Posted in Comics, DAZ Studio, Freebies, Poser, Spotted in the News, Tutorials
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A free Visual Narratives Workshop on making digital comics, with Digital Art Live. This coming Sunday, 28th July 2019.
The new DAZ Studio 4.11 is available,. It’s been out a few weeks now, but as usual it seems impossible to find a full official changelog via search. The main new things in 4.11 are…
1) a new and much-needed Denoiser for iRay renders, to remove the speckles, grain and fireflies. Several tests I’ve seen suggest this works fairly well.
2) the new dForce-enabled strand hair. I’ve seen some fiddly-looking tutorials, but as yet no one-click preset packs which offer nice furry makeovers for popular DAZ creatures. I assume it increases render time, and apparently it often doesn’t play nicely with the new Denoiser.
Note that the Denoiser is GPU (graphics card) only. Those who, like me, run their occasional iRay renders with Scene Optimizer + CPU seem unlikely to see the Denoiser in action.
It’s time for another survey and picks of the new goodies, released this month for use with DAZ Studio and Poser.
Steampunk:
Ancient Atmospheric Diving Suit by Cybertenko.
AS Nocturne luxury airship.
Steam Powered Dirigible for DAZ Studio.
Xigbar for Genesis 8 Male, a freebie with eyepatch and hair. Seems to suit the steampunk airship-captain style. Perhaps a freebie because he resembles a game character? Check that if you want to use him in a commercial comic.
Science fiction:
Project Eden for DAZ Studio. Shown here without textures so you can see what’s going on…
Lunar Hotel for DAZ Studio.
Historical:
A free British Commando for M3. Since the British Army have ‘prior art’ on this outfit, I doubt even commercial use would be infringing, even if it is from a game — as the uploader’s other Wolfenstein uploads seem to suggest it may be. The saved .ZIP needs to be re-named to the .RAR type.
Oxford Classroom for DAZ Studio. A pre-1945 English classroom in the University of Oxford style.
A free ramshackle 17th-19th century Raft with barrels.
Goddess Braids For Genesis 3 And 8 Female, in the ancient Mediterranean style.
Ancient building thatched. Northern Iron Age, and low-poly so one could probably build a village of them in the same scene. The modern-looking square brick chimney would need to be removed for authenticity.
Secret Society Room by Coflek-gnorg, for Poser. A classic 1960’s Bond-style lair for scheming plotters. With more Edwardian style chairs, it could also serve for Sherlock Holmes scenes.
Fantasy:
Gruesome Ghoul for Genesis 8 Male. With a nice ‘Frank Frazetta paperback cover’ look, but also a nod to the H.P. Lovecraft of “Pickman’s Model” and the Dreamlands. The body looks to have had as much design attention as the head.
Medieval River Quarry, a freebie, with a hefty 123Mb download due to “detailed UV-Mapping up to 4096×4096 to allow quality textures”. Would probably look good looming up in a Vue atmosphere.
Characters:
Alt Sanjay 8, a useful generic modern Indian Modi-era guy with lots of suitable body morphs. Requires the more Bollywood-hero Sanjay 8 character and the Genesis 8 Male morph packs for body and head.
Also, the flagship Poser figure La Femme is now at version 1.1 with a variety of updates and tweaks.
Clothing and poses:
Blisstopia dForce Cloak and Bodysuit for G3F/G8F. Looks useful for a wide range of scenes and genres.
A free Genesis 8 Male Hawking Pose for the ancient sport of hawking. Not something you see every day.
Toon:
Scampixie Pranx 2 for Poser 11 and DAZ Studio. With a freebie Braid Hair and free Chibi. Also a free American Majorette costumes and American Marching Band pack. Also some free Poses.
Toon Hero for Genesis 8 Male with matching ‘airbrushed toony’ body texture.
Boss Dog for Poser. Requires Bulldog and the Poser 8 Dog. Possibly released a while back, but newly noticed by me at CG Bytes. Should toon well with Poser 11’s comic-book mode.
Animations for Nursoda’s Kelm and Bong. Given that poses for one Nursoda character also often fit another, I’m guessing these may also more-or-less work on his other characters too, such as Dr. Pitterbill?
Storybook:
Flying car/boat, albeit low-poly. Possibly too good to be true, at just $5 on CG Trader. Do some research before you use it in a commercial storybook.
More believable Genesis 8 Young Child Poses from BBarbs, such as this…
Girl’s Clothing Store and Caribbean Village exterior street to serve as an exterior.
A free Duck Buoy for V4, K4, A4.
Animals:
Hedgehog Rigged. I’m pretty sure DAZ Studio already has something very like this. But it may be of interest to some.
European Otter in HD. A ridiculous price of $249, but I’m including this here in the hope someone might be inspired to make a DAZ otter to showcase the new dForce strand hair, perhaps even give it wet/dry looks (it swims underwater).
Songbird ReMix Ostriches, all five species. “Completely updated in June 2019 to include a new file structure with native versions for both Daz Studio and Poser.”
A prehistoric underwater Drepanasis.
Landscapes:
3D Tropical Holiday beach for Vue 7 or higher.
Mountain Set by ShaaraMuse3D. HD micro-landscapes resembling what you’d see on the rocky floor at an old iron foundry, or in the scree of a high volcanic mountain landscape.
Utilities:
RSSY Hair Converter from Victoria 4 to Genesis 8 Female. Appears to be fairly easy and semi-automatic.
Tutorials:
How to Create Sci-fi Special Effects.
How to Make Amazing PBR Materials for DAZ, using Substance Alchemist.
That’s all my picks for this month. More in July!
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!
Animals:
Alioramus altai DR, a new and somewhat feathery dinosaur from Dinoraul.
Hivewire’s new Red Stag and Red Stag LAMH Preset. Also a Fallow Deer.
A new set of Animations for the HiveWire Big Cat. I guess you might also get something from these if you tried them on the Housecat, too.
Songbird Remix Shorebirds Vol 4. Including a scarlet Ibis.
Also Songbird ReMix Flock Formations, for rapid setup of flocking flight for your ReMix birds.
Hair:
3Dream’s Freestuff now includes a big range of SuperFly MATs for older Poser hair.
Sylvia Tied Bun Hair for Genesis 8 Female.
Everyday:
A new La Femme Business Suit, for Poser 11.
dForce Office Wear for G8M and the more casual but still office-ish dForce Basic Jacket Outfit.
Adult and Baby care poses for Genesis 8.
Message-Shirt for Genesis 8 Female. A G8 shirt that lets you easily apply your own logo or slogan. Also a similar Magic Baseball Cap.
