Ds Creative 08

are the true heroesOur winners are in, but whoSUPERHEROES

We get edgy to create somestunning rim lit figures

RIM LIGHTING

The magazine for DAZ Studio usersDS creativeIssue 08 February 2015

HUNGRYLAMUSERIE

TUTORIALS

REGULARS

FEATURES

24 • TidbitsDesign Anvil shares nuggets from the world of DAZ Studio

34 • File StructureTTotte explains the differences between the DAZ and Poser file structure.

50 • Rim Lighting We create very stark images with this simple lighting technique.

56 • HighlightsWWhy a group is a good idea to stop DAZ from highlighting your viewport.

10 • General Gallery All the best artwork from the DAZ community.

38 • Reality GallerySome more amazing artwork this time created with Reality/luxrender.

42 • 42 • Competition WinnersSo who makes the cut in our Superheroes and villians competition.

46 • Competition TimeIt’s time for battle with our new Warrior competition.

06 • VENDOR SPOTLIGHTIn the first of this month's vendor spotlights we talk to our good friend and tutorial contributor Design Anvil.

28 • CHARACTER SPOTLIGHTThisThis months we dispense with the usual artist spotlight and feature a character spotlight and meet Sydney Kara Andrews.

54 • VENDOR SPOTLIGHTIn the second of this month's vendor spotlights we talk to Hinkypunk.

Volume 2 • Issue 8

creativeds

creativeEDITOR

Camilla [email protected]

PRODUCTION DESIGNERPhil Thompson

[email protected]

NEWS EDINEWS EDITORMatt Allgood

[email protected]

PROOF READERSanyel Jackson

[email protected]

TUTORIALS CO-ORDINATORSamir Rouabhi DeleuzeSamir Rouabhi Deleuze

Contents

DS CREATIVE MAGAZINE • February 2015 • 03

Phil Thompson • SENIOR PRODUCTION DESIGNER

So eight months in and the challenges keep on coming, at the outset, I don’t think any of us on the team thought that this was going to be an easy undertaking and it’s not been, every month has proved to be a challenge obviously the biggest of which was getting our initial idea actually off the ground, but with blood, sweat, tears and a smattering of bad language it happened. Each month has presented us with new challenges, ranging from technical changes at the magazine hosts issuu.com to graphic design changes, but we work through our issues hopefully with a smile and keep looking forward. If there has been one big challenge that has proved very hard to beat, then it is the issue of submissions, don’t worry, I’m not gonna start one big challenge that has proved very hard to beat, then it is the issue of submissions, don’t worry, I’m not gonna start banging on about we need more, but instead I want to talk about the confidence, that often people lack when it comes to displaying their artwork, we hear from so many people who feel that their work is not up to the mark, What mark, we aim to showcase artwork regardless of whether you are a novice or a seasoned professional.

What some people need to remember is that we were all beginners at some point; I can remember that my early work was What some people need to remember is that we were all beginners at some point; I can remember that my early work was very poor by comparison to my current works and I know that I still have a long way to go if I compare myself to some of the people I currently admire. But time permitting, I put my artwork out there for others to see, and if someone gives me a positive comment, great, but if the feedback proves to be negative, then I use it to help me to improve, so either way I win.

So the moral of the story is, If you are afraid of submitting take a chance you may just end up being very surprised.

Totte Alm • TECHNICAL EDITOR

It’s fun to look back at what really happened here. In the beginning of last summer, two people, that we all now know as Phil and Camilla, were tossing ideas of a DAZ Magazine on facebook. Now we’re heading for issue number eight, and getting better and better. The tutorials do have something for everyone, we have contests and we get to know the people behind the great content we’re using, and we also get free items. I arranged a virtual office for it, and the people came, in the hundreds, to read and to offer help. Without all those who you don’t see as much, this wouldn’t have been possible. DS Creative is for DS users by DS users, and that is important to remember. It wouldn’t be with all of you who con-possible. DS Creative is for DS users by DS users, and that is important to remember. It wouldn’t be with all of you who con-tribute.

I wanna say thank you to all of you for helping Camilla and Phil to bring this together so we can see yet another great issue of DS Creative Magazine. I’m looking forward to the one year anniversary issue.

