Here is the idea/rules.....

ANY 3D rendering program can be used... There is no time limit. Let's keep the art PGish please!
Renders CAN be posted elsewhere and the art does NOT have to be new... Do YOU have renders already completed??? Posting them here is ok too :)

Include the TITLE/ARTIST/AUTHOR of the song (You can include a link to the song if you wish)... the words (optional)... and which part of the song/story inspired you and why (optional)
Songs/Music/Stories/Poems can be ANY genre.

If you have any questions.. you can PM me...

This is JUST FOR FUN... ALL skill levels are welcome.  I don't want to discourage anyone :)
ALL are welcome to participate. Now.. let's have fun!!! (commences rendering/posting)

Finally figured out, that I need some thread to post my images,

that I could not find any particular topic.

Starting with some fairy theme.

Used for the most:

https://www.daz3d.com/enchanted-wood--a-fairy-habitat-
https://www.daz3d.com/feya-floral-fairy-outfit-for-genesis-8-81-and-9
https://www.daz3d.com/e3d-biddie-hd-for-genesis-9-female

One amusing thing is that Stable Diffusion is quite careful not to create anything risqué: notice how the Stable Diffusion woman has modestly covered up, compared to her DAZ Studio original.

Share your own remixes?

and a playlist of videos I have done

as well as posting them to this thread now and then

What you need to know about the main characters:

Charlotte Rose Coleman is a divorced mother of two, who leads a normal if challenging life and lives in a mobile home on the outskirts of town.  Her office job keeps a roof over her family’s heads, but it can be a struggle sometimes.  She'd love to leave the trailer for a nice house in the country, but financially, that seems out of reach.  She has at times felt like a hopeless loser, but that seemed to change when she met…

Kurt Leandro Ulrich, bachelor, never married, and up until now never in a serious relationship.  When in his 20's he was something of a hound, but as he approached 30 he decided maybe there are more important things than, as he put it, “what’s goin’ on between my two big toes.”  Then he met the love of his life.   He is a firefighter with the Farrington Fire Department because he never outgrew a love for the dream job of so many young boys.  He lives in a rather tacky downtown apartment.

The first story in what I hope will be a series is titled “Sophia,” and involves a woman who…well, you’ll see. 

This is chapter 1.  I will post the first few pages as screenshots and the whole chapter as an attached PDF if you want to read on.  I really hope you enjoy it, and feel free to comment on anything.

Link to the website

https://charlottesmagiclife.com/comic/sophia-the-open-house/

Feel free to comment.

And since Vue has not been updated since 2024, no need to fork out a zillion bucks for a new Nvidia gpu.

Apparently it uses the Blender 3.6 Cycles engine.

I have yet to try this. But will do soon. Just released from hospital on the weeking after picking up two nasty blood infections after my bladder removal last month.

Buddy Movie

What? CGI comics, using rendered images as a foundation of your work and from there going wherever you want.

When? 2015 Started using Daz Studio and released a bunch of comics and graphic novels since then. Did a bunch of workshops in the Daz Store with Digital Art Live about comics, from A to Z.

Where?: The Dynamic Univserse. I've been doing music and art since...well a really long time time. 

Why?: I think most of us could use a little boost and help to keep from making a lot of early mistakes (that I made).

----------------------------------

1) Calibrate your monitors. I still see people sharing dark renders in art groups- where you can't really see the details. There's several hardware devices that you can use to correct your monitor- to display proper brightness/contrast, color, etc.

If I don't, what happens? Your work will not look consistent across devices, and print dark- since most people have their computer control the settings and it's set for "reading emails brightness". 

2) Sequential Art is not the same as making kool pictures. They are separate. Expressing an event through a series of images is a developed skill. If someone gets confused panel-to-panel, you have an issue.

3) The rules of Art (and comics) still apply to you. Just because you are using rendered images does not mean that the generally accepted conventions do not apply to you. Break rules when you need to and you should rarely need to.

