Daz Daz development advice/guides/help/tips

[Csuty]

Hi everyone,


I'd like to ask for some dev insight from the game devs about starting out with Daz and creating renders in general.
I've read quite a few dev threads here, so I'm somewhat familiar with some terminology and some software.
I'm a full-stack webdev, so I've even used some of the mentioned software already (Adobe products mostly) - I'm looking for some direction, 'keywords' regarding a few subjects.

I know what might work for you won't magically work for me, but I appreciate any insight into your workflow, it will be helpful regardless.

My specs right now are not bad, but not great either. I have a 10700k CPU, 32GB DDR4 RAM and an RTX 4070 Super, also about 2TB SSD and 4TB HDD storage and not planning to upgrade/change it soon.
Considering my PC I'll probably need to learn to optimize my scenes, which I would honestly prefer to do even if I had a much better PC, not a fan of wasting resources, so please keep in mind I'd like to know any tips/tricks about optimization in any subject.


Without further ado, my questions:

Is it fine to use the latest version of Daz or is there a specific version that you use?

In what size should I render considering my specs, stick with 1080p or render in 2k? I think 4k is overkill for me for now, but I'd like to hear opinions about this.

If any of you are also using Blender, I'm curious if I should allocate some time to learn Blender too or just stick with Daz first.
What do you use Blender for? Do you use it for custom assets, animations or rendering?
Ideally, I'd like to create/use custom assets for my game so I don't have to use the same house/room/park that most AVNs use, that would be my main goal with it - unless there is something else I can use to speed up dev time.

Animating in Daz is a pain as I gathered through the threads, are you animating in Daz? If so what does the process look like for you to create an animation, and how did you learn to animate? Any courses/guides that worked for you?

What are your render settings? I know it's not a magical 'one setup works for everyone', I'm mostly interested in settings that I should experiment with and settings that you set once and then shouldn't be touched.

How do you create your scenes? Do you create unique scenes with individual assets or is it usually a 'pre-made' environment/house/room?

What did you use to create your characters? I've read about morph-s and morphing, is that enough to create unique characters or did you use other software too?

Do you have any tips for optimizing characters/clothes/props/scenes to use less resources? I'll probably need to optimize stuff, considering my GPU doesn't have a lot of VRAM.

Do you use any plugins/scripts frequently that help with your workflow? I'm familiar with a few after reading some threads, but curious about what you are/were using frequently.

What are some things you wish you knew when you were starting to create renders - mainly asking because I don't want to waste time doing something slow and/or wrong when there's a better way, which mostly comes with experience usually, but that's what I'm trying to 'skip' by asking around for best practices/tips.

If you do any post-work; which software do you use and what do you do in it exactly? Do you use the same 'effects' throughout your game or does it depend on the scene or something else?

Were there any courses/guides/tutorials that helped you greatly in learning? I've already collected some recommendations from the forum, but I'd like to know what you'd recommend.

Any other advice that you think worth mentioning but I haven't asked about?


Thank you for taking the time to read all that and thanks for answering in advance, I really appreciate it.
Csuty

 

[simarimas]

Will just answer a few of these for you.

Scripts - Pickup a render queue. There are a few. I like ManFridays Render Queue, but that is the one I have used for a long time, so that is just personal preference. This will allow you to render while away from your PC (while sleeping, etc.).

Environment Assets - I personally use purchased environments, preferably ones that you can hide walls, or other parts, and then I customize those as needed. Move walls in a room, add different furniture, change wall textures. And combine different assets to make one that fits what you want. The house I use in our game is a mixture of about 4 different assets just for the main living room area. I would never attempt to make an asset from scratch, as it is beyond my skill set. But kit bashing is something worth looking into for sure, to change premade assets to look different.

Characters - I use base purchased characters, and then use morphs to change them up. I usually select a character that looks similar to what I want, and then use the morphs to change the body/head to make them look different and match what I want them to look like. Again, creating one from scratch is beyond my skills.

One huge hint I will give. SAVE EVERYTHING YOU DO! This is something I made the mistake of not doing when I first started out. I save every single scene I create now. You never know when you will want to make changes to it, or just use it again. So if I have an in game scene that has 50 different renders, I save every one of them in DAZ. When using Render Queue, you will do this anyway, but even if you don't use the queue, save those scenes!

YouTube videos help with most everything you want to do, from lighting, to changing clothing textures, from the basics to the most advanced things. There is always a video out there that can help you.

If you are just starting with DAZ. Learn the controls, spend a week or two just playing around, setting up your scene, placing characters, and posing. Posing can be a real pain when starting out. Get as many low cost or free poses to use as a base, and then adjust the arms, legs, hands etc. as needed.

Best of Luck to you!