[Need Advice] Struggling whether choosing using AI or Daz3D to create first project

[exe19]

Hello there, I have been trying to create a Ren'py visual novel that I already have some ideas for my writing and stories.
However, I am not sure whether I should use AI stable diffusion (which I have seen alot of good result examples out there such as
https://f95zone.to/threads/mila-ai-v1-3-7b-addont.188775/

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They both have good rendering and quality of the AI can tell the dev has put some artistic touch to them to make them work.

I have been messing around with Stable Diffusion and have been constantly struck by the technical difficulty such as prompting or just trying to get what I want in an image.
Idealy just want to create some characters Loras and train them to be a consistent cha for generating different content, but no luck so far, can't even get the character sheet look right

I have some 3D and Art knowledge in Rendering, Lighting, Cinematorgraphy, Compostion, focal point etc etc and knowing Blender and abit of Daz3D, but no knowledge of animations at all. (which my concern is not sure will animation learning would drain all the dev time) I also have no exp in creating my own character in Daz
I am hugely inspired by projects such as these where they feature high quality of art, model, rendering and storytelling
https://f95zone.to/threads/summer-heat-v0-6-1-naughty-fox-games.107102/
https://f95zone.to/threads/game-of-hearts-ch-5-r1-sparkhg.159512/

However I worry due to the time of my creations, I am not sure if I should just using AI if that actually can become handy, I can always edit the AI image to better quality in terms of artistic
Using 3D, building a scene for everything and even adding animation could be very long time consuming, also I don't have a super powerful GPU to run the heavy in blender and Daz

I would like to get some advice with anyone who have exprience in both generating AI and using 3D for their work, would like to know your thoughts about both different workflow and the decision making....

Thank you!

 

[osanaiko]

Gameplay and story are more important than art.

AI generation will only give you a creation speed boost if you don't care about consistency of characters / clothing / background. It takes a long time (image editing and re-re-re-redoing the generations takes a looong time for me at least) to fix the constant small and sometimes large variations between the series of images. It's also very difficult to get certain specific details right - due to the training data so many of the available the models desperately want to recreate "smiling sexy portraits" of anime girls, not various poses or expressions or scenarios.

Daz is a complex tool with many frustrating UI quirks, but it has a high skill ceiling so you can end u creating excellent renders if you take the time to learn it (or learn on the way! there's a lot of older games where you can very clearly see the improvement in renders over the course of the development history.)

Making a game is a huge amount of work, so the most important thing in solo indie game dev is: how will you stay motivated? You won't get far if you are working on something you don't personally really really want to bring into existence.

By that final criteria, what image style to YOU prefer? you'll be spending 1000s of hours working on those images.

 

[OffWhite Studios]

I’ve been using SD / AI for my game and have managed to achieve a (somewhat) consistent art style and characters, even with more complex poses. Here’s how I approached working with it as my main art tool:

1. Stick to One Model
Choose a single model with a specific art style and use it for everything. This ensures consistency across your project. For NSFW games, models with Pony as a base tend to work well. Mixing too many different models or LoRAs can make it hard to maintain a uniform style.

2. Keep Character Descriptions Simple
In my experience, less detailed prompts yield more consistent results. For example, I might use something basic like:
“blond hair, short hair, blue dress, medieval.”
Overloading prompts with specifics (e.g., highly detailed accessories or intricate designs) makes it harder for the model to replicate characters consistently. While this approach sacrifices some customization, it ensures reliability in the results.

3. Avoid Overly Detailed Outfits
When designing characters, I aim for simple clothing. For instance, if a character has red earrings and a ruby necklace, it’s a hassle to replicate those details in every image. Instead, I prefer single-color outfits with minimal accessories for ease and consistency.

4. Batch Images and Avoid Over-Prompting
Rather than overloading prompts or relying heavily on tools like ControlNet for perfect poses, I let the model do what it does best. I generate large batches of images with a basic prompt and select the best results. Fighting the model to get the “perfect” image often isn’t worth the effort.

5. Use Inpainting Strategically
I primarily use inpainting for upscaling or making minor adjustments—not fixing flawed images. If an image isn’t close to perfect from the start, I find it faster to generate a new one rather than spending too much time repairing it.

6. Inpaint for Facial Expressions
One area where inpainting shines is creating a variety of facial expressions. I’ll generate the body first, then inpaint the face multiple times to get a range of expressions for the same character. This technique works great for adding personality to characters.

I think SD can be a great tool, but if you have a very specific vision for your game and specific assets you need, it's probably not there yet. For assets like my character sheet, I built them in photoshop using free PNG's then did a few low denoise passes in SD to match the art style to the rest of my assets.

 

[R1k0]

It's a dumb topic, choose whatever you're comfortable with.

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[Gunizz]

exe19 I really don't understand. You write "I have some 3D and Art knowledge in Rendering, Lighting, Cinematography, Composition, focal point etc etc and knowing Blender and a bit of Daz3D, but no knowledge of animations at all."
So you already have all you need. Animations are not mandatory. VN are novels, a good story does not need animations. Concentrate on what you can do and do it at your best. There surely will be some twats complaining about the lack of animations, or because you insert a kink they don't like, or it's missing a kink they pretend. Just tell them to go fuck themselves, problem solved.
If the plot is engaging you'll get attention. The plot, the personality of the characters are the most important factor. The quality of images also can attract first time players, but if the plot sucks they'll soon dismiss your VN.

Then when you have reached some stable income or popularity, if you have time, you can learn new skills to use in your VN. Adding animation is one of them but the current level of DAZ animations in VNs is so low that they can be easily forget. Here we're not talking about professional animators using Blender or Maya.

P.S.: AI images still suck for a VN in my opinion.

 

[668 Neighbor of the Beast]

exe19 I really don't understand. You write "I have some 3D and Art knowledge in Rendering, Lighting, Cinematography, Composition, focal point etc etc and knowing Blender and a bit of Daz3D, but no knowledge of animations at all."
So you already have all you need. Animations are not mandatory. VN are novels, a good story does not need animations. Concentrate on what you can do and do it at your best. There surely will be some twats complaining about the lack of animations, or because you insert a kink they don't like, or it's missing a kink they pretend. Just tell them to go fuck themselves, problem solved.
If the plot is engaging you'll get attention. The plot, the personality of the characters are the most important factor. The quality of images also can attract first time players, but if the plot sucks they'll soon dismiss your VN.

Then when you have reached some stable income or popularity, if you have time, you can learn new skills to use in your VN. Adding animation is one of them but the current level of DAZ animations in VNs is so low that they can be easily forget. Here we're not talking about professional animators using Blender or Maya.

P.S.: AI images still suck for a VN in my opinion.

Nailed it 100%