Readers will have expectations on how a comic will function. This is true for layout and presentation. Keep it easy to read. 99.9% of the Good Art and Design Rules apply to making good comic art as well.

4) Story still matters. Flashy art is enough to get the initial engagement- even a sale. But the story is what will remain. If the story isn't worth telling across multiple mediums, it's probably not a strong enough story. If it only works with the CGI approach, then it should be worked harder to say more. A cool idea is not a cool story.

5) Get a Mentor. Find someone who is doing or has done what you want to do. Books and YouTube are great resources, going to a source is just as valuable (if not more valuable).

6) Get an Editor. Find someone who edits as a service and have them go over your work. Don't take it personal. Stop with the attitude, stop with the ego and just address/fix it.

07) Accept that "Styles" evolve over time. If you hunt for perfection, you will forever be 'almost ready'. Artists grow and change as they develop and gain new experiences. This leads to many not liking their earlier work. Well, guess what? Whatever you do now will someday be your earlier work. 

08) Start small and grow BIG. Do not make your most epic story idea first. Make some good pages. Make a good short story. Work your way up to a good comic/graphic novel. Learn from what you've already done. DO NOT START WITH A SERIES.

09) Do not make comics for other people who make comics. You want respect from your peers, not sales.

10) Respect Retailers and Readers. Their opinion matters. Take your book/work to them and get feedback. If you're nervous or want super-truthful feedback. Tell them it's your friend's book. lol

More to come.

Not much to say... some random guy is in the middle of nowhere getting into a sports car. Why he's there, and what happens next, we'll have to wait and see.

I'll start off by posting my latest.  This is my 3rd render in a series called Mass Effect Bounty Hunters.  You can see the other two in my galleries.

Comments are welcome. This isn't a shared thread, however; I appreciate it if you discuss or share your work/images on any of the common NPR threads, such as More Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR III), and flag me there if you need my attention. Everyone benefits from a personal space, and I appreciate how the Daz Forums accomodates this to some degree.

To start off, I'll be pulling images I've shared at More Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR III). Here's one of my favorite work.

Cheers!

Sgt. Inez | Daz Assets | Blender Eevee render | Clip Studio Paint post-edit

Entries here: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/758926/rrrr-remake-or-sequel-entries-only-thread
Vote here: https://forms.gle/1b9CxpALMHJoxQgM9

The prizes!
Totte (Code 66) is sponsoring with two items from his store
Elliandra is sponsoring with two items from her store
3Diva is sponsoring with two items from thier store
Dartanbeck is sponsoring with items from his store

Voting starts now and ends at Sunday June 298 at 23:59:39 Daz local time.

Please post a comment that you have voted to keep the thread alive and also easier to see if we get illegal votes ( someone votes without having a forum handle )

 

RRRR stands for Random Runtime Roulette Renders, and it's a contest that has been running for over twelve years now, on and off. We invite anyone to enter, specially all those new users who have shown up the past years. This is not the usual make a very nice render contest but more like tell a really great story, often fun, with your render!

How does it work?
Make your pull of 4 items, and if your any Lucky Bastards, you pull one extra item per LB.

Who can play?

Anyone can play!

How do you prepare yourself for play?

The rules are very simple, but first you need to have all your items in some kind of order in a text file, dumped from the itemized history into a text file or a spread sheet. Remove things like software, gift certs, and special plugins from the list and items that wil not work with the software you work with.
 For example if you have items for Poser, Bryce or Carrara, and want to use DAZ Studio, remove those other items from your list. If you have loads of older figures, M3, M4, a ton of non Iray stuff and you only want to use Studio with Iray, remove all the junk from you list. 

Then you use a randomizer to randomly pick items from your list (your Runtime/My Library) for your start pull . You can use items from any store. Now build a scene with those 4 items plus any other items you want to add to make a fun scene. For newcomers I heartly recommend looking at the previous contests below to get ideas how you can do this. 

