3D CUSTOM GIRL - Thoughts?

[erinism]

I was wondering what everybody thought about using the Custom Girl 3D model maker (http://3dcg.info.tm/wiki/3D_Custom_Girl_Wiki) as a character generator to use in visual novels...?

Does it look good? Or does it take you out of the story knowing where the source material came from?

What about the 3D? Does it look/bad in a visual novel which is mostly a 2D medium?

I'm interested in ALL thoughts on this topic, whether you know much about it or not~!

Thanks~~!

[Victoria Jennings]

I personally haven't seen any 3D VNs I've been particularly interested in, but I don't think it's impossible for a good one to emerge.

As for that particular program... the models appear to be MMD-esque, which has never really appealed to me. :/

[kkffoo]

My security program blocked the website, are there any other sites which show images?

[Auro-Cyanide]

We have discussed it a number of times about 3D art, some of which you can find here http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... =4&t=16416

As for the program, I think someone was kind of using something similar a while back, but I'm not sure if it was the same program or not.

[kkffoo]

Look at this story http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... =11&t=6729 which is very popular.
You could say that this is 1D
I actually found that particular story hard to navigate, but it is obvious that it realy spoke to a lot of people.

My feeling is that the story is the most important element in any VN, and that this is the bridge that helps people overcome their barriers and pre-conceptions about any kind of visual presentation.
Of course some will be unwilling to venture beyond the familiar, and they can be the most vocal when asked!
However there are ALWAYS those who WILL try new things, and a clutch of positive reviews will encourage others to follow.

Follow your own path, and put your heart into it. Don't be too influenced by what others appear to think.

[Hijiri]

As for the program, I think someone was kind of using something similar a while back, but I'm not sure if it was the same program or not.

They were using the same program, but with "mods"

My opinion on 3DCG is that its good for someone to mes around with, but not really something someone should use for their game. This comes mainly from the fact that the models themselves arent that high a quality. The only positive thing 3DCG has over other 3D programs is that if you mess up with something (Lighting and that sort of thing) you wont horrify the viewer with a glimpse of the uncanny valley. (Essencally, with 3D, you have to be good at it, or youll simply scare your audience off)

[fleet]

Dare to be different. Make your VN using the art that you desire, and have fun doing it. When you mention 3D art here, most folks automatically think of Poser or DAZ3D. I did some checking and it appears that artwork made using this program more closely resembles hand drawn manga style art than stuff made with DAZ or Poser.
Seriously, if you want to use Custom Girl 3D model maker, go for it.

Here's another example of art made with that program. (EDIT: I did NOT make this image; I found it on a web site that had examples)

[HumbertTheHorse]

That is an attractive image.

[Desu_Cake]

As for that particular program... the models appear to be MMD-esque, which has never really appealed to me. :/

It's the other way round, a lot of people use the 3DCG models in MMD.

Anyway, the main problem I see with that program is that it doesn't go very far from its original purpose, i.e. it's full of heavily sexualized girls and pretty much nothing else. I know from messing with some of the ones that were ported to MMD that getting them to look in any way normal with any real expressions is next to impossible.

[Midi]

As for that particular program... the models appear to be MMD-esque, which has never really appealed to me. :/

This, the models are low quality and such as well. It's best not to do it. I wouldn't play a game with it. I rather art over cheap 3DCG girls any day. Plus, I usual play sims with lovely bishies.

[EroBotan]

From that pic, I personally think that 3D Custom Girl quality is good for VN, mostly because it's cell shaded. If people still don't like it, here is my advice:
1. Use 3D Custom Girl to create sprites
2. Edit it to make it more high quality (add more details like shading, etc)

[Donmai]

I was wondering what everybody thought about using the Custom Girl 3D model maker (http://3dcg.info.tm/wiki/3D_Custom_Girl_Wiki) as a character generator to use in visual novels...?

Well, never heard about 3D_Custom_Girl_Wiki. But I am currently working on a KN,
Toire No Hanako. Nearly all my backgrounds and characters are 3D models.

