Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 12
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When I bought Carrara Pro, the page advertised it included the Victoria 5 Pro bundle and the Michael 5 Pro Bundle. All the products from those bundles went into my Product Library, but not the actual bundles. (There wasn't a listing for either Pro Bundle like there is when I buy a Pro Bundle in the store.)
Some of you may remember a special offer a year or so back, when people got a "Green/Blue/Orange/Purple" banner for a nice additional discount if they already owned all the bundles offered in a promotion. (I think it was one of the early, buy this pro bundle, choose one/two/three of these pro bundles free offer with one of the named 8 new releases.) A lot of people were upset because they didn't get the banner when they owned the V5 and M5 Pro Bundles from buying Carrara Pro. It didn't take long, and our Product Libraries had those Bundles added manually and the discount offer extended to us.
In fact, the Michael 5 Pro Bundle is still in my Product Library. Here's a cropped screenscapture. (the original is attached.)
But I no longer have a Victoria 5 Pro bundle listed…?
That's just weird.
Just a note if you're low on funds or only see one or two items on today's Flash Sale. It requires three items, but you can always pop in a $0 item to get your count up.
L'Adair I remember that!
But I still didn't/don't have either V5 or M5 pro bundle in my product library even if I own every item from these bundles gotten free with Carrara.
Turn off "Hide Items I Own" to see a bunch of $0 items you already have. You can click on the Purchased button on the product page to add it to your cart.
Great tip!
I want to get certain items but when I put them in my cart it says the code doesn't apply. Why in heck can't they organize these massive grab bags BY VENDOR????? I'm going through the dropdown of vendors, but that has been unreliable (and pointed out as such) in the past. I don't trust it.
I just use the Only Show Wishlist option from Daz Deals. I also have over 400 products in my wishlist! But I'm to the point where, if I want and can't buy it now, I wishlist it. And when there's a big sale, if it's not on my wishlist, I don't buy it, (with a few exceptions.) It sure makes shopping Flash/Blink sales a lot faster, leaving me more time to use the stuff I already own! lol
L'Adair's signature reminded me about Jen, and reading the update from a couple months ago made me very, very sad. She had blood clots in her arm (they went in three times in three days) and may be on kidney dialysis now. I had donated originally when her foot was amputated, and I think one other time, but it had been months.
If you donate, consider Art Studio Daz as your last name so she knows where the support is coming from. (I put my name as Novica Art Studio Daz 3D) Let's spread the word to our friends who aren't visitors of this forum too. I posted on Facebook. (I was fortunate enough to grab the pnscola URL years and years ago.) There's a couple other fun fact things I just added to my page there- about birds. Gotta love Andrew Jackson's day in history.
Maya For Ellithia 8 Goddess Braids (G3/G8F) Harmonia Outfit (G8F) Fantasy Throne Room
I wanted to test the Harmonia Outfit with just the one click simulation (I haven't dived into dForce yet) and the armband/sleeve didn't do well, and the waist metal piece is offset, doesn't hug the body. That may be because it is rigid metal. Did a quickie backshot, look at the sleeve on your left. I also wanted to try a difficult pose with the leg bent up fairly high.
The Weight of a Kingdom
Is there a quickie way to re-simulate just a certain part of the outfit, say the sleeve? Can you select just parts of an outfit to collide against a part of the character?
Regarding Goddess Hair, I'll have to go back and check, (I did at the time but may have missed it) I want to see if there's a skullcap to darken the scalp. This looks really glaring (aka white) under these lights. This may be one of those hairs which require special consideration for lighting otherwise. Anyone else render that hair?
I have used the Clothing converter to make the Valana outfit and the Fantasy Ranger outfit to fit Genesis 8.
I have also used the Legacy Skin Converter to allow me to use different versions of Tamesis on Genesis 8 Female
I have textured the Valana Outfit using Leather and Fur Iray Shaders
@sueya Greens and browns have always been a favorite combination of mine. I guess Earthy colors just appeal to me. The folds of the skirt look very relaxed, nicely done!
