Thoughts about Poser and Daz Studio

A recent topic over at the Daz3D forums sparked me to reminisce about my interactions with Poser and Daz Studio. Like almost all 3D artists in this arena, I started out with Poser and then shifted over to Daz Studio when Poser was floundering (and it looked like the product might die). But for me, the shift was gradual.

I didn't care at all for Daz Studio until version 4 came along. I remember looking at DS2 and asking people, "What's so great about it that I should invest the time to learn it?" And I just kept getting the same answer: "It's free!" I remember that I finally snapped and said, "Look, I'm an adult with a JOB. I can afford to buy Poser. What the heck is in DS that would make it worth my while?" Finally, one guy said, "Nothing. If you have Poser just stick with it. DS2 isn't a mature program."

 And that was true, until Daz Studio 4. That was when it finally had the tools and power to make it worthwhile. And that's when I jumped ship and went over to Daz Studio. Things I really liked:

•  The Download Manager. One click and everything comes down and goes where it's supposed to. 
• Smart wardrobes: Again, click on the figure and the library filters the view to show you stuff that works with that figure. 
• Easier figure manipulation. 
• Iray (Poser's Superfly is a poor, VERY distant runner up to Iray). 

But... As much as I liked DS and the pretty Iray pictures I could make, it wasn't fulfilling my desires to create line art out of 3D. Workarounds like Toon shaders and geoshells were (not to be rude): rubbish. Yes, with a LOT of work you could make something that worked. But the look wasn't all that good. The same is true for using Filter Forge and other image manipulation tricks. Yeah, you could get something that looked okay... but it really wasn't anything that knocked my socks off.

Even in the hands of an expert it usually looks like someone did some Filter magic on a standard render. And then in January 2016 I attended a Webinar hosted by professional comic artist Brian Haberlin and he showed a feature I had never seen before: "The Live Comic Book Preview" (he added the word "Live" to its name).

Brian showed the tricks to setting up lights and adjusting the geometric edge settings, and suddenly I was off and running because I had actually won a free copy of Poser 11 and had it installed on my computer. For about a year I tried to duplicate his workflow (even bought Blacksmith 7 so I could work on my texture maps the way he did in Z-Brush), but soon tired of copying him and developed my own style.

Now I finally have a style and workflow that I like. BUT... even though I'm happy with the art I create, I'm a bit frustrated by exactly one thing that is still missing from Poser: a modern flagship figure that content creators supported. Yeah, that's still a problem.

I see lots of great content out there, but mostly I pass on it because I can't use it in Poser. I know Renderosity has high hopes for La Femme, but I just don't see the market support for her, yet. The new products are tickling out, and frankly they're not that interesting.

Yeah, I know "slut wear" sells, but not to me. I need clothes, characters and POSES. So far, there just isn't enough support for her to make me consider using her for any project. Which is too bad: I think she has potential.

Frankly, unless Poser gets support for the Genesis figures, and soon, I don't see a bright future for the software. Especially since I've hear rumors that Daz Studio is working on creating its own Comic Book Preview.

Welcome to 2020

Happy New Year to all!

Resource: Convert Daz Poses to Poser

One of the biggest drawbacks of using Poser 11 as my primary render tool is that it limits me to using older figures, like Michael 4 and Victoria 4. Now, those are FANTASTIC figures that have literally thousands (if not tens of thousands) of items, characters and hairstyles available. They are probably the most popular figures ever created for this type of work.

But... sometimes you want something new, and many of the Genesis figures offer more features, more control points (making it easier to get better control of expressions and body parts, as well as automatic muscle flexing when the arms or legs bend).

Now, there are ways to use some Genesis figures in Poser, but that only brings the figure over. It doesn't give you access to their poses because those are stored in a different format than are used in Poser.

I'm not going to peek under the hood into the differences between the two formats (some of it's beyond my skill level, anyway), but I was excited to start this new year with an exciting discovery: a batch script to convert a Daz Poses to Poser!

I haven't used it, yet, but I will and report on the results shortly. I just wanted to share it here so others could enjoy it, and so I won't lose the link!

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts7/mcjbatchduftopz2

This is a script that runs in Daz Studio, btw.

Texas Ranger [WIP]

I wish I could say this was a quickie, and in some ways it was, but I did spend a bit of time on this image. I recently purchased this cool Texas Ranger outfit form Daz3D.com, and just couldn't resist playing with it, even though there is no way this will ever make it to print in any of our books.

