A comic book is a powerful medium of expression that speaks a wide variety of ideas and emotions across all genres.

One of the greatest challenges of creating stories for this medium is to master visual thinking , converting a plot into a pictorial language, ready for an illustrator to interpret and draw. Even if you’re working as the writer and illustrator, getting that guidance on visual language is essential.

See video teaser for this course

As well as the art and script, the power of the medium comes from a delicate interplay of knowing how to use and arrange the elements of a comic book:-

• Panels
• Lettering
• Word / thought balloons
• Captions
• Sound effects
• Panels
• Borders
• Gutters

The business of arranging panels, for example can actually be quite complex, even though we know the basic knowledge of reading from left to right and down the page. Yes, even pros can get this wrong!

Drew Spence has just emerged from a huge comic book project where he is going to show you how to conquer the barriers that impair visual thinking so that you can:-    

• Map a story structure onto a comic book layout
• Show, rather than tell a dynamic story
• Progress and express characters through their story arcs
• Create strong visual appeal
• Gain a comic book style that fits your story
• Comprehend comic book elements and use them to your advantage
• Compose comic book elements with confidence
• Master composition of characters in a shot (for a panel)

This course is for you if you are…

1. Needing coaching on visual thinking in a group of like-minded comic book creators
2. Wanting to add extra impact or emotion to your visual story,
3. Needing a comprehensive understanding of comic book elements in all their varieties and how to use them effectively.
4. Having challenges in using composition for comic book elements mentioned above.

Asset Library

This course includes a library of 2D assets ready for use in your own comic books as royalty free content.

Curriculum

Advanced Comic Book Creation

Designing and Expressing Visual Stories

Session 1 : Constructing a narrative

• Introduction
• What is sequential art? What makes outstanding sequential art?
• How is story structure mapped onto a comic book layout?
• Explained : expression and exaggeration for character arcs

Session 2 : Visual Appeal and Comic Language

• How do we use expression effectively?
• The hidden hurdle : Translation from 3D to 2D
• About fast movement : upping the stakes
• Camera lens effects for additional visual appeal
• Using foreshortening 

Session 3 : Comic Book Looks

• Get the looks : pick your prime postwork
• Photoshop Filters to fit your styling
• Photoshop Actions for faster workflow
• Software supporting line art, hand-drawn looks and other styles

Session 4 : Panels and Pages

• Layouts and Logic
• Composition within panels
• Thumbnails, scripting and scribbling
• Notes, ideas and pre-planning
• Drew’s top tips on panel layout and design
• Flow as we know it : Left-Right (western style)
• How are your hooks? Leading the reader.
• Gutters and bleed

Session 5 : Shooting your shots : essential Dos and don’ts for each

• Wide
• Extreme close up
• Close up
• Medium
• Over the shoulder
• Two, three shot
• POV shot
• Camera angles for shots

Session 6 : Word Balloon Crafting and Camera Effects

• Lettering and balloon placement
• Balloon shapes, borders and bad-ass styling
• Thinking about thought balloons
• Bam! Sound effects
• Camera effects : Effective DOF
• Camera effects : Light leaks
• Camera effects : Blur, speed and motion

Session 7 : Fights, Fury, Frenzy and Friends

• Relationships changing throughout the scene
• Character arcs : what not to do
• Relations vs Information
• SHOW but don’t tell

Session 8 : The Big Review – Covers and Conclusions

• Expert advice on covers : what works and what doesn’t
• Class review
• Back to the future : learning from your future selves

Software Requirements

Drew uses DAZ Studio and Photoshop for comic book creation, as well as a variety of software applications for creating assets and styling.

Since composition, workflow and design principals are the key elements being taught in this course, DAZ Studio and PS are preferred but not essential.

Assignments

We’ll get you practicing Visual Thinking from the outset where you’ll be putting together comic book pages every week.

Your Mentor : Drew Spence

Drew Spence is a graphic comic writer and illustrator from the United States. He creates under the title of The Dynamic Universe, which published the digital comics Force Six, The Annihilators and Killer Butterfly. He has combined his music and video into several works including Mark of the Griffin, which is both a graphic novel and web series. These comics are available in digital format on comiXology and in print from Indy Planet. He is part of the instrumental group Fallout Shelter which provides the soundtrack.

Drew is a graduate of Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and holds various certificates – from graphic arts to web design. He currently lives on Long Island, New York and produces his work from the aptly named Fallout Shelter Studios, where he crafts crafty and clever comics using CGI and photorealistic image manipulation.

