If you're just wanting to play with Daz and get a feel for what it can do, you can download Apollo Maximus. He comes with all his morphs, and he's free.

www.antonkisieldesigns.com/~akfiles/htmlpages/ApolloMaximusFree3dhumanfigure.htm

Be warned, though: Daz is crackware. The first taste may be free, but eventually you're gonna end up like the rest of us, tossing wads of cash at a "hobby".... :D

This guy may have browser issues. I jumped through all the hoops, filled out a membership -- and got nothing but an endless sequence of ads. I'm using Firefox 3 on a Mac. My guess is s/he is using some odd coding that isn't working for everybody.....

This looks very much like a render with too much light and no shadows. As HalfDragon says, you can select your lights in the Scene tab, just like a character or prop, and if you scroll all the way to the bottom you'll see the intensity slider. I try not to run more than 50-60% intensity from any one light. To add shadows, go to the "Shadow Type" dropdown and select your preferred method. I like 3Delight but it's really a fairly minor difference. Then make sure your render tab is set to do a Software Render.

Here's a decent little tutorial on lights and cameras:

digilander.libero.it/maclean/DStutorial.htm

The DAZ version is slightly outdated, so some of the screenshots may look odd to you, but the information is still good.

Hope this helps!

Oh, I want this! Thank you!

Quote - A3, H3, Laura, Luke, SP3, D3, The Freak, The Girl (V3UV), & MilBaby3 are all unimesh & can wear each other's textures as well.

Slight correction: A3/H3 use a separate mapping system, for reasons known only to DAZ. You can use their textures on each other but not on the other 3rd generation characters.

Re: skin shaders -- most of the ones I've seen are basically just colors layered on top of the texture to change it subtly. There's some very good packs on RDNA that I know I've linked to before... um.... ha!

http://www.runtimedna.com/mod/filelib/viewed.php?file_id=3778

(Warning! That's a direct download link.) If you surf through their freebies section there's a couple of others too.

Some small samples:

http://www.sunsetgrillcomic.com/index.php?page=cast

Pretty much all of these characters were made with RDNA shaders layered on top of a skin (with the exceptions of Fausto, Riley, Travis, and Tara). Elroy's skin is the same as Travis's. So yeah, you can get a lot of variation out of a single skin by using shaders.

Panko's Vietcong Hong might be acceptable with the right skin shaders; I find he darkens well.

http://www.vanishingpoint.biz/freestuff.asp?StartNo=371

And, of course, you could use a V3 African-American skin.

Sorry I can't be more help. Most of my black guys are Apollos, since there's a very good African American skin included with the model, and, y'know. He's free. :)

Sean: I've gotten similar messages and had luck re-downloading with a different browser. Never been able to figure that one out, but what the hey, if it makes the fickle computer gods happy....

There are a bunch of decent ones over at runtimedna.com . The ones I use most are the V3 shaders here:

http://www.runtimedna.com/mod/filelib/viewed.php?file_id=3778

That's a direct download link, though, sorry.

I also did a set of DS shaders for Apollo Max:

www.sharecg.com/v/21347/material-and-shader/DazStudio-Skin-Shades-for-Apollo-Maximus

Not sure this is the sort of thing you were looking for, but maybe it'll help someone. :)

That's mt.55's stuff, but where the site is, I cannot tell you. (Have I mentioned how much I hate people who don't put links in their readmes?) Google and Rendo searches are failing me. I do remember that it was a Japanese site, so you might try posting in the Japanese freebies thread.

I assume this is the Samus Aran you're talking about?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Zero_Suit_Samus.jpg

(A picture is always helpful....)

If you're trying to go cheap, you may be able to make the Megahair freebie work:

http://www.ladyfyre-graphics.com/free_poser_downloads.htm

I believe this is for Posette, but since it's a prop you should be able to manually resize it for whatever figure you're using. (Aiko3? Aiko4?)

In bought products, there's the Prettyscious Tail:

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=64605

I don't own this one, but it's been on my wishlist since forever and looks quite nice.

The Aiko Ponytail:

http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/a3-ponytail?item=2891&_m=d

Picked this up in a recent sale; it's not as morphable as I'd like but still a good hair.

The Total Updo:

http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/total-updo?item=6279&_m=d

Another wishlist item.

And finally, Evelyn Hair:

http://www.runtimedna.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=2070&Start=73&TopID=68965

I don't own this particular one, but none of the RDNA hairs have been anything but excellent for me.

Hope this helps.

Mostly I have seen this done with transmaps. Like here:

www.sharecg.com/v/25977/poser/Snowflake-Coat-for-V4/V3/A3/The-GIRL/Laura-MFDs

or here:

www.sharecg.com/v/17496/poser/Winter-Coat-for-MFD

If these are similar to what you want, you can have a look at what they've done and see if it helps.

There are at least two that I know of. EvilInnocence's Crossdresser (Windows only):

http://www.evilinnocence.com/xd/

And PhilC's Wardrobe Wizard (Windows and Mac):

http://www.philc.net/WardrobeWizard.htm

I haven't tried either myself, on account of being a broke Mac user, but I've heard good things about both.

I believe this is a bug in the current DAZ version. Previously Daz saved render settings. It's been annoying me as well.

One option is the Render Setup Storage plugin:

www.nightstone.com/~guandalug/DAZFreebies/plugins.php

Which is useful even without the bug if you're changing a lot of stuff in the Render Settings. If all you're changing is the render target, though, you're probably better off waiting for the next stable Daz version (assuming that's not a contradiction in terms....)

I am too cheap for Photoshop; I use a Mac version of the Gimp, and there doesn't seem to be that option anywhere. Oh well, cheap strikes back again. Changing the background worked though. Smart girl, never realized that a backdrop wouldn't get rendered... headdesk Thanks guys.

EvilInnocence has one for M3:

http://www.evilinnocence.com/index.php?widget=Store_Model_Product&id=379

There's also something in my runtime titled "Bernie's Rip Top" but I have no clue where I got it. Anyone else know this one?

Another option is to simply turn off a few body parts of the shirt. Depends on the model, but I often can turn of the shoulders or abdomen to make a perfectly nice long-sleeved shirt into a ragged mess. grin