Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 9
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I'm going to be packaging my Rendo content with that assist product, and rendering them, so for awhile you'll be seeing quite a few characters and clothes from there as I have years to catch up on, and I'm being very picky price-wise on Genesis 8.
Since I spent a lot on the Western town, I'm curtailing buying much else, unless it's an ultra good deal (such as buying a new release but only if I will actually use it, and the savings on the additional tied-in products that are discounted would really make it worth it. Like the deals yesterday that I listed.)
Jilleen is wearing Fisty and Darc's Jewelry Basics. There's a nice variety in the set, and it's simple and classic pieces that are also quite elegant due to the style. Basics that can be used quite often! It's Dax Hair with the hat helper again.
I find the release of gen 8 to be a welcome reprieve to my wallet. Since Victoria's release ive only bought a few individual items. I just don't need more female figures at this point so I'm waiting for the male release and unique creatures.
I love this! Very nicely done. :) I don't have the Hat Helper yet. It's on the wishlist. I do have her Hat Helper for G2 and I get a lot of use out of it. I'm looking forward to playing this on G3 when I finally get it.
Appreciate You!
This is by no means and exhaustive list and for the most part I'm mostly a lurker on the various threads in the forums but I do learn a lot from all who post. Here is my list of vendors who've helped me the most since I started my adventures with Daz Studio.
@Alessandro_AM - LAMH and Iray Geolocator are awesome products. What makes them even better is the tireless support this vendor provides. I also have purchased most of their animal figures from here and the OTHER store and use them frequently in renders. Thank you!
@AprilYSH - The hairs I've purchased have always been well made and easily posed. I also like the fact that when I reached out with questions, they were promptly answered. Thank you!
@Bluebird3d - I love their YouTube channel and willingness to teach others. Thank you!
@DarwinsMishap(s) - I don't have every one of their male figures but the ones I do have are well made, unique and obviously meticulously crafted. I also love @DarwinsMishap(s) willingness to help others and the conversation on their Art Forum. Thank you!
@Sickleyield - I use so many of their products--it would take up most of this post if I were to list them all. @Sickleyield also goes above and beyond with their customer support and the tutorials they provide on their DA account. Thank you!
@ThePhilosopher - Their light set, Epic Skydome and Epic Props are used frequently in my renders. @ThePhilosopher also provides wonderful customer support. Thank you!
@V3Digitimes - Their scripts for optimizing scenes, light management, and skin are part of my render workflow. They are well thought out and for most part intuitive to use. @V3Digitimes' customer support is excellent. Thank you!
@Zev0 - Their products are invaluable for providing us with the ability to customize our characters. I don't know where to begin in listing my favorite one so I won't. @Zev0 thank you for all that you do and the customer support you provide!
Edit:
I need to add @KindredArts to my list as well. I use the Ghost Lights for ambient light in a lot of my renders. Product support from this PA is excellent! Thank you.
Appreciate You!
I've only been active on the forums for a bit over two years, and regret not having had experiences with @Draagonstorm and @Dimension3D that many of you had. But the following vendors have earned my loyalty here, and in the Galleries, with a willingness to help and encourage. (There's nothing like putting an image in the Gallery and have the creator come in and say, "Wow...") Thank you, guys.
@Mec4D, @KindredArts, @DesignAnvil, @Fisty, @maclean, @Parris, @sickleyield, @Alessandro_AM and @KendallSears, @DarwinsMishap, @FirstBastion, @DestinysGarden, @PA_ThePhilosopher, @the3dwizard, @SF-Design, @HowieFarkes, @CaymanStudios, @TangoAlpha, @Midnight_stories, @Mely3D, @Slosh
Here's a short list of products I'd feel lost without:
PBS Shaders for Iray, Vol 1, Vol 2 & Vol 3 — @Mec4D
Iray Ghost Light Kit — @KindredArts
Pose Builder (G1/G2 and G3); Brow Remover for DS — @DraagonStorm & @Zev0
Mask and Multipass Toolbox — @DraagonStorm
Macro Eyes Bundle — @Parris
TerraDome 3 Iray — @ColmJackson & @Traveler (HDRIs)
DA Stonework & Masonry Shaders; DA Real World Lighting — @DesignAnvil
Genesis 3 UV Swap: Male and Female Base — @Slosh (aka @SloshWerks)
The product I've had the most fun with, hands down, is Skin Builder 3 from @DraagonStorm, @Zev0 & @DiscoBob.