DS CreativeIssue EIGHT of

ToWELCOME

STROLLINGKAT LAMPMAN

HOW DID YOU GET INTO 3D MODELLING/TEXTURING & HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IT?While working as a Corporate Graphic Designer I first experienced Bryce 3D as a water-While working as a Corporate Graphic Designer I first experienced Bryce 3D as a water-marked trial version given away free on a 3D Mag, and I was impressed with its capabili-ties. I later went on to purchase a Metacreation's bundle pack containing Poser 4, Bryce 3D and Raydream Studios. I guess this was around '98, and from that point on I was hooked on digital art. I never really considered seriously becoming a vendor till around 2010, when I made some small steps into the market with a few small DAZ Studio products at Renderosity which I had created in my spare time, mainly to fill gaps in my own content library. 2-3 years later I felt ready to approach DAZ 3D and have been own content library. 2-3 years later I felt ready to approach DAZ 3D and have been brokering my creations through them ever since. I still put time aside to create artwork, though most of my time and creativity goes into creating new products.

Design Anvil

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

06 • February 2015 • DS CREATIVE MAGAZINE

WHICH 3 ARE YOUR PERSONAL FAVOURITES OF YOUR OWN PRODUCTS?Justiciar Armored SuitDA Nunchuck Pose Set for Lee 6Black Dragon Clothing Set

WHICHWHICH ARE YOUR 3 PERSONAL FAVOURITE VENDORS?It really is quite difficult to pick just three as so many vendors con-tribute so much in many different areas. These three particularly inspire me:StonemasonStonemasonRawArtmidnight_stories

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM?I find inspiration in a large variety of places; from travel to video games, movies and comic books, also seeing what the other vendors are creating for DAZ Studio helps keeps me motivated.

WHICH PROGRAM(S) DO YOU CREATE YOUR MODELS IN?I use quite a variety of tools, which varies depending on the project I'm working on, but I use quite a variety of tools, which varies depending on the project I'm working on, but the essentials are Blender, Photoshop, Illustrator, and of course DAZ Studio.

WHAT TYPE OF CONTENT DO YOU FIND THE MOST CHALLENGING TO CREATE?I have to say finding new challenges is part of what keeps me going. I really enjoy the problem solving aspect of creating something new and different. As far as what I see as the hardest content to create I think it would be a base figures, intensive rigging and JCM creation can be a real time sinker and attention to detail is a must.

TYPICALLYTYPICALLY HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FROM INITIAL IDEA TO FINISHED MODEL?Well, how long is a bit of string? This can vary quite a bit and sometimes I need to step back and focus on just finalising a project as its always tempting to keep adding more and more. Generally its anywhere from a week to 2 months for a large project.

WHAT ONE PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE STARTING OUT CREATING FOR DAZ STUDIO?Research and experiment, don't be afraid of breaking something. Even if it all goes Research and experiment, don't be afraid of breaking something. Even if it all goes wrong you will still learn from the process. Also try to create what you would want as a product and chances are you won't be the only one who has a need for it.


http://www.daz3d.com/design-anvilVisit Design Anvil at DAZ3D:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/DESIGN-ANVIL/427676333955561Visit Design Anvil on Facebook:

CAN YOU GIVE US A HINT OF WHAT IS TO COME? Some of my current projects are totally new ideas and some are looking to the distant past and re-approaching old ideas with the benefit of experience and new techniques. I have some great new Hierarchical Pose sets and props almost done and a new sky and light set in its early days. My Facebook page is probably the best place to see what's in the works.

IF YOU COULD ADD ONE NEW FEATURE TO DAZ STUDIO, WHAT WOULD IT BE?Dynamic Clothing Room or a Terrain editor similar to Bryce's would be awesome!

WWHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR YOU WHEN CREATING A NEW PRODUCT?Picking which project to start next :)

HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL WHEN YOU SEE PEOPLES ARTWORK MADE WITH YOUR PRODUCTS?I really enjoying seeing my products I really enjoying seeing my products in others artwork, really the product isn't truly alive until someone else uses it to create a piece of art with.


http://4eyes.code66.se/dsc/DSC_DA_SMT.zip

creativeds

creative

IF ANGIE WERE AN ELF

IF ANGIE WERE AN ELFCharlie Mc DonaldUSA

MAJA & THE DRAGONRod KokCanada

DROP ME A KISSDROP ME A KISSBellatryx NoirItaly

Gallery


DROP ME A KISS

MAJA & THE DRAGON


AIKO 3

AIKO 3Astuce ManFrance

REA, A SPANISH VAMPIREMary Karisma

RELAXINGJefferson Ferreira

Gallery

creativeds

creative


REA, A SPANISH VAMPIRE.DS CREATIVE MAGAZINE • February 2015 • 13

creativeds

creative

MORNING COFFEE

MORNING COFFEEEsapesaNew Zealand

JUNKHAUS-THAT'S-DEFINITELYShawn F. Nerenberg

THE THRONEAmaranthAmaranth

Gallery


JUNKHAUS-THAT'S-DEFINITELY

THE THRONE


creativeds

creative

BLACK

BLACKEdwing MuñozNicaragua

YES?Liz Schroeder

RELAXINGJefferson FerreiraJefferson FerreiraBrazil

Gallery


YES?