Content Creation for DAZ Studio

Includes tips and tricks for G9 content

“How can I learn a solid workflow for creating clothing content for DAZ Studio?”

DAZ Studio continues to evolve and the latest Genesis 9 figure has a new set of advantages, but as a result content creators need an update on how to produce clothing for G9 figures.

We’ve also recognised that many artists want to learn how to modify clothing, getting complete control over the final look and feel of their character scenes.

Of course rigging is a tricky aspect of content creation and we’ve often had feedback from artists about their frustration with the hurdles that can be experienced with that process.

Gaining a holistic road map on rigging can be hard to obtain, because the many actions involved can be scattered across dozens of tutorials. There’s a number of subtle steps that aren’t always included.

With these challenges in mind, this course is for DAZ Studio content creators, both with the beginner in mind as well as more advanced artists.

This course is specifically for :-

• Artists that want to understand the G9 figure
• DAZ Studio content creators that still experience hurdles in rigging.
• Artists that want to have a high degree of control with altering existing clothing content.
• Artists that would benefit from a fresh rigging workflow.
• Someone who has always wanted to be a Published Artist at DAZ 3D selling their content.
• Someone who would benefit by learning in a close group of artists with similar visions (and struggles) as you.
• A modeler who doesn’t know how to rig their models

This course is to help you reach your next creative stage so that you can have a bigger impact and generate more influence from your creative content.

We’ll provide a consistent and safe place for you to get support, feedback, accountability, camaraderie and new perspectives from people you can trust who have similar creative aspirations to you.

It’s a place to benefit from the expertise of the lead artist in this group, Sabine Hajostek (Esha) who has created over 360 products for the DAZ store. See her store products HERE

What do you need for this Course?

• Basic user knowledge of DAZ Studio:-
  – How to use the DAZ Studio library
  – How to load a figure
  – How to save a preset
• Basic knowledge of modeling

Proven Experience : Esha

Esha lives in Austria and has been creating 3D products for nearly 14 years!

In the past she has created content for Smith Micro and now for DAZ 3D, being a lead active vendor at daz3d.com.

When DAZ released the Developer Tools for DAZ Studio in 2008 she integrated them into her workflow and has been working with Daz Studio, alongside Poser, ever since. In recent years she has been focusing on DS for product development.

Esha’s favourite tools include DAZ Studio, Poser, ZBrush, Wings3D, Xfrog, Marvelous Designer, UVLayout and Photoshop. In all of these she is a self-taught artist, basing her skills on years of experience and numerous online tutorials.

Esha also has several years of experience in teaching adults. She firmly believes that the best way to learn is to actively do something yourself, so she favours a hands-on approach in teaching.

Knowing only too well how tiresome it is to gather scraps of information all over the web she wants to provide comprehensive content that really offers solid information. Moving from the basics to advanced procedures she takes care to make sure that her audience will be able to follow her courses smoothly.

In her spare time Esha loves listening to classical music, baking muffins and collecting cat photos.

The Curriculum

Through the course we’ll be designing a complete clothing set : Pants (without thickness), tunic (with thickness), heeled boots and sash. 

The Foundation : How Does a Rigged Figure Work?

• Bones
• Weightmaps
• Groups
• Surfaces

The Mesh

• Quads vs. Tris
• Topology
• Symmetry
• Thickness

Rigging a Conformer

• Transfer Tool
• Using templates
• Weight brush
• Making decorations keep their shape
• CBS (Corrective Blend Shape – the new JCMs!)
  • Existing CBS
  • Custom CBS

Adding Morphs

• Using Presets for import
• CBS
• Style Morphs
• Fit morphs
• ZBrush tricks
  • Masking
  • Handling Symmetry
• Using the Smoothing Modifier as a tool
• Setting up dependencies (ERC)
  • ERC Freeze
  • Manual linking
  • Setup during import
  • Keyed ERC for precise control
• Rigid Follow Nodes
• Setting limits
• Using DS deformers

Adding dForce Support

• Addon for thickness
• dForce Weight Maps

Rigging Heeled Shoes

• A tried and trusted workflow for creating rigged heeled shoes
• Esha’s additional tip

Miscellaneous Topics

• Difference between morphs and rigged movement
• Smoothing, subdivision, both or none?
• Adding custom bones : sash example
• Adding additional bones

DAZ Studio Mastery

“How can I get a comprehensive grasp of DAZ Studio to recreate specific scenes from my imagination?”

