Semi-realistic cats: Experiences with "Zeus" and "Mars"?

Hi!

Has anyone worked with one of those models? I am searching for a cat that is a bit more cartoonic and expressive then the DAZ housecat for a Sailor Moon related story (for those who don't know: The series has two magical talking cats).

I found the above mentioned, one at Renderosity, one at Renderhub. Does anybody know if they are worth the price, have more possible expressions and how easy it would be to change the fur color?

Best wishes

Ryselle

Comments

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711
    edited July 2022

    do you want to have the cat actually talking in a video?

    if so that is not easy with any of them now including the DAZ housecat

    not impossible but a lot of fluffing around in notepad and DAZ 43bit

    I think the HW3D Housecat has a mimic configuration file but the others due to how dual quaternion works don't have separate head only morphs which the DAZ mimic based lipsync needs

    all morphs are under the actor

    I can only make them talk in Carrara with Carrara mimic that ignores that

    Mars and Zeus ( who is Mars but was sold at DAZ) are very expressive

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • butterflyfishbutterflyfish Posts: 1,074

    Wow, I had no idea Zeus is at Renderhub now. Now I'm wondering if the kitten there will work with the DAZ version of Zeus.

    I have both Zeus (DAZ version) and Mars, and all their add-ons except that Renderhub kitten. I love them, and think they're definitely worth the money. For changing the color, the easiest way is to buy an add-on pack. Admittedly, I don't know enough about strand based hair to do it myself. 

  • NathNath Posts: 2,713

    The kitten does work with the DAZ version - quick test render (poses from DAZ Zeus)

     

     

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  • Ryselle-RyssaRyselle-Ryssa Posts: 146
    edited July 2022

    WendyLuvsCatz said:

    do you want to have the cat actually talking in a video?

    if so that is not easy with any of them now including the DAZ housecat

    not impossible but a lot of fluffing around in notepad and DAZ 43bit

    I think the HW3D Housecat has a mimic configuration file but the others due to how dual quaternion works don't have separate head only morphs which the DAZ mimic based lipsync needs

    all morphs are under the actor

    I can only make them talk in Carrara with Carrara mimic that ignores that

    Mars and Zeus ( who is Mars but was sold at DAZ) are very expressive

    Thank you for the detailed answer :D

    No, I only make stills ^^ Animation is far beyond my scope ;-)

    The goal is "just" to have a cat that can do... well... humanized impressions, but still is a full cat.

     

    I have both Zeus (DAZ version) and Mars, and all their add-ons except that Renderhub kitten. I love them, and think they're definitely worth the money. For changing the color, the easiest way is to buy an add-on pack. Admittedly, I don't know enough about strand based hair to do it myself. 

    Strand based hair? Look at my Hair Strand based hair, hard coded strand based hair or the DAZ-native strand based hair? with the latter I can work :)

    Is there a point in owning both or them or has one of them a morph to change the shape a little bit?

    I came quiete along with the Sailor Warriors, but whoever knews the anime knews: You need Artemis and Luna (the magic cats) to complete it ;-)

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    Post edited by Ryselle-Ryssa on
  • Update: I made some experiments with Zeus (retexturing, posing) and the only thing that I have a slight problem with is the lack of some "human" emotions like surprise and worry, but perhaps I will find a workaround ^^

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  • MimicMollyMimicMolly Posts: 2,092
    That's disappointing that the kitten is at 'Hub. (Don't particularly like that shop. I prefer here or Renderosity.) I have both cats. They're alright, since they stylistically match the semi-realistic DAZ humans. I did have plans to paint my own textures. I wanted a tortie coat, specifically of my tortie, but IDK anymore. :/
  • butterflyfishbutterflyfish Posts: 1,074

    Nath said:

    The kitten does work with the DAZ version - quick test render (poses from DAZ Zeus)

     

    Cool! Thanks for checking!

    I've never shopped at Renderhub before. Are they safe/legit?

    Strand based hair? Look at my Hair Strand based hair, hard coded strand based hair or the DAZ-native strand based hair? with the latter I can work :)

    Is there a point in owning both or them or has one of them a morph to change the shape a little bit?

    I came quiete along with the Sailor Warriors, but whoever knews the anime knews: You need Artemis and Luna (the magic cats) to complete it ;-)

     The DAZ version of Zeus has dforce. Mars has DAZ SBH. I would assume the 'Hub version of Zeus does, as well. IIRC, she did post a fibermesh hair file for Zeus in the original Zeus thread in the Commons.

    The only real reason to get them both is if you want the different morphs. The cats themselves are the same.

  • Catherine3678abCatherine3678ab Posts: 7,986

    Please don't ask questions we are not allowed to answer.

  • butterflyfishbutterflyfish Posts: 1,074

    Sorry

  • Catherine3678abCatherine3678ab Posts: 7,986

    Okay.

    I buy some stuff there.

  • AllenArtAllenArt Posts: 7,140
    edited September 2022

    butterflyfish said:

    Nath said:

    The kitten does work with the DAZ version - quick test render (poses from DAZ Zeus)

     

    Cool! Thanks for checking!

    I've never shopped at Renderhub before. Are they safe/legit?

    Strand based hair? Look at my Hair Strand based hair, hard coded strand based hair or the DAZ-native strand based hair? with the latter I can work :)

    Is there a point in owning both or them or has one of them a morph to change the shape a little bit?

    I came quiete along with the Sailor Warriors, but whoever knews the anime knews: You need Artemis and Luna (the magic cats) to complete it ;-)

     The DAZ version of Zeus has dforce. Mars has DAZ SBH. I would assume the 'Hub version of Zeus does, as well. IIRC, she did post a fibermesh hair file for Zeus in the original Zeus thread in the Commons.

    The only real reason to get them both is if you want the different morphs. The cats themselves are the same.

    The hair for Zeus in the Hub version is SBH, not dForce. Not a deal breaker :)

     

     

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    Post edited by AllenArt on
  • Mars has moved over there, too, now, I've noticed.

  • AllenArtAllenArt Posts: 7,140
    edited September 2022

    The kitten looks really good if you take a little time with it, maybe a dformer or two ;). Here I added a dformer to make a rounder belly, shortened its legs, made the head bigger.

     

     

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    Post edited by AllenArt on
  • PendraiaPendraia Posts: 3,591

    Here at daz they have a number of toon cats some are fairly old though and originally designed for Poser so it would require some work to get them nice in DS

    https://www.daz3d.com/catalogsearch/result/?mature=true&q=toonanimal+cat

    The toonanimal cat has a couple of expression morphs that can be found in the head

    The Cat which I don't have the texture on was a freebie for Poser not sure if it's still around but it would make a great evil cat

    I've always wanted a toon morph for the Hivewire cat. There is a great one for their horse.

  • PendraiaPendraia Posts: 3,591
    edited September 2022

    Hivewire cat has lots of morphs for the mouth including snarl, yawn, mouth down, etc

    It has an lamh preset and lots of breeds.

     

    There have been other cats over the years I just can't find them as I haven't finished organising my runtime categories...

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    Post edited by Pendraia on
  • NathNath Posts: 2,713

    WendyLuvsCatz said:

    Stray Environment 

    https://www.daz3d.com/wonderland

    I was looking where to jump next when I looked at the promo images LOL 

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