DS CREATIVE
ISSUE 14 AUGUST 2015
The magazine for DAZ Studio users
New Surfaces
We create new surfaces to create a better light
Competition Winners Just who came out on top of the beach
DS CREATIVE • August 2015 •
LITTLE GIRL BLUE Eden Clark
• August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
CONTENTS
Issue 14
FEATURES 16 • Vendor Spotlight In our first spotlight this month we talk to Wolfie
EDITOR Camilla Drakenborg camilla.dscreative.mag@gmail.com
32 • Artist Spotlight Our cover artist this month is Mark Frost who really has a way of making his images pop
PRODUCTION DESIGNER Phil Thompson phil.dscreative.mag@gmail.com
44 • Vendor Spotlight The second vendor to bare all so to speak is none other than Spiritfoxy
TECHNICAL EDITOR Totte Alm totte.dscreative.mag@gmail.com NEWS EDITOR Matt Allgood matt.dscreative.mag@gmail.com
REGULARS 06 • DAZ Gallery We once demonstrate that if you want great artwork then look no further than our DAZ gallery
PROOF READER Sanyel Jackson sanyel.dscreative.mag@gmail.com TUTORIALS CO-ORDINATOR Samir Rouabhi Deleuze
28 • Competition Winners We said Lifes a beach and you gave us a hard time choosing 38 • Competition Time Ancient mythology comes up as a theme for our next competition 43 • Fave Five Those five items you just can’t live without, Scott Beemer picks
TUTORIALS 21 • Making Holes We have a mesh now lets make a hole in it, we can make holes 36 • Geometry Editor Totte looks at how with the geometry editor tool we can make new surfaces 40 • Character UV’s What is a characters UV set and can we change it Estroyer shows us how. 48 • Raytrace for less Raytracing usually needs lots of geometry, Charlie McDonald shows us a clever hack
All images are copyright of their respective owner, no images may be reproduced without express permission of either the original artist or DS Creative magazine DS CREATIVE • August 2015 •
WELCOME TO
ISSUE FOURTEEN OF
DS Creative
Over time things change, some for the better, some for the worse. These last few months have brought us a number of new changes with DAZ Studio 4.8, Iray rendering and Genesis 3 to name a few. Looking forward we are awaiting Reality 4.1, which should bring us significant speed increases in rendering performance, so change is all around us. Ds Creative is no different and we have to change and evolve as time moves on. This issue is the first issue to be created with InDesign, rather than with Photoshop, which was a very long winded and difficult process. While they both output to a pdf file, the one outputted from Photoshop seemed to load slower. Also, although they were minor, there have been in several issues little typographical glitches that now, thankfully have been vanquished. So over the coming months hopefully I will be implementing more design changes, nothing major, just tweaks here and there. As we get older and the number of Issues of DS Creative grows it gets harder and harder to remember just what issue a specific tutorial or Quick tip was featured in, so in an attempt to help us all out, I have created an aide-memoire (An aid to the memory) in the form of a 2 page pdf file that lists all the tutorials and Quick Tips from all 14 issues. You can download it at the link below:
http://4eyes.code66.se/dsc/Tutorial_Card_V1.pdf Possibly the biggest fear any newcomer to the world of digital arts can have is the fear of being compared to your peers. The thought of seeing your attempts side by side with those of someone you look up to, it closely relates to a form of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), which in cases can result in us not showcasing our work. The good news, is that all artists were beginners once, and that we have all made mistakes, but the other day I received the following text as a bit of encouragement to all the newbies out there.