Does it look good? Or does it take you out of the story knowing where the source material came from?

I believe it can look good. I am trying to give the graphics a consistent style. This is possible when we tweak the shaders to give the surfaces a special appearance. Working with 3D as a base can give some advantages. Being able to choose the better camera angle is one of them. And working with virtual actors gives the word "direction" a new meaning.

What about the 3D? Does it look/bad in a visual novel which is mostly a 2D medium?

Don't know what you mean. Are you talking about real-time 3D rendered animations as we see in 3D action games? Well, I have to confess it would look strange at first, but still I believe everything is worth a try (well, nearly everything), but anyway animation is not my business.
If you are referring to static images, then your question makes no sense. 3D graphic software is used to create ... 2D images! Once rendered, a 3D model results in a 2D image as any other. Here is a 2D image I created with 3D models in my favorite 3D staging program: DAZ Studio. I have used a special shader to create the soft cell shading effect. This image is from my other project: Slumberland.

I'm interested in ALL thoughts on this topic, whether you know much about it or not~!

Thanks~~!

Browsing through this Forum pages I have seen some discussions about this topic. An important thing to notice is that it seems that the very first persons to post an answer are people who do not use 3D software, do not know how it works or only have seen some terrible examples of 3D "art". I've read strange things like "Don't use 3D on a VN" (people already use filtered photographs, why not use 3D renders?), or "3D models cannot show emotions" (emotions indeed are not on the models, they have to be added by the human being that is posing the 3D model).

Although I can draw (in fact I work as an illustrator), I see no problem in using 3D to speed up my work. Torie No Hanako is a solo work. I am the writer, the graphics artist, the coder and the director (as Nuxill already suggested I am in need of someone to correct my bad English, as my native language is another). Working with 3D helps me to progress very fast. If you see my thread in the Works in Progress section, you will see I've already done a lot of work in less than two months. For me, 3D is not a separated world, nor is a magic graphics solution for those who cannot draw. 3D is only another graphics tool. And, as it happens with any tool, you must simply try to learn how and when to use it. If you don't like it, simply don't go for it. But if you want to try it, then experimentation is the name of the game. And remember that to create good images with 3D models you will need to have the same knowledge about lighting, color, anatomy, composition and perspective that any good "2D artist" must have.

[Sapphi]

I usually pick 2D over 3D, but I went to the Custom Girl website and had my eyes scarred by ecchi pr0n watched their little advertisement video. Those were some seriously adorable girls. I wouldn't mind playing a visual novel featuring those 3D models!

A problem with using the models is that while their expressions are very cute, they are very subdued. It seems like it would limit you as far as the type of story you were telling since some things just demand a bigger reaction to be believable, lol. However, most of the 3D work I've seen here has been rather subdued in terms of expression anyway, so I'll put in my two cents and say that these are much better than the more realistic models of Poser (IMHO, of course!).

I'm curious to try out this program, just for kicks...

[Samu-kun]

I think 3D Custom Girl could produce better results if you have no art skills. At least, there's no need to worry about uncanny valley. But the question then is, why make a visual novel using it when the software seems much better suited for making videos?

Donmai:
Well, your images seem to be the reason why most people don't like 3D... The colors are over saturated and the humans look like creepy mannequins. The problem is that people use 3D as a short cut to learning 2D art and just end up producing bad 3D art. I'm sure that a skilled 3D artist would be able to make a perfectly good visual novel, although that hasn't happened yet.

[Hijiri]

The problem is that people use 3D as a short cut to learning 2D art and just end up producing bad 3D art. I'm sure that a skilled 3D artist would be able to make a perfectly good visual novel, although that hasn't happened yet.

That's really the thing with 3D art in general. Some think it's easier to do than actually drawing, but the truth is that it takes as much effort if not more to learn to do 3D modeling right. If you want to produce something visually pleasing, you have to pay the piper.