Well, so far so good on my Daz...so thanks to all for any help i may have received. A total reinstall with objects placed in default locations, while cumbersome in organization, seems to have done the trick.

pretty soon i hope to be attempting my first render of my current character for all of you to laugh and poke fun of.


on a side note...

Anyone know where i can get some good skin textures for V3, A3 or M3? preferrably free for now, but i am not above acquiring purchased ones. I have like 1 or 2 for each, but you can never have too many right?

...try here...

Renderosity

I use this site a lot and they have an extensive Free Stuff page as well as really good store & pretty decent prices. The content in the store will mention whether or not it will work with D|S. If you are in doubt on anything, just post your question to the forum. People there are very helpful

You will have to set up an account to download freebies, but doing so is free as well. When you get onto the Free Stuff page there is a pull down menu labelled "Choose an area to browse:" There is a selection for Daz/Studio. For props and background material don't pass up anything done in Poser or Bryce as many of these will work with D|S. Clothing and Hair content done in Poser may be "iffy" because Poser uses Dynamic fitting. Once you've downloaded check the "readmes" first for along with loading instructions, often times they will mention whether it is compatible or not with D|S (usually if it lists Morph Targets you should be okay). If something doesn't work at least you aren't out anything but a little time.

Also check the Bryce freebie page on the D|S forums. There are a lot of nice props and some scenes that should work with D|S

Another freebie source I use is ShareCG

I wish there was a "clothing" section in daz, because clothes can be in any section it seems, well short of hair and hands lol
I'm also apperently blind or stupid. I can't figure out how to add textures to things. or is it just a matter of "if it is in the right format you will see it in there" kind of thing?

...for textures it sometimes is not so much format as having it in the right folder. If you downloaded them from the Renderosity Daz/Studio selection they should work. All mine do.

hmm
so there is no "highlight specific item and option to change the texture"?
i did alot of prim modeling and texture work in SecondLife stuff so I had figured it might be possible to do some of that in D/S too.

I will check those sites out for sure. Thanks.



Doesn't DAZ Studio 2.0 now support the Dynamic fitting, or am i misunderstanding a different feature with a similar name?

Skin tab, choose the skin select tool, and select the area you want to texture. You can also pick the area from the menu on the right side. Changing colors is very easy that way with most textures.

...played a bit with the Skin Tab last night. Pretty cool.

Also decided to push some limits a bit. Worked up a nine year old version of Leela done entirely off of V4.2/Ashley. Fitting the clothing was a challenge as any dress or blouse/shirt (even the Ashley top) is rigged to accommodate boobs and doesn't morph completely flat without distorting badly.

The Mil. Kids/Teens series clothing content won't work as it is M3/V3/SP3 based.

There's a converter that can covert clothes from one figure to another, but it doesn't seem to convert special morphs. EvilInnocence should have that, or a link to it.

I got the program today: it's called CrossDresser2. It's free, but you need to buy a license from Evil Innocence fro each figure you want to convert clothing for. You can convert from any supported figure, however. It does not convert morphs, so you'll have to resort to D-Formers for extreme poses, but you can put skirt handles in things like long coats to get them to pose better.

Here is a quick render I did of my first conversion: Beastmistress for V2 - converted to V4. ==>Voodoo Priestess

...pretty cool.

So first, when you mention license for each model would that be like from SP3 to V4.2, M3 to V 4.2, Mil Kids/Teens to Ashley? Second, does that cover all clothing conversions between a specific pair? Finally, Third, what is the cost per license?

First: You only need a license for the to part (to V4, to M3, which are the two I got.) Second: it reads the .cr2 file of any clothing, it's just more successful with some. You can adjust it and regen the clothing but that take patience. Third: it was $9 and change per license.

...thanks. I'll look into this tonight. Heck, after spending over 20 hrs (unsuccessfully) trying to fit the Kunoichi Kimono to the Short One, what's a couple more hours eh? I also know there is a tool for cross Gender conversion. Love to fit one of the Edwardian suits to Lady Grande and Violet & the M3 Cowboy to the Short One.

is it just me or does Vic4 on the splash screen when daz starts up looks alot like Lena Headey, the woman playing Sara Connor in the Terminator tv series?

Yeah I thought so too.

okay so here is my first actual attempt at a scene

I wasnt done but I need to go to bed .
I was mainly trying to see what I need to learn how todo
heh

...looking good so far. A few more lights, particularly using colour will help but remember to keep the colours subtle for they are more vivid in the final render. There are also a couple of nice light and fire effect freebies on Renderosity that are useful for spell effects.

