Render in progress
Well, that was a nice break! I’ve had a chance to relax and a chance to be sick as well. Yay. but now it’s time to get back to work. This year I want to try writing shorter posts and see how that goes. The plan is to actually publish more. We shall see!
A lot of my Daz time of late has been more technical in nature, a lot of tweaking and experimentation. I have some new toys that I have been practicing with! This is the result of some experimentation and I love the eerie light quality! I still want to tweak the head a little, but it’s coming along really well, I look forward to painting it up.
Flip 3 – nude steampunk Daz studio render
Flip – Daz Studio 4 Render
I just can’t get enough of this pose style and set! I think I am going to have to do a triptych.
Lately I have been obsessed with viewing a pose from lots of different angles. translating the same thing into different images and differing moods. I think this is something I will explore further as I progress.. Sometimes we only focus on one side of things. It’s good to get the whole picture.
And one of the benefits of 3D is that you can!
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Wings, Helmet, Harness, Boots and Hair: Apteromata Flight
Textures: Acherontia Atropos Flight
Flip 2 – steampunk Daz render
Flip – Daz Studio 4 Render
I love this pose so much I just have to keep playing! It’s odd how something changes with the angle. At the moment I am doing some watercolors and exploring the same pose from different angles, it’s really fun to see how much mood can change.
I will probably start posting those next week.
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Wings, Helmet, Harness, Boots and Hair: Apteromata Flight
Textures: Acherontia Atropos Flight
Flip – Daz Render
Flip – Daz Studio 4 Render
and.. because the last piece wasn’t complex enough I’ve thrown another spanner in the works. oh yes it’s raining fiddly bits here! I’ve been dreaming of the day I could get this harness and wingset, I’ve been planning works against them coming on sale. then they did and I pretty much had to spend a few weeks rendering my ideas. tell me if I’m crazy! I’m mildly worried about working with such a recognizable product in the 3D universe but you cannot deny the compelling delight of these wings!
if I’m not around much at the moment now you know why…
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Wings, Helmet, Harness, Boots and Hair: Apteromata Flight
Textures: Acherontia Atropos Flight
Suspension – Daz Render
Suspension – Daz Studio 4 Render
I’m going insane! a gear and lace – I don’t know what I’m thinking, but I’m so excited about this piece! it’s going to test my geometry skills to the limits but I think when it is done it will be a very interesting painting. I’m pretty psyched. I’ve been doing some other work this week, watercolors, some backlog things, and working on my geometry skills! this is requiring a bit of planning to get exactly right. but I have the canvas and I am getting all geared up.
hehe.
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Goggles: M4 Steam Cowboy
Hair: Scarlet Nights Hair
Boots and Cravat: Scandalous for V4
Gear: Steampunk Cogs and Gears 6 *free*
Gears – Daz Render
Gears – Daz Studio Advanced Render
the next in my steampunk burlesque series, this painting is just about finished now, I will posts some WIPs of it next week to show my progress. I thought the difficult part would be the bustle, turns out the gears were a real pain! I’m thinking of buying some new gearwins from renderosity as part of my problem was that I don’t particularly like the prop I had. I mean, those look nasty! pointy teeth- yikes!
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Goggles: Uber Goggles *free*
Hair: Scarlet Nights Hair
Bustle: Scandalous for V4
Death – Daz Render
Death – Daz Studio Advanced Render
ArtBoy Gallery is doing it again! this time FanBoy Vs ArtBoy is looking at comics. I decided to do a three part set based on Jean Grey, looking at Phoenix and Dark Phoenix – guess which one this is?
The opening is on the 10th of June, come by and check it out! The Facebook event is here
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Nude of the week – inverted
This is the last render created with my old iMac! My trusty iMac is no more, the hard drive has died. The good news is that I now have a very sexy new iMac on order, the bad is that I don’t know how much data was backed up in my time machine backups because I had been having problems. The broken hard drive is accessible and I should be able to get my most vital content off it. I’m looking at having to install all of my Daz 3D content all over again! I just did that! Ah well. As long as my photographs are safe i’m happy. A lot of my data is backed up somewhere, but I would prefer non compressed.
This render came to me in a flash, then the pose came together very easily. I discovered these goggles in my runtime and was just so excited! They are fantastic! Here you can see one of the problems of 3D though, her hair just isn’t sitting right.
I have at least a week before my new Mac arrives. Luckily I have a few works to be getting on with, and my iPad for keeping up to date. I should be able to last!
