Novica & Serene Night's Renders, Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews Part 1
This discussion has been closed.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Zac Hair
http://www.daz3d.com/zac-hair
Look out Luka, 'cause Zac wants to be seen!
We'll compare these two short hairstyles. Zac Hair is rendering now. You can decide if you need both of them, or if you only want one, which you might prefer.
Keep in mind Cassidy is Genesis (Aiko 5.)
First, who are the hairstyles for?
Zac: Genesis, Victoria 4, Michael 4, Aiko 4, The Girl 4, Hiro 4, David 3
Luka: Genesis, Victoria 4, Aiko 4, Victoria 4 Elite, Victoria 3, Aiko 3, The Girl 4, The Girl, Stephanie 4
It's at 30% so will be about 45 minutes. Will post separately.
Zac Hair
http://www.daz3d.com/zac-hair
Luka Hair
http://www.daz3d.com/luka-hair
So both the Luka and Zac hair is not as shiny as the previous two (out of the box, remember) and you can see the difference in the Luka Hair and Zac. Both go on smooth as silk, no fitting problems- I couldn't get the "put this on first" skull cap to work- and didn't need it- this is without it- on the Zac. One thing this hair does NOT have that Luka does- (well, I couldn't find it and I broke down Scene tab) was a raised volume for the top of the head. If you want more uppity poof, go Luka.
Both of these do wonderfully around and above the ears. Made NO adjustments at all. Cassidy is a Genesis.
This hair is featured on guys, but is unisex. Says "A fashionable hairstyle for the modern male."
Cassidy disagrees! *smiles*
Here's Zak and the previously seen Luka render- together- so it's easier to compare.
EXACT SAME LIGHTING. HEAD MAY BE SLIGHTLY TURNED. NO PHOTO EDITING SUCH AS DARKENING. These are the render results you would get.
Zac Hair is first photo
Luka Hair is second photo.
What can you do with Wild Mane Hair?
ALOT!
Rendering now. But let's discuss the morphs. If you're not into "wild tousled hair" then...
YOU SHOULD STILL LOOK AT THIS HAIR. EDIT: be sure and read the rest of the thread for the drawback to this hair!
This render will not be out of the box.
You can lengthen the sides. Flatten the top. Poof up the top. Pull the top forward to flatten it. Remove hair wisps from the bangs. Really change the bangs in a variety of ways. In other words, you can turn this into a moderate hairstyle that is more conservative- not your military style, mind you!- but the vendor has done a very nice job with enabling very different looks with just one hairstyle.
In the render coming up next, the top was pulled forward, tousles toned down, front strand made to disappear, and sides lengthened a bit.
Will be about 40 minutes, is at 20 percent. Again, will post separately. Check your emails if you are watching the thread! (over 12,000 views- thanks for your interest. This takes a lot of time!)
I love fiddling with the Wildmane hair :D I used it for one of my test subjests for a long time. Downside is, it takes forever to render. But yes, it's a fun style.
If you had to pick only 3 sets to use, what would you pick?
In an email the other day, I was chatting with someone and for fun we decided to pick 3 products that would keep us busy for a long time, and so, what would we pick? (a bundle counts as one. That sounds like cheating, but when you buy bundles, they count as one thing during promos)
So if you are on a limited budget and wanted to get a lot of bang for the buck- (or even if not!) After doing reviews and exploring sets, my choices (at the moment) would be: (and note I have used all these in product reviews)
FIRST:
Skull Cove Complete http://www.daz3d.com/skull-cove-complete
Great for water scenes (3 types-normal, stormy, tropical island), outdoor town scenes, dock scenes, beach scenes, outdoor merchant scenes, pirate ship scenes (also get a shipwreck!) You get 10 buildings (LOW resolution- use for backgrounds) Props galore-
Wrapped Baggage,3 x Barrel Options,Cannonball and Cannonball pile,Portable Cannon,Coiled Rope,3 x Crate Options,Lantern Pole and Wall-mounted lantern,2 x Log pile Options,Old Tree,Tree stump,2 x Palm Trees, Fern,Plank,3 x Rat Options, Rowboat, 4 x Seagull Options, Shipwreck (with pre-placed option),Pirate ship, 2 x Vendor stalls, 2 x Treasure Chest options (Open/Closed), Rope Bridge
So getting all that and great skydomes- this easily made one of my top three. It's nice to have cliffs to put in the background, vegetation, a town, but also palm trees, animals (gulls and rats, what more can you ask for, right?) and things like old trees and log piles that you can use for other environments. You also get great skydomes- incoming storms, or peach and golds, clear blue skies, sunset, etc.
