I am beginner to Daz Studio, I have tried my luck in vain...
Halcon Bluesky
Posts: 437
Hello, I wish I could use and master the Daz Studio software, Version 4.20.0.2.
I have installed it via Daz Central 64-bit under Windows 10 and now 11.
I have an Nvidia RTX 3060 GeForce Ready Driver 516.59
I have tried to use the program, after doing the interactive lessons, I have tried to load and create the poses with the content I have bought from the store.
I could not recreate anything with that, the interface is a bit cluttered, I have tried to follow some of the video tutorials with no such results, I prefer the either the interactive way or some written instuctions.
I have contacted product support, which is useless in a way to get me started with the software.
Now this what I have:
https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-miki-the-witch-outfit-set-for-genesis-8-females
https://www.daz3d.com/ronin-warrior-outfit-for-genesis-8-females
https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-1920s-boudoir-outfit-for-genesis-8-females
https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-1920s-boudoir-textures
https://www.daz3d.com/dark-princess-for-genesis-8-females
https://www.daz3d.com/soft-dream-for-genesis-8-and-genesis-81-females
https://www.daz3d.com/bra-and-panty-lingerie-set-for-genesis-3-female-s
https://www.daz3d.com/sexy-time-lingerie
I started with Miki the Witch, I tried to look for all content installed via Daz Central; there was nothing I can see and use.
I uninstalled and re-installed the software and all content several times.
Using paint.net and GIMP, at least I can manage to use it, Daz Studio is far complex to anything I have tried before.
I am hopeless without any success.
Can you point me if there is anything I can do and get an smooth start without any issues?
I am posting this as a last resort, thanks for your patience, I would appreciate your help into guiding me in the right direction.
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Comments
Have you tried youtube? There are some really good tutorials to follow along!
I am new too and so perhaps not the best to offer advice so not sure how much help these will be but I will try anyways.
Firstly, I don't use Daz Central so I cannot speak about that - I try and do everything via Daz Install Manager. I did originally have some "mix-and-match" with some assets installed one way and some via another way but it seems that this can cause issues so I think you should pick one and stick with it. This is info I have read from other people and I can see that they have different ways of logging what has been installed so it makes sense to me to use only one. I have manually uninstalled everything that was previously installed via Daz Central and reinstalled with DIM and also logged off via the Daz3D application itself (working "offline") so that it cannot interfere with the DIM packages which seems to have brought the asset management under control a bit.
For the other part of your issue - you're gonna have to put some time into learning. If you are familiar with another 3D program then there is probably some cross-over but if not then there is going to be lots to learn. The interface may seem cluttered but there is a lot of functionality so it has to go somewhere. It can be customised tho so you can remove panels that you don't understand for now and then re-add them when you want to explore what they do.
Other than that, I second what Paintbox said - watch some Youtube videos. That's what I have spent most of my time doing. There is not a massive amount of users posting Daz3D-specific stuff but some that are have a lot of good content for both beginners and intermediate level on their channels. I don't know the rules about posting names/links here but if you search YouTube they will hopefully come up.
@Paintbox, I will follow up the suggestions to watch the videos in YouTube, even tought it exasperate me so much parrot talking, in the other hand, a written guide is much better, practicing everything step by step, I would like to get sailing in no time.
@SofaCitizen, I have read in another part of the forum about Install Manager, not sure it this method will work better than Daz Central.
I would like to work offline and try to concetrate my efforts in knowing better the software.
I don't know if an Intel Atom powered 2-in-one can at least do for me at a time I want to, offline mode; my tower PC has much better specs than the little machine but there are moments when I need something more flexible at hand
I do not think I will become a Leonardo Davinci overnight, I will keep trying.
Yeah, as I don't use it I can't comment but I imagine that if you use ONLY Daz Central then you'll probably be ok - it's just the mix-and-match that gets things in a muddle. I started using DIM over Daz Central as I first installed Daz on my Mac and I read something about Daz Central not being as well supported on OSX (whether that was right or wrong I don't know for sure). Then when I moved to also using a Windows machine that install got itself into a bit of a mess due to Daz Central. This was probably all because I was doing something wrong but I now have a setup that seems to work so I don't want to change it incase I break it again.
