Daz Studio Basics 101. New Users help for starting with DS.

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  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,340
    edited October 2012

    I don't know if this is too advanced a question for the New Users forum, but it's at least tangentially related to the recent topic of conversation regarding textures, so here goes: when a product description says that "some materials will need adjustment in DazStudio" how should one go about doing this? Is there a general process to follow, or does it vary from product to product?

    Edit: I may have found the answer-- http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=156773

    Post edited by Scott Livingston on
  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 13,930
    edited December 1969

    Typically the only thing that need adjusted are the bump and displacement because DAZ Studio handles it different than Poser does.

  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,340
    edited December 1969

    Thanks, Frank! :)

    In my experience, things usually look okay even with no adjustment. But sometimes "okay" doesn't cut it, of course...

  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited December 1969

    Okay, I'm back for more. :)

    So DAZ doesn't seem to be meant for creating models, but for using ones created in other programs, correct? So, if I want to create a box for a cargo crate, do I need to use some other program to do this? And if so, why does DAZ have the capability to create primitive shapes? What can these be used for?

    Also, shading/texturing: some models I have came with image files I can edit with my own textures, others come with files in other formats that I can't edit. Is there any way to edit these other file types?

    Sorry if I'm not being specific, I don't have access to any examples right now. Will provide more detail after work.

    Thanks again! :)

  • DarlaSDarlaS Posts: 50
    edited December 1969

    Hi everyone,

    I was working in DAZ before I seen this thread and was playing around with lighting and this is how mine turned out.

    I like it but I think it could be better as far as lighting wise. Was wondering if anyone had any ideas what to do to make it better?

    The background picture is there till I figure out how to make one similar to it.

    Thanks.

    Cafe.jpg
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  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Frank0314 said:
    Typically the only thing that need adjusted are the bump and displacement because DAZ Studio handles it different than Poser does.
    and glossiness I believe as the values are opposite of each other in each program but Frank correct me if I am wrong.
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Okay, I'm back for more. :)

    So DAZ doesn't seem to be meant for creating models, but for using ones created in other programs, correct? So, if I want to create a box for a cargo crate, do I need to use some other program to do this? And if so, why does DAZ have the capability to create primitive shapes? What can these be used for?

    To make good looking props like a cargo crate yes I would use a modelling program. Primatives can be used for anything you like. A cune can be used to surround a scene and filed with a volumetric material like fog. A sphere can be used as a simple ball, planet you are limyed by your imagination. Look add the primatives as aids.

    Also, shading/texturing: some models I have came with image files I can edit with my own textures, others come with files in other formats that I can't edit. Is there any way to edit these other file types?

    Yeah we would need more details on the formats. Did you look at that link I provided a few pages back on file extenstions?
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    DarlaS said:

    Hi everyone,

    I was working in DAZ before I seen this thread and was playing around with lighting and this is how mine turned out.

    I like it but I think it could be better as far as lighting wise. Was wondering if anyone had any ideas what to do to make it better?

    The background picture is there till I figure out how to make one similar to it.

    Thanks.

    Lighting is good, not sure on the POV and I think the backwall image needs toning down as the highlights are far too bright which draws your eye to that point first.
  • DarlaSDarlaS Posts: 50
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:
    DarlaS said:

    Hi everyone,

    I was working in DAZ before I seen this thread and was playing around with lighting and this is how mine turned out.

    I like it but I think it could be better as far as lighting wise. Was wondering if anyone had any ideas what to do to make it better?

    The background picture is there till I figure out how to make one similar to it.

    Thanks.

    Lighting is good, not sure on the POV and I think the backwall image needs toning down as the highlights are far too bright which draws your eye to that point first.

