Best model to start with?
monzon
Posts: 7
Hi all,
I have one question: as a beginer, I would like to know which is the best model to start with to have the best visual result.
I have to confess the shop is getting me very confuse between the versions, I'm lost.
I have a powerfull PC, calculation should not be a problem. But money is, I can't buy too many products to start. Need to practice with the (best) one if possible.
Any recomandation (and maybe explanations) will be much appreciated.
Thank you guys, take care!
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You already have the base Genesis figures, assuming you mean human models. While daz would obviously like you to buy add-ons you can certainly get your feet using the free bases. Beyond that, a lot will depend on what areas you are most interested in - do you buy morph packs to sculpt your own figures or are you wanting a series of pre-rolled characters? Do you want to do figure art (portraits), action scenes with the focus on the figures, environments with figures used simply for scale and completeness? Are theer particular genres that catch your fancy - some period of history, some type of fantasy, some style of SF? Thinking about what you want to end up with will probably help to focus your thoughts on what (if anythng) you need to add to your content library.
I recommend Babina 8. She's easy make to look good.
not to brag but 2 of my babina pics are on the top 20 babina pics and i barely did anything to her.
There are 2 base figures you should focus your attention (and decision) on, to keep things managable:
Genesis 3 (in male and female variants) and Genesis 8 (also in male and female variants)
Genesis 3 comes with a bunch of side characters, which have have their names generally end with the number 7: Victoria 7, Aiko 7, Michael 7, etcetera. They're all derived from the Genesis 3 base figures, but these figures also have further figures derived from them.
Genesis 8 also comes with a bunch of side characters, and they (thankfully!) all have their name end with the number 8: Victoria 8, Aiko 8, Michael 8, etcetera. It's like Daz understood that the numbers were confusing, and decided to consolidate them.
Genesis 3 and 8 are very similar, but the small differences they have do mean that they're not entirely interchangable. Clothes for Genesis 8 won't perfectly fit Genesis 3 out of the box, and vice versa, for example. There are tools to make the two more interchangable, but that would require additional purchases. It's worth it in the long run, but for starters, I'd advice picking either Genesis 8 or Genesis 3(not both), and stick with it. Most new products are for Genesis 8, so that's probably the better choice, though the older Genesis 3 products tend to be slightly cheaper. The best choice for you might depend on your personal tastes, Genesis 3 models have a slightly bigger tendency to have "ideal proportions and supermodel aesthetics", while Genesis 8 models are a bit more realistic "every day people" models. There definitely are Genesis 8 supermodel figures, as well as Genesis 3 "avarage Joe" figures, but it is fairly noticable that both lean towards opposite sides of the scale.
In case you have both a nice Genesis 8 figure and a nice Genesis 3 figure: yes, you can put the two together in the same render without problem, they don't bite eachother, unless you pose them to do so.
Also check ShareCG and Renderosity for free models (login required). Some of the freebies require the G3 or G8 head and body morphs, others do not.
When you download Daz Studio make sure you also download the Genesis Starter Essential packs, with generation 3 and 8 being the latest and most compatible with Iray rendering. That gives you the Genesis 3 and Genesis 8 bases. There is also a slew of freebies included with the download.
Victoria 8 and Michael 8 are the flagship figures for each generation but other Offical Daz characters are constantly pushing the envelope for realism. character PRO bundles are always a good option, with the latest releases.
Then you want to get the Daz Head and Body morphs packs. That allows you to dial spin your own unique character elements from the base character.
Which character to recommend depends on the type of renders you plan to do. Some people think Floyd and Ollie and Mabel are awesoe, others might say Babina and Alexandra. That depends on your intended renders.
What kind of images are you hoping to make?
Agreed. Hard to recommend anything unless we know what kinds of renders you want to do. I would stick with the latest base figures (generation 8) though and focus on products for them until you are more comfortable.
I would recommend the Aurore HD character. You get different skin tones, HD morphs, brows, piercings and size morph.
Thank you very much to you all for your comments and replys!
Richard Haseltine My 1st intend is to use human people, to see how I can "shape" them to looks like some people I know, then create face "pictures"
(and maybe using one to make it looking as myself for the fun if that is possible?. Point is to add an avatar looking like me to some video I'm creating myself, to speak for me (but very, very later if I can learn and manage properly). So FirstBastion if I understand, that is possible, right?
But for now, I just need one human base (men and woman) to -let's say - create the most natural, realistic and perfect face. One good start model to learn by following tutos and have a very nice final render.
Are the "basic" good enough to make a render similar as the face on this page (https://www.daz3d.com/help/help-daz-3d-video-tutorials) for exemple?
As far I understand the best seems to be the Génésis 8 versions? Then the most useful one. (thank you davidtriune and alienarea for the info, I will check)
Again, thx all for your time and support! :)
Hi,
The base G8 male and female are ok to start, and they are already in your library. To reach a reasonable grade of realistic face you need to add morphs and textures and that is an expensive task.
If I have to choose a character that out of the box is already good I'd recommend Babina. Texture of Babina are excellent. The pictures show G8 and the same G8 with just the Babina textures. Nothing made more than apply the texture to G8. No morphs, sublevels, etc. nothing.
EDIT: I have added a third picture of Babina as it is, texture and morphs. She is shorter than G8 but render is in the same conditions as the previous ones.
Here's some free G8 morph sliders to get you started: https://sharecg.com/v/91888/view/21/DAZ-Studio/SY-200-Morphs-for-Genesis-8-Head-and-Body
You can get a decent render result using the default HDRI simply by rotating the dome to 100 (Render Settings > Environment > Dome Rotation), turn off the headlamp (Camera > Headlamp > Off), and rendering (after you set up the camera and focus of course).
