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jellynuts13  
#1 Posted : Tuesday, February 19, 2019 5:53:13 PM(UTC)
jellynuts13

Rank: Newbie

Joined: 10/19/2017(UTC)
Posts: 5

Hey everyone,


I'm interested in seeing how different people approach their projects; particularly the pros who post their art on this site, as I'm still learning myself. What is your work flow which works the best when working with DAZ?


I've been trying things in a different order to see which is the most efficient.


I 've been going with: Posing, Environment, Lighting, Camera setup, Render. I think it's working okay it's a pain trying to get poses just right when everything is stuttering due to loading going on in the background.


Looking forward to your replies.


 


 


 


 


 


Thunder-3D  
#2 Posted : Tuesday, February 19, 2019 7:36:59 PM(UTC)
Thunder-3D

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Joined: 12/31/2016(UTC)
Posts: 410

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For me the workflow is:

Characters-
First the shape. I use some full body morphs but I try to keep them simple, drastic changes in height mean more time spent adjusting the pose. Also excessive over-dialing a figure may look good while the character in still in t-pose, but makes it a nightmare to work with and the results are usually pretty bad.
For the body I prefer to use a single character morph that looks good and doesn't change the character height too much, then tweak the figures using individual area morphs (chest, legs, torso etc) because you have WAY more control. Finally I select the face/head I'm going to use and maybe tweak the eyes and lips a little. Lastly I'll add an HD morph if it looks good on the character. As a rule I try not to use more than 20 total morphs per-figure and most of those are only dialed in at 20-30 percent.
Next I chose the mats. Lately I've been using almost exclusively Fred Winkler, Mousso and DAZ core character mats, new G8 "chroma" style. They look great and usually need very little or no color adjustment. After buying a TON of random figures from dozens of PA's and being disappointed when they just didn't look like they belonged in the same scene, I decided it was easier and had better results when I settled on a few PA's figures because they worked well together and had the "look" I was going for.
Hair (I'm addicted to Out Of Touch hairs) The more style and movement morphs the better because they add so much to a render when you use them.
Clothing. This depends on the genre of the scene (obviously) but I almost always kitbash the hell out of outfits and I probably buy WAY more clothing than I actually use O_o

Environment-
For me it's usually either a fantasy setting like a lava filled dungeon, glowing crystal cavern or a bright outdoor setting, or a sci-fi setting with lots of blinky, emissive light stuff going on. Either way I'm looking for lighting opportunities. I try to keep it relatively simple to save on memory, which means a faster render.
Lastly I add anywhere from 1 to 3 tiny little super bright focused lights, and if the environment is open enough I'll select an HDRI background to speed up rendering further and give the setting "atmosphere".

Grouping-
(this is the most important part that people ignore and lose a LOT of time)
Once the environment and lighting is done, I create a group for everything except the characters, lights (if possible) and the" interaction" props (bed, chair, crates etc.) that the characters will interact with. I then put the "environment" group into a second group that also has the interaction props and the lights if they're fixed and uncheck that whole group so it's not selectable while I'm posing. This allows me to turn off the background while I'm posing and testing lights, it speeds up the process dramatically. This also allows me to move the entire environment around the figures or rotate it if need be. Most of the time it's actually easier to move your grouped environment to suit the figures than move/rotate the figures, camera, point lights etc.




Once this is done I have an environment that can be reused over and over, and all the hard work is done.



Posing-
Having the above already done makes creating the scene very easy. I just turn off the environment group, pose my figures, switch on iRay for lighting test, switch off to make adjustments, turn on everything and render. Also don't underestimate the value of Depth Of Field. On a more "toony" render I usually leave it off, but if I'm doing a more realistic (or surrealistic) render I always adjust DOF) 


 


Rinse and repeat.


