. Layla looks good! I'm surfing the Mega Fastgrab(with one New Debut or maybe two) to make the most of what funds I have left, particularly sets.
I'm really bummed that I have to pass on the village by Faveral. Its stunning! But, I can't justify it right now so into the wish list it goes. I still have to purchase another PC+ membership and that will be all I can do for the rest of the month.
Well, okay. A surprising result and I'm not sure what I changed that is doing it, as many things were tweaked. Was playing with Camille and doing Metallicity and Metallic Flakes (along with typical Diffuse, Top Coat, Scatter vs Scatter/Transmit) and whatever I did, I changed the regular render and got more details, somewhat HD. The knuckles are more defined, the shadow under the eyes now show a tiny crease- it's like getting more high definition! One thing I did turn on was the Metallic Flakes Thin Film, hadn't used that one before. You'll see a difference in the two Camilles when I post them.
LY Camille HD for Genesis 8 Female
I used almost the same postwork for each, trying to get the skin tone/saturation to match so we could compare more easily. What the metallicity, metalic flakes combination with the increased reflectivity (among other things) did was to enhance the midtones. I also changed from scatter to scatter/transmit on Metallic Flakes Color Effect, turned on the Metallic Flakes Thin Flim (to 33.09) and played with bump, etc. Open in two windows and click back and forth and you'll see the second one is darker with midtones, more knuckle definition due to the darker grooves, etc. Of course the shine on the nose is more easily seen, and the fingers glisten in places.