What to buy first?
Hi everyone, I'm a new user interested in learning 3d modeling of human figures. I just downloaded the Install Manager, and it downloaded and installed about 50 things, including Daz Studio 4.10 and what looks like a bunch of models. I have a lot to go through, including the tutorials!
But my question is, I assume pretty soon I'll want to visit the Daz shop and buy some stuff. So I wondered what would be the key items most people acquire first? What would be your "shopping list" if you were getting started. There are so many things in the Shop, it's a bit confusing where to start, so any advise you have will be much appreciated.
Also, I see there are a bunch of holiday specials going on. Is there anything I should make a point to grab while it's on special?
Lastly, I was looking at the "Platinum Club Plus" deal. It looks like that could pay for itself pretty fast. Do you folks recommend it? Are the discounts (excepting coupon codes you get periodically) automatically applied just by using your account?
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I am also a beginner. My view was that I wouldn't buy *anything* until I had a better idea of what was in the stuff included with Daz Studio. Once I have some experience under my belt I should be in a better position to know what to get.
There are thousands of items in the store, so holding off for a bit seemed to be a good idea.
On the specials, there are often free items available. I get those that can be used without other extra paid-for items in my library. Some of them are really good. And many of the specials seem to re-appear after a while!
It all depends on artist preferences, platinum club is certainly a plus, few newbies desiring to increase thier content library. I purchased content as I progressed, kept notes of products I would need. Learning the basics was top priority for me as a beginner. Have fun and good luck.
For me the face and body morphs are high priority, as they can be used to change the looks of the basic figures, so one does not have to buy new figures to get more variability. Poses one can be selfmade - all those pose packs are really just convenience products (though they are great....) and only help to not have to spend so much time on posing.
To learn the basics, the stuff included in the download is quite complete, and there's a lot of free stuff around to add to it.
I'm pretty much beginning too, though I've been at it for awhile now. Find out what is compatible with what - that way you'll know what you want to buy and what will work with what. This is a compatibility chart, it seems to be missing the newest stuff - still good to look at.
https://www.daz3d.com/compatibility-matrix
G3 seems to be compatible with G8 - this is the newest release. From what I can gather (anyone feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken) G3 and G8 aren't all that different, so maybe a good place to start.
But it really depends on what you want to do. Just because some stuff is 'old' doesn't mean it can't be used. And yup, lots of free stuff and awesome deals - and they do happen fairly often.
I would suggest getting freebies and becoming comfortable with using DS before going too crazy buying things. Once you figure out how things work and what interests you as far as subjects, landscapes, etc. you can get better recommendations. On here you can sort by price, grab everything that's free. There's also a lot of freebies linked in the Freebies forum here.
Sounds like great advice. Thanks very much, everyone!
I am also a begginner, but I am more interested in creating new figures with more realism, so having
some nice face + body morphs is a must right now. I keep seeing the same facial features in practicly most models available out
there and no Star models I would like to see, have and use.
Iconic star models and unique facial features such as seen on Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant,
Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Kirk Douglas, Vivien Leigh, Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall, Sophia Loren, Carole Lombard,
Ava Gardner, Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor and even Madonna, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Pink and Bjork !
As a beginner, please first make sure you understand the differences between the Genesis generations, and what morphs, clothing, hair, poses, characters work on what Genesis generation.
That will save you from a lot of frustrations.
Also, be aware that "older content" is often made for 3Delight and not Iray. While DS does Iray conversion for non-Iray items, this is only an "on the fly" conversion, and the result might not always be what you expect. That doesn't make it useless for Iray, but you'll need to invest some time into conversion and tweaking of the settings to get "realistic" results.
And one more thing... this hobby is a long learning curve. Things like poses, lights&shadows, surface and render settings... take time to explore them, and learn&understand them.
In regards to the Platinum Club, yes, that one pretty much pays for itself, i.e. if you are building up your content. The 30% on DAZ Originals gives you a usual 58% discount on them on new releases, and there are other perks.
That doesn't change the fact that you need to curb in your "bling-shiny" purchase urges, or your credit card will no longer like you. And the most important rule... there's always another sale.
@Max, you probably won'r find that type of models in the store, because they are too recognizable. The best way is to keep your eyes open for good skin textures, and good base shapes, and from there, with the shape/morph packs available in the store, create your own version of the models.
