BullyPup messing around with Daz3D.

I'm simply the messenger.  Happy to be involved with the idea phase.  He has taken to Daz3D like a bulldog to bacon or something.  Anyway here are 6 practice renders he has done.  I named her ISOBabe with no meaning behind it.  Just a name.  Feel free to comment, make future suggestions, etc.  Just go easy as he has only been playing with it for about 2 months now on the side of family and work.  I found a program that allows you to stack up a few renders in a queue that might speed things up.  Depending on quality and complexity a render can take hours to a day to get through.  If you share at least give credit to him.  Thank you.  Leave a like if you like.  Artists like feedback and encouragement.  

She looks AMAZING cantbwait to see more of her!

As a digital artist, I've been using DazStudio for a few years now (was a Poser user before Daz3D even decided to make their own program lol ).

The main suggestion I would make is - don't just rely on HDRI lighting setups for your images.  I know they are fast and easy to setup, but there are drawbacks imo.
For example, you have to position the action in the center of the dome.  Which can be fine if that is what you are going for, but can be a pain if you want a specific comp. Also, the background image lacks true "depth" imo.
I personally prefer to build out the scene in full 3D.  It takes longer, but ultimately feels more "real" as the figure, and action, is sitting in a true 3D space.

Also, find render settings that work for you.  You should not crank up everything to max to get the "best" render. All you will do is just make your render time much longer then it needs to be.
Find what works best for you in terms of quality vs. render time.  Anything else can be fixed in post.

I guess, those are just my general tips. If you need something specific, feel free to ask and I will see if I can answer

Best of luck Bully   Look forward to seeing what you come up with

Peace.

/K

Aphrodite is surely a good name for this lady. She does look like a Greek goddess

erikphandel wrote:

Aphrodite is surely a good name for this lady. She does look like a Greek goddess

I would go for Hera, simply due to her having such radiating power, while still being wildly attractive.

Thanks man!
I'm building scenes now for a comic I'm working on. Those images are not HDRI's ( I don't even know how to do that yet.) On these images, I just rendered the characters only as PNG files then googled some background images and then photoshopped them in.

After many... Many hours of DAZ tutorials on YouTube, I think I have my render settings dialed in. (At Least as dialed as my GPU can handle.)
For lighting, I've been getting better with ghost lights, but I have a ways to go.

Please, keep any tips you can think of coming. I'm really enjoying this new creative platform, but I have a long way to go. Right now, I'm trying to wrap my brain around skin shaders.

Have you considered trying to use Blender? I know a few people that has migrated from DAZ to blender during the last year, but they also have some experience with creating renders XD

www.blender.org/

Rjjt456
Blender is on the list, along with Unreal Engine. My mind is still blown by what I've seen with Metahuman in Unreal Engine.

The Cycles render engine in Blender is superior to the Iray engine in Daz Studio.  Plus, you can leverage the power of the Octane render engine far easier in Blender for even better renders.

The power of Daz Studio lies in the Daz3D store and the range of assets available. Plus, I would say Daz Studio is easy to learn and get use to.

Blender, and other 3D programs of that level, do give a huge option that Daz Studio does not - you can model your own objects in them.  Daz Studio is NOT a 3D modeller.  DS is designed to work with pre-built assets (this is a slight simplifications but it I think it holds true).

Unreal Engine is also a step-up, not only in terms quality, but of learning curve. Unreal to me is more if you want to go into animations and/or game production (as that is what it is primarily designed for).

It really depends on what your goal is.

My general work flow is - create scenes in Daz Studio, then export to 3D Studio Max for rendering, and then post-work in Photoshop.  But sometimes I might just do all the work in Daz Studio.  It really depends on the level of quality you need.

Either way, go with what works best for you

Peace.

/K

Great stuff.  Not a user myself, but great preview.  Can't wait for the 3D printer.

Quick tip: There is a Daz to Blender connector/plugin that works rather well. The prop model costs for DAZ are more reasonable compared to Turbosquid for example so there are benefits to using it.

The Blender compositor has come a long way. It used to completely befuddle me - now it's far more intuitive.

kikass2014
I'm working to learn all three.  Though yeah, DAZ has a much gentler learning curve.  I first looked at them for backgrounds, but after looking at the Genesis models on DAZ, I had to give it a shot.   For years, I've been wanting to re-start the Steele's in both photography and film, but my schedule at work is way too crazy.  It's hard enough just making time for my family.   With this though, I don't have to deal with other people's schedules, or search for shooting locations.   So, until I retire, quit, or get fired, this will be my creative outlet. 

If you're up for giving more advise, I've got about a million questions about using Dforce for animations. 

Which assets have been used to create her outfit?
I really like the style of it, and I might want a friend of mine to try an replicate it so they can render a character of mine while they are in their “superhero” phase

I'll PM you the links

If you're up for giving more advise, I've got about a million questions about using Dforce for animations.

ARRRGGHHH DForce

Tbh, its probably the least area I know about.  The reason for that is, I never use it.

When I first started with DS, DForce was buggy as hell.  Crashed PC's hard (blue screen of death, played havoc with graphics cards, etc.)  So I steered away from it.

Daz have gotten DForce to work better now, but it still crashes a lot according to a few users.

Tbh, over time, I found that the normal conforming clothes were fine for what I needed to do. Especially the ones with a lot of morphs to make adjustments (which most clothes do now). So I never bothered to learn the system.

Also, you can achieve similar results using Deformers (a different system to DForce, and less taxing on the system imo).

If you want, send me a PM and I'll send the link on a great tutorial on it.

Peace.

/K

About the only things I use dForce for are capes and bed sheets, which are both more or less rectangular.
Actually, I have had decent luck with skirts now and then.
I've had better luck with the "animation" approach than simulating a single frame.

Yeah, it caused my PC crash too. But, I've since updated my GPU and it works really well now. I like the realism it adds to clothing. Capes especially. Plus I'm starting to get the hang of materials and shaders.

Have any of you animated your genesis characters with Unreal Engine?

I will at some point. But $60 a month is a  bit steep for me right now.  I'm already paying about that much for Adobe CC. Hate to give up After Effects Photoshop and Premier. I still shoot and edit to keep my kung fu strong.

Have any of you animated your genesis characters with Unreal Engine?

I haven't.  I generally produce still images only.

Peace.

/K

From what I've been seeing, Blender is THE way to go for animations. Their vehicle models are amazingly real looking, but also expensive.

I wouldn't call Blender *the* way to go - maybe *the affordable* way to go. C4D is really amazing and while Blender is catching up C4D has better physics and particle engines.

Don't be fooled by models either. The Blender ones look great but it takes a *lot* of work to get the lighting and rigging right to ever use them.  Very often those really good looking models are done in other tools and exported for Blender too - it doesn't always go perfectly and you'll find surfaces are suddenly not connected correctly and you have to fix vertexes/planes ~ I'm a rookie at this so I'm not explaining that perfectly...

TBH, I haven't looked that deep into Cinema 4D, or Poser. Mostly because of the price point.
As I get more experience, I'll likely give them a go down the road a little.

Any stuff we’d be interested in seeing from all that play time?