Want to welcome newbies who are surfing the thread, and also folks who don't post to the forums. Some people may not know how, and how can you post and ask if you don't know how to post, or what's involved in posting? I got another question last week on do's and don'ts of posting from a newbie, so here's the basics.
Your Email Address
First of all, your email is NEVER shown. That question was brought up behind the scenes, as to how to keep your email private. I've gone through all the settings (when you click your name and go into those settings) and there's no mention of email anywhere. It is hidden. You don't have to set it to hide it. Also, I've been posting for seven, long wonderful years and my email has not been sold or harvested. You can tell by the number of posters with huge posting numbers (mine is 20,112 as of this post) that we are very comfortable posting and we don't have our personal information accessible in the settings for the forums. However, if your email is being used as your user name, you can request to have it changed.
How to post? Type in the textbox and hit Post Comment. That's it. I don't change Styles or Normal (above the text box) when just typing a regular message. Your print will possibly look smaller in the textbox, but as long as you don't change Styles or Normal, once you post it, you're good. The print will be larger.
If you want to bold something, you simply left click, hold down your mouse and highlight the words, then go above this textbox and hit "B" (the very first letter. )
The capital i (I) is Italics, and it looks like this. Anytime you want to stop Bold, Italics, or Strikethrough (the S lined out which does this) you simply click them again to stop the action. If you want to undo it immediately, you can either hit the arrow on the top (which takes out entire words, I just found out, or hit CTRL+Z on your keyboard, or highlight the word and hit the B, I, or Strikethrough again and it will undo what you did. The fastest way, however, is to hit the T that is underlined and has an X next to it- that undoes the format.
The other things can be played around with, if you hover with your mouse it will tell you what they do. I rarely do tables, etc, so am just sticking to basics here. A couple things about forum netiquette that does bear mentioning- (to get the red lettering, I simply clicked the A with the dropdown inverted arrow and chose a color)
TIP: If you want to go to the next line and NOT have a space, hold down the Shift key. So note my next line has no space between this one.
SEE? It's right here.
When quoting someone and reposting an image (say I wanted to quote Sueya above, and show her image) forum netiquette is to reduce the size of the image so people aren't scrolling and scrolling through the same image (particularly on other devices.) A good size to reduce them to is 250 in either height or width, whichever is the largest. It gives a good idea/reminder of the image. HOW DO YOU RESIZE SOMEONE ELSE'S IMAGE? How to quote them?
Go to the post and hit the "quote" at the bottom of the post. Trim out anything that isn't needed. Don't requote the entire thing (I cringe when I see that frankly.) Put ... (three dots) to show something has been taken out. See example below. Her post was short enough that I didn't really even need to take anything out, but that's an example.
By reducing the size of the image, and not repeating information over and over, everyone has a more enjoyable experience. (Again, particularly when surfing via phones.)
To reduce the render size, left click on the render. Go up to the square that looks like mountains and a Sun (to the right of the Flag up there) and left click. Make sure that LOCK icon (to the right of the width/height) IS LOCKED so the ratio stays the same. Then type in 250 in either the height or width, whichever is larger. Her width was 800px before I resized it. Then hit Okay.
After you get the quote and the image, type your reply BELOW the gray vertical bar.
My reply goes here, below that vertical gray bar.
To post an image:
You can post your images in this thread, if you don't want them to appear below your post. Another reason is so you can have tabs open with your images, and you can grab the URLS easily while your post is open.
You go below to Attach A File, Choose File (and do) and hit Open.
A thumbnail appears below (outside the text box.) You can't do anything with that (so far as I can tell) without Post Comment. Any options (open image in new tab, copy URL) will only give you the tiny thumbnail. You have to post your comment to get the URL of the big image.
So Post Comment. THEN click on your photo attachment, and highlight the URL by holding down your mouse and going over the URL. (Right click- COPY.) Hit your back button to go back to your post. Now, go to the upper right corner of your post and HOVER your mouse, a cog will appear that says OPTIONS. Left click and it will say EDIT. Click it.