Texas Ranger - © 2017 Mike Mitchell

The primary reason for that is his knees. The textures on this model just stretch, making the denim pattern look absurdly stretched, and the seams at the bend don't fold correctly. This is one of the faults of confirming clothes. That is to say, 3D models that bend with the figure, but don't include soft-body dynamics simulations (or cloth simulations). These are the computations that actually treat the 3D model like fabric, and make it bend and behave like real fabric.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not disparaging this product, or its creator. That's just the nature of conforming props. They don't bend like real cloth, and that's why I can't actually use it in one of the Western books I illustrate for Hawgleg Publishing.

But, this really has a nice texture set and I wanted to play around with it, so here it is. A bit of fun for a weekend (and hey, I got this on sale!). An updated version of this will definitely appear in some future book or project.

Sketchy Behavior, Part 8

As I said last time, I needed an illustration for the table of contents for the Collectors' Club Newsletter #120. So I decided to use the club's mascot, Captain Epistle (it's an inside joke, folks, that stems from the club's past wherein members would write letters to the magazine, where they would be printed).

Captain Epistle flies into action...
In the magazine, there were boxes of text appearing in front of him with the details
about this issues art, comics and features.

As before,I stayed with Daz Studio because the figure was already set up properly, and I set about changing the pose and cape flourishes. Once I had a basic pose ready, I whipped out three or four renders, including a toon render. This time I checked the pose to make sure it fit with the text elements (which are not shown here), and once I confirmed that I would actually be able to use this one, I composited the various renders in Photoshop so I could adjust the blending modes and run individual layers in Akvis Sketch.

Once I had the base sketch layer, I would adjust it with the Levels tool, or even the threshold adjustment. Anything to make the faint strokes sharp (after all, this was for print, and distinct lines would work better).

Again, this is a nice start, but I don't think it's ready for production use, yet. I am getting there, and the inclusion of the gray toon render layer really helped add some definition to the final image. All in all, not a bad job for a quickie.

Sketchy Behavior, Part 7

I needed an image of this superhero (he's the mascot for the Collectors' Club Newsletter) to use on the table of contents, so I decided to revisit Akvis Sketch. There were two major reasons for this:

1. The character was already set up for use in Daz Studio, and I didn't have time to transfer him to Poser 11.
2. Creating the image in DS meant that i couldn't use the stark, noir render style I've been using on the recent images I've shared with you. 

Genesis base figure with a variety of shaping
morphs applied. Finished in Photoshop and Akvis Sketch.

As before, I decided to keep the original colors, but in this case, they came out so light I actually used a non-processed layer as an overlay to pump up the colors. All in all, this was a relatively successful attempt. I'm not 100% happy with it (I don't think it's ready for production work, yet, which is too bad because I really would like to use this style for an upcoming project). 

But, it was good enough for my needs... except for one thing. The final composition was wrong and it didn't fit the page. So, as you'll see next time, I had to do it again.

First test with Akvis Sketch

As I said last week, I finally took the plunge and invested in Akvis Sketch as a post-processing tool to create images that look like they were hand drawn. I have a project coming up and I think this would be a good look for it.

I paid for the commercial license, which runs $154 -- but I was able to get %15 off by posting links to the software on my blog and then requesting a coupon code. The software publisher responded overnight, and i got the software for $130.90. BTW: The non-commercial license is less expensive, so you can buy it and then upgrade later. It won't save you any money (the upgrade will cost the same as the full commercial license, but you do get the benefit of trying the software out before you pay for the commercial license). And, of course, there is a 10-day trial so you can test drive it before you buy (and make sure it runs on your hardware).

Copyright 2017 Mike Mitchell
Render from Daz Studio, converted to line art with Akvis Sketch

These are my first "serious" tests with the software. As usual, it's a composite of multiple passes. I created multiple layers of the image in Photoshop and then masked out the different parts I wanted to work on. You see, I wanted a darker pass on the dress, lighter on the face (I also turned off cross-hatching on the face) and a different pass on the hands and gun. The background is also on a separate layer -- I just splashed some colors around and then ran Akvis Sketch on it. I wanted bigger strokes, so I actually scaled up the background about 200% so I could get nice, big strokes on it. I also added some touch-ups along the edges and some extra lines (her elbow bend and chin, for example) to give it more definition. All in all, not bad for something I'm just playing with at this moment. I think this could be a useful tool in my production artwork and I'm looking forward to working with it more.