Working randomizer:: https://www.random.org/integers

There are some situations where you allowed to redraw, these are:


- You pulled something that doesn’t work, broken thing, only works in a version / software not used etc etc, or you forgot to remove that item from you list even though you knew it wont work, or figure that out later.
- You pulled a software or add-on to a software or anything you should have filtered out from the list.
- You pulled only huge environment props and will not be able to render a scene without crashing.
- You pulled an item you already have been using in two RRRR renders in this content and that was picked randomly. Three is a curse - rule!

Lucky Bastard Rule!
I say this again: If you have Lucky Bastards, you pull one extra item for each LB you have, simple as that. 

Explaination of Lucky Bastards. 
Lucky Bastards, or LBs, are a form of handicap system which makes the contest a little more difficult for those who have won.

Current Lucky Bastards Standings

How to play?
You pull, you compose and you Render. You post your images and pulls in this thread (Don't miss that, entries without pulls and posts in this thread will be disqualified!!).
Then the entry should also be posted in the Entries only thread.

Bundles
If you pull a bundle, use two or three complete items from it, or more if you like, but you do not need to use all, but only picking a hairpin from Victoria 8 Pro Bundle is “too little”. Clarification: A bundle still counts as only one pulled item.

Poses, Expressions and textures/colors
If you pull a pose pack, an expression pack or a texture/color pack, you only need to use one of them, not all. For example if you pull 500 expressions for Genesis 8 Female, use one, if you pull 128 colors for Frappe Hair, use one.

Accidenty breaking the TOS
If your entry is removed by the forum mods because it accidentally, not deliberate, broke the TOS, you do not have to redo that entry but can move on and make a new pull. 

The rules of madness! 
Now you have successfully and randomly picked your items, make a scene, you can add other items as well but the one you picked should be prominent or cleverly used. Render it, post it and make us all laugh! Remember though that the renders must follow the TOS of the forum. As we have a theme on the contest, the render should in some way touch that theme. 

The contest categories! 
There are two categories Best and Funniest. Every image will compete in both categories.

Contest duration!
It starts now at Thursay April 2 - 2026, and will go on until Sunday June 7 2026 at 23:59:59 local DAZ time. 

This months sponsors so far:
Totte (Code 66) is sponsoring with two items from his store
Elliandra is sponsoring with two items from her store
3Diva is sponsoring with two items from thier store
Dartanbeck is sponsoring with items from his store

We want more sponsors!

Do you want to sponsor the RRRR?
Please chip in a gift card sponsorship, sponsors can play, they should play, they are even extra encouraged to play, as sponsors always plays for keeps.

Maximum number of entries? 
For this round it will be a maximum of 12 entries per player.

So, good luck and start your render engines!

http://s844.photobucket.com/user/Nancy-Lin_Hovey/media/Tip Toe Through The Patio_zpseenrfmjj.png.html?filters[user]=144118561&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1

And it's  not just Characters. I specifically am using Full body morphs ( Shapes) packages to create my own characters and those tend to ( if it's a slim kind of voluptous character) put six pack on her. Anyways, anybody know how to rever the look and put a little fat( not make her overweight) so you don't see defined muscles in the abdomen. Cause i'm a guy, i'm pretty confused that I do plenty of exercise and i don't even have any visible abs, yet all these Daz girls have six packs.

And also i want to explain. i'ts not a super defined Six pack but it's pretty athletic and it looks like a hard wall in the abs as in this image found for a promo pic of a Z Curvy  product in the daz store. This is how many of the characters i buy are

https://gcdn.daz3d.com/p/86953/i/zcurvybeautyshapeandposemegaset00maindaz3d.jpg

For example Z Curvy Beauty Shape and Pose Mega Set Has a Full Body morph and in the promo pictures they post it as if that's what it's gonna look if you apply it to the default G8. But that's  now how it looks at alll. All the morph does is Shape the hips , add some to the upper thighs. That's basically it. It doesn't do anything to the calves or shins. Doesn't add nothing to the buttocks, the arms remain Twigs just like the default Genesis 8 Female is.

