New Member Welcome Thread

[gmd3d]

Originally Posted by Aabh

Thank you for the warm welcome!

Taranis: I would love to! Thank you!

UrbanArmitage: Thank you

Fretslayer, I just use good ol Photoshop. I live in Japan and I have access to Deleter ziptones (The halftone patterns and such... I can buy them at the art store), I just scan them in and add them to the backgrounds/foregrounds whatever I also added them to the texture maps on the sets...

I have Manga Studio, but It was a little too unwieldy to use... so I went back to Photoshop...

I also have Daz_Studio, but, I had similar problems making it do what I wanted it to do... so I fell back on Poser. I use Poser's very limited Toon mode to make the models render with no shadow (Flat). But you know, that's the second time Daz_Studio has been recommended to me. Perhaps I should give it another shot

I'm out of date, though. I'm using Poser 6 and Photoshop 7... I simply don't have the cash available to upgrade.

What your doing with what you have is good enough..... the tools don't make the artist imo .. your doing what most of us would like to do . (well I would ) ..

Now you know now,! your going to have to show use how you do it don't you ..

Sometime in the future a small tut Nudge Nudge , Wink Wink ..

[Aabh]

I could be tempted!

And, thank you both!

Actually, I think a tutorial might help me in a lot of ways. No promises at this point, but I certainly could see doing it in the near future!

Would you want a Tutorial on how to render like that?

[gmd3d]

it would be interesting to see how you do it .make the comic that is . I would like to see if I could make one sometime in the future ..

Aabh, I have never done any Toon or Manga stuff, but from what I have heard Poser beats Daz Studio quite comfortably when it comes to Toon renders. The default Toon renders in Poser don't look too great but do yourself a favour and take a look through the tutorials and forums on Rendersotiy. I remember quite some time ago finding a really good tut/discussion on creating some awesome Toon renders with Poser. It talks about all aspects of the process such as textures, lighting and postwork. The examples were amazing considering the tool set.

UA

Originally Posted by UrbanArmitage

Aabh, I have never done any Toon or Manga stuff, but from what I have heard Poser beats Daz Studio quite comfortably when it comes to Toon renders. The default Toon renders in Poser don't look too great but do yourself a favour and take a look through the tutorials and forums on Rendersotiy. I remember quite some time ago finding a really good tut/discussion on creating some awesome Toon renders with Poser. It talks about all aspects of the process such as textures, lighting and postwork. The examples were amazing considering the tool set.

UA

And that is the difference between $250 and FREE.
LOL!

[Aabh]

Right, That's a good suggestion! I haven't been to Renderosity in years! This is as good an excuse as any!

I sorta decided to make my own models for the next issue of Tamerlane... That way it is entirely my artwork, even the 3D models... (I still feel a little like I'm cheating using 3D... and it doesn't help any that I'm using someone elses' 3D models!)

So... that said, would anyone be interested in a TOS era Starfleet Spaceflight construction set? As in, Dish, various different kinds of necks, supports, nacelles, secondary hulls all seperated out so you can mix and match? It'll be Poser-ready (Though I'll have a set of 3DS files...). I'll be texture mapping these peices for my comic (Looking like a drafting project), but if someone were interested in putting realistic textures on the set... that would be pretty cool

Renderosity is a great site IMO. Same goes for ShareCG.com I hit both of them daily.

I think your Starship Construction Kit sounds like a really cool idea.

And as for thinking or feeling like you're cheating when you use a mesh built by someone else...again, this is just my opinion but I look at it like this.

Is it cheating when you paint without building your own brush, creating your own paint and weaving your own canvas? I don't think so.

Plus I know a few guys who are fantastic model builders but don't know how to animate or write a story - so for them, when I use their mesh they get to see their hard work put to good use. A good model can inspire an animator or story teller. The first moment I saw Dennis Bailey's 1701-A mesh I knew I had to write a Star Trek story. His mesh was so awesome that it inspired me to write an entire Trek story around it and I think that is pretty darn cool!

It's a win win situation for both the animator and the modeler.

That's just my .2 ...which at todays current market value is pretty much worthless.
LOL!

[gmd3d]

I would go with Fretslayer's comment ...

the available meshes that area around are released so that pictures render animations can be done ..

does a director of a film make every thing for the film .. no that to much work.

so I don't believe that your cheating at all, you get a better sence of achievement if you did .. but you would lose a lot of creative time ..

[Aabh]

LOL! Thanks guys, I appreciate the statement. Of course, the analogy goes the other way; If most pantings were done by people whom weaved their own canvus and made their own brushes, then it would seem like taking away from some of the art if I didn't... Most comic artists draw everything (Well, and so did I! ) Anyway, I'm detracting from the thread... Hows about I go and open a thread elsewhere and we can chat more about this? (Because I have a lot of thoughts about it... and I'm interested in hearing your thoughts too! ) How about over in the Tamerlane thread? http://www.3dgladiators.net/forums/s...776#post255776

[gmd3d]

Sounds like a good plan..

I also hit Renderosity daily to check on their free stuff, forums, and general hobbyist 3D news. It's a great community and there is always someone there willing to help wherever they can.

My take on whether using someone else's 3D assets is still art is this. You could have the world's most amazing 3D models with fantastic textures and so on. The problem is that it doesn't tell a story until such time as a 3D artist takes it and builds a scene with it. The meshes/models themselves are a means to an end IMHO. This doesn't in any way mean that I consider the meshes to be arbitrary in the process of creating 3D art. It just means that one can't live without the other, just like brushes and paints don't paint masterpieces, artists do.

