Daz 3D Studio

So I stumbled across this really cool design tool. Basically what it does is let you play dolls on your PC. You take a person, put clothes on them, grab some scenery and pose the person. This is basically a free version of a program called Poser. Here’s what I made today:

This is one of the free dolls you can get from Daz3d.com. I also found this cool multi-display console somewhere. I initially had her standing at it, but then I found a Captain Kirk chair, so I put her in that. She looks much less stressed this way. Then I dropped the whole scene in a TNG hallway just to have something in the background. All told, I spent three or four hours working on this.

The time-consuming thing is actually posing the doll. You have to control each individual joint in its body, right down to the third knuckle. So doing something like pointing a finger or grabbing something is just tedious. But the end product is fun, so I say it’s worth it.

Tons of fun, and free. Sort of. The 3D Studio software is free, and the most popular male and female dolls are free. Where they get you is content. There’s a ton of 3rd-party content out there, but most of it requires that you have this or that piece of paid content which costs anywhere from 3.95 to 20 macaroons. I’ve put the adult dolls in some fun poses, but I can’t get any clothes for them yet, so for now I’m stuck with the anime chick I used for this scene. Not terribly disappointing, but she makes everything look cartoony.

Just thought someone else might be interested in this. I’d love to be able to afford something like 3DS Max or Bryce so I could whip up (in a manner of speaking) my own content, but for now I’m happy just using other people’s Star Trek objects to play space house. And with classes beginning this week, the last thing I need is a new toy.