News about the DAZ Studio and Poser software

Monthly Archives: September 2023

Putting a 3060 card in a Z600

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I have a faint chance of getting hold of a Nvidia RTX 3060 12Gb graphics card. To aid others, here are the results of my few hours of advance research re: putting a 3060 in a reliable old HP Z600 which has fast Xeon CPUs (a workstation that was once ‘the PC of choice’ for Poser users)…

Is it even possible?: Yes (video 1, video 2).

Windows 7 NVIDIA drivers: Yes, from August 2022. These support all the 30 series cards, but not the 40 or the coming 50 series. A HP Z600 workstation runs best with its dedicated Windows 7 drivers. Though many gamers just slap Windows 10 on a SSD and hope for the best. (Update: 472.12-desktop-win7-64bit-international-whql.exe are what’s needed for Windows 7, and they also support 12Gb cards).

Windows drivers tweaked for AI: No, not the newer and allegedly ‘AI tweaked’ drivers, at least not if you’re using a Z600 with the expected Windows 7 OS and the original set of workstation drivers.

DAZ Studio: The highest you’ll go with Windows 7 drivers is DAZ Studio 4.21.0.5 (November 2022), due to DAZ’s huge hike in NVIDIA driver requirements.

Poser: You’ll have to say goodbye to photoreal GPU rendering in Poser 11, as only Poser 12 and 13 support 30 series cards. I was misinformed. The 30-series is supported by P11. Perhaps it’s the OptiX rendering that’s not supported?

Card length/width: Yes, length should be just about fine though you want to get one of the shorter versions to be sure. Most of them are also fat things, so make sure you have the width as well, and no other sound cards etc in the way.

Slots on the motherboard: Yes, your card should be PCIe x16 and the Z600 has the required PCIe x16 slot. Make sure you push the new card into the slot your current graphics card is sitting in, and firmly seat it. Remember which slot was being used for a card, when you pull the old one out.

PCIE: Should be fine. Your 3060 card uses PCIE 4.0… but PCIE 4.0 is fully backwards compatible with the PCIE 2.0 (aka Gen2) used by your PCIe x16 slot. Actually I guess the difference may help your motherboard cope with the fast card?

Adequate Z600 power supply: Yes. A standard Z600 PSU pumps out 650W, and they’re reliable and modular (very easily replaceable).

Z600 power-supply cable already in use? A Z600 PSU has only one cable for a card. Unlatch the case front and make absolutely sure it’s clipped to the PSU and available. It should be a black 6-pin marked “P10”.

Z600 power-supply cable has suitable pins: No, it only has six. But there’s an easy fix — a simple ’10cm PCI Express PCIe 6 Pin to 8 Pin Graphics Card Power Adapter Cable’ for a few dollars. These are widely available on Amazon or eBay. The PSU should give the card 216W of power via the PCI-e cable/adapter, plus 75W drawn from the motherboard card-slot. This will be more than enough to fully power the card…

Fitting the adapter also usefully gives you another 10cm to reach the card socket, if required. I’ve read of no problems with melting, but it’s best to check the cable after a few hours of heavy use, and again a few days later.

From the above linked video, showing a fitted RTX 3060 card in a Z600.

Will it connect my monitors? You’ll have to look at your monitor cable(s) and connector types. I have both a normal monitor and a draw-on-the-screen XP-Pen monitor to connect. The card will likely only have one HDMI (v2.1, supporting 4k) and several DisplayPorts (v1.4a).

Card noise: I read that a 3060 can be noisy when two fans are spinning at full tilt in heavy max-settings gameplay. I’m not sure how much strain a real-time iRay viewport or AI work would put on such a card, but I guess the fans will spin up. There is an unofficial way to reduce voltage and thus make the fans quieter, while also saving power. There is also now an official way (Nvidia’s “0dB Technology”) to have the fans turn off when the PSU is at a low wattage + the card is below a safe temperature. Thus they won’t be whirring all night, if the PC is mostly idling along with a few torrents.

Air flow: Never jam the back of the Z600 up against a wall, and especially if you’re adding a big new card. It needs a free outward flow of air at the back. The case is superbly designed for good air flow and heat dispersal, but before fitting the card you might also de-dust the outer vents.

