Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 10

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  • cismiccismic Posts: 629
    Novica said:

    Andromeda (Gen3F)      Elegant Night Dress (Gen3F)        Kylan Hair (Gen3 M/F) 

    I like Andromeda, I've used her in a few renders. I liked how the skin looked and works with different lighting well.

     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    We're putting out cat crates tonight- she loves those! Putting some blankets from home with the cats' smell on them in there. If they see a cat in there, they will call me and not go outside at all. 

    Anyway, spent a lot of hours looking for her yesterday morning and then went back at 11:30am to 1am in that neighborhood, so I don't have much time to render this week. Have company coming next weekend, so I'll be rendering off and on as I try to get the rest of the storage unit boxes gone through and given to charity (finding some great glasses. Looney Tunes from 1976, mint condition- yet only sell for $4-7 each. Pity!) The charity is helping the people whose homes were destroyed by that EF3 tornado two years ago, so I've designated the donations to them. They lost everything, and some of the insurance companies were jerking them around with the wind vs rain damage. The charities are filling the gap because those folks have been through enough. (Seriously, you don't get rain damage unless the WIND takes the roof off!)  

    I was tickled to hear the woman I've coordinated with the last three years (found out she was the Operations Director, not a social worker!) took a job in Houston, running the largest agency that coordinates the volunteer agencies. Good for her! And her replacement is just as stellar! (This organization coordinates all the United Way agencies, Salvation Army, Red Cross, you name it.) 

    More renders come as I get time.

  • Question @Novica, How old is Evie? I ask because many years ago, my mom's favorite cat, Tracy, had run away, when she was very old, in order to find a place to pass away. I'm hoping this isn't the case with your cat, but if she is an elderly cat, this may be the case. 

  • cismiccismic Posts: 629
    Novica said:

    We're putting out cat crates tonight- she loves those! Putting some blankets from home with the cats' smell on them in there. If they see a cat in there, they will call me and not go outside at all. 

    Anyway, spent a lot of hours looking for her yesterday morning and then went back at 11:30am to 1am in that neighborhood, so I don't have much time to render this week. Have company coming next weekend, so I'll be rendering off and on as I try to get the rest of the storage unit boxes gone through and given to charity (finding some great glasses. Looney Tunes from 1976, mint condition- yet only sell for $4-7 each. Pity!) The charity is helping the people whose homes were destroyed by that EF3 tornado two years ago, so I've designated the donations to them. They lost everything, and some of the insurance companies were jerking them around with the wind vs rain damage. The charities are filling the gap because those folks have been through enough. (Seriously, you don't get rain damage unless the WIND takes the roof off!)  

    I was tickled to hear the woman I've coordinated with the last three years (found out she was the Operations Director, not a social worker!) took a job in Houston, running the largest agency that coordinates the volunteer agencies. Good for her! And her replacement is just as stellar! (This organization coordinates all the United Way agencies, Salvation Army, Red Cross, you name it.) 

    More renders come as I get time.

    Well, if you have an old litter box, the scent from that might work as well. Domestic cat's have at least a few acres radius from a home.  https://www.pet-happy.com/how-far-from-home-do-domestic-cats-roam/ start in the center and move out in those directions.  Leaving a trail of cat litter. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Question @Novica, How old is Evie? I ask because many years ago, my mom's favorite cat, Tracy, had run away, when she was very old, in order to find a place to pass away. I'm hoping this isn't the case with your cat, but if she is an elderly cat, this may be the case. 

    Nope, she's 13 and frisky as ever. Really good health. Thanks for asking though! The little critter was SO frisky she zipped out the door without me seeing her. Very quick! 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited November 2017
    cismic said:

    Well, if you have an old litter box, the scent from that might work as well. Domestic cat's have at least a few acres radius from a home.  https://www.pet-happy.com/how-far-from-home-do-domestic-cats-roam/ start in the center and move out in those directions.  Leaving a trail of cat litter. 

    I know about that, but it wouldn't work so far as the neighborhood. I can't trail kitty litter across other people's yards, and I certainly wouldn't let them do that to me. (I know that is not what you meant. :)  You meant the general area. I live in the middle of a neighborhood and she's watched me feed Shadow for four years through the front door glass, there's always food, and she knows the porch, so if she found the house she'd know it.)  And we're talking 80-100 acres of woods to START with so far as where she might be. LOL, that's a lot of dirty litter!  Animal rescue groups that I used to work with did not recommend that at all, as you attract other cats as well which could have the opposite effect of what you want- scaring off the one you're trying to attract.  Particularly dominant, unfixed males who fight.