Philip Thompson • Production Designer Hi all I’m Fantail451 and I consider myself a newbie. I started off with Daz when I purchased a copy of a Photoshop Magazine a while back, and I have been experimenting ever since, despite getting some encouraging feedback from people that know me I still had my doubts. I still don’t have a lot of experience compared to some of the wonderful people that share their fantastic art in this wonderful magazine. Back in issue 5 I saw the competition for “The Rhythm of the Dance” and decided that I would send something in. I also sent in a pic for the magazines gallery. I thought well I know they’re not anywhere near the standard that the others are sending in, but what have I got to lose? I found out that I didn’t have anything to lose, but everything to gain. I had both pictures published and it was the greatest feeling I have ever had (oh and I am over 50 by the way). I haven’t looked back since. I have contributed to every magazine since then and I think I am constantly improving because my skills are being pushed each time… Well I won’t keep this too long as there is far more art out there to be published and seen. I sat on mine long enough and thought they weren’t worth it now it’s time for me to see everybody else’s. • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
YESTERDAYS GIRL Camilla Drakenborg
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GALLERY
QUEEN 2
Mary VanAssche USA
THE KISS Bellatryx Italy
BOOTLEGGERS Shawn Nerenberg Canada
QUEEN 2
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THE KISS
BOOTLEGGERS DS CREATIVE • August 2015 •
GALLERY
WATCH YOUR STEP Gran22
ARNIA
Kismet2012
TUNNEL
Astuce Man France
WATCH YOUR STEP
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ARNIA
DS CREATIVE • August 2015 •
GALLERY
STORM
Daniel Wright UK
KICKASS
Sandra Bauser USA
DISTURBED Fantail451 New Zealand
STORM
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KICKASS
Disturbed DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 11
GALLERY
BECAUSE SHE WAS A SAMURAI R.P. Callahan USA
TURISMO Mithoron USA
BECAUSE SHE WAS A SAMURAI
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GALLERY
FAMILY FOR LUNA Leo Lee Brazil
AFTERMATH Seliah
BLACK CAT Bowski UK
FAMILY FOR LUNA
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Aftermath
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VENDOR SPOTLIGHT
Wolfie
How did you get into 3D texturing and how long have you been executing it? Oh geez, it’s a long boring story actually. I bought my first computer on my honeymoon, and started in graphics and web design in 1996. My brother in law brought me his copy of Poser 4 because he thought I might enjoy it. I HATED that program. Only thing I could ever render was totally naked figures since; their clothing and hair never stayed “in place”. It wasn’t until Poser 5, and some helpful tips (Conform to) that I actually got into Poser. As for, the 3D side of things, I’ve only been modeling for about two, two and a half years now. I was taught the basics from a friend, and have slowly been snowballing ever since. I try to force myself to try different techniques, and methods, even though it’s hard to break out of the comfort zone. But, you can only get better by stepping further. I am far from the most talented artists out there, but I enjoy creating and seeing my work being used.
From where, would you say, you draw your inspiration from? I’m sure everyone uses this answer, but really, inspiration comes from everywhere; movies, games, taking a drive, dreams, watching other people... etc. Sometimes, even, ideas can just pop into your mind and you sort of go with the flow. 16 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
Which program(s) do you create your textures in?
Typically how long does it take to go from the initial idea to finished model?
All my textures are created in Paint Shop Pro X2. I’ve been using PSP since PSP4, and even have the most recent versions. But PSPX2, in my opinion is the most stable, and the most user friendly version since Corel bought out Jasc.
That would depend on a couple of things. First, what is it I am creating? Secondly, what mood am I in when I start, while I work, and finish a product?
For my 3D models, I use Cinema4D. I have debated trying other programs but it’s hard to break away from what you know.
“And then there are times when you are so blown away because the vision someone else had never even crossed your mind”
But generally, creating a hair model, for example if I’m up for it, I can create the model in a day or two. Then do all the textures and fits, and morphs, and Daz Studio versions in another day or two. It usually takes me about a week to do a hair model, if I am really up to it. Sometimes though, I’ll start something and something else will inspire me, and I put the hair aside to work on the new idea. I have sketch books and note pads around me at all times though, because sometimes I am so engulfed in an idea, that even when a fresh idea comes along I am not willing to put my current project aside. So I draw it in my notebooks, or sketch pads.
What is your favorite subject to model? Oh boy, I don’t think I have a favorite. I love doing hair, but I also love doing jewelry and scene props. It’s all very enjoyable.
What one piece of advice, would you give to a beginner or someone starting out creating for Daz Studio? Don’t ever be afraid to approach someone for tips, advice or even help. I have been lucky enough, to have received some help along the way, such as; things that I overlooked that fresh eyes or mind could see. I don’t like to be a burden to people when I get stuck, but most of the time other creative types are always happy to help. I know I am.
Which 3 would you say are your personal favorites of your own products? Oh wow, that is just not fair. That is a seriously tough question, LOL, I’ll try and answer it, but I have a lot of favorites. 1) Blackbird. Was one of those random ideas that popped into my head, and I went with it. I had no idea how well it was actually going to work out, but that aside, I still smile when I see it. http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/blackbird/104801
2) The Dressing Room. This actually started out as a 6 piece “privacy screen” set only. I had asked one of my very good friends (Sveva) if she’d like to look at it and maybe do some textures for it. She suggested I make a “back wall” to accent the screens and well, it snow balled into the huge prop set that it is now. Sveva did the textures, which makes it even more amazing. http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/the-dressing-room/104984
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3) Dream Clean. FUN in a nutshell! Another good friend of mine, Lunchlady, approached me with an idea of a 50’s pin up cleaning set, with character poses. Of course I jumped all over it. What a fun idea! Another one of those sets that you can get carried away with, and have to stop yourself from creating more and more before it gets out of control. Lunchlady’s poses are fantastic! http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/dream-clean/109596
Adding a #4 cause I just couldn’t not inlcude my latest. 4) The Pit. This was one of those random ideas that popped into my head, and I just went along with it. It was a lot of fun to create, and a lot of fun to create the promos for. Lunchlady created a handful of poses for the set, which really brought it all together so perfectly.
