When creating a character you should always have an end destination in mind. In terms of this you are targeting an age / complexion. When creating a skin this will result on different decisions, however you can complete the final skin on a rough morph / body shape. To do the detailed morph tweaking you really need the final skin you are going to use, as differences in shading / or things like eyebrows can make a face look quite different. To clarify the steps I use are:
- Rough morph (usually a percentage of character A + percentage of character B).
- Skinning.
- Detailed morph.
Additionally I usually complete the head morph first and then morph to body to match the resultant head shape.
The main tip I would suggest is to do a significant number of renders during the development process. Not only from front / profile but also with a range of expressions. Also you should endeavour to do morphs with the minimum of sliders if possible. If you have morphs fighting with each other (morph B removing effects of morph A), you can get some terrible results when you change the expression.
Just bypass the skin tab completely as this will replace your existing skin. Typically I will use items under the Overlays, Brows, Gens and Utilities tabs. Note that once you have created a skin you can save using the 'Save Skin and Material Presets' tab under Utilities. Typically I like to save a skin without any makeup / gens options, such that you can change at a later date.
It was a standard pose from the pose pack I had a long time ago. Alas I cleared all my old assets and am unable to recall which pack the pose was from.
I was just wondering, for some reason it seems like no matter the morph sliders I use I can't override the default Alex skin. For example I've downloaded a breast morph mod and slide them but the model doesn't change whatsoever. Any idea what might be causing this?
I was just wondering, for some reason it seems like no matter the morph sliders I use I can't override the default Alex skin. For example I've downloaded a breast morph mod and slide them but the model doesn't change whatsoever. Any idea what might be causing this?
Thanks for the feedback on the thread. In relation to your query, morphs affect the figure geometry, whilst skins are related to surface texture. Both combine to give the final result on the character created.
In relation to the breast morph doing nothing, I suspect you have the incorrect item selected in the scene pane. Here you want to select the Genesis Figure at the upper level. To make sure the morph is applied, located the specific breast morph you wish to apply under the parameters tab. You should immediately observe the change figure geometry as you adjust the slider.
When creating a figure don't underestimate the importance of the skin. It often can have a larger bearing on the look of the character than the geometry morphs.
Thanks for the feedback on the thread. In relation to your query, morphs affect the figure geometry, whilst skins are related to surface texture. Both combine to give the final result on the character created.
In relation to the breast morph doing nothing, I suspect you have the incorrect item selected in the scene pane. Here you want to select the Genesis Figure at the upper level. To make sure the morph is applied, located the specific breast morph you wish to apply under the parameters tab. You should immediately observe the change figure geometry as you adjust the slider.
When creating a figure don't underestimate the importance of the skin. It often can have a larger bearing on the look of the character than the geometry morphs.
Thanks for the response. Is it normally advisable to use a separate skin in conjunction with the preset Gen8 figures you can download? Or should they generally come with a skin map that's good enough?
Thanks for the response. Is it normally advisable to use a separate skin in conjunction with the preset Gen8 figures you can download? Or should they generally come with a skin map that's good enough?
It's better to think of a character asset as a morph + a base skin. You can use it out of the box, however this means that you are not applying your spin to the character creation process. If you want to create a good character, you should be manipulating both the morph and the skin.
For geometry I generally blend 2 or 3 character morphs (generally no more than 50% of one asset) and then tweak individual settings such as nose size. I will also likely apply a HD morph from another asset. Often I will try a range of them to see which one looks better.
For skin I generally apply Altern8 and then supplement the skin with overlays from Skin Builder 8. Skin Builder 8 helps improve the realism of the skin, whilst Altern8 ensures that all of my skins behave in a similar manner, such that they react to lighting in a scene in a similar way.
I say 'key' as I believe they are the most comprehensive set of morphs. You can use other morph packs as well if you choose, however you can create a solid character geometry with these packs. When generating a character you should also apply a character HD morph as well to improve realism.
Note: What I would suggest you try to avoid is to have one morph counteract another. Whilst it may look fine with the current pose / expression, often it can look awful when you change the pose / expression.
Character Creation:
The following contains a step-by-step example of how I created the character below and also some key tips to creating quality characters relatively easily. My intention is not for you to re-create the character, however understand the creation process, such that you can create your own characters. View attachment 189648
Establishment:
- Create an environment which facilitates rapid rendering of the model. I would suggest either using a HDRI or a single light source to render the image.
- For the image above I use the Z Photo Studio backdrop (changed colour to blue) and a single emmissive plane in front / angled 45 down to create butterfly lighting.
- Load a Genesis 8 Figure (Not essential to load G8F, however new Daz asset releases are typically for G8 models)
Skinning:
In my opinion getting a quality character skin is the most important step in creating a character. No matter what the morph, having a good skin will make it believable and have the audience engage in the image.
- Load a quality skin onto the character preferably without eyebrows. For the character example I applied the Zelie skin.
- Increase the skin realism by tweaking the textures. My strong preference is to use Skin Builder 8. The following tweaks were applied to the model.