SECOND:
Willow Spring Bundle.
To cover the neat stonework options for outdoors, of course it's Willow Spring Bundle. (note how I'm cheating here, lol?)
http://www.daz3d.com/willow-spring-bundle
The bundle is misleading- the second part of that is just statues ("just" meaning the props are with the Willow Spring) Now keep in mind what you'd have with Skull Cove, then add these-
Bank, Bank Plants, Barrel, Benches, Building Left All, Building Right All, Crate, Front Wall, Grass Long, Grass Main, Ground Lower, 6 Ivy Props, Lion Spring Wishing Well, Lower Steps, Potted Plants, Barrels, Crates, Planks, Roof Tiles Props, Rear Wall, Upper Landing,
Upper Steps, Weeds, Willow Tree
This set is great for closeups- remember the Lion fountain with Genesis in front of it, and the stone background where I showed you how to paint the background stone so the spotlight wouldn't be apparent? That was Willow Spring. With the buildings, you can turn your camera so many ways and still have stone buildings and different items in each shot- it's a great set! So Skull Cove covers the rugged outdoors and water elements, this covers having balconies, stairs, nice stone closeups as backgrounds, a courtyard, statues (part two of the bundle)
You also get 7 poser light sets.
Day with Torches, Daylight, Evening with Torches, Evening Light, Night with Torches, Night Light, Torch Light Only
What would be my third? My indoor set? ON SALE NOW.
THIRD:
Opus Magnum!
http://www.daz3d.com/opus-magnum
The sheer number of props and the variety!
Fully Furnished Room, Empty Room, Drawers Loaded, Shelves1 Loaded, Shelves2 Loaded, Table Loaded (NO KIDDING!)
Ceiling, Floor, Shed, 4 Walls, Armilary Sphere, AstroChart, Axe, Barrel, Bellows, 8 Books, Book Open, 13 Bottles, Bottle Holder, Bottle Rack, 3 Bowls, Bucket, Bunzen Burner, Cage, Candelabra ON/OFF, 4 Candles ON/OFF, Candle Holder ON/OFF, Chair,
Chopper, Compass, 3 Crates, Crystal Ball, Cup, Cutting Board, Dagger, Drawers, Glass, Globe, Half Barrel, 8 Herbs, Hour Glass, Incense Burner, Incubator, 5 Jars, Kettle, Keys, Knife, Lectern, Log, Logs, Magnifying Glass, 3 Mineral Cups, 6 Minerals, Mirror, 2 Mortar Pestles, 3 Paintings, 5 Papers, Pedestal, Pipe, 3 Plants, Pouch, Press, Quills, Quills Ink,Rug, Scales, Scissors, 5 Scrolls, 2 Shelves, 2 Skulls, Spectacles, Stool, Stump, Sword, Table, Telescope, TestTube, Test Tube Rack, Vat, 9 Vials, Vitriol, Vitriol Tacked
You've got cool floors, walls, and a really wide variety of backgrounds. Look at the price, then look at the thumbnails and see what's included. And it's on sale in the promos- (f you get three things, it's 50% off right now. Check out the details in the promo.)
So Skull Cove, Willow Spring, and Opus Magnum would be my three, if I could only have 3 sets for the next couple months. What would YOUR three sets be? What three would you recommend if you could ONLY recommend three? (Bundles count as one)
It DOES take forever. It is at 19% at 1:32 minutes! I was going to mention that when it got done, but glad you brought it up! Do you have an image to share of your experiment? If so, feel free to post. (Anyone that has images of the featured product is welcome to jump in at anytime!)