    Thank you Pete, I just rendered it in that POV. I'm just playing around to lean more. I have to agree with the back wall part. I'll work on making what I want to put there.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Hello folks, I've been down for a bit (medical stuff) better now, I'm sorry I missed you but I see you were left in good hands. I'll go over the thread in a bit and get fully caught up. If you still need help please post so I'll know you still want more help.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Jaderail said:
    Hello folks, I've been down for a bit (medical stuff) better now, I'm sorry I missed you but I see you were left in good hands. I'll go over the thread in a bit and get fully caught up. If you still need help please post so I'll know you still want more help.
    Thought that might be the case, I had noticed you were quiet and did think, good the hear you feeling better today Jad.
  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited December 1969

    Argh - little more confused now. Upgraded to 4.5, walked through the built-in tutorials - and now I can't find any of the content for Genesis. It loaded when I first installed 4.5, but now I can't find it. :( Smart Content pane comes up totally blank. How do I find these items?

    Thanks in advance! :)

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    You did remember to install the genesis essentials as well

  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:

    Also, shading/texturing: some models I have came with image files I can edit with my own textures, others come with files in other formats that I can't edit. Is there any way to edit these other file types?
    Yeah we would need more details on the formats. Did you look at that link I provided a few pages back on file extenstions?

    Some of the files are .cr2, which I understand are character files. Some are .pz2, which are pose files. (I think.) I guess what I want is to be able to edit texture maps which are already done. Can I somehow extract the textures from these files, or am I going about this the completely wrong way?

  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited October 2012

    chohole said:
    You did remember to install the genesis essentials as well

    I did, and they were there when I first ran 4.5. Subsequent times I opened the program, they were not there.

    Post edited by jerriecan on
  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583
    edited December 1969

    DO they show up in the Content Library pane, e.g. DAZ Studio Formats > My Library > People > Genesis? It may be that the CMS has stopped.

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:

    Also, shading/texturing: some models I have came with image files I can edit with my own textures, others come with files in other formats that I can't edit. Is there any way to edit these other file types?
    Yeah we would need more details on the formats. Did you look at that link I provided a few pages back on file extenstions?

    Some of the files are .cr2, which I understand are character files. Some are .pz2, which are pose files. (I think.) I guess what I want is to be able to edit texture maps which are already done. Can I somehow extract the textures from these files, or am I going about this the completely wrong way?

    You can either look in the files for the path to the texture files, or load them and go to the Surface pane and click on the icon of the image in Diffuse.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited October 2012

    DO they show up in the Content Library pane, e.g. DAZ Studio Formats > My Library > People > Genesis? It may be that the CMS has stopped.
    And once again I get beat to the draw.

    EDIT: On both.
    Post edited by Jaderail on
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited October 2012

    Szark said:

    Also, shading/texturing: some models I have came with image files I can edit with my own textures, others come with files in other formats that I can't edit. Is there any way to edit these other file types?
    Yeah we would need more details on the formats. Did you look at that link I provided a few pages back on file extenstions?

    Some of the files are .cr2, which I understand are character files. Some are .pz2, which are pose files. (I think.) I guess what I want is to be able to edit texture maps which are already done. Can I somehow extract the textures from these files, or am I going about this the completely wrong way?CR2 do have textures included and may or may not need adjusting as mike said just load in the item go to the surfaces tab and Browse, via the diffuse map drop down box, to where the textures maps resides.

    If a PZ2 is a mat pose as opposed to a Pose pose, LOL then load the prop and load the textures via the PZ2 and do the same thing as above. But generaly the CR2 will have the texture maps in place. The PZ2 will just adjust the materail settings for Poser rendering with Daz Studio having there own material format for rendering in Daz Studio. This is not to say you can't use the PZ2 mats in Daz Studio as mostly these will work and may need adjusting for Daz Studio as disscussed previously.

    So as you can see you can have CR2, PZ2 and Daz Studio fomats all with the same texture maps. It is just the surfaces settings that separate them.

    Post edited by Szark on
  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited December 1969

    DO they show up in the Content Library pane, e.g. DAZ Studio Formats > My Library > People > Genesis? It may be that the CMS has stopped.

    That's where I found them! Thank you so much! :)

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583
    edited December 1969

    DO they show up in the Content Library pane, e.g. DAZ Studio Formats > My Library > People > Genesis? It may be that the CMS has stopped.

    That's where I found them! Thank you so much! :)

    Try restarting the CMS. In Windows it's in Start > Programs > DAZ 3D > DAZ Content Management Service > Start DAZ CMS

  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited December 1969

    DO they show up in the Content Library pane, e.g. DAZ Studio Formats > My Library > People > Genesis? It may be that the CMS has stopped.

