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I'm not seeing Sarandon but I am getting an older actress vibe ..... it'll come to me about 2 am
I think all of these characters are great! Pardon the noob question but how does one 'mix' characters?
Sorry, I lost track of this thread.
If you mean what I think you mean (and you have probably figured it out by now) it is just a matter of going to the parameter dials, click on Actor and then People. There will be a list of all of the characters that you can "mix" in with the one that is selected in the scene. Theres also parameters for body shape, face shape, limbs, etc. Especially if you have some morph sets to enhance your base characters. I buy those sets so that I don't have to buy lots of pre-made characters. I like to dial in (mix) my own.
For example, Here's my combination of Victoria 8 and a Grandmother 8 character - I think she's a lovely mature lady.
Bumps removed
I would just like to mention that sometimes the old stuff works very well. I needed an English country house so I recalled that I had something like that baack in the pre-IRay, pre-Genesis days. I found it in my Product Library and re-installed it. It is called Regency Cottage. Here are a few renders showing how well it still works. I had to do a bit of conversion and tweaking of the materials for IRay but I think it looks pretty good.
I was doing a little experimentation with filters. I also had in mind a kind of horror fairy tale series and Little Red Riding Hood sprang to mind. So I threw in a warewolf (Skinchanger) and LRRH which is just one of my G8 figures wearing a hood/cape and some red shoes. The forest scene is a HDRi so the positioning of the figures was tricky. I used one of the occluders from the Kindred Arts HDRi Toolkit so that the cape was partially occulded by the tree. The filter is the Bloom effect filter in the IRay render settings.
your toons are very cute
I just don't see why you were downing yourself in the other thread, these are an awesome mix and match of characters. The renders are nice. Pleasant to look at. Very nicely done.
Thanks Wendy
I did these some years ago and I was quite happy with them but, even so, as I look at them now I think they could be better. I perhaps didn't experiment with the skins enough or the heads look too big even for a stylized character. I'm not seeking perfection but its funny how, once you notice something, it just stands out like it has a big red arrow pointing at it.
But thank you for your comments, I obviously posted them to see what others thought so I value such comments.
As long as we keep experimenting we keep learning. That's the thing with creative people, they are always moving on to the next blank canvas or page to fill.
It's great to see your work!! Amazing stuff!
I can look at every image I've ever made, and see where it could have been better. On the flip side I can look at the images in my gallery and see how many people have looked at an image, or even better have clicked to make it a favorite, and I realize that not everyone looks at the images with the critical eye that I do. Had I not shared the image, I would not have brought that moment of happiness to someone else. For me that is a very wonderful thing!!
Your images, especially your characters, make me smile. Are they perfect? I don't know because I don't know what you intended. Could they be better? Again, I don't know because I don't know what you intended. Would they look different if I did them? Definitely, because I have a different style. Would they be better? No, definitely not! They all have great character and in their own way are definitely works of art. I realize you don't think so, but I do. You have "molded" base characters into something interesting and evocative. Your Little Red Riding Hood image is fantastic! I would argue that it is without a doubt a work of art. It has mood, emotion, brings you into the scene, makes you think about what is happening, what will happen, etc.
IMHO you are a bit harsh on yourself. You do indeed have artistic talent, and are more than capable of creating "art" (whatever that is) with DS.
marble,
Thanks for sharing your renders.
I'm by no means the best artist here, though I try not to let that hold me back. In the short time I've been active on the Daz Forum, I'm pretty certain we're lucky to have a very supportive community here. (Hats off to the moderators/thread-killers who keep the peace!) But even in the absence of unfair criticism, I do find myself stumbling over inner inertia. Call it self dout, or maybe impostor syndome. My own take is that everyone suffers from it once in a while, even when they hide behind outsized bluster.
What to do about this? A little self-respect certainly goes a long way to make things better. I find that there is no better inspiration than the wisdom of the ancients.
"Be bold, be cautious ... have a thick skin!" goes an old, plucky Chinese saying. For a more involved form of self-care, I look at the handiwork of kintsugi masters: 'In a world that so often prizes youth, perfection and excess, embracing the old and battered may seem strange. But the 15th-Century practice of kintsugi, meaning “to join with gold”, is a reminder to stay optimistic when things fall apart and to celebrate the flaws and missteps of life. The kintsugi technique is an extension of the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which sees beauty in the incomplete and value in simplicity.'
Hope this helps.
Cheers!
Well, the last thing I expected after triggering such a backlash against my "I don't consider it art" comment in the other thread is to have such positive comments about the few images I have shared here. I can only say thank you for the kind remarks and advice.
