How It's Made #1

Hi, everyone.

I've been asked how the 3D graphics for the game are made. So I've decided to show you some details of the process. This is just a sneak peek at my workflow, it's not a tutorial meant to teach you how to make 3D graphics. I'm simplifying the explanations of the various elements a lot, just to make the whole gig more digestible. The first two parts will cover the general functionality of DAZ Studio, then I'll show you how I go a couple of steps further in trying to make things look better.

PART 1

It all starts with DAZ Studio. DAZ Studio is a 3D compositing software - its purpose is to put together figures and objects, made with other programs (and usually by other people), pose them, add lighting, and render a static image or animation. The program is free, and it comes packaged with Nvidia's Iray render engine (that's the piece of software that processes the final image). The only requirement for Iray is a Nvidia graphics card, pretty much any card from the last several years would do. There are just two limiting factors - speed and VRAM. The faster video card you have, the faster the images are processed/rendered. The more VRAM you have, the more 3D objects you can render at the same time. The rest of the system requirements are rather trivial, you can see them on DAZ's website.

Like I said, we need 3D models to use in DAZ. And although we can make some simple shapes and objects in DAZ, for anything complex an external software is needed. But making our own 3D models is difficult and time consuming, so there is another option - buying compatible figures and objects. And that's DAZ 3D's whole business model - they give the program for free, then offer the option to purchase the 3D content we want/need for a modest price (we'll get to that part in a bit).

The main place to purchase 3D content compatible with DAZ Studio is www.daz3d.com/shop, but there are also 3rd party stores, like www.renderosity.com, or www.renderotica.com (for mature content). Importing general 3D content (OBJ, FBX, etc..) is also possible, but it's more complicated. The prices for the content look very modest at first glance, but like any other microtransactions, the picture changes if we sit down and do the math.

Take this promo shot of Jessica's mother, for example. The backdrop is part of a set that costs ~ $15. The chair ~ $10. Base Victoria 8 character - $45. I have used morphs from a few packs, but let's count only one ~ $10. The textures come from another character model ~ $20. Hair ~ $20. Outfit ~ $15. Earrings ~ $10. Glasses ~ $10. Shoes ~ $10. So that's around $165. Of course, once we buy a product we can use it in as much renders as we want, it's not like we have to pay 150 bucks for every render that uses these products. And there are ways to shop smartly and wait for sales and promotions, which can cut the prices in half, or even more.

So, now that we have the program and some content, let's jump in and see how it works.

The first thing we need is a character. Each character has 3 main components - base figure, morphs, and materials. 

The base figure is the initial shape of the character, its skeleton, with all the bones and joints, and a ton of other information and properties for the figure. The base figures are different for male and female characters. The latest figure generations are Genesis 8 Male and Genesis 8 Female. The generation before that is Genesis 3 Male/Female, still used a lot. Many of the characters in my game are Genesis 3, Jessica included.

Once we have the base figure loaded, we would want to change its appearance to our liking, and for that there are the so-called morphs. The morphs are deformations on the figure that can be dialed in to change its shape to a certain degree. Like bigger ears, longer nose, wider hips, etc… Some of those morphs come with the base figure, others can be purchased in various packages, and others come with the different custom characters. The more morphs we have, the more options are available to make the character look the way we want it. The whole process in DAZ is very similar to character creations in role-playing video games, just with a lot more options.

With the character in the shape we want it, we need materials to wrap it in. The materials are collections of textures, colors and effects that are wrapped around the various parts of a character (or any 3D object). The base figures come with their own materials, albeit pretty simple and not very good looking.

As with anything else in DAZ, there are products to help speed up the character creation process, and those are the stock characters. The stock characters use the base figures, in combination with various morphs, to create a different character shape. And in pretty much all cases they come with their own set of materials. There are 2 types of stock characters - primary and secondary. The primary characters (Victoria 8, Michael 8, Darius 8, etc..)  are made by DAZ, and they require only the base figures. The secondary characters often use one of the primary characters as a base, and modify it with their own morphs and materials.

Here I've loaded Victoria 8 in its default state. (As you may have noticed, she has no genitals. That's because the character come without these details. The genitals are separate products, and can be added if needed.) Just like with the base figure, we can use the available morphs to modify Victoria 8 (and any other stock character) and change its default appearances.

After we have the character the way we like it, we can add hair, clothes, accessories, and whatnot. This is done in a very simple manner - we just find the product we want and load it on the character (after buying and installing it first, of course). DAZ Studio will make sure it's all fitted properly, as long as we use products compatible with the base figure we work with.

Then we add some lighting (there are various options - spot lights, area lights, HDRI, and so on), we add a camera, and hit render.

That's it. A character with clothes and all. In what? 10 minutes?

Next time I'll show you where things start to get naughty, with posing and adding an environment and props.

Have fun, and thanks for the support.