Photoshop Compositing from DAZ Studio

A few stream of consciousness tips for Photoshop compositing:
—Start with your render from DAZ Studio, which I do at mostly 9000 X 6000 DPI, saving as PNG (this will be at 72 DPI and consequently huge in dimensions, but that's okay as you'll reduce it later).



—PNG preserves transparencies (alpha channels), essential for compositing backgrounds, secondary images, etc., and is a lossless file format—never, EVER save as jpeg.

—Open image PNG in Photoshop, duplicate layer into new document, save as PSD at 72 DPI.

—Do all editing with multiple layers, never altering original layer; layers are your best friends.






















—Layer masks are your second-best friends; use the paint brush for opacity (white), transparency
(black) and shades of gray (semi-transparent) instead of the destructive usage of the eraser.

These are the basics for DAZ layers in Photoshop. I'll have more tips soon.

MAYA

Our protagonist, 25 years old (in 2156) born in 2131; height: 160 cms (5’ 3”); registry identification number: 5147-851-286135; unknown if Maya is her given name, or a surname, answers to it only; highly skilled with various weapons and defensive arts; wields her semi-sentient sidearm, Xibalba; her main transportation is Skeeto; works alone, disdaining a partner, much to her superiors’ chagrin; has a fairly good sense of humor; at 14 to 16 years old, Martian refugee from Syrtis Major, taken in by Gilmour Zeobarry, works as a disenfranchised shuttle pilot until gaining employment with the IPTP in mid-2155.

2015 Posting

Hello all. While I've busy working on Issue Four, my posts have been few and far between, unfortunately. The first two-thirds, about 16 pages, are roughly done, leaving the final third—nearly a complete issue in and of itself—still needing rendering. While work has been slow with a lot of tweaking to curtail post work, Issue Four is coming along and it's looking great, but it's busted the six months' time budget I allotted to it.

So, to keep from putting up a string of Slow-Work-Ahead posts, I thought I might try to post something new from me on a more timely basis, maybe once a week. I have a few digital comic production ideas sketched out, perhaps just to give other would-be artists starting off points for how I approach things. It'll be Mac-, DAZ Studio-, Photoshop- and InDesign-centric, since these are the apps I employ for Agent Maya. I'm not sure how much information I post here would not be available elsewhere, but it'll be an interesting side venture when I don't have teasers or announcements ready to go.

Thanks for reading and keep enjoying Agent Maya!

Maya and the Outer Reaches 100% Off (That's Means Free!)

Starting today at Sellfy, Issue One of Agent Maya—Maya and the Outer Reaches—is free! That's 22 full color pages for nothing. Simply click on Share and Download. Choose either Twitter or Facebook to share with everyone the link to Maya and the Outer Reaches, then download. That's it. I appreciate everybody spreading the word. And while you're there, buy Issues Two and Three, just $.99 each. Over sixty full color pages of comics for $1.98. Really, you can't go wrong. Thanks, and enjoy.

Issue Four Production Post Four

Well I'm sneaking this in under the New Year's wire—two new teaser images for you! I've got about two-thirds of Issue Four in the can; now the big set piece needs to be setup and then rendered. It's taken me a bit longer to do this issue, as the holidays slowed me down due to the day job and a bit of software fatigue set in on me. I'm a bit disappointed in the looks of some renders I'm getting out of Daz Studio right now—hopefully the new iteration will please me a bit more.

Agent Maya Issues Two and Three Available!

A quick plug that Agent Maya Issues Two and Three—Maya and the Vestal Doll and Maya and the Clash On Titan—are now available for sale at Sellfy! 99 cents each and full color, downloadable PDFs.

Maya and the Vestal Doll



Maya and the Clash on Titan


Thanks and enjoy.

Issue Four Production Post Three

Issue Four is moving along well. I have plenty of scenes blocked out, and many just need rendering to finish. I have several complex sets requiring many moving pieces to block out yet, and fortunately the worst part is just the work itself. I've been building some models that appear in this issue with the express purpose of utilizing them in future spinoffs—when you see them in the story, you'll know why.

And here's two teasers.