I definitely couldn't do a realistic shower in DAZ Studio

even in Carrara with metaball particles and a couple of third party plugins, it's a challenge and not really realistic 

Jan_Scrapper said:

crosswind said:

I know nothing about Meshy but I checked the skirt you attached. Actually vertices / faces count is not an issue but the topology is. Such triangle topo is not really good for dForce but the biggest problem is that the mesh density on the edge of skirt / ruffle is too high. That'll bring explosion no matter how you tweak the settings on dForce dynamic surfaces. You have to need a retopology or remesh on the skirt, like what I showed in screenshot 1, on the right.

Another problem is the gemetry of the skirt is not fully welded, on the lower ruffle. Not sure if you can make it welded in Meshy but if it's not welded, the lower ruffle will be drapping separately. (screenshot 2) But welding geometry is not a simple task, you even have to unwrap UV again... etc.

 

 
Thank you so much for checking the skirt.  I saw that the second ruffle was not attached.  I think I can remove that in Blender or Carrara.  The ONLY things I know how to do is remove geometry, decimate in Blender and create Material Zones in Blender.  I wish I understood how to do create a texture map.  I hope to learn:  UV Mapping and UV Unwrapping.  

2 days ago, I could not apply Material Zones in Blender, but today, I can.

So, there is hope for me.

"You have to need a retopology or remesh on the skirt, like what I showed in screenshot 1, on the right."   I will have to look that up and learn what you did.

Ah, that's great if you've been learning Blender ! Though I use a Quad Remesh add-on to retop the skirt but you can firstly try the Remesh modifier in Blender or search other good remesh add-on on superhive. As for UV mapping / unwrapping, there're lots of tutorials on youtube.

Well, for this case, maybe you can firstly try: cut out the lower ruffle from the skirt, re-import it  then use multiple Rigid Follow Nodes on the lower ruffle so as to "attach" it to the upper skirt / ruffle, then finetune the dynamic surface settings on it, especially cranking up Buckling Stiffness. Then when drapping, at least the lower ruffle can preserve its position to some extent ~~

crosswind said:

I know nothing about Meshy but I checked the skirt you attached. Actually vertices / faces count is not an issue but the topology is. Such triangle topo is not really good for dForce but the biggest problem is that the mesh density on the edge of skirt / ruffle is too high. That'll bring explosion no matter how you tweak the settings on dForce dynamic surfaces. You have to need a retopology or remesh on the skirt, like what I showed in screenshot 1, on the right.

Another problem is the gemetry of the skirt is not fully welded, on the lower ruffle. Not sure if you can make it welded in Meshy but if it's not welded, the lower ruffle will be drapping separately. (screenshot 2) But welding geometry is not a simple task, you even have to unwrap UV again... etc.

 

 
Thank you so much for checking the skirt.  I saw that the second ruffle was not attached.  I think I can remove that in Blender or Carrara.  The ONLY things I know how to do is remove geometry, decimate in Blender and create Material Zones in Blender.  I wish I understood how to do create a texture map.  I hope to learn:  UV Mapping and UV Unwrapping.  

2 days ago, I could not apply Material Zones in Blender, but today, I can.

So, there is hope for me.

"You have to need a retopology or remesh on the skirt, like what I showed in screenshot 1, on the right."   I will have to look that up and learn what you did.

Hermit Crab said:

...  there are many great alternative drawing packages but not all have animation tools.

Sounds like you're getting back to 2D animation, great.  Yes, if the package has no animation tools, I'm not interested.  BTW, today I completed my 48 Hour Film contest here in Houston, two days to make a 5 minute video with a given genre, prop, character and line of dialogue.  My entry is a 3D animation titled "ErgoSum" about an AI run amok, using Carrara and Daz Studio.  I can't link to the video until after the contest judging in a month or so, and I have not finished the 48 second trailer, which I can link when it's done.  A movie poster is attached.

