Daz Studio - I Think I Have Reached A Milestone!

I was very grateful to be able to get Daz Studio as a free download. It is the next best thing to having Poser (which is on my wishlist!).

It took me a while to get the hang of using Daz Studio and I'm glad that the free download including some 3d models.

I also started to download other models so that I could use them with my Daz program. However I was having quite a hard time with putting the models in the right folder so that it would show up in the contents of Daz Studio.

I had downloaded quite a few models and each time I would download them they would be put in a new folder so I had a LOT of different folders!

So I was unzipping a new model that I downloaded and it came with instructions on how to add the model to the Daz Studio contents - which I decided to try. It worked! Now before I get too excited, I only did this once and I'm 'rarin to try it again! If I'm successful then I'll have the way to add the models to the Daz contents without having a whole lot of different folders.

PS - I also discovered that the .obj's that I download, I can edit them using one of my 3d programs! This just means that I will have a whole lot of "fun" hours tweaking and working with the objects and creating and modifying them so that I can create objects of my own!

Contests

Lately I have been entering some of the contests on Renderosity.com.

To be able to enter their contests you do have to join as a member but joining as a member is free.

So far I have entered two of their Teragen-related contents. Teragen is a terrain generating program that you can download for free. (Please see my previous posts on this program)

Even entering their contests is a big move forward for me. I always thought about how I would like to enter their contests but I never did in the past because I was always doing my grant research work on the computer and never really did any "fun" things on my computer.

Now that has changed.

All work and no play makes Rose a dull kind of gal!

By the way, I haven't won any of the contests yet but there have been people that voted for me!

Shapemaker

ShapeMaker is another 3D modeling program that I was able to download for free! As you can see by this picture, the program makes shapes such as tree stumps and logs and even flower petals! You can also make vases with the program too.

For me it was difficult to get the "gist" of this program at first but the more I play around with the program, the more better I am understanding it.

So far I create the shapes in the Shapemaker program and then import them into Bryce where I add the textures/materials.

It's quite something that I have all these 3D modeling programs that I'm going to create all my "art" with!

You can visit the site and find out more about this program by clicking here.

However I think I should warn you that I just visited the site today and notice that they now have support for the program BUT that support costs $150 an hour!

"Do Not Enter!"

I have always been fascinated by things "gothic" and Bryce is a great program to work on some gothic-looking renders. I have a website called "Everything's Related" which has information and links about things relating to witchcraft and the like. Since I do have an interest in witchcraft, wicca and witches I thought that making some 3d renders would be great!

I made the above picture using Bryce. Even though I didn't think that there were that many objects in the picture it did still take a long time to render. Most of the objects that you see in the picture were made from Bryce except for the tree stumps which were made with a program called "Shapemaker" (I'll post about that program later).

The trees, however, were made in the Bryce program and I think that it makes for a more "spooky" effect if the tree branches are bare. I also like the look of night in these types of renders.

With the Bryce program you can make almost everything that you see in the rendered picture above - except for the tree stumps. You can change how the sky looks, and what colors the sky will be in. You can even add the moon, sun and stars to your render as well. The mausoleum was a 3d object that I was able to download for free from Renderosity.com. The light shining on the mausoleum was also added with the Bryce3d program.

About the hardest thing to do was the "Do Not Enter" sign because I never made a sign before previously. But I did manage to get it accomplished and the text shows through quite clearly.

What is so great about the Bryce program is that even though I have rendered the picture above, I still have the original Bryce file of the picture so that I can work on it some more for things like adding new objects or just general tweaking. Plus I can save the objects in the Bryce library file so that I can use them for other renders.

I can see why so many people enjoy making 3d art!

Plant Studio!

PlantStudio is another 3D program that is available as a free download. This program lets you make flowers of all types! You can "breed" your plants giving you a whole lot of different varieties of your plant or flowers.

If you go to the website you will see lots of other things that you can download besides the program itself. You can download plant and flower models that others have made. There is also a mailing list that you can join as well.