Let me see.. As it's one of my tes subjests, he's rarely alone and most of those were rendered in a rather small size.. I do have a portrait type one that I did for Uber Environment testing.
Meet Gene, with his Wildmane, in a rather tamed version.
I use a different, faster rendering style for him now (k-nicky). I suppose adding Uber surface to the wildmane and ticking off 'accept shadows' and lowering some other settings should dramatically cut down render times. (Trick picked up in http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/4949/)
thanks for sharing! This is ridiculous- it's at 24% at 2 hours 45 minutes!
Scott-L had that info about the geometry shell in his hair tutorial thread- but it's good to see different examples. I'll have to put that link in my links summary page, thank you!
Giggle- I almost feel like saying, "Check back NEXT WEEK for this hair...." Good grief! It's 3:10am here.
You're welcome! Render time was one of my main reasons to change hair for this guy. It's shine once it's done, though :)
Well, we KNOW what to use in contests to impress the judges, right? LOL (I'm sure THEY know about this hair's render time!)
WildMane HairStyle
http://www.daz3d.com/wildmane-hairstyle
Okay, FOUR hours for a simple, no scene render. Won't personally be using this one very often! (If you do, don't do closeups!)
This is with the top flattened and brought forward, sides lengthened a bit. Won't be doing anymore examples of this hair, obviously!
Sandy Hair
Well, only doing screenshots, not bothering to render. My experience:
When I got the bangs to look okay for the side view, they stuck out a bit more than I would like- used the bangs wide morph. We're not talking the style- I know the bangs are curled and poofy. We're talking expanding horizontally. My main issue- when you narrowed them, they would look okay from one side, but not the other side. That was with adjusting ONE slider- for both sides- and you should have equal amount of movement on both sides. SEE MORPHS SECTION BELOW. There was no left and right for the widen bangs. Nor in the Scene tab- (all those move the back of the hair.)
And the adjust temple left/ right do not act the same- you're in a negative number for the right, and as you move it, it starts going erratically- instead of continuing on to close the gap, it jumps the OTHER way. The number there was 6.6% that worked, whereas the left was 36% but then the BACK CURLS at the bottom of the hair started moving instead of the temple. they also moved when you adjusted the right temple. Not saying you can't get the hair to work (I got it close) but be prepared to say, "Umm...what's moving now? Why is that doing the opposite thing all of a sudden?"
There is the ability to add volume to the top of the hair, you can go to Parameters/Scene bones and do your XYZ thing so far as up and down, forward and back. The Scene tab submenus don't help much on this one, basically just a rcollar and lcollar, which moves the same things as the other morph section.
I'm personally not able to recommend this hair based on what the sliders are doing and the expansion of the bangs too far just to make it look good at the temple (and the temple sliders moving the end of the curls at the BACK of the hair!) You CAN shortcut your efforts and make it look okay by rotating the camera angle. The sliders do not work the way the other hair products I've used/tested do- they are not consistent on my character at least. If you've had an easy time using Sandy Hair, feel free to post your experience. This is, however, my experience. EDIT: I am going to check (can't right now, am rendering) to see if this was the Genesis version (which should work on Cassidy) or if it was the V4 version (which would explain the whackiness.) Will let you know.
EDIT: Sadly, this WAS for the Genesis model, so it should have worked.
EDIT: the settings below are just ONE of the tries with them, I tried a lot of variations. You also have to use these in conjunction with the other sliders to make sense of these numbers.
Aldora Hair
http://www.daz3d.com/aldora-hair
Well, Aldora Hair is a pleasant surprise, as Cassidy is a Genesis and this is for Victoria 4, Aiko 4, the Girl 4, and Millennium Kids 4. (THIS WOULD BE ADORABLE FOR KIDS!) No problem at all!
I'm rendering the black color.
It went right on, the controls are simple compared to a lot of other hairs I've reviewed- but the controls do what they say they are supposed to do, lol! You can sweep the bangs left (limited though- if you don't lengthen them and get them down close to the eye, they might stick out.) You can lengthen the side wisps (which I did), there is a wind morph which fluffs things out, you can increase the overall volume. The number of bangs options is limited compared to some of the other hairs, aka, to part here or there- what you'll see in my render is one choice and the other choices vary by length- no overly dramatic parts.
