Let's appreciate/discuss today's new releases - ongoing thread

lou_harper

I don't have much need for the sexy stuff, but the normal clothing is super useful. Now if only Linday started making normal outfits...

xyer0

lou_harper said:

I don't have much need for the sexy stuff, but the normal clothing is super useful. Now if only Linday started making normal outfits...

Oooh!!! Or maybe supernormal. 

tsroemi

I like BETTY stuff as much as the next one, but sometimes, they could really put a bit more effort into the description and promos of their things. Like the new leather accessories set (https://www.daz3d.com/betty-decorative-goth-accessory-pack-for-genesis-9): It looks real cool, but there is not even one render of the things on an actual character, and also no mention at all as to whether the chains on the chokers and especially the handcuffs are rigged or conforming or whatever. I know I know, I can return it etc, but it would be nice to not have to jump through these hoops. Wouldn't take too much effort, now, would it? Others are going to such great pains with their promos, like ChangelingChick.

If someone buys the set, maybe they would be so kind to post some renders where one sees how the chains behave? That would be so brilliant.

barbult

tsroemi said:

I like BETTY stuff as much as the next one, but sometimes, they could really put a bit more effort into the description and promos of their things. Like the new leather accessories set (https://www.daz3d.com/betty-decorative-goth-accessory-pack-for-genesis-9): It looks real cool, but there is not even one render of the things on an actual character, and also no mention at all as to whether the chains on the chokers and especially the handcuffs are rigged or conforming or whatever. I know I know, I can return it etc, but it would be nice to not have to jump through these hoops. Wouldn't take too much effort, now, would it? Others are going to such great pains with their promos, like ChangelingChick.

If someone buys the set, maybe they would be so kind to post some renders where one sees how the chains behave? That would be so brilliant.

It lists a bunch of supported shapes (character shapes) and calls them "accessories", so I would assume they conform to characters.

WendyLuvsCatz

I am eyeing off these because I cannot eat real chocolate in spite of being born on Feb 14 

https://www.daz3d.com/xi-valentines-day-props

no allergies just get too chonky

Ninefold

barbult said:

It lists a bunch of supported shapes (character shapes) and calls them "accessories", so I would assume they conform to characters.

I think what tsroemi wants to know is whether the dangling parts like the chains have their own articulation, rather than being glued to the chest or what-have-you.

tsroemi

Ninefold said:

barbult said:

It lists a bunch of supported shapes (character shapes) and calls them "accessories", so I would assume they conform to characters.

I think what tsroemi wants to know is whether the dangling parts like the chains have their own articulation, rather than being glued to the chest or what-have-you.

Thanks both - yeah, it's mostly about the dangly bits ;-) Things like these look so terrible if one cannot get them to react to gravity. But yes, it would also be nice to know whether these are props, wearables or what ...  

Pax Asteriae

tsroemi said:

Ninefold said:

barbult said:

It lists a bunch of supported shapes (character shapes) and calls them "accessories", so I would assume they conform to characters.

I think what tsroemi wants to know is whether the dangling parts like the chains have their own articulation, rather than being glued to the chest or what-have-you.

Thanks both - yeah, it's mostly about the dangly bits ;-) Things like these look so terrible if one cannot get them to react to gravity. But yes, it would also be nice to know whether these are props, wearables or what ...  

I picked it up because I could've done with it last month while I was working on a book cover. The handcuffs load as a figure rather than fitted props and the chain is rigged, and the cuffs and the chain can be loaded separately too. If you load both together, one end is attached to the right cuff and the other floats in space, to be moved into position (it doesn't do it automatically). I'll add renders soon; this scene renders really slowly...

Edit: Here is a super-quick and very grainy render of them as they load by default on a character; a screenshot of how they appear in the product library, and showing the chain rigging. I had a quick look and the leash is rigged too.

Edit 2: posing the chain takes a while, but is surprisingly therapeutic.

barbult

I bought the Sue Yee outfit https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-su-fashion-set-for-genesis-9-81-and-8-female that lou_harper pointed out yesterday. The belt is a separate accessory and it has a shorten morph, which I used to 100% here. I tried going beyond 100% by disabling limits, but the belt kinked.

Timbales

finally, some lingerie...

lou_harper

Timbales said:

finally, some lingerie...

