News about the DAZ Studio and Poser software

Monthly Archives: April 2012

iClone special discount codes – up to 35% off

Posted on by Posted in Companion software, Real-time animation, Special Offers and Discounts Leave a comment

Are you interested in real-time animation, using animation software that runs on a videogame engine? My other MyClone blog for iClone now has special discount offer. Get the superb real-time machinima software called iClone 5 at 30% off, or the iClone 5 Pro Bundle at 35% off.

To get these discounts, simply enter the special discount codes that you’ll find via my sidebar links over at the main MyClone blog. Offer ends 30th June 2012.

Brianorca Ocean – a new Carrara plugin for sea simulation

Posted on by Posted in Carrara, Companion software Leave a comment

A new ocean-simulating plugin for DAZ Carrara 8 users, just released. Brianorca Ocean ($15) has been developed from someone who obviously knows the maths and science of how oceans move and behave. It’s also said to be more efficient than existing sea-sim options…

“It can cover a larger area than the built-in Carrara 8 Pro ocean, using about the same memory, and maintaining fine detail in the center. Uses different grid resolution for render and preview, speeding your work. There is a float modifier, to make your boat float.”

See also: my recent survey of ocean / seal-life content for DAZ and Poser.

SceneFix Python Script – free

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I’m exploring some of the free Python scripts for Poser. I found that Snarly has just released a useful new SceneFix Python Script for Poser 9 / Poser Pro 2012…

It can, for either the currently selected actor or the whole scene:

* Correct gamma settings for image maps
* Set Reflection_Lite and Kd_Mult to zero
* Set Ambient value to zero
* Change Texture filtering (user choice)
* Set Diffuse colour to white if texture map is attached
* Set Diffuse value (user choice)
* Remove unused nodes from materials
* Change Crease angle (user choice)
* Turn off smoothing

There are also tools to :

* Add/remove dials from actors
* Rename nodes in the Material Room
* Delete multiple actors from the scene at once
* Create a character morph with INJ/REM pose files from a dialled character

Update: still available December 2019 via my Archive.org link on this page.

Exporting a prop and texture bundle in Poser Pro 2012

Posted on by Posted in Poser, Tutorials Leave a comment

Did you know that Poser users can export a bundle of the whole contents used in a scene, to a new folder? Yup, the obj base, the .pz3, and the materials, all copied out and neatly placed into a single new folder.

Of course you can now export the whole scene, textured, out of Poser as a Collada .dae file. But this older method can still be useful for porting to other software such as Vue, especially if you first need to find and reduce the size of some huge 4000px textures.

Here’s how to do it…

1. Make a new destination folder somewhere.

2. Locate your Python Scripts panel in the Poser interface…

3. Go to Utility Functions, Choose “Collect Scene Inventory”

4. Select “Copy all to Folder”, and select your output destination folder.

The camera is also exported. You may find that you get a message saying that the lights in your scene were not exported.

Using Poser with Keyshot

Posted on by Posted in 3D Renders, 3D Utilities, Companion software, DAZ Studio, Lighting, Poser 3 Comments

A very cool set of Poser / Keyshot renders by David Constantine…

The workflow is…

1. Export a posed character as a FBX (DAZ) or Collada (Poser) file.
2. Import to Keyshot and stand your character against your chosen background.
3. Apply the background’s matching HDR light.
4. Render.

Keyshot is blindingly quick at rendering, at least with single objects against a 2D background. Keyshot ships with a range of background images that have matching HDR lights. These lights help the objects look as though they belong in the scene (as you can see above).

Sadly Keyshot is aimed at engineers and commercial product-photography people, rather than hobbyists, and so costs $1,000. Which does at least mean it’s blissfully simply to use, and can be fully learned in an hour. This is because it’s designed for those who are unfamiliar with 3D software, and who run screaming from the ludicrous interface complexities of software such as Blender. But the cost of Keyshot will put off many. It’ll cost even more, if you want an add-on HDR Light Studio pipeline (the latest version of this can apparently make a matching HDR from any background that you feed it).

Still… Keyshot is certainly one to consider, if you’re looking for a tax write-off and you want an alternative render engine for still images of Poser figures. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to fix eyes and eyelashes on Poser faces after import, and that Keyshot only ships with one skin material that takes ages to render.

Poser 9/2012 SR2 patch – new details

Posted on by Posted in Poser, Spotted in the News Leave a comment

Smith Micro have today announced some details of the Service Release 2 patch for Poser 9 and Poser Pro 2012…

“The SR2 update for Poser will enable export of bump and normal maps in Photoshop compatible fashion.”

This will enable you to export a character in the Collada .dae format, and then have it load up in Photoshop CS6 Extended with all materials properly applied and with no additional need for tweaking…

“The model comes in [to Photoshop] perfectly, with all normal map detail preserved, ready to use in your illustration.”

I’m guessing this feature may also extend to other external load-and-illustrate packages, such as Keyshot?

They’re also going to support the coming wave of 3D in Web browsers, which will work without the need for plugins (Google Chrome now natively supports full-blown 3D games, without the need for Flash or other pernickety plugins)…

“[get] animated 3D characters from Poser into WebGL-enabled browsers like Chrome”