You said you couldn't find the stuff that Daz Central installed - I assume you know that there are two tabs in Daz where you can look for these? Daz Central should add your installed content to both. The Content Library will give you more of a "Filesystem" view where you can find stuff based on where it's been installed, in addition to a Product view where you can find installed content alphabetically. There is also a Categories list which I haven't looked into directly but appears to just be another way to look at the Smart Content. In the Smart Content you can find stuff by the metadata categorisation. This has two tabs at the top for Files and Products which changes whether the items listed are the grouped Products that you have purchased or all the separate items (materials, props etc) that the products contain. A few things to note here is that some products do not have complete metadata and so will show up in the "Lost and found" section at the top, the search bar only seems to work with complete words (atleast for me it does) and so to find the 1920s items these would show up if you searched for "boudoir" but not if you searched for "bou". There is also the "Filter by Content" tick box that limits the items to only things that have been defined as compatible with the item you have selected in the scene. So therefore if you cannot see something you can try unchecking the filter, clearing the searchbox and clicking "All Products" in the Smart Content tab and this should show everything.
I too have a long way to go but the more we practice the better we become and the software will become less daunting :)
The installer inside DS is DAZ Connect, not DAZ Central.
DAZ Central is the installer offered when one clicks at the "Download Studio" menu, and it is simplified version of DIM (DAZ Install Manager)
The problems with content are usually caused by logging in to DS and letting DAZ Connect within DS to install stuff, when the content has already been installed using DAZ Central, DIM or manual installation.
Welcome to the forums Halcon Bluesky
Of that long list, I have this set: https://www.daz3d.com/bra-and-panty-lingerie-set-for-genesis-3-female-s
So now, when you open D/S, load the Genesis 3 Female figure. [one has to have installed the Genesis 3 Starter Set to get the G3 figures]
With that figure selected, one goes to the "Clothing" - find the loading icon and double-click on that. The clothing should load on to the figure. Then with the clothing item(s) selected one can apply one of the mat [material] files to change the appearance of the clothing.
Then select the figure and find a pose that you want to use, and double click on that icon. The figure should now be dressed and posed.
I use the Content Pane to find the products. One can use that, or one can use Smart Content. {I found I prefer the Content Pane route}.
eta some pictures:
Yeah, I think I mixed up those two give their similar names. I have double-checked and it was the stuff in "My Daz Connect Library:data:cloud" folder that I had gone through and cleaned up as it was causing me issues. So I will retract my comments regarding Daz Central and apologise for misidentifying that as the culprit.
Maybe I will have another look at Daz Central again when I am feeling brave :)
@Catherine3678ab, thank you very much for the examples for the "Bra and Panty Lingerie Set for Genesis 3"
I will try to work with that and see how it goes.
The most confusing part when using Daz Studio is with the tutorials the interactive one and those that are found on YouTube, with the interactive one at least you are guided with arrows and squares in the menus, in the other side of the coin the Videos do not focus in a close-up take when trying to do the tasks.
I tried to follow up with the basics, then something went wrong, the hair style, (it seems there is nothing else than short hair and no availibility of medium to long hair)
Then, I tired to change the hair color and neither the skin tone, I can't get it right!
I wish I can get up and running the program and adquire the skills needed to create or work with some of the items available in the shop.
Just to be safe, I can't spend like crazy without getting some results, if there is any free item that gets my attention, I will try to get that and explore the way how I can use it within Daz Studio.
Otherwise, I would be satisfied If did learn something with the necessary skills and conquer all obstacles for the ultimate feat (I am really far to get there).
Some of the items I bought, I love 'em.
I want to render the way I want.
Now, I am not sure if I keep the Daz Central and all the installed contents the way is installed or I do uninstall and install it via Install Manager?
With this I would have to download all the content and save it on my Hard Drive for safekeeping.
What do you suggest me to do?
@sofaCitizen, how do you go with the software?
