Ren'Py DAZ3D Asset Costs

[benanin]

Thanks for all your answers. You didnt quite tell me what you guys do personally, but I also appreciate those very interesting off-topics as well!
Hope weI can show you some progress before christmas, tho. Great community!

 

[Urok]

Thanks a lot OhWee for the information.
I'm also in the process to complete my first game and so far I bought all the assets I'm using. I'd find ironic to make a product hoping to get some money, and at the same time, don't pay the daz3d creators for their work.

 

[OhWee]

Thanks for all your answers. You didnt quite tell me what you guys do personally, but I also appreciate those very interesting off-topics as well!
Hope weI can show you some progress before christmas, tho. Great community!

Well yeah, I suppose we should answer your question too...

I've bought a lot of 'paid' Renderosity and Daz3D assets over the last couple of years, to support the artists in question as well as to not have any question r.e. usage. Particularly if I plan to use them in a commercial context. That's where my 'shopping tips' post comes from. I tend to wait for the best bargains when I can.

As for assets that are no longer for sale, yeah sometimes you may need to grab those where you can find them. If they ever are offered for sale again, then you can look into purchasing them at that time, but the Daz store loves to retire products that they don't think are selling well enough... or for other mysterious reasons (to us anyways) as well.

As for 'try before you buy', that is not a bad strategy, particularly if it's a pricier asset. Sure, Daz has a 'refund' policy, but that can be a bit of a hassle, 'cuz you need to send in the customer support ticket and then wait for them to get around to your request...

I also put a number of free assets to use as well. The trick with these is to sort them by usage rights as you acquire them, if the author has made that clear. Sometimes the readme doesn't say one way or the other...

There are a number of people here that grab stuff on the downlow, and some like to make the observation that most people aren't going to know how you acquired an asset, which is a valid point. Generally, when takedowns occur, it's against websites that are providing 'free' assets that are also for sale at Daz3D, Renderosity, etc.. That's not to say that individuals haven't been targetted, just that we haven't heard a lot of that happening to individuals, if any...

So yeah, use your best judgement. Whatever sits well with your conscience. If you ever hit the 'big time' though, yeah do your best to cover your bases. Daz artists like it when you buy their stuff!

 

[benanin]

My last intention is not to pay assets creators. But for the start, I´m still in a finding process without a decent library. So for that, I´m currently using lot of freebie stuff and for bigger and more expensive assets I try before I buy. But will definitely pay if I should use it in the final version, no matter if I tweak it or not. I worked as a photographer, designer, now in the gaming industry, had to fight piracy from time to time, I know how you feel when not getting paid for your work. Also I´m used to watermarked stuff where you can try, still a thing I miss a bit for modeling

 

[xht_002]

if you become good and use CAD to create your own buildings, find some good high quality seamless texture sites, and get what you need, then find a copy of shadermap CL to batch create the normal, ambient, specular maps for the lighting to work in daz3d

sketchup is good,

You must be registered to see the links

the program is not

and for pCon planner to work, you just import the obj with 1unit = 1m. and everything will be to DAZ3d genesis scale

 

[OhWee]

if you become good and use CAD to create your own buildings, find some good high quality seamless texture sites, and get what you need, then find a copy of shadermap CL to batch create the normal, ambient, specular maps for the lighting to work in daz3d

sketchup is good,

You must be registered to see the links

the program is not

and for pCon planner to work, you just import the obj with 1unit = 1m. and everything will be to DAZ3d genesis scale

Except that then you need to spend the time to create the buildings, track down and map the textures, maybe have to replace the textures again in Daz (some textures don't play nice), and of course apply the Iray Uber Base shader if you use Iray as needed, which while not a big deal is yet another extra step.

So this is great if you have the time to build your own stuff, but time is money, especially if you are pushing to get a project done in the short term. Plus, hopefully you have a talent for architectural design, if you want unusual features. Plus there's the time investment to learn yet another new program.

