NEWBIE BASICS?
always2bthankful_5127851257
Posts: 18
I have several questions that I'm not finding answers for. So if you'd like to pick a question and reply, I've be very grateful.
1. I see LONG lists of tutorials for several programs on MANY topics but I don't see a good long list for DAZ. Did I miss it?
2. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to keep things organized so I don't purchase more than I need or duplicate purchasing. It is helpful to have the NOT image show up when I go to click on a purchase but I like buying bundles and I've ended up with purchase that have been in bundles I've purchased so I end up with duplicates.
3. In interactive tutorial I saw their directory having tabs on the sides of the viewing area. Mine doesn't look like that. Could if just be a different version style or is there a setting for that? I looked and didn't find anything. Maybe I've not purchased things that create that? I don't know and would like to. The easier I have things set to find what I am looking for the better I will be.
4. What programs would I need to make people and animals in 3D, non animated with no backgrounds? At this point that's all I'm wanting to dive into.
Dee
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Comments
The Daz User Guide seems pretty helpful. I found it to be well written and the most efficient source of guidance on using Daz.
There is tons of other information available on YouTube and here on the forum of course, but that is scattershot information on a million different particular topics, so it can be pretty confusing for newbies until one has the systematic grounding delivered by the User Guide.
If you haven't read the User Guide yet you might want to call a temporary halt to all other Daz projects and spend a week going carefully page by page through the User Guide. If you have two monitors open the User Guide on one monitor and Daz on the other. Anyway, that's what I did and it really helped. I'm still confused about a million things, but without the User Guide I wouldn't even be here at all.
Good luck. You're gonna need it.
You Could Start here
It contains, amongst other stuffTutorials, Videos & Tips
Generally bundles should hide their constituents, except when there's a bundle within a bundle (as with the Pro and Starter Bundles for the Daz Name # sets) when the sub bundle will not usually be hidden.
Window>Workspace>Tabs at Top. The DS layout is very configurable, so if people don't use the dfault layout (or where the default layout has changed to accomodate new featrues since the tutorial was made) there will be differences. Pay attention to the name of the pane being used, or the tool being seelcted, rather than relying wholly on its appearance.
DS and content should be all you need, though as you explore you might add others (Hexagon is a free modeller which can be used to make extra props, or to create morphs to reshape existing elements; you probably will want an image editor of some kind, both for adjusting the renders and for adjusting or creating textures).
Thank you for the user guide, jake_f , and the encouragment to read it. I will do this.
Thank you Chohole for the list of tutorial links! This should come in very useful in helping me understand how this all works. I had a conversation lastnight with someone that said they didn't use DAZ because it was too difficult to learn so they went to Poser. I was quite discouraged thinking I've made a big mistake investing in DAZ already. But I'll see where this leads me.
Your comments were quite helpful Richard Haseltine but the parts of bundles I'v purchased don't hide themselves, maybe it's a setting? And I found that I had "Orient Tags Along Top" checked but you got me in the right place to check on things better. What kind of image editor would you suggest? I don't know PhotoShop at all if that is the kind you mean.
While PhotoShop is the one most people think of there are several others, including the free program GIMP (https://www.gimp.org/). To reduce feeling overwhelmed, you may want to just start on learning the basics of Daz Studio rather than jumping into learning too many tools at once. :) Which brings me to one clarification...
Technically, Daz (aka Daz 3D or Daz Productions) is the company. The software you'll be using to render images is Daz Studio. While most people recognize that you're talking about Studio if you say "Daz", it can cause confusion sometimes. You're also more likely to find things you're looking for on a Google search for "Daz Studio" than just "Daz" which may include other topics you don't care about (yet). :)
I'm just the opposite. I've had Poser for almost 20 years and still find the interface to be quirky, and in general I find it very difficult to get the results I want with Poser. I didn't upgrade to Poser 11 (I've got every version from 2 to Poser Pro 2014) due to the fact that I seldom use it now, getting results similar to what I get with Daz Studio (DS) is a real PITA, and IMHO there isn't anything to compare to Genesis 3/8 for Poser (though Genesis and Genesis 2 are usable in Poser, with some limitations). I feel your much better off starting with DS.
I agree with JonnyRay, don't try to do/learn too much in the beginning. I use GIMP (https://www.gimp.org/), it's free, it's a very capable image editor, and does almost everything Photoshop can. For what I need/do, GIMP it's perfect. There are a few things where that having Photoshop would be nice/convenient, but there is really no need to spend the extra money when starting out. Another great free option is Kita (https://krita.org/en/), it's more focused on digital painting, but another great free option.
