Thanks Daz3d!

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  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    WendyLuvsCatz said:

    PhilW said:

    ...and you can't animate a Shader in Daz Studio!

    well not easily, Casual has a few scripts I use Texanim for textures Matanim for other parameters with values

    Thanks Wendy, I didn't know about those - although as Dart says, it would be so much better if you could just keyframe surface changes directly in Daz Studio! 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    It's disheartening to me that so many gallery and product image addresses have changed during the last web fix. Trying to get these things fixed is just too time consuming for me right now, and some (other people's posts) are beyond my ability to repair aside from beggng the authors to also spend a bunch of time.

     

    I'll try though... eventually.

     

    In the meantime, I'm continuing this whole thing in a new "Thanks Daz 3d" landing page, whose pages will eventually get all the way back to the beginnings of this thread, and then, perhaps continue back through my history with Daz 3d. At least that's the plan.

    For starters, here's some of my recent purchases that truly require a heart-felt "Thank you Daz 3d, and all of the contributing artists who've helped make this happen"!

    Thanks Daz 3d - May 2021 Compilation

    I decided that I need to be able to do this in multiple pages, so the month of the cutoff for adding new showcases will be the title of each of the pages. As I go back in time, I'll use my order info to determine what the title shall be.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623
    edited May 2021

    I've just updated my Thanks Daz 3d page (May 2021 compilation) to include the couple of things I grabbed over Mother's Day weekend, and their importance to my acquiring them.

     

    I was originally planning on listing everything on those pages with the newest purchases to the top of the page. But after I started writing and got into it further, it made more sense to me to group items that go together. So the new Tavern Dining Hall and Angeloi - The Flame Sword purchases are actually at the end of the Forsaken group, and I hope you'll agree with the order - it just makes sense (to me).

     

    Looking at that page now it should start to become clear - I'm working in multiple genres. Many people who know me probably already know that. But this page especially really helps to show that there is a real medieval vibe going on, and then... what? This is all very Sci-Fi all of a sudden! 

     

    To me, it's really interesting how it's supposed to work since, in the filmmaking industry, they say that it simply won't work. It will though. I hope.

     

    Another trip along this path is What Happened on Odysseon Station?, which is sort of along the same lines as my Thanks Daz 3d series, but on a singular goal of collecting a series. It's fun to see how much belongs to this series and how much I've acquired so far!

    Which reminds me, I've now recently almost completed the collection and must update that page with the new additions! Edit: Done!

    Just looking at this page reminds me of the stories that build in my head whenever I shop for more of them. :)

     

    The Odysseon Station series is great! They load into Carrara really well and are a lot of fun to light and set up shaders for. Also, most of them come with a complete corridor that leads to the main area, which can be used for corridor scenes on their own, or extensions to the Odysseon Station Corridors kits. This Story page is also a great means of getting a pictorial index to their product pages.

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623
    edited May 2021

    A except from What Happened on Odysseon Station?:

    In storytelling, it's often necessary to show our audience that we're moving up or down levels, running around exerting ourselves, etc.,

    Have a look through just the images I've put on this page - take note at the images with stairs in them. When we need our characters to go up or down stairs within the environment afforded by the collection, we can pick any one of these sets, depending on the stairs we need and render the characters performing their actions on these stairs. The rest of the environment will take care of the rest, because it all matches.

     

    Here are some quick examples:

    For shorter distance stairs, the Medical Lab, Reaction Chamber, Stasis Chamber and Control Center all have these shorter level stairs and, if we remove anything that might not fit the scene we're rendering, like medical equipment or a stasis pod, for example, the rest of the surrounding details in the rooms look great and match the rest of the whole series!

     

    If, however, we need longer, full story flights of stairs, allow me to point out the wonderful stairs in the Landing Bay, the cool ladder in the Storage Bay, and both the Engineering Shaft and Atmospheric Scrubber along with Stratos Comm Array (still needed) offer distances to fall from!

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    The spotlight is on PhilW, once again, in my new page of Thanks to Daz 3d!

     

    Thanks Daz - February 2021 compilation is mostly geared toward character building materials like clones, convertors, morphs and animations.

     

    But at the height of it all is the picturesque excellence of one helluva fine Carrara product: Central Business District for Carrara!

