First real attempt at this DAZStudio thingy...
WsCG
Posts: 391
Hello,
So, I've decided to dive into the world of DAZStudio. I don't have much on my account to work with; pretty much the "starter kit" stuff you get automatically when you get DAZStudio, and perhaps when you purchase Carrara 8.5 Pro. That's it for now.
Anyway... decided to see what kind of fun I could have with a Genesis 3 character. I'm calling her 'Smirky' for now.
I got hung up on trying to get good lighting and nice scenery at the same time. I could get one or the other, but not both. When I have scenery loaded up, everything is dark, regardless of the lighting. Without scenery, the lighting is fine. Will have to figure that out.
So... going without scenery for now, and just tossed a quick white/light blue gradient behind her to fill in the transparency.
Nothing amazing. I think the model/texture/lighting is really the star here. Gotta say, though, the rendering quality with IRay is phenomenal.
I really need to look into some of the other items available on the shop. My poor, poor wallet.
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Comments
That looks really good, and far far better than my first renders. I recommend you join pc+ if you plan on doing a lot of shopping. It comes with weekly freebies, coupons, and a boatload of lower priced items.
Thanks! I credit the absurd hours I've put into character creation tools in various games over the years; especially Eve Online's. I always immediately go for a smirking expression.
Thanks for the tip, as well! I'm kinda deciding which way I want to go in terms of which generation/model to invest in. With 8 just out the door, that could be a good choice, but then there's not a whole lot available for it, just yet. Genesis 3 seems to get some fantastic results just based on what little I've done with this image here, and I think a couple iterations of Michael/Victoria are based on G3? Still wrapping my head around the different generations/characters and what their various pros/cons are. It's a heck of a ool to dive into.
BTW: I'm assuming your avatar is something you did in DAZ? Looks great!
Anyway, thanks again!
Welcome to the Art Studio forums! Great render for a beginner! Lots of help around here so don't hesitate to ask.
I wholeheartedly agree about the PC+ club, its worth every single penny.
My two cents worth is to grab the Genesis 3 characters hair clothing etc when they are on sale (see the Fast Grab portion of the sales banner as well) because they all work with G8. So you can use all of the G3 content on G8 and get all the benefits of the new model. (G8's expressions are FAR better than any generation before her)
Your problem with the scene going dark probably has to do with the default settings. There is a default lighting setup that is automaticly in place when there are no other lights in the scene. When you loaded your set, it probably came with it's own lights.
My suggestion to you is to go into your "render settings" -> "Tone Mapping" and lower the Value for F/Stop (Iusualy have mine at 1.8). Then if it's still too dark, increase the ISO value.
When I'm messing with the tone mapping, I will have Iray active in the preview window so that I change a setting and wait a few seconds for a grainy version of the lighing to pop up. Then I decide how much more adjusting it needs.
Just take some time messing with those settings till you have a setup that you like and save the preset.
If you get the V8 pro bundle now, you can get V7, V6 and V5 pro bundles with it for free. So you'll have the prior gen characters, plus all the goodies that come with them.
And re my avatar, yes, it is one of my renders but I didn't do anything fancy. After some help from various folks here I managed to start getting non-grainy character renders and celebrated by replacing the smiley avatar with her.
...
My poor, poor wallet.
Actually, I should be okay for now. My focus really isn't going to be on characters so much *yet*. I'm looking at creating custom content (scenery, props, etc). I kinda want to learn my way around DAZStudio, though, to understand how it works, how everything fits together. Of course setting up and posing figures is part of that, so...
I'll get the + membership somewhere down the line once I feel like I'm ready to do some serious purchasing. In the meantime, I'll probably pick up odds and ends when they're on sale, or otherwise inexpensive enough.
Ahh okay, I wasn't sure what was going on, because I'd notice that there were lights added in the Scene list as well. So those are just added automatically until you add some kind of custom lighting to the scene, or otherwise adjust it?
I'll have to play with that, and the Fstop things.
Also, that is one monster computer setup you've got there! Very nice!
Thanks!
So, managed to get the scenery and lighting to play nice. Not crazy about the overall result, but this is my first go, so I'll forgive myself :p There's something missing, though I can't put my finger on it. I'll chalk it up to inexperience.
Anyway, I give you 'The Return of Smirky'... with some better hair (I broke down and bought the Sherry hair package) and lighting. Funny how it changes up the entire look of the character. I thought the rusty/red hair complemented the wall in the background, so I went with that.
Thanks again for the help/feedback, everyone :)
Welcome to the Art Studio. Nice renders. If you get stuck with something, just ask. There are lots of us around who are happy to answer questions and give advice if we can. Depending on the scene, and whether you are using Iray, you might want to double check that a 3Delight skydome wasn't included with the set. Those are sure light killers when using Iray if you aren't expecting it. 3Delight skydomes don't let light through when using Iray unless you do extra things to make use of them.
Hey thanks! You know, that might be something I did. I was poking around looking at different options, and I think I did look at 3Delight.. It looked like it was wanting to render multiple frames or something, so I canceled it and just switched back to IRay.
Having put together that bit of a scene, it's really all the more impressive to see what others do. I'm really impressed with the subtle/softer lighting I see from others. The lighting in mine is so brash and harsh. But all part of learning. I'll keep those pics for posterity :p.
I *did* end up going ahead and getting the + membership, the basic V8 starter kit, and an additional set (the Egyptian/Anubis one), so that'll give me more to work. Also, from what I'm aware, V8 is backwards compatible with Genesis 3, correct? So I could use hair and such I have for that.
I want to start creating custom scenes and assembling them with DAZStudio, so this is as much me learning the ins and outs of DS as it is analyzing how environments are put together, how they're packaged, etc. Exciting stuff!
Thanks again!
Having the membership pays for itself in the long run-good to see you're aboard! There are tons of tutorials on lighting, posing, skin tweaking here in the forums as well as youtube if you have time and paitence to go through them to find ones that work.
I agree with DM. The membership pays for itself with the discounts, freebies, and coupons. One thing to note, if you have not read it somewhere else, is to cancel the subscription both through DAZ and Paypal (if you used Paypal) if you don't want to have it auto-renew. Even if you cancel the sub at the DAZ level, Paypal will still keep the sub open if you used that service and send the payment so it is imperative to make sure that avenue is closed, too.
Most people buy the subscription when it is on sale just before their sub runs out. When the sub auto renews, it will charge full price. DAZ has the membership on sale several times throughout the year at really great discounts.