How to make characters for blender?

[Nilx_games]

I was wondering if there is a way to easily make 3dcg characters for blender. I would love to learn Daz3D but I feel like its unnecessary and time consuming to know 2 programs when I somewhat know blender already. I can make the environments and everything in blender, besides characters, and I have no idea how to do so. I feel like most things are too difficult like sculpting, and that Daz3D have such a big library and it just makes it so easy by giving you a few parameters to play around with. I have thought of the idea of doing them in Daz3D and then importing, but it feels like the rigging and such will break. So something like MakeHuman but way higher quality would be a dream.

I'm really thankful for any answers!

 

[Holloweenie]

you can also import your environments into daz and render from daz

 

[polywog]

 

[polywog]

 

[Nilx_games]

you can also import your environments into daz and render from daz

Yeah, I suppose that's what I'll have to do. Even though I'll have to learn daz.

Yeah that would be an alternative, however I feel that doing that will take a lot of time with a decrease of quality.

Something like that last video is great, but it doesn't have the same quality as for example the Daz3D models.

 

[polywog]

Yeah, I suppose that's what I'll have to do. Even though I'll have to learn daz.

Not really. You need Daz studio, only to download, and then export the characters. That is, if you want to use daz characters, there are other options.

 

[DeathlessReaper]

Yeah that would be an alternative, however I feel that doing that will take a lot of time with a decrease of quality.

What? Why is it a loss of quality?

 

[Nilx_games]

Not really. You need Daz studio, only to download, and then export the characters. That is, if you want to use daz characters, there are other options.

Yeah I guess I'll have to do that.

What? Why is it a loss of quality?

I ment the last video he linked of character creator 3, and how it's quality isn't as good as for example Daz3D. But I guess I'll just have to export Daz3D models to blender.

 

[polywog]

Yeah I guess I'll have to do that.



I ment the last video he linked of character creator 3, and how it's quality isn't as good as for example Daz3D. But I guess I'll just have to export Daz3D models to blender.

CC3 actually makes better characters than Daz. Especially if you want to use the characters in another program or game engine. The problem is in Daz' proprietary iray crap (fake ray). It works for pictures, if you have hours to waste, but iray doesn't do 60fps

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Nilx_games]

CC3 actually makes better characters than Daz. Especially if you want to use the characters in another program or game engine. The problem is in Daz' proprietary iray crap (fake ray). It works for pictures, if you have hours to waste, but iray doesn't do 60fps

You must be registered to see the links

I see, that seems pretty awesome! But I'm only looking to make characters for a VN. So do the characters in CC3 look better then those in blender, and if the game would be NSFW, how would those kinds of things work out?

 

[Shved]

I also tried to export models from daz to blender, from daz to unreal, from daz to 3Dmax then to unreal, from daz to maya and a lot of everything.
This is what I have come to.

 

[Synx]

This is how I make them:

For base model I use this:

You must be registered to see the links

It's the base model from Daz3d exported into blender, with the guy creating a ton of shape keys to create whatever (realistic) body you want.

When finished I use the addon Animated: corrective shape keys (it's turned of by default) to create a copy where all the shape keys are applied. Copy it to a new file, and that's my base model.

Then I remodel the head. Put x-mirror on and go ham. Its easier if you got clear references to work from, but it's still

Then hair: you got 3 ways to create hair: Model it (cartoon style hair), particle systems, or hair cards. I personally use particle systems. Just look up a tutorial for hair. Long hair is pretty easy, short hair/eyebrows is a lot harder. I still struggle a bit with those.

Lastly texturing it. That's a tricky part. I use substance painter myself. You just import your model into that program, and you can draw your textures on it, export the maps you create and apply them into blender. It's a bit pricey (20 bucks a month), but it makes texturing so much easier and faster.

For clothing I often import Daz cloths, copy the cloths from free models from sketch fab, or create some myself. Any clothing piece that is loose (dresses, skirts, etc.) are easier to create then tight cloths. Just look up a tutorial for cloths.

 

[Nilx_games]

I also tried to export models from daz to blender, from daz to unreal, from daz to 3Dmax then to unreal, from daz to maya and a lot of everything.
This is what I have come to.

That seems pretty cool! But it a bit too time consuming for just making one character

This is how I make them:

For base model I use this:

You must be registered to see the links

It's the base model from Daz3d exported into blender, with the guy creating a ton of shape keys to create whatever (realistic) body you want.

When finished I use the addon Animated: corrective shape keys (it's turned of by default) to create a copy where all the shape keys are applied. Copy it to a new file, and that's my base model.

Then I remodel the head. Put x-mirror on and go ham. Its easier if you got clear references to work from, but it's still

Then hair: you got 3 ways to create hair: Model it (cartoon style hair), particle systems, or hair cards. I personally use particle systems. Just look up a tutorial for hair. Long hair is pretty easy, short hair/eyebrows is a lot harder. I still struggle a bit with those.

Lastly texturing it. That's a tricky part. I use substance painter myself. You just import your model into that program, and you can draw your textures on it, export the maps you create and apply them into blender. It's a bit pricey (20 bucks a month), but it makes texturing so much easier and faster.

For clothing I often import Daz cloths, copy the cloths from free models from sketch fab, or create some myself. Any clothing piece that is loose (dresses, skirts, etc.) are easier to create then tight cloths. Just look up a tutorial for cloths.

Thanks for your answer! That is more like what I want to do!

 

[polywog]

 

[Saki_Sliz]

doing them in Daz3D and then importing, but it feels like the rigging and such will break. So something like MakeHuman but way higher quality would be a dream.

I have done MakeHuman, not nearly as customizable as Daz.
Currently, I use Daz for Character Blocking (making the basic shape of characters and clothes), and then I do any additional sculpting in Blender, and animate/render in blender.

