Stage One Complete:

Well I am finally on my way, in the last two months I managed to get Vue 8 Frontier in a copy of 3D World, love it so much I upgraded to version 9 with a special offer over at DAZ3D. Plus I had some Gift Certs and vouchers so I picked it up for a song.

Last Sunday I upgraded to Vue 9 Espirt which was on special from eon-software. Got to work straight away on finishing off an image I started in version 8 (look up). Espirt gives more control over the final render plus I can import more formats. Also for a while I have been collecting cheap or free Vue formatted content. Now I can use them all.

So since starting this 3D rendering lark I have used Bryce, Carrara, Daz Studio, Poser and Vue.

Bryce 7 Pro: I love the latest additions to the lighting and rendering quality. True Ambience is sweet. In my opinion Bryce can make some great terrains better than Vue, for detail that is. Good Material Lab and Deep Texture Editor. The possibilities are endless but this is true of Vue in that regard. If I want distant terrains then I may stick with Bryce. If I want close vegetation I will use Vue. But I can make the terrains in Bryce and save the height map and use it in Vue and vice versa.

Carrara 7 Pro: I never really got on with Carrara but never say never as with each piece of software I learn the easier it is to learn other programs. So you never know with me. But I won’t be upgrading beyond 7 Pro for now. There is version 8 out now which I believe is more stable and has more functions for animators.

Daz Studio 3 Advanced: This is where all this kicked off big time. I love the program, with what it can do and I love the company. Again in my opinion it is the easiest program to learn and use. I could rant all day about how good it is but I won’t bore you.

Poser: Well I won Poser 8 in an image contest and I have opened it a few times, hummm not very intuitive. But if I get the bit between my teeth I dare say I will get to grips with it. To be honest I am having too much fun in Vue at the moment.

Vue: What can I say about Vue? I had an inclining that I would like this program even with a low powered computer. I was wrong I don’t like it I absolutely LOVE it. :D I will spend the next year or so buying the modules I want and saving up for a new computer. Until then I will keep learning about the technical and artist aspects of 3D art.

What is good about all this is that the content I purchase from Daz Studio can be used in Bryce, Carrara, Poser, Vue and of course Daz Studio. Plus with my Photoshop skills growing I can use multiple programs compositing the renders in Photoshop

Yeap art is good for the soul just like gardening. I am doubly blessed, three if you count my wife. Duck - ouch!

A Helping Hand

Ever heard of Redhouse Studios? I hadn’t until I went to Daz3D. They were a group of people that made some extremely well made and textured 3D props for rendering in Daz Studio and Poser. Well one of the members of RHS, Jack Tomalin now works directly for Daz3D and still makes some stunning stuff.

Recently Jack has updated his website with a few freebies. Plus he intends to make some props to sell direct, away from Daz3D. If you are interest pop over to his website http://www.jacktomalin.com/ and sign up for his advertising free newsletter. This will enable you to download the freebies. Plus it will help keep you informed of what and when his first prop is ready to purchase.

Took me all of 5 seconds to sign up when I heard. And no I don’t get anything from this apart from helping out a true artist in his field.

To see some of his work pop over to Daz3D and take a look http://www.daz3d.com/i/shop/artistlist?artist=65987&_m=d

So little time to post

I must keep up with this blog, for at least myself. To see the changes I have gone through since getting into this 3D art rendering stuff. Changes in myself and my art.

If my non-inspiring art teacher could see me now....I would poke him in the eye for saying I had no talent for art. I suppose he was correct in the sense I cannot draw, paint or sculpt. But I know now I have a good eye.

So 7 months later I am still learning with DreamLight, signed up for another 18 months and 10 months of live training.

Still using Daz Studio mainly. Bryce 7 Pro occasionally and Carrara never. I did manage to get Vue 8 Frontier free with issue 139 of 3D World magazine two weeks ago. Since then I have been playing with it nonstop. This has spurred me on the get a new computer and Vue Complete. It is such an amazing program.

I have had some good fortune recently. I entered a contest over at http://www.yurdigital.com/ and won 2nd Prize, the prize being Poser 8.

Won it with this image:

Now I will have to learn how to use Poser. That should be fun.

Plus I have won a few firsts and seconds with DreamLight’s in house monthly contest. So yeah I am happy with my progress. I even managed to get a third on Daz3D’s Platinum Club Gallery last year. That pleased me no end as it marked a turning point with my art. The competition is fierce I can tell you.

I use the contests as a motivational tool, it pushes me to better what I produce. I don’t do it for the prizes, though it helps with getting more content or plug-ins.

It is a lot of hard work and a flattened bum but for me it is worth it. I feel so much better in myself. Home life has calmed since I am mellower. Not so pent up and depressed about being a crip disabled. Through art I have gained some self esteem back and it is growing each day.