WendyLuvsCatz said:

OK copy 立方体.176  rename paste works 

some windows coplains about filenames but am going through and fixing copying from missing file dialogues 

not easy to mouse over select

had to manually load the Christmas cabin chimney albedo map

oh a tif, will convert to png and resave a fixed scene, likely needs other stuff optimized anyway if like their others scene using Code66 tools

update not as bad as the Cosy Cabin on lack of instancing

I know I should submit a ticket but I only paid $2.50 for the character bundle these sets were in

still

a lot of work fixing it

use irfanview batch convert on the tif files that mostly don't load (some do)

OMG Carrara I had to do obj exports as there was no fixing the duf/dsf filenames that that liked

amazed looking at DAZ-DEALS forum references nobody else has dealt with this

Nah, not weird. That's exactly what I'd do if I hadn't decided a few years ago that the chances of there being a successor to Daz 4.5+ weren't looking so good. (Any company with a graphics program who let more than 5 years pass without accommodating HiDPI monitors, eventually letting even the badly-understaffed open-source projects leave them choking on dust, is probably trying hard to take up another business: such was my thinking.) Poser was looking even less well for a while.

So back then I decided that, rather than lose my whole library, I'd export it. I'm about 2/3 finished. It'd be a darned sight easier to keep everything in Daz Studio, but:

• New version of Studio still doesn't maneuver well around giant landscapes. I favor giant landscapes.
• I still can't set a font size that's comfortable to work with in the interface.
• Preview used be fantastic. It broke in the teens. It's stayed broken for more than a decade.
• Daz let Carrara die so they don't have a scene-creator that's also modelling capable.
• They let Hexagon die so they don't have a plain modeller that's their own to support.
• They lock away some of the tools I'd want to use to make things work in Daz Studio, keeping them only for Published Artists.
• The tools I'd buy for fixing geometry in Daz Studio are locked behind a subscription that costs more than I'm willing to pay for what it provides.
• Locked-away tools do not, for me, exist. Thus if I want to fiddle with geometry I have to export.
• Blender is a confounded blasted half-baked nuisance, but at least I can resize the interface text and move efficiently around big landscapes.
• If I export everything I can, I get to keep it, no matter what happens to the Daz&Poserverse.
• Once I export, why don't I stay where the tools are, and render there?

I wish Blender asset management was better, but it's not well-designed, and from my perspective it's about 3/4 built (as is fairly typical for open source projects). Blender can't cope with loading texture sets at once. So the only way to end up with all the Daz/Poser texture variants available to load and look at quickly is to export every last one on models, which is a time-consuming, disk-eating nuisance. This is not likely to improve.

Exporting strand hair takes several more steps than card hair. Egad. No. (Also "Egad, no!" if the risk of inadvertently buying strand hair I mistake for card hair exceeds the benefit of having that particular hairstyle as card hair.)

I probably won't be shopping the same way after my Daz+ subscription runs out in October. I have a decision to make on other grounds.

if you are not comfortable modeling a landscape 

(or using Carrara, Bryce, Vue, Terragen etc)

can you flip the Desert depression set upside down?

or as others are suggesting scale Y-100

I actually did a really terrible animation in my early days using Poser and Carrara

16 years ago 

edit, sorry has 18+ so have to be signed into YouTube

I get flagged too often to risk strikes so anything even mildly risky is set to adult

Stezza said:

the result was different in Carrara  

 whoopsies...... 

Food up Friday

all modelled in Carrara 

I use a number of Carrara presets in short animations, one example is the candle (see attached).

Stezza said:

Foodfighters 

I only came across them the other day whilst searching for something and they caught my eye... 

we never had them in Australia really, though apparently some were imported and sold at $2 shops but were never advertised.

so from the cube came ShortStack.... you got it @Bunyip02 though I think Wendy put you on the right path 

 

Good to see that Carrarians are continually giving inspiration to others   

Page 51 more....Wacky Modelling ~ In Carrara ~ - Page 51 - Daz 3D Forums

Beginner Challenge - July, 2026

"Portrait Rendering (Expressions and Lighting)"

This month's focus will be Portrait Rendering, with an emphasis on the character's expression and lighting. Portraits are the way we show off the unique aspects of each individual. Expressions should convey their personality. Good lighting will enhance your portrait and set the mood. Portraits don't have to look like yearbook headshots. Get creative, hone your skills, and have some fun in this months contest.