OK better grab your Cuteness Compensation goggles for here is Leela at nine years old

...warned ya....

The hair is a little darker than I like (have to fix that with the Skin Tab) but the style is perfect.

When I get that extra memory this weekend then I can finally put all these kids into actual scenes.

I usually use a light brown, light gray or light blue Distant Light to give the scene a little color.

Here is my conversion of the Celeste Clothing fro Stephanie Petite ported to V4 ==> Two Guns Are Better Than One

...I like the title. That looks pretty good.

I just DL'd Cross Dresser last night and emailed about payment options for the licenses. Someone on the Daz forums mentioned that he might take Money orders. For now I'll just need the V4 & A4 licenses Didn't see one for Ashley though, her rigging is a bit different than V4's even though she's supposed to be a V4 form. Might have to inquire about that.

Also DL'd Wings3D which is a free object creation tool.

Oh and I have the crate, thanks.

Link to Wings3D?

...at work right now so I unfortunately don't have a link from here.

Here it is Wings3D

Hm... could that be used to convert 3DS models to poser/Daz format?

...Gray, thanks for catching that. Totally under the weather today (and crappy weather to boot, it's late March, in Portland, and it's snowing). I really should have stayed home but we're short handed and there's nobody to cover my position.

yup, I just tried it out and it seems to work fine

Your welcome... I've been home with the flu for the whole week.

Just figured out you can use V3 Tunic textures on the V4 tunic. They were speculating as much on the DAZ forums.

Again, this is fantasy, but here is an example of how the V3 Textures look on the V4 Tunic (and it's an excuse to show off a new model, the temple itself which is part of Renerosity's Tomb Raider knockoff series - High Fantasy Treasure Hunter) ==> The Ruined Temple

Let me know if the sparks are too Highlander. Also used some commercial V3 sword fight partial poses (top half and bottom half seperate so you can make 100's of poses), which seem to work okay on V4 and M3.

Nice.

Here is my SR Troll. I call this "You're a little short this week, huh?"

very cool
ive been playing with the freak trying to figure out which morphs to use for the best trolls

Is that a point of light in front of her hand? If you are looking for a magic effect, there is a great $1.99 add on called Magik Poseable & Conforming FX Figures

For the head morphs I use: HdChin, HdOgre, HdTroll & HornsSide.
The horns come from
Ultimate Horns Pack

heh nailed it in one
yeah I was just messing around seeing what was possible witht hings, not sure what I could do raw and what I needed "things" for
its weird how it doesn't look nearly that bright pre render

on nice to the 1.99, I have to wait until I can become a PM. I'm trying to make sure I can justify the expense to myself
well and wait until the first of the month atleast
heh

..nice fighting pose. I think everything looks good & the sparks work to give more feel for the action. One little technical detail, I do notice several of the plants growing out from the stone. No doubt easily fixable.

Interaction between characters is something I need to start working on.


...wonderful, love the pose and expression. Just make sure your tabs are all paid up when you meet this guy.


...the darker "working" image does take a bit to get used to. At first I found my lighting was too "hot" after rendering and I had to back it down. The scanner beam in the first Leela and Floater Bot pic would have blinded her even though I could barely see it in the working version.

Yeah the PC is a good thing. I went for the full year (you need plastic for the month by month membership), and I can say I am close to making my investment back already and that isn't taking into account "non PC" sales (& sometimes you get discounts on top of the sale as was the case with my purchase of Bryce).

yeah i will have to do a month to month at first. My question is, say you do it for a few months, can you then get the annual renewal rate? Or do you have to wait the whole year first?
I need to look into that.

...not sure on that. Sounds like something to address to the Daz Forums. I'd also check the FAQ page.

They are actually vines hanging down from the ceiling. I guess I need to change the angle of the light so they throw some shadows. The plants outside the window are from somebody's vacation picture.



You can get the annual renewal rate, even as a monthly member. They get their money by charging the monthly people extra for the first month.

...looked at the scene again, Now I see it. Possibly what threw me is that a couple off to the left look like they're rooted in the ground instead of hanging free. Maybe shortening them a little if would help. If you didn't mention about the backdrop outside the window, I wouldn't have known it was a photo. Good job of blending the real with the CG.

Updated my troll picture. "A little short? Is that supposed to be a joke?"

