DAZ 3D is putting together a contest

DAZ 3D is putting together a contest and needs some input from the Unity community.

DAZ 3D has already announced that new "game-friendly" licensing is available for game developers on all the content at developer.daz3d.com and that game developer tools are available to make DAZ 3D models "game-friendly".

DAZ 3D has also announced the availability of game-ready content that is optimized specifically for Unity.

Now DAZ 3D would like to put together a contest to see who can come up with the best game character using DAZ 3D models and/or tools.

It is expected that the contest will kick off in the next 4-6 weeks but DAZ 3D would be interested in community input on some questions still being kicked around such as:

How much time is needed to create a good low-poly character for a game?

What kind of prizes would encourage the most participation?

Unity Pro licenses
Passes to GDC
Expenses toward GDC trip
Cash - How much is enough?
DAZ 3D Tools - Bryce, Carrara, Hexagon, DAZ Studio Advance, etc.


If something like this would be interesting to you please provide some input and thoughts on the idea.

 

My two cents: If you want us to use DAZ 3D tools, it would be a boon if you provided free temporary licenses for relevant tools for the duration of the contest.
As far as prizes go, Unity Pro licenses and cash are usually good entrant drawers.

 

What is the "game friendly" license?

I love Daz3D content, and would enjoy incorporating your content into my games.

Btw, I used to live in PG

 

The old DAZ 3D EULA only allowed for rendering of DAZ models. But now a new ROYALTY-FREE license that allows for the distribution of the models in a game is available for all the content on developer.daz3d.com.

Cool... I drive by PG every day going from SF to Draper

 

If memory serves me correctly - that's a good drive.

 

I'd think that giving a trial demo of your software for the competition would be great. Personally, a Unity Pro / Pro-addition license would be enough incentive for a lot of artists to get to work.

 

I think we could do a time-bombed serial number for our game developer tools like we do for beta testing. Artists could use them for the duration of the contest and if they liked them they could buy a permanent license later.

 

What about coming up with a "theme" or storyline?

Would it be better to just leave it wide open so the artists could use the characters in their own games after the competition, or would it be better to provide a story line or theme that participants could design towards?

DAZ 3D has a ton of content but if we limited it to a specific genre or theme artists would have fewer products to choose from.

 

I think it would be good to set a few guidelines, such as cartoony or realistic, but as you mentioned, you don't want to inhibit too much. Unless, of course, you think the DAZ store is missing a specific genre.

 

I took a look at the model in the first page of Decimator for Daz. The example low poly model looks pretty broken. Theres no one single edge loop and the face have less poly than one single breast.

 

tatoforever - you are looking at an artist's rendering who was trying to create an interesting image. While the image may be captivating, the objective of the decimation (in the example image) was not to optimize the model for games. You will notice that hardly any effort was made to reduce the polys in the hair or belt.
Nonetheless, the tool includes a weighting system that provides for very granular decimation - on a surface by surface basis - So that you can allocate 2 or 3 times as many polys to the face as to the torso, legs, etc. By using the relative weighting system you are able to very judiciously allocate your poly budget.
Thanks for the input on the image though. It was intended to look cool - not necessarily to show off the full capabilities of the tool. Maybe DAZ 3D should re-think that.

 

Yes everything is available for sale. But does it work? Don't buy until this is answered.
Please see forum http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/827...ghlight=dummys

 

Is DAZ3D's learning curve too wide? I'm interested in unity pro license, and I love modelling game characters!

 

You don't need Unity Pro to use DAZ Studio models. You do, however, need the development tools (and a developer's license for any models you wish to use from their site - however, there are FREE models available on shareCG that you can use in games via DAZ Studio and the game tools. I could be mistaken, but I do believe that studio comes with a 30 day trial of the game tools and Studio itself is free so go ahead and download it and see for yourself. It's pretty simple to do basic things with such as dressing the figures and applying poses. It's all drag and drop. Drag the clothes onto the figure and they are dressed. Drag the pose to the figure and they are posed. And animations are just as easy to use (not necessarily make) in Studio as poses.

 

Once you know how to use it you realize the learning curve is nothing.

If you don't install the content correctly your DAZ models clothes won't work. If you don't do things in a certain order...it doesn't work. The Tutorials don't help you troubleshoot. To troubleshoot I've had to dig through tons of documentation, videos and experiments.

I'm working on a list of links with the documentation that is useful. Go hang out on the game developer forum on the DAZ3d site and judge for yourself. DAZ products show lots of promise...and are just as frustrating.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/44677-DAZ-3D-Models-in-Unity?p=530299#post530299

 

This is the thing that confuses me:

"Here is the base mesh and here is the welder outfit. See who can make the best looking character.
Don't like the welder outfit? Here is the lolita and the uniform and the barbarian set. We also have a few other pre-made sets if you'd like.
You all have access to the same ready-made sets so you just have to drag and drop your selection to apply the clothes to the same base mesh. So let's see who can create the best model using these pre-defined kits."