Need somewhere to stash your fab dForce garments? The new FG Closet for DAZ Studio.
Interiors and exteriors:
Cloakroom Clutter for DAZ Studio.
London Courtyard for DAZ Studio. A modern London townhouse. And matching dForce Oxford Outfit.
Arabic Living Room for DAZ Studio.
Utilities:
Iray SurfaceWorx. Easily add dust and grime layers, but keep most of the underlying textures.
MF Content Bookmarks. Add a Bookmarks feature to your DAZ Studio Content Library.
Karina’s EasyPose to Normal Pose, for Poser characters.
Soft Body Morphs for G8F in DAZ Studio. Makes G8F squish-able in small ways.
Tutorials:
Powerful Poses : How to Create Dynamic Pose Sets for DAZ Studio characters.
Motion Graphics : Easy Animation for Visual Storytelling.
Prime Postwork Secrets with Drew Spence.
OK, that’s it. More picks next month!
Currently free on DAZ, the M4 Hero Pro Pack. This includes the base M4 + the M4 Pro Pack + a load of M4 extras. “Michael 4 Shapes++” includes “Michael 4 Genitalia” and seems to include the vital “M4 Morphs++” pack in a supercharged expanded version — this may even interest those who think they already have the M4 and Morphs++ combo.
If you’re new to DAZ and Poser, and get this, you may want want my tutorial on how to activate and load Micheal 4 and Morphs++.
Also currently free is the original Troll, which is worth having in your runtime as there were many extras and makeovers and freebies made for him.
Right then, it’s near enough the end of the month. Time for a survey of the new content released in April for Poser, Daz and Vue.
Note that I’m no longer covering freebies if they’re only ‘non-commercial use’ or if the licencing is confused (i.e saying “commercial use” in one place on the page and “all rights reserved” in another). Certain fan-art is excepted, where it’s obvious that there can’t be commercial use.
Science fiction:
Mervin the Alien HD for Genesis 8 Male.
Space Bundle for DAZ Studio. A highly detailed near-future cockpit and matching spacesuit for G8F.
A Port Horizon spaceport scene for Poser and DAZ Studio. Also The AntFarm’s Sci-Fi Wall for DAZ Studio.
Alpha One Ghost Outfit For Genesis 8 Female.
Not especially well-served by its preview renders, but ATVE Strider looks like it would have potential for wide desert scenes.
A free Phytopanel Wall suitable for ‘sci-fi greenhouse’ type scenes, and a room set into which the panels might fit.
An Italian style Monocycle ‘Mono-Scooter’ as an .FBX with material zones. On the new ArtStation Marketplace, at a very reasonable price and with commercial use.
Lickalicious for Genesis 8 Female, a mutant “super tongue” for G8F. With nine new bones in the tongue.
StarJet Cockpit for the StarJet.
Orbit Apartment for DAZ Studio.
There’s a new Collection at 3D Warehouse for free Space stations for SketchUp.
Steampunk:
Steam Voyager, a very nice Jasper Morello -style airship for DAZ Studio.
Wild West Mine, which could be fairly easily adapted for steampunk.
dForce Fancy Punk Genesis 8 and Travel Suitcase Collection for DAZ Studio.
Sliced for G8F and PBR texture set. Looks super, with uses from Doctor Who monsters, to fantasy forest-spirits, to steampunk mechanoids, to sci-fi aliens.
Cartoon Airplane at CGTrader. Low-poly but detailed, as a 44Mb OBJ. I’m guessing it’s probably the 4K materials that are making the file size so big, for a supposedly low-poly craft. It looks a bit Miyazaki / anime, but I’m assuming it’s not fan-art.
K-9 freebie for Poser. The famous robot dog from Doctor Who, and thus of course for fan-art only.
Free Steam Powered Clock at BlendSwap. For Blender, so you’d need to wrestle with the infernal Blender UI and export to .OBJ.
3 Wheeler car for DAZ Studio.
There’s a new Collection at 3D Warehouse for free Monowheels and monocycles models for SketchUp. See also the older MrSparky’s free CogBike for Poser, with V3/M3 pose.
Fantasy:
Behemoth HD for Genesis 8 Male.
Gladeling Female for G8F and dForce Gladeling Female Outfit.
There’s also Gladeling Male for G8M and outfit.
Fantasy Hair for G3 and G8 females and a set of hair colours.
Historical:
HD 3D Scenery: Buried Remains for Poser, from expert scenery maker ShaaraMuse3D. Very high-res textures. Suited to ‘prehistoric’ sabre-tooth tiger -type pictures, as well as modern pictures.
Jack Tomalin’s Trinity Atrium Fallen Iray Addon for Trinity Atrium Fallen for Trinity Atrium.
Authentic Early Roman Empire Imperial Legion guard, for Genesis 8 Male.
Retro dforce Retro Swimsuit from the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Audrey Hepburn for Genesis 8 Female.
Storybook:
BBarbs continues her fine series of believable Genesis 8 Young Child Poses, as freebies with commercial use.
dForce Prairie Queen For GF8 and textures pack. An American Pioneer outfit from the days of the Frontier. Could also serve as more of a generic Grimm’s fairy-tales storybook outfit.
Creepy Old Attic for DAZ Studio.
Interiors:
TS Barbershop and Hair Salon for DAZ Studio.
Oxford Library for DAZ Studio.
Landscapes:
Soggy Bottom for DAZ Studio, a new-made bog-garden with paths and pools.
“The long oasis” for Vue, and a free Stretch Tent for shading your desert scenes as a Poser freebie prop with commercial use.
Kake-zukuri Temple and garden, by a name new to me, i74.
Underwater scenes could be enhanced by the new Scuba Gear for Genesis 3 Male.
Animals:
Three volumes of Poser shorebirds, by Poser bird expert Ken Gilliland. Songbird ReMix Shorebirds Vol 1 for Wading Birds inc. Sacred Ibis (Ancient Egyptian); Vol 2 – Herons & Bitterns including the classic Heron; and Vol 3 – Small Waders for mudflats and shorelines.
HiveWire Antler Pack for the HiveWire Mule Deer Buck, which itself requires the HiveWire Horse for Poser.
There’s also a Whitetail Deer LAMH Preset for this and the CWRW Whitetail Buck textures, both at HiveWire…
Marguerite The Cow HD and Denver The Calf HD , both requiring the DAZ Horse 2. There’s also a Poses set for cow and calf and child milkmaid, and a complete French Cowshed.
