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Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 4

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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    edited December 1969

    Tarina Kivi said:
    Do any of you have the Project EYEris - Subsurface Expansion? I'm trying to find the included presets for Eye Surface but I cannot find them anywhere in my Library... :( I don't know if it's just me or if maybe someone else is having the same problem?

    I have this and to be honest, I've never figured out how to use it effectively. I believe you are correct. The 5 eye surface materials promised on the product page are not included in the package installed by the DIM. Time to submit a help request.
  • Tarina KiviTarina Kivi Posts: 488
    edited May 2014

    barbult said:
    Tarina Kivi said:
    Do any of you have the Project EYEris - Subsurface Expansion? I'm trying to find the included presets for Eye Surface but I cannot find them anywhere in my Library... :( I don't know if it's just me or if maybe someone else is having the same problem?

    I have this and to be honest, I've never figured out how to use it effectively. I believe you are correct. The 5 eye surface materials promised on the product page are not included in the package installed by the DIM. Time to submit a help request.
    Thank you for confirming that they are indeed missing. I will submit a help request asap.
    Edit: I've submitted a request. Hopefully it will get resolved soon.
    Post edited by Tarina Kivi on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    BTW, in case you like the model in the Pose-Athon, Cassia, she is in one of the featured stores at 60% off when you buy a featured item. She is absolutely wonderful to use- easy to light. She's also a D.O so it's already 30% if you are a PC member. I tested it in the cart and she will only be $4.75!!!! if you get a qualifying item (say like the$6.27 low heeled pumps on day 2.)

    http://www.daz3d.com/cassia-for-olympia
    http://www.daz3d.com/demonicaevilius

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,384
    edited December 1969

    barbult said:

    That;s a nice render, MelanieL. It is amazing that the texture alone gave the aged appearance and that you didn't need other morphs. I've added Agnes to my wishlist.

    If you are having the problem of large round gray circles on the eyes with the Advanced Ambient Light, the easiest solution is to change the Advanced Ambient Light parameters light type from On to Diffuse Only. Then, if necessary, add a separate spot or distant specular light. The Advanced Ambient Light has a broad specular response that causes those eye problems. I got this info from AoA in the product thread a few months ago.

    I've been playing with older characters, too, but I haven't tried the men. I've been using V4 Lola skin and Bellatrix skin on G2F with various morphs, including Zev0's aging morphs. Here is one picture with Bellatrix.She also has some additional age spots and freckles from Zev0's skin overlays.

    Title: Nobody's Favorite Teacher


    Thanks barbult - yes, I was quite surprised how aged they looked without Age Morphs.
    Thanks for the tip about Advanced Ambients - I often get the grey spot problem and end up tweaking the eye surface settings, so next time I'll try that tip.
    And I like your aging teachers - the first looks like a real dragon.
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2014

    BWC Sitting Vicky For Victoria 6 (Sedor)
    http://www.daz3d.com/bwc-sitting-vicky-for-victoria-6

    I'm going to select a few more poses from various products, but not show all of them from each product. Some of these require a chair and others have her sitting on the ground.

    The models are all Victoria 6 Bryonia using Chic Hair, Charlize pants and Geek shirt.

    victoriaSittingVicky5.jpg
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    victoriaSittingVicky4.jpg
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    victoriaSittingVicky3.jpg
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    victoriaSittingVicky2.jpg
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    victoriaSittingVicky.jpg
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    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2014

    Taking a break from poses, I get bored after a few days so now I'm creating my own morphs for Genesis. What fun! Curious as to how often you folks add your own facial morphs- or if you know how to do it. If not , speak up because I can assist you. :) (And because when I start messing with UV maps, GenX, etc, you'll be hearing a little voice whimper "Help meeeeeeee.....")

    Post edited by Novica on
  • TJohnTJohn Posts: 11,106
    edited December 1969

    Something I rendered for giggles.
    Jaderail's Song

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    LOL, Jaderail will be pleased. Or perhaps take revenge...

