I understand Sharkbytes...,

I just didn't want it to get  lost in a much much much larger thread and then be a particular discussion that's like a needle in a haystack to find later.

Thanks by the way to everyone who has replied. Your time & assistance has been appreciated and I've bookmarked this particular thread as well.

Thanks again everyone, including you Paolo. 

Quote - You ponmt the eyes at the camera, not the camera at a target (which is what the option is for).

That's what I've always done. At least after choosing Apply Active Viewport Controls under Options for Create New Camera. And then I would spend hours trying everything I could find to get her eyes to stay pointed at me instead of slightly settling or sliding off to the left or right  over my shoulder out into space again.

Quote - http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/13327/

While it started out as a rant thread, this actually has some good suggestions for eye positioning.

I looked over that thread. What I'd like to know is how you send(move?)the Null, which is an imaginary object you can't see in DAZ anyway out away from her 5000 units? How do you measure units(?) in DAZ?

Also, pardon my cluelessness, but how do you create that 10cm tall cylindrical primitive the other guy was talking about and do you move it the same distance?

Folks, go over the camera basics with me again please. To do this, in creating a camera to lock her eyes onto, do I...

1. a. Apply Default Settings? or

    b. Apply Active Viewport Transforms and/or

    c.  Create A Persistent Point at Target(Null) at the same time as I create the camera in that dialog box?

1. Do I then go to Parameters & point both her eyes at the Camera or the Null?

Wait, just tried those. Neither works if selecting 1.c. One eye droops down(left) and the other eye points up, or after moving a bit with the Vantage point control, the right eye does correct itself and look straight ahead(blank stare)but her left eye still stays pointed down to the floor.

So 1c option above doesn't work.

If I use 1b, her eyes stay in place by staring straight ahead, but it's a blank, staring into space kind of look. She's not actually looking at us.

If I create the Camera first and THEN the Null, which of the 5-6 options under Create New Null>Options do I use?

Quote - I create a null in the same location as the camera, once the camera is where I want it and locked down to prevent accidental movement between renders.

Having the eyes point at that seems to work better, and allows some adjustment without messing with the camera.

The null object uses less memory than a sphere or random prop, too

Well, if by that you mean Create>New Null>Apply Active Viewport Settings-Camera 1>Accept

but before that I have to position her eyes manually towards me or the camera as precisely as possible as I spend many hours trying to do.

And how do you lock the camera down so it can't be moved?

"I only wish it worked simply by merging." 

Yeah, so do I. Because I did not understand anything else you said in that message above. 

Thanks FSMC & mbin,

But what i dread most about the move to 4.5 is that supposedly I have to uninstall 4.0+ and everything in it, and then reinstall everything(characters, props, clothes, poses-a BIG one right there, etc, etc, etc)afterwards. That's going to be a major hassle and chore! I'd rather have a root canal!

And I can only hope all that works in 4.5 as it did in 4.0. Especially all the Xameva & Meipe stuff I need for V4.

Anyway, not looking forward to having to reinstall e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g-!

And then the learning curve of a totally new program for me that is Reality and LuxRender.

Quote - Guys, I really have a serious 'Merge' problem and I hope anyone here can help me.

Somehow the Reality_Scene_data gets lost when I merge a .DUF scene into another existing .DUF scene.

Now I know I have seen Reality_Scene_data (1), Reality_Scene_data (2), ect in scenes before (back in the days when all worked well)

Example:

I load the 'SpotCam' scene I saved to disk. (top image) As you can see there is Reality_scene_data present in this scene.

Now I merge that same scene again. (bottom image) Now I would expect there would be another Reality_scene_data hidden object that should be named 'Reality_scene_data (2)' or something like that, but it isn't there!

Would any of you be so kind to try to reproduce it? I'd hate to bother Paolo with this if it is just 'me' who has this problem, cuz the he's busy enough as it is without having to spend time on silly questions from me. 

