Free on the 2023 Fantasy Attic’s Christmas Gifts, AnnieMation’s “Krunktime”. After install, find it in Poser under Figures | Anniemation. The mesh tears on radical posing, so you’ve not going to animate it. But fine for 2D renders, as you can get a subtle ‘walking’ look on it. Seen here in the real-time Comic-book mode and without its texture.
How to make a quick real-time z-depth (“depth cued”) render from Poser.
The result:
How it’s done:
1. Save the Poser scene file you’re working on.
2. Turn on the Smooth Shaded display.
3. Turn on the Depth Cueing.
4. Delete all lights from the scene.
5. Make the background white.
6. Make a real-time Preview render, save it as a .JPG file.
7. Revert to the last saved file, undoing the changes.
Ok, that probably doesn’t sound all that quick. But here’s my Python script that automates all this grunt-work.
You need to make a one-time edit to the file path, in the script. Just indicate where you want rendered images to be saved. Make this simple change, save as a .PY file and then add to the C:\Program Files\Poser Software\Poser 13\Runtime\Python\poserScripts\ScriptsMenu folder. Restart Poser, and you’re ready for real-time depth map renders of your scene.
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# Make a quick depth-qued auto-render from Poser. # Version 1.0 - December 2023. Tested in Poser 11 and 13. # With thanks to bwldrd for the 'SetBackgroundColor' tip. # From a saved Poser scene, auto render a quick real-time depth-map # as a .JPG on white, then revert the scene to the last saved scene file. # NOTE: The user will needs to change the output directory 'dirPath=' to their chosen path. import poser import datetime # Set up the saving and timestamp parameters. Change the save directory to suit your needs. # Remember that the \\ double slashes are vital!! This is for Windows. Mac paths may be different? dirPath="C:\\Users\\WINDOWS_USER_NAME\\FOLDER_NAME\\" ext="JPG" current_date = datetime.datetime.now().strftime ("%a-%d-%b-%Y-%H-%M-%S") # Are we dealing with a Poser scene? scene = poser.Scene() # First, we make the Ground invisible. Thus, no ground shadows or grid. # Comment out these two lines with #'s if you dont want this to happen. scene.SelectActor(scene.Actor("GROUND")) scene.Actor("GROUND").SetVisible(0) # Now we make sure the render is set to use a DPI of 300. # And switch the render engine to real-time PREVIEW mode. # This assumes the user has already set their preferred render size. scene.SetResolution(300, 0) scene.SetCurrentRenderEngine(poser.kRenderEngineCodePREVIEW) # Now delete all lights in the scene. Then redraw the Poser scene. lights = scene.Lights() for light in lights: light.Delete() scene.Draw() # Now turn on the 'Smooth Shaded' display mode. poser.ProcessCommand(1083) scene.Draw() # Now Toggle 'Depth Cue' display mode on. poser.ProcessCommand(1044) scene.Draw() # Figure style is now set to use document style, in case it wasn't for some reason. poser.ProcessCommand(1438) scene.Draw() # Set the scene's background color to white. scene.SetBackgroundColor (1.0,1.0,1.0) scene.Draw() # Now we render the scene in Preview at 300dpi and save to a .JPG file. # It must be .JPG otherwise we get a .PNG cutout with alpha and fringing. # The file is timestamped and saved into the user's preferred directory. scene.Render() scene.SaveImage(ext, dirPath + current_date) # Done. Now we revert the entire scene, to its last saved state. This means # that it doesn't matter that we changed the display modes and deleted lights. poser.ProcessCommand(7) |
Why do all this? Because AI image making can use depth-maps to recreate 3D scenes, in combination with the descriptive text prompt. AI + Poser’s content = accurate AI visuals of anything Poser has in its Library.
New for Poser and DAZ Studio, November/December 2023, Here are my latest picks from the latest goodies for Poser & DAZ creators, and with some overlap with AIs at the end. Though there is increasingly overlap, as people start to use Poser and DAZ to produce the poses and depth renders that guide the AI generation.
As usual, freebies are only featured if the renders are ‘commercial use’.
My last round-up was 3rd November, so we’re looking at six weeks worth here rather than just a month.
Science fiction:
UltraScenery – Planet Taira, a set of alien plants.
G…Glitch is a new near-future sci-fi ISS Space Station like interior from Coflek-gnorg.
DD PBR Alien Rock Shaders for iRay Vol. 3.
Sci-Fi Octopus, obviously for Matrix fan-art only rather than commercial use.
Fantasy:
Army Of The Dead. Plus ogres lugging rocks.
Medieval Village Destruction Kit.
Demonarium by Poisen, for Poser. 3D models.
