How are the assets for the most popular games made?

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zZONED

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Jun 19, 2019
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i've used blender before and have a solid understanding on how all the objects and structures are made. All my questions are about how everything character related stuff is made.
I am a bit confused since i thought these models were made in programs outside dazstudio and that they were made from scratch. but i've read that if you want to make a model it is suggested that you purchase packages with slider ecc... and this is what confuses me. What if i wanted to make a complete new model with hair, textures and body that i made? I've seen that the characters in the most popular games are a mix of body, hair, skin from different creators. Are there any guides that go more in depth on how to get started with this type of 3d art?
 
79flavors

79flavors

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Jun 14, 2018
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You seem to be asking two different questions.

The "popular games" answer is that most developers will buy premade assets and usually (but not always) tweak them a little using morphs/sliders/etc (usually by mix and matching assets, a head from here, eyes from there, hair from somewhere else). Why reinvent the wheel? Creating a custom asset may set your project apart, but unless you are a VERY serious developer - buying an asset will almost certainly be cheaper than the cost of creating something yourself.
For a completely casual developer... ripped off assets are even cheaper.

Keep in mind that Daz has sliders for merging two assets. If you had say Shae for Teen Raven 8, there would be sliders for how much each element looks like Shae and how much looks like Raven. You'd normally start with 100% Shae, but you could 10%/90% or 50%/50%. Doing that with the right assets can create a very unique and custom looking character, without resorting to starting from scratch. Keep in mind that Shae is just Raven with different morphs (and textures?) and probably some other stuff I don't know about. Likewise Raven is just a more complex version of Genesis 8 Female. Of course, it's all subjective and a good eye will matter more than any technical skills.

The other question... "how would I create a brand new asset"... dunno. I want to say Blender or zBrush... but I have no experience of either.
 
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Smbt3D

Smbt3D

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Nov 3, 2019
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If you have a solid understanding you know that every 3D model is just a mesh/ wireframe with a 2D pic/ texture applied to it.
If you want to move parts of this mesh in a render program independently you have to give it a virtual skeleton/ rig it.
Daz3D provides you with a rigged base mesh (m/f) for every generation and also matching clothes/ hair etc. and morphs for it.
These meshes/ rigs have improved from generation to generation ( V4/ M4 shoulders bend really weird e.g ).

So if you want to make your own custom models you have to do it all from scratch, provide special clothing/ hair for your
custom characters, paint weight maps to influence how your virtual bones bend your mesh and also make corrective morphs
for certain bendings.
And if you'll do this for a lot of characters (for a game e.g.) this is a assload of work. :)

If you just want to make your own textures/ skins for morphed Daz3D base characters you can buy photo resources for that.

Edit: polywog nice tutorial

And just to mention it, Daz3D provides a tool for their content creators to add subD detail to their base meshes.
 
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recreation

recreation

pure evil!
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You can make complete custom characters, but they have be based of off an existing character, so you'll have to export a base character from Daz, load it into your prefered 3D modeler, sculpt your character on it, and then reimport it into daz.
 
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recreation

recreation

pure evil!
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polywog said:
Click to expand...
Yes, that's also possible, but as was mentioned before, this comes with a shitload of work, plus you won't be able to use regular Daz clothes, hair, add-ons, props, etc on that character without modifying every bit and piece, so there would be no reason to use Daz at all.
 
Saki_Sliz

Saki_Sliz

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May 3, 2018
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By asking a simple question zZONED, you have now become part of a community, interconnected through a complex, weblike network of skills, tools, opinions, and memes. Welcome! :giggle:
 
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