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Which 3 are your personal favorite Vendors? Another unfair question! Why only three?! All kidding aside, I am inspired by so many amazing vendors out there but, my three favorites would have to be: 1) Sveva 2) Pandygirl 3) Lunchlady Aside from the fact, that these three make amazing products, they have also been a great inspiration to me and have always been huge supporters of mine. They are always so willing to help even when they’re busy with their own projects. Some of the best ladies I have ever known... <3
If you could add one new feature to Daz Studio, what would it be?
Can you give us a hint of what is to come next from your creations?
This is an easy one! Even though I really enjoy Daz, I am a Poser user. It would be amazing if Daz had better Poser support. Such as Poser textures transferring over properly in Daz. Nothing is more frustrating as a content creator, to have to create textures twice, and now with IRAY three times for one product because, although Poser textures work in Daz, not all the nodes transfer properly. For example, the bump map. They never transfer from Poser to Daz, so you’re forced to manually add them in yourself and save out new Daz versions of the same textures.
As a general rule, that I’m not willing to break, I don’t give any hints away as to exactly what I am working on. Sadly, I have had ideas stolen when sharing them with people I trusted, so I tend to close shop in this regard. But I can say that I have a lovely hair planned, and I am working on yet another huge prop set.
This question also applies to Poser shaders, and materials. To be fair, however, it also could apply both ways. Better Daz support in Poser. But, this will likely never happen, unfortunately.
Where can we find you’re inspiring content to buy and use? I am an 100% exclusive vendor at Renderosity. http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index. php?vendor=291089
What is the biggest challenge for you when it comes to creating a new product? Well, I am going to be quite honest here, my biggest challenge is, and always will be me. I have so many ideas, so many sketches, and reference images, and notebooks, etc., that I could create everyday for the rest of my life, but I often hesitate with what I work on. I am sure this could be said by many creators. We doubt the idea, the process, and ourselves. With that comes a bit of procrastination. Just ask my closest friends, I would bust my butt off on a really cool project - but when it comes time for promos, that is where I run into issues. Since I hate doing promos so much and don’t think I am very good at it, I tend to slow right down, so often they take me longer to do then the whole project.
How does it make you feel when you see the finished and published artwork made with your products? Well you can’t help but smile. It’s pretty amazing to see what other people’s vision for a product is. Sometimes you look at something and say wow that is gorgeous work. And then there are times when you are so blown away because the vision someone else had never even crossed your mind. That is amazing.
turn the page for an exclusive free gift from wolfie DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 19
Wolfiepresents
Rose Thorn Staff
http://4eyes.code66.se/dsc/DSC_RTS.zip
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MAKING HOLES Lucinda Atman shows how we can make holes all over our meshes
In DAZ Studio, I used the Surface Selection Tool to click on the floor. In the Surfaces tab, where the floor was highlighted, I clicked on the box with the down arrow, next to Opacity Strength. Then, clicked “browse” at the top and went to the folder where my new transparency map is located and selected it.
This is a quick and easy tip I learned from someone on the DAZ Forums. It is one of those where I said, “Wow, you can really do that? That’s too easy” and “Why didn’t I think of that?” The point, is to put a hole (or door, or window) in a floor (or wall) where one doesn’t exist on the model using a transparency map. In this example, I needed a hole in the floor of 1002 Nights. I located the folder where the texture maps for this set are located and opened the floor texture map, “rhsh_floor.jpg” in my photo-editing program. I made a new layer with a white fill and set the transparency of the new layer temporarily to around 65% in order to see where I wanted the hole.
I created a selection, with the freehand drawing tool, and filled it with black. Then, I put the transparency back to 0 and flattened the image. I saved my new transparency map as: “rhsh_floor hole.jpg”
As you can see, from this screen shot, there is a nice hole in the floor where I could put a figure in the hole and he is not intersected by the floor plane. I wanted it to look like there had been some digging, so I put an inverted hill terrain (FirstBastion’s Rolling Planes) in the hole. This hid the edges, so the floor doesn’t look paper-thin.
