Ah, so the shiny was just for testing, gotcha. Thanks for explaining!

Even I can (usually) manage to put out constructive criticism without sounding like a belligerent drunk at a strip club.

@shvrdavid  That looks really nice! Love how detailed the skin texture is and love that back shot. Was thinking about LF Pro but with this coming out I'm not sure if I should. I get over whelmed very easy and I'm trying to avoid that this go round. Dont want go to fast and get to that point. 

So, my last picture. I'll do you a favor and go... Many things about you inspired me and there were fantastic pictures to see. I was also able to learn a lot from you in technical terms. I've been with Poser since the early days and I feared the end of this great program. Luckily, people who saw the potential of this software didn't let it happen. And for your information, I also made a - a not inconsiderable - contribution to it. I do not apologize for my somewhat coarse articulation here in this forum. It's happened before in the past... I have a massive aversion to arrogance and haughtiness and I can't resist kicking this very person in the shin. And no, I don't get drunk at strip clubs and I haven't thrown a tantrum either. And yes, I too have been in my job for well over 20 years and can draw on a certain amount of experience. But that's no reason for me to consider myself an indispensable super crack. I still have a lot to say, but that doesn't belong here, not in this forum. Before it gets any worse - and I know myself - I say goodbye.

Shiny skin is a testing trick I use. It makes things like normals/bump map issues stick out like a sore thumb....

Afrodite-Ohki posted at 5:16 PM Sat, 19 August 2023 - #4473009

Thalek posted at 7:08 AM Sat, 19 August 2023 - #4472936

Even I can (usually) manage to put out constructive criticism without sounding like a belligerent drunk at a strip club.

.... I almost spat my drink on my monitor when reading that comparison LMAO

When our fan-made Star Trek series, Hidden Frontier, was in active production, we used to receive attacks from a "professional" standin that he claimed were intended as constructive criticism.  While many of his observations were not unjustified (we were, after all, a bunch of amateurs having fun), his method of delivering them were entirely unjustified.  And some of his suggestions, like hiring professionals to replace all of us, were not only impractical, but also missing the point that WE wanted to be the ones having fun.

Not that you need my permission, but keep on doing what you have done so well for so many years.  As for La Femme, I lack the discerning eye to pick out the flaws that better artists have commented on, so she has never disappointed me.  I can't complain about what I don't notice.  :-)

Charly_99 posted at 9:55 PM Sat, 19 August 2023 - #4473055

Let me particularly praise your air bubbles:  most people do not realize that an air bubble racing for the surface is not spherical but becomes flattened and distended much as you've depicted here.  They also tend to shed smaller bubbles around the edges (due to turbulence?) as you've shown. An important detail that most people would not have included as an artist, nor noticed as a viewer.  Did you model the bubble yourself, or did you have a source?  One thing is not clear: is she the source of the bubble, or did something else emit it? I wouldn't think it was her, as she has no scuba gear on.

I also like the touch of the small cloud of sediment from her left hand. Nicely done!

The problem I have with the image is that no one in their right mind would go snorkeling without a face mask or eye protection.  Saltwater stings like hell and your vision is pretty much limited without the mask.  

I have a massive aversion to arrogance and haughtiness and I can't resist kicking this very person in the shin. 

Glad to see you confessing that your issue is not even with the figure, but with me personaly. As for your massive aversion to yourself, therapy does wonders! Ta-ta!

Thanks Thalek

The problem I have with the image is that no one in their right mind would go snorkeling without a face mask or eye protection.  Saltwater stings like hell and your vision is pretty much limited without the mask.  

Charly_99 posted at 8:24 AM Sun, 20 August 2023 - #4473102

Thanks Thalek

Smile.....

Smile.....

Antonia glow-up rendered in Poser 13.1. She's wearing hair by Afrodite-Ohki here for the first time and hasn't stopped bugging me about getting more of her hair pieces ever since. :-D

Antonia glow-up rendered in Poser 13.1. She's wearing hair by Afrodite-Ohki here for the first time and hasn't stopped bugging me about getting more of her hair pieces ever since. :-D

And it looks great on her! (I might be biased, but perhaps you should pamper your girl then, yes? Wink wink nudge nudge? LOL)

Was it too hard to fit her?

Speaking of, here's LF2 wearing my very first LF hair! :D

Antonia glow-up rendered in Poser 13.1. She's wearing hair by Afrodite-Ohki here for the first time and hasn't stopped bugging me about getting more of her hair pieces ever since. :-D

in fact, she looks radiant! Superb 

Speaking of, here's LF2 wearing my very first LF hair! :D

I'm loving it! 

odf posted at 6:44 PM Tue, 22 August 2023 - #4473235

Antonia glow-up rendered in Poser 13.1. She's wearing hair by Afrodite-Ohki here for the first time and hasn't stopped bugging me about getting more of her hair pieces ever since. :-D

And it looks great on her! (I might be biased, but perhaps you should pamper your girl then, yes? Wink wink nudge nudge? LOL)

Thanks! I think I'll have no choice. Now that we've both seen how good Poser hair can look, there's no going back.

