May 2022 - Daz 3D New User Challenge - Using Props and Push Modifiers/Deformers
DAZ_ann0314
Posts: 2,849
New User's Challenge - May 2022
Sponsored by DAZ 3D
Are you new to the 3D World? Are you at the beginning stages of learning 3D rendering? Have you been around for a little bit but feel you could benefit from some feedback or instruction? Have you been around awhile and would like to help other members start their creative journey? Well then come and join the fun as we host our newest render challenge!
New this year, we are breaking down each month into 2 different challenges. A Beginner Challenge and then also an Intermediate Challenge.
So which "Challenge" should you choose?
Follow the Beginner Challenge if you are:
- New to the New User Challenges
- New to Daz Studio
- Newer to 3D Rendering in General
- Or if you have not participated in the January Composition Challenge
Follow the Intermediate Challenge if you have:
- Participated in the New User Challenge for awhile
- Know the basics of Daz Studioand would like to learn more in depth topics
- Been using 3D Rendering Applications for awhile and feel comfortable with learning Intermediate Topics
- Or if you have all ready participated in the January Composition Challenge
*Please be sure to list in your post which Challenge you are participating in*
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Comments
Beginner Challenge:
"Action / Using Props"
This month's focus will be action with an emphasis on interaction with props. Your characters' actions, or the props they are using or interacting with, should be a major aspect of your image. As always, posing techniques, composition, and lighting will be important considerations as well.
Some Inspiration:
Digital Art Action Scenes
Human Action Poses
Action Photography
The Fundamentals of Action Photography
The Best Sports Photos of 2016
While we encourage you to create your own poses from scratch for this contest, many of the pose sets available in the store can offer some great inspiration on how to use props in active situations!
To fit the theme of "Action & Props," your render could depict anything from a melee to a barbecue, or from a pop concert to a masquerade ball, or even a bar room brawl. The key points are that it must include some sort of dynamic movement or activity, and that it must involve interaction between figures and props (tools, weapons, or any sort of objects being manipulated).
Prior Action / Using Props Challenges:
May, 2021
May, 2020
May, 2019
May, 2018
May, 2017
May, 2016
Daz Tutorials
The Daz Studio Timeline Explained
How to Make Your Own Props in Daz Studio
How To Create A Smart Prop in Daz Studio
Importing Props Into Daz Studio
Daz 101: Posing
Pinning, Posing and the Active Pose Tool
I will be checking in as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need.
For a list of the current challenge rules, please see this thread : Challenge Rules
Closing Date: May 31st 2022
Intermediate Challenge:
"Using Modifiers and Deformers"
This is a general render challenge with the focus on using Modifiers and/or Deformers within your action scene. We are providing you with some links on the topics from a variety of sources. Utilizinging modifiers and deformers well can add that extra touch of realism to help create a dynamic looking and fluid scene. It is a fundamental skill for those wishing to show movement, customize items to better suit the use within a scene, or to fix issues such as pokethrough.
*If participating in the Intermediate Challenge, please be sure to list what item(s) within your scene you have modified/deformed*
General Information:
Push Modifier / Push Modifier Weight Node
Smoothing Modifier (Also covers deformers)
Deformers
Generally, push modifiers, smoothing modifiers, and deformers can all be used to manipulate existing geometry to change it's shaping. You could use a Push Modifier to make Genesis 8 pregnant or to make a dent in an object. You could use the smoothing modifier to show a face smooshing up from a punch (like a freeze frame of the hit) or to show pressure on a matress or couch. You can use a deformer to change the shape of a character, to change the shape or damage a prop, or to fix pokethrough or issues between items. There is an unlimited amount of things that can be done with the 3 and a lot of advanced topics to using the 3 as well but hopefully this will give you a better basic understanding of how to add them and how they can be used.
Handy Products to Use to help with using the Push Modifier or Deformers :
Mesh Grabber Bundle by ManFriday - Individual Bundle Items also Sold Separately.
InstaEdit by Callidus Simia
Prior Action / Using Props Challenges:
May 2021
May, 2020
May, 2019
May, 2018
May, 2017
May, 2016
I will be checking in as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need.
For a list of the current challenge rules, please see this thread : Challenge Rules
Closing Date: May 31st 2022
Title: Late night in the lab.
Intermediate Challenge: Using Modifiers and Deformers. For this entry, I've made the right cheek deformed for the hand to try and get a leaning into the hand look. This is a WIP and I want to do more to make the person look like they were trying to study, but fell asleep. I am not very good at posing and found this to be very hard to get the hand to scrunched in the cheek more. I might try using the push modifier instead of the d-former instead. Other areas I want to improve are lighting and composition.
I'm really more of a beginner, but I keep getting side tracked in my learning process so I'll try and jump to the intermediate entry since I'm not exactly "new" anymore.