Nude of the week – pipes, steam punk burlesque nude render
Pipes – a steampunk nude Dazlstudio render
I have yet to photograph the finished aviatrix yet so here is the render of the painting I am currently working on. it’s working name is pipes, but I don’t have a title for it yet. Sorry I didn’t post this last week, I had a migraine and couldn’t move. I painted, because I paint every day, but even that was a struggle, it was painting and sleep for pretty much a week. Ah, the glamorous life of an artist!
I’ve been obsessed with inverted poses lately. This one kept ringing in my mind for ages, I have sketch after sketch as I tried to refine it and bring it to the surface. I may be doing more as I work out this latest itch! I get poses stuck in my mind like a song and the only way to fix it is to paint and paint and paint!
Products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Chair: Girl Play
7 reasons why life models are better than virtual models
Life models vs virtual models: round 2 (round 1 is here)
Last week I wrote about all my reasons why I prefer using 3D models for my painting reference over live models. This week I thought I would flip the tables and write about the limitations of 3D and why a life model can be better.
1. Speed. if I change a light in a live model situation it doesn’t take another two hours to check that the shadow is better. It’s instant feedback.
2. Brains. Mindless bots are just that. I can control every aspect of my model but I can’t just tell them to raise their arm a little more, or assume a contraposto pose, or cock their hip a little. It doesn’t work that way. A live model will just do what I tell them to do.
3. Rigging. I’m at the mercy of the rigging on my model. They try to make the most natural model they can, and they are improving, but Victoria 4 can’t bend quite as naturally as a human. It really requires a good grounding in anatomy to fill in the gaps.
4. Hair. No matter how good the hair model is it just won’t move quite like real hair.
5. Collisions and gravity. Flesh interacts with itself and moves when it touches something, It’s subject to gravity, It pushes aside and wrinkles. 3D technology is improving, with things like weight mapping and so forth, but it isn’t the same. You need a good understanding of the human body and how it moves to ensure you get realistic gravity.
6. Imperfections. Humans have them, it makes them human. 3D models don’t.
7. The learning curve. Many people don’t have the patience to learn how to get the results they want from 3D, it’s easier to hire a model, it’s hard to have to do all the thinking for your virtual model and move them how you want, it’s frustrating and slow and repetitive.
7 reasons why virtual models are better than life models.
Life models vs virtual models: round 1
Something someone said to me the other day made me think of the many reasons I choose to use 3D as reference material for my art. In my mind, 3D has so much potential for artists, in so many ways. I often laud the cost savings of using virtual models as opposed to real ones, but that is such a small part of why I use it now. I have models lining up to work with me, I spend a lot of time and money on my 3D and I frequently bang my head against the wall while working on a render. So why do I prefer it? You see, the beauty of 3D is that it is based in reality, but only limited by your imagination.
1. It’s always available. Unless you live with your model you are going to have to wait for them to get to you- losing valuable inspiration time!
2. It’s patient. Even the most professional model won’t sit in their pose while you adjust the lights, the surface textures, the colors, the room, their skin, for hours and hours. And hours and hours. Then go away for a day and come back to it and tweak it for a few more hours.
3. It’s forgiving. I don’t want to offend my model of the day by telling them that I need to add a little more here or shave off some there, and If I change things up in the eventual piece it’s not going to create an issue. I know most models won’t care, but I always worry offending people- and worry gets in the way of art. There is no place for misunderstanding in 3D.
4. It’s flexible. I can have a model hovering in a backflip for as long as I need, I can freeze a moment in time while I tweak the lighting and the colors, the volume and the mood. I can use any angle, I can make the pose very mundane or I can take it beyond the realms of the human norm and distort and abstract things while still maintaining a sense of reality.
5. It’s quiet. I’m introverted, I need privacy in my studio and i’m very demanding. 3D allows me to do what I need to without worrying about feelings or being interrupted. I can be my own, caustic self without feeling like I have to put on a front. It also means that the only person I talk to is myself, and I talk to myself a lot! It gives me space.
6. It’s..3D.. A lot of you may be thinking that I could achieve a lot of these with photographing the live model and using the photograph for my reference. And you would be right, but photographs are a limited painting resource. The reason so many pieces taken from a photograph look flat is because they use a 2d resource. Now I can hear you thinking, ‘but isn’t that what render is?’ And yes.. But days later when i’m trying to work out what that dark blob is or where the arm went because I changed the angle of something I can virtually walk around the model and see. I can rotate it, change it up as often as I like, and everything is crystal clear. I don’t have to try to re-create it, it’s there exactly how I left it.