So 4 things about doing this.

~ The default import shader is junk, bugged even, so if you are comfortable with playing with shaders, then you can/should make your own shaders for the skin, eyes, etc. I currently have my own collection for all the body parts and other details (like the cornea), which I am still trying to refine so that I can share it publically.

~ Rigging. The default rig works just fine, as good as any basic rig (for both daz importer and fbx importing). Depending on how much experience you have with making characters in blender, I would recommend tuning the rig to your preferences. I automate a lot of my rigs with various features so that animating isn't tedious. So the rig won't break... almost.

~ In daz, when posing and animating, the rig has a lot of automated behaviors, such as, if you lift the arms high enough eventually the shoulders will rise up instead. This automation is lost no matter what when you import to blender. Second, a lot of movements also have corrective shape keys that are automated in daz. You loose all of the shape keys when you import into blender, so you either have to make your own or live without them (or just the few you need). With daz models, it usually works pretty well if you have a default mesh where you add in all the corrective shape keys, and then you import the character you want and morph your character and skeleton to match the imported character (tricky), you can then have your character with all their corrective shape keys.

~ Lastly, Genitals. They tend to be meshed up, having two meshes and messed up UV's. I have been thinking on making a tutorial for how to fix imported genetals, becaus you have to transfer the uv map of one mesh to another, and cut up teh body and attatch the genitals to that, and then you have a perfect mesh, it is a fair amount of work, a bit advance, but without it having genitals is worthless in blender.

if you want to quickly play with customizable body shapes (female only, faces don't change), you can play with this model,

You must be registered to see the links

which is just the default G8F model with all the Body Diversity morphs turned into shape key sliders you can play with, using this I was able to make an

You must be registered to see the links

like character (not the head) before I started to use daz.

I'm away from my main computer during this winter break so I can't provide images or be able to test thing directly to answer any specific questions.

 

[Nilx_games]

I have done MakeHuman, not nearly as customizable as Daz.
Currently, I use Daz for Character Blocking (making the basic shape of characters and clothes), and then I do any additional sculpting in Blender, and animate/render in blender.

So 4 things about doing this.

~ The default import shader is junk, bugged even, so if you are comfortable with playing with shaders, then you can/should make your own shaders for the skin, eyes, etc. I currently have my own collection for all the body parts and other details (like the cornea), which I am still trying to refine so that I can share it publically.

~ Rigging. The default rig works just fine, as good as any basic rig (for both daz importer and fbx importing). Depending on how much experience you have with making characters in blender, I would recommend tuning the rig to your preferences. I automate a lot of my rigs with various features so that animating isn't tedious. So the rig won't break... almost.

~ In daz, when posing and animating, the rig has a lot of automated behaviors, such as, if you lift the arms high enough eventually the shoulders will rise up instead. This automation is lost no matter what when you import to blender. Second, a lot of movements also have corrective shape keys that are automated in daz. You loose all of the shape keys when you import into blender, so you either have to make your own or live without them (or just the few you need). With daz models, it usually works pretty well if you have a default mesh where you add in all the corrective shape keys, and then you import the character you want and morph your character and skeleton to match the imported character (tricky), you can then have your character with all their corrective shape keys.

~ Lastly, Genitals. They tend to be meshed up, having two meshes and messed up UV's. I have been thinking on making a tutorial for how to fix imported genetals, becaus you have to transfer the uv map of one mesh to another, and cut up teh body and attatch the genitals to that, and then you have a perfect mesh, it is a fair amount of work, a bit advance, but without it having genitals is worthless in blender.

if you want to quickly play with customizable body shapes (female only, faces don't change), you can play with this model,

You must be registered to see the links

which is just the default G8F model with all the Body Diversity morphs turned into shape key sliders you can play with, using this I was able to make an

You must be registered to see the links

like character (not the head) before I started to use daz.

I'm away from my main computer during this winter break so I can't provide images or be able to test thing directly to answer any specific questions.

Thank you for your answer, I think this is the main option for me. Although is seems a bit difficult with multiple steps, especially if I have to make multitple characters! But this will definitely be something I will look into!

 

[Saki_Sliz]

To go from daz to fully animated character in blender ready to make a scene for a game takes a lot of work. I don't know how you work but I experiment a lot before I commit, testing to see what characters I want, game mechanism, etc. and then I commit to properly preparing a character. But when you do, it is a lot easier to make art for your game.

 

[Nilx_games]

To go from daz to fully animated character in blender ready to make a scene for a game takes a lot of work. I don't know how you work but I experiment a lot before I commit, testing to see what characters I want, game mechanism, etc. and then I commit to properly preparing a character. But when you do, it is a lot easier to make art for your game.

I see, that seems like a good idea to do!

 

[Rich]

Saki_Sliz - Have you done anything in terms of adding IK rigging to the Daz rigging in Blender? Or do you convert to a different rig when you export to Blender? (e.g. diffeomorphic or equivalent)

I've been pondering doing some Daz animation in Blender where I'd want to bring the animations back into Daz for rendering. One of the big limitations of the Daz rig is the lack of IK (despite the additions in 4.12, which fall short), but I haven't had time to spend seeing if I could add IK rigging on top of Daz's own bone structure.

 

[polywog]

Saki_Sliz - Have you done anything in terms of adding IK rigging to the Daz rigging in Blender? Or do you convert to a different rig when you export to Blender? (e.g. diffeomorphic or equivalent)

I've been pondering doing some Daz animation in Blender where I'd want to bring the animations back into Daz for rendering. One of the big limitations of the Daz rig is the lack of IK (despite the additions in 4.12, which fall short), but I haven't had time to spend seeing if I could add IK rigging on top of Daz's own bone structure.