Was it too hard to fit her?

odf posted at 6:44 PM Tue, 22 August 2023 - #4473235

Antonia glow-up rendered in Poser 13.1. She's wearing hair by Afrodite-Ohki here for the first time and hasn't stopped bugging me about getting more of her hair pieces ever since. :-D

in fact, she looks radiant! Superb 

Speaking of, here's LF2 wearing my very first LF hair! :D

That's some great looking hair. I imagine fitting that to Antonia would require me to make a proper morph, though.

You're too kind, odf. Glad you're having fun with the hair! And the method of fitting you described is what I do most of the times, too - hey, if you can't see an issue, there's no issue, yes? Probably? LMAO

But yeah, Adedayo hair (the one I have on LF2 there) would require proper fitting. The scalp is very very obvious :)

Okay, so I am beginning to some sense out of these cycle node connections, but not so much sense out of the math.
I have been watching and studying particularly Ghostship and Afrodite-Ohki work.
So now I have this: La Femme with BillyT's cutoffs (converted) and her two pups Sweet and Pea.
Lights are still my nightmare...so I went with No lights and just used three Balls:
1) Large ball with blackbody node on Physical Surface root.
This one just in front of La Femme and up out of camera
2) Smaller ball using Cycles root with one of Ghostship's nodes with blackbody
This one just in front of Harley's Henchman (aka Funnyman)

3) A large ball in the background: this one I have tried lighting with both methods. I am trying to light up the background with a Dark Purple (think Gotham City) but don't seem to be getting anywhere with it.
I don't want to blow away the front lighting, just get somewhat of a 'black light' effect (yes I know Poser can't do "Black Light" truly).

I rendered it with Depth Cue but Poser's DC is too shallow and it made her Henchman none recognizable but looked pretty good with the floating cards...I may do a double render and stack them in Photoshop once I can get the lighting worked out.

Superfly does not recognize Depth Cue so that is a waste in set up time.  Keep in mind that the PhysicalSurface node emission defaults to Inverse Square falloff which means that you really need a very high emission value.  The only way to change that behavior is to attach a Lightfalloff node, which offers additional Linear and Constant features not found on the PhysicalSurface node.  When using mesh lighting from an object, you can hide the object in the scene by not making it visible to the camera or Raytracing but still display your light.

Superfly does not recognize Depth Cue so that is a waste in set up time.  Keep in mind that the PhysicalSurface node emission defaults to Inverse Square falloff which means that you really need a very high emission value.  The only way to change that behavior is to attach a Lightfalloff node, which offers additional Linear and Constant features not found on the PhysicalSurface node.  When using mesh lighting from an object, you can hide the object in the scene by not making it visible to the camera or Raytracing but still display your light.

I don't know if it's the depression talking, or not. No medication or combinations of medications is 100% effective, and none are effective 100% of the time. So, if my perceptions are too badly warped by my illness, feel free to present a different view.

I am fearful of Poser's future.  Poser's pulse does NOT seem to be getting stronger, contrary to frequent exhortations. All I see these days are all-Daz products sales and product introductions even here at Renderosity.  I don't blame the vendors or Renderosity: you've gotta sell what the public wants, not what you want them to want.  (Sony's Betamax was superior in most ways to VHS, but mechanically it was more complex, and it was more expensive.  It died and VHS lived. The Amiga was a very fine computer, with unusually good sound and color graphics for the time. But it needed a custom monitor, and the co-processor chips for video and audio were on the motherboard and not amenable to upgrading. Bringing out separate sound boards and video boards in Macs and PCs was just one of the things that doomed the Amiga.)

I see a similar scenario playing out with Poser: a leader that was outstripped by competitors, supported for years by loyal fanatic partisans.  It's hard to believe that there will be a Poser 14 or equivalent.

Am I wrong to feel this way?  Is it just the depression that doesn't let me see a clear path ahead?

People made the same observations when Curious Labs bought Poser, then again when e-frontier bought it, and then again with Smith Micro bought it.

And now again since Bondware bought it.

I see an obvious pattern there.

shvrdavid posted at 6:44 AM Thu, 24 August 2023 - #4473324

People made the same observations when Curious Labs bought Poser, then again when e-frontier bought it, and then again with Smith Micro bought it.

And now again since Bondware bought it.

I see an obvious pattern there.

Ur... if I'm not wrong, you forgot Corel, which brought nothing 

Corel owned Poser?  WHAT?  YIKES.  

Afrodite-Ohki posted at 7:27 AM Thu, 24 August 2023 - #4473329

Y-Phil posted at 6:55 AM Thu, 24 August 2023 - #4473327

Ur... if I'm not wrong, you forgot Corel, which brought nothing 

Oh god was that a thing? I really don't remember Corel Poser LMAO

People made the same observations when Curious Labs bought Poser, then again when e-frontier bought it, and then again with Smith Micro bought it.

And now again since Bondware bought it.

I see an obvious pattern there.

shvrdavid posted at 6:44 AM Thu, 24 August 2023 - #4473324

People made the same observations when Curious Labs bought Poser, then again when e-frontier bought it, and then again with Smith Micro bought it.

And now again since Bondware bought it.

I see an obvious pattern there.

