Using Wings3D for tattoos

[Wulff]

Good morning to all of you.

First off - sorry if this has been asked and answered before; I searched and didn't find anything.

I am a beginner at Daz3D Studio and I am looking for a program that can help me placing tattoos (or wounds or anything else, really) on characters.

This led me to Wings3D which might be able to do what I am looking for, though I haven't found it mentioned anywhere.

I am looking for a program that allows me to import a Daz3D character and present the character in 3D. Wings3D can certainly do this.

Then I would like to import a picture of - say - a tattoo (.png with alpha channel preferably) and place it anywhere on the character.

Finally I would like to be able to export the texture of the relevant body part(s) with the tattoo on. I would then be able to use the exported texture in Daz3D for placing the texture on any character I would like to.

The reason I want to do this is because it is extremely difficult to place a tattoo across the seams of a texture while working solely in Daz3D Studio.

As an example the body texture is "cut open" along the spine making it very difficult to place a tattoo on the back of a character, especially as the edges of the textures are curved so the tattoo can not simply be divided into two by cutting it down the middle - some distortion would be required.

So, my question is:
Can Wings3D help me do what I want?

If Wings3D is not the right tool for this, maybe someone can point me in the right direction.


Sorry for the long post - but I think some explanation makes it easier to understand what I am looking for.

I know that some high-end programs should be able to do this, but they are cost-wise not very attractive (monthly subscriptions at too high a price imho).


Greetings,

Wulff

[micheus]

Hi Wulff

Wings3d can apply a image to an object, but not in the way you want. You are looking for a 3D paint tool which will allow you to compose a new texture by applying (stamping) an image over a existent texture.
You can see how it works in this tutorial for Blender (you may need to slow down the video speed)
There are a lot of 3D tools that supports that, but not for free (except by Blender, as I know ).

Wings3d offers Snap image to assign an image to a mesh - the image will always replace any other previously assigned to the mesh. You can see it working in this video.

[Wulff]

Thank you for the quick reply - sorry I wasn't able to reply earlier.

I will have a look at the videos you linked to.

It is a shame Wings3D can not / is not meant to do what I am looking for.

Wings3D seems to be one of the better programs out there with regard to user interface and ease of use. At least that is my initial impression.

Thank you again for the reply.


Greetings,

Wulff

[micheus]

It is a shame Wings3D can not / is not meant to do what I am looking for.

It's not a shame.
Most the 3D apps are generalists and are all in one nowadays by including modeling, sculpt, animations and paint tools.
By definition: "Wings 3D is an advanced subdivision modeler that is both powerful and easy to use" - It's focused on modeling. It doesn't have a tons of options as the big apps, but it does well what it was designed for. Also, it's interesting to see that some commands/options for modeling that it has just recently has been added to these big apps.

I also would like to have an option to paint and - at least - pose characters inside Wings3D, but that isn't going to happens soon. There is only to programmers working on it using their sparse time (bjorng and dgud). They has been working in the last two years to improve performance, bring a more modern UI and introduce better shaders options (we got PBR viewing).

Everything else depends someone to write a plugin to add new stuff, which is rare - unfortunately.

I hope you can solve your problem easily with Blender.

[Wulff]

I was not trying to belittle Wings3D and what is does; rather I was a little selfish because I had hoped Wings3D could help me with my "problem" - hence the "it is a shame". :-)

I am thankful that you took the time to answer my question and that you futhermore explained the purpose for and background of Wings3D.

I have this feeling that I will probably return to Wings3D when I get further into the whole 3D thing - alas, it is a slow process with a full time+ job and so many new things to understand.

For now I understand that I should take a closer look at Blender and see if I can make it do what I want - that has been a great help.

Again, thank you!


Greetings,

Wulff