creativeds

creative

THE QUEEN

THE QUEENTheresa HerlockerUSA

JEWEL BARRINEAUMatt AllgoodAustralia

GLOWING ORB IN COURTYARDGLOWING ORB IN COURTYARDTaiven Janick

Gallery


JEWEL BARRINEAU

GLOWING ORB IN COURTYARD


creativeds

creative

VICTORIA'S SECRET

VICTORIA'S SECRETBowskiUK

THE GUARDJohn Kosiorek

RELAXINGJefferson Ferreira

Gallery


THE GUARD


creativeds

creative

ANGEL MINE

VACATION TIMEMarcius HessBrazil

UNTITLEDElle WalbyUSA

SAVAGE VICTORYSAVAGE VICTORYDon VanAusdollUSA

Gallery


UNTITLED

SAVAGE VICTORYDS CREATIVE MAGAZINE • February 2015 • 23

4. Downsize figures. This works best for background figures. In an empty scene set up your figure including clothing and pose. Now select everything and turn off smoothing and set to base geometry. Save as a scene subset to be later added to your main scene.

ThisThis is just a few of some of the many ways of decreasing the memory usage of your scene. To avoid crashes you will want to keep Ram usage to at most about 75% of capacity.

Find Instances under Create/Node Instance

2. If your viewport controls start to slow down, you can change to a different preview shading style. Smooth Shadaed will be faster.

3.3. Use instances where possible for people and duplicate props, an instance uses substantially less memory by sharing resources from the original.

Ever tried to fill a scene with multiple figures? Its not long until the scene will start to groan with slowed control responses and possibly even program crashes. Here's a few ideas to help you get in as much as possible.

1.1. LOADS of Ram!!! All of those extra characters and texture maps will take up ram space much faster than you think. The easiest though probably the most expensive method is to add more ram to your machine.When managing a large scene its best to keep an eye on how much Ram your using and prioritise whats in your scene based on the available space.


HELL TRAGEDIEASTUCE MAN

If you would like to submit your favourite five just follow the format above, 5 items with links plus your reasons they are must haves, also include a short bio and a piece of your artwork and send it to:

[email protected]

TellUs

Your Five

FAVORITE

Whether a martial artist or a spell caster, your lovely ladies will need something to wear. The easily posed flowing sleeves make it simple to add a sense of movement to your render.

http://www.daz3d.com/eweyai-for-v4EWEYAI-FOR-V405

These five light sets will provide a quick and easy background light for any of your outdoor renders. You'll be ready for anytime, from dawn to dusk, with a single click.

http://www.daz3d.com/speedlights-outdoor-light-set-1SPEEDLIGHTS OUTDOOR LIGHT SET04

For all those who love steampunk. This mad scientists lair is a dream. The detailed textures on the walls will get you plenty of compliments, without pushing your render times through the roof. The details truly are impressive.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/steampunk-timelab/81631STEAM PUNK TIME LAB03

Even now it's hard to find a more detailed hair and skin combination, and the price (free) is impossible to beat. This is a must have, even for those not a fan of the 80's Beauty and the Beast series.

http://www.sharecg.com/v/48588/favorite/21/DAZ-Studio/SOTOs-Vincent-for-The-Freak-4

VINCENT FOR FREAK 402

Heroes are meant to look, well... heroic. This big boy certainly fits the bill! Gen 5 fixed my only complaint with earlier versions of The Freak. His wrists are no longer the size of a man's thigh.

http://www.daz3d.com/freak-5FREAK 501 Don VanAusdoll

Don VanAusdoll has been a cheese maker, a CNA, a game shop owner, a soldier, a janitor, a cashier, and cur-rently builds ammunition. Like many amateurs here, he got in to DAZ through roleplaying games. Basically it was an easy way for him to create character “sketches”. However, Don character “sketches”. However, Don got bit by the DAZ bug, and now spends far more time rendering than roleplaying.It is Don's goal to eventu-ally make a living with his 3D skills.

Five Runtime must havesFAVOURITE FIVE


“I absolutely cannot survive without

clothes from 3DAge.”

ARE THERE ANY PLANS FOR A G2 UPGRADE?Not right now. When I start hitting too many walls of “Ugh, I can't do what I want to do!” I’ll consider an upgrade. So far being V4 has kept me pretty happy.

WHAT ARE THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE?I'mI'm posed and rendered in Daz Studio, then touched up in Photoshop and Pixelmator.

