3D art question
 

Wanna find a tutorial that would be like "idiots guide" for 3D art creation (and I'm sure there is an idiots guide). Specifically, I'm not as up on my definitions/terminology and I don't know much about this except how to take somone elses character and make a scene with it.

Any ideas where I should go?

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

Here's a copy of a new background I made with Caligary's TrueSpace 3.2 (a free DL from the truespace site :D). I'm playing around with the 3D programs, and starting to get a clue (finally)

ST
ps, the background is kinda like a starry sky, but I think the "water" below looks a little too metallic...

Re: 3D art question
 

Cool, looks otherworldly! :D Yes, the water does look like mercury (or some other liquid metal), but it sure does look cool...

Re: 3D art question
 

I've only just begun to understand this process, as it is much different from standard pixel painting like I'm used to. This pic is actually my first actual "render" as well...

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

Hmm - looks kind of fun, maybe I will try (one of these days)!

Re: 3D art question
 

Both DAZ3D and Renderosity have good tutorial sections, and check out the DAZ forum section (the Studio forum has a bunch of n00b stuff for you edutainment).

Re: 3D art question
 

I tried using TrueSpace ('cause it was free) and I had a hard time doing anything that I wanted to do. I knew the stuff could be done, b/c I saw lots of examples...

For doing terrains, there is the great free app, Terragen. More like TrueSpace, but much better at terrains, is Bryce, also available for free (well, this version is free, the newer version isn't).

Re: 3D art question
 

Since I DL-ed and installed it, I'm gonna stay with it until I deem it not useful. I really don't know how to do much at this time, but I've learned a thing or two about it and when I get the time I'm gonna get some serious practice with it. Specifically, starting out easy (at least in my opinion) with doing some item renders and perhaps plants and creatures without too complex of form (like a snake (basically a tube), some insects/arachnids, maybe even birds). I am NOT going to try creating people with all the controls that that would require yet.

Rome wasn't built in a day
ST

Re: 3D art question
 

Sure, sure. Fair enough.

I just wanted to give you some options to what I thought was a difficult app to use.

Not for rendering, but for model building, I think Wings3D is the easiest to use, and there are some nice tutorials and videos at their site.

Re: 3D art question
 

That seems to be truespace's weakness. The documentation for the free version is almost non-existant. I can find plenty of feature and trick explanations for versions 4+, but the free version is 3.2 :(

ST
ps, I will look at the programs you recommend. I won't ignore your advice (especially on a subject that I personally asked you for advice on ;))

Re: 3D art question
 

Like I said, no worries. :D

Re: 3D art question
 

When you say "model building" do you mean models for people? I am thinking that Truespace 3.2 is going to be difficult for doing pics of people.

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

By model building, I mean models of anything. I like to use it for robots, buildings, clothing items, etc.

Re: 3D art question
 

So, if I make a bitmap (or other file type) background, can I load that up into DAZ as a background for my figures in DAZ???

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

Yup. :)

Hey, you should check out this thread, it's got some good suggestions, and a fair amount of htem are free.

Re: 3D art question
 

Does Blender (free, right?) let you make your own 3D figures in the format that DAZ and poser use?

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

Do you mean in the file format? or rigged for movement?

I'm pretty sure that it can export to .obj (the format for Studio and Poser), but it can not do rigging.

Re: 3D art question
 

Ok, this is part of the problem I have, in that I know how to draw in 3 dimensions but I have no idea what the terms and/or lingo is. This is why I asked for and looked for tutorials on this stuff.

ST
er whats rigging?

Re: 3D art question
 

I don't know if you followed the links I posted before...
DAZ for beginners
DAZ F.A.Q.
DAZ Forum for Studio
DAZ Tutorials
Renderosity Tutoials
Renderosity Studio Forums
(There is far more stuff available for Poser, much of which is applicable.)

Basically rigging is providing the skeleton and joints so your previously static 3D mesh can be moved, eg, it is the rigging that allows V3's arms to be place at her side, etc.

Re: 3D art question
 

Ok, yeah. I see that I should have looked around a little first. I'm most interested in the editing faces, and combining two characters to make a new one (someone made a centaur out of a human overlapping a horse), and DAZ tells how to do this on the site. Oh, and the for beginners is also important due to the fact that before I really knew what I was doing I DL-ed a bunch of content and now I must clean up the mess.

