Pat, all the advice given here is very good. The main thing you are going to need lots of is patience, and the ability to take some constructive criticism along the way.

Realism in 3D, particularly when dealing with human figures, can be tedious and difficult work. Sometimes you might get discouraged, but never give up. Lighting is critical, and great material settings are a must. Face_off is the man to consult for material settings, and his skin scripts for P5 and up are really the best way to get started in the right direction.

When collecting references for your own work, try not to look too much at what others have already done in the galleries, but instead use your own eye in keen observation of the real world around you, and use what you see in life and in photos for reference material.

Good luck to you, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with along the way. :-)

Message edited on: 05/25/2005 03:45

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.