Just strikes me as easy and simple. BUT it's a gets- the- job- done hair product. Looks good from different angles, you will have to watch those left bangs if shooting from the right toward the left.
Render will be done in about 40 minutes. Will post separately.
EDIT: I do think the bangs will be an issue on Genesis. They are "crumply" instead of sleek. Will let the render finish and show you.
Ah, Aldora! Inflicted on one of my other test subjects. It is a nice one to work with and not as obnoxious when it comes to rendereing. I think this one, the Wildmane, Duke Hair and Hampton came in my first pack(s). As I also use it in black, I won't be able to add much, although I do believe I have a recoloured one (blue) too, somewhere, bt as that was a photoshop experiment, I'm not sure how that would help ;)
Did you do it on Genesis or on the Generation 4? It's not doing so well on Genesis (and isn't listed as being a Genesis hair, so not the fault of the product.) The bangs are crumply.
I got Aldora with the Genesis Essentials when I got Daz (think it came with Genesis Essentials atleast) I always used it on Genesis, my two first pictures in any contest (my first new user contest) uses that hair, both on genesis. Not sure it's very visible on the pics, but I don't have any real close up with this hair. Though I've always used it on genesis, actually never tried it on V4 and I wasn't aware it was a hair for V4, I sort of took for granted it was for genesis as it came with that one. *slightly confused*
Are you using the purchased version of Aldora (http://www.daz3d.com/aldora-hair) or the one that came with Genesis Starter Essentials?
I'm not seeing any issues with the one from GSE on Genesis. I don't have the Gen4 version so I can't compare those.
Edit to add quick render.
Aldora Hair
EDIT: Lesson learned- be sure you have the right Aldora Hair- one comes in Genesis Essentials, one is the purchased V4. This one was indeed for Genesis.Which means the crumply bangs can't be blamed on the figure used. The crumply is when you lengthen the bangs quite a bit. Not too noticeable, but there.
I had posted:
So this is for Generation 4, tried on Genesis. Not bad, just not sure if that crinkle of the front bangs is a result of the Generation 5 being used. I do think it would be worth exploring for Generation 4. It's easy to use.
I must be using the one for Genesis then- as this is what it looks like in Content Library.
What seems to be the somewhat crumpling is when you raise or lower the bangs I think. You really have to magnify/get it at the right angle to see it. (Click to enlarge, then click again.)
Thanks for the clarification- didn't realize there was a copy in Genesis Starter Essentials, but that makes sense as to why this went on without any problem, eh?! I didn't notice the difference as I was in the middle of rendering while typing the post, so I didn't have the Content Library image in front of me either. You guys rock!- thanks for making me aware to double check the sources, I didn't think at all about Genesis Essentials having different versions of these.
One thing that's cool about the Wildmane Hair is by turning off the limits on the back lengthen morph, you can turn it into a half-way decent mullet. I did that for my character, Marc as seen in this picture.
Always used the one from the starter essentials. Can't say I noticed any crumpling, but I think I only made the bangs longer, not shorter.
Here's my colour experiment with aldora. Sadly, most was done in photoshop, so nothing spectacular, DAZ-wise there. I did have fun with that harsh shadow, though ;)
That is an absolutely beautiful scene- so much detail. That hair does look nice like that!
I got to thinkin' (something dangerous) after you mentioned turning off limits- if parts of the hair weren't showing in the render, if it's broken down in the Scene tab, turn them off there so the hair would render faster. But you'd have to be really careful that they weren't showing! (like a frontal view. Which is boring for this hair I would think.)
Thanks so much for sharing. You gave new meaning to Christmas in July, lol!
Cathie
Pure Hair Darling.
I noticed the braids have seams, but this is a real closeup. This was just a drag and drop (DAD, lol) and no problem at all. Many color options too. Click to enlarge and click again. I did not do any postwork to blend the seams, this is "as is." Wouldn't be hard to do if you were doing closeup renders. Otherwise, a very "darling" hair!
Trixy Hair For Genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/trixy-hair-for-genesis
And note- there are two Trixy's- Trixy and Trixie.
