Building my library - what are some good, versatile assets to buy when first starting?

I will be using Daz 3D renders for a Visual Novel I'm working on. There will be more female characters than male one, so having a set of versatile female characters is high priority. Setting will be mostly modern with some witchcraft elements. I would like to focus on the latest models so Gen 8. Since I am just starting out I don't want to spend a ton of money just yet. Any other advice you have for someone starting out? Thank you!

Comments

  • Skin Builder 8 and the Head/Body morphs would seem a good place to start for the females - unfortunately there isn't a male version of Skin Builder 8.

  • Iray Ghost Light Kit, Ghost Light Kit 2 and Render Studio Iray are my go-to lighting solutions, especially for any indoor shots.  DimensionTheory and Orestes Graphics both make great HDRI skies and additional lighting solutions as well.  Also, if you don't already have it, grab a PC+ Membership.  That opens up plenty of inexpensive (and sometimes free!) products for consideration.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,049

    PC+ Membership is the thing to buy before anything else. It gives you discounts on Daz Original products, like the head and body morphs. It gives you a free item each week and a free item each month. Benefits are listed here. Membership is on sale right now. Someone has recommended buying a quarterly membership at 20% off to become a member and then buying an annual membership at the member rate of 50% off. The memberships will not overlap, the second will extend the first.

  • PaintboxPaintbox Posts: 1,633

    If you are low on memory for your render, go for the Scene Optimizer. https://www.daz3d.com/scene-optimizer. ; It allows you to smash those large texture into smaller ones, or remove them alltogether. For objects that are further away it makes little to no visual difference.

  • ChezjuanChezjuan Posts: 502

    Skin Builder 8 and the Head/Body morphs would seem a good place to start for the females - unfortunately there isn't a male version of Skin Builder 8.

    +1 to this. Most of the characters I use in my work are built using these packages.

    I'd also recommend:

    And here are a couple of tutorials that I'd recommend if you are going to use Iray:

    If you do plan on using Iray for your renders, I would also suggest taking a look at your video card. If it is not NVidia (or if it doesn't have a lot of onboard RAM), then your renders will be done using your CPU. There is nothing inherently wrong with that (most of the renders my first year used the CPU because my card only had 2 GB of RAM), but CPU render times are longer. A lot of people here use cards from the GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 lines. 

    You also want to ensure that you have a good backup plan and ensure that you regularly backup your DAZ libraries. I use a program called SyncFolders to make daily backups of my libraries - it scans them and then copies the new files to an external HDD. 

     

  • ChezjuanChezjuan Posts: 502

    You may also want to pick up things for scene backgrounds, both "environment" things and everyday items that may be laying around. Here are some I like:

    • HDRI Haven (www.hdrihaven.com) is a great resource for free high-quality HDRIs that work well with DAZ Studio. When I first started, I wondered how people got those great views out of windows from indoor environments, and it turned out that most were using HDRIs.
    • For good outdoor backgrounds that you can adjust, both TerraDome3 (https://www.daz3d.com/terradome-3-iray) and Iray Worlds SkyDome (https://www.daz3d.com/iray-worlds-skydome) are good.
    • Maclean (https://www.daz3d.com/maclean) has a number of great sets of everyday things like groceries, fruit, stationery, junk, pretty much anything you can think of. I just picked up his Everyday Gadgets set in the PC Sale.

    Collective3d's Create A Room sets are great resources as well. Sometimes you may not find an environment that fits your needs in the store, or it may cost more than you want to spend. XPack3 is a stand-alone set with lots of options that can help in those situations. https://www.daz3d.com/collective3d-create-a-room-xpack-3.  

     

  • Thanks you for all the tips so far!

  • HylasHylas Posts: 4,743

    I would recommend:

    - G8 Head Morph and Body Morph

    - A few haircuts. Good hair is rarely available as a freebie. For my female characters I personally like Bronwyn and Miranda, but this is obviously very subjective.

    - Heeled shoes are a problem as well, as they can't be used across generations and there aren't many G8 freebies out there yet. I find The Power Pump quite versatile.

     

    Definitely explore the things that come for free with the base program. Other than that, if you want to save money, look into freebies first. There is soooo much out there.

    You can create make-up and eye colours yourself if you have a bit of skill with Photoshop. Different skin tones can be made by fiddling around with the material settings. Poses and expressions are also just a matter of time and patience.

     

    Other things I wish I had known from the start:

    - Put products from the DAZ shop you're considering on the wishlist, and check back regularly. There's always some sale or other going on, and sooner or later your desired product will be on sale.

    - Within 30 days of purchase, you can return any product without giving a reason.

    - You can use M4 and V4 products on your G8 figure. You first need to auto-fit the product on a Genesis figure, then from Genesis to Genesis 8.

    Good luck, have fun!

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