DazPeople would like to see tutorials at dazshop - teach people 3d character creation! (call to al C

124

Comments

  • ReDaveReDave Posts: 815
    edited December 1969

    Mec4D said:

    also returning to the geo-grafting , it is good if you are going to do your own creation something that can't be reused without editing , as geo grafted figures not always allow you to reuse them on different shapes due to the textures that will never match , for stuff like horns or wings and tails using the half way of geog rafting is better , I was working the other day on a fish tail , and was for plan to full grafting the figure but then come to conclusion that no one can use different body textures to blend
    Hmm, you're not the first person to say that, but I don't understand the problem, can you post pictures showing the problem?
  • namretteknamrettek Posts: 168
    edited September 2012

    I bought the Rigging Original Figures in DS4 Pro tutorial yesterday.

    I found this one http://philosophersegg.com/resources/SparkysDS4ProRiggingTutorial.pdf for free.

    But I bought the Rigging tutorial anyways.


    I have to say the Rigging tutorial here at Daz was well written and easy to follow. Only thing so far that was confusing was taking away polys in the polygon group editor you have to start to draw the lasso and THEN hit alt and it will take them away. That was driving me crazy especially after switching from zbrush.


    But I had a question for any zbrush users - I broke my model into polygroups where I wanted my groups to be in DS4, but then I had to regroup everything in the poly group editor in DS4.

    Is there a way to change the names of groups in DS4 or Zbrush?

    EDIT - I just found out all you have to do in DS4.5 is double click on the face group name and you can rename it! How stupid of me. So from zbrush you can polygroup, then pull it into DS and just open the polygon group editor and rename the polygroups by double clicking on the names.

    I polygrouped the model in a couple of minutes, but then it took almost an hour to regroup and rename everything in DS...

    and then the bones came in completely shifted on my obj so I had to rearange every one of them (on one side in any case).

    The whole process took about 2 and half hours for about 60 bones! I still haven't done the weigfht mapping yet...


    not to complain about the PA that did the tutorial at all - This information should be in a manual - It's not that hard and the tutorial is quite simple to follow (that is a compliment for a well written tutorial it's not easy to explain technical things so clearly).

    Post edited by namrettek on
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,191
    edited December 1969

    ReDave said:
    Mec4D said:

    also returning to the geo-grafting , it is good if you are going to do your own creation something that can't be reused without editing , as geo grafted figures not always allow you to reuse them on different shapes due to the textures that will never match , for stuff like horns or wings and tails using the half way of geog rafting is better , I was working the other day on a fish tail , and was for plan to full grafting the figure but then come to conclusion that no one can use different body textures to blend
    Hmm, you're not the first person to say that, but I don't understand the problem, can you post pictures showing the problem?

    I think an example would be the four arms add on, or RawArt's Cyclops/Triclops grafts. Or indeed the male genitals. They all need their own textures, which need to blend smoothly into the textures applied to the rest of the body. Since the geeomtry is a hard join, at the moment that means that there needs to be a custom map, although a masked blending area using the LIE might well work as long as the tones and level of detail (photo-relaistic with lots of pores vs more painterly) were close.

  • namretteknamrettek Posts: 168
    edited September 2012

    I found a MUCH faster way of weight mapping a character in DS4.5

    I spent almost 3 hours working and selecting face groups and then filling them in and trying to paint a little extra. I was not even half way done after 3 hours - and it looked HORRIBLE.

    Then I figured out how to do this in about a half hour. The model here is not perfect - I just took a model I sculpted, cut down the subdivisions and created a 15,000 poly model for testing to see if I could rig this.

    The first pic is what I brought in. The next two were quick and dirty poses. But they are smooth. They can still be tweaked...

    All I did was in the weight map brush right click in the screen and select "Fill weight by selection sets". This fills all the maps for all the group faces with red. This saves at least an hour.

    Then I just posed the dino. Then I went to each of the maps in the weight map brush that were effected by the pose and smoothed them - with the smoothing brush with a .8 sensitivity.

    Just ran the brush over them until they looked good. A few places I had to work on some other parts of the body, but mostly I just painted on the maps where I selected. It was incredibly quick and painless. I did several different "poses" (just dragging parts) and smoothed until they looked good from every angle.

    Now, when I get my real model in there I will paint more detailed - one joint at a time. But filling in ALL the selections at once is much faster.

