Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 11

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Comments

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    edited May 2018

    Durwood and Samantha are incredible. :) 

    You can grab the scene here - https://www.sharecg.com/v/89049/view/21/DAZ-Studio/Bewitched it comes with a readme listing all of the freebies and daz products needed

    @nonesuch00 did you end up trying the LIS stuff I found on sci-fi meshes?  I did end up buying the L1 over at Rendo but haven't done much with it yet.

    @greymouser69 - I had forgotten about it & then couldn't remember where to download them at and then I found out that I luckily had already downloaded them.

    They are on my HD now but I have to call out links to the originals like I did with Bewitched. I have an ideal for a render, it has a Valentine's Day theme but I'll do it ianyway. It's sort of corny render. 

    However, I don't know if I can share the scene as uses models and the author of the model asks that they don't be redistributed but I've asked if I can make them into a DAZ format and distribute them free at shareCG.com while citing him as the original author (which he asks be done for renders as well). 

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479

    I built up my store credit with some of the sales a while back, (passed up on the last one due to a lack of funds, though,) so I had to think long and hard about taking advantage of today's offer. I finally decided getting both plant products with the GC was too good a deal to pass by, especially as I really, really wanted the plants. Final cost of the two products was $9.56, or about 76% off the retail price, (as a PC member.)
    smiley

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    edited May 2018
    Novica said:

     I love how this looks like she is popping out of the side of the forum post!
    ("Sssssshhhh!  I bunnynapped Rabbicus. He's sooooo cute! Don't tell RGcincy!") 

    And here pops up Rabbicus!  He's so happy to be bunnynapped by this beautiful lady (and she is - great render Novica!).

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  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,384
    edited May 2018

    Finally got time to take Floyd and his friends for a proper spin. Here's the Floyd Troll wearing the Barbarian Loincloth from this set. He's standing in the Ruined Cottage (PC+).

    Now there's a face only a mother could love laugh

     

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  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,384
    edited May 2018

    And these are Bert, one of the Floyd varients from the Good Guys set. It comes with quite a nice skin texture, some grubbier teeth and sparkly dentures, but also has some useful teeth removal settings (just transparency maps, not a full morph job) - I removed a couple of teeth from the lower jaw. He's wearing the dForce overalls and standing in a field from HDRI Cloudy Skies II - the store page doesn't make clear that you can set the render environment to "with ground" and the character can be fairly easily grounded.

     

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2018

    Oh, you guys have been busy!
    @charliejudge   Pensacola is now the bullseye

    @rgcincy  Ah, atta bunny! The thread isn't the same without him popping in!  yes  

    @melaniel  The Floyd Troll looks right at home in the Ruined Cottage. Nice detail!  Bert actually looks like he's standing in an old field, very nicely done. You grounded him quite well. Thanks for the info on the teeth. 

    OT  I was busy this morning  and offline, I got up at 5:45am and drove my convertible out to the stables and across the Interstate 10 bay bridge. It was so pretty seeing the sunrise over the water.I wanted to drive it one last time because I traded in the car (350z) for another car today that isn't a convertible. The mechanism was glitching on the convertible and it had ripped the canvas in several places, badly. Replacing both the canvas and mechanism (which is amazing, if you've never seen one of those work where it moves hard parts around and tucks the canvas inside, then closes and seals shut flush to the trunk) was going to be...wait for it...$11,000.  Um, NO. (car was a 2005 and 13 years old.)

    So with tropical storm Alberto coming in, and the garage recently jammed packed full of storage unit stuff, the Z wouldn't fit in the garage and it would have just been stupid to try and tarp the car with the 65mph steady winds coming (and 12-14" rain.) Plus the car needed new tires ($450)  etc etc. Hubby agreed if we were going to spend money on a car to that extent, it should be a new or gently used one. I found a  2017 car with only 8,000 miles on it, mint and like new. So the convertible went bye-bye and since TS Alberto started all this in motion I named the new car Alberto- Al for short. My husband just rolled his eyes when I told him and said, "Thanks a LOT, Al." (The 350Z was paid for.)    So I'll be spending less on Daz for the next five years unless I win the lottery. 