- Overlays \ Tanlines \ Tanline Strength (20) \ Full Design (0) \ Softer Edges
- Overlays \ Skin Details \ Blotches \ Visibility Strength = 60
- Overlays \ Veins \ Head + Body \ Visibility Strength = 60
- Overlays \ Freckles \ Head (Most) + Body (Less) \ Visibility Strength = 40
- Overlays \ Freckles \ Head (Less) \ Freckles Colour (Darken Slightly) \ Visibility Strength = 70
- Gianna Eyes 06
Hair / Eyebrows:
Nothing tricky, just load up the assets you like
- OOT Alice Hair
- Molly Brows. Prefer fibremesh bows as they look better in close-up and you can adjust without creating a new version of the head texture map.
Quick Morphing:
I'll probably cop a far amount of flak for saying this, however characters can be created very rapidly by simply combining morphs from 2 or more character assets. I tend to use no more than 50% of a certain character asset morph, otherwise it will very closely resemble the asset character. Just play around with a heap of combinations until you find something you like.
- 50% Minthy Head + 50% Sienna Head
Tweaking:
Process is exactly what it sounds like. Essentially go into all the individual settings to adjust the character to your preferences. After each set of tweaks, do an image render to compare how it looked prior to the tweaks being done. I typically do these renders at 900 pixels wide so I can compare the 2 renders size by side.
Additional Notes:
- I haven't covered body morphs, however using quick morph + tweaking methodology works fine for bodies as well. As per the eyebrows, picking a source texture without pubic hair is preferred as you can use a fibremesh asset and separate edit without changing the torso texture.
- The key to a good skin is its imperfections. Skin tone variation is essential to make it believable.
- Skin Builder 8 has the ability to save an entire texture map in the utilities tab, which can then be applied to future models. Keep in mind that you can adjust the base colour to create dark skin or different hews.
- When saving skins, I would leave off additions such as tattoos and make-up, as they can't really by unloaded once the texture has been adjusted.
- When using make-up, use LIE overlays or the base skin which you have spent time working on will be over-written.
- Some base skins in character assets are simply better than others. If you plan to use skin builder, then lighter skins without too many features are typically better.
- If you wish to create a range of distinct characters, you need to use different skins and significantly different quick morph characters. During the tweaking process, your eye for aesthetics will always make the characters look more and more similar the more tweaks you undertake.
It really doesn't matter when you apply the HD morph. You can also change or remove HD morphs at any time. With some of the characters I created, I did the basic morph and then ran renders with the range of alternatives I had with the HD morph and then simply went with the one I preferred.
It really doesn't matter when you apply the HD morph. You can also change or remove HD morphs at any time. With some of the characters I created, I did the basic morph and then ran renders with the range of alternatives I had with the HD morph and then simply went with the one I preferred.
I played around with the latest Ghost Light Kit (version 3) and it has a couple of nice features, however nothing that I can't easily create myself via primitives. The atmospheric box is reasonably good, however is just a copy of what others have done in other assets.
I don't use ghost lights at all in scenes now, as I find that utilising a HDRI and iRay Interior Camera gives superior results in a fraction of the time. Emissive sources are used to fill out the lighting in the scene (usually from various lighting props).
Does anybody know how to change the Working Distance when using DOF? I mean the distance of the middle frame to the camera. I know changing the focal length will move the front frame, and focal distance will move the rear, but I can't find a setting to move the middle one.
I have a shot in a limo in mind, and want to be able to change which character is in focus. Unfortunately the camera is the furthest away it can be while still inside the limo, but the WD is still too large.
Does anybody know how to change the Working Distance when using DOF? I mean the distance of the middle frame to the camera. I know changing the focal length will move the front frame, and focal distance will move the rear, but I can't find a setting to move the middle one.
I have a shot in a limo in mind, and want to be able to change which character is in focus. Unfortunately the camera is the furthest away it can be while still inside the limo, but the WD is still too large.
When I work with DOF I usually do it in perspective mode and have the camera selected so I can see what it is doing. Focal distance I will adjust to get what I want to be in focus, aiming to keep the dot with the green line roughly inline where the characters eyes would be (different for other people, can play with it to see what you prefer). Then I would adjust the focal length to adjust how much of something I want/need to be in focus.
When I work with DOF I usually do it in perspective mode and have the camera selected so I can see what it is doing. Focal distance I will adjust to get what I want to be in focus, aiming to keep the dot with the green line roughly inline where the characters eyes would be (different for other people, can play with it to see what you prefer). Then I would adjust the focal length to adjust how much of something I want/need to be in focus.
Almost perfect, however I would add one point. If you adjust the F/Stop rather than the focal length, you can change the degree of focus without changing how much is shown in the camera.
Almost perfect, however I would add one point. If you adjust the F/Stop rather than the focal length, you can change the degree of focus without changing how much is shown in the camera.
When I work with DOF I usually do it in perspective mode and have the camera selected so I can see what it is doing. Focal distance I will adjust to get what I want to be in focus, aiming to keep the dot with the green line roughly inline where the characters eyes would be (different for other people, can play with it to see what you prefer). Then I would adjust the focal length to adjust how much of something I want/need to be in focus.
Like Xavster said earlier, if you adjust the F/Stop you can widen the focus area without the camera moving. The camera however is too close to get her feet in shot and still look somewhat decent.
