Tutorial Daz Studio - Tutorials & Tips

3D Novelist

Active Member
Sep 17, 2020
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The scene setup can be seen in the image below. I usually have multiple cameras so it is easier to switch between face / torso / full body renders.
View attachment 190567

Changing the backdrop colour is simply a matter of selecting the item, then changing base colour in the surfaces tab.
View attachment 190570

To create butterfly lighting, create a plane (create\new primitive\plane) the place and rotate as per first image. Then adjust the emission colour to white in the surface tab and increase the luminance. For the scene in question I am using a luminance of 50,000 with a camera shutter speed of 16.
View attachment 190575

Some additional lighting options -
Any reasons to change Shutter Speed instad of just increasing the light of the scene?
Has it any other benefits?
 

Xavster

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Mar 27, 2018
1,249
7,622
Any reasons to change Shutter Speed instead of just increasing the light of the scene?
Has it any other benefits?
The main benefit of changing shutter speed is when you have multiple light sources. It's simply easier to edit one item rather than several. When I do an outdoor scene using a HDRI I just change the environment intensity instead.
 

3D Reaver

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2020
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Could you go into the general workflow you use to render a scene ? When i say scene i mean a series of images in a single location, like in your strip club scene.

I'm trying to use the timeline for this. Not for any animation purpose just as a way to store all the posses, camera, lighting, etc. My problem is that the results are unpredictable. Daz interpolates when it should not, going back to certain frames can cause crashes and the load times get ridiculous.
 

RVNSN

Drunken Pirate Skirtchaser
Game Developer
Jan 17, 2019
804
480
Could you go into the general workflow you use to render a scene ? When i say scene i mean a series of images in a single location, like in your strip club scene.

I'm trying to use the timeline for this. Not for any animation purpose just as a way to store all the posses, camera, lighting, etc. My problem is that the results are unpredictable. Daz interpolates when it should not, going back to certain frames can cause crashes and the load times get ridiculous.
I might be able to give a little bit of helpful advice here, as I have been in the same situation as you.

First, you NEED to start saving poses, etc as presets - there are pose presets, materials presets, etc. This is an absolute must.

Second, this generally takes care of the problem with poses changing on you (though I would swear sometimes it still happens): when you setup a pose for a character or prop, and that character or prop has another pose in another frame, Daz will interpolate and adjust the pose on you. However, after you have posed a char or prop, save the pose as a pose preset, then apply that pose preset to your char or prop, and it will stay in that pose (though it is possible that on occasion Daz might try to adjust the pose - but perhaps this has only happened if I forgot to apply the pose preset). I do NOT use the create keyframe feature, because when I have tried doing so in the past, it would take about a f#$%ing hour to do so, and after applying the pose preset, it should stay in that pose, and if not it has still been faster for me to just apply the preset again instead wasting the time to set keyframes (it seems to me that other software has much more functional keyframe features that don't take up so much time and work far better). Of course, there is likely a better way to use the keyframes in Daz than what I have done, so someone else can fill in information regarding that.

But, the take away from my input: you absolutely MUST start saving presets for poses, etc, and you should apply the pose preset after saving it to get Daz to recognize that you actually want that item to stay in that pose.
 

3D Reaver

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2020
1,455
5,804
I might be able to give a little bit of helpful advice here, as I have been in the same situation as you.

First, you NEED to start saving poses, etc as presets - there are pose presets, materials presets, etc. This is an absolute must.

Second, this generally takes care of the problem with poses changing on you (though I would swear sometimes it still happens): when you setup a pose for a character or prop, and that character or prop has another pose in another frame, Daz will interpolate and adjust the pose on you. However, after you have posed a char or prop, save the pose as a pose preset, then apply that pose preset to your char or prop, and it will stay in that pose (though it is possible that on occasion Daz might try to adjust the pose - but perhaps this has only happened if I forgot to apply the pose preset). I do NOT use the create keyframe feature, because when I have tried doing so in the past, it would take about a f#$%ing hour to do so, and after applying the pose preset, it should stay in that pose, and if not it has still been faster for me to just apply the preset again instead wasting the time to set keyframes (it seems to me that other software has much more functional keyframe features that don't take up so much time and work far better). Of course, there is likely a better way to use the keyframes in Daz than what I have done, so someone else can fill in information regarding that.

But, the take away from my input: you absolutely MUST start saving presets for poses, etc, and you should apply the pose preset after saving it to get Daz to recognize that you actually want that item to stay in that pose.
I have not thought to use poses like that but i fear that saving the pose of each character on each frame separately would quickly turn into an organizational nightmare for me.

after much digging around i did find something. right next to create key frame there is a button that says node. the optione there are

  • Added a "Node Recurse" key creation scope action
    • Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Node Recurse"
      • Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for all properties listed in the view, for the primary selected node and all of its decendants
    • Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
  • Added an "Node" key creation scope action
    • Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Node"
      • Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for all properties listed in the view, for the primary selected node
    • Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
  • Added an "Properties" key creation scope action
    • Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Properties"
      • Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for the selected properties listed in the view
    • Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
So i think that in theory setting keyframes with node recurse should fix many of my issues. it seams mind boggling to me for this to not be the default. Il test the options and see if i can get something that is accurate or if daz continues to mess around with my keyframes.