Electric bill: Yes, potentially quite a lot higher. A Z600 that shipped with an old standard NVIDIA Quadro 2000 would have a card drawing about 62w max. You’ll likely be more than doubling that with a 3060. Maybe 140w, and going up to 170w if you’re a heavy game player or overnight batch renderer. Your PCI-e cable/adapter cable from the PSU (650w, pushing 216w to the card cable) should handle a 170w power draw with no problem, but there will be a higher electric bill over time. Especially if the card is running overnight on renders, batch AI etc. Effectively, it could be like your home having an extra 100w light-bulb burning, all the time. But you may be able to reduce energy-use elsewhere in the home, to compensate.

Your free V3 to V4 pose converter

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V3 to V4 pose converter, via DAZ Studio. For free, mostly… probably.

Does it work? I tried it. Here’s the step-by-step tutorial.

1. Get the free “V3/A3/GV3 Pose Transfer to G8F” script (choose the second updated .ZIP file) for DAZ. Then the free “G8F to V4/A4 Pose Transfer” script. You need to be signed in to the DAZ Forums and Renderosity to get these.

2. Unzip and combine the two script-sets into a sensibly named folder. Such as “V3 to V4 pose converter”, so you can find it under Scripts in the DAZ Library in future. Install the folder as you usually would. Load DAZ Studio. Check in Scripts inside the DAZ Library, to see the folder installed correctly.

3. In DAZ, find and load a V3 base figure to the scene. Go: Poser Library runtime (you linked it, right?) | Figures | DAZ People | V3.

4. Find and load a suitable V3 pose.

5. While you’re there, also load a standard V4.2 to the scene. I could not get the second DAZ script working with a plain V4. It must be V4.2.

6. Now go back up to the main DAZ runtime in the Library. Load a G8F in the same scene.

7. Drop all figures to the Floor, just in case (Select figure, Crtl + D) and space them out in the scene. Now save the scene for a ‘quickstart’ in future.

Start the V3 to G8 script. Once the script has started it will prompt to you select the hips of each figure. Once this is done, press OK.

8. The script is really quick. Once done, Ctrl + D to ‘drop to the floor’ again, just in case. Yes, G8F took the V3 pose…

This was where I found out that old V4 doesn’t work, and that V4.2 is required.

9. Now do the same with the G8 to V4 script. The result here with a V4.2 is fairly good, except for the “thumbs up” and the “elbow/thigh contact” which will need adjusting later.

10. Then go back into the Library Scripts and locate your Poser Format Exporter (aka PoserFormatExporter), which is still working in DAZ 4.21.x. This vital add-on script for working with Poser is currently paid at $7, but was free in the past for many years. You may already have it installed, or have got it in the distant past and can thus re-download it from your “Purchases” library at the DAZ Store.

Select V4.2 in the DAZ scene and use PoserFormatExporter to save out the V4 pose as a .PZ2 file for Poser. I had success with the following settings…

11. Load Poser, load a v4.2 figure, then drag-drop your newly made .PZ2 pose onto the figure. She will take the pose. Make some final small adjustments and save the pose into Poser natively.

Done. Nope, there’s no batch. It’s ‘one at a time’, as you need the old V3 pose on a V4.

Not tested with ‘M3 to G8F to M4’, but I guess that may be possible. The scripts are open text files, so they could be adjusted as needed in response to any error messages.

The result is far more accurate than a straight “drop a V3 pose on a V4.2” attempt. As you can see in the results seen below, where we have intersected feet/knees, fist hitting the head, no toe/foot bending, and one hand with scary ‘flying fingers’ which would take a lot of correcting. I suspect the fist is also bunched too tightly…

An alternative ‘drag and drop’ of the pose, direct to a V4.2 in Poser. Doesn’t work properly.

New for Poser and DAZ in August / September 2023

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Yes, it’s another survey of the new goodies for Poser and DAZ Studio users, the first since my last survey — which was at the end of July 2023.

The big news in Poser is that the Mac version of Poser 13 has released, and in the very latest Poser (13.1.469) there are “real-time Comic Book Preview improvements”.

Science-fiction:

Space Station Construction Set for Poser.

5,000 years later, when humanity has moved on to colonise the galaxy… the space station might look like the new free Space Wreck for DAZ.

A generic future-hallway Terminal. Perhaps it could also be a robot charging-station, if you added a couple of cables. Although in the future the charging will likely be done constantly by under-floor induction, Dalek style.