Purr-fect kittimations with Animations for Millennium Cat, Pack 1, Animations and aniBlocks for Millennium Cat, Pack 2, for DAZ’s Millennium Cat in either Poser or DAZ Studio.
Tyrannosaurus Rex 3 Saddles and Poses for the new Tyrannosaurus Rex 3. After riding one of these your character might be needing a trip to the Wild West Outhouse.
Characters and generic clothing/hair:
Ethan for Genesis 8 Male. An excellent male character, believable and great hair. Looks like a very flexible guy, re: being able to range from medieval dragon-fighter to 1940s noir detective to spaceship captain and beyond.
dForce_French Twist Hair for Genesis 8 Female. Free dForce hair, with colours, and commercial use.
A dForce cape Splendid Chic for Genesis 8 Females which seems to offer all sorts of flexibility in terms of settings, from an Irish colleen to a sci-desert nomad and beyond.
Maki for La Femme, an affordable makeover from Japan for Poser 11’s La Femme.
La Femme – Another Look MATs, giving Poser 11’s new La Femme flagship female character an older and more weather-worn look.
A free set of G8M M8 romantic couple poses, SN I love U Poses.
Toon and semi-toon:
Toony Lizard Head Morphs for G8F.
Diarmuid for G8M, a Scottish-looking semi-toon lad character for DAZ Studio.
A toon-ish 3D model Shipwrecked Boat and a nice Wooden Pier at CG Trader, in .OBJ.
Shaders, materials and add-ons:
Vince Bagna’s SuperShaders for Poser 11 SuperFly, Volumes 1 & 2. Over 300 high quality Cycles shaders for the SuperFly engine in Poser 11, easily applied via presets. A must-have for Poser users.
Atmocam2 for DAZ Studio.
Render Queue for iRay, for DAZ Studio.
Tutorials:
Wrangling the Daz Studio Content Library.
Ten Style Secrets for Sequential Art.
That’s all for the month. More picks next month!
Ah, the smell of a new freebie cover-disk, physically taped to the cover of your latest inky print magazine. The careful finger-wrestling needed to get it away without damaging the cover, the sensual slide into the whirring CD-bay in your PC.
But that’s an experience that’s gone down the memory-hole, in these days of broadband abundance and digital magazine delivery. Yet the giant garage-sale that is Archive.org can recreate the old-time feeling somewhat, with its software archive of CD ISOs (for which you need Daemon Tools Lite to mount as a browsable disc on your PC).
One good thing about the arrival of the first wave of broadband and DVDs was that the magazine cover-discs became very chunky and high-value, as the magazines strove to compete with the Internet from about 2006-2011. While nearly all the software they carried has been superseded, there are still free 3D models to be found on such platters…
Stuff for Poser Sampler (Zygote Media Group) (1998)
At 260Mb this was a CD, and small enough to get and test. Not worth having, although I did spot the old Zygote doe (deer), which when remapped and furred should look acceptable even today. Plus, light enough to have an animated herd.
Enter 3 CD-ROM (2005)
Apparently has the “DAZ Studio Base Content” install for DAZ Studio 3.
3D World Issue 110 CD (2008)
“Turbo Squid contributes a broad selection of clothing-based models, while linefour supplies fabric textures and models. DAZ Productions is providing its popular Morphing Fantasy Dress for free, along with supporting expansion packs and other clothing assets. Poser World also offers a quartet of real-world attire.”
3D World Issue 111 CD (2008)
“the complete scene files for this issue’s Vue and After Effects double-header [tutorial], including a deer model provided courtesy of DAZ Productions.” [possibly the same as the one on the Zygote sampler linked above]
3D World Issue 112 CD (2009)
“a rigged hummingbird figure for Poser from Runtime DNA, and two substantial model selections from ModelUP and Flat Pyramid”.
3D World Issue 113 (2009)
“Trial version of the aniMate plug-in for DAZ Studio, along with an exclusive sampler of animation clips for use with the software”.
3D World Issue 114 CD (2009)
“DAZ Productions contributes Michael 3.0 Base, a complete rigged figure with bonus textures, morphs and clothing and hair props”
3D World Issue 116 CD (2009)
“DAZ Productions is in heroic mood, offering a selection of bodysuits and textures for Michael 4 and Hiro 4, as well as The Freak”.
3D World Issue 119 CD (2009)
“figure models worth $233 from aXYZ design, buildings worth $232 from Flat Pyramid, a Poser figure pack”.
3D World Issue 120 CD (2009)
“a set of five high-quality models from Amazing 3D Graphics, an ultra-detailed human figure from ShineFX, and a collection of assets for DAZ Productions’ new The Girl 4 figure.”
3D World Issue 121 CD (2009)
“3d02.com offers five models in 3DS, MAX, OBJ and other formats, while Flat Pyramid provides a brain model for our 10-Minute Tutorial. DAZ Productions contributes a range of future vehicles for science-fiction renders in DAZ Studio or Poser. DAZ Studio 3 is also complete on the disc.”
3D World Issue 123 CD (2009)
“models from TurboSquid, DAZ Productions and Vanishing Point” [and] “the full version of Shade 8.5 Professional, as sold for $899. Mac and Windows versions are provided with tutorials” [e-frontier’s 8.5 release of its old-school 3D modelling software was 64-bit, and apparently there was PoserFusion connectivity with Poser. Superseded now by better options].
3D World Issue 124 CD (2009)
“models from Bluebrain 3D and The3DStudio.com, along with Poser assets from RuntimeDNA and Vue assets from Cornucopia3D”
3D World Issue 125 CD (2010)
“models from TurboSquid and ShineFX, along with DAZ Studio and Poser assets from DAZ Productions”
3D World Issue 127 CD (2010)
“a mammoth line-up of vehicle models and other assets. There’s a whole traffic jam’s worth of car models from Falling Pixel, The3dStudio.com, Arte-3D and Cornucopia3D, plus more modes of transport from DAZ Productions and modelLab.”
3D World Issue 132 CD (2010)
“an impressive collection of architectural models from Intero Visuals”
3D World Issue 134 CD (2010)
“models from The Game Creators, PROVIZ3D, Xfrog and Poser World”
3D World Issue 136 CD (2010)
“Assets include high-quality models from Joseph Harford, Dark Edge Design and Poser World.”
3D World Issue 137 CD (2010)
“high-quality models from Runtime DNA”. Being Gynoids 2 and 3 for V4, retro robot babes. Vol. 1 is still on the DAZ Store.