Thanks in advance :)

Yikes!! This is waaay over my head and one of the reasons I'm intimidated by both DS 4.5 and Reality. Did you ever get this solved? 

DustRider,

Explain more how you do that please.

Where do you get the 2 small spheres, and then how do you parent them? I've forgotten how to do that, embarrassed to say but true.

Seems to me though, that would just take me right back to the original problem of pointing at cameras. Why do the spheres work any better than pointing the eyes at the camera? And will the spheres show up in the image?

And do I position a camera directly behind the spheres, in front, or skip cameras entirely & just use Perspective View?

I spent so much time on all that stuff last night & this morning I think I'm cross-eyed now!

dcd111,

Yeah, I've been doing the Point At thing and that does not work 99% of the time much to my frustration.

Anyway, I've actually turned off the Point At  and not used any cameras but just Perspective View a few times. That worked on maybe a couple images when I just used the eye control sliders for up & down, side to side, but even then that was still major trial & error for countless hours! I tried that on this latest pic and no success. I could never get both left & right eyes aligned towards me, and just as importantly with each other. I would get the left eye pretty close, but the right eye was always a little off or slightly cross-eyed or vice versa. There's something in the parameter controls for iris align and I tried that thinking that would align both eyes, but it did not.

Another thing is sometimes she is close enough that I can see pretty well if her eyes are on target, but other times she's positioned farther away in a bedroom or boudoir scene like lying on a bed virtually 8-10 ft away and when she's farther away in the image, that makes it even harder to check for eye contact and alignment.

But bottom line is that whether she's far or close, I still can't get direct eye contact without epic struggles with these controls.

Oh, and another thing is that anytime the scene or parameters or content library pane is open when I'm adjusting the parameters, etc, that gives a different and inaccurate indication of whether I'm getting that direct eye contact. I have to close the pane on the right after every adjustment, and then reopen it & try some more. That's where so much of the trial and error comes in.

So I don't know what else to do. Other people are getting this working in their portraits & pinups, but I don't know why I can't.

OK, thanks. 

Paolo,

Thanks very much for your reply & info.

I'll watch those videos and look over the info on your site some more & think about it.

But I'm cringing at the thought of having to remove DS 4.0 from my comp which does work and has no compatibility problems & replacing it with 4.5 in order to use Reality 2.5. A lot of people have reported problems with DS 4.5.16. I know that my current version is stable.

So what are the advantages of Reality 2.5 compared to 2.0? Besides faster rendering times.

Quote - heres a scale stick

http://www.drgeep.com/FreeProps/FreeProps.htm

http://www.drgeep.com/p6/pmprop/pmprop.htm

and anouther one here

http://www.sharecg.com/v/41322/browse/11/Poser/Poser-dial-driven-measuring-tools

and this one:

Roland59 has an EasyPose  tape measure in freestuff that might be helpful.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/details.php?item_id=58624

 And once you have the measurements, here's a handy bra size calculator so you can be sure that  Vicky has comfortable, well fitting support - and perhaps answer the age old question of whether the camera adds a cup size.

International Bra Size Calculator: http://www.85b.org/bra_calc.php

Roland's measuring tape is apparently only for Poser. Don't know how to make it work for DS 4 or if that's even possible.

Looks like all these are for Poser and not DAZ.  Sigh 

Anyone here using the AMD Radeon 7970 card. It has about 3GB of VRAM, right? Would like to know about render times with it and Reality.

And I recently read there's a new Radeon on the way with anywhere from 6-12GB and insane GPU speed. With matching insane price.

Quote - Well if the material presets dont work, you can apply them manually. It is very easy and tutorials on how to do it will be included. Basically you just drag the vein layer on top of your texture and save it, then link it in your characters material settings:)All you need is photoshop or Gimp. Very easy process.

I hope your tutorial is going to show us how to do all that. With or without the presets. Never done either presets or manually before. Speaking of DAZ of course.