Tag: daz studio

Using 3D to make comic books part 2

Using 3D to make comic books, for a beginner, DAZ Studio is a good one. It’s free, it’s not too difficult to handle until you start getting into the more advanced features, but for setting up and lighting a scene, it’s excellent for learning. Personally, I dove in with Poser 7.

Poser’s good, but I found myself often having trouble using it despite having a book to guide me. Other programs offer more heavy-duty features for making props, clothing, hair and other things, but as they get fancier, they get more expensive.

A leading complaint against using 3D I’ve often mentioned is that 3D figures and clothes look stiff and lifeless. You’ll be confronted by this, so be ready for it. I’ve begun to counteract it by making things more dynamic. Dynamic meaning realistic simulation of cloth in particular.

The other half of that complaint likely has to do with the lighting of the actor and its textures. That would mean it’s wise to pay close attention to the lighting of the scene when you do renders.

Just like pencil and paper, you need to pay close attention to even the smallest details in your renders as these are actually more noticeable in 3D unless you use depth of field to blur out the boo-boos in the background. What about the boo-boos of the character?

Some don’t like to be posed certain ways and can even poke through their clothes despite fixes. Well, post work is useful if you just can’t get the 3D to behave the way you want it to. The GIMP is an excellent freebie image editor that’s lightweight and easy on the computer.

One thing that’s been extremely handy for me is the ability to render scenes even on my little 2-in-1 Windows 10 tablet. Taking my library on the go and setting up characters, or even scenes has been a heavy-duty time saver, but it just doesn’t have the power of the computer.

That means I need programs that aren’t resource intense. DAZ and GIMP are a spectacular combination for this. Unless I setup a heavily complicated scene, my little tablet can render it. If I do setup a heavily complicated scene, I can save it to render on the computer.

 

 

Using 3D to make comic books Part 1

Using 3D to make comic books is a challenge in many ways, but don’t let that discourage you. If you love 3D and love the idea of making comic books, nothing should deter you from it.

Let’s look at some harsh realities to be sure you’re determined to follow this path. First of all, the comic book market is cut throat. These fans in general are hard core about how comics are written and drawn. Plenty of them just aren’t ready to accept comics rendered using 3D software.

If you’re like me, your hand drawings aren’t bad, but just not up to industry standards for some reason or another. My shortcomings include proportion and shading along with perspective and foreshortening. My drawings are good, but not impressive in the comic book world, yet I love making them. The solution to my problem became using 3D software to make up the artistic difference. This led to a whole new set of problems, though.

While characters, props and sets are consistent and look good, new problems arose. These included lighting, camera angle and composition like in the two images above. How then, to solve this problem? Study, practice, constantly scrounge around for tutorials to learn as much as possible. That’s still pretty much fumbling along in the dark, isn’t it? I’ve found that a good many movies have special features on the DVDs and frequently include featurettes talking about how the movie was made.

Using 3D is similar enough to making a movie that these lessons have been extremely valuable to me. They discuss lighting, camera angles and movement, ways to setup a scene for dramatic actions and all sorts of other related things.
Okay, it doesn’t have to worry about sewing costumes or anything along those lines, but making props, making up the actors, dressing actors, setting up a scene, placing the lights and cameras for the best effect and things like that? Definitely!

So, will it someday be accepted by the comic book industry? Probably. I’ve got a couple how to draw comics books that already discuss using these programs for background elements. I’ve seen others on the market and at the local library that use it for the cover or a photograph, even. It’s a slow transition so far and for 3D artists, it’s not going to be easy. Still want to make your own comics using these programs?

 

What makes 3D so difficult?

What makes 3D so difficult to handle is that it has a very steep learning curve more often than not. I’ve found people that assume because the computer does a lot of the work that 3D isn’t art and it’s lazy to use. Let me assure you: nothing is further from the truth!