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    If you are a PC member, Cypherfox broke it down for buying the figure coming in a few days (Giselle), you'll get about 58 percent off if you buy two things, and 55 or 56% off if you buy one thing. It's 55.9% so probably 56%.

    I'm not getting two things as 2% isn't enough to make me jump. But Ron's brushes are too good to pass up :)

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,648
    edited December 1969

    The weird thing about Ron's brushes is they just aren't showing up as available to download. I can get them in my order history, but DIM doesn't have them. Anyone getting them in their DIM? I have other ron's brushes.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,648
    edited December 1969

    tjohn said:
    Something I rendered for giggles.
    Jaderail's Song

    LOL. That's too funny tjohn

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Check your emails to see if you got a targeted offer for 2,400 M4 and V4 products. Weird timing, sent four hours ago at 4pm central time. It's targeted (it's in the URL) and only works if you are on the marketing list, but just in case you are shopping for those gen 4, check your emails. Valid through May 19th too. If you didn't get it, they may be releasing it to small groups of people at a time.

    I'm finally getting those bend products that I asked about a few months ago (Beautiful Bends, fixes the creasing in V4 and M4!)

    SereneNight- I'll go check. I got the brushes earlier today but haven't loaded them up.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2014

    SereneNight said:
    The weird thing about Ron's brushes is they just aren't showing up as available to download. I can get them in my order history, but DIM doesn't have them. Anyone getting them in their DIM? I have other ron's brushes.

    Yep, they're there. Go to your settings and see what you have in the DIM. Have you got Photoshop checked? (Edit- In Downloads)

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,648
    edited December 1969

    Ill have to look again. I have downloaded other brushes but maybe something has changed in my settings. Did buy sci-fi bodysuit I can see I'm going to have to find some shorts to use under under neath.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited May 2014

    tjohn said:
    Something I rendered for giggles.
    Jaderail's Song
    OMG. You pulled my inner Hick right out for everybody to see. One thing my friend, I never break out the banjo without a big ol' jug of shine to nab a snort off of. All that caterwauling is dry work.

    Hic', gruggle gurggle, smack. hic'

    "Oh Spider lips, don't you cry for me.
    I come from Deep in the Underdark with my Banjo on my knee..."
    Post edited by Jaderail on
  • luci45luci45 Posts: 2,762
    edited May 2014

    Invited Guest Contributor

    MelanieL and barbult, I love the renders of the older characters.

    I was experimenting last night to see what just textures would do to on the same morph. They are all older guys by Phoenix1966 on the Hector morph. I think the texture not only ages them but gives them way different personalities. (My ulterior motive for doing this test was to convince myself I should buy Stoltz while he is 60% off, the only old guy of Phoenix1966 that I don't have. :-) )

    I used UE2 and a spot, same lighting on all of them. They are wearing Zior Hair and the new Adventure's Jacket for Genesis 2 Male(s) .

    I have been having problems with AoA's Ambient Light. It seems inconsistent, that is, a setup that works great one day is messed up when I load it again. Sometimes it doesn't light at all and others the skin surfaces that use the SSS shader don't look good. I noticed other people are having problems with it. Maybe DAZ will fix whatever is happening on the next build of DS.

    More_Phoenix1966.jpg
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    faces_of_hector2.jpg
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    faces_of_hector.jpg
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    Post edited by luci45 on
  • Tarina KiviTarina Kivi Posts: 488
    edited December 1969

    Luci45 said:
    MelanieL and barbult, I love the renders of the older characters.

    I was experimenting last night to see what just textures would do to on the same morph. They are all older guys by Phoenix1966 on the Hector morph. I think the texture not only ages them but gives them way different personalities. (My ulterior motive for doing this test was to convince myself I should buy Stoltz while he is 60% off, the only old guy of Phoenix1966 that I don't have. :-) )

    I used UE2 and a spot, same lighting on all of them. They are wearing Zior Hair and the new Adventure's Jacket for Genesis 2 Male(s) .

