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Thank you so much Manne! this will be a big help for us... :)
Don't have that one yet on my library... I'm still going to ask my boss for that one...
I'm not sure too. but there's a way to install them on GIMP. Just as I did on the Ron's brushes.
There's also these blood splatters from smay,
again designed to be rendered with 3Delight.
http://www.daz3d.com/add-on-for-zombie
It is important to remember that the renderers are just tools, use which ever gives the best result. So as long as you don't move the camera angle, you can render a setup in both iray and 3delight inside DAZ STudio, and then choose the best elements from each in post as you assemble your final image.
Those are GREAT! Not doing a lot of Zombie Apocalypse renders myself, I had totally missed them.
Thanks FirstBastion!
This will help me too...
I wish I can post the bookcovers that I made... but I might get busted... instead here's the link of my finish covers. hope you will like it... :)
http://www.amazon.com/Forge-Men-Spineward-Sectors-Tracto-ebook/dp/B00WQE9A9K/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1436276417&sr=8-4&keywords=caleb+wachter
http://www.amazon.com/Admirals-Challenge-Spineward-Sectors-Novel-ebook/dp/B010359GM4/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1436276417&sr=8-13&keywords=caleb+wachter
http://www.amazon.com/First-Fight-Empires-Corps-Book-ebook/dp/B010E9QZJG/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436344963&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=christopher+g.+nuttall+first+to+fight
Oh I love seeing finished work. This is a fascinating progression, in which order were these created? Are all the Pacific Crest Publishing covers your work?
Welcome, knight_yhue :cheese: Sent you a PM ;-)
Oh boy - what fun! Love the new forums but excuse me while I try to find my way around. I just want to make sure I'm in the right thread. Kinda like walking uninvited into somebody's house. lol! To top it all off, it's also fun trying to figure out who might be new and who changed screen names with the forum swap. Esthermann you really had me confused there for a bit. lol! But worry not I'll get there. Hey as long as we have a decent search function now on the forums, I'll be happy.
Hi Knight - welcome! Welcome! Grab a chair and join us. Excuse the dust and paint, hopefully they'll finish with the remodeling soon. ;) I saw the links your covers! Very, very nicely done!
Because you're an illustrator for a small press check and see if you can use the covers for your own portfolio, Even if they happen to fall under work for hire, therefore you do not have copyright to the finished image, your boss does, typically there is still a provision for using the art in the artist's. If not, talk to you boss and see if making some tweaks, such as not using the title and author name - just use image itself, changing the title and author name to something generic like you would see for premades, or changing up colors so it's not an exact replica. You don't want to bite the hand that feeds you but on the other hand every cover you do is experience and that history should be reflected in your portfolio somehow - if nothing else for posterity's sake.
Okay I'm off to prowl some more and I should have some more stuff to post for covers soon. :)
After the new forums were implemented this was the first thread I went to
Not sure if earlier posts can be edited; the edit function doesn't seem to be working for them
It works for comments made on the new forums, though 
Yeah weird (about the editing) I noticed that too. Seems like they're read-only. And this was my first stop as well, too much fun.
True dat
Am now following you on dA 
You have a really great gallery 
Yeah I know I've already contacted support to try to get them to change it back as that's the username I've been posting as for quite a while. For some reason, we're blocked out of changing it on our own which seems really odd and quite a lot more work for them.
Wow thanks so much. Hopefully showing improvement with every post.
I think there were some issues with repetitive user names between the storefront, forums and galleries, so they may be trying to consolidate the list. With atleast a million registered users, not an easy task.
You can change your userneame here https://www.daz3d.com/customer/account/edit/
And yes as First Bastion said Gallery name will now show if it is different to the forum Username.
And any names that do happen to have been duplicated will now have a random numer/letter set added to make them unique until changed to the preferred name.
Sorry to take up this thread with unrelated tech issues; but if you go and change your username using the link provided, and then try to go back to the forums it throws you into a recursive loop that you can't get out of while it tries to log you in. That's why I opened a ticket with tech.
