My Daz "Can't live without" list.
cdpro_2831bbd990
Posts: 1,430
I know similar threads have been posted. But, I was thinking to myself, "If I were going to approach the Daz hobby by spending as little as possible to get the most bang for what I create 90% of the time, what would I buy?" Anyway, here's my short list.
1. Elianeck Iray Lights Set 1 - This basic scene light setup is my go to starting setup. I love it on its own and as augmentation for HDRI.
2. Facegen Artist Pro - I know that it has its quirks and somewhat of a learning curve to get good results. But, I still use this all of the time to generate new morphs.
3. HinkyPunk's Build-a-Babe texture creator for Photoshop. This is a terrific template and merchant resource skin set. If you are comfortable with Photoshop, this is even easier to use that the automatic skin generator scripts.
4. Thorne's morphs for G3F and G8F. I think I own all of them. These are great for building original characters.
5. Annagenessis 2 - really great for putting more life into Iray skins. It doesn't work on every skin. But, it works well on most.
6. Swam's Seema hair - A great hairstyle with many looks. There are many other great hairstyles. But, this is a go to for me.
7. P3D Iray Eye Resource - again, a great way to change character looks with detailed irises.
8. Sickleyield's Fast Flames Iray - Just really great for adding fire to your scene without killing the render time.
9. Stonemason's Iray Clouds - multiplane billboard clouds that can add a lot of atmosphere to your render.
10. DimensionTheory Outdoor HDRI Environments - A quick and good looking set of environment skydomes that require very little tweaking for fit or lighting.
These are just a few of my most used items. I'm curious to hear what other's consider to be their, "If I could only own my top ten items..."
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Comments
My top ten list would definitely include Mec4D PBS Shaders vol. 1 and vol. 2, plus Dramatic Iray Lights and j.cade's Painter's Lights (which now appears to have left the DAZ store). I'd also want DZFire's Nurnies Greebles Parts and Pieces, possibly all three sets. I find myself using Skies of Iradiance a lot too.
If I could only own one thing and wasn't allowed to use or own any other software or content, it would probably be Carrara 8.5 Pro. Of course the downside to that is that it's not being maintained, so eventually it will stop working and I'll be very sad. Although I might leave the house a little more often.
Michael4, Freak4 & Genesis (male) and the generic body morphs and "Massive" and "Swole" and "Creature Creator" morph sets for them.
The M4 "Vincent" and "Trey" and "Beck" textures, and Jepe's M4 "Project Hairy".
The "ShortCut" hair by Maya. And April's "Devonar" hair.
The "Freak horns" (F3). (Old technology but quite adaptable)
The F4 "Gym Rat Extreme", M4 "Barbarian" boots & loin cloth, clothing
And finally the 3rd party (i.e. not available via DAZ) Ulf's "Ulfgens2" toast. And Jepe's "Real Ulf Gens" morphs and textures for the um... more mature scenes. (Old technology but quite adaptable)
I use no special lighting other than the lights available natively with DAZ Studio itself. (Old technology but quite adaptable) And use only 3Delight rendering.
Edited to add: And for scenery I frequently use the old "Multiplane Cyclorama", "Woodland Realm" and "Millenium Environment" stages.
Scene optimizer by V3Digitimes : https://www.daz3d.com/scene-optimizer
One of the best tools to manage the memory footprint. Can shave a lot of time of renders.
There are some many other products, but this one is pretty much my go-to for a lot of scenes!
Hmmmmm, things I can't live without? Currently it's these items:
Any of the G8 heel products by Arryn over at Rendo
Classic Long hair with dforce from Linday https://www.daz3d.com/classic-long-hair-with-dforce-for-genesis-8-females
Nail system for G3 and G8 by Nikisatez https://www.daz3d.com/nail-system-for-genesis-3-and-8-female-s
HDRI/probe light freebie from valzheimer on their site
Stocking addon from Idler168 at Rendo
Randomizer from Simtenero (version 1 instead of version 2) https://www.daz3d.com/simtenero-randomizer
Any fiber mesh hair products from RedzStudio
Any of Mec4D's PBS shaders for Iray
Aako's Dry Mud Desert https://www.daz3d.com/dry-mud-desert-iray-and-add-ons
Let's see...
If I'd spend more time on it, I could probably add a few more convienence items to the list...
"If I were going to approach the Daz hobby by spending as little as possible to get the most bang for what I create 90% of the time, what would I buy?"
