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REK-3D In reply to Oli-X [2019-01-08 18:37:23 +0000 UTC]

Yeah it's good fun, and a photo novel is certainly possible with it.

BUT...

It can (and will) eat a lot of your time, especially if you don't have any experience with working in 3D programs. Fiddling with lighting alone can take hours.

AND...

it can eat a lot of your money as well

DAZ is free, and there is a lot of free DAZ content to be found on the net (lots here on deviantart as well). But getting 'non-official' content to work nicely with it (especially with the smart content option) can be a bit of a hassle. And DAZ really makes it easy to spend a lot of money. Though never buy anything that isn't on sale and if you really are going to buy stuff... look into the platinum membership thing because that's the way to go then.

Oh, and you really need a Nvidia graphics card to use Iray rendering efficiently (The renderer uses the graphics card instead of the CPU, but that only works with Nvidia based cards)

But having said all that... get DAZ, maybe Blender (open source and free), watch a lot of online tutorials and just do it

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Oli-X In reply to REK-3D [2019-01-09 13:08:29 +0000 UTC]

Thanks ! I've installed DAZ and started playing with: you're right, it takes time to get a correct result. 
Making an entire comic seems very complicated, it is better to "draw" simple illustrations, at least initially.
I have a recent nvidia card (I'm a gamer) and a little money to buy content if needed, and I work with industrial 3D software for my job, so I'm not completely beginner.
I found a lot of online tutorials, I think it's possible to learn very quickly.
In fact, I especially want to experiment with something new in graphic art. So we will see...
Thanks again for all your advice  

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REK-3D In reply to Oli-X [2019-01-09 22:52:28 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, simple illustrations for a start is a good idea. That's what I am doing at the moment. And I try to 'tell a story' with the pictures. My long term goal is also comic stuff.

Another thing I'll try soon: use a rendered image as a reference image to trace a vector illustration. So the render just helps with proportion and figure drawing.

Oh, and If you buy something... doublecheck that it is usable with Iray! Especially with things like shaders and textures. And also check if it really is usable with the things and figures you own (some items need other items to work). The 'cheap' stuff is also the 'old' stuff that is difficult to use together with the 'new' stuff. (and DAZ has a nice refund policy if you buy something you can't use or that doesn't really do what you think it does, so get your money back if you buy something useless )

Looking forward to see the things you will do with it

(and I'm also a gamer, hehe)

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Oli-X In reply to REK-3D [2019-01-12 17:58:03 +0000 UTC]

This is exactly what I like in your creations: the picture often tell a story, c'est brillant  
In regards to use a rendered image as reference, it's surely a good idea, but it's double work, so more time to spend !
I sometimes take photographies - or  movie screen captures -  as reference to redraw over, because my natural style is not realistic enough, but only for short projects.
I saw the old and new stuff in DAZ, at first I thought everything was compatible, but I read on the internet that it was not the case... Of course...

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REK-3D In reply to Oli-X [2019-01-13 19:37:02 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, it's double the work. But: You get to choose the exact lighting, pose and camera angle that you need. And there are no issues with copyright. And you don't have to render them at high resolution, and can do simple/no backgrounds and/or simple/no clothing. So it's not as much work as a 'proper' image and the render times are a lot quicker.

With regards to DAZ stuff and compatibility: You -can- use older Genesis clothing on newer Genesis figures (for instance a G3 dress on a G8 figure) by using the 'auto-fit' feature. This works fairly well, but you lose all the potential original special posing morphs of the older piece of clothing. Works with hair as well. Shoes are often problematic. Props and accessories can usually be tweaked to fit.

You can get around those limitations with some tricks and even fit new stuff on old figures, but it's lots of fiddly work and not a lot of fun

(Have a look at www.deviantart.com/sickleyield . She has a great number of superb tutorials in her journals that deal with those problems)

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Oli-X In reply to REK-3D [2019-01-14 10:35:27 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for your advice! I noted the galery of SickleYield, and I'm going to watch these tutorials. So much to learn!  

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