3D World Issue 139 CD (2011)
“the full version of Vue 8 Frontier from e-on software [and] all of this issue’s scene files” [the $99 entry-level version, Poser 8 import, only 2-core rendering, may have needed online activation]
3D World Issue 143 CD (2011)
“models from DAZ 3D”
3D World Issue 149 CD (2011)
“a full version of DAZ Studio 3 Advanced [DAZStudio_3.1.2.32_Win64.exe] with serial. There are also two sci-fi DAZ models: an environment [corridor] and a battle suit [Epsilon for M4].”
AOL File Library – 9500 to 9599 series (December 2014).
An archive that includes “[9557] Poser Library”. Which doesn’t seem to be a typo for “poster”.
There you go, that’s the lot! It’s a ‘lucky-dip’, if you have superfast broadband and want to try downloading and mounting the discs. To mount ISOs on a Windows 7 workstation you want WinCDEmu.
Welcome to another personal survey and pick of the fresh content that’s been newly released in March 2019, for use with DAZ Studio and Poser.
Science fiction:
Nibiru Auditorium for DAZ Studio.
Meteor and Ship Crash Site. With the choice of either the spaceship or the glowing meteor.
Spaceship Wreckage, for a larger scale.
Sci-Fi Atmosphere Processing Deck. With 28 camera presets and camera-matched lights.
Assimilating Brain Unity, an unusual robot/cyborg production factory.
SOF-1A for Genesis 3 and 8 Female.
Steampunk:
Junkhead is a cute rigged robot, given away as a low-poly freebie.
At SketchFab, a new steampunk rifle, albeit at $29.
Wasteland Warriors – The Fighter by Cybertenko. A 1940 style fighter plane, converted. For Poser with M4 poses. Also has a Moebius vibe, re: The Airtight Garage.
Historical:
1920s and 30s style Flapper Cloche Hat.
1920s and 30s style Flapper Showgirl Peacock-Feather Headdress for G8F.
Curtain Call for G8F. Possibly also useful for storybook, re: a “doll’s house come to life”, and similar.
Suitcase Collection Vol I. Travel-worn vintage suitcases for DAZ Studio.
The Streets Of Asia 4 by Stonemason. As you can see clearly here, a choice of lots of possible camera angles and views, which is one of the great things about Stonemason’s 3D set design…
… and he’s probably after the Giant Cicadas or the Rare Orchids.
Mid 1960s-style freebie Accessories for LaFemme in Poser 11. Also Matching boots and heels.
Late 1960s Reel to Reel and Chair scene, and for added period authenticity some new Smoking Props.
A James Bond / Mission Impossible style Vault Room with lazers.
Late 1940s-style Gas Station Island, free in Vue and in .3DS format. The new 1960s style ZWorld Winter Gas Station could probably be adapted to fill out around these vintage pumps.
There’s also a new At the Car Wash expansion for a Gas Station setting.
M1919 Browning Machinegun for Poser.
Gatling Gun, with ammo carriage.
Old-style British Police Constable for M4 for Poser, aka a ‘copper’ or a ‘bobby’, from the days when they were still to be seen on the streets and without riot gear / paramilitary machine-guns. The puffy shoulders are a bit ‘meh‘, but a few flicks of the Liquify tool in Photoshop would cure that on still renders. The helmet could also be used as an Imperial pith-helmet with spike.
dForce Roman Cavalry for Genesis 8 Male and Daz Horse 2. Now there’s something you don’t see every day. Deacon215 has a variety of other authentic Roman items.
If you find you need some Roman deities to nebulously appear to your cavalrymen in the woods, look at the new Chronicles of the Gods Outfit for Genesis 8 Male and Universal Horns for Genesis 8 Male and Genesis 8 Female.
Fantasy and early medieval:
Moyra’s Classics – The Exotics, including a magical mage texture set for the earlier Desert Mage for Genesis 3 Male from a few years ago.
dForce Desert Robe Outfit for Genesis 8 Female. The plainer texture set also makes it suitable for Biblical and other scenes from antiquity.
dForce Inquisitor Robe for Genesis 8 Male.
dForce Fantasy Banner is a new freebie for DAZ Studio, by Greendragon And Smida at DeviantArt. Includes wind-tattered versions.
Vampiric Dark Mist Props and Poses for Genesis 3 and 8 Female. Seen here in solid, but the textures apply the mist effect.
Medieval Small Village Manor for Poser. Highly detailed and currently at a very reasonable $9. Also a matching Small House to serve as a side-building or (add windows up-top) a guard house at the moat.
Hr-216 Hair for V4 and Poser, for the Saxon shield-maiden look.
Aldwyn for Michael 4 for Poser. A MortemVetus figure which I seem to remember vanished with the sad demise of RuntimeDNA, and has now become available again at Renderosity.
Characters:
Mrs Chow 8 for G8F.
Ogrec for Genesis 8 Male, a characterful ogre with a dash of Hellboy.
Aurora La Femme for the free La Femme in Poser 11, with the same HD level of textures, plus an additional morph set for La Femme.
Toon:
Tess for Genesis 8 Female. A fine stylised semi-toon look for G8F, with the toon look accentuated here by the heavy eye-liner.
Grobot. Amazingly flexible and adaptable, and now free. Poser 11 not on the list, but she works well for me in Poser 11. There’s also a Poser 11 fix version if you find you need one.
Lolo Bot for DAZ Studio, a freebie.
Carnivorous Plant HD with iRay materials. And a vintage Glass House (greenhouse) to house it in.
Also of note in ‘toon’ is that Mr. Sparky’s Poser freebies are now available at Attic’s Free Zone.
Storybook:
Norfolk Windmill from DryJack, for Poser and DAZ Studio. And for the hill-crest on which the windmill stands, iREAL Animated Hybrid Tree for DAZ Studio. Complete with Animate 2 AniBlocks ‘blowing wind’ animations.
Poseable Swing for Poser, with new and aged materials. Free.
Granny’s pin cushion with pins, a freebie for DAZ Studio. Useful as a backdrop for mice characters and similar.
BBarbs’s ongoing set of free Small Child Poses, realistic and believable poses for G8, is growing larger by the day.
Creatures:
Crab. A realistic big crab for DAZ Studio. Presumably someone will now make some beautiful mottled textures for it.
Tyrannosaurus Rex 3. Fits with the latest scientific understanding, and also has optional 8k textures.
Hell Creek Modules. Highly detailed dinosaur terrain of 66 million years ago, complete with egg nests. Sections could also be made to serve as a backdrop for a desert oasis tent, by removing the redwood-type trees, and putting a water-well on the nest mound.
