A jammed WordPress theme had caused the blog to fail for a few hours. For the time being, I’ve switched to an updated theme which has no such problems. The blog now seems to be working again at the level of the front page and individual posts, albeit not quite so prettily and with links and sidebar widgets missing. Expect a few ‘speed bumps’ over the next few days, as the design and other things are fixed up again.
Author Archives: jonahjameson
Blender Content Creation for Daz Studio – discounted bundle
New on the DAZ Store, Blender Content Creation for Daz Studio Bundle. Currently in the sale at $88, this bundle of three gives you nearly ten hours of friendly and DAZ-friendly learning. It’s also keyword searchable, and has subtitles.
While you’re there don’t miss the Platinum Club Anniversary 2020 Bundle 10. A mega-bundle that appears to have been created for the Platinum Club members… but which is now available to all at $6.
By the way, thanks to Kevin M. I’ve solved my problem with the infinite scrolling on the DAZ Store, which going back more than about two weeks causes the thumbnail loading to freeze up. Setting “Items Per Page” to 60 (rather than All) brings back the old paginated or ‘per page’ browsing. It’s still a bit sticky, even now, but is much more workable.
3DCoatTextura 2021
Excellent news. The main 3DCoat 2021 lands on 12th July with its long-awaited new user interface and many other improvements. It also includes ZBrush-like sculpting, but without the mad interface and torturous workflows of ZBrush. However there will also be a cheaper cut-down 3DCoatTextura version of 2021, which will include…
“only the 3D painting, texturing and rendering tools. … It is designed especially for people who create 3D models in other software and need a professional tool for painting and texturing at a very sweet price”.
Sounds good, and even better it appears this version will be a one-time purchase albeit at $110 without discounts. Definitely one to put on your Black Friday / Cyber Monday shopping-list, if it can then go down to a must-have and truly hobbyist-friendly $50.
New for DAZ and Poser in June 2021
Ok, we’re nearly at the end of June, so here’s my quick pick of some of the DAZ and Poser items noticed this month. Plus a few in .OBJ or .FBX on ArtStation.
Thanks to Kevin M. I’ve solved my problem with the infinite scrolling on the DAZ Store, which after a while causes the thumbnail loading to freeze. Setting “Items Per Page” to 60 (rather than All) brings back the paginated browsing.
Science-fiction:
SC20 Botanical Garden and Material Add-on.
Volt Bot by TheAntFarm.
Dreamlight’s Cyberpunk Hall.
Vorlon from Babylon 5. Obviously fan-art, so no commercial use.
A Tomorrowland-style Window to the New World base. Currently free.
Steampunk:
Medieval Alchemy Forge, which feels more steampunk than medieval to me. The seller itemises everything except the actual file format, so I’m only guessing you could get this into .FBX.
Catnips Anonymous, a fun steampunk style cat-feeder and hypno-fan (or cat-warmer?).
Fantasy:
New from 1971s, Swamp Cottage for Poser. Also available for DAZ Studio.
Enigmatic Ancient Stones in .FBX.
Forlorn Forbidden Place, a desert pagoda.
The free Warforged from Warhammer. Obvious fan-art, so no commercial use.
Genesis 8 Female (G8F) Ring The Bell poses, for bell-ringers of the “sound the alarm” type.
Storybook:
Ingenue Dynamic For La Femme, a classic storybook type dress for the flagship female Poser figure.
A free Childhood Fantasy outfit for DAZ Studio.
A free classic candy Lolly Pop for DAZ Studio. Too much sugar from all the lolly pops? You’ll be needing the child run and jump pose set, targeted for 5-6 year old G8s.
dForce Petite Style Dolly Dress and Pufflet The Bunny.
Toon and semi-toon:
The free semi-toon Hartford Morph for Gen 8.1 Male. I assume it’s not game fan-art, but it might be Team Fortress or similar.
A free Vogon, the loathsome poetry-spouting race from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Obviously fan-art, so no commercial use.
A free Moustache suited to toon figures.
Free pose presets for S. Cargo by 3D Universe.
Animals:
HH Colossadon, a colossal mammoth, as a standalone.
Songbird ReMix Australia Vol 1.
Landscape:
3D Cliff Construction Set: Overgrown Walls.
Need sea-spray coming over your cliff wall? ShaaraMuse3D’s Photo Props: Water Effect Maker. Specifically splashes. And Panoramic Texture Resource: Parched Ground 2 for the sort of parched/salted ground you’d find if you hopped over a sea-wall.
Skydome – Northern Lights 5 on ArtStation. High-res 360’s.
Raffy Raffy’s new Tree-lined avenues for Blender.
Plains and Mountains for big Wild West scenes.