I hear some version of this question from many aspiring artists who are ready to take their creativity to the next level.

They’ve hit a growth ceiling and aren’t sure how to break through it or they’re just feeling a bit stagnant and need to shake things up.

Perhaps you can relate.

Perhaps you are in need of gaining a new learning program for DAZ Studio, new creative ideas, and being exposed to new work flows that can speed up your artwork and save you time.

Perhaps you are looking for a mentor that’s already travelled through all the “pain points” of DAZ Studio, so you don’t have to keep bumping into them yourself.

Perhaps you’re feeling isolated, in need of more connection with other artists who have similar goals and values…to have a place to turn for camaraderie, feedback, support, and celebration.

That’s why we’ve created…

This mastery group is specifically for :-

1) DAZ Studio artists that want to fill in their knowledge gaps and resolve all of their pain points
2) Artists that would benefit from a planned framework to get the best out of DAZ Studio
3) Someone who has always wanted to recreate their imagined scenes
4) Someone who would benefit from learning by regular contract in a close group of artists with similar visions (and struggles) as you.

It’s structured to help you uncover the next evolution of your creative level so that you can have a bigger impact and generate more influence from your creative ideas and expertise.

The focus is on a comprehensive grasp of DAZ Studio and finding a consistent style for your art.

This is a consistent and safe place for you to get support, feedback, accountability, camaraderie and new perspectives from people you can trust who have similar creative aspirations to you. It’s a place to benefit from diverse ideas and the expertise of the lead artist in this group, Drew Spence.

We promise to support you in every way we can by sharing knowledge, techniques, resources and mindsets to realize your creative goals.

Proven Experience

I have been inspiring, promoting, educating and connecting digital artists since 2010. I’ve published over 110 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 200 live events to connect and educate digital artists, with many events having a focus on 3D figure based software such as DAZ Studio or Poser.

Drew Spence has logged hundreds of hours using DAZ Studio to illustrate volumes of comics, including “Force Six The Annihilators“. Drew is a graduate of Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and holds various certificates – from graphic arts to web design. Drew Spence was the CEO and Editor-in-chief of Producer’s Edge magazine, a quarterly publication dedicated to all aspects of music production. He currently lives on Long Island, New York and produces his work from the aptly named Fallout Shelter Studios, where he crafts crafty and clever comics using CGI and photorealistic image manipulation.

In this mastermind group, Drew provides his insights and the experience of his own learning journey in overcoming your pain points in using DAZ Studio. Save time and money by utilising a more efficient workflow and getting more out of your DAZ Studio experience.

Areas of Artistic Growth

Over 12 weeks of learning, we’ll look at these vital parts of your creative workflow to find your greatest opportunities for growth and help you achieve them with strategies that fit you.

These are topics that are top of mind for us, but we’ll listen to what you need in the group and adjust the list accordingly.

1) Have a robust mindset to recreate your imagined worlds
2) Comprehensively understand the basics of 3D graphics
3) Unpack the power of your virtual cameras
4) Pose and express your characters naturally
5) Morph your characters to just how you imagined
6) Dress your characters to their best and alter clothing textures
7) Modify DAZ studio materials and props for further bespoke set design
8) Light your scenes like a pro
9) Understand the DAZ Studio render engines
10) Have a professional approach to composition
11) Gain a large toolkit of postwork techniques
12) Save time with best render settings and optimisation techniques
13) Manage your content library for quicker asset retrieval/storage
14) Multiply your assets and save money by intelligent kit bashing
15) Apply dForce assets effectively
16) Understand the basics of animation

DAZ Studio Rigging Props and Clothing

“How can I gain a comprehensive road map for rigging props and clothes for DAZ Studio, so I can be a successful published artist?”

That road map is hard to get hold of because the many steps involved are scattered across dozens of tutorials. There’s a number of nuanced steps that aren’t always included.

The hardest aspect of content creation is how to rig a prop or clothing item and is elusive to many artists (we’ve been asked about this many times).

If you are an existing content creator, you may have hit a growth ceiling because of rigging and aren’t sure how to break through it to produce next level quality content. You may feel stuck and have that need to shake things up.

Perhaps you can relate to the above.

Perhaps you could benefit from a trusted road map for rigging DAZ Studio content and to be exposed to new tools and shortcuts that would speed up your production and save you time.

