3D art question

[manikus]

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).

[sokolkeep]

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

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

[SilentThief]

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

[manikus]

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.]

[SilentThief]

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

[manikus]

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.

[SilentThief]

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

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

ST

[manikus]

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.

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

[SilentThief]

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

ST

[manikus]

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.