WHAT IS A TYPICAL WORKFLOW WHEN CREATING AND IMAGE?II always start with a set. This gears my mind for something to do in the scene. Then I think, “How I willinteract with the envi-ronment?” After I pose and retexture a few things, its time for some deformers andsmoothing modifying, (gotta fix those pesky “poke throughs”). Thenits off to the render where I usually dotwo; one with global lighting and a second with spots or distant. Once they are finished, I merge them inPho-toshop, layering, and adjusting filters for my desired effect. The last step is correction time. Liquify andclone stamp for crazy joint bending and clothing that just doesn't fit right.

WHEN WERE YOU CREATED?I was created on September 14, 2010.

WHAT WAS USED IN YOUR CREATION?II was put together from a few different sources; Victoria 4 with morphs and textures fromDAZ Elite, i13,Liquid Rust, Kaposer, Pretty3d, Corvas, and a few others with my own personal flavor.

Sydney Kara Andrews

Character SPOTLIGHT


WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE PRODUCTS?II absolutely cannot survive without clothes from 3DAge. The “Morphs for Dollar” amount is outstanding.Hongyu, idler168, and Pretty3d also have a fabulous contemporary collection that can be mixed andmatched and retextured with ease. Par-rotdolphin has awesome DS shaders. There's not much in a scenethat I don't retexture with them. My goto poses are Lunchlady and i13. I always find the perfect base to startwith. TTruform has wonderful sets to play in. 9 times out of 10, you’ll find me lounging or taking selfies in oneof their apartments. And need I say anything about AoA lighting?

WHAT IS YOUR SOURCE OF INSPIRATION?Obviously my peers. The massive talent of artists featured here in DS Creative, and those that are not. Theydo amazing things and drive me to better myself with Daz Studio. Then there's the traditional artist. Withphotographers, I look at how subjects are photographed; the poses, the clothing, the little details that canmake an image. I often look at all these pictures and images and wonder to myself, “How can I render that?”that?”Most of the timemy final comes nowhere close to what I had intended. But that's the fun! Have one idea,and end up some-where completely different!

AND THE FUTURE FOR VIRTUAL SYDNEY?Just go with the flow and see where all this ends up!


Introducing The Country Garden Fountains. They are part of a fundraiser to help PandyGirl (Adria Kuntze) raise funds for more emergency dental surgery.

This pack is for purchase through said fund-raiser. For donating a minimum amount of $5 dollars to https://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/emergency-dental-for-adria/279330

You will recieve this pack.

All you have to do is msg Adria on Facebook https://wwhttps://www.facebook.com/adria.kuntze letting her know you donated and a link will be provided where you can pick either a Poser version or DAZ Studio Version or both.

We are trying to raise at least 7-9k to help her get her teeth taken care of before the gum disease eats away all of the bone in her jaw.

RAISERFUND

I HATE MONDAYSMANIACMAYO

Textures: This is where all texture maps are stored.

Libraries-CharacterLibraries-Character: This is where characters or figures are stored. Characters are those of the type .cr2, character version 2. Poser before 4 (I think) had another much less complete format. Characters have bones which is the technology used by Poser to handle posing, moving of body parts.

LibrariesLibraries- Hair: This is where hair files goes, .hr2 files. Some hairs can also be of .pp2 (as Props) or as (.cr2) charcters but then they are stored in the corresponding directory. Poser is very picky about what goes where.

Libraries-Props: This is where props goes, .pp2 files. Props are static figures but can have morphs.

Libraries-PoseLibraries-Pose: This is where poses, .pz2 files goes. At first this was used only for poses, but clever content developers found that you could create a .pz2 file that set materials instead of changing the pose. Later on Poser added the materials directory, but both Poser and DAZ Studio happily reads .pz2 MAT files, with one exception. Poser will not load a .pz2 file if there is no .cr.cr2 file character in the scene. This has caused lots of problems when content developers uses props with .pz2 MATs, that then won’t load unless Poser has a .cr2 in the scene. This is also one of the reasons so many items that could really be just a prop are a full .cr2, to load MAT files correct.

This is how this looks in DAZ Studio, the Poser Content Directory:

In the early days Poser knew where its data was supposed In the early days Poser knew where its data was supposed to be, and to load for example a texture, all they did was to load the item relative to the current working directory. To load the texture, they just read the .cr2 file, grabbed the path and read the file at for example :Runtime:Textures:Some artist:Some project:texture.jpg. This was just because computers where slow, memory sparse and disk space limited. They did a smart solution. sparse and disk space limited. They did a smart solution. When Poser later was ported to Windows, they kept the format of the files and just handled the differences in code. This can be a problem though, specially for DAZ Studio Mac OS X users, as some badly formed items have references to C:\Runtime\ in the files, which will work on Windows and in Poser as Poser now have a lot of code to handle bad paths, but breaks in DAZ Studio. to handle bad paths, but breaks in DAZ Studio.

