Starting Over and Overwhelmed
whispers65
Posts: 1,031
Background: I had a lot of stuff before - mainly genesis, genesis 2, genesis 3, some genesis 8. I was able to transfer skins, clothes, hair, whatever back and forth, convert poses, etc. Well, I've probably all forgotten all of that stuff at this point so I'ld need a refresher.
Purpose: The purpose was to illustrate what is in my head for novels and such. I was wanting to write a novel at one point and illustrate it.
Other than years that have gone by, I lost like 6 people in my life, my job of 34 years. I spent the last 6 or 7 years taken care of my dad who died. Now I'm left with a hernia hanging out, no teeth, and no money. I did however publish my novel though and working on the sequel as well as other stories I have in mine. No sales though and that's fine. It's more of a personal journey for me anyway.
So that leaves me now: I set up studio and downloaded content. I still have 2 other places to download content. I do not have an nvidia card any longer, but an AMD so I know that will cause issues. I really need a new computer, but a new body to go along with it. So published novel is about school I had some pictures before but lost them all, so now I'm starting all over again. but part of me always wants to hang onto that nostalgia from before if you know what I mean.
So where do I start? I have no money currently, although I've tried so, in one sense I will be walking down the nostalgic road. So this will be version 2.0 and I'll have to get over the fact that it may not be the same as before and I'll live with that.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
1. If you have the time to wait while your computer renders with the CPU then you can render Iray scenes.
2. You can render using 3Delight engine and materials, by cpu, with DAZ Studio v4.24 or earlier, but not Daz Studio 2025 ALPHA.
3. You may be able to render in Blender with your AMD card. It will require learning Blender (much easier since Blender version 4 with many free YT tutorials) and importing DAZ content (there are forum discussions about bridging between DAZ and Blender).
It's obvious you have the spirit to keep moving forward. Use the assets you still have in life, the Daz Studio items for example, and develop something unique with them which reflects yourself, your view of the world and your experiences in life.
Your art doesn't have to employ high-tech super-realistic images if you're unique enough to present concepts that viewers haven't seen already over and over. Think of the simple drawings that famous comics artists in newspapers have used over the years. It's their product that attracted people, not the gloriousness of their images.
My parents are gone, all my friends except one in another part of the country are gone. My health is gone, etc. So I know how your feel. All the more reason to dive into our hobbies and express ourselves - freely! Maybe even break a few rules:)
Apparently, the trick is to only hang on to the nostalgia that's happening right now.
As put ^ you can CPU render overnight (and maybe the folowing day or two) and turn out brilliant iRay renders - Watching them render isn't much fun, so you won't miss anything.
People turn out great longer-distance-shot renders with G2-G8 (check the gallery), as well as landscapes and the like; so seems like you won't need to buy too many new models. Decent close-ups will require postwork (but there's freeware/nearly-free if you can't afford Photoshop).
Interesting. I thought Iray was only an nvidia thing. I did do a test render, it wasn't the great but it worked. I downloaded whatever it gave me the other day - 4.23. I've used Blender before but like everything got derailed for a while so it's been some time. I have a RX 580 card, not great but a littler better than what I had. Thanks.
Thanks. It's mainly for me, but I did post some stuff on Patreon. For my novels, I like to create supplmentary material. Like for my school, I created 12 issues of a 4 page school newspaper. I would have liked the picture to all been renders, but I just started again. "All the more reason to dive into our hobbies and express ourselves - freely! Maybe even break a few rules:)" I like this. I have a few thousand things I want to do lol.
Thanks. I will check out the gallery and see what is possible again. I know like anything else, pictures can be like Chess - absolute beginner vs grand master. of which I fall closer to the beginner lol. I don't have a sub to Photoshop any more but generally use Paint.net. It gets the job done on some things like I had basketball uniforms before were I modied the number and put on a name, that kind of thing. I can do techinical stuff, but not really artsy things. I'd like to be able to though.
If a DAZ product that you own has only iRay (MDL) materials then you could consider these converters:
https://www.daz3d.com/rssy-iray-to-3delight-converter-and-merchant-resource
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/437647/iray-to-3delight-converter
https://www.renderosity.com/marketplace/products/124773/convert-it-iray-to-3delight
Please note that 3Delight will not be supported in DAZ Studio 2025.
