3D-Blender Blender Art - Show Us Your Blender Skill

Apr 21, 2022
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Photorealism I was talking about in terms of lighting and materials. When it comes to shaping, yes I am generally aiming at realism, id love your opinion on future renders that I post in this regard however keep in mind that some distortions do happen due to camera angle, variations in a field of view, and the general pose as well. For example, i think in the jaw case you mentioned, her jaw is slightly nudged forward in the pose which i think there is nothing wrong with that technically people can and do that, whether its a good choice to have her do that is a slightly different question. Thanks for the feedback!
Let me ask you this: How did you create the character morph? There are many strategies for doing this, assuming you already have a robust Runtime full of various professionally-made morphs:
  1. Simply apply a morph at 100%, either Realistic or Stylized
  2. Mix and match a head morph with a different vendor's body morph
  3. Mix several head and/or body morphs in smaller amounts that add up to roughly 100%
  4. Create your own new character from scratch using various partial face morphs (Jaw shape, Nose shape, Eye size, etc.)
  5. Create a new morph from scratch by deforming the base character using Z-Brush, Maya, or Blender, and import it into Daz as a new morph
If you go from the top of the list to the bottom, you'll see that each of these techniques require the artist to make more and more creative decisions. Each also gives the artist more control than the last. #5 gives the artist almost unlimited control over the final shape, but also requires the most time, effort, technical skill, and practice.

It is my opinion that #4 is the hardest option to get right. You have hundreds of sliders you could tweak, but they were all designed by different artists for different purposes and sometimes they don't play nicely with each other. You could add a Smoothing Modifier in Daz Studio to try and blend together some of the seams, but this will also weaken the overall character shape. This can cause vague cheekbones, nostrils that look a little too big and thin, and other weirdness.

#3 is this:
#4 is this:
And as 3D artists, we are all always until we can figure out how not to be.

Fortunately, there is a general workflow you can use if you insist on doing #4:
  • If your idea for the character is stylized in any way, choose a single Stylized Morph and apply that first. And, this next part is important so I'll emphasize it: All the characters in your game must use this same Stylized Morph at the same % strength. This is because stylized art is a contract you're making with the audience's subconscious mind. "In my imaginary story's world, this is what a human face looks like." The human mind can accept, at most, one such lie at a time. It cannot accept you switching back and forth about what the lie is. Yes, there are promotional renders showing Victoria and Aiko attending the same school. This is only to show off the range of the outfit. If Aiko ever comes to Victoria's school in an actual game or render or story, the universe breaks and the audience wants to throw up. ("Into the Spider-Verse" and other "crossover" stories are a rare exception to this rule. They get away with it because audiences already love the characters. Your characters aren't that popular yet, so don't try it.)
  • If your character is not stylized, then you must only use Realistic morphs. Any and all Stylized morphs must be at 0% in all characters in your thing. This is equivalent to choosing a Realistic Style, and then enforcing the base mesh as your single Stylized Morph. No style is still a style, and must be enforced as a style within all characters in the project. This is a fundamental principle of art. This is what artists mean when they say the word "Style." It's the specific way in which you, as an artist, are deviating from reality in this one specific work of art.
  • Now that you know what all humans in this setting look like, you can start to differentiate what makes this human unique among her peers. Since you're going Realistic, the best strategy is generally to use #3. Blend between no more than two realistic-looking characters, and always check to make sure the result looks natural. They should generally add up to 100%. I.E. 50% and 50%, or 30% and 70%, etc. It's occasionally okay to make it add up to ~125% or so, and going under 100% is always okay. (Common problems when you try 100% + 100% are things like pinched noses, pinched chins, awkward-looking eyes and lips, and crunchy, jagged geometry in general. The reason for this is complicated and technical, but basically some of the points in your model are being pulled in the same direction by both artists, so it goes way too far, while other points, sometimes the point right next to the first point, are being pulled in opposite directions, so it barely moves at all.)
  • Now, you can use #4 to tweak small details about the character's face. This should be done to correct flaws or make adjustments to the result from #3. You should never start with #4 or make it your entire workflow, because you end up with jigsaw puzzle faces made of disparate features that don't quite blend together.
  • Since you're importing your character into Blender anyway, you can make some small final adjustments via #5. Try to resist the urge to just smooth everything, especially in Sculpt Mode. Instead, install the free Loop Tools plugin. Its "Relax" function is a godsend. It can turn any Edge Loop into a single curved line. Use topology to drive morphology, not the other way around.
I hope this helps. Unfortunately, yes, this means I recommend zeroing all your morphs and re-designing the character from scratch.The good news is, it'll be a lot faster the second time through.