Did I just say Poser? Yes, I did, and that’s because everything about DAZ Studio has it’s roots deep into the old, I would say venerable, dirt of the Poser file system. If we want to understand how things are supposed to work in DAZ Studio, we first need to understand how it works for Poser.

ThThe Poser file system root is the Runtime, everything goes from there. If you ever dissected a Poser content file, a .cr2 (character), .pp2 (prop), .hr2 (hair) or a .pz2 (pose) you have probably seen that all paths within those files starts with :Runtime. This is history by it self, as Poser once started on the Mac, and on Mac OS (long before Mac OS X) used HFS (Hierarchal File System). In HFS, the path componentcomponents where separated by : (colon), much like unix today uses / and Windows uses \. A path beginning with a colon, like :Runtime means that it is a relative path from the current working path.

Inside Runtime, there are three main directories, Geometries, Libraries & Textures. There can be others, but these are the three main directories that DAZ Studio uses.

GeometriesGeometries: this is where the meshes go, the .obj-files. A mesh is the definition of the 3D object, and the file format used by Poser is Alias Wavefront .obj, or in later versions .obz, which is a zipped .obj file. DAZ Studio can also now read .obz files.

LibrariesLibraries: this is what the user sees. Here we have several directories, but the most commonly accessed by DAZ Studio users are character, hair, props, poses &materials. As a user you will not see most of the directories here, but lots of content makes their own directories here with special data for custom character morphs. Think of the libraries as a motion picture set; you have actors (character(characters or figures), props, poses and materials. Materials are often not very useful for DAZ Studio users as they often contain shaders for the Poser Material Room, much like DS shaders. Shaders are never compatible between render engines, textures are and the basic shading info like diffuse, bump, displacement.

BY TOTTE ALMOF THE POSER FILE SYSTEM.THE ANATOMY


Other directories are people, props &environments as starters. As DAZ Studio is not very picky where things are stored, besides data, many folders have appeared. Many PAs make their own DAZ Studio folder, which I sometimes think breaks the intended structure. I personally like the structure that comes out of for example people.

ItIt creates a much better overview and easy to work with solution than what Poser has, where all figures are together with clothes, cars and buildings in one place, then we have all textures in one place, for all characters and the props. Yes, you learn your way around it, but the DAZ way of organising content is much better, in my humble opinion. That’s why I so dislike when content creatorscreators breaks this, and create their own directories on the My Library level, or just places things in weird places. I know we have Smart content in DAZ Studio, which do work very good. For the older figures, Generation 1-4 (before Genesis), the base figure and the clothes are still found in the “Poser Runtime structure”, but materials can be found in the DAZ Studio structure under the figure, oror in Pose, which can be confusing. But, this is all just piggy back add ons the Poser file structure. The same goes for props, .pp2, some are in the Poser file structure, with materials there too, other have materials in the DAZ Studio section, and some has .daz files in the DAZ Studio section. But the confusing will be less confusing once you look at it with history glasses on.

In the beginning, DAZ Studio could not read anything non Poser from the Poser side of things, so it had to be for DS only. Later, DS can find the .ds file side by side with the .pz2 file. If you look at things in the content browser, you will see the scroll badge, telling you this is a DAZ Studio script.

ThiThis is how you can see that a material pose has a DAZ Studio script, which means that there is materials setup to work well in DAZ Studio.

Now, how can this help you? Have you even seen the dialog saying “Cannot load ‘Leathertexture.jpg’ Look for it / Skip / Skip all?” We all have seen that, we all have sworn over bad content files. Now, with the information you just got, you can in DAZ Studio by right clicking the object, show it in your file system browser and edit the file in a simple text editor, correct the problem and movmove along happily.

But where does the DAZ Studio come along into this? As DAZ Studio was written (or modified) to use existing content for Poser, they still needed somewhere to store data that was related to DAZ Studio. So they wrapped the runtime with another directory that in the beginning was called content, but later changed to My Library or different incarnations of that.

ThThe most important directory is the data directory. All items that are made for DAZ Studio and not only for Poser do store vital information there. And, when you open an Poser item (.cr2 etc) in DAZ Studio, it will create whats called an auto adaption of that file, which is a DAZ Studio friendly interpretation of the Poser data and store it in data. This caused some serious limitations for DAZ StudiStudio users until DAZ Studio 4.5 came along, and the old DS format, .daz depended on that auto adapted data in such ways that you could not move a .daz file from one computer to another. The .duf format, which has many good features, was a god send as it did not store hard link to auto adapted files, so a .duf file can be moved from one system to another and be opened as long as the contencontent used is installed on the second system. For me personally this was a huge step. I can setup the scene on a machine with a large screen, save it, open it on a machine with a small screen, and render it there. Poor mans render farm.

