First render completed, need comments and advice (no brickbats, please, I'm a noob! :D)
joea64_bdfaa5ca94
Posts: 298
I've completed my first render in Daz Studio last night, a very experimental, tinker-around, complete-newbie sort of thing, last night using the V4 Leather Teddy and the Portia Hair. I can already identify a couple of issues that I need to learn about/get help on:
1) I need to find some good nude body meshes/mats for Victoria 4. The default bra and panties look weird under garments like this.
2) I need to learn how to manipulate figures' feet in high heels. For some reason, the feet got crooked way forward (you can see it in the final render).
3) I need to learn how to move around clothed limbs so that the limbs don't leave their clothes (or maybe the saved file will allow you to do that? I did save the file, by the way, so I can go back and tinker with it some more.)
Comments very much appreciated. JPG file attached (The original is actually 2700 pixels wide but I had to reduce it to 2000 to post here.)
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Comments
go here - lot of info
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/categories/16/
bigh We don't send our New Users haring off to another forum, especially not when they have been told to post an image here for help and feedback. That is what the New Users Forum is for.
I was looking into some answers but have been called away, I'm really sorry. If I'm able, I'll reply later, if not then hopefully someone else can help.
But in the meantime, I can say that if you go to your content library, to the folder Daz Studio Formats/My Library/People/Victoria 4/Materials/V4 Sample-Res there's an option there called !All_Natural_NG. If Victoria 4 is selected, double click on !All_Natural_NG and Vicky should lose her bra and pants!
Secondly, if you make sure Victoria is selected when you double click on a clothing figure, it SHOULD fit itself to Victoria, meaning you can pose Victoria and the clothes will follow. If not, there are manual options on the clothing for "Fit To". If you click that, then select V4 from the list, the same result should occur.
Got to shoot off now.
Welcome to the most addictive hobby this side of the law!
V4 does come with a texture that does away with the purple bikini.:-)
OK, I did my second experiment this afternoon. It took less than an hour this time to produce what I think is a pretty decent figure for just my second time to complete a render, as seen below. This one is a beautiful, blonde, well-endowed Black Widow type wielding the .308 assault rifle from the Firearm Set, and dressed, as before, in the V4 Leather Teddy set; hair is Portia, same as before. Thanks for the information on the all-natural mat for V4 and the "fit to" information. This helped me get a much better result this time, as you can see, and I was able to manipulate the figure without having it drift outside the clothing. I'm still having issues with skin patches showing outside the clothing items where they shouldn't, though, and I also need to learn how to fit a hairpiece/hairstyle to Vicky so that that won't drift off the character when I move it around. Obviously, I also still need a good deal of practice in fine-tuning the limbs and moving the fingers to grasp items properly; I wanted to have this character hold her rifle in both hands, but couldn't manage it though I did get a fairly decent grip with her right hand. As before, please comment.
Posing hands is not easy. The best way for this is to buy some like "Every Day Hands Poses for V4 and M4" (you can take a look at here http://www.daz3d.com/shop/everyday-hands-poses-for-v4-and-m4) or full body poses like this http://www.daz3d.com/shop/kochi-castle-assault.
If you search through the shop you will find something that fit your needs.
I also saw an addon on Renderosity (I think) that was called something like "Firearms Poses for Victoria 4". Would that one work? Also just did a search in the Daz store and found two other items called "Victoria 4 Gun Pose Construction Set" and "Sexy Bodyguards Volume 1". Those sound pretty much ideal for the kinds of action scenes I'm planning to create. The Kochi item is for Japanese swordfighting; I would want to find something with poses for Western swordfighting/fencing, particularly with rapiers or sabers.
I also saw an addon on Renderosity (I think) that was called something like "Firearms Poses for Victoria 4". Would that one work? Also just did a search in the Daz store and found two other items called "Victoria 4 Gun Pose Construction Set" and "Sexy Bodyguards Volume 1". Those sound pretty much ideal for the kinds of action scenes I'm planning to create. The Kochi item is for Japanese swordfighting; I would want to find something with poses for Western swordfighting/fencing, particularly with rapiers or sabers.I have the V4 Gun Pose Con Pack it is pretty good and easy once you learn it. Tip it works best with guns that have a Pose to prop and pose the gun to the hand. The good news is lots of them (gun sets) come with that pose included.
