Novica & Forum Members Tips & Product Reviews Pt 13
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I thought I would show you are local data:
First, New York which was late with its stay in place order
Next, San Francisco which started very early with its stay in place order
and my county which is at the bottom of the column where our infection rate is actually declining.
Interesting. I like the graphs which tell how many people per 100,000 as that gives a better idea of the population too. Not all big cities are created equal, so seeing the per 100,000 people helps.
I am a huge fan of the New York Times interactives. Here is the portal: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/03/upshot/coronavirus-metro-area-tracker.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=The%20Upshot#commentsContainer
Kayia (G8F) Layla Hair (G3F / G8F) Bounty Huntress (G8F)
TIP If you are working with depth of field, and get frustrated trying to get the background really blurry- you can always move the set waaaaay back and scale it huge. Then you have a wider range of how close those panels are around your character (the ones which show you what is in focus and what isn't) as you don't have to worry at all about the background set.
This background is way far away from the character.
This is PRO-Studio HDRI Lighting System light 7R.
Dome Orientation XYZ 20 30 20 Dome Rotation 200
She looks pretty tough. DOF can be fun and it can cause issues. Sometimes longer render times.
A little bit off topic: Here in Australia our health minister officially announced on our national station (ABC News24) that the EASTER BUNNY will be able to do his usual job, unimpeded; it was even shown as a breaking news banner. I guess that was to cheer up all the little kids who are kept in their homes (we are ALL more or less isolating ourselves here - a least the sensible people)
I actually had a neighbor from 2 doors down catch coronavirus and die. I was surprised as it's the only death from coronavirus in this area for a long ways, I don't hang out around him but he looked fine in January when I last saw him. I'm guessing maybe I had it and didn't know it but I didn't give it to him, well I don't think. I don't know how long the incubation period is and hearing medical professionals make claims that contradict what we were taught in 8th grade basic biology class is concerning to say the least. I've only ever seen him when he came over looking for a package he sent here by accident for about 5 minutes. Nevertheless I haven't left the house since but once on the 27th of March in 3 weeks for an allergy shot.
I've planned my month for April: No allergy shots this month. I'll have to makeup later. 1 grocery store visit. 1 visit to buy 5 gallons of home interior paint. So two trips out. Well three trips as I have to make a third trip to mow my sister's land but she lives in Germany so no one is at her house here to cause contagion. And I have to go outside to more my yard or they will fine me for having an unkempt lawn.
Does it help that public transportation is much less used in California cities than in NYC or not? Are they making travel maps of the confirmed cases?
Awww, that's neat!
Use a longer focal length and zoom in to frame the figure.
I spoke to my son in the Sacramento area of California last night. I can't say what he told me, but let me just say, the Federal Government is asleep at the switch, and is endangering its personnel.
I also spoke with my granddaughter, who had an urgent question, 'What is the name of her daddy's oldest teddy bear?' "Well, he was given the bear by his aunt, when he was a week old, and his name is 'Theodore Earnest Bear', or 'Th.E. Bear'." I replied. I asked about 'Nurse Rachel' and was told his stuffed rabbit, that I bought to keep him company at RAF Lakenheath's Hospital when he was admitted for kidney surgery when he was in 4th grade for a month, the Nursing Sisters on the floor, took a newborn gown, surgical hat and mask to dress 'Nurse Rachel' up. She has since admitted to many hospitals with his children and wife, who have been hospitalized, to care for them as well.
Everyone is well and those with serious medical conditions are being protected carefully from outside contact.
One worry off my back.
It's been a while since I did any product reviews so here is a render with mostly MM products I've bought, some as recently as yesterday.
Well I did something I hardly ever do & bought a product at full price yesterday. Because the dForce Oktoberfest Dress for G8F was on sale, I bought the matching bundhosen for G8M even though it wasn't on sale. Wouldn't you know it, it's on sale today! As the quality is so good I won't bother returning it even on sale but I'll politely ask them if they make a price guarentee and give my a store credit instead. Cudos to Toyen and GolaM for two great products I've wanted for a few years now. Finally they made them!