    Also, people need to be careful about calling their cat- if you call going AWAY from your home, you MUST call going back every step of the way. Or you could be leading your cat AWAY from your home. Most importantly-  if you're calling loudly, and the cat hears you from far away, you could be calling it out to cross a major highway. There's all kinds of things to consider. It's best to call in a normal voice and where the cat would be safe to come to you, no matter which direction it comes from. It's exhausting to meticulously search for a cat. Since I know it's a possibility she may have crossed a major highway (two lane, but fast speeding cars) I no longer call into the woods on this side, I go IN the woods and use a normal calling voice, then stand still for awhile while I call so the crunchy leaves won't scare her. 

    Found the crate and blanket she slept on, still has her scent, so will take that over in a few hours. 
    I do appreciate the suggestion though! Just thought I'd share the downside of it. 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Novica said:

    Question @Novica, How old is Evie? I ask because many years ago, my mom's favorite cat, Tracy, had run away, when she was very old, in order to find a place to pass away. I'm hoping this isn't the case with your cat, but if she is an elderly cat, this may be the case. 

    Nope, she's 13 and frisky as ever. Really good health. Thanks for asking though! The little critter was SO frisky she zipped out the door without me seeing her. Very quick! 

    13 months? Years is getting on for a cat.

    I really do hope you find her.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    My cat is 15 going on 16 and is still going strong.  Just had a vet check and he is healthy as a horse and has several good years left in him if he doesn't come down with something wierd or run into something bigger than he is.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited November 2017

    I want you to see this. The Genesis 3 Female Base and Ekatrina without materials. Please click on and open the first two.  Click back and forth. I expected to see a uniquely morphed character.  (It is advertised as a character, not just a material product.) The miniscule changes in the head surprised me. I didn't even bother with the body. When I get a character I expect the head to change and become a different person!  

    And then there's the materials. The last one shows the default makeup- and frankly, I don't like that harsh line of unblended eyeshadow, it looks unfinished to me. You might find that to be acceptable though, or, as usual, it may look different with other lighting. But here are the main things for me- 1.)  ordinary makeup is lacking, it's all fancy, patterned makeup. (Which is pretty to be honest.)  2. THE BIGGIE- THERE IS NO NATURAL LOOK,  you must use that prominent line default makeup.

    In closing, I thought,  "Let's see how much work goes in to characters, and only look at morphs." Randomly picked a few.  Jolina. Jenn. Ella. What a difference in comparison to Ekatrina. (Just look at the thumbs below, the first two!) 

    Base Genesis 3 Female

    Ekatrina

    Ekatrina Default Makeup. No-Makeup NOT AVAILABLE.

     

    Jolina

    Jenn

    Ella

     

     

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    Post edited by Novica on
  • LOL

    iSource is not even a little known for morphs but that has to be an accident, right?

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    LOL

    iSource is not even a little known for morphs but that has to be an accident, right?

    It'd sure have to be a BIG failure on QA, wouldn't it?! 

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    NSFW said:
    Llynara said:
    NSFW said:

    How well does The Marquis hold up when auto-fitting to G2M or G3M? Does it lose the bones in the jacket when you auto-fit?

    Here it is on G2M. My illusionist refuses to wear anything else for the cover of my next book. I've tried so many clothes on him, LOL. He's also fighting to stay a G2M- I've tried converting him to G3 and am trying to give him a G8M makeover. We'll see how it goes! (Oh, and he's not old, he was born with white hair.)

    Note: The collar goes wonky, and I had to photoshop that. There is a way to fix it, Evil Innocence talks about it on their site or how to do this in Poser, but I haven't figured it out for DAZ. I'd love to know, because this is a fabulous set that I want to use over and over. I haven't tried dForce on it yet. I made this image before it came out.

    @Llynara, thanks for that info, I took a chance on The Marquis anyway, maybe I'll have better luck. I think if I go down to G1 it will probably work better.

    Glad to be of help!

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    Novica said:

    LOL

    iSource is not even a little known for morphs but that has to be an accident, right?

    It'd sure have to be a BIG failure on QA, wouldn't it?! 

    Wow. I'll have to check that one when I have a chance. I did pick her up recently, thinking she was a unique character. Her promos looked pretty good, and I've used other characters by that PA, they were very good. Is this the first one that PA did? Wonder if there's some mistake.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 2017

    There wasn't an Actor icon (I always use Content Library) so had to load the Genesis 3 Female then go to the folder and load the morphs/materials. See if it works for you, I'm always open to admitting to oopsies. I did this one twice, and if something seems wrong, I always do that.   Let me know what you find out. When you load the morphs, watch closely in the viewport and see if there's barely any change.