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

The mess doesn't stop just b/c your not a beginner any more. :) Most freebies (and almost all paid products) isntall in the proper place, but 25 to 30 percent of the freebies install to random places. I spend a lot of time making my runtime usable (part of it is that I have to much content in it - which is why I now have 8 runtimes).

Re: 3D art question
 

Wow! that backround pic looks incredible! How long did it take you to create it?

Re: 3D art question
 

No more than 15 minutes including render time and fit to background picture size (in MS Paint). I was following a tutorial about how to set up an image with a sky and ground and make a backgound scene.

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

I would say that once your comfortable with the programs, it's about 5 minutes to track down the stuff you need (in the programs) and another minute to place it and render it. [This is for backgrounds only, and they may take longer if your adding objects such as trees, buildings, etc.]

Re: 3D art question
 

So I've DL-ed a bunch of neat stuff for DAZ recently, and I found some templates for some of the characters and props DAZ works with. These are standard GIF files, so I should be able to make my own material files (mat) right?

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

You should be able to, I know I do. :)
The thing is, MAT files are not the graphics and there is no separate MAT format. MAT files are a subset of poses (.pz2) that apply textures to a model.

There are all kinds of ways to make them and al kinds of tutorials to learn how. :) I prefer to use a simple text editor and go wading through the code. All poser format files (cr2, pz2, pp2, hd2, fc2, etc) are text files, but in the same way that .obj (3D meshes) files are. There are a lot of numbers and a misplaced decimal point can change everything.
Note: DAZ Studio formats may work the same as Poser and both are interchangeable in Studio, they are in machine language and cannot be altered by hand.

Much easier at first is to make your own textures and apply them by hand in Studio.

Re: 3D art question
 

How? I also came across some V2 props, would they be usable on V3?

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

How...let me answer that back with a question or two, so that I can give you a better answer. :) What's your level of comfort with the Poser/Studio file hierarchy? What are you interested in making a texture for and where did you get it?

As for the props- depends on what kind of props they are. :) Clothing kind of works, but needs a bit of adjustment and for some poses, a lot of adjustments. Other props, like weapons, hats, helmets, tools, etc should work just fine, but if they are parented to the figure, they may need to be moved just a bit to fit the location properly. :D

I'll be online all day, so should get answers back to you fairly quickly.

Re: 3D art question
 

I'm still new at this, so if you gimme an explanation keep it simple :D I've found some templates for characters and props, and I'm thikning that these are the texture files?

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

Templates do not equal textures, unfortuantely. But they are, um, templates to build textures from. :)

In your runtime folder there are lots of folders probably, but only four that Poser and Studio really care about. These folder are the Geometries, Libraries, Readme's and Textures folders. The textures for all of your 3D figures/props/hairs/etc are in the textures folder, usually in subfolders named after the person or company who made the product, not the name of the product. So, if you downloaded V3 or M3 or Aiko or any of the props from the DAZ freebie page (not the freebies forum), you would look in the DAZ subfolder in the textures folder. Often, there will be more subfolders that are either categories, i.e. humans, or product names.

Runtime
--Geometries
----subfolder 1
----subfolder 2
--libraries
----character (.cr2)
------subfolder 1
------subfolder 2
----face (.fc2)
----hair (.hr2)
----pose (.pz2)
------subfolder 1
------subfolder 2
----props (.pp2)
------subfolder 1
------subfolder 2
--Readme's
--Textures
----subfolder 1
----subfolder 2

The pose folder contains both poses and MATs for the various figures and props.

Most store bought products have templates, most freebies (except those from DAZ) do not.

If you need a template and don't have one, I can help you out if it's a product that I have. :)

What are you looking to make textures for? Curiosity is nearly killing me. :D:D:D

Re: 3D art question
 

Unless I'm totally wrong on my assumptions for this stuff (and its entirely possible), If I did some templates for character skins and/or props then I can make my own characters.

To me it gets really confusing with the naming conventions they use, like "flattop for conforming hair for chelsey for victoria", as in the original character with some changes to make a new character with a hair set specially made with a specialty hair for that set.

I want to make a variety of characters in fantasy clothing (arms and armor, as well as clothes) to populate the cities with.

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

I think you are confusing the terms 'template' and 'texture' in your post. :) Which, I guess proves your point.