Reviewed:
Dain 8 - I like the shape. I like the 'roughness' and 'glossiness ' of the skin materials which are better, much better than most male skin materials I've bought in the DAZ Store in the past (keep in mind I don't buy as much as some folk) except around the navel and hip - leg joints where the normal map looks inverted(?!). The skin color is blotchy in places, mostly on the hips. In trunks you'd notice the blotchiness if rendered at a high enough resolution.Yes, some people have natural blotchiness so I can't really fault that. But what really, is the white area on Dain's brow? Exceptional in most areas but problems Grade: B-
Marilla HD For Genesis 8 Female - Such a nicely done character with excellent materials. Here is her materials on base G8F. To see her geometry see my Chancing Church gallery render using her. Grade: A+
Bundhosen Outfit for Genesis 8 Male(s) - Excellent materials. As I own a set I use to wood carve in occasionally (tip: protects against a slipped carving knife and are cheaper and more comfortable than actual leather safety clothing although less coverage), the materials on this product look great. The geometry looks great too. Don't take my word for it as you can see in the render it looks great. Grade: A+
dForce Oktoberfest Dress for Genesis 8 Female(s) - Geometry is good. Materials are good but can look cartoonish and cheap too close up. Some material look 3D while others look too flat as if silk screened on instead of a pattern woven into the cloth). It's easy to retexture though with lots of material zones aka surfaces, a big plus. Grade: B+
Rural Chateau III - I've liked all the Rural Chateau set for a long time and it's getting closer to the top of my wish list. This PC+ portion I bought recently on sale. As you can see it looks great but the BOSS PRO lighting I used in this render which is at 6500K (blueish white) makes the aged ivory white of the product look just overly grey instead of nicely lit 2700K ivory white you'd expect from the ad copy pictures. I don't know if that is the technical reason for sure though so I can't fault either product. It comes with it's own daytime and darktime lighting but the supplied mighttime lighting preset was a bit too dark to use to illustrate the other products in the scene. Grade: A-
Anjou Hair - I really like this classic hair style many women still frequently wore when I was a child, not so much today. And this modeled example looks great. Great: A-
Click the image to be taken to my DAZ gallery for a full listing of products used in this render.
Does it help that public transportation is much less used in California cities than in NYC or not? Are they making travel maps of the confirmed cases?
San Francisco has both BART and Muni so there is a lot of public transportation. Google has extensive maps showing where people are going after the lock down. The only big correlations to low infection rates are a) locking down early so infections aren't spread through the population, and b) people staying home and doing their social distancing. In Northern California, people leaving their houses for trips of over a few blocks dropped off drastically and early. The key infection period seems to be a week or two before symptoms strike; our elementary school science educations are painfully out of data and each species of virus has a different pattern.
This is from my Axios AM newsletter and quotes some lighting/camera guidance Maureen Dowd was given by Tom Ford for her first Facetime post. I thought it might be helpful for anyone here on Daz Studio, either trying to set up a render of a reporter doing a report that way, or just the camera angle and lighting.
"P.S. It was Maureen's first FaceTime, and designer Tom Ford gave her these tips:
Put the computer up on a stack of books so the camera is slightly higher than your head. Say, about the top of your head. And then point it down into your eyes. Then take a tall lamp and set it next to the computer on the side of your face you feel is best. The lamp should be in line with and slightly behind the computer so the light falls nicely on your face.
Then put a piece of white paper or a white tablecloth on the table you are sitting at but make sure it can’t be seen in the frame. It will give you a bit of fill and bounce. And lots of powder, et voilà!"
I subscribed just over a week ago to the Axios AM newletter and highly recommend it as it gathers a wide-range of reliable, information about what is going on. I am saving them in my 'Magazine Deliveries' folder so I can track the course of this piece of our history. There is a PM one too. But I need to calm at night, so don't get it. Last night, the numbers, the day, just really dragged me down hard. The aligator and my son's call helped.
Mary
You just can't make this stuff up. That song, "What were they thinking?" comes to mind. This is today's edition of the Pensacola News Journal.
The headline for that advertisement should be, "Why bring just comfort when you can provide COVID-19 TOO?"
Makes one wonder where we'd be without idiots
Alteratively, CHEAT:
This method has the benefit that you can play around with different levels of blur till you find one you like. It works well in an example like the one shown, where the whole background is universally blurry, it's less good for a full-length shot, where the ground she's standing on should be sharp, and increasingly blurry as it recedes (though you can get that effect with the aid of a depth canvas - see the tutorial in my sig).
