Stil on the fence!!!
RitaCeleste
Posts: 625
Well, a long time ago I discovered Poser and collected files for it. When the community moved against this type of behavior, I decided to quit collecting. I could not afford to go legit. I could never post any work I did. I had made only a few purchases. And well I decided I just couldn't afford to do this. I learned about linux and open source software. I actually like Gimp a bit now. I can afford TwistedBrush and my daughter is a student and was able to get Corel Painter at a discount. I did love to edit textures. Last year Daz had a huge give away. Daz Studio for free, as well as some other things. I can even get a free copy of CS2 now. Maybe I can afford to do this and do it right!
So I wondered over here to look around and find that G2 is out already and has been. I look at what is out already for it and well, not too much just yet. I head over to Renderosity and Runtime DNA and find very little in the way of products ready for Daz Studio and Genesis 2. The Poser part of the community can't even offer Daz Studio versions when Daz Studio is free! Its not like it would take such a monumental effort to get their products working in Daz Studio. Daz is doing great things to make this affordable and bring in people like me with less money to spend but money to spend and then the rest of the community decides to go all snobby.
The Poser fitting room looks neat, but I don't have $500 to throw at it!!! I can buy TONS of stuff here with that kind of money. I confess I am waiting for a Vicky 6 and Michael 6 package with just the base figures and genitals. And to get my daughter to go in with me on the platinum club membership with her handy allowance money if she wants to do this too. I told her we would get the new Daz Studio and work with it and the base figures to learn the ins and outs of it and posing etc. I have to see that she is also willing to put some time into it.
But its Daz who has my loyalty for offering the best most versatile models, the basic tools/programs for free, and a club with discounts on the highest quality models. I have never even posted before. I've always just lurked. As a parent, I'm glad the genitals are separate now. I think this goes a long way to making it more kid friendly. My daughter loves the anime models and many things on the site.
I guess I'm really not on the fence anymore. I just have to let my bank account recover from xmas, but I'll be back when it does!
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Comments
I don't think DAZ is going to bring out a base char with the genitals...
Apart from that, there are lots of freebies to be found all over the place if you are looking for affordable content.
See the link below for threads:
Freepository
Developing content for Poser and DS has diverged so much it is no longer economically feasible for many content providers to support both Poser and DS. For someone who has only developed content for Poser, it can be a monumental effort to get their product working in DAZ Studio.
We see this a lot with the Hivewire Dawn figure. Since she is native to both Poser and DS, it'd be great if a product released for Dawn had both Poser and DS versions. But, it's time consuming to convert content to the other application, and the process to do so isn't well documented. If complete documentation does exist, it's not easily found. Consequently, if the sales aren't there, a content provider isn't likely to support the other application again.
Thanks for pointing out that it is harder to make products work in both formats. I didn't understand that part.
Since I am going to be working with my daughter, I can forgo genitals altogether. I just wanted to have them so I'd have the complete model if I ever did a texture that I wanted to share. I don't see myself as making characters for sale or anything at this point or at any time in the foreseeable future.
The products that are most important to me are the Genesis 2 characters and morph packs for them. I have found some V4 morphs for free that have been made to work on G2 females. I want to learn Blender a little for making morphs and editing stuff others have made. I'm not brave enough to want to learn character modeling when the morph-able Daz3d models are available to work with. Why try to reinvent the wheel every time I want to make a little art?
If I had old content I wanted to use, Poser might be the way to go. But I don't. Since I am just starting out it makes a lot more sense to use Daz Studio and the Club to to get started. Since some content creators are just making stuff for Poser, it limits what is available on other sites. This is kinda sad. But its worth it to have a free tool available for use.
If I had dreams of becoming a content creator, I could consider expensive programs like Poser, Vue, Photoshop, Corel Painter, an investment and dive in. The problem is, as a hobbyist, I just can't justify that expense while trying raise two children on less than $22,000 a year. You see without Daz3 giving away Daz Studio, I would have never posted or even considered buying products at all. If I can learn to make some clothing for the Daz models in blender for my own use, I'll do that. I might even purchase Carrara at some point. Unlike Poser, its a really good value.