Working on another scene as well with a human and dwarf fighting a troll. That one is taking a little longer...
I will say though, fitting the clothes to the dwarf was an exercise in patience.. Every axis on every joint.. No D-Formers though... unless you want a camera behind them...

hey all found this place. There is some pretty cool stuff, like a window that can be broken out. What figure(s) is everyone using for dwarves?

I started using the freak to build a troll and ended up making an orc instead.
I will post some of him when I do something
man I'm dying for dude clothes
well freak clothes specifically

I'm using the Freak at scale 75% + several morphs.

M3. I changed scales on individual body parts and used some morphs. (I prefer to use M3 for all since I have the most male clothes for that model.)

Here's a little combo scene: Working through who's in charge

I used the M3 Modern Desert Soldier for M3. Picked it up when all the M3 stuff was on sale last month at Daz.

I use M3. Then I make the nose and ears bigger and apply hair and beard. Then I use the Charcter Pack 1 morph to change him to Goblin sized (you can use hobgoblin if you want him even shorter), then I resize the head and neck to 105% (for some reason the Char Pack morph's make the head look small to me). Then I play around with the muscular, torso heavy, and stout morph's until he's a dwarf (the Kobold body morph straight up looks pretty good, but it has big love handles).

Here is a shot of the dwarven Egyptian shaman I'm working on for the Puyallups III campaign. He has an atypically short beard, but you can get the idea. ==> Ramses

I use the Uruk Hai size morph for Orks, as the Char Pack Orc size is shorter than a human. I have not tried a troll yet, but there are Ogre and Troll sized morphs, I'll play around with those.

...well outsdie of an elf or two haven't yet got around to the other metas yet. Am going to try a shot at Markova (female dwarf) using the just the V4 morphs as I don't have any of the specialty Morph/Character packs yet. Thought the "kid Leela" came out pretty well (save for clothing as what I have is all rigged for someone with breasts). Yeah gotta get those licenses for Cross Dresser & a couple of the Mil. Teen and Mil. Kids sets.

...or maybe just break down and get Poser to make my own.

ugg
okay so I made a decent V4 dwarf but i cant get clothes on her
clothes just aren't adjustable enough, atleast that i have been able to do, and its hard to mave anything attached if it is off, especially in the chest area
the translation sliders do nothing

does anyone know of a workaround for this?
Im going to check the daz forums tomorrow when I get the chance but figured Id ask here incase anyone had a quick answer

I had not too many problems fitting stuff on my V4 dwarf, but she's maybe not too diverging.

Use the Scene tab to select each joint of the cloths and adjust the scale. That is what I did for the dwarf and troll to fit the M3 uniform to them. I had to add copy of D-Forms to adjust a few problem areas, but simply using fine scale manipulation was able to fix 95% of it.

In some extreme cases, I've had to use a D-Form, or actually several D-Forms. In other cases, I had to morph each area of the clothing seperately (abdomen, chest, etc.). I've found that turning the Nipples Morph++ to zero helps alot. Most clothing does not allow for this morph, even on Human proportioned models (V4 basic wear does, but there are not too many others). Sometimes putting the clothing on before you do the body morph works. You still get poke through, but not as bad.

Right now I'm trying to fit a female hairstyle inside a helmet without poking through. Not fun. The D-Form ended up pulling the hair down through her chin, and it still pokes through the top of the helmet a bit.

Yeah, fixing hair has been a bitch on a few models. If anyone here comes up with good tips lemme know

...still working on a lot of these issues myself. Finally found the trick with the Ashley clothing (should'a read the readme first, duh...) as you need to magnitize the clothing to the figure before morphing. I too discovered that adding the clothing before using any body morphs tends to work better. I usually leave the clothing "Fit to None" and do the morphs underneath then temporarily delete the part of clothing to make sure I am not morphing things out of proportion (some really funky stuff happens if you go too far that could make for an interesting Trek transporter malfunction scene...eeeeuuuu!). When I'm satisfied with the model's framework I then fit the clothing to the model and, viola! almost perfect.

Am working up a second version of "Leela the Kid" using the above method and she is looking a lot better than the first. Also started playing with the skin tab and texture bumps a bit more with some nice results. Will post the working model to my DA scraps file tonight.

BTW there is an update of 2.0 that fixes a few of the issues people are having. One of them involves the Layered Texture Editor, which I notice tends to crash 2.0 on occasion.