I think you are doing this right by the way. Learn to load and use the items, learn to pose the items (that includes the character) and then move on to the next things. When you get to using sets for the characters you will know how to pose them, then you move on to lighting and your in a brand new render class over night. And we have help and info ready for all of it as you get ready for each new thing. I hope you enjoy all this as much as I do. keep up the good work.
I have the V4 Gun Pose Con Pack it is pretty good and easy once you learn it. Tip it works best with guns that have a Pose to prop and pose the gun to the hand. The good news is lots of them (gun sets) come with that pose included.
I think you are doing this right by the way. Learn to load and use the items, learn to pose the items (that includes the character) and then move on to the next things. When you get to using sets for the characters you will know how to pose them, then you move on to lighting and your in a brand new render class over night. And we have help and info ready for all of it as you get ready for each new thing. I hope you enjoy all this as much as I do. keep up the good work.
I'll look into the V4 Gun Pose pack then. Thanks for the good word; what I want to do is throw myself into the deep end all at once, but I know it's best to take it one step at a time and drill with loading items, dressing figures and posing them until I have it down cold. In that regard, I think my next lesson is to learn how to put hair on figures so that it won't "drift" off their heads when I move said figures, or so that they don't get unsightly bald spots or like that. I'm using the Portia hair as a testbed, and I've noticed that when I apply it, it seems to sit on the V4 head a little too low by default, leaving a bald spot as I mentioned, so I have to jigger it to get it to look right on the character (which so far seems to mean giving the lady 1980's-style big hair. :P )
Hair help: Check if the Item comes with a V4 Fit pose That might be in the DS folder for the item. Some times they are built into the hair and will List in your Parameters Tab when you have the Hair selected in the Scene Tab. Sometimes you will need to look in the different parts of the item, the little triangle next to the name of the item in the Scene Tab will open the item so you can check for built in morphs, fit settings and styles.
Obtained the Gun Pack and did my 3rd completed render, with an actual expression on my character's face this time and a proper pose. See attached image. I'm pleased so far, except that hair is still giving me fits; the parameters tab is confusing me (I never was good at math) and trying to use the !V4 option in Portia hair presets isn't seeming to work properly. I still have to fiddle around in the main screen to get a hairdo that looks halfway decent and I know it won't stay in place if I move my character a whisker, so ???? (I couldn't find a V4 Fit option with Portia and those little triangles you told me about didn't seem to be present, so I was at sea without a life jacket. :\) Anyway, aside from the hair, I think I'm moving along fine, so here's render #3:
OK, tonight's session has produced three views of my character with guns akimbo, from front, side and rear. One important thing I've done that I somehow overlooked before was to save a base (nude) file of the character so that I don't have to redo it all from scratch every time, as well as another base file of the character wearing the Leather Teddy outfit. I'm still having some issues with hair, chiefly that when I load a pose onto a character, the hair flies off the character and I have to do a fair bit of fiddling to get it seated properly on the head again. I have the distinct feeling that I'm still missing something.
did you use - fit to - for the hair - it works just like cloth
I think I used it when first applying the hair while constructing the base figure, but the problem is that it won't stay in place when I select a new pose for the figure. That's why I say I may have been missing something. The two images I'm attaching show the problem; the first is the base figure with the hair properly in place. The second shows the figure in a pose, with the hair being knocked out of place when the pose is loaded.
OK, here's what's going on. I'm going to attach several renders that are showing the problem, and I have Daz Studio open right now and looking at the Portia hair menu. The first picture (actually, the one on bottom) shows the base figure (with make-up and eyes applied) before the hair is applied. The other four images show front, side and top views of the hair as it's applied (before any tweaking or changing is done).
Now, here's the problem. There IS no "fit to" option that I can find for the Portia hair!!! This hair appears, when installed, in the in-program menu:
DAZ Studio Formats -> My Library -> Hair -> AprilYSH
There's a submenu for presets (color, etc.) as follows:
DAZ Studio Formats -> My Library -> Hair -> AprilYSH -> Portia Presets
In this menu, there's an item labeled "Portia !V4", but when I click it after applying the hair, it doesn't work. The fourth image shows what actually happens.
Again, when I right-click the hair, there is no "fit to" option that appears.
Hi...
The Portia hair is a "prop" hair, so what you need to do is to "Parent" it to V4's head.
