Your most used content
Pschelfh
Posts: 261
Just looking for some purchase ideas :
What is your favourite / most used content you bought from DAZ? Certain figures, buildings, environments, skins, morphs, utilities?
I only use DS for something over a month, so it's interesting to know which items have impressed you most and are certainly worth their price.
I'm most impressed with Valerie (elite skin for V5), Project Eyeris, PointAt Fixer script and Skies of the Economy.
Peter.
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For female textures, the most recurring ones are Cat Character & Hair, Aiko 5, and Stephanie 5. For female morphs, it's A5, V5, Reby Sky(body) and G4 (head). Clothing is varied...maybe Toon Girl Sadie's dress, Imelda clothing, Wicked Wear Shoes 001, and others I can't recall ATM. Hair is pure hair: nightlife and pure hair: lovely.
For male textures, Axel International for M5 and M5 elite Texture Dave. Morphs is basically Michael 5 and Hiro 3 but mixed together. I'm using Toon Boy Sam a bit more. Clothing, Odd Wear and Effortless Cool for Genesis Male. Hair, pure hair: crazy.
For everyone, I use the Genesis Evolution morphs (head, body and muscularity) and the creature creator heads? I think. They all have slightly elven ears. War Dog for Genesis is mainly unisex, even though I make the females wear it more.
Anything Jack Tomalin, Stonemason, FristBaston, Maclean, ArtCo, AntFarm, Flipmode and others for sets and Props. My list of Textures and characters are too long to to try to list here. I do not have that much free time.
My most used content is by far the shaders that come with the Supersuit, next would be the WorldBase XT environments, all Aiko's and Addison.
ETA : Oh, and the lighting rig from blondie9999's The Basics of Lighting tutorial has become my most used lighting set.
And i must say, i am very honoured to see one of my scripts in your list. :coolsmile:
For test renders, since those are 90% of my renders, I use Soggy Bottom Swamp by Nerd3D a lot... it also shows up in promos, like for the Helligator.
Aiko 3 I use just about every day. Just about every thing in the Aiko 3 Mega Bundle is used often.
V4, A4, & M4 are my most used Gen 4 figures. M4 & V4 bodysuits,
Clothing tends to vary a good bit on what I use.
For Genesis the Head and Evolution Morphs, V5, Cat Girl, Asobi, Hitomi, & the Supersuit.
Firearms props and poses.
3D Universe Toon Scientist gets used often if I'm doing an evidence display for a court case.
3D Universe Toon Generations and expansions.
Genesis Iconic Shapes (M4/M3/David 3/Stephanie Petite 3) along with almost any other unique Genesis morphset (Evolution, Muscularity, Old Age, Ethnicity, David 5)
extraOrdinary Men for D5 and Genesis by JoeQuick (here at DAZ3D)
Demonics by DarioFish (Renderosity) come with additional human male and female morph I add to Genesis rather often.
Visions of Color and Light by Valea (I think I have part 2 and they work on Genesis: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/visions-of-color-and-light---part-3/73264)
Calida's Velvet Shader for DS (currently unavailable)
I recently started to use Briallen HSS shader rather a lot (http://www.daz3d.com/briallen)
A lot of now defunct character textures by _samildanach_ from Renderosity. Also Texture Converter 2 to transfer Generation 3 textures to Generation 4.
LiquidRust's Derek (http://www.daz3d.com/derek-for-m4)
Free morphs for Genesis (http://www.sharecg.com/v/58198/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/DieTryings-182-V4-Morphs-for-Genesis)
Ramwolff's free morphs for Genesis (http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/6841/)
SickleYield's free Genesis leggings (http://www.sharecg.com/v/60093/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/SickleYield-Free-Leggings-Genesis)
Free autofit corrector for V4 (http://www.sharecg.com/v/55187/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Genesis-Autofit-correction-for-V4-clothing)
A lot of free stuff by Wilmap (http://www.sharecg.com/Wilmap).
Amy's Hair (from RDNA), old Arisona hair (here on DAZ3D), Spartacos Hair (Renderosity) are still some of my most used haircuts.
Age of Armor's shader, all and any (here at DAZ3D). Free Fast Metal shaders (ShareGC), Real Metals for DAZ Studio (here at DAZ3D).
Lantios lightsets.
Some of Antfarm's props (Never-series) and Danie&Maforno;'s props.
Stuff I made myself.
I'm also buying/have bought quite a lot of stuff that end up never using, so before you buy you might consider how useful it is to you right now because otherwise maybe it will be better to buy it later on better sale.
Probably Elite Texture Lana. Specifically her specular maps. The only good pack of spec maps to be released for anything, ever.
