Rosie 7
She's Amazing!!!
The videos (below) are a celebration of my latest edition - using dForce and Linday's Classic Long and Curly Hair along with a plethora of Joint-Controlled-Morph Control Dials that I've created to act as if I was working in the graph editor, but using simple dials attached directly to the character - and it works!
I still have a way to go, but I wanted to give a small sample of where I'm at.
I really like the modern shaders for the latest few generations of Genesis, so picking out a really good base character product was paramount. Sol has exquisite textures and the shader setup is nothing short of stunning, in my opinion.
That is my toughest challenge moving toward the direction of using the incredible Genesis 9 - there simply isn't a character made for it yet that meets up with the demands of my favorite hero. But that's okay. Rosie 7 has a Lot to offer and is really fun (and simple!) to work with.
Her shape comes from many sources - Sol for G3F & G8F, Star 2, Aiko 6, Gia 6, Victoria 6, Victoria 4, Stephanie 4, and many shaping morphs from across generations 5 through 7.
I've recently added Face Controls for Genesis 3 and 8, which comes with an incredible amount of example poses for expressions, FACS (Facial Action Coding System) shapes complete with micro-movements of the face, visemes and even three long sequence animation poses taken from performance captures. It's a really cool product. To use it on Genesis 3, we must first load in a Genesis 8 figure and transfer the facial rig structure to our character, but the included instructions video makes that a quick and simple process. It is a dream come true for an animator who is striving to make facial gestures more realistic and believable.
After all of this time learning about many of the 'not-so-obvious' tools of Daz Studio, I've really come to love this software, and Carrara has been a Huge asset through this whole process, which is my Favorite Reason to even use a computer - Period! Carrara Pro ROCKS!!!
A Closer Look
This is but a handful of the products from Daz 3d used in putting Rosie 7 together
I have an extensive collection of shapes for Genesis, Genesis 2, and Genesis 3 but bringing in specific shaping details was essential to me to tweak her into this newer version.
I've also taken extra time and care to introduce new Pose Control Dials as mentioned above, to make her motions as smooth and varied as possible, which also allows me to completely change the outcome of any motion capture data without deleting any of the key frames from the original data - which is Pure Magic!
The idea came from all of the versions of Rosie 5 (Genesis 1) I was working with.
I also created them for the new Face Control rig, which is So Handy!!!
New to Genesis 8.1 was the FACS style Face Control rig and widget gizmo. This product adds that power to Genesis 3 and 8 as well!
For Genesis 3, we actually use Genesis 8's facial rig and the product includes a nice video showing us how to do it. It's really easy.
Beyond that, it includes a plethora of examples we can load:
Facial Expression Poses
FACS Poses
Viseme Poses
3 Long Animated Sequence Poses
Instructions and Video for use with Dynamixyz
I love this!
While I am using GenX2 to add V4, Genesis 1 and 2 Female shapes to Genesis 3, Genesis 3 shapes and morphs are still a very essential part of making a good character. Daz 3d's Head and Body Morphs provide important shaping and scaling options - even for specific parts of the body. Fit Control not only allows me to reshape clothing from other generations, but also enables me to create entirely different outfits with the help of Daz Studio's Geometry Editor.
Simply log into the Daz 3d forums and send a PM to Dartanbeck with the code
While you're at it, go ahead and ask me a question about my workflow or techniques, products, anything! Always happy to help!
Support for this site goes directly into more creative workflows, animations and articles
Genesis 3 is a marvel in bringing more modern rigging, UV Mapping, Weight Mapping and overall computer efficiency to the Daz 3d human lineup.
Part of this went into Daz 3d opting for less immediate, constant definition of the actual shaping details on the base mesh, and using HD morphs to add detail as the character/artist requires it.
This, at least in part, has made Rosie 7 a Lot more responsive in the working view than Genesis 8.
Aiko 6 brings up the Super Hero body shape I wanted for Rosie - longer legs, shorter torso, and physicality to her stance and proportional shapes.
Gia 6 adds a more sturdy skeleton and a rock-solid physique.
Victoria 6 Supermodel takes the above and accentuates the muscle and heroic nature of her overall shape and makes her ultimately more sexy.
Supermodel adds a lot of height, so I used quite a few of the Genesis 3 Female Body and Head morphs to edit her back down to being the tiny little thing that she is.
SickleYield's Genesis 8 Female Clones for Genesis 3 and Valzheimer's Wear Them All were also very instrumental in this whole project.
In the case of the hair, I also used the Genesis 8 clones for Genesis 3. Works Great!
I have more info on how I do these conversions in my Content Generations Conversions article, which makes it possible for me to use any clothing for any of Daz 3d's figure on Rosie and Dartanbeck and any other character I'm working with.
Gone are the days of incompatibility - and I Love That!!!
Linday's Classic Long and Curly Hair with dForce for Genesis 8 Female(s) has been the driving force to get me into character animation and rendering in Daz Studio, and I'm grateful for that.
Working with it Daz Studio with dForce has been a real dream for me. I really liked where I was going with Rosie 5's Carrara Dynamic Hair, but because it has to be so long and curly, the volumetric, strand-based shader model hair of Carrara has been an unsuccessful journey towards making it better. Don't get me wrong. I love Carrara's dynamic hair! It's fun and fast! If you're not doing hair as long and curly as this, you should really give it a try!
During my time in working with Linday's amazing hair products, I've done a lot of experimenting - especially trying to introduce techniques I've used in Carrara for assisting hair simulations - to a degree. In the end, I really like how it works straight out of the box!