[...]

I got other products that promise things and have all these promo pics depicting great shapes but then you get the product and it doesn't really make your figure look that way: 

Z Calendar Girl Shape and Pose Mega Set for Genesis 9 and 8 Female

Z Glamorous Curves Shape and Pose Mega Set

Z For the Love of Curves Shapes and Poses

How do you then , create a realistic Female? I know i have the DAZ3D Body morphs and even EJ Body morphs for editing body parts morphs individually but I'm not an expert in anatomy and i have tried dong it that way and everything turns out looking a bit good but not realistic. 

By the way here's a picture that shows How my default genesis 8 Female looks after i apply the product Z Curvy Beauty Shape and Pose Mega Set. Notice how the arms remain twig like, nothing changes, calvese, shins remain twig like. About the only thing that change is the hip widened and upper thighs got alitle wider. That's it, not even the Buttocks got any bigger. 

And whenever i try to add stuff on my own( increase size in shins, calves, Thihgh back, and add one morph for Buttocks that i bought), it ends up looking bad and not natural. Then the head also starts looking like out of place like  it's too small. 

Also when i add my third party Buttock morph it messes with the Hip look and it adds padding like it makes it very round( making the girl look like a stuffed doll). I have no clue how to achieve something Realistic looking.

If anyone has any tips. Please post below. 

By the way someone recommended this product, that it's better than using any of the mentioned products above: Body Diversity for Genesis 8

https://www.daz3d.com/body-diversity-morphs-for-genesis-8-females

But it's confusing because, it seems to be a product that only contains a set of Full body morphs But it also says it contains morphs to shape the legs  more realistic( all at once instead of dealing with calives, shins, thigh individually), etc and i don't find those morphs at all( i actually got this product too ) in the Content Library/Genesis8Female/Shapes/BodyDiversity. All there is in there is the Full Body Shapes. 

Anyway if anyone can help. I'll leave you with a picture of Genesis 8 Default and then Genesis 8 with added ZCurvyBeautyShape so you can see the advertising promo pics doesn't do justtice. 

This is a new story from a small and fun RPG adventure in Pathfinder 2E

Meet Gnosha Curosinei, investigator and freelancer forensic expert. Mr. Curosinei, or Gnosha to his friends, is a Gnome, born and raised in the town of Forkbridge. Forkbridge is located where the two rivers, East Thanus and West Thanus join to form the River Thanus. The town was built around a majestic bridge, the fork bridge, that connects all the three pieces of land. The bridge was built a long time ago by the Dwarven stonemasons of hammerfast, many days to the north. The bridge is guarded by the bridge guard, and merchants had to pay a toll to pass the bridge. The toll has been a good source of income for the town of forkbridge. 

Gnosha, being a Gnome, has been obsessed with invention all his life, and he early became obsessed with solving crimes, and his innovative mind has given him an advantage in the field. His deductive capabilities have given him quite a reputation. He has worked for the townguard of forkbridge for many years, and the last two years of his 43 years young life, he has worked as a freelancer. One of his clients has been “Master Didethor” of the temple order, where Ghosha solved a complicated theft and helped the temple Paladins to arrest the thief and return the invaluable artefacts to the temple.

Now, Gnosha has got a letter from Master Didethor, telling him to travel to the Pickles and Plough inn, a week of travel to the North, on the way towards  the town of Erast. At the inn he will meet the freshly examined Paladin, Aered Ealchfrilen of the temple order. Master Didethor writes in the letter that Paladin Ealchfrilen is a very devoted young man. Gnosha’s task is as a forensic expert and investigator, to assure that Paladin Ealchfrilen makes the right decisions and arrests the right people, as he might be a little over ambitious.