This is all fine and good, if you have the time to invest, but of course then the question becomes, what else could you be doing with that time in the meantime? Versus using items that are specifically designed for Daz and to a lesser extent Poser?

But since you are so knowledgeable, why haven't you started your own threads sharing your vast expertise?

I also love your sketchup is good except it's not comment. Which is it?

My own experience with converting sketchup files to a format that Daz can use has been very hit and miss. Among other things, texture maps sometimes go wonky...

 

[xht_002]

Except that then you need to spend the time to create the buildings, track down and map the textures, maybe have to replace the textures again in Daz (some textures don't play nice), and of course apply the Iray Uber Base shader if you use Iray as needed, which while not a big deal is yet another extra step.

So this is great if you have the time to build your own stuff, but time is money, especially if you are pushing to get a project done in the short term. Plus, hopefully you have a talent for architectural design, if you want unusual features. Plus there's the time investment to learn yet another new program.

This is all fine and good, if you have the time to invest, but of course then the question becomes, what else could you be doing with that time in the meantime? Versus using items that are specifically designed for Daz and to a lesser extent Poser?

But since you are so knowledgeable, why haven't you started your own threads sharing your vast expertise?

I also love your sketchup is good except it's not comment. Which is it?

My own experience with converting sketchup files to a format that Daz can use has been very hit and miss. Among other things, texture maps sometimes go wonky...

you don't need the uber base layer on every texture, making a game that is'nt the same as the other 10,000 using the same models and assets, is the difference between $20 a month and $6000 on patreon

you can texture a whole battlefield map in a few hours once you work a program out, a little building takes no time

 

[OhWee]

you don't need the uber base layer on every texture, making a game that is'nt the same as the other 10,000 using the same models and assets, is the difference between $20 a month and $6000 on patreon

you can texture a whole battlefield map in a few hours once you work a program out, a little building takes no time

Lessee... a few of the top earners on Patreon over the last couple of years, based on subscriptions (some no longer share their earnings publicly)...
For reference:

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Lewdlab - uses

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(a lot of them) for their environments in Dreams Of Desire and Lost Memories
Mr Dots - uses

You must be registered to see the links

(also a lot of them) for their environments in Dating My Daughter (I haven't researched Melody on this subject)
Dark Silver - uses

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(again, a lot of them) for their environments in Big Brother
Meshed VR - Makers of Virt-A-Mate - this one is fairly new, so no idea on the assets.
Ictstor - Milfy City uses some identified

You must be registered to see the links

(the fan art thread mentions a few of these). Not sure on the rest as of yet (the thread is fairly new). I'm sure that he's used a few prebuilts in the previous games as well.​

Note that I've linked to the relevant threads where art assets are discussed.

There are numerous other examples. Babysitter is another example that I'm intimately familiar with, which while it isn't in the top 20 (is in the top 50), yeah there are a number of the store bought Daz assets used there.


Ironman13 (i13) is by far the most popular creator of the Daz assets that a lot of the top developers, and other developers, use for their rooms, houses, etc.


It should definitely be noted that MOST of the other developers with in the top 20 have games that are hand drawn, hence not relevant to this discussion. Other than, perhaps, to point out the popularity of hand drawn games. I suppose that the lesson there is that your time may be better spent learning to draw, or teaming up with someone who can...


I don't mind it when people are trying to be helpful, but it's important to have accurate info when discussing such things.

Yes, learning how to build your own stuff is a nice skill to have. I use primitives in Daz Studio all the time for things, plus Hexagon is now also free, exports and imports natively with Daz Studio. I've built a few things in Hexagon and Daz, including a couple of 'project houses'. But the point remains that prebuilts can save you a LOT of time, if you can afford them, or if you can find freebies that suit your needs. There are a number of free prebuilt Daz/Poser items, rooms, and houses on ShareCG, Renderosity, etc.. Plus there's a number of free .objs out there on a few different sites (Google can help you find some of these).


