Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 9
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I'm not buying the Newly PC stuff cos they are old. I know some people still like 3delight and still use Gen2 which is perfectly fine - but I don't. I use Iray, and Gen3 (the less said about Gen8, the better). So the discount on them doesn't matter to me - I have absolutley no interest in 3delight Gen2 characters.
There was only one thing in the Mega Pack I didn't have - I grabbed it cos it's free, but to tell the truth, I think this is what is going to happen every year. If you've been in the PC+ for a while (anything over say, 4 years), chances are, you will have everything in the Mega Packs they do every anniversary. They are always older products, and they are non-iray products. I did hold out a little teeny weeny bit of hope that this year, the mega packs would contain slightly newer stuff. I guess I really should'nt hope that - it's always older stuff.
Other than the new PC item, I'm not interested in the New Releases. The PA sale wiped me out more than I should have let it - I simply cannot continue with the "buy this brand new release at $13 or more, and get a little discount on the item you REALLY want". In fact, I really think I am over that completely. I've thought a lot about that particular sales tactic, and I find I am more and more leaning towards to NOT doing it. If the item I want is $12, and buying a $15 item will make that item $9...well, then I'm spending $24 on one item I want and one item I don't particularly want, instead of JUST spending $12 on ONE thing I really want...and somehow, I'm thinking I'm saving money. It doesn't compute. And given that an order may "only" cost $20 - which I think is a good price - BUT that's actually $26 in my currency......which goes into the realm of "uh, do I really want it, or is it just cos it's new and shiny and I already have many very very similar things already".
Basically with the PC+ sale, I'm interested in PC+ items at a cheaper price. And that's it. No new releases, no featured vendor catalogue etc. And I know the weekly megapacks will be stuff I already have, and chances are, the category sales that go with them, will also be things I mainly have and much older products. New or almost-new stuff rarely turns up in the sale.
@jakiblue I think that sentiment is shared by some of the other people. Personally, I didn't mind the "buy this to get that" because the discounts dropped to 60% (stores) and 75% MFGrab. If there wasn't anything in the MFGrab then I didn't buy the New Releases. What I saved with those 75% off products had to really make a dent in the New Release price. I bought the 60% offs, particularly if they were utility (lights, special effects, HDRIs, etc.) because they're useful and that's a nice discount.
I've been around for 13 years and I only owned one of things in today's freebie pack.
@fisty Hey, congrats on the thirteen years!
My strategy in the PA sale was similar to Novica's. Unless there was a one-day only special with something I really wanted, (DarwinsMishap's BOGO comes to mind,) I just put new stuff in my wishlist. Then I would have something I actually wanted in Still New to use if I needed a new release to trigger the 75% off for MFG. I did take advantage of the last day's DO Debut offer. It's really hard to ignore 75% off a new release, when it's something I can use.
Over in the MO section, Jack mentioned BYOBs will be back. That was the best part of the sale last year, for me.
I take Daz to task for the marketing, again, over in the sales thread: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2928716/#Comment_2928716 (Read it quick, if you're interested, before some indignant Mod pulls it down!)
+1
And I'm glad you're here. You do lovely work.
Thanks guys.. I'd be having a great and productive day if Hexagon didn't keep crashing when I try to save my work. >.<
bah.. wrong account
@ladair That post was very factual, so looks good to me! Good to see Jack over in the thread.
+1 The BYOBs were definitely the best part!
The PostgreSQL Conversion from Valentina isn't actually postgreSQL, it's a utility that runs as it is "installed" to create a PostgreSQL version of an existing Valentina database, if present and as long as it hadn't become corrupt as they were prone to doing. It showed in the isntalled list so it wasn't run twice, but it was not actually doing anything once there.
Nothing exciting for me.... the horror bundle is sitting in my cart but doesn’t show discounted so I have to wait until my computer refreshes. The world war 2 weapons may be useful someday. I really only need items for gen 8 male. I’m not buying older stuff since I rarely use old clothing and items and they aren’t Iray.... and I own too much unused female content so not buying any of that
Ah bummer, looks like the platinum club cancelled me. Weird, I was never informed of any issues or need to update anything.