Textures are a good first step towards an original character, but you also really need a morph or two (not necessarily new, perhaps using someone elses) to make a distinct character. Think about this way- if you go and get a tan and put on bright pink lipstick, it's still you would be laughing and pointing at. :)

Now, there is a completely "graphics" alternative to morphs, which is using displacement mapping (it's a more complex form of bump mapping). But, in my opinion, it's the hardest thing I've tried with 3D

So, who and/or what do you want to make your own textures for, ST?

Re: 3D art question
 

Well its just that if I make all the guys look the same and all the girls look the same, then ppl will think there's some kind of wizard conspiracy for magical cloning going on (sounds like an interesting plot line...) And hence, I'm asking about this. Perhaps the question is wrong, since I've found out that deformations exist for making your characters look different. Again, I'm still new at this ;)


ST

Re: 3D art question
 

If you want a good male character (I would say probably the best male character), check out Apollo Maximus by Anton Kesiel. AM is an amazing figure, comes with a lot of character morphs built-in. There are also a lot of very high quality clothes available from the creator. They're all free, too. :)

The only warning is, once you go Apollo, it will be very hard to go back M3 or H3 until you get all of their morphs and a bunch of textures and a bunch of clothes, and then you'll still find yourself using Apollo a lot. :)

If you get Apollo, note that all of the zips are password protected, but the password is on the page above.

Re: 3D art question
 

Coincedently, I just DL-ed apollo yesterday and haven't yet opened up the zips.

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

Don't forget to jot down the password from the website... :)

He is definitely one of my all-time favorites. There are a couple of Poser characters (that are for sale by the same company that sells Poser), that I'm fond of, but they're not as versatile as Apollo. V3 is probably the best free female model, mostly b/c she has so much stuff available. There is a female character/model called "K" that is very good, but has almost nothing for her, so I don't use her much.

Re: 3D art question
 

Just wonderin', do PSD or PS3 files work in DAZ?

ST

Re: 3D art question
 

I don't know what ps3 files are - maybe from the newest photoshop?
I think that psd might work, but maybe not...not sure. I know that Poser handles them fine.

Re: 3D art question
 

AAARHGH! Sometimes this is so frustrating. I understand what is going on, but it is still causing me to DL stuff and then delete it regularly. Here's the situation: DAZ studio is a poser imitator (a poser poser? :saywhat:) , its good but it doesn't have the full functionality that poser does. Then some of these people who had good intentions but forgot to include files and/or use standard files that poser uses or has availabile and DAZ works with so it gives error messages and does not load. I have seen that a bunch of the poser stuff not rated for compatibility DOES work for DAZ and that is part of the problem not knowing which works or not.

For example, I DL-ed some freebies (thats my problem... not enuff $$$ so I can go buy the fully functioning Poser), which do not apply correctly or at all. There is an awesome dog morph (? still dunno my terms) called "ThylacineFreebie" in Renderosity stated as a free character. I DL it and nothing. Apply it to Millenium dog and he takes the correct pose, but still is the standard millenium dog.

So how do you apply textures and materials to a character? Becuz after DL and install the "ThylacineFreebie", it places diles in both those directories so I figure there is something there to apply to the file.

ST
ps, deleting all the stuff now that don't work. But I am amazed by the apollo char.

Re: 3D art question
 

The only poser files that do not work in DAZ Studio are the mc6 files. Dynamic clothing will work, it just won't look like the the pictures - you won't be able to do any of the cool stuff.

ThylacineFreebie:
So, I'm guessing from this bit of the readme that there are two things keeping you from using this freebie. The first is that the morphs for the Mil Dog are in the starter bundle or in the Mil Dog full version (which you probably don't have since it's not free). The second is that it is using mc6 files instead of pz2 to apply the textures. (This one has textures, but sometimes they don't- just shader settings.) You can manually apply the textures if you want, or you can make your own pz2 file from the mc6 file. Here's how and it's pretty easy to do.
1. open the mc6 file in a text editor (they are in runtime:libraries:pose OR runtime:libraries:material)
2. find the word "mtlCollection" on the 6th or 7th line (depending on blank lines above it) - it will be the only word on the line.
3. delete mtlCollection and replace it with "figure" for a figure file OR "prop name:2" where name=name of prop as it appears in Studio in the scene tree.
4. save file as same name, but extension .pz2.

You now have a completely usable mat file that works in Poser and Studio. :)