Now, put your mouse in the post and click where you want your image to go. Then you go back to that same Mountain/Sun (Image Popup) icon and click it, and put the URL
While in the Image Popup, you can click Width or Height and your numbers will fill in. Out of habit, the way I do it is do both URLs first. So- Click the LINK tab and put the URL there also. Now, another forum netiquette- Images should open in a new window and not take people off a thread. So while still in the LINK tab, click Target and select New Window (_Blank)
NOW I do the Width / Height - when you click on the Image Info tab, to go back where you see height/weight, you'll see the numbers for your render are filled in. I use 600 for the maximum height or width as most people don't have to scroll with a 1080 screen resolution. She is 800 px high but shown here at 600px. If you do a really big render, I'd suggest putting this:
Image is 1600px, click to enlarge, click again.
(Remember, she isn't 1600px. Just doing an example. I state to click and click again in case newbies don't know they can do that once they click the image.) Once the image opens up in a new window, you will note you must X out to close the window and you are still on this thread.)
NOTE: After you get your post open to insert your first photo, if you have multiple photos to put in the post you do NOT have to close the post and go get the second/third/etc photos. You can click on the attachments and they will open in a new window for you to get the URLs! (Took me a year to figure that out. I kept saving the post and going and getting the images one by one!)
And if for some reason you want to delete your photo, just go to the cog in the upper right corner of your post, hit Edit. Then left click on it in the post and delete. Save. Go down to the thumbnail below the post and hover over it, and you'll see Delete. (You do NOT have to be in Edit mode to delete that.)
Deleting is handy for when you didn't notice poke-through and fix the render, and want to repost it. Remember- just go up to the top right of the post, hover, Edit- and resubmit the new photo, hit Save, click on the thumbnail to get the NEW URL, and follow the previous method of inserting a photo.
How to post a link:
Copy the URL by holding down your left mouse button and highlighting it. Right click your mouse and choose COPY.
Type the words in your post, such as The Best T Shirt Ever and then highlight it with your mouse. Go up to the link (looks like a chain link, it's to the right of ABC checkmark, above) and left click the chain. Put your mouse in the URL box, right click and choose Paste. Then while still in the popup, chose the Target tab, then in Target dropdown, select New Window (_blank) Now your words are linked and a new window will open when someone clicks it.
Hope this helps. If anyone sees anything I've typed wrong, proof it and let me know. I was trying to walk through it and type the instructions at the same time. :) I think I got my left and right clicks correctly stated.
If anyone has any questions, PM me or ask on the thread. C'mon folks, give posting a try!
I go with pngs. That's what I have as my default in DS and I'm too lazy to change it (unless a gallery/forum/contest stipulates only jpgs allowed).
I just thought I'd post this pic of Merlin's Labyrinth Construction Kit, since it is in the pc+ for a day sale. I just threw Iray Uber and Emissive shaders on it, and imho it looks awesome.
Agree! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Novica
Thank you first for the guidance on the forum. And a big second thanks for your thread. I found DAZ Studio in March 2016, but didn't get into the forum until June and PC+ and your thread # 7 in August 2016. I think I had all threads open on my iPad, iPhone and iMac trying to learn as much as I could. You and everyone who participated on the threads helped me so much. I expanded out and found others, but your thread remains favorite for reviews, hints, and tutorials.
I appreciate the time it took from family, furry family and friends to do this for all of us. So, simply, my thank you for your kindness and sharing.
Mary
Wanted to show you guys a quick image of Thea by Marcius. I love all of his characters but for some reason she stands out a bit. May be the tattoos paired with her very innocent face. (I like contrasts lol)
Thanks, Novica, for the explanation on how to post an image. I always ended up with a little picture in the bottom corner and could never figure out how to do it.
Her tattoos are really interesting too!
You're very welcome.
I do have a question for the Admin folks- is it still the same that people need to contact Richard to request a forum member name? Does it still automatically use email addys? I want to put that in the post with the specifics- not just "request a name change." Where should the post direct them to/ what advice should be given?