Historical:
23 Roman Gladiator Action Poses for G8M.
Desert Ruin. Simple, but effective and a potentially more photogenic site for gladiator battles than an arena.
Now-Crowd Billboards – Barbarian Warriors Bundle.
Free Viking Age Props for DAZ Studio. I don’t normally feel the need for yet more medieval items in my runtime, but these are very good.
Medieval Battle Generator for Photoshop. An unusual item that may interest those seeking to plan ideas for 3D scenes.
A 1930s style Show Girl Outfit for G8F.
A classic 1940s style Wood Fishing Boat.
Another fine 1950s British railway item from DryJack, the GWR Tool Van.
Quark Station Wagon, a flying station-wagon for 1950s retro sci-fi.
A 1960s Vintage Toy Car and materials.
A classic 1980s movie type Military Tunnel entrance.
Characters:
Scott For G8M, a good newsreader type, who could also be Tarzan or Clark Kent at a pinch.
Tempesta3d’s Apollo L’Homme, a soulful artist type for the flagship Poser male figure. But appears to need the L’Homme Pro – V.2 paid version, currently at $15.
Scripts:
A free DAZ script to select the root of the current figure. Save as .DSA format.
Easy Simulation Script Generator for Poser 12. Easy dynamic clothing creation in Poser.
Tutorials:
Skin Workshop, with loads of tips about how to work with skin in DAZ Studio.
Ok, that’s it for now. Don’t forget that Renderosity has a 50% store-wide sale until 1st July 2021. DAZ also have a major summer sale on now. Check your wishlists and the bottom-price end of the store for freebies!
Snarlygribbly scripts for Poser 12
Key scripts for Poser 12 by Snarlygribbly, inc. a working EZDome, and in general looking as though they’re progressing nicely.
Note the new https://poser.cobrablade.net/ location for the downloads. It seems this is where these Python scripts are officially hosted now. I’ve fixed the sidebar link at this blog and the Poser Scripts page. I’ve also plugged it into my Technical Search Engine though it seems Google Search doesn’t know about it yet (the engine runs on a Google CSE).
On the same Cobrablade page you will also find his latest Poser 11 scripts. All free.
50% Xurge sale
Xurge 3D has a 50% sale now on at his site, across most of his stylish sci-fi and medieval armour. You may need to disable your Web browser’s GIF blocker to see the store’s “Buy” buttons. PayPal is accepted.
A quick Poser 11 demo of M3 wearing one of Xurge’s early creations.
Get Poser 12 snail-mailed to you
Do you live in the wilds of Whereizitagin, hundreds of miles from the nearest telephone pole? And is satellite Internet prohibitively expensive? Now you can have Poser 12 Early Access officially mailed to you on a USB key, along with its gigabytes of free content.
Once installed you would still have to be online to activate Poser, and of course it will also ping the registration server periodically. Thus the USB key method should not be thought to be a wholly offline solution, for someone with no regular Internet connection. Still, it could be useful for some with a slow and/or tightly-metered mobile-phone connection. Though bear in mind you may need to order another USB in the Autumn, if Poser comes out of Early Access then. I’m guessing U.S. software export restrictions may also kick in if you want it sent to dodgy nations such as Iran, Cuba, Syria etc.
The outback or mountaintop-dwelling Poser artist who prefers Poser 11.3 will instead want the $80 Poser Pro 11 serials from NeoWin (resellers for Bondware, the new top-level owners of Poser). Then you’d get someone to do the downloading of 11.3 to a USB and the snail-mailing of it to you. Again, there would be online activation needed, and it also pings home periodically.
Time for a change… to Poser 11
A new Blender video proves a pretty good advert for Poser’s real-time comic-book rendering…
Just look at those insane render-times, and this is from a guy who know what he’s doing with Blender and has a fast PC.
Poser Pro 11 for $80, real-time and easy-to-use. R E A L T I M E. Also Poser’s lineart is just so much more natural-looking, or it is if you’re doing it right. There’s also Poser’s Sketch, which can even Sketch into what you see in the comic-book mode. Not to mention running the old-school Firefly lines through G’MIC.
Kdenlive before 2019
Ooops. If you installed the free video-editor Kdenlive…
“before 10th July 2019, simply delete the installed files and folders manually”
This is because, if installed to a custom install folder rather than Program Files…
“the application Uninstaller was deleting all user data in the installation folder”
Yup, so the Uninstaller would delete your My Documents if that’s where it was located. Possibly even C:/, if installed on the root. Nasty.
But the uninstaller is obviously still screwy even in the latest version. I could not get the latest software to start, tried to uninstall, and was denied. Killing processes made no difference. Rebooting the PC made no difference. There are complaints on the forums about the same thing, and about how many inter-op processes its spawns even when not active. Eventually I had to manually delete all its folders and its AppData (two locations) and then clean the Registry to get rid of it.