You said you have a long way to go as me.
Do you think Install Manager is the way to go?
I wonder how do I use the templates if there are some included with the products I bought .
If Daz Studio is for the brave, or those trying their best luck, a better tutorial approach is needed to overcome the pitfalls when using the program for the uninitiated.
The video approach is half backed, the pieces of the jigsaw must fit together and get a better understanding of what has to be done.
@ Halcon Bluesky You're welcome.
Making interactive tutorials has its own challenges and therefore we tend to leave that method for the Company ;-) And for everybody there are at times some useful freebies to be found here. Free 3D Models
Somewhere in the forums there is a thread specifically for free hairs that are available. I would have put links here but the forum requests keep going 504.
Many people have many products so in their tutorials these will show. If you have installed all the essential starter packs they contain some clothing, hair and props.
Before "spending like crazy" -- do become a Daz+ member first, the prices then are much better. Plus we get a monthly, and weekly free products.
Also, plan your purchases. If you find, for example, that you have no long hair and you want a long hair, then put a long hair on your shopping list. There are like, hundreds of hairs available and any model normally only wears one at a time ;-) ALSO, we can make hair in D/S too :-) Nice Strand based hair.
What I like to do is put possible purchases on my Wishlist ... then wait for them to go on sale. In October there is usually a BIG sale and many items spend a day at $1.99. Hopefully this trend will continue.
If you have installed all the products, that's fine, doesn't matter how they were installed as long as you can find them in the program! I have had nothing to do with Daz Central. If it has stored backup files on your computer or not I do not know. For the day to day purchase backups, you can always go into your Product Library and download the zip folders and just save them to a destination of your choice.
Um, no, in the long run you do not want to store backup files on your hard drive, many of us have invested [a small fortune] for external hard drives, several T in size ;-)
From watching some threads in the forum, I think if you start downloading content using both DIM and Daz Centrale you may run into problems, and confusion city.
If you ever manage to "conquer all obstacles for the ultimate feat", please write a tutorial on it lol ... There is a lot to learn, so be patient and kind to yourself, you will get there ;-)
Again, going from what several have done in the past, do NOT panic and start uninstalling, reinstalling, repeat, everytime something does not go as expected. That is seldom the solution for any problem. After you have tried loading G3F and her undies there, that is the basic pattern for how most clothing and hair products load, and how to change their materials.
Now the way mesh products are sold, many do not supply different mat options aside from the main one. It is very nice when they do. For many mesh products there are support products for Textures. A "texture" product does not come with the 3D model, it provides material options for the main product [which should be listed on the Store's Product Page as a required product].
eta: Actually there is a sale on today as well for items under $3 :-)
I'll try this again:
I wonder why you wonder about how to use templates some of which are indeed supplied for the various models. You open them up in your favourite image editor that uses layers and create away. Remember to paint outside the lines 3 or 4 pixels to allow for 'seams' - this prevents seams from showing when the model is rendered.
Learning any large program requires some time and patience, and willingness to learn. If it's been awhile since learning anything new then it may take awhile for the elasticity in the mind to reform.
To get a better understanding of what has to be done, first you have to know what you want to achieve.
Basically: load scene, render scene, save image to a location of your choice. Paste image into your book, or comic book, or collection for clipart, or whatever it is you are wanting images for. Or render a series of images and paste them together in your favourite video editor to make little movies for posting at places like YouTube, or burning to discs for playback on your T.V.
All what can be done with Daz Studio is an immense topic. So yes, any tutorial is only going to cover so much information. When you know what you want to learn about, seek the tutorial(s) that cover that aspect. The video approach is EXCELLENT esp. considering that this is a program where visuals are important ... even in text tutorials, one is going to want some imagery. Videos on YouTube can be played at slower speeds, you can get the transcript of the text for many videos, and playback at HD is recommended in order to read the tiny text in the videos. This is true for any video about any program.
If the instructions for installation provided by the Company are followed correctly, and the products are installed correctly [one has to set the installation paths], then loading the scenes and rendering the images does not in itself land anybody in any pitfalls. Do keep in mind that your computer specs may or allow for large or "heavy" scenes to be rendered in one go. The system requires a fair bit of memory.
