3D New stuff

Create a superhero! Give your 3D character superhuman powers

Sep 4, 2012 12:53 pm Be the first to comment

DAZ 3D’s Dynamic Supersuit Set 1 World's Finest, as well as being a bit of a mouthful, is a cool cape and top set for your 3D character. Russ Terrell takes it for a spin.

What 3D artist hasn’t had the desire to create a superhero? Either original or fan art can be fun; the problem has been that you have to create the textures for one of the bodysuits.

With DAZ 3D’s DAZ Studio 4, there’s a new body model called Genius. The new body allows you to create a superhero, and design either male or female human or no-human characters. That's a good start. DAZ 3D then released their ‘Supersuit’ with almost 300 material groups and lots of stock shaders. They also have several add-ons to help create superhero outfits. The suit alone should spark lots of ideas.

Now DAZ has released the Dynamic Supersuit Set 1 World's Finest. The set include a cape, cowl, hood and top.

Ripple and flow

What’s great about the set is the fact that they use OptiTex’s dynamic cloth. This means if you have the OptiTex plug-in for DAZ Studio 4, you can make the cape ripple and flow when you create a superhero.

The minimum configuration is DAZ Studio 4.5 Pro and the OptiTex plug-in. You do not need the Supersuit, but the cape, cowl, hood and top are designed to work with it. DAZ also provides matching colour mats for the Supersuit.

Superman and Batman — The set include a cape, cowl, hood and top

Installation

Like all DAZ products, the cape is easy to install. I did have a hard time finding the Hide Ears option. Because I have a custom installation of my Runtime folders, I had to move the Hide Ears files to the folder where I have the Genesis body installed.

Here’s a quick rundown on how the cape and top are loaded:

Highlight the generic Genesis body and load the body morph you want
Load the Supersuit
Select and hide the parts of the Supersuit you don’t want showing
Load the cape you want
Load the pants texture you want
Set the dynamic cloth settings
Add wind to move the cape away from the body
Click Drape in the Dynamic Clothing tab to conform the cape and top
You’re now ready to render

A tool for pros

This product is not for beginners. I found it takes a lot of playing around to get the top to fit correct. I had to spend several hours relearning how Dynamic Cloth works in DAZ Studio.

Be sure to watch the video they provide. The fit of the top and the ripple of the cape are rewarding once you master Dynamic Cloth.

Russ Terrell is a 3D artist and designer.
For more 3D goodness, check out our reviews of After Effects CS6 and Maya 2013

3D New stuff

Create a superhero! Give your 3D character superhuman powers