Products I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't used yet, (but will soon. Really.)
Nikolas for G3M; Ahmad for G3M by @DarwinsMishap
Isamu for G3M by @JavierMicheal
Rodents by AM: Squirrel — @Alessandro_AM
I'm going to be cheating and adding people I hadn't gotten to yet- @TangoAlpha comes on the thread and also has a fun sense of humor. I'm stll working on my post and I know I'm forgetting people. I did add @Mattymanx, who is great at surfing the forums and helping people, and also @Marshian. Does anyone know why some of the @ work and others do partial letters or won't blue out? That's annoying. I don't know if those people get contacted or not!
Reminder, it's getting near the end of the month, so that means:
1. Use your PC+ coupons if you haven't. I just picked up FW Eliot for $6.67 (he's never been below $12.57 according to the deals app)
2. Be sure and do some June renders so you can pick your Top 3-5. If you know you have a favorite product, that would be a good one to render!
BTW, my son is doing fine, except he lost TEN POUNDS. Ouch. Lots of meat and potatoes and cheese for that dude. He's now eating well though, so it should come back on in the next month or two.
Don't know when Fast Grab changed, I don't think I checked yesterday. I did grab the hearse because that can be used as a filler in western scenes in the background. For $4.49 it's a great deal.
I was just curious, digging around in my account, I saw that I have the PC+ membership through 2019! How far out are you?
Second- So more curious, I wondered what kind of deal I got on it per year to warrant going out that far from 2016 to 2019. Well, now I know why I did it. Do you remember this one? $14.50 FOR A YEAR. It was 24.50 then dropped $10 with the purchase of a new release. Has anyone gotten it lower than that? That was September 30th, 2016.
You have to either have a screenshot or your email, as otherwise it won't show you what you actually paid. But this was weird. Since I read a note I made for that order in a screenshot, I knew the price was 14.50. But even in my EMAIL order, although it shows 24.50, when I added up the total it was indeed $10 less and was $14.50. That is just screwy, because emails normally show what you PAY, as opposed to the Order History in My Account. HATE that. (that's why it's important not to delete them! You need to know the exact price so if it's offered cheaper within 30 days you can get the difference) So apparently back in 2016 they were still fine-tuning the email amounts. If you are showing 24.50 on the dates around Sept 30th 2016 for email amounts, you may have gotten it cheaper. (You'd just have to add it up and look at your total paid.)
I'm going to have to do my PA appreciation post separately, but here's a quick tip on an G2M to G3M conversion...
If, like me, you bought GIS Emperor for G2M over the weekend with intent to fit to G3M, you need to parent the necklace to G3M's upper chest rather than autofitting it, and fit the upright collar thing to the coat rather than to G3M. The autofit dialogue will tell you that it is not supported, but it will work, and because the coat has no neck or head bones, the collar won't warp itself into a million pieces trying to follow your characters' head/neck movements. Up collision iterations to around 6-7 on the collar. On the pants, I went with the "alt" G2M clone included with Wear Them All and it didn't work out that great-I had to postwork that area in the picture below. Also, I often find the "long coat" rigging template (forget whether it's from Wear Them All or SickleYield's product) to be more complicated than it's worth, but the coat in this set totally needs it.
Here's Ahmad modeling the outfit, with some Parrotdolphin shaders thrown on it. (Click to zoom in)
I've never been contacted when someone @s my name, although I've heard that some people are. Dunno what's up with that. I just keep half an eye on as many threads as I get time for, and butt in occasionally when I think it might look like I know what I'm talking about.
For what it's worth, the only times I've been aware that someone has attached an @ to my name is when I've come across it by accident. I'm sure we're not alone!
Boy, its going to be tough to put together a list of vendors I appreciate. There are so many! I don't know if I will be able to get to it this week, I may have to wait until after Saturday.
@valzheimer's Wear Them All and @SickleYield's UltraTemplates (linking to the male versions because I use them more) are the main reason I switched to Genesis 3 after failing to get into the first and second Genesis lines. Finally autofit has a shot at producing usable results without requiring the end user to be a genius at rigging! I don't use the female versions quite as heavily because a lot of my V4 content was skirts and armor and really cute shoes (in other words the three things that DON'T autofit well no matter what). @SickleYield's also responsible for a bunch of specialized, moderately useful tools like Fast Flames and the Demuscler that I use from time to time, and worked with @TheAntfarm on the awesome MechGear outfits for Genesis 2 (which work surprisingly well on Genesis 3, so long as you parent the armored bits and lock some of the joints on the character wearing it).
