How to Make Your Own Sign Smilies

If you would like to make images of smilies that you can add to signs, you might think that you will need to draw and paint them, or cut and paste someone else's. But a better approach is to use Daz3Ds free EmotiGuy 3D model in Poser Pro or (if you don't own Poser Pro) Daz Studio, which is Daz3Ds free posing and rendering program. We will assume here you are using Poser Pro, but the process is similar in Daz Studio. You will also need a graphics program like Photoshop.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Photoshop
• Poser Pro or Daz Studio

1. 
    

   Go to Daz3D and download the EmotiGuy model (see Resources). Click on the installation file to install the model. Follow the prompts, selecting which application (if you have Daz Studio and Poser) you want to install to.

2. 
    

   Open Poser Pro. Delete the default figure loaded in the scene. Then go to the "Figures" library on the right, browse to the "Daz Emoticons" folder, and double-click on the "EmotiGuy" to add him to the scene.

3. 
    

   Open the "Pose" library and browse to the "Daz Emoticons" poses. Select a pose and double-click on it to apply it to the figure.

4. 
    

   Select "Render" and click "Render Settings." Move the "Quality" slider to "Final." Then click "Render Now." After the image renders, select "File", "Export," then "Image." In the dialog that opens, name your file, select PNG as the type, and click "Save."

5. 
    

   Open Photoshop. Then open an image of a sign you would like to add a smiley to. Then open the EmotiGuy PNG you saved. Right-click on the layer the EmotiGuy is on and select "Duplicate." In the dialog box that opens, go to the "Destination" section; select the name of the sign file, and click "OK." The smiley has now been added to a layer in your sign image. Use the "Move" tool in the toolbar to position the smiley where you want it, and then select "Edit", "Transform" and click "Scale" to resize the smiley for your image. Save your work.

References

• Using PNGs in Photoshop

Resources

• Daz EmotiGuy