I have made a commitment to use reasonably priced and affordable software even if it isn't the tiptop of the line I'd also be running on a spiffy Apple product I also spent too much on while drinking an $8 coffee at Starbucks. Its rather easy for me to stand behind my choice to find find free or affordable products to work with as I can't really do otherwise. Now while I can't buy out the entire store, or drop thousands of dollars into this as a hobby. I can spend a little bit on products and have a blast learning to do as much as possible with what I do get my hands on. I'll have to learn to do some things myself because I don't have a big budget.
Daz3d has made it possible for me to consider this as a hobby. I love that I can plan to do this with my daughter. I think its a very green hobby for her. Instead of collecting Monster High dolls, she can be saving up for Aiko and an outfit and a cute scene to drop her in. Sorry we couldn't be richer, I'll keep buying the occasional lotto ticket. But thanks for thinking of us anyway Daz3d!!! Nobody else was.
I have to say, though I'm little biased being a PA here, that Daz does do a lot to put "Must have" items into the hands of new users at great prices and its good to see that its appreciated. The fact that the full pro version of the software is free is extremely attractive and allows users to explore before committing to spending anything.
The Platinum Club is a fantastic place to start and you can pickup a lot key items for much less then the cost of a Starbucks coffee and the membership fee pays for itself amazingly quickly. On what Estroyer mentioned I'd also recommend checking out Sharecg if you've not heard of it for a wealth of free content.
Building a wishlist in the store is a great way of keeping an eye out for those big sales that can save you a lot to.
I'd encourage you to explore blender as much as possible. I originally starting with Maya for my 3D editing side of things. I've found that blender has now taken that part of my workflow over completely and has exceeded my expectations as far as performance and versatility goes. And its hard to justify the cost of such top end software if your a hobbyist or just exploring a new thing.
Also don't undervalue the original Genesis figure currently it has a lot more content available (Free or Purchased) and you'll save a lot purchasing a single outfit that works across the large range of Genesis figures. (Come on who doesn't want to see a Gorilla in a Tutu :D)
I found in my early days when my budget was extremely limited that the main things I was looking at were figures, hair and some basic wardrobe items. As I've progressed and my library has grown I've found lighting and BG set and props more often catch my eye. At first I couldn't justify the cost of a light pack when I could make my own lighting rigs but now I've committed to purchasing a few sets I use them in pretty much every render I produce and the results still surprise me in there quality and ease of use.
I hope you and your daughter enjoy discovering everything in the Dazverse!
I'm sure it'll be loads of fun for both of you.
:D
Great suggestions! I have the base for the G1 too and Aiko 5 is ready to go for Genesis. When I stopped looking at characters with the genitals, it got affordable to look at both the G1 and G2 stuff. I have been drooling over some of the morph packs available for G1's. For my daughter, its like being able to make herself 100's of dolls. She has opened up daz studio, and posed a character and worked on learning the program. I myself sat down and tried posing the G1 base. Its so much easier than Poser was years ago when I tried it. I love how easy it is to pose the figures in Daz Studio. Sure I'm no master yet, but this time nobody got tied in knots!
I really love the monsters and things available for the G1 figure. Yep, I really do want them both. Its too hard to pick between them. But I might start with the G1's because of more content being out there already. I really want to invest in some scenes and things for scenes too.
Its so great that Daz Studio is free right now. Its amazing that I can really plan on doing these things with my daughter. I've wanted to do this for so long. I could be happy just sitting down and morphing a character. And getting my daughter the ultimate dolls! I hope more kids get to discover this because Daz has made the genitals separate. My other daughter games and spends money on that, but my 12 year old daughter has been coming here and drooling over the characters and hair.
