News about the DAZ Studio and Poser software

Category Archives: DAZ Studio

New 3DXchange 5 converts DAZ to iClone, auto-rigs

Posted on by Posted in 3D Utilities, Companion software, DAZ Studio, Real-time animation, Tutorials Leave a comment

The new 3DXchange 5 Pro conversion tool is out. Here’s how to convert and auto-rig a DAZ Studio character, for use in the real-time software iClone…

This new version of iClone converts to the standard iClone format, so characters can accept all standard motions files. A version that can also convert for facial animation will be available soon.

New Sherlock Holmes standalone figure for Poser

Posted on by Posted in DAZ Studio, Poser Leave a comment

A new original-figure Sherlock Holmes figure and clothes, “Holms” on the Renderosity store. There’s a nasty little copyright troll laying a shaky claim to the Sherlock Holmes name in the USA, which is presumably why this character has been given a slightly different name.

The poses for him only work in Poser. It’ll be interesting to see if these clothes can also be made to fit the excellent Doctor Pitterbill standalone character. He seems to be missing a bow-tie, but there are several such to be found floating around the Web.

Mirei Anime and Toon Style Shader for DAZ – available

Posted on by Posted in DAZ Studio, Natural media emulation 1 Comment

NyaNyan’s new “Mirei Anime and Toon Style Shader” for DAZ Studio 4 (not Poser) is now available on the DAZ Store, at $17.47…

“Mirei is a anime toon style shader for DAZ Studio 4. You can use this for making anime manga style illustration.”

It looks promising…

…but I think I’ll be waiting on the video and reviews, showing how easy it is too apply, before I consider a purchase. Five clicks, yes. Five hours of wrangling materials, no.

Not to be confused with Bishounen Taurus’s long-awaited manga-style graphic-novel shaders, which are also due for release very soon.

Using Poser with Keyshot

Posted on by Posted in 3D Renders, 3D Utilities, Companion software, DAZ Studio, Lighting, Poser 3 Comments

A very cool set of Poser / Keyshot renders by David Constantine…

The workflow is…

1. Export a posed character as a FBX (DAZ) or Collada (Poser) file.
2. Import to Keyshot and stand your character against your chosen background.
3. Apply the background’s matching HDR light.
4. Render.

Keyshot is blindingly quick at rendering, at least with single objects against a 2D background. Keyshot ships with a range of background images that have matching HDR lights. These lights help the objects look as though they belong in the scene (as you can see above).

Sadly Keyshot is aimed at engineers and commercial product-photography people, rather than hobbyists, and so costs $1,000. Which does at least mean it’s blissfully simply to use, and can be fully learned in an hour. This is because it’s designed for those who are unfamiliar with 3D software, and who run screaming from the ludicrous interface complexities of software such as Blender. But the cost of Keyshot will put off many. It’ll cost even more, if you want an add-on HDR Light Studio pipeline (the latest version of this can apparently make a matching HDR from any background that you feed it).

Still… Keyshot is certainly one to consider, if you’re looking for a tax write-off and you want an alternative render engine for still images of Poser figures. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to fix eyes and eyelashes on Poser faces after import, and that Keyshot only ships with one skin material that takes ages to render.