Landscapes:
The ArtStation marketplace is starting to get a bit interesting, for landscapes.
Sweet Spring for Vue at $12.
Lagoon for Vue at $12. Would make for a great setting for an early Babylonian lagoon city, such as Eridu.
FLUIDOS Presets: Waves for the FLUIDOS water simulation plugin for DAZ Studio.
The waves might be used with the new cute little Cave and waterfront for DAZ Studio. I’d have liked to have seen some close-ups in the previews, though, to see how well the textures hold up.
Weathered Civilization for Poser. An unusual terrain prop, with HD textures.
Moon Base tutorial, from 3D to 2D in Photoshop, at $6. The 3D software is left unspecified.
Tutorials:
Tinkering with Textures in DAZ Studio. Are you a DAZ Studio beginner, wondering what all those sliders and tweakables do for the materials? Break away from the presets, and discover step-by-step ways to make your scene’s materials unique.
New dForce Discoveries. I’m amazed at some of the things being done with the new dForce in DAZ Studio, but it seems much more can be done.
Scripts:
Universal Pose Splitter for DAZ Studio. Works with all Genesis types, and Victoria 4, Michael 4, The Kids 4. Select one part of a pose, split it out and save it.
Poser Python script to pick colour & assign to ToonID. Get a coloured mask for each prop and character in your scene. If working with the current fully-patched version of Poser 11, you may need a slight workaround to get a ToonID render out to Photoshop.
Poser Process Command dictionary for Python in Poser. Free.
And finally… a simple but multi-use dForce G8F Tie as a freebie.
That’s it, more picks next month.
Posted in 3D Utilities, Companion software, DAZ Studio, Poser, Spotted in the News
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There’s a free D-Noise add-on from Remington Graphics, for the free Blender. While I’m loath to recommend Blender to anyone, this is a top-class state-of-the art GPU de-noiser judging by the tests.
And the Web page blurb for this plugin also states that…
“D-NOISE can run on any image loaded into the [Blender] Image Editor including texture bakes and even photos!”
Thus it seems that, once you work out where the the Image Editor is in the infernal Blender interface, you could then use Blender to denoise iRay and Superfly renders made with Poser and DAZ. It may be worth a try if you’re not satisfied with what you’re getting by removing the fireflies and speckles via other methods. It’s all free, bar your time. I figure that it might cost someone new to Blender about three hours of work to get it all installed, set up and the focussed de-noising workflow pinned down for use with iRay and Superfly renders. If you have a go, please comment on this post and let me know how it went for you. I don’t have the required NVIDIA GPU, so I can’t run it.
If experience with A.I. GigaPixel has made you think that anything “A.I.” takes days to run, fear not. It runs quick, like ‘five seconds quick’ according to Remington, but only with an NVIDIA GPU. It thus requires a… “NVIDIA GTX 600 Series or newer”, which means a card from 2012 or later.
It’s also interesting because it’s geared to 3D render noise, whereas most de-noiser software appears to be more focussed on the mass-market camera market and camera sensor-noise.
There’s a handy new 20 minute tutorial on how to use it.
Added to the ‘Plugins: Poser’ section, over on this blog’s sidebar…
Genesis 3 Poser Updater for Poser 11.
“Product Notes: NOW UPDATED FOR GENESIS 8.”
It’s a freebie. Seems to have been updated for G8F in summer 2018. It processes G3 and G8 so they can be imported into Poser 11.
Right then… it’s time for a survey of the recent new Poser and DAZ content. If you want to see my last one, a huge six-month catch up for May 2018 – Jan 2019, it’s here.
But the new post below only surveys and picks out interesting / unusual / useful new content released in the last month, from the 23rd January 2019 onwards.
Science fiction:
Hoverbike Poses for Genesis 8 for the Yamaki Hover Bike.
If you need police hover-vehicles for the persuit, see the new Speeder.
Most readers will already have sci-fi armour suits, but I do like the new Supersonic Sci-Fi Suit for G8F. It’s not too over-the-top or gaudy, and appears to have some nice slight wear on the edges.
Jewel Of The Nile for G3F and G8F. Rather impractical to ride a camel with, I imagine, but it also has uses in a futuristic sci-fi setting. It’s “a HQ realistic coin veil”, though it doesn’t appear to have dForce.
Bubble Hair for Genesis 8 Female. Unusual, and again I can image a sci-fi / superhero story in which the movement of the hair can be thought-controlled, like Medusa in Marvel’s Inhumans.
Elsewhere for DAZ Studio. This is not well-served by its Store preview, but turns out to be ‘alien planet’ rock-pools (aka tide-pools), done to Oskarsson’s high standards. With strange Yuggothian fungi, alien plants, and glowing lurkers beneath the water. It’s not for everyone, but I like the look of it.
Robo Cleaner by Coflek-gnorg, for Poser and DAZ Studio. Highly detailed robot street-cleaners, for everything from your Blade Runner street scenes to your 2000AD-style Robo-busters tribute comic.
The persnickety supervisors of the lowly Robo Cleaners might be the new Osy21 low-poly floaters on CGTrader, at just $2 in FBX format.
Also from Coflek-gnorg is a fab Pulp-era Sci-fi Flying Saucer complete with detailed interior. Definitely one to look at if you’re planning to make an ongoing retro sci-fi toon comic and are in need of a ‘star’ spacecraft.
Monsters:
Lycan HD werewolf for Landon 8 for G8M. DAZ Studio.
Fantasy:
The flood of dForce-enabled clothing continues, though very little of it has been fantasy and sci-fi in the last month. A huge exception is the dForce Wing Ranger for Genesis 8 Female. Fabulous Hollywood-level work, here. She comes with a good bow and arrow too. Fits the new Meshworkz Dragonfly, which serves as her winged steed.
Jars with eyeballs in. You can never have enough of them, and the new It’s Magic for DAZ Studio has them, along with much else.
FG Place of Power for DAZ Studio, combining a magician’s lair, library and steampunk elements. I was about to pass this over as ‘just another medieval alchemist lab’, aided by the too-dark preview renders. But on closer investigation it seems to offer something a little different, and is nicely priced at $19. Worth a look, if this is your thing.
Retro and historical:
It’s unusual to see a new release for Bryce, but Battis Khamba Chattri is an Indian temple scene. Also available for Vue.
Task Force for Short Sunderland for Poser, by Cybertenko. Paint makeovers of the famous Second World War Sutherland flying-boat, and a new dinghy. For some, it may be worth the $6 just to get such a detailed wartime dinghy. It seems you don’t get the poses shown, but I’m guessing these may be included with Cybertenko’s Sutherland packages?
