Adventures on the Holodeck 2
Captain's Log: February 9, 2012

      DAZ 3D offers a lot of free models, but they make their money on models that they sell. Purchasing models can easily run into a lot of cash, so I work with as much of their free stuff as I can find.

      When they offered the free software programs, they also offered a discount voucher good toward anything on their website. I used that voucher to purchase "The Ballroom" and "The Study" for DAZ Studio. I also purchased "The Great Hall" tutorial for their Bryce program. This tutorial helps newbies like me to learn the Bryce interface, and it helps me understand how to make my own models.

Here are the girls in the ballroom. Click on any image for a larger picture.

Feodora Attends the Ball



      This image was created using only DAZ Studio 4. The picture of Feodora was used as a 'backdrop', and was rendered with the model by the program. This only works where there is a 'hole' in the scene. From within the program, the doors lead to 'nowhere' as you look out from inside the building.

      The double doors on the front and right side of the building can all be opened. There is no wall on the left side of the building. The top (outside) of the roof and the three outside walls are highly detailed. There are also no logs, andirons, or screen for the fireplace. I could make my own with Bryce later on.

      These next images were created with DAZ Studio 4 and Photoshop Elements 7. Since I do not have 'greenscreen' software, I have to erase any part of the picture that should not be there. I am not very good at using the Selection tools in Photoshop Elements 7, and they do not work well if the colors are very similar. Also, the spaces between the flowers and any open-weave clothing need to be edited pixel-by-pixel. I forgot how much I enjoy doing that! (Yeah, right!)

Dancing With the Dolls



Dancing With the Dolls 2


      This is the same scene from a different angle. Note that the players and dancers are in the same locations. Only the camera angle has changed.

      To put the lyres in the hands of the players took a couple of hours. Not only did I have to reposition the lyres, I had to move every joint of the shoulders, upper arms, forearms, fingers, and thumbs. When I moved the DAZ people to the corner, I changed the way that they held the lyres. To do all of that, I had to change my angle of view several times to get at the joint controls.

Dancing With the Dolls and Vanna White


      The picture of Vanna White is from "Vanna's Dresses" on the Wheel of Fortune website. I used this image because I really like the Sue Wong dress.

      I have so far split my time between DAZ Studio 4 and Bryce 7. I looked at the Hexagon interface, but have done nothing else with it since then. Since I knew nothing about computer graphics before, the learning curve is quite steep. I also have done nothing yet with "The Study".

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