Copyright 2017 Mike Mitchell
Render from Daz Studio, converted to line art with Akvis Sketch
then converted to b&w.

I worked in color and then converted to gray scale so we could see what it would look like in both formats. What do you guys think? Which is your favorite? (NOTE: these are worth clicking on to see at a larger size – you'll get a better look at the line work).

Book Covers: Resizing Images (Pixels vs Inches)

Copied from a post over at the Daz 3D forums.

[Can] anyone else who can answer this question.  I was watching the book cover webinar that _manne_ did and I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea of rendering at 72 ppi inside DS and increasing the resolution to 300 ppi in a 2D program.  Let's say that the final image size I need is 10 inches by 13 inches and I set my render image to those dimensions and render at 72.  Do I understand correctly, then, that PS can increase the resolution to 300 ppi and that will work fine?  Or do I need to render larger at 72 ppi inside DS and then increase the resolution and then scale down the image?  How do you know that you have enough pixels to in an image size to increase the resolution like that?
I'm not sure I'm explaining my confusion exactly.  But, I'd like any info on this that anyone can tell me.

Sorry that this is complicated, but printing terminology doesn't really sync up with the terminology used in 3D. As I would tell my students (and this is a generalization that I know will annoy some people who would rather speak in more precise terms about screen angles and image resolutions), but, simply put: A pixel is a dot and a dot is a pixel. Don't worry so much about pixel-per-inch or dots-per-inch. In very simple terms (and I don't mean to be insulting in any way), but at your technical level you can use those terms interchangeably. If you dive deeper into the topic, you can learn the distinctions later.

Now, here's what you need to concentrate on: Always focus on the final, printed size of your image. If you need an image to be 10 x 13 inches and you plan to print at 300 ppi, multiply those dimensions by 300. This will result in a final-target sized image of 3,000 x 3,900. Now, when you open Photoshop (GiMP, or whatever app you use), you are in for a shock. The image details might tell you that your image will print at 41.667 x 54.167 inches. Yeah. That's humongous. The reason it says that is simple: PNG and JPEG graphics do not automatically store the information needed to print the image. In other words, Daz Studio always outputs 72 dip. You can actually ignore this, if you want. It has no bearing on anything, other than your sanity. So, if you want to add the printed size to your graphic (thus returning it to the realm of the reasonably sized graphics), you may do so by opening the Image > Image Size... menu in Photoshop (I know this is also in GiMP, but don't recall where). You will see the following.

This is where you will change the Document size.

1. Make ABSOLUTELY SURE the "Resample Image" box is NOT CHECKED.
2. Then change the 72 to 300.
3. You will see that the Pixel Dimensions do not change, but that the Document Size does (see image below). 
4. The save your image again (probably as a PSD or TIFF).

And that's it. I cannot stress how important it is NOT to resample the image. You can destroy your work by resampling at this stage (it's okay to do it later, but not here).

Powers Beyond Cover Logo & Type

I'll wrap up my work on Powers Beyond with a look at the cover. I DID NOT DO THE ART for this cover. However, I did do the following:

• Logo design
• Color adjustments of the base image it to enhance/hide certain elements around the text
• Typeset text on back cover (which was hard to find a color that would show up well on such a varied background)

This is worth opening at full size, folks!

You can buy Powers Beyond at Lulu as a print book, or as a PDF. This actually looks like a lot of fun to play (I haven't yet had the opportunity to sit down with James at the game table for this one, but I shall). It's a superheroes game set in a semi-apocalyptic future. There's a detailed world for this game, so you can run many different types of adventures. In other words... it's EPIC!

Powers Beyond - Med Lab

Another illustration from the Powers Beyond RPG by James Shade. This was another equipment-type illustration -- I think it wound up in the back of the book, rather than in the equipment section, though.

This one is a bit of a cheat -- I combined both comic-style coloring and lines with the raytraced shadows form the Iray render engine. This one took a few more render passes than usual because the floor and background were coming out too dark in the original renders. In retrospect, I should have changed the alien to a human or something else. Looking at it now, I think it looks more like a robot than a creature in a suspension tank.