All good advice here. If there was one bit of advice that I would add myself to that already offered, for anyone just starting out, it would be this: Rome wasn't built in a day. It is easy to become discouraged at the outset, as everything seems not only new to you, but immensely complicated. Take your time and don't try to grasp it all at once - baby steps. You'll have a whole lot of technical terms and even more jargon to learn. Its rather like riding a bike - at first it seems impossibly difficult, but persevere and eventually you'll find yourself wondering why you ever found things so hard. Try to have fun!
Hello there.take it slow. but buy what you like. or have a scene or idea or image in your mind what you want to render and search for those items.
the usual thing to buy apart from the body base is the hair of course, and then the cloth the pants...add some simple jewelery if u want to be fancy, and for me i also purchase good lighting preset sets thats available here in daz store for me. can save time, and start rendering in no time if you are new. Then you want the background!-can buy some scene or location like buildings or a studio room or studio sets to render. Depends is it outdoor or indoor. For studio render i recommend DestinysGarden InaneGlorystudio sets. there alots of them. example is this https://www.daz3d.com/idg-easy-iray-studio-2 . or the easier 1st versionhttps://www.daz3d.com/idg-easy-iray-studio ; That should basically takes care of background and lighting. All you have to do is pose your character and dress them and put them at the right place/angle.
because usually pro artist who really really wants to do it their way will take a long time to do it all, starting from modeling to texturing, posing and then lighting.. lastly rendering. it could take days, usually weeks or months. but this is not about daz of course, its about artist who render in other 3d programs like zbrush, maya etc. Daz is a great for beginners and hobbyist. or you want to do 3d arts quickly. you can get a great scene setup in a day! and touch up make it more beautiful. Once you master daz, you can do morph on characters, make simple or complex 3d objects to use in daz if they are not found on daz market or you want a more personal touch, or simply do modification and morph on current item. These all will help to create a more personal artistic touch to your render, than the usual load a character, pose and render.
Hope these info helps and good luck in learning 3d!
P/S; i m not platinum club. If do find yourself buying alot of daz stuffs every month from year to year or for a long time, it is good to have Platinum as you can save.
If you want feedback on your work, join the New User Contests. This is a fantastic place to ask questions and receive suggestions. And don't worry if you feel your work is not "good enough" - the contest rules have been changed so that the best render is not chosen as the winner.
If you are starting new, the morph packages and utilities are excellent. The extra face morph and muscularity morphs are a must have if you want to customize your characters.
Poses - you will accumulate more than you need. They are included in many packages. The Bone Doctor packages will give you more versatility.
Fit Control is another one I highly recommend. In fact, anything by Zev0 is great.
At least some celebrities can be found here or here
Granted, there sometimes often is just a small resmblance and only from a certain angle... but there are some really nice ones to be found.
DAZ Studio isn't for modelling. It's a rendering program. If your biggest interest, above and beyond everything else, is creating new figures/content, then I'd suggest getting tutorials in content creation, like the modelling tutorials by Sickle Yield, Esha, Lady Littlefox, and fugazi1968. You might also want to look at Digital Art Live because he has worked with several of the PAs to co-produce tutorials on a variety of topics.
Figure creation can take a lot of time to learn so if you want to start producing art now as you hone your figure creation skills, I'd suggest narrowing down what you want to make and/or what topics you want to concentrate on. If you like anime/manga, Hitomi & Hiro (Genesis), Star (Genesis 3) and Sakura (Genesis 8) are the way to go. You might also want to pick up utilities like Line Render 9000, Manga Style Shaders, and Visual Style Shaders. If you like a specific genre, you can filter for that in the shop.
Absolute generic picks to start with? Although I'd grab all of the Starter Essential kits that are in your product library (Genesis, Genesis 2, etc.) once you register, I'd concentrate on Genesis 8 components:
As for the Plat Club, I find it a good value. The coupons are nice and I purchase a lot of the figure bundles so it saves me a lot of money. Is it worth it for you? Here's how to tell:
1) Click on the PClub filter in the Shop and take a look at the content.
2) Uncheck the PClub filter then filter for "Daz Originals" as the Vendor. You'll get additional discounts on items by DAZ and a $6 per month coupon usable on DAZ Original content.
3) Check out older DS content - anything over 60 days if I remember correctly. You'll get an additional coupon that can be used on most non-New stuff.
Once you look at your budget and compare what you can afford to spend and what you're likely to spend it on, you'll have a good idea of whether or not the PClub is a good deal for you.
Hope this helps,
Cres
If you're interested in making new characters, there's an upcoming webinar with Sickleyield: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/221001/how-to-create-a-new-custom-character-by-sickleyield-tuition-commercial#latest
But I'm not sure how useful it is when you are starting brand-new. The good thing about the webinars is that you can directly ask questions and get things explained if you don't understand something.
