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And after 2 years of ds4 launchtime, where all finally here and know how important information "a manual" is needed to work with the software.
Else why waste all that developing time and develop a program, that only a few knew how to use it
"probably mostly those that build the content here"
or there was some hidden inside information available that 's not shared to the community. (a secret forum) :)
else how can you find all that info? it can't be all try & error... :cheese:
Yes, real complete manuals are very hard needed. (the idea behind the wiki was may be great, but isn't working well for the mass)
- a basic version
- a more advanced version, for those that would create content. (that means dazstudio vs zbrush, else why created GOZ?, content design tips no difference what modeler, better use one that's not dead, is alive and get's updates) else i would said "silo", but that 's to bad another great dead project.
A good example of Trial & Error is something it took me about three weeks to find because the information regarding it was not readily available. I'm talking about a very basic function that all well trained artists know is important to make their work look its best; Lighting and Shadowing. I have been doing art since the 1960s, and figured out the importance of this very early on. Yes the sneak preview is about this feature, but why was that information not readily available from the start? At the very least, there should have been information on how to find the knowledge needed; but alas, the creators of the software did not provide even the basics of the use of this feature, nor did they tell us how to find that knowledge. I actually discovered it purely by accident, on my own, while trying to find something else, simply by clicking the wrong tab at the top of the interface in "Hollywood BLVD"! Because I know how important this feature is, I abandoned my current "at the time" project, and explored the feature, testing and experimenting to see what could be done with it. (Don't worry! I did complete my project with the newly discovered features added!) Before that discovery, I was adding the shadowing in 2D Paint apps, with far less than convincing results.
Now that this manual is to be released in less than a month, it makes me happy to know that future new end users will not have to go though what I did over such an important and basic feature. It is my hope that the more in-depth features, such as the Shader Mixer, the D-Former, and other content creation tools, will be included in subsequent manuals for those of us interested in using those features.
While I have gained better search skills since my early days using computers, it remains that I am still notoriously bad at wording my searches, and I know that others are in the same boat with me on that. So it would be quite helpful to have such information available and easily found. I want all members of the art community of this world to be able to enjoy their experiences in what they do; and to have a program of their choice that provides such enjoyment without the roadblocks caused by not providing user manuals.
I did not ignore Genesis. In fact there is a full chapter completely dedicated to it. I bought products to demonstrate how it works and I have suggested the reader to buy those products.
At the same time my duty is to be fair and to present the facts in way that makes sense to the reader. The fact is that the market for V4 is several times the one for Genesis and that provides more flexibility and many more options. The market generates today many more products for V4 than for any other figure. So, I logically paid attention to V4 and suggested the reader to buy the figure, which is, BTW, sold by DAZ. I don't see how that is a slight toward DAZ in any way.
When writing a book you have an obligation to be fair and to present the facts from the independent point of view. I am not involved in policies and I don't have sponsors. That means that I can be free to look at the market and draw conclusions that are objective. That might upset the fans of a certain product but facts are facts.
I wrote this book over a year of time. I took that long because I did my research and counted how many products were available for one type of figure instead of another. I presented the benefits of Genesis in the most objective way possible. Then I let the reader decide for herself. But, it would be simply dishonest to not talk about alternatives available in the market and to not present the facts in the historical context that generated them.
Hope this helps.
I did not ignore Genesis. In fact there is a full chapter completely dedicated to it. I bought products to demonstrate how it works and I have suggested the reader to buy those products.
At the same time my duty is to be fair and to present the facts in way that makes sense to the reader. The fact is that the market for V4 is several times the one for Genesis and that provides more flexibility and many more options. The market generates today many more products for V4 than for any other figure. So, I logically paid attention to V4 and suggested the reader to buy the figure, which is, BTW, sold by DAZ. I don't see how that is a slight toward DAZ in any way.
When writing a book you have an obligation to be fair and to present the facts from the independent point of view. I am not involved in policies and I don't have sponsors. That means that I can be free to look at the market and draw conclusions that are objective. That might upset the fans of a certain product but facts are facts.