7. It’s a guide. The render is not the finished piece, it’s a path along the way.
It really is the best of both worlds! As long as you have the patience and understanding to make it work. It’s harder than life models in a sense, but, for me, it’s the best choice. This may be because i’m a control freak who prefers mindless bots that do my bidding, it may be because i’m a geek and it’s cool and requires no human interaction but mostly I think it’s because I can take my time and get the exact results I want, how I want. It’s my process and it works for me!
Nude of The Week – Fanboy Vs Artboy Concept Render
This is the first of my concept renders for the upcoming exhibition I’m in at Artboy Gallery. The focus of this exhibition is games and fan art and I’m delighted to be a part of it! I will write more later, but for now this is the concept as it stands, it’s really fun to work on something so challenging and different. it will be painted in my usual style, but it’s so different from anything I’ve done!
I morphed all the characters from scratch, referencing the characters from their in-game art. I can tell you that some parts involved quite a bit of speculation! I don’t have a lot of experience with multi character pieces, but I love classic composition so I had a lot of fun, I went back to my art history roots for inspiration.
For those who don’t know, these characters are from my favorite game World of Warcraft. over the entire warcraft saga there has been a bit of a love story woven around the characters Jaina Proudmoore, Arthas Menethil and Thrall. I could write more about my feeling about these three characters, but you will probably be seeing this piece in development so for now I will focus on the render.
There were a LOT of products used in this! I spent a day morphing each character. that’s a day *per* Character!
Thrall is made with Freak 4 (FREE for a limited time!)
Michael 4 morphs++
Sol Elite Skin with custom coloring
Cuffed Tail 2
and the Beard (I was particularly proud of this as I don’t have any beards, fitting this was a challenge!)
Gabriel Hair
Arthas
Michael 4 *free*
Michael 4 morphs++
Sol Elite Skin
Reby Sky Elite Hair (sorry Reby)
Jaina Proudmoore
Victoria 4 *free*
V4 Morphs++
Eve Skin
Sienna Hair
Runtimes – your Daz content and you
apex
A recent crash ruined my careful Daz|Studio content library sorting. after the dust (and language) cleared I found out about a lovely free backup script for your content library – entirely too late of course!
This however, provides me with the ideal chance to re-install everything properly from scratch, clear out things I don’t like any more and to tidy it all up. you don’t have to of course, but when you get a runtime as big as mine it makes sense to do a periodic tidy at times.
in fact, as I went through everything I found I had three iterations of the entire program on my computer! so.. I’ve done a complete re-install, I’ve cleared my content and will completely re-install that as well (sigh). all this is just in time to install my brand new content from the sales! (soo much content…)
I thought I might also take this opportunity to write about sorting your daz content for ease of use.
your Runtime is where your 3d content is stored on your computer. it has it’s own sorting system which, mostly, goes according to plan. some people have several runtimes to keep their content separate. or keep them on separate hard drives for portability and protection. I used to have one large one, with this new install I will be running one for my paid content, one for my free content and a special one for the content I beta test (as a ninja – shhhh!). but I don’t recommend you have anything so complicated to start out with.
if you are using the Daz installers they will give you nice prompts and install where you tell them, or to their default location in applications/dazStudio/content. if you buy from Renderosity, or download freebies, you will get a .zip file with your content. the .zip files will have all the directories and everything laid out, but you will need to merge them together (or you will overwrite your existing content!!). in winzip I believe it’s automatic, however with a mac it’s actually not the default. I recommend you use stuffit to extract your .zip files on a mac. if you enter into the preferences and go to destination you can select the merge option there. I found this out the hard way which is why I’m telling you now! after that it’s just a simple matter of dropping the file onto stuffit and telling it to decompress the files in your content library. (you are fine if you just select content – I created a shortcut to make it faster – sometimes it will expand with a different structure, but, if you use the content manager then it won’t matter, it will still work.
to put it all together, and sort it in the content manager I highly recommend this guide I created a quick video to show how I do it but it’s being pretty buggy on me and I’ve got a lot on my plate atm – I’ll see about getting it together soon!
Some of you may be asking, what does this have to do with creating art? I know all about expanding archives and sorting.. well, as I have very recently found out, if you don’t have a well sorted runtime or content library then you spend more time trying to find your content than you do making art- and by the time you do find it, the inspiration is gone… if you have it at your fingertips, like a well organized studio, you have more time for creating art!