Perhaps you are looking for an outstanding DAZ published artist that’s already travelled through all the challenges of rigging, so you don’t have to keep experiencing so much pain yourself?

Perhaps you’re feeling isolated, in need of more connection with artists who have similar goals and values to you…to have a place to turn for camaraderie, feedback, support, and celebration.

DAZ Studio Rigging Library and Forum

This course is specifically for :-

1) DAZ Studio content creator artists that are stuck on rigging.
2) Artists that would benefit from a fresh rigging workflow.
3) Someone who has always wanted to be a Published Artist at DAZ 3D selling their content.
4) Someone who would benefit from learning by regular contact in a close group of artists with similar visions (and struggles) as you.

This video course is to help you reach your next creative level so that you can have a bigger impact and generate more influence from your creative content.

This is a consistent and safe place for you to get support, feedback, accountability, camaraderie and new perspectives from people you can trust who have similar creative aspirations to you.

It’s a place to benefit from the expertise of the lead artist in this group, Sabine Hajostek (Esha) who has created over 350 products for the DAZ store. See her store products HERE

Proven Experience

Esha : Lead Teacher

Esha lives in Austria and has been creating 3D products for nearly 14 years!

In the past she has created content for Smith Micro and now for DAZ 3D, being a lead active vendor at daz3d.com.

When DAZ released the Developer Tools for DAZ Studio in 2008 she integrated them into her workflow and has been working with Daz Studio, alongside Poser, ever since. In recent years she has been focusing on DS for product development.

Esha’s favourite tools include DAZ Studio, Poser, ZBrush, Wings3D, Xfrog, Marvelous Designer, UVLayout and Photoshop. In all of these she is a self-taught artist, basing her skills on years of experience and numerous online tutorials.

Esha also has several years of experience in teaching adults. She firmly believes that the best way to learn is to actively do something yourself, so she favours a hands-on approach in teaching.

Knowing only too well how tiresome it is to gather scraps of information all over the web she wants to provide comprehensive content that really offers solid information. Moving from the basics to advanced procedures she takes care to make sure that her audience will be able to follow her courses smoothly.

In her spare time Esha loves listening to classical music, baking muffins and collecting cat photos.

Areas of Artistic Growth

With 12 tutorials (25 hours), we’ll look at the following vital steps for rigging. We’ll provide you with the meshes to rig, but we will  also encourage you to create your own meshes to rig in your chosen modeling application; so some experience with modeling would be advantageous. You can rig your own chosen meshes.

The course will go in step by detail to rig a prop (a treasure chest with a surprise) and a clothing outfit (a Lara Croft / Tomb Raider type clothing outfit).

As well as the recordings, you’ll have access to a private group of artists who have already taken the course (with resource links and over 3400 posts) and two online meetings with Esha.

Prop Rigging Topics

• Basics: Terminology (mesh, morphs, bones etc.)
• Mesh requirements
• Setting up a rigged prop from scratch (manual & automatic method)
• When and why the rotation order is important
• Weight map basics
• Weight maps for hard surfaces
• Setting limits for bone movement
• Setting up ERC controls
• Adding morphs
• Setting limits for morphs
• Handling geometry changes when rigging is already in place

Rigging a Follower or Clothing outfit

• Difference between a stand-alone figure and a follower (e.g. clothing)
• Setting up a base figure for development
• Mesh requirements
• Using the Transfer Tool
• Using templates
• Weight maps for organic shapes
• JCMs: What they are and how to handle them
• Adding custom bones
• How to handle a skirt
• Rigging shoes with heels (one of the holy grails of content creators)
• Shape morphs & style morphs
• Rigidity maps
• Setting up dForce – and finding the best settings
• Rigid Follow Nodes
• Conditional Grafts

DAZ Studio Rigging Props and Clothing

“How can I gain a comprehensive road map for rigging props and clothes for DAZ Studio, so I can be a successful published artist?”

That road map is hard to get hold of because the many steps involved are scattered across dozens of tutorials. There’s a number of nuanced steps that aren’t always included.

The hardest aspect of content creation is how to rig a prop or clothing item and is elusive to many artists (we’ve been asked about this many times).

If you are an existing content creator, you may have hit a growth ceiling because of rigging and aren’t sure how to break through it to produce next level quality content. You may feel stuck and have that need to shake things up.

Perhaps you can relate to the above.

