Novica & Serene Night's Renders, Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews Part 1
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Mori_Mann- we'll have to get this fixed then get our two characters out for a date, lol!
If you're trying this- all the torch lights are off except number two. If you feel like it, plug in some colors and see what you get :)
Well, my puter decided I've abused it and Daz enough for one day (well, actually two, for I spent a good deal of the weekens on my latest little project) and crashed. Lights for the nigth set seemed to start behaving a litle at 10% of theri preset strength, but as all the lights seem to be distant lights, I'm not going to bother with them again. Too much fiddling. It's much easier to set up my own light set :)
Daz and Poser are simply too different in some respects :)
Other than that, I'm sure Nameless is willing to go on any dates ;)
It IS that torchlight that throws the majority of the color. I am switching out a few of these and let's see what it does. Will post the image here in a minute. These are spot renders.
So, anyway, that answers THAT question about Willow Spring. Here's one more tweak of the lights- and of course, I agree with Mori_Mann, doing your own lights would probably be best- but here's these if you want a starting point using the presets that come with the scene. I put them side by side but first, here's the other tweak. Changed up some of the colors.
You'll want to turn on shadows -- Poser lights import into DS with shadows off, I think.
Yeah, I saw that when I started doing the turn off/turn on tests that I do to see what light does what. So I turned them on.
I've been playing and it's rendering now. My scenes don't look sunny enough though, going to have to play around with the yellows and the different types of lights. I'm doing more of an evening render then will work with changing to daylight. Trying to get the lights positioned. Will post when it gets done.
Oh wow. Sorry. Didn't realize it would be so complicated. I thought they would be daz studio lights.
Not a problem at all! We're just exploring- might as well do this set :)
Everyone is getting a better feel of the set anyway, so all's good!
And I just played around with some yellow/orangish/pink/blue combinations. So time well spent.
EDIT: Here's some screenshots to finish up the Willow Spring posts. (FIRST ONE IS A RENDER) You can have a variety of backgrounds, just depending on where you are on the set. We didn't even explore the far left (as you look at it) by the willow tree! In one of the screenshots, you'll see there are stairs leading down. It goes to a small, square room. Very small. No windows- more like a storage area to stack those barrels!
Adding Lights
Jaderail and Richard are helpful as always. (Thanks guys!) In case you didn't know about adding lights, light presets:
Information From Jaderail:
Adding a EXTRA light is Always done From Create Menu. If done any other way the Default is to REPLACE all lights with the New one. If you wish to ADD a Preset Light you Right click and Merge or it also will replace all other lights.
Tip from Richard Haseltine:
Also, you can hold down ctrl (cmd on a Mac) when double-clicking the light preset and choose to Add the lights rather than replacing the lights, or to replace only certain lights.
It will be in my links post (here is the link to that, remember though, it's in my very FIRST post so you can always easily hop to it.) http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/19756/P285/#336419
And the information above will be in the links under Lighting and will be this:
Create Or Merge (Presets): http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/26342/#389879
Another link added- Jaderail is helping me as when I had content that wasn't showing up (that NEVER happens, right?) I realized that my Content Database Maintenance started out with numbers that were really high- (it's listed by product number, remember?) so here's how to fix it. I'm getting ready to try it, if it doesn't work, you'll see more posts on that thread, lol!
This link will be in my links section and you'll look for this if you need it- (have you checked YOUR numbers lately? It was FINE- then POOF- my numbers started at 1196!)
Content Database Maintenance
Resetting (If Numbers Are Missing): http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/26171/#387376
Elven Warrior For Genesis
Pure Hair: Lovely For Genesis
FYI: Pure Hair Lovely comes in the Stephanie 5 Pro Bundle too. If you've got that, you've got this hair. It went on very nicely with the Elven Warrior for Genesis, and has morphs to easily lift the hair off the chest and the bow strap coming across the front of the chest. The hair was easy-smeezy with this outfit, and the outfit is layered, so that was nice.
