SKYLAB CHAT

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

That has to be massively discouraging, but on the other hand, you'll have it mastered when this is over.

It was a little frustrating, but I have the hard part done - the update to the texture maps. I missed a seam on the one thigh, and when I updated to the newer maps for the underlying skin resource, I ended up with multiple seams all over the figure on the dirt maps ONLY. So that's where the bulk of the work was. I didn't have to redraw a lot of the map, just the stuff surrounding a few of the seams.

The bumps and normals ended up needing to be re-made because the old ones were doing not-nice things with the new texture maps. And I have to update the MAT poses because the new bump and normal maps need different values.

By and large, the hardest part of it is done; the rest is mainly just making new bump and normal maps and adjusting the material settings, which won't take me nearly as long as re-drawing the dirt around some of the seams did.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

I can't imagine placing that much in a scene at one time...because I'm used to the "white screen" in the middle of my work...when you get that little hint that comes in the form of "Poser is not responding" prompts, and then zap, it vanishes. I had to learn to save my work often, or else...the white screen monster could eat it...haha

Yeah, I don't get that type of warning anymore. With Poser 7, I would get the white screen... or else I would hit render and it would just be a totally black rendered screen. That's how I knew with P7 that I needed to re-save and not try to touch anything else or Poser would crash.

With P10, there doesn't seem to be any warnings. Just all of a sudden it crashes straight to the desktop, or else I try to render and it crashes to the desktop with "memory" errors. (Memory... snorts.) I blame most of the P10 crashes on the fact that it's a 32-bit piece of software which tells me it's probably not taking full advantage of my 12GBs of RAM. LOL But either way, the end result is that I use Poser for content support only, and do all my actual own artwork inside of DS.

 

[skylab]

I certainly understand, if you're trying to do commercial work, and keep some kind of work flow and schedule, I can see why you'd use whatever worked for you and your system resources. That's one reason the STORE WARS and SOFTWARE WARS makes no sense...only the individual knows what will work for them...and bickering over it does little good.

Here's the first draft of the M4 and V4 part of the project. I think I'll release this as a separate add-on, since if I get too many figures going at one time in one set, people tend to get confused...then I'll get emails and comments and questions...haha.

I normally have zero patience with clothing, so this has been a massive stretch for me...but I felt the need to put forth at least some effort on the promos for Mark's sake. He does great work, so it deserves appropriate effort on my part.

 

[skylab]

I wonder what they were thinking when they created the base V4 to have an obvious green hue? And what miracle does it take to make her "normal"...I mean, this was with a nice texture set applied...she still looks green compared to everybody else, and I've got the light colors cranked way over into the flesh tones.

 

[skylab]

I just installed and applied the zero hand pose and it's great...I used the same pose that mangled the hands before, got the same result, then used the zero both hands...straightened all those gnarly knuckles right out...thanks again It really would make a great freebie set, to reset body parts independently...for as many figures as you were game to create.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Hmm. I'll have to look at V4 again when I'm back to the laptop. On the phone screen, I don't see any green in her skin on that render of yours. But I'll check from the pc after I finish eating.

It really would make a great freebie set, to reset body parts independently...for as many figures as you were game to create.

Yep. I already did a set for the HW human figures. I'll flesh out the Gen4 set shortly, and probably do one for the Gen3's as well. I could easily do sets of Zeroes for the Genesis figures as well, but those take a bit more clicking to achieve, so probably won't do them today...

I'm glad the hand resets help, though. I think partial resets are a great tool for pose creators.

 

[skylab]

Hands require the most work when the mesh gets damaged...and M4 looked like he had flippers there for awhile...haha. That's when I posted for help...haha.

I can remember seeing utilities like this in the past, but honestly freebies are disappearing so fast, and when they are gone...that's it. ShareCG stays pretty stable, once it's there, it stays. Even Sarah's stuff is still there, and she passed in 2011. But on Rendo, it's like a revolving door, things come and go so fast...before you know it, they are non-functioning links. So there's a major need right now for stable, committed freebie makers...and good stuff too, not 15 postings for diffuse color change mats for the same figure...haha.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Okay. Finished nibbling, and back on the computer.