 LOLOLOL!

Sexy lingerie and bondage gear for Valentine. I I didn't expect any different.

lou_harper

tsroemi said:

I like BETTY stuff as much as the next one, but sometimes, they could really put a bit more effort into the description and promos of their things. Like the new leather accessories set (https://www.daz3d.com/betty-decorative-goth-accessory-pack-for-genesis-9): It looks real cool, but there is not even one render of the things on an actual character, and also no mention at all as to whether the chains on the chokers and especially the handcuffs are rigged or conforming or whatever. I know I know, I can return it etc, but it would be nice to not have to jump through these hoops. Wouldn't take too much effort, now, would it? Others are going to such great pains with their promos, like ChangelingChick.

If someone buys the set, maybe they would be so kind to post some renders where one sees how the chains behave? That would be so brilliant.

Imo, the Goth Accessory pack, i.e. bondage gear, should have a couple of poses included for the handcuffs becuase stuff like that can only parented to one wrist. On the other hand, Sickleyield has a bunch of rope and chain props with poses that should work, more or less.

ainm.sloinneadh

I'm a sucker for characters with their own thing going on,  so I like the look of Herlinda's head shape: https://www.daz3d.com/mb-herlinda-hd-for-genesis-9

Going on my wishlist and will probably buy her sooner rather than later. For my own workflow, I've been creating a weight-mapped morph system similar to Meta Mixer, but using existing morphs rather than needing special variants of them. Characters like Herlinda work very well with weight-mapped morphing because you can mix in more of them before reaching a "won't change anything" state. At least, I suspect she'll work well - haven't bought her yet!

Is Magic Brush a new artist? I don't see many products under that name. I picked up Anda recently. I haven't tried her yet, but Herlinda and her appear encouraging.

tsroemi

Pax Asteriae said:

tsroemi said:

Ninefold said:

barbult said:

It lists a bunch of supported shapes (character shapes) and calls them "accessories", so I would assume they conform to characters.

I think what tsroemi wants to know is whether the dangling parts like the chains have their own articulation, rather than being glued to the chest or what-have-you.

Thanks both - yeah, it's mostly about the dangly bits ;-) Things like these look so terrible if one cannot get them to react to gravity. But yes, it would also be nice to know whether these are props, wearables or what ...  

I picked it up because I could've done with it last month while I was working on a book cover. The handcuffs load as a figure rather than fitted props and the chain is rigged, and the cuffs and the chain can be loaded separately too. If you load both together, one end is attached to the right cuff and the other floats in space, to be moved into position (it doesn't do it automatically). I'll add renders soon; this scene renders really slowly...

Edit: Here is a super-quick and very grainy render of them as they load by default on a character; a screenshot of how they appear in the product library, and showing the chain rigging. I had a quick look and the leash is rigged too.

Edit 2: posing the chain takes a while, but is surprisingly therapeutic.

Oh wow, thank you so much! This answers all of the questions I had, and even more, concerning the actual posing of the chains. Yeah, does sound tedious, but I think I'll go for it anyway - maybe something nicely unexciting to do on a rainy day ;-) 

barbult

ainm.sloinneadh said:

I'm a sucker for characters with their own thing going on,  so I like the look of Herlinda's head shape: https://www.daz3d.com/mb-herlinda-hd-for-genesis-9

Going on my wishlist and will probably buy her sooner rather than later. For my own workflow, I've been creating a weight-mapped morph system similar to Meta Mixer, but using existing morphs rather than needing special variants of them. Characters like Herlinda work very well with weight-mapped morphing because you can mix in more of them before reaching a "won't change anything" state. At least, I suspect she'll work well - haven't bought her yet!

Is Magic Brush a new artist? I don't see many products under that name. I picked up Anda recently. I haven't tried her yet, but Herlinda and her appear encouraging.

Here's a render of Herlinda.

joanna

barbult said:

Here's a render of Herlinda.

I like your render much more than the promo pictures. (Seriously, the promo made me pass, and your image makes me reconsider.)

barbult

joanna said:

barbult said:

Here's a render of Herlinda.

I like your render much more than the promo pictures. (Seriously, the promo made me pass, and your image makes me reconsider.)