    Since yesterday and today I was absorbed in car drama, thought it would be fun to ask- what has been your favorite car that you or your family has ever owned? And what was your very first car and what year?  My favorite was of course the 350Z convertible, and my first car was an AMC Matador. And yep, it was an ugly tan. Got it in 1974.  OMGosh, with that huge bonnet, I didn't steer the car, I AIMED it. It was like a ballistic missle.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479

    My first car was a 1964 (1/2) Ford Mustang my dad bought me in late 1974. I sold it less than a year later. I still own my favorite car, a 2003 Suzuki XL7 with 4-wheel drive, my husband and I bought used in 2006. (We've had to put some work into it, but it's in relatively good condition.)  I'm going  to hate the day I have to let it go.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,647
    edited May 2018

    My first car was a chevy beretta.  1987I think.  It was an Okay car, but I prefered my 1997 Ford Ranger. The ranger was a great truck, and I would still have it today if it didn't get wet a few winters ago, and something inside leaked. I never could find the source of the water, but the  moldy smell bugged my asthma so I had to get rid of it. They don't make small trucks anymore I found, and the new ones are way too big and oversized...Impractical for the roads.   I had to get a van which is essentially a covered truck.

    I still miss the Ford F150. Excellent vehicle.  I prefer trucks due to my gardening hobby. I don't like to put dirty things in interior cab. But I loathe big oversized trucks. And thats all they make these days. What a shame. Many are so big they don't fit in parking spaces. They are impractical for the roads here, and too much for me.

    Post edited by Serene Night on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2018

    BTW when doing horse scenes, horses DO love blackberries. Both Stetson and Nova. So if you want a realistic scene you can have the horse eating out of a person's hand or plucking them. It's amazing how Nova could get them without getting stuck by the stickers! (Stetson is spoiled as his are store-bought. His pasture doesn't have the berries.) 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131
    edited May 2018

    My 1st car was a junker when I bought it, but it was beautiful, a 1975 brown Mustang and I let my older brother borrow it and he blew up the engine like a 100 miles from home so that's the last I saw of that car. I knew the head gasket was blown when I let my brother drive is so it wasn't upsetting when it blew up. I paid somewhere between $500 - $700 for it but what does one expect from from a high school dropout makes $3.35 an hour as a busboy? Then I turned right back around and saved $750 and then bought a white 1966 Mustang. Now that one was a good car but was stolen a 1 1/2 lyears ater when I was working at Kroger's as a bagboy and making a whopping $3.50 a hour. The fellow student that stole it wrecked the front end and a little league backstop with my car and set it on fire! However, the car was so good that I got a junked Maverick at the junkyard and had the engine from the Mustang put into the Maverick.

    My favorite though remains the 1st car I picked out and bought brand new myself for $17K. That was a gorgeous black 1994 Dodge Ram 1500 Shortbed Pickup. I kept that til I moved to Switzerland in 1998 and didn't need a car so I have the Dodge Ram 1500 to my niece. $17K for any car seems so tremendously cheap now, don't it?; but it has been 24 years. frown One has trouble finding used cars for $17K nowadays it seems if one isn't being from a private individual.

    Now I just have a 2007 Chevy Impala that's pretty and sandy colored. I bought it a couple of years ago for $4000 with 67K miles on it so it was a great deal. I went to great lengths researching cars that were at the top of the safety ratings for 2006 - 2009 and that one was one of the top ones. There are two safety rating services, one by the federal government and an independent one created by a coalition of auto insurance businesses. One can look up their results for vehicles at both safety ratings agencies free on the web. 

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834

    My first car was a 1953 or 54 pink and white Pontiac with a straight 8 and automatic transmission that my older brother and I bought in 1969. We combined our money to get it for $75. A tire blew out while I was driving it on the highway but it came to a safe stop in the median. The cop who came by slowly walked around the car looking at the tires and just said "boys, you need some new tires" (they were pretty bald). Our dad helped us find 4 re-treads (remember those?) for $20.  My bother took the car after the summer so the next one which I owned by myself was an 1964 American Rambler. My favorite car is my current Mazda 6. Accelerates quickly and has European handling, so sticks to the curves well. 

  • Worlds_EdgeWorlds_Edge Posts: 2,152

    My first car was a Mustang.  I've had a Miata for 23 year, and I just swapped it out for a new one last month.  Since I haven't had car payments in years, this kind of sucks, lol.  My friends and family are making fun of me for not changing to another car.  I tried to like something else but, I dunno, I guess Miata suits me!

    So here is Connor.  I like that he is a younger character with a cleft on his chin - something you more often see on older characters.  While I rendered him out of the box here, I've tried mixing in other characters and found you can get a lot of different looks, including older looks by squaring up his jaw.  I've used the pace character hair (on the first two renders) which is tooney.  I love the hair, but wish I could scale it down for a less toony look.  Still, I haven't found any other hair of the same style.  In the third render, I've used one of my favorite male hairs - Kieron Hair.  Connor is wearing the back 2 school outfit.  

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    @rgcincy  We had a Rambler too! It was HOT BLUE. 