You may want to check out ShareCG and the Freepository, there are so many great freebies to get you started.
Free is GREAT! Thanks. I think I'm going to have to focus on the new G2 models after all. I'd rather have one set of models and I am sure as I get the basics together more will come out for G2. Its really great to see everyone who came out with G1 characters on different sites. I think the G2's will get great characters and outfits coming out for them too. I do hope to see the creature morphs come out for the G2 males too.
I think it will keep it simple for my daughter to have things designed to fit and work with a certain model. Me too for that matter. I really want Olympia. I hope there is an Aiko 6 in the works for Cassy. So I guess it looks like I'm going to focus on getting in and starting out with the G2s. Everyone always wonders if there will be stuff made for each generation of models and there always is. Its a bit overwhelming to look at everything available for models that have been out for a bit. In looking at the G1 products I see a lot being offered for daz studio too.
The biggest problem with the G2 is that you need to buy 2 of everything, Male and Female, whereas with Genesis 1 you don't for example the body and head morphs, the creature morphs etc only have to be bought once.
I was just about to post the same thing. Looks like we're thinking along the same lines.
I'm still using DAZ Studio 4.0 Pro for Genesis 1, along side my DAZ Studio 3.0 Advanced for non-Genesis related renders.
You know this is a new problem for new people getting into this. Which models to choose? V4 has so much content available. G1's are so versatile and can be male and female. And the G2s are better for character morphs. I can afford the little bit extra for the male G2s if I don't go out and buy a bunch of stuff for the G1s. It is my hope that venders that didn't embrace modeling clothes and hair for the G1s will embrace the G2s. I really don't want to be shoe-horning V4 outfits onto the G2s. I can't pay $500 for a fitting room, so I won't be looking at older V4 content and thinking, "Yeah I can make that work!" Being new at this, one set of models, content that is made for those models is my best option. I want my daughter to enjoy this too. I don't want her to get frustrated if auto fit isn't the be all, end all answer. I see products for the G2s that will keep us entertained while new content is added. I may never have a large library of products because I'm not all that wealthy. But can I have fun with what I do get. Expect to see five products used and abused and rendered in a million colors and poses out of us!
A great thing about Genesis is the DS, built in, Auto Fit Tool. It allows for earlier generation clothing to be auto converted to fit Genesis. This makes a lot of low cost or free V4 content to be used with Genesis.
I think the ability to convert from V4 to Genesis is free with DS (Genesis Starter Essentials) but the ability to auto convert clothing from other characters like V3, A3, H4, Freak etc requires the Iconic Shapes products also be installed.
http://www.daz3d.com/gen-3-iconic-shapes-for-genesis
]http://www.daz3d.com/gen-4-iconic-shapes-for-genesis
Because it is a computer estimated auto-conversion, it is not always perfect but it does work surprisingly well. This allows for thousands of clothing items to be used with Genesis.
To use the Auto Fit Tool just load and select Genesis, then load a piece of V4 clothing. A menu should pop up asking what kind of item it is and who it was originally made for (in this example choose Victoria 4). Most of the time you can just leave the clothing type blank and only change the figure it was made for.
I hope that helps.
Fourth-generation (V4, M4 and K4) to Genesis is supported out of the box - the other fourth generation figures were morphs, if you have clothes made for those that don't fit the base shape then I think you'd need to use Transfer utility with the Target Shape set to the morph but I've not had occasion to test it. Third generation autofit to Genesis does require the shape pack from the store.
Genesis 1 has some fantastic Toon shapes as part of the gene pool, and is currently on sale right now , plus it can use V4 and M4 textures
http://www.daz3d.com/3d-universe
Well, I joined the Platinum Club and did my first order the other day. Platinum Club was on sale for $49 and I thought it was some kind of mistake. I then looked at the price of Carrara, which I really really really want and it was on a super sale for PC members. It comes with V5 and M5 pro packs. Then someone told me to look at the list of what was included and and it has the base morph packs for Genesis included, plus ethnic morphs. I told my daughter the price of Aiko 5 for Genesis and she was totally cool with buying that for herself. So I'll be able to get and use stuff for Genesis and Genesis 2. I thought at first I wouldn't be able to afford all this. Now I am just wishing I had gotten off my butt and joined last year!