(And if you were doing #5 from the start, I don't know what to say. You need practice or better reference or both.)

Good luck! :) If you'd like me to critique the character morph as it stands, show me an orthographic T-pose or A-pose from the front, so I can see exactly what you've created without Pose or Camera influence.
 
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xmalefica

New Member
Oct 19, 2022
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Let me ask you this: How did you create the character morph? There are many strategies for doing this, assuming you already have a robust Runtime full of various professionally-made morphs:
  1. Simply apply a morph at 100%, either Realistic or Stylized
  2. Mix and match a head morph with a different vendor's body morph
  3. Mix several head and/or body morphs in smaller amounts that add up to roughly 100%
  4. Create your own new character from scratch using various partial face morphs (Jaw shape, Nose shape, Eye size, etc.)
  5. Create a new morph from scratch by deforming the base character using Z-Brush, Maya, or Blender, and import it into Daz as a new morph
If you go from the top of the list to the bottom, you'll see that each of these techniques require the artist to make more and more creative decisions. Each also gives the artist more control than the last. #5 gives the artist almost unlimited control over the final shape, but also requires the most time, effort, technical skill, and practice.

It is my opinion that #4 is the hardest option to get right. You have hundreds of sliders you could tweak, but they were all designed by different artists for different purposes and sometimes they don't play nicely with each other. You could add a Smoothing Modifier in Daz Studio to try and blend together some of the seams, but this will also weaken the overall character shape. This can cause vague cheekbones, nostrils that look a little too big and thin, and other weirdness.

#3 is this:
#4 is this:
And as a 3D artist, you are always until you can figure out how not to be.

Fortunately, there is a general workflow you can use if you insist on doing #4:
  • If your idea for the character is stylized in any way, choose a single Stylized Morph and apply that first. And, this next part is important so I'll emphasize it: All the characters in your game must use this same Stylized Morph at the same % strength. This is because stylized art is a contract you're making with the audience's subconscious mind. "In my imaginary story's world, this is what a human face looks like." The human mind can accept, at most, one such lie at a time. It cannot accept you switching back and forth about what the lie is. Yes, there are promotional renders showing Victoria and Aiko attending the same school. This is only to show off the range of the outfit. If Aiko ever comes to Victoria's school in an actual game or render or story, the universe breaks and the audience wants to throw up. ("Into the Spider-Verse" and other "crossover" stories are a rare exception to this rule. They get away with it because audiences already love the characters. Your characters aren't that popular yet, so don't try it.)
  • If your character is not stylized, then you must only use Realistic morphs. Any and all Stylized morphs must be at 0% in all characters in your thing. This is equivalent to choosing a Realistic Style, and then enforcing the base mesh as your single Stylized Morph. No style is still a style, and must be enforced as a style within all characters in the project. This is a fundamental principle of art. This is what artists mean when they say the word "Style." It's the specific way in which you, as an artist, are deviating from reality in this one specific work of art.
  • Now that you know what all humans in this setting look like, you can start to differentiate what makes this human unique among her peers. Since you're going Realistic, the best strategy is generally to use #3. Blend between no more than two realistic-looking characters, and always check to make sure the result looks natural. They should generally add up to 100%. I.E. 50% and 50%, or 30% and 70%, etc. It's occasionally okay to make it add up to ~125% or so, and going under 100% is always okay. (Common problems when you try 100% + 100% are things like pinched noses, pinched chins, awkward-looking eyes and lips, and crunchy, jagged geometry in general. The reason for this is complicated and technical, but basically some of the points in your model are being pulled in the same direction by both artists, so it goes way too far, while other points, sometimes the point right next to the first point, are being pulled in opposite directions, so it barely moves at all.)
  • Now, you can use #4 to tweak small details about the character's face. This should be done to correct flaws or make adjustments to the result from #3. You should never start with #4 or make it your entire workflow, because you end up with jigsaw puzzle faces made of disparate features that don't quite blend together.
  • Since you're importing your character into Blender anyway, you can make some small final adjustments via #5. Try to resist the urge to just smooth everything, especially in Sculpt Mode. Instead, install the free Loop Tools plugin. Its "Relax" function is a godsend. It can turn any Edge Loop into a single curved line. Use topology to drive morphology, not the other way around.
I hope this helps. Unfortunately, yes, this means I recommend zeroing all your morphs and re-designing the character from scratch.The good news is, it'll be a lot faster the second time through.