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AMTIGER-DL Mary VanAssche
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STILL LIFE DL Design
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CLASSIC CULT CONTENT We asked you to vote between 6 pieces of content to see which one you reckoned should be called a cult classic, these are your final four. This month Steampunk
FLYER
DISGUISE
TIME
STREETS
The Aviatrix for Genesis 2 Female(s) Mec4D
Ragnarok Mask Bad Kitteh Co
DM’s ClockWork Danie & Marforno
SteamPunk - Streets Phantasmagorical Scenes
The Aviatrix set for Genesis 2 Females , is a Steam Punk Fantasy clothing set for Genesis 2 Female. Also included is a conforming Flying Machine based on a Davinci design with additional conforming poseable Tail and Steam Jets .
Ragnarok mask based on and licensed by Tom Banwell Leatherworks design is now available for Poser and DAZ Studio, fitting V4 and M4 figures.
VIEW
VIEW
This package contains: 4 Scenes 7 Props 3 Clocks 1 Gear in 2 colors Box “Room” Wall Panel Floor Poses - 10 Poses for V4 - 10 Poses for Genesis 2 Female/V6
VIEW
“SteamPunk Streets” is a hallway through the compact world of SteamPunk. Create a series of shops and houses that can go not only horizontal, but vertical as well. Make a subterranean city of pipes and machines, a city inside a machine.
VIEW DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 27
Lifes a B
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Beach
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Lifes a B
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Beach
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ARTiST SPOTLIGHT
Mark Frost
I discovered Daz quite by accident. Up until that point Daz, for me, was the name of a washing powder here in the UK! Little did I know what a dramatic impact it was going to have on my creative output! By trade, I’m a graphic designer and commercial photographer. This is all well and good, but I was looking for a new creative outlet, something new to get excited about. I have always had a passion for sci-fi and fantasy art which I never fully explored.
Back in the day, I worked full time as a designer, for various marketing companies, where I developed a solid grounding in Photoshop techniques. I often wondered what I could do to combine photography, design and image manipulation. By chance, I read an article online by a photographer Joel Grimes who shoots his, subjects in a studio and composites them into a scene or environment he has shot separately. This interested me greatly, so I produced a set of ‘grey screen’ portraits of a model friend of mine and set about producing my very own composites.
“I confess I have dabbled with Poser, but it is Daz I always come back to. Now that it is teamed with iray, it just goes from strength to strength.” I wanted background plates that were a bit different, and my search brought me to DeviantArt where I found an artist who was making the most amazing backgrounds of star ship interiors, dungeons and industrial environments. I wondered just how the hell you could produce that kind of thing and there, in their bio, was mention of a free piece of 3D software called Daz Studio. I thought I’d give it a try. I very nearly gave up on Daz Studio after my first attempts with it were nothing short of abysmal. DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 33
I kept at it though, took a stroll around the content store, and my Daz addiction began and is still going strong! After this initial phase of using Daz for backgrounds only, I started getting braver and began creating Daz-only scenes with Genesis 2 as the main characters. With the advent of Daz Studio 4.8 and its physically based Iray render engine, I can create scenes thinking as an artist, light my scenes thinking as a photographer and then post-process them as the old Photoshop guy I am. This makes me a happy chap and I do consider my Daz projects to be an antidote to the stresses and strains of daily life. If you were to take a canter through my work, you’ll see that Victoria 6 plays a big part in it. I swear she has become my virtual muse! I am also in awe of guys like Stonemason and Jack Tomalin, who create the most fantastic environments, and I have a particular fondness for the outfits by Aeon Soul and RedSpec’s skin shaders. I confess, I have dabbled with Poser, but it is Daz I always come back to. Now that it is teamed with Iray, it just goes from strength to strength.
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I was brought up on a diet of fantasy and sci-fi art by the likes of Peter Elson, Chris Foss, Jim Burns and Tim White and this is reflected in my work. Daz gives you the tools to create imagery of unprecedented scope and quality that brings out the inner artist in everyone. I am also a big advocate of post-work to my images. I just love the idea of creating the raw material in Daz and then getting it into Photoshop to add my particular stamp to it. I love to share my work and get feedback. I post on Flickr as regularly as I can with the pseudonym ‘Blackdog1966’. I’m about to hit 2 million views, so it is a great indicator that people love this kind of imagery as much as I do. It’s funny, and it shows, the impact the thing has had on me, I can’t imagine not having Daz Studio in my life any more.
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GEOMETRY EDITOR Totte Alm shows us how to create new surfaces Today we’re going to talk about tools, not just any tools, but the Geometry Editor tool. The Geometry Editor tool, in DAZ Studio, is one of those tools that are mostly used by content creators. The Geometry Editor tool is a very useful tool when you want to, for example; create a new surface on an item and be able to use different shaders on different parts. The item I will use, in this example, is one of my first items and is still an item I use a lot, the FT-30 US WWII army truck from DAZ (a PC club item).