Perhaps you could benefit from a trusted road map for rigging DAZ Studio content and to be exposed to new tools and shortcuts that would speed up your production and save you time.

Perhaps you are looking for an outstanding DAZ published artist that’s already travelled through all the challenges of rigging, so you don’t have to keep experiencing so much pain yourself?

Perhaps you’re feeling isolated, in need of more connection with artists who have similar goals and values to you…to have a place to turn for camaraderie, feedback, support, and celebration.

DAZ Studio Rigging Library and Forum

This course is specifically for :-

1) DAZ Studio content creator artists that are stuck on rigging.
2) Artists that would benefit from a fresh rigging workflow.
3) Someone who has always wanted to be a Published Artist at DAZ 3D selling their content.
4) Someone who would benefit from learning by regular contact in a close group of artists with similar visions (and struggles) as you.

This video course is to help you reach your next creative level so that you can have a bigger impact and generate more influence from your creative content.

This is a consistent and safe place for you to get support, feedback, accountability, camaraderie and new perspectives from people you can trust who have similar creative aspirations to you.

It’s a place to benefit from the expertise of the lead artist in this group, Sabine Hajostek (Esha) who has created over 350 products for the DAZ store. See her store products HERE

Proven Experience

Esha : Lead Teacher

Esha lives in Austria and has been creating 3D products for nearly 14 years!

In the past she has created content for Smith Micro and now for DAZ 3D, being a lead active vendor at daz3d.com.

When DAZ released the Developer Tools for DAZ Studio in 2008 she integrated them into her workflow and has been working with Daz Studio, alongside Poser, ever since. In recent years she has been focusing on DS for product development.

Esha’s favourite tools include DAZ Studio, Poser, ZBrush, Wings3D, Xfrog, Marvelous Designer, UVLayout and Photoshop. In all of these she is a self-taught artist, basing her skills on years of experience and numerous online tutorials.

Esha also has several years of experience in teaching adults. She firmly believes that the best way to learn is to actively do something yourself, so she favours a hands-on approach in teaching.

Knowing only too well how tiresome it is to gather scraps of information all over the web she wants to provide comprehensive content that really offers solid information. Moving from the basics to advanced procedures she takes care to make sure that her audience will be able to follow her courses smoothly.

In her spare time Esha loves listening to classical music, baking muffins and collecting cat photos.

Areas of Artistic Growth

With 12 tutorials (25 hours), we’ll look at the following vital steps for rigging. We’ll provide you with the meshes to rig, but we will  also encourage you to create your own meshes to rig in your chosen modeling application; so some experience with modeling would be advantageous. You can rig your own chosen meshes.

The course will go in step by detail to rig a prop (a treasure chest with a surprise) and a clothing outfit (a Lara Croft / Tomb Raider type clothing outfit).

As well as the recordings, you’ll have access to a private group of artists who have already taken the course (with resource links and over 3400 posts) and two online meetings with Esha.

Prop Rigging Topics

• Basics: Terminology (mesh, morphs, bones etc.)
• Mesh requirements
• Setting up a rigged prop from scratch (manual & automatic method)
• When and why the rotation order is important
• Weight map basics
• Weight maps for hard surfaces
• Setting limits for bone movement
• Setting up ERC controls
• Adding morphs
• Setting limits for morphs
• Handling geometry changes when rigging is already in place

Rigging a Follower or Clothing outfit

• Difference between a stand-alone figure and a follower (e.g. clothing)
• Setting up a base figure for development
• Mesh requirements
• Using the Transfer Tool
• Using templates
• Weight maps for organic shapes
• JCMs: What they are and how to handle them
• Adding custom bones
• How to handle a skirt
• Rigging shoes with heels (one of the holy grails of content creators)
• Shape morphs & style morphs
• Rigidity maps
• Setting up dForce – and finding the best settings
• Rigid Follow Nodes
• Conditional Grafts

DEEP Postwork

“I realise one of my major weak points is postwork. I’ve been making art for a while and no matter how good (or not good) my renders turn out, when I put them into Photoshop, I seem to ruin it, losing quality in the render. I basically have no idea what I am doing”

At some point, working to enhance a raw render by using postwork is inevitable. Much effort can be put into a render to help make it “pop” by adjusting and re-rendering – ending up with too many iterations and a high cost in time for your efforts.

