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Nataani for Dusk

Seliah (Childe of Fyre)

Running with the wolves.
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
It would be really neat, yes. I'm hoping both Luna and Dawn can make use of the LIE presets. I will test that out once I have this set of material poses saved to the library. :)

They will need the end user to adjust the x/y translation and possibly scale of the splatters inside of the LIE editor when used on the girls, but I want to see how it goes myself first, so I know how much fiddling it will require or if it works for sure at all.
 

Seliah (Childe of Fyre)

Running with the wolves.
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
Making more progress here on the bumps and material poses. I have the base skin mat done, and I have the clean face hair MATs completed and saved to the library.

I went and took another look at the LIE images folder. It was just WAY too big for my liking. So I opened up all of the bits and bobs one at a time and simply did another save-overwrite and I have succeeded in reducing the size of that folder down to something manageable. For some damn reason it was up over 500 mbs! I have it down to 71.1 mbs now. LOL

Getting back to work now. :)
 

Seliah (Childe of Fyre)

Running with the wolves.
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
YIKES! That's some difference Seliah.

Yeah, no kidding! I was starting to doubt whether or not I'd be able to release LIE presets just because of the size of the folder!! And then I got annoyed and decided to open them all up and re-save, and voila! Down to a MUCH more acceptable size!

I have NO clue why they saved at such large file sizes (seriously, for a transparent layer that only has ONE little splatter on it, they were saving at like 20-30mbs a PIECE).... but, well.... I fixed their little red wagon and got the size down to an acceptable number. :x3:
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
Textures can quickly mount up...especially if you're saving Jpeg's at top quality...but png's are even worse.
 

Seliah (Childe of Fyre)

Running with the wolves.
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
Yes, well when I know all the maps are exactly how I want them in my PSD file, I export them out as .jpg's with compression to avoid the astronomical file sizes. The PNGs, I'm not entirely sure what happened. All I did to reduce their size was click Open and then click Save. I really did not do anything else. Whatever it was, it worked to get the folder down to an acceptable file size, so I am not going to complain. ;)
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
No, I wouldn't complain either, as long as the desired effect was reached. ;)
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
There are different types of png's I noticed when I was using the save for the web function. Maybe it was a different type of png saved?
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
I generally use PNG-24, and if I want transparency, then I would have left the center area of the border design empty, and then checked the Transparency checkbox right under where you would choose the PNG-24 option. I suspect the "24" option may include more details, and therefore a "heavier" weight, but since the border is just plain white, you might even be able to get decent results with PNG-8. I just wouldn't use that for something with lots of colors in it.
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
MissB, are you talking about the postage stamp frame? This is the Nataani thread...some good advice there though.
 

Seliah (Childe of Fyre)

Running with the wolves.
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
And I've got an acceptable "low" bump (face) setting for close-up rendering now. I'm hoping to finish the dirty skin face MATs and at least start on the body/limb ones tonight or tomorrow.

Here's another render - applied Mustache 2 option - then apply the Lo Bump option for the face - and then rendered. I used 2 DS-native spotlights, 1 AOA spotlight, and 1 AOA Advanced Ambient light (used as a fill light). No postwork. 900x900 pixels image size. I did re-save it as a .jpg with comprpession, though. (The raw export was over 1mb - the usual PNG thing.) Texture, Spec, and Bump maps in use. No Normal maps on this, lowered overall bump strength, as well as adjusted the positive and negative bump values. This is the bump setting meant for close-up or high-resolution renders. If the "Lo" bump option is not applied and you render him up close or at very high resolution, his skin will look like sandpaper.

Nataani-BumpsLo2.jpg


Still working on the material settings for the body and limbs yet. Those are still WIP. Hopefully I will have those finished tomorrow, and then I can finish up the LIE preset MATs. I still have a couple more poses to finish tweaking on for him as well. He is not quite done yet, but he is getting close. :)
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
Maybe she is, but parts of it are still relevant, too! LOL. We were talking a little bit regarding PNG file sizes... ;)

Yup, I forgot what thread I was in. Sorry. :(

No problem...I totally understood how it happened. I feel like the conversation is jumping from thread to thread too! I had to double check which thread I was in when I read your post.

@Seliah, he is coming along beautifully. I love that he is such a distinct and original character!
 

Seliah (Childe of Fyre)

Running with the wolves.
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
Continuing work on the bumps... working on the torso and limb bump settings now... this is a WIP of the "Lo" for close-up renders bump setting... still a touch too strong yet, but it's dinner time so I have to let it go for at least a few minutes here. LOL

Incidentally, it's the hands and feet that give away the fact that I started with Tosca's African MR for him... I think that's kind of amusing. You can't really see the African base in his skin until you look up close at the hands and feet... but that MR just worked so much better for this skin tone than the original one that came with Dusk!

900x900 pixel size; no postwork. Same lights as before.

Nataani-BumpsLo3.jpg


@Seliah, he is coming along beautifully. I love that he is such a distinct and original character!

When I set out to morph a figure, it rarely comes out looking "stock." They tend to take on a personality and a voice of their own in my head while I'm working on them, and Nataani was no different. So, it's very rare for me to make a character that looks like it came stock out of the box. ;) Each one has a life all their own for me. :D
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
That's what I love about this morph Seliah...in regard to the maps I assume your talking about the colour around the knuckle areas? If you hadn't have mentioned the hands I wouldn't have realised it was from that set.
 

Seliah (Childe of Fyre)

Running with the wolves.
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
And one more... lightened the bump strength on his arms and removed the normal map for the up-close "Lo" bump setting. I think this is much better; still have the detail, but no longer looks like sandpaper. Still needs to be adjusted a little lower, though... but improving.

I'll adjust the torso and leg bumps for the high-resolution render sizes tomorrow. I'm getting tired on this end and I have figured out by now that when I start having to double check "did I change this value/that color/that map" type of stuff, it's time to put it down for the night. :)

Nataani-BumpsLo5.jpg


That's what I love about this morph Seliah...in regard to the maps I assume your talking about the colour around the knuckle areas? If you hadn't have mentioned the hands I wouldn't have realised it was from that set.

Yes, Ma'am. The knuckles, and the color differences between the top of the feet and the soles. Those areas, some of the African still bleeds through a little bit. I was not able to fade them out without losing detail that I didn't want to lose, and Nataani decided that he liked it well enough as it was, so I moved forward with texturing him. ;)

But yes, I actually built him off of Tosca's African resource MR for Dusk from our store here. I just needed a good middle point between the original MR skin that came with Dusk, and the African skin... and I had better luck reaching that middle point from the African resource than I did reaching it from the original resource skin, so I just rolled with it. :D

Mostly, it's not noticeable in standard view renders, but I at least see it plainly when looking at his hands or feet in very close-up like these test renders. I just thought it was a little amusing that just a tiny bit of the African still bleeds through on those two areas, whereas the rest of the skin shows almost no sign of it.
 
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