The data directory is messy, and it contains a huge amount of information, both installed when you install content, and also from when you load a Poser file. The auto adapted files are stored so the next time you open the same Poser content it will be already converted for you.


As a user, there is really no difference, except that if you load a .daz content into your scene, it can’t be opened on another machine. All Poser content are still auto adapted, but the .duf file is smart enough to save a reference to the original file loaded, not to the auto adapted file. .duf content will not give you any headaches though, they just work.

StillStill, you can get corrupted .duf files that refers to textures that aren’t where it looks, which can be a bad installer, a badly packed zip or an installation error. But, you can open .dufs too in a texture editor and correct the paths, or find out where it looks and put the textures in the right position. One of the things that can cause rap problems are when paths contains accented characters. ThesThese are interpreted differently both between Mac OS X and Windows and also between older or newer versions of Windows, and it will go wrong. So if that is the case, remove the accented character from the paths and edit it away in .duf files and Poser Files. It was a long time since I saw that, but I have, specially in freebies.

I think that’s enough information to digest for a month, I really hope you have learned a few things.

> Here you can see that there are no badges, these material poses are for Poser. Sometimes they work, but very often you need to tweak them, but that my friends, is another tutorial.

NoNow we hopefully know how the structure of a content directory, and why things are the way they are. This has nothing to do with making things obscure just because it should be hard to use, as someone suggested in a forum. It’s all about history, and that Poser, a program developed to help artists to paint people without having to hire a nude model for several hours, evolved into something biggebigger. We know now that DAZ Studio came as a competitor to Poser that used Poser content but needed to handle it’s own things, and that lot of the confusion is because content developers really don’t get the whole picture themselves. Many are just 3D artists without any special knowledge in the Poser / DAZ Studio field, so they do as they think is best.

Now, some years ago when DAZ Studio 4 came, and Genesis saw the light of day, both the data directory and the DAZ Studio content directories like people and props got new files. You all know then as I’ve mentioned the earlier, but .dsf files which are the base files, and .duf files now are the main file formats for DAZ Studio.


FALL CARPETBELLATRYX NOIR

EST MORTE

G A LLER Y


MICHAEL RICKS

RICHARD VAN HEERDE


ASHLEY WALLACE

DANIEL WRIGHT


Do you have a masterpiece that you have created using Reality and Luxrender

if so then we would love to display it here, all you have to do is to email your

artwork to us at: [email protected] and mark it Reality

BOWSKI


TOP SECRETCLASSIFIED

Real Name: Kayla CloudsAlias: LightingPowers: fly, lighting, controll of the light to trasform in any form she wants ( shild, sword, armor, etc)BackgroundBackground: She's one of the elite guardians of Archanthia , the city capital of Verbanium, the world a the end of the galaxy. She's born with this powers and tech to use for the save of Verbanium

MUSCLEMAN1stMUSCLEMAN2nd

Superheroes


TOP SECRETCLASSIFIED

Real Name: UnknownAlias: Shroo-MaPowers: Deadly poisons and toic sporesBackground: After a car accident she battled for life and while in hospital she became infected with poisonous fungal spores.. related to her body the spores melted into her DNA and she recovered within minutes.. now she is stronger than ever and likewise deadly..touching her skin or inhaling her breath leave severe toxication or death..touching her skin or inhaling her breath leave severe toxication or death..she looks supersweet and pretty.. but dont be fooled.. her mind never recovered from the contamination and you will hear her loony laughter when she decides to get you

ALMOSTPERFEKT123 TOP SECRET

CLASSIFIED2ndALMOSTPERFEKT123and Villains


TOP SECRET

CLASSIFIEDReal Name: Thaddeus TylerAlias: Mass EffectPowers: Mass Effect has the ability to alter his size and molecular density. Mass can be varied from insubstantial to impenetrable, while his size variance range has yet to be fully explored. He also has limited telekinetic ability, coupled to his mass variance ability.BackgroundBackground: Tyler's abilities manifested at the onset of puberty. Extensive study has thus far uncovered no discernible abnormalities indicating an origin.

3rdTORRYN WOODSRUNNER


A CERTAIN SENSE OF LIBERTYALEX LEDANTE

All competition submissions are to be sent to:[email protected]

All submissions must be new artwork and must not have been dis-played online beforeImages can be either portrait or landscape Deadline is 23:59 UTC on the 22nd of February-15For full prize Information and for full term’s and conditions visit our Facebook group:HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/DAZCREATIVE/

We want to celebrate the way of the warrior, so show us your brave warrior souls, whether they are from the mystic east or from way out west, They can be from ancient times or modern day, it’s completely up to you.

