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How to Rig Shoes for DAZ Studio
Sunday October 27 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm GMT
Join us for an engaging and informative exploration of shoe rigging for DAZ Studio, guided by the skilled 3D artist Nelieta Van Der Merwe, better known as Nelmi in the DAZ community!
This four-week course offers an in-depth, hands-on experience tailored for digital artists eager to expand their skills and bring their 3D shoe models to life. Whether you’re new to rigging or looking to refine your existing techniques, this course covers everything from the basics of foot anatomy to advanced rigging tools and techniques in DAZ Studio.
To kick things off, we’re offering a free 45-minute introduction during Week 1! In this session, you’ll get an engaging overview of shoe design, foot anatomy, and a sneak peek into the tools and resources that will power your journey. Nelieta will break down essential concepts and give you a glimpse into her creative process. This introduction is perfect for artists curious about shoe rigging and eager to see how the course can elevate their 3D content creation.
Immediately following the free session, registered participants will dive into an exclusive 45-minute private lesson, where you’ll get hands-on experience preparing, importing, and rigging a pair of flat shoes. With Nelieta’s guidance, you’ll gain confidence working with tools like ZBrush and DAZ Studio, making this an invaluable opportunity to learn directly from an expert.
Take the first step in mastering shoe rigging and join a coaching group of passionate digital artists in this unique, multi-week course!
Webinar Content
What will you learn in this session?
Discover the surprising history of shoes – A fascinating introduction to how footwear has evolved, setting the stage for your creative journey.
Understand the anatomy of the foot vs. Genesis 9 – Learn the critical differences between human foot anatomy and the Genesis 9 model to build more realistic footwear.
Compare foot poses between Genesis 8 and Genesis 9 – Uncover the key differences and how they impact your rigging process, ensuring a perfect fit.
Find the best 3D shoe resources online – Get insider tips on where to source high-quality shoe models that save time and boost your workflow.
Master the art of rigging shoes with Merchant Resources – Transform ordinary models into rig-ready assets for DAZ Studio using powerful merchant tools.
Discover the essential rigging tools – Learn which must-have tools you’ll need to get started on your rigging adventure.
This event also introduces a new DAZ Studio Shoe Rigging coaching group led by Nelmi.
Join the coaching group (see details below) – with these benefits…
✔ Structured, progressive learning
✔ Expert guidance and accountability
✔ Practical, hands-on projects
✔ Collaborative learning environment
✔ Continuous feedback and support
✔ Access to a wide range of learning resources
Webinar Details
Date : Sunday 27th October
Time : 19:00 GMT (London) / 12:00 PDT (Los Angeles) / 15:00 EDT (New York)
Duration : Up to 45 minutes, immediately followed by the first private coaching group session for members.
Ticket options
Free ticket
- Entry to this event only.
- Excludes recording and any bonus content
Standard Membership
- Entry to this introductory event + four sessions of weekly presentations by Nelieta
- Includes HD recordings of all sessions.
- Access to a private coaching forum to learn together and connect between webinar presentations.
- Models of flat shoes as well as a pair of high-heeled shoes to practice with
VIP Membership
- Includes all benefits of Standard Membership above
- Additional video mini course “How to Master Material Zones” by Nelieta : 3 hours
- Introduction to Material Zones and Surfaces in 3D content creation and their importance for texture artists.
- Learn how to set up Material Zones in Marvelous Designer, including working with the Property Editor, UV maps, and exporting models.
- Explore Material Zones in DAZ Studio by importing models, renaming surfaces, and assigning textures or dForce settings.
- Master the Geometry Editor Tool in DAZ Studio for selecting polygons, creating material zones, and ensuring a clean mesh.
- Understand Material Zones in ZBrush, including working with Polygroups, Subtools, and UV mapping.
- Discover the process of applying textures in Substance Painter, emphasizing the importance of UV map setup before import.
- Key insights on using Material Zones to enhance old clothing, with a caution against creating too many zones.
The Art of Shoe Rigging : Coaching Group
This new coaching program will be led by Nelmi, a successful published artist at DAZ 3D.
She’s going to dedicate 4 weeks of her time on providing deep and comprehensive coaching for a group of students starting on Saturday the 27th of October.
Full Curriculum
=> Click HERE to see what you’ll learn in Detail
Week 1
1) A brief, yet essential overview of the history of shoes!
2) The human foot anatomy and how it compares to the Genesis 9 model.