So what if the lolita costume is the best and 10 people dragged the lolita costume onto Victoria? Which is the best? Victoria as lolita or Victoria as lolita?

How does one create new content for Daz characters? I recall reading up on Poser model creation a few years ago and it involved making a duplicate of the base mesh and deleting some faces and then sculpting the rest. This apparently was to make it conforming ready or something. There was talk about splitting the model up into sections but I could not understand the speak because the model came as parts anyway (looking in the folders) so how do I get the model to my modeling app in the first place? Piece by piece then save separately to recombine in the app? Then came the talk of making it modifier ready and whatever and what not so I just said "F this" and never bothered to look into it again.

How much of a mission is it these days to create new content (read: clothes) for Daz models? I assume weighting is involved so the question is, does this mean we have to use Daz modeling apps to create the clothes while retaining weighting info or does it involve repainting the model inside of Daz no matter the origin of the content? I guess that is the thing that bothers me most, learning how to create new content... I guess I'll have to go see what they say on the website regarding this, eh?

If we are not going to create new content then this competition is of a rather pointless nature, in my eyes, otherwise everybody just drags and drops the ready made content onto the same base mesh to see who's looks best... on what grounds would this competition be judged?

Oh... I have an idea... Instead of offering the game content kit and saying "Who can make the best game character from our existing stuff", how about a competition where you vote for the "Best new content for Daz models (to be used in games, or something)"...?

Know what? I think to much and type too fast. Quitting now before I ramble on for many more pages.

 

If you think that DAZ is only a toy used for playing with digital dolls you need to be educated.
There are thousands upon thousands of clothes available -- probably almost as much as is available to someone in real life. I know I have a digital wardrobe that makes Emelda Marco's shoe collection look like she was poor. Next, you have an infinite (well nearly so) number of morph combination you can use to make Victoria look like, well, anyone you want. And anything for that matter, anything bipedal that is. edit: Heck, with DAZ figure mixer you can give her a cat's body so I guess it is anything after all.

As for making new clothes, why bother? chances are anything you can design and make has already been done and done better if you're like me. I have tools for making new clothes, even some starter suits which are just a body stocking. But I've discovered I suck at making clothes... well, not so much suck as don't really want to invest my time into learning a new skill at this point since I'm learning how to make games instead. Oh, and you don't have to use DAZ software to make models for DAZ studio since you can import just about any 3d format. A rigged character, however does need to be rigged in either Poser or DAZ figure set tools to be usable, but you can use a skeleton from the figure you're making clothes for easily enough.

Let me leave you with this one thought: no one complains that the same actors and actresses are used over and over and over... unless they suck that is. I mean, if I have to hear the Chancellor of Huddersfield in one more game...

p.s. this contest is long over.

 

MR. Dude, I love your avatar. That's exactly how I feel. You're point is well taken. Do we play dress up with dollies with pre-mades or do we modify pre-mades or even originate our own content? Tell us how to do it without making us do what MR. DUDE's avatar is doing.

Drew has been trying to help which we greatly appreciate. The thing is...in reality it's not Drew's job. It's DAZ's job to provide the community with working software based on their advertised purpose and post tutorial workflows for their products based on what people what to do...ie "I want to make my own clothes. What tools do I need to collect? What steps are involved?" or "I want to modify my character mesh and then export it for my game. What do I do? Where do I start? Step 1, Step 2.",

Yes the software is capable, but if the code is unstable or finding out how to do what you need is so painful then it's all a waste. What I tell my developers is..."it doesn't matter how pretty the interface is...if the code doesn't work then we failed.". If a user can't make what they want without crying...we failed. That's all there is too it. Software development for end users is how old already? If architects built houses like software developers build software...the first woodpecker to come along would bring the whole house down.

 

Drew is correct... The contest is over. Let's move this discussion to
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/44677-DAZ-3D-Models-in-Unity?p=530592#post530592

 

drew, I heartily agreed with you but wanted to make a few comments on that. Now I don't have to. Atalanta said exactly what I wanted to add

I have to admit, I have seen lots of stuff in the clothing sections, true... and some of them I like a lot... but there certainly is a lot missing in there also... If I could find everything I wanted in the Daz archive, I would spend all my cash in there, I suspect... but I can't, so I don't...

I wanted to learn, but like you said, I don't really want to learn a new skill just to use Daz...

 

We need DAZ to make a real contest!

Best tutorials! They can give away stuff for that!