What a pain. Stay well away from this software, whatever the reviewers may have said about it 18 months ago.
How to have PzDB shut down quickly
A useful tip for shutting down PzDB quickly. PzDB is the popular third-party Poser Library database-and-search software.
1. Index your small Poser 11 runtime at C:\Users\Public\Documents\Poser 11 Content\Runtime
(Assuming it is small, it is for me. You might also use your Vue library as an equally small proxy)
2. Always switch back to this one library and disable the others (main DAZ, main Poser runtime, Vue etc) before shutdown of PzDB. Do a ‘blank’ search that brings its contents to view.
3. PzDB will now shut down far more quickly than when exiting with one or more mega-runtimes loaded.
I suspect the ‘long shutdown’ problem is with the MS Access which PzDB runs on, rather than PzDB itself. Anyway, this is a workaround that works for those with 20-year runtimes.
Release: KeyShot 10.2
KeyShot 10.2 has been released. There is one important new feature that may interest those who have been trying to port over a Genesis figure to render in KeyShot. There’s a new Mesh Simplification tool. It appears to be all or nothing, though. Its simple UI suggests you can’t crunch just the mesh in the body under the clothes, while leaving neck and face and hands untouched. Unless perhaps you still have well-named mesh layers inside KeyShot.
For selective mesh reduction you would ideally need the official Decimator plugin inside DAZ Studio before export, and that plugin is still at $100 on the DAZ Store.
Those taking posed and dressed Genesis 8 figures over to Poser (for the comic-book line-art and sketch features, not for photoreal) will want the Automatic OBJ Exporter script set and the $50 Atangeo Balancer, to speed the process and make the figure wieldy in Poser. Atangeo does a very good job, is easy to use, and is far more stable than Meshlab. The downside there is no re-pose-ability. The result is a static .OBJ figure, but at least after decimation it doesn’t weigh umpteen gigabytes.
I have not been able to test it yet, but apparently KeyShot 10.x has fixed the ‘butterfly-wing eyelashes’ problem on DAZ figure imports. The problem was previously caused by lack of support for transparency maps, but is now said to be fixed.
Those trying to take Genesis to KeyShot for photoreal may also want the Realistic Skin Shader for Keyshot. Though it’s probably now a lot less hassle just to stick with iRay, now that iRay has seen a number of very major speed-boosts over the last few years.
What’s new for DAZ and Poser – May 2021
It’s the end of the month again, time for another personal survey of new DAZ and Poser goodies.
Update: Thanks to Kevin M. I’ve solved my problem with the infinite scrolling on the DAZ Store, which after a while causes the thumbnail loading to freeze. This had caused me to have to skip some DAZ Store items that were too far back in time. Setting “Items Per Page” to 60 brings back the paginated browsing.
Science fiction:
Android X02 for G8M AddOn which adds a cape and cowl to Android X02 for G8M. Also discounted at the CGbytes Store. Here we see it matte, without the shiny chrome plating.
Equally retro is Vintage SciFi Spacesuit for G8F. Nicely done, and it does look like something you might have seen on the cover of Marvel Tales in the 1930s.
Liquidator Mask for Genesis 8. I assume it’s not ‘near fan-art’, but I guess it could be similar to something in a current TV series?
Steampunk:
Very little this month, but what there is is handsome. The first Russian submarine. No format specified, but I assume .OBJ?
Fantasy:
MortemVetus brings his classic Graycrest for Michael 4 back to the market. Was at RuntimeDNA, so veteran 3D-ers may already have him in the runtime.
When Greycrest is around you’ll be needing the new Conquerors Delight – Burnt to the Ground Hovel from Cybertenko.
Greycrest may also want to stride along Sixus1’s Viking Shores Scene and Props, currently just $7.50 at DAZ.
Cybertenko’s Wolf Skin for Poser and M4. It does not appear to come with a preset for Poser dynamic hair, but someone will surely make such a furry freebie for it. See also Cybertenko’s recent Mari Lwyd head-dress.
Oculus Guard from Cybertenko. A typical D&D style gate-guard monster. Probably lives in the new Ruined Tower.
Storybook:
Free Cake for DAZ Studio. Also Donuts.
After junior has gorged on cake, he’ll be needing to burn off the sugar on the free Big Wheel for Baby Luna, a big ride-on toy bike.
Classic Fairy Poses and Expressions for La Femme, for Poser.
Toon and semi-toon:
MightyMite has a new pack of superhero/villain masks Kitbashers 087 for G3, several of which appeal. I think the second is fairly close to the karate guy in Marvel’s Inhumans, though.
