May 2020 - Daz 3D New User Challenge - Using Props and Push Modifiers/Deformers
DAZ_ann0314
Posts: 2,849
New User's Challenge - May 2020
Sponsored by DAZ 3D
Are you new to the 3D World? Are you at the beginning stages of learning 3D rendering? Have you been around for a little bit but feel you could benefit from some feedback or instruction? Have you been around awhile and would like to help other members start their creative journey? Well then come and join the fun as we host our newest render challenge!
New this year, we are breaking down each month into 2 different challenges. A Beginner Challenge and then also an Intermediate Challenge.
So which "Challenge" should you choose?
Follow the Beginner Challenge if you are:
- New to the New User Challenges
- New to Daz Studio
- Newer to 3D Rendering in General
- Or if you have not participated in the January Composition Challenge
Follow the Intermediate Challenge if you have:
- Participated in the New User Challenge for awhile
- Know the basics of Daz Studioand would like to learn more in depth topics
- Been using 3D Rendering Applications for awhile and feel comfortable with learning Intermediate Topics
- Or if you have all ready participated in the January Composition Challenge
*Please be sure to list in your post which Challenge you are participating in*
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Beginner Challenge:
"Action / Using Props"
This month's focus will be action with an emphasis on interaction with props. Your characters' actions, or the props they are using or interacting with, should be a major aspect of your image. As always, posing techniques, composition, and lighting will be important considerations as well.
Some Inspiration:
Digital Art Action Scenes
Human Action Poses
Action Photography
The Fundamentals of Action Photography
The Best Sports Photos of 2016
While we encourage you to create your own poses from scratch for this contest, many of the pose sets available in the store can offer some great inspiration on how to use props in active situations!
To fit the theme of "Action & Props," your render could depict anything from a melee to a barbecue, or from a pop concert to a masquerade ball, or even a bar room brawl. The key points are that it must include some sort of dynamic movement or activity, and that it must involve interaction between figures and props (tools, weapons, or any sort of objects being manipulated).
Prior Action / Using Props Challenges:
May, 2019
May, 2018
May, 2017
May, 2016
Daz Tutorials
The Daz Studio Timeline Explained
How to Make Your Own Props in Daz Studio
How To Create A Smart Prop in Daz Studio
Importing Props Into Daz Studio
Daz 101: Posing
Pinning, Posing and the Active Pose Tool
I will be checking in as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need.
For a list of the current challenge rules, please see this thread : Challenge Rules
Closing Date: May 31st 2020
Intermediate Challenge:
"Using Modifiers and Deformers"
This is a general render challenge with the focus on using Modifiers and/or Deformers within your action scene. We are providing you with some links on the topics from a variety of sources. Utilizinging modifiers and deformers well can add that extra touch of realism to help create a dynamic looking and fluid scene. It is a fundamental skill for those wishing to show movement, customize items to better suit the use within a scene, or to fix issues such as pokethrough.
*If participating in the Intermediate Challenge, please be sure to list what item(s) within your scene you have modified/deformed*
General Information:
Push Modifier / Push Modifier Weight Node
Smoothing Modifier (Also covers deformers)
Deformers
Generally, push modifiers, smoothing modifiers, and deformers can all be used to manipulate existing geometry to change it's shaping. You could use a Push Modifier to make Genesis 8 pregnant or to make a dent in an object. You could use the smoothing modifier to show a face smooshing up from a punch (like a freeze frame of the hit) or to show pressure on a matress or couch. You can use a deformer to change the shape of a character, to change the shape or damage a prop, or to fix pokethrough or issues between items. There is an unlimited amount of things that can be done with the 3 and a lot of advanced topics to using the 3 as well but hopefully this will give you a better basic understanding of how to add them and how they can be used.
Handy Products to Use to help with using the Push Modifier or Deformers :
Mesh Grabber by ManFriday
InstaEdit by Callidus Simia
Prior Action / Using Props Challenges:
May, 2019
May, 2018
May, 2017
May, 2016
I will be checking in as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need.
