This PDF cover has to be seen...

[Fifth Element]

When I was confirming the plagiarism of Oblivion I noticed that his potions PDF had a list of 4 or 5 "people who bought this also bought..." products, which leads me to believe that at least one and possibly several people bought this.

They sell Florida swampland on RPGNow?

 

[Cleverusername]

That and I just put up a bridge for sale in Brooklyn if anyone's looking. Oh, hi BTW long-time lurker, first time poster. This whole thread has been hilarious. Just wanted to drop by and thank everyone for the hilarity.

 

[Fifth Element]

Hi! Clever user name, by the way.

 

[Cleverusername]

Why...thank you Clevernickname was already so I went with the next best thing.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

Very nice. I can draw better than the victim topic of this thread, but I honestly fail at Daz 3d. (No time - or patience - to practice.)

I most certainly agree that good Poser/Daz art is much better than bad hand drawn art. (While I am better at drawing than the artist concerned I would lump my own efforts under 'bad'.) I picked up a goodly amount of Daz material at a recent sale, and do not in any way regret it. I just wish I was better at using it. (They have some very nice Steampunk material, for example.) I would not mind seeing more used by the amateur RPG industry.

For real embarrassment - I once used Oblivion to create a scene for an illustration that I wanted to use in game. (An orc with a balloon....) Yes, I am that bad with Daz.

The Auld Grump

*nod* oh yeah, the apps now are miles better than years ago, makes it much easier, and there's a huge load of tutorials out there to learn from which is just as important.
the most important thing to learn is *lighting*, doesn't matter what app, good lighting is crucial.

try this book, it's THE refference, huge help
"Digital Lighting and Rendering by Jeremy Birn" version 2
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Lighting-Rendering-Jeremy-Birn/dp/0321316312]Amazon.com: Digital Lighting and Rendering (2nd Edition) (9780321316318): Jeremy Birn: Books[/ame]

One of my tutorials is about that, some pics ot illustrate, same scene, just different lighting setups and some tweaks ot render settings

Tutorials: Lightinng for Vue (and Bryce)

Vue, Carrara and Bryce let you import Poser/DAZ folk and build complex scenes, with foliage or whatever if you want more "scene building"

As you found, grabbing apps/content on sales etc you cna get tons of stuff free or cheap, so I keep telling folk to sign up to news letters or such, as that's how I've afforded my tools

DAZ Studio is free, though for the better renders you need ot buy the plugins.
BLender is free and amazing, but a *pain* to learn, and importing Poser stuff is complex for beginners.
Bryce 5.5 is free.
so folk can pick this hobby up, it's not that hard really, jsut takes time to get good

I got into digital art because of Baldurs gate, so hey, yer orc's not alone!

 

[jaerdaph]

If it helps, think of the people whose IP he misappropriated- they didn't get the payment they were due. And they clearly love what they did just as much if not more so than he loved what he was doing.

Who knows? If he had paid the proper royalties on the photos of the porn stars, they might have been able to afford some clothes!

Thanks Danny.

Yeah, I know this had to go down like it did.

 

[CleverNickName]

Why...thank you Clevernickname was already so I went with the next best thing.

Didn't I meet you in Powell's a few months ago, when you were working on the #Leverage project?

 

[jaerdaph]

You guys think you're so Clever!

 

[CleverNickName]

You guys think you're so Clever!

AFAIK, CleverLogin, CleverHandle, and CleverMoniker are still open.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

jaerdaph,
thanks!

the_orc_within,
my pleasure
I've done a pile of tutorials over the years, all free.

art's fun and if you cna mix it with D&D, double fun!

doctorhook
hehe

Auld Grump
sent ye a message but don't know if ye got it, not a cummunity supporter so maybe it didn't arrive? (sorry my money goes on D&D and art, kind of stretched thin this weather sigh)

anywya
this is a "studio render", one just to show off a character without any refference.
lets you see how well the character or model works, and looks nice

my tutorial on how ot do this
Tutorials: #53: MAKING A STUDI RENDER IN VUE

when I'm building models (usually weapons or Spelljammer ships), I use Maxwell, a special, very expensive render engine, to do tests and "beauty" shots
test renders are really important to check for flaws.

I model in RHino. note that you can afford such apps, legit, if you use yer head, I got Rhino at education prices while at college and upgraded ever since, Maxwell I bought when it was in testing so VASTLY cheaper.

hence I keep telling folk to sign up to newsletters, check sites etc as a 50% sale makes a huge difference when yer an Ordinary Joe with an ordinary budget.
Plenty of cheap/free apps of course, but what is crucial is finding the app *you enjoy using* NOTHING is more important than that, exept if yer working in a studio that requires specific tools.

so try various apps (lots of demos out there and PLE versions) to you get the one that's fun to use

this is my "tutorial", on an introduction to digital art, with some recommend apps to try, will need ot upate it, always new stuff coiming out!
http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/tutorials/htm/19.html

[sblock="Maxwell render of SJ ship"]

[/sblock]

and,er, sorry if I've dragged this into more off topic than it should be!

for folk who "paint" I'd recommend Corel's "Painter", but Photoshop and Paint SHop Pro, as well as GIMP and Dogwaffle are all perfectly good, too.
a "graphics tablet" is an absolute MUST have though. if yer rich, a Wacom Cintiq would be the bomb *drools*!
it's an LCD monitor with a screen you cna use s a graphics tablet.

I'll try and get round to do doing some Ambient Occlusion renders ot show you what I mena about using them as a basis for paintings
my health sucks at the moment so not been doing as much art as I wanted to.