The Explorer For G8F from Sixus 1. A set of jungle explorer clothing, iRay-ready textures and grip poses. As you can see, it could fit well with the dinghy seen above, for a jungle river trip.
Minnie 1920’s Dancer Headdress for G8F. It’s not headwear that you’re going to use everyday, certainly, but it reflects the over-the-top hat-culture of the 1920s and it’s definitely unusual.
Singing in the Rain for G8 in Daz Studio. A complete set with scene, props, G8 poses and rain.
Conquistador Outfit and Armor for Genesis 3 Male. A full Spanish soldier outfit, which is something you don’t see every day. May also have runtime-bashing potential for those making other outfits for the period.
WW1 Trench, No Man’s Land. A battle-scarred First World War trench with accessories and a no-man’s land border.
Army Camp Barracks. Modern accessories, but I imagine only an hour’s tweaking would be needed to make this suit the 1970s/80s.
For the Army Camp also see the new Leopold HD for Genesis 8 Male.
Unusual props and magnets:
dForce Magnet for DAZ Studio. Pin a magnet to your dForce clothing, and have your character appear to be pulling or lifting their clothing. The built-in dForce takes care of all the physics of the cloth draping.
Marquee Light Letters by Cybertenko. Classic fairground, movie theater and dressing-room lights for Poser, with the bulbs throwing off emissive light in SuperFly renders.
For DAZ Studio there’s also the new Broadway Light Bulb Letterings and Real Neon Letters.
Such ‘bulb letters’ might be combined, as ‘bulbs only’, with the new Synergy ABC – Poses for G3F-G8F…
Morphing Splat for DAZ Studio, with 50 morphs. Splatting and pooling liquid.
Also look at the latest Messy FX Set 2: Food Mess for Poser, free on Renderosity.
La Femme:
The new La Femme Base Figure for Poser 11. She now has a small flood of everyday and club-style dresses and hairs on Renderosity. Almost no freebies that are worth having though, and nothing that appeals yet in terms of sci-fi, fantasy, armour etc.
La Femme injection for Prefittter-CR2. Works with The Prefitter to get V4 clothing ready to go to Poser’s Fitting Room (Pro only). This seems to be the best ‘V4 to La Femme’ solution at present, in the absence of a Crossdresser 4 file for La Femme.
Landscapes:
Flinks Snow Grounds 1 and Snow Grounds 2 as OBJs. A collection of detailed snow terrain tiles. The materials suit either Poser or DAZ.
The Snow Grounds could be paired with the new HD Upturned Winter Boats for Poser, from ShaaraMuse3D.
Dried Out River for Poser, by ShaaraMuse3D. Shaara’s usual HD scene with 4k textures and a full preload preset. One could of course add just a bit of water, to make shallow trickling pools. Good for those with dragonflies and small lizards in their runtime. Likely to also interest Vue users.
Wild Flowers Vol 5 – Woodland Plants and matching new grass. Said to be “Perfect for macro renders”. Also look at the recent Teeny Tiny Plants, also from Martin J. Frost.
Animals:
This month it’s only the dragonfly seen above, and Nature’s Wonders Lizards of the World Vol. 4 which is another fine release for Poser from nature expert Ken Gilliland. And has DAZ presets.
Toons:
A poor month for toons, but I see that Darkseal’s toon Squidy for Poser is now on CGBytes, having been on the now-vanished Content Paradise.
Storybook:
New on CGTrader a modern children’s public library / reading-room for a reasonable $30 in OBJ. Royalty-free renders.
Need a modern librarian for your library? The new dForce Eloise Outfit for Genesis 8 Female and dForce Eloise Outfit Textures gives you one nice pattern texture for it…
Dayana & Karina Bloom HD for Genesis 8 Female. With the sort of face-shape that would suit a modern comic-book aimed at 9-12 year olds. Comes with a matching older sister who is more of a regular human.
Deco Vignette II for DAZ Studio. I guess you’d have to make this a central Howl’s Moving Castle-style ‘magic door’ for your story, to get your money’s worth.
Town Circle, a traditional German/Austrian-style village centre.
Nursoda has also kindly released several freebies at Renderosity recently, for his characters, but note that they’re flagged as ‘non-commercial use only’.
Utilities:
RSSY Clothing Converter from Michael 4 to Genesis 8 Male. Convert clothing from M4 to G8M, in DAZ Studio. Seems to be relatively simple and well-documented.
PoseConverter for Poser – Updated. A free Python script with user interface, that works inside Poser. Convert pose presets from one Poser character type to another. Only has two converter modules at present.
That’s it, more picks next month!
Eric Winemiller kindly sent his DAZ Carrara Digital Carvers Guild plugins open source last summer. Ground Control for DAZ Studio has also now been released for free. Always free, really free, which is what ‘open source’ means. Ground Control imports DEMs (digital elevation maps) into DAZ Studio, along with Terragen .TER files.
Readers of this blog who are here for my 3D comics production posts, will likely be most interested in the Toon! Pro plugin for Carrara, now free in the bundle. Although in terms of what it can do with artistic inked lines it seems to have been superseded by Poser 11.
A new free DAZ Studio script set for Genesis 3 Female, just released. It appears that you select the joint of the character you want to display and run the script. “Joints whose Limit setting has been cancelled are displayed in green”.
So presumably, when you’ve applied a character pose and selected “Turn limits off”, this script visually identifies where exactly the character’s joints are pushing beyond reality. It looks a useful timesaver for character and pose makers, and testers, and may also help artists who have a complex animation scene where something has gone awry but they’re not sure what or where.
There’s also a script to hide multiple body joints at once, presumably similar to how you can quickly hide multiple parts with Scene Toy in Poser but done automatically. It looks like you can use the script to hide say… the Left Collar, and then all the connected bits of the left arm and hand will also be automatically hidden along with it.
What’s been newly released for Poser and DAZ, since May 2018? I was going to do three seasonal surveys on this topic, as a catch-up: early summer 2018; Summer/Autumn, and Autumn/Winter 2018/2019. But it seems simpler just to do one big survey of the very best and/or most useful items for the whole period.
It’s been a time of turmoil or change for some stores. Smith Micro’s Content Paradise store has vanished (with adequate notice, and time to grab the very best of my Wishlist), as has the Vue store Cornucopia3D (with no notice), but a number of the same content sellers can now be found elsewhere.