A free Streamers Room with a sci-fi vibe. For DAZ and Poser, and also has an OBJ folder.

Could be paired with this free Funky Armchair…

Spaceship Dock for DAZ. Just add your sleek SuperBeam 5000 spaceship etc. Probably piloted by the Gynoid X05 for G8 and Victoria 8, which is also available separately for G3F.

A stylised Astronaut House for DAZ, by 1971. With spaceship and launch rail. Could be paired with the new matching SF unit for DS also from 1971s.

A free levitating Ride-on HoverMower. Just the thing for mowing all those solarpunk ‘green rooftops’.

Steampunk:

A free Horse drawn carriage. Possibly pulled by a steam-horse.

Aetherial Disruptor for DAZ. A giant steampunk/dieselpunk machine.

The Disruptor could be paired with the new Industrial Warehouse Filter Tanks.

Or the new Industrial Warehouse Monitor.

A new Steampunk Soldier Helmet for G8M from Cybertenko. This integrates with his new Steampunk Soldier Uniform for G8M.

Wild West Outpost which could easily be retro-fitted for steampunk.

Fantasy:

Traveller for FRQ dForce: Agile Cloak. A materials set for April 2023’s dForce Agile Cloak.

dForce Warrior Monk Outfit. Could also be an outfit for a snake charmer.

And here’s The Snake for DAZ Studio. Rigged, with morphs, skins and poses.

Halloween:

M3 Extreme for Poser. For use with M3 Low-res, so you can have an army of them in a scene.

Free, Fangs for P6 Jessi.

Toon Kids for Genesis 9 (poses ONLY).

Toon:

Little Tin Mecha and extra materials set.

Birthday Present Gift Boxes. Simple toony boxes.

DAV Yasaki for Genesis 9, a new semi-toon female with outfit.

Cartoonized for Genesis 9. Supposedly… “effortlessly transforms any character into a captivating cartoon version, all while preserving their distinctive features.” Most of it’s in the addition of big eyes, by the look of it.

Figures, poses and clothes:

The Sleuth, now updated for Genesis 8.1.

Zachariah for Genesis 8.1 Male. Could look good with the new hipster dForce SPR Gentleman Hair.

A free Merlin for Apollo Maximus, Make your old Apollo Maximus look like Merlin the wizard.

dForce for DAZ, dCape 001 and dCape 002, a long and a short cape for superheroes, with multiple material zones for customisation.

Louder Than Words Louder Than Words 2 in DAZ AniBlocks. Dialogue / argument pose animations, without facial expressions. Said to work with all Genesis figures.

Free Fluffy High Heel Sandals.

Free High Heels and associated Pose for La Femme for Poser.

V4 graft for Genesis 9… “Use V4 MAT poses and/or textures on Genesis 9. This is a wardrobe piece that allows you to use V4 textures and full material poses on G9”. Free, not tested by me as yet.

Relatively simple morph dials to swap gender in Genesis 8 and Genesis 3. Free, not tested by me as yet.

Free Seam Guides for LaFemme for Poser.

Universal Hands And Feet Control for DAZ. Panel based controls.

Storybook:

Tossed Plush Toys for DAZ.

Simple vintage Hooks, for satchels and the like.

3D Universe’s Character Randomizer for K4 heads and bodies, currently 80% off. M4 and V4 currently have the same discount.

Time Machine for Genesis 9. Simple controls for an “age spectrum from infancy to old age” for the new G9.

Peep, a stylised “fluffy chick” for DAZ and Poser.

Animals:

LoREZ Gazelle with 22 poses.

Gremlin, a fine fancy roost-ruling chicken for Poser.

Nature’s Wonders Ladybugs (aka Ladybirds in the UK). Ten species including the classic 7-spot red.

A free basic Horse Blanket for Horse 3. No securing straps.

Free, low-poly Nature’s Wonders Aphids. Could also be scaled up, to become 1950s b-movie monsters in a misty Poser-to-Vue background?

Lorez Rat – Strand Based Hair. Requires the Lorez Rat.

Landscapes and plants:

PlantCatalog: swamps and wetlands has been released.

Historical:

Free, the Ancient Egyptian Game of Mau Mau.

A Roman Garden courtyard for DAZ.

