3D CUSTOM GIRL - Thoughts?

[kkffoo]

I have never used poser, but what you are describing sounds like it could be compared to a quick sketch using 2d materials?
In terms of effectiveness in telling a story I mean.
It sounds like a valid way to go if you were a beginner for instance, and you were keen to try out making a visual novel.
Nothing wrong with that, especially if you then have more time to spend your time focusing on developing story, or learning programming skills.
You use poser for other things so you haven't felt the need, or the urge to go further with it.

It's a huge leap though, to suppose that someone else might not take poser, and do something amazing with it.

You know, the thing that really rocked my preconceptions?....photos of dolls.
Dolls?
Plastic, limited, produced in identical thousands.

Someone with a shedload of talent shared their doll photos with me and they totally blew me away.

I really hope you could have that kind of experience, because it expands so much what you think you might be able to do...and then you work at it...and you actively seek out more inspiration.
The essence is not in the materials but in the vision of the artist.
This is a very liberating mantra.

[ViRiX Dreamcore]

*ViRiX uses a revival stone*

Yes, I'm pulling this out of the grave to point one big thing out....

CELL SHADING... and I mean ACTUAL cell shading, not that light trick. This can cure a lot of that weird doll looking 3D. Then it looks more like a comic or something.

Here are some cell shading examples just so people get what I'm talking about (although I'm sure most of you know what I mean)



http://storage.siliconera.com/wordpress ... mage88.png

There's a reason most JRPGs either go for the cell shaded look or the photo-realistic look on their characters. It's because anime characters don't look quite right in 3D... and even the JRPGs like Final Fantasy and even games like Tekken and Soul Caliber's characters are somewhat stylized.

I think 3DCG can work. You can actually export the characters into a regular 3D application with the morphs on the face. However, to get more expressions, you will have to make them yourself.

With Daz and Poser Models, you can use those too and they actually do have some manga style characters, but again that toon shading is something you'll want to use. If it's 3D... I just feel like it should be moving.

[Hellboy]

I never use cell shading or sketch filters to retouch my renders, I just don’t like how it looks. If I want something to look drawn, I draw it.
And when I’m doing 3D I certainly want it to look 3D. When using a better render engine people tend to mistake my renders with photos, which is not what I want either, but I don’t mind, but I certainly try to stay away from the 2D tricks.
I feel the same when I see photographs for backgrounds.

Now, regarding the original post, (despite being old ):

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...?

I see no point when there’s DAZ Studio (http://www.daz3d.com/), the range of characters and content available is huge and judging from what I see in google, you can’t compare the quality of the models and render engine.

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

It does bothers me more the fact that the model is so low poly and the cell shading and lighting looks bad. Then, the fact that it’s just one girl would make it a very limited game in my opinion.
Still, it looks better than most badly done 2D, but I seriously doubt that’s the best approach if you want to use 3D artwork.

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

If it’s done bad, it will look bad, if it’s done good, it will look good, just like 2D visual novels, some look good, some look bad. It’s exactly the same.
The problem is, from what I’ve seen so far, people is usually either lazy enough not to use proper lighting, shaders and content or ruin it with toon filters and manga/anime effects.

[pineapplepocky]

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...?

I am not quite sure what the issue is with this character design generator thing, if there are a number of those that already do it with 2d sprite models. It may not be as 'creative' to some peoples' tastes, but it does give a headstart. That's one side of my argument. The other side of my argument is that you should use ANY character generator for VNs and other similar things as REFERENCES, and not something to rely on forever for your work, because a generator only limits you to what the thing has, but not what your imagination can be capable of

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

Only works if someone knows you used a generator. When they find out, then suddenly there's heat. When they don't know about it at all, there's no war about it. That's my answer.

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

First off, have you ever seen it done yourself? If you have, then what are your OWN thoughts about it? If you haven't, what kind of answer are you expecting? What do YOU want it to look like? I personally have not seen anything incredible, but that doesnt convince me that everything with this idea is bad. There HAS been incredible methods of doing 3d art over 3d models or 2d backgrounds to look 2d. You see it on TV all the time and you don't even notice it.

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

I think this whole issue is a mess. Someday, somewhere out there, someone will try it out and make it look good, and convince people it can be done. Whether or not that person is you, that's something else. But I'll have faith something will happen one day.

[Starshine]

3D isn't that bad... but i think people prefer 2D works with visual novels. I suppose making 3D CG events would be alot easier due to the fact that you already have the model, backrounds & base all in one. Come to think of it game consoles use alot of 3D effects in them for cutscenes, so maybe it isn't such a bad idea. I have seen quite a few games made with 3D Custom-G.