NOTE: 3Delight materials are RSL.
GIMP, PhotoPea, Canva, Pixlr, Fotor, Paint.NET, befunky, and a version of GIMP with a photoshop GUI called photogimp.
BTW you can obtain amazing renders with 3Delight and photo editing.
What will be supported? Thanks for the tip!
I think the focus will be Nvidia Iray and Google Filament. Filament is a fourth method for rendering in DAZ Studio.
https://www.daz3d.com/filament-information-page
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/690191/what-is-filament
https://google.github.io/filament/dup/intro.html
https://blenderartists.org/t/google-releases-open-source-rendering-engine-filament/1121322
In my experience, even Iray is not a press button make art feature. The secret to making great renders, I am sharing this only with you so don't tell anyone else, is DAZ Studio Canvases, making multiple render passes, and using the layers feature in your Photo Editing software.
The analogy I like is DAZ Studio is the camera, the render is the negative, and your photo editior software is the darkroom.
I use the Affinity suite ( https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/ ), but for render "enhancement" you would only need Affinity Photo, however it is not free.
This is only a ROUGH example:
Visualize a scene with 3 Genesis characters in a room with point lights and a lights illuminating through the windows. You could save 4 versions of that scene (the set and then each character) all with the same lighting and simple planes as light blockers so your lights/shadows match. Now each render requires less resources and renders faster. You take those 4 png (with the alpha layer so your item is a cutout) renders into your photo editor each as its own layer, then tint, tone, and sharpen. Et voila you have your awesome render.
Another way to do it is make flat light renders and create lighting effect in photo editing.
AND there many many better ways than this ROUGH example, but hopefully it sparks your grey matter thinking about how to do more with less. The biggest advantage to all the latest gear and software you can be MUCH lazier about scene management, optimizing meshes and textures (there are tool for that
) , and planning your scene for multiple renders. You can get great results with basic gear and free software, but it takes more time and effort.
For example, you can do great stuff with any of the free photo software I listed, but you can do it faster and easier with paid software. It seems from your original post you have the time and I suspect you may already own some of the optimizing tools so there is your edge.
Some of these might be tools you already own and might be helpful in optimizing your scenes. This is NOT a comprehensive list and it is in no particular order.
https://www.daz3d.com/scene-optimizer (for me this is a must for scene optimization)
https://www.daz3d.com/instancify
https://www.daz3d.com/saveguard-ultimate-scene-saver-for-daz-3d-win-64
https://www.daz3d.com/super-save
https://www.daz3d.com/texture-booster
https://www.daz3d.com/wearables-manager
https://www.daz3d.com/code-66-toolbox--volume-4
https://www.daz3d.com/code-66-toolbox--volume-1
https://www.daz3d.com/code-66-toolbox--volume-2
https://www.daz3d.com/code-66-toolbox--volume-3
https://www.daz3d.com/code-66-toolbox--volume-5
https://www.daz3d.com/daz-studio-4-scene-tools-set-3--pose-symmetry
https://www.daz3d.com/daz-studio-4-scene-tools-set-2
https://www.daz3d.com/code-66-toolbox--volume-1
https://www.daz3d.com/c66-graphics-plug-in
https://www.daz3d.com/scene-analyzer-organizer-simplifier
https://www.daz3d.com/map-manager
https://www.daz3d.com/billboard-builder
https://www.daz3d.com/environment-set-splitter
https://www.daz3d.com/legacy-set-converter
https://www.daz3d.com/placeholder-manager
https://www.daz3d.com/advanced-material-converter
https://www.daz3d.com/property-manager
https://www.daz3d.com/easy-geometry-hider
https://www.daz3d.com/resource-saver-shaders-collection-for-iray
https://www.daz3d.com/mmx-resource-saver-shaders-collection-2-for-iray
https://www.daz3d.com/mmx-resource-saver-shaders-collection-3-for-iray_Mattymanx
https://www.daz3d.com/mmx-resource-saver-shaders-collection-4-for-iray
https://www.daz3d.com/mmx-resource-saver-shaders-collection-5-for-iray
https://www.daz3d.com/mmx-resource-saver-shaders-collection-for-genesis-9-and-iray
https://www.daz3d.com/mmx-resource-saver-shaders-collection-7-for-iray
https://www.daz3d.com/placeholder-manager
https://www.daz3d.com/camera-director
https://www.daz3d.com/camera-doctor-bundle
https://www.daz3d.com/camera-magic-plus-bundle
No technical advice to offer, but wanted to at least drop some encouragement. I'm starting over halfway through life as well (different circumstances of course) and learning Daz and making art has been so good for my healing journey. I wish that for you as well. Hang around here, the community is great and so supportive. Check out the complaint thread if you need to vent; we'll listen. (And you'll also learn a lot of weird stuff you never knew you didn’t know. We go off on some truly bizarre and fascinating tangents.)