Aiko3, Babydoll Hair, Love Me Tender for BDH, Sylfie, pwSurface2.
Couldnt live without these in my runtime:
http://www.daz3d.com/predatron-essential-lights-skies/
http://www.daz3d.com/lantios-lights
http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-generation-x
http://www.daz3d.com/double-trouble-for-m4
Just looking at the last month or so...
Sickleyield's morph set.
The Supersuit - rarely as itself, but almost always as a geometry shell, and not a day goes buy that I don't use one of the shaders from the bundle.
Hardcore Utility shaders
Fabricator
Pimp My Prop
Design Tool Paint, Paper & flooring
For Genesis girls - A5, Stalker Girl, Satsuki, YT Julie and the V5 supermodel tend to get mixed into most of my female characters. On the male side it's now David 5, Mr. Hyde, Bad Guy and Joe Quick's headshapes. ALL the morph sets, especially Old Age, Breast and Glute and the Cleavage modifier. Textures... well, I mainly use textures from another sight, manly p3Design, Sabby, Godin and vyktohria.
Poses - Handy for Genesis, I'm on the phone, Fashionista and anything by Ironman13
Lights - when I need a light set fast, the could 9 set is great. Lantios lights are also nice, but take a lot longer to render.
Sets - WorldBase, Room Creator, Dark Alley, Rocky Flats, All the Dream Home components and Alchemy chasm
Clothes - Jersey girl, Mall Girl, Sheer Greatness, SY's Jeans and Short Order Cook
Edit: Left out Posemaster and GenX!
LOL, so I'm not the only one to think that!
I use a lot of different things, but the two I probably use the most are Briana Culaith (anyone who's seen my work knows why) and the Surface Mask Creator for Studio (which is absolutely vital for easy color correction).
MacLean's Fashion Studio, it's an old set, but when you want to render posed figures in cool (but totally impractical) clothing, where else are you going to find them but a photographer's studio?
Does the surface mask creator actually work in DS4+? I stopped buying anything from Dreamlight after the dozen plug-ins I had from him stopped working and he stated that he wouldn't be upgrading them.
Yes, but you have to manually change all of the materials back to the default DS shader before using it and also select the surfaces you want to mask by hand. It's not very difficult for me because I use the UberSurface2 shader for everything (so you just right-click on a surface with it, select all using that shader, and then apply the default one). Some of the mask creator's options don't work, but being able to select the surfaces you want to include in a mask is the most important part anyway, and that works.
Which functions actually work Snow? I've tried several and all it does is reset the shaders and set everything to black. For me, it never actually sets any up for masking, etc.
It's not undoable either, so it's definitely not working for me (so much so I set about writing scripts to do the job (almost done fwiw)).
Genesis: Evolution packages. Man, I love twisting and dialing a lot. Couldn't live without them.
Genesis morphs in general.
OK, here are the steps I take to make masks with Surface Mask Creator (I'm actually doing it right now).
- Using the Surface Selection tool (the little arrow with the three little squares), right-click on something in your scene and choose Select Surfaces with Shader: omUberSurface2 (yours may be different, but since I'm using Ubersurface2, I get that).
- Find your default DAZ Studio shader (should be called dzDefault) and apply it. You need to manually change any shader that ISN'T the default into the default before using Surface Mask Creator. When every surface in your scene is using the default, you're ready to start.
- Select surface(s) in your Surfaces panel and run Surface Mask Creator.
- Click the Selected Surfaces button in the Surface Mask Creator panel.
- The buttons for Rigged Figures and Custom Shaders should be unchecked. Choose BMP for the image type so you don't have any JPG artifacts.
- Set your destination directory and Extract. All of the surfaces that you have currently selected will be rendered into a single mask. Before rendering a lot of them, make sure the mask rendered at exactly the same dimensions as your image (in case you forget and change settings or something, which I've done).
- In Photoshop (or whatever program you use), load the mask renders and save them as channels. They can now be loaded as selections.
If you have any other questions, let me know. :)
Yeah, that's not working for me.
What version of DAZ Studio are you running?
I'll look forward to those scripts. Otherwise, I can't justify buying a product that's only working partially, knowing that it's going to stay broken.
I'm working out the automated render piece right now. They're quite usable as-is though they're not available yet.
There's a little bit here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/22416/
Latest public version. Try redownloading the plugin, maybe it was updated since the last time you installed it.
You can actually accomplish the same thing with a 100% white ambient shader, but it's more trouble. Your scripts will probably be very useful.
edit: also make sure you choose Selected Surfaces from the Mask Creator panel. Most of the other options don't work.