Powers Beyond - Cybertech Illustration

This one was a lot of fun. As with the others, this was created in Daz Studio 4.8 (or was it 4.9? I was using both versions at that time and suddenly I don't recall which computer I did this on). The main problem with this piece was that the bricks needed a lot of work. The Brick in the Wall prop by The Ant Farm is fantastic -- it allows you to animate someone punching through a wall with a lot of options regarding the way the wall bows and flexes.But, although it animates and moves the bricks, it does not deform them. So, you wind up with very smooth bricks... which detracts from the violence of the attack. In other words, it just looks too clean.

So, after it was rendered, I went into Photoshop and distressed each and every brick along the edge, and some of the mortar lines between them, as well. It was a lot of work, but it actually elevated the image from looking too pristine to being pretty good.

The background actually proved to be more problematic -- I was under the gun to get this done, so I just went with a simple film grain and color effect. And, if you look at last week's illustration, you'll see that the hand-drawn smoke lines are present again.

Powers Beyond - Equipment Illustration

This is probably the illustration that I'm most happy with for the Powers Beyond RPG. It's available in both print and PDF from Lulu.com, by the way. It's a pretty good book, so it's worth picking up.

This equipment illustration took a lot of hand work to redraw all the crisp lines. I also tweaked the colors. I suppose I should mention that this -- as was all of the work I did for this book, was created by combining multiple passes from Daz Studio in Photoshop. Weapons and equipment are all 3D assets purchased from Daz3D.com, except for the little power-cell cubes. I created those from primitives in Daz Studio.

As for why I like this one -- I think the simplicity and clean lines just work.

Another little bit of retro-styled fun from the Powers Beyond RPG by Epic Age Media. To be honest, I'm not 100% happy with the art I did for this book. James Shade asked me to do color and retro, but I don't think the retro style I chose meshed well with the rest of the book. I think it would have been better if I had seen some of the other art in the book before doing my own. I don't want to copy the other guy's style, but I would have chosen more muted colors and less-intense shading techniques.

This image was a bit of a transitional piece for me, by the way. I was reading Scott McCloud's ZOT! B&W Collection at the time, and got interested in some of the shading techniques he was using. I seriously doubt you'll see his influence here in my own work, but mentally it's about the hand-drawn lines I started using (and retrofitted into other illustrations) for clouds and smoke. The suggestion was also prompted by a Daz Studio user in the forums; she goes by the name of Scribbling Sandy. This also led to the diagonal shading I started using in images going forward, and that appear in my noir comics work.

Powers Beyond - Epic Age Media

I haven't mentioned the Powers Beyond RPG in a while. I thought some of you would like to know that it's finally published, and includes some cool superhero art by yours truly.  I'll post a few samples in the next few days.

First up, here's a reworking of the cover I created for CCN #107. This time with a non-copyrighted villain, and some really bombastic dialogue.

I was going for a 1970s / 1980s vibe with this piece, what with the bright colors and the exaggerated pose and energy crackles. The most difficult thing about this was the background coloring -- it took ages to get the colors "just right," and even now I'm not 100% happy with it. 

Daz Studio: Noir Shaders

Below is a very interesting video tutorial on how to use shaders to achieve the high-contrast Sin City look used by Frank Miller. For those of you not really into 3D, shaders provide the texturing information that provide information about color, reflectiveness, transparency and stuff like that.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDLx0ER6aP8

This requires the use of the Visual Style Shaders by DraagonStorm and TheNathanParable. I will be experimenting with these shortly.

CCN #114 Christmas Cover

Wow! How has (almost) half the year sped by already? I just recalled that a while back I promised that I'd post the cover I created for the Christmas issue of the Collectors' Club Newsletter.

CCN #114 Cover: The Front & Back View

The cover is a front and back view of a hectic, odd Christmas scene. For those of you into details like this, it was done in Daz Studio 4.8 with Iray. I actually modeled the candles and candle holders that are on the tree (and used instances for the first time to replicate about 20 of them). I did the modeling in Strata 3D ver 7.

The entire scene was so complex that it actually took about 48 hours or rendering to get a decent, high-resolution image. Post work was done in Photoshop.

By the way, a tip of the (Santa) hat to Alan Sissom for giving me the idea to do a front-and-back scene. I sent him a different image, and when I told him it was done in 3D, he asked if I could also show what was behind him. I thought it was a brilliant idea and started the task of updating it for Christmas, and showing what was going on behind the scenes, so to speak.