Probably the best thing I've learned about Daz is to think of it like writing... whatever you make is a draft of the (visual) story you're telling, and you can always go back and tweak it and run it again if you get an asset or a bit of knowledge that solves an issue. In the meantime, you've made art! Be proud of yourself for the effort and creativity you put in!
I'd like to pipe up and say that, as you're in a similar position to me of having a limited budget, do consider free items.
Renderosity has a very extensive range of free items, many of which are of really good quality - freebies produced by vendors and people who just want to give something back to the community (I fall in the latter category). Then also consider PoserDazFreebies which doesn't store anything but is an index for freebies. For older characters, Wilmap has done a great range of 'sensible' (ie non-sexualized) clothing from Genesis to G8, but the widest range is available for G2F.
Then over at Patreon and Deviant Art is Shinteo, who does a lot of game character conversions to DS, clothing included. Most of Shinteo's conversions are available for free after a month or two.
Don't forget the freebie forum here, there are a number of freebies here which you may find useful, however the forum search facility makes a difficult job worse, probably best to scroll through many, many forum pages. The freebie challenges all require the entrants to list and link to the freebies used in each image, which is very useful as you can see what they look like in use.
Hope this is useful.
Regards,
Richard
Thanks. Iray is the only thing I have experience with or did have anything. I'll check out filament with the links you gave.
thanks. this time around I definitely want to do something different. I'll check out the complaint thread. Writing and visualizing is a really good therapy for me and no matter how much I try and stuff it back down saying "I can't do this" or "I don't do this well", it always comes back so I'm leaning into it and see where it goes. I mean, seriously, what do I have to lose at this point?
Thanks. I used to get stuff off of sharecg, but that seems to be gone these days so I'll work on making a list of other places. LOL Yeah, I've tried the forum search. I'll be looking a lot to get my head wrapped around everything again.
Art isn't meant to be flawless.
It's meant to be from the heart.
When I want to search the DAZ Forums I use a general web search engine (like Google or Bing) with the words DAZ forum in my word search salad.
SilverGirl, so I just had a heart-to-heart discussion with Gemini about your statements. I just wanted you to know that thinking like you is popular and widely accepted.
Gemini from the heart;
The statement "Art isn't meant to be flawless. It's meant to be from the heart" is a popular and widely accepted sentiment, particularly in modern and contemporary art circles. However, it's not a universal truth and its validity depends on one's perspective and definition of "art."
Here's a breakdown of why this statement resonates with many, and why it's also open to debate:
Arguments in favor of the statement:
Emphasis on expression: This perspective views art as a form of communication and self-expression.1 The artist's emotions, experiences, and inner world are the primary subject. Flaws, imperfections, or "mistakes" can actually be seen as authentic marks of the artist's hand, revealing their humanity and the raw energy of the creative process.2
Rejection of rigid rules: Many artistic movements, from Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism, deliberately moved away from the strict academic rules of the past.3 They valued spontaneity, intuition, and personal style over technical perfection and adherence to established conventions.
The "soul" of the artwork: Proponents of this view argue that an artwork's true value lies in its ability to evoke emotion and connect with the viewer on a deeper level. A technically perfect piece that feels sterile or soulless may be seen as less "artistic" than a raw, imperfect piece that is full of passion and genuine feeling.
