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Help! Complete Noob With Questions From You Pros ; )

snorksunlimitedsnorksunlimited Posts: 0
edited March 2014 in New Users

Hello everyone!

I am a game programmer and I am hoping to be able to create some character sprites with DAZ3D and would like to know if that is possible to do.

I will need to be pretty specific about the character designs, so is that something that DAZ3D can do without being nickel and dimed for every part of a character? (hair, clothes, shoes, etc).

How difficult is it to make my own assets? I see a lot of tutorials on how to place purchased items on the stage, but none to create them and this worries me.

I will also be using Kinect mocap and trying to apply those animations to the models that I edit within DAZ3D.

I also have Poser Pro 2014. What are the differences?

Post edited by snorksunlimited on

Comments

  • TotteTotte Posts: 13,983
    edited December 1969

    Lots of questions, here are some replies and questions back.
    (a) You say game sprites, do you mean 2D sprites rendered or do you mean 3D meshes in you program 3D rendered by your software? The latter will require a gaming license from all vendors whose meshes you use. The difference is you buy a prop a DAZ 3D for $15, render only, or the same at turbosquid for $599, where you have a license to redistribute.

    (b) You do not model in neither DAZ Studio or in Poser, they are programs focusing on Posing, scene setup and rendering. You can import things modeled in you fav 3D modeler as .obj, but if you want the item rigged there is quite some work to make that happen. And if you aren't a master modeler and texturer and have infinite free time, buying stuff instead of making it, is a bargain. You can spend a week making a fully rigged and textured clothing item or buy it for $19.99. But if you want to distribute the mesh then you need to make it yourself or get an expensive redistribution license.

  • snorksunlimitedsnorksunlimited Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Totte said:
    Lots of questions, here are some replies and questions back.
    (a) You say game sprites, do you mean 2D sprites rendered or do you mean 3D meshes in you program 3D rendered by your software? The latter will require a gaming license from all vendors whose meshes you use. The difference is you buy a prop a DAZ 3D for $15, render only, or the same at turbosquid for $599, where you have a license to redistribute.

    (b) You do not model in neither DAZ Studio or in Poser, they are programs focusing on Posing, scene setup and rendering. You can import things modeled in you fav 3D modeler as .obj, but if you want the item rigged there is quite some work to make that happen. And if you aren't a master modeler and texturer and have infinite free time, buying stuff instead of making it, is a bargain. You can spend a week making a fully rigged and textured clothing item or buy it for $19.99. But if you want to distribute the mesh then you need to make it yourself or get an expensive redistribution license.

    Thank you for the reply. Yes, I want do not want to distribute the meshes. I only want to render them as 2D sprites to be used in a game. So I would be allowed to do that and only pay for what I purchase from the site?

    How hard will it be to animate the models? I create BVH's from Kinect mocap data and apply them to models to animate. Are there any good tutorials for animating within DAZ3D or Poser with BVH's? I can't seem to find too many tuts.

    Thanks again, I appreciate that info!

  • Herald of FireHerald of Fire Posts: 3,504
    edited December 1969

    You can use 2D renders in your work without needing to worry about licenses, which includes sprites. The license is only required if you are using the actual 3D assets themselves in your distributions. If you do use sprites, take care to use a decent resolution so that the in-game scaling doesn't turn them into blurry messes.

    Sadly, DS doesn't have the most intuitive animation system and throws much of the rules of keyframing out of the window. There is however a plugin called Keymate which will bring back the traditional keyframe options and make things a lot easier for you. On the other hand it does have aniblocks, which allows you to take pre-made animations and combine them together seamlessly into actions and movements.

    Creating your own assets depends on how skilled you are as a modeler. Applications like 3D Studio Max, Blender or Maya are where the modeling takes place rather than Daz Studio itself. You simply import the final mesh and set it up for using with your figure. Thanks to the transfer utility, getting clothing rigged for the Genesis figures is exceptionally easy, but you will inevitably want to play with the weight maps to get a decent look.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,891
    edited December 1969

    Silo was mentioned as a very intuitive / fairly easy modeling program. (nevercenter.com)

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