Since the beginning of the summer I’ve been working almost exclusively in Cinema 4D. C4D is a full package professional level tool. Among any of the 3D modeling tools I’ve used, it is by far the easiest to use and the most powerful. My skill level barely scratches the surface of what can be done with C4D. Most of my work continues to be character bases and since Poser materials can be used within C4D, it’s been rather easy to make that my exclusive tool.
For the last week or so I’ve been trying to build up my network at Deviant Art and in the process I have seen some stunning work. A lot of that work I noticed was done with Daz Studio. Daz has been around a long time as a sort of Poser clone and for years has been free. It’s still free, but they also now have a commercial version. I have played around with Daz here and there but never truly serious. Since been forced to use a different computer than my primary machine, I decided to download the 30 trial and give it a serious look.
The image below is the same character I rendered yesterday in C4D, this time rendered in Daz Studio. In my opinion the results are certainly an improvement. The difference being while C4D is certainly very strong with it’s texture tools, the character textures are native to Daz, and therefore have much more control in that area.
For this image I have used Bodypaint, the 3D painting tool in C4D, then configured the textures and rendered in Daz. I still have some work to do on her eyes, but she is getting closer to the character I am looking for.
Most 3D work is done in some sort of "pipeline". The modeling, the rendering, and the post work are typically done with different tools, those best suited for the job. I think I got a little off track and consumed with C4D that I started to lose sight of that. I consider myself very fortunate in that I have access to several different great tools, Daz/Poser for character set up, C4D for modeling, Bodypaint for 3D painting and texture work, Vue for environments, and Photoshop for textures and post work. If and when I find the time to get back into animation add in After Effects and Flash.
Ten years ago some of these tools were not even heard of, others were in their infancy. Despite the general state of the world, it is a good time to be into digital art.
Daz has just released version 3 of their popular Studio application. Daz Studio is very similar in use and capabilities to Poser. Both have their strenght in character scenes, and both provide a good entry point for aspiring 3D artists for their fairly shallow learning curve and ease of use.
I haven’t used Daz Studio much in the past preferring to stick with the more familiar Poser, However as of late Poser has been gathering some dust for me as I’ve moved on to a few more full featured modeling tools. A few times now when I’ve needed to create a character for a scene I’ve opted for Daz Studio and feeling more comfortable with the interface.
Up until version 3 Daz Studio has always been a free application, with the release of version 3 Daz has now introduced a "Pro" version which is no longer free but at a very reasonable price, currently on sale for $50 and some change. A slightly toned down version is still available as a free download.
Several enhancements have been added in the areas of animation, texturing, and character morphing. They have also improved the rendering, which bottom line, while all the other things are important and useful, nothing is more important in my view than the final output. So I downloade the 30 day trial of the pro product and thought I’d do a test project. The results are the image below: (click for a larger view)
This was straight from Daz Studio with no real post work performed. Some like to do renders that have a cartoon or drawing like look, I much prefer to do images that are as lifelike as possible. I thought this came out close to achieving that goal. Her eyes don’t quite have what I would call a natural quality but that has more to do with the texture rather than the render engine. All in all I think its decent.