I wrote this book over a year of time. I took that long because I did my research and counted how many products were available for one type of figure instead of another. I presented the benefits of Genesis in the most objective way possible. Then I let the reader decide for herself. But, it would be simply dishonest to not talk about alternatives available in the market and to not present the facts in the historical context that generated them.
Hope this helps.
It is true that more products such as clothing, hair, and accessories are create for V4. Much of this content can be adapted to Genesis, which makes Genesis a more useful figure than if that were not the case.
Now in recent past months we have seen the release of the Genesis 2 Female Starter Essentials. I would hope that you will continue your work, updating subsequent publications to include working with new products such as this one. What I am saying is that it would be nice for at least one publication to cover new items and how to use them once they have been released.
As for V4, indeed she is a great figure; however, the information on her use is readily available even here in the DAZ Forums, and most of us with even a small knowledge of DAZ Studio already understand how to use the figure (not much different than using any other Generation 4 figure). Yes I use her a lot, but that is my point! Since I do use her a lot, I know what to do already.
Greater coverage of the use of new figures would be quite welcome, as it seems that when new figures are released, they come with new features that may not be readily apparent. To be able to use those features, knowledge of them would need to be provided.
Hi Mage.
Updates to the book are not depending on me, they are determined by the publisher. If they will decide to update the book and they will ask me to do it then I will certainly do so. The reason to write this book was to provide a comprehensive text for users of Studio. There are thousands of people who are not familiar with the program and new users are made every day. Those people deserve a comprehensive text that guides them, not just a reference with list of features implemented by the program.
I learned programming in the old days, with reference books, and I know how dreadful that is. A reference text is great for people who have experience and who need to find the information in the quickest way possible. But that is a lousy way of learning.
Today there are scores of Studio users who don't know some of the fundamentals of 3D or how to find their way inside Studio. Some of the information is available scattered around in the Net but that is a hard way of learning. A unified text that *guides* the reader is, in my humble opinion, a better and more fun way of learning. That is why I wrote the The Complete Guide to DAZ Studio 4.
The fact that V4 is well know is not relevant. If someone downloads Studio 4 today, for the first time, that person needs to know what options are in the market. Just because we have done this for so long that we cannot remember how hard it was at the beginning, it doesn't mean that the obstacles are gone. In writing the book I put myself in the shoes of somebody who is trying this for the first time.
There are also a lot of people who found their way through the program empirically. They might know some aspects pretty well but other might not be so well grokked. The book is for them too.
Finally, I wanted to make clear that, just because a new piece of technology is out, the previous generation is not automatically gone. There are many, many products that are great for V4 and we should not think that they are any less today just because Genesis is out. Also, it makes no sense to spend time adapting outfits and other things for Genesis just for the sake of doing it that. If you are using other Genesis features then yes, but otherwise you are better off just using them in the original form.
As I said, I am an independent author with no obligations to any party except to the readers. I bring my own perspective and my own point of view. Everybody is free to disagree and write their own book, if they want.
Cheers.
I haven't finished reading it yet but will post more once I have...thanks again for mentioning the Kindle version.
Cheers
Pen
No problem. I've amended my original post to confirm that the printed version is, indeed, in black and white only, with the color images provided as a link to a pdf file, so I can't imagine why many would want to spend $40+ on that version and still have to read it on a computer anyway.
And as I said, it's not a bad book for what it is, and there IS some good information in there. However, to call it the "Complete Guide to DAZ Studio 4" and to not address basic things like autofit, the shader mixer and LIE is a fundamental failure to deliver on the promise made by the title. Had it been called "Getting Started in 3D With DAZ Studio 4" or "Introduction to DS4 Pro," I would have had lowered expectations.
Hi Pen.
Thank you very much and thank you for the detail review before.
This book is the first text that Pack has created for Studio, this is a new territory for them. As we all know, there is very little out there. I think that "The Complete Guide to DAZ Studio 4" is the second book published about DAZ Studio, although the program has been around since 2006. So, yes, there is a lot of material to cover and we started with this text. If the book will be successful that will send a message to the publisher. Publishers are always looking for more opportunities to create successful titles. Good sales for this book will be an encouragement to release more titles.
