Learning how to Daz - again
Fussel2107
Posts: 86
Before throwing any renders around, I want to quickly introduce myself.
My name is Kat, or Fluffy, and I've been working with Daz since around 2006. I went through Daz 1,2 and 3 and then came Daz 4 and I didn't quite make the transition.
Everything, including the layout, changed and with other life changes, I had no true motivation to really relearn everything. So I stopped.
In late 2017 someone stumbled upon my old works and convinced me how great it would be if I started again.
I tried and ran into the very same roadblocks, starting with the new content management system. It took about a year to finally find the motivation to push through and start all from the beginning.
And it truly was at the beginning. Light suddenly kind of worked differently and nothing was like I thought it should be.
This was the first render I publicly posted and I was so unhappy with it.
Luckily, with a little help of the community, things got better quickly.
Since then, I've tried to get a handle on the program and bit by bit, it's getting better.
I like to render people and tell stories, but right now, ideas and ability do not line up yet.
I wanna use this thread to get critique and tips (and brag a little), so comments and complaints are highly welcome.
Expect a big picture dump in the next few days.
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Comments
Then big welcome to the art club :D good to see you decided to start your own thread.
I guess the biggest change for you was that the default was now Iray, but 3delight is still there and good to use, so that might be a more familiar terrain. But the I thing you already made a good start with that chess game. So I#m sure you will get the hang of it soon.
Happy to see you! And looking forward to see the art you show us here :)
Welcome to the Art Studio! Looking forward to seeing your work!
Wow - fantastic render! Excellent work on the improvements, it looks almost photo-real! In fact, people who aren't 3D artists would probably figure it's a photograph. The lighting and angle look really good and the balance of warm and cool tones really gives the image some nice harmony. Nicely done!
I hope you enjoy working with Daz again and post more renders of your art. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the community (usually the Commons is the most active and you'll often get answered pretty quickly there). The community has been a massive help to me and I'm sure can help you too if you run into any problems or need any help. :)
Welcome back!
You know you can do your own custom categories without actually moving files....
hahah I think I smell another Sonja tutorial coming! *crosses fingers* :D
I thinks me smells it coming as well @Divamakeup!!
We'll see lol.
Is bragging OK? Bragging ist definitely ok!
This is my newest and I am a little proud of it :) Which is why I'm jumping ahead of all others.
This was mostly playing around with normal maps until I got rid of his boringly smooth body and managed to make everything look tense and tight. I still don't 100% understand the difference between normal and bump maps and why you need both, but as I imagine it, bump maps are for small changes, like pores, and normal maps allow more diverse changes, because they're not narrowed to black/white, and thus can depict more complex height changes. I'm not happy with how rough the skin on his stomach looks but it was either that or lose all those nice topography of his body.
Figure is Nix. Osher hair and Alt Style clohing and acsessoires. I worked the skin over with Altern shaders. (which tend to be way too white for the boys, what the heck? But overall, they're great, once you fix the SSS)
Galllery link: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/708906/
He looks really great!
I will have a chat with Paul at Digitial Art Live and see if he is interested in doing somthing like this with me. After the holidays though..
Trying to understand Iray lighting. Worked out surprisingly well.
Is that your first IRay render?
If it is WOW! Stunning work!
It was, I think, the second. The first one was the chess set. Between those, I tried a lot, but never finished anything
This one was trying to bring together environmental maps and lights. I must admit, I followed a tutorial though :)
But it helped so much.
Following tutorials are a good thing, that's how we learn after all :) and the image is great! I really like that it looks so full of life
A picture I am not really happy with.
I like the character, I like the skin, but something feels missing and I don't know what
maybe what he needs it some external scars to go with the ones on the inside!!
Scars might be a nice touch to add, have to ask though, did you intend him to have different colors for his eyebrows and hair?
I would mainly try around with different lights / colors / directions for him
Version 1 and two of the same picture.
I accidentally uploaded version 1 to the gallery without noticing and comment funnily said the same as a friend who saw it. creepy ^^
I was more annoyed by the empty upper right corner, so back into D/S it went.
I like version 2 better. it's a more complete picture, though version 1 certainly has it's appeal.
PS: I actually only wanted to see how the dforce hair works.
I like the render of the girl and I like the blue tint on the hair as well. but both give me the feeling that the girl is photoshopped onto the background. that backlicght on her hair somehow doesn't fit with the light settings in the background
hrm... thanks! true.
From a photography standpoint, it looks like a slightly blown-out exposure. I would play with your lighting a bit. The position of his eyes look just a bit unnatural as well, almost as if the eye itself is too big for its socket (the iris is the right spot, but is elevated quite a bit). The lighting on his skin is very shiny, as though his skin is clammy - that may be intentional, though. It's fun to think of how in 3D rendering, people like skin-shine as a twinge of realism, but in photography we try and mitigate it as much as possible.
The realism in the skin is there for sure, and I think overall it's an excellent job. I haven't played with Daz yet enough to know how realistic the lighting setups are, but I certainly couldn't pull that off yet.
After taking a frustration break, we're back at it with the tutorials. Mostly postwork for the moment, though I have been playing a lot with tone mapping.
Tone mapping is one of the incredibly useful things that way too few people know about. In this image, I worked a lot with fixing the white point, exposure, highlights and shadows.
Also: POSTWORK!
I finally got Photoshop again.
https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/735586
Wow! Really nice image!
Her skin is amazing! And of course, I am a big fan of postwork.
thank you!
I love how her skin turned out. Usually I tend to go towards too much contrast, but this turned out perfect :D
The framing might need some work, but lighting and postwork I am really, really happy with
I really like this picture. It's a happy accident from a bigger picture I am still working on
I am ever hesitant to comment on other people's images... but... his fingernails bug me :-) unless you want him to have french nails. The specularity on his hands makes his knuckles seem smooth, when visually they look like they are supposed to be rough. Otherwise, the lighting, mostly on the hair - it looks like it's doing something weird with the transparency on the back right, but since this is iray(?) I don't know anything about how to deal with that. Maybe a little stubble to match the dark brows? Sort of a George Michael look? I'm hoping I'm not too nitpicky, and now I think I should just not say anything :-( Ignore as you like... I think he looks awfully good!