I’ve recently discovered the DAZ Studio line of products and become quite distracted and consumed with its potential. In a nutshell what DAZ Studio does is continue the legacy of Poser.
See the wikipedia entry for greater detail.
Poser is a product I largely ignored because it seemed to allow for bad 3-D art, making human figures available for 3D Artists unable or unwilling to craft them from scratch, and resulting in a lack of uniqueness and the possibility for all 3-D art to look too similar.
I am re-thinking this at this point in time for a couple of reasons:
- Time does not permit crafting a complete, posable figure in Max or Maya and then composing my desired scenes complete with clothing
- Coupled with reaching into my own archives of fantasy sketches from sketchbooks over twenty years old, I could spend the dwindling free time with important and challenging issues like facial expression, body language, mood/atmosphere, lighting, narrative, etc.
I have already purchased the My Lin model from DAZ, as well as a costume. I’ll likely post a case study here when my first composition is ready. Additionally I have created an Artzone profile, which was needed to get a free Victoria Base model. I aspire to publish finished pieces on that site as completed and see if this is the social networking site for me.