The morning after they have met up, they will travel another two days to the Town of Erast, where they will meet up with the Captain of the guard, Ennet Woode, who will explain the problem in more detail. The consulting fee is 10 pieces of gold, and the order, through Paladin Ealchfrilen will handle all expenses, to a certain extent.

Over a week ago, ChatGPT created a scene after I gave instructions for.

I have been rounding up all of my Daz Products and Kit-Bashing everything.

I sometimes have ChatGPT look for things that maybe I have missed...even though I use a LOT of searches for items.

You would NOT believe the things I have come up with.

For this wonderful tree in the foreground with twines, I asked ChatGPT to make me a texture map, displacement map and normal map for my tree.

After looking at my many products, I decided to use a LB Creepy Tree.  I cut the roots and the twigs off in Carrara to use as my main tree.

Then, I textured the LB Beanstalk like the tree!!!  I used 3 of the beanstalks to go around the tree.  The wonderful vines are ok as is.  

Changing everthing to Iray, as best as I can.

RDNA has Topiaries in a heart shape.  That is just precious for my scene.

I have taken Kings Cottage and Iray Worlds | Daz 3D to use for my 2 hills and checked stairs and paths.  I cut up the terrain in Carrara to just have those parts.

I cannot make anything, but I can put things together and take apart stuff LOL

I have a long ways to go and have thought about quitting so many times.

Anyway, I have asked ChatGPT many things...even camera angles and such.  Today, I told her...yes,  now ChatGPT is a her...I told her to that I was trying to create this scene in Daz Studio.  So, she gave me a very detailed outline that I thought you guys might get a giggle from:

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Yes — this scene can be recreated in Daz Studio, but the easiest way is to build it in layers, almost like a theater set.

Scene setup

Use a 4:3 landscape render. A good high-resolution setting would be:

2048 × 1536 px or 3000 × 2250 px

Camera style:

Eye-level, straight-on camera angle with a centered one-point perspective.

Suggested Daz camera settings:

• Focal length: 28mm–35mm

• Camera height: about human eye level

• Depth of field: light or moderate

• Focus point: the open iron gate / center path

• Composition: path starts large in foreground and narrows toward the castle

Build the scene in layers

1. Background layer

This is the distant fantasy world.

Use:

• A pastel fantasy sky HDRI or painted backdrop

• Distant castle or fairy-tale palace

• Rolling green hills

• Large oversized mushrooms placed far back

• Small cypress/topiary trees

• Atmospheric haze or fog plane for softness

The castle does not need to be fully 3D unless the camera will move. For a still render, a background image plane works very well.

2. Middle layer

This is the garden path and main gate area.

Use:

• Winding stone path

• Grass terrain

• Iron garden gate

• Ornate arch or arbor

• Stone pillars

• Small tunnel / hobbit-style doorway under the arch

• Rose bushes around the gate

• Hanging lanterns

• Playing-card signs: heart and spade

The arch and gate are the most important pieces because they frame the whole scene.

3. Foreground layer

This gives the image its Wonderland tea-party look.

Use:

• Large red-and-white mushroom on the left

• Teapot and sugar bowl/tea urn on the left

• Teapot, teacup, saucer, and small table/stool on the right

• Large roses in pink, cream, and red

• Purple flower spikes

• Checkered black-and-white garden tiles

• Large antique wall clock on the right

• Twisted tree trunk and vines on the left

This foreground should feel oversized and close to the camera.

Assets to look for

For Daz Studio or Renderosity, search for these types of assets:

Architecture / props

• ornate iron garden gate

• rose arch / garden arbor

• wrought iron fence

• fantasy castle

• fairy-tale castle

• hobbit door / round door

• garden lantern

• vintage clock / antique wall clock

• playing cards / Alice props

• tea set / porcelain teapot / teacup

• chessboard or checker tile floor

Nature

• fantasy mushrooms

• oversized mushrooms

• toadstools

• rose bushes

• climbing roses

• ivy vines

• topiary trees

• cypress trees

• flower beds

• foxglove / lupine flowers

• fantasy garden plants

Terrain

• curved stone path

• garden path

• mossy stones

• rolling hills

• grass props

• flower meadow

• garden steps

Materials and colors

Use a soft pastel palette:

