Seeking help to create dragons and female warriors
mcleod2008
Posts: 0
Hi everyone, I am totally new to this area of creative working and in many ways have total admiration and respect (mixed with envy) for anyone who is able to utilise such software.
I am a film maker based in Cumbria, UK and am after some help to create, for some promotional material, several images that require Daz and Bryce.
Firstly, I am seeking a Dragon, something unique to my vision, inspired by Dragonlance, the more realistic it looks the better
Secondly, I am also hoping to have someone come on board to work on conceptual ideas for characters and creatures for a package we're poutting together, at the moment I am asking for someone to offer their free time, but when the time comes, would offer first refusal to join the production team under contractual agreement to assist with the artistis designs for that project, the more we put in now, the better the chances actually are as the project is based on a book first published in the 80's and with close ties to the author, we are in a good position.
Basically, any help would be more than welcome and most certainly appreciated
My direct e-mail is celticstormfilms(at)live(dot)com
Rick
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Comments
Moved to the Commons as it is a request for help.not an offer of a freebie.
thanks Richard, still find my way round the forums, it's a bit like like the software, all new to me
I think the figure you can start with when it comes to dragons is Millennium SubDragon Limited Edition included with DAZ Studio for free to see how it moves etc. - then you can compare Millennium Dragon 1.0, 2.0, Millennium SubDragon and DAZ Dragon 3 to see which one suits your vision best. I will be happy to help if I can, but I think it would pay off shortly if you told us more about your project. It sounds pretty exciting by the way!
First thoughts? I'd get all the free tutorials and bundles with free content from here to get a brief impression of what's available. Interactive Lessons will certainly come in handy: http://www.daz3d.com/interactive-lessons (don't forget you also need the following to use the newest two tutorials: http://www.daz3d.com/basicwear-for-m4 and http://www.daz3d.com/basicwear-for-v4-unimesh).
In general, I am more likely to leave the creation down to the creator (I do literally get easily inspired by others work), the dragon is female and the idea is to create something really special, my own vision is that she would be a dark blue to a sapphire extent and capable of having a mounting saddle, although not what i am after for this instance.
I am planning to create a short fantasy film titled Legacy of the Lost, it is very much Dragonlance inspired and one focus I would love to see is one of the characters brought to life, this character being the female dragon. She is dark and evil when in the form of dragon and also dark elf. (The dark elf side we're leaving out)
The plan is to showcase all the talent put in and promote it to a high standard for a feature concept based on the same story, but for the short film, i want to keep it as simple as possible since we're all dedicating time into the film.
Initially, I would be after the head with a focus on the eyes, if they can be animated to blink, then great or even if the head can turn slightly.
The idea is to green screen a Human actor on a rocky ledge, the dragon would be too his side listening to his instruction, at first we would not see the dragon, so the viewers don't know who he is talking too until that reveal at the end.
I was planning to create the sahdow of the dragon on the rock face and have it fly off, but, to be honest, even i think that is asking too much at this stage.
That is the dragon assistance I am after though
I didn't realise there was a dragon with Daz, so will check that out this week, got it on my laptop just never had the chance to play around with it or Bryce, but I have such huge admiration for everyone who is able to use this software, some of the images I've seen just blows me away
how many you want? http://www.daz3d.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=dragon&x=0&y=0
...I knew somebody will eventually post a straight link :coolgrin:. Although for me the amount is rather scary.
If you want to have an animation, then somebody who knows the ropes is required. You CAN animate in DS, but most people make still renders, I think. DAZ Dragon 3 definitely has mounting equipment. Actually, LOTS of it. Which one appeals to you?
PS Getting any kind of elves is a piece of cake thanks to different fantasy races morph packs by DarioFish (on Renderosity, we can't link there as those are mainly paid-for products, just search).
The elf detail is a long way off, right now and more likely to be live action with an actress nearer the time.
For the dragon though, I would actually settle for a still image of the dragon or the model so that I can then perhaps open up in daz and take stills at different angles (I am guessing that would be a doable notion), even a still image can be manipulated in after effects.
Quite literally, I welcome all guidance and appreciate it too
Then you are ready to go! Get DS for free, Shader Mixer 1 Tutorial for free, Interactive Lessons I mentioned and install the stuff. Then go to DS, open the tab for ILs and follow the instructions. You will have the opportunity to take fine stills from any angle, pose the dragon yourself and change its colour as well. Without any purchase, although the purchasables do offer more flexibility, I assume. SubDragon LE is more than enough for me, though (plus I grabbed MilDragon 1.0, MilDragon 2.0 and Eastern Dragon when they were given away for free and they're very good too).
True, have seen some gorgous models I do plan to purchase, I'll have to see how I get on, some areas I can get on really well with like video editing and special FX, but this, this is a whole new area for me and even now wonder if I should leave for those with more ability than myself, but I want to give it a try myself first.
Regarding females - warriors or not - V6 is free this weekend: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/43132/.
Any of the dragons can be animated to that extent. Millennium Dragon 2.0 can also be made to speak with Mimic Live. Both Mill dragon 2 and dragon 3 have expressions and face morphs. I looked up Dragonlance on the net for pictures and most of them had external ears. Mill dragon 2 is the only one I am sure has ears. If that isn't important, then you could use any of them fairly easily.
Gus
Hi McLeod,
Many of the dragons sold here look pretty damned good, except for their wings--though no fault of the vendors selling them.
I find the wings to be problematic due to Poser, D/S and other programs just don't allow for connections of child body parts by-passing their parents (such as the end of the Little Finger to the Hip). As a result, the trailing edge of the wing membranes along the torso always end well before the dragon's pelvis.
However, there is a way of getting around that limitation: Swidhelm & a few other folks discovered that by replacing a dragon model's built-in wing membranes with cloth membrane simulations, which do allow for anchoring the wing's trailing edge between the end of the Little Finger & Hip, or even Tail, the dragons look SOOOO much more impressive than with such "shaved-wingpits".
You can find several of Swidhelm's products at Renderosity. There's some very impressive videos showing the cloth-membranes in action in his page there. If you've seen movies like Beowulf & How To Train Your Dragon, you probably haven't yet realized you were looking at such technology already. Here's the DAZ Dragon's wings redone: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/swidhelms-mill-wings/75004/
We can animate in D/S, we [I think most of us] can render the animation to stills, pasting them all together in another program. [any video editor you want to use, I use one called Pinnacle].
Casting shadows is not a problem either. One adds in some "lights" and on the parameters tab turn shadows on.
Basically set up the lights like one would for real life filming [back lights, side lights etc].
oh yes ... there's even a green screen set product in the store :-)
[haven't used it yet but it looks like fun]