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13. Okay, so next, I used the same technique used with painting white to brighten up the he girls a tad as they are looking a bit gray. You can use white over the flesh in overlay mode to make colors pop and then lower the opacity so it looks natural.
14. I flatted the entire project. Copied the result, and did a step backward to undo my flattening. I pasted my flattened copy into a new layer. Then I took it into Topaz Labs and applied the graphic filter. When you apply this filter it looks something like this. I lowered the opacity to achieve some of the color and blurred detail, and then erased out the details in the faces, and of Owen's armor.
15. The image now looks like this
16. Now its pretty much painting. Using ron's winter brushes and some frost layer style that I really like from Envato I add snow, details, and ice.
17. I now take it back into studio and apply the filter Color and Contrast Boost. The image is beginning to look much better!
This is the finished result. The best I can do with a few hours in photoshop painting it up. =-)
The image look great Serene! And I now have new things I need to test when I do postwork next time! Thank you for the tutorial :) *hugs*
Great tutorial! Thank you.
I don't know which Photoshop version you use but in CS6 you can flatten the image on using "shift+ctrl+alt+E" on its own layer (that way you keep all your layers). I use this often.
Awesome. There is always something I don’t know about every program. I’ve beenusing photoshop since it’s inception and there are still so many things I don’t know.
Glad to hear youfind it useful.
I never heard of painting white on the flesh that way, Serene- I've always made a copy layer and then changed the exposure, and then erased out those parts on the origional image, then merge the two-your way is much easier! can't wait to try it out. That image looks wonderful BTW!
Thanks for that tip, xmasrose- that will come in really handy!
On the subject of women's clothing on men, here are the short from the Sunny Shorts outfit for G8F on Boyd. I also kitbashed some beach sandals from a recent purchase.
Overlay is a great method for picking out details you want in your scene, and lightening and darkening things. Some people use both black and white at the same layer... Which is okay, as long as you have them both set at the same intensity. Glad you liked that.
This was a really interesting tutorial.
Now I know some tricks to use, if I ever become skilled enough with a picture editing program that doing postwork will enhance my renders instead of ruining them. 
Glad you found it useful. =-)
So, my question, is has anyone seen any belly rings for G8M.? I am tired of Boyd's round disk as it can get awkward when he bends at the waist. I'm just thinking of changing it up for a bit.
Unfortunately, no. There haven't really been any belly piercings for any of the males of the Genesis generations, I think. (I won't swear to that, but I don't remember seeing many.)
Neither the Alternative Piercing Pack nor the Piercing Collection for G8M have a navel ring -- a weird omission -- but it might be possible to parent one of those items to the right place. They're items with rigid follow nodes so it may be possible to fit it where it's supposed to go, and then move the ring where you want, and it might -- in theory -- actually stay where you need.
https://www.daz3d.com/piercing-collection-for-genesis-8-male-s
https://www.daz3d.com/alternative-piercing-pack-for-genesis-8-male
There's this for G3F; in theory, you should be able to change the scene identification to G8F, and then do a cross-figure, and it should work as a fitted item. (in theory -- or just parent to the abdomen).http://www.sharecg.com/v/85855/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Belly-piercings
Twiszted Metal has some belly rings that might also need the scene ID change/cross-figure thing, or parenting; they also read very female: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/twizted-metal-belly-rings-g3/114588/
Sickleyield made torso jewels for original flavor Genesis, but it would need to be parented, and I'm not sure it gets you away from your bending issues: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/sy-torso-jewels-genesis/95907/ (not sure if the Clothing Converter would work on these or not)
The only other belly piercing I've run into was for M4, so it would still need to be parented, and it's a scorpion, so it wouldn't get you away from bending issues. Also, comes with an entire character attached: https://www.daz3d.com/giacomo-for-michael-4-and-hiro-4
A question: what do you need it to be? If all you want is a simple ring, you could make a torus primitive, shader it, parent it, and call it done.
https://www.daz3d.com/alternative-piercing-pack-for-genesis-8-male does have two barbel type belly button piercings. And they're all props that are attached to rigid follow nodes, so it's would be easy enough to load up one of the rings and then just move it where you want it. Just make sure to parent it to the lower abdomen bone so it stays in place when he moves around.
