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Ha ha happens to me more than I care to admit. Then I spend an hour hunting down what's supposed to be there lol.
I will put a list together for you as soon as I can.
Oh, can I see your category list, too?
Sure. I will post a couple of screen shots on my thread. I am in the middle of a render but will do it tomorrow. The actual list she is talking about is a list of the plant props I have lol. We are comparing to see what holes exist in our inventory. But I am pretty proud of my categories so I will be happy to share lol.
I have so many plants now that I think the only holes I have in my inventory might be Traveler's Winter Plants that I have wishlisted. I don't think I have many trees and plants that have snow on them. The few I have come from AM's Winterland. I think I'm well covered for most of my other plant needs. I'm always open for comparing, though, in case I have a glaring hole I didn't even think about!
I have some of Flinks winter grass I think but haven't had a chance to use it yet. I'm sorry I'm so slow on the list, we have people coming from out of town tomorrow and I was frantically cleaning most of the day then my husband came home and decided he wanted to go to the free tribute band downtown. Now its almost midnight and time for bed lol.
I do have some of Flinks' stuff, but I don't think I have any of the winter plants other than maybe the winter grass. I'll have to check. Part of the reason why I'm trying to get a handle on my library. I have things from Rendo that I like, but I can never find it when I need it. I do love Flinks' plants. I have one of his meadow sets.
Book Characters
So the reason I started to use Daz Studio in the first place was to illustrate my book(s), which I am in the process searching for a publisher. Since Ice Dragon Art decided to share some of her characters, I have decided to do the same.
I've been working on a fantasy series with book 1 finished and book 2 in process.
So here's the cover concept - this isn't quite what I want because the sword needs to be custom made, but Hexxus was the closest thing I could find that approximated the size and color. I would also like to make my own armor, because the kilt just isn't quite what I want.
Cover Concept: Skywandyr: Storm on the Horizon
The great sword, Skywandyr is the most powerful weapon on Raevormen, and is sentient - because there is a powerful wizard who has been "forged" into the sword. On the cross piece is her face - and there is my challenge. I have created the woman in D/S, but I want to model that exact face as part of the sword, and I want expressions. So, can I cut out G2F's face and pop her into a sword? Do I use Blender, Hexagon? I think I will have to post that question there.
Book Character: Zetra
Zetra is the commander of the Alliance, the heroes of the story. I made her tall and bodybuilder-muscular, because I personally can't stand the idea of some little cheesecake chick going toe to toe with a man who outweighs her by 100 pounds and be able to kick his butt. Sorry, not believable. The woman has to look the part, and be tough. So Zetra is 6 feet tall, 175 pounds of strong as a man, butt-kicken' heroine.
She is a heroine, true blue, ethical, does what is right because she believes in it, protects the little guy and stands her ground in the face of savage villains. She is fast and strong, wears light armor (arms and legs are bare), and is a fearsome warrior. I have posted this portait before, but now we have the background.
This was my first attempt at Zetra's armor. I liked the pieces of Alruna, but not the torso piece, and there really wasn't anything else I could find. So I took a shirt and gave it chainmaile texture, which looks lame. Also the kilt is just too cutsey. I'm looking for REAL warrior armor here, not cheesecake wear. Zetra inspires fear in her opponents - and doesn't show her hiney.
I find it amazing how many of us writers ended up at DAZ to do our own covers! I like your cover concept.
Thanks!
We understand what our characters and worlds look like better than anyone else. How many times have you read a book and then looked back at the cover: 'that's not remotely what the author described...'
I had gone to a book fair and spoken with an author who had published with the big New York publishers - they picked the covers, most of which the author hated. She described the publisher saying, 'Oh, we just love, love, love that cover! Don't you just love, love, love it?'
... No...I.. don't...!
So, let's just bypass that mess and do it ourselves, eh?
Funny, I started to say that it's cheaper do to our own art work - um, but then I thought about my Daz orders, and... um... well, guess not.
Ah, no, I'm not sure it is cheaper, either, considering how much I've spent learning how to do this. I still don't have my cover completely fleshed out yet either. I have done a couple of other covers for practice that I've decided to put up on an Indie sight to sell, but my own cover is nowhere near done. At least, my skills are getting better.
Yeah, ditto. I'm still trying to get my personal style, which is challenging when I buy stuff someone else created.
I used to draw and had developed a unique style, but a neck injury prevents me from looking down for long periods. So much for my watercolor paintings. That's why I turned to digital art, because I can keep my neck in a neutral position.
I can create my own characters and have done so to my satisfaction... as long as they are not too alien. To get where I really want to be, I need to model my own clothes, props, sets, landscapes... the list goes on and on.
For example, I have a feline race but haven't found any humanoid felines that work. I need something that looks like a big cat with a human forehead and an expressive face. The females' faces are more humanoid. And let's not forget the leather wings. Ain't gonna work with anything I have seen, so I will have to create it myself. But here's the dilemma: I don't like Genesis 3, so do I model it based on Genesis 2, 'cause once I do it I'm not doing it again! I suppose that's true for anything I create, technology will always advance.
Maybe I should learn to paint in Photoshop and create a non-photorealistic style - then it won't matter so much.
I'm so glad that you decided to share! Can't wait til I can read the story, sounds like my kind of book. Its funny how many of us are drawn to learn how to model so we can get exactly what we want.