    Dinopose3.jpg
    500 x 500 - 35K
    Dinopose2.jpg
    500 x 500 - 25K
    Dinostandard.jpg
    500 x 500 - 23K
    Post edited by namrettek on
  • namretteknamrettek Posts: 168
    edited December 1969

    Oh and here are a couple more pics just because the tail looked kind of kinked in the last picks - it was actually quite smooth - it's just shadows and extra bends.

    Here is another angle - the tip of the tail is badly sculpted from the lost subdivisions...


    Now if I can just learn to bring in the Uv's I did....

    Dinopose5.jpg
    600 x 600 - 54K
    Dinopose4.jpg
    600 x 600 - 41K
  • patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
    edited December 1969

    namrettek said:
    I found a MUCH faster way of weight mapping a character in DS4.5

    I spent almost 3 hours working and selecting face groups and then filling them in and trying to paint a little extra. I was not even half way done after 3 hours - and it looked HORRIBLE.

    Then I figured out how to do this in about a half hour. The model here is not perfect - I just took a model I sculpted, cut down the subdivisions and created a 15,000 poly model for testing to see if I could rig this.

    The first pic is what I brought in. The next two were quick and dirty poses. But they are smooth. They can still be tweaked...

    All I did was in the weight map brush right click in the screen and select "Fill weight by selection sets". This fills all the maps for all the group faces with red. This saves at least an hour.

    Then I just posed the dino. Then I went to each of the maps in the weight map brush that were effected by the pose and smoothed them - with the smoothing brush with a .8 sensitivity.

    Just ran the brush over them until they looked good. A few places I had to work on some other parts of the body, but mostly I just painted on the maps where I selected. It was incredibly quick and painless. I did several different "poses" (just dragging parts) and smoothed until they looked good from every angle.

    Now, when I get my real model in there I will paint more detailed - one joint at a time. But filling in ALL the selections at once is much faster.

    Neat! thanks for sharing the tip.

  • RawArtRawArt Posts: 5,731
    edited December 1969

    ReDave said:
    Mec4D said:

    also returning to the geo-grafting , it is good if you are going to do your own creation something that can't be reused without editing , as geo grafted figures not always allow you to reuse them on different shapes due to the textures that will never match , for stuff like horns or wings and tails using the half way of geog rafting is better , I was working the other day on a fish tail , and was for plan to full grafting the figure but then come to conclusion that no one can use different body textures to blend
    Hmm, you're not the first person to say that, but I don't understand the problem, can you post pictures showing the problem?

    I think an example would be the four arms add on, or RawArt's Cyclops/Triclops grafts. Or indeed the male genitals. They all need their own textures, which need to blend smoothly into the textures applied to the rest of the body. Since the geeomtry is a hard join, at the moment that means that there needs to be a custom map, although a masked blending area using the LIE might well work as long as the tones and level of detail (photo-relaistic with lots of pores vs more painterly) were close.

    With some experimenting I think the "shell" feature in ds4.5 should be able to help blending grafts to other textures.
    I have a few ideas...but not for any project I am currently working on.

  • ReDaveReDave Posts: 815
    edited December 1969


    I think an example would be the four arms add on, or RawArt's Cyclops/Triclops grafts. Or indeed the male genitals. They all need their own textures, which need to blend smoothly into the textures applied to the rest of the body. Since the geeomtry is a hard join, at the moment that means that there needs to be a custom map, although a masked blending area using the LIE might well work as long as the tones and level of detail (photo-relaistic with lots of pores vs more painterly) were close.

    Hmm, I think I see what the problem is now. Thanks Richard.
  • TheKDTheKD Posts: 2,666
    edited December 1969

    Wow, this thread is amazing! I would like to thank all the contributors! I love stuff like this! I am looking to become a vendor myself, I know how to make stuff for my own personal use, it's a whole different ballgame to make stuff for others though. I am shooting for a month or two to have my first scene finished, I plan on doing carrara versions for everything, as well and poser/DS versions.

  • namffuaknamffuak Posts: 4,040
    edited December 1969

    RKane_1 said:

    Wow, Smay!

    I got Bad Guy on sale and now I feel I owe you the rest of the money!

    That was intense.

    I wish there was a way to slow down Youtube videos. Does anyone know how to do that?

    Thanks for recording your work. It is informative!

    I use Download Helper to capture the videos and Videolan Player to play them back -- VLC allows you to speed up or slow down the playback and to pause or take snapshots during playback.