Because the glass is not welded to the rest of the light unit, you can now press and hold Command-+ (Mac OS X) or Ctrl+ (Windows) to enlarge the selection, until all of the glass is selected.
Right click on the selected polygons and select Geometry Visibility->Hide Selected Polygons. This will temporarily hide them, not delete them.
This is a screen shot of the light I want to change. The model is good, but the bulb and the reflector are all the same surface, called light.
This is how it looks without the glass. I set the base color to a mid grey so it would be easier to see.
First, I change the materials for better chrome, brush up the paint and add a better glass, all using Iray shaders and settings. This is a quick preview in Iray, snapped rather quickly. I’m on my laptop away from home, as I don’t have my GTX780, and it takes a little time to render in preview. Then, we select the geometry editor tool; this is the tool bar icon for it.
Now, as the bulb and reflector want to be polygons behind the glass, we need to temporarily get rid of the glass. Click in one of the polls, (you will get a rasterized selection of a polygon). 36 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
To be able to use the auto expand, you need to select a perfect ring of polygons, and then you can expand it. If you don’t have a perfect ring, you will spill over to the rest of the lamp, and if you accidentally select a polygon on the bulb, you will get that one too. This might take a while to get right.
Then, we assign a light emitter shader for the light (in 3Delight, use Omni Area Light). We also assign a mirror like shader for the reflector.
When you expand using Command or Ctrl & +, be careful not to go too far, so you selected the bevel edge. If you do go too far; use Command/Ctrl & - to shrink the selected again. We set the soothing to 0 for the reflector, so we get a nice surface with many reflecting surfaces on.
When you have the right polygons selected, right click and select Geometry Assignment->Create Surface from Selected…, and then name the new surface reflector. Great, now do almost the same thing for the other light. It will go much faster now that you have done one. The only thing that is different is that, instead of doing Geometry Assignment>Create Surface from Selected…, you do Geometry Assignment->Assign to Surface and select reflector.
This is a preview render in Iray of the truck; we can now see that we need to brighten up the lights, a higher color temperature. This one is also done on my laptop, so I only waited a minute or so. Here is a final render in Iray, done on some of my real machines; I think it looks pretty good.
When you have done both lights, select any polygon on the truck, right click and select Geometry Visibility->Show All Polygons. DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 37
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Lap Gods
In the
of the
Ancient mythology is littered with gods, goddesses from a wide range of global cultures such as Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Aztec, Mayan, Native American, Japanese, Tibetan and Aboriginal. So for this competition we want you to show us your ancient Gods and Goddesses. If you need any help to find a mythalogical god to portray check out Godchecker.com, they have nearly 4,000 All competition submissions are to be sent to:
contest.dscreative.mag@gmail.com All submissions must be new artwork and must not have been displayed online before Images can be either portrait or landscape Deadline is 23:59 UTC on the 22nd of August-15 For full prize Information and for full term’s and conditions visit our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dazcreative/ DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 39
CHARACTER UV’S Estroyer explains all about character UV’s
figure there as well ● In the search bar type “UV” ● The UV Set will show the type of UV map used
DAZ’s icons and their different UV maps: everyone who owns a few DAZ icon figures will stumble upon it sooner or later. It might be a little puzzling at first, but there is a certain logic to it and even a simple way to convert your own UV maps to use on other generations! Every 3D model needs a UV map before any texturing can take place. A UV map is a 2 dimensional representation of the surface from a 3D model and holds the coordinates as to how the texture has to be placed onto the 3D surface. UV are the letters that are being used to position the 2D texture over a 3D model. As the X, Y and Z are already in use for the orientation of objects on the space on your scene, the U and V were appointed to orientate on a 2D surface. A UV map is needed to orientate where textures or materials should be placed on a 3D model. A 3D model can exist without an UV map, but then you will be unable to texture it as the software has no clues as to how position the texture. Textures are dependant on their appointed UV maps, they fit badly or worse, won’t fit at all, if the wrong UV map is being used. The importance of the right UV map is emphasised when using one of the many figure generations from DAZ. To make it even more complicated, a certain generation doesn’t specifically use the UV map that you would expect, depending on decisions made by the maker of that UV. Content creators often point out which generation UV maps are suited for their textures and sometimes they even provide multiple generation support. Have a texture that isn’t supported? Usually there are several solutions available over at the DAZ store. I’ll also explain a step by step convertion you can do yourself with the aid of DAZ Studio. But first, an introduction on the different generations and their UV’s. Different generations, different UV maps Daz’s iconic figures either come with an UV based on the base of that generation, or a costum made UV. But can also be based on an UV from a whole different generation. Are you still following? Usually, the artist of a figure will give a clue to what UV the character is using in their product description. Alternatively, you can also look at the surface tab in DS. Follow these steps: ● ● tab ●
Load a figure onto the scene Make sure you have the figure selected in the scene Now navigate to the surface tab and select your
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In this first image you’ll see Young Teens 5 Julie, but instead of Genesis’ base UV map, she uses Victoria’s 4 UV map. When we look at the next image, you’ll see that Monique has her own UV map, dispite being a generation 6 figure, other generation 6 UV’s will not fit.