The mai thing I’ve been excited about is Category sales, BYOB, extra new freebies and big new PC+ sets like Purgation. So I’m happy. Oh— and I’m hoping for Iray reskins of some of the Megapack stuff. It’d be lovely to see updated versions of the Divinity series. I _do_ use older stuff as-is or reshaded but the Iray updates are always so spectacular.
SC Sally for Genesis 3 Female(s) Ktarya Outfit for Genesis 3 Female(s) and Genesis 8 Female(s) Idris Hair For Genesis 3 Male(s) and Female(s)
IBL Skies -Thunderhead
If you're looking for an absolutely fun, easy to use light set then check out the IBL Skies series, and get the bundle. Click on the image of the sky you want (and the thumbnails are excellent, very distinct, clear and easy to see) as it goes degree by degree across the sky (the lower the horizon, the closer the increments as changes happen more quickly. So the sun moves 1 degree, 2 degree then jumps to increments of 5, etc) Then you click the dome rotation (again, clear diagrams) and then you can adjust your Tone Mapping settings (like Film ISO, Exposure Value, etc) and done. LOVE this set. Edit: When I use them, I'll give you the sky setting and the dome rotation setting like this: Clear Skies 35, Dome Rotation 30. Then (in this order, always do ISO first) Film ISO 135 Exposure Value 14.20 And Bamm, you have this exact lighting.
SC Sally has nice brows and very natural looking teeth. I think she'd do well as a kid too. She does have makeup on in these, an eyeliner. Without it, she has even more "natural beauty."
Summer Footwear Collection Genesis 2,3, & 8 Female(s) FWSA LightsFX Neutral Environment
Okay, I want to speed you up when you first go to use the product. So this is a "tips" type post too. If you haven't gotten this product yet, BOOKMARK IT! Your females characters will pout if you don't. Talk about getting your money's worth! (I'll have you know I got so "into" this that I never made it to the barn, and it's absolutely glorious outside. In the mid SEVENTIES!!!! So tomorrow I am going AWOL all afternoon.) I said I would render what I bought, and heavens, this is going to take awhile!
First let's start by saying think "upper" and "lower." There's two separate designations in the Scene pane. Also think materials and shaders, and remember if you want to use shaders, apply the white materials. Let's do that, here's the steps I used for colored shoes.
1. You add the upper part of the sandal/shoe (just going to use the word sandal in this post) by using the "Upper." This shows up as "G3F (or 2/8) Sandal Design (number)" and is a separate line in the Scene pane.
2. Go to "Strap Mats". Use white. These are MATERIALS. (There is a clue given to use white MATERIALS before applying the SHADER tints.)
3. TIP: If you want brighter colors- Brighten the white in Surfaces (Select the shoe straps using the Surfaces Tool -those three sheets of paper above the viewport) for the Base Color. The white default is a dull gray. IMPORTANT: only select the straps in Surfaces. Many of these have buckles. And don't forget to do the buckles, there's options in the Strap Mats section. (NOT shaders.)
4. Then use "Shader Mats" and apply your color. Lighten it in Surfaces if you want a lighter color. Easy! (both the Base and Glossy colors.) So your top half of the sandal is done.
5. Next, use the lower section to select which one you want (there's Lowers Wearable and Lowers) That shows up as a separate line in Scene also. That one is the name of the shoe and will be something like "G3F S High Pumps." TIP: it's important to remember the upper and lower each have their own designation in the Scene pane. Be sure you have the right one selected.
6. Then use the Iray>Sole Mats and select the sole color and the bottom part of the shoe (including heel) color. Tip: remember you could also do white materials and then use the tint shaders on the bottom part too.
7. Then use Feet H Pose to put the foot nicely into the sandal. If you mess up and choose the wrong one, there's a reset for the feet to zero it.
What's fun- the different sections of the straps have different material zones. You can go nuts putting the front of the shoe straps as a different color than the ankle/back of the foot section. The heels are also separate zones! (And even the sections of the heels are different material zones. Way to go @dogz
I found the Gold to be too dark. Want mine? (I think it's perfect, I have to brag on this one!)