A portrait is a representation of a person, group of people, or even a pet, that displays the expression, personality, and mood of the subject. The focus of a portrait is usually the subject's face, although the entire body and the background or context may be included. Depth of Field is often used to blur the surrounding environment to draw the eye to the subject.

Inspiration:

Portrait Tips and Examples:

Google Search - Portrait Expressions

Beginner's Guide to Portrait Composition

Foundations of Portrait Composition Part I: Framing Your Model

Lighting:

Portrait Lighting Patterns

Mastering Lighting in Blender (The first 25 minutes of the video are basic lighting theory and insights.)

Other Helpful Links:

When following tutorials, be cognizant of the different applications (Bryce, Daz Studio, Poser, Carrara, Blender, etc.) and different render engines (3Delight, Iray, Reality, etc). Techniques for one may not apply directly to another. If you have some favorite portrait lighting and composition tips, please share them in this thread.

Composition Golden Ratio helpers:
Bryce
DAZ Studio (DS has a built in Rule of Thirds guide; just select Show Thirds Guide in the Viewport context menu)
 

Lighting Tutorials:

Tutorials by Szark (Credit is given to Szark for this wonderful thread with links to many tutorials.)

Creating And Lighting A Scene With Iray In DAZ Studio

Great Lighting for Dark Backgrounds

High Key Portraits: Take and Make Great Photography with Gavin Hoey

Low Key Portraits: Take and Make Great Photography with Gavin Hoey

Laws of Light: 5 Portrait Lighting Setups

How to Set-Up Camera, Lights, & Displacement in Daz Studio Octane

How to Create the Perfect 3D Scene Lighting with Daz3D

Portrait Tutorials:

Let's Make a Character Portrait - In the Studio with Daz 3D  (live streamed in February, 2022 – tutorial starts approximately 14:45)

Daz3D Portrait Tutorial  ( magazine article )

Create a realistic portrait in Daz Studio 03: setting up the scene

Some good information on useful portrait cropping

https://digital-photography-school.com/good-crop-bad-crop-how-to-crop-portraits/

The Rule of Thirds in 5 minutes | Creating More Dynamic Framing

I think the gallery should be limited to show artwork that used Daz assets from Bryce, Carrara Hexagon and Studio - using additional assets from other sources may be OK if they are additional and not the main thing.
More important seems to me that a functional gallery will appear. Meanwhile, we have been waiting since mid April without any comment from Daz.

Summer holidays are here. Where are you, where are you heading, what places do you dream of? Do you think of the sea, beach lazing in the sun or going on adventurous diving?
Do you long for the cool of the mountains, hiking through the countryside and peaks to climb? A desert safari? A cruise on a luxury ship or an adventure on a sailboat? Do you dream of going to the Moon or Mars? Tell us about the vacations you're taking, will take, or dream of with your renders.

Some useful links for the Contest

The KindredArts Free Resource Repo Here are the KindredsArt freebies and a rich list of sites that host freebies

Free 3D Models Link to DAZ's bi-weekly freebies

Limited Time Freebies Discussion Thread A thread under the Commons section of the forum, where DAZ's biweekly freebies are announced and, recently, even listed. It's useful for remembering which freebies were added and when.

The rules of the contest are:

• Your entry must be a new render, especially made for this challenge.

• Your entry must follow the DAZ TOS.

• You may enter a maximum of 4 entries.

• A minimum of five (5) Freebies must be included in your image

• All Daz Bi-Weekly Freebies are allowed throughout the entire month in which they are free, as well as the following month (for a total of 2 months).

• You may use a maximum of 5 paid items.