Thanks, I will check these out. As far as what I hope to achieve. Boyd's belly sensor is about the one thing that marks him as a bit... Different and engineered. I'd like something not too common, and unusual to fit that theme. Tough I know. But this is Boyd, so he can change up his belly jewelry to fit the situation.
You mean piercings?
As far as a replacement for that disk in Boyd's waist I think if you bought Nix those 'circuit board' techniques used on Nix could be useful to you. Use the techniques they used to make a new navel disk. Also you can completely modernize and enhance Boyd in other ways using the techniques used on Nix if you wanted.
I'm a fan of making poses and converting old ones, so here is a brief instruction guide to converting M4 poses to Genesis 8, using only DAZ store products. I realize there are free products available, but I like to convert whole directories, and save them, and this works well for me.
M4-Genesis 8 POSE Conversion
1. Make sure you know the directory your M4 Poses are stored in. Then convert the M4 poses to Genesis 2 using this tool: V4 Pose Converter for Genesis and Genesis 2 Female(s You will need to choose an output directory, and I usually just put them in the Geneisis 2 male pose folder. They will work fine for him.
2. Convert Genesis 2 Poses to Genesis 3 using: Pose Converter Genesis 2 Female(s) to Genesis 3 Female(s) (This outputs in the same directory as Genesis 2 male poses. So you will need to add a suffix that will differentiate these from Genesis 2 poses. Such as G8. Then when conversion is done, search in the folder for all items with this suffix. Copy to your genesis 3 folder
3. Convert Finally to G8 using this tool Genesis 3 to genesis 8 pose converter Output will be in whichever folder you specified. I would put them in your Genesis 8 Male poses folder.
Here are some samples of converted poses using this method. (the Pink guys with the painted on Shorts Are M4) This is from the Pankrationist Boxing/Fighting style set sold at rendo. I like and prefer to convert complex poses we don't have for the guys. I pass on modelling and flexing type poses as they are fairly over represented in the store. You can see this conversion is pretty good. It isn't exact due to the difference in body structure- but we skipped 3 generations!
This is a more complex pose. You can see the jaw punch did not transfer over too well, and the hands will need to be adjusted, but the essentials are there.
To correct this, I would adjust the 'victim's Pose control for his hips to bend backward a touch. I'd adjust the attacker's left hand a bit more down. I can now save this pose and it will work perfectly.
These poses converted great! I find many M4/V4 poses have a lot more.... Detail and energy to them, than existing Genesis 8 poses for some reason.
Thank you for all the tutorials Serene Night
I’m going to start converting my pose sets using your process
I find converting poses enjoyable. I also like learning how they are made and the best way to do that is to dissect them. Glad to be of help.
Okay, so what do you do when you convert a pose and it looks odd? Or you have to correct it? This happens in particular with couples of more engaged poses like wrestling, where people are close together.
This pose set converted in general really well, but this wrestling pose had some issues. Here is what it is supposed to look like.
When converted we got this?
1. First thing to do is create a default camera in both the M4 pose window and the M8 pose window. That way you can see the same thing, and adjust the pose properly.
2. In the Genesis 8 male window, create a floor primative 6 yards wide. Typically a badly transferred pose is also shifted around incorrectly. If you view the M4 pose, you will see that it is properly grounded on the floor. You will want to drop Michael 8 to the floor. Usually the reason this does not happen is the feet have bent in an odd way. Sometimes toe bends can be to blame so scrutinze them carefully.
3. I have dropped the victim to the ground and moved him back a bit, so the attacker can grab him. the attacker is still high above the ground and does not drop to the floor. Grab him by the hips and make his knees touch the ground.