I've spent a lot since I got into Daz, if I were to boil it down to what gets used most often, it's the older figures Genesis now mostly since I got GenX-2, but still ocassionally Gen-4 and the older Mil-3s (I do a lot of multi-figure scenes, and the latter Genesis figures while absolutely wonderful, do overload my system and more likely to cause random freezes) - it's also quite fun and instructive overcoming the limitations of the older figures.
Lights - I flit between 3Delight and Iray, so I like lights that I can swap in and out if I switch engines - BWC Skies / Sedor Skies, GiDome (3Delight and Iray versions), IBL Master.
Conversion scripts - Almost all of Riversofts pose manipulation script tools.
- Sickleyield/RiversoftArts (RSSY) 3DLtoIray and Irayto3DL : Uber surface application usually did the trick for 3DL to Iray conversion, but near faultless skin conversion of Mil-3s is wonderful
- v3digitimes iray skin conversions : RSSY sometimes messes up gen-4 skin conversion and just isn't as flexible.
- Sickleyields clothing fit sets and rigs : Almost easy to forget they aren't part of Daz until you use it wthout them.
Clothing - MFD and generic tunic outfits still useful.
Clothing Shaders - Fistys Aelfeds, Fabricator, Bazaar, HSS Gem Shaders 1 (3DL), Gems and Metals, Fisty & Darc Fabric basics, creative emissive lighting Iray
Effects - Porsimos Morphing Flames (3delight & iray materials again), Braziers (same reason).
There are more, but these are the items I use most often.
Any of Maclean's "everyday" sets. (Especially Everyday Morphing Primitives!)
DZfire's emissive lighting.
All three Nurnie's Greebles
Iray Worlds Skydomes
UHT Hair Shaders for Iray (All 3 sets)
Both PD Iray Shader Kits. (Invaluable for converting older clothes to Iray
I guess you can tell I'm fond of kitbashing...
Genesis 3 Female Body Morphs
Genesis 3 Female Head Morphs
Genesis 3 Male Body Morphs
Genesis 3 Male Head Morphs
Genesis 3 Starter Essentials
Genesis 8 Female Body Morphs
Genesis 8 Female Head Morphs
Genesis 8 Male Body Morphs
Genesis 8 Male Head Morphs
Genesis 8 Starter Essentials
@BeeMKay Thank you for including Altern8 for Genesis 8 in your "Can't Live Without" list - that made my day! :)
Wow! Forgot about Iray hair shaders...
UHT 1 - Worth having on top of UHT 2 and the colored hair one)?
Woops!
Double Post
Great comments so far! I realize that there are many many great products that won't make the lists...not because they aren't fantastic...but moreso because they aren't used constantly. And of course, there are many that I just plain forgot about until someone else mentioned them. That's a big part of what this posting is about...telling everyone else about your favorite products that you really get a lot of use out of, that you would buy again if you had to because you like them that much. Personally, I have thousands of Daz products that just sit on my drive. That doesn't mean they aren't worthwhile...just that they don't get used very often. So, this list is all about what products that you really get a lot of use out of...the ones that seem to show up in a good majority of your renders...or make your life easier when creating a scene...the 3D kind...not a tantrum...unless of course, a tantrum is what you're rendering. ;)
Diva, I love Altern8...just haven't had a chance to play with it much, yet. I'm sure it will become a go to skin set for me. :) And, I'm ++ on Mec4D metals. Set 2 is my favorite.
One thing that I use quite often that I forgot to mention is Wet Body Iray 3. FYI it works great for G8F as well. I've also gotten a lot of use out of Phil W's Iray Lustre Hair Shaders and IDG Iray Hair Essentials.
For FX, I've gotten a lot of use of IDG FX Shaders. I like layering them with geoshells.
Most Bang for your Buck-- join PC+ club. Hands down. Then you get the Pro Bundles at a very nice discount (not to mention a bunch of the stuff other folks have listed up above). Even if you don't like the particular shape in the bundle, they usually come with a couple hairs, clothes, poses and a couple other things that you can get a lot of use out of. With the base morph sets that have already been listed (which get a nice discount), you can refine the shape to your liking AND you get a *ton* of JCMs to make bends even smoother and more natural with each base figure like Victoria, Michael, Vladmir, etc. Jack Tomalin's sets are all PC+. On top of all that, you get 2 coupons a month and one is for purchases from your friendly and helpful PAs *nudge, nudge, wink, wink*. Seriously, a lot of the buying clubs aren't worth it, but PC+ pays for itself *fast*.