One other thing I would add to the mix is what style of work do you want? For example, cartoon vs. ultra-realistic. If you do not know your style, play around some ... look at the gallery and see what others have done ... etc. Once you have the basics of working DS down, and you have some idea what themes you want to go for, hopefully the choices will already be narrowed down a lot for you.
Thank you, everybody, for all this great advice! You've given me a lot of very useful information that will really help me get started, and I appreciate your taking the time.
I will be demonstrating how to start from scratch from Genesis 8 and exporting it to Blender all the way through saving finished dials. If we run fast and there's time left I'll try and demonstrate in Zbrush as well, but Zbrush tends to get squirrely when I have recording software looking at it, because it hates me. XD
Hi,
I'm using DAZ since late 2016 and it really didn't started about "what to buy first", let me tell you my story:
Once upon a day I stumpled upon some random pics on deviantart (usual day back then), saw wallpapers and renders and thought: "how do they do that?". The following weeks I tried to learn, played around with XNAlara/XPS, tried to export to other software, found out about Keyshot, got a chance to play with that but it was CPU only yet it kept me looking what might be out there and somehow I found DAZ. I laugh when I think about how I looked as I opened this website like "damn, amazing, one can do that on their own, at home and it's free? :o ".
So I played with DAZ, loaded a Gen 3 F and there was that plastic puppet with ugly pose, I was not impressed anymore. But then I loaded Basic Wear, Hair and did my first render with DAZ. I actually saved it to remember that moment but now that I'm writing this I realize I don't know on which harddrive I saved it to. Anyway: I looked at the DAZ store the way you do now, read the forum, stumpled on items on renderosity, google here and then... you know.
Thing is: I never asked the question what to buy first, don't get me wrong, it's damn right that you ask, but it wasn't my way, I'll explain how it turned out. I played around with anything I could find, any free stuff, combined things, I even realized some night that I played around with settings and new poses and stuff that 8 hours had passed and I didn't even stood up or drank something in that timeframe. That never happened to me in years.
So, why am I telling you that? What I want to say about it is that for me I started this just for fun, in my free time, just for my own, found my way to be creative as others draw real paintings.
Some above said "it is about what you want". That's right, and wrong, and right again.
It is right to ask for specific stuff for specific setup. But maybe you start your day like you see some things, mix some stuff, play around, you then don't ask for what to buy, you just play around as if it is Lego. And then the above is right again: if you want to render pics with people, then get a nice bundle to get started, but sooner or later you will want diversity and so I couldn't agree more: get those head and body morphs if you want variations.
Anything else, will come to you itself. Maybe you want a scene in "i13 Secluded Living" (that was the one I was eager to buy 1st back then but failed with lightning so bad, then the iRay Ghostlight Kit helped me on that, same as Cresent mentioned above), but one other day you might want to render something with Tera Dome, nex day water or air, next day landscapes and sunset and look at those HDRIs..., all these things will come to you in time (if not already).
Some day you might look back as I did today during this reply, you load up some old scenes, mix in new stuff you got and then end up with some new render and you know "I didn't intended to do that scene, it is totally random mixed stuff but turned out awesome like the ones back then on deviantart".
Yesterday I though it's time to intruduce myself in this forum, join the community, then I read this post and it took me until today to answer. At first I wanted to include a sentence like "if money ain't the problem, grab this and that and these", wanted to sound sarcastic, but no.
And then I just did something random. I used 'Streets of Venice', placed a 'Llamaghini' (look it up) in there, positioned 'Pristine' next to it in 'Kawaii Outfit', used Valzheimers light presets to be quick (great freebie, get it), applied a quick 'Z Sweetie Pie' Pose to the girl and it looked like a tourist taking a pic of his/her girlfriend next to a luxury car during the vacation. Just to reply to this I ended up rendering something off everything I did before. And came up with lots of different lights and failed with the shadows and it looked like 3 photos layered with photoshop and done real bad. xD
Conclusion: there is no definite answer to your question, already good advices above and now look around the store a bit more and you will find something that inspires you to do something great with it.
As Bob Ross once said like 25yrs ago: "god bless you and happy painting". (wonder what he would say to the DAZ community nowadays)
Not sure if it is possible to get in a car to some of the interesting spots in Venice... But the pictures look great
Probably something like: "We don't make mistakes here, just happy little accidents"