@Shimrian Nice work so far. Just a suggestion on the posing; you might want to twist her supporting arm a bit to the left (our left, her right) so that it looks more straight up and down and a bit closer to her face. At the moment, I don't think she'd get very much support for her sleepy head
Doppleganger
First attempt for Intermediate this month. Used a deformer to push the blankets down a bit where the girl is sitting and push modifiers on the mirror where her 'reflection' is escaping. Feedback appreciated!
Hi aprilshowers2065,
Thanks for the advice on the hand position. I was doing the pose on what I thought it might look like, but scratched that pose and instead used a reference image from the web. I am not trying to decide between two camera positions. The front view shows the d-former movement on cheek a little bit better, but the side view shows more items and maybe a better story overall? The contest if for d-formers and modifiers so maybe front view is better for that? It still seems kind of subtle, but I need to take a break on this image for a bit and will come back to it later.
Front view:
Side View:
Comments on aprilshowers2065's Doppleganger image: I really like the idea and composition of your image, but I feel like the 'reflection' looks very plastic. that is trying to escape needs work. The mirror also seems to be facing the bed, but the bed isn't reflected. I'm wondering if you can somehow grab an image from a camera (or maybe behind it) and paste that image into the mirror as the starting point for the reflection?
@Shimrian These look quite photorealistic, well done! The effect is most visible on the front view, but I love both images, plenty of details in the magic library.
Vicky 8.1 looks great.
While I am at it, here is my first entry for the Intermediate Challange. I used both modifiers and deformers, although in a subtle way.
Rendered in Daz Studio Iray and postwork with some new chaotic color experiments...
Constructive criticism welcome...
NOTE: Please open up the image...it's quite big.
Thinking...
Looks much better @Shimrian
I personally like the angle of the first one better, although I do agree that the second gives more detail to the story.
Thanks for the advice @Shimrian; it actually turns out the mirror was just too far back to reflect the bed properly so I've moved the two closer together. The shiny skin was actually on purpose; I was trying to do a fade in of the mirror shader using a geoshell, but you're right, she does look a bit plasticky instead. Changed it up so that it's solid in places and invisible in others so hopefully it's clearer that she's becoming more human looking.
@aprilshowers2065 The effect of the girl coming out of the mirror...it's tricky. I congratulate you for the patience :)
Personally I would have either created a mapped geoshell...or done everything in 2 layers (one with the girl without Geoshell and one with full Geoshell coverage] and edited it in Photoshop.
Meanwhile at the Oasis
Entry: Intermediate, used Smoothing Modifier and Mesh Deformation. The Magic Carpet had smoothing modifier and mesh deformation applied. Used the mesh grabber tool some too.
As always, your comments are welcome. Thank you in advance for viewing.
Thanks :) I'll probably end up do a mixture of both. Been trying a few different splits with the mirror shader but not fully happy with it yet.
WOW was looking through all the images and they all look really great. I can see you all are having fun with the dformers and modifiers and all of you have really done an excellent job of showing how they can be used both subtly and also more drastically in ways that create really cool or realistic effects. At the moment, I am really loving what all of you have done and how you have done it. I'd love to give some sort of feedback on what to improve but really I love all of them and I don't see much that really needs improvement. Really nice job everyone!
I 100% get and really like what you are doing here. I think having her be reflective/refactive in areas brings home that she is coming through a mirrored surface and into "the real world" and I think you did a really excellent job on mixing the two different surfaces on her like the mirroring is almost "melting off" as she goes through. I also really love the distortion in the mirror itself. I think you did a really great job conveying a very difficult concept/idea. You're deformations are more extreme but in this case necessary to convey what you are trying to convey and I think it works really well! Nice work!
I really like all the versions of this. If I had to vote, I think I like the closeup best for showing the really nice work you did between the hand and the face but the full scene is really great also. On the topic of deformers and modifiers etc you did a really nice job conveying the pressure of the face against the hand. It looks very natural
I am VERY curious to know where you used the dformers and modifiers. The right amount of subtlety can sometimes be tough to achieve (enough to have impact but not so much to be more obvious) and I feel like you achieved that here. I "think" I can tell or decern where you used different skills but I admit to not being 100%. What I can see is that you have a really nice balance going. I feel like there may have been some work done expression wise (brow line/forehead) and also where the hand touches the face as well as and maybe a couple other spots but it is blended so very well in that I am not sure (that is a good thing) I feel like both you and Shimrian did a very good job of using the deformers in a way that adds extra realism to both of your scenes. Really nice job!
You also did a very nice job with subtleness that adds realism. A flying carpet isnt an easy thing to get right since it needs to seem to have weight while also being "weightless" and I think you achieved that very well. I can see she has weight on the carpet which adds depth to the overall look of the render. I also think the weightlessness is carried through as well thanks to the rippling effect on the carpet on the outside edges. Really great work!