Have you experienced hours waiting for a render, only to discover render artefacts? The frustration is palpable (I’ve felt this many times) and your intuition tells you that there are ways to fix it…but how?

What about the large heap of renders that you’ve cast upon the “discarded” pile? You may have artwork that’s too dark (or too light), or lacked a certain impact. What if you could add elements to that render, even if you no longer had the original scene?

What if you learned a complete set of techniques that solved all of these challenges and gave you a “go-to” toolkit that enriched your art. Imagine rescuing most of those renders that you would normally abandon.

What if you were able to get a deep knowledge of postwork that saved you hours of time in your workflow and tripled your productivity, where some of this is understanding when to stop tinkering with a 3D scene and use postwork instead to finish the job.

How about finding artwork pieces in your folders that could serve as foundations for creating new styles and new directions by using more advanced postwork techniques?

How about learning together in a group of artists on an eight week mission to deeply explore postwork? You would end up with your own invaluable postwork toolkit for a more efficient workflow.

Imagine getting daily support and feedback in a trusted environment, with artists just like you.

That’s why we’ve created this new extensive course on “DEEP Postwork”, led by Drew Spence.

Before postwork

After postwork

This course is specifically for :-

1) Artists using any 3D software that need a comprehensive toolkit to fix problematic renders
2) Artists that need to know how to speed up their workflow
3) Artists that want to explore styling and overpainting.
4) Artists that want to utilise older renders to the max.

We’ll be using Photoshop in the main and DAZ Studio on occasion

Proven Experience

Drew Spence : Trainer

Drew Spence has logged hundreds of hours using DAZ Studio to illustrate volumes of comics, including “Force Six The Annihilators“. Drew is a graduate of Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and holds various certificates – from graphic arts to web design. Drew Spence was the CEO and Editor-in-chief of Producer’s Edge magazine, a quarterly publication dedicated to all aspects of music production. He currently lives on Long Island, New York and produces his work from the aptly named Fallout Shelter Studios, where he crafts crafty and clever comics using CGI and photorealistic image manipulation.

In this coaching group, Drew provides his insights and the experience of his own learning journey in overcoming your pain points for postwork. Save time and money by utilising a more efficient workflow and getting more out of your renders.

Here’s what some of our students say about our coaching programs:-

“The DAZ Studio Mastery Group run by Paul and Drew is a great experience. The group is dynamic and interactive. The content is vast and covers a diverse area of the program. I learned a lot in a few short weeks. I have greatly enjoyed the experience and would highly recommend it for any artist who wishes to take their art to the next level or learn more about DAZ. The experience and knowledge I have gained from this group has improved my workflow and techniques. I learned things I didn’t even know existed in DAZ. Paul runs high quality groups worth every penny!” 

Jessica Beaubien

“I am finding the classes thoroughly fun and engaging, even though I was sure the first couple weeks I was a dreadful noob with nothing useful at all to offer. I love that  you are able to uplift everyone’s work and offer encouragement and instil a sense of pride in what each of us has accomplished.”

Karen Williams

Areas of Artistic Growth

With 8 weeks of learning, we’ll look at the following:-

Phase One : The Fixing

Learn to fix artefacts and imperfections that you may have missed in your original render. Overcome the pain of too much or too little lighting in your scene.

Learning this stage will be a powerful increase of your productivity; no need to wait for additional renders. No need to tweak or re-tweak a scene hoping that the next render won’t include the original artefacts.

Typical challenges to solve in this phase:

• Lighting – under-exposed or over-exposed
• Composition/posing/framing/cropping
• Poke through or intersections
• Zap the fireflies or other render artefacts

Phase Two : The Enhancing

Discover how to build upon the most important scene elements and make them stronger. Make a character standout; highlight the face or eyes, provide richer skin and improve the hair. Add powerful lighting effects that efficiently supplement the scene. Gain Drew’s top recommendations of which filters and Photoshop actions will enrich your renders.

Typical challenges to solve in this phase:

• Hair and Skin : blemishes, sheen and skin tone
• Lighting and Light Effects: flares, glints, rays, shadows
• Colour and effects, improve the tonal balance and accurately set the mood.
• Top recommended software filters and Photoshop actions
• Particle effects using brushes and additional software.

Phase Three : The Additions

Master adding elements to your creation that were never included in the original vision. Supplement your artwork with atmospheric and natural effects to deepen the impact.

