Hey guys! Welcome back to our beginner’s 3DX tutorial series. We’ll pick up right where we left off last month, and talk about which base assets to use in your posing software. But first, let’s do a brief recap.
Posing vs Modeling
Last month we discussed posing software, and briefly touched on the difference between posing and modeling. With modeling software (like 3DS Max, Maya, or Zbrush) you create a model from scratch. With posing software, you work with pre-fab 3D assets. In other words, you’re working with content that someone else has already created and prepared. This cuts out a huge part of the 3D learning curve.
Posing software does have have rudimentary modeling features if you’re interested in making use of that, but we’ll be looking more into that in the future. For now, the question is simple: if we’re going to be using 3D models created by someone else, which ones should it be?
It starts with stores
Let’s look at your asset stores first. There are a couple of places a 3DX artist would go.
1) The Daz Shop, which has the install manager that makes installing content real easy (and is now integrated into Daz Studio itself as well, so you can buy content on the fly). It has an impressive library, but they make a point of not being associated with adult content. They stock sexy lingerie and swimsuits, but that’s about it as far as risque items go.
2) Renderosity is a great secondary source. They do a lot more than just 3D assets, and their content library is gigantic. So many of the outfits you’ll have seen my girls wear come from here. Again, not an explicitly adult store, but they do go further than the Daz Shop.
3) Renderotica, for all your adult stuff. You want pussies, dicks, sex poses, sex toys or kink wear or bondage dungeons? You’ll get it here.
Both the Daz Shop and Renderosity offer membership models that provide discounts for your purchases, but if you had to choose between one or the other I would say that Daz Platinum is probably the better investment. With Renderosity you already get a discount coupon after each month if you’ve spent more than $100, and its Prime-specific content is more limited than Daz’s Platinum discount.
Now, all of the dresses and heels and genitalia you’ve bought need to be put on something. And as you might’ve noticed after browsing these stores a bit, they’re all designed for something. This dress for Victoria 4, that dress for Genesis 2 Female, that pair of jeans for Genesis 3 Female, etc. So what’s the difference?
Victoria vs Genesis
For the rest of this artist guide, we’ll be working with Daz Studio and the Genesis 3 line. The Genesis series is included for free with Daz Studio. This is because Daz 3D was originally a 3D asset creator for Poser. Victoria 4 was the last generation of base female model they designed before they launched Daz Studio, and remains the most popular 3D model to this day. It’s obviously pretty well supported in Daz Studio, but by now Vicky 4 is eight years old so she’s starting to age a bit.
After launching Daz Studio, the guys at Daz basically reset the clock. So where you’d expect them to release Victoria 5 after Victoria 4, to signify their new independence they decided to name it Genesis instead. And Victoria 5 was released as an addon to Genesis, not as a stand-alone product. Now that it’s 2016, we’re up to Genesis 3.
The advantages of Genesis 3 Female over old Victoria 4 are considerable. Joints bend better and more realistically, the body has more zones to morph and alter, there’s an auto-fitting script that makes clothes flow more naturally, genitalia options are more varied, and so forth. There’s still less overall content for Genesis 3 compared to Vicky 4, but the content is higher in quality and new stuff is coming out as we speak. The same is true for the male line, Michael 4 / Genesis 3 Male.
Assload of Assets
So let’s recap, because I’ve thrown a lot of new info around and you’re probably wondering how it all relates to each other. Basically, models in Daz are now a system of stacking assets. Let me lay it out with a simple image:
So why buy Victoria 7, and then buy a character for it? Because with these additional characters you get new body shapes, new skin textures, bump maps, normal maps, etc. There are a lot of very useful things you acquire when you buy a character that you wouldn’t have access to if you just used Genesis 3. And the more familiar you get with how Daz Studio works, the better you become at mixing and matching all these separate elements to create just the right girl.
And, of course, you can expand Genesis 3 with a lot more than just Victoria 7. There’s Karen 7, Aiko 7, The Girl 7, Olympia 7, and so forth, and all of these have items designed with these models specifically in mind. Consider it like a huge, branching tree.
All these addons are designed to help you create very defined, yet customizable looks. For a more cartoony look, Aiko and The Girl are great. Olympia 7 allows you to create physically stronger women, and so forth. But it’s all based on Genesis 3. That’s why clothes and hair are always designed for G3 and don’t get more specific past that. Because in this way you can buy something and it will always fit to either your Olympia-based athlete goddess, your Victoria-based supermodel, or your Karen-based girl-next-door.
What’s up next month?
So you’ve got your posing software: Daz Studio. You’ve got your base model: Genesis 3. You’ve got your stores, your subscriptions, and a rough idea of how it all relates. Next time we’re gonna pose and build a basic scene. In the meantime, we have a video coming to help you plan your first 3DX scene by fine-tuning Daz Studio’s interface!
Craftime
August 7, 2016This project is awesome 😀
Brother Virgil
July 30, 2016Awesome. I’ve been looking forward to this kind of material for a long time, especially with a deliberate focus on outrageous adult content.
Personally, I’m an intermediate Poser user, but I’m looking to transition to DAZ, Genesis 3, and iRay. What I’m really looking for is good instruction on how to sculpt, rig, and clothe exaggerated figures with jiggle physics for animation purposes. Not sure how far this instruction is projected to go, but just so you guys know what this viewer would like to see, there you go!
jack pinder
July 29, 2016It is starting to make a bit of sense. One does wonder, the longer you wait to get started and involved the easier its going to get. Time now is of course the proper choice. DB mentioned Blender. More to check out. Thanks.
DB Spencer
July 29, 2016Don’t forget one of the easiest to learn, equally powerful in many ways, and absolutely free 3D modelling programs- Blender! 😀
Eviolite
July 28, 2016Always enjoy your write-ups. Excited to see more. 🙂
The Dude
July 28, 2016Thanks!