Thank you for the tips and links JonnyRay. I have Paint Shop Pro and know it pretty well. Maybe I can just stick with that? I think Photo Shop does a better job and has more options but you are correct. I don't want to get too deep too fast and get overwhelmed.
I am glad to hear that you prefer DS DustRider . That is an encouragement. Thank you
Do you mean buying single items, then later on getting them duplicated in a Bundle? For example, like buying a particular outfit that you get duplicated later when you pick up a Pro Bundle that has it included? Not much for it, I'm afraid. When you buy an item that's included in a bundle, there's usually a tag at the bottom of the sale page that says "This product is included in these bundles", or something along those lines. You just kind of have to keep an eye out for it. Maybe check under The Commons for a thread about the DAZ Deals addon. Maybe it/they can help.
As for image editors, my philosophy is that the best one is the one you get for free. ;) GIMP does most everything Photoshop does and costs nothing. Downshot is that the interface isn't as slick and can be a little tougher to use. But, there are tons of tutorials online for it and, as I said, is free, so if you don't like it, no real loss.
A very useful add on for your web browser is https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/106296/announcing-daz-deals-browser-add-on/p1 which helps you find bargain purchases, keeps track of your spending, and provides links to product 'Read Me' files and more from the product pages.
Thank you dragonfly_2004 and LosingSignal for your tips. I'll look into those.
As Losing Signal said, having a look at what is included in the bundle on the bundle's product page is something that I always do, and I tend to click on the thumbnails for each of the included products whenever I'm in doubt - that brings up their product pages, and if I have purchased them already I will see a big red "Purchased" message in the upper right corner.
As a recent new user :
-Install this : http://www.civilizationhunt.com/ds/ ; . It's really helpful to figure out which items are sold at an interesting price. And also greys out items you already own in bundles
- Buy a PC membership. It's worth it.
-Start organizing your assets *immediately* . You'll soon be confused, unable to remember what you have, and to find the files when you'll remember. Following advices here, I recreated a whole folder tree in "Categories" organized in a way that makes sense to me, where I'm copying all my files so that I'll know where exactly I'll find what. Maybe not the best way, but you'll need your assets to be properly organized in one way or another (because they aren't by default). Better to start now than to have to go through everything later.
-Decide whether or not you'll want to use (and buy) older stuff. There are plenty of tempting and neat older assets at very low prices. But they are intended for older figures that aren't as good as recent ones, and they don't work easily with Iray. If you want to render Genesis 1 character using 3Dlight, that's fine. But if you in fact intend to do mostly Iray renders using recent figures, then just ignore the older stuff (except when there's a specific item you need that hasn't any recent equivalent). There's no point in having several complete set of assets for older figures, each working with a different figure and rendering engine. Better to have a single larger collection of assets, all working with the figure and engine you actually use.
-Take advantage of free stuff, here, but also on other websites that offer much more of it.
-Prepare in advance a complete wishlist. Check the catalogue by categories, compare the items offered, and decide what you'll need and want most. Otherwise, you'll end up realizing that you bought an item when there's another functionally identical which is much better, or that you have bought 8 different pairs of similar pants for a character but not a single pair of shoes. Don't concentrate only on figures and items. Consider also utilities and products like shaders, lights, environments, effects,....
-Take advantage of sales. The app I mentioned above will give you an history of the sale price of an item, so you'll know when it's sold at an interesting price. There are large discounts offered all the time, and ideally you shouldn't ever buy anything at full price. Wait until what you want is offered with a big discount. That's another advantage of having a comprehensive wishlist done. You'll know when a sale includes something that you'll really/need want and will be able to ignore what seems nice but isn't your best option.
Basically, ideally, you should be very organized from the very beginning, both with your library content and with your buying strategy.
There are a lot of free tutorials here on DAZ and it is simple to find them.
If you click "show more" on the shop page and then go down to the categories on the right hand side where it says "sort" - change that to "price low to high" - you will see all the free stuff available and those will include a good number of free tutorials. the first thing to focus on is lighting - lighting is often referrred to as 90% of the quality of a render - lighting makes or breaks the quality of your work. best of luck.
Thank you for this great tip Show not Tell Are there one or two that you would recommend over others to give me the most/best bang for the buck? Or one to strive to get? I LOVE getting tips!
Responses are in bold red above.
What is the differences in the regular parts, IRay and dForce? This is another thing that is confusing me.
I VERY MUCH appreciate all your tips and advice odastein