Poser is more successful, as it seems that every owner has put out at least one version before reselling it.

But your comment only addresses the fact that Poser gets sold a lot. It doesn't address the fact that new Poser content doesn't get sold a lot. Or much at all. No new content, it doesn't matter how rich and optimistic the new owners of Poser will be. A CGI program has to have compatible content, new content, or no one will buy it. And content creators are just as dependent on the owners of the program, unless it happens that the stuff they can create for that program is also compatible with other programs. For Poser, that used to be true. Now, the vendors only have one company that is Poser-compatible. And increasingly, Bondware has no one else selling content for Poser.

Playing with shaders for dynamic hair for Superfly. No lights in the scene.

As far as the lack of content, I know it's been slower than Daz content for a while, though I am surprised at how much I've missed over the years now that we can pick which software we're interested in for ads. Lately, it's been a bit slower than normal. I can't help but wonder if it isn't because of the upgrade and wanting to be able to test it with that.

hborre posted at 11:02 PM Wed, 23 August 2023 - #4473303

Superfly does not recognize Depth Cue so that is a waste in set up time.  Keep in mind that the PhysicalSurface node emission defaults to Inverse Square falloff which means that you really need a very high emission value.  The only way to change that behavior is to attach a Lightfalloff node, which offers additional Linear and Constant features not found on the PhysicalSurface node.  When using mesh lighting from an object, you can hide the object in the scene by not making it visible to the camera or Raytracing but still display your light.

with Depth checked in SP settings (but NOT set up in the material room)

Thalek posted at 10:20 AM Thu, 24 August 2023 - #4473344

Just out of curiosity. How much does Poser content actually get sold? Where is this spread sheet that your numbers are pulled from? 

Let me give you a personal example if why I believe that what you said is not the case. This is first hand knowledge, not speculation.

I have no spreadsheet, of course.  That would be a violation of vendors' privacy, among other things.  But a couple of vendors I've corresponded with have commented that they switched to Daz-only because their Poser sales were down, and while they hinted that the products I admired might be available for Poser someday, that day has not yet arrived.

I actually outsold Ute and she was a top Poser vendor there for years.. (Ute is no longer with us, rip, she was such a nice person)

Yes, a terrible loss to the community.  I have most of her freebies now, and I purchased some of her commercial work as well.  I had twenty or thirty items of hers on my wish list when they were removed from CP and elsewhere. We corresponded infrequently, but I liked her, and respected her work immensely.

When people tell me Poser content doesn't sell well, I really have to wonder where that info comes from.

In my case, it came from casual conversations with a couple of vendors, and by personally observing that Renderosity's new products lists are sometimes entirely devoid of Poser products these days, as are some of the product sales.

Maybe this has changed, I don't know if it has or not. I don't have access to those numbers anymore.

But when I did, this picture was worth a 1000 words to everyone that said it would never sell well at all.

Many vendors make a living off of content. Obviously not all do, but some do....

And they could never do so, if nothing sold. There were more active Poser vendors when I released Pauline Advance than there are now, and even more prior to that.

The tone of your posts is that of someone who feels personally attacked, and feels a need to attack in return.  And I do feel attacked for having voiced my concerns. I am genuinely sorry that I have upset you with my concerns; obviously, that was not my intention.

Am I seriously meant to believe that this hair, purportedly for LaFemme, was not secretly made with Antonia in mind?

Am I seriously meant to believe that this hair, purportedly for LaFemme, was not secretly made with Antonia in mind?

I''m totally with you on this one 

Yessss... get all the haaair... mhwahahaha.... LMAO

A beauty, lost in my Poser11 gallery. Completely forgot to finish it during X-Mas 2020...
Got inspired by Frank Frazetta and one of his pinups, if I'm not wrong

A beauty, lost in my Poser11 gallery. Completely forgot to finish it during X-Mas 2020...
Got inspired by Frank Frazetta and one of his pinups, if I'm not wrong

She's very pretty and seductive, but I'm a bit puzzled by the ambience. Is she the neighbor of a retired pin-up artist who's trying to pick their brain about posing?

odf posted at 7:06 PM Fri, 25 August 2023 - #4473464

Y-Phil posted at 5:34 PM Fri, 25 August 2023 - #4473463

A beauty, lost in my Poser11 gallery. Completely forgot to finish it during X-Mas 2020...
Got inspired by Frank Frazetta and one of his pinups, if I'm not wrong

She's very pretty and seductive, but I'm a bit puzzled by the ambience. Is she the neighbor of a retired pin-up artist who's trying to pick their brain about posing?

I use John's Background Switcher  to change the background pictures of my desktop, and from time to time an oldie pops up, often like an invitation to "refresh" it 

That's how I retrieve myself upgrading all textures of Jun, Letty, Yukika, Kaya and Terai Yuki, five variations of the same character (the V2 as I lost the V1 with the shutdown of ContentParadise before I could download what I bought over there, such as the original one, alas...)
TY2 appeared in 2005.

Flagged Nudity because of transparencies, even though I'm not sure that it was necessary.

:)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Close up of face detail. 

More hair testing, sorry, not sorry! :-D Ohki and Ghostship are my new dream team.