Well, what works for me may not work for you. We all are unique and have different skills, experience and situations. Install Manager works for me - it's not as "pretty" as Daz Central but then I don't need it to be. I can easily see and set the configuration and it downloads my purchases fine when I checkout. I have the space to download & install all the purchases I have made so I don't need an installer to have thumbnails. Obviously that won't be the same for everyone and since I didn't use it much in the beginning it may very well have advantages over DIM that I am not aware of. If you have managed to install your purchases with Daz Central then it probably makes sence to just keep using that.
For me, Daz3D doesn't seem over-complicated - that's not to say that I understand many of the exact features exactly - but that it uses user interface components in a way that makes sense to me. My main learning path is more along the lines of getting to grips with the techniques of 3D modelling, composition and lighting - so it's more my lack of skills and experience holding me back rather than the software. Compare that to something like Blender where I have looked at a few tutorials and tried to do a few things and have just given up for now since that is software which is currently over my head.
Again, I would suggest you give the Youtube approach another try. There are a few people out there who have done tutorials and walkthroughs for beginners. I probably watched a good day or two's worth of videos before even attempting my first proper beginner renders.
@SofaCitizen, I downloading the content to Hard Drive at the moment, later when I have all together, I will transfer to an external Hard Drive.
Which method have you used to install your content, downloading the zip files or getting the Daz Connect Offline Package and Offline Authorization File?
These will have to be used with Install Manager?
Daz Connect or Daz Central.
I have downloaded the Manual install I believe, besides that there are some files that are Install Manager Ready, do I have to download these?
For what I see at the moment is like an alphabet Soup.
I will get some zzz to clear my mid and get more energized.
@Catherine3678ab, If I ever get the opportunity to overcome the pitfalls in using Daz Studio, I wish I could help those unfortunate people to use the program.
I try to explore something here and there, I am studying Information Technology at the College, I am the only one that I have to provide support to family members when they encounter some problems with their PCs and Mobile devices; there are times when I am being challenged and must find solutions for them.
My passion for graphic design is one area I love, I am not a super user, just an average person with average knowledge about some of the software for use in everyday.
GIMP and Paint.Net are really good programs, Krita is another program mostly for illustrations like Adobe Illustrator, this program is free to use.
Apart from this, I have tried my hand into HTML page composition.
I do chek if there is any free items in the freebies section, with today selection, I will try to see if I can use it, after all, I will keep tryin until I can get more comfortable
Cheers!
Firstly, yes, get your sleep this is always very important!
For all my content purchased from the DAZ store I always use DAZ Install Manager (DIM) - so niether Daz Connect nor Daz Central. So, for example, after making a purchase I ignore the blue "Download & Install Daz Central" button and click "View invoice" instead. On that page I click the green "Download & Install" button under where it says "Download this entire order". This opens up DIM on my mac and after a little pause to read the configuration it gives me a list of all the purchased items and so I can click the "Select All" button and click the button to have it do all the work for me.
On the Invoice page, if you look down the list you may see that if yoiu have any Bundles then these have no Green "Download & Install" button under the "Install Manager Ready*" column. However, from what I can see this does not matter since a "Bundle" technically doesn't have anything to download - they are just "Groups" of other products. In my experience, providing DIM is not actively running when you click the Green button for the entire order, then all the products within the Bundle will still be installed. It's not the end of the world if you did have it open at the time - you can either go into the bundle and install those items manually or a better option is just to restart DIM and it will find them and list them for install.
As Catherine said above, there are other things like "Templates" that do not come down automatically but I think you should not worry about those as I believe they are only needed if you plan to create custom textures for the products. Maybe that's something you might want to do at some point but best to get comfortable with the main features first. Also, I have a different process for purchases from other stores but that is a discussion for another day.