    I have been having problems with AoA's Ambient Light. It seems inconsistent, that is, a setup that works great one day is messed up when I load it again. Sometimes it doesn't light at all and others the skin surfaces that use the SSS shader don't look good. I noticed other people are having problems with it. Maybe DAZ will fix whatever is happening on the next build of DS.

    Thanks for showing that Luci45. Their character really does change. They look great too.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    I really like Stoltz, I remember when we did all those from that vendor. Love your comparisons- really cool! And that jacket looks nice too- maybe the vendors will realize how well jackets and MENS stuff sells- finally! Then again, this isn't just another T-shirt and bland pants option. More pockets and trim please!

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    D-Formers-Save Yourself About 13 Hours Of Head Banging

    For heaven's sake, this took me 13 hours to figure out what was going wrong.
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/41191/

    And HOW COOL! I've created a morph and put it in the exact section it needs to go in- aka, the nose section- and colored my own morph slider. These small things in Life... :)

    Now I'm going to go save it so I have permanent morph. I'm doing the entire face just to doodle.

    dFormNoseUpperBridge2.jpg
    1633 x 685 - 93K
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    edited December 1969

    Luci45 said:
    MelanieL and barbult, I love the renders of the older characters.

    I was experimenting last night to see what just textures would do to on the same morph. They are all older guys by Phoenix1966 on the Hector morph. I think the texture not only ages them but gives them way different personalities. (My ulterior motive for doing this test was to convince myself I should buy Stoltz while he is 60% off, the only old guy of Phoenix1966 that I don't have. :-) )

    I used UE2 and a spot, same lighting on all of them. They are wearing Zior Hair and the new Adventure's Jacket for Genesis 2 Male(s) .

    I have been having problems with AoA's Ambient Light. It seems inconsistent, that is, a setup that works great one day is messed up when I load it again. Sometimes it doesn't light at all and others the skin surfaces that use the SSS shader don't look good. I noticed other people are having problems with it. Maybe DAZ will fix whatever is happening on the next build of DS.


    Interesting comparison. I have Stefan, and the Stefan skin on Hector is barely recognizable. The different morph really made a difference. I was thinking of getting Horatio. I already have Thomas. They are kind of similar, but Horatio has the white facial hair that I'd like to have for older men. Do you have Horatio, and do you find him useful with all the other characters you have?
  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Luci45 said:
    I have been having problems with AoA's Ambient Light. It seems inconsistent, that is, a setup that works great one day is messed up when I load it again. Sometimes it doesn't light at all and others the skin surfaces that use the SSS shader don't look good. I noticed other people are having problems with it. Maybe DAZ will fix whatever is happening on the next build of DS.
    As the AoA Advanced lights use the 3Delight engine to run the Shaders, and the SSS as well, (both are New in the render engine by just a few versions). Only AoA who is building them based on the Renderman code and or Renderman's 3Delight render engine can do anything to fix them. The very reason I do not use either in my work at this time. The Shaders are too new and unstable in the version of 3Delight we as users of DAZ Studio now have in the build of DS we use. Once they catch up to the in studio used versions that Renderman now has I may then start using them. Until that time the code will keep having little chages just as each version of DAZ Studio has new things added and others changed. Which also makes it hard sometimes. Get used to doing something this way and the next version they move it on me. That also makes some of my tutorials I collected send me off on a snipe hunt from time to time.

    That Said The AoA Advanced Lights are the best I have used to date, the SSS does great things as well, and things are still in DS just not the old place and now needs a new step or more often less steps to do the same thing better. I say it will all come together just fine in the not too distant future. But Right now I just avoid things that may go bump in the night. I'm not good enough to figure out what that Bump was.
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2014

    Well, Giselle is out, I went Pro because I do like the variety and can use stuff with Genesis 2.
    Not sure the cart is behaving right with the vendors' s stores, I am getting things for $1.11 that were $6.95 (Should be around $2.80, if I round that to $7 x .60 off that $4.20 off) and $8.95 is $1.43, the $7.95 is $1.47 and so forth. If this isn't right, note that it's hit and miss on the wonky. So just shop and test the cart in the related stores for things you don't have.

