May 2019 – MyClone Poser and Daz Studio blog

The free Krita 4.2 final has just been released for the desktop. It’s an important release, and of course is free as it’s the flagship digital painting software for ‘open source’ creativity, Krita 4.x rivals Autodesk’s Sketchbook Pro and has clearly outpaced a clutch of similar software.

4.2 Release Notes and New Features in Krita 4.2: Release Video (start at 0.52 seconds if you want to skip the intro).

The highlights:

– over 1,500 stability buxfixes.

– better drawing tablet support.
– better multi-monitor set-up support.
– “a host of bugs with tablets have been resolved”.

– faster brush-speed.
– improved Flow and Opacity in the brush engine, for delicate strokes.
– better colour-picking and colour-palette storage.

– easier ‘move and transform’ of selections.
– rotate your canvas from the Overview mini-window.
– resize the Layer thumbnails.

– updates GMIC filters plugin to version 2.4.5.
– some new Blend modes such as Freeze, Glow, Heat and Reflect.
– and there’s a new Noise generator.

I’ve previously looked in depth here at the potential of its GMIC filters for doing interesting toon-ification things with Poser renders, and I like what I see.

Be warned that it’s not like Blender, in that you can’t have multiple versions of it on the same PC. It’ll remove your old version. But I found that my Brush preset tagging and custom UI remained as it had been in the old version.

It’s once again near the end of the month, and thus time for me to survey the new releases for DAZ Studio and Poser. Another bumper month of releases. Here’s what I noticed in among the May 2019 releases.

Science fiction:

A free Klingon Head Morph for La Femme, the new flagship Poser figure. Star Trek, so for fan-art only, obviously.

A futuristic candygirl, Emiko for La Femme, for Poser 11. I’m not keen on the jelly-hair, but it could be replaced. Shows how flexible the new La Femme can be, in terms of getting away from the default ‘Princess Di’ look.

DD Gorgeous Glass Shaders for iRay, Vol. 2, with definite sci-fi potential, and also MMX Silk Shaders for iRay

Planet Irida, an unusual ice-planet and flora, for DAZ Studio.

ATLAS Armored Suit for Genesis 8 by Herschel Hoffmeyer.

Need some fierce pets for your ATLAS warriors? How about Cassius HD, a new monster dog for Daz Dog 8.

A new fan-art freebie Deepcore – Abyss Rig v2.0 is the deep-sea exploration rig from the pretty-good James Cameron movie The Abyss. Obviously not for commercial use.

CS01: Everyday Army Poses for Genesis 8. Ensemble poses, especially useful for storytellers doing things like team superhero or Carthargo-type exploration comics. See other packs in the CS01 series, for more.

A free spaceship bedroom/corridor which is mildly unusual in terms of taking into account the need for low-gravity weightlessness rungs. I like details like that, which make me think, “yes, that’s what they’d have…”.

A slicker and more far-future SF Corridor for DAZ Studio, with viewing windows.

War Manta for DAZ Studio. And an Area 52-like Hidden Zone to serve as a base for your mantas. Looks to be expandable with the larger Mesa Desert 360-environment.

SC20 Gym, a modern gym interior that could probably fairly easily be adapted to be an underground hangar for the above War Mantas.

Chronos for Genesis 8 Male. At first I thought meh!, but actually it has a nice retro late-1950s Jack Kirby monster-comic vibe to it.

Easypose Cyber-Tentacles for DAZ Studio (only). Also a Easypose Flowing-Fluids pack.

When the tentacles attack, your characters might need to dive into the Post-apocalyptic Survival Bunker!

Steampunk:

You’ve surely got airships in your runtime. But what about the control decks? The new Steampunk Airship Cabin and control deck. This may also interest Vue users, as an export.

Your airship is probably headed to the new Epic Environments – Floating Sky Island. Again, this may also interest Vue users, exported as an .OBJ file.

New female outfits that would match the airship are dForce Minimalist Chic and dForce Redgrave Outfit and the free Classical Retro Dress for G8F (commercial use for renders).

The airship crew might be in the dForce Anchors Aweigh Outfit for Genesis 8 Female outfits, perhaps with a more Navy-like makeover that throws overboard the lace. And your airship engineers might be in the new X-Fashion Uniform 02.

Your airship captain might look like the new Gustave HD for Genesis 8 Male.

And the airship’s Attack Squadron leader might wear the Myrna 1920’s Vaudeville Showgirl Tuxedo Hat for G8F, in DAZ Studio.

The airship’s enemies might be helmeted with the new Space Spartan Helmet for Poser and M4, by Cybertenko.

… and possibly also be rather amusingly piloting a fleet made up of the cute little Miyazaki-ish Desert Tram for DAZ Studio. This could probably be kit-bashed with the base from some of Cybertenko’s models, to give you an electro-hover-tram with levitation coils underneath.

At CG Trader, a reasonably-priced Owl Skeleton Handpainted, in .OBJ and .FBX. Slap on a pair of goggles and some boots and it could be something for a steampunk museum or laboratory.

Also, some nicely designed low-poly guns, done in 20k, at $9 each at Sketchfab, one and two and three. They’re not going to look great next to a photoreal G8F, but if you’re doing comic-book work with Poser 11’s comic book inking mode then these may appeal.

Historical:

U.S. World War 2 Uniform Paratrooper Expansion, which converts the older World War II U.S. Uniform HD to a Paratrooper and seems to add even more details and controls.

Second World War Roadsigns. Could probably also be adapted for a Fallout / Mad Max setting. Also a new set of Airstrip Accessories and Base/tunnel entrance with guard-hut and barrier, from the same time period.

GWR Fruit D Van by DryJack, specialist in British railways.

A free 1960s Bubble Chair Set for DAZ Studio.

dForce Bliaut for Genesis 8 Female, a medieval outfit which at a guess looks about the 11th century, Northern France?

And a realistic ancient castle ruin and mound, possibly more suitable for backgrounds than closer framing.

Storybook:

Watchmaker house for Poser. Nice work, as always, from 1971s. It looks like it could use a set of material makeovers for the four seasons, plus a Christmas-colours set.

Secret Garden Door by 1971s, for Poser.

Yana for Genesis 3. Looks like she would be a characterful candidate for a storybook heroine.

BBarbs continues to add to her fine set of realistic poses for G8 Young Child.

dForce H&C Pajamas Set for Genesis 8, classic old-style pajamas.

Five Birdhouses in .OBJ format. Nicely designed.

Candy-stripes for the HiveWire Horse, for Poser.

Summer series, Inflatable fun for Poser. Back-garden and beach inflatables.

Macro Worlds: Sand Castle Construction Set by HD terrain specialist ShaaraMuse3D.

Toon:

Lola Free Bundle, a new self-contained/standalone free toon figure for DAZ Studio. Genuinely free. Also free, a set of four Lola Bodies morphs and Hair Colors for Lola. You’ll also want the free More Expressions for Lola set and the Action Actress clothing set for Toon Grrl Lola.

I’ve yet to try to get her over to / into Poser 11, for the Comic Book mode, but I assume she’ll go.

Mr. Spock for Pitterbill, for Poser. Requires the well-known Dr. Pitterbill from Nursoda. Star Trek, so for non-commercial use. Pretty good. ‘Live Long, and Prosper’, little freebie!