Natarthos - I bought castle and castle stone package and now I have no idea what to do.

rlmorgan

Good evening,

I went through the tutorials but what I really wanted was a tutorial showing or acting like you had bought a package installed with the product.

From that point the tutorial would show how to create a scene (understand this ok I think) and then begin dragging content onto the scene to build something (some of this I get but putting things together, no) , even something stupid.

I'm assuming this is the best place for questions but if there is anywhere else please let me know..

To make it perfect would be to show, if possible, how you could create something new. For example, there is no beveled brick in the stone package would it be possible to draw a new beveled stone, choose a surface for it and add it to content.

I am such a noob but if I can get a few things figured out I can start looking to bug you with actual building questions or tips on better light positioning etc.

Nat

Herald of Fire

Daz Studio is more about piecing together existing content rather than creating new ones. You'd need a 3D modeling program such as Blender or Hexagon to create your own bevelled surface, though you could also edit an existing one to achieve the same goal (as long as its for personal use only, of course).

Daz itself doesn't have the means to manually move vertices (the points which make up each triangle in your models), other than through the DForm modifier which bends them en masse rather than singularly. The catch is that most DS scenery tends to be low poly, so moving one vertex on the model can move a lot more than you might like it to.

All is not quite lost, however. There are these lovely things called displacement maps which may serve your interests well. A displacement map is basically a picture file in different shades of grey (cue E.L. James). The whiter the area, the more 'pushed out' that area becomes on the model. The darker the area the more 'sunken in' it becomes. Pure grey (RGB: 127,127,127) is basically a non-mover and stays at its default spot.

It's a great way to add geometry to otherwise low polygon surfaces and can add bumps and bevels fairly easily and quickly without needing to waste time remodeling the entire wall. The catch is that it needs to match the UV map for the object, but if you look at the existing textures for the wall, you'll undoubtedly be able to work out what goes where and how best to 'draw on' your displacements.

Displacement maps are applied in the Surfaces tab under the sub-tab 'Editor'. Click the surface you want to apply it to using the Surface Selection tool and then click on the square icon beside the Displacement strength. You can adjust what % of this is used, as well as how far out you want the maximum (full white) displacement to go and how far the minimum (full black) should go in.