Again, this is just what I do - it might not be the most ideal way of doing things and it certainly won't be best for everyone but it works for me. I don't want to put you off using Daz Central as that could quite easily be a better solution for you but I don't have the experience with it to comment. However, I would probably advise that you don't try the manual method - you kinda have to know a bit more about what you are doing and where things need to go in order to do that properly and also seems like unnecessary work when there are auto-installers available.
You have said that you are downloading the content and then planning to transfer to an External Drive? I think you should not do that until you understand a bit more how things are linked together. Firstly, I think this will confuse whichever installer that you use - certainly it will for DIM as it saves the exact install path in the Manifest configuration files. I know that when I did this to move my assets from my Mac to my network storage I had to update the new path every place it was listed in thousands of config files to ensure that things did not get duplicated or broken when doing updates.
In addition to the issues with installation, if you have DAZ assets in a new place you will need to tell DAZ that they exist. To do that you need to go into the Content Library tab, right-click on "DAZ Studio Formats" and select "Add Library". It is important here that the folder you select must be the one that DIRECTLY contains the installed products folder structure - e.g. "data", "Runtime", etc.
So, perhaps it's best that you do not move files onto your external drive until you are a bit more familiar with things?
I think the zip folders for backup purposes is only what was being discussed to move to an external hard drive.
G.I.M.P. will work fine for making new textures using the templates! It uses layers, the idea being to have the template as the bottom layer and hide it before saving out the finished layer as a .png file [or .jpg but never .tiff - D/S is/was having an issue with .tiff files].
Here's another one of an excellent series of tutorials aimed at helping beginners [and everybody else too] learn things about D/S. Parmy Baddhan is a forum member here too.
@SofaCitizen, I did some experiment, I liked the way Daz accomodate the elements.
Instead of using G3 I went for G8, then selected some of the elements from Bra and Panty Set, I selected the Iray instead of the Texture; I liked the experiment.
But when saving the image it went spectacularly small.
I will try to thinkering with the program next time how it goes, if you see the pic, is too small for my liking.
at least, I see how is working, I am long way to mastering that, and for a brave world is rather imperfect that it may need some more polishing.
Catherine3678ab has more experience than us, with what I have done is too outlandish, because I went without even tweaking the image a bit more.
You made a render! Congrats :-)
In the Render Settings Tab, General ... there are options there to set the size you want for a render. For example 1:1 = square. 1000 x 1000; or greater. The larger the size the longer the render time of course.
@Catherine3678ab, What I did was unorthodox way, even I did not set the parameters as the tutorials say, I hope to get it right for next time.
Amateur luck or just naivety of my part in trying to get it faster.
How long have you been using Daz Studio?
Well done on the first Render - I'm glad you now have everything installed and available :)
I wouldn't worry too much about the render being too small or not having enough tweaking. You can just find the right settings to increase the output size as Catherine mentioned and then render the image again. After that you might see something that you think you can improve so you can tweak that bit and then render the image a thrid time, and so on. It will take a little bit of time but that's certainly a good way to learn as it will give you a better idea of how the various settings affect your image.
@SofaCitizen, what I can't the same results as this one
https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-miki-the-witch-outfit-set-for-genesis-8-females
if you see the pictures, the hairstyle, I have tried unsuccessfully to import to the content creation, if I load it via Daz Central (Open) it will not fit the pose, unless I can try to look into something very similar.
No luck when trying adding the hair in the Smart Content.
No other hair style is closer than that, or I am missing something else.
While Daz Central did all the job installing everything I have, free and paid content, I belive the file size for the application with the installed content at the moment would surpass over 20 GB in size.
The other model not mentioned is "Ronin Warrior Outfit for Genesis 8" the face is almost same as Miki the Witch, in the store there are some more models with the same face as her as well, only the clothing is different.
Thanks for your encouraging words, it's just an experiment, I will look into the settings as Catherine3678ab said.
I think when most people try to do something it takes some time to get accustmed to that and later is like all is coming round and well.
I hope to get there, If I ever gain confidence, I will try to post to the Gallery, don't expect it to be soon because the learning curve is a totally wild journey.
Cheers!
