Let's appreciate/discuss today's new releases - ongoing thread
Hylas
Posts: 5,026
Is anybody interested in an ongoing thread for thoughts, questions, discussions, and appreciation of all the new items in the store, from today or the past few days?
Maybe you want to express a thought or two but don't feel like it warrants a whole new thread.
And feel free to post some renders!
I imagine this thread being more about the items themselves and less about sales, coupons, discounts, special offers, and all that.
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Joe Quick's Toon Heroes for G9 looks amazing! I personally am not getting involved with G9 (yet) but this product has me excited none the less. It looks so good!
The only critisism I have (based on the promos) is that the black skin appears to not have lighter palms (and presumably soles). I think even a simplified toon skin should have less pigmented palms and soles.
Enchanted Attic looks wonderful! Not sure if I have use for it, I have to think about it.
JWolf's Expressions are interesting to me. I generally like their work and there's certainly nothing wrong with this new set. But I don't see the difference between this and the average G8.1 expression set. If G9 has improved expressions I don't see it here.
What do y'all think about today's new releases?
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Comments
I've barely touched DS in six months, but there was no way in hell I wasn't buying the new JoeQuick characters.
The things of interest to me are the JW Expressions (but am holding off for a power pose/face control type product) and E3D Ayna, who looks cute but the close up image of the redhead (image 7) doesn't at all match up to the product description of '05 Realistic Eye Colors'.
in the current climate i'm having to become a more discerning costumer and i truly believe that we have to hold Daz and the venders accountable, so if i notice something is off either before a purchase or after then i'll avoid or return it.
I am very picky with purchasing content now, especially this time of year with lots of bills and the holidays coming up. As for the toon heros, it's probably a quality product knowing the PA, but I have no use for toon anything.
I like the look of TMA Aaliyah for Genesis 8.1 Female, but knowing that PA puts their files in the most awkward locations keeps me from buying from them (DAZ needs to set them straight on file locations. A user shouldn't have to search for the shaping and materials folders for files to load from a character)
Enchanted Attic does look nice and useful for some of my projects.
I haven't jumped on the G9 bandwagon yet, but seeing new heels for her might make me jump sooner than I thought!!.
That's a bit strange. I would look in People\<insert Genesis version here>\Characters\charactername (or People\<insert Genesis version here>\Characters\vendorname\charactername)for the shaping presets (at least for figures prior to Genesis 9) and expect the materials in a subfolder of that. I'd also expect a vendor specifc scaled actor preload in People\<insert Genesis version here>\Characters. That's pretty much how I have the few custom characters I've done in zBrush set up in DAZ Studio.
Exactly, that is how most are packaged. If you look at the readmes, there is a single character load under the PAs name in characters and all other files are in shaping and materials instead of subfolders in the character folder .
Same. G9 expressions/poses/morphs/gear will have to be improvements, or no sale for me. In fact, I just realized that my impression of G9 expressions is based on my initial impression of V9's expressions rather than any actual improvement I've seen in G9 expressions, even the DO Expression pack, whose promo pretty much sums up my reaction.
FSMCDesigns said:
I like the look of TMA Aaliyah for Genesis 8.1 Female, but knowing that PA puts their files in the most awkward locations keeps me from buying from them (DAZ needs to set them straight on file locations. A user shouldn't have to search for the shaping and materials folders for files to load from a character)
Thanks. You just reminded me why I returned TMA Andrea, who is otherwise quite striking. I really like Aaliyah, but could we get a 3/4 or profile promo? Different hairstyle? Stunning model though. Captures that moment just a few months before she hits the wall.
Like Gordig, I'm barely rendering anymore.
As I try to get other nagging persistent problems out of my hair, there isn't time, but I still, bored, nervous, and obsessive, check the DAZ Store daily, and like JoeQuicks' Toon Kids for G9, Toon Heroes for Genesis 9 | Daz 3D was purchased on release day.
I've really only plans to use them in games with the interactive license and get them in Blender to use in animation practice. I never originally planned on doing any DAZ Studio renders at all but I'm glad I did.