Poser & Daz Comic Links

A while back, I enjoyed a great online Webinar about using 3D tools to create comics. It was really one of the most informative Webinars I've ever attended.

Another blogger has gone through it and written up 10 tips from the show, and they can be found here: http://www.jurn.org/dazposer/?p=5496 and you can find a link to the Webinar here: http://www.jurn.org/dazposer/?p=5482

A link to the actual presentation can be found here (but it has lousy audio, whereas the live event had good audio): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql9OOKgeCII
I think this is a longer version of the same show, with still-bad audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ub1CKSKN6U
Slightly better audio on the Concrete Park segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ub1CKSKN6U

Here's another link to a tutorial by Brian Haberlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqDY9_dYOVY
And yet another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heSn6iVB__M

Another one on coloring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCNn0dqjDMc

A different tutorial on coloring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yix6u5K9MKg

Finally, some links to training videos for Poser and Daz Studio.
Poser: http://www.jurn.org/dazposer/?page_id=56
Daz Studio: http://www.jurn.org/dazposer/?page_id=204

Whooo Goes There?

It's been a long time since I've done an update. I'm still busy with my "day job," so my fun-time projects have really fallen behind schedule. Still, I've managed to work in a little bit of fun here ant there. This illustration is one thing I managed to get done a week or so ago.

Abandoned. Desolate. Shunned... All fancy ways to say "Feared." A child's mind is blissfully uncluttered by concepts of equity, potential and renovation. A child knows when you should just stay away and leave it to the guardians of the night. Listen to the children, listen to midnight warning of the owl on its perch. Just move on, grown-ups. Just move on.

This was a render of Ken Gilliand's Owls of the World vol. 1 that I purchased at the annual Audubon charity sale over at Hivewire3D.com. The render was created in Daz Studio 4.9 with the Iray render engine. This was a quickie, but it was still a nice showcase for the owl figure.

As you might guess from a previous post, I've got owls on the brain right now. So, as I finally wrap up the Ultra reprint project, I'll be adding some new comics fun to my schedule.

Look for some new and exciting posts to come soon.

Just got some cool news!

I just got a cool recognition for my work. I had been working on a 3D image as a lighting test (there are new lighting techniques required for the new iray render engine for DazStudio) and -- at the last minute -- I decided to enter the monthly contest they sponsor in the user forums.

I did put a bit of work into the image, and I thought it had some cool features in it (nice composition and a bit of whimsy), but there were a few other really kick-ass submissions. Nevertheless, I got my work done just hours before the deadline and entered the final submission for August 2015.

Yesterday I got the cool news that I took the third-place prize!

Not bad for something that started off as a bit of a lark.

The prizes were donated by a merchant name Khory, and I was allowed to select a single item from his catalog. I decided to select this cool set of Leather Shaders for use with the iray renderer  (a shader is a generic set of color and textures that can be applied to existing models -- it's like having the exact same shoe in different colors and finishes).

Where's the picture?

You're probably wondering where the prize-winning illustration is. Alas, I cannot show it to you at this time. You see, after I finished it (but before it won), I sent it over to the editor/president of the Collectors' Club as a possible cover submission. He liked it, so we're going to keep it under wraps until it is actually published, either late this year or early next.

I'll post it then.

For the meantime, I just wanted to share the cool news.

Black Owl and Hooty WIP 2

Here's the second major iRay render I worked on in DazStudio 4.8. I let the computer run for about 42 hours, which let it reach about 25% completion. This included a new mesh light behind the camera to provide stronger illumination and better defined shadows for their necks and faces. It also provides a really nice shine on their boots and gloves, but you need to open the larger image to see them.

Click on this image for a larger view.
Note that the faces are a lot clearer.

I say a larger view because the click-through image is only 1,000 pixels wide. The actual render was a whopping 3,500 pixels wide. I'm working so large for two reasons:

• I'm thinking of using this for print (either the aforementioned Powers Beyond RPG) or possibly for the Collectors' Club Newsletter (a cool group of comics fans: you can find out more about them here: www.collectorsclubnewsletter.com).
• I find it easier to digitally ink larger images in Manga Studio (if I decide to do that -- I might not).

Obviously, this image is too dark (and the red zone is waaaaay too bright, but that's necessary for it to cast the proper red glow throughout the scene), so I will be doing some postwork on it. Also, it took waaaaay too long to render, so I will be revisiting the lighting options I used for this illustration, and work on tweaking them for future projects.