Genesis 1, 2 & 3 Each generation and gender has its own UV map, with the exception of Genesis 1, they share the same UV for both genders. The second Genesis generation have their UV based on either gender. Textures can’t switch between these generations without conversion. There are scripts that take care of this. Why so many different UV maps? It seems tedious to make so many UV’s available, but there are several reasons as to why artists (or DAZ) choose to do this; ● Innovations: as time progresses, pc components are getting faster. That means higher poly counts are possible to work with as well. Higher poly count means more and better detailed characters ● Stretching and distortion: because (iconic) figures can differ much in shape, you can’t just go around and apply any UV map to a figure’s mesh. Eventually that will lead to stretching and distortion of the texture because the underlying mesh is different
Converting skin maps to use on different generations and figures
● Double click to load it on your figure. Note that there is distortion
There are several UV setters on the market to help convert a skin onto a different figure. But if you are in need of a specific conversion, here’s a step by step discription of how to do it yourself. I used Jepe’s Orso for Michael 4 and I want to convert it to use on G2M base. ●
● ● ● ● ●
● ● ●
Load the figure and the skin texture you would want to convert.
Now, select your figure in the scene tab In the menu select File=>Save As=>Material(s) Preset Navigate to the folder where you would like to save your preset and be sure it’s in a place where you can easily find it back Leave everything untouched in the Material(s) Preset Save Options (unless you’d want to save a specific body part) and select “Accept” You’ll see DS saved two different files; a Preset.duf and a Preset.duf.png. The png file is a thumbnail and the .duf is the actual file that holds the information of the saved material
● ●
Go to the surface tab and search for the UV bar Now select the figure your skin was originally derived from, in my case Michael 4
●
Tadaa! You have succesfully converted your texture!
You can also have a great headstart with Slosh’s awesome freebie: http://www.sharecg.com/v/73633/view/21/ DAZ-Studio/UVSetterGen2-Revised (Thanks to Slosh for permission!)
Clear your scene and now load the figure you want to load the saved material preset on In your content library, press right mouse button and select “Refresh” in order for your saved preset so show up Select your newly load figure and now find the saved preset in your content library
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AT THE POOL Karisma
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FAVOURITE FIVE Five runtime must haves 01 Return to the Enchanted Forest http://www.daz3d.com/return-to-the-enchanted-forest
Some of my best renders feature this set, and I don’t think that is any coincidence. This environment is both highly realistic and incredibly attractive, making it an excellent choice for your woodsy scenes of any genre.
02 Morph Resource Kits
http://www.daz3d.com/lilith-6-morph-resource-kit I use these sets all the time. The included morphs will greatly expand your options, for dialing up custom characters in DAZ Studio--and aspiring vendors can use them as merchant resources in the creation of their own custom morphs.
Scott Beemer Scott has been interested in 3D illustration since early 2012, and has served as a Community Volunteer at daz3d.com for the past two years. A father of three, Scott works in higher education and aspires to become a professional writer (and sometimes entertains dreams of being a pro illustrator or 3D vendor as well).
03 Ghost of Macbeth Morphs for Genesis 2 Males http://www.daz3d.com/ghost-of-macbeth-morphs-for-genesis-2-male-s
If you’re looking to dial up some unique guys rather than using the same old Tom, Dick, or Michael again, this set has the versatility you need. The set includes, 51 morphs including some of the most realistic eye, eyebrow, and cheek morphs I’ve seen anywhere.
04 Forgotten Temple Ruins - Construction Kit http://www.daz3d.com/forgotten-temple-ruins-construction-kit
Ruins can lend a sense of age, verisimilitude, and grandeur to your 3D environments. This particular set comes with a variety of different structural elements, plus grass, ivy, rocks/rubble, and more. There’s also a selection of materials options, for greener or browner foliage, mossier or plainer rocks, etc., giving the set even more versatility.
05 Advanced DAZ Studio Lighting Bundle http://www.daz3d.com/advanced-daz-studio-light-bundle
This has been featured in “Favourite Five” before, and for very good reason. These advanced lights provide attractive illumination and are very quick to render, particularly if you take advantage of the powerful “flagging” function. I use them nearly every time I render in 3Delight.