Looking at the render again, I have to confess that I just don't see any green coloring to V4's skin under the lights you've used. I know she has a slight greenish tinge to her skin. I correct it usually in surfaces by setting a diffuse color of very, very pale yellowish/brown tones. It seems to help absorb the greenish tinge.

But I also don't use her default skin texture very much, either. It's extremely rare, as even in my item promos I tend to dress the figures up a little bit.

Rendo is a revolving door for a number of reasons, and always has been honestly. ShareCG is more permanent because the files are uploaded directly to their servers, rather than being on the provider's webspace only. I understand what you mean about freebies disappearing, though. I also have noticed that the volume of new ones is reducing as people are being more encourage to sell everything.

I've been making freebies since 2004, and I doubt that will stop anytime soon. I might go through very long dry spells where I don't produce anything new, but I always come back to it eventually. LOL

 

[skylab]

Me too...I had to take a couple of long breaks, like several months, for health reasons, but so far I've bounced back at it again. One of these days I guess I won't be able to bounce back...don't like to dwell on those things...but I'll just say if you guys don't see or hear anything from me certainly after a few months, it might be cause to wonder if skylab really is relocated to a sky-lab...haha. I hope to do all I can while I'm here, while I'm still physically able. I enjoy challenges, and creating something with something resembling a deadline...I think folks let themselves go idle as they get older, and it affects their health and attitude. When I was young, our family doctor used to say it was better to wear out than rust out...I didn't know what he meant at the time...but now I have some idea

Fixing lunch now...you reminded me that I needed to eat...so meds can follow.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Yeah. I can empathize, Sky.

And lunch... yep, I kinda had to eat because I skipped my breakfast entirely. Normally I eat at least a handful of berries with my water and-or coffee in the morning, but I skipped even the berries this morning. LOL

 

[skylab]

I have that issue too...I can get so focused on art projects, I forget to eat, and sometimes sleep. Often the insomnia goes in spurts, a side effect of the meds, so I'm thankful I can have a night owl type hobby when that happens...because I can always catch up sleep later when I need to. When I crash, then that's it...I'm down for the count...haha. It works well too with Mark being all the way in New Zealand...since it's definitely "night shift" for those of us on the east coast. I think Jo, my loyal fishie, kinda misses it when I don't sit up nights working on projects, as he gets used to the extra attention. It was so funny this morning...I wasn't really hungry enough for a meal, was just going to have a few no-salt crackers, and tried to be quiet opening the package...I glanced over at the tank and he was at the edge of the tank glass, giving me the look, hadn't missed a thing, that I was trying to get away with eating without him...haha.

 

[skylab]

I've been meaning to ask, I've seen several posts alluding to things happening at Rendo that are upsetting to folks. Do you mind my asking what it is, or is that opening a "can of worms"?

 

[skylab]

I see that Alisa has started a thread listing all of the products that have moved here from RDNA...that's a really good idea, so people can keep track of where stuff is now.

 

[Miss B]

Looking at the render again, I have to confess that I just don't see any green coloring to V4's skin under the lights you've used.

Afternoon ladies. I'm also not seeing a greenish tint to V4's skin in that render Sky.

BTW, thanks for the link to Corvas' V4 Smoothing freebie. While I was at it, I checked out his SDV4 MorphEx product, and may just pick it up today. I hadn't seen that one before.

 

[skylab]

Hey Miss B

Are you saying you don't see a difference in the hue of V4's hands and M4's body? And V4's face...is she not quite green? I'm seeing it here on two different monitors, plus it shows up on my laptop.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

I've been meaning to ask, I've seen several posts alluding to things happening at Rendo that are upsetting to folks. Do you mind my asking what it is, or is that opening a "can of worms"?

Eh. Just more Rendo staff being draconian. The usual SOP for them these days. They're further restricting what people are and are not allowed to post on the forums.. to the point that it's difficult to even point another user to a tutorial link online, because of the policy surrounding linkage that they are trying to convince everyone is just such a GREAT idea. (And people are not swallowing the b/s. LOL)

So just business as usual for Rendo.

Are you saying you don't see a difference in the hue of V4's hands and M4's body? And V4's face...is she not quite green? I'm seeing it here on two different monitors, plus it shows up on my laptop.

