Texturing a character

I've made a few characters for Daz but I still consider myself a newbie at doing it. I'm just wondering what is the best way to texture a character to make it look more real? For mine, I have just been buying skin resources and using them. Like the ones 3Dream has. Is there a "best" program for actually painting on the textures?

I've also watched a video on Youtube a while back. I think it was on RenderHub's channel, about how to use real models and get the textures from those and just paint those on the UV's in PS.

I know there are different ways to do it, I'm just not sure which way I should go with it. I want to make my characters look more real.

Hey Calico! I haven't made any characters for sale, so I'm no expert. But I want to, and am in the same situation as you. 

You may want to check this out... 3D Coat. I just bought it - it's on a great Black Friday sale right now, $100 off. 

https://3dcoat.com/

I'm not going to go into full detail about all of the things you can do with this software, but the one thing you're asking about can be done.  

Painting/Texturing in 3D Space. Work in layers and with tools you're familiar with in Photoshop - but directly on the 3D model. Your work in 3D space gets transferred over to the 2D texture maps, complete with bump, spec, normal maps, etc...  All without worry about seams between texture tiles.  

I just started working with it, so I cannot give you any expert opinion - but I like what I see so far. Check it out!

Thanks so much for sharing this. I will definitely give this a try. There is a 30 free trial so that's what I'll do. I don't have the money right now to buy it.

I was also looking at Character Creator 3. All the videos that I've watched so far are of importing from Daz to CC3, not the other way around. At first, I thought that maybe that was the way to go.

You may be right though, this program you suggested may be what I'm looking for.

Ok, I'm done rambling, lol!

3D Coat and other applications are pretty good, they take some of the fuss out of painting textures directly onto 3-D models. There are both free and paid-for options out there. But I'd like to add a caveat here. I wouldn't spend the money, unless I know for sure that I'm going to get my money's worth out of the software. Try it before you buy it. I tried Blacksmith 3D and I couldn't stand the interface, for instance. So I'm glad I didn't spend money on it.

I've made a ton of characters, and two of them are complete character packages for Studio and Poser. However, they're both technically "obsolete". This is why I haven't sold Luna as a character. Too many people on the Genesis bandwagon.

So, what do I use to texture? My Huion tablet, and GIMP. My latest example is something I finished this morning:

It does take a bit longer to switch back and forth between GIMP and Studio in regards to lining things up, but I've been doing it for many years. I can say that running into issues with seam matching will be pretty rare, unless you're applying a skin texture to the entire model. If that is the case, and you're going to do that often, then by all means find and use a tool that makes it relatively easy for you to do so. If it's going to be a one-shot or you just want to try it out, think twice before you buy. There are some free options.

Thank you Pinspotter!

BTW, she is adorable!

I agree with you, I can't afford to spend money on a program unless I know for certain I will get my money's worth out of it. I have been searching a lot trying to find something to fit my needs. I think Character Creator has a subscription option that is just $10 a month which IMO, is pretty good. I may just have to stick with PS and Zbrush for texturing.

Hey Foxy, I found this video that really shows how to use 3D Coat to paint on Daz characters using photo resources: https://youtu.be/P0zdRwnXdlQ

@Calico - Thank you for the video link. When I got there, I saw I had already given it a like sometime in the past, but had forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder!  :-)  

@Pinspotter - Thanks for the input. You're right about Blacksmith 3D. I tried it and hated the interface, as well.  And your new girl really is adorable!