That is very strange. Other people have been able to change their names without any problem. Which Browser do you use?
Mozilla
HMM, don't understand it then
Hey Kathryn,
When you get back to this neck of the woods. Earlier in the post you had mentioned that there are different size requirements for artwork for:
To your knowledge, is there any site available which shows standarized dimension requirements or do you just have to check with each publisher/site to get them? Also you mentioned that your photoshop files at 300dpi rather than 72dpi for print requirements, is that pretty standard?
Hey manne (can we still call you that? hehe! Basically, you have to check with everyone because almost everyone is a bit different. And that's because of their wonderful wonderful propriatary readers. But that's changing now too. I hear the pundits say Amazon is hitting the skids because the sales of e-readers like Kindle are going downhill. What they don't realize is that e-book sales are climbing - it's people are reading on their smart phones and tablet and iPads now.
Amazon has a free program called Kindle Gen, there's also the Children's book creator and the Graphic Novel/Manga creator. These allow you to test your ebooks and Kindle Gen converts epubs to Kindle. But you can finally upload epubs straight to Amazon now. But Kindle Gen will help out a lot with formatting and making sure you're up to snuff. But don't stop there - check everything on whatever you can. I send stuff to my own kindle to make sure it works and I use the various online checkers and it still goes wonky sometimes! grrrr!
Kindle has the best guide to tell you what needs to be what size. If covers are going to itunes and barnes & noble, I recommend publishing thorugh Smashwords. I don't make as many sales with Smashwords as I do Amazon, if you want your book with the other e-tailers, then Smashwords is the way to go. Upload it once, get the formatting right with their system, and they'll send it to a bunch of retailers. They also have a very specific formatting guide.
If you want to publish on iBooks directly, you have to have their software and no they don't release that software in a Windows version. So you have to have a Mac. Which is another reason why to go with Smashwords.
If you're just wanting to do the artist gig for and design covers for authors, then I recommend going to Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, and iBooks and checking out each of their requirements because as tech changes so do how they want stuff and they don't announce crap like that, they espect you to divine it from tea leaves or somthing. I make a habit of popping over to their help guides every now and then and doublechecking stuff.
When I hired my freelance cover artists they would typically split their prices up - custom ebook cover is one price usually $60 - $80. And the author gets a jpg in two appropriate sizes, one for Amazon and one for iBooks because they're different. From there the author can usually resize the image themselves. Usually the author also wants to release a print book on Createspace or another print on demand service. So that's where the other requirements come in. They want graphics suitable for printing and want a PDF at 300dpi BUT do NOT put it in CMYK color! It needs to be RGB. But the author needs to upload everything on the cover and leave room for the bar code. I attached the print cover of Mist Warrior - the original since I'm working on that one now. That's my preview copy that I downloaded as a proof from Createspace. You can see the barcode is still a place horder. But have to do the spine and the back text on the book too. Print covers are definitely a pain because then I have to start worrying about bleed and safe zone - arrrrrrgggh!!!
Plus, artists can't do the print covers until they know the dementions for the book and especially the spine size! So the author has to have the trim size of the book determined, everything formatted and uploaded, and decide if they want white pages or cream, do they have any interior images with bleed? Once they get all of that and it goes throught Createspace's online computer approval, THEN you know that you're trim size and spine are good to go.
Fortunately once you have this info, you don't need to figure out the size of the spine manually like you used to. Ugh! I hate math and that formula was a doozie. If you look - it's not easy to find - you gotta dig - you can find the cover templates on Createspace. There you can plug in the numbers and it will figure out the spine and layout for you. I just happen to have one of those handy too. lol!
But print covers with artists are an extra cost. So if you want ebook AND print, then you're looking at over $100. Cover artists also have promo deals, for over $150 you can get the above plus images suitable to use for website banners and Facebook covers, etc. And if you want the hat trick well there's another package that includes all plus book trailers.
