Getting Started:
Today we’re going to talk a bit about starting to set up a scene for a basic comic. We’ll assume that you have downloaded all of the programs that we talked about last week. One of the first free sets of models that we’ll use comes from the 3D Bridge Starter Pack.
Once you get that installed, open up Daz Studio and looking for the Emotiguy model under Content on the left hand side. It should look something like this. Don’t fret if your content tab doesn’t look like mine since I have a number of 3D models installed that you will not. Double click on him and he should pop up in the scene. You’ll want to do the same with his shoes so he’s just not floating around. Well, Okay…he is still sort of floating around but you get the point.
Next we’ll want to go to the Scene tab in the upper left hand corner. It should be somewhere near the Content tab. If you don’t see it, you can click at the top on View, Tabs and then Scene. Now, it may take you a while to get around Daz Studio but we’ll only cover some very basics in this tutorial. If you have more questions on how to use the program, you may want to check out the programs help files or the Daz website.
Now, highlight the Emotiguy and click on the icon the frame icon to bring the entire character into view. You can look at the image on the left for reference. This is the first character we’ll be working with.
Right now our Emotiguy looks a bit bored but this is what he’ll look like when you first add him into the scene. In a comic, your characters need to change their expressions to match their mood. It sounds complicated but it’s pretty simple.
First, you’ll want to navigate to the head of our Emotiguy under the Scene tab. Once you do that, you will see a number of options on the right side of the screen under Parameters. His head can be moved around and you have a number of expressions that you can use. The nice thing about them is that they can be mixed and matched together and this gives you quite a wide pallet.
You’ll want to play around with each part of the Emotiguy and get used to how each part moves around. For the most part, you’ll want to be changing a number of these parameters for each panel of your comic. He’s not a statue after all. Using a consistent number of poses for a character will also help define it’s personality. Some characters may always look angry or happy depending on who they are. Any pose you make can also be saved for future use. You can find out how to do that by clicking here.
Over the next week, I would play around with the Emotiguy so that you’re very familiar with him. We’ll be using this character a lot over the next several weeks. If you want, you can also add in a 2nd Emotiguy so that you can start experimenting with having one interact with the other.