My other friends in the battle for better clothing include @AaveNainen (I love Suave) and @Optitex and co-PAs: @Khory, @SimonJM, and the late, lamented @Draagonstorm.
Genx2 and its addons helped ease my transition to Genesis 3, knowing that I had at least a shot at importing my favorite M4V4 characters over. The various pose converters made my life a lot easier once I was finally motivated to use them. Thank you, @Zev0! Requiescat in Pace, @Dimension3d, @Draagonstorm.
I used some of @DimensionTheory's 3Delight lightsets heavily towards the end of my M4V4 era, and Skies of Iradiance was the first Iray lighting tool I bought. I've also gotten good use out of @KindredArts' Ghost Light Kit 2.
@SloshWerks' and @Draagonstorm's Ultimate Hader Shaders 2 has done a great job in letting me leverage my older hairstyles in Iray. Not everything works, but a lot does. Also a shoutout to my favorite hair makers who are no longer at Daz: @Valea, with her loooong, romantic hairstyles, and the more realistically modeled hairstyles of @3Dream and @Mairy, who often worked together. I've also gotten alot of use out of @Neftis's Historical Curls: one of the first of her fibermesh hairstyles.
A special shoutout to @JavierMicheal and his Human Surface Reshade: I picked it up on a radical discount (either FastGrab or one of those megasales in December) and it's a great tool for bringing stuff into the Iray era, assuming the product you're trying to convert came with specular maps and you remember the trick to getting the irises right (stick the main diffuse map in the transmission channel and maybe in the glossiness channel in addiiton to the diffuse channel).There are other options out there, but this one has worked well when I tried it.
For most fun to play with, I've got to go with @Optitex's dynamics, @Alessandro_AM's Look At My Hair (yes, I do have masochistic tendencies, why do you ask?), Skin Builder 3 from @Zev0, @DiscoBob, and @Draagonstorm, for the big-deal plugins. For smaller, more specific items, I love @AprilSYH's Yolande Hair (FEATHERS FEATHERS EVERYWHERE), and the magificent Ahmad by @DarwinsMishap. I also like @RawArt's creatures and poses, @TheAntfarm's cool sets and hardware (Persian Kucheh, although somewhat dated, gets alot of use just because it's more compact and easier to work with than a lot of the alternative Middle Eastern sets), @danie and @marforno's sets and poses (special thank you guys for Kapelle!) and @surreality's beautiful V4 characters.
From outside the Daz store, I really like Xurge3D's clothing (some of which converts to Genesis 3 rather well), and the late StudioArtVartanian's characters.Now, if I can just get the Semiramis skin onto G3F or eventually G8F....
Maybe your Notification Preferences are not set to get notified? See att:
Thank you for the honourable mention but from the context I assume you meant SimonWM
Oops, embarrassing typo, yes @SimonWM was who I meant! My apologies to you both!
In case you wonder why I'm rather absent at posting- I decided to use that content package assist and do every single one of my Rendo purchases, going back to 2013. UGH. Some aren't found in the studio, and it took me two hours just for one thing to figure out what was going on. In case this may help others- but only if you have a setup like mine- my studio has Content first, there is no My Library- so any files that start with that won't show up in your studio. The package assist also shows Content as the first level, and I think the Readme covers that too. Anyway, for Sabby's, there's Gemma so far, and Silver did that with Iris. I'm categorizing too as I go in studio, so all my Rendo stuff is in Categories over in Content Library.
Then I couldn't resist rendering them, going down TRH (officially called The Rabbit Hole) and now I have questions on how to convert these suckers up to other generations. (But lord no, not doing that now. I've got to get 70 orders worth packaged and installed. (Not 70 things, 70 ORDERS since 2013. Thankfully many so far had 1-4 items, but I know some big ones are coming.)
This was one of the things I was putting on my "haven't used and going to try" list since I think I did it once a few years ago- the bundle that does the iray conversion for Generation 4 and Genesis (linking the bundle, it includes Genesis too) I've got my Genesis iray'd- now my mind is blank. Is there a product in THIS store that does V4 materials, and also one for Genesis- straight to Genesis 3? I know (and have) Draagonstorm's that go up to Genesis 2.
And the Legacy UVs for Victoria 5 (Genesis) to take that to Genesis 3, doesn't do the base Genesis. Is there one for that? I can't remember if there were any base Genesis characters (since that was so weird with male and female on one figure. Or were they all V5 and M5 based? It's been years!