Depends a lot on what you want to see in your art, but a few things may serve you well no matter what: the Genesis Supersuit provides basic pants (there's a slacks morph), shirt, shoes/boots, and gloves, and easily combines with any other Genesis clothing -- the blouse in this render is the Supersuit using one of Mariah's fabric shaders. Before you buy that take a look at its ProBundle, the What's Included & Features tab has links to the four additional packs each with genre-specific shaders/presets, and some with extra bits -- the bundle's a bargain if you need any three, if not then one or two might still come in handy. (And before you buy that, take a look at the Supersuit Pro Suite which includes a lot of scenery and props you might find useful.)
Back to the Supersuit (and clothing in general), fabric shaders will expand the versatility of practically anything. Check out the links under this render, this render, and this render to get a taste of what's doable. I'm always using The Fabricator, LaceMaker, MachPack, Silkessence, Ye Olde Clothe, Totally Bazaar, Velvety Goodness, and Leatherize. More rarely (but still nice to have if you can catch 'em on a good sale) Hardcore Utility Shaders DS and Day Job Shader Presets for DAZ Studio.
For extra versatility on things that aren't fabric look at Real Metals for DAZ Studio, Gemologica, Metalized Glass Shaders for DAZ Studio, Real Paint for DAZ Studio, Urban Environment Shaders for DAZ Studio, Pimp My Prop, Wood Shaders for DAZ Studio, and Floor and Wall Shaders for DAZ Studio.
Effects -- something I use a lot of (check out this, this, and this) is Hero FX Xtreme and its expansion packs, however if you have more time than money it's not that difficult to map your own effects (plenty of free photoshop brushes out there) onto a plane primitive. When you're ready to work with more subtle effects check out the Gathering Moss DS Shader, Let It Snow DS Shader, Hybrid Grunge, the Subsurface Shader Base, Subsurface Gummy & Plastic Shaders, and/or Subsurface Toon Shaders.
Lighting -- I generally set up my own lighting (tutorial here, but it's a bit outdated, sorry). About half my renders these days are via Luxus, which uses the LuxRenderer to allow easy and natural light setups at the expense of some extra materials-tweaking.
The figure I use is almost exclusively Genesis these days, which means that I'm using some of the Evolution morphs (including Muscularity) in practically every render, and Ethnicity for Genesis is a huge plus. When I need expressions quickly it turns out my go-to is the Moods Bundle, but a few percent of Mr.Hyde's Mouth Open Wide and Mouth Grin morphs have come in handy surprisingly often. As for which characters I use most, I'd say my favorite is Reby Sky for Genesis with her V4E textures. Other than that I shop the sales and try to credit what I use with linkbacks (especially recently), so you're better off checking out my dA gallery.
Same goes for the clothes, props, and scenery I use, except to say that the vast majority of them are from DAZ's Platinum Club, which means I bought 'em for $1.99 a piece instead of the prices non-members see. The PlatClub also give you an additional 30% off on all of DAZ's own non-PlatClub products, and a few other benefits, so it's worth checking out before you start spending too much.
Hmm, most used content, let's see. I render in luxrender mostly so the basics are Reality and GenX for genesis since I have several custom V4 FBMs I like. Since i mainly use genesis, I usually go to a pose from either the Virago or Inspire sets from Shimuzu as starting points as they are unique and well done.
Clothing, my models like as little as possible, but sets i use often are Elf Age Light or Adventure Girl Essentials: Shark V4 from 4blueyes, Sexy Platform Sandals from DX30, Purr Lingerie from lilflame at Rendo, Panties for Beauty from Arrin at Rendo, and any Rendo clothing from Hongyu,
Hair, only a few sets i really use often. Any from Ali at Mankahoo.com, Wildhair (no longer available here), and Kouros hair from SAV at Rendo.
Character textures, here are a few of the ones i use often with genesis. Abby from ARTCollaborations, Cherry from Addy, Contessa from Imaginary House at Rendo, StevieA4 from Morris, Kytana from Countess at RDNA. and Aysa from Freja.
My fav head morph is Bianca from JKing (transferred to Genesis)
Don't use male figures much, but my go to for clothing is the Casual Wear for M4 set from halcyone (Rendo) because of the realistic folds and quality mesh.
Greetings,
So...first off, more than anything else, a PC membership, but it looks like you've got that covered.
If you're new to D|S, there's a lot of great deep tools (SRMS, SuperSuit, Fabricator, Generation X, Luxus, etc.) that are incredibly powerful, but not necessarily approachable for a new user.
With that caveat...let me spam you with my recommendations. :)
I adore staging my characters in the Classic Deco even if that's not where they're going to end up. Along those lines the Millenium Environment and/or Cyclorama are really useful for staging, work-in-progress, and character building renders. (They have troubles with lighting from some angles, which is why I don't mention final renders. But 90% of my renders aren't final renders...) Recently Flipmode's been coming out with some great basic sets, the Easy Environments which work much better for both setup and final stage renders.
