Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 4
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I only have 2 punches in this sale. I'm debating a couple items, but so far, just don't need anything being offered at present! =-)
Same here. This promotion has saved me a lot of money. :)
Same here. This promotion has saved me a lot of money. :)
I've got just one and it will probably stay this way. ; )
Here is what I've threw together while playing with the rock and grass shaders. I've used one of the terrains included in the bundle, applied rock shader to it, created a geo shell and used grass shader with a custom made displacement map on it. The bigger rocks are subdivided cube primitives, the water is a plane primitive with AoA Metalized Glass Shader applied to it. I love these shaders, they are extremely versatile and make possible the creation of detailed outdoor scenes with just a few clicks. : )
Tarina that is so serene! Makes me want to pack a picnic lunch and go plop down to enjoy the day. I was trying shaders on the chandeliers I bought and when the studio crashed, never got back to it. (Working on morphs.)
I have only bought one item, and thinking about the rock/grass bundle but there's one at Rendo I am also eyeing. The grass has more of a mixture in it, but it's more like clumps of grass and not a lawn. I'm just not in a rush to buy anything, and 30% isn't making me jump on the sales wagon. Wow, it there's 3-4 of us who have only bought one thing, (EDIT-one to two things) that normally buy more than that (I have pretty much maxed out the past year on every sale- always reached the highest tier every week), I wonder how the sale is going. We've said it over and over, it's too much saturation of the same thing- women's stuff. I do like the sets but am not spending that much on something I won't need right away, for only 30% off. (Not saying it's not worth the money- just not needed.)
Thank you Novica! I'm glad you like it. : ) I still have to figure out how to get rid of the black line that appears where the water meets the rocky shore...
IMO the shader bundle is worth it, as far as I know there is no simple alternative to it available at the moment (and native to DS). Grass props in clumps and patches are also useful (I've used one by Lisa near the birch) but very difficult and time-consuming to setup if you want to cover a bigger area with them. With the AoA grass shader such endevours are pure fun. ; ) I also think that the classic grass props can work well together with the AoA shader and compliment it. The shader is good for distant shots and is also less resource intensive since it doesn't use transparency maps like most grass props or plant props in general. It renders quickly.
I think that after sales where you could get new things for 50%-55% off this one is just not attractive enough to people who are not tempted by the rewards in the form of % discounts for things they do not necessarily need or want... If you are a fun of Aiko the temptation levels are probably much higher. ; )
I did end up getting the grass/rock bundle, because I applied the $5 gift certificate from the RRRR win (I had chipped in $15 so basically won it back plus $5, lol!) so it came to slightly over $11. I might get the other stuff from Rendo, mix it up, and see what it looks like. Probably won't be today though.
I confess the rocks kind of confuse me. My rocks look really strange like giant coral. I didn't get the bundle, so not sure I really like this. I don't find it easy, it seems kind of confusing. I just want to make rocks... How hard can it be? Apparently it is beyond me.
Have you read the manual? It's pretty helpful in explaining what's what. DT presets are very useful as well. In my render I experimented with the dials and presets a little and used spot render to quickly see the result until I got something that worked for me.
At its simplest - Create/New Primitive/Cube. # of Divisions=1. Accept.
Make sure cube is selected. Edit/Object/Geometry/SubD (once).
Content Library/Daz Studio Formats/My (whatever) Library/Shader Presets/Age of Armour/Rock/!Rock Shader Base. Make sure the SubD Cube is selected in the Surfaces pane and double-click the icon. Render.
Thanks TJohn, I get it now.
My goal really is to spruce up sets that have pixelated rocks. To me these, sets are unusable unless I depth of field the heck out of them. However, I admit I was finding it a bit confusing.
Here I have changed the rocks in a number of images.
Image 1. A simple rock/cliff prop I bought at Content Paradise a few years ago. Unusable because it just has this rock painted on texture.
Image 2: Reborn with some new textures.
Image 3: A really quick image done of thunder river. I love thunder river, but those rocks just don't withstand closeups. You could make this better by varying rock textures and shapes etc. But you get the idea.
You got it. Looks great. :)
Hey SereneNight- good job! I'll have to go back and look at tjohn's step by step- thanks for posting that tjohn. Visual 1-2-3's make it so much easier :)
As for a dark line along the water edge, try rotating just a smidgeon. That worked for me in one of the forest scenes where I added a stream. I think I lowered the stream under the plane of the forest and scaled Y down so it was wafer thin. Rings a bell, but can't guarantee that will work.
Well, with 86% off, I finally decided to get the stuff to make monsters and zombies- Michael 4 Internal Organs $19.95 was $2.79
and so were the Michael 4 Muscle Maps. Skeleton was around $4. Buying them individually was cheaper than the bundles, which included things I already had (the base models, etc.)
Also got the Ultimate Pattern kit for under $4 to play around with eventually, and a few other odds and ends.
I looked up that Postgre garbage that's in my install manager- why in heck they don't send out that information in an email????? With all the viruses around, they certainly need to give a heads up when something that isn't a product is suddenly in the DIM.
I'm not upgrading to the next version, mines working fine as it is. Did you folks install/upgrade?
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/41482/
I have installed it, had some problem with my custom categories at first, but found a solution to it in the thread about the latest DS release. It's working fine now.
