Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 13

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Comments

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    nemesis10 said:

    This is spooky: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqRWRBJTir/?igshid=
     

    i wonder what Daz is up to?

    I saw that on Facebook, too.

    I refrained from being cheeky with a reply: Pall Mall? Camel? Marlboro?

    I can't imagine that 4.12.2 is ready for release, and the changes for animation in 4.12 don't appear to be ready for some big marketing whoopla, based on what animators commenting in the various 4.12 threads are saying.

    My first serious thought was something from The Philosopher, iReal Smoke, (not that I've seen any such thing in the Commercial area,) but it's not like Daz to make a big deal about a PA product, so it must be a Daz Original. Maybe an animation bundle?

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,370
    nemesis10 said:

    This is spooky: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqRWRBJTir/?igshid=
     

    i wonder what Daz is up to?

    Genesis 9 or whatever comes after Genesis 8?

  • nemesis10nemesis10 Posts: 3,445

    I am suspecting the ability to export daz figures to some high end 3d program. I remember there was a brief thread this month about a beefy male character that appeared in one of the promo headers who resembles the character in the teaser.  The character wasn't made in Daz Studio so the thread was about whether it is kosher to use him in the promo...

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    barbult said:
    nemesis10 said:

    This is spooky: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqRWRBJTir/?igshid=
     

    i wonder what Daz is up to?

    Genesis 9 or whatever comes after Genesis 8?

    Oh, dear Lord, I hope not!

  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,462

    Vapor ware

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895
    edited May 2020

     

    Fishtales said:

    Anybody else think the Strictly Business Hair looks terrible in the promos? And what is it with all the weird pricing?

    I agree with you, I don't think it looks good at all. Look at the hot pink one, over the ear- that horrid small section directly over the ear, then a chunk above it that doesn't overlap it properly so you have dark gaps. I think it may have too much curve/arch and doesn't sit properly. Lowering it won't help, that arch will still prevent it from laying properly. You can see it again in the blue one showing the back/side view, the hair cut is eratic with that clump just not making sense. And the lower strand I circled is one vertical strand but it has a horizontal line running through it. NONE of those strands touching the neck look very blended. If this is supposed to be toony, even that is a fail for me. It just looks like amateur hour.

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    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895
    nemesis10 said:

    This is spooky: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqRWRBJTir/?igshid=
     

    i wonder what Daz is up to?

    I like the smoke, but the on and off brightening of the tip of the cigarette, no. That doesn't happen unless someone has it in their mouth and is applying force to the cigarette, right? 

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    edited May 2020
    Novica said:
    nemesis10 said:

    This is spooky: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqRWRBJTir/?igshid=
     

    i wonder what Daz is up to?

    I like the smoke, but the on and off brightening of the tip of the cigarette, no. That doesn't happen unless someone has it in their mouth and is applying force to the cigarette, right? 

    Looks like it may be a new character. There are interesting conversations going on in The Commons here and here. Perhaps Daz has snagged a new PA. The images by the artist, here,  are qute interesting. However, if those clothes show up without a named PA attached, I'm still not buying. I don't mind if it's a new PA, I'll take a chance on something from a PA that Daz adds to the Vendor list.

    The male hair and clothes released as DOs today are from yet another unpublished artist. That's three now, that I know of. I don't understand this. Daz accepts or denies requests from artists to become PAs based on the quality of their work submitted. Even if Daz does a buy out, the PA still shows in the Vendor list. If the vendor's work isn't good enough to gain PA status, why is Daz buying it anyway? Is this the only way they can add male-centric wardrobe and hair to the store?

    IMO, adding items to the store that don't meet the previous standard of quality is not in anyones best interest.

    Post edited by L'Adair on
  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,462
    Novica said:
    nemesis10 said:

    . That doesn't happen unless someone has it in their mouth and is applying force to the cigarette, right? 

    Only if there's an intermittent breeze such as from an oscillating fan blowing across it

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,163
    nemesis10 said:

    This is spooky: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqRWRBJTir/?igshid=
     

    i wonder what Daz is up to?

    It looks to be almost definately a new pro bundle comprising of the 'muscle-bound' character that, either Soto or RawArt, I forget which, was asking about in the Commons of the forums.

    Or from the looks of that self smoking cigarette maybe the Filament renderer goes into beta in DAZ Studio?

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,370
    L'Adair said:
    Novica said:
    nemesis10 said:

    This is spooky: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqRWRBJTir/?igshid=
     

    i wonder what Daz is up to?