Renderosity seems to have cured the bandwidth problems that had dogged it, and Rendo now once again works with a reasonable speed and responsiveness. Sadly, Renderosity would only let me track back through “What’s New” to the tail end of Halloween 2018, so I had to rely on my WishList and noted vendor pages for the May-October period.
The CGBytes store went “offline for maintenance” as I was halfway through browsing it for the list below.
There’s a new Artstation Marketplace, though it’s mostly Blender / ZBrush / and Photoshop do-dahs.
The iClone Marketplace store had a UI makeover, back in the summer I think, and it’s an improvement.
Ok, well… with that store-tastic intro out the way, here’s my personal pick of the last nine months of Poser/DAZ content. Freebies are only listed below if they’re ‘commercial use’.
Science fiction:
Dalos Outfit for Genesis 8 Female with dForce jacket.
* Sci-Fi Assassin Outfit for Genesis 8 Male. Stylish, not too showy, adaptable. Looks great.
* Zollacce Outfit for Genesis 8 Female.
* Solaris Portal for DAZ Studio.
* The Green Room by Stonemason, for DAZ Studio.
* Cassini System Bundle for alien botany pictures.
* Bubble Habitat by Coflek-Gnorg, one of a large series of his matching space colony models.
* Retro SciFi Pulp Poses for M4/V4 for Poser.
* Retro Pulp Sci-Fi Spaceship for Poser. Now all we need is a nice Virgil Finlay stipple filter for Photoshop…
* Need a retro robot driver for your retro spacecraft? The new Robotika Three for G8F.
* Space Helmet Two for G3F and for G8F. A nice melding of 2001 and Tron: Legacy.
* 40 sky presets for Bryce 7, as freebies.
* Mad Scientist Outfit for Genesis 8 Male and Abandoned Warehouse and FG Science Lab.
Steampunk, Dieselpunk:
* Li’l Patch Girl HD for Genesis 8 Female, a steampunkish robot girl.
* Mary Pops for G3F in DAZ Studio.
* Cigarette holder, and poses for Poser.
* A free Military Uniform for Genesis 8 Female and Gloves.
* Steampunk Helmet for V4 and M4.
Faces, expressions, facial hair, unusual figures:
* The free Facial-AHairness for M4 in Poser. Mutton-chops and matching moustaches.
* The paid Facial A-Hairness 2 for M4 and Poser.
* MannequinF, a free shop-window manikin for G8F. There’s also a paid Mannequin Kit for Genesis 8 Female.
* 24 Facial Expressions for Meshbox’s good H. P. Lovecraft character for Poser.
Fantasy:
* Y’vas Outfit for Genesis 8 Female, new and very high quality from Aeon Soul.
Shadowsoul M4 Outfit. A full free outfit for M4 in Poser.
* Geonosect for Genesis 8 Male.
* Nightsong’s Masque: Feathered Mask for V4 has made it over to Renderosity, having formerly been at the old Runtime DNA store.
* Seahorse for the HiveWire Horse.
Monsters:
* A new Werebeast M4 WM for Michael 4, for Poser 10 and 11.
* SY Mutants of Chzor, alien plants.
* Supreme Intelligencia HD for Genesis 8 Female and Genesis 8 Male.
* The Bride Hair for V4. Classic 1940s style ‘monster movie’ hair. Also for G3/G8, although for some reason that page won’t open for me.
* A free pose set for The Great Kraken for DAZ Studio.
Prehistoric:
* Oso Ammonoids, cute creatures from prehistoric seas, which could be used with the new Aguja Undersea Environment for DAZ.
* An HD HH Triceratops. Looks great. Also, though many will already have a T-Rex, there is also Tyrannosaurus Rex 2 Berserker from the same content artist.
Animals:
* Nature’s Wonders Turtles of the World Vol. 1 – Tortoise for Poser and DAZ. By Poser nature expert Ken Gilliland.
* Some of the Smith Micro Poser animals have made it over from Content Paradise to Renderosity, including a Quagga and a Donkey. The old Content Paradise Giant Octopus is still available and also worth having.
* Honey Bee Set For Vue. Could be used with the new Brown Bear for DAZ.
* There’s a fine free jellyfish, albeit for Blender and in need of extraction to OBJ. Although, in my experience, about 95% of the time trying to extract anything usable from a Blender .blend file is a nightmare that ends in failure.
* Housefly by AM, a very realistic and well textured standard housefly.
* Photoreal Bramble, Blackberry and Briar Plants for your dragonflies and butterflies.
Cats:
* A new Morphing Sacred Cat from Ancient Egypt.
* Cat Motions for Poser, animations for both the MillCat and the Hivewire cat, including idles.
* Now on Renderosity, Smith Micro’s old Black Cat and Cheshire Cat for Poser. Rather basic these days, but usable with Sketch or Comic Book Preview renders.
Landscapes:
* ShaaraMuse3D has continued to produce a variety of quality HD grounds and terrains for both DAZ and Poser. Including a nice Frozen Natural Riverbank, and a fine sea-worn rockpool for your crabs and sea- weeds and seashells For Vue and 7 Sea Shell Props for DAZ…
* A wealth of reasonably-priced Vue scenes from Raffyraffy at CGTrader, possibly he was one of the former traders on Cornucopia3D? Don’t overlook his The Hideaway.
* A wealth of free Vue content was released by QuadSpinner a couple of months ago. Digital Art Live magazine #34 had the visual previews and links…
* Pine Grove for Daz. Good for Hobbitry and more. Might be paired with Weeping Willow Trees (which promises “as low a poly count as possible” re: render times). The texture-less product pictures suggest that the leaves of the Willow trees are not trans-mapped, so they may be suitable for tooning to line-art as well as being low-poly.
* Old Man Willow – Pollarded Willows.
* Flinks Snowy Coniferous Forest and the Smith Micro Moose and Mammoth. Both creatures are rather low-poly these days, but all the more suitable for getting a herd of them into your scene.
Historical:
* dForce Mongol Armor for Genesis 8 Male.
* A free Egyptian boat for Poser. And, for floating down the Nile, you may also want Reed Plants for Daz Studio and Iray. Could also be used with the new Ancient Pharaoh for G3M.
* dForce Templar Outfit for Genesis 8 Male. Although pitched as a Crusader outfit, it looks quite adaptable for a variety of ancient and desert scenes. I can imagine this as a Druid outfit, for instance, without any fancy neo-pagan embroidery chintz and with the aid of the new Wise Wizard Beard for Genesis 8 Male.
* A seedy 1970s hippies / Furry Freak Brothers -style couch.