@Halcon Bluesky
Yeah, you have to be careful to read the description of what the product actually contains. I have both those products and they only include the outfit, the weapon, a pose to grip it and one to match the shoes. They do not include the model, the hair or the pose used in the promo pics. It is very rare for a product to include all those things together. Both those packages are by the same author and so it makes sense that they might re-use a model and/or hair for the promo pick. The hair is probably available somewhere but the model could be a custom creation of the author.
Unfortunately, 3D assets are quite sizable so you will probably find that as you obtain more assets that will grow much bigger pretty quickly.
I am with you on not posting anything till you are ready. I am still not at the stage where I have anything to post since I am mainly recreating images from others to help me learn composition, lighting, posing etc.
Too long ;-)
Okay guys, I hav done some renderings, these are not ready for primetime yet, but I will keep experimenting with the program.
I made some adjustments to the image size, taking into account that 1,204 px is an average size for photos taken with camera, I doubled that size.
I can't figure out how to add a solid color, as those images displayed in the product store pages, if you notice the background is transparent.
Tell me if there is anything to improve the look or some more adjustments.
I could not find an asian looking face in the Smart Content to resemble Miki or anything closer than that.
Cheers!
That's a good start :-)
I'm not working with the most up-to-date D/S so the interface may be a little different. Under Window you can see a long list of tabs/panes that are available. Look for Environments. Select a Backdrop, this can be an image plus a color or just a color.
@Catherine3678ab, The working area of Daz 4.20.x is more different than the one you have.
With Daz Central, it takes care of everything I got, maybe I will leave like that for now.
I will keep experimenting with everything at slow pace, I have some other things to do at the moment.
I have to provide support to my relatives with their mobile devices, it take some time, (but they do not have patience) just imagine if they were about to see a program like Daz, they would be awestruck to what can be done with it, but not venture into that as this requires a lot of patience to achieve the results.
Information Technology (IT) extend to many areas of computing, Graphic Design is something I love most; I am not good with number crunching programs.
In 2013 I downloaded Daz Studio but never used, now that I have the opportunity, I want to explore, learn and achieve some very nice results with this incredible program.
I hope to get the skills and gain more confidence.
Cheers!
Yup, the more you practice, the more you learn. I can't really give you advise on your renders since in that area we are at the same stage in beginning our learning. However, I will say that even with quite a few "Real World" Female Figures to choose from I couldn't get close to either model when I gave it a shot. Also, I have a few "Pigtail" style hair assets and none of those were a good match for the images either.
@SofaCitizen, I have experimenting with some of the content, when I tried to put the shoes it went almost out, not fiting naturally, there must be some trick out there.
I will keep trying.
Do you think is good idea to contact with the contetent creator, if these creations comes with all the relevant elements for the product?
@Halcon Bluesky There are some "poses" for the shoes in those two packages. They should adjust the angle of the feet to compensate for the heels.
You won't be able to contact the creator (unless they happen to be browsing this Forum and see your thread) but also they will just say the same thing - those items are supposed to only have the outfits and prop. The model and hair are just in the promo pick to show how they would look. It makes sense since they want to show off their product in the best possible way so they won't just have clothing hovering in mid-air as the main picture. You'll get used to it the more you look at the store but in the meantime just check down in the description (particularly under "What's Included and Features") before buying anything so you know before-hand what it is you will be getting.
@SofaCitizen, However, I will say that even with quite a few "Real World" Female Figures to choose from I couldn't get close to either model when I gave it a shot. Also, I have a few "Pigtail" style hair assets and none of those were a good match for the images either.
Well, I have tried with one pigtail hair, the only miserly one I have, alnost the results come closer, just the face expression like Miki, not sure if is same or not.
I have tried some renderings, one of these took longer; the results not much of my liking, After that, I had to open GIMP and edit the image to fit the way I like, at least the results are more decent than the ones done with DAZ.
The original filesize reached 8.60 Mb, using GIMP, I croped the image and went over 9 Mb in size.
If the image were to be compressed the final result would be far less than 1 MB, if wanting to preserve the image quality then it could be 0, and the filesize would increase more than the original artwork.