Speaking of book trailers I found the one I started animating in Maya. It's sorta a demo reel I guess as I haven't had time to mess with it and put the rest of it together - but it does have music, camera cuts and frame blending. The other one is one I did in After Effects no 3d. Well, the image I did from photos and used Photoshop's 3'd capabilities to give ti some dimention.
You can view those two in my photobucket album - http://s245.photobucket.com/user/kathrynloch/library/Book%20Trailers%20-%20WIP%20incomplete
Well let' see if the new forums give me a problem with the attachments.
Any printing that needs to be done will always be at 300dpi even for my business cards. lol! When I first started doing my own, I'd forget to change that dpi and that got really frustrating. That's when I saved the presets.
Anyway that's about all I can think of at the moment. I've got something else to show y'all but I don't think it's going to let me post more than one image. So I'll make another to attach.
Okay I just finished this a little bit ago - I thought it would make a good promo. Technically that's all it is since the audiobook will only be downloadable - Audible doesn't do CD's. lol! But I thought it turned out cool. I found the jewel case for free but it was just flat. I tweaked it for the 3d effect. Whatcha think?
I like it! What is a good representation of a download only product now? Just the thumbnail? Too bad because I like the tangible representation.
Yes it's perfectly fine to call me that; after all, at some point I'll be able to get my username changed back. :) Thanks by the way for that information, I already have a lot of the kindle tools you mentioned but I'll go on Smashwords and do some digging.
When I was re-reading this I saw this and nearly spit my coffee out laughing. One crystal ball coming up. ;) And why the hell not? People already expect magic of us always.
That cd case came together nicely, even if it will only be a digital representation. The Amazon best seller emblem is a nice touch. Hope it makes you lots of new customers.
I hate the new forum. The old one was better to read, easier to find things.
That aside. I'm glad we do have a forum and can discuss things like our beloved book covers.
It worked for me
I was able to change my username and gallery name 
And I'm on Maxthon 3 which is no longer supported
So apparently it's JUST manne that makes it flip out. There must already be someone out there that switched and is using that username. I guess I'll just have to get more creative.
Yes names now have to be unique, and first one to bag a name gets it. The old forum did allow duplicates to happen, which caused all sorts of difficulties.
Thank you! Well on Amazon for Kindle books, you can upload the 3d box set image like the one I attached for mine for a cover. Smashwords doesn't allow them because either B&N or iBooks, I can't remember which, say the customer might believe they're getting a real box set when they're only getting a download. I can see their point. I get reviews saying how much people enjoy my stories but don't like it if I happen to have erotica in them. But those that do - that's how I market them. So don't yell at me because a book marketed as erotica has sex in it. Oh well, at least they like the story for the most part. lol! On Smashwords a box set cover has to be a flat image usually all of the covers stitched together to fit in the space the regular cover would. If Audible, which started off as it's own entity then later purchased by Amazon, was more like Kindle, I'm sure we could upload images like the jewel case I did for covers, since Amazon allows us to do it for the box set. But like I said before Audible is very specific about their cover images and I can't just arbitrarily change it on my own. I have to email support to do it which is a huge pain. But there's nothing saying I can't use that image as a promo on my own website for example and link it to the book on Audible.
I see you did just that! I like this way better because that way if we get new folks in they don't accidentally start calling you "esther" when they see the name. ;) The first thing you want to look for are the free books by Mark Coker.
The Style Guide
The Book Marketing Guide
Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success
And of course their FAQ page is full of info.
There might be some new stuff out too so look around. Like I said I don't have many books on Smashwords because of the sales numbers. I have a tough enough time just keeping up with Amazon. There's a lot more info you can find but I think you might have to sign up for an account. At least it's free and you don't get spammed or anything.
hehe! Of course they do! Especially if you put yourself out there as an artist or a writer. One must know everything! lol!
Thank you, First! I'm glad you like it! I need to find your Art of the Promo post I found some stuff that I think belongs with that thread.
