Book Design Community Needs - What We Want to Buy
Going out on a limb a bit, but frrom what I can tell these are the following items I see that are needing from book cover designers (me being one of them). We are rabid buyers, often snatching hundreds per month in DAZ... but even we see some gaps where we need more always. Please note it's ideal to have no trademark likeness if possible:
All Genres - Male Models:
- Male models with fae-like features. Think handsome, typical model types that aren't too ruff, clean shaved, with great skin
- Cloak: A tattered cloak, one that flows nice and has an option hood. Ideal would be fur trim options, and a thick fabric texture (like matted wool) and another that is more silky. There is nothing like this on there, but I would love a "ultimate Dforce Fantasy Cloak" kinda idea that lets you mix and match. Preset shapes AND an option for hair mophs to help with clipping would be amazing too.
- Armor: Detailed, with assorted pieces that can be mixed and matched. Items that can cover the stomach and undershirts that can go below the armor as well. A huge trend is for armor to have pieces and undershirts, but not be overly sexy. Clients are wanting a mix of realism and fantasy, like game of thrones mixed with a bit of fantasy. The Rogue armor comes to mind, though I put a Victorian shirt beneath for a good solution to it!
- Pants: Details. Buckles, arcane symbols, and fabric that has a lot of seen texture. Often they prefer the colors to be dark, think black and oxblood.
- Corsets: Modern corsets, not just old timey. Corsets that meet the hips, and go up high enough to not be too revealing. Think Urban Fantasy, edgy biker vibes. Details like buckles, snaps, fabric textures, etc. are great! Leather types are most popular.
- Boots: Thigh high boots! Ones that come with pants that go inside. OR shorts that go outside.
- Dresses: Silky, sexy, flowing, layers. There is a HUGE demand for dresses and we don't have enough that are needed for Gen 8. Often stock photography has to be used, or fabric overlays with corsets and skirts. Think of gothic types of dresses, and anything you would see for a sleek red carpet.
- Hair: I can't find a long hair that is loose. I mean LONG. Hair that is very natural looking, but can go to the butt, with shaping presets. That would be amazing.
- Makeup: Makeup that behaves like tattoos and does not change the entire skin texture. Dramatic makeup, markings, scars, and anything else that adds a lot of character. Even scars would be epic!!!
- Wing Textures: Textures or new wings that allow for internal light glows, mechanical wing options that are ornate (think filagree) and have morphs for narrow frames.
Those are the most needed off the top of my head, but if I can think of more I'll post another batch if this is helpful. Feel free to ask any questions, as I have a pretty good idea of what indie designers are needing :)
Comments
I am not a book designer, but as someone who usually renders fantasy or sci-fi, this is pretty much my wish list as well. Especially the long silky dresses with flowing layers, the dForce cloak with fur and the super long hair!
Fur, hair, flowing layers... yes, here, too. I would like draping clothing with lots of built-in folds and ripple-y bits, because I don't have much luck with d-Force.
For super long hair, I seem to recall that this one holds up pretty well with Slosh or OOT hair shaders and agressive use of bump and transparency:
https://www.daz3d.com/rhene-hair
I don't have that one (yet!)... I usually fall back onto Misty Veil Hair :-) https://www.daz3d.com/misty-veil-hair
I like that one alot too!
dForce cloaks:
https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-ssc-knight-cloak-for-genesis-3-and-8
https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-high-fantasy-cloaks-for-genesis-8-females
https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-wise-wizard-hd-clothes-for-genesis-8-males (this set contains quite a few great fantasy items too)
Should be noted that with the newest version of Daz Studio, hair can be added and styled to any one of these cloaks.
I am terrified to upgrade, even with the lure of furry things... which will probably crash my computer. Although, I managed to run a dForce sim a few days ago, and lived to tell... :-D
The strand based hair, which is very good at fur, is NOT dForce hair.
They are 2 seperate items that came out at the same time. dForce hair "styles" can only be created by PA's and a tool set only they have access to.
Strand based hair is available to everyone on the new version of studio, it takes a bit to get used to the styling, but in terms of "fur" on a cloak, it would be minimal at best, and probably only take a few minutes to setup, depending on how particular you are.
Edit for P.S. I have upgraded to the latest version after running the beta to test the hair on, my computer, once a graphics powerhorse, can today be considered the bottom end of what is acceptable... my graphics card no longer gets updates for drivers and has to work off the factory backward compatible versions. Full head of Strand Based hair in iRay takes about 40 minutes to render.
Yes, I know - my concern is that both d-Force and strand hair (and iRay, for that matter, which I don't use) require an extra dollop of power, which my computer seems reluctant to provide. Additionally, I just don't like upgrading when it messes with my workflow... even though I want to play with the new hair, I don't want to end up spending my time tearing my own out!
Amen.
When I saw it I jumped on that bandwagon and started messing with it. Huge step in the correct direction. But it just seems like a close out at first, if that makes sense.