True, some programs, like DAZ Studio or even Poser are good for beginners or hobbyists and make setting up a scene reasonably easy to do, but that doesn’t mean the rendered art will be good quality. Like pencil and paper, there’s basic techniques and much more advanced ones. It’s the difference between a stick figure with dots for eyes and a line for a smile and a fully detailed anatomically correct figure that’s nicely lit and realistic.

Anyone can draw a stick figure, but that much higher quality figure with all the details and lighting? That can take years of practice. The very same holds true of 3D art.

First and foremost, it’s very much art. If it isn’t, it shouldn’t be in movies as a special effect since it takes special effects artists to use it for movies. What are they using if it isn’t art? Secondly, it’s constantly changing and improving, so just because some amateur hasn’t yet mastered even the basics isn’t a reason to tell them to use pencil and paper.

Four years ago, I knew next to nothing about 3D art. I posed bald, nude figures in Poser with default lighting and painted hair and clothes in Photoshop. As I learned more, my methods changed. Figures began having clothes and hair, I began experimenting with lights and camera angles.

Being a 3D artist is a lot like being a movie director. You have to be able to work with all the various departments to get the scene just right. Actors, wardrobe, hair, makeup, lights, cameras and other things have to be prepared for the scene to be complete. Finding, creating and effectively rendering the scene elements is more complicated than some might imagine. Even when you think the scene looks the way you want it, it doesn’t mean the final render will have the desired result. That means post work, which can get almost as complicated as setting up the scene in the first place.

The truth is there’s a million ways a scene can go wrong. True, pencil and paper mean you can simply erase the part that’s not the way you want it, but what if it’s already inked? That means hours with white-out or something similar to correct the problem.

Lots of ways to mess up, lots of ways to create incredible art. It’s a matter of time, patience and a lot of practice.

Learning resumes!

Learning resumes? When did it stop? Well, a lesson had to be learned the hard way that did stop my studies briefly this week. Although I’ve been around computers most of my life, apparently, I still don’t know some things about them.

I put my 3D programs and library on an external hard drive I got for Christmas and when I went to switch it from my tablet to the computer, the tablet claimed it was still in use even though nothing was open and using it. The mistake was pulling out the hard drive anyway.

Not long after, I discovered that neither the tablet nor the computer would recognize the hard drive and after doing everything I could to recover it, I finally had to format it. Fortunately, I’ve got a good file recovery program for deleted files and that’s helped restore the lost files. The problem with that is the file structure I had is now gone and to get things back to normal, files will have to be moved around and programs more than likely reinstalled again. As you can imagine, that would in fact slow down my studies a great deal.

Yet, I haven’t been idle while the computer’s been restoring files. This site did go down – likely a faulty plugin update – a couple days ago and that needed to be fixed as well. In the middle of the technology acting up, a bunch of plush figures have been created. They’re waiting for hair, clothes and faces, but they’re ready.

In the middle of all this, an idea for a one-shot comic was found. I’ll be working that idea out and coming up with the necessary designs so when my 3D library’s back to normal, I can possibly start that into production.

I bet you’re thinking “Wow, what a mess!” Well, it’s simple enough to say it goes with the territory I’ve chosen. Computers do have a bad habit of messing up, but that’s what backups are good for, right? Even when things go haywire, I’m not idle.

First lesson of the new year!

Happy New Year again! The first lesson of the new year is an incredibly exciting one! For the longest time, scenes have taken quite a while to render, even using DAZ’s less complicated render engine, 3Delight. I made some fantastic scenes that would take up to 10 hours to render mostly because background elements were so complicated. I’ve been trying to find a solution to that problem for a long time, and having discovered it finally, I’ll share my technique with you.

Why would I want to reveal this secret new technique that solves the problem of slow render times because of complicated backgrounds? Well, they say “In teaching you will learn” so I’m going to teach the technique and see if I learn something in the teaching as well.