Arguments against the statement (or for a more nuanced view):
Traditional and classical art: Throughout much of history, particularly in the Western tradition, "flawless" craftsmanship was a hallmark of great art. Artists were trained in rigorous apprenticeships to achieve technical mastery.4 The goal was to create works that were beautiful, harmonious, and anatomically correct. The perfect, idealized forms of Greek sculpture or the meticulous detail of Renaissance paintings were highly valued.5
Art as a skill: This perspective views art as a craft that requires discipline, practice, and a high level of technical skill. A lack of skill, even if the intention is from the heart, may result in a work that is not well-executed and therefore fails to communicate its intended message effectively.
Different forms of art: The statement may apply more to certain forms of art (e.g., expressive painting, performance art) than others (e.g., architecture, design, classical music). In fields like architecture, technical perfection is often essential for structural integrity and functionality.
Conclusion:
The statement "Art isn't meant to be flawless. It's meant to be from the heart" is a powerful and popular philosophy of art. It speaks to the modern and romantic ideal of art as a vehicle for personal expression and emotional truth.
However, it's not a universal or timeless rule. The concept of "flawless" and "from the heart" can be seen as two different, and sometimes competing, values in art. Ultimately, the most impactful art often finds a way to combine both: technical mastery that allows the artist to fully express their vision, and a genuine, heartfelt intention that gives the work its power and resonance.
BEFORE anyone's hackles get up, this was meant only in jest since she mentioned from the heart and nothing can be more heart felt than your personal AI.
Even this point is tricky. I have friends who are artists and a relative who worked for two major museums and we discussed the nuances of this. If you were examining this style of art, you would discuss the concept of Arts and Crafts. For example, George Lucas is poised to open his Museum of Narrative Art which exhibits arts that tell a story in Los Angeles. One major feature is the collections of illustration including comic art, book illustrations, posters, and photography which are not traditionally considered "fine art". As a generallity, Fine Art doesn't really consider "perfection" as a goal. Fine Art photography is much more concerned with the artistic expression than the exactness of commercial photography for example. In Renaissance painting, many of the works were created assembly line fashion with the client giving creative imput much like a fast food order and the artists were considered more like draftsmen that fine art artists. Ultimately, you get to decide when you are satisfied with your creative output and are not bound by archaic rules that a Greek sculptor (who had their own hidden constraints).
@whispers65 ..
...yeah I'm in same boat as well financially. and also weathered a serious drive crash a few years ago in which I lost years of scnees and finished works whioch I am still recoverng from. Yeah considered iving up back then. I also am owrking on a few storeis and just rebilding the characters to wher I am satisfied with them has been a long haul process .
Still working on a 13_ year old Win 7 system with 24 GB of memory, a 6 core Xeon, and 12 GB Titan X GPU (it was a bneast when I huolt it but now way overshdowed) Because of this I hit a "silicon ceiling" so to say as Win7 has pretty much been abandoned. Daz 4,x still works in it but I'm limited to an older version due to Nvida dropping W7 support over a year ago. .I have the specs for an upgrade that supports Win 11 but it costs more than my monthly pension cheque. Hence I've been considering moving back to 3DL myself (in some ways I feel that's when I did my some of My best work). I have several;utilities and tools with which I can almost achieve Iray like quality.
One thread you may want to skim through is Show us your 3Delight renders (the link is provided below) One particular contributor, Sven Dullah, has done some incredible work with 3DL using a few enhancements for it (some that can still be purchased here and a couple that are free)
Some suggestions (if you don't already have them)
IBL Master THis works with both Iray and 3DL Pice is 30,.95 USD but it has been on sale for as little as 6.19.
https://www.daz3d.com/ibl-master-for-daz-studio
AOA's Advanced Lights bundle 3.63 USD
https://www.daz3d.com/advanced-daz-studio-light-bundle
If you need realistic skies there are a number of products available. The most comprehensive set I've found is Denki Gaga'a IBL Skies - Perfect Skies Bundle
https://www.daz3d.com/ibl-skies-perfect-skies-bundle
The current price is daunting 60.95 but it has been marked down during sales to as low as 12.19. so put it on the wish list
It works with both Iray and 3DL. and ranges for clear to stormy skies (there is no ground scenery) The dome is high resolution and can be rotated 360 . There are 31 domes to cover the sun elevation from 0 to 90 in each set.