I am, of course, available to work on advanced topics. I have used Studio since version 1 and the development of Reality gave me an even deeper understanding of the inner workings of Studio. For example, the conversion of the Studio shaders to the format used by Reality requires a deep understanding of the shader structure of Studio.
The first and second version of Reality used a combination of C++ and DS Script. Scripting is something that I have done for decades now so I would love to write a section of a book about it. If the market will demand it then I don't see why not.
Cheers.
...how about an Advanced Daz Studio for Dummies book? I have the Blender one and it is very helpful.
Maybe I'm just old school however, I prefer PDF or HTML tutorials and manuals over video ones. I just find it more convenient to look up a specific topic when I need it using bookmarks or a table of contents. Very disappointed that so many tutorials (including those here on the Daz help site) have gone the video route.
I find it easier to carry a book or printout around to read while say riding the bus or tram or at the corner cafe than have to lug my seven year old notebook compy all over.
Oh, and as to a tutorial on the Shader mixer:
http://www.daz3d.com/shader-mixer-tutorial-i
...and at a very good price.
I'm ADD and dyslexic so reading is a headache and a half. It takes me 3x longer to read something just cause I have a hard time staying focused, comprehending and retaining the info. Videos have always worked the best for me.
There is nothing in what you have posted here that I could or would disagree with. I only meant what I posted as suggestions. It would have been nice to have your publication back when I first started using DS4. My first version of DAZ Studio was 4.0, and at the time there was no readily available manual for getting into it. I had to grope my way through for some time, until someone at DAZ 3D's Help Desk suggested joining a site called Renderosity, which I'm sure you know fairly well.
As for converting Generation 4 clothing to Genesis, my reasoning behind that is because once it is converted it will fit to almost any normal morph I have for the figure. Also it seems redundant to have to pay for the same clothing for more than one figure when the Autofit Tool is readily available, and make it possible to save money on those items.
I have the Generation 4 Legacy morphs for Genesis that allows me to make a Genesis version of Aiko 4, the Girl 4, Hiro 4, and the Freak 4; and amazingly I can mix these and my other morphs for Genesis in almost limitless variety. With the Autofit Tool I can get most Generation 4 clothing to fit to nearly any of these Genesis shapes. So when I mentioned this ability, my purpose was to show that there are lots of extra possibilities because of it.
I am confused ... I thought the book would include everything about DAZ Studio, but it appears it does not. So is it not honestly the "complete" guide?
...being mildly dyslexic myself I can understand that. However for me, retention of information from a video or film is poor in comparison to what I can glean from a printed/illustrated source. I have to replay a video several times to get what is being discussed whereas often it takes only one maybe two readthroughs of a certain process to comprehend it of course, as long as the information is presented in a good step by step format that is supported with illustrations.
Just text alone in a prose style doesn't do it for me either.
This is why there needs to be both options available, not just one. Unfortunately the trend these days is more towards video over print.
I could be wrong about this, but I think such a guide would be extremely long. A good example of this is the Bryce 7 Artist's Guide, and though it is not complete, in fact it is still a WIP, it has a lot of very good information on the ins and out of the app. Why am I calling it an example? Because even with its more than 1400 pages, it still does not cover everything that can be done with Bryce 7. DAZ Studio is just as complex if not more so, and that means a complete guide would most likely be at least twice the length of the Bryce 7 Artist's Guide.
At best it would probably be better to have several books which cover different features, with references to the other books for the interactive aspects of those features. Perhaps a master book could cement them together and provide basic getting started instructions.
No problem. I've amended my original post to confirm that the printed version is, indeed, in black and white only, with the color images provided as a link to a pdf file, so I can't imagine why many would want to spend $40+ on that version and still have to read it on a computer anyway.