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Thanks Dart!  You are always my best advert.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    Incredible work as always, Phil!!!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    Hmmm... I never checked to see if DIM can send lists to a printer.

     

    I was just thinking about the idea of eventually putting all of these items into a spreadsheet. So I can sort alphabetically or by artist as well as by purchase date. It sure is helpful to have them in a page like this though. It really helps to 'see' what all is there, what goes with it both directly and indirectly along with the thoughts that I have about using it.

     

    It'll also be handy to be able to just copy a listing with its image(s) and link(s) when I want to include something in an article.

    Besides, I think it looks cool! :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    PhilW said:

    Thanks Dart!  You are always my best advert.

    I'm having very fond memories of the very first time I started playing with Night and Day City.

     

    I was (am) so impressed by those cool little cars and panel vans! All emitting light (glow) already, and those cool people.

    I wanted to have an elevated interstate, so I took a road section into the vertex modeler and had just what I wanted in a few very short minutes. I really need to get a decently powered laptop so I can doodle in Carrara again, instead of perpetually staying on task.

     

    I've even started cutting my sleep hours down to three to four hours a night just to try and keep up a bit, because getting ahead just isn't happening! LOL 

    But the lack of decent sleep is starting to wear on me. But at least I'm really liking what's coming out of the factory!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    Oh... all of that babble was about the fact that, I really could have time to 'play' with Carrara if this POS could run it - but alas....

    I know I have that Night and Day City scene saved. That's just how I work. I'd love to pull that out and incorporate some of this new kit into it and shoot some cool city renders. That just sounds fun!

    Oh... hmmm... perhaps I just need to write some of that into my work and force myself to play with it. Yeah... that might work!

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Dartanbeck said:

    Hmmm... I never checked to see if DIM can send lists to a printer.

     

    I was just thinking about the idea of eventually putting all of these items into a spreadsheet. So I can sort alphabetically or by artist as well as by purchase date. It sure is helpful to have them in a page like this though. It really helps to 'see' what all is there, what goes with it both directly and indirectly along with the thoughts that I have about using it.

     

    It'll also be handy to be able to just copy a listing with its image(s) and link(s) when I want to include something in an article.

    Besides, I think it looks cool! :)

    I don't know if there is a way to captured that automatically - you could also check the Product Library section of the "My Account" section on the Daz site. Ever since my early days of using Poser, then Carrara, then Daz Studio, I have kept a spreadsheet like you suggest, adding my thoughts and keywords for every product I buy and download. It is very handy to be able to search for a term and come up with a list of possible products that match.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,289

    you can export a from DIM spreadsheet I believe, the ones who render random runtime challenges do it.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623
    edited May 2021

    Cool. I'll check it out. Would be cool if it can export a spreadsheet. Then I can tweak that and do as Phil was mentioning - add notes and such.

     

    I use both DIM and my Product Library to go through all of my stuff once in a while. It's not only fun to see all of my stuff, but also when looking by order date from past to present, it brings up memories of where my mind was as I made my way through this adventure.

     

    I remember only looking for scene kits that had the possibility of making a full 360 degree scene around my characters - just in case I wanted to shoot from different angles, which is really funny because as I learn proper filmmaking techniques, it's much better to only include what the camera needs.

     

    I was also very overwhelmed at the sheer enormity of a Carrara scene, coming from Poser. The expanse is enormous and super easy to navigate. Wow... lights can be grabbed and moved around, rotated and scaled by hand? Whoa!!!!

    So Millennium Environment became my friend, grounding me to a more confined space. I think it was 3dage that turned me on to the technique of moving the color texture maps to the glow channel, and setting the Mil Environment to not cast or receive shadows. That made it all work for me. It's fun looking at all of the texture packs I bought for that and the Multiplane Cyclorama! Very cool stuff. Might just have to load that up and try it out again - just for nostalgia's sake!

     

    It also illustrates that I bought Mimic Pro for Carrara way back when I first bought Carrara. Aside from a couple of quick tests I haven't even used it until now. I guess that's how it goes though. I had plenty of other learning to do before I even think about actually getting started on a movie.

     

    Feels really good to be in full force - working on a short, fun experimental movie, putting together a lot of techniques that I've created for myself and others, some of which remain only in theory to me - but from being educated by others.