Free, More Conforming Tails and Tentacles for Poser. Including what appears to be a squirrel tail.
Steampunk:
Free, a Pirate Outfit for Genesis 8/8.1 Female. With steampunk runtime-bashing potential.
New free Poser Shaders: Corrosion.
Beach:
Heading for the beach in January? Don’t forget the Castle Made of Sand, in two parts.
Beach bar set for Poser from 1971s.
Free Summer Casual Deck Shoes for La Femme 2.
Storybook:
Moonlight, three free Moon / Sun figures in 3D.
A free playroom Wigwam.
More conventional modern play-tents are in the new Backyard Playset Bundle for DAZ Studio. Or can be had as TF Playground Tent.
B.E.T.T.Y Teen Accessory Pack. Backpack and smartphone for young teens.
CNB Calvin for Genesis 9, a young boy.
Toon and semi-toon:
RA Chull Christmas, a Xmas outfit makeover for Nursoda’s Chull figure.
He’ll be dancing around the new Steampunk Christmas Tree.
Possibly with pixies. Currently free at DAZ, over a hundred Power Pixie morphs for the 3D Universe Pixie.
Need ‘a right Charlie’? King Charles for M3 LowRes.
Superhero and comics production:
A new series of pose sets, SuperHero Dexterity for G8M Volume 1. Specifically intended for the new Red Devil (Marvel’s Daredevil) Set for G8M.
Grid Suit G8M, an overlay of guide-lines for those producing rough layouts and pencils for comics.
See also the “AI” section.
Character helpers:
Free, Reset the face V4 and Reset the Hand V4. It “also works on M4”.
Cheryl for V4. Free and definitely taking V4 away from the ‘usual look’.
Animals:
DS Fantasy Owl Species for last month’s DS Fantasy Owl.
Landscape, oceanscapes:
Mediterranean Juniper High Resolution Plants and Trees from Martin J. Frost.
Ultrascenery : The Ultimate Guide.
Maelstrom, for when you need an ocean whirlpool or river sink-hole.
Remote Mini Sub for underwater landscape exploration.
Historical:
A Complete Roman Tavern from the Ancient Roman period, in .OBJ and .FBX formats.
Roman Villa with garden, interior, pool, for DAZ Studio.
The Three Wise Men (The Magi) for the Christmas story.
Viking Jewellery for Genesis 9 and 8. Not something you see every day.
Medieval Tinker – Package #1 and Package #1 FBX, with basic metalworking tools said to be accurate for the medieval period.
dForce Monk for G9. I can’t tell if you also get the character morph or not. The pictures suggest so, but the inventory doesn’t mention it.
Renaissance Gloves for G8M, G8F and G9
Napoleonic Scottish Highland Infantry for G8M.
Ilya Muromets WWI Bomber for Poser, a First World War bombing plane. With detailed interior and accessories.
Need air defence? Try the new Pom-Pom Gun for Poser. Also available for DAZ.
Bridport West Bay Station, a classic British train station by Dryjack.
Skippy Racer in two parts. A nice 1940s/50s children’s push scooter.
dForce Picnic Pinafore Outfit for Genesis 9, a classic 1950s / early 1960s girls outfit.
Hurricane Aircat prop for Poser. Amphibious assault craft.
And finally the Snow System for DAZ Studio. Because “snow is a thing of the past”. Or so we’re supposed to believe, as it falls abundantly from the sky.
Coding for scripts:
Beginners Guide to Scripting in DAZ Studio.
Camera-facing billboard script for Poser, working in Poser 12/13.
Starting the Mac OS finder with Python in Poser. Seems to be the equivalent of Windows Explorer.
Tutorials:
DAZ Studio Render Engines : Essentials Guide.
On YouTube, What you need to know about the five types of Poser/DAZ hair.
“Bondware continues making small but meaningful Poser improvements” and there’s a video summary of what they are. Who knew that the latest Poser 13 apparently no long needs Snarlygribbly’s EZSkin for rendering older V4/M4 etc figures in SuperFly? They kept that one quiet, if correct. However, my tests just now suggest you’ll still very much want the new and latest “EZSkin 3.2 (Updated version maintained by Y-Phil)”, for the realism it adds to the skin of older figures. I don’t see Poser 13 adding that in the same way, if at all. It may well handle recalcitrant old textures better, as the video seems to suggest… but no nicer skin. I find EZSkin 3.2 works fine with Poser 13, but note that you will need to import the older figure .def definitions file from the 3.1 .zip file. The definitions are not also in 3.2, so you will need both files. My test: M3 + Draguul dragon-rider, plus EZSkin in Superfly…
How to create fog, mist, spotlights and ‘god rays’ in Poser.