Let’s say you’ve got this really awesome scene in DAZ. A great background, characters in cool poses, lights and a cool camera angle, but… it’s slower than molasses in January rendering, right? 10, 12 hours and it’s at what? 80%? Especially with Iray. Iray’s definitely heavy-duty, but the renders are impressive, too, right? Take it from someone with an older computer, those long render times are murder on the system and what if DAZ decides to crash mid-render? You’d really want to scream, right? I know I would! Well, what if you could still have an awesome scene, but far less complicated? I can’t say this’ll work for any scene, but it’ll help if you want to do a sweeping mountain vista or broad city.

So, what’s this mysterious secret? I’m coming to that, bear with me a moment. Like you, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been mid-render on a fabulous scene when DAZ suddenly decided to crash. Worse, after the crash, the program has a hard time opening the file again because it’s so large and complex. Lesson learned: complex scenes might look great, but they’re horribly harsh on the machine trying to render them! Let’s solve that problem together, shall we?

Let’s take a cool city for example. You’ve setup the building props, skydome and anything else you want. That alone is pretty complicated, right? Don’t add those characters yet! Instead, pick the center of your scene and put a level camera in it. You’ll probably want a simple lighting setup, too. Me, I used a basic 3 point light setup, but you can get fancier if you’d like.

I found out the hard way that a 30 frame rotation image series seems to be too many images to line up smoothly, but for my experiment, it served me well. So, render an image series with that camera in a full 360 degree rotation. Probably using fewer than 30 frames. Best to use the Y rotate parameter so you can control the rotation and don’t get any wild rotations. The view cube and similar tools tend to do that, I’ve noticed.

Got that image series rendered? Good! Let’s pop into Photoshop and play with its photo merge. You want it to create a panorama. I’m not going to go into detail on the settings this time, but once the panorama’s created and saved, I put an online image converter to good use. Converting the TIF I made in Photoshop to an HDR for DAZ to use.

Back in DAZ, with Iray on, we hit up the render settings and change the HDR to the one we just made. Presto! Awesome scene is now an HDR background and won’t slow down the render anymore! Instead, characters can be added and render much faster for not having those extra props in the way!

As you can see, my HDRI experiment has some problems, but still works nicely anyway. Solving those problems is next on the agenda and hopefully, once they’re solved, book rendering will be much more realistic and considerably faster. Going back to the self-imposed schedule for releases I had last year, I should be rendering Dream Angel #31 this month. Unfortunately, Dream Angel #24 is next in line, so this new technique should enable me to catch up fast.

Now, if you figure out ways to improve on this new HDRI technique, please don’t hesitate to share! My experimental HDRI turned out misaligned and squished because the technique is new to me. If you figure out how many frames for the image series to render, for instance, don’t hesitate to comment with it!

I’m very well aware that there are some incredible scenes (Stonemason makes some very impressive ones that are high quality, but they’re high poly and tough on the machine trying to render) on the DAZ site, but they’re very hefty on the computer’s resources for rendering, especially in Iray. This technique is to help ease that burden, so let’s help each other out and learn from the basics I’ve taught here. What I’ve shared will get you a basic and quite rough HDRI. Help me fine-tune the technique so it’ll benefit many!

Wonders for the new year!

Over the past few months, I’ve made it abundantly clear that I’m learning new skills to create wonderful new books. Well these wonders for the new year are definitely coming. When, it’s still hard to say, but they’re definitely coming. The evidence is in the recent renders, most of which are found in the Facebook group. Nevertheless, a few have snuck in here on the activity page.

A recent discovery is that the computer can in fact handle the more heavy-duty DAZ render engine called Iray. The difference in quality for the rendered images is very noticeable. For starters, Iray is a much more realistic render style. The lights bounce in a much more realistic manner, making it a bit more difficult to light a scene, but the result is worth the extra effort. It simply means planning the lighting more carefully.

A good example scene is this one:

3Delight did a nice job, but clearly it’s quite dark. Now, that’s both a good thing and a bad thing. It does create a nice mood, but the character is barely visible. On the other hand:

Iray looks quite realistic and vivid, doesn’t it? There’s even reflections for water on the ground. One thing of importance, however: 3Delight takes only a couple minutes to render. Yet with some adjustments, the lighting could be just as nice as the Iray. The Iray takes 2 hours and makes beautiful use of both an HDRI and scene lighting. So, it’s a matter of patience to use Iray.