I don't want to dive back into that debate because it is clear that my views are not in line with the majority so I'll just say that, whatever I call it, I am quite happy to continue composing and rendering scenes. The most fun, for me at least, is in sliding morph parameters to make a unique character and also in posing them to look natural in any given interaction with scenery, props and other characters. I have no doubt that at the end of a project I will continue to see glaring shortcomings and follow my impulse to delete and start over on the next one but then, the fun starts all over again so I don't mind.
A hobby is supposed to be fun. It is supposed to be challenging. It is better than sitting around watching sitcoms or getting depressed about the state of the world today. I do like to keep in touch but a distraction is necessary.
You just don't give yourself enough credit. I do this as a hobby also. It's very relaxing until my wife has to pry me away from my computer. I told my wife if I die in front of my computer, sue Microsoft.
I kind of accidentally fell into this hobby. Way back in 2004 I was into playing The Sims but I wanted to try to make the characters less blocky and more natural. There were sites that attempted to do that with mods (ModTheSims, etc.) and on one of their forums I happened across a reference to DAZ characters. I found DAZ Studio and The Sims was out and I was totally into making my own stories and characters. All these years later I am still doing the same. Never played The Sims again since. I bought and tried Poser but couldn't get along with it: I'll never understand why people swear by Poser as opposed to DAZ Studio because, while I moan constantly about the shortcomings of DAZ Studio, Poser is worse IMHO.
@marble , I think your characters have character.
Not sure you meant for your poster to say what it says in the bedroom scene. Perhaps there are letters missing... 
Takes a trained eye to spot something like that, methinks. Yep, I should have panned the camera a little more to get the whole caption. On a more serious note, however, this is one of my frustrations ... there is always something that needs fixing. Every time I look at something I've produced I see something else wrong with it.
As for my characters ... NFT possibilities? JOKING!
Yes, that's true! And it's ok. I have the same thing with my own work. Many artists have that. There's always something else or something more that can be done. "Art is never finished, only abandoned." It's a common theme. Here;s a nice article about that:
https://coleschafer.medium.com/art-is-never-finished-only-abandoned-86657a05c16b
If you're waiting for your work to be perfect, stop doing that. Accept the flaws. Flaws add character. You're going to make some bad art on the way to making good art. It's all part of the process. Sounds like platitudes, except it's all true! There are no born great artists. There is aptitude, what we call talent. But hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work! And a lot of art is technical. You can learn the techniques and how to apply them. Feel good about what you're doing - There;s no cause for shame. There may be better work out there (there always is!), but there's plenty of worse stuff, too.
Also, if you have time, take a drawing class. See what you learn from that! It might be eye-opening.
I think the point I have been trying to make all along is that I am not aiming for artistic acceptance or for being thought of as an artist. Again, it may be frustrating to keep spotting things that should be better (and I so often start over from scratch on something because that is the only way I can see to get it to look the way I want) but that's no different to anyone else who has a hobby which allows for personal interpretation. I guess you could say that a hobby which allows for personal interpretation is also known as art
.
For me, however frustrating it is to keep tweaking the pose or morph, that is all part of what keeps me interested. I wish I could draw or paint like artists I admire but I know my limitations (I should by now as I am over 70) so this kind of hobby is a creative release for me.
You can call it whatever you like, marble. It's evident to me that you're engaged in an art-making activity. And none of what you said invalidates anything I've said. So, I hope you will continue to experiment and share your results. And that's all I will say about it.
I just wonder how many of the master artists looked at their work and just ripped them up. I made many scenes and render them and go Why oh why didn't I do this or that, then just delete the whole scene and start over. It's part of the artistic process. I'm sure I'm not the only looks at their own art and then says what was I thinking. Then you show it to people and get a response that it's good or great. The most critical eye you can find for your art is you. Could be a master piece and you could hate it with a passion.
Tchaikovsky certainly hated a lot of his work a lot of the time.
I have heard that when I was playing violins. I need to pull it back out haven't touched my violin for like 2 years. Could be the reason I'm a cranky old man not relaxing and playing my instrument.
Well, I bought the later 3D Universe Toon bundle while it was on sale and have started to try out some more hybrid characters using this set. The amount of mixing varies so some have more toon and others have a lot less but, as always, it is interesting to see what can be done. This ability to mix morphs is one of the most compelling reasons I maintain my interest in this hobby. Here are a couple of examples to start with.
Love them!!
And here's a character at the other extreme.
Maybe a mum character?
Those are great !!
Thank you @carrie58 - here's a Granny for old Grandpa up there.