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Well said @barbult, and you should add "Mentor" to your signature as well.
Also of note, keep in mind everyone learns at different paces, has strengths in different areas, and also struggles in different areas. As barbult said, try to focus on being the best you you can be artistically and try not to compare too much to others. Just try to out-render yourself.
I just have to tell you that I see your art improving by leaps and bounds every month, its clear you are definitely growing & learning. And I totally agree with what Barbult said as well. No one's laughing and I, for one have really enjoyed watching all of us progress. Its super cool to see where one starts and where we are now, and no matter what level we are on its clear that everyone who participates is getting better pretty quickly.
Now there's an idea for a contest. Design badges fot the CVs,
Badges?
Just checking in
If anyone else has some more thoughts or ideas or if you know of a newer member that may be interested in weighing in, please point them to the thread
Here is one of my first renders from 2012, using free content and trying to expand from the Firey Genesis tutorial. It is funny to look back on now. She is free floating in space, the camera angle is terrible, the pose is stiff and unnatural, the lighting is blown out, the eyes are flat and dead, etc. My skills have improved, Daz Studio has improved, and content has improved. Win Win Win.
Well as one of the newest members here (2 1/2 months), I'm not really sure what to say...
I've learned a lot, and entering the monthly contests has made me push myself to learn more.
I don't comment on other people's entries because I'm still have so much to learn. My experience and my library of tools / props / etc. is still very limited, so I honestly don't know how to help.
I just want to add that this is one of the friendliest online communities I've ever been a part of.
Welcome to the addiction!
Ditto!! Welcome to the family kanegs.
Tell me about it, there should be a warning lable or somthing.
Thanks!
Someone made mention of kitbashing earlier, and I thaught I'd give it a try.
Clothing and equiped weapon from Army Uniform for Genesis 3 Male(s) and Genesis 2 Male(s)
Thigh straps, thigh holsters, and guns within said holsters from Cyberpunk for M4
Gloves, harness and attached weaponry from Complicated EVE for V4
He looks totally ready to kick some zombie butt. Although maybe he's a bit of a monster himself. Kit bashing is a lot of fun and extends the use of a lot of outfits. I have custom categories for kit bashing. Belts, gloves, shoes and boots, jackets etc. They get put into two categories, the main clothing category for the outfit and then I break the outfit up into kit bash categories. So if I click on belts I get a whole page of belts to pick from without hunting for an hour...
As far as winning contests or what's popular, that can be a mystery sometimes. I've had renders that I was certain had the quality to win, yet they didn't even place. I've gotten second place twice, so by the original rules, I still haven't graduated out the new user contest yet. I'm still trying to figure out what makes renders popular on the gallery, too. So I look at the renders at the the top of the screen to see what they do and try to emulate them. I've dropped my jaw over digital art I have seen in the web and want my art to be of that quality, but I have to remember that I have only been doing this for a year. I've personally set the bar very high for myself and understand that it's going to take time for my skills to improve and there is still so much more I want to learn.
In the meantime, this is a great place to hang out and learn. I also like to answer questions in the new user thread when I can. Eventually, I'll get to the place where I want to be - like modeling/texuring my own clothes, weapons and figures to match my unique style in 2D art.
So don't be discouraged. You will always be learning. Those popular artists have been doing this for years. In time, new users will drool over your artwork.
Do you create your custom catergories in Smart Content or Content Library?
I can use all the workflow tips I can get...
I've been so busy with other things, I'm just now finding this thread which I probably still wouldn't have found out about if @Isidorn hadn't mentioned it to me. I like the idea of revamping the contest. Personally, I'm one of those who has been around for awhile now, a little over 2 years now, and don't consider myself new with some DAZ things, but still new with others. So, I'm kind of in the place where I like entering the contest when I can, but I don't do it with the render engine I'm most familiar anymore even though I haven't won a first place yet. The winning isn't really all that important to me. It's the things I learn along the way that I like about entering these contests. So, I'm okay with the changes that have been proposed. They all sound like great ideas.
I mostly use the NU contest to play with 3Delight renders which I'm getting better with, but still not quite there yet. I hope to have things setup to use the contest for feedback as I learn how to use Carrara and Bryce, too. Having a contest where the feedback is more important than the actual winning sounds like a great plan. I still get stumped on some issues and I've always gotten great ideas and input from the people in the NU contest thread. I think some of these changes will enhance the experience and make it even more accessible to new comers.
I was kind of sad when I made the decision to no longer enter any of my Iray images because I don't really consider myself new there anymore, more of a intermediate beginner :), so the idea that there might be a venue for slightly more advanced users or those of us who may want a bit of a challenge with those things we don't consider ourselves new at, but not really an advanced user yet, sounds really nice.
Nice work! Everything looks like it fits well and was made for this figure. Hopefully not much tweaking was involved. When I use poses made for another figure like Genesis, and apply them to G2 or G3, I usually have to fix the pose (hands are turned palm side down instead of palm side up, etc.).
Hmm. Are poses part of kitbashing, or just items/materials? Just wondering now that I think about it.
Ah, a bit of correction here because @Isidorn read this and mentions to me that he has just now heard of this thread when his name was mentioned. Oops! My memory is so bad these days. So, I went to the only other two people I've been paying much attention to since my computer issues reared their ugly heads and I discovered that it was indeed @dracorn who mentioned the thread and that was how I had heard of it.
