Personal Creativity Rant
morrisonmp
Posts: 152
It's Friday and I need to get this off my chest. In about two weeks, I'll have been working with Daz Studio for about a year. In many ways, it's been a fun, new hobby and I really enjoy myself.
But... it's frustrating.
Last night, just on a whim, I made a character with some new morphs I bought, stuck them in the first outfit that fit, slapped a pose on them, and dropped them into a very simple background.
I didn't do anything with the lights except rotate the default HDRI 65 degrees.
I didn't even add a camera into the scene, just rendered directly out of the viewport.
And... the image is better, more dynamic, and rendered several orders of magnitude faster than any image I've created "intentionally."
So, yeah, if I slave away at a scene and put real effort into it, I get crap. When I don't, I get good looking output.
I'm sure every creative type can sympathize with this feeling but... just had to vent.
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Comments
It happens to me every now and then, but I know that not every scene will work, not matter how much time I put into it. And then, sometimes, when I'm just having fun, something stunning comes out. But it's important to remember that other times it's the opposite: something put together quickly looks exactly like the amount of time put in, while the scene I worked on for ages turns out as stunning as I hoped it would.
To me, this is what creativity is about.
Different vendors supply different sized textures, higher geometry, etc. If you want to keep your render times down, you need to keep all that in mind. Shrink your textures and pick something that has a lower geometry :P. Not always easy, I'll agree...lol.
I'm getting up on two years of using Daz and I can totally relate, OP. I have had this happen at the scene level too many times to count - some random new-stuff-testing scene that was made by dropping random new things around a character I spent two minutes making ends up better than a planned scene I worked all afternoon on. And frustratingly, even though creating characters is nominally the reason I'm even here at all, I haven't created a "real" character for my story in months because when I spend hours trying, they're terrible; not even as good as that character I spent two minutes creating. But I believe - naively? - that all that experience goes into making us better the next time so sometimes the planned scene will end up really good.
I kinda know what you mean; one of my first posted images was a bit of a rush-job after failing to create my first idea and it went on to place in the top three of a challenge thread and remains my highest "liked" post in my gallery. So by those metrics maybe I already peaked and should have given up then and there? However, my own personal opinion is that while that image did turn out pretty well, it is certainly not in my top 5 of the images I have produced.
So I think the point here is what does "better" mean? I don't think you can use "likes" since that is affected heavily by many other factors such as visibility, posting time, momentum, how well it suits the audience etc. Also, render time doesn't really have much to do with whether an image is good or not, that's more of a technical thing. I think it's easy to be critical of your own stuff, but hopefully you are able to look back and also see the good in your own work. Whether that is for an idea implented well, a new feature that you learned put into practice, a pleasing composition or use of colour, or one of many other factors.
I think it's OK that sometimes you can stumble across something which looks good, not every good image has to take ages to make. Besides, what's to say that all the things you have learned up to this point isn't the reason why you subconsciously picked an outfit, pose, background and lighting angle that worked well? :)
I was a traditional artist for many a decade ( even worked as a commerical artist for a time) before picking up Poser 2 to use for a drawing reference and I can affirm that your experience happens all the time! I can slave over something for days or weeks only for it to look like utter garbage. Doesn't matter if it's a 3d model, a DAZ scene or a painting/illustration. I'll curse at it and sometimes rage quit. But the next project will go smooth as silk with little or no effort. It's what keeps us going with this whole creative pursuit.
Think of the golfer who struggles through round after round and then hits a couple sweet shots in row! That one sweet shot makes the golfer return time and time again( been there done that!). Likewise, that one awesome result keeps the creatives coming back!
I hear you. I love making characters and I have a few that I'm really pleased with. I've been working on a story as well and I'm very happy with my characters. But when it comes to rendering scenes that are a part of that story... whew... that's a nightmare. I spend literal hours setting them up, tweaking the lighting, trying to get anything to look the way I see it in my head and it's all just trash. Like, one out of 20 comes out the way I want it to. Infuriating. But I do agree. The only path is to keep pressing forward and hoping that with continued practice it will start to come together.
It happens. This is why art is not an exact science. Sometimes when I draw a fast warmup sketch comes more alive and interesting than something that took more time and planning.
