This was my first real foray into 3D content creation. Previously I had primarily done photo manipulation using Paint Shop Pro. I was gaming heavily in EverQuest and all the “cool kids” had custom signatures on the various gaming forums which is where my interest started.
I found Daz Studio pretty early after it had been released. It was 3d modeling/manipulation that did all the heavy lifting for me. I didn’t have to create any models or meshes. I didn’t have to create textures from scratch. I didn’t have to figure out how to UV map anything. Daz did all that for me. At the time here was enough customization built into the early Vicky 2 and Mike 2 models that each character could be as unique as I wanted to make them. Best of all, Daz Studio was free!
Nineteen years and several thousands of dollars later, I am here to tell you, that while Daz Studio still does have a lot of free content, the vast majority of the content that is available you do have to purchase. The plus side to this is the quality, customization options, and textures that are available with this kind of content are considerable, and ultimately what you are paying for.
Daz Studio is also not the only marketplace you can find content to use. There are hundreds of places you can get content to use for projects. My interest is in fantasy and landscape rendering, so some of the other places I get my content from are:
The image above was done using Daz Studio’s Victoria 3 model. The skin textures was Ethereal Elegance & Shadow for Victoria 3. The dress is The Sorceress for MFD for Victoria 3, and the hair prop is the Ultimate Changing Ponytail also for generation 3 models. The lighting was just the default headlamp. It would be many many MANY years before I dabbled in lighting. Lighting was (and still is) very intimidating to me.
~ Novbre
