Some folks have asked for Poser/DAZ Studio advice and we thought maybe a 'sticky' thread here in Art and Writing might be a place to throw tricks and tips back and forth.

I think most HIP artists use Poser, but there might be one or two using DAZ Studio.

I'll ask the other artists what rendering software they use and what 2d editing software they use and make a list here in this post.

SWEEEEETTTT!!!!! This is an awesome idea.

OK Finister, I will take the first stab at asking.

I understand you use poser 6 with XP (please correct me if I am wrong). What figures do you use for your wonderful models (like the charcters from the Superheroine Squad)? (eg. Mellenium Women, Vicky, Victoria, etc)

Great thread idea.

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All the Superheroine Squad heroines except Rollergrrl are Vicki 3's

Pink Pussycat is now a Vicki 4.. a vendor named PoseidenTech sells a Vicki 4 with built in genitals and ar$ehole That's the latest version I'm using for Pussycat... Max is elated

Arduino ( the master of genital morphs ) has just released a deluxe genital set I'm gonna get next paycheck

My own personal opinion: Vicki 3 has no crotch. It forces an artist to be very creative because as you bend her thighs more than 30% her crotch disappears between her legs.

But Glory Be! Vicki 4 has a crotch. And she bends like a dream.

That being said, you can use Vicki2 and have good results.

I wonder what the other HIP artists are using mostly these days?

I use a combination of MGPT, V3 and V4. Depending on what the freebie outfit fits.

What do you newcomers use? Vicki 3? Vicki 4?

What posing/rendering applications are you using? Poser? DAZ Studio?

Do you know about VUE? Do you know what magnets are? What defromers are? How to morph characters? How to get clothes to conform to Vicki? How to set up a scene? How to do postwork on a rendered image?

Are you interested in animations? Flash? Just plain old rendering of still images?

Every artist here has a specialty. It's a great opportunity to ask for help in any specific arena.

This is where I'm stuck at in my lower than basic understanding.

I have recently started playing around with Poser 6, some of the various free stuff from renderosity and some Daz3d packages.

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OK, now that I have started to render I have some questions.

When you make your characters do you make a base figure and save it for easy retrieval later?

How do you start a scene, with the figures or with the background?

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Saving full figures....

Me, I create a full character... like V4 Pink Pussycat, in her full costume and save that in the figure library.

I make a subfolders in my Figure library for different themes like: Settings, Vehicles, Hair, Clothes... You'll start collecting tons of content and it's easier to find if you have them divided up in a way that works for you. I create subfolders by using Windows, going into Poser/runtime/libraries/characters and have Windows create a new folder.

One note...a weird thing about Poser 6 and higher... When you have Poser open it calls the library "Figures". If you go into Poser using Windows, the folder is called "Characters"... the "Figure" folder Windows sees IS NOT the Figures Library... it's very confusing.

So after I create Vicki 4 Pussycat, I open the libraries tab, open up Figures library and click on the + icon. A little window will pop up called "New Set" allowing you to name the figure you're saving. I called mine "V4 PP full" and hit okay then choose to save as "Whole Group" in a Figure library subfolder I named "Kitty Kats". Remember, to save as a whole group you have to be saving the parent figure... so with Pussycat the Vicki 4 is the parent figure. I clicked on Vicki4 to make her the active character then began the save process.

Then having saved a full Pussycat, I'll make a 'captured' version of Pussycat... for when nasty villains ensnare her and strip her of her costume. With superheroines we wanna keep some identifiable costume parts so I'll delete her body suit and her power collar and her tail and keep her glove texture and ears and leg latex texture and save her.

Now, to be totally safe, I also save the full versions of characters as a Poser pz3 scene file. I can then import that Poser document or open it as a new scene in Poser.

Mainly it's wise to save full characters and different versions ( like captured characters ) to save you time.

Cool, I will start to tinker and then post my results.

Thank you for the reply. I have found the Poser 6 libraries scheme a little problematic as you have your regular folders and the downloaded folders (so you have to jump back and forth depending on where you put them.

Since most of the poser stuff I bought was back in poser 4 and has been sitting for several years when I loaded it into poser 7 it created duplicates under a P4 and a PP directory...but I do not have PP, so I am going to see if I can delete one set without getting rid of the other.

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If you have the same set and it offers a P4 version and a PP, it's probably best to keep the PP version.

P4 needs some textures added manually and if you try to open a P4 model or apply P4 MAT poses, your Poser6/Poser7 could take all day looking for files.

If the set just offers P4 and P5+, you may want to keep both.

Textures for Poser 5 and higher may use shading materials that other software like VUE and Bryce won't recognize. So if you plan on importing a Poser scene into like VUE 4 or 5 it's better to use the Poser 4PP textures. VUE 6 can read Poser material shading settings.

It gets confusing now because SmithMicro calls the latest Poser 7 Pro version "Poser Pro". So now in the forums when someone talks about Poser PP they're probably talking about PP7 and not PP4

M3 is free for download right now...it seems my account has died and I am waiting for a new registration email to arrive...seems like a good time to move to the next generation of figures...or at least a generation ahead of what I was at.

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I think this freebie pak still works: Authorized DAZ3d freebie download

Includes V3, M3, Hiro and other stuff

You'll still need to buy the morph paks from DAZ3d.com if you want to morph them

I use DAZ Studio, and I have to say, I really like it. I found it easy to use (if I can use it then anyone can!), and there are certainly enough freebies out there to get you started. Of course the main reason for trying DAZ in the first place was the price!

Sure, it has it's limitations, but it's an excellent introduction into the world of 3D Art - I have found that now I hardly ever use post rendering (which may explain a lot! )

But I do have a question!! I use Comic Book Creator to add the text, speech etc, and to actually produce the final comic (I thought I'd give it a go!)....but, there does seem to be a distinct lack of thought bubbles. It's good for text, and there are lots of speech bubbles, just not many thought bubbles. I have heard you can use Photoshop, but have never managed it so far.

Just want to know what everyone else does to produce their thought bubbles. Just a thought

I don't use Comic Book Creator myself, but I know this artist creates templates and dialogue/thought shapes for it...

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/i ... vendor=521

Thanks for your input Cat!!

Awesome...Thanks Finister - that looks just the ticket

Anyone know a good freebie prop to use as a table/chair for 'adjustments'?

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You can download free balloons for photoshop from various sites. In google do a search for 'comic speech balloons'. Once you get them into photoshop you can change the shape/size/flip and even change the angle of the tail with warp tool.

Check the freebies at renderosity. They've got almost everything.