This promo does NOT do this hair justice so far as the morphs go. I thought, "Um, too high, too tight." Wait till you see Cassidy!
This hair can be changed a LOT with those bangs- forget that high and tight! I bought this because frankly it was 1.99- thinking I'll never use it, but what the heck. Well, this is quite the surprise. I'm watching it render in, and the curls are soft, well placed. Only the very top is showing (10% done) so we'll see how the sides do.
But so far, I think if you want an elegant hairstyle, the Trixy Hair may be just the ticket for you.
Colors also available.
http://www.daz3d.com/colors-for-trixy-hair
Am also showing you an undergarment that I think will render well as THE dress!
Will post separately once Cassidy and Trixy Hair are done. Will be about 30 minutes I think.
Trixy Hair
http://www.daz3d.com/trixy-hair-for-genesis
So here is Cassidy with the Trixy Hair!
You'll notice I did the sides a bit differently, the hair doesn't go over the ears. Did not find a way to move the sideburns closer to the ear, but looks fine as is.
As for the dress? It's a LINER. For:
Summer Dress for Genesis!
http://www.daz3d.com/summer-dress-for-genesis
Note that it is see through down near the hip, but for some reason, the bust area is fine. A nice "top" for closeup renders, or sexier full shots. So you get your money's worth with the Summer Dress!
I changed the Diffuse and Specular for the earrings (go in Surfaces tab after you click on the earrings, using the Surface Shader Tool which is the 3 sheets of black paper by Universal tool), they come from the Summer Dress. They were bright gold.
Use that liner with one of the new shader packs and let it overwrite the underlying map and you can get rid of the see through section. I found it looks really nice with the new velvet shaders.
Neat idea! I'll certainly try it when I get a chance.
Gia 6
http://www.daz3d.com/gia-6
http://www.daz3d.com/fashion-hair
http://www.daz3d.com/fw-neomi
http://www.daz3d.com/hot-cabana-wear
http://www.daz3d.com/casual-sexy-poses-for-genesis-2-female-s
Here's Gia 6! Wearing Fashion Hair, using FW Neomi, wearing Hot Cabana Wear. Using Casual Sexy Poses for Genesis 2 Females.
I mentioned in a thread this morning- I do NOT like her left eye. In certain poses, it is not the same size, same elevation as the other eye, and it does NOT focus right. Anyway, here are two renders out of the box, haven't tweaked her to make a character yet. My lighting is a bit harsh, there was a light that the shadow had not been softened (overlooked it. Oops.)
In fairness to the vendor, I think there was something whacky about my studio- during one render, the entire eye (note- I repeat note- I had not touched a single setting) came in entirely black. I mean not only the iris and pupil, but the entire white part of the eye! and the eyelashes were slightly off too. So perhaps there was a fluke or something- because I closed it down, opened again, did Gia and the character again, clicked the same makeup option, and rendered again, and it was all okay.
The vendor, in a separate post, said posing presets could affect the eyes (never had that happen using tons of pose presets, maybe I've been lucky!) but you should watch for that I suppose. I did NOT use a pose preset for the render coming up- but I certainly will let you know if the eyes go funky when I do. The vendor was very nice to respond *smile* She said that pose possibility is mentioned in her ReadMe's.
The lips were also striped, like peppermint! Very weird.
I first noticed the results problem when I clicked on one of the makeups for that character- it didn't load on correctly with the eyelashes. I've had problems in version 4.6 (as I mentioned) with saving scenes (they didn't save, then did save, then didn't save...) so I am a bit suspicious about it being a glitch and not the product. The figure looked nothing like the ones above when I loaded them the second time. (Remember, there were no morphs. Nothing done.) Before you switch to V4.6, keep your 4.5 files!
Okay, so I've morphed Gia and FW Neomi and you will soon meet....Caliope! (Cal-ee-oh-pee) so now I have:
Caliope: Gia: FW Neomi
Chiara: Genesis 2
Cassidy: Aiko 5
Cassini: V5
Giovana- V4
Compare these eyes (granted, with my morphs) to those previously that were glitchy.