I do have to wait a bit before getting Carrara but I am hoping I can swing it next month. By the way, I used one of the sales to get some items I really wanted. I saved tons because of the sale on items I really wanted. Now want to pick up some of the $1.99 items and Value items while I can this month. I can't go crazy with that because I want to get Carrara as soon as possible. But just, WOW! I didn't know I could save so much with the sales and by using the $1.99 products.
I can get new characters and outfits and use a lot of the $1.99 items to help with them a scene to be in. I can't wait to see what my library looks like next year!!! I figure if I use my coupon every month to add one Daz original like V6 or morphs or whatever, buy $20 worth of 1.99 or 2.99 items per month, and add something like a morph pack from a poser artist. I figure I can keep that down to about $65. If I set aside a little bit more to by hair, clothes, characters on sale, well I can afford this. My daughter is going to have to use her allowance money to get the anime stuff she wants. I told her I'd help her look for sales if she added what she liked to my wishlist. The PC is going to save me tons and make this doable. I'll be able to slowly get the pieces I want. I am officially not on the fence anymore!!! I am doing this. Thanks everyone!
For a long time I couldn't even find $75 extra in budget. I was very poor. I have two kids on the autistic spectrum. Girls now 16 and 12. Yes, girls with it, they get it from their mommy I guess, lol. I illegally got files and programs for a brief time long ago. I spent more time getting the files than learning how to use them and the programs. The main reason was there was no community to go to when you had a question. If you took the time to make a picture, you couldn't post it and show anyone. I was busy with my girls, they were very demanding. One day my cracked copy of photoshop phoned home and I lost another computer. When I replaced the computer, I vowed to never put Adobe anything on my computers and installed Gimp instead. I learned about Linux and open source. I wanted to use Blender and perhaps makehuman to make my own things. But I never did dive into learning Blender because I really wanted Carrara and to work with the wonderful new super morph-able models here at Daz. A whole year went by and Genesis 2 came out and I found myself here drooling as usual again. But I only wanted to do this if I could really afford to buy the products to do it with. I only wanted to do it if I could post in the forums. I only wanted to do it if when I do something, I can show it off. I only wanted to do it if I could teach my daughter to save up for what you want you want and get it. It was big help having the genitals separate because I want my daughter to enjoy this with me.
Since I made my first real purchase and joined the Platinum Club, I'm on cloud nine. First because I got such a great deal on everything, I thought it was a terrible mistake. Second because I get to use the forums and not just lurk and feel bad because I'm too broke to do anything else. I now understand, I don't need a hard drive full of stuff to make a good picture. I need to develop skills and perhaps invest in tutorials and one good easy program like Carrara. Daz3d giving away tools that save you hundreds of dollars to get started meant everything to me. I want Carrara, but I even if I wasn't able to get it, Daz Studio is free. Back when people were saying, you must have photoshop, poser, painter, vue, maya, etc. there was no way for me to do this legally. Daz3d really did just make a bunch of dreams come true for me.
So if there is anyone lurking and collecting files somewhere, and you do in fact have $49 to spare, join the PC already. You'll feel 100% better about yourself, I promise.
It may sound stupid to you but I am crying my eyeballs out right now. That's how much it means to me that I have a way to do this legally. I thought I never would be able to do this. I wasn't even looking at the sites. I had given up on it ever being possible. It was just dumb luck that I came by and looked last year while Bryce and Hexagon were free. I didn't really understand it was this important to me. But it is. It really is.