Hey Big Spender… Why the Platinum Club at Daz is worth it
so it’s that time of the year again, for me anyway, it’s time for the Platinum Club anniversary at Daz3D. what does that mean? well, for one, it’s when my renewal comes up for grabs. I’ve been a platinum member for almost two years now. not as long as many but when I realized what a huge boon to my work Daz Studio was (and when they released Daz Studio advanced) I decided to take the leap. at first it was monthly, but last year when I got caught up in the October festivities I took out an annual membership and have never looked back!
The PC club rewards you all year around, you get a $5 voucher every month, a special category of $1.99 items (many of which are absolutely brilliant) that are added to every week, special competitions, a 30% discount on Daz originals, extra discounts on new items as they come out and if you are lucky you can become a member of the (shh!) Ninja Squad. the beta testers of the company.
in October however, they pull out all the stops. this year it’s the 8th anniversary, so all club items are discounted to $1.88, we get a 40% discount rather than 30% for this month, 8% back on all purchases and if we renew we get so much free stuff! (if you get an annual membership you get a $30 voucher and up to 80 free items!!!!!)
so why am I doing a sales pitch to you? a lot of people have started reading this blog looking for tips on Daz, finding content and hopefully starting to make 3D art. I will be writing much more on the subject (your emails have not gone unheard!) but lots of people have asked me about finding content and getting the best bang for your bucks. this october is the best way, hands down, to get a collection of 3D items for your runtime for a fraction of the cost.
Next week starts my favorite part as well.. the $1.99 voting! more on that next week…
Nude of the Week – Chair 1 Daz Render
Daz|Studio render
I should say that all of these are working titles, I never know what a title will be until the painting is finished (and sometimes not even then!)
This was another piece I was thrilled with when the final render was complete. everything came together. setting these up is tricky and time consuming, it can be frustrating but so rewarding when the render completes
Link to the original sketch here
Daz|Studio products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Eve
Hair and Hat: Sienna Hair
Lighting: Studiolight Pro
Shoes: Stylish Shoes
Morphs: Morphs++ and NGM for V4
Bustle: from Infamous
Nude of the Week – Peek Daz Render
Daz|Studio render
Back to my burlesque Over the Top renders,
A number of people search this blog for Daz 3D nudes and information so I am going to start listing the products I use in these renders. I apologize to the people who aren’t interested. I can’t wait to start painting these works, after my self imposed maternity leave (which will be coming to an end very soon, I need studio time!) I will do a couple of easy things to get back into the swing then it’s all about these works, they are in my mind and driving me mad!
One unfortunate thing about the volume lighting is that if a figure uses transparencies (a transmap) to create a realistic look (like the strands in hair) the basic mesh shows as blocks. this is where postworking comes in, or the creativity in painting. the good thing about painting it up is that I can make up for the discrepancies in the 3d. it’s the best of both worlds!
Link to the original sketch here
Daz|Studio products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Eve
Hair and Hat: Sienna Hair
Lighting: Studiolight Pro
Shoes: Stylish Shoes
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Nude of the Week – Rhapsody Render 2
Daz Studio Render
What a difference a couple of days make! sometimes you have to go back to the beginning. I also revisited the concept by using a record as a backdrop for my render from the beginning. it was completely different, but somehow just perfect. sometimes inspiration comes like a half remembered dream, and it needs a lot of coaxing to get it just right.
Nude of the Week – Rhapsody render 1
Daz Studio Render
this was my first attempt at trying to realize my sketch. it took hours of posing, lighting and rendering and postwork in Photoshop and I just wasn’t inspired. the pose wasn’t right, she wasn’t seated in the circle, she looked like she was floating, and I just couldn’t get the look on the record to work. so I took it back to square one again and tried a different pose.
Even more free nude models!
free nude models at Daz|3d
Update to my free nude models (and other stuff) post – Daz are now offering all of their base models for free!
go here for all the free models you could want for artistic reference.
for the bundles including morphs, characters, hair, clothes and more check out this link
Personally I am very excited about this because it gives me the opportunity to start looking at a series I am interested in pursuing in protest of the new legislations currently under debate in Australia. that’s right, no sooner do I start one series that another pops into my little pea brain and I get all excited about that one instead! don’t worry, I am still painting my burlesque series.
and no amount of free will be cheap enough for me to clog my runtime with The Girl.
Sketchbook Library OTT – Render three
3D image rendered in Daz Studio
I’m still not nuts about this one, love the hair, love the light, love the slight awkwardness but something seems to be missing… it may not come to me until I paint it and fill in the gaps myself, it’s part of the process really.
Sketchbook Library OTT – Render Two
Digital 3D created in Daz Studio
you have your free nude models… now what?