     

    I know that topics are kind of scattered about right now, but that's what Dartanbeck.com is all about - a website where I can document all of these various techniques and eventually show off and compare results. Some of the topics have only been started, just to give myself something to springboard off of, others already have at least some decent details and instructions, and others are still hidden because I haven't got that far yet.

     

    It sure is fun though! I love going in there during render or simulation times and just start typing! :)

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,701

    you can definitely export anything that is check-box-selected in DIM to a CSV file. Both uninstalled and installed tabs have this option for sure. Use any selection mechanism you wish and right-click in the main window to find the export to CSV option in there somewhere. You can pick the CSV package elements to export/ignore in a pop-up dialog before the export.

    You can also select many items in your DIM collection by importing the same sort of CSV - meaning you can export a long list, edit it in your editor or spreadsheet (saving back to CSV), and then load it into DIM to select the packages in that CSV and do things with them in DIM.

    e.g. dump your DAZ package collection into a CSV, edit it to only keep items for a scene or project, install those items, make the scene, then uninstall them when done. You can keep the scene/project CSV file with the scene for later re-install for re-renders, etc.

    I also use it to make/keep/manage lists of shaders (3DL v IRAY), Mil4 or Gn1 lists, clothes sets, hair sets, Poser or Carrara items, etc.

    handy, hope this makes sense,

    --ms

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    mindsong said:

    handy, hope this makes sense,

    --ms

    Thanks! It does, except that I have no clue what a CSV file is. Something I can open in XL, I presume?

    I think it's really cool that it can be used for input as well as out! Rock On Mindsong!

  • BrianP21361BrianP21361 Posts: 812

    CSV is comma separated values. It's a plain text file that you can open in a spreadsheet program like Excel. 

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182
    edited May 2021

    Illustration of MS point.  DIM includes a 'tag' for each product.  Carrara is a tag.  So, if you export your DIM product library to a CSV file and load in a sprreadhseet, you can sort by tag to group all of your products that are offically Carrara, like dynamic hair.  It isn't the same as identifying which work in Carrara because most things will work, but sometimes it can be useful to look through things made specifically for Carrara.

    dim sort by tag.jpg
    685 x 990 - 309K
    using dim 1.jpg
    524 x 504 - 59K
    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    Cool. Thanks guys!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    Whoa... I just got this at an excellent dicount!

    Can't wait to try it out!!!!

    Deepsea's Bald Eagle Bundle

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,182

    Great product.  Looking forward to a little predator/prey fun.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    Me too! I still have some scenes for Eagle 2.0 on my docket to complete. I'm pretty sure it will be replaced by this one instead! 

     

    Maybe not replaced, though. Eagle 2.0 is still an amazing creature. But I'm definitely using this one!

     

    I love the environment too!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    Ooooo... Cool PC+ Flash Sale!!!

    I kept it simple, but got something I've been wanting to find, but never knew it existed - Will Dupre's The Pirate for Hiro (3)

    Rosie's gonna look cool in this shirt! I Love the combination between Genesis 1 and VWD!!!

     

    From the cool list of goods from today's PC+ for a Day, I grabbed the Scott 6 Pro Bundle for a measley $1.99!!!

    So here are my thoughts on this one:

     

    I've been wanting Scott 6 since he was first released, but it just wasn't in the cards to do so.

    The intention was to get the bundle and use the Garen preset for his Dartan-like textures, and dial of the Garen body and dial up some of the FW Jeremy body morph for the super hero-style body, with a bit of other adjustments as always.

     

    Well it turns out that I was just messing around with a new Dartanbeck 5.2, and he's looking pretty cool. But now that I have this bundle, I may just start from scratch using the above notes. We'll see. I have been sticking with Genesis 1 for Rosie for a reason, but I think I have learned enough to be able to make Genesis 2 work just fine in Carrara. Just use our wonderful plugin, Daz Studio, to actually create Genesis 2 clothing from other generation, as per my workflow suggestions in my Content Generations Conversion article.

    Here are images of those Scott 6 products I mentioned:

    Garen for Scott 6

    FW Jeremy HD for Scott 6

    And mix in some of Scott's original morphs

    Scott 6

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    I also added yet another cool product to my The DigiVault collection!!! So cool! I've got a really decent selection of his goods now!