Flash Sale of 60%, or 65% when buying two or more, of Second Circle's store. If you still have a Victoria banner, it's 72% off. Imrae doesn't appeal to me, but otherwise, I have all 23 items in the store. Just scooped up the last five gals. I've given up and accepted I'm a character collector. Edit- I looked and this Victoria banner works from the 22nd to the 30th (excludes gift cards.) I don't recall getting a popup on it, but it's in Exclusives in messages in My Account. So if you've been buying and NOT trying the (SAME) code from the previous banner, you may want to do that.
@spuffy I added a NOTE in red about adding multiple images, be sure and read it back in that post (and a few of you may not know it, either. Took me a year to figure it out, I'm such a dummy!)
What I do is click on each thumbnail after I post which opens each image in a new tab. Click edit on the post and then, for each image, highlight the address in each tab and copy and paste it into the editor for each one.
If you have a lot of images to include, like I did with my depth tutorial, and you want to have them uploaded ready before you start typing, you can post them in advance in this thread: An OT thread for images. Then use the method shown above to find their URLs.
Brief Hair Tutorial (for those who want to dabble and fix streaky hair, transparent hair strands, or to add more details in postwork)
Maya For Ellithia 8 Casual Springtime Outfit (G8F) Anya Hair Elianeck Dramatic Lights for Iray
I wanted to show a closeup of Maya, and also mention something a bit confusing. In studio, when you load up the Casual Springtime outfit, over in Scene it is going to say Casual Spring Outfit- which is another outfit. So if you're doing a review or mentioning it, remember it's the Springtime one. And over in Content Library, you have Casual Spring, Casual Spring Outfit, (and the Casual Springtime- it is labeled correctly over there.) BUT- The Casual Spring are materials for the Casual Spring Outfit and should be under it, not a separate entity.
I did the shirt underneath with the pink option, it does have blue to match the overshirt. I like the contrast as it catches the eye.
Hair Postwork Tutorial
So, this is Lilith Hair, sold elsewhere. It's a bit streaky in places with varying translucency, and I don't think the strands look that great. Some parts have hair strokes that look too defined, while other areas suddenly lack detail. There's not consistency IMO. If you want to fill in strands and add details, I suggest the following:
1. Grab a medium or light color and use a brush half the size of the strand. Put softness to 80 or 100%. You're creating a base for the strand, not details.
2. Then sharpen your brush (reduce softness to 30 to 40%) and put your brush size down to 1-5 depending on the size of your render. Pick a MEDIUM dark and make your hairs on the strand. Follow the flow of the hair.
3. Pick a lighter color (NOT the lightest) and go back on top of those same strands, adding some lighter color. Don't do all the strands the same! Leave some darker.
4. IMPORTANT- now pick a totally different color, a light one, for highlights and keep your brush and softness the same. Go over areas and do the highlights, on top of the color you did previously. You don't want all strands to look the same though, so SOME PARTS OF THE STRAND SHOULD NOT GET HIGHLIGHTS.
5. Pick your darkest color last, and put SOME detail in your medium and dark strands, leaving the highlights alone.
So open both of these side by side, and see the hair strands on your left which were filled in (I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HAIR ON YOUR RIGHT) and also see how I put details in the strands that were bland. The third image has areas circled for you.
TIP: Don't put the exact amount of details in each strand.
So open the first one (will be a separate window) and then the second. Click back and forth to see the changes OVERALL. Then X out of the one that I had changed, and open the one which has areas circled, and now click back and forth between the first one (original) and the marked sections. It will help you really scrutinize the differences in each section. Those are just a small sample of the postwork, not all is shown as I postworked a lot of the hair on that side.
CLICK TO ENLARGE AS THESE ARE 1300 PIXELS AND YOU CAN REALLY SEE THE DIFFERENCE.
Yeah, I've done that too. I couldn't believe when I first started using the forums that you had to post the message before getting a way to put the images in the post.
I'll put that in there. Good point!
I've also added how to do links.
I have used the Clothing Converter to convert Sugar for v4 outfit to fit Genesis 8. I have retextured it using Floral Silk Iray Shaders and Gingham shaders.