    I like the smoke, but the on and off brightening of the tip of the cigarette, no. That doesn't happen unless someone has it in their mouth and is applying force to the cigarette, right? 

    Looks like it may be a new character. There are interesting conversations going on in The Commons here and here. Perhaps Daz has snagged a new PA. The images by the artist, here,  are qute interesting. However, if those clothes show up without a named PA attached, I'm still not buying. I don't mind if it's a new PA, I'll take a chance on something from a PA that Daz adds to the Vendor list.

    The male hair and clothes released as DOs today are from yet another unpublished artist. That's three now, that I know of. I don't understand this. Daz accepts or denies requests from artists to become PAs based on the quality of their work submitted. Even if Daz does a buy out, the PA still shows in the Vendor list. If the vendor's work isn't good enough to gain PA status, why is Daz buying it anyway? Is this the only way they can add male-centric wardrobe and hair to the store?

    IMO, adding items to the store that don't meet the previous standard of quality is not in anyones best interest.

    The quality appears to be lacking in some of today's new releases - at least in the promo images. I took one look at the hair promo images and got very suspicious. I looked at the files list in the readme. As you say, I see another unknown (to us) artist name. I thought  the Dain bundle content was a fluke that Daz would have learned from. Now I am getting very concerned. More stuff is entering the store that does not fit with the quality we expect. Why do they buy out stuff that is so poor? At least this latest stuff was not put into a Pro bundle.

  • genarisgenaris Posts: 329

    I hope that Daz Insta-teaser is about something exciting like animatable smoke/fire physics!!! That's be new and cool, whereas yet another unattractive tattooed male character... would be pretty redundant, to me at least. Plus, the guy didn't look like a rendered figure, but the cig & smoke did seem added in.  HOWEVER-- if that guy was a rendered figure: I'd be excited if it meant Daz finally was making a product to make Genesis knuckles and hands bend, deform and stretch realistically!!!
      ~Gen

  • genarisgenaris Posts: 329

    re: promos not showing backsides view of clothes, hairs etc -- on that note, has anyone bought that Bighorn truck product?   It looks cool, but no CLOSE UP clear picture of the INTERIOR even though the doors open.  I'd like to know if it if not really usefully/credibly detailed inside to use, or if this truck is strictly for exterior shots- theres a promo with the view into the truck but it is small and at a  distance; not a pic you could use to gauge whether you could render a view from inside with chars sitting in it and have it look credibly realistic.  I already have trucks and suvs that look cool from outside but don't look good inside up close, with blocky low res shapes etc....
       ~Gen

  • Novica said:

     

    Fishtales said:

    Anybody else think the Strictly Business Hair looks terrible in the promos? And what is it with all the weird pricing?

    I agree with you, I don't think it looks good at all. Look at the hot pink one, over the ear- that horrid small section directly over the ear, then a chunk above it that doesn't overlap it properly so you have dark gaps. I think it may have too much curve/arch and doesn't sit properly. Lowering it won't help, that arch will still prevent it from laying properly. You can see it again in the blue one showing the back/side view, the hair cut is eratic with that clump just not making sense. And the lower strand I circled is one vertical strand but it has a horizontal line running through it. NONE of those strands touching the neck look very blended. If this is supposed to be toony, even that is a fail for me. It just looks like amateur hour.

    I bought it and wasn't too impressed. I only got it cause the hairstyle fit my character at the moment. Got it and was surprised there were no morphs to it what so ever. Guess I should've read the fine print better.

     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895
    edited May 2020

    FWSA Destini (Girl 8)       dForce Natty Undercut Hair (G8F)       dForce CB Casual Friday Outfit  (G8F) 

    So I'm going to show you a hair I got that I do like, which surprised me. Now, I want you to get the entire picture, so let me say I did postwork and wasn't surprised I wanted to do that, just based on my personal preferences.  I don't like a lot of scalp showing, even for hair done in rows. It's just me, has nothing to do with realism as there can be a lot of skin showing. Note this is also a Girl 8 character so the head fit for the hair may be a bit different.

    But TRUST ME, the postwork is easy (just pick the dark color, and the light color from the hair, and make squirrelly squiggles. I put the before and after for each render.I usually put the dark down first, then the light on top for hair. 

    So this hair, unlike the one we just discussed, has fun one click movement for the top of the hair, and clickables for the sides. One thing I would like to see, is the ability to heighten the very top of the hair. to give it some lift. The clickable slider morphs are "all" this and "all" that and I would like to see sections. But this is fun, funky hair and really jazzes up a character IMO. So click back and forth to see how I took out the larger skin sections such as the part of the hair and each individual row, to blend them together near the front. One other tip- if you don't like the way a hair is meeting the scalp, lighter colors call less attention. You'll note the forehead area which was really dark caught your attention, but when I did lighter squirrlies your eye isn't drawn to it as much. 