I have a slightly different manifestation of the same frustration, exemplified in two renders:
This is one of my favorite things I've ever done artistically. I put a lot of work into it, I love the concept, and I think it was a pretty good execution on it. It used to have something like 15 likes, but due to a glitch where it switched likes with a different render, it's currently sitting at 3.
This one I more or less threw together as lighting practice. It's just an attempt to replicate the look of a screenshot from Saving Private Ryan. I put work into it, but it's not something that excited me or that I cared about on an artistic level. At 62 likes, it is by far my most popular render in the Daz gallery.
My renders focus on storytelling and concepts, and apparently the stories and concepts that I enjoy are not ones that resonate with a general audience. It could also be a case of not knowing your audience, because I've never been the best at lighting and don't know how to do good postwork, so maybe focusing more on the craft of rendering would get my renders more attention.
I get you. They're both good, but I'll admit, when I opened the second one I was like... Damn. That's good.
Whatever you do, do NOT neglect your creativity by relying too heavily on pre-composed art products as that would be too much of a shortcut and can easily replace your work if you let it, I am only guessing, but it seems as though you're comparing your finished work with that made from other completed art components, the best thing you can do is to maybe use them as a reference for learning your artistic perspective, as they will eventually replace it, and that may make you lose steps that would make you a better artist.
Sure, it's much harder to continue your work when you aren't satisfied with it as evidenced by your dissatisfaction with your efforts compared with other finished pieces using 3rd-party products, but you must power through it if you want to grow as an artist, as you can easily lose your ability through neglect, I know, as I have been neglecting my 2D illustration talents, now it's like learning to draw all over again.
Ten years rendering with DS now... and my personal experience is that - when you do something "really seriously", you tend to get heavy "head/mind" handed, too detailed, too "overdone". Meanwhile, when you don't give yourself much time, it's more working from the "gut". It might be less perfect, but it captures the essence of what you want to say, without schnickschnack. So, that "slaptogether" image talks to the audience because it catches their heart, while the one with all the work might just "catch" the artist.
That said... the most important thing to remember is, your "slap together" image is born from a wealth of experience. You know what you're doing, even with the "out of the box tools", to get the effect right. It's like a rough pencil pre-sketch compared to the finalized oil picture. The finalized picture might be more "perfect", but the pre-sketch is probably more alive and breathing than the oil picture will ever be.
in the same vein, sometimes i encounter renders where the person has blown out every scene light, posed the character totally unrealistically, used the worst quality products and textures they could find. And it's like, even if i tried i couldnt make something that bad. Literally putting a character in front of an HDRI would look better
This is a great observation, as the audience is what keeps your work alive, and the motivation to keep on going, especially if you're doing comics and the like.
When I used to illustrate, and first got into this world, I was all about dynamics of movement with my work, my sketches being some of my best work, so I may have gotten sidetracked with posing for static images that I lost something along the way, I may have to get back into it again, as I've gotten too rusty, this a great perspective to have, I might just give Daz a rest for a bit as I've been putting off my illustration for far too long!
Imperfection kills my creativity. A wrong crease of a bended leg would bother me so much, I'd stop working on it.
The pure message of an image isn't enough for me. It also has to be perfect in performance. Every image I do is the edge of what I can do. Sometimes I am so tiered of tricking in order to hide the errors in my renders.
I know I am exessive here. I'd pay up to 2000 $ for a figure creation and animation software like DS, that creates realistc (-in my view) realistic figures and characters.
I take it that you too are patiently awaiting for UNBM to finally be released for G9, as that is the only thing that can help fix 'ole noodle knees 9!
Well, not exactly.
First, not a big fan of G9
Second, I think it is a technology limit, we are touching here.
I am creating my own additional JCMs for about 5 years now and I keep running into problems over and over again.
I really think, that this traditional way of rigging a figure and adding some JCMs to it is outdated by now.
Something new has to come into the consumer market. Like a AI driven Flesh, Fat, Tendon and Bones Biped-System where you can "cloth" your Character mesh over it, in order to have your character move correctly.