YOUR
FAVORITE
TELL FIVE US
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:
articles.dscreative.mag@gmail.com DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 43
VENDOR SPOTLIGHT
Spiritfoxy
How did you get into 3D texturing and how long have you been executing it? 3D was a natural progression for me from traditional art, from the canvas to the digital screen. I started working in 3D approximately 20 years ago; my first storefronts were at Poser Pros & Daz within a few short months of starting down the 3D path.
From where would you say you draw your inspiration from? From absolutely everything, dreams to nature and everything in between!! I have way too many ideas popping in my head, too many to keep track of.
Which program(s) do you create your textures in? I use a variety of programs for modelling, character creation & texturing – Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, Zbrush, Modo, Substance Designer, to name the most used.
Typically how long does it take to go from the initial idea to finished model? Loaded question! It depends on the project, and I tend to work on a couple of projects at a time. Some are way more involved than others. A simple texturing of an outfit from start to finish can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on complexity and on just how picky I get and I can get very picky. The perfectionist in me is always adding extra time 44 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
in there. Characters are on average a 2 to 3 week process from start to finish. Promos & images are the bane of my existence and they will take up to a week just on their own.
What one piece of advice would you give to a beginner or someone starting out creating for Daz Studio? Be patient, very patient with yourself. It takes time and frustration can kick in very easily. Do not take rejection to heart, and don’t give up! Always strive to better your skills with each new project, keep learning.
“I get carried away so easily, my packs tend to get very big, I just cannot help myself, my creativity goes into overdrive.” What is your favorite subject to model? FANTASY!!! Anything of that genre holds a special place in my heart.
Which 3 would you say are your personal favorites of your own products? Oh my, that is 20 years of products!!! Let’s see, I am an oldtimer and with that comes lack of memory, so I will choose from my more recent products. My first favourite is a brand new one, my Felicity G2F for Ysabeau, I just love her and I am usually the hardest on my own creations, but I am very happy with her. Another favourite is Enchantments for Entwined which is another for G2F, a texture set for Aeon Soul’s Entwined outfit. And a third is my Raven character, Animus: The Raven for V4 – she speaks to me.
Which 3 are your personal favorite Vendors? I knew it; you are trying to get me in trouble! That is an impossible question; there are so many great vendors. Let’s see, just 3... Lady LittleFox love her creations, StudioArtVartanian love her hairs; Sveva love her backdrops. It is so very hard to pick just 3!
DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 45
If you could add one new feature to Daz Studio, what would it be?
Can you give us a hint of what is to come next from your creations?
A magic button ~grin~ No, I am just getting back into using Daz Studio after many years because I had stability issues. With DS 4 I can now play, and I’m loving every moment of the adventure! After so many years of using Poser, I find Daz Studio a whole lot easier to set up products in, though very different from Poser, so there is a learning curve, but I love it! I spend most of my time in Daz Studio now. I cannot really answer succinctly since I am still learning all the new gizmos, but if I were to pick something, it would be dynamics, dynamic cloth, and I know advancements could be made in that area for Daz Studio.
Sshhhh, I am modelling once again! It has been a long while but I am once again modelling, so you shall be seeing some clothing most especially for the Genesis lines, G2F are up first. I am putting the final touches on a couple of outfits and the first one might even be released by the time this goes to press. And yes, they will have a full set of textures as well; after all, that is my trademark so to speak!
What is the biggest challenge for you when it comes to creating a new product? I think most would agree in regards to myself, it is keeping my products at a manageable size!!! I get carried away so easily, my packs tend to get very big, I just cannot help myself, my creativity goes into overdrive.
How does it make you feel when you see the finished and published artwork made with your products? I get all warm and fuzzy, I just love it! I love to see what others create with my products, so many wonderful creative & talented artists out there! And humbled, sometimes it absolutely amazes me and I think oh my, I never dreamed something I made could be so very beautiful, a true work of art!
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Where can we find your inspiring content to buy and use? Most of my content can be found at Runtime DNA, as well as Renderosity & Hivewire 3D. I also have my storefront at Daz which should be getting some new content releases in the very near future.
http://4eyes.code66.se/Spiritfoxy_TamaraG2F_DSC.zip DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 47
RAYTRACE FOR LESS
Now re-select the plane and spawn the morph, and name it, I used the number 1.
Charlie McDonald shows us a very clever raytracing trick You may have heard that you shouldn’t use ray tracing for reflections, but instead, you should use reflection maps. The reason for this is the fact that ray tracing needs geometry, and geometry requires memory, but reflection maps don’t require all the geometry, and use less memory resulting in faster render times. The down side of reflection maps is that they don’t always match up with the scene you’ve made, and sometimes stick out like a sore thumb. So here’s how to get really good and scene blended ray traced reflections without a ton of geometry hogging up your memory.