Challenges to solve in this phase:-

• Weather and atmospheric conditions, such as fog, mist, smog, haze and dust.
• Insert skies, space, clouds, real images as backgrounds and elements
• Utilise acts of nature, lightning, electricity, storms, tornados, floods, earthquakes
• Use pyrotechnics. explosions, fire and flames to increase the energy in your stories.

Phase Four : The Remixing and Overpainting

Using your work as the foundation for other mediums and styles. Dust off older renders to generate new permutations and styles of artwork.
Challenges to solve in this phase:-

• New painterly looks, including oil, acrylic, watercolor and sketched styles
• Go abstract with pixilated and sprite effects
• Focus on filters to create cartoon, sketch and hand drawn effects.
• Combine renders and photos to create composite art and collages

dForce in-depth

“How do I successfully add dForce modifiers to hair or clothing to get that elusive realism?”

See sample video from this course

If you are a content creator, getting a complete understanding of dForce is one of the holy grails needed to create attractive content to customers.

Everyone wants dynamic, realistic clothing or hair.

Real folds, real creases, real draping.

“How can I extend the use of dForce to add realism to scenes and environments?”

If you are an artist, you may be wanting to have your scenes “more lived in” and discover other extraordinary uses dForce has in DAZ Studio.

But dForce can be tricky. By its very nature you need to run a ton of simulations to understand it, adjust it, let alone apply it to your content.

If you’re an artist dForce can add a special realism to a scene; including physics that other renders just won’t have.

Once you understand dForce and can successfully apply it to your content or scene, you are in a pole position as a vendor or artist.

There is a real benefit from getting interactive guidance for learning dForce. Imagine just learning how to run several dForce simulations instead of dozens to speed up your workflow and save time.

Perhaps you are looking for an outstanding expert that has used dForce in dozens of experiments, run hundreds of simulations and has actively tested the engine in many new scenarios.

Imagine an experienced dForce artist guiding you through every scenario, helping you understand every parameter, avoid frustration and guide you to create outstanding realistic content.

It will be led by Richard Schafermeyer who is an expert on the dForce engine. He has helped many artists in the DAZ forums and he’s been a reliable and steady support for them.

During the course what will you learn?

• Purposes /uses for dForce
• dForce fundamentals : parameters explained in detail
• dForce combined with weight mapping
• Creating animations with dForce
• Clothing – Pants, Skirts and Shirts
• Clothing – Accessories (buttons, fasteners etc.)
• Converting legacy clothing for dForce
• Wrinkles, folds, puffy sleeves
• Details in clothing realism that aren’t thought about
• dForce (cloth) hair/fur
• Preparing legacy hair for dForce and applying it.
• dForce scene props caves , landscapes
• Realistic environment elements : footsteps, ploughed fields, roughness
• Character skin deformations
• dForce Interactions – object with self
• dForce Interactions – object with others
• Posing a character that includes dForce content
• dForce troubleshooting : explosions
• Additional tools to solve problems/create effects : push modifiers and mesh grabber
• dForce to create special effects; footsteps, indentations, ocean waves
• Other tools to look at : dForce magnet, ghost dynamics

Texturing Clothing and Props using Substance Painter

Texturing Clothing and Props

Utilising Substance Painter

The Complete Modern Guide

See a sample video from this course

Texture mapping is more than “icing on the cake” for your clothing or props since it can make or break 3D models. You can have a well defined and accurate model, but average or poor texturing negates the value of these assets, making them more difficult to sell or use in a render.

Luckily tools for texturing have improved and provide that all important photo-realistic look, BUT only once you’ve learned the software and figured out an efficient and complete workflow –  essential for content creators.

Are you in one or more of these situations?

• I don’t know where to begin when creating textures for clothing or props.
• I find it frustrating to try and create a material that matches my needs
• I’m challenged with creating seamless patterns
• I want to learn how to create professional level texturing with modern tools but I’m unsure how to use them efficiently.

Professional Texturing is Attainable!

In this course, Sabine Hajostek (Esha) will provide a complete guide to texturing clothing and props so that you can…

• Create realistic textures reflecting real world material properties
• Train your eyes to notice and build detailing
• Bring unique texture ideas to the market
• Show you a streamlined modern workflow for increased productivity

Esha will show you how to texture clothing or props to a professional level even if you…

• Have never created textures for clothing or props before.
• Have never used Substance Painter

Without having to….

• Learn the deeper technical aspects of shaders
• Spend hours on adding little details, for example…stitching!

