A couple of questions for all render-makers

[ChrisWest]

I've seen your renders in the WMMA and TEW section, and they're really impressive. I thought I would give it a shot and make some renders myself. I currently have DAZ Studio, Michael 3 base, Apollo Maximus and Xena's Wrestling Set. My questions are: What else should I buy to make great renders? How do I make customized MMA/wrestling gear? How do I make tattoos? Any help will be appreciated.

[Clarity]

I would suggest some version of photoshop. That way you can edit textures and get a million more results.. You could also use the Michael Head & Morphes pack and the Millenium Beard pack. That should do you for starters

[sebsplex]

Like Clarity said, some version of photoshop is needed really for the textures. I guess you could make some simple ones in MS Paint or GIMP, but I'd reccommend getting a hold of either photoshop or paint shop pro (I use PSP7). If you take a look through the render thread in the TEW07 mods forum, I posted a fairly basic tutorial on how I add tattoos to a skin texture, it's probably a good 12+ pages back now, but it's there somewhere. Like Clariy also said, your best next step would be getting a morphpack for Michael 3. Personally, I use Michael 2 for my renders and DAZ do offer a decent bundle deal to get his morph packs, his res skin textures, basic clothing pack and some other bits and pieces as the M2 bundle pack. M2 is probably a little redundant now in terms of new stuff coming out, but I just prefer the results I get with using that figure. Then just practice for a while. You can't really just buy stuff to make great renders, it doesn't quite work that way. Everyone makes a fairly meh renders to start off with, it's just part of the learning process. Just don't get frustrated and keep working at it.

[thug saint oga]

how much $$$$ have you all spent on these programs and packs, and were any of those purchases made strictly for gds renders, or do you all have other reasons for said items? would someone with an artistic background, but with limited knowledge of computers be able to get into the swing of things pretty quickly, or would there be a large learning curve? i've been debating on buying some of these programs, i haven't really researched it though, and i'm afraid i might make some purchases and then not do enough with them to warrent the costs. thanks.

[ChrisWest]

Thanks for the replies.