    I found that I had done her before LOL! At the time, I didn't notice the lack of change in the morphs. But looking at my gallery image, I can see I got the same results as I do this time.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 2017

    Picking up the Christmas Frame and Candle Set  as my new release so I can use my PC+ code for that $6 off an $18 order. To maximize it, I went with the deal where if you have a new release, the featured stores go to 60%. That's the Cyber Monday Extended page. That was buy ANY new release. The other sale required me to buy one of the new releases on the page. You can buy a PC+  item and get 60% off the featured stores from Cyber Monday, and there's a lot more stores to choose from.

    Then I got to take another $3 off each of the two, dropping them from the 60% and the prices went 73% off.  I went with DzFire's Store and OOT.  Got  Time Gate ($5.31)  and Lainey Hair (Gen3/8F)  ($6.65) 

    That hair is both Gen3 and Gen8, and the Time Gate should be awesome for effects if you use shaders on the inside of the portal. Give it a look! You've only got a few hours to use your November coupon for PC+  Take advantage and take that off 60% off stores. Or shop Fast Grab, or SimonWM's Flash sale store!

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 2017

    Just got back from driving the neighborhood across the street, a man over there showed a shot from his crittercam and thinks Eevie was there Nov 17th, which means she is hanging around over there in general. That would be before she showed up at the lady's house where she went to the patio doors wanting in. The lady where I took the Eevie's crate to lives a street over (which is about 3 acres over, woods and open field-type area.)  This man is neat- he fixes feral cats and has a colony, they're all UTD with shots, etc. I couldn't tell from the webcam if it was her, but really looks like it. It's eerie to drive in fog (last night) so tonight was better, I stayed on the street and put the top down on the convertible. I did get out and go on his driveway (well lit, so I didn't look like a burglar) a little bit. Anyway, no luck, but maybe getting closer. 

    Anyway, apparently Inane Glory's store is acting up on the Cyber Monday page, and only doing 40% off instead of 60% with a new release.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,647

    If anyone gets the iced over lake I’m curious what the ice looks like close up. All the promos are distance shots.

  • cismiccismic Posts: 629
    edited December 2017

    Just thought I'd share an image of Alondra as she was part of the Monique 8 bundle. Very simple. Right out of the box. :-)

    Added Lights, Hair(Miranda Hair) , set camera for DOF, positioned and rendered. Still in same pose. :-). But, I did try and treak the eyes, cheeks. Joseph Kravis

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

    Wow. I'll have to check that one when I have a chance. I did pick her up recently, thinking she was a unique character. Her promos looked pretty good, and I've used other characters by that PA, they were very good. Is this the first one that PA did? Wonder if there's some mistake.

    @llynara   Did you test that character?

  • cismiccismic Posts: 629

    The 30% loyalyty award seems broken. Had items in cart, wen to store, on return 30% gone. Is anyone else having issues?

     

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    I just checked out, mine was fine. I had Delilah as the new release.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    cismic said:

    The 30% loyalyty award seems broken. Had items in cart, wen to store, on return 30% gone. Is anyone else having issues?

    Debut new releases have the usual 30% intro discount. Adding your 30% loyalty discount brings the total to 51% off, which makes your second image the correct prices. For a time following Daz Midnight, the store was incorrectly applying the Loyalty discount twice, which are the prices shown in your first image.

    I'm sorry. sad

  • cismiccismic Posts: 629

    The 30% loyalyty award seems broken. Had items in cart, wen to store, on return 30% gone. Is anyone else having issues?

     

    L'Adair said:
    cismic said:

    The 30% loyalyty award seems broken. Had items in cart, wen to store, on return 30% gone. Is anyone else having issues?

    Debut new releases have the usual 30% intro discount. Adding your 30% loyalty discount brings the total to 51% off, which makes your second image the correct prices. For a time following Daz Midnight, the store was incorrectly applying the Loyalty discount twice, which are the prices shown in your first image.

    I'm sorry. sad

    Not a big deal. :-)  Thanks though. 

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    cismic said:

    Just thought I'd share an image of Alondra as she was part of the Monique 8 bundle. Very simple. Right out of the box. :-)

    Added Lights, Hair(Miranda Hair) , set camera for DOF, positioned and rendered. Still in same pose. :-). But, I did try and treak the eyes, cheeks. Joseph Kravis

    Wow, that's a breathtaking render, Cismic! Great job! yes

    @Novica Not yet, I've been crazy busy with promo renders for Sympatico Studios and still need to play with Darwin's character, LillyAnna. I'll probably take a look at the iSource gals tomorrow. I can't believe it's the weekend already! 