What you’ll Accomplish

This is for you if you want to accomplish…

1. Confidence in creating fresh texture designs
2. The creation of realistic clothing or prop materials that shows good detailing as well as wear and tear.
3. A solid system for texturing that will work for your content creation
4. Incorporating merchant resources into a modern workflow.
5. How to tweak existing materials to match your vision.

Curriculum

Session 1

• Intro & Welcome
• Shader basics
• How to use texture maps in a shader (example: Iray Uber Shader)
• Which materials are you likely to use in your work?
• Which maps will you need to create them?

Assignment 1:
Familiarize yourself with the shader you’re going to use in your target application.

Session 2

• A few words regarding UVmapping with SP in mind
  •             Projection vs UV space
  •             Planning for the final map
• Substance Painter Basics:
  •             Interface
  •             Basic settings
  •             Lighting and other controls
  •             Installing substances
• Sources for getting substances (other than Adobe)

Assignment 2:
Select a few obj files you want to be working on, check their UVmapping.
Build yourself a library of substances.

Session 3

• Preparing the Mesh
  •             Groups & Surfaces
  •             “Pose”
  •             HD mesh
  •             Triangulated mesh
• Setting up a project in SP
• Baking maps
• Getting materials onto the mesh: 2 methods
• Advantages of using layers with masks
• Creating more complex masks in a 2D program

Assignment 3:
Create one or more masks you want to use on your mesh.

Session 4

• Importing mask files into SP
• Other auxiliary maps for details
• Using Generators for special effects
• Using “Anchors”
• Tweaking the generated effects

Assignment 4:
Play with Generators to create different effects.

Session 5

• Adding irregularities and subtle variations
• Tweaking colors: 3 ways
• Exporting the maps and plugging them into the Iray Uber shader
• Establishing a naming convention
• Creating extra maps for overlays

Assignment 5:
Create maps for your chosen obj file(s).
Set up the shader in your target application

Session 6

• Texturing clothing: applying the techniques we have discussed so far
• Sewing and embroidery
  •             Painting stiches in Photoshop
  •             Customizable layer setup in Substance Painter
• Combining substances and merchant resources
  •             Using imported color maps
  •             Preparing special patterns/prints/borders in Photoshop (smart objects & warp tool!)

Assignment 6:
Create textures for a clothing item.

Session 7

• Special considerations regarding dirt & discoloring on clothing
• Opacity maps (sheer fabric and lace)
• Using the features of the Iray Uber shader:
  •             Silk/Satin
• Special effects (e.g. Metallic Flakes)

Assignment 7:
Set up the shader for your clothing item in your chosen target application.

Session 8

• Any overflow teaching points from previous sessions
• Q&A
• Student projects and course review

Software tools used in this course

In this course, Sabine teaches Substance Painter, which you might be able to still buy outright or rent as you need it from Adobe. We require for you to have SP installed before the course begins. We’ll also use Photoshop, so we would expect you to have a grounding in Photoshop or GIMP.

Whether your end goal is to use these textures in DAZ Studio, Poser, the Unreal game engine or other platform- 95% of the course will count since we’ll be spending most of the time in the above two mentioned applications.

We will be using DAZ Studio for the demonstration of rendering and checking textures, so general knowledge of DAZ Studio and a basic understanding of Iray would be advantageous.

Proven Experience

Esha : Lead Teacher

Esha lives in Austria and has been creating 3D products for nearly 15 years!

In the past she has created content for Smith Micro and now for DAZ 3D, being one of the leading vendors at daz3d.com.

When DAZ released the Developer Tools for DAZ Studio in 2008 she integrated them into her workflow and has been working with Daz Studio, alongside Poser, ever since. In recent years she has been focusing on DS for product development.

Esha’s favourite tools include DAZ Studio, Poser, ZBrush, Wings3D, Xfrog, Marvelous Designer, UVLayout, Substance Painter and Photoshop. In all of these she is a self-taught artist, basing her skills on years of experience with building 3D content.

Esha also has several years of experience in teaching adults. She firmly believes that the best way to learn is to actively do something yourself, so she favours a hands-on approach in teaching.

Knowing only too well how tiresome it is to gather scraps of information all over the web she wants to provide comprehensive content that really offers solid information. Moving from the basics to advanced procedures she takes care to make sure that her audience will be able to follow her courses smoothly.

In her spare time Esha loves listening to classical music, baking muffins and collecting cat photos.