Lessons like that are a regular thing so far. One such lesson occurred just yesterday. As you can see from the render above, Dream Angel is a “chibi” figure. Well, in making chibi forms for all the characters for funny moments in the books, I came to realized that a chibi horse is among the characters needed. Specifically for Daybright, Firebright and George. Unfortunately, a good chibi horse is hard to come by. I’m no modeling expert by far and certainly no expert at rigging 3D models. My earliest attempts were quite disastrous.

The lesson learned yesterday was that DAZ has tools for helping a great deal with rigging. If the model is made with another already rigged model as a guide. The result is still a work in progress, but quite cute:

Chibi Oriel is made from the same model as Dream Angel above, but chibi George was modeled from scratch and with help from another horse, has been rigged successfully. George still needs his final textures, but overall, he’s complete and very cute.

These wonders for the new year will be continuous and with further study – I know, it means delaying new books longer, but I think you’ll agree it’s worth it – new books will look much better than ever before.

So, Happy New Year and may it bring new surprises and wonders with it!

The studies continue…

As the studies continue, I find myself constantly learning new things. For a couple months now I’ve been working on a house model and while the mesh looks good, the textures tend to be… messed up.

Well, messed up textures haven’t slowed me down too much. Just another lesson needing to be learned and gradually, the lesson’s being learned. Happily, the lessons for lighting and cameras are being well practiced with increasingly promising results.

Take Captain America here for example:

Impressive, isn’t he? Don’t worry, he’s simply fan art practice. Still have to admit, he’d likely sell a few books if he were on the cover, wouldn’t he?

This one would make a fabulous cover, wouldn’t it? And she’s all mine! Isn’t Dream Angel just breathtaking in this shot?

Now, I bet you’re noticing she looks a little different from the usual renders. Well, I’ve changed the model I use for the character. Instead of Genesis, which is a generic model that can be male or female, I’m using Victoria. A mild difference, but one that’s making an impression. Clearly, Victoria is a more realistic model and definitely looks more feminine. Nyxus was the test example with impressive results:

Fabulous for a 10,000-year-old mother of five, isn’t she? I’m finding that depth of field is my best friend when combined with 3-point lighting, a good pose and dramatic camera angle. Studying up on the 7-point lighting and getting the image composition right will definitely be a good boost to the quality of art. I’m pretty good with Photoshop, but there’s a finesse to be studied in using it for post work. With all these elements more thoroughly studied and practiced, book rendering is likely to be staggering!

The plan for when the studies are consistently implemented successfully is to re-render Dream Angel #1-6. Okay, Dream Angel #1 2nd edition is good as it is, but I think there’s room for a little extra tweaking to step it up a notch or two. Where it’s considered #1.2, it’ll be 1.2 1/2 with the mild changes. After that, covers are going to be getting updated.

For now, the studies continue. This gives time to finish scripts, as well. So, keep your eyes peeled for updates and more impressive renders! You’ll find them in the Facebook group! Come join us! Promise we won’t let the vampires bite!

A Bat-Lesson well learned!

A Bat-Lesson is learned!

I learned a Bat-lesson yesterday. Okay, I’ll admit I’m not usually one to render fan art in 3D (my Sailor Moon fan comic is another story) but I’m starting to use mainstream superheroes for practice.

Nightwing came first!

Nightwing was the first and his renders, after a couple tries, turned out staggering. Like the poses I put him in, he rose to the challenge of looking impressive. His first, the lighting was too dark and he was barely visible. Adjusting the lights, he improved greatly. Changing his pose and tweaking the lights, he looked better. Changing his pose again and “morphing” him to superhero appearance, he’s a sight to behold.

nightwingplay2

Then came the Bat!