I don't see the green in the renders with your flesh toned lights, Sky. Yes, I see the greenish tinge on the other render with the more neutral lighting. But in the renders where you have the reddish colored lighting, no, I don't see green on her hands.

I usually counteract the greenish tinge on V4's default skin by setting a different diffuse color.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

I just installed and applied the zero hand pose and it's great...I used the same pose that mangled the hands before, got the same result, then used the zero both hands...straightened all those gnarly knuckles right out...thanks again It really would make a great freebie set, to reset body parts independently...for as many figures as you were game to create.

Going back to this... I've actually got the V4, M4, and K4 resets done. Got V3, M3, and a Matt/Maddie version done as well. Actually getting the Luke/Laura version done as we speak in between waiting on my DS test renders to finish for the bump maps. LOL (I have to admit it's nice that Matt/Maddie can use the same poses and same for Luke/Laura.)

Doing the Poser versions first, because poses convert TO Studio fine, but do not convert from Studio to Poser as easily.

Head, Neck, Arms (both, left, and right), hands (both, left, and right), legs (both, left, and right), feet (both, left, and right), full body, upper body, lower body. 17 resets for these figures.. should be enough to help any pose creator. LOL

 

[Miss B]

Hi Sky, I see the difference between her skin tone and M4's skin tone, but it doesn't look greenish to me.

I just opened V4 in DS 3A and P9, and there is a difference, mostly because I have a set of lights set up and saved in my Startup Scene for Poser. I also have my own light set saved in my Startup Scene for DS3A, but when I first load a new scene, they aren't set to point in any particular direction until I load V4 and have most of them Point At V4. With or without the light pointing at her, her default skin isn't pretty, but it looks more greyish to me than having a green tint. In Poser of course her default skin looks fine because of the vendor lights I have saved in my Startup Scene, mostly because I haven't learned how to create my own in Poser . . . yet.

That said, it could be the calibration of my monitor that accounts for the difference.

 

[skylab]

What a relief...you at least see it on the base model...thought I was going nuts...haha. I've never used V4 much because it was so distracting to me, even with other texture mats applied.

So, Rendo is doing the no linky thing too. What's wrong with people...don't they know if they shut down folks trying to learn, one of two things will eventually happen....either they will get discouraged and give up on the hobby altogether, or they will leave and find some place where they can be free to learn and share. I'm not getting it, why places of business are so sure that this will mean more profits for themselves if they push everybody else out of the picture....how very short-sighted...since it's the "everybody else" out there that help to support the hobby and have kept it going all these years. It's an unfortunate trend, and I'm inclined to say that the 3D community is likely to change quite a bit as more and more of us older folks disappear from "active duty". Reminds me somewhat of what was happening at work...older employees were being encouraged to retire, and basically move along little dogies...and the mindset of millennials replaced what had been a workplace based on long years of service, commitment, and family. This mindset includes a love 'em and leave 'em mentality, that is, compete furiously for jobs with the personal agenda of not staying in the job more than two or three years, then bounce to another position, doing the same thing....being a what's in it for me type of thinking. It's all well and good to be ambitious in a healthy way, but when it gets out of control, it ends up a breeding ground of back-stabbing little brats, who'd sell their own mama for a raise. What goes with that is employees who don't take care of the surroundings, destroy equipment. Management is buying into this these days because they never have to pay a senior level salary if people persist in the revolving door of "job opportunities and advancement" with no consideration of future consequences. I know individuals who are worried about their retirement because they have no pension built up anywhere...all because of the dollar right now thinking. I'm inclined to believe that this must be what's driving the unethical behavior of 3D businesses. They see today, but do not have vision to see tomorrow. You would think, after all the stuff that's gone on with DAZ in the past, and now the emotional earthquake that followed the RDNA merger, that Rendo wouldn't follow right along behind. I'm sure the dollar right now is to go the way of DAZ....but there's no guarantee that will be the case tomorrow. There may even be the thinking that 3D hobbyists should be kept ignorant and dependent on content providers...like we really need one more string bikini...haha.

 

[skylab]

Oh Seliah, that's a wonderful resource for pose creation...and again, I'm only now appreciating how much work it will save....I'll say thank you in advance for doing that