Category Archives: Carrara

Mad Scientist Lab Survey: Part Two.

This post looks at the resources available for the classic 1930s-style laboratory itself, for DAZ Studio or Poser users.

Some products were a good fit for the days of Poser 4, but things have moved on a bit and today you may want to re-texture some of the props. There’s a nice range of electrical capacitors and suchlike here.

This could be combined with the products by Coflek-Gnorg…

This could be paired with the M.S.L. Cloning Facility…

DAZ has a larger stage for Tesla-like lightning experiments, the “Faraday Cage” pack…

The Science Lab and Chemistry Set is a good selection of Poser-ready objects…

You can also get a free set of lab stuff from the CG Lighting Challenge archives.

The DAZ Store has a full Mad Scientist Lab, the “Mad Lab”.

For free tanks, those with old runtimes may have the Zaibora Nexus tanks in the library…

The Angel Egg Dream Machine pack has a useful vintage control panel and projector screen…

Finally, there a basic Lab Mouse which is light on resources, so you could have many of them in a scene. Poser’s Hair Room should be able to give them fur fairly easily.

Mad Scientist Lab Survey: Part One.

The brain-in-the-jar has been a staple of science fiction since the 1920s and probably earlier. This blog post is a survey of the 3d content assets available in this line for DAZ Studio or Poser and elsewhere. It’s the first of an occasional survey of the contents needed for a ‘mad scientist lab’.

The DAZ 3D Brain Model, complete with shelf jar, is an obvious first stop…

The AntFarm on the DAZ Store has this Dr. Mason package…

A contemporary update on the theme, the Memory Storage Device…

The Cargobots And Containers set could also be adapted, with transparent materials.

Need something bigger? Coflek-Gnorg’s Sci-Fi Chambers Megapack should do the job for your giant talking brain scenes…

Runtime DNA has the RDNA Psiberion Vol 1 for Michael 2… Was at the RuntimeDNA store, but since its closure the model now appears to be lost.

Also worth a mention is that iClone users have this fully animatable Cyborg Librarian head…

There were also a couple of ‘alien brain in tank’ Poser models I remember from way back, but they seem to have vanished from the Web.

Update, Oct 2013: Think Tank.

Added to my recent survey of steampunk content assets. This delightful new steampunk hot-air balloon for Poser and DAZ, with a brass bathysphere-type basket. It’s just arrived on YURdigital at just $10…

Made by SkyCaptain, a name to watch if you like affordable steampunk models.

This is my survey of the best of the 3D house cats for Poser 9, Poser Pro 2014, and DAZ Studio, available in early 2012:

Millennium Cat:

The DAZ Millennium Cat is of course the master moggie that you must have, and she has long since chased the earlier and lesser Poser cats out of the neighbourhood. The base cat is available on the DAZ Store…

She works fine in Poser. There is also an “LE” edition that looks identical, but which has less morphs and thus has a less taxing effect on your PC. The LE is currently free.

Seven beautiful extra textures for the Millenium Cat can be had for free at PlanIt.

You can also buy the “Classic Cats Combo” textures pack on the DAZ Store.

Need a wildcat or bobcat texture? Yup, there is one. Cloud and Castle has a free wildcat texture for the Millenium Cat…

For depicting more civilized kittees, your classical Egyptian cat renders can take advantage of “Bast for Millennium Cat” pack, available on the DAZ store…

Animations and poses for Millenium Cat:

Paid poses packs for the MilCat are available; and the “LB Millennium Cat Poses” and the “Purrfect Poses for the Millennium Cat” on the DAZ Store.

Kittee toys and baskets:

The DAZ Store has the “Millennium Cat Props” containing such items as sleeping baskets, indoor cat trees, and a litter box, etc.

Fur:

Poser users can get fur as standard, without any addons. Although a careful application of parts of something like the Instant Hair Collection PSD Photoshop files, in Photoshop, might reduce render times considerably. Advanced Photoshop users should also take a look at the amazing filter plugin Alien Skin Eye Candy: Textures (Animal Fur), which can do a lot more than the Alien Skin website’s lacklustre samples suggest.

For fur DAZ users will need to upgrade to DAZ Carrara, and then install the “Real Fur for the Millennium Cat” addon pack from the DAZ Store. Another alternative is the “Furify: Fur Shaders” pack, which also works on Poser.

There was also a “Furred Cat Short” pack, which appears to have worked, but is no longer sold. Update: It’s now called Fluffy Cat for the Millennium Cat and is sold at Hivewire.

Toon cats:

The cutest kittee is Yanelis’s free Mesky & Blackie for Poser. Was at RuntimeDNA, now appears to be lost. The Blackie kitten comes with Dynamic Hair for Poser…

There are some pretty ugly toon cats out there, but I think the most pleasing balance between realistic and toon is the new Noodle from 3D Universe…

Noodle comes with good texures, and posing dials (not preset poses). Noodle once had a free Mimic file for all your talking cat needs, but sadly it vanished in the 3D Universe website makeover of Nov 2012. However, I tracked down a copy at the South African version of 3DU.

There’s also a classy toon cat in the form of Cupcake. And Tom Pawyer is an excellent male toon morph set for Cupcake.