Her skin is only Iray Uber, so she doesn't have the detail normal maps that a PBRSkin shader would have. That surprised me. I like the trenchcoat she is wearing, but it looks stupid with buttons with no thread sewing them on. And the button hole texture is pretty unrealistic, too.

richardandtracy

It's pretty bad. Looks like someone drilled a couple of starter holes, hacked it with a craft knife & then scratched the leather surface in pique rather than doing any sewing.

And unsewn bttons. Surely it's not that hard to model thread as part of the buttons.

At first glance the coat looks really nice, but those detail errors do rather detract. I must admit that I have never seen a button quite as high as is seen on the character's right shoulder, and only to have it on the right seems odd. That does seem to be a fashion faux pas to me, even if it's a real thing... (I often think high street & 'high' fashion need to consider practicality more.) But the fit to the character is nice and I like the quilting on the arms even though there's no stitching to make it look more 'real', as it is, it looks heat sealed - which makes it look a little bit 'cheap & nasty' to me, as you can only really heat seal vinyl leatherette & not leather (unless I have even more to learn than I thought).

Regards,

Richard

barbult

That button on the shoulder seems odd for sure. I'll have to investigate and see if the promos show it there, or if something went wrong in my scene.

ainm.sloinneadh

I think those buttons are to button back the collar? Would've expected one on front of the left shoulder too though. Or maybe there's one there hidden by the angle.

I was playing about with Herlinda last night and liked her shape a lot. Didn't use/look at her texture. Not sure I understand the differences between all the shaders enough to have an opinion. Does her being Uber make it more difficult to light her in scenes that have characters with the newer shader?

FenixPhoenix

barbult said:

ainm.sloinneadh said:

I'm a sucker for characters with their own thing going on,  so I like the look of Herlinda's head shape: https://www.daz3d.com/mb-herlinda-hd-for-genesis-9

Going on my wishlist and will probably buy her sooner rather than later. For my own workflow, I've been creating a weight-mapped morph system similar to Meta Mixer, but using existing morphs rather than needing special variants of them. Characters like Herlinda work very well with weight-mapped morphing because you can mix in more of them before reaching a "won't change anything" state. At least, I suspect she'll work well - haven't bought her yet!

Is Magic Brush a new artist? I don't see many products under that name. I picked up Anda recently. I haven't tried her yet, but Herlinda and her appear encouraging.

Here's a render of Herlinda.

I don't own the product, but it almost looks like the normal map involving the button sewing was exported as Direct X rather than Open GL. If that holds, the fix would be to select the area for that and flip the green channel in a 2D Editor.

barbult

FenixPhoenix said:

barbult said:

ainm.sloinneadh said:

I'm a sucker for characters with their own thing going on,  so I like the look of Herlinda's head shape: https://www.daz3d.com/mb-herlinda-hd-for-genesis-9

Going on my wishlist and will probably buy her sooner rather than later. For my own workflow, I've been creating a weight-mapped morph system similar to Meta Mixer, but using existing morphs rather than needing special variants of them. Characters like Herlinda work very well with weight-mapped morphing because you can mix in more of them before reaching a "won't change anything" state. At least, I suspect she'll work well - haven't bought her yet!

Is Magic Brush a new artist? I don't see many products under that name. I picked up Anda recently. I haven't tried her yet, but Herlinda and her appear encouraging.

Here's a render of Herlinda.

I don't own the product, but it almost looks like the normal map involving the button sewing was exported as Direct X rather than Open GL. If that holds, the fix would be to select the area for that and flip the green channel in a 2D Editor.

The buttonhole normal on the inside of the lapel digs into the cloth. The buttonhole normal on the outside of the coat cloth protrudes out. I don't think flipping the green channel will be a "fix". That would just make the ones on the lapel protrude and the ones on the coat indent. My main objection to the normal is the diagonal texture that doesn't look anything like keyhole buttonhole thread stitches. This is what a buttonhole looks like.

butterflyfish

Those buttonholes are... yikes. They must be meant to look like that, though. They look like that in the promos. I'd return it, personally.

barbult

butterflyfish said:

Those buttonholes are... yikes. They must be meant to look like that, though. They look like that in the promos. I'd return it, personally.