Another thing that i found is that if you save and close the file with a hidden object that object will disappear from the timeline when you re load. the keyframes are still there but you cant see them and the 2 ways to get them back are to delete and undo or to unhide save and reload the file. The first option is "risky" because sometimes not everything is restored after deletion, restoring a deleted character will frequently be missing textures. the second option can take a very long time depending on the complexity of the file.
 
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RVNSN

Drunken Pirate Skirtchaser
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Jan 17, 2019
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Another thing that i found is that if you save and close the file with a hidden object that object will disappear from the timeline when you re load. the keyframes are still there but you cant see them and the 2 ways to get them back are to delete and undo or to unhide save and reload the file. The first option is "risky" because sometimes not everything is restored after deletion, restoring a deleted character will frequently be missing textures. the second option can take a very long time depending on the complexity of the file.
That's strange
 

TheDevian

Svengali Productions
Game Developer
Mar 8, 2018
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I have not thought to use poses like that but i fear that saving the pose of each character on each frame separately would quickly turn into an organizational nightmare for me.
Saving and applying poses is a critical part of using the timeline. If you do not do this, any movements before or after that frame will affect it as well.

Sadly, there are a few things to watch out for. If you apply the same pose to more than one keyframe without anything in between, it have movement between them anyway, without having keyframes to show it. This "phantom keyframe" problem gets worse if copy paste keyframes.

What I do, is have the Preset folder, with Poses inside of that. From there I made a folder for "Mine", and under that, I have a sub folder for each location, though you could use update/chapter number, scene name/number, Character name, etc.
after much digging around i did find something. right next to create key frame there is a button that says node. the optione there are

  • Added a "Node Recurse" key creation scope action
    • Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Node Recurse"
      • Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for all properties listed in the view, for the primary selected node and all of its decendants
    • Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
  • Added an "Node" key creation scope action
    • Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Node"
      • Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for all properties listed in the view, for the primary selected node
    • Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
  • Added an "Properties" key creation scope action
    • Sets the Create Key Scope selector to "Properties"
      • Causes the "Create Keys" operation to create keys (at the current time) for the selected properties listed in the view
    • Available from the Key Creation Scope submenu of the context menu
So i think that in theory setting keyframes with node recurse should fix many of my issues. it seams mind boggling to me for this to not be the default. Il test the options and see if i can get something that is accurate or if daz continues to mess around with my keyframes.
I recommend against using this method, as it tends not to save everything, poses or even properties presets work better, just in case there are issues. It also means you can always go back and fix it later by reapplying the pose, if something goes wrong.
Another thing that i found is that if you save and close the file with a hidden object that object will disappear from the timeline when you re load. the keyframes are still there but you cant see them and the 2 ways to get them back are to delete and undo or to unhide save and reload the file. The first option is "risky" because sometimes not everything is restored after deletion, restoring a deleted character will frequently be missing textures. the second option can take a very long time depending on the complexity of the file.
Yes, anything hidden when saved will not show up in the timeline, you need to unhide them, save and then reload. It is a real pain in the ass sometimes. Especially with the time it takes to open any complex scenes.
 
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Xavster

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Mar 27, 2018
1,249
7,622
Could you go into the general workflow you use to render a scene ? When i say scene i mean a series of images in a single location, like in your strip club scene.

I'm trying to use the timeline for this. Not for any animation purpose just as a way to store all the posses, camera, lighting, etc. My problem is that the results are unpredictable. Daz interpolates when it should not, going back to certain frames can cause crashes and the load times get ridiculous.
I sometimes render a sequence of images as an animation, however it becomes a little risky when you have dForce items. Not impossible, however a bit of a pain.

One of the main tools I use for this is graphmate. Whilst this function is now integrated into Daz in the timeline section, they did a pretty crap job of it. Hence I typically have it in another window on another screen. I think you will need to download from another source as I think the artist sold it to Daz and hence it is no longer available on their site.

I do not use keyframes much, however do take care when setting variables for intermediate frames. When you adjust a variable in an intermediate frame you often have to do it as 3 adjustments (frame you want and the one before and after). This is a bit of a pain. What it does allow is the creation of some subtle movement across a range of images. This subtle movement and a slightly easier file management (not as many scene files) are about the only benefits.

One of the things I now do instead is to pose images out of sequence. Say for instance you have a conversation with another character where they are speaking in the odd frames. In these they will have their mouth open as if speaking and also potentially be slightly more engaged by moving forwards. What I do here is pose say image 1, then pose image 5 with a different expression. Make a subtle change and then do images 3 and 7 using relevant expressions. You can then do the images where the character isn't speaking in the even images in a similar way. This gives the characters a more live feel without creating much additional work. Note that you need the detailed script first to allow this work method.

With the later method as the paragraph above, I don't use the timeline scene posing much any more. One exception of this is in the latest release of the game where I posed Alice with dForce hair. Getting hair to pose correctly in an image sequence is also problematic though as you can't have several seconds in between successive frames. Hence if you have significant head movement you really need to have the image poses say every 10th frame.
 
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