Spooky cats:

Need a cat skeleton that you can make glow-in-the-dark? Try the Skele Cat for Poser. It’s actually a lion skeleton, but if you scale it down I expect that not many viewers will actually spot the difference…

Cheshire Cat is Alice in Wonderland via Tim Burton…

A little too garish? There’s an eight texture pack FuzzBallz for Cheshire Cat that gives this fearsomely pink grimalkin a much more natural look, but which can’t do much about the lamp-like eyes. The Cheshire cat accepts poses from the old Poser cat and the new Millennium cat.

There was once a morph set for the Cheshire Cat that turned it into more of a thinner demon-style cat, but it appears to have vanished without trace.

A leaner Halloween-style cat is Black Cat. Although it’s old now and doesn’t stand close-ups like the Millennium Cat does, it might be especially good for silhouettes with a little rim lighting and some Poser fur…

Robot cats:

The Cat Robot is the only one I know of…

There’s definitely a gap in the market for a steam-punk cat robot, I’d say.

Update: see also the “D-Claws and D-Squeek” cat robot on the DAZ Store.

Sci-fi:

There was once an “alien cats” pack of morphs and textures, but it appears to be no longer available…

Home environments:

There are plenty of normal home environments for DAZ and Poser, but the Crazy Cat Lady Mobile Home perhaps deserves a special mention.

That’s it! Enjoy your kittee renders and animations!

A new addition to Jack Tomalin’s sci-fi GIS series of high-quality interiors have just landed for DAZ Studio and Poser — “GIS Sigma” and its additional Future Quiet texture pack are available now. GIS Sigma 3D science fiction architectures are pretty much how I’d imagine the movies of Asimov’s Foundation books might look when the first is released in 2013.

This blog now has a single port of call, a new fixed page that collects links to all my themed surveys of Poser and DAZ 3D content.

This is my fairly comprehensive list for those making stills, comics and animations in Poser or the free DAZ Studio, featuring the personage and mythos of the science fiction / horror author H.P. Lovecraft. I’m assuming that you want to limit yourself to the Mythos created by the man himself, and not the bolt-ons added by his many acolytes.

Everything in this list is royalty-free content.

1. You might want to start with the man himself, who can be found in 3D form at Meshbox/Miyre ($13). Only Poser users get eyes-mouth facial motion capability (there’s a free expression set for Poser), as these features of the model don’t work in DAZ. In DAZ, the figure accepts aniMate animations. Once installed, he’s found under ../figures/HPLovecraft. He looks a bit waxy, but some good Poser skin shaders would probably make quite a difference. (Update: Meshbox also now offer an updated DAZ friendly version from their website).

2. His typewriter, complete with moving platen, can be purchased at Renderosity ($7) and comes with a distressed and aged texture as well as the usual ‘brand new’-look textures. Purists will want to hack the textures, to change the logo to that of a 1906 Remington…

3. A version of Cthulhu, seemingly an early effort by Sixus1, is available at Renderosity ($20)…

4. There’s also Poisen’s Cthulhus ($6) which is well worth having and beautifully modelled and textured…

UPDATE: new high-quality Cthulhu, the DAZ Store’s excellent Cthulhu Rising…

5. There’s an Elder Thing ($20), also at Runtime DNA…

6. A Mi-Go ($8)…

7. Sixus1 has a range of Aquarians ($10) inspired by “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”…

8. And there are also addons for the Aquarians, such as the Priest of Dagon ($7) and Aquarians: Obed’s Clothes ($8)…

There’s also an Aquarians Bundle.

9. Sixus1’s Phibians ($10) would, with a bit of modification, pass as far-gone Deep Ones.

10. Those wanting to digitally sculpt their own Deep One in the ZBrush software, can find a tutorial in the February-March issue of CG Arena…

11. For free over at the Google 3D Warehouse, is a huge collection of Lovecraft items and buildings. These can be saved as OBJ files from the free Google Sketchup, and the collection has already been converted for iClone.

12. You’ll also find a lot of 1910s/1920s props floating around the content stores (see the links over on the sidebar of this blog), such as trucks, buses, and store interiors such as the Old West Mercantile Interior ($17)…

That’s all I know of, as of Spring 2012 October 2012. Most of these DAZ/Poser items can also be converted for iClone fairly easily.

Do you know of any more 3D characters and models, that arise from Lovecraft’s original vision?

Update: Summer 2012. The Spiral Descent Cave Entrance looks nice and could be combined with The Pit.

Update: Summer 2012. The Mantabat for Poser could be textured to be a cool Lovecraftian Night Gaunt.

Update: August 2012. Found Sixus1’s early Night Gaunt. (Now vanished)

Update: October 2012. New quality Cthulhu character for DAZ and Poser.

Update: September 2013. A new free Cave Octopus for DAZ (.duf file).

Update: March 2014. Dead Pool could be a stand in for the working fishing port section of Innsmouth.

Update: January 2019. 24 Expressions for the Lovecraft 3D character from Meshbox.

Update: August 2020: There was a Stonemason item called “Whispering Wall”, which featured a strongly Lovecraft-like face in a wall, with a few expression morphs. I’ve tried it and it’s not worth having, and has been withdrawn from the market. Hopefully Stonemason might one-day remake it in some new form.