JeanZ are one of the best, most flexible jean sets, and since jeans are a staple of modern culture, most modern-day renders get a lot of use from these and Flipmode's Jeans. (And relatedly, a hat-tip to Flipmode's shirts which I also use pretty often.)
For shirts, my #1 no-holds-barred recommendation is Aussie Girl, with Hongyu's V5 Shirt a solid second.
If you're after teh smexy, Hongyu's Bikini is a must-have.
Not much for the guys, really. Town and Country is okay, and I strongly recommend smay's Leather Jacket, and the jeans above work for both genders.
Genesis Evolution Expressions are my first-pass at doing expressions for my characters; I've had SUCH bad luck with expressions packages that I don't bother to try new ones anymore unless they get rave reviews, so I use this in almost every image I render.
I totally abuse Pure Hair Lovely and the V5 Ponytail as they are some of the only hair that behaves exactly how I want it to. Both are EXCELLENT purchases, IMO. Another one that I find works in almost all the remaining female renders of mine is the Taylor hairstyle, which is a cuter pixie-ish cut.
I also keep using the Skies of Terra light set, because it's really useful and easy.
For indoor lighting, I either make objects in the scene Area Lights or I use InaneGlory's Photo Studio 2 which has a lot of awesome presets, and is where I learned about the quality settings for area lights. :)
Recently I've been loving on Kimberly as my toon girl, and Riley from the Stephanie 5 Pro Bundle as the basis for my non-toon ladies.
Also recently, I've been kind of addicted to Sheer Greatness! for creating patterned translucent and transparent fabrics, and for socks/stockings I've also used the Wicked Stockings, at least before I got the Sheer Greatness! pack.
For post-work, I find myself constantly using Ron's smoke and Ron's explosions, usually in Pixelmator.
I'm not sure what areas I've missed, but nearly all of the above are part of my daily routine... There's more than a hundred other products that I don't use every day, but are amazingly good. Best of luck!
-- Morgan
[Edit: Shoes! I missed shoes...ummm...because, wow...I can't think of any that I can wholeheartedly recommend off the top of my head. Sad... I also do barefoot renders pretty often, because...yeah, footwear's a rough category. :) ]
I do a fairly large number of SF images...
Courageous (and its unimesh fits, which you might not need with Genesis) and Valiant have been re-textured into so many different outfits that they're pretty much staple outfits. These are $1.99 each if you're in the Platinum Club.
Stinger is a handy small SF air-space craft. $16.95 on its own, or free-with-purchase in the Anime Star Fighter bundle (which also includes the A3 base character, in case you're interested in seeing the differences between the old-style characters and Genesis).
Multiplane Cyclorama is a handy backdrop for quick renders. It's another $1.99 Platinum Club item.
Moving from specific to general suggestions, you can't go wrong with pretty much anything by Stonemason (scenes that set the bar for everyone else), Sickleyield (clothing), maclean (the master of "set dressing" props), or Jack Tomalin (scenes and props).
I use Genesis exclusively these days. Its versatility is exactly the sort of thing I'd dreamed of when I first started 3D work. And so, my most-used content is morphs, morphs, and more morphs.
The big ones on my list are all of Thorne's Head and Body Morph Resource Kits. I may use assorted full-body shapes (or mixtures thereof) as starting points, but these are what really make my characters. I also frequently use several morphs from DieTrying's 182 V4 Morphs for Genesis, and quite a few of the Evolution morphs.
Hair-wise, my most commonly used products are the V5 Ponytail, smay's Stalker Girl Hair (alone or in combination with the SG Baseball Cap), Taylor Hair, and Pyrit Hair (which seems to have vanished from the store), usually with the front turned off.
...
Greetings,
@Murgatroyd - I think Pyrit Hair was one of a few items that got 'stuck' in a badly priced state after the last anniversary sale. They may have had to pull it to fix the wrong pricing.
-- Morgan
"M4 and Morphs ++"
Vital, everyday use
"Destroyed City"
Used in three separate projects to date.
As environments go, Stonemason and Jack Tomalin are the standout vendors, but there's great stuff everywhere.
As clothes go, my favourite vendor is probably Luthbel, but there's some great Daz Originals too, including $1.99 PC items (if you're a member).
Lisa's Botanicals are great for filling out scenes.
Um... recommendations really depend on your purposes, though.
EDIT: My advice, though: pretty much everything in the store will be AT LEAST 50% off once a year (and more often, twice or more). If you have patience, you can save a fortune here.
((Just tabbing in here. Will add a full post to this shortly when I'm not on my phone.))