Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 9

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  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    @rgcincy   Thanks for the explanation!

    Hmm, I actually think the number 5 is much better than the number 4, as number 4 the windows appear to be leaning too much to our right- like beginning to fall over. The parallel lines aren't right for perspective, either- where you start- the opening is large then goes smaller and smaller in the distance to a point. Whereas in number 5 they have the correct perspective lines (if you look at the top and bottom of the window, those lines will get closer and closer and meet as you draw them to the left. (So does the fourth one, I think.) So more importantly, if you were to put fenceposts in a perspective drawing, the fenceposts DO NOT LAY DOWN. They stay standing up straight. That would happen in the fifth one, they'd be straight,  but in the fourth one those vertical lines (the sides of the windows)  are possibly already leaning back. So I don't know if I'd go with number 4 as the windows seem to be tilting backwards. Edit- of course this could be an optical illusion, based on what the ceiling is doing.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    RGcincy said:

    Adding on to what L'Adair shared.

    @RGcincy, Thank you for expanding on all of that. I really wasn't sure if those two controls produced different results in the final render or not. I don't use them very often. I found the "Set X- and Z-rotate to zero and only rotate around Y" to be really good information, like putting the camera on a tripod, and always keeping it level. I'm going to use that in the future. (After setting X- and Z-rotate to zero, I'm going to lock those parameters, so I can't inadvertently move them, 'cause I know I would!) I know my way around a camera, but the cameras in DS just don't seem to work like my Canon DSLR.


     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    Here's just a quickie to show you a camera from the hospital room and changing the focal length from the default 18 to 14.14. Yuck on distortion! (the second one was rendered and only at 50%, I'm not going for a good render here, just quickies to see what the camera is doing. I did test Focal Distance (just because.) and no, it doesn't make a difference.

     

    hospital roomDefCam1.png
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    hospital room14.14 FocLength.png
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    Post edited by Novica on
  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479

    Wide angle lenses do that with physical cameras, too. Photoshop even has a lens correction feature! (At least my CS6 version does. Don't know what CC does.)

  • Trying out The Flock Butterflies - It's quite nice really, this is six "mini flocks" set to different materials (four in the package).

    Figure: Mynx for V7 (mostly) with a run of Sintaro's Randomizer done on her face 

    Hair: Sapphire hair - this has really nice adjustability - lots of morphs to position things

    Top: Mechanic outfit for G3F - nice to pair with the skirt

    Skirt: from the Moto Girl Outfit for G3F again - I like the set - though I made the texture darker since it was too light to match the top.

    butterflies_at_crystal_falls-04.jpg
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  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited October 2017

    Thanks for the interesting camera info. Learn something new every day! 

    G3 and G8 Character Versions

    I don't know if anyone else has started doing this, but as I'm shopping lately, I'm more likely to buy a character if they have both G3 and G8 options. Not all PAs are doing that, but I wanted to give feedback because often it does affect my buying choice. I like G8 but still use G3 a lot. I simply have more tools for those- Wear Them All, Centaurs, Mermaids, Creature add-ons, etc.

    I get a LOT of crashing lately trying to fit some of the G3 outfits to G8 with the built-in autofit. It's really frustrating. It's usually on one piece of a set, but I need to start taking notes and looking at the logs to see if I can isolate it (the latest one was the loin wrap on Arki's Fire Bride for G3F.)

    That said, I would rather just use the G3 version of the character if I don't need intricate posing and expressions. So please, PAs, keep making characters for both versions, at least until there are more tools out. 

    Post edited by Llynara on
  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479

    Trying out The Flock Butterflies - It's quite nice really, this is six "mini flocks" set to different materials (four in the package).

    Figure: Mynx for V7 (mostly) with a run of Sintaro's Randomizer done on her face 

    Hair: Sapphire hair - this has really nice adjustability - lots of morphs to position things

    Top: Mechanic outfit for G3F - nice to pair with the skirt

    Skirt: from the Moto Girl Outfit for G3F again - I like the set - though I made the texture darker since it was too light to match the top.