(And if you were doing #5 from the start, I don't know what to say. You need practice or better reference or both.)

Good luck! :) If you'd like me to critique the character morph as it stands, show me an orthographic T-pose or A-pose from the front, so I can see exactly what you've created without Pose or Camera influence.
Thanks for the tips! I am using a combination of #4 and #5, however any custom modifications from #5 I am porting back to Daz to be used as a morph. I think one should not give up making their own morph and settle for mixing pre-made realistic morphs just because it is more difficult to create a custom morph. Human body proportions are not rocket science and if you are not sure your custom morph looks correct you can always compare it to some daz original morph which is what I did now. Here I tweaked the morphs a bit, I think it looks more realistic now. What do you think?

untitled_2k.jpg untitled1.jpg untitled_2k.jpg untitled1.jpg
 
Apr 21, 2022
174
126
Thanks for the tips! I am using a combination of #4 and #5, however any custom modifications from #5 I am porting back to Daz to be used as a morph. I think one should not give up making their own morph and settle for mixing pre-made realistic morphs just because it is more difficult to create a custom morph. Human body proportions are not rocket science and if you are not sure your custom morph looks correct you can always compare it to some daz original morph which is what I did now. Here I tweaked the morphs a bit, I think it looks more realistic now. What do you think?

View attachment 2129658 View attachment 2129659 View attachment 2129658 View attachment 2129659
That does indeed look a lot better. Now I feel more like her head is big because I'm looking at it from above and less like it's just a weird giant head.

The next thing that jumps out at me as a source of visual confusion is the character's ethnicity. The morph says asian, possibly Indonesian? But the skin textures says Northern European wearing the wrong kind of makeup for her skin. In fact, I actually googled "Goth Ginger" after thinking about this post, and it turns out the first thing they cover up tends to be the freckles, and the last thing they cover tends to be their natural hair color. You know, because bright orange looks even more badass than jet-black?

There's something I don't like about the eyebrows, but I can't figure out what it is. They just look fake. :unsure:
 
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Sep 5, 2017
110
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Anyone know how to transfer daz models with sweat over on over to blender via the diffeomorphic tool? (I'm using 'ultimate skin moisture')
 
Apr 21, 2022
174
126
Alright. I'm super sleepy right now I'll do it tomorrow.

I'm guessing your post also applies to semen as well?
(Yes, I heard what that just sounded like.) Good luck.
I shouldn't post while I'm tired. Nobody's going to click on a link without knowing what it is first. Ahem...