    The vendor offered a LOT of hair colors, be sure and look at the promos. 

    One thing I will admit to- I haven't done dForce on hair and didn't do anything with this one. What exactly happens when you dForce hair?

    I also used the surfaces pane and darkened the white of the outfit to a darker gray, with blue for the gloss. That avoided glare and washout. 

    CLICK BACK AND FORTH, they open in new windows. You can click to enlarge to see the postwork. (1100px, these are 600px)

    EDIT:  Note in a discussion further down, apparently Smoothing is default to OFF. Turn that on in Parameters. Then you will get results more similar to my postwork shown. There's more discussion on the next page, too.

    Postwork:

    Postwork:

     

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    Destini NattyHairFREE Casual Friday.png
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    Post edited by Novica on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895
    genaris said:

    re: promos not showing backsides view of clothes, hairs etc -- on that note, has anyone bought that Bighorn truck product?   It looks cool, but no CLOSE UP clear picture of the INTERIOR even though the doors open.  I'd like to know if it if not really usefully/credibly detailed inside to use, or if this truck is strictly for exterior shots- theres a promo with the view into the truck but it is small and at a  distance; not a pic you could use to gauge whether you could render a view from inside with chars sitting in it and have it look credibly realistic.  I already have trucks and suvs that look cool from outside but don't look good inside up close, with blocky low res shapes etc....
       ~Gen

    I didn't, but agree with you it looks really nice from what is shown. 

  • DzFireDzFire Posts: 1,473
    edited May 2020
    genaris said:

    re: promos not showing backsides view of clothes, hairs etc -- on that note, has anyone bought that Bighorn truck product?   It looks cool, but no CLOSE UP clear picture of the INTERIOR even though the doors open.  I'd like to know if it if not really usefully/credibly detailed inside to use, or if this truck is strictly for exterior shots- theres a promo with the view into the truck but it is small and at a  distance; not a pic you could use to gauge whether you could render a view from inside with chars sitting in it and have it look credibly realistic.  I already have trucks and suvs that look cool from outside but don't look good inside up close, with blocky low res shapes etc....
       ~Gen

    The Bighorn's interrior is simply modeled to keep more polies on the outside. It is, however, made to render your character shots on the inside also. Hope this helps. -Dz

    Post edited by DzFire on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,370
    DzFire said:
    genaris said:

    re: promos not showing backsides view of clothes, hairs etc -- on that note, has anyone bought that Bighorn truck product?   It looks cool, but no CLOSE UP clear picture of the INTERIOR even though the doors open.  I'd like to know if it if not really usefully/credibly detailed inside to use, or if this truck is strictly for exterior shots- theres a promo with the view into the truck but it is small and at a  distance; not a pic you could use to gauge whether you could render a view from inside with chars sitting in it and have it look credibly realistic.  I already have trucks and suvs that look cool from outside but don't look good inside up close, with blocky low res shapes etc....
       ~Gen

    The Bighorn's interrior is simply modeled to keep more polies on the outside. It is, however, made to render your character shots on the inside also. Hope this helps. -Dz

    It looks like it has quite a bit of detail in there.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895
    edited May 2020

    Agreed, it's not a luxury vehicle, and some of these types can be loaded. But it looks practical and I think would look just fine when the door is open with characters standing there. Nice touch with the lit screen. Thanks for showing that @dzfire

    Post edited by Novica on
  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    Novica said:

    Agreed, it's not a luxury vehicle, and some of these types can be loaded. But it looks practical and I think would look just fine when the door is open with characters standing there. Nice touch with the lit screen. Thanks for showing that @dzfire

    I have an older Suzuki SUV. Aside from the fact it's far more comfortable to sit upright, the interior is much more like a luxury car than a truck. On the other hand, I test drove a used Ford Escape Hybrid a year or two before Ford discontinued them, and the interior was very much like that of the Bighorn truck; Very utilitarian, very much like a full-size pickup truck I used to own. (And about as comfortable, too. lol) I think the interior of the Bighorn Truck looks very realistic to me.