A fine Retro Toon Car and Caravan (trailer-home). So far as I know it’s not fan-art. And there’s a Toon Fly for comedy interactions with the driver.
Another free Toon Car, a sort of off-road dune buggy. Also a Toon Zombie Van. Again, I assume these are not fan-art. Check before commercial use in a comic etc.
Snokulina8 for G8F, a semi-toon character.
Environments and plants:
A complete Pacific Northwest Botanica forest for DAZ Studio.
Wetlands Low-res Plants, for large ponds and lakes.
A shallow-water offshore Oil Platform for Poser.
Animals:
Little Friends Insect Bundle for DAZ Studio, including a bumble-bee.
Free, Kerya’s Lizard Poses for DAZ Studio and Kerya’s Lizard Poses for Poser. For KenG’s Lizards.
Nostrils Down For Ken’s Tortoise for Poser. Because tortoise nostrils don’t look like terrapin nostrils. It could matter, if you’re making illustrations for an encyclopedia, pet-care guidebook etc.
Yard Things including bird-boxes. Or “snack-boxes”, as cats think of them.
Animations and Still Poses for AM’s Mouse. Video demo.
NM Seashells in 3D. Vue seashore and rock-pool artists may also be interested in these.
Historical:
Faxhion – Fancy Day for DAZ. 1970s Abba-tastic pop-group textures for Fancy Day dForce outfit for G8F.
Now-Crowd Billboards – Roman Legion. Want 100 characters in the scene, and have no CERN-scale supercomputer handy? No problem, these are all 2D billboards.
Viking Spear and Spear Poses for Genesis 8. Looks like it has just about all you would need for spear hunting and warfare.
Characters and accessories:
A free Private Cinema for DAZ Studio.
RawArt’s Bernie for Genesis 8 Male. Apparently not HD, which is a big plus.
Free Old man grey skin for G8 and G3.
A free Yul Bnunner M4 ZBrush morph for Poser.
Big chunky Summer Style sunglasses for Genesis 8.
DAZ Carrara Presets for Genesis 8.1.
Can you feel ‘the goth revival’ building, among the yoof? Then you’ll be needing the DZ G8M GothZ 3 shorts and boots, and the dForce Dark Vamp Outfit.
Scripts and node maps:
SkinEdit for Poser 12. For Poser 12 only. One-click to make a Firefly character into a Superfly character.
Scripts Manager for Poser 12. For Poser 12 only.
Depth Cue for Poser 11 with Firefly, including a .MT5 material based on the work. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks an interesting alternative to the z-buffers and is fully documented.
Tutorials:
Plugins: A Tutorial Exploring Utilities for DAZ Studio.
Community Art Workshops Using Stonemason Assets.
Reframing: Identifying and Reframing Limiting Beliefs for Artists.
Fantasy Taverns: A Workshop on Multi-Character and Atmospheric Scenes.
That’s it, more picks next month.
Blender 3.0 – pose library
Blender 3.0 will apparently enable users to have a Pose Library and save presets to it…
It’s still in development and looks very far from making Blender a drop-in replacement for DAZ / Poser, but it should be useful for some.
Release: new version of MeshLab
MeshLab 2021.05 has been released. Installer downloads are here. The leading free 3D mesh-wrangler can now do ‘pretty’…
“MeshLab now allows to load custom GL shaders”
And texture-map defragmentation, and multi-layer support on .3DS files. Plugins, too.
The fab new stuff we might get… in a few years
Coming up at SIGGRAPH 2021…
StyleCariGAN… “a caricature generation framework based on StyleGAN, which automatically creates a realistic and detailed caricature from an input photo, with optional controls on shape exaggeration and color stylization.”
AgileGAN, apparently an instant cartoon-ifer, less twisted than StyleCariGAN.
Auto-dance timed to the music beats and speed etc. Doesn’t the MikuMiku type software do this already? Well, if it doesn’t, it will soon.
Autocomplete for inking artists, ‘making several short curves to form a longer one’.
Smoke-ring fractal generation. Not exactly Gandalf-quality, but perhaps they can add modifiers for more complexity.
Realistic melting wax animation simulator.
Loose-mesh fabrics that behave realistically and can be ‘pulled’ onto a figure-part, like knitted socks being pulled onto feet.
Generate “real-world” ecosystems with balanced ecologies. Not sure if the animals get to eat each other.
Identify “internal structures” in a picture, auto-animate them as loops.
Better automatic pallette re-sorting.
Seamless manga inpainting, seemingly “for the first time”. Apparently to be used for auto-removal of speech-bubbles from old paper comics that are not in digital format. Not sure it’s that useful though, as mostly you’d just want to blank rather than remove the bubbles.
No advances in auto-coloring of greyscale paintings, by the look of it.