* On The Beach Outfit for Genesis 8 Male, a 1950s and 60s British seaside character. Could also make a fairly good 1930s hiker or a vintage British allotment digger.
* Knickerbockers for Genesis 8 Male, for your Downton and similar vintage scenes.
* Urban Living, a 1970s / 80s London housing estate (Americans call them “housing projects”, I think?). And some suitable dForce Tracksuit textures for the dForce Tracksuit Outfit for Genesis 8 Male.
* Vintage 70’s Pedal Bike of the Chopper type.
* Project Flintknapper for Genesis 8. 15 archaeological dig poses.
* British Commando Sweater for G3M.
* British Open Railway Wagon, more quality railway work by DryJack. Also A Victorian Fire Hose Reel which may interest those making scenes of vintage British train stations.
* Pre-coiled Bits of Barbed wire for Poser.
Storybook:
* dForce The Storyteller Outfit.
* The Anne of Green Gables -style dForce Nostalgia Dress for Genesis 8 Female.
* A free dForce sleeveless dress for G8F in the latest DAZ Studio.
* Cadee Bundle for Genesis 8 Female.
* A free True Mirror for iRay in DAZ Studio. With accurate light fall-off and green-shift.
* Stonemason’s The Gothic Library.
* The Gothic Library might be equipped with the GWR Platform Ticket Machine for Poser. This could become a “magic ticket” element in a storybook tale.
* 1971s Flying House on an island, and his Babushka Yaga House.
* Tane The Old Deer for Daz Horse 2.
Comics and toon:
Nursoda’s new figures Onats and Utla for Poser.
Nursoda’s very newest is Blumi.
* Dinoraul’s fantasy dinosaur with toony face Ogaliks DR for Poser.
* A simple but stylish and free Ghost for V4 in Poser.
* Free materials for Poser tested to work in Preview mode, for use with Poser’s real-time Comic Book Preview.
* Superfly material for SA Kitty. Robo-cat Kitty ships with Poser for free.
* Poses for Squidy, a toon octopus, if you grabbed him before he vanished from Content Paradise. Amazingly, Darkseal says he only ever sold 13 copies there.
Tutorials:
Photogrammetry : Creating Daz Studio Assets from Photos.
Powerful dForce Discoveries and Solutions.
Mastering UV Mapping with UVLayout.
Scripts:
* RSSY 3Delight to Iray Converter. Which claims all the textures in a DAZ Studio scene can be updated for iRay in four clicks, including light-emissive materials.
* The free Locate all image bitmaps script shows you all the images driving the textures in the current scene.
* And finally, Procedural Clay Material for Cycles. Since Poser now uses Cycles for SuperFly, this could be ported to Poser. Similar to the Sculptural Genesis 8 Ultra Fun Kit which turns any G8 figure into a statue.
That’s it! Phew! More picks soon!
Posted in Companion software, DAZ Studio, Housekeeping, Poser, Real-time animation, Spotted in the News, Vue
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Hi again! After nine months of hiatus, I’m pleased to say that I’ve regained the jurn domain, and with it this blog. Almost everything on the blog still seems to be working as usual, even the Pinterest sidebar gallery. The “Stuff for free” links will be fixed soon. The WordPress blogging software install has been updated to the latest secure version, the Classic Editor plugin installed to rescue the posting UI from ‘makeover mania’, and the blog seems ready to roll again.
I think I’ll do a series of three seasonal “best of new Poser/DAZ content” surveys as a catch-up, rather than trying to monthly ones: summer 2018; Autumn/Fall 2018 and Winter 2018/19. Watch for those here soon.
But first, a quick glance at what’s new or coming soon with tasty creative software since early summer 2018.
In 2D:
* the free open source painting software Krita 4.x has made several vital upgrades, and is now in 4.1.7 which came out just before Christmas. A very fine bit of software, and the laggy brush-engine of version 3 is now really fast and smooth. Lovely brush engine / library too, and brush stabilisation built in.
* SketchBook Pro went wholly free on Windows, though that caused its Android app version to become unavailable on the Kindle Fire tablet. In my opinion, Krita 4.x should now be your choice for desktop painting, before taking the painting to Photoshop for finishing.
* the full 1.0 version of the free open source vector / .SVG software Inkscape is due relatively soon and is currently available in alpha. Sadly there’s still no Illustrator .ai import support for older .ai files — it was such a huge mistake to remove that.
* the Photoshop behemoth continues to roll onwards, and just this week Adobe swallowed the Substance Designer / Substance Painter folks, and will subscription-only it in November. I hear that the very latest Photoshop version also has sufficiently good brush stabilisation to make the Lazy Nezumi Pro plugin defunct, although for inking line-art the latest Krita (free) is probably now the way to go.
* Digital Auto-Painter 6.0, the standalone set of ‘painterly’ picture filters.
* CrazyTalk Animator. Set to be re-named to the bland and un-findable ‘Cartoon Animator’, with the ‘coming soon’ version 4. Whatever the name, it’s still fine software for 2D animation and also for speeding up production of comic-strip / webcomics-style comics, with good balance of ease-of-use and power. Version 4 will bring ‘smart’ IK, motion re-targetting between characters, and more. Version 4 is due March/April 2019.
In 3D:
* Poser continues development and is now in 11.1.1.x and has a new official DevLog which lists changes and has news from the new development team. Access the patches and updated content for Poser from the latest version via the Download Manager.
* The new Lightwave, just revealed, promises seamless and automatic Unreal integration. Which suggests that there may be an easy path there from Poser scene > Lightwave > Unreal. Though there may not be a Lightwave 2019 upgrade to the Poser Pro plugin for Lightwave for a while.
* Cinema 4D had an major update, though nothing in it really grabbed me. The same was true for Keyshot.
* The real-time World Creator 2.0 is built on the Unity engine and I was lucky enough to get a review copy at RC14, and the eight-page review for that was published in Digital Art Live magazine #32 (Sept 2018). Difficult (but not impossible) to use without a really powerful graphics card, though.
* FlowScape is a fun simple real-time ‘natural landscape generator’, built on Unity. As with World Creator you’re probably going to need a whopping great graphics card to run it smoothly.
* Vue has gone ‘annual subscription’ and also changed the user interface. But I’ll be sticking with my Vue 2016 R4, which was the last before the UI changes and other problems started. I have no idea if the tight Poser integration has been retained in the new version, but I assume it has.
* MoI 4.0 (Moment of Inspiration) should be out soon. A nice fairly easy NURBS modeller that’s worth taking a look at.