Saving a character

kataryna_dragonweaver

I have a character that I'd like to share with someone I'm collaborating with.
I think they have all the purchased content they will need for the character
But I have a bunch texture maps that I'd like to get all in one place as well as the files that are needed to load the character.
I assume she needs the character preset file - but what else?

and is there a way to save/export it all as a nice package, or am I going to have to find a copy all the texture maps, pose preset files, wearable preset files, and other bits I made into a file myself?

Thanks. Even a pointer to a tutorial would be appreciated.

Richard Haseltine

Well, to start with you have to remember that you can't share stuff that isn't all your own work. If you have textures that you created yourself, place them in a folder in \Runtime\Textures in an otherwise empty content directory, make sure that that is where they are applied from (if you loaded them into the Surfaces pane from a folder in My Pictures, say, then that is what will be stored and it won't work without prompting on another machine), save your presets to that folder and zip the whole thing up.

kataryna_dragonweaver

Thanks. To be crystal clear - I don't want to share the stuff I'm not supposed to.
Just the dialed in morphs, and colour settings, and the layers for all the texture maps, and the one little object that I made myself in Hex.

(too bad there wasn't an export application with in the program that saved and moved all customized files and settings for a character into a new folder for you)
Sigh - now to find all the files that are all over the place. Next time everything goes into one folder.
:)

kataryna_dragonweaver

Oh - and another quick question - texture maps:
If I take a texture map - the basic genesis skin and alter the colouring and place tattoos on it directly using photoshop...
Do I need to seperate that work (the colour setting and the tattoos) from the actual texture layer as a jpg.

ie: Take basic genesis male skin texture map jpg into photoshop, lighten it significantly, turn it blue, add layers of other images that I personally drew as tattoos, save all the layers as a new jpg, use the new jpgs for my characters. Or do I save the photoshop layers I used to mask/lighten/recolour the texture along with only the drawing layers... to essentally make a colour mask that can be used in the multilayered-image editor - and get my collaborator to load that onto the basic geneis skin when loading up all the character presets.

I'm just not too sure of where the cutoff is between the amount of modifying work that gets done to a model/picture and when it can be declared yours. I mean publishing a jpg rendered from stock daz figures seems to happen a lot - are the basic texture maps for the figures somehow different if you are modifying them?

Please don't take this wrong - this is a request for information-understanding so that I don't actually share things I shouldn't... not a gripe that I think the rules are somehow wrong. I have too many artist friends to consider stealing/shareing someones work when I shouldn't. I just need to know where the line is. This group seems fairly sharing oriented... and I don't want to step on good-will or toes.

Scott Livingston

kataryna_dragonweaver said:

Oh - and another quick question - texture maps:
If I take a texture map - the basic genesis skin and alter the colouring and place tattoos on it directly using photoshop...
Do I need to seperate that work (the colour setting and the tattoos) from the actual texture layer as a jpg.

ie: Take basic genesis male skin texture map jpg into photoshop, lighten it significantly, turn it blue, add layers of other images that I personally drew as tattoos, save all the layers as a new jpg, use the new jpgs for my characters. Or do I save the photoshop layers I used to mask/lighten/recolour the texture along with only the drawing layers... to essentally make a colour mask that can be used in the multilayered-image editor - and get my collaborator to load that onto the basic geneis skin when loading up all the character presets.

You'd have to do the latter, and not distribute the base texture map that you used, even if it's modified. The only exception to that rule is if the owner of the base texture map you used specifically authorizes you to distribute it. Some do...these textures are called "merchant resources"--but most don't. And even merchant resources usually have restrictions on distribution: it's only okay under certain specific conditions.

I'm just not too sure of where the cutoff is between the amount of modifying work that gets done to a model/picture and when it can be declared yours. I mean publishing a jpg rendered from stock daz figures seems to happen a lot - are the basic texture maps for the figures somehow different if you are modifying them?

Please don't take this wrong - this is a request for information-understanding so that I don't actually share things I shouldn't... not a gripe that I think the rules are somehow wrong. I have too many artist friends to consider stealing/shareing someones work when I shouldn't. I just need to know where the line is. This group seems fairly sharing oriented... and I don't want to step on good-will or toes.

The cutoff is...is it all your work, or does it use elements created by someone else? Note that renders of texture maps is an entirely different story--your renders are yours to use however you want to, even if they contain elements created by others*. And yes, modifying a texture map for your own use, making a render featuring that texture map, and distributing (or selling!) the render is generally okay.

*There's an exception here too: some products are prohibited to use in commercial renders. I think the only such product sold here is the Anna Marie Goddard Digital Clone (as far as I know).

The community is definitely sharing-oriented in many ways, but for certain things there are specific rules, for the protection of DAZ 3D and the artists who sell here.

Disclaimer: this is based on my reading of the End User License Agreement (EULA) and shouldn't be considered a legal opinion. It's worth reading the actual EULA: http://www.daz3d.com/eula

Edited to add: I hope you're not discouraged by this answer...your idea sounds interesting and from the sound of it, you've already come up with a potential workaround. Also, given your interest (and the fact that you're clearly somewhat comfortable with image-editing software) you may wish to consider learning to make your own original textures, either from scratch, using photographic references, or using merchant resources. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with! :)

kataryna_dragonweaver

Thanks Scott that clears things up a lot.
:)