how are content for daz/poser created?
Drekkan
Posts: 460
I am actually asking on behalf of my brother who is a lot better in all of these programs than I am. He has used max and all sorts but he was curious as well as me about how people usually create and sell quality content for daz/poser on here and other sites? how does it work generally speaking? I am sure its not simple at all but what is generally used to do this?
Post edited by Drekkan on
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The modelling program can vary, according to individual preference and type of content. I make architectural content, so I use 3d Max, but for clothing or figures, other programs are more suited - Modo, Rhino, etc.
It's not this simple, but the basic workflow is as follows. Model your obect(s) or figure(s), export them to DS/Poser, UVmap them, rig them, texture them, add morphs, make presets, (poses or MATs), do the promo images, then package it all up and submit it to DAZ.
Then big catch is that the DS/Poser market has its own requirements - in quality (far higher than game engines), rigging and texturing, not to mention what will/won't sell. The best thing to do is hunt for online tutorials that cover the various steps and decide whether it's worth tackling.
mac
If your brother uses ZBrush, I think a lot of content creators use that program, since it'll do most everything. :-) There are two or three tutorials here, also, about rigging content that are very useful. Blondie's are good.
Many people use zbrush but very few use it as their only modeler - it's usually used on existing mesh, either to morph characters or to morph/add detail to mesh you made in another program that's more suited to that.
I use Hexagon or Marvelous Designer for the base mesh (often times both), ZBrush for HD morph details and zremeshing Marvelous Designer meshes, UV Layout for mapping, Substance Designer to generate normals and stuff, Photoshop for texturing, Blacksmith3D if I need to do projection painting. And finally DS to rig and set up surfaces. I make fitting morphs with d-formers within DS or I bridge to Hexagon for it - sometimes both on the same morph.
and people complain about the cost of content here and on other sites we forget or not relise how much time and money you Fisty and other creators put in to create this content for us and we're a nit picking bunch sometimes
On average we put in $10,000+ in new computers or upgrading, new software and updates, subscriptions to various texture reference sites yearly. This profession take a lot of money to stay current on the technology.
I like to do as much modeling as I can in ZB (except skirts w/folds), go to Modo for skirt folds and mesh cleanup (ZB creasing leaves funky edges), then UV map in UVL. ZB generates all my base maps, except the PBR textures (Quixel/PS) and Modo usually does the morphs. I have seen DAZ/Poser artists do everything in ZB though, except for rigging -- even hair, I think -- and very well.
I don't do stuff for sale though -- just for fun, occasionally -- and what with the low prices of clothes here w/PC membership, it's actually more economical to buy something that's close to what I want.
I think my point in my first post was -- ZB is a very versatile program, and if someone wanted a starting point other than a traditional modeler, ZB would be a good choice. You can model, UV map, texture, generate surface maps, morph and do everything except rig in it. Actually, one can rig in ZB, but I don't think the rig would work very well in DS. With the Keyshot bridge, also, you can visualize how your end product would look, with PBR textures. Not totally accurately, but get an idea.
The cost of doing business...
Jack Tomalin recently posted his computer specs in another thread. His system may seem extreme to some, but considering how much work it does and what it does, it may just barely be 'enough'. That's the kind of computer costs that the heavy hitters in the creation field are looking at. It's not that you can't work on an older/lesser machine, it's just that it is much easy not to have to fight the limits imposed by one. At the same time, there is no reason to break the bank on hardware...balance is needed.
As for software, there are two very necessary program classes to learn...image editor and modeler. Both can be very expensive and everyone has their favorite programs...but you can get very powerful and full featured ones free (legit/legal) in Blender and GIMP. Blender, especially, has a steep learning curve, so that needs to be factored into the equation, too.
And the final item...practice, practice and more practice....
If you figure the resources being used with each and every update to software, you need a big system if your doing this for a living. The regular consumer can get away with your normal off the shelf computer as long as it has decent RAM and GPU which there are a lot of these days. Custom built computers PA's usually have to be very large to account for the multi tasking that usually occurs and the resources being utilized at the time.