 



Hope this is helpful :)


My Gallery for referrence

 

Edited by user Tuesday, February 19, 2019 7:49:14 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

jellynuts13  
#3 Posted : Tuesday, February 19, 2019 8:04:19 PM(UTC)
jellynuts13

Rank: Newbie

Joined: 10/19/2017(UTC)
Posts: 5

Hey Thunder!


That's been really helpful actually, I'm definitely going to be trying some of your techniques. The grouping system you use sounds incredibly useful.


I've only just discovered how to use HDR's for lighting and adding atmosphere; even at my novice level I can really see how much of a difference it makes with making the models appear less flat.


You've given me a lot of useful info that I'll be referring back to. Thanks heaps for your reply.


Peace.


 


 


 


sam2345  
#4 Posted : Tuesday, February 19, 2019 8:46:06 PM(UTC)
sam2345

Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 5/20/2017(UTC)
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Hi jelly,


I wouldn't call myself a "pro" by any means, but here's my two cents:  don't have a workflow.  I'm serious, don't.  It impedes your creativity, in my humble opinion.


Once, Jeff Bridges the actor gave an interview in which he explained that he insists on the director not yelling "CUT" if he or someone stumbles over a line or gets it a little wrong - he goes with it, because, as he said, to do otherwise would be to turn down a gift from Buddha.  Often, the mistake turns out better than the original intent, in other words.  I find that this is true in art.


When I get an idea for a render, in general, I'll piece it together in different ways depending on my mood.  Sometimes I see an angle on a face or my imagination forms an image, and the part of that "vision" I see is where I start.  Every good piece of art has a focal point, and in my opinion you start THERE, and build outwards.  I think it was Robert Capa a who said "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  I believe that is true in the sense that you figure out what your focus for an image is going to be, what inspired you to want to make the render in the first place, and you get close to that conceptually, all else is trim and window dressing.


Anyway, sorry if that wastes your time. 


Causam


EDIT: I misidentified the quote, got my "c's" mixed up.  It was Robert Capa, NOT Frank Capra who said if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. I changed it above.

Edited by user Wednesday, February 20, 2019 8:43:33 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

jellynuts13  
#5 Posted : Wednesday, February 20, 2019 7:00:47 PM(UTC)
jellynuts13

Rank: Newbie

Joined: 10/19/2017(UTC)
Posts: 5

Originally Posted by: causam Go to Quoted Post


Hi jelly,


I wouldn't call myself a "pro" by any means, but here's my two cents:  don't have a workflow.  I'm serious, don't.  It impedes your creativity, in my humble opinion.


Once, Jeff Bridges the actor gave an interview in which he explained that he insists on the director not yelling "CUT" if he or someone stumbles over a line or gets it a little wrong - he goes with it, because, as he said, to do otherwise would be to turn down a gift from Buddha.  Often, the mistake turns out better than the original intent, in other words.  I find that this is true in art.


When I get an idea for a render, in general, I'll piece it together in different ways depending on my mood.  Sometimes I see an angle on a face or my imagination forms an image, and the part of that "vision" I see is where I start.  Every good piece of art has a focal point, and in my opinion you start THERE, and build outwards.  I think it was Robert Capa a who said "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  I believe that is true in the sense that you figure out what your focus for an image is going to be, what inspired you to want to make the render in the first place, and you get close to that conceptually, all else is trim and window dressing.


Anyway, sorry if that wastes your time. 


Causam


EDIT: I misidentified the quote, got my "c's" mixed up.  It was Robert Capa, NOT Frank Capra who said if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. I changed it above.



Hi Causam,


Not at all, I think you're offering some pretty sound advice also. I think once I get more familiarity with how Daz works and what I can actually do with it, I can worry less about technical things and be able to carry out my ideas more efficiently. For the time being, I'm still learning and experimenting and probably a fair way off making beautiful artwork like we see on this site. But, it's definitely an enjoyable journey especially when you have those 'aha' moments with finding something new which completely changes how your renders turn out.


Cheers for the advice! I'll take what you say on board.


 


 


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