Figures, Characters and Avatars: The Official Guide to Using DAZ Studio to Create Beautiful Art

241 Pages·2009·15.92 MB·English

FIGURES, CHARACTERS, AND
AVATARS: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO
USING DAZ STUDIO™ TO CREATE
BEAUTIFUL ART
Les Pardew
Course Technology PTR
A part of Cengage Learning
Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
Figures, Characters, and Avatars: © 2009 Course Technology, a part of Cengage Learning.
The Official Guide to Using DAZ® Studio
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright
to Create Beautiful Art
herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by
Les Pardew
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Jenny Davidson
Technical Reviewer: Library of Congress Control Number: 2008932511
DAZ 3D
ISBN-13: 978-1-59863-816-5
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Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 10 09
This book is dedicated to all the great people
at DAZ 3D who have come together to
make a great tool for artists.
Acknowledgments
This book was created by the combined efforts of a number of people. I want to thank
all the people at DAZ who have patiently worked with me on this book. Thanks also
go to the editors and staff at Course Technology for their contributions to the book.
Last but not least, I thank my family and good wife who have supported me in all my
efforts, including putting up with me while writing this book.
About the Author
Les Pardewis a video game and entertainment industry veteran with over 22 years of
entertainment industry experience. His work in the industry includes more than 120
video game titles, 12 books, and numerous illustrations in magazines, books, and film.
He began his career in film animation and later moved to video games where he has
found a permanent home. Pardew currently serves as president of Alpine Studios, which
he founded with Ross Wolfley in the Fall of 2000.
Pardew is a prolific artist who loves to work on the computer and with traditional media.
On the computer, he is an accomplished 3D artist, creating and animating characters
for many video games. In traditional media, his first love is drawing followed closely by
oil painting. His favorite subject is people. He can often be seen drawing a portrait or
designing a character for a game in his sketchbook.
Pardew loves to share his knowledge with others, teaching business and art classes at the
university level and authoring several books on art, animation, and game design.
Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Chapter 1
Introduction to 3D Graphics 1
3D Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Inside a 3D Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
How 3D Graphics Are Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Motion Pictures/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Illustration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Video Games. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Avatars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Fine Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Chapter 2
The Scene 11
Installing the Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Registering DAZ Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
DAZ Studio Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
How to Get Around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Understanding Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Toolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Loading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
vi Figures, Characters, and Avatars: The Official Guide to Using DAZ Studio to Create Beautiful Art
Chapter 3
The Camera 25
Orthogonal Cameras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Composition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Balance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Focal Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Pathways. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Chapter 4
The Figure 47
Selecting Parts of the Figure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Parts of the Figure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
The Hip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Bones of the Hands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Morphs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Chapter 5
Clothing 57
Applying Clothing to a Character. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Premade Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Contents vii
Chapter 6
The Head 69
Parts of the Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Head Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Head Morphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Facial Expressions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
FaceShop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 7
Posing the Figure 91
Posing a Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Getting the Right Pose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Natural. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Surprise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Happy (Joy) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Sad (Dejected). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Authoritarian (I’m the Boss) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Only a Sampling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Chapter 8
Non-Human Characters 109
Quadrupeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Winged Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Finned Creatures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Other Non-Human Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
viii Figures, Characters, and Avatars: The Official Guide to Using DAZ Studio to Create Beautiful Art
Chapter 9
Avatars 119
Customizing Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
LOD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Using LOD Versions for Avatars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Exporting an Avatar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chapter 10
Props and Sets 127
Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Character Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Environment Props. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
The Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Full 3D Environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Bryce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Building a Scene in Bryce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Chapter 11
Advanced Posing 147
Power Pose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Head and Hands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Creating a Pose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Puppeteer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Edit Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Preview Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Record Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Contents ix
Chapter 12
Lighting 155
Light in Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Light and Shadow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Setting Up Lights in DAZ Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Lighting a Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Preset Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Chapter 13
DAZ Studio and Traditional Media 167
Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Using DAZ Studio for Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Posing for Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Action Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Problem Poses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Chapter 14
Animation 175
3D Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Bouncing Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Character Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
aniMate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Chapter 15
Lip Sync 185
Animating a Phrase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Mimic Pro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192