And also a lot of that all is contingent on what you want to model... Figures,creatures, clothes, characters, small props, buildings vehicles... They all involve different skills, some will be slightly easier with certain software, other things harder... Everyone who does this stuff eventually has to decide what they are best at too... Despite what magazine articles and tutorials sometimes imply... It takes a while and quite a bit of determination to get good at this, and by the time you do you are playing catchup to the technology which changes and evolves constantly... Even if money for hardware and software is not a consideration, determination and ones ability to stick to a plan should be first order.
There lies the rub. Going back and forth from DS to ZB to modeler, etc. :-) Keeping all those programs open at once. DS and ZB will work ok together, but if I bring Modo into the picture -- forget it. And PS with Quixel Suite is not even an option, if something else is open.
I totally forgot Blender. :-) And it's free. I know of two very talented vendors who create with Blender. I'd love to use it, have heard good things about it, but have never managed to use it successfully. Probably one could, with determination, vendor with free items. As many people have said, it all boils down to the artist, not the tool. :-)
Blender is what I use...partially because I'm cheap and mostly because I actually like it. I must think the same way the Belnder devs do or something...because it just clicks for me.
That's also another good point. The tools you use must fit the way YOU think and work. If you don't like them or find them more cumbersome than lugging 20 bags of concrete mix to the roof, then it doesn't matter what they cost.
Yes -- I thought I wanted to learn to use a retopo program, so I tried a demo. Thanks heavens, I tried the demo. It's a program that's raved about, but I was just plain clumsy in it. That's why I love demos. :-) And since I do all this 3D for fun, if it's not fun, this ol' gal don't want anything to do with it.
Even if I was doing it professionally though, I think I'd want it to be fun.
If it isn't fun, then it's too much like a 'real' job...
and there's the other thing the creators of this content are doing this because they enjoy doing it I hope anyway and the stuff they make for the most part is what they want to make so I do feel sorry for the content creators at times when they put in so much time money and love into their creations then cop a lot of flack and critical sometimes harsh comments on their products gets to some of them sometimes I think
Exactly. :-)
I would imagine it does. :-) Maybe they've learned to not take harsh words personally, and to be confident enough to know when they've created something extraordinary.
Yes and no. You can dig a tunnel with a spoon, but a tunnel boring machine is much more sensible and productive. This said, Blender is becoming more and more powerful every day and Ton Roosendaal explicitly mentionned Houdini as an inspiration for the Blender 2.8 project.
Its cost and power sadly does not mean its useable by all. I tried it and it did not agree with me. I later found Silo from Nevercenter and it proved to be far more useful to me though I lacked all that Blender has. But everyone is different.
I've tried several of the modellers using their Demo's and a friend's ZBrush, but I keep coming back to Silo. I'm comfortable with Silo and can make something quickly. OK it doesn't have all the powerful tools like some others, but there are ways around it.
My average is between $4000 and $8000 depending if I've built a new computer in the given year. The cost of my last build went up owing to the necessity of expensive graphics hardware for Iray.
And is it that much different from when it was a gaming machine (or at least what the wishlist machine would have been)?
but it is still possible to get our feet wet in the creating content side with the free or cheap programs and learn to create some decent content such as props, clothing, characters? btw in creating free or sellable characters/creatures what figure bases if any are we allowed to use like the genesis 1/2/3 bases for example
did a creature once got asked if I'd put up as a freebie or sell it but I said I couldn't as it was heavily kit bashed using products from other content creators but if I created something using the gen bases only and morphed edited textured in other programs is that ok? got a few of the free and cheap compared to others programs and few tuts on creating just haven't really looked at anything yet
what got prog wise
paintshop pro x7, hexagon, blender, bryce, carrara8.5, poser10, daz+various plugins hair creators (full version of Look at my hair and Garibaldi Express Hair System, extra, curvy 3d, sculptris, blacksmith 3d free version and something called 3d builder have no idea where that come from don't remember getting it
Is Sculptris a program anyone here uses to make items? I know it is the little sister to ZBrush but is it useful in doing your work?
I am losing it, I double posted. Apologies.
I would check the specifics on making content, to be safe.
There have to be pages here, explaining the dos and don'ts. :-) Product Submission guidelines under Help, maybe. I know there are certain things that can't be redistributed as freebies, especially. Sculpted morphs, I believe, are ok as long as no base geometry is redistributed. They'd have to be saved as a morph file only. Not an obj.