Need Purchace Advice

rfrydryckstudio

At this point I have nothing, and am in the process of seeing if Carrara will work for my current project.  Below is a list of what my target needs and and would like to get an idea for budget on what I absolutely need to get started.  I do have some 3d modeling experience if that makes a difference.

First off I need high end characters for a book cover.  I am assuming that I should stick with Genesis figures.  I thought I will need the Genesis 2 Female(s) Morphs Bundle for posing, right?  So what are the must haves besides clothes, props, and scenery that I need to buy to make outstanding pictures.

Should I render in Daz Studio and use Carrara just to build?   Note later in the game I plan to animate which is why I may need Carrara.  Or would Blender work better for animation?  Would everything port over to Blender?  I like Blender but not sure how it works with Daz figures.

I see to have seen that the newest Victoria Genesis figure will not animate in Carrara.  Would I need two different Victoria figures if I want to animate later?  So which Victoria's do I need?

Any other helpful advice on what to buy, or a logical path to make make figures that later will be cell animated would be appreciated.

 

nonesuch00

It seems you know that you want more variety than what Blender models can offer at the time so your choice is made for you already: you got with DAZ Studio & Carrara. You have to use Genesis  & Genesis 2 until if & when Carrara is updated for Genesis 3. That should not be a problem as the clothing and hair is more available for Genesis & Genesis 2 anyway. And locations work for all of them. Since this in not a project you can do overnight it's possible in the mean time Carrara will be updated to handle Genesis 3 but even if it is a lot of the clothing and hair you use for Genesis 3 will be originally made for older DAZ 3D models.

And if you need to make morphs (not the same as applying ready-made morphs) and hair and clothing for models you'll need Hexagon, Blender, or other similar tools.

rfrydryckstudio

OK nonesuch00,

You sold me on Genesis 2 vs Genesis 3.  I am budgetting now so any subbesitons on thins I should buy in the store besode clothes and figures.  For example I guess that Genesis 2 Female(s) Morphs Bundle is a must.

BTW why is Genesis 2 Female(s) Morphs Bundle more expensive than Genesis 3 Female(s) Morphs Bundle?

 

BradCarsten

I also got into Daz to create covers for my novels. 

If you are starting out, then look at investing in the Daz club, it comes on sale periodically, but it's well worth it for the vouchers and the amount you will save. You will more than make up for it, because trust me, when you start buying, the store just sucks you in, not to mention all the $1.99 items and stacked discounts up to 90% off at times. 

Daz has two render engines, 3Delight and Iray, Iray produces amazing results for static figures, and Genesis 3 has some awesome hair props etc. so you may want to take that into consideration when deciding. For your cover I would definitely recomment iray. (Keep in mind you will need a 64 bit OS though)

On the other hand the older items tend to come on sale with better discounts. eg V4=80% G1=70% G2=60% G3=50% etc, so you can pick up some bargains on the older items, especially if you are part of the club. That said, the older items still work on the newer figures. 

On top of the morphs, you definitely need a good hires skin texture. Victoria and Michael are always worth buying, but there are also the elite range of textures that are very good. 

 

 

SixDs

"BTW why is Genesis 2 Female(s) Morphs Bundle more expensive than Genesis 3 Female(s) Morphs Bundle?"

Insofar as I am aware, there is no bundle for the Genesis 3 Morph packs as there is for Genesis2 Morphs (not yet, anyway). The basic packs for each model are identically priced for both models at $19.95. The G2F bundle represents a significant savings if you need both head and body morphs over buying them individually, but this option is not available for G3F, as I mentioned.

nonesuch00

There are morphs and faces bundles for Genesis 1, 2, & 3. Generally the new items in DAZ are priced cheaper to encourage long time customers to buy the new items. They already have the old items so there is less incentive to put those on sale.

It's March Madness so just put the items you want in your cart and watch to price possibly fluctuate as different discounts are given throughout the month. I believe sometime like on the 30th or 31st of March they'll go a 'catch up' sale if you missed the sale for an item you wanted the 1st time. Them may, since April 1 - 3 is a weekend extend the sale through the entire weekend that week but that isn't a given. They did actually start March Madness sales on Monday, February 29th so maybe.

I don't work for DAZ so what I say regarding their sales and policies is pure speculation.

Ron Knights

Yes, the DAZ Platinum Plus club is perfect for someone just getting started. You get discounts on DAZ Originals. You get $1.99 items and so much more. Sometimes you can get incredible discounts when sales occur, etc. Once you build up an extensive collection, then the PC Club loses its appeal.

Knittingmommy

Be sure to check out the Book Covers thread in the Art Studio, as well.  The thread is sporadic at times, but there are several of us that keep tabs on it.  It is one of those threads that gets busy only when one of us is actually working on a cover and wants input, but if someone posts then we all come out of the woodwork to offer help and assistance.  There is however, a ton of useful info in there, too, if you look at all of the previous entries.