i love daz studio, but i was harshly made fun of in a contest. why?

Slosh

If you don't show your renders, even the weaker ones, you will not be able to gauge your growth as an artist. Feedback is a necessity, if you want to improve. Other viewers may see things that you did not because you are too close to the work, and they will be able to offer constructive criticism and advice. By the same token, they will see good things in the render that you did not because you were to involved in trying to pick out the flaws in your own work, and they will be able to encourage you to continue the techniques that worked for you. Showing your renders to your spouse or your Mom, or Becky next door is fine and dandy, but you may not get a true critique. My mother loves every SPOC (steaming pile of crap) that I ever rendered. I look back on my artwork from 10 years ago (or even 3 years ago) and I shudder.

Chohole

Now there's a good idea for a COOL render contest. Find the oldest render you ever did, and then redo it as you are working now.

Works best for people who have been using the software for some time.

We did something similar in New Users Contests a month or so back and it was quite fun. Could be better if people who have been here for some years did the same :coolsmile:

M_Iafew

noved123 said:

the catagory was "worlds and weather" this is the render right here. its the first one i ever made as well, its not the amazing stuff you see on the gallery, but its ok for a small render. i used a fully custom lighting script and hand painted those textures, and splashed them onto some primitives i baked up.

Very well, done. I love the composition and the fog, and the rainbow...wow. Great job.

I do have a question. for some of you other folks, and I hope this doesn't come off as derogatory, in any way....

I am actually one of those 'no talent erotic artists' I've been making my living now for 7 years (living meaning all my bills, rent, food, insurance, etc, is paid by my freelance erotic artwork) Yeah I'm not rich in any way but I do okay... Most projects I have to crank the stuff out incredibly fast, 30-50 pieces in a week, that doesn't afford me much time to model the figures from scratch or to hand paint textures. I have the ability to do so, but never the time...

90% of my work is storytelling, conveying moods and emotional connections by using poses and lighting to get across an idea....

At what point is it considered art?

So is it acceptable only if all the models, textures, and lights are self made?

I'm really curious, because after 7 years I want to improve my work (when I have time) and maybe move into some other field of 3d art...

SickleYield

*Leans on lid of worm can*

Most of us feel that something is art based on the final result and the effectiveness of the methods (i.e., is mood conveyed effectively? Is the lighting good? Are the poses lifelike, and the composition?) rather than the specific methods used. I think to argue otherwise is behind the times - a man HAS sold a picked shark for something like four million dollars and, having seen it, I think it is an art piece (it's actually rather beautiful).

I've seen porn that WAS art, back before I quit looking at 'rotica's galleries entirely. It was just very rare. I remember a series of tentacle pictures in particular where the interaction of the bodies was incredibly real-looking, the skin shaders were very realistic, and the lighting was gorgeous. But that is entirely the exception compared to the larger number that are someone trying to get a fantasy out in a rush and doing a terrible job at the craft. The problem with porn as art, from my perspective, is not the subject matter. It's that so few people put any art into it.

Scott Livingston

M_Iafew said:

90% of my work is storytelling, conveying moods and emotional connections by using poses and lighting to get across an idea....

At what point is it considered art?

So is it acceptable only if all the models, textures, and lights are self made?

I'm really curious, because after 7 years I want to improve my work (when I have time) and maybe move into some other field of 3d art...

Like many others I view 3D rendering as similar to photography...it's not necessarily artistic, but it certainly can be. Even if you're rendering/photographing things designed or built by others.

Personally I like to call myself an illustrator rather than an artist: at least most of the time, I'm more concerned with whether my renders look nice and convey the appropriate story and/or mood, than whether anyone (myself included) would label them as "art" or not. That way I sidestep all the questions like, "Is it really art if I'm just using other other people's models?" and "what is art, anyway?*" Being an artist is not really something I aspire to (or, rather, it is an aspiration, but not one I place a great deal of importance on).

I don't think that "illustration" is necessarily inferior to "art," and of course there is a great deal of overlap between the two.

*Of course, debates about what is or isn't art tend to break down because not everyone defines the word in the same way. For one person, "art" may include what a child produces in "art class." For another, it's only art if it's museum-quality. And for some, even that criterion is too broad.

Khory

So is it acceptable only if all the models, textures, and lights are self made?

"Rules" like that are just so counter productive. If you had to do it all all yourself then there would be very few real "artists" in the last hundred years. And then where would someone like Picasso stand? He used house paint not even specially created "artists" paints.