What is Daz generally used for?
I'm an illustrator, and I use this software to pose a figure to use as reference, but I am curious about what other people generally use it for.
I'm also wondering if there is a better software to use for my purposes of getting reference when I can't find or create photographs myself. Like say I want to draw this gun (https://prnt.sc/sgnxp5) in a difficult perspective, it would be useful to be able to build it, and then render that scene in the perspective I intend to illustrate. Is there an efficient way of building this in Daz? I am inclined to think that other software such as Blender or Maya would be more apt to do this.
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Daz 3d content from the store can be used in Daz Studio, or maybe Daz Bryce, Daz Carrara, or Daz Hexagon? Some users do actually use Daz content in non Daz programs as well.
There are certainly other artists and illustrators that have stated on the forums that they use DAZ Studio to create reference images for their work, particularly for human references.. However, in reading your post, you seem to be interested in creating reference images for specific objects. While DAZ Studio could certainly do that, it would require that you have the 3D models of the desired objects in a format compatible with Studio. Studio itself is not designed to create such content, but merely use it to create rendered images. For creation, if compatible models are not available ready-made from the store or elsewhere, you are correct in saying that a modelling program such as Blender, or many others, would be required.
DAZ is more the assembly of finished models and figures, the place you put it all together. So you can use the gun, but you need to either build it or find it somewhere.
to build it you could use hexagon or blender , both are free.
you could also try and find something you like in the daz store, or some other 3d model vendor, and import it in DAZ studio.
Some illustrators use the figure in a scene and render it in greyscale. Props, small or large, that can't be found in the store, can be blocked out with primitives. You can use this primarily to figure out the perspective and lighting and then you paint over the render with your palette and changing shapes, etc. as needed to complete your painted scene. You can add as much detail as you want, or use minimal detaiil with the intention of filling those in with your paint-over. One thing that you can do, for instance, is build up a character in Studio with morphs you purchase or make to make your unique one, and now you can change perspective or lighting or expression and have ready reference for your painting.
Do you have any examples / tutorials by artists who work this way? Love to learn more about this.
I don't have any formal turorials but I can give you an example of my workflow. I use DS to set up scenes that I draw in other programs for my graphic novels. It started many moons ago when I discovered Poser 2. I stink at perspective drawing so I thought it would be a good way to help. The rest is history as they say. Along the way I taught myself some 3D modeling and evolved from using Poser to DS when Genesis came out.
I use a combination of items I purchased ( mostly at DAZ but I do shop other vendors) and those I made using a combination of SketchUp Pro and Cinema4D ( R17- I can't afford to upgrade anymore). The models I build are constructed with just enough detail to give me a good base reference because I'm not a super talented 3D model maker. The rest I do myself in my 2D aps. I don't use fancy textures instead I color my props and figures with bland colors to allow me to see what I'm drawing. When I have my scene set up, I use the windows snipping tool and grab a screenshot ( no rendering required). That JPEG goes into Photoshop for final sizing before getting put into my base template in Illustrator. Perspective grids are set up using Illustrator's awesome ( IMO) perspective functions. Line work is completed in Illustrator and then the file is exported into Photshop for painting and shading.
Before I went all digital, I would use that final screengrab as a reference for traditonal 2D inking/painting. I would use charcoal to blacken the back of the printed image and then tape it to my media and transfer the outlines by tracing. Then I'd use rapidiographs to do the black line art and shading before using colored inks to finish the coloring.
I've attached a screen grab of a scene I'm working on now. The figures are base Genesis 8 with the basic body morph package to help as an anatomy reference. The pose comes from a package I bought at DAZ which I altered a bit to fit my needs better. I made most of the models myself, except for the fridge. That is a DAZ product. Oh, and the handbag came from an outside 3D vendor.
I initially got into DAZ for illustration references too. Don't draw as often as I'd like anymore, but I used DAZ figures (Genesis 1, mostly), dressed them up in similar clothes and then made them hold items or interact within a scene.
The references I made were not exactly what I wanted to draw. (From your example, I'd find a similar sized gun from my products.) Then I'd draw the exact details when drawing from the reference. These reference renders weren't usually nice presentable renders, like you see in the DAZ Galleries or other nice artwork showcased in threads. But I've also used better renders for shading and lighting reference too.
I think using DAZ Studio is easier because I don't have to really rig anything. (If I have to, I'd even import random .OBJ props and parent them to my character.) And I found most other 3D apps too confusing to use and navigate.
I use it to make comics, book covers and illustrations, and some wallpapers/pictures.
Daz is for laundry.
As someone who sells content for it, I'm always on the lookout for Daz figures. I've seen my M4 clothing of old used in Zombie photo booths at carnivals, and I've seen Vicky 4's and 5's on carnival ride wrappers. I've seen a lot of "morph from fat to thin" animations using Genesis 3 and 8 in infomercials. And of course I've seen this:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6710826/
Which I watched, because it's free with Amazon Prime. It's a low-budget B movie about a Running Man type scenario but in a VR environment with dinosaurs. It uses a lot of Daz3d assets, especially from Herschel Hoffmeyer, but there are some others in there as well (look out for the drone and the Black Widow with the garden spider retexture).
There are a surprising number of movies from the Asylum and others of similar ilk that use Daz3d creatures and robots. Having something I made in one is one of my lifelong dreams, because, not kidding, I love movies like this and I watch a lot of them (just saw Five Headed Shark Attack recently, for instance).
You can get lost in a rabbit hole on youtube wiht folks using Daz for reference and such. Black Sun comics, Shannon Maer(sp?), off the top of my head offered tutorials on using Daz as reference. There are many options to explore either for reference, or final art.
I only recently found Daz a couple of months ago. I'm not an artist but am very technically inclined. I had found a sci fi bedroom image (just from google) that I was using as a webcam background during the recent working from home. I used OBS Studio to create a virtual webcam and that gave me more options for basic editing and overlaying graphics, using green screen techniques to the scene and adding pre-rendered animation. That rabbit hole led me to finding the original artist of the sci fi scene (Stonemason) and the 3D models on Daz3d, and now I've built the internals of a crude starship that I have new webcam scenes for, I'm rendering walkthroughs of, and rendering story like scenes to display outside the windows such as space ship flybys and space station landings. Geeky as all hell but I've found something new to do.
These are great suggestions!