As far as G3 or G2, If you prefer g2 I don't think it will be an issue for quite some time especially since there seem to be lots of ways to transfer stuff from one to the other. and if you learn to model your own stuff it becomes even less of an issue
I would model for the figure you prefer, too. While I have been using G3 a bit more, I still use G2 more and most of the things I've tried modeling are geared to work first with G2. After that, then I'll figure out how to get it to work with G3 if I need to do that.
That's funny as my hero for my current book is from a feline race of alien shifters. I think felines are a pretty common theme. I've been using Cat World Regenesis morphs on mine. However, I modified my character somewhat so it isn't quite as heavily influenced by the Cat World morphs as I wanted regular feet and not quite so heavy on the cat facial morphs. No tails with my race of felines. I'm still fine tuning my character's facial features and I have played with LAMH for his hair, but hadn't really gotten anything good since I didn't really know what I was doing. I haven't played with it since I started my Jaguar Sadie tutorial so I'll have to go back now that I sort of know what I'm doing.
The other races in my books are a reptilian race and a race of aliens that sort of look like orcs. While there are bad guy type characters in both the reptilian and orc races, neither race is really bad and characters from both races will have their own story in future books if I get that far.
I, also, have a world that I've been working on that I have big plans for if I ever get it off the ground. It is one of those things that is still in development, meaning lots of notes and mostly in my head, but I keep having these really interesting ideas for it including it having it's own website which involves learning a whole bunch of skills in DS for the things to go on the website and fine tuning what little bit of talent I've managed to find in the world of digital art. :)
Uh oh. Hate to bust that bubble, by my feline character is a villian. He he.
I sent you a private message.
Book Character - Valaine
Here is the character being created. My concept is an elvish vampire with icy gray eyes.
I began with G2M and spun dials. I was very happy with the results - he as an intense, almost frowning look with a neutral expression. I found the ice gray for the eyes, gave him Kronos' pale skin and SAV's Ades Hair with material customization. I wanted him to have black hair that looked like the ends had been dipped in blood. Since Ades Hair doesn't show ears, I just made the m long enough to poke through the hair.
I then gave him just the barest lighting, and wow. It looks really good with spooky lighting.
So here's Valaine's face:
And, answered!
Valaine looks pretty good! I love spinning those dials to see what I can get. :)
It's so cool when you have an idea about how someone should look and they turn out right - and in this case, better!
I created clothing for him, so I'll post that later.
Valaine's Portrait
I didn't want to spend time on a background, but I did want a couple of props in the scene. I think I did a pretty good job with the threatening, creepy expression. The candle didn't come lit, so i will have to add that with Photoshop.
Some rings would also be nice, but try to find men's rings. I keep finding myself using the same ring from Just Rings (Runtime) over and over again.
Just saw this as I am headed to bed. I have at least one set of rings. I will post a link tomorrow. Greg is yelling at me to come to bed. Its like 1 am lol.
Aw nuts! I just realized that Valaine's cape is going through the table. It wasn't obvious in the viewport.
Oh, I didn't even spot that. It wasn't big enough. My eyesight has gotten to the point that I don't notice anything unless I can blow it up huge!
Armor Rings -http://www.daz3d.com/armor-rings
Bejeweled Bundle 2 - http://www.daz3d.com/bejeweled-bundle-2-arm-cuffs-bangles-rings-and-toe-rings
I know I have more but will have to track them down.
I've noticed the lack of men's rings, too. I've been thinking of trying to make a couple of signet type rings once I'm done with the bread I've been modeling. I'll post them in my thread when I finish. If you happen to like the look, I'll be posting them up on ShareCG. I haven't posted any of my models so far because there are tons of wine glasses and coffee mugs since that seems to be what everyone starts modeling first. They are great beginner projects. There are not that many bread items or men's rings. I'm planning some toe rings, too. I have a barefoot sandal that I've been working on, too. I thought it was very strange that I started working on that one and then one popped up in the shop very similar to mine. The same artist has a new one in the shop now and I haven't even finished my first one!
I am over here now Dracorn, waiting on your first teachings of Morphing Charactors 101!!!
Dracorn and Saphirewild's Morphing Experiements
Saphirewild and I are going to be playing around with some DieTrying's morphs for Genesis found on ShareCG. Let's see what we can come up with.
Morphs: http://www.sharecg.com/v/72792/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/DieTryings-182-Morphs-for-Genesis-2-Female
Skin: http://www.sharecg.com/v/69343/view/21/DAZ-Studio/Heather-for-Genesis-and-V4
Character Base Set Up
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/1493526/#Comment_1493526
I'm playing around with the face, and boy, you better watch out because there are no limits! Dial it up high and you'll end up with some funny results. Dial up Mouth Upper To Front real high and you'll get Marge Simpson's mouth! he he
So I found this lovely picture on line of an Italian Renaissance woman and I like her face. There's something called "Neoteny," which essentially means the retaining of juveinlle features in an adult. When referring to a woman's face, a little neoteny makes her very beautiful. Ever notice that the pretty gals on Daz tend to have small mouths and large eyes? That's neoteny.
Mouth:
I found some nice morph combinations for the mouth. The cool thing about these morphs is that you can combine both positive and negative values to achieve what you want. The rule here is subtlety, just a little bit of several morphs and you can come up with something quite nice. Just these morphs alone makes her look like a 19th century doll.
Lips Bubble Top 0.33
Lips curves lower 0.26
Lips small Y bottom 0.38
Lips small Y top 0.12
Mouth Big -0.32
Mouth big X -0.52
Mouth corner back 0.38
Mouth corner define 0.26
Philtrim 0.34
Just compare the difference between the new face (left) with the original (with a HUGE mouth):