• Base figures (Genesis 9, Genesis 8, etc.) as well as their basic morph packs may be used as needed. They do not count as either paid items or freebies.

• DAZ Studio, Poser, Bryce, Carrara, Hexagon, and Blender are allowed.

• DAZ AI Studio is not allowed. The use of image generating AI technology (midjourney, stable diffusion, etc.) is not allowed in any form.

• Postwork is allowed. You must also include the raw render (before postwork) of your entry.

• For a more detailed version of the rules see the PDF attached to this post; or ask your question in this thread, we're always happy to clarify!

• Let's have fun and be creative with all the amazing resources that are available for free!

This contest ends on July 31st 2026.

Post your images and freebie links in this thread for link verification.
Once the links are verified, you can post your image and links in Entries Thread for judging.

First Place: $15 store credit from KindredArts
Second Place: $10 store credit from KindredArts
Third Place: $5 store credit from KindredArts

Past Freebie Contests:

January 2022 - Around and around and around...

February 2022 - Mysteries of the heart

March 2022- Luck Of The Draw

April 2022 - New Beginnings

May 2022 - Cozy Corner

June/July 2022 - The Secret Life Of...

August 2022- Sniff, sniff... what's that smell?

September 2022-Cars Cars and More Cars

October 2022 - Horror Movies

November 2022 - Thieves, Robbers, and Fraudsters all around!

December 2022 - The Night is Darkest...

January 2023 Speed Demons and Slowpokes

February 2023- I See Red

March / April 2023 Magical

May 2023 - Sweet Music

June/July 2023  Holes, Gaps, Caves, Tunnels

August 2023 Fabulous Pink

September 2023 Gardening

October 2023 Hallowed Night

November 2023 Wobble, jiggle, sway, and shake

December 2023 / January 2024 Driving Home For...

February 2024 The Glow Up

March 2024 Power Source

April/Mai 2024 Soft as Plush, Smooth as Silk

June 2024 An Octopus' Garden

July/August 2024 Take A Break

September 2024 Fake Smiles and Real Joy

October 2024 "Monster Mash '24!" 

November 2024 - Dreams

December 2024 - A Curious Christmas

January 2025 - Thank you, Saphirewild!

February 2025 - My Hallowed Valentine

March 2025 - Pride, Prejudice and other Shenanigans

April 2025 - The Little Ball of Calm

May 2025 - To Be Beautiful

June 2025 - Summer and Piracy

July 2025 - Design a Book Cover

August 2025 - Pure Cinema

September 2025 - Holiday Memories

October 2025 - Monster Mash!

November 2025 - The Winter Witch

December 2025 - Christmas!

January 2026 - When One Door Closes, Another Opens

February 2026 - Stronger Than You Think

March 2026 - The big blue

April 2026 - Free for All

May 2026 - Lies and Truth

June 2026 - Invasion

Lots of PreSet Scenes come with Carrara.... Show us your renders using a Carrara PreSet Scene

I used the Palm Tree Preset for this render.

Model up Tuesday ( MuT ) 

school's in NSW go on holidays end of this week... 
everything in the render was modelled in Carrara 

Model Up Monday ( MuM )

everything in the render was modelled in Carrara 

I pretty much gave up on paying for DAZ software years ago.

First I paid for DAZ Studio Advanced, then it was free. I bought Mimic, Carrara, Hexagon, etc only to see them abandoned.

I recently got some new plugins or programs... but they're already outdated with DAZ Studio 6.

Shop is still horribly white, seems even worse since the change to my eyes. Slow slow slow (how many time writting slow will give an idea to Daz to finally do something?) shop page to come. I'm on a comp, but I saw someone on the forum talking of 87 seconds to load on the tablet. Congrats Daz! That's a record not ready to be broken.

And like it was already said since the beginning: for those looking for Bryce and Carrara, how are they able to do? I don't care, but others do, and I see that someone else asked AGAIN above.

It's not an improvement concerning the shop, far from that in the other direction. And it's totally horrible also for the product library. Not giving envy to jump into anything.