For a list of the current challenge rules, please see this thread : Challenge Rules
Closing Date: May 31st 2020
I would like to enter one of my renders. While it has already seen the light of the day in the Mousso's characters appreciation thread earlier today, because I love her characters and I wanted to "show off" a little, my original aim was twofold - to create the male character for a female friend, and to use the final render in this challenge. I just didn't have enough time to do so in the morning. I am posting it now during my lunchbreak. I hope it is still OK as a challenge entry.
Beginner Challenge entry.
They Left in a Hurry
- They packed up and left in a hurry not long ago, Nevana. The fire is still burning. But where did they go?
- If you would flex the muscle you have instead of your brain just a little bit more, dear Hrodgeirr, you would look around and see the delve entrance just over there.
Gallery link with a list of products used in case anyone would be interested: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/991861
I only used DAZ Studio, there is no postwork (I lack the skills and proper software to do any such alterations anyway
).
The props that qualify for the challenge would be the horned helm, the spear, and the bow, although the bow is basically in a very similar position to the pose I used on the female character. I am mostly happy with the helm, as it took me a long time to position it right and meaningfully.
Edit: Thinking about it, the fire with the smoke and the logs are probably props too.
@watchdog79 That is a really great render! I'm a big fan of fantasy literature and this coudl be a scene from a novel. Very well done. Especially without postwork. The lighting and composition is great. I can't think of anything to critique here. Everybody else is going to have a hard time following this render. Cudos!
Thank you, and I am glad you like the scene. I am sure there is always room for improvement, though.
It is inspired by the Elder Scrolls Online game. You could call it a scene from that universe, even if one has to use what is at hand in the DAZ store. Having some proper officially endorsed Elder Scrolls products for DAZ Studio would be awesome. *hint*hint*nudge*nudge* to DAZ.
@watchdog79, That is a wonderful image! (And know just how you feel about Mousso's gals!)
One thing, though. You don't mention if the entry is for the beginner or intermediate challenge. Was this about the props and action? Or did you use a modifier and/or dFormer?
Thank you. My mistake, and corrected. It is for the beginner challenge. I may feel confortable enough with DAZ Studio to try the tasks from the Itermediate challenges when I have more time in it under my belt. I am still in my 5th month only, as I began using it a week before Christmas 2019.
Beginner Challenge: "Action / Using Props"
I am not sure if this is good enough for prop and action. I want to change the dragon since I bought some new dragon models but they are confusing to pose and armor not working properly. I need more time to figure them out. Atmocams Background looks pixelated. I think I will have to try some HDRI's later. Just a Work in Progress. Gonna take a break for a while and work on some personal projects.
@TristanQEverett - That is a great scene, it tells a story even without a name or any context provided. It immediately raised several questions in my mind, such who is the character, what or who is in the tower, is the dragon guarding it or attacking it, do they know one another, etc. I love such scenes.
You really should give this scene a fitting name, it deserves it.
Yep. I made this after thinking of a story for my own project. I am also totally confused here about what to put in Tower. A kidnapped princess? A powerful artifact?. Is the guy good or bad? Is he going to kill or Just subdue the dragon? lots of things in mind. Even I don't know just yet. XD but make it what you wish.
*** Beginner Entry ***
One of my very first DAZ renders after following a couple of YouTube guides. Very open to critiques and anxious to learn the ropes steadily! Ideally, I would prefer to learn the ins-and-outs of Studio instead of utilizing purchased short-cuts.
Personal learning objectives through future iterations of this render in May 2020:
(1) Better lighting: I find the background lighting dull (point-light); better illumination to show more of the facial expression and reflection in the eyes
(2) Emissive primitive: goal is to learn how to have a transparent, glassy crystal ball with electric/lighting flares inside which are the actual emissive sources of light; the ball is intended to be bluish but it's now almost entirely white
(3) Trying to learn how to add emissives to the yellow floor strips or to make them glow-in-the-dark as another dim source of light
(4) Wardrobe management and materials: the tshirt has shoulder and elbow pads but I have not been able to select just the pads alone and to change the materials/color...
Thanks for your critiques and precious feedback!
This is my first attempt at the Beginners Challenge. I'd like to get more action into this image and check the lighting looks right.
This looks good and your renders are always great.
@sueya - I like the settings and the character pose.