    That looks really nice. I've got the butterfly product from The Philosopher. This looks a bit easier to use, but TP's allows for multiple colors within a group. Trade offs, I guess. I was sorely tempted to get The Flock Butterflies anyway, but the wallet won the "debate."
    laugh

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    edited October 2017

    Didn't someone have a hair tutorial here somewhere that helped you fit to non-supported figures?

    I'm trying to fit Peggy Hair to a modified Honey Bolt and I can't get it to change it's shape the way I want. Fighting with deformers, but then remembered someone giving the tips for fitting hair to different figures. I also need to get rid of the ear holes. I'm thinking if I fight it long enough with deformers, I might get it to work. (I'm pretty much a DAZ newbie, despite having been around for a while.)

    Also wondering if something like SimTenero's Shape Reprojector or SickleYield's Hat and Hair Helper would work. (I don't own either, but wondering anyway.) I'd prefer a free method. ;)

    Post edited by firewarden on
  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    Novica said:

    Just got a text, tornado hit near the owner's barn (which is about 8-10 acres away from the borders' barn) no damage to it fortunately,  but three huge trees completely uprooted and down. 

    Glad you, your pups, and Stetson are okay! This is such weird weather. It's been raining so much here (usually semi-arid), I think the cotton farmers are out of luck. They need hot dry weather and it's been quite a bit of rain and clouds for over two weeks; very bad timing. Although it's good for the land and water tables, so there's that.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479

    Didn't someone have a hair tutorial here somewhere that helped you fit to non-supported figures?

    I think you're looking for this thread from RAMWolff.

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    L'Adair said:

    Didn't someone have a hair tutorial here somewhere that helped you fit to non-supported figures?

    I think you're looking for this thread from RAMWolff.

    Thank you!!!! :)

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    L'Adair said:

    Didn't someone have a hair tutorial here somewhere that helped you fit to non-supported figures?

    I think you're looking for this thread from RAMWolff.

    Well, rats... I can't get that to work. It keeps telling me I need a simple figure with geometry. (I have the hair selected.) 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    Depends on how badly you want it to work- you put it on the figure it's designed for, move that figure to match the person you want it on, then ghost out the person wearing it. It appears to be on the person who is showing. Like what I did with putting the cargo shorts on Rich The Crab. (couldn't resist.) There was actually a man wearing the shorts, scaled to match the crab and his scrawny legs. The man was then ghosted out.(Cutout Opacity Zero.) 

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    edited October 2017

    Butterflies Galore!

    On Thursday I got The Flock Butterflies as I had purchased the bird flock and liked how they work. Earlier in the PA sale I had Noggin's Ultimate Butterfly Collection and Ultimate Butterfly Add-On in my cart multiple times but each time I passed on it. I saw it was back in Mega Fast Grad today and this time I got them both. Why? Although both have a flock of butterflies (Noggin's has only one while The Flock has sixteen), the Flock has only 4 butterfly materials, all the same shape, while Noggin's has 164 that are based on real-life specimens with different shapes and color top and bottom. I hope to figure out how to apply the more realistic and more complex textures to the Flock (I'm hoping I can do it by creating a new UV), in the meantime, here is an image with both products in it, Noggin's higher up and The Flock (the Monarch) lower down.

     

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    Post edited by RGcincy on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    Here's a quickie with Honey Bolt and Peggy Hair. I put the hair on Genesis 3 Female AFTER I had distorted the scaling of the Gen3F HEAD to about the size of the robot head. Parent the Gen3F so it will follow Honey Bolt's movements. Then with Gen3F selected, load the hair. You can scale from there (the robot's eyes stick out, those bangs are a pain in the hiney.) But anyway, this is a fast and easy way to do it. You can put hair on anything.  I didn't tweak this much, you would fine-tune it with XYZ scaling or the hair morphs.

    The shaders are Ceramics for Iray.

    honeybot Peggy Hair.png
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    Post edited by Novica on
  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    edited October 2017
    Novica said:

    Here's a quickie with Honey Bolt and Peggy Hair. I put the hair on Genesis 3 Female AFTER I had distorted the scaling of the Gen3F to about the size of the robot head. Parent the Gen3F so it will follow Honey Bolt's movements. Then with Gen3F selected, load the hair. You can scale from there (the robot's eyes stick out, those bangs are a pain in the hiney.) But anyway, this is a fast and easy way to do it. You can put hair on anything.  I didn't tweak this much, you would fine-tune it with XYZ scaling or the hair morphs.

