Is Daz For Me? Advice welcomed.
Hi all,
Let me first say thanks for this forum.
I'm a brand new Daz user, and new to the world of 3D. I've successfully installed Daz and watched a number of video tutorials. I can see there is a learning curve here and I'm trying to decide whether I'll enjoy 3D enough to make it worth climbing that hill.
The key problem I'm having at the moment is that the interface shown in video tutorials rarely matches the one I'm looking at. I can see that Daz offers great interface flexibility, which is likely great for experienced users, but it's a nightmare for newbies like myself.
I've clicked video links within the Daz interface, but they all seem to lead to 404s on the Daz site.
And now I'm typing here, and every few seconds a big notice saying "Draft saved" obscures this input field.
I'm pretty close to bailing on the Daz experience truthfully, but thought I'd check in here first. I'll end here, as this Draft Saved business is completely unacceptable.
Sorry to whine, yell at me if you wish, I don't mind. :-)
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Comments
You can switch layouts via Window>Workspace>Select Layout... The current default, City Limits Lite, is newish (4.7, I think, with the ntroduction of the Aux Viewport for preview rendering) before that City Limits was the default, I think.
Did you isntall all of the included content - if nott hat may explain the missing tutorials, if you mean the interactive tutorials.
I will let Richard deal with the software side as I would like to touch on the learning curve. In my experience the learning curve is either steep or just a slight incline depending on the person's expectations. Learning this does take time and many hours of hair pulling moments...get past all that then it becomes a joy, a release from the rat race in my case. But ot also depends on what you want to do. If you just want to preload everything and render then all you need to know is the software. But if you want to create some serious pieces of art then you need to up the learning level to Surface settings, lighting and possibly postwork in Photoshop, Gimp etc.
Start slowly and don't expect much at first. Though I have seen people make some amazing art after 6 months, for some it can take a few years.
Hi Richard, thanks for your reply. I ran the Daz installer and let it do whatever it wanted to do. I've never seen a Mac installer quite like it so it seemed a bit odd, but as far as I could tell the install worked fine.
Yes, I've learned how to switch layouts, but still typically can't match my layout to the tutorial. At first the problem was that I was watching tutorials from 5 years ago or older, so I fixed that by focusing on Daz 4.9 tutorials only, same as I'm using. Still can't match interfaces much of the time though.
This is not really a Daz issue, but a geezer issue :-). The text for the Daz interface is, for me, very incredibly small. It seems a program designed by and for 25 year olds with perfect 20-20 vision, a not uncommon reality. Likewise, when I boost the fonts for this text input window so I can read what I'm typing, this ridiculous Draft Saved message incessantly covers up what I'm typing. Really guys, c'mon, nobody cares that the draft has been saved. Kill the darn thing entirely, in my whiney opinion. :-)
Hi Szark, thanks for your comments on the learning curve. Perhaps it will help for me to better explain my goals.
Animation is the attraction for me. So, for me, the bottom line question is, will I enjoy animation enough to justify the learning curve? So far I'm guessing not, though I am quite impressed by some of the work I've seen. It's entirely possible that the real problem is that I have only a modest interest in 3D and 3D is not a modest undertaking.
Good news everyone! My draft has been saved! :-)
If you are using Windows theer is a workaround for the text size - adjust the system scaling, which in WIndows 10 is right-click on the desktop, select Display Settings, and adjust the Choose the Size of text ... slider. A more thorough fix is being worked on but it isn't a simple change.
Hi Richard, I'm on a Mac and there is an easy solution there too, I can just zoom the entire desktop. This does work, but it then limits my view to 20% of the Daz interface. The long term solution will probably be that I memorize the tab titles so I no longer need to read them. That process has begun.
The Windows fix does actually enlarge without zooming. I can't say how long the changes will take - as I understand it there's a need to completely update to using a later version of the Qt framework (Qt, and application framewoerk, not QT, Quick Time).
One other thing that may help if, like me, your eyesight isn't quite up to jet fighter pilot standards. Window menu / Style and then select the Highway style. I find this much, much easier to read than the Darkside style that is favoured by many.
Addendum: I've just done some experimenting and the City Limits style has text which is even easier to read than Highway.
Cheers,
Alex.
Coming from a newbie who is hitting her one year anniversary at the beginning of September the short answer is YES its worth it. Totally frustrating, wild, crazily without a doubt yes. There is a learning curve. Yes, its very frustrating at first. But once it starts to come together, its a completely amazingly rewarding thing to see what's in your head come alive in a way that just isn't possible in the 2d world.
The interface is complex, confusing and I know that even after a year, I don't know or don't understand exactly what half of it does. But I will learn, and the people here are astonishingly helpful and patient beyond measure. And its worth it.