That's great to hear Rita,
I know how it is to be on a budget... I've been an artist all my life hehe. Though, as you pointed out, 3d can be very a affordable hobby or entertainment. With DS being free, and a lot of content being free, you can pick up a thing or two a month for less and a movie ticket and the gas to get to the theater. And your 3d content lasts a lot longer than a 2 hour movie :)
If you really get into 3d and do it so often that you end up buying a lot of things, it is still probably cheaper than some other big hobbies like skiing. Last I looked, lift tickets were pretty expensive and then you have to buy or rent all the equipment too.
There are other free softwares like Blender where you can make your own content, never spending a dime, but the learning curve is pretty steep. The nice thing about DS and DAZ content is that, while there still is a learning curve, you don't have to be a 3d modeler, texture expert or a shader designer to use it. This allows one to learn basic 3d concepts inside of DS at little cost... or no cost if you just use the freebies.
You can always learn modeling or texturing later too if that is something you enjoy. You can always make your own content for use in DS with Blender and Gimp if you want.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I'm so happy to hear that you are happy and feeling good about joining us here :)
I love Gimp! That has been a huge relief that I can still edit textures and do things without having to have Photoshop. I am going to invest in Carrara next month as my birthday present to myself. Hopefully it will still be on sale to PC members for $171. Since I am starting with nothing, the free genesis content makes it an awesome bargain. I was afraid of Blender a little bit to be honest. I really wanted to work with Carrara because it looks easier and will be easier to work with both the newer genesis models, and the old poser files. I just saw that all of Dreampaint's old packs are free. I did manage to get some things I wanted already. These sales make it affordable even for me. And yeah, it doesn't have to be that expensive anymore. Even people on limited budgets end up spending money on things. It might as well be on what I really wanted in the first place. I hope having a limited budget motivates me to learn to texture things and morph things and do more by learning more. It was really nice to find some things for my daughter today. I spent $22, I got the Odd Bundle that was on sale and some cheap $1.99 and $2.99 hair, a goth dress for genesis for her. Anyway, its going to be so much better than the Monster High doll she would have bought. She can make herself a hundred dolls! I'm keeping the things I got her to surprise her with once I get Carrara and the extra content. I almost got a speeding ticket the other day. One of those can cost as much as Carrara. I had to put a new battery in my car, that cost me $106. A tank of gas costs me $75. If I just invest $10 to $25 a week in this, by next year I'll have a lot of content. I may wear some stuff out in the beginning when I don't have much, but its okay. Daz3d keeping DazStudio free and offering Bryce and Hexagon for shareware prices and having all these terrific sales is what is gonna make it possible for me. This time next year, I want to be able tell new people just starting out how do this and keep to a workable budget. Like perhaps pick a genera and don't try to get stuff do anything and everything on day one? lol
Rita, my goodness, your story touched me, deeply. I think I somewhat understand where you're coming from and I'm so so happy for you that you found a way to go legal. I really hope you can achieve what you desire to do and I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart.
I'm really glad you're not on the fence anymore and that you can enjoy the digital arts. It's a great outlet to have and for me even helps reduce the stresses of life.
And welcome to the PC! :coolsmile:
Hi RitaCeleste, I've seen your name around the PC forum so was glad to find your thread here. It gives me a chance to say a proper hello! It sounds like not only you but at least one of your daughters is fast becoming a very enthusiastic 3D artist. The PC will help you no end, as you have discovered, to build up a library of great content at very cheap prices.
I too am a user of digital art software on a budget (I even blog about this very thing! I don't like to drop links in the forum, but you can find my blog via my profile).
As you get to know the talented and hard-working PAs and experiment with making content yourself, you'll be even happier that all your content is acquired legally. During the sales and in PC, we get so much for some crazy prices. But at least the seller gets a few dollars so hopefully this way everyone -- buyers and sellers alike -- still get to eat. :)
Just one word of advice -- if you find at some point you are spending way more than you planned (even at cheap prices), it might be an idea to just buy store credit each month so you can budget with that. In other words, when the store credit's used up... buying stops for the month. It's so easy to keep giving in with all the deals on offer.
