Combining the use of DAZ Studio and Photoshop provides wider options for your art, faster composition of your scenes and a more polished look for your completed artwork.

Vladimir Chopine is going to show you how to composite with DAZ Studio and Photoshop so that you can:

1. Make any type of element look like it belongs in a scene
2. Create your scenes quicker with strategic compositing
3. Benefit from a wider array of photographic or digital 2D assets
4. Save time with faster workflows

Join a Single Session of this Course

You can join a single session of the course by purchasing one of the session tickets against this event.

See below for the curriculum on the details of what we’ll be working on each session/week

You can still become a full member of the coaching group by clicking HERE

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What will I accomplish in these webinars?

The course focuses on using DAZ Studio and photoshop to create stand-out composite illustrations for web, books, and posters.

During this course, we will be working on several projects. All assets will be provided, however, you are more than welcome to use your own.

This is for you if you want to accomplish:

• Wider control over all the elements in your scene.
• A perfect understanding of how you can naturally blend any imported elements
• Faster creation of environmental elements
• Comprehending lighting, shadows, colours and contrast for melding elements
• Make use of more costly (or high render time) DAZ Studio assets faster
• A complete strategic understanding of layers
• Bringing photos into 3D environments. Think of placing real people into digital environments, such as Stonemason sets!
• How to create higher-level compositing that you could sell.
• Improving your photoshop skills and techniques to a higher level.

This coaching group is designed to be hands-on with guidance throughout. 

Curriculum

Duration : 8 weeks

Start Date : Saturday 11th of June at 21:00 BST (London) and for each following Saturday at the same time.

1 Course overview, introduction to the tools 

• Discovering, setting up and managing the tools and assets we are using in this course
• Setup Daz Studio and interface overview
• Setup Photoshop and interface overview
• Installing project assets
• Using notes for shortcuts
• Revealed : Vladimir’s most used and useful shortcuts for compositing

2 Project 1: Start working on the concept and preparing assets (Daz Studio)

Date : Saturday June 18th  21:00 BST (London) / 16:00 EDT (New York) / 13:00 PDT (Los Angeles)

• Sources to get inspiration for the art
• Sourcing quality assets for Daz Studio
• What kind of compositing elements can be created in Daz Studio
• What to avoid rendering in Daz Studio
• Where to get other digital assets
• Setup first asset in Daz Studio
• Best lighting practices
• Vladimir’s recommended render settings

3 Blending and compositing digital assets (Photoshop)

We’ll be working with this background image:-

Date : Saturday June 25th  21:00 BST (London) / 16:00 EDT (New York) / 13:00 PDT (Los Angeles)

• How to create your own digital photography assets and lighting recommendations
• Importing a photo of the model into the Photoshop
• Preprocessing the canvas
• Retouching the model and preparing for compositing
• Importing 3d elements into photoshop
• The power of overlay blending
• Importing references in Daz Studio
• How to pose by reference

4 Adding environmental overlay (Photoshop)

Date : Saturday July 2nd  21:00 BST (London) / 16:00 EDT (New York) / 13:00 PDT (Los Angeles)

• How to select textures and background, that match composition
• Adding sky and ground texture
• Different types of compositing, isolated vs overlay and the pros and cons of each.
• Blending textured layers
• Adding details with photoshop brushes
• Considering Grain, Lighting and Coloring

5 Project 2: Creating composites with 3d elements (Daz Studio)

Date : Saturday July 9th  21:00 BST (London) / 16:00 EDT (New York) / 13:00 PDT (Los Angeles)

• Introduction to the project
• Setting up assets for the project
• Environmental lighting in the Daz Studio
• Fog, Haze, Dust.
• HDR lighting
• Lighting sources: distant light vs point light

6 Render backdrops (Daz Studio)

Date : Saturday July 16th  21:00 BST (London) / 16:00 EDT (New York) / 13:00 PDT (Los Angeles)

• How to setup and render backdrops
• Light adjustment
• Recommended render resolution and settings
• Enabling sky render
• Vladimir’s best tips on when and how to render fog
• Rendering optimizations

7 Render characters and props (Daz Studio)

Date : To be confirmed

• Why render characters separately?
• Tips on rendering your optional props
• Render settings
• Importing rendered assets into Photoshop

8 Compositing in Photoshop (Photoshop)

Date : To be confirmed

• Benefits of compositing in Photoshop vs Render all as a single scene
• Adding layer differential haze and fog
• 3d in 2d, how to simulate
• Compositions, lighting, and blending
• Color overlays

Who is this group for?