The newbie contest threads that Chohole mentioned in the other thread? You won't understand even half of what is said the first or second or third time you join in. (don't worry about reading all the past ones, while very helpful, DOING the current contest and getting the advice while working on something? Priceless. No one will make you feel stupid for asking why you can't change the shirt from blue to green. They will simply explain it, show it to you with screen shots if necessary and walk you through til you get it. No skill required. and everyone pitches in with opinions and advice to make it look better. And you will realize after awhile, that hey, you understood what so and so meant when they explained that!
This program, you can't escape the learning curve. But you can learn it (if I can, anyone can) you just have to be willing to make stuff that doesn't look like the advertisements for awhile first. Its very satisfying once things start to click in place.
I like it and I've been planning on eventually using DAZ Studio to help me like Poser was originally created to do and more. That is use it as a 'rough sketch tool' before creating art in a physical medium because as you might know modeling clay, oil paints, lindenholz, and most physical artists mediums are expensive and bulky. If I mess up a DAZ render I just change it, if I mess up carving a piece of wood it often means I must sometimes change what I am carving.
DAZ Studio also lets me approach art in a more 'scientifically exacting' way too. For example, when you read about PBR/PBS iRay shading you will find out but also I want to learn to caricature but as an artist I'm not so talented and I really didn't know how to caricature but then I realized to caricature in DAZ Studio should be easy - you change the scale of the prominent and not prominent body parts easily in DAZ Studio without effecting the relationship of the geometry of the shapes. And you can reset it and start again easily if you mess up. I plan to keep working at it and improve my DAZ Studio skills.
Short term though DAZ Studio can be more expensive than using a lot of physical artists' mediums but long term it is cheaper. You can do both of course.
Humans want to create, look around. Its what makes us unique. Nothing you make here will end up up filling up a landfill. Its a pretty green hobby. Plus you can collect to your hearts content without ever ending up on an episode of Hoarders Buried Alive! You can learn this faster than you can master oil painting and traditional mediums. You can acheive good results even if your hands face challenges with traditional mediums. While you may be sad it is such slow going now, imagine drawing every frame by hand like in days gone by. Its not instant but its still way better than the alternatives. Perhaps you could do a little Manga or comics to warm up? I am terrified of trying to make things move around so I just do stills. Lots of people think because its done on a computer and other artists made the items in a render, it was point and click and don't give people much credit until they try it themselves. They say, "Wow, you did that?" and you say, "Yes, on a computer with items from daz3d." Then the respect drains away because they don't know you recolored this and that, did the pose, set up the scene etc. They thought the computer was an artist now, not you. Stick it out though. It is refreshing to see someone really give it a try and find out we humans are still needed to produce art even with computers.
Ok, I found the right solution for me, a Mac (only) 3D app called Cheetah3D. The interface seems much more suitable for 3D newbies like myself. It's possible I'll still use Daz on a limited basis to access the Daz store. Thanks for the encouragement and tips shared above. I didn't think 3D was going to work out, but I'm now on my way, just had to find the tool that was appropriate for me. I'm up and running after watching only one short video tutorial.
If I understand it, the business model of Daz is not to sell software but 3D content, so presumably the Daz team wouldn't really care which software we use. If that's true, if another Mac 3D newbie should appear here, members might consider having them check out Cheetah3D. It does cost $100, which will surely be a disincentive for some. But in those cases where it's that or giving up on 3D, it might be a solution.
You can use Cheetah for free for as long as you like, with all features except save and export. Paying unlocks save and export.
Glad you didn't give up. It does look like a cool program. There are all kinds of programs for Mac that are Mac only so I haven't used them as I don't own a mac. I'll remember that is free to try out though for the future. It took a bit for me to feel more comfortable in daz studio. This looks like it will easy you into modeling basics and I wish there was something this friendly for windows. I couldn't find much on using Daz content in it but the FBX exporter, or something like that. But it seems it can be done and probably better than I think. Congrads on finding this hobby. There is always something new to learn and do with it. It can be challenging but its not boring.
Is it worth it? That depends on your wants or needs. I started in February and am now quite experienced (model morphing, regular and dynamic clothing, lighting techniques for 3 different render engines, etc) . It has been a long steep learning curve ... probably beyond what the hobbyist would want. But I am also highy motivated as I am using this to make powerpoint slides, and illustrations for my websites. If I just wanted to play around and make a few fun images I would not have learned so much nearly so quickly and although the images are quite good, I may not have been satisfied with the results ... I like details and that gets expensive quickly - one image may have parts from over 18 different sets. But I am very very happy with the results I am getting!
great positive thinking posts in a world of negativity...love it.