News about the DAZ Studio and Poser software

Monthly Archives: November 2015

The Black Friday sales

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Ok, so it’s 3.30pm on ‘Black Friday’ here in the UK. Which means its about 9am in the morning in the USA. So, what has Black Friday got to offer the 3D artist?

DAZ has 55% off nearly all Stonemason content, though not his most recent packs.

stonemason

Also discounted by 55% are a wide variety of core sets of age morphs for DAZ Studio’s various Genesis base characters.

agem

And most of Dreamlight’s catalogue is at 55% off, including the useful Light Dome Pro for $15.73.

Runtime DNA has a Black Friday Real Deals page. Lots of discounts, plus a 10% discount code.

runtimedna

1,700 Cornucopia 3D Vue models are 50% off. The Vue software itself is 50% off.

Renderosity just has a one-day one-use 35% coupon code offer, at their Black Friday Savings page.

Poser 11 Pro is of course 30% discounted, through 30th November. Only three days left to grab it! While you’re there, note that Manga Studio 5 (comics production software, with some of the best inking brushes in the business) is also a whopping 65% off.

HiveWire 3d has a “Save up to 70% with Black Friday / Cyber Monday” Sale. Not a big selection on offer, but I did notice Fluffy Cat (Poser only) for the Millennium Cat, for just $5.23. (Note that for some reason it requires the Java runtime to be installed on your PC ‐ for security I strongly advise un-installing Java afterwards, if it’s only needed for the installer).

cat

HiveWire also have a horse-crazy CWRW Cloud Foundation Sale, which is a big sale of its superb 3D horses and stable-wear clothing.

Released: KeyShot 6

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It’s super-release Tuesday! After DAZ’s Micheal 7 and Poser 11 were released today, now comes KeyShot 6. I’d expected it sometime before Christmas, but Animation World News reported a few hours ago that it’s actually shipping now (note that there’s now a cheap £75 Educational version). My previous post on this blog has details of the new features.

keyShot6_teaser

Released today – Poser 11!

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Poser 11 and Poser Pro 11 have been released today! UK prices are £95 for 11 and £239 for Pro 11. USA prices are $139.99 / $349.99. Both Windows and Mac version are available now, and are heavily discounted.

poser11

New features in v.11 include:

* an integrated (‘Superfly’) version of Blender’s professional level Cycles render-engine, including caustics.

* the Pro 11 version supports Nvidia CUDA, giving a GPU-assisted boost to render times.

* new Poser base female character, Pauline, shipping as standard.

* add realistic tattoos and scars, via new layered materials.

* improved OpenGL ‘Comic Book’ real-time rendering, adjustable ink outlines.

posertoon

I wonder if we might start to see new semi-toon characters + presets dedicated solely to the comic book look?

Plus there’s…

* a new scalable user interface, for those working on humongously large monitors.

* it’s now easier to step back and forth between characters, as you build a scene.

* Pro also has bone control handles, and direct character manipulation is now easier.

* new rigging features, with some automation.

* customisable tool/dial/character palettes and hot keys. Adjustable auto-save.

Looks good. Let’s hope that the Blender/Cycles ‘Superfly’ rendering engine gives fast and good-looking results with standard characters, without having to faff around applying/tweaking three-dozen new materials by hand. And that ‘the comic-book look’ is viable for producing comic-books which will please the highly discerning eye of comics fans. If Poser 11 gets those two things right, then I’d say it’s back in the game against DAZ Studio.

DAZ releases Michael 7 today

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DAZ’s flagship male character Michael 7 has been launched today, for Daz Studio 4.8 users only. He’s a Genesis 3 character, and currently has heavy discounts.

m7

There’s also a Michael 7 Starter Bundle and a Michael 7 Pro Bundle.

pro

starter

And the hair is Frazer hair…

hair

Also available today are Genesis 3 Male Body Morphs, Head Morphs, and Male Expressions.

express

I must say that DAZ seem to have done rather a good job of giving him character and uniqueness. 60-point of facial articulation, too, and apparently not too heavy on the poly-count either.

For those wondering about where to get the Genesis 3 male base, if it’s anything like Genesis 3 female then it’s accessed via a download triggered inside the software…

“You can select it [the new G3 character icon] in your Library [inside of DAZ Studio 4.8 beta only] then click the Download & Install button”

Faster than Light

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Big Comic Page reviews the new made-with-Poser commercial comic-book Faster than Light #3 (not to be confused with the videogame FTL: Faster Than Light), which is from the Anomaly team…

“Judging by the first [story] arc I can see this being adapted for TV in the not too distant future [and] not much would have to be changed”

Elsewhere reviewers have noted the series as shaping up to provide…

“all the idealism of the original Star Trek and the grit and immediacy of Gravity“

SEP150527

faster-than-light-image-expo-600x338

Keyshot 6

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The long-awaited Keyshot 6 is on its way soon, very probably before Christmas. It appears that users can expect a host of new goodies users in version 6, including:

* Ambient occlusion, albeit as a material type.

* A new “Product” preset setting — “useful for products with transparent materials illuminated by the environment and local lighting”.

* A new “Interior” preset setting — an easy way to convincingly light an interior scene with natural light.

* Basic editing of 3D geometry.

* File import, or at least linking(?), for Cinema 4D, Maya, 3DS Max.

* Save to a layered Photoshop (PSD) file. Sadly, there’s still no ability to have ground shadows render onto their own layer.

* Material editing and mixing via nodes, for those who like that sort of thing.

* An improved Move Tool for moving objects around the stage.

And much more. Sadly the clunky batch-rendering stack doesn’t get a usability overhaul, via some much-needed drag-and-drop .bip file-adding functionality.

keyShot6_teaser