Consternation reference image
All those zip files that you downloaded in previous weeks are probably languishing away. expand them to your content folder in the main Daz|Studio application folder. you want the runtime folders to merge into your main runtime category so to do everything automatically it’s easiest if you set your expanding program to merge the contents and preserve the folder structure.
It’s time to open up Daz|Studio and take a look around. personally when I get a new piece of software I like to play with it and learn by doing. It’s going to ask you a number of questions about how you want the program to look and what features you want activated. this is all your own choice and it’s very easy to change in the view menu. I use an advanced split screen setting but for now you may want to use one of the basic layouts until you get the hang of things.
When Daz asks if you want it to scan your database say yes. it’s going to take a look and find all of those new files you just added and will add them to the uncategorized section. the darker color and ! means that this is new content that you haven’t used yet. you can drag your new items around and categorize them so that you can find them later. this is all totally up to you, you can categorize by dragging and dropping or by right clicking and selecting categorize… it helps to take the time to do this on a regular basis. I have so much content it takes forever to find them if I don’t stick to my system!
Nude Model Recap
Advance – preliminary reference image
I was going to continue my series on using Daz|Studio as a painters reference, but unfortunately my internet connection has been shaped and is preventing me from doing what I want to cover. so here is a quick list of the first three in the series.
how to get a nude model to do whatever, whenever, for free
free nude models! (and other stuff)
adding realism to your nude models
Next I would like to cover starting Daz and loading your models and textures, posing your models, lighting your models, backdrops and props and finally rendering. this should give you a really good overview of Daz and it’s capabilities. if there is anything you would like to see me add please let me know in the comments.
Adding realism to your nude models
Now that you have the basic models you may have noticed they look a little.. blah. the skin looks plastic and fake, the figures are basic and not very expressive in themselves, you need to inject a little reality. while photorealism isn’t completely necessary for a figure reference, I find it helps to create the best reference possible. here are some basic things you can use to make your model more realistic.
Textures. textures are what bring the models to life. the same basic female model can look thousands of different ways just by adding different textures. the word texture is a bit of a misnomer – it’s the skin or fabric you place over your model so that it looks right. Bump maps are what cause actual texture, the pores in the skin, raised moles and so on. they often come with characters. textures are of no use whatsoever without the models but are incredibly powerful in themselves.
Luna Makeup for Victoria 3 Textures by Aery Soul
Luna Body for Victoria 3 Textures by Aery Soul
Boricua Texture for Victoria 3
Alisha for victoria 4
Characters: characters are the only thing that sometimes need a purchased component. they are a usually bundle of face and body morphs for your model to create a whole new shape. to apply the morphs you need to have the morph packs installed which unfortunately do cost money (keep an eye for them on sale! – I got a vicky 4 bundle with the morphs and characters for $20!) but are not critical. you can apply character packs without morphs to get the texture and bump benefits and makeup that is often included. there may be some slight figure and face alterations but you wont get the same face and body effects. I often work with Victoria 3 characters without the morphs and have no problems at all. My weakness is for characters, I tend to buy quite a few when they are on sale.
free faces for victoria 3 by Aery Soul (no morph packs required)
Verity Character by Tuulia
Sarra for v3
French Girl Maria for v3
Unique Faces for V3 (does not require morphs)
v3 Custom Morphpack (does not require morphs)
Renderosity freebie characters
Shaders. Shaders affect how the light reacts with the model. light hits different surfaces and bounces off them in different ways. Metal reacts differently to skin. different metals reflect and bounce light in different ways. different parts of the skin react in different ways. shaders allow you to make those distinctions instead of treating everything like plastic.
Studio Skin Settings Bundle for a3/a4/v3/v4/h3/m3
Kerwar Skin Shader Presets
Daz Studio Skin
Daz Studio Skin 2 – v4
Poses. in the most basic meaning, pose files position your model. however in Daz, pose files are also used to affect your model in some way. this may be as simple as posing her or it may be a file that automatically adds the texture or makeup or changes the color. a lot rides on pose files and they exist for automating these processes. this is important to know because of the way the content is sorted. you will find most of your files under poses. luckily now you can sort your content out in the most logical way for you
Renderosity Pose Freebies
Aery soul free poses 1
Aery Soul Free Poses 2
you can also download free lights, cameras, backgrounds and more. lights are predetermined lighting settings that can enhance your piece. they use color and intensity and sometimes several different sets of lights to create a certain mood or effect. Lighting is such a big part of what makes Daz the perfect medium for life drawing reference that I will cover it in depth later.
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