Things I Learned in my First 9 Months with Daz

Blando Calrissian

Hello all. this is my first forum post, although I've been here many times searching for answers! In fact, that is probably the #1 thing I learned in my first 9 months... the Forums often have the answers that you seek (often in more than one thread!) So thanks to everyone for getting me out of many, many self-inflicted jams!

There is a lot to learn if you are starting out from scratch, so of course this list could be impossibly long, but I'll try to keep it limited to my top things:

(1) There's always a sale: Speaking of threads and tread titles... and that one is no joke! There's always something on sale, and if you wait long enough, your thing will eventually "come around on the guitar" for 70% off or more. I'm averaging a 76% discount for my various things, and it's only been going up as I've gotten better at waiting for sales.
(2) The wishlist is awesome: It helps you to keep track of what you need, and it;'s pretty common to go through the list and realize that you don't need that thing you thought you needed. A good way to save a little cash. I often scan through sale pages looking for the little heart sign that tells me what's on sale is something on my wishlist (thanks, Daz!)
(3) You'll buy things that you end up not using very much, or at all. It happens. 
(4) Blender is harder to learn than Daz, but it's a great help in tweaking objects, building simple rooms and sets, and turning otherwise unusable models from places like 3D Warehouse into (mostly) workable Daz props. I'm sorry for all of the mean things I said about you back in January, Blender. Well, most of them.
(5) There are plenty of freebies out there, but chances are there will not be a freebie available for whatever it is you need right now, lol! 
(5A) Freebies also taught me how the Daz file system (mostly) works, and how to tweak objects to make them work better for you (adding moving parts, etc.) And of course if you download freebies and are disappointed with them, you've lost nothing. 
(5B) Sometimes it's worth spending the money to get a pro product over making your own or scanning for a free version.
(6) Invest in good-quality skins (even if you design your own characters) and hair. They make a huge difference and will build confidence in your own work.
(7) Shaders are a good way to put a new face on an old product, or to give you more options with things like outfits and hair. Well worth the investment.

Is seven (er, nine) enough? Seven seems good! I could probably write seventy! 

I hope you all enjoy the learning experience as much as I have. Happy rendering!
 

Gordig

Blando Calrissian said:

(5) There are plenty of freebies out there, but chances are there will not be a freebie available for whatever it is you need right now, lol! 

There's a pinned thread in the Freebies forum where you can request a freebie, and most of the time, someone can point you to what you're looking for. Occasionally, someone like me will even make it for you.

Blando Calrissian

That's great to know! Thanks! 

(Yet another thing I've learned from the Forums!)

ShelLuser

I'm not too sure about item #5 to be honest, depending of course on the item you're looking for but there are several freebie sites which provide a whole lot more than you may give 'm credit for. This applies double if you can look beyond the "lack" of textures and only focus on the mesh itself. Now... I'm biased here mind you because I also threw away plenty of meshes because it lacked texture and "what good is that?" (with all due respect for all the effort that went into said meshes). Thing is... it took me a while but I reached a point where I leave texture packs and all that behind me. A solid 3D editor can definitely be a huge expansion for Daz Studio. My personal preference is ZBrush, before I could afford it I relied on Hexagon (don't let the age of that one fool you...).

Nice summary!

And I have a few more points to add which I hope can also help some random readers as well...

• When buying bundles don't just assume the bundle itself will always be cheaper than the individual components.
• Also (when buying a bundle): are those pose packs really going to help you or... maybe cut costs and remove 'm, rely on basic poses and make your own pose(s) from there on?
• Environments are key. Modular environment packs may just be the thing to combine stuff together.
• Bryce, though dated, can be an amazing (inexpensive!) tool for backdrops and/or 'environments'.
• Old does not imply obsolete! Here we are at Genesis 8.1 and yet I still get solid results with the first Genesis generation. Even better: dozens of expansions and/or figures for 'Genesis' are now dirt cheap too! (or course, in all fairness: context is key here... I can imagine that 'Genesis' won't do in a HD shot. Even so... background is then also a thing, and less taxing than going all out with the new stuff).
• Did you know you can fully customize the Daz Studio interface?
• Do you also know you can do the same with smart content categories? (I still prefer my "Figures => Genesis" category which contains all the base figures.
• You need to know about the 'Content Library' pane and learn to navigate it: not every "Daz packs" will end up within your smart contents.
• .. and even if they do: checking a 'product collection' within the content library may be a lot quicker to find the accesoire you're looking for than skimming around (remember that "right click -> show asset in..." is a thing!).
• Avoid installing stuff twice through Daz Connect: don't blindly (re?)install stuff within Daz Studio's "product view".

pfffff :P

(edit): Where are my manners?!  And of course: welcome! :-)