Far From Home – Winter Legion for Roman soldiers. Metal plate and padded garments, for cold winter conditions. There’s also a new Roman Legionary Bundle for DAZ.

dForce AQ Merovingian Warrior outfit for Genesis 9.

Renaissance Instruments.

A free Vintage Ear Trumpet.

A cheesy 1870 ‘riverboat girl’ bar-room costume, the Just Class Dress for G8F and G9F.

A stained hillbilly “Grampaw Shootemup” dForce Union Suit Outfit. he’s “a’ gonna git that gal back frum thet durn river-boat”…

1910s Rolls-Royce Armored Car for Poser, and there’s also a separately sold DAZ version.

A 1920s or 30s Wincharger radio shack for Poser, with interior. Probably located atop the new Abandoned Mine.

English Village Pub Games.

1970s hippy overalls for Genesis 8 Female.

The Old Railway Cutting. A large disused city railway of the type often seen in the 1970s and 80s after the line closures of the 1960s.

1980s style Bumper Cars for Daz Studio. With fairground enclosure.

A free Snow Sign. Historical because “snow is a thing of the past”, and we’re supposed to believe “the earth is on fire” as the UN tells us we’re officially in “the era of global boiling”. Yup.

Scripts:

Dynamic Clothing ToolBox for Poser. Simplifies “the full process to import the OBJ file, then add material zones to constrained, soft decorated or rigid decorated groups”.

Camera facing billboard script for Poser.

Script Runner for Blender. Making it easier to find and run Python scripts in Blender.

Tutorials:

How to Install PD Howler 2024 and play with 3D sharks. The latest Howler is said to be 9x faster, due to an innovative new CPU/GPU combo.

Free, How I use Multipass and Mask Render Toolbox.

Optimizing DAZ Studio: Memory, Rendering, Scenes and Workflow.

Brush Brilliance: Mastering Photoshop Brushes with your Renders. To add water, debris, snow, rain, rips etc.

Comic-book production helpers:

Krita 5.1 Tutorial: Intro to the Comics Manager. Krita is the free 2D painting software.

Mojo Moo for Krita 5. The latest comic-book production helper add-on for the free Krita. Free.

Free or “pay what you want”, a Toon Shader MatCap Pack, supposedly “for any 3D software”. Untested by me.

AI:

OpenPose for Poser 12 and 13. Send AI-ready poses and hand-poses to the Stable Diffusion AI, from Poser.

Convert any image to lineart with SD’s ControlNet. Looks promising. I wonder if the prompt “in the inking style of Jack Kirby” would work in combination with this method.

“The Train is Leaving the Station… Get On Board With AI Art NOW… or Waste Years Playing Catch-Up Later” makes a good case.

On the other hand, maybe you’ll want the free “Not AI” – the transparent PNG logo set.

That’s it for August and half of September 2023. More at the end of October.

Release: OpenPose for Poser – Poser to SD

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Ken K has released OpenPose for Poser 12, which provides the first ‘Poser to Stable Diffusion’ pipeline.

The Video Demo suggests it’s useful for speeding up the feeding of SD with exact poses, and it looks especially useful for hands. While a Controlnet can provide native openpose estimation, the hands are often not well detected. Ken’s method lets you get excellent hands.

The free alternative might be something like a .BVH to OpenPose converter. But no-one seems to have made one, which seems rather amazing. Everyone wants to do it from analysed video pixels rather than the skeletons of 3D figures. So Ken’s new product seems unique.

Poser 13.1.469 released – real-time Comic Book Preview improvements

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Poser 13.1.469 has been released. Hurrah, some improvement of non-photoreal rendering. Unspecified…

– Improvements to Comic Book Preview Draw Last feature.

Sounds good. Also, for photoreal…

– Major changes to subsurface scatter on the PhysicalSurface root node, ‘Burley’ set as Subsurface Method default.
– More improvements to subsurface scatter.

And some 2D picture export fixes…

– Added pref[erence] in General Preferences Render tab, to not export original render.
– ‘Copy Picture’ correctly pastes to 3rd-party paint programs.
– PSD Image export no longer shifts to a darker color space. SRGB successfully converting on export.

Plus some changes that may make Mac users happy…

– On the Mac: Enhanced backward compatibility on Mac OS 10.15 (Catalina) or better.
– On the Mac: The PostFX window scene preview properly fits and is better centered.

The version was 13.1.449, before this new update.