The Legacy UVs for Genesis 3 Volume 2 Victoria 4 is on sale right now at Rendo for 50% off btw. So that one will do V4 up to Genesis 3. (Cayman Studios) I was just wondering if I am overlooking one that is here.
Main question- And since I applied an application to the skin (the iray conversion) will that stay with the skin when it leaves that generation?
So here's Gemma from Rendo that are Genesis, with the Iray Converter for Genesis by @v3digitimes I love playing with the glossy and picking my own skin color, it's fun! Remember- those files start with My Library and are a pain in the hiney with that packaging tool. So depending on what you want to do with the converter, Gemma will look quite different from the quickie I did below. I used .50 for one of the glossy settings, changed the skin color to more yellow, etc.
You will find the converter in Content Library under the People>Genesis section, then >Materials.
I have to laugh. When that hair came out, many of us thought it was SO neat. It's End of Summer hair, remember that one? I have smoothed that thing a lot and it still needs some work, but I Uber Based it and used Slosh's shaders on it and it helped. Brilliant question- is there a way to further subdivide hair?
Here's the other Genesis, with the Iray Converter for Genesis by @v3digitimes This one is Iris by Silver, also at Rendo. The dress is by Aave, and is part of Miss Fisher's Wardrobe. I did a different shader and tiled it to 80 for the top and about 40 for the skirt.
I think the hair was Micah. I only did one image.
Since I am being mentioned, and I'm quite happy with it ...
Using G3M (with various dial-spun morphs), Abel skin texture by @Saiyaness, Warrior Wet Hair by @Linday, REAL Hairy (got G2m) by @MikeyMadeMe with those hairs having @PhilW's new Hair Lustre Shaders applied. Teh beard is the new product by @MEC4D (from her site) and uses her supplied shaders. Lighting from Environment and a Box Light Panel from the Ultra Genesis Studio range of lighting products by @RuntimeDNA, @Syyd, and @Traveler
I remember paying $12-something last summer. Went looking and found the email. Assuming everything but the membership is showing the actual amount I paid, along with my (sometimes faulty) memory, I'd say I paid $12.60. But I only extended it one year...
@ladair BTW, did you get my PM? Sent it days ago.
Um... No...?
Checked it now, though, and replied. Thanks.
PC for a year was $10.50 plus tax in January. I had already renewed annual PC earlier in the year for ~$24, but ended up grabbing two more years at that price. Had to slap my hand not to extend more. I'm paid up through 2020.
That was it, thank you
Was it you, @Novica, who pointed out what a great product DigiVault Stardomes is for backgrounds? Anyway, it's in today's Best of the Best sale, in the "Nature & Space Environments" section. I have it in my shopping cart along with a few other goodies. (It's July's budget, but holy cow! How can I pass up the iREAL Animated Ocean Water System at 70% off? It's been on my wishlist since the day it was released.)
There are a lot of good items in this section. It shouldn't be difficult to find three... More difficult to keep it to only three, I suspect. (I've got 8 items in my cart, and the total is under $50. And that's without a coupon, as I used mine earlier in the month.)
https://www.daz3d.com/best-of-the-best-nature-space-environments-selection
I'm looking at the HD offerings and even though they're going low, I asked myself if I really need them, or if I should keep that money in case some neat sets come up. Four of those would equal the Western Town, (which I got earlier) so that rather decided it for me. I'd rather have another set. Plus, when I bought the town, I promised to cut back. Doing all these Rendo purchases reminds me of even MORE things I haven't used, (you know, the "Wow! I don't remember buying THAT!") so it's actually helpful to start going through all this stuff. Hate the thought of converting though- will have to render in the generation first, then see if I want to move it up. Going to Genesis 3, not 8.
@firewarden Wow, you got a deal! So when the sales this fall start up, bet there's another PC membership super deal. It's been quite awhile.
Gone to barn, another horse is colicking and they need my help to walk her. TTYL
So, in order to get the 70% off discount on today sales, they have to be in the same category? You can't get one of each from the categories? I'm confused. I got one item each from animals, shaders and environments and its not changing the 50% off to 70% off.
Edit - never mind it says they don't combine right at the top.
And, no thank you. I don't need three items from the same category. I don't really need anything at all lol. I will skip since I can't combine categories. I'm on a role, I've only purchased one or two items in the last 3 weeks.
I did that too. Half a dozen items and they were all from different sections so they all came back out again
At least three were in my wishlist too 