    That's where I found them! Thank you so much! :)

    Try restarting the CMS. In Windows it's in Start > Programs > DAZ 3D > DAZ Content Management Service > Start DAZ CMS

    And again, thank you! Got back what I misplaced. :) Off to try out Genesis for a bit...

  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited December 1969

    Back again. :) How would I adjust the ambient light levels in a scene - I want the background to have a little light, but the focus to be in the spotlight (literally). So far I haven't been able to rig the lights how I want. It's either all (no spotlight) or nothing (only the spotlight).

    Plus, is there some way to lock a prop into a figure's hand, so that when I move the arm, I don't have to reposition the prop as well?

    Thanks again! Hopefully soon I'll be able to show off the fruits of my incessant questions! :)

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    The easiest way I can think of to provide over ambient light and low levets then toppong up with spots for the subject matter is to use Uber Enviroment and Set the light type to "Ambient Only". WIth this setting you don't need to worry about the quality settings in Uber Envroemnet just in the Advanced Redner settings. Just use a plain colour in the light colour channel, no need for a HDRI map at all and light intensity of about 10% to test.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Second answer. To fix/lock a prop in a hand is to "Parent" the prop to the hand. Right click the Prop in the Scene Pane or ViewPort and "Change Parent" or you can literly drag and drop the prop to the hand in the Scene Pane.

  • edited December 1969

    I'm starting to get into the swing of things with Daz studio and managing OK (I hope to have some animations up soon)
    However, in some of the tutorials I have seen there is a viewing frame that appears over the scene that shows what will be rendered depending on what aspect ratio you are using. This useful tool prevents you from chopping your characters heads off and saves you the trouble of doing preview renders all the time.

    My question is: how do you enable this viewing window in Daz Studio 4.5 Pro?

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    You would use 'Show Aspect Frame' as shown below :

    Untitled-1.jpg
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  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Holy Smokes!! Some one Dug up this old Dusty thread again? Or are my bots broke again?

    Thanks for the Help again Guys. I need to watch thing's closer on the Forums I see.

  • edited December 1969

    Thank you so much. Simple but illusive. No more chopping my characters heads off!

    Thanks!.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 1M
  • hermana5hermana5 Posts: 0
    edited November 2012

    Hiya, well i almost gave up after months and months of making a total mess of DAZ.....briefly i downloaded everything that i could paid and free in ALL formats and tried to install LOL yep, pick yourself up off that floor as then i realised my error, so then just downloaded the metadata files LOL i reckon i must be the only one as i have read through tons of threads i can´t find any other idiot quiet like me!
    So i decided to do what i do best and that was shop....believing one day i would understand at least a little (i have high hopes!) anyway i am up and running well dawdling actually and am now ready to stop playing around and follow some tutorials (by the way i got into this mess reading bits here and there on different sites and being a total, i said TOTAL newbie i didn´t understand very much)

    I am not in the least offended if you are still laughing, but i do have a couple of questions that i´d appreciate really simple straight forward answers (remember the chances are i won´t understand any jargon)

    I only use DAZ4.5 and a graphics program (though i did download Bryce and Hexagon ...i thought the bridge was literal! but since reading in this forum it´s a form of transporting work from one program to another) I use Windows 7 64 with 8gb memory. When i come to download all the goodies some state POSER file as well as DS, Metadata and DSON plus others but upto now the others seem to be working okay...... oh in todays downloads there was something about LEGACY so i am beginning to get confused again, please don´t refer me to other answers as i have been and am still confused......what do i need?

    If you are still breathing after reading this then i have another Question.......when i have been shopping and it stated i needed other merchandise i bought this too (see not such an idiot lol) alot of the clothing kept mentioning unimesh so i bought this too...not sure if i needed them or not? so a really simple, child friendly answer would be great.

    If you have lost the will to live by now i am sorry.......i promise to only ask a couple of things at a time but alot of the terms used are taking it for granted that i understand lol and i don´t. thanks in advance.

    Post edited by hermana5 on
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