I usually do DOF in-render, as I think it gives more realistic results. But sometimes the focal distance is just really unhelpful - it won't let you get the whole character in focus without pushing the f-stop to ridiculous amounts. That's when I reach for the cheating technique.
Where we are for the COVID-19:
337,620 cases in United States
9,643 deaths
Friday 1,169 Saturday 1,344 Sunday 1,147 so 3,660 people died this weekend.
And now it appears it wasn't a freak accident that lady's dog in China caught the virus. A tiger has been confirmed and others (3 tigers, AND 3 lions) have the symptoms (but aren't being tested as it's dangerous to do that. They are assuming they are positive) An employee had the virus.
You mean I have to keep 6 feet away from lions and tigers now?
Sounds like a good idea even without the Covid
Lions, tigers and bears Oh my. Yes we've heard that one before. :-)
Yep as your getting within 6' they're thinking extend the elbow and remember to follow through as you swat that annoying two-legged creature
@Novica I'm going to be moving to Pensacola in June, from Minneosta. We have been quite sheltered here, what is the Covid-19 situation like in Pensacola?
Milton just had 6 new cases so 24, Pace 2 new so 7, (these cities are about 15 minutes outside Pensacola, I live between Pace/Milton) , Pensacola 10 new so 100, Cantonment 2 new so 21.(again, right outside Pensacola.) That was overnight, yesterday. Haven't gotten the read of today. Go to pnj.com which is Pensacola News Journal and it will keep you informed. You do know that this hurricane season is supposed to resemble the analog year of 2005? That year, we had to go into the Greek Alphabet because we ran out of the alphabet with named storms. We got slammed wtih a Category 3 (almost Category 4) just NINE MONTHS after a previous Category 3. Bless Dennis and Ivan :( Supposed to be an extremely active year, and Pensacola hasn't been hit since that 2005. (LOL, hmmmm, not good. It comes around again...?) So fifteen years, and we are way overdue. Hope you don't get a very quick education on the impact of a hurricane :( But we're very helpful here :)
If you come in June, you may still on lockdown for only essential trips, but that includes grocery shopping, banking, all the things you normally do. Social distancing will probably still be in place.
I think you'll be fine frankly as Floridians ARE doing what asked, and sheltering in place all we can. Just know stores are limiting the number of shoppers, things go out of stock quickly, so bring what you need. This may completely change by June, so hard to tell. And welcome!
PNJ evening edition
Escambia County now has 168 confirmed COVID-19 cases — up by 27 from the 141 cases reported Monday evening. That includes 21 new cases in Pensacola since Monday evening, bringing the city's total to 121. The county also now has 15 non-residents who have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the latest figures.
Santa Rosa County has added two new cases since Monday evening, one in Milton (25) and one in (Navarre (17). The county now has 66 confirmed cases.
Pensacola has gotten 31 new cases in just the past two days. Ten day before yesterday and 21 yesterday.
We are up to 884 cases in Denver county/city now. But according to the news this evening, we are now down to doubling every six to eight days. So we are slowing down.
Target here has instituted one in, one out procedures to control the number of people shopping in the store. So I won't be going into the store unless I need something. So cookies, chocolate, and snacks are safe from me. My flatmate knows where I will park to pick him up.
One good story I saw today on MSNBC, a mother of five, leaving the hospital, with the staff clapping for her 15 day fight and surviving Covid-19, and her trying to hang on, then she sees her husband outside the front door, and she loses it. He gathers her up into his arms for a hug and give comfort.
And for the past few nights, I couldn't figure out why some new residents were 'howling' at 8pm. And why I heard it up the street. Found out today. Not sure I can link to the news article on 9News, but google on 'Denver howls for healthcare workers'. And tonight is the Pink Moon. So I expect it will be crazy.
Mary
@Novica Thank you for the information. I will check out the website. We will be moving to the Cantonment area. Hoping the hurricane season will give it a miss this year. Thanks again!
Everyone in my neighborhood is doing great with sheltering in place but the empty streets are attracting criminals! Four crimes within 4 blocks of me in last 3 days! I have the Citizens app that alerts you to all crime nearby. There was a man with a knife 400 feet from my apartment (according to the app) where normally I would be walking to run errands. I'm afraid to leave the house for more reasons than the virus now! I will only drive now to go to stores I normally walk to. (Groceries & pharmacy.)
I've only been to that area a few times but I like the town Mary Ester or did last time I was there.