  • Knight22179Knight22179 Posts: 1,195
    edited December 1969

    I'm more interested in creating special effects in the GIMP like these:

    http://superheroes-united.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=31006703&offset=96#/d3b6mll

    http://superherorenders.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=28502609&offset=48#/d4xldxj

    And energy surrounding the hands and such too, Heat Vision, things of that nature. Next to NOTHING like this stuff is available. :(

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,140
    edited December 1969

    OK, this tutorial I put together is derived from notes from fivecat and corinthianscori:

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/1866/P45/#140176

    SpaceBeing.jpg
    997 x 997 - 91K
  • TheKDTheKD Posts: 2,666
    edited December 1969

    I'm more interested in creating special effects in the GIMP like these:

    http://superheroes-united.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=31006703&offset=96#/d3b6mll

    http://superherorenders.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=28502609&offset=48#/d4xldxj

    And energy surrounding the hands and such too, Heat Vision, things of that nature. Next to NOTHING like this stuff is available. :(

    As far as I know, GIMP and photoshop are a lot alike, right? Those kinds of effects can be done many different ways in photoshop. You have to learn about masking, and layer blending for starters. Those two skills alone, you can achieve a lot of great things with postworking. That is where I recommend starting at.

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,140
    edited December 1969

    If you have parts of Genesis that you have morphed and don't like it's an easy fix via ZBrush:

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/1866/P45/#141636

    Hope this helps folks out! :-)

  • JeadorJeador Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    fixme12..have you checked out tutorials by Littlefox over at RDNA? Littlefox covers everything about creating content, including tutes on learning rigging in Poser and DS. http://www.runtimedna.com/Modeling-with-Littlefox-Part-Collection1.html Her tutes only teach legacy rigging, not weight mapping.

  • RKane_1RKane_1 Posts: 3,037
    edited December 1969

    If you look at the second post in my full body morph tutorial (see my sig below) you will see a section specifically on using Genesis in ZBrush and ZBrush overall.

    Hope this helps.

  • Knight22179Knight22179 Posts: 1,195
    edited December 1969

    TheKD said:
    I'm more interested in creating special effects in the GIMP like these:

    http://superheroes-united.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=31006703&offset=96#/d3b6mll

    http://superherorenders.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=28502609&offset=48#/d4xldxj

    And energy surrounding the hands and such too, Heat Vision, things of that nature. Next to NOTHING like this stuff is available. :(

    As far as I know, GIMP and photoshop are a lot alike, right? Those kinds of effects can be done many different ways in photoshop. You have to learn about masking, and layer blending for starters. Those two skills alone, you can achieve a lot of great things with postworking. That is where I recommend starting at.

    It would be nice to get some links to such tutorials since no one is willing to divulge their Super-Hero special effects magic.

    Looks like I really do have to learn all this myself through trial and error.

  • TheKDTheKD Posts: 2,666
    edited December 1969

    I learned most of what i know from digital tutors website. I am sure if you point google at youtube you could find a lot of tutorials for free, I just don't really have the time to hunt around, so DT is a great match for me. 400 for a year, and it has tutorials on sooooooo many different programs.

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,626
    edited December 1969

    TheKD said:
    I'm more interested in creating special effects in the GIMP like these:

    http://superheroes-united.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=31006703&offset=96#/d3b6mll

    http://superherorenders.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=28502609&offset=48#/d4xldxj

    And energy surrounding the hands and such too, Heat Vision, things of that nature. Next to NOTHING like this stuff is available. :(

    As far as I know, GIMP and photoshop are a lot alike, right? Those kinds of effects can be done many different ways in photoshop. You have to learn about masking, and layer blending for starters. Those two skills alone, you can achieve a lot of great things with postworking. That is where I recommend starting at.

    It would be nice to get some links to such tutorials since no one is willing to divulge their Super-Hero special effects magic.

    Looks like I really do have to learn all this myself through trial and error.


    I don't feel that's completely fair. The last time I did a tutorial, with renders, that I spent some time on, the thread immediately devolved into a technical argument among several people who were showing off methods they weren't sharing or arguing with my original suggestions. This makes doing a free tutorial pretty unrewarding. I can see why not as many people do.


    If you make a product you're earning money. If you write a tutorial you're painting a target on your face. I didn't care for it.

  • Knight22179Knight22179 Posts: 1,195
    edited October 2012

    TheKD said:
    I'm more interested in creating special effects in the GIMP like these:

    http://superheroes-united.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=31006703&offset=96#/d3b6mll

    http://superherorenders.deviantart.com/gallery/?set=28502609&offset=48#/d4xldxj

    And energy surrounding the hands and such too, Heat Vision, things of that nature. Next to NOTHING like this stuff is available. :(

    As far as I know, GIMP and photoshop are a lot alike, right? Those kinds of effects can be done many different ways in photoshop. You have to learn about masking, and layer blending for starters. Those two skills alone, you can achieve a lot of great things with postworking. That is where I recommend starting at.