Hwarang Warrior’s Code of Conduct

1. Be loyal to your king. 2. Be obedient to your parents. 3. Be honorable to your friends.4. Never retreat in battle. 5. Make a just kill.

WARRIORTHE WAY OF THE


DECADENCE BLUECAMILLA DRAKENBORG

In the lights parameters, set the shadow type to raytraced. I set the shadow softness to 15-20% and the shadow bias to 0.5.

Now I add the uberenvironment 2 base from the light presets/Omnifreaker/Uberenvironment2 folder.As soon as you add the uberenvironment 2 base, you will get a white backdrop. We will need to turn it off, so in the scene tab expand the uberenvironment 2 and underneath it you will see the environment sphere. Click on the eyeball to turn it off.NoNow select the uberenvironment and go to the parameters tab. In the light section set the intensity to 12-15%, but this amount is really up to you. Change the environment mode to occlusion w/soft shadows and set the shading rate to 2.0.

SCENE SETUPSo firstly I need to set up my posed figure and the camera. Remember, we are focusing on the edge of the character, so with V6 in position and a camera placed this will give me a nice pleasant outline when rendered.

NoNow the lighting. Because I want to keep a little detail I am going to use a spotlight for the rim light and add the Uberenvironment 2 Base. Now the beauty of DAZ Studio is that I can actually look through the spotlight, as we need to move the spotlight into a position almost behind our character so that the light is cast onto the edge of our character and not onto the front, to ensure that the light spread angle allows the light to cover the entire figure. Personally, I tend to make the light slightly higher than the figure.

The other day I was asked, (as I have a professional photographic background) to explain how to set up a rim lit image. While this is quite a simple technique, it can result in some very striking images. A rim light positioned behind the subject and facing toward the camera illuminates the edges of the subject from behind so they glow and are visually separated from the darker background. In portrait photography a rim light is often used to back light the hair.

SSo unlike in a normal lighting rig where we would have a key light, fill light and a rim light, we are going to dispense with the first 2 and just focus on the rim light. Now for my version of rim lighting, I am going to keep a little detail in my image, at least until I get into Photoshop.


If I select all the layers in the layers palette and hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift and press E, this will then create a new layer for me which is a composite of my original layers. You can either leave your masterpiece as is or maybe add another hue/saturation adjustment layer, clicking the colorize option to set the saturation at 20-25, and then play with the hue slider to get some nice color toned looks.

PHOTOSHOPNow its time to open up our image or images in Photoshop. If you rendered the 2 images then copy and paste the spotlight image onto a new layer on top of the uberenvironment image, change the layers blending mode to screen and then adjust its opacity to suit.NowNow we will need to go to black and white. To do this there are many ways, but I add a hue/saturation adjustment layer and set the saturation slider to -100. We need to make it a little more punchy so its time for another adjustment layer but this time we will use a levels adjustment layer. When I move the white point slider to the left so the value is about 125, this gives me nice bright whites. Now I need to move the midpoint slider and as I move it to the right you will notice the mid tones getting darker; I move minemine to about 0.44, and this gives me the nicely contrasted image I want.

BACKGROUND Before we can render we need a perfect black background. In DAZ Studio 4.7 we go to the environment pane and change the active type from none to background, and in the parameters that appear below set the background color to black.

RENDERINGNoNow, if you are happy that the intensity of the uberenvironment is fine then just click render and let DAZ do its stuff, but if you want to be able to experiment a bit, turn off the uberenvironment by clicking its eyeball and renderjust the spotlight. Once you have saved that one turn off the spotlight and turn on the uberenvironment, then render and save that image but with a different name.


HOW DID YOU GET INTO 3D MODELLING/TEXTURING & HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IT?That's actually a tough question! Technically the first time I used Poser was years and That's actually a tough question! Technically the first time I used Poser was years and years ago, but I was still in high school and this is definitely a tough hobby to hold if you don't have a job! Somehow I managed to get my uncle into it and he'd rope me in every couple years with "I bought you some stuff for Poser, come make some art". In early 2013, my uncle had called me up and said "I accidently bought two copies of Poser. Do you want the other one or should I return it?". At that point I was officially back. By November of that year I had moved on to being a vendor, and now, here I am!

Hinkypunk

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT


WHAT ONE PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE STARTING OUT CREATING FOR DAZ STUDIO?Tutorials are your friend, and no matter how much you know, there's always something more to learn. Never stop learning.

WHICHWHICH 3 ARE YOUR PERSONAL FAVOURITES OF YOUR OWN PRODUCTS?Interactive Backgrounds Volume 1 was my first ground breaking achievement so that one definitely has a special place in my heart. I'd have to say my Spect-Occulars are on the list, and the Wonder Domes.