I only paid $2.27 for it in the big stacking sale lately. The coat itself seems nice, with several materials and shape options. I'll keep it in spite of the buttonholes. The upper button positions are strange, because I don't think the lapel buttonholes could reach those buttons. The buttons use rigid follow nodes, so I should be able to move them if I want to go to that work. If I were more skilled, maybe I could even change the normal map for the buttonholes, but that might be beyond me.

ainm.sloinneadh

The button holes on the collar are definitely in the wrong place to button the lapels shut, but I think they're in the correct place to button them back when the coat is open.

The stitching isn't great, which is a shame as it's an overall very nice product. Wasn't looking that closely before but now I can't unsee them.

Richard Haseltine

barbult said:

FenixPhoenix said:

barbult said:

ainm.sloinneadh said:

I'm a sucker for characters with their own thing going on,  so I like the look of Herlinda's head shape: https://www.daz3d.com/mb-herlinda-hd-for-genesis-9

Going on my wishlist and will probably buy her sooner rather than later. For my own workflow, I've been creating a weight-mapped morph system similar to Meta Mixer, but using existing morphs rather than needing special variants of them. Characters like Herlinda work very well with weight-mapped morphing because you can mix in more of them before reaching a "won't change anything" state. At least, I suspect she'll work well - haven't bought her yet!

Is Magic Brush a new artist? I don't see many products under that name. I picked up Anda recently. I haven't tried her yet, but Herlinda and her appear encouraging.

Here's a render of Herlinda.

I don't own the product, but it almost looks like the normal map involving the button sewing was exported as Direct X rather than Open GL. If that holds, the fix would be to select the area for that and flip the green channel in a 2D Editor.

The buttonhole normal on the inside of the lapel digs into the cloth. The buttonhole normal on the outside of the coat cloth protrudes out. I don't think flipping the green channel will be a "fix". That would just make the ones on the lapel protrude and the ones on the coat indent. My main objection to the normal is the diagonal texture that doesn't look anything like keyhole buttonhole thread stitches. This is what a buttonhole looks like.

Normals start from the geometry normal, so if this is a dForce item with only single-sdided mesh you would probably need a double-sided shader so that the back could have the normals inverted.

barbult

Richard Haseltine said:

barbult said:

FenixPhoenix said:

barbult said:

Here's a render of Herlinda.

I don't own the product, but it almost looks like the normal map involving the button sewing was exported as Direct X rather than Open GL. If that holds, the fix would be to select the area for that and flip the green channel in a 2D Editor.

The buttonhole normal on the inside of the lapel digs into the cloth. The buttonhole normal on the outside of the coat cloth protrudes out. I don't think flipping the green channel will be a "fix". That would just make the ones on the lapel protrude and the ones on the coat indent. My main objection to the normal is the diagonal texture that doesn't look anything like keyhole buttonhole thread stitches. This is what a buttonhole looks like.

Normals start from the geometry normal, so if this is a dForce item with only single-sdided mesh you would probably need a double-sided shader so that the back could have the normals inverted.

That is a very valid comment. But (as I said above) "My main objection to the normal is the diagonal texture that doesn't look anything like keyhole buttonhole thread stitches."
This is what the product buttonhole texture looks like. You can see that the uniformly angled lines bear no resemblance to the stitches of a real buttonhole (shown above). It kills the realism of the very nicely modeled and textured coat.

 

barbult

So, I moved a few buttons and added some button threads. I discovered that the lapels have their own surface, so I was able to invert the green channel to flip the normal for that surface only. Still, some of the buttonholes look indented insted of protruding. It must be the angle of the light, I suppose. I also applied the thickener to the collar and lapels. Enough for now - I did not attempt to fix the buttonhole diagonal line texture to be more realistic. Maybe another day...

I think adding the button threads was the most important change.

 

WendyLuvsCatz

I quite like the coat after seeing your render, added to wishlist

the link https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-winter-trench-coat-outfit-for-genesis-9-8-and-81-female

I probably would just omit the buttons anyway if I FBX exported it as too much trouble

(add my own in iClone or Unreal)

I have owned clothes with decorative buttons that don't actually do up, fake buttonholes too 

caravelle

I'm not interested in all that Valentine's stuff, but Feng's 'Spiral Building' with the wonderful old Viennese staircase (my enviable great aunt lived in such a house) looks fantastic. 'Castle Watchtowers 1' also looks promising