And as I said, it's not a bad book for what it is, and there IS some good information in there. However, to call it the "Complete Guide to DAZ Studio 4" and to not address basic things like autofit, the shader mixer and LIE is a fundamental failure to deliver on the promise made by the title. Had it been called "Getting Started in 3D With DAZ Studio 4" or "Introduction to DS4 Pro," I would have had lowered expectations.
Yikes - I had sure hoped the printed version would be in color. That's a disappointment!
Same here.. I learned everything about Daz just by watching youtube vids..I need to see visually how menu's open and where the mouse is going, as to reading a paragraph explaining the same step:) The rest is what the forums is for. These guides go in depth explaining features, but most of the time don't really show you how they are best executed or show you a specific function that is relative to what you want to achieve. If I ask for a specific function, I get that answer quicker in a thread. I have nothing against these guides and books, but I never needed them to learn something, as there are plenty of other sources for information at your fingertips. To me, your fellow forumites are the best guide. EG Kattie started a thread on creating clones that goes in great depth. I doubt that info is in any book.
Same here.. I learned everything about Daz just by watching youtube vids..I need to see visually how menu's open and where the mouse is going, as to reading a paragraph explaining the same step:) The rest is what the forums is for. These guides go in depth explaining features, but most of the time don't really show you how they are best executed or show you a specific function that is relative to what you want to achieve. If I ask for a specific function, I get that answer quicker in a thread. I have nothing against these guides and books, but I never needed them to learn something, as there are plenty of other sources for information at your fingertips. To me, your fellow forumites are the best guide. EG Kattie started a thread on creating clones that goes in great depth. I doubt that info is in any book.
Yup, me too, that and bugging everyone I knew here to post tutorials with allot of screen shots. I think allot of folks don't understand that being dyslexic is a valid handicap that many of us deal with on a daily basis and it's frustrating not only for students but for teachers that can't get their heads around such issues. I made crap grades in high school but was considered smart but only learned stuff by taking extra time to re read stuff sometimes 3 or 4 times and making little movies in my head to remember information. It was tough when I was in school, they didn't recognize Asperger's or dyslexia at all. Instead we were called out of control, lazy and other things that were simply not true. So when new books are published that I'm interested in I always make sure there is an extra's disk in the back that often contain not only work materials but also vids of the many chapters of the book. If that's there it's gold for me, if not no sale from me!
Yes, or even ones with a follow along Video tutorial that has the source files separate so you can duplictae what is on screen. Practical teaching is better than just reading something. I need pictures and colour, or my brain switches off...
I completely agree. I had a hard time in school but got decent grades but only because I was non stop studying. I had to just keep reading it over and over and over again. If I would've been given an oral test I could've passed it with no problem.
Oh my brain would shut down for oral exams. I was flunked out of public speaking in school. To this day I have some glitch in my brain that just shuts down when I'm asked to ... say give a speech at a friends party or what ever... very embarrassing this brain of mine! lol
I would love to see more in depth books on a range of areas within DS. Particularly one that provides in depth knowledge on Shader Mixer. I very much doubt that one book could ever cover everything in depth for DS. It would not only be huge either as a book or a file but would cost too much for the average user. Breaking it up into smaller chunks makes sense.
Maybe I'm just old school however, I prefer PDF or HTML tutorials and manuals over video ones. I just find it more convenient to look up a specific topic when I need it using bookmarks or a table of contents. Very disappointed that so many tutorials (including those here on the Daz help site) have gone the video route.
I find it easier to carry a book or printout around to read while say riding the bus or tram or at the corner cafe than have to lug my seven year old notebook compy all over.
Oh, and as to a tutorial on the Shader mixer:
http://www.daz3d.com/shader-mixer-tutorial-i
...and at a very good price.zi's tutorial is good but is very basic. I've done a couple myself that are linked to in my thread that are freebies over at ShareCG. What I'm looking for would be much more than that with lots of info on how the bricks can be used and recipes for a range of shader types.
For those who have commented on preferences for videos or PDF file, we all have different learning styles and types of intelligences. Some prefer books/PDFs some prefer videos. Both are valid tools for learning and its important that there are both available. I'm lucky in that I can generally follow both but I do find it easier to use PDFs or books.
