Hey guys! I got a pretty deep question for you. 

I have the following programs  Poser 6, Bryce 6 (with DAZ Studio), Cinema 4D with Body Paint (Just bought yesterday... No clue how to use yet!), and 3D Studio Max 6 (with Body Studio for Poser).

What I want to do is make 3D animated movies to post on my website, but Im having trouble figuring out which work-flow I should use. I know to use Poser for the intial character setup/ clothing/ posing and animation. Then I use Bryce for to build the scenes I want to use. I can import the Poser figure directly into Bryce using Daz Studio so thats not a problem. I can use 3DSM for any props or extra items I wanna build. But I`m having problems figuring out when to use Cinema 4D and Body Paint...

I want to create custom paints materials and textures for my characters so that I can use them in animation (I don`t wanna have to paint frame by frame on a 300 frame animation!) So how should I do that to where I can only paint the character once, then not have to worry about losing materials across applications when I import?

For example, If I pose and animate the character in Poser first , then I notice that Body Paint doesnt really seem to have an option for importing animated character files. So that means Id have to create character ans clothes in Poser, export as OBJ, paint in Body Paint, Re-import into Poser and re-rig/ add bones to everything again right? Than after I do that, I can animate the Body Painted character and import the animation into Daz Studio for megring with the animated Bryce Scnene and rendering? Is that how it should work or is there a better/ easier method that you guys use? I notice that when I import my Poser files into Bryce 6 via Daz studio, a lot of times my textures go out the window! So if I use Body Paint before I do the import, will I lose everything I just did?

I hope you guys understand what I`m trying to get at., Basically, I want to use Body paint to add more realistic materials and details to my characters so that I can use them in animated movies and I looking for the easiest, less painful way to do it. (^_~)

Any suggestions? Im only trying to bring these togethe in Bryce 6 because it seems to be the application that is best able to handle direct import and merging between different applications/ file types. Im I going about this the wrong way? Would 3DS nam or Cinema 4D be better for arranging all the scenes, objects, and character files for animation and rendering?

Help Please!

Thanks again for always savin my bacon!

-WF

Whoa dude, I'm not sure if you realize it, but it would probably take a whole book to answer your questions. Not exactly an easy or a painless process.

For example... Importing in Bryce from Poser... no you will not lose everything... it's just the matter of knowing the programs, so you know where things went. It just appears things are lost at first sight because the process is not fully automatic or flawless. You can gain a thing or two by jumping from poser to body paint in not having to lean how to texture 'the long way' but then you end up losing out on small import/export incompatibilities.

Each approach has it's pros and cons, and it appears that different people have developed different approaches to how they go about doing things, depending on their personal preferences and aptitudes, and what programs they're able to afford.

Being that you made a purchase 3dMax and Cinema 4D, which are serious investments, I'd highly recommend investing time and effort in learning how to use them well.

Wow, I would love to get a hold of C4D and BodyPaint etc... Thats alot of power for 3D you have there. If I had those programs for workflow, it would depend on the scene/animation that I would make.

-Bryce for landscaping and a few textures, plus misc objects(like terrain objects) for quick exports.
-Poser for the obvious models and testing setups.
-C4D for modeling/lighting and rendering. I found it to be the fastest I've used(had full demo). 3DSM is good too, but remeber its takes months to years to learn some of the big apps, so in this case C4D+BodyPaint(just my preference though) for 90% of project finals.

The native rendering/animations etc...will be quite different on all those apps. What I like to do is setup a simple scene on paper. Then try the scene the same way on different apps and see which workflow I like better. Hope this helps a little.

Thanks a lot! Actually, Im going through the 3DS Max tuts right now but I notice that the learning curve is kinda steep which I dont mind, but given my new working schedule time isnt something Ive had a lot of lately (but youre right, it is a large investment to make so Id damn sure gonna get my moneys worth!) So Im looking for a simpler and faster way to make some decent quality movies until I can finish digesting Max. Right now Im only using it for modelling stuff and then exporting models to be used in Poser or Bryce. I just bought C4D like 2 days ago for Body Paint to help speed things up a bit so Im still doing through the tuts and stuff I find on the net now but I like FRFRDN3`s suggested workflow. Will give that a shot once I get used to C4D and Body Studio.

Thanks!

Get a toaster.

That used to be my response to people who wanted a not just a computer but one that would type their email and make home movies and a zillion other things with the push of one button. That is sort of like leaving today and arriving yesterday its impossible.

I mean no offense but unless you have been working with all of those programs for a long time you are in for a haul! I know from your gallery you are talented with poser but C4D and MAX are both programs people go to school to learn practically. I do wish you luck so let me know how it turns out. But I think you are in for a lot of work you may want to look at doing all of your work with one software solution.

or maybe an iToaster

I know exactly  what you mean, but unfortunately I dont have time or cash for school for this stuff like I really want to so I gotta snoop around for bits and pieces of info and tutorials here. So far everything I know about 3D, Ive taught myself from books and tuts here on Renderosity.  Im going through the Max tuts right now but my work schedule just increased so I got little to no study time for this now... Im trying to break my way into the 3D world so I can break out of this 9~11 job and start doing something I really like for a change! (^_~)

I dont mind working hard, I used to go to work at 8am, get home at 12pm and study till 4am every dayt! But until things slow down, Im kinda looking for something with less of a learning curve and semi decent results so I can do some satisfactory work until I can find more time for Max. Its hard for me to keep up with it now so Im trying to find a way to stay in the game for now.

iToaster? Gotta be the next bestthing from Apple. Plug in your iPod, select a song, and the toast will brown to the rhythm! (^_^)

"What I want to do is make 3D animated movies to post on my website, but Im having trouble figuring out which work-flow I should use. I know to use Poser for the intial character setup/ clothing/ posing and animation. Then I use Bryce for to build the scenes I want to use. I can import the Poser figure directly into Bryce using Daz Studio so thats not a problem. I can use 3DSM for any props or extra items I wanna build. But I`m having problems figuring out when to use Cinema 4D and Body Paint...

I want to create custom paints materials and textures for my characters so that I can use them in animation (I don`t wanna have to paint frame by frame on a 300 frame animation!) So how should I do that to where I can only paint the character once, then not have to worry about losing materials across applications when I import?"

Umm. Wish I could afford body-paint and/or C4D.

But, as I understand it, Body Paint creates figure textures?
If that's so, then do that first (load the Poser figure you want to use, create the texture for it in BP and save the texture, back to Poser, load figure, add texture, start creating animation)...

Of course, if I'm wrong about BP, then the above goes flying out of the window...

I don't know about Bryce+D|S or Cinema 4D, but I do know that Vue 5 Infinite has the ability to import complete Poser animations ('cos I have to turn that option off every time I import a single-frame Poser PZ3 into Vue...)

(Apologies to rest of forum for any heresy...)

Cheers,
Diolma