I think the Sherlock Holmes study is impossible without a pipe and a magnifying glass. :) So I'd add those to the list, and I might actually attempt creating them. As a starting excersise.

Other items that could be useful in this project (mostly from the nik nacks category):

• Case index file (That box with indexed cards and all sorts of papers)
• medical instruments
• tubes and all sorts of glass thingies for his chemical experiments
• the theatrical makup kit (the old fashioned kind he would have used)
• scales and weights

Also, what about walls, windows, door?

And yes, of course for this type of challenge using ready made models is cheating, but i was simply suggesting that modeling harder to find objects would be of more use to the rest of the community.

What do you mean "using pre-made stuff is cheating"?

If you mean for the modeling, then I don't think it's allowed with most things out there. Most meshes come with EULA, which don't allow distribution of models derived from the original mesh.

Well, if the whole study is too much, it can start with the desk corner perhaps?

And I'm all for learning. Always :). And speaking of which: Do you know of any resource out there, which would list some basic generic DOS and DONTS for modeling? Just a brief list of rules with short descriptions of things which need to be avoided to prevent broken meshes, or ugly corners or weird planes, or stuff like that, and how to avoid it.

I can follow tutorials for modeling, but since I don't know these basics, I tend to be completely lost on my own and often end up with something weird looking or impossible to UV map (although that's another can of worms altogether).

Well, I am interested, but I am not much of a modeler (and that's the understatemnt of the year right here). therefore I am not sure I could contribute anything worthy.

But I think the project could be fun. And I like Mark's idea of Sherlock Holmes' study. I think it could be useful for a lot of people. I could easily put together a basement corner using models already available for free here, at DAZ, ShareCG and places like Turbosquid. It would be much harder to scape together a Sherlock Holmes' study using available free models.

And I could add another twist to it :). How about a lighting challenge using the end result? :)

Geat figure. I'd also like to see it animated. It looks perfect for animation. And very impressive Carrara work!

I am still confused. The coupon was supposed to be 20% for everyone else, but 25% for members. At least that's how I understood the e-mail. I'm a member, but I can't use the coupon in that way.

Wow, very interesting options, thank you! I think this is definitely some good material for C3E tips and tricks section.

Sorry, Mark I didn't see your last response before posting mine (forgot ro refresh). So I have to post again...

Even if Jedi_Padawan doesn't want to know how the shader trick is done, I definitely do! :) Please share.

I love your creative work-arounds and tricks. I wish there was a special place somewhere listing them all -- not the streaightforward explanations as in tutorial collections and not a tiny subset as in the "Dark Arts", although I dearly love both series and use them as reference very often, but a full collection of just tricks, shortcuts and workarounds...

Beautiful image.Thank you for sharing it. I am very glad I could help. :D

I'm not sure I am at all entitled to give advice on the subject, but I'm going to try and offer what I can:

For the cone, what I found to be most useful is to turn 3d shadows on and to increase falloff to about 2-7% (in post cases) depending on the scene. I would also render it on a separate layer and composit it adding some blur, that allows you to get away with minimal increase in rendertime. Otherwise you'd have to up the quality of the cone, which, with GI already ON can get pretty expensive time-wise.

For the dust I used volumetric clouds before (turning on turbulance), but I can't say that I'm entirely satisfied with the results. But if you want to go that way, I found that the coulds included in Howie Farke's Lake scene can be a good starting point, but you can also just play with the settings.

Here is an image I did using the cone (but no dust):
http://antarann.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4ehita

That's a great idea! I didn't think of that. Thank you! I'll do that.

Is there a layer where the cone should show up? Because the effect doen't show in any other passes either...

Also, normally when I request a layer that doesn't have anything on it (like caustics, for example, when I have the feature off), it just renders as all black, but this time the post effect layer just doesn't get created no matter what...

Thank you, Mark!

Your tutorials are the best, as usual.

Quote - Okay, here's my first attempt that even gets close (with really poor rocks, but again its just a first attempt).  As you can see, its doing the exact opposite of what I want.  How do I get the replicator to switch from white to black in the shader?

You can edit the shader and in the shader options, if your black and white distribution is a texture map, you can just check the "Invert Color" option in the texture properties. If your black/white distribution is procedural, then it might be trickier, because it will depend on the type of procedural shader you are using.

NetWorthy, Congratulations! Well done!

Nope, you are not crazy... there is no manual at this point. There were several attempts to complete the manual, but as far as I know, it hasn't happened yet and the manual is still being worked on...

But that fact is indeed crazy. It's not you, it's DAZ.

At least the community is nice and friendly, so if you ask questions, you are likely to get a good answer from people. Both here and in DAZ forums.