I have also used the Legacy skin converter to convert the Modern Muses Nera skin to fit the Genesis 8 girl on the left
How To Make A Natural Hairline
If you have a character who isn't featured in a closeup, you may hope folks don't notice those pesky hairlines which aren't as realistic as you'd like. This is Maya, again shown in the Casual Springtime (G8F) The hair is Anya Hair (G8F) at another site.
But if you need a closeup, and you've adjusted the hair and still aren't happy, let's get those hairlines tweaked. (I did NOT tweak this hair, to have a weird hairline to work with.)
Click between the two images- before and after- and look at the temple and the hairline down the side on your left. You really do need to click to enlarge as these are 1300 pixels and you'll see what I did much clearer.
1. Put your brush down to 1-4 in size, depending on how large your image is. Put the transparency to 80% or more. For softness, around 60%.
2. Put your darkest strokes in first and make them slightly curved. Don't make her look like a porcupine with stiff quills, unless the hair is sharply pulled back! The secret is to start your strokes at DIFFERENT heights. Think of rows like:
A
B
C
and you want some hair starting upwards from A, some from B, some from C.
3. While you're at it, vary the distance between your strokes horizontally ( D E F) where you may have strokes like this:
DDD D DEEEE E EE EF FF FFFFF F FF so there's no pattern as to the spacing going across. Make a few wayward strokes going at an angle, and crossing over some of the strands. No one has perfect hair.
4. Select your medium color and do the same thing, varying the starting point on A B and C going upward. This is important- put some of the horizontal (going across, your D E F) strokes in between your first batch of D E F's so you have a few medium colors as stand-alones between the first groups. Again, remember to make the hair slightly curved. Your sides should also curve, unless pulled back.
5. Put SOME light strokes both horizontally and vertically. Again remember to make some wayward non-behaving strands. I keep these pretty short.
6. Best TIP: PUT SKIN COLOR VERTICALLY GOING INTO THE FOREHEAD, and HORIZONTALLY GOING INTO THE SIDE/ SIDEBURNS. The very last step is to take the forehead skin color and make it look like the skin is peek-a-booing through the hair strands! I can always tell when the artist stops short of doing this, as the hair doesn't look as integrated. You'll need to frequently eye-dropper the forehead and get the right color of the skin.
And there you go!
I use the Galleries to store my images. You can create folders and subfolders to keep things organized. I have a top folder named Private, and all the subfolders in that folder are marked Private in the settings, so none of those images show up in the public galleries. (This has the added benefit of storing all the images in "one" place, so I don't need to search old threads looking for an image I want to reuse.)
When I want to post an image from any gallery page, public or private, I double-click close to the upper right of the image, and the entire image is highlighted. (I'm using Firefox. Not sure if this works in other browsers.) With the image highlighted, I hit Ctrl+C on my keyboard to copy, go to the post, click with the mouse where I want the image to go and hit Ctrl+P on the keyboard to paste the image, formatting complete.
Gallery page images are 730 pixels wide. They are resized by the forum software and the size is part of the url. If you want to reduce the image size to 600, as Novica recommends, you can look for the _730_ in the image url and change that to _600_ and the image will be resized to 600 pixels wide.
The image is automatically linked to the original size image that was uploaded, but you still need to click on the Link tab and set the Target to New Window (_Blank). If you are sharing an image you've made public, change this url to that of the gallery page. This makes it easier for people to find the image and give it a Like.
Anyway, that's how I do it. The advantage of using the OT Thread as @chris-2599934 and many other do, or using the galleries, is the image need only be uploaded once, to be shared many times. That saves you time, not having to upload the image several times to include with multiple posts. (And it saves server space and bandwidth for Daz, which can work in our favor, to some extent.)
ETA: When viewing forum posts, I've made it a habit to right-click on images I want to view, and selecting "Open Link in New Tab". It just makes things easier for me…
@Novica, it's really amazing how you touch up hair so well. Thank you for sharing how you do that.
How on earth did you ever figure this out! It sounds like an excellent way to do it. (I wish the gallery was not slow. I get frustrated every time I try to look at gallery pictures.)