You can totally learn to make things for yourself, which of course will save some money, so go for it. It does take time and you are right about deciding where to focus your efforts (and also knowing what's easier to just buy). When I began a year ago I had the crazy idea (just for 5 minutes, LOL) that I could learn to do it all myself. Start with more modest goals and figure out what can help you reach them easiest. Sometimes tutorials and tools are a wise investment.
GIMP is fantastic, there's so much you can do with it, stick with it. Hexagon is also a good piece of software to learn.
Oh and take part in the new user contests. You'll have a chance to learn with others so it's a fun experience... and if you win you can even get store credit and products. But whether you win or not, it's worth doing for the learning.
You and your daughter(s) are going to have a lot of fun. Welcome!
Thanks Everyone! Yes, it feels really good to have legal stuff and be able to support the artists. That's an important thing for me to teach my kids. I decided to put Carrara on the backburner for bit and focus on texturing first. Also to just take some time and get a few things to work with. Eventually I will get to Carrara. I had planned on always using my PC coupon, but at first I might have to pick between using the coupon and buying some $2 and $3 items. But I feel very sure I can do this on a budget. (Even though I blew this month's budget out of the water.) That's a good idea to set aside the money and no go over a certain amount. I have a little money in my budget that wasn't there at all last year. Its important to remember that way back when I was collecting files, there really was nothing left in the budget to work with. It wasn't like without the files, I would have found the revenue to be a buyer. It just wasn't there at all back then. People don't seem to understand that buying isn't even an option for many file collectors. They think it always represents a lost sale. When I decided to clean up my act and look for affordable software and free and open source alternatives, I found some nice things. But I really still wanted to do this but to do it right or not at all. I keep asking myself if I could have started a year ago, but I'm not sure I could of. I am able to do this now. And I will find find ways to make the most out of what I do spend. I love to tinker so I think even some free clothing files and the Fabricator (and its friends of course!) would entertain me for endless hours. Before I thought if I wanted to do this legally, I'd have to be a content creator or be able to sell my art to be able to afford it. Its nice that all that pressure isn't there and it can just be a fun hobby.
One of the seriously lousy things about collecting the latest and greatest softwares and things illegally is that you never bother to learn about and support truly affordable or free products. Take Gimp, way back I thought I would have to buy Photoshop, I just couldn't live without it. Turns out I can live without it. Gimp works! Blender is great, but I think Carrara will be a good investment in the future because it would be so easy to work with the Daz3d files I want to get. And it looks like it will be affordable compared to other software like it. For a long time I was sad that the war on the file collectors was raging and people had to be in business of some kind to even afford the software and files to do this legally. Top Sellers were getting banded for taking shortcuts and editing other people's textures. It was an ugly time to be broke. But there were more people attempting to do this then it seemed. There was more free content. It really hurt me to only be able to look at a file because I stole the programs and the files. I think Daz3d making good software available and affordable should go a long way to pulling people back in that were driven out or deep underground. After a long time away, I look around and see Renderosity and Runtime DNA mainly doing things for V4. I do kinda wish Poser would support the Genesis characters. But I have to be where my money can get the most mileage and that's here.
Hello all i'm Karl, I'm new to the new to this and would like some help. my skpe is unknown. I would like to builda team, if some of you want too. thanks and have fun
Not sure about how useful I'd be, I'm still pretty new to doing things myself. I don't really use skype, but you can PM me. I am trying to get a day job right now. I am just getting use to Daz Studio. So far I really love it. I'm saving up for March Madness. Carrara is going to have to wait until I see a few real paychecks. A warning however as far as me and teams go. I don't really need to be managed. I don't mind teaming up when the result is both parties sharing the load or doing what they do best. However, if the skills you bring to the table is simply to organize others, I'll have to pass.
Pop into the New Users Help Forum, where we have a team of people just waiting to help New Users. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/categories/97/