@DAZ_ann0314 Thanks a lot for the compliments
Yes, I did most of the work on the face on both the expression and the hand-face interaction (the skin on the face is being pulled up by the hand just a tiny bit) as well as the legs (that's really hard to see, since it's quite a dark area) and other here and there. Well done spotting them!
Title: Escaping the Wedding
Caption:
I am loyal to you my lady, but I doubt this disguise will fool anyone.
Edward, it just has to fool them long enough for me to escape this awful place. Keep your veil down and the flowers close to your chest, and it should work long enough for me to get out.
Software: Daz 3D
Challenge: Intermediate
Made use of push modifiers to fix the clothes on both characters after I did a fit to. Feedback appreciated
@DAZ_ann0314
thanks, I find the challenges a great learning opportunity. I am learning everyday.
Thank you! I had a lot of fun with this one
Intermediate Entry
WIP
Started to play with an idea. Very much work in progress. I just wanted to see if the deform dents in the armour were obvious enough, whilst still being subtle.
Thanks everyone for your opinion on which was better for use for this contest. I went ahead selected the front view and brought it into photoshop for a bit of postwork and to learn some photoshop skills with smoothing skin to reduce noise from the image and a bit of color correction.
@aprilshowers2065 - Great job on redoing the mirror. I can see the story of the image much better this time. :-)
@Daedalus-7 I really like the pose and atmosphere on your image! It's also funny how you can pick out Vicky 8.1. I was pretty much just focusing on the assignment and didn't even think of modifying the model or clothing for a more unique look. I'm learning in bits and pieces and this will be on my todo list for next month.
@tommyskypilot very nice job on making the carpet look like it's flying. @katywhite I like the story for your piece and it's cool to think of using push modifiers to fit clothing on models they weren't designed for! @Alias52 awesome job on the dents! It looks really good with the lighting you have.
I am working on my second image now, but still waiting on the render to finish and will need to do postwork once it's done. I probably need to figure out how to better optimize my scenes for faster renders.
Edit: Can someone remind me what is the max size I can use for width when adding an image into the post?
@Shimrian I think that your image looked better without the skin smoothing from Photoshop. From experience I can tell you that it does lose a lot of details.
For displaying properly the image here (at least for desktop view), the max is 800 pixels (on any side).
Thank you @Daedalus-7; I think your warning on skin smoothing is good and I'll keep that in mind for future projects. Thanks for confirming 800 as max in mind. I asked because I was using a higher number and found the image was distorted so wasn't sure what I could use and probably didn't want to underestimate too much. :)
So my second attempt at this was a bit more fun! Sometimes the hardest part of creating 3d art (or any art) is to come up with an idea for a project. I was playing around with using deformers and modifiers on basic cube premitiviews to understand what each can do and tried this on a blanket (inspired by @tommyskypilot), but wanted to pick something different than what others in the thread have attempted. I played with some pillows, but scrapped that and suddenly thought of mushrooms! What can make a dent in a mushroom? A fairy! I guess one of my other goals is to actually use all of the purchases I made on the store (back in 2021) so my next attempt just kind of evolved from making a dent in a mushroom!
Title: Hanging out at the edge of a fairy ring! (WIP)
I used Oria Fae + Crystal Cave (which was free at one point). This is a work in progress because I want to add more to this image with post processing (if I have time)! My idea is to add a bit of fog or mist that comes up to the feet of the fairy to add a bit more mystical feel to the piece. I don't want to go overboard with effects, but feel it can be a little bit more creative. I tried using the new Atmospheric ground fog, but felt that it just made everything too hazy and pixilated.
Edit: Is there a way to add the image without posting and editing the post to add it later?
Intermediate Challenge Entry
Title: Weird Dream
Software: Daz Studio
I am not 100% confident putting this up for the intermediate challenge (as opposed to the beginner challenge) but since I am using some sort of deformations, I thought I might just as well. There is a smoothing modifier applied to the the leather cuboid on which the TV from the mesozoic lies. The product Grasp Helper (which I believe also makes use of smoothing) was also used with regards to the plush toy being grasped by Mr Charming. As a side note, this scene is inspired by an actual dream that I had.
Title: Not the Nose!
Software: Daz 3D
Challenge: Intermediate
Made use of the demformers to stretch the nose. Feedback appreciated
Thanks @Shimrian; glad it's clearer now
2nd Entry for Intermediate. I used deformers and smoothing modifiers on the pillows and mattress. Feedback welcome.
The Great Pillow Fight
@aprilshowers2065 Great second entry! It's kind of late so don't have comments for the new entries right now, but good to see more stuff!
Intermediate: Challenge Entry
Title: Hanging out at the edge of a fairy ring!
Software: Daz Studio, Photoshop
I finally started my postwork on my fairy and wanted to bring more focus to her while learning effects in photoshop so I tried to add some light rays or beams of light shining on her from a hole at the top of the cave. I'm not sure if it ended up worse or better, but I did want to try new things with postwork and trying to make things look a bit more artsy. Feedback appreciated. :-)