    Thank you, @DzFire, for stopping in and clearing that up.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895

    Oh I LOVE this- have you seen the video of the South Korean establisment using high end robots to serve food? Way cool!  Can YOU make sixty different types of coffee LOL? (Well, I guess the question would be, would you want to...) 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895
    edited May 2020

    Paladin of Solitude is in Fast Grab, I like the different parts of the outfit being separate.  While I don't care for the pants being skin tight, the textures set really changes it up. That was only 2.62 on May 11th (dang it!) , so not scooping it up at 66%, I'll wait. But those are really nice and give that outfit a totally new look IMO. So perhaps grab the Paladin now, and textures later. Does anyone have renders of this outfit, and your opinion?

    I'm also grabbing Red Planet for Iray. Can always use more planets in background shots with all those windows in sci-fi.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,370
    Novica said:

    Paladin of Solitude is in Fast Grab, I like the different parts of the outfit being separate.  While I don't care for the pants being skin tight, the textures set really changes it up. That was only 2.62 on May 11th (dang it!) , so not scooping it up at 66%, I'll wait. But those are really nice and give that outfit a totally new look IMO. So perhaps grab the Paladin now, and textures later. Does anyone have renders of this outfit, and your opinion?

    I'm also grabbing Red Planet for Iray. Can always use more planets in background shots with all those windows in sci-fi.

    Have I ever seen you render a Sci-Fi image? laugh

  • valzheimervalzheimer Posts: 519

    Thank you for the review of my Natty hair Novica! Much appreciated and love the images you made with it the girl looks really awesome! Just wanted to chime in and say, about that parting between the dreads setting the smoothing on the Cap to ON may help as well (it's added to the cap but it defaults on OFF), I may be wrong but it seems like the hair may have fallen a bit thorugh the scalp, it's not supposed to be that wide/noticable :) I put in a few morphs in both the Cap and the Top that may help with adjustments, especially for characters with slightly bigger heads. Postwork works great too though ;)

    V.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895
    barbult said:

    Have I ever seen you render a Sci-Fi image? laugh

    Mostly just the clothes IIRC. I did one in a rubble, and one in a warehouse, with the futuristic clothing. Those two come to mind right away. Can't remember who was featured though. I've done a few corridors too. 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,370

    Thank you for the review of my Natty hair Novica! Much appreciated and love the images you made with it the girl looks really awesome! Just wanted to chime in and say, about that parting between the dreads setting the smoothing on the Cap to ON may help as well (it's added to the cap but it defaults on OFF), I may be wrong but it seems like the hair may have fallen a bit thorugh the scalp, it's not supposed to be that wide/noticable :) I put in a few morphs in both the Cap and the Top that may help with adjustments, especially for characters with slightly bigger heads. Postwork works great too though ;)

    V.

    I don't understand the logic behind adding a Smoothing Modifier but defaulting it to OFF. Is there a reason? Or is the default value an error? Defaulting to off seems like it would just lead to the kind of problems Novica had.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895
    edited May 2020

    Thank you for the review of my Natty hair Novica! Much appreciated and love the images you made with it the girl looks really awesome! Just wanted to chime in and say, about that parting between the dreads setting the smoothing on the Cap to ON may help as well (it's added to the cap but it defaults on OFF), I may be wrong but it seems like the hair may have fallen a bit thorugh the scalp, it's not supposed to be that wide/noticable :) I put in a few morphs in both the Cap and the Top that may help with adjustments, especially for characters with slightly bigger heads. Postwork works great too though ;)

    V.

    Ah, that smoothing of the cap nestled things a lot closer. Would you like to show more renders of the hair? My studio is extremely laggy for some reason, and when I do the morph sliders it takes so long to move the strands, I can't tell if what I did is better or worse.  :(   Also, anything else you'd like to discuss about the hair?  I have a question, what is line tessellation?

    Post edited by Novica on
  • genarisgenaris Posts: 329

    @DzFire - THANKS for posting the interior pic of the Bighorn truck; that gives me a much better idea of whether it'll work for me than me just having to guess or buy/not buy blind! :)       Interiors don't matter so much when you're selling junk-heap post-apocalypse rides and military beasts but since there's relatively few realistic contemporary pickup trucks on the market, the interior is more of a consideration with this product than most of yours, so hopefully you'll consider that in future.
      ~Gen

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,895

    Aw, here's a cutie to start your day. (4am here.) 

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,163
    edited May 2020
    Novica said:

    Oh I LOVE this- have you seen the video of the South Korean establisment using high end robots to serve food? Way cool!  Can YOU make sixty different types of coffee LOL? (Well, I guess the question would be, would you want to...) 

    I make only 10 simple types of coffee (2 types of coffe roasts (Italian & French) x 5 types of flavors for Coffeemate, I don't full with expressos or lattes on my budget) but those robots are cool.

    Post edited by nonesuch00 on
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