    It would be nice to get some links to such tutorials since no one is willing to divulge their Super-Hero special effects magic.

    Looks like I really do have to learn all this myself through trial and error.


    I don't feel that's completely fair. The last time I did a tutorial, with renders, that I spent some time on, the thread immediately devolved into a technical argument among several people who were showing off methods they weren't sharing or arguing with my original suggestions. This makes doing a free tutorial pretty unrewarding. I can see why not as many people do.


    If you make a product you're earning money. If you write a tutorial you're painting a target on your face. I didn't care for it.

    Whenever I've asked for help to achieve a certain affect in my renders that I needed, 99% of the time, it's gone unanswered or worse, "Yeah, I'll help you. Give me a few days to write up a tutorial." And then I never hear from them ever again.

    I'm sorry you've had a bad experience. But for people like me who really need the help to achieve certain things that ASK for these kind things, it makes me feel like no one cares and I have to learn every trick in the book myself. Which, of course, takes an extremely long time since I have to learn by trial and error because I don't get the help I need. Everyone is hush, hush and it's frustrating.

    Want to sell Tutorials? Go ahead. If that's what I have to do to achieve the things I need, then so be it. But not many do even that much and it's really unfair to the rest of us who are struggling to make sure our art isn't utter crap.

    Again, I'm sorry you had bad experiences with this side of things, considering your a vendor. And I apologize if I sound frustrated. It's not directed at you. I just wish more people would be open to this. In the very least, they could help me one-on-one (provided time allows, I know a lot of people are busy with things in their life, which is understandable). That way, they avoid what you went through and it's just between me and them. But no one is willing to even do that for me.

    So, your right. It's not very fair. Being critizised for just trying to help destroys a lot of good down the road for struggling artists like myself who would have appreciated such tutorials. Which makes such tutorials hard to find and ruins it for the rest of the community, epecially newbies who want their art to look awe inspiring.

    Post edited by Knight22179 on
  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,626
    edited December 1969

    I'm definitely willing to help one on one. If you have a question that's unanswered, send me a PM (and that goes for anyone else reading this). I freely admit I'm not the best renderer here - there are some really great ones - but I'll do my best for you.


    And I do hear this point brought up, and I give the same answer each time. Nothing I do is a secret, and I don't think it is with most vendors either. We don't have to keep what we do secret, because it's overly difficult and complicated for 90% of people to commit to doing when they're on their free time. It's just that doing free tutorials is a lot of work for getting one of these responses:


    1. You're doing it wrong. Look how much better I can do it.
    2. Thanks, that looks too hard, I'm not going to do it.
    3. How do I do this in a different program that you don't use?

  • scorpioscorpio Posts: 8,300
    edited December 1969

    Whenever I wanted to achieve anything in postwork I googled it and always found several tutorials on the net that gave different ways to achieve similar effects.
    Postwork is trial and error, I rarely do the same thing twice, each image requires differnet procedures. The original image lighting and shaders often require different levels and types of postwork.
    You need to learn how the program you are using works and what it does, then you'll find ways to get what you want.

  • Knight22179Knight22179 Posts: 1,195
    edited December 1969

    I'm definitely willing to help one on one. If you have a question that's unanswered, send me a PM (and that goes for anyone else reading this). I freely admit I'm not the best renderer here - there are some really great ones - but I'll do my best for you.

    Sure thing, thank you, SickleYield. :)

    And I do hear this point brought up, and I give the same answer each time. Nothing I do is a secret, and I don't think it is with most vendors either. We don't have to keep what we do secret, because it's overly difficult and complicated for 90% of people to commit to doing when they're on their free time. It's just that doing free tutorials is a lot of work for getting one of these responses:

    Very true.

    1. You're doing it wrong. Look how much better I can do it.
    2. Thanks, that looks too hard, I'm not going to do it.
    3. How do I do this in a different program that you don't use?

    Thankfully, I've never done the first two. But, I'm certainly guilty of #3. :down:

    Anyways, when I do have a question on a render I am working on, I will take you up on your offer, SickleYield. Thank you for your understanding and listening to my frustrations.

    And I apologize to everyone for doing that. Let's get back on track. :)

  • anikadanikad Posts: 1,919
    edited December 1969

    Whenever I wanted to achieve anything in postwork I googled it and always found several tutorials on the net that gave different ways to achieve similar effects.
    Postwork is trial and error, I rarely do the same thing twice, each image requires differnet procedures. The original image lighting and shaders often require different levels and types of postwork.
    You need to learn how the program you are using works and what it does, then you'll find ways to get what you want.