• DAZ Artists who want to achieve natural blending of any type of elements in their scenes.
• Artists who have hit limitations with DAZ Studio
• Artists with lower hardware resources wanting to utilise DAZ Studio better
• Those who want to create better level compositing work that sells
• Hobbyists or professionals looking for their next creative challenge and personal growth

Requirements

• PC or Mac with Adobe Photoshop installed (CS6 onwards) and Daz studio.
• Artists who are at beginner or intermediate level with DAZ Studio
• Artists who have just started out with Photoshop or want to improve their existing Photoshop skills

You Won’t Need…

• We’ll touch on some photography, but just using your camera phone. You won’t need any serious experience with photography or require your own photographic studio. 

Vladimir Chopine : VUE Trainer and Coach

The founder of Geekatplay and with a background in film production and computer sciences, 3D graphics, photography and composites has long provided a passionate pursuit for Vladimir. Serving 3D digital artists across the world, he has created over 3000 tutorials on VUE, DAZ Studio, Photoshop, Terragen, and many other applications.

Originally from Moscow, he lives with his wife Ami Chopin, who is a professional writer in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Paul Bussey : Group Facilitator

I have been inspiring, promoting, educating and connecting digital artists since 2010. I’ve published over 125 issues of our magazines 3D Art Direct, Digital Art Live and VISNews, with in-depth interviews of fantastic artists that inspire others with their work.

I’ve hosted and organised over 300 live events to educate digital artists. Our webinars provide an interactive, informative and fun experience for our community.

Recently we’ve created a dynamic, informative and connective forum for 3D digital artists.

During the course what will you experience?

• Weekly live training and coaching to learn compositing comprehensively.
• Clarity from photographer and digital artist expert : Vladimir Chopine
• Shared active learning during sessions working on provided scenes
• Belong to a close-knit group of artists
• A private chat group and forum to keep the class connected every day
• Recognition of your progress and improvements
• Weekly challenges to help your strive and grow throughout the course

What other coaching group members are saying

Working with Paul and Digital Art Live has given me such a fresh approach upon my art. From a friendly and welcoming environment, to a supporting and cohesive set of tutors and support. Going on the Studio Mastery Course was the biggest leap of faith I have taken with regards to artistic endeavours, and I do not regret a single moment of it. Paul is a wonderful host and lead for the courses and demonstrates the ability to nurture people of all skill levels and help them blossom into the creative delights that they wish to be. I would pick up another course like this in a heartbeat to continue my journey and growth through the creative landscape of my mind.

Ian Franklin

My experience with Esha and your program for learning rigging is beyond phenomenal. I came in with the impression that this was going to be a quick tutorial on how to setup basic technical settings on how to do a basic rig in DAZ Studio. Boy was I wrong! In a good way! Every time we set up a session, I am blown away by how much detail and problem solving Esha’s sessions go into! I would not have imagined the advanced techniques and attention to detail she brings into each session! I’ve heard a few students call this information priceless, and I agree 100%.

The chat rooms are so full of information! Just reading people’s questions and people’s responses, it’s an invaluable time saver! When I read the questions and their solutions it reminds me, “I would have had to go thru those hiccups myself, and there’s the solution!”. The chat room creates a great sense that you’re not alone, and it gives you a freedom to test things out and get into “trouble”.  I am more than satisfied with this course. It has surpassed my expectations and more! I highly, highly recommend this type of session to anyone!

David Aguilera

• An additional one to one meeting with Vladimir
• 12 months of unlimited email support and advice from Vladimir. Just ask when you need it.
• Searchable library of all video tutorials Vladimir has done on the past related with Compositing.
• Huge 3D asset library for you to use for your personal or commercial work, royalty-free.