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.
Free Nude Models! (and other stuff)
Victoria 3 and included updo hair
The key to using Daz Studio is the content. Daz makes use of created models, much in the same way poser does, but for free. the main models usually cost money, however you can get a surprising array of free content online. so much in fact that you never need to buy any if you don’t want to!
lets break down the type of content first. for ease of use and explanation I am going to deal specifically with the Daz created models and items created for them. there are other options out there which I will link to later but for now it’s best to work with the same thing. I am not going into clothing in this series of tutorials because I don’t really use it. we are looking at using Daz as an artist’s reference and I think clothes get in the way of that!
Models. models are the 3D figures themselves. they can be humans, animals, fantasy creatures, clothing, hair, props but they are the backbone of what you are going to use to create. in their raw state they are white or have a basic texture applied. to add realism, you need to add texture.
Free Hair:
Flexy Hair for Victoria 4 and Renella Hair for Victoria 3
Fit Flexy Hair to Aiko 3
Fit Flexy Hair to Michael 3
Fit Renella Hair to Aiko 3
Fit Renella Hair to Michael 3
Hair fits enable you to use hair you have for one character on another. this really expands the use of your hair
Now you have all the models you need to start posing. you have men and women, different hairstyles and some posing props to create your life drawing virtual studio.
Week two in my series on using Daz 3d as a free artists reference
Update! Daz are now offering all of their base models for free!
go here for all the free models you could want
for the bundles including morphs, characters, hair, clothes and more check out this link
how to get a nude model to do whatever, whenever, for free
you know the situation, it’s 2am and you’ve just been struck with inspiration. but you need to work out the details, you need help to bring your masterpiece into fruition. you need a model.
but where are you going to get one at a moment’s notice at this time of night? and how much is it going to cost? you look glumly at your wallet and decide that the masterpiece must wait.
but what if you can get the perfect model, at any time? one that will pose for as long as you want, will stay there for hours while you change the lighting and fiddle with the angle. what if this perfect model is available to you 24/7 and what if this model was completely free?
Painting and drawing from life is very important. you need to understand the three dimensions of a figure to get it right. photographs are excellent resources but sometimes you need greater control over the angle and posing and sometimes you need to think of the figure in three dimensions rather than two.
Luckily, technology brings us the perfect blend of convenience and control. the ease of photographs with the necessity of the three dimensions and the minute control. 3D modelling has come a long way since it’s inception and it is now easy and fun to create lifelike human images to do your bidding. in fact, all the hard work has been done. models like Victoria and Michael are waiting for your inspiration. Daz Studio is a free 3d modelling program that works with human and animal figures to create beautiful and realistic rendered scenes.
Daz Studio comes with some basic models all ready to go. you can add additional models by paying, waiting until they are free, or finding freebies online. to those models you can add different skin types and makeup (textures), you can add hair and clothing and props to make your characters do anything you want. you can change their figures and faces, and buy add ons to increase your control over the appearance of your models. you can pose them in anatomically correct ways or you can turn of the limits and let your imagination run it’s full course. you can light your creation with many lights in different colors, control the shadows and angles then finally render your piece with all the reference you need to create your masterpiece!
over the next few weeks I will be writing a series of tutorials on using Daz 3d as an artist’s reference tool. I’ll cover how to find free content, how to pose and light models, how to morph and apply textures, what bump maps are and how they add to reality and how to use your images as references.
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