Elven Warrior for Genesis went on without any morphs for the tunic or shirt needing to be applied out of the box. I haven't closely examined the boots yet, but they went on without any pokethrough. Closeups coming later today. In the meantime:
http://www.daz3d.com/elven-warrior-for-genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/pure-hair-lovely
http://www.daz3d.com/stephanie-5-pro-bundle
I love Elven Warrior, there are some nice textures around for it, too. I especially love http://www.daz3d.com/erynion-for-elven-warrior but http://www.daz3d.com/ailell has its uses too. I think I used it in more than one pic in my own thread (will link or post here if you like) The tunic and over tunic do tend to be bit temperamentful occasionally. I've had nipples poking through and collar bone areas that just would not behave.
Nothing a few smoothing iterations or making bits invisible didn't solve, though. And well, I recently learned how to fix it with a minor D-form. Or post work ;)
Would prefer you post the actual image- everyone would love to see it! :)
And here is a render without the "Over Tunic."
The headband has many color options, and remember you can go into Surfaces tab and change the Diffuse and select a different color.
Thumbs up to Elven Warrior for Genesis and Pure Hair: Lovely For Genesis- very easy to manipulate.
Pics you ask, pics you get (though I do not take any responsibility for the order of appearance).
I slapped it on Liondre for a hair test (Radiant Jaguar). The tunic insisted on poking through the overtunic. (Erynion green texture)
Amber is showing how wearing only the tunic can sometimes be mildly embarassing (tossing over the matcing over tunic here did not cause trouble. (Also Erynion, but the 'brown' set)
I'm sure I have more scenes that show this sets temperament, but I'd have to go through them (no shots from the angles that show them ;) ) I'll see if I have time to get to that.
As a bonus, I'll pop in a very early one of Ric, one of my Test Subjects, showing one of the Woodland Warriors textures for this set.
Can you tell I like Elven Warrior?
Very nice!
Heads up- in the commercial The Windmill thread, it has been pointed out The Windmill is GONE.
As mentioned, there is a black line that was running through the sky (albeit a thin one) so I am assuming Merlin may have pulled the product to fix it? Anyway, hope it comes back!
EDIT: It's back. Merlin is back in town and looking at the line issue. (July 28, 2013)
Want to point out a product that I'm scooping up- and I'm kinda surprised that I am as I haven't done battle scenes- but for all of you who remember the millennium subdragon I entered in a contest, it has armor that makes it downright impressive. It's on sale. SIXTY FIVE PERCENT off. Normally around $25, it's $8.73 right now. This dragon has very nice texture options, the one shown below was the Red Dragon. Just thought I'd point out the armor.
And if you are looking for a great dragon, take a peek at the millennium. He/She is AWESOME.
http://www.daz3d.com/millennium-subdragon-armor
There are a bunch of cool SubDragon products in the store: http://www.daz3d.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=subdragon&x=-1066&y=-43
(And not listed on that page: Dragon Port)
Plus DarioFish and Razor42 both have some great products for the SubDragon for sale at Renderosity.
Keep in mind that the dragon that comes free with DAZ Studio (as part of Genesis Starter Essentials) is the LE version of the Millennium SubDragon. The full version has better textures and comes with a bunch of morphs and poses...but you gotta pay for it...
Thanks for sharing the other links!
Here's the other picture I did with the Millennium. Glow on the tummy was a point light btw. The glowing sword, as discussed before, was point lights, stacked. Just bring in one point light, then duplicate, and raise the second one using Y translation. Then do the same with the 3rd, copying the 2nd one as a starting point.
The Cupola
http://www.daz3d.com/the-cupola
So, where would be a great building to have folks out on deck for the dragon to swoop in? The Cupola, of course. It's a PC item and a must have! Looks good from so many places, and as a backdrop for closeups. THIS IS WITH DEFAULT LIGHT. Imagine how it will look with your lights! We'll play some more- doing a render with Seychelle.
One thing you wouldn't be able to tell from the long distance shots, is how nice the "grunge" is on the spikey things. I want to say parapet thing-a-ma-jiggers but...anyway, you get the gist. Vases, urns, ornamentation...?