One of my peeves with Genesis 8 is the way the feet and arms bend. To achieve a full bend backward at the ankle so the foot rests on the ground you have to remove the limits. The forearm twists also pretty unnaturally. If you twist your wrist so your palm faces up, this is fully feasible. Not so with Genesis 8. You get weird distortion. You may need to remove limits to do this in any action pose to achieve a realistic look. I personally wish the arms and legs and ankles would have realistic twist. This is just as important as making big cleavage for Genesis 8 female. =-)
4. Adding the floor plane will let you know if your characters are grounded on the floor. Here, after adjusting the characters arms and legs, and the knees, and placing them on the ground, the pose looks very close to the original. If you use Pose Controls to pose your characters you must bake to transforms to save your pose properly. To do that, you Right click on the Parameter tab after your character is fully adjusted and placed. You can do both figures at once. But- it can take a while. Sometimes it takes 7 minutes to bake joint rotations. You can then save the pose to a pose directory. While a pose is baking, I tend to have two others started. Poses aren't memory intensive for me, so it isn't uncommon for me to be converting 3-4 at the same time.
Because of the physical differences between Gen 8 and Gen 4, you will need to make some design decisions on how you want your pose to look. Single poses are much easier, but when characters are closer together, you will have to decide whether to remain true to the original pose and endure some clipping or adjust. I tend to not like figures to intersect, even if the original had this happening. So I tend to adjust limbs to remove intersection.
Also, I find the 'toe twists and bends' which might have looked great on M4, do not look hot on Michael 8. So I usually remove them. Especially if I know the pose will be used on a character wearing shoes.
With hands, Michael 4 had more spade like hands so you may have to adjust some fingers.
In general I always use pose controls for the neck. Bending the neck with bones looks odd. Neck bends are pretty bad in general.
This is another wrestling pose called the boston crab. Michael 4 can pull this off with ease
However the converter came only so close.
Using the method I described to correct the pose you can easily get hard to use poses converted over and still retain most of the original poses look and feel. I think this looks better than the original because the original the attacker's left hand is clipping. I have corrected this by a mild adjustment.
Any v4 or M4 pose can be converted in this method. Not everything looks good, especially if the original is awkward/ I only spend time tweaking poses which are visually interesting or different than what I own already. I have for example tons of Vicky poses standing there, with hands on hips. No need to convert more.
However, for poses with themes that aren't common, conversion is easy enough, and extends your library of poses.
I hope you find this conversion tutorial useful.
Okay, I can confirm that the Alternative Piercing for Genesis 8 Male comes with two belly piercings. This isn't mentioned in the product description but they are under twists, just as previously stated. To me, I find it hard to see. I even increased it's size. Here Boyd has multiple piercings so you can see what they all look like.
Huh. I actually have that, and never noticed those piercings. Probably wouldn't have used them, either; it does seem to me like part of the point of using that type of piercing in a render is for it to be noticed -- not necessarily to call attention to itself, but you should be able to tell it's there -- and that really doesn't.
By the by, thanks for the information in the white/black overlay tutorial. It was very helpful in pulling down the brightness in one of my contest submissions; I'd never have thought of that on my own.
Happy 2019!
Here we have Felix HD and Smile for Nix
I admit I was curious about Felix because of the great promo art featuring the alien and Felix in the same image. I Also was curious about his trademark smile.
Felix is a handsome devil, with a wide mouth, and large pupils. He's got really nicely shaped arms, even bigger than some of my guys. His mouth truly is amazing, but if it is a bit large for you, you can dial it down a touch. (I like big mouths, and Owen's is pretty big, but Felix's mouth is bigger than even his).
The only negative I see to this character, and it is especially visible with my over exposed lighting style, is that his facial features where they are painted on, don't blend seamlessly with his forehead. Its like when the features start they are lighter skin, whereas the forehead appears darker. This is rather glaring once you notice it. I also would prefer less dilated pupils.
I really like his trademark smile! We'll have see how one of other guys wears it
Here is Purple Alien Version felix. He looks amazing!