Yeah, finding stuff is going to take a bit of getting used to, but I like the fact I can change it to the dark theme. I spend so many hours on the computer that the glare from white backgrounds drives me nuts after awhile. On my Kindle when I read most of the time I have the background black and the text white. At least with Scrivener I can change the background and text to that when I work on my writing. When I was on MS Word, I couldn't do that and it drove me nuts. This little window that we reply in gets enough glare going as it is. I also like the fact it's easier to do the quote reply in one post even if I have to look at the coding to do it. I'd rather get as many as I can in one post like this than post a zillion separate ones. And yes I absolutely agree that it's great to have a place to discuss this. I have to admit the DAZ forums are some of the most unique I've encountered. I'm very impressed at how they focus on welcoming new folks with contests and special attention given to give constructive advice in the WIP for the contests and stuff. The Coolminiornot forums were a bit like that. Putting your miniatures up for vote on the site could be risky in the fact you could get nailed with lower votes just because it wasn't a Games Workshop space marine. But if you're new to the site, you'd never know that. Some new folks relied on voter comments for constructive criticism but rarely found it. But if you visit the forums the folks there were incredibly helpful and encouraging. I made a couple of friends there that I know I'll keep for life even though I don't visit the forums a whole lot any more. In fact - one of those friends is the reason why I published my stuff on Amazon in the first place. If not for his encouragement, I wouldn't be an indie author and I certainly wouldn't be here working on book covers. ;) DAZ forums are quite unique and I very much like the people here. Looks like you guys are stuck with me now. ;)
Oh I can just imagine that nightmare! I was reading that if the forum ID was a duplicate, they looked at what you had in the gallery. If they matched, you won the clone wars - uh - sorry. ;) I need to look around to see if there is a "new posts button" like on the old forums. I used that a lot. I also need to see if there's a way to set the spell check to automatically go for all replies because I keep forgetting to set it on individual replies. Because the quoting is easier to do when looking at the source code I wish there was a way to show to code in color, but I think that last one isn't going to happen because I know a lot of forum software doesn't offer that. Still I do like the advantages of the new forums. I think it will just take some getting used to.
Thank you guys!
thank you Kathrynloch! :)
I wish I have the time to make a copy or almost the same set-up of the bookcovers of my boss. but I think, I would'nt be able to make good renders same as the covers. I just don't have much time to make my own portfolio. but I can used the bookcovers in my portfolio. but I can't just post them anywhere without my boss's permissions.
Sorry for the different name...It's me knight_yhue, I need to change my name here, because I can't get inside the forum for the past 2 days. I see some changes here in the forum. maybe this is the reason why...
Banditcameraman
Thank you...
Where safe here from egay, I'm here in cebu. but I don't know with the other 2 typhoon's coming near us... stay safe... I rendered them at once. I even had a hard time moving the angles of this during the set-ups of the scence, too much stuffs in it, I even deleted some ruins to lessen the lagged and crushes during the renders.... :)
_Manne_
Thank you... the forge of men cover, I mostly made them in blender, I use the genesis one and added some morp on it. and I forgot which bundle I use for the spears and shield on the ground. the trees, and plants are my post work inside GIMP... I render this on 3delight...
The admiral's challenges covers are both genesis 2, and I just made some adjustment on the faces of each character. and I added some scars on the textures map of genesis 2 face. and I also changed the diffuse color of the skin. I made the sword on blender... I render this on LDP-R.
On the first to fight cover, I used michael 4 for the main soldier i front. using the sedition armor on it and the AR ghost texture for the armor. the soldiers in front on him are genesis with the same armor, except with the helmet on them. the bacground setting are from stonemason. I used the sky cars and the M2A2 bradley and the blackhawk... most of the post work are done in GIMP again. I render it on Iray at once...
Most of the Pacific Crest Publishing artworks are from the previous artist. and some of them are from the combination of the previous artist and myself... This are just the first 3 covers that I finished myself alone for the pacific crest publishing... :)
Ok guys I've been super busy rendering this week, but I'm just having to grind stuff out right now. Looking for a little inspiration to get me out of my rut. Any ideas out there for covers?