The flowers were all made using the Plant Studio program and they were exported in the .dxf format into Bryce where the scenery including the rocks, trees, skies and landscape were added from the Bryce program.

Enhancing Hair Using A 2D Graphics Program

Here is my original picture:



I wanted to give myself longer hair (plus I just wanted to pactice on being able to create realistic-looking hair. I did some work on the original render above and this is what I came out with (so far):



I'm using the Gimp program (which is a free 2D graphics editing program) to enhance the hair on the 3d model. It still doesn't look quite right yet.

Terragen

Terragen is a terrain generator program that is available as a free download from the Planetside website.

Currently I'm working on a terrain from the Renderosity Terragen Challenge so that I can enter their latest Terragen Challenge. This challenge involves downloading the terragen file specified for the monthly challenge and then creating a "look" for it. One of the rules is that you can't change / alter the landscape. But what you can do is give it different cloud, atmosphere and sun settings. And I just found out today that you can also change the surface of the landscape meaning you can make the landscape itself look different - ie snow, grass, soil, etc.

If you would like to take part in this (and the other) monthly terragen challenges you first have to become a member of Renderosity.

I have had and used this program before - just for my own pleasure - and you can see one of my renderings below:



So I'm off to fine-tune my Terragen challenge..........................

I Didn't Think Of My "Photography"

It never occured to me to add the photos that I have taken as part of my "artist's portfolio"! But I was visiting an Artzone member's site where she had put up pictures that she had taken in her area and it made me realize that I had been doing the same thing for a while now! The pictures that I have taken so far have been with my camera phone on my cellphone. So now that means that a digital camera will be needed by me! (And since I am a "self-employed blogger - amongst other things - I can deduct the cost of the digital camera on my income tax! - Thank you Adsense Consultant!

Below you will see a picture that I took of a cherry blossom tree in my area that was in full bloom during one of the past spring seasons!



To see more photography of my area, you can visit my LaMott, PA Blog

So now I can add photography to my artist's resume!

Editing A Hair Model

I have a 3d hair model that I'm currently "tweaking".

I'm using the hair model on my basic Victoria 3 model that I have adapted to my own look.

Unfortunately the hair that I'm working with is in the model's face and that is what I have been working on.

I'm using the Wings3d program to edit this hair model and so far I have managed to get the areas that were in the model's face removed. There are still some small areas that have to be fixed but for right now I have come to the conclusion that I can paint over these problems when I post-render the picture.

I also had to import the basic Victoria3 model into the same program so that I could see how the hair would look on the model.

I'm still doing some "tweaking" with the hair - like I'm trying to figure out how to add bangs - which I can also do when I post-render the image.

I have even worked on this hair model and then imported the 3d object into Bryce. I was doing that to try and find a good hair texture so that the hair would look more realistic. In Wings3d you can save your 3d object and give it a simple material color - nothing too complicated, just a basic color - and when you import it to Bryce it should import with that material color.

So for right now I'm tweaking the hair model and trying to find a good hair texture to add to the hair object so that the hair looks more realistic.

Wings3d!

I just had a fun 4 HOURS "playing" around with Wings3d which is a 3d modeling program.

I have had it for a while so I don't even remember where I got it from but I do know that it is available as a free download on the Internet.

What was I doing for 4 hours? Actually I was following along with the tutorial for Wings3d. The first tutorial showed how to make a "crude" tooth model. The second tutorial is for a doghouse and that is the one that I am working on now.

The above picture may look like an easy object to you but it took me a long time to even get this far - and I'm not even finished with the tutorial yet!

About the hardest thing to do was to make the doors and windows see through - K had a hard time with that one!

As I'm learning the program things are becoming easier to do even though I have a long ways to go - I'm having fun though!



The final render of the doghouse picture was created in Bryce where I simply imported the doghouse model (as it is so far) into Bryce (which I also saved the object in Bryce so that I don't have to keep importing the same 3d object model over and over again).