I use a few primitives to block the hair from tangling on only very few animations. Otherwise I just use the "Initial Start" morphs provided by Linday to tell dForce how to begin, and let physics do the rest. Being an actual conforming mesh, rather than strand-based, it has the weight to it that gravity expects. Linday's knowledge of dForce and generosity to include excellent settings in dForce and include videos to help us understand how to work with the hair has made this whole adventure successful and a lot of fun!
And now there are more Linday dForce hair products in Rosie's arsenal!
dForce Wet Style Curly Hair for Genesis 8 and 9 and dForce Romantic Curly Hair for Genesis 8 and 8.1 Females
Claus (see below) was kind enough to donate a Gift Card which got the new Wet Style Curly Hair at a very unexpected time - a perfect time! Thanks Claus! Since then I've been absolutely in awe with this hair.
It simulates really well - even faster than the Classic Long Curly Hair, and it comes with tuck behind the ear presets - each ear individually or both! The hair holds behind the ear perfectly throughout my animations - this is a real Win!
I also really like the overall shape of the hair, so I've worked long and hard until I came up with a dry version of it.
Having these three long, curly dForce hair styles is So Perfect! Rosie is even more versatile than she's ever been. And being a Cyber-Street Crusader, she needs that extra versatility!
Special Thanks to Claus
for Supporting me in all of this! He just got Rosie her new dForce Wet Style Curly Hair, by Linday from Daz 3d! So the first try with this incredible product is simulating as I type this.
The product page warns of system intensity and long dForce simulation times, yet this first simulation is cruising along just a tad faster that her usual Classic Long and Curly Hair with dForce, also by Linday.
This is a Huge Win, for I am more than happy to wait for the hair getting the excellent results I have been - especially since it's so wonderful to work with - given all the helpful morphs, shaders, initial shape poses and simulation settings the products come with.
This one doesn't come with all of the extensive tutorials and documentation of the Classic Long and Curly hair, so if you want help with this sort of hair, I'd suggest starting with that product. The explanations and tips are So Good!!!
Update: This dForce Wet Style Curly Hair is Awesome! Just load, apply settings, Simulate. Withoug doing any 'simulation magic' with helpers or anything like that, it just works - and it looks wet and heavy (from being wet) in the simulations. Fantastic!
...continued on the Appreciation Page
I have an ever-growing pile of must-haves in my Wishlist at Daz 3D. The gift of new goodies and features is always welcome and highly appreciated!
Just Send me a PM with the Gift Card Code
And it's a nice way to control how much you donate, because Gift Cards can be any amount - and sometimes they're even on sale!
I love helping people learn as much as I love being able to get new Daz 3D!!!
Dynamic Character Animation in Daz Studio
A Digital Art Live Experience
Coming soon to Daz 3d - a Special new educational course that I've been anxious to share with everyone.
Paul Bussey, from Digital Art Live, offered an amazing opportunity for me to tell my story of how I've unlocked the key to a super-easy approach to animating in Daz Studio - something that a majority of animators consider to be nearly impossible, and for good reason. Daz Studio is set up differently than traditional animating software, making it feeling clunky, even unfriendly to folks who are used to animating.
Well such a thing is difficult to tell in a few words or even a single article here on the site. It's something that needs to be seen, worked through, demonstrated.
Paul's offer is just that. He loves seeing other artist's work and he has a wonderful drive at helping artists learn new skills to better themselves at what they want to do. In that, we are both incredibly similar, for those are my goals as well!
So we've got together in several video conferences and built a solid idea on how to go about this beneficial workflow.
The result is a course of three parts - the Introduction videos, Part 1 and Part 2.
Temporary link leads to the Cyberpunk Rosie 7 Demo video until the course is released at Daz 3d
Introduction - a short video easing us into what's coming, followed by an enhanced version of my Cyberpunk Rosie 7 Demonstration I've presented on YouTube earlier.
Part 1 - a complete workflow following myself through an entire animation project from start to finish. From a T-pose through a custom aniMate setup, including the Genesis 3 & 8 Face Controls, then baking to the Studio timeline and using the custom tools that we'll build in Part 2 to turn the animation into something that greatly differs from the original motion capture, works better with our specific character, and allows us to retain the original motion capture while also coming up with an entirely custom result. The sky's the limit - if there even is a limit. Part 1 continues through dForce cloth and then hair simulations, setting up another set of custom helpers to help the hair in our custom situation, then we render it and finally do a basic composite of the rendered result over the backdrop.
Have a Question? Just Ask!
I love to help others as best I can. This is a rather broad topic: CG Filmmaking, so my articles on any particular topic may not answer your specific question.
Most of the questions directed to me are regarding Carrara or How did I do this?
For these sorts of things, post your question at the Carrara Discussion Forum (or another appropriate category) at Daz 3D.com forums, and if I don't see it right away, someone else might. They are such a friendly and helpful bunch! I've learned so much from that forum over the years!
For a more immediate question directed to me, log into those forums and Send me a PM!
and support this site at the same time!!! :) Thanks!!! :)
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I don't do subscription plans, but AVFX+ is much different - if you cancel, you keep what you got! But they also offer non-subscription sales as well - which is Brilliant! Check them out!
I have an ever-growing pile of must-haves in my Wishlist at Daz 3D. The gift of new goodies and features is always welcome and highly appreciated!
Just Send me a PM with the Gift Card Code
And it's a nice way to control how much you donate, because Gift Cards can be any amount - and sometimes they're even on sale!
I love being able to get new Daz 3D!!!