Also attached below are a few examples for works of mine that show the capability of the 3DL engine. The last one uses some of those special tools I mentioned and rendered in only 14 minutes at 1,500 x 1,125 resolution. I optimised that scene for Iray and it took something like 2 hrs and 45 min to render on the CPU (as I didn't have a GPU card at the time).
Looks like I already own the AOA bundle. It shows I do anyway. Nice renders. I will check out the forum.
...thank you..
Keep an eye out for discounts on IBL Master (which adds global Illumination that renders faster than UberEnvironment) and the Perfect Skies bundle.
Here's one more I did on an old 32 bit Toshiba Xp notebook (which I consider my favourite). I had to perform a lot of "trimming" to get it to render as I only had 3 GB of system memory to fit everything in (including the OS). Rendering on the notebook taught me boatloads about scene optimisation.
I added a little bit of a "toon" filter in Gimp.
I will keep a look out. one thing I wanted was a basketball gym. it was full price yesterday but 80% off today. now, if I can just get the uniforms, I can stay busy for a while.
okay my latest and greatest problem. I published a novel and want to get the likeness onto a daz figure. 1) I used face transfer onto genesis 8. I have nothing for genesis 9 and next to nothing for 8. 2) I was hoping I could do the face transfer and the character transfer to genesis 3 where I have tons and tons of stuff. That failed miserably. The genesis 3 character doesn't really look the part at all. I do realize that the character I am going for is a mid teen. the genesis 8 although adult does resemble him. but the character transfer process just doesn't. and I did spend a little money and starting to regret it. so then I'm thinking so I just go with genesis 8 and try and size everything up from genesis 3 and genesis 2 or try something different? my book is about school so working with teens and teachers and coaches. the main character makes a difference only because he is on the cover. I'm almost thinking about just doing what I can do in studio and recreating the book cover altogether to match if I can't get a good likeness. I did the book cover myself and it's not that great. so I'm rethinking all of my life choices at this point. it drives me crazy. genesis 3 I can do youth changes, have clothes, lots of characters etc. genesis 8 I have nothing except for a similar likeness on an adult figure. and no money, even less than what I had. ideas?
If you're not happy with some purchases, Daz offers a 30 days refund policy:
https://bugs.daz3d.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003500163-What-is-the-Daz-3D-Refund-Policy
And it's not even that really. I did think the purchase through. And I admit I do try and kitbash or frankenstein things together. And this would serve a purpose even if it isn't my direct purpose. And the way things are I will probably end up redesigning my book cover anyway. So thanks. I will keep that in mind.
If you own a ton of G3 items, did you buy any morph kits? You might be able to style something close to the original character.
https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-3-male-head-morph-resource-kit
https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-3-male-face-body-morph-resource-kit
https://www.daz3d.com/body-morph-kit-for-genesis-3-male-and-merchant-resource
https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-3-male-head-morph-resource-kit-2
https://www.daz3d.com/handspan-studios
https://www.daz3d.com/thorne
https://www.daz3d.com/sfdesign
I do have a ton of stuff, at least for me over 4000+ products on Daz alone, but sadly it doesn't show I own any of these. and it really only makes a difference for this one character as his picture is on the book. I can fudge everything else. I did make ID cards and newspapers on Patreon, but no one has looked at it so I can change these up when I get another figure. for the book, I either get something similiar or change it and I'm not opposed to changing it. I've only sold about 30 copies anyway.
Wisper life is not over till it is over. Every day is a gift and treasure it. I would like to encourge you to look around and see what is happening in the world. Life is not about what you have but how you live it. You are not alone, you are surrounded by your human brothers and sisters who think and act and have the same fears just like you. Writing and art are a great way to take your mind off things. Don't listen to the darkness it will get you down, just know you are not alone. I like the old saying "If life gives you lemons make lemonade" just work on making things better for yourself and others and you will pull thru.
Good Luck and God bless.