@SereneNight: I like what you've done with those props. I'm glad you've figured out how that shader works. : )
B25SCA (DAZ / Bobbie25)
http://www.daz3d.com/b25sca
Is in the 80% off category. (Victoria 4) Has quite a few ways to fix the fit- be sure and expand your menu in Scene to click on the appropriate part of the body. SO many combinations can be made with this. You can choose the color for the eyes, for the vents in the helmet, etc. Shown without hair, don't know how the mask works when you have that. The mask doesn't protrude on the sides so I think it would be easy to work with.
Going to get some sleep, happy shopping. :)
@Novica
I too am going to get the skeleton. Saw a great render of skeletons on a spaceship in space. I have to do one! LOL. Too bad all the skeletons will be male, but Oh Vell.
I did upgrade DAZ software with no problem.
I may pick up some hairs and skins for M4 and v4 that I don't have.
Luka Hair is in the V4 sale (even though it's also a Genesis product) so it's ridiculously cheap right now. It's by SWAM whose products have gotten some attention in this thread recently. It's a versatile style with quite a few morphs and colors (and could look good on guys too) and highly realistic.
You can see it here on the character on the right. The render also uses AoA Advanced Lights, and Skin Builder Pro as well as Skin Overlay (used on all three characters). The set is just a primitive plane with a Supersuit shader applied to it. Recently I've been on a primitives kick...putting my characters on planes or inside big cubes rather than using fancy environments. I find it helps me focus on the other things: lighting, posing, materials settings, etc.
There is a big sale of select items for Victoria 4 where the items are 80% off. http://www.daz3d.com/daz-victoria-4-sale
edit: it appears that most, if not all of the items that are in the sale are Daz originals.
There are PA items in the sale. AprilYSH's hairs for instance. M4 stuff is also on sale.
Has anyone here used wanted dead or alive for M4? It's on sale for 3.91 and has a nice selection of hats ..derby, top hat and stetson plus various clothing items, wondering how it wold transfer to Gen2 characters.
Link
http://www.daz3d.com/wanted-dead-or-alive
Victoria's skeleton is on sale too. Did you think it wasn't, or were you only going to do males? I think I had to do a search for it. I got the internal organs, skeleton, and muscles for both Michael and Victoria. Can't recall, but I think the first three are cheaper than the bundle because the bundle includes other things.
http://www.daz3d.com/v4-skeleton
http://www.daz3d.com/v4-internal-organs
http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-2-muscle-maps
http://www.daz3d.com/female-anatomy-bundle
I like Luka Hair, used it a few times. I light your lighting too, particularly the glow on the upturned heel. Would that be UE2?
I have it but haven't used it. And haven't done any transferring yet of skins to different characters. (Right now on a morphing kick. Next will be GenXing, etc- and using Slosh's wonderful products.)
They'll never be this cheap again for awhile, so while the skeleton, organs, and muscles are on sale, thought it might be fun to brainstorm how they can be used as some folks may be thinking, "I'm not doing zombies." Any other ideas?
1. zombies
2. people coming or going- like when I did Gunner misting away into a book. You could show the muscle groups and some of the skeleton.
3. injuries
4. monster parts
5. to re-texture and create new monsters (think green crystals on those muscle layers- cool!)
@ Novica:
I may buy v4 skeleton. Going to see how M4 skeleton renders. My need for skeletons is not very high, so that may be the reason there are no v4 skeletons in space. BUT I can dress them however I want, so, tattered women's clothing on M4 skeleton would only be caught by the most discerning viewer.
Unless, I decide to dress the skeletons in skimpwear........ Hmmm. Maybe i've at last found a comical way to use all that skimpwear. M4 skeleton is a thong? Hmmm...
Has anyone seen the dragon preview in the member's only forum. I'm not a big dragon person. I like the itty bitty alient-type varieties, but I think that will be released this week.
LOL- skimpwear revenge!
Speaking of which, I am going through my wishlist (and I don't remember seeing some of mine in the categories, but they're on sale- so maybe I just missed them. But everyone should check their wishlist) and picking up some skimpwear to play with kit bashing.
For $1.53, I think a bodysuit or another top under this, and some pants, might be very pretty. Look at the sleeves. It's a SWAM too.
http://www.daz3d.com/pink-dolly-for-v4
Other things I picked up:
http://www.daz3d.com/silver-textures-for-m4
http://www.daz3d.com/afc-for-men pants are interesting, like the end of the jeans, looks like good flow. Shirt neck is layered.
http://www.daz3d.com/afc-for-men-textures
http://www.daz3d.com/captain-rebel
http://www.daz3d.com/captain-runner
I'll have to go look at the dragon.
I am finding some things that are not marked as Platinum Club that are 82% off. But I think I've seen these in the PC even though the individual page doesn't have that "P" emblem.
http://www.daz3d.com/starship-piranha is $2.99
http://www.daz3d.com/vehicle-storm is $2.99
http://www.daz3d.com/war-hammer
Look at what you get with that one! I've wishlisted Commander (a spaceship) for when Kibaretto has a good sale- but even without it, tons of poses for M4/V4 and weapons props. For $2.65!
War Hammer comes with 77 male poses, 75 female poses, and 23 couple poses split between all Commander station and includes medical, wounded and firefight poses for V3, V4, A4, the Girl 4, M3, M4, and H4.