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131

    My first car was a Mustang.  I've had a Miata for 23 year, and I just swapped it out for a new one last month.  Since I haven't had car payments in years, this kind of sucks, lol.  My friends and family are making fun of me for not changing to another car.  I tried to like something else but, I dunno, I guess Miata suits me!

    So here is Connor.  I like that he is a younger character with a cleft on his chin - something you more often see on older characters.  While I rendered him out of the box here, I've tried mixing in other characters and found you can get a lot of different looks, including older looks by squaring up his jaw.  I've used the pace character hair (on the first two renders) which is tooney.  I love the hair, but wish I could scale it down for a less toony look.  Still, I haven't found any other hair of the same style.  In the third render, I've used one of my favorite male hairs - Kieron Hair.  Connor is wearing the back 2 school outfit.  

    The Ryan Hair and/or Nick Hair for G8M & G3M is the closest to the Pace hair but you probably know about those. It is by the PA OOT.

  • Worlds_EdgeWorlds_Edge Posts: 2,152

     

     

    The Ryan Hair and/or Nick Hair for G8M & G3M is the closest to the Pace hair but you probably know about those. It is by the PA OOT.

    Yes, thanks, I have those two.  I'd love a spikier look like Pace hair, but more realistic.  I do love the Pace hair for my tooney renders.  If the top could be shrunk down just a bit, it would be perfect.  I wouldn't even mind painting over it to give it more of a realistic look.

  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,444

    First car was a 1972 Fury II that had been an undercover police interceptor

    Guess my favourite is my paid for 2017 Toyota Tacoma although there were a number of others that I really liked such as the 1963 Corvair van and the 57 Ford F100

  • MollytabbyMollytabby Posts: 1,163
    edited May 2018

    My first car was a Mini (back in the 80's). I loved it but it had a habit of all the electrics suddenly cutting out!

    @Worlds_Edge have you considered the Armani Hair which comes free in the Genesis 8 Starter Essentials? I don't have Connor so I've used Stryker for Owen 8 and applied Growing Up Morphs for Genesis 8 Male(s). He isn't your typical kid but I was looking for a G8M without too much facial hair smiley. Armani Hair has morphs for flattening the top and pulling the hair forward. I unlocked the hair forward morph in this quick test and also flattened the top. I used UH2: Ultimate Color to make it look less toony.

    I did try the hair from the currently free Hiro 5 Clothing and Hair Only Bundle. The Space for Genesis Hair did autofit nicely and take Iray Hair Shaders, but the one closer to the style you are looking for, Nikkou Hair, wouldn't autofit and was a pain to scale. I suspect to work with it you'd need to move it up through the generations. What is useful about it is that it has morphs including one to shorten the hair. It also took Iray Hair shaders well.

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  • SimonJMSimonJM Posts: 5,982

    My first cxar was a fairly rubbish Ford Escort, not sure what Mk it was, maybe a Mk II?  Not even sure what year it was made now, but its was far from new when I got it back in teh mid-80s (I took by driving test 'late', when I was in early 20s when I was living in London - I was a biker up until then).  Best car I think has to have been the replacement ... eventually I decided that it was getting painful throwing good money after bad and the MoT test was coming up and a big spend was likley, so losses were cute, teeth were gritted and a new, second-hand, car was bought, a Triumph Acclaim.  Lovely car, really a joy to sit in and drive.  Sadly written off by a pair of boys who had 'borrowed' a car drve into the back of it and managing to push it car's length down the road when it was parked outside where I live.  Naturally I was "perched upon the porcelain" at the time, but a lovely neighbour ran out and she tackled eitehr the driver or passenger in the process of trying to get away from the scene smiley

  • genarisgenaris Posts: 323

    :) speaking of cars...
              can someone who has purchased the METRO POLICE CAR by Polish tell me: are the spotlights,  front bull-bars and police-light bars on roof separate parts which can be removed?  It seems like a nicely done car but I'm not really needing yet another police car--especially a 2-door sport coupe cruiser---but, if you can remove the police equipment so it could also be used as a regular car, that'd be swell.   Any info on this appreciated...

        ~Gen

  • SimonJMSimonJM Posts: 5,982
    genaris said:

    :) speaking of cars...
              can someone who has purchased the METRO POLICE CAR by Polish tell me: are the spotlights,  front bull-bars and police-light bars on roof separate parts which can be removed?  It seems like a nicely done car but I'm not really needing yet another police car--especially a 2-door sport coupe cruiser---but, if you can remove the police equipment so it could also be used as a regular car, that'd be swell.   Any info on this appreciated...