Agreed, JCMs were the hornet's haunches back in the day, but what would be great is actual bone-controlled morphs would be a step in that direction, but back on topic, the best way I found to break out of "renderer's block" would be to step back and take a break, while enjoying other artistic media such as animation, videogames and the like, that way maybe some random inspiration can be borne out of becoming an audience member yourself just to clear the cobwebs and get a new perspective that you wouldn't otherwise through constant failed and unsatisfactory renders inside of studio.
...for myself its clothing fits that give me fits. Particularly when it comes to a more petite or lanky female character., Gads, distortions everywhere if the bust isn't that of a Vicky or other standard figure.
For example I have a character in one of my stories who has a "Twiggy" physique who also loves the old 1960s mod era. I have the GoGo Dress for G3F but it just turns into a mess on a slender lithe figure like that. I used Zev0's Projection Morph script and even so there are still some glaring distortions (particularly the front of the dress).
I've also had to give up using any clothing textures with patterns like horizontal stripes, cheques, or plaids, as they seem to be optimised for a figure with a C cup bust and on a far more petite figure introduces unsightly distortions.
Not everyone you see on the street has a, "idealised" physique.. My modelling skill is pretty much is nothing to write home about and creating something like clothing that has to fit and move with an organic shape is far beyond my expertise.
I use dForce very sparingly as I have old tech as it's crashed my display driver on several occasions.
This sort of ongoing furstration tends to put a damper on the old muse.
Let me add another thought to all this
When you've been "working" with DAZ or really any other creative outlet over a longer time, be it one year ot ten, then of course you have a lot of attempts and fails, I got them as well.
But all that work gathers up to experience you don't apply willingly but over time it ingrated into your brain, influences the way you start with things, let's you understand that the light works good with that 65°C turn and not the 90 or whatever else, that the pose works nice with a front on cam etc.
So all that work is not for naught but it still influences your work.
Enjoy that you got a neat work and don't be too disappointed with the next time you put a lot of work into something but it just doesn't click, you learned something new during that
...the clothing one has been a bane ever since Gen3 & 4. Genesis was supposed to make that a thing of the past but the fit issues mentioned above still persist because female clothing is created for the default bust size of the Genesis base and anything smaller tends to distort details.
And because of the "naughty bits", fitting male clothing like pants or shorts to a female character has it's own issues.
It's hard when you pour your heart and soul into something that doesn't turn out the way you want. Your mind's eye knows exactly how it's going to turn out, your heart knows how it's going to make you feel when you click the render button. And then your actual eyes see it. And the only words that come out of your mouth is, "What the actual #$%^?"
That being said, we are our own worst enemies. Critics and commentors just see the picture once, leave either a like or a dumb comment and leave. We are stuck with those comments, and worse, our own.
Though, art is entirely subjective. I've spent hours/days on a project and post it. People look at it and go, "Oh, nice." I purchase a new product, throw something together, render it to see how it looks, and people think it's a masterpiece. And once again, the only thing I can say is, "What the actual #$%^?"
Your artwork is amazing. Keep at it! And don't beat yourself up. You're doing a great job!
That is because our own skill is in direct competition with the assets we use to replace them, I admit I heavily rely on JCM morphs, clothing, and hair for my own work, but I make sure that my composition, posing, lighting and rendering techniques are my own, and the absence of those assets are what helps me develop those skills, so as a result, my own work shines through any clothing, hair and JCM morph assets that have been used.
So I'm fully aware that my modelling skills due to my reliance on, JCM morphs, clothing and hair suffer because of my reliance on those specific 3rd party assets.
It's a matter of what skills you want to develop, as the specific skills that you'll become better at are the ones you don't replace with 3rd party assets, so if you want to have your scenes be kinetic and full of action, then developing your posing skills is a must, and even if you use 100% of 3rd party assets, you can still develop your composition skills, so ultimately it's all about what skills you want to develop for your artwork, as no matter what skill you want to accomplish, you cannot develop them if you replace that skill with a 3rd party asset.
And before anyone points out that Daz's whole business model is 3D assets, this post has nothing to do with discouraging buying/using assets at all, but instead targeting which assets to use or not to use depending on what skill you want to develop.
NOTE: I use "You" as a general term.
Since I don't do this sort of thing for a living I need not worry about writer's block. If I'm not motivated, I simply don't persue the activity until I'm ready to pursue the activity. It makes for a long train running as I get things done that I want to do, but that's fine by me.