What I learnt myself was that adding depth of field really makes a difference. It is as if you took a photograph with your camera. The camera woudl only only focus on a certain part of the scene and the rest would be the more blurred the further away from the focal point it is. It helps the eye of the beholder, so to say, to focus on your character, and not be distracted by the surroundings too much.
@Sueya Nice render. Just a point of order, having done some dance and gymnastics when I was younger, she should have her hair back in a tail, or she's going to have a bad day. LOL. Hard to stick a landing when your hair is in your face. Other than that I like the pose and the scene in general. Kudos.
entry one: biketopia Action / Using Props
credits: bike by Herminio Nieves - Utopia modular city kit by KITBASH3D
Entry One: Action/Using Props
Here's my start for the month. Might give the modifiers a try but I don't know at this time
entry one version 2: Action / Using Props
title: A Special Delivery
credits: UTOPIA Modular City Kit by KITBASH3D - Heli by Edson - Vespa and Jets by The PixelLAB
clay render reference
@_AL1Ve_ and @Shinji Ikari 9th - you need to specify which challenge is the render for ( I originally forgot to do it too
). You may want to read the challenge rules linked above.
thanks, it's for Action / Using Props
Thanks from me as well, @watchdog79, It's for action/using props.
You may need to edit the post with your entry, and add whether it is a Beginner or an Intermediate challenge entry to it.
Entry One: Action/Using Props
Version B here. Added a muzzle flash to the guy's gun, and some gas containers in the background near the mech landing on the right. The idea is that he realizes that he can't even scratch the paint of the mech if he streaght up shoots at it, so he's trying to detonate the gas containers instead in the hopes that the blast will be able to do some damage.
Nice effect with the muzzle flash. It is a pity we cannot see what is it that the lad is gunning down. What are thow four big dark things? Legs of some robots? It could do a lot to help us make sense of the scene if you moved the camera in a way that we can see more of the targets. Is the right one jumping up or something?
could be Quake 2
I don't think my level is advanced so I woul like to apply for the *****intermediate challenge***** and take the chance to put a small rant about modifiers, mainly dforce:
Maybe it's me missing an important point, but still now not that many clothes work that well with dforce. Newer dforce hair sets do -but not that universal presets pack that was published some years ago-, but if it's about clothes, sooner or later they all explode. Finally, some are not even propely seamed so it's practically impossible to do anything about them using only Daz3D...
So my advice for beginners who struggle to look for realistic conforming clothes is to learn to export morphs to Marvelous Designer and simulate gravity there. You can even fix some seaming issues with a bit of effort. License is quite expensive, but if you are commited to your hobby you can try so save some pocket money over the months and eventually overcome that issue.
Tehre's asuperb tutorial in YT for this made by fellow user WP Guru. Here's the link:
Finally this is my pic to participate. I did it today. Working with dforce hair and the veil was quite a puzzle to solve. Finally I added some primitives over the hair at opacity 0 for the veil to wrap around them. Smoothing modifier did the rest (previous use of MD, obviously).
I had to reduce the resolution to fill in the post. You can check original here https://www.deviantart.com/lvls3dx/art/Bride-1-Yu-841279639 (edit: or just click on it... sorry for the spam :( )
Whilst setting up cameras for DOF, I discovered that there was a mirror on the opposite side of the Dance studio so I have turned the gymnast round. I have also changed her hairstyle. I have also attached a copy of the side view. I am trying to decide which angle is best for the final image.
reply to: TristanQEverett
YES! I love the dragon items, and I like your dragons pose, blue night, mountain background, and lightening.
In my case, I relied upon the dragon slayer packaged poses to create the correct dragon demeanor. I think there is an eye shader for the dragon that I have not played around with yet too.
Thank you!
I'm entering the beginner "props" pose this month as I still consider myself a beginner. This is a simple scene I'm calling Prohibition. The figure I used is Victoria 8. I finally bit the bullet and picked up Victoria because every other product seems to be tailored for her, but I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. I've rendered this scene 4 times and can't get the grain out of her. I don't know what's causing it either. I've just put together a new computer with a rtx 2070 super for rendering and all my other figures look great. She is the only exception. Oh well. Here is the scene anyway. Let me know what you think.
Lol sorry everybody. My picture is a little big. I'll make is smaller next month. I didn't realize how big that would be.