Always Learning

December ’09, I couldn’t believe it. So much has happened. Back and forth between programs, finally settling on Daz Studio 3 Advanced. My interest in Carrara 8 Pro has perked a little. What really amazes me is Vue. Wow the things I could possibly do with Vue. Landscapes are what I enjoy. I have tried the posing of human figures and I find it a release but making big giant landscapes, now that has my muse in all sorts of knots.

BUT all this started with learning how to make 3D worlds, in particular for Myst Online Uru Live which has now gone Open Sourceish. For which I see a return to, concentrating on the modelling side. But this time hopefully with a different attitude to my limitations and desires. Art but in a different form. As I consider Cyan Worlds work to be pure art in itself.

Spark of Inspiration

It’s been a ride going back and forth between Bryce, Carrara and Daz Studio but I think I am settling on Daz Studio. It is so more intuitive to use. Carrara and Bryce are easy to use for certain things. But Daz does it so much better. It all depends on what you want to do. If you just want to make landscapes then from what I have seen and read I would go with Vue8, then Bryce and then Carrara. These are just the ones I know about (a little) there are others. If you want to do studio type of art work then Daz or Poser should be ok. Both have their pros and cons. I haven’t used Poser for some years so I won’t comment on something I don’t know about. In the New Year I will be upgrading to Daz 3 Advanced, the benefits out way the $105 price tag (that’s the Platinum Club price).

Coming back to Daz. Well it is what it says it is a studio. So like everything in a studio you have to get creative with backgrounds. I have made a terrain in Bryce then exported it as an .obj then imported that into Daz and textured it in Daz. That worked well as a test. I have also used a render from Byrce as a background and again with fairly good results. Readymade Props are the favoured choice but in the future I would like to make some myself. Oh and what a bunch of generous people of at the Daz and Renderosity forums giving some choice content away for free. Most of my images have freebies in. The one below is no exception.

I suppose the best thing I like about Carrara is that it can make use of the content Runtime that Daz uses. I can also pose the figures as I would in Daz. One aspect of Daz that I like is the lighting. Bryce and Carrara I seem to have more trouble with. Also some textures don’t work the same between Daz, Poser and Carrara and Bryce which can be fiddly to get right. Again they all have there really good points. Sometimes I use Daz, Bryce, Carrara, Photoshop and Gimp for one picture. Get the best out of all and put them together. Next to include is Blender. Time to get another monitor. LOL

All this comes with a warning though. It can be tempting to buy a load of content, some of which you may never use. I started with a flurry as it was the time of some serious sales at Daz but still I spent a little more than I intended. Though I am careful what I buy I still made some bad choices. But when starting this late in life I had no idea what direction this could head. So now my mantra is “Will I use it, do I need It, can it wait until I know I will use it”?

Recently I came across Teo (pictured here) and I bought him, got a load of freebies with him also. This one little figure has sparked something that could point me toward the type of art I want to do, we shall see. Ideas are coming thick and fast. So much I haven’t got the skills yet to do him justice. Need to learn more, bye for now.

Szark goes Arty!

November 2007 Myst/Uru brought out the creative side that had been suppressed all my life due to circumstances beyond a child. I am too old to be blaming anyone. My self esteem eroded by neglect had taken its toll. At mid forties trying to develop an imagination is hard to say the least. I have forgotten how to play, to think freely and out of the box. Thank you Cyan.

Following on from my Blog “A Slice of IC Life” this is my new journey in developing the artistic side, which I know is there, to a point where I am happy. From time to time I will post my new images, with hopefully some mini tutorials to help other beginners.

Ok I can’t sketch, draw, paint or do anything artistic with my hands apart from gardening. One day I was looking for some way to make images by using Photoshop Elements/GIMP and 3D models and came up with Bryce, Daz Studio 3 and Carrara. Some don’t consider this art, but what is art anyway? Now I am blending the 2D with the 3D. Next year I will start to model an age for Uru offline, with the help of others of course.

I managed to get Carrara 6 Pro free with the book “Figures, Characters and Avatars: The Official Guide to Using DAZ Studio to Create Beautiful Art”.

Bryce 5.5 and Daz Studio 3 (Not Adavanced) are free downloads. I have done a few renders in Daz and two or three in Bryce and Carrara. Nothing serious though.

I am concentrating on Daz Studio and every so often I will work in the others. I find Daz easier to use but it does have its limitations if you don’t pay for the Advanced version which I will one day. The Advanced version gives you so much more like atmospherics like fog and mist.

To add to this I have also paid for extra tutelage over at Dreamlight for a year. If it carries on the way it has gone I will be paying for a life time membership next year. Yep for me that good and I have only scratched the surface. Dreamlight is relatively new but the experience behind the site is not. Playing with the big boys now. LOL

I don’t want to be a master; I just want to be good at what I do.