I'm very happy with JoeQuick's work on this product, once again.
However, this purchase came out of my store credit and I had enough to buy Michael 9 saved in there but no more, so now I will have to add that $18 back in at the 1st of December. I'm expecting Michael 9 to release during Thanksgiving week. It's not a big deal though since the unimesh and Genesis 9 Essensial Expansion already make male and female characters already possible. I don't even need to buy Michael 9 but the obssessive collector in me likely still will. I don't feel the same obsessiveness with buying the other characters, just Michael & Victoria as I've bought them for so many years.
That is how Daz has tended to package the name-and-number "base" characters, too.
This is something people disagree on - when creators of photo-real(ish) characters do the same and they are called out others (or the PA themsleves) will post to say that their palms and soles are not noticeably lighter.
I have a question about Aaliyah. Does she have a no makeup option? The promos don't show.
If you just go on a few image searches of 'black palms,' the 'answer' is 'it varies considerably.'
Some dark-skinned folks, the palm is, at most, very slightly lighter. Others, the palm is dramatically lighter. And everything in between.
It's a good point though. I wonder how hard it would be for me (or anyone else) to use diffuse overlay to blend the medium (default) skin with the dark skin.
Edit: it was pretty easy. These files should get folded into the main product at some point, but here they are until then.
Searching for "black palms" gives me pictures of palm trees. Searching for "black skin palms" gives me mostly images of melanoma, yikes!
"Hands of black people" finally gives me mostly exactly that, but almost everybody in those images seems to have considerably lighter skin on their palms.
Aaaaaaaaanyway, I was under the impression that all black people have lighter skin on their palms and soles but I stand corrected. Happy to have learned something!
Well, this was in yesterday's sale but here are some test renders of Mousso's gorgeous Ravenna https://www.daz3d.com/mso-ravenna-for-genesis-9-female Mousso's characters can be blonde too lol!
Been black a long time. Lots of black family members too. Known a lot of black people in person. NEVER seen a black person that was as dark as / darker than caramel with palms/soles the same color as their skin. This is such an anomaly that it would instantly be brought to the attention of others.
But it's a toon by JoeQuick; so, no sweat.
I've always noticed lighter palms and soles on darker complexions. I used to wonder why. Nature did that to not waste body's metabolic needs building and maintaining melanin in mostly unexposed areas. You wonder how it figured that out but it did. Little savings like that add up over a lifetime.
I didn't notice though on the JoeQuick toons today though, because they are toons. If you do then you are drawing attention with more realism away from the rest of the character. You start thinking, well where are the palm lines like life lines and such?
Ooh, this hits close to home! I was thinking about getting buying Toon Heroes until I learned about the palms so that that is now a definite "nope".
I have a long career as a scientist and I remind you that scientist love repeatable verifiable data. Physical anthropology has answered the question about the color of human's palms and soles a long time ago and there is a wealth of scientific data and papers on the topic. In short, most people, worldwide, have the same color range for their palms and soles. I am loathe to use Wikipedia as a source but the statement is succinct and the appropiate supporting documentation is there so: "Color is not entirely uniform across an individual's skin; for example, the skin of the palm and the sole is lighter than most other skin, and this is especially noticeable in darker-skinned people." Here is a typical example of real scientic data on the matter: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7149195/
I should mention that I am a "redbone" and have been keenly interested in accurate representation of Black people in 3d since the pre Daz3d days from the time of Posette. At this point, I should mention three points that may point out sources of confusion. The first is that there may be some extremely rare examples of people who have melanated palms and soles. These people are extremely rare (probably less than 0.001%), but since there are people born with extra nipples, fingers and toes, eyes, tails etc.., we can't rule them out. Second, even though 99.99% of humanity have the same palm/sole color (it should be mentioned that they have also the same gum, tongue, canthus, teeth, and sclera color), people forget that palms and soles aren't albino and can tan a bit. Finally, the palms and sole have few melanocytes so blushing can radically affect the visible color making them appear lighter and darker. Here is an example of that phenomenon (note that the tops of their hands are always going to be darker since there are more melanocytes on the tops of your hands):
It goes without saying that people are often just inobservant. There is a famous example when chromosomes were discovered. researchers miscounted them and it took decades before someone recounted them and discovered tht the count was off and that there are 23 pairs.