    The Dead Zone

    Gonna have to update my site! :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623
    edited June 2021

    Dartanbeck said:

    Ooooo... Cool PC+ Flash Sale!!!

    I kept it simple, but got something I've been wanting to find, but never knew it existed - Will Dupre's The Pirate for Hiro (3)

    Rosie's gonna look cool in this shirt! I Love the combination between Genesis 1 and VWD!!!

    Yep. She looks cool, alright!

    This is the version of Rosie I've been animating - Rosie 5.2, dressed in her new Pirate Shirt for Hiro 3. Not the greatest of the images, this is the first frame of an animtion that will end up in a scene where she just came to land from her ship.

    Fit Control doesn't work in Carrara. However, we can still use it to shape the garment before saving to the library. You might see the morph dials come through to Carrara, but if you do, they won't work - at least that's been my experience.

     

    That said, I've been using Fit Control morphs to shape the clothing a bit before running it through VWD. It's very handy.

    In this case, I can set how loose or tight the lace strings are amongst other things. This shirt was reshaped only using Fit Control (in DS) and VWD. This is the second version of this shirt I've tested, liked and saved to my library for Rosie to wear. I like it. I think it's sexy on her!

    R52_PiratessWlkStop01_00031.png
    720 x 720 - 220K
    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,701
    edited June 2021

    +++++++

    and don't forget the keiko 6 pro bundle in that sale... (ETA: apparently you already saw it... in the sale thread +++)

    (I would never have 'seen' that shirt to work so well. Brilliant eye!)

    best,

    --ms

    Dartanbeck said:

    Dartanbeck said:

    Ooooo... Cool PC+ Flash Sale!!!

    I kept it simple, but got something I've been wanting to find, but never knew it existed - Will Dupre's The Pirate for Hiro (3)

    Rosie's gonna look cool in this shirt! I Love the combination between Genesis 1 and VWD!!!

    Yep. She looks cool, alright!

    This is the version of Rosie I've been animating - Rosie 5.2, dressed in her new Pirate Shirt for Hiro 3. Not the greatest of the images, this is the first frame of an animtion that will end up in a scene where she just came to land from her ship.

    Fit Control doesn't work in Carrara. However, we can still use it to shape the garment before saving to the library. You might see the morph dials come through to Carrara, but if you do, they won't work - at least that's been my experience.

     

    That said, I've been using Fit Control morphs to shape the clothing a bit before running it through VWD. It's very handy.

    In this case, I can set how loose or tight the lace strings are amongst other things. This shirt was reshaped only using Fit Control (in DS) and VWD. This is the second version of this shirt I've tested, liked and saved to my library for Rosie to wear. I like it. I think it's sexy on her!

    Post edited by mindsong on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,289

    carefull if you don't have DAZ-Deals browser addon

    I own everything in the Keiko bundle because I have a superbundle that includes it

    much in that sale is in other bundles I own, fortunately DAZ-Deals fades them out on their page

  • mindsongmindsong Posts: 1,701

    heck of abundle, that.

    cute as the Aiko series is, since A3, the Aikos aren't really manga to my eye, so much as stylized cute (and very cute they are). Keiko6, Sakura8, and a couple of G8F female figures (rin?) get back to that manga proportion and essence, pushing back into that toon domain.

    I like them all, but it's interesting to follow the progression.

    --ms

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    WendyLuvsCatz said:

    carefull if you don't have DAZ-Deals browser addon

    I own everything in the Keiko bundle because I have a superbundle that includes it

    much in that sale is in other bundles I own, fortunately DAZ-Deals fades them out on their page

    As it was in my case - as with all of the rest of those amazing Pro Bundles they had in that offering.

    Thanks again, Wendy, for turning me on to that Daz Deals browser!!!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,623

    mindsong said:

    heck of abundle, that.

    cute as the Aiko series is, since A3, the Aikos aren't really manga to my eye, so much as stylized cute (and very cute they are). Keiko6, Sakura8, and a couple of G8F female figures (rin?) get back to that manga proportion and essence, pushing back into that toon domain.

    I like them all, but it's interesting to follow the progression.

    --ms

    ...and I love the designs of a lot of those legacy Aiko 3 (and other Generation 3) costumes and such!

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