UA

Hello everyone,

I've been dabbling in computer graphics and animation ever since the days of Turbo Silver for the Amiga. It's a nice way to wile away the chilly, dark winter nights up here. I currently spend most of my time with Terragen2, the much-maligned TrueSpace, Photoshop (and occasionally other apps like Silo and Blender) with a special interest in stereoscopic imagery. One of the admins here is a regular contributor on some of the other 3d sci-fi forums that I frequent and I thought I'd check out what's going on here.

Hello there.
Steroscopic imagry? Very cool. I've been messing with something simiar where you cross your eyes and a '3rd image' pops out at you in 3D. What method are you using and do you have anything I could check out?

What part of Alaska are you in?

I use the LCD shutter glasses to page flip the right and left images. It's easier on the eyes than the cross-eyed method, no color distortion from red-green/red-blue anaglyph, and I just generally like it better for animation construction and viewing. But you need the glasses and an app to monkey with the monitor interlace so you can view the images. I've got nothing recent to show off since I'm in the middle of swapping comps, but I could probably whip up something new here in the near future. I've always been fascinated with stereoscopic images and old-time stereo pairs since I got my first View-Master as a kid.

I'm in Juneau, where it snows all winter and it rains, rains, rains all spring and summer.

I know what you mean about the viewmaster viewer! LOL!
Something I've been wanting to mess with in LWO is the 'Render to 3D'.
I don't have any of the red/blue glasses at the moment so I've not bothered.

A few years back I had an Asus video card (top of the line at the time) and it had the glasses that plugged into it and made everything 3D. It was awesome and some thing I miss from time to time.

Juneau? Very cool. I'm near the Gulf of Mexico on the Florida coast (near Tampa/St.Pete) where the women wear little to nothing all winter and it only rains when tourists want to come here. LOL!

[gmd3d]

Originally Posted by mcmiller

I'm in Juneau, where it snows all winter and it rains, rains, rains all spring and summer.

Sound like you live in Ireland, well apart from the Snow .. We don't get snow now.. it would be a nice change from the rain

Good afternoon, all!

My name is Jason, but my nom de guerre is FleetCommander. There's a nice story behind it--remind me to tell you about it sometime.

I've been messing around with drawing for a few years now..never really taken it seriously, just something fun to do. The bulk of my art (so far) is scanning neat images, cleaning them up, and turning them into wallpapers.

My primary tool of choice was Corel Draw 9; however, I got a new computer and couldn't find my *%$^%& installation disk. Since then, I've been playing with Photoshop and Illustrator. Recently, I got into DAZ Studio, and have poked around with it. (So many toys, so little time.)

More to come as events warrant...

[Darrell Lawrence]

Cool. Welcome.

Now go post something in your contest thread

[gmd3d]

Welcome aboard Fleetcommander good to have you aboard .. what kind of pictures do you like to do .. Ships, people etc

[gmd3d]

FleetCommander here is your link for your thread . your PM option is turned off so I was unable to contact you. just enter and reply

http://www.3dgladiators.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=22765

Originally Posted by Taranis

Welcome aboard Fleetcommander good to have you aboard .. what kind of pictures do you like to do .. Ships, people etc

Whatever strikes me. I haven't gained a lot of confidence in the graceful curves of humans and other creatures yet, so inanimate objects are my bread and butter.

Scanning and retouching images seems to be fairly easy, so I do it a lot.

Welcome FleetCommander. Your work sounds interesting. Do you have any examples that you could share with us?

UA

Hi,
Robert Simmons here. 44 years old. TOS Trek fan. Big fan of Exeter and Dennis Bailey's work. This site was recommended by him and raymar3d to me as welcoming place for beginnners of 3d modleing. I have no experience but am wanting to learn and wanting to do the most without making my brain hurt learning.

I've browsed the galleries and meshes here and am loving the skill and patience on display here. I'm wanting to learn how to make my own belivable Special Effects and use them and also sets and characters for some Fan script Starship Exeter stories I've been writing.

Nice site...

[gmd3d]

Thanks Robert .. I know your name from some Treks sites .. and esp the Exeter and Dennis work and I and many here are great admirers of the work done on it

What program are you looking to try 3D or 2D .. We have some great animators here who show great promises .. they far exceed my skills

Ger

Hi Robert.
You were pointed in the right direction.
This place is full of helpful and informative people who won't make you feel stupid for asking a question. Every true master or guru of something was at one point a newbie themselves.

As for jumping right in and not hurting your brain too badly - I'd suggest DAZ Studio.
For one, it's FREE.
It's easy to use and once you get the hang of it you might want to have a look at Poser (not free but pretty powerful).

It goes without saying (or typing!) but if you have any questions ask away.
This place has it's resident gurus in everything from TS to LWO and from MAX to Poser and Daz Studio. I'm sure somebody will be willing and able to help you out.

I hope you enjoy the whole CG thing as much as the rest of us do and I look forward to seeing some of your art when you get around to it.

[gmd3d]

Fretslayer is one of the animators I was think of .. I have been luck enough to see some of his work ..

Fretslayer,
I just looked at your animation. It looks VERY NICE. I especially like the colors of your nebula and the depth and body he ship is moving through.

Warning...what I am doing is TOS era exclusively. Approximately TOS season 4 timewise in the Exeter universe. I'm wanting everything to match in look in effects and weapons and movement seen in TOS Trek.

Okay...thread created in the "on The Horizons" Forum here....

http://www.3dgladiators.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=22778

Hi Robert, and welcome to the forums! I look forward to seeing some of your work. Your project sounds very interesting. As the others have said already, if you have any questions you have come to the right place.

UA

[gmd3d]

I agree UA .. I have read some of Roberts post on an other site and while I am a fan of the TOS .. Robert leaves me in the dust for knowledge and General information.. its a project I am going to watch closely