    It would be a lot easier to learn DAZ Studio if Daz produced a manual that wasn't some long abandoned unfinished wiki. I'm continuously surprised that nobody seems interested in filling the gap in the market.

  • Knight22179Knight22179 Posts: 1,195
    edited December 1969

    I agree about the manual. DAZ needs to hire a small group of people who know their way around DAZ and write up a manual. Poser does (and boy is that manual thick).

  • scorpioscorpio Posts: 8,300
    edited December 1969

    anikad said:
    Whenever I wanted to achieve anything in postwork I googled it and always found several tutorials on the net that gave different ways to achieve similar effects.
    Postwork is trial and error, I rarely do the same thing twice, each image requires differnet procedures. The original image lighting and shaders often require different levels and types of postwork.
    You need to learn how the program you are using works and what it does, then you'll find ways to get what you want.

    It would be a lot easier to learn DAZ Studio if Daz produced a manual that wasn't some long abandoned unfinished wiki. I'm continuously surprised that nobody seems interested in filling the gap in the market.

    I don't think anyone would disagree with you on that point.

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,626
    edited December 1969

    anikad said:
    Whenever I wanted to achieve anything in postwork I googled it and always found several tutorials on the net that gave different ways to achieve similar effects.
    Postwork is trial and error, I rarely do the same thing twice, each image requires differnet procedures. The original image lighting and shaders often require different levels and types of postwork.
    You need to learn how the program you are using works and what it does, then you'll find ways to get what you want.

    It would be a lot easier to learn DAZ Studio if Daz produced a manual that wasn't some long abandoned unfinished wiki. I'm continuously surprised that nobody seems interested in filling the gap in the market.

    I don't think anyone would disagree with you on that point.


    Because most of us are 3d artists, and writing manuals is a horrid, joyless and lengthy process. :-D


    That said, I'd definitely pay for a manual if someone went to the enormous trouble of writing a commercial one.

  • Fixme12Fixme12 Posts: 589
    edited December 1969

    anikad said:
    Whenever I wanted to achieve anything in postwork I googled it and always found several tutorials on the net that gave different ways to achieve similar effects.
    Postwork is trial and error, I rarely do the same thing twice, each image requires differnet procedures. The original image lighting and shaders often require different levels and types of postwork.
    You need to learn how the program you are using works and what it does, then you'll find ways to get what you want.

    It would be a lot easier to learn DAZ Studio if Daz produced a manual that wasn't some long abandoned unfinished wiki. I'm continuously surprised that nobody seems interested in filling the gap in the market.

    I don't think anyone would disagree with you on that point.


    Because most of us are 3d artists, and writing manuals is a horrid, joyless and lengthy process. :-D


    That said, I'd definitely pay for a manual if someone went to the enormous trouble of writing a commercial one.

    pay for a manual?
    if it explains well about figure creation (sculpting), cloth (modeling), texture (painting) design proces, pay for it = yes.
    if it only explains the "needed main resource info of dazstudio" = no, this is basic stuff that have to be included insided dazstudio as pdf.
    example: i think new people now how to pose a figure after a day. but many do not know how the shaderbuilder work after a year.
    some things just need better and more info.
    a combination of pdf & tutorial video = mostly good.

  • creativemodelsbecreativemodelsbe Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    While I see your points and agree this would be a great thing for customers and aspiring creators, look at the other side. If a vendor relies on creating DS/Poser to make a living, the last thing they would probably want is to share their workflow and secrets because it would hurt their income. This market is really small and the last thing needed for a vendor is any competition.

    If anything, DAZ should be the ones to publish any tutorials since more vendors is a win/win for them.

    and why can vendors not make money with sell good tutorials?

    the last thing needed for a vendor is any competition.
    that is really a ridiculous tought and a smash in the face to all 3d noobies around here. :sick:
    is that the same reason why we see no good manual?

  • MattymanxMattymanx Posts: 6,873
    edited December 1969

    I dont see tutorials as being the best choice for making $$$ cause its only info. Once someone else has learned the same info then they too can either resell in their own tut or just freely give the info away. And since there is A LOT of free tutorials out there, why pay someone else for what is already free?


    And yes, we need a DS manuall. Not a tutorial, a manuall. A nice big PDF file that CLEARLY shows what everything is in DS and CLEARLY explains what they do.

    Pay for a DS manual, no!

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