Absolute beginner (opened program, now feeling stupid)
derekmccaughey2010_a63ad0a6ab
Posts: 104
Hi everyone, I'm completely new to daz and 3d modelling in general. I got this program after seeing some of the great things around the web people have created and thought I'd try it for myself.
But I'm having real trouble doing even the most basic of tasks. Can someone point me to any tutorials designed for absolute beginners relating to everything and anything to do with the most basic aspects of using this?
Complete noob here, be nice
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Did you see these free video tutorials? http://www.daz3d.com/help/help-daz-3d-video-tutorials
They are not up to date with exactly the latest and greatest version 4.6.0.18, but they will probably help you get started.
Look through the "New Users Help Forum - Start Here". That is a good place to find tips and ask new user questions, too.
There are lots of tips in this thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/290604/
Have fun, try things, and come back with some specific questions about what is confusing you. There are lots of people here ready to jump in and help you. I've learned a lot here.
Hello, and welcome to the DAZ 3D forum!
There's certainly a lot to learn, especially if you've never worked in 3D graphics before. But there's also a great deal of help available, both here on the forum and elsewhere.
Take a look at this video series (if you haven't done so yet) which is aimed at beginners. Most of the videos are free, including all the most basic ones. There are also some helpful official videos on YouTube, including this playlist.
In case the terminology gets confusing (I think we've all been there), there's a glossary here.
Novica, who is a relatively new user here (but progressing rapidly), has a thread keeping track of her progress and discoveries along the way...there's tons of helpful information to be found there. She also has produced a few video tutorials for beginners.
A few questions for you:
Did you successfully install DAZ Studio? When you open the software, do you see the Genesis figure? What are your goals? And, what are you having difficulty with thus far?
Well Scott, we're on the same brain wave! I snuck in microseconds before you.
Thanks for the replies, heres one specific question.
I downloaded a jpg of a texture and I want to apply it to a shape, but how do I make daz "see" or open the jpg file? I can't find a menu option to open the jpg. what do I need to do?
Are you talking about a texture set for something, or just a simple jpg?
Are you talking about a texture set for something, or just a simple jpg?
A simple jpg, I don't even know what a texture set is yet
btw, I have a very limited internet usage quota so video tutorials are no good for me (but thanks for linking to them) a text with pictures tutorial is ideally what I need in future
To apply a JPEG to an object in DAZ Studio, first of all, load the object, select it, then go to the Surfaces pane, and under 'Diffuse' colour, click on the dropdown menu and navigate to your image.
It is unlikely to fit correctly unless the object, whatever it is, has been UV Mapped to accept that particular image.
If you give some more details, I am sure we can help you more.
Ok lets leave that aside for now.
I've downloaded v4, I have a folder in my downloads that looks like this, but even after installing these I still see nothing in daz
This may help - I think either DAZ itself your content is installed to the wrong directory.
http://wiki.daz3d.com/doku.php/artzone/pub/software/dazcontentconfiguration
Good luck. :)
Novica here- I'm the one Scot-L told you was documenting things and had the videos for beginners.
Don't get overwhelmed with that page above- if you are not computer saavy, or, like me, am computer saavy at some things but not setting things up- let me just say you have your files in Downloads. When you first download something, your computer may plop things there, but you need to get your studio (if a PC user, I can't help with MAC) to C>Users>Your Name>My Documents>DAZ 3D>Studio>My Library
And before it even happens, a common problem newbies have- be sure you get the Genesis Essentials (one of the files that came with the studio) installed, or Genesis won't appear.
My video series (which you said you can't watch) is ALL text, no narration, so you can stop it anytime- and it starts with basics after you get things installed. (There's too much assistance out there already on that.) The link is in my signature if you ever want to view them.
The first thing to understand about Daz Studio is that it's not a modeling application. It's mostly designed for taking existing 3D models and manipulating them, though it does have some very basic functions which can be used to 'fake' modeling.
Since JPGs, PNGs. TIFs and so on are all flat two-dimensional images, they need to be applied to an object to make them 3D. This can be done in many ways, but the most basic of them is the plane. A plane (not the kind you'd find at an airport) is basically a flat rectangular object that can be manipulated in 3D space. It shares its name with the word 'Planar' which basically means flat and two-dimensional. Objects like planes, cubes, cylinders and cones are called 'primitives' and can be created by Daz Studio using the 'New Primitive' option under the 'Create' menu. There is also a toolbar option for this which looks like a white circle laying over a square and triangle.
When you apply your JPG or PNG to the surface of a plane it's known as 'texturing'. Therefore, a texture is the name given to the image file used in the surface of an object. Surfaces have many properties besides textures, but those are the most basic and the most obvious changes you can make. The Diffuse color is the part of the surface which dictates what the colour of that object is, so plugging a brick image in here would turn the plane into a very basic brick wall. There are also other types such as Specular color, Ambient color, Reflection and Refraction color. I'll basically list them below, but I won't go into too much detail here because they're more advanced topics.
Specular is the 'shine' of an object. You can also add textures here, so you could dull a metal surface by adding scratches or tiny imperfections in a persons skin. Ambient is the 'glow' of an object. Think of it as being its own light source. Reflection is unique because plugging a texture image here will make the object reflect that image as if it were surrounded by it. This is called a 'Reflection map'. Refraction color can tint the colour of refracted light. Refraction is a fancy word for 'bending light'.
As to why Victoria isn't working, she needs to be installed to your content directory. It might look something like this "C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents\Daz 3D\Studio\My Library". In that folder you will find a folder called Runtime which is where most of the older content should be installed to. Many .ZIP files come with the Runtime folder, so you can simply merge them while for others you might need to open the Runtime folder and drop the files in. Once done, open Daz Studio and open the Content Library tab. Older content like Victoria 4 won't generally have metadata which is basically an entry in the fancy database which powers the Smart Content. What this means is that while you won't be able to find some items in the Smart content, you can find *everything* in the Content Library.
You'll need to look for Poser Format -> My Library -> Figures -> Daz People -> Victoria 4.3. Double click her icon to load Vicky into the current scene. If you need further help, then let us know. We're a friendly bunch most of the time.