As I mentioned, I am a "redbone", with my own ancestry as an American almost as much English/Welsh as it is West African. There is a point where inaccurate representation veers out of the uncanny valley into caricature: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/why-do-cosmetics-companies-keep-blacking-up-womens-hands-in-ads_uk_5b7143f9e4b0ae32af997c4c as in the case of this this cosmetic company that simply covered this model with brown makeup rather than hiring a model of appropriate skin color.
Joe Quick's Toon Heroes for G9 do look tasty AF.
If there's more where that came from, especially at a fair price like that, I can see investing in G9!
I just bought the Zirael car although I seldom buy on release - but this is just such a well-made model, and so much thought and care for details went into it. About everything is moveable or exchangeable, there's left and right drive versions, customizable number plates you can also use for other cars, working seat belts, working seats ... Amazing really! I think it's really very good value for the money.
Just saw Michael 9 first time today - not sure what I think about him yet. A bit bland maybe, compared to Vicky 9, no? But not bad I reckon. Will wait for some customer renders
new Stoney looks nice
https://www.daz3d.com/the-streets-of-the-medieval
I'm trying to remember if we've ever had a Stoney set in a figure bundle before. Probably, but I don't remember specifically. LOL
Agreed, very nice!
not big on male figures, so not to interested in the new Michael, but really love the The King's Guard Outfit. Reminds me of the outfits from the Musketeers series on BBC
Michael 9 looks good. He reminds me a bit of Oscar Isaac around the eyes.
SF-Design's Bodymorph Kit looks like it has what I've been wanting - options to deal with G9M's chest.
Ultimate Buzzcut Hair has some nice variety to it.
Muscleman Multi-Base looks very useful.
I think I'm going to buy V9 for the extra male skin options in lieu of picking up an M9 bundle.
okay, if we're doing appreciation, then I want to throw this hair into the hat. I've literally spent weeks looking for something like this. Just the day before yesterday I actually threw in the towel and bought some men's hair I wasn't thrilled about to "make do" and then this morning I woke up to this. I was ecstatic! Honestly, even looking at the back of the hair I'm blown away, it actually has texture, not just some unrealistically straight bristles. I love it! I'll be following this artist's work from here on out. Marty Mane Hair for Genesis 8 Male and Genesis 9 https://www.daz3d.com/marty-mane-hair-for-genesis-8-male-and-genesis-9
While it's a great hair which is most definitely perfectly usable on female characters as well I don't think it is much of an improvement over the not exactly recent Fraser hair, tbh. https://www.daz3d.com/fraser-hair
I will get it nonetheless to have an alternative to the mentioned hair.
I absolutely love The Row House but it's not unconditional... So far the G9 stuffs not for me https://www.daz3d.com/apocalyptique-the-aftermath-collection-for-genesis-9 but it'll come.
A characters head is always my main focus - morph, expression, eye colour, hair, facial hair, etc - so a product that covers the face is always going to have a very tough time with me. That's why my knights in shining armour never, ever wear helmets, unpractical as it is.
That being said, their previously released product Mysterieux looks so amazing I wishlisted it despite it covering most of the face and head.
OSO's new Beard/brow/hair for G9 is really nice. Not bought it yet but as a hairdresser I'm always intrigued when new hair models are released regardless of the platform (DS or Poser). The main promo really doesn't do the set justice. Check it out and all the various shapings and options, you will be amazed. Nice going man!
https://www.daz3d.com/oso-dforce-hair-1-for-genesis-9
Appreciated!
I kind of went crazy with options. Heh. And the way the hair colors work, it should be pretty easy for people to tweak and expand on it.