I've been working all this time on placing Seychelle onto the set (yes, still with that pesky Catwalk hair- which has that thin strand depending on how far over you take it onto the chest, and the angle you shoot. But I think I've got it licked!)
I normally don't do artistic renders with the product reviews, but today you're in for a treat (well, okay, let's settle for "you're in for something different) as I'm trying to do decent lighting for you. Used Skull Cove incoming storm without it's lights, just the skydome background- so did a muted lighting. Seychelle is looking good. I am going to have to check and see why the shadows are so harsh- they are all set to 60% or higher. I'm going to fix her finger poking through the pants (darn it) but otherwise, I'm fairly happy with it.
Remember- Seychelle is my Gia character.
What do you think of the set? I think it's awesome for some portrait shots and for those dragons to swoop in!
CLICK TO ENLARGE, then click again- to see the great detail on that thing-a-ma-jiggy.
TIP: Use the Cupola as a balcony ground scene- it makes a great railing for people to sit on! The next render is the same lighting with a different angle, then I'll do a different light setup. Perhaps I'll try some presets and we can see how they do. Back in about half an hour- will put the image in this post so check back as the edit won't send you an email.
EDIT:
I did this render, even though it is not a keeper, because the purpose of the thread (well, one of them) is to show newbies what not to do, and to do. I spot rendered first and saw the problem, and also had a giggle (which I'm sharing) but think you need to see it as it's a really good example.
TIP: As you know the direction of your light source, be sure and spot render where the shadows should be, as they do not show up until rendered/spot rendered. They can be terribly distracting. You also need to check your shadow strength. (I'm still puzzled on that, my settings are all ultra high as usual, should only be getting hazy shadows.)
How about that huge black blob man? Looks like something out of a horror movie sneaking up on the unsuspecting woman...
"Run, Seychelle, RUN!"
If you didn't read the edit in the previous post, surf in and read it, then this will make sense :)
In the post prior to the above picture, I got curious and went to look at THAT shadow. Looks like a creepy scarecrow stalking her! (Here we go with the ink blot thing again....hmmm, I just might surf the forums and look at images and see what YOU'VE done...)
One thing I want to mention- in those past two images, no lights were changed! That's the difference merely rotating your camera can make!
As I explore, so do you. (Aren't you LUCKY.)
I've decided to start ubering. Before reading anything on it (yes, that's right) I want to play with it. Here's my plays. (That way, I have an excuse for the "well, THAT wasn't what I expected...")
Newbies- here's what I did, and what you'll see in the Scene tab. Right off the bat I can tell you it's important to note what pops up in there when you add one of these presets (I'm doing it from Smart Content.)
I added UberEnvironment2 Bounce GI and this showed up in Scene tab:
UberEnvironment2, SpecularOnlySpot, and SpecularOnly
Then I added AOIBL_Light and "infinite light" showed up in Scene tab.
I did not change any settings.
Since I don't know what these are SUPPOSED to do, or CAN do, I'm off to click on them and see settings. I assume these are basic lights then you add your own. But first I am going to just tweak these (assume they are tweakable. Remember, I am playing. If I were serious, I'd be off reading a tutorial. But Cathie wants to play today!)
Okay, this is fun.
I added an UberArea Light Plane and in Scene, this appeared:
AreaLight Plane 1
AreaLight- HeadLamp Blocker which was at 100% and I lowered it to 87.6%
Now, I don't know WHERE the light plane was added, I zoomed out and don't see anything, but I THINK I recall people attaching the area light to a camera? Anyway, her face has a nice glow, rendering now. I guess I'll go surf the forums later (shudder, using GOOGLE search) and see what these things are. I haven't added any lights or adjusted any settings other than to tone down the blocker from 100%.
Scroll up to compare. The one WITH the plane took out the glow from the arm- the bluish highlight along the edge of the arm, glow on the arm itself. It provides even lighting, and lightened everything up. Compare the two and see where all the differences are.
