CG renders

[i2l84u00x00]

umm blender does some really cool rendering but i bet its harder than poser
plus its ALWAYS free
hxxp://www.blender.org

[zerodin]

There's a free poser-like program at Daz3d.
And people tell me it does alot of the same stuff.
It's called Dazstudio.
They if you want to make really nice pics I'd get Animedoll from renderosity, she's better suited for OS-tan style girls.

[C-Chan]

umm blender does some really cool rendering but i bet its harder than poser
plus its ALWAYS free
hxxp://www.blender.org

HAHAHA!!!!!!!!  ^v^
I feel bad about tossing dirt at a free program, but I'm afraid Blender is harder than EVERYTHING, not just Poser.  ^^;

Besides, Poser does specialize in actual character modeling, as opposed to actual 3D editing and rendering.  While I wouldn't disbelieve that there's some character modeling tool in Blender buried in that dizzying menu somewhere, I'm not sure if it would match Poser's slightly-more intuitive nature.  -v-

Nothing is free in this word, I'm afraid.  In Blender's case, the price is the time to learn how to use it.  ^___^
"Time is money!" ^.^

On the bright side, I did encounter a Blender-tan recently while looking through Juzo-kun's artwork.  I'd post it here, but can't access DeviantArt in the computer I'm using now.  -___-

There's a free poser-like program at Daz3d.
And people tell me it does alot of the same stuff.
It's called Dazstudio.
They if you want to make really nice pics I'd get Animedoll from renderosity, she's better suited for OS-tan style girls.

For some reason I didn't like Daz3D when I liked it.  Probably because I couldn't get used to that menu after working with Poser.  '__'
Either way, DAZ and eFrontier are kinda partners in crime, so I doubt Daz would ever dare rock the boat by making a version of Daz3D that outperformed Poser.  -v-

But on the other hand, it is free so it might be worth the time investment to use it (certainly no Blender), and besides Daz also has some other great software available for purchase (Hexagon, FTW!!!).

Animedoll might get you up on running, but if you feel like splurging, consider purchasing the full version Aiko model from the DAZ store.  She has tons of morph targets that really help bring out the look and feel of an authentic Anime character.  ^__^

[zerodin]

Aiko is good for some stuff, but for generally more anime looking stuff I go with AD.

[C-Chan]

Okey-dokey, AnimeDoll it is.  ^___^
So will you be creating your OS-tans directly from CG, or will you just use the 3D model as your base?

[zerodin]

I like using the 3D base models, they give me something to work with, even after reading cover to cover, books on making your own 3D people, I still sucked at it.
Poser can a very versital tool, it's great with photoshop!
I make comics on a regular basic using the two.

[C-Chan]

Poser and Photoshop are inseparable, given the post-production required to really give those images the Anime feel.  ^__^

BTW, have you ever tried any 3D program with a genuine toon renderer?  (Not that thing that comes iwth Poser....)

Reducing the Z plane size of Poser characters helps given them a synthetic "flat shade" feel, but unfortunately it messes up a lot when hooking up the character with excessive props or when doing animation.  A dedicated toon renderer might solve that issue,... although then the problem would be how to get the Poser scene or OBJ exported to the thing.  ^^;

[zerodin]

I've used Z-toon at one point, it was ok, but I went back to making and using toon shaded materials.

[C-Chan]

Okey-doke.  ^__^

I used to have the ambition of creating one master 3D model of an anime character (back then, it was Sakura Kinomoto) in the hopes of posing her endlessly to create a lossless webcomic).  I did manage to succeed creating the model, but it ended up being a bit unwieldly to use, not to mention it took a long time to prop the clothing.  And even the end result still required a lot of post-production, since it was still painfully clear that it was a 3D model and not a 2D character.

Now I've reverted to vector drawing over 3D models,... for some reason it seems to make me move faster, even though the downfall is that a lot of stuff has to be redrawn (or at least repositioned) again.  Not bad for still images, but will be an issue later with more complex works..... -.-

Even so, I never could make a character from scratch (tried at least twice, but for some reason the Poser bones never quite agreed with it).  And at the time, long before Hexagon, 3d modeling of props was also a chore as well.  -v-
It is still my hope I get to learn Hexagon more to help with my UNIX-sama pic.  I need to make specific props, in order to get lighting rate,... no room for errors or I'm a goner.....  ^_________^;

BTW, you mentioned a comic before.  Any chance we can have a look?

[CaptBrenden]

Poser models are a crutch!!  

Drawing from scratch, thats the way to go!

[zerodin]

I wouldn't call em a crutch.
Some of us just can't draw.

[C-Chan]

Sounds to me like the Captain's never used Poser.  ^___^

If he only knew how damn hard it is to create good,... and I mean DAMN good,... 3D CG,...   -v-

The kind of stuff that gets your jaw to drop to the floor and lock in place like that.  ^__^
Especially when you build all the 3D components yourself, polygon by polygon.

Being sculptor, painter, lighter, animator and director all by yourself,... makes you wonder who REALLY is the one coping out here....  -v-

Not that I care, of course, I'm not bound by either one.  I just use bits and pieces of everything to make things work faster....  ^v^

FASTER!!  FASTER!!!  MOTTO HAYAKU, I SAY!!!!  ^V^

[zerodin]

I do comics on a regular basis with it.
http://zerodin.deviantart.com
I also do a weekend comic for a friend's strip.

[C-Chan]

WOO-HAAAAOOOOOO!!!!!!  ^V^

I GOT MESELF A PREVIEW OF CHIBI COCO-CHAN!!!!  ^__^

And yeah I knew it, she uses OS9 as her official 3rd party OS,...  -v-
But Coco-chan herself should still be an OS-tan.  ^__^
(Otherwise, how else will I justify keeping C64-tan as an OS-tan and not hardware-tan when she too technically has no native OS....  ^^;)

I'll be looking through your comic pages now if you don't mind.  ^v^

*trots off to link*

[zerodin]

Lol go right ahead!