I've started a thread about this, because I think it's an interesting and relevant topic for us in 3d. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/30817/
Cool. I responded:)
FANTASTIC! Looking forward to devouring this. Thank you!
Same here.. I learned everything about Daz just by watching youtube vids..I need to see visually how menu's open and where the mouse is going, as to reading a paragraph explaining the same step:) The rest is what the forums is for. These guides go in depth explaining features, but most of the time don't really show you how they are best executed or show you a specific function that is relative to what you want to achieve. If I ask for a specific function, I get that answer quicker in a thread. I have nothing against these guides and books, but I never needed them to learn something, as there are plenty of other sources for information at your fingertips. To me, your fellow forumites are the best guide. EG Kattie started a thread on creating clones that goes in great depth. I doubt that info is in any book.
...true, a lot does relate to one's own thought processes and how one best assimilates data. I find well written and laid out tutorials (like yours, Blondi9999's, Zigraphics' and AoA's) to be much more helpful and convenient than having to buffer and replay a video over repeatedly. I feel there is a need and place for both formats to exist side by side.
I agree that the forums here do help play a major role in the learning process and I frequently search for answers to questions over on the Nuts & Bolts forum.
On the other hand, a written tutorial or manual that does not include any accompanying screenshots and/or illustrations can be difficult to comprehend. There still needs to be some visual reference to help clarify certain key points and steps in complicated processes that could have undesirable results if done incorrectly.
[edit]
...gahh was making dinner while I was writing this (tend to multitask a lot) and in the time it took, some of the points I made were expressed. Basically what I do not want to see is video teaching replacing the written form.
...heading over to the other thread.
Hi Pen.
Thank you very much and thank you for the detail review before.
This book is the first text that Pack has created for Studio, this is a new territory for them. As we all know, there is very little out there. I think that "The Complete Guide to DAZ Studio 4" is the second book published about DAZ Studio, although the program has been around since 2006. So, yes, there is a lot of material to cover and we started with this text. If the book will be successful that will send a message to the publisher. Publishers are always looking for more opportunities to create successful titles. Good sales for this book will be an encouragement to release more titles.
I am, of course, available to work on advanced topics. I have used Studio since version 1 and the development of Reality gave me an even deeper understanding of the inner workings of Studio. For example, the conversion of the Studio shaders to the format used by Reality requires a deep understanding of the shader structure of Studio.
The first and second version of Reality used a combination of C++ and DS Script. Scripting is something that I have done for decades now so I would love to write a section of a book about it. If the market will demand it then I don't see why not.
Cheers.
I would love to have a mini-guide for DAZ scripting, or a book.
...being mildly dyslexic myself I can understand that. However for me, retention of information from a video or film is poor in comparison to what I can glean from a printed/illustrated source. I have to replay a video several times to get what is being discussed whereas often it takes only one maybe two readthroughs of a certain process to comprehend it of course, as long as the information is presented in a good step by step format that is supported with illustrations.
Just text alone in a prose style doesn't do it for me either.
This is why there needs to be both options available, not just one. Unfortunately the trend these days is more towards video over print.
If you don't understand spoken english, videos are a problem some times. Five minutes of a cursor moving over menus and a too quickly voice is frustrating. With pdf is more easy. Pdf plus video, much better.
I would love to have a mini-guide for DAZ scripting, or a book.
Yes, me too.
...well I'm looking forward to Daz's own guide.
I also would like to see more on the advanced techniques like cloning, building/baking shader bricks, using the Morph Loader, baking morphs, using the weight map brush, and CCTs.
If you don't understand spoken english, videos are a problem some times. Five minutes of a cursor moving over menus and a too quickly voice is frustrating. With pdf is more easy. Pdf plus video, much better.
...a very good point as we do have a worldwide community here.
Then there's us old codgers who's hearing is not what it used to be and can miss points as well if the narrator is speaking too fast or in a low muffled voice.