Lights, cameras, expressions and poses are the real job to make them look realistic. The renders I did were just with default settings with no light apart from the "sunlight" in the render settings. This to say that basic setup in DAZ is already quite nice.
It's important to learn how to do lighting in Daz. However, if you are looking for a bit of instant gratification, HDRIs can provide rather compelling scenes depending on the HDRI.
https://hdrihaven.com has a bunch of free HDRIs, although they do appreciate donations.
HDRI's provide lighting for your scene, based on the background image. It can provide very compelling lighting depending on the HDRI.
HDRIs work well in Iray usually. You can add a free HDRI simply by going under Render Settings/Environment. To the left of the slider for Environment Map you'll usually see a cloudy icon, which when you mouse over it will show the name DTHDR-RuinsB-500. Clicking on this icon will bring up a list, depending on what's in the scene already, and at the top you'll see a Browse... option. Click on this to browse to wherever you put the HDRI you downloaded, and click on the HDRI you want.
Make sure that Environment Mode is set to Dome or Dome and Scene, and if you want to see the HDRI background in your scene set Draw Dome to On. You can rotate the HDRI using Dome Rotation, and of course Environment Map and Environment Intensity can be used to increase/decrease the lighting level. Also, if Draw Ground is on, you'll get a shadow at 'ground level' which can simulate a ground surface to a degree depending on the HDRI used. If Ground Position Mode is set to Auto, it'll set the ground level at the lowest point of the models in your scene. Setting it to manual will set the ground level at the same level as the grid in your viewport, which can then be lowered/raised manually using Ground Origin Y. Note that parts of models that are below the ground level are usually chopped off in the render if Draw Ground is set to on...
Again, you need to set your viewport to Iray mode to actually see the HDRI background, if Draw Dome is also set to On and Environment Mode is set to Dome and Scene or just Dome.
Anyways, HDRIs can be fun to play around with when you are just getting started. You can also add additional lights to scenes with HDRIs in the background. I've never tried using a HDRI in 3Delight, as I don't use 3Delight, so others here can comment on how that might work.
Back on topic:
Also, the freebies on Renderosity and ShareCG have already been mentioned, and a lot of these are indexed on https://poserdazfreebies.mirahaze.org
Poserdazfreebies also indexes a number of freebies available on other sites.
Also check the freebies thread on this forum. A couple of the posts index a number of freebies available on other sites. DeviantArt also has a number of Daz freebies that are available for download from various artists, if you don't mind using the search function to find them.
My point here is that there are a LOT of freebies out there for people that are just getting started, and a number of free tutorials on Youtube and such.
xyer0 Elettrodado tj_1ca9500b, thank you!
I realise I have everything to learn.
Basically, you answered to my question. The stuff provided is enough to render a realistic photo.
I have to learn everything about lights, HDRI, rendering setup and probably some others topics I have no ideas yet. ^^
So thank you very much for your answers, links and help. I will study the best I can and investigate the possibilities and topics you mentionned.
Then, only I will see how to "build" people how I want/need. (to look like me for instance, which means spend money if needed if it worth it, and if I can make something good on final step)
And then learn how to animate them to speak, which is also a stpeo which makes me very nervous. But it's another story for (much) later.
For your information, I know 3DS Max, première pro, audition, After effects, and including 3D characteres is a naturel step to improve my knowledge and productions. Animations is the darkest topic I was never, never good at.
I have a final question, is it better to build an avatar to DAZ and then export it under 3ds (for instance) and then build the scene, lights and everything (as I know 3DS better) or should I build the lights and scene under DAZ and then render a vidéo and insert it to another one. (which look complicated to make elements interact between each video) ? I'm still confuse here.
A full V4 bundle is free right now!
But no Iray materials included, and the textures include a limited sub-set of the maps that would be used for an Iray mterial set, so although I'd certainly grab it it is not perhaps an ideal starting point.
There are two schools of thought when people ask the qustion, "which figure do I start with?". Many people will tell you to start with one of the latest figures (Any of the Genesis 8 figures like Michael 8, Victoria 8 etc). From a purely technical viewpoint this makes sense as you get all the latest bells and whistles that come with these figures such as improved preformance, more realistic posing, better materials and so on. On the other hand you might not find as much content as you would for a slightly older generation model like Genesis 3 for example. If you have a look at the store you will see that there's a much wider range of content available for those figures than for Genesis 8.
Of course Genesis 8 has been out for quite a while now so that should not be too much of a concern regardles but going forward you always have to decide if you want the latest technology or the biggest wardrobe. Also keep in mind that whatever you go for will eventually become 'outdated' as DAZ has to keep pushing out new models to make money. Personally I would say go with Genesis 8 characters so that when we get the new series in a few monhs or so your library won't be too far outdated.
If you are making your own characters, then the head morph packages are extremely useful for your task. The Base characters that come free with dazstudio are the starting point, then these morphs can help you change the look of the face and head.
https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-8-male-head-morphs
https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-8-female-head-morphs
There are other head morph packages which you can get later, but these are the Daz3D official morphs.
Depending on your character it might be you only need to purchase one character pack and one morph set. I started out with 1 clothing set and didn't purchase hair. As others mentioned you can use free HDRIs in the beginning if you don't want to purchase a light set in the beginning (to be honest in my opinion for some powerful light sets it makes sense to become more familiar with Iray lighting first before you purchase them to understand their strengths). With these minimums you can already make renders with your custom character.