WHICHWHICH ARE YOUR 3 PERSONAL FAVOURITE VENDORS?I have tons and tons of favorite vendors, but I have tons and tons of favorite vendors, but if I have to pick three, I'm going to go with Fabiana, because I really look up to her and she's always blowing my mind. Stonemason, because he's Stonemason and everything he makes is a work of art just by itself, and Sixus1, because he's totally awesome and really ventures outside of that comfort zone really ventures outside of that comfort zone and makes things you've absolutely never seen before.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM?Oh, everywhere! Movies, books, Harry Potter, games, music, personal experience, Harry Oh, everywhere! Movies, books, Harry Potter, games, music, personal experience, Harry Potter, emotions, oh and Harry Potter. I would have to say that song lyrics are probably my primary source though. A lot of my early artwork especially was drawing out song lyrics. There is a song called "What it is to Burn" by Finch and I probably created an image for every part of it. Recently I stumbled across "Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly," which is part of "Counting Stars" by the group One Republic. As I progress as a vendor, you will probably see a lot of Harry Potter type of stuff coming out of me. Harry Potter has been a really large part of my life over the past decade and now that Harry Potter has been a really large part of my life over the past decade and now that I'm at the point where I can do props and things, I imagine my love for the wizarding world is really going to show itself.

WHICH PROGRAM(S) DO YOU CREATE YOUR MODELS IN?Depends on what I'm making. I haven't been a vendor for very long, but when I first Depends on what I'm making. I haven't been a vendor for very long, but when I first started I mostly worked out of Photoshop. As I've progressed into character creation, I'm using sculptris and Poser (I should really get Zbrush someday), and now as I move on to prop creation, I'm using Hexagon and Daz Studio.

TYPICALLY HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FROM INITIAL IDEA TO FINISHED MODEL?That is totally up to my muse! I have a regular 9 to 5er that sometimes tends to be a 9 to That is totally up to my muse! I have a regular 9 to 5er that sometimes tends to be a 9 to 9er so there are days where I might only get an hour to work on something. When THAT happens, I go with whatever my muse feels like working on. If my muse is really on a roll, I can go start to finish in an afternoon. If my muse isn't on a roll it could take months. Just ask Interactive Backgrounds Volume 5 :).


PRESENTSHINKYPUNK

http://4eyes.code66.se/dsc/DSC_Hinkypunk.zipEaring & ear cuff collection

Now, as we go along adding content to our scene, once we have added an item and position it as we would like, we can then drag and drop it into our locked group, meaning that Daz won't keep highlighting items we have finished working with.

So how can we stop it? All we need to do is to make the set non-selectable.We can do this straight in the scene tab by deselecting the selectable icon, or we can go to the objects parameters and in the display section switching selectable to "off". But let's try using a group first.IfIf we select our set and then go to create new group, I name my group "Locked Group". Now if we make our group non-selectable,then our group won't automatically be highlighted.

Possibly one of the most distracting things in DAZ Studio is when you have loaded a large set and the moment you move your mouse into the viewport the whole viewport turns orange, as DAZ highlights the setWhile this is a useful feature, it can also be very distract-ing, so here is a quick and easy answer that was provided by my good friend, Totte Alm.

Putting a stop to the orange viewport

DAZ HIGHLIGHTS


PREPAREDMITHORON

EVERY MONTH DS CREATIVE NEED A SMALL LEGION OF PEOPLE TO HELP MAKE IT HAPPEN, SO TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO HELPED TO MAKE ISSUE 8, A VERY BIG THANK YOU.

THE DS CREATIVE TEAM

CONTRIBUTORS


THE TEAM

Camilla DrakenborgPhil ThompsonMatt AllgoodTotte AlmSanyel JacksonBobbie Brundon JeffreyBobbie Brundon JeffreySamir Rouabhi DeleuzeGavin Wynford Jones

IMAGE CONTRIBUTORS

Alex LedanteAmanaranthAshley WallaceAstuce ManBellatryx NoirBowskiBowskiCamilla DrakenborgCharlie McDonaldDaniel WrightDon VanAusdollEdwing MunozElle WalbyEsaPesaEsaPesaEst MorteJohn KosiorekLaMuserieLiz SchroederManiacmayoMarcius HessMary KarismaMary KarismaMatt AllgoodMichael RicksMithoronPhil ThompsonRichard Van HeerdeRod KokShawn F NerenbergShawn F NerenbergSydney Kara AndrewsTavien JanickTheresa Herlocker

FREE GIFT CONTRIBUTORS

Design AnvilHinkypunk

TUTORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

Design AnvilPhil ThompsonTotte Alm


Issue 9 March 1st 2015

Ds Creative 08

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Transcript of Ds Creative 08