  • cismiccismic Posts: 629
    Llynara said:
    cismic said:

    Just thought I'd share an image of Alondra as she was part of the Monique 8 bundle. Very simple. Right out of the box. :-)

    Added Lights, Hair(Miranda Hair) , set camera for DOF, positioned and rendered. Still in same pose. :-). But, I did try and treak the eyes, cheeks. Joseph Kravis

    Wow, that's a breathtaking render, Cismic! Great job! yes

    @Novica Not yet, I've been crazy busy with promo renders for Sympatico Studios and still need to play with Darwin's character, LillyAnna. I'll probably take a look at the iSource gals tomorrow. I can't believe it's the weekend already! 

    @llynara Thank you! I have a couple of the iSource girls and they all seem to have good skins. My gallary has some postings with a few. 

  • dawnbladedawnblade Posts: 1,723
    L'Adair said:
    cismic said:

    The 30% loyalyty award seems broken. Had items in cart, wen to store, on return 30% gone. Is anyone else having issues?

    Debut new releases have the usual 30% intro discount. Adding your 30% loyalty discount brings the total to 51% off, which makes your second image the correct prices. For a time following Daz Midnight, the store was incorrectly applying the Loyalty discount twice, which are the prices shown in your first image.

    I'm sorry. sad

    The new math: 30% + 30% = 51% :)

  • agent unawaresagent unawares Posts: 3,513
    edited December 2017
    dawnblade said:
    L'Adair said:
    cismic said:

    The 30% loyalyty award seems broken. Had items in cart, wen to store, on return 30% gone. Is anyone else having issues?

    Debut new releases have the usual 30% intro discount. Adding your 30% loyalty discount brings the total to 51% off, which makes your second image the correct prices. For a time following Daz Midnight, the store was incorrectly applying the Loyalty discount twice, which are the prices shown in your first image.

    I'm sorry. sad

    The new math: 30% + 30% = 51% :)

    The old math: You get an item for 70% of the cost, and you have another discount that takes it down to 70% of the cost of that, equals 49% of the original cost, equals 51% off.

    Post edited by agent unawares on
  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    dawnblade said:
    L'Adair said:
    cismic said:

    The 30% loyalyty award seems broken. Had items in cart, wen to store, on return 30% gone. Is anyone else having issues?

    Debut new releases have the usual 30% intro discount. Adding your 30% loyalty discount brings the total to 51% off, which makes your second image the correct prices. For a time following Daz Midnight, the store was incorrectly applying the Loyalty discount twice, which are the prices shown in your first image.

    I'm sorry. sad

    The new math: 30% + 30% = 51% :)

    I think it's Algebra, isn't it?

    X = ( ( Y - 30% ) - 30%) = Y - 51%; Where Y equals the retail price of a PA product, and X equals the price in your cart.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 2017

    VYK Esme       Mele Hair (Gen3F)     Bandeau Bikini (Gen3F)

    Mele Hair is really bushy in the back, I didn't try any morphs as I only got it from the front. It's got volume for the top and sides, unlike the other hair I reviewed recently. I'm going to be more on the lookout for those type of morphs, as it's ridiculous not to be able to shrink the volume of the top of the head or sides. It's UHT hair shader by Slosh. I don't remember what the long hair was, I did these early yesterday.

    Esme has very sparse eyebrows near the beginning, and it certainly shows up depending on the lighting. It's easy to fill in. When you do eyebrows, I recommend a 100% soft setting for the brush to do a light fill (about 96% transparency) to lay down a fill. Then harden the brush to about a 90 softness,  and lower transparency to about 85-90%. Click mine vs the original back and forth. Of course, you may like the original better as it adds to her uniqueness.

    Bandeau Bikini has some really cut materials to choose from. TIP: Kitbash the top and use the top under other clothes! 

    Here's Esme in a harsher light with default brows.

    These are my "filled in" brows. Click to enlarge, then click on the eyebrow section for a really close up look. Leave that magnified version open in a window. Go to the next image below.

    Edit: Lights: GI Dome Iray

    Click to enlarge and click the eyebrows on the original. You may like these as they are. Now, with both enlarged eyebrow views, click back and forth and compare.

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    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 2017

     Apparently the person who did the glitches a few days ago is still employed. As mentioned in the Sale thread, it's glitch city again. (No not free, but just as bad. It's the new releases that are affected this time.)  Edit- oh man, and in the cart, some of them are going to 82% depending on what is tested.

    Post edited by Novica on
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