As for building stuff, Blender is out there as well, and is of course a free open source alternative. The learning curve can be a bit steep, though, and your keyboard will need a 10 key (which can be an issue for laptop users). Blender can also be useful when looking to build and customize characters, monsters, etc....

Just keep in mind that most people simply don't care much if they've seen the same apartment in 10 different games. They are more interested in the story, and how well written it is, and also in suitably playable game mechanics.


Again, it's all about managing your time. If you want to set aside the time to build your own stuff, and/or want to invest the time to learn, go for it! For the rest of you, well obviously there are a number of prebuilt options out there for you as well, both free and for sale.

 

[xht_002]

if your still moaning about time you can try

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its based of idtech GTK Radiant, and textures with normal and specular maps, but no ambient map as far as the packaged textures go, but it is still alpha, and also includes a terrain generator for gardens, you need to register to export though, while CAD is still better, and easy to make a house plan image for a map, and quick jump location icons

you should see what some people can do in 10 minutes in zbrush on youtube

 

[OhWee]

if your still moaning about time you can try

You must be registered to see the links

its based of idtech GTK Radiant, and textures with normal and specular maps, but no ambient map as far as the packaged textures go, but it is still alpha, and also includes a terrain generator for gardens, you need to register to export though, while CAD is still better, and easy to make a house plan image for a map, and quick jump location icons

you should see what some people can do in 10 minutes in zbrush on youtube

Zbrush is all fine and good, if you have $895 (plus tax) lying around. And again, learning curve.

You must be registered to see the links

There is a student discount, but I'm guessing that most people here aren't students. For those that are, an academic price may drop the price below $200 (before tax), if you find the right reseller...

You still haven't explained your 'sketchup is good except it's not' comment. Which is it?

Also, since you seem to be so knowledgeable about game design, where is your game? Where is YOUR art? People want to know!

In comparison to your vast knowledge, I'm just a lowly modder and so so artist. But at least you can find my so so renders in several places around this site... and also on SVSComics, and on a few other Hentai sharing sites apparently... (so much for the F95 exclusive... not surprised though)

Stop yappin' and start showin'!!!

 

[xht_002]

Zbrush is all fine and good, if you have $895 (plus tax) lying around. And again, learning curve.

You must be registered to see the links

There is a student discount, but I'm guessing that most people here aren't students. For those that are, an academic price may drop the price below $200 (before tax), if you find the right reseller...

You still haven't explained your 'sketchup is good except it's not' comment. Which is it?

Also, since you seem to be so knowledgeable about game design, where is your game? Where is YOUR art? People want to know!

In comparison to your vast knowledge, I'm just a lowly modder and so so artist. But at least you can find my so so renders in several places around this site... and also on SVSComics, and on a few other Hentai sharing sites apparently... (so much for the F95 exclusive... not surprised though)

Stop yappin' and start showin'!!!

i don't need renders, and besides, my daz3d log is 2MB of

2018-11-05 12:41:13.586 WARNING: dzneuraymgr.cpp(307): Iray FATAL - module:category(API:MEMORY): Memory allocation failed.

give it 2 months, and i will build a threadripper 16 core warhorse

i have alot of general knowledge over specialist stuff, but going from radiant and UT4 and mapping and modding for years, i know that most people into modding games and making games, and the usually up there own ass modellers, have hundreds of GB of textures laying around, and using a CAD program instead of a game engine mapping tool would just be second nature when switching

moving the camera around the preview window, and texturing faces and clicking on auto fit, is kind of easy once you have built the textures to use from the diffuse map

 

[Aeilion]

you will need to modify most of it anyway unless you have a 16 core threadripper CPU with 64GB of RAM and atleast 2x 1080ti in SLI, everything adds up, if you want to render with iray and fancy lighting, if you don't have enough RAM left, daz will quickly crash

but then thats if you want to use genisis 8 for more polygons on models, with all the small detail of veins etc through morphs

It's funny ... I work with gen8 and it goes very well with my gtx1060 6gb. So obviously it's a little longer than a 1080ti but hey I have no crash so everything is fine!