• I have set up my scene with as little geometry as possible and have applied 3Delight ray traced shaders to all the metal surfaces I wanted to be reflective. I have also added an image to the environment tab backdrop, a couple of lights, and a camera. • Next I’ll add a plane that is 1 meter with 6 divisions (that’s only 36 polygons). Rotate the plane 90 degrees on the ‘X’ axis and drag the plane away from the model. • Now add a DFormer to the plane. I didn’t bother with giving it a special name since I don’t plan on saving the plane. I also parented the D-Former ‘Base’ to the D-Former ‘Field’, this keeps the DFormer ‘dots’ visible which helps while making adjustments. I’ll then select the D-Former, and adjust the ‘Z’ Translate to 50, the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ Scale to 150.0%. With these settings you should end up with a very low poly semisphere.
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• Now that the hard part is over you’ll need to increase the morph amount and scale of the plane (I increased both to 450%) as well as positioning it. Make sure your camera is just inside the semi-sphere and ‘Cast Shadows’ is set to off.
• Finally it’s time to apply the image that will become the reflection. I will be using the same image as I used for the backdrop, that way the reflection colors match exactly to my scene. Select the surface of your plane and add the image you have chosen to the Diffuse and Ambient channels in the Surfaces(Color) tab and change the Ambient color to white (255 255 255) now switch to your camera view to make sure you don’t have the plane in view and click render. I hope this tutorial helps someone. Thank you, and happy rendering.
CLASSIC CULT CONTENT We asked you to vote for a classic cult Steampunk item
The Winner Mec4D - The Aviatrix for Genesis 2 Females
http://www.daz3d.com/mec4d-the-aviatrix-for-genesis-2-female-s
Next months category is Ghoulish things, if you want to cast a vote check out our facebook group from the 5th of August onwards https://www.facebook.com/groups/dazcreative/ DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 49
Quick SCAM Contest In response to Alessandro’s fun post on facebook about a classic Nigerian scam, I quickly organized a little scam contest. Here is the winner and the second place. The winner will get a prize from Alessandro’s store at DAZ, and the second place a prize from Totte’s store at YURDigital.
1st Place Alex Ledante Prince Spambot the Ninth
2nd Place Fantail451 I Done Bought Me A Bridge
50 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
MISS MYSTIC
Mario Heyer
DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 51
GALLERY
VICTORIAN AFTERNOON Nancy Schultz USA
IN RUINS
Sister of Darkness UK
Victorian Afternoon 52 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 53
GALLERY
MES COMPAGNONS LaMuserie France
AT BALDURS GATE Totte Alm Sweden
SPIRIT OF THE GATE Charlie McDonald USA
MES COMPAGNONS
54 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
AT BALDURS GATE
SPIRIT OF THE GATE DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 55
GALLERY
Angel
BronzeDragon
TWINS
Esapesa New Zealand
Angel
56 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
TWINS DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 57
GALLERY
RUST 3.0
Cliff D George USA
APHRODITE Marcius Hess Brazil
RUST 3.0
58 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
APHRODITE
DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 59
GALLERY
JSGOT
Alex Ledante USA
suspicion
Lucinda Atman USA
JSGOT 60 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
suspicion
DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 61
CONTRIBUTORS Every to to
DS Creative needs a small army of people help make it happen, so to those people who helped make issue 14, A very big Thank You. month
The DS Creative Team
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Tutorial CONTRIBUTORS Lucinda Atman Totte Alm Estroyer Charlie McDonald
Free Gift CONTRIBUTORS Wolfie Spiritfoxy
THE TEAM Camilla Drakenborg Phil Thompson Totte Alm Matt Allgood Sanyel Jackson Jamie Somers Bobbie Brundon Jeffrey Samir Rouabhi Deleuze
IMAGE CONTRIBUTORS Alex Ledante Astuce Man Bellatryx Bowski Bronze Dragon Camilla Drakenborg Charlie McDonald Cliff D George Daniel Wright DL Design Eden Clark Esapesa Fantail451 Gran22 Karisma Kismet2012 LaMuserie Leo Lee Lucinda Atman Marcius Hess Mark Frost Mary VanAssche Mithoron Nancy Schultz Phil Thompson R.P. Callahan Sandra Bauser Seliah Shawn Nerenberg Sister of Darkness Totte Alm DS CREATIVE • August 2015 • 63
I’m just gonna sit here and wait till the next DS Creative comes out
DS Creative Issue 15 • 1st September 2015
64 • August 2015 • DS CREATIVE
Artwork by Phil Thompson