3) Comparing the foot pose for Genesis 8 and 9 and the differences.
4) Where to find the best 3D shoe model resources on the Internet
5) Learning how to use Merchant Resources to rig your own shoes for use in DAZ studio.
6) What tools are needed to rig shoes?
7) Preparing, importing and rigging a pair of flat shoes (model included with course)
– Preparing the model in ZBrush. (the making of the actual shoe will not be demonstrated).
– Tips for fitting it properly to the foot of Genesis 9.
– Creating the UV Map in ZBrush.
– Allocating Polygroups to be used as material zones in Daz.
– Rig the shoe with the Transfer Utility Tool and saving it to your library.
– Create the material zones.
– Check that the UV map is imported.
– Testing the various foot rotations.
Week 2
1) Recap of the previous week and questions.
2) Fixing the weight maps where needed.
3) Create the adjustment morphs to make the shoe fit better.
4) Create the Full Body Morphs: Base and People.
5) Alternative way to create the above in ZBrush with Morph Target.
6) Using GOZ to bring the morphs back into Daz and saving them.
Week 3
1) Recap from the previous week and questions.
2) Looking at the Feet Pose Controls inside Daz Studio.
3) Preparing a high heel model inside ZBrush for use in Daz Studio. (A pair of high heels will be given to the students).
4) Tips for properly fitting the high heels to Genesis 9 inside ZBrush.
5) Creating the UV map and polygroups inside ZBrush.
6) Using a special method to rig the high heels in Daz Studio.
7) We will be working with the Joint Editor Tool and Geometry Editor.
8) Fixing weight maps and testing rotations.
9) How to save the heels as a wearable preset
10) How to save a hierarchical pose preset
Week 4
1) Recap from previous week and questions.
2) Using an IMM Brush in ZBrush to add details to the shoes.
3) How to add them to your model after rigging, as a Rigid Follow Node.
4) Bringing your model into Substance Painter for texturing.
5) An alternative to UV unwrapping in Substance Painter.
6) Texturing techniques in Substance Painter.
7) Loading exported maps from Substance Painter into material surfaces in Daz.
8) Saving the material surfaces.
9) Saving the final product.
10) Wrapping up the course.
Who is this Coaching Course for?
- 3D artists looking to expand their skills in rigging and learn how to bring footwear to life for DAZ Studio characters.
- Content creators and texture artists who want to master the process of rigging and refining 3D shoes for commercial or personal projects.
- DAZ Studio users eager to learn advanced techniques like UV mapping, morphs, and weight maps to ensure perfectly fitted footwear for Genesis models.
- Digital artists seeking practical, hands-on training with expert guidance, from importing shoe models to mastering high heels in ZBrush and DAZ Studio.
Here’s How it Works
4 weeks of Support and Training
The group will run from the end of October to mid November. Each week we’ll have a Zoom webinar meeting (up to 1.5 + hours) composed of training , coaching and follow up. The topics of these training sessions will be based on the above, but we’ll pay special attention to coaching you through your sticking points. We’ll provide you with certain scenes for project work so that everyone is on the same page as we learn rigging shoes In our live meetings everyone will share wins, goals, and challenges to get support, accountability, and feedback from the group and guidance from us.
Private online forum to interact between live webinars
Any time you need some input or encouragement, you can turn to the private forum on a daily basis to connect with other group members. We’ve found that the private group forum area is a powerful connecting tool to keep the conversation going between the weekly meetings. This extends the benefits of the coaching group beyond the mastermind and workshop calls.
About the Presenter: Nelieta Van Der Merwe (aka Nelmi)
Nelieta is a 3D content creator, born and bred in South Africa and currently based in Cordoba, Argentina. She has a formal education in Corporate Finance and worked as a Commercial Financial Director for a large steel company in a previous life.
She is passionate about photography and started out in the 3D world by creating PBR textures from her own photos. That gradually progressed to Daz Iray Shaders and the creation of texture add-ons for 3D clothing and content.
Learning how to make and rig 3D clothing was not an easy task, and each project is a learning curve. She likes to challenge herself and focuses on quality 3D content.
Nelieta uses Marvelous Designer, Daz Studio, ZBrush, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Substance Painter.
Nelieta is a firm believer of sharing one’s knowledge, which is the road to empowerment. She loves traveling and exploring different cultures, watching crime movies on Netflix, and an early morning cup of coffee. She speaks three languages: Afrikaans, English, and Spanish.
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