Bad Knittingmommy! Sorry about that Dracorn!
You stole my line...
I'm completely innocent as I didn't discover this thread until you mentioned me!
Sadly, I've not had any ideas for this month's contest so I haven't payed it any attention. Which brings me to my feedback to DAZ_Ann.
This contest has been very educational and I've learned a lot from it. I got lucky and won this contest for October 2015, just some 4 months after I started with DAZ Studio as a total newbie to art. After that I ran out of luck and my skills haven't been enough to place in this contest without it. My efforts have also varied, completely missout out on some months and entered not quite finished renders some other months because time ran out. But even if my skills are lacking, I always like giving feedback. As stated earlier in this thread, art/beauty is in the eye of the beholder and getting someone else's opinion can be of help, even if it's just an opinion and doesn't have any actual suggestions on how to get things done.
The last couple of months or so, I've had mixed feelings for this contest. According to the rules, I would "graduate" if I managed to win any of the prizes, as I've won once. That has felt rather absurd as there's so much I don't really know anything about and I doubt I could be of much, if any, practical help to other contest participants. On the other hand, as I said above, I love giving my opinion and suggestions, even if I have no practical help to offer, which has made me wish I indeed could "graduate", as from what the rules says, those that has graduated and are helping can be given "prizes" for helpful posts. I'm greedy, so that gives me a bit of the feeling of "why should I be helpful when others can get prizes for being helpful?" This brings me to the point I wanted to make. (finally!)
The new suggestions sounds really good. No matter your level or expertise, there seems to be a chance to get rewarded when you do something good and I think that can only encourage everyone to participate in whatever way they can. Even though I'm greedy and want to win prizes, I do realize the best rewards from this contest is the great, helpful community and everything we learn while participating. So putting more focus on that, rather than "winning a contest", can only be a win for everyone.
Content library, I won't touch smart content with a ten foot pole lol. I know it works for a lot people but for me its completely counter intuitive. Its super easy but like Dracorn said if you have a lot of stuff it can take a long time. (but oh so worth it) I was grateful that I discovered the custom categories early on although I did have a failure that required a total reboot of daz. that fiasco cost me 6 weeks in time to put the categories back together. And this month, its been a bit tough to keep up, way too many great bargains. But, once its done keeping up is far easier. So, all you do is click on what you want to categorize, then right click ont the picture icons and click on categorize. It will give you the option to create a new subcategorie. click on that and you can name your subcategory. You can then click on that and subcategorize even further as many times as you want. If you control click you can do multiple items at once (to get the whole outfit in one click right click and hold down the mouse button and drag from top to bottom or bottom to top). You can set up your categories however you want.
Pretty sure you can do it via Smart Content as well but I can't give any specifics on that.
Please remember that categories and Smart Content are not the same thing, even though both make use of the CMS. The Content Library pane displays both information directly from the hard drive (Daz Studio Formats/Poser Formats/Other Import Formats) and from the CMS (Products/Categories).
Well I have been around the forums before a long time ago but had to leave for a while due to real life getting in the way but came back 2015 and wow was I rusty it was like I forgot everything I knew back then.
So for me this New User Contest is great for me to get back on my feet (Sort of speak) with what I used to know about 3D Art, I know there has been a few months last year where I was really disappointed with the contest to the point where I was not ging to enter anymore butttt.......I stuck it out and learned so much along the way from it. I have even stepped into the dreaded IRay wave trying to learn about it as well as 3Delight rendering. Just recently I learned from Jack all about using GeoShells for getting a nice glow effect in IRay, so I am always wanting to learn about the Daz program I use.
I think all the suggestions so far have been great, it will be nice to just learn all I can about the 3D Art I so love and so addicted to :D instead of always saying I am not good enough to win anything with my lack of knowledge.
and I sure agree with giving gifts to those who do try to help others during the contest because without help one would never get anywhere with their art. It would be a nice way to say thanks for helping others along the way of your learning experience!!
I could ramble on for hours about how great this contest really is for everyone but I should go and check on my latest IRay render that is still cooking.
Completely innocent huh....
Thanks so much for all the feedback! It's definitely very useful both as far as what you all loved about the contest as well as some of the things you were unhappy with. We are having another meeting to discuss the contest and ideas further next weekend so between now and then please keep the ideas and feedback coming! You all are wonderful!
I love the New User Contest groups. I try to mentor at people as much as I feel comfortable with and occasionally I'll pop in and ask for advice or help. This is a great community. One of the things I always felt was lacking was a better explanation of "why" the winning images were better than the others. I could see that they were - but as a new artist, the "why" they were eluded me (and often still does). You know that "how do they make such a great image" question that falls off your tongue when you see it.
Perhaps, when images are chosen for whatever recognition there will be going forward, a sentence or two from the judges that highlights techniques or other factors that have elevated these above the others would be helpful to those of use wanting to get better by a means other than trial and error. I remember the first time someone mentioned "tangent" to me in critique of my image - I had to go searching for it to understand what they were talking about. (I was pretty sure it didn't have anything to do with sine or cosine.) That mention and the research that followed was extremely valuable to me.