DAZ Studio Techniques – Rendering in Layers for Faster Results.
AI items of interest:
The freeware InvokeAI standalone installer 3.2.0 at the Internet Archive. It’s otherwise a single 32Gb non-resuming .zip file, which many find impossible to download due to line-drops.
DAZ Studio G8F to Openpose, tested. For use in ComfyUI, InvokeAI and others. Pose in DAZ, export the special pose picture, then have the AI image conform to the same pose. Free, but doesn’t do hands.
There’s also a free Openpose Editor, online, with hands. Or an offline Windows Openpose editor free on Itch.io, for which 1.0.9 came out last month. Poser 12 and 13 also has a paid Openpose plugin, which can do hands.
AI can also use depth map renders to guide the image generation. New this month, the paid Basic Depth Map Maker for DAZ Studio. Poser will get you a depth map for free, either in a .PSD after a Firefly render, or as an automated real-time Preview render. These are used in a ‘depth T2I-Adapter’, not a Controlnet’s depth slot.
Reposer, a free and relatively simple ComfyUI workflow for “Consistent Stable Diffusion Generated Characters in ANY pose from one image”. Basically, it does a quick face-swop and pose in one easy workflow. The developer has his stuff here. Obvious potential for comics makers who have lots of ‘talking heads’.
A free Render To Real batcher workflow for DAZ Studio and ComfyUI. Render in DAZ, pop out photographic photoreal. For advanced users, “this is a ComfyUI workflow to batch image-to-image process rendered scenes from something like a Ren’py game with DAZ3D-rendered graphics to photo-real scenes.” Tagged as NSFW, as the guy is making a ‘nudist colony’ game. Thus it may not show up if your site settings forbid it. But it can of course be reworked for other storytelling such as comics.
Green Screen LORA. Does what it says, in three flavours of greenscreen. Again with obvious potential for comics makers, with the resulting generated images being used with Photoshop greenscreen knock-out plugins such as Primatte.
But since animation seems to be all AI users can think about at present, now real-time generation can be done, I’ll also add a couple of related links…
Chromox – Transforming Ideas into Visual Stories. A new online service. See also the free MagicAnimate demo.
DiffusionAvatars: Deferred Diffusion for High-fidelity 3D Head Avatars. Impressive.
That’s it. More picks and links in the New Year! Merry Christmas!
2023 Fantasy Attic’s Christmas Gifts, now online and all set to pop, as a Christmas ‘advent calendar’ style freebie page. Donations of Poser or DAZ freebies are most welcome, right though Christmas and the New Year. Contact details are on the page.
Free and easy, G8F to Openpose, for Stable Diffusion UIs with ControlNet. Available now.
1. Get the free Daz Studio G8_OpenPoseRig V1.0. The end result is intended for Stable Diffusion’s ControlNet / Posenet module, which accepts images of poses in the Openpose format.
(InvokeAI is probably currently the most user-friendly and ControlNet-capable UI for Stable Diffusion on a desktop, and is about to go to 3.4. You’ll want to wait for that version (next few days) since it will include a new LCM module which will super-charge generation speeds to near real-time).
2. Once unzipped and manually merge-installed to the DAZ top-level content folder, open DAZ Studio and find G8_OpenPoseRig in the Library. It’s not under People | G8 Female. Instead it’s under Figures | Rogue Pilot | Open Pose Rig.
3. Load the G8F via !FullScene and switch the DAZ Studio viewport’s real-time rendering to Smooth Shaded. Apply a pose. Add another figure, if you want a two-person picture from SD. Tweak the bone positions in Posing / Shaping, if required. You can also load a proper G8F alongside, to see the pose on a more human figure.
Ideally you’ll then render this special Openpose skeleton at the standard SD image-generation size of either 512px, 768px (for SD 1.5) or 1024px (for SDXL), output to a .PNG file. It doesn’t matter if figures are highlight-selected or if viewport widgets are visible. The viewport clutter won’t be in the render.
(Yes, they look like .BVH stick-figures, but are not. So far as I can tell the only way to convert .BVH to Openpose is by dropping the .BVH onto this special G8F and then rendering a frame).
4. That’s it. Drag and drop the .PNG render into your ControlNet’s input window. Your subsequent Stable Diffusion image generation will then, assuming you have a suitable workflow and a pose-aligned prompt, ‘more or less’ conform to the figure poses in your Openpose guide-image. It’s not going to be exact, the Openpose being more of a guideline for SD.
Expressions are instead controlled with a prompt, and perhaps guided by the addition of a LORA. SD is weak at generating several things, and subtle controllable expressions is one of them.
Note the comment on the G8_OpenPoseRig page asking for this freebie to be updated for ControlNet 1.