Base color 187 / 162 / 122 and Glossy 246 / 238 / 147
All of the shoes have the base colors brightened to white from the default gray, like I "tipped" you above.
Your gold and other colors look great. And since the sandals are for 3 generations, I don't see how I can pass them up. I've copied your settings, thanks!
Thanks, my pleasure.
I like the Sally lighting and the outfit. It reminds me of Gabrielle's outfit from Xena. The lighting is just perfect.
@serenenight Do you have the neutral lights? (the one linked in that post?) Speaking of lighting, check out SereneNights in this one. Yummy.
I don't. I've sort of given up on HDRI. I had a very severe HDRI additicion for a while, but they all seem sort of the same to me and add time to my renders. I now mostly have gone darkside and use sun and sky settings. The sky rarely shows in my renders anyway.
Just some old-timer info about the convos on the previous page about Michael 1:
Back when Victoria 1 and Michael 1 were released, there were no such things as morph injections or the like. So when the time came to make an expanded set of morphs for both V1 and M1, they just called it V2 and M2. That's right, Michael 2 is just Michael 1 with a whole boatload of new morphs, and one specific set turned on as default.
If you own Michael 2, you also own Michael 1 - just turn off the "Michael 2" base morph. They took the same clothes, poses, materials, everything, because M2 was just an expansion.
*mind blown*
@serenenight I am doing a series of renders right now to show folks the different colors thrown by the neutral lights. Using one of Collective3D's houses, these lights are speedy. Just logged this: (and it's a house and a dense lawn) The render is only 350 x 400, but the lights will be fast with the larger renders too. I will do the first ten lights.
11% 1 minute
30% 1:13 seconds
62% 1:30
80% 1:42
92% 2:10
97% 2:25
DONE by 2:45 seconds.
These have zero postwork such as doing midtones, contrast, shadows, or brightening. You can get some really nice dusk looks with these. Change your white point in Tone Mapping and get even more brightening/ darkening of the colors. These use Film ISO 135 and Exposure Value 13.45 unless extreme washout occurs. (Such as #8, 9)
Light 1 and Light 2
Light 3 and Light 4
Lights 5 and 6 If you look at the thumbnails below, you'll see 6 and 7 look a bit more "natural." Six is slightly redder and seven has more bluish/green.
Lights 7 and 8. Eight is SO bright, I had to go from13.45 to 13.85 just to avoid the washout. It should go to about 14.25 or lower if your ISO is 13.65, but I wanted to keep it as close to our setting of 13.45 as possible. So for white and bright, remember number 8.
Lights 9 and 10 Nine required the same settings as 8 due to being so bright. I used the exact one so you can see 9 is slightly darker than 8. For brightness, it goes 8 (very), 10, then 9. (Look at the thumbnails below, it's easier to compare that way.)
@Novica, just emailed you.
The BYOB got fixed.
@jakiblue I can check that lightset, give me a few minutes. (Checking Dumor's Apocalyptic set for an overall tone and to tweak some settings.)
thanks, whenever you can, no problems. :D
And look at jakiblue at 5,000+ posts. You chitter-chatter you! (or should I say Jack Tomalin's wife? If you folks missed her post in the sales thread, it made me laugh out loud. The way she answered a post made it sound like she and Jack were married. (Sorry Jakiblue, have to do it! People need a chuckle.) Here it is.
BTW, mentioned on the sale thread by NFSW, the Bar Interior by Souless Empathy is a PC+ item. Hop on that one!
oh man i didn't even see me hit 5000! Cool! Yeah I talk too much, I know. LOL.
And omg, that post. I seriously didn't even notice it till I read it back - and then was UH OH. lol. Poor Jack must have shuddered when he saw that.
Well, I think you'd be a cute match. Right now he's wearing a pink hat and you have an iron mask over your face.
I just finished doing the first 10 lights of the FWSA LightsFX Neutral Environment so be sure and scroll back up. It did not include any dome rotations, so for all those lights, you could rotate the dome 8 ways. That's 80 options just using the first 10 lights. (there's 12 total.)