With V4 in the default pose, Right-Click on the Portia hair in the scene tab and select 'Change Parent' in the context menu. Then in the dialog window that opens find and click on the 'Head' then press Accept. The hair will now be parented to V4's head and move with it.
Another way is to drag-and-drop the hair to the head of V4 in the scene tab.
The preset "Portia !V4" that you clicked on is to adjust the shape to fit V4's head. Select the Portia hair and then double-click the preset to adjust the fit.
Normally when loading hair or clothing in Daz Studio, make sure that you have your figure selected in the scene first. That way clothing and hair will automatically parent or conform to the figure for you.
Hope this helps... :)
It certainly did! Took a bit of trial and error, but I followed these steps:
1) Placed the hair on the figure;
2) Went to the Scene menu and did "Change Parent" as you instructed;
3) Ran the Portia V4 preset to fit the hair to the figure.
The attached files are the result. Now to save this (after adjusting the hair color and some details) as the base figure and move on to clothing. :)
Now the next question: when I put boots (or other footwear) on the figure, I get a popup message telling me that the preset has values outside the limits for the currently selected item, and asking whether I want to "leave the limits on" or "leave limits on". What does that mean? Also, the default foot position when the footwear goes on doesn't look right, as seen in the image below - you can see that the feet are bent up so that the heels are pointing diagonally. I want to get it set up so that the soles are set on the floor and so are the heels.
My latest render, using a pose and expression from the Firearms Action Pack with the .308 rifle from the Firearms Pack and the V4 Leather Teddy. Several issues:
1) Skin is showing through the gloves in a couple of patches as you can see from the closeup picture.
2) The left hand didn't pose properly when I loaded the figure pose, so I had to manipulate it to get it into the right (more or less) position.
3) As I noted, I still need to learn how to pose feet properly because the default foot position when boots or shoes are loaded onto the figure looks strange.
More generally, I'm having a problem with clothes looking "ragged", appearing torn-up with large patches of skin showing through, when I put them on the figure, even when I use the "fit to" menu option. The Leather Teddy is actually the only third-party clothing item I've been able to successfully fit on the figure so far. Advice?
That is known as Poke Thru the fast fix if it works for the image is this.
Your hand problem: Open your Secene Tab, Expand the V4 and go to the Hands of the V4 use the Eye icon to turn the hand invisible. The poke thru will not show. For places that that can not be done you will need to learn some new stuff. Deformers would be the place to start. That is not to hard but will take time to learn.
For poke through quick fixes you can also select the item of clothing and on the 'parameters' tab go to scale and size up slightly.
When scaling up, you might need to 'translate' it in the x, y, or z axis just a touch also.
OK, thanks. I'll select another outfit - one of the ones that's been giving me trouble with "poke through" - and give it a try.
I believe I've found a solution to at least posing feet more or less properly in boots. In the V4 Leather Corset set, there's a pose called "! Boots Feet". It works not only with the boots in that set but with boots in other sets by the same author, and it works with at least one other boot set. See images below for "before" and "after". You'll see that the default position of the booted feet is far more natural now, though the exact alignment will still need some tweaking for an actual pose.
Here's my latest complete render with my model wearing the Sexy Leather outfit by Pretty3D, accessorized with long gloves from another outfit, pointing a 9mm automatic with a "make my day" expression on her face! I had some trouble with "poke through" on the right hand, but solved it by following the suggestion jaderail gave, which was to hide each finger in turn until the "poke through" went away. Also used the !Boots Feet pose mentioned above, which gave the feet a more natural look especially when the legs were positioned. (Also of note; this is the first time I've created an expression on the figure's face using the Parameters tab/menu.)
And here's my latest render of my beautiful blonde action girl. I think I'm beginning to get a grasp of the basics now, including putting expressions on the figure's face and moving the limbs around. I may soon be ready to start experimenting with sets and lights, then with multiple figures.
And here's my action girl again. Continuing to make progress in tweaking expressions and poses; IMHO I've produced a pretty fair pinup here, what do you think?
I like the other one better .
and may I add - change your background color - its not a good color for what you want to do
First attempt at a multi-figure render. Taking into account the point about backgrounds, I created a primitive floor and used the walls from the Alchemy Chasm set. I need to start looking for more backgrounds and sets, and to find out how to change the base background color..