    I'm headed to the airport to take someone to a flight (love those 6am flights, have to be there by 5am.) Have a Giselle day! :)

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited December 1969

    Is it possible they tacked on the extra 10% or 15% off if you bought the items from yesterday? I don't think it's supposed to do that though. And as I said, it's not every store, or even every item in that particular store.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,648
    edited December 1969

    You'll have to let us know how you like her. =-) I'm passing on the bundle and character this time around.. I am curious about the hair. IF you find any good hair let us know?

  • luci45luci45 Posts: 2,762
    edited December 1969

    barbult said:
    Luci45 said:
    MelanieL and barbult, I love the renders of the older characters.

    I was experimenting last night to see what just textures would do to on the same morph. They are all older guys by Phoenix1966 on the Hector morph. I think the texture not only ages them but gives them way different personalities. (My ulterior motive for doing this test was to convince myself I should buy Stoltz while he is 60% off, the only old guy of Phoenix1966 that I don't have. :-) )

    I used UE2 and a spot, same lighting on all of them. They are wearing Zior Hair and the new Adventure's Jacket for Genesis 2 Male(s) .

    I have been having problems with AoA's Ambient Light. It seems inconsistent, that is, a setup that works great one day is messed up when I load it again. Sometimes it doesn't light at all and others the skin surfaces that use the SSS shader don't look good. I noticed other people are having problems with it. Maybe DAZ will fix whatever is happening on the next build of DS.


    Interesting comparison. I have Stefan, and the Stefan skin on Hector is barely recognizable. The different morph really made a difference. I was thinking of getting Horatio. I already have Thomas. They are kind of similar, but Horatio has the white facial hair that I'd like to have for older men. Do you have Horatio, and do you find him useful with all the other characters you have?

    Yes, I have Horatio. I like him a lot. He is very different from all the other in that he is for 70+ guy I would say. Kind of pasty skin and age spots. I will do a few more renders and post them today, of him, Stoltz (I just bought him and he is awesome), Ibrahim and Yago.

  • KharmaKharma Posts: 3,214
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    D-Formers-Save Yourself About 13 Hours Of Head Banging

    For heaven's sake, this took me 13 hours to figure out what was going wrong.
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/41191/

    And HOW COOL! I've created a morph and put it in the exact section it needs to go in- aka, the nose section- and colored my own morph slider. These small things in Life... :)

    Now I'm going to go save it so I have permanent morph. I'm doing the entire face just to doodle.

    Thanks so much for posting this Novica, I have tried using deformers and gave up! Thanks to your perseverence I am going to try again.

    As for Giselle I am getting the Pro bundle, plus numerous extras, Fairies are my favorite character and I have been wishing for a fairie pro bundle for ages. There are several items that haven't been released yet that I also want, Lily and tiger lily for sure and the ballerina poses.

  • luci45luci45 Posts: 2,762
    edited December 1969

    Jaderail said:
    Luci45 said:
    I have been having problems with AoA's Ambient Light. It seems inconsistent, that is, a setup that works great one day is messed up when I load it again. Sometimes it doesn't light at all and others the skin surfaces that use the SSS shader don't look good. I noticed other people are having problems with it. Maybe DAZ will fix whatever is happening on the next build of DS.
    As the AoA Advanced lights use the 3Delight engine to run the Shaders, and the SSS as well, (both are New in the render engine by just a few versions). Only AoA who is building them based on the Renderman code and or Renderman's 3Delight render engine can do anything to fix them. The very reason I do not use either in my work at this time. The Shaders are too new and unstable in the version of 3Delight we as users of DAZ Studio now have in the build of DS we use. Once they catch up to the in studio used versions that Renderman now has I may then start using them. Until that time the code will keep having little chages just as each version of DAZ Studio has new things added and others changed. Which also makes it hard sometimes. Get used to doing something this way and the next version they move it on me. That also makes some of my tutorials I collected send me off on a snipe hunt from time to time.