The link above will take you to a variety of community-developed cumshot solutions in Blender. These are tools, Materials, and Assets, not techniques per sey, but if you read about them and pick apart the project, you might be able to learn how to do it yourself from scratch. Here are a few highlights from the collection:

is a collection of what would probably be considered "wearable meshes" in Daz Studio. You will need to manually place them, reshape them, and rig them to follow your model.

is similar, but the materials seem to use particle systems or something to dynamically generate the mesh before rendering, using the rigged mesh as a guide? Some of the materials are good for a "churned" look.

shows you how to use Blender's fluid system. Blender fluids have historically always struggled with viscocity and sticking to surfaces- by which I mean, they don't. The linked scenes get around this by using a collider to delete fluid particles that fall too low, thus creating the illusion of hangs and slow dripping. It's probably the best you can do with fluids in Blender without a dedicated plugin that does fluid adhesion properly.

uses one of Blender's latest features, the Geometry Node system, to generate and animate single projectile=like strands. You supply the origin point (With an Empty) and the final strand shape (using Curves,) and Geometry Nodes does the rest. Based on comments, the output is apparently very linear, so it only works for shots in which the strands are meant to shoot forward and hit, not arc through the air. (Based on what little I know about Geometry Nodes, though, you'd think it would be reasonably possible to add a second Empty to act as the apex of a tracjetory arc... :unsure: )

Hope this helps.
 
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BobbySnaxey

Member
Jul 25, 2020
251
3,003
Woah.

Is that animated, or just for stills?

If you created that, please consider sharing the source at Smutbase. Your preview image does more with two spheres than most of the pages I linked to do with an entire character.

I don't suppose it works with Eevee? :unsure: Asking for a friend. :sneaky:
Nah I didn't create it.
Here's an update version that the creator posted.

 

Synx

Member
Jul 30, 2018
488
468
I found this a while ago. Not as flexible as the one from Bobby I think, but seems easy to animate and to implement, and is made for Eevee. Downloaded link is in the video.
 

BobbySnaxey

Member
Jul 25, 2020
251
3,003
Nobody mentioning RenderingButts's fluid system ? :)
(and with dynamic paint : )

It uses fluid particle physics for the simulation and geo node for the "sticky" part, so it could be used on simple animations. It's not very precise on very small or very big meshes, but 100x faster than real fluid sim and kinda nice looking.
It is too advanced for me. :oops:

I have this cum that works in Eevee. :)

 

BobbySnaxey

Member
Jul 25, 2020
251
3,003
RB's system is easy really : 1) add collision to your models and/or clothes 2) point to a direction 3) hit play on the timeline.
Eventually you can adjust viscosity, friction, etc. It works in Eevee if your material work in Eevee too.

Here is an example, it's done in real time, didn't bake anything :)

View attachment 2142203
My problem with doing anything with the timeline is that my models make everything lag. o_O
 
Apr 21, 2022
174
126
RB's system is easy really : 1) add collision to your models and/or clothes 2) point to a direction 3) hit play on the timeline.
Eventually you can adjust viscosity, friction, etc. It works in Eevee if your material work in Eevee too.

Here is an example, it's done in real time, didn't bake anything :)

View attachment 2142203
My main problem with that technique is that it falls off her face like she's a non-stick pan or something.

Come to think of it, somebody should make the same grey animated gif using all of these techniques. That would make it easy to compare them.
 
Apr 21, 2022
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126
Poor Romi :(

Poor Romi, indeed. :(

Why is her knee so small despite being close enough to the camera to get blurry? :cry:

It's either the morph or the camera settings.

Show me Romi in the default pose from the front in orthographic mode so I can check the morph.

Also show me the Camera settings, particularly Lens.

Our goal is to avoid the illusion of this:
spork.gif

If all else fails, you can scale individual bones to create the illusion that the body parts closer to the camera look bigger.

BayonettaForeshortening.png
Bayonetta's developer is infamous for this trick. It looks like her hand is close to the camera, but it's actually giant. They did it this way because if it were really this close to the camera, it would be cut off by the of the camera's . The arms, chest and head are also scaled to match the hand, creating the illusion of a fisheye lens, which was not supported by the game engine at the time of Bayonetta 1's development.

They continued to use this technique even as 3D technology improved, I suspect, because it gave them fine control over the final blocking and composition of keyframes, and had become part of their signature style. The result is something like a manga artist would draw. You can use the same technique in a subtler way to achieve more realistic, less stylized results.

TL;DR: If the morph isn't to blame, just make the knee bone bigger in Pose Mode until it looks the right size.
 
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