This is still Seychelle, this time wearing Fashion Hair. Wanted you to also see the background when Cupola doesn't have a lot of DOF to fuzzy it out. This was with all the lights previously mentioned, and ONE spotlight coming from the side. It's too bright on the chest, if I were to re-do it I would definitely diminish the intensity.
GIS Terminal
Raw Cyclops
Genesis Essentials Lighting
http://www.daz3d.com/gis-terminal
http://www.daz3d.com/raw-cyclops
I try to find "not in the spotlight" nooks and crannies for you which may not be apparent in main promo images (or thumbnails.) I was impressed with the GIS Terminal fans (vents, whatever) because they have a nice ledge for you to put your characters. Although Beyonce would shudder and avoid this area, you can do a neat scene with windswept hair! (As opposed to sucked IN hair) These big blades establish a huge set feel.
The COLORED lighting in the screenshot used was in Genesis Essentials- you'll love the placement! It actually comes from behind the blades in some areas. Be sure and check out the Essentials lighting!
For the solid color RENDER, no changes were made in the placement of the lighting. But wanted you to see what plain lighting could do, so I changed the diffuse, ambient, and specular all turned to white for the surface- it makes it look monochrome, like an old fashioned western wanted poster! (Experimenting with styles. Thought the Cyclops would look good that way.)
I'll add a few more screenshots of the overall terminal. Different angles will give you a totally different view of the set- so many possibilities! EDIT: Done. Isn't that lighting cool?! All you do is load the light set and add the colors. Light blues, blues, greens, and purples.
EDIT: Raw Cyclops- when I used facial expressions on Raw Cyclops, the face crinkled a bit. Also, shutting the eye brought the eyelashes down further than the eyelid, you have to watch for that. The teeth are wonderful- decidedly yukky!
Sale! 51% Off
November Character For V4
3D Universe Toon Baby
Well, this is annoying. The promo still isn't working for the teen category (since 1:30am, I might add) so I went into "Children" on the side menu. TEENS are 50% off. If you want to see the teens, here ya go: http://www.daz3d.com/children?limit=60
Thought I'd pass this along- it's in 3D Universe's store, I am buying her, I do NOT have her at the moment so can't "recommend" but she looks interesting for V4. Anyone have her? She's $6.35 instead of $12.95 so thought you might want to take a look if you're a V4 fan. (I am!)
http://www.daz3d.com/children/november-character-for-v4
And hey! That baby I just featured is 51% off!
http://www.daz3d.com/children/3d-universe-s-toon-baby
And the freebie. (Is this free for everyone or just PC members?)
http://www.daz3d.com/free-3d-models-and-content/cloth-sofa-sets
I am buying Charlize and will render IF I can get my studio working. It won't install anything.
Pure Hair: Lovely
They just put the link for the teens sale, and I wanted to mention that if you like the Catwalk Hair look (but not the thin strands that lead to poofier on the ends in front) the one I used in Elven Warrior a few posts back that is SO easy to work with is on sale at 50% off.
If you want to take a quick look, here's the link to my image/post: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/19756/P810/#390310
Here tis:
http://www.daz3d.com/young-teens-5/pure-hair-lovely
The link to the sale. Might peek as it's not just characters- lots of clothing and hair too, all 51% off.
http://www.daz3d.com/sales-promotions/young-teens-5
I got Charlize and my studio is REALLY messing up. Won't render correctly. Wouldn't do the lights for you on GIS Terminal, and now I have an alien texture on Charlize. (Well, instead of sponsoring the next creature creation contest, I'll just enter that weird render. Actually kinda cool! I'm posting it in the Charlize thread, but I'll put it here too. It will be about 30 minutes.)
Charlize- Well, NOT Charlize
What's really freaky? One earring matches her skin texture, one doesn't!
Keep in mind I didn't do a thing. Didn't change any textures or settings. I get this whether I load Genesis 2 first, then apply Charlize to Gen2, or whether I just load up Charlize. Doesn't matter.
Kinda cool, think I'll keep her like this as my mystical creature. Be sure to click to enlarge, then click again, you really have to see this up close! Remember to look at the earrings.