    The shaders are Ceramics for Iray.

    Cool! About to try that. :)

    Post edited by firewarden on
  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    edited October 2017

    This is where I am at the moment, using your method, Novica. It's much nicer than what I had going. Fighting to get the bangs out of the eyes and now they are casting shadows. It's not scaling exactly as I'd like, but I think I'll experiment with some other ponytails also. (Maybe Jazz Hair next...)

     

     

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    Post edited by firewarden on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    Yes, those bangs and the extended glass of the eye orbs are problematic. Well, glad you got it where you can play with it at least. Let us know what hair you end up with, and good luck! (The other thought is to change the eyes if possible by scaling them down. I didn't keep mine so can't quickly test it.)  Also perhaps D-Form the bangs. I didn't check in Parameters to see if they had any morphs to swing them left or right.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    RGcincy said:

    Butterflies Galore!

    On Thursday I got The Flock Butterflies as I had purchased the bird flock and liked how they work. Earlier in the PA sale I had Noggin's Ultimate Butterfly Collection and Ultimate Butterfly Add-On in my cart multiple times but each time I passed on it. I saw it was back in Mega Fast Grad today and this time I got them both. 

    That looks pretty. Makes me wish Spring were here again! Have to get through Winter first though.

  • RGcincyRGcincy Posts: 2,834
    Novica said:

    That looks pretty. Makes me wish Spring were here again! Have to get through Winter first though.

    Yes, winter is coming devil

  • Worlds_EdgeWorlds_Edge Posts: 2,152

    This looks like automatic clothing draping is coming to DAZ 3D!  I'm linking the thread regarding Dforce physics.  I wonder if it will work with hair as well?  

    Discussion and video.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    No hair yet it looks.  Will be interesting to see how many of the current clothing items will work.

  • Worlds_EdgeWorlds_Edge Posts: 2,152

    There is another thread where people are trying the beta out on existing clothing and they look good!  

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887

    It's nice that the vendors are popping in on that thread and helping to identify if their clothing works with it, and also giving tips. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    Would like you folks to take a look at this Freebie Contest-  KindredArts is very generous to offer 1st, 2nd, 3rd place gift certificates, and the use of freebies is very clearly spelled out. And yes, you can use paid content too. I don't visit the Freebie section very often (maybe once or twice a year) because I just don't have time to render things I already have, but I perused through there just now and some really neat stuff!!  So if you're in need of some extra funds for Daz spending, check out the contest.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    Once I understood the directions clearly it was much easier.  There was a bit of frustration as there were a couple of things I didn't know how to do, simply because I had never used certain tools.  For instance, I had no idea you were supposed to move the animation slider all the way to the end and THEN apply the pose.  Also, in order to use the node weight map brush to pin things into place you have to hit the p key and then hold down the ALT key while using the brush to paint on the weight map.  I would never have figure that one out on my own.  The video in the thread is very helpful but it didn't have those two bits (I'm sure she did them, it just wasn't clear how she was doing them lol) I know you can't always remember the tiniest details especially if you do them pretty much automatically, i'm very glad she took the time to make the video as it really did simplify the process.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,887
    edited October 2017

    Heads up, since it's been mentioned in the sale thread- gift cards are 20% discounted (Edit- See next post)

    It might be worth buying something you've already bought and filing a ticket. 

    Post edited by Novica on
  • Worlds_EdgeWorlds_Edge Posts: 2,152

    It's not advertised (or I didn't see it), but gift cards are 20% off with the purchase of a new Daz Orig (non pc plus).  Someone mentioned it on a thread and I just tested it - it works.

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482

    Yep. Just got one with the Savage Braid to trigger it. 20%

  • Yep. Just got one with the Savage Braid to trigger it. 20%

    That's the exact same thing I did.  Worked for me.

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