Batman, on the other hand, well, he looked good from the onset once I setup his figure. He got a wonderful moonlight forest background (I’m on the hunt for an equally awesome city background!) and considering the moonlight, I chose a darker lighting setup. Admittedly, I was afraid he’d have the same initial result as Nightwing – too dark to see him – but when the render showed up, my eyes went wide and the reaction was “Holy sh*t!”

He struck an imposing render and was very much impressive. Adding a camera and morphing the figure to superhero appearance helped, but the real awesomeness came from playing not with Batman himself, but the camera I pointed at him.

See, in my studies these last few months, things like lights and camera have been my focus and, no pun intended, the focus needed adjusting. By adjusting the depth of field and focal distance, I threw the background out of focus and rendered again. If the Bat was impressive before, this took him to a whole new level! He seemed to literally jump out from the background. The focus was entirely on Batman himself, though the background could still be effectively seen.

batscene2

The lesson: For a dark figure with dark lights and a dark background: throw the background out of focus! The result will knock your socks off!

Disclaimer: Batman and Nightwing of course belong to DC Comics. These renders are merely fan art done for practice!

Modeling studies and what’s been learned

As you know, I’ve been studying modeling and learning a lot in the process. These modeling studies and what’s been learned from them will be put to use in future books.

Why study modeling? Well, sometimes I just can’t quite find what I want in ready-made models. I might have a very specific idea in mind and just can’t find something to match. What to do then? I’ve very clumsily made my own models in the past and gotten lucky when they did what I wanted or looked close within reason to what I had in mind.

Lately, I’ve gotten the idea that if I can make reasonably good-looking models I can also sell them. Okay, it’s going to take a lot of practice to get to that point, but having that as a sort of sideline to the comics will help them, too. From that point of view, that makes these modeling studies worth the time, wouldn’t you agree?

One thing I’ve become particularly proud of is the ability to create my own dynamic cloth. Dynamic cloth being simulated cloth that drapes realistically on the 3D model. The theory with that being that used together with the cloth that’s not dynamic and simply has morphs to simulate the wrinkles and appearance of cloth, it can step up the look and feel of the characters to help against the “stiff and lifeless” complaint.

So, between being able to model my own stuff, use more realistic-looking clothes on characters, camera tricks and lighting that sets an effective mood, it’s safe to say future books will look even better than ever. It just means being patient while these new skills are learned and practiced. Don’t forget to come keep an eye on the activity streams page, though. I’ll be posting goodies there occasionally!

Happy 4th Anniversary, Dream Angel!!

Happy 4th anniversary, Dream Angel! On this day, 4 years ago, your first book became a finished reality. Now, 4 years later, you boast 23 books and a second edition of that first book. Your first story, some years ago, won second place at the county fair. A Barbie dressed in a handmade costume as Katrilina won first place and was stolen. Your first hand drawn comic was featured in a college newspaper.

dreamangel600There’s been more than enough ups and downs these last 4 years, but through it all, you’ve remained unforgettable to those who’ve enjoyed your stories. Although this year, the book release schedule has been slowed down considerably, patient fans will find the books to come worth the wait. Your counterpart Techwarrior had his first anniversary this year. Your newest counterpart Hillbilly Hoot has yet to celebrate his first anniversary next year with more books, but today’s about you.
600#1-10-2nd600#11-20
Through your many forms and various ideas, you’ve endured the years. Happy 4th anniversary and many, many more to come! You are indeed the shining golden goddess of the dawn.

Here’s your anniversary present, fans!

Now, to the good news you readers might enjoy: there’s a coupon floating around today only!! Here’s the code: 4thanniversary2016. It can only be used once per person, but 30% off is pretty good, so have some fun!! Simply put the code in during the checkout process to get the discount. Sorry, it doesn’t apply towards shipping – that’s something I can’t control, but it’s 30% off your entire purchase! That counts for something, right? So, head over to the shop and put it to work!!

All together now: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, DREAM ANGEL!!