• Blush pink roses

• Cream roses

• Deep red accent roses

• Mint green leaves

• Soft lavender flowers

• Pale blue sky

• Aqua and pink mushroom caps

• Warm antique brass for lanterns and gate details

• Blue-and-white porcelain for the teapot

• Black-and-white checker tiles

For the mushrooms, you can recolor the diffuse/base color maps in Daz Studio or apply new Iray shaders. The scene in your image uses fantasy colors, so even realistic mushroom models can be made pastel.

Lighting setup

Use warm, magical lighting:

• Sun/Sky or HDRI: soft late-afternoon light

• Key light: warm light from upper left

• Lanterns: point lights or emissive Iray shaders inside the lamps

• Fill light: soft cool fill from the sky

• Bloom: subtle, especially around lanterns

In Iray, make the lantern glass slightly warm and glowing. Add a small point light inside each lantern.

Best Daz workflow

1. Set the camera first.

2. Add the path, gate, and arch.

3. Place the castle and hills in the background.

4. Add large mushrooms at different scales.

5. Add trees, topiary, roses, and vines.

6. Add tea props, clock, lanterns, and playing-card signs.

7. Apply pastel shaders and floral textures.

8. Add haze, bloom, and depth of field.

9. Render in 4:3.

Most important pieces to recreate the look

The scene will read correctly as long as you include:

Ornate iron rose gate + winding stone path + oversized mushrooms + castle in distance + tea-party props + roses/vines + antique clock + warm glowing lanterns.

Those elements will immediately give it the same Wonderland fantasy garden feeling.

It's basically the raw rendering. The only edit I've made is fixing a tiny pokethrough that was visible on her shirt with Photoshop.

By the way, I don't know why the hair (FE Short Hair Vol 3 for Genesis 8 Male and Female) looks so thin in some areas. I expanded it a bit with one of the included morphs so that it sits better on the character's head. But the fact that it looks so thin bothers me.

My first piece, Aelindra training her pet dragon. Mythical/fantasy stuff isn't my usual go to genre, I just happened to have the assets and fancied doing something different while my main rendering rig is busy. I don't know if elves are supposed to be involved with dragons, but isn't that the point of fantasy stuff? There are no rules?

Currently Marlin Fingle and Bitti Bottie are Genesis figures. I "changed or morphed" Marlin and Bitti till I liked their looks. I got lazy, and used the default Thomas character. I don't remember if Thomas is from Michael 4 or Michael 5.

I've tried working with the Moonshine Diner because it's such a great setup. It even comes with Poses, etc. (I believe Jack Tomalin created Moonshine's Diner.)

But I've got myself in trouble. Marlin has the proper pose, but he's not sitting on the stool, or facing the correct direction. I tried rotating Marlin, but he goes the wrong ways.

Any ideas?

Anyway, this thread is meant to showcase the 3D equivalent of "doodles". Even though these aren't "serious" in nature, I always try to keep composition in mind. Due to my current hardware, these will all be 3Delight renders with postwork in GIMP. My prefered figure to use is Genesis/generation 5, however will I will use other figures too.

EDIT: I will link to the items used, unless it's from a competitor's store. I don't think freebie site links count. If they do, please let me know so I could remove them.

ANOTHER EDIT: I renamed the thread since it's becoming more WIPs of me playing around in 3D art as opposed to just making simple illustrations.

YET ANOTHER EDIT: Kinda late, but this post talks about what I hope to accomplish and where I stand. Just in case all I'm doing is confusing because I try to do many things. XD

However, I work by bringing the original character into the viewport and drawing based on that…

Could anyone show me how this character looks in the viewport? It’s Akiko for Mei Lin 7.

https://www.daz3d.com/akiko-for-mei-lin-7