RAMWorks projects

[RAMWolff]

So here is some info for those that are still struggling, as am I at times, with iRay skin set up. Some notes to follow though

1. NO MAPS in the following channels: Translucency Weight and Transmitted Color
2. For things like masks (like eyebrows so they don't get washed out) plug your image map into the Translucency Color channel.
3. Where you see the little blue shaded color boxes are where I have maps plugged in...

 

[Miss B]

That skin texture setup for Iray look good Rich.

 

[RAMWolff]

Thank you Miss B!

 

[RAMWolff]

Redid the iRay surface settings for 3D Universes Axel hair... looked really really dull and lifeless regardless of the lighting so looked into his settings and fixed them up proper!

 

[Faery_Light]

Wow, you have been busy!
Looking good on all of it.

 

[RAMWolff]

So made a good purchase from 'Rosity today. Bought a Poser Script from Dimension 3D / Ralf. Perfect Skin SSS Pro. Works pretty well and sets up everything I need for a good skin setup including eyes and inner mouth. I will need to tweak it all though, looks like the bump is set up a bit high from where I'm sitting...

Here is a mixture of Bruno and my own Skinny morph and my head morph called Hunter. This is the Tommy Toon skin and one of my poses from my upcoming Mixed Poses for Dusk in Q&A right now...

 

[Miss B]

I'm a fan of Ralf's scripts as well.

 

[RAMWolff]

Well there is one issue with it, you have to turn off Hardware preview to see anything in the work area, if I don't then it looks like white marble. This is only for Poser 11 for some reason. SO hopefully SM is aware of this and will fix it

 

[RAMWolff]

Seems that the clones for the Hivewire figures works out very very nicely. Now if I could just get a good weight mapping for clothing for clothing for all the figures. I HATE weight mapping. The Dusk Supersuit base was refitted to Dawn perfectly and the weight mapping seems to be right on the money as there are no poke throughs with any pose I throw at it... YAY..

 

[RAMWolff]

Been working on things as I've had time. I really want to try to get my character packs done but that all got sidelined with my current endeavor. Making my HairStrands a reality. I've done the hard work now I have to do the unfun work of getting them into 3Delight and possibly Poser. I'm not sure about Poser though folks. I'm sorry to say my old brain has a hard enough time with iRay and keeping a toe in the 3DL waters. IF there was a good script to convert over to Poser with one fell swoop I'd seriously keep a Poser toe in the water. I think once I get the 3DL settings done there is a script that I have on board that may do the trick but it's old so not sure if it even works in DS 4.9.

So here is my attempt to get Tina Toon rendered in 3DL... She looks good. Not as pretty and soft as in iRay I must say. I did get a bunch of makeup's done for her and some cornea highlights done for her and Tommy Toon and got quite a few fantasy eyes settings done too but again this is all for iRay, getting all that into 3DL with the possibility of Poser is ... I don't know.

If any DS 3DL users are interested in schooling me a bit about what they like and use feel free to post. One note: For what ever reason Uber Surface 2 is not functioning in 4.9. I couldn't even get it working in 4.5. There was word that there was a flag of some sort that DAZ knows about but hasn't fixed yet for what ever reason so I'm hoping that it's more a universal issue rather than some weird thing about my system. I've tried reinstalling both 4.5 and 4.9 to see if that would fix this weird bug but it doesn't. I get black renders. Rest of the lights I've tried all work fine so I'm kinda stuck with what I can use to get my test renders done to see how all this looks as I move forward! SUCKS!

The first I'll probably finish will be the HairStrands pack for Fashionista Hair. I started the Hero Hair one too but boy, the UV Mapping on that one is very tricky. So that may take me a while to get that one done. I did make a new transmap for the Hero hair that softens it up a bit more and I plan on doing on for the default Dawn's hair with that strange blocky bit in the front that just doesn't look right to me, AT ALL! One of the reasons I don't use that hair. I may take it into ZBrush and create some new morphs for around the face too.... just needs SOMETHING to make it more attractive. Sorry, don't mean to knock anyones work, I just want ALL the hair that comes out of this fine company to SHINE a bit more. So once I'm done with my character packs I think I'll be delving more and more into Hair... go figure!

 

[Ken1171]

Well there is one issue with it, you have to turn off Hardware preview to see anything in the work area, if I don't then it looks like white marble. This is only for Poser 11 for some reason. SO hopefully SM is aware of this and will fix it

I may be mistaken, but I believe OpenGL hardware previews cannot display effects that require raytracing.

 

[RAMWolff]

Been working away in my free time. I have the settings for both iRay and 3Delight done. I'm not doing them for Poser, so sorry folks but my brain hurts too much when I try to go outside my comfort zone. So the only alternative is if someone wants to make the settings and we can work out a percentage of the sales for that. I did that with Paul for my Gear set for Dawn. If someone wants to step up for that task I ask that you be proficient in both programs as the settings must be close to the ones in DS. This way you can see what they look like rendered in DS and try to copy that over to Poser as much as you can. They have been beta tested by my tester in DS. I can look at the settings in Poser if someone does them and needs feedback. I just hate all the back and forth between nodes, it's a bit daunting for me. Setting up settings in DS is much easier for me.

I'm now trying to figure out promo ideas. I made a morph in ZBrush for the Fashionista Hair to blow forward. I think it looks quite nice as it's got some wild flow to it. I love the Move and Trans Move brushes.... fun fun fun...

So here are two promo ideas.. nothing set in stone as of yet but some feedback would be nice.

Also found the sweet spot for the Tina skin, looks pretty good now. Tina is my go too girl shape for Dawn and once I refine Tommy he will more than likely be my go too shape for Dusk. For now at least. Bruno and Bruna are still in the bucket with improvements that need to be put into place... it's just about time... not much of it!

 

[Pendraia]

I love the hair morphs Ram! I know what you mean about time and there never being enough of it...

 

[RAMWolff]

Here is a third I just rendered. Like this one too... now the feedback from the Hive is that they suggest that I use Dawn and Dawn's skin. I'm not digging that but if someone could give me a plausible reason I'll think about it...

 

[RAMWolff]

PS.. this is the morph used at only 25%... pretty nice!

 

[Rae134]

the only thing I can think of for using Dawn and her own skin would be that people are used to looking at that so they have more of an idea of what the hair would look like when they use it? Maybe you use Dawn for at least the main promo if that's the case?

 

[Pendraia]

Perhaps because Tina appeals to a specific genre where Dawn has a broader general appeal. It might bring you more sales to do that. Remember that what you trying to do with promos is sell the product.

 

[RAMWolff]

OK. Makes sense.... It is for hair strands though so not sure why that makes sense! lol

 

[Rae134]

Oh RAM, you're a hairstylist, you know how much hair can change a person hehe

 

[RAMWolff]

I made my own shader with this new product in the store at DAZ found here: N.G.S. Anagenessis 2 - Revolution | 3D Models and 3D Software by Daz 3D

While it's made for the Genesis family he is going to release a freebie that will allow to use it with other figures and props. So my first go at getting my dear Tina done.... quite nice. I'm at work now so can't post the render but WOW... two maps only used. TWO! Hyper good results. Will make for a much lighter pack. It's all in the shader values! I'm impressed. Cool thing is it's a merchant resource too! That was a huge PLUS for me!