Alliance Outfit for Genesis 3 Females
Those wedged bootsies are great for use with all kinds of futuristic bodysuits, which generally don't have high heels. The wedges (which I normally don't like!) make them look stable, while maintaining a sleek overall design. So they pretty much turned into my default go-to option for shoes.
PC+ membership
G3 and G8 starter essentials and head and body morphs
Zevo's morph collections
DarioFish and Sickleyield's respective fantasy shapes and features products
Dimension Theory's iRadiance products
Various iray shaders for fabrics and hair from PA's such as JGreenlees, Destiny's Garden, UHT and others
Amything made by Stonemason
Jack Tomalin's products
Altern8 skin shader system
RSSY clothing converters
Sickleyield's tutorials
HD morphs
There are more products that I love to use and could add but it would become a really long post. These products are the core of that list
I’ve been perusing the Daz forums for quite a while now, and I rarely post, but this topic made me want to take stock of what I find myself using the most.
Just like anyone who has been a platinum club member for any length of time, I have a growing list of items that all seem like great investments at the time of purchase. However, there is only so much time to actually test out the new items, usually purchased in bulk with many other fun looking toys, that not everything gets a fair chance to be considered in such a list. I’m quite sure that I have tools and items in my inventory waiting to be discovered and added as invaluable additions to my workflow. I decided to just look through the renders I’ve done over the last few years and see what is a consistent staple. I’m not going to say these are the best products I own, just the ones I find myself gravitating to naturally since coming to Daz.
Measure Metrics
For some reason, it's important for me to know the real world dimensions of my characters and props. This is a very helpful tool for recreating people's likenesses from real life. When working with figures this is where I always start.
Genesis 3
It was a very expensive process figuring out what model I wanted to work with. I came along at the tail end of the Genesis 2 lifecycle and the introduction of Genesis 3. I started with Genesis 2, slowly ended up with more Genesis 3 and dabbled with Genesis 8. I found Genesis 3 to be the sweet spot for my needs and compatibility with newer and older figures. Combined with the various clothes fitting tools available, I find it to be the most versatile platform imo. I wish I had been able to arrive at this conclusion earlier, to think of all the money I spent on figure lines I have no intention of using anymore..well..lets not think about that.
Ghost Lights combined with Real Lights
Are a constant in my interior renders, I can't imagine working without them.
FaceGen Artist Pro
I use this all the time, it's not a perfect tool, but combined with other face morphs it can get you closer to the mark than several hours tweaking dials on your own.
DA Real World Lighting
I was wowed by this product at first, but as I learned Daz I quickly felt I could have kept my money and done the same thing using the "Render Settings>Environment" tab. Having said that, I do find myself using it for all of my outdoor scenes. It's a short cut I maybe would not have purchased in hindsight, but as long as I have it I'm going to use it.
Sketchy-Toon Edge and Art Style Shaders for Iray
I have a strange reason for citing this product. I rarely use the toon shaders in my renders, but this set came with a environment map that I almost always use as a base for my lighting. The silly thing is, it's just a white to black gradient. I could have spit one out from photoshop in 5 seconds for free, but who knew it was going to give great results? Sometimes the item takes a backseat to what you learn from using it. That is definitely the case for this one.
Wear Them All
There are several products offered in this line for compatibility with different figures, and I also own similar products from other vendors. Anything that ports clothing from other figure platforms to Genesis 3 I want to own. I use this tool or some form of it relentlessly.
Jersey Dress Outfit
Not a bad outfit, but I list this for one item and only because I noticed it showing up in many renders on different characters. There are many types of footwear available for the Genesis females, but for some reason I find these boots to be very versatile. The default morphs allow for easy fitting and compatibility with any kind of pants you throw at them, and if you turn off limits, the heel can be shortened further. Nothing real special, just a product I find myself using a lot.
Light It Up Iray Lights
One of the first light sets I purchased for Iray. I can't really say it's any better or worse that others I own, but as it was my first, I go to it a lot as a default when I just want to quick throw some light at something.
EveryDay Poses: Walking for Genesis 3 Females
I find this pose set to be a good starting point for generic renders. If gives a hint of action and motion to characters when test rendering that other standing poses lack.
Here's an image I submitted earlier this year in the "New Users Challenge" focused on lighting. I used every product listed above with the exception of "EveryDay Poses" and "Light It Up Iray Lights".
Anyway, that's my top ten from the last 2 years or so, I'll retreat back to the dark quiet corners of the forum again.