        ~Gen

    Not separate parts, but should be removeable via the Geometry Editor  Some of the surfaces are 'shared' so just using Opactity Cutout may leave gaps.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Ladybird is interesting, and as usual the details are really good from the vendor. I can't tell from the top view if the cushions are plumped enough though.  The  interior of the real cars appear to be that way. Did anyone buy it yet? I love the details of the dashboard. 

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    Novica said:

    Ladybird is interesting, and as usual the details are really good from the vendor. 

    My wife's first car was a '73 VW Beetle. I had a VW Rabbit at the time we met, and then we had a VW Jetta for 16 years. 

     

    Novica said:

    We had a Rambler too! It was HOT BLUE. 

    My Rambler was white. Turned out to be a good choice for a car pre-AC. The Rabbit was lime green, you could spot it on the road or a parking lot with ease.

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131

    I remember seeing an ad in a magazine for a brand new factory VW Beetle in the early 70s for less than $2000 if I remember correctly.

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834

    I remember seeing an ad in a magazine for a brand new factory VW Beetle in the early 70s for less than $2000 if I remember correctly.

    You probably remember right. My wife paid something like that for her '74 Beetle. My '75 Rabbit went for $2995.

  • kloolessklooless Posts: 115
    edited May 2018

    My first car was a 1961 VW Bug. I was actually 2 cars that had been welded together. The front half of the interior was red and white while the back half was blue.  It had the big canvas sunroof that you slid back and no gas gauge.  It did have a lever on the floor which was the reserve when you ran out of gas in the large tank. It held not quite a gallon of gas, enough to get to the nearest gas station.  I ran out of gas a couple of times be my dad and I figured out what that lever was for and about how much/how long I could drive before it was time to get more gas.  It was also the car I learned how to drive with a manual transmission.  I miss that old car!

    Post edited by klooless on
  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    edited May 2018
    klooless said:

    ... and no gas gauge.  It did have a lever on the floor which was the reserve when you ran out of gas in the large tank. It held not quite a gallon of gas, enough to get to the nearest gas station. .

    I had a teacher who had a Beetle with that mechanism. Since the mileage was pretty good, you usually could get to a gas station but if you were out in the wild, it might be a walk.

    Post edited by RGcincy on
  • genarisgenaris Posts: 323
    edited May 2018
    SimonJM said:
    genaris said:

    :) speaking of cars...
              can someone who has purchased the METRO POLICE CAR by Polish tell me: are the spotlights,  front bull-bars and police-light bars on roof separate parts which can be removed?  It seems like a nicely done car but I'm not really needing yet another police car--especially a 2-door sport coupe cruiser---but, if you can remove the police equipment so it could also be used as a regular car, that'd be swell.   Any info on this appreciated...

        ~Gen

    Not separate parts, but should be removeable via the Geometry Editor  Some of the surfaces are 'shared' so just using Opactity Cutout may leave gaps.

    THANKS for the info, SimonJM!   Unfortunately I'm going to pass on this product I guess.  I'm not familiar with geometry editor in DS and also, I'm afraid that if Polish didn't make the parts separate, if it I cut them off it might leave holes in the parts they grew out of.  I'm just not going to gamble on this.    It would have been so easy when making this to simply have made those separate parts and add value to the model which could then have been readily used by buyers as car or police car.

       ~Gen

    Post edited by genaris on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2018

    Tropical Storm Alberto making landfall in Panama City, east of here. We're getting the first major stormband in 5 minutes, it's been just a typical weekend so far. Some 2 minute periods of light drizzle but sun out most of the time. No one can go in the water at Pensacola Beach due to strong rip currents, but people out enjoying the large waves from the beach.  Here's a live webcam, these people are NUTS. (A lot of lightning in these bands.)  If it doesn't come up after a minute, just hit refresh.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2018

    For today's sale, don't forget to use your PC+ coupons if you haven't already. If you haven't used either one, you can do two separate orders.

    With 5 things in my cart, the $6 off made them go to 66% off each. 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • kloolessklooless Posts: 115
    RGcincy said:
    klooless said:

    ... and no gas gauge.  It did have a lever on the floor which was the reserve when you ran out of gas in the large tank. It held not quite a gallon of gas, enough to get to the nearest gas station. .

    I had a teacher who had a Beetle with that mechanism. Since the mileage was pretty good, you usually could get to a gas station but if you were out in the wild, it might be a walk.

    Back then, 1967, there weren't as many gas stations around either. Luckily the couple of times I did run out of gas, there was a pay phone close by that I could use to call Dad.  We are so spoiled with gas stations on almost every corner and cell phones now!  wink

     

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