    That Said The AoA Advanced Lights are the best I have used to date, the SSS does great things as well, and things are still in DS just not the old place and now needs a new step or more often less steps to do the same thing better. I say it will all come together just fine in the not too distant future. But Right now I just avoid things that may go bump in the night. I'm not good enough to figure out what that Bump was.

    Thanks, Jaderail. I'm sure it will get squared away eventually. I love the AoA lights when they are working. For me the shaders and AoA lights were working fine until I installed 4.6.2.120 about three weeks ago. Then all the strange stuff started happening.

    The SSS shaders, that all the G2 figures use, seem to work OK with UE and an added specular light. So I will use that for now.

  • luci45luci45 Posts: 2,762
    edited May 2014

    Invited Guest Contributor

    Here are some renders using the Horatio shader. Barbult asked me about him earlier. I am not real crazy about the morph as the head shape is kind of weird. I like the the lack definition on the lips - one of the things that happens to us old folks. I wish she had made some lines around the mouth though. One of these uses the Horatio morph with some Aging Morphs for Genesis. The other one uses David with the Aging Morphs. The closeup is just Horatio as is.

    (I added a few more Phoenix1966 men to my earlier post including Horatio.)

    horatio_close.JPG
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    horatio_david_aging_comp.jpg
    1200 x 829 - 254K
    Post edited by luci45 on
  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,384
    edited December 1969

    Luci45 said:
    Invited Guest Contributor

    Here are some renders using the Horatio shader. Barbult asked me about him earlier. I am not real crazy about the morph as the head shape is kind of weird. I like the the lack definition on the lips - one of the things that happens to us old folks. I wish she had made some lines around the mouth though. One of these uses the Horatio morph with some Aging Morphs for Genesis. The other one uses David with the Aging Morphs. The closeup is just Horatio as is.

    (I added a few more Phoenix1966 men to my earlier post including Horatio.)


    Interesting to see these and the earlier comparisons, Luci: you're right, the different skin textures make a huge difference to the same face! I have almost all of Phoenix1966's men (just a couple of the oldest M4 ones waiting for another sale) and use the textures a lot, frequently not on the intended characters! (Though I do use them out-of-the-box when I'm doing something quickly sometimes).
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited May 2014

    Apologize for being missing in action, I had to take someone to the airport and got to bed at 7am so just got up (3pm) On a different schedule for awhile till I can adjust it back to "normal." Unbelievable, we are getting 3-8" of rain today. So for a one week total, parts of Pensacola just went from 24" to 32" of rain! Sheesh.

    Okay, something funky with my studio, I keep getting the "this is missing" error when loading characters:
    /data/Age of Armour/Subsurface Shaders/AoA_Subsurface/AoA_Subsurface.dsf

    so I am getting grainy results with lights. How do I solve this?!

    This rendered all night. My first impression is that she is so thin, her skin really "pulls." Look at her shoulders on the left one- very taut muscles. This is the Naaru character by Artemis3d (one of my favs) and remember if you are getting Giselle, and looking at the Artemis3d store, SereneNight and I love Nova.

    Naaru For Giselle (Artemis3d)
    http://www.daz3d.com/naaru-for-giselle-6

    I might consider getting this just for the makeup options, lol. There's some fun patterns, including lips.

    See the grainy shadows? I took out UE2 so this is just ambient and spotlights, shouldn't have any specular problems going on. Settings are all on excellent.

    EDIT: Here are the threads I researched for grainy. I tried this with .20 shading rate, everything on excellent, shadow softness, etc. There is no reason for this to be grainy. SO, I took all those distant and spots out and used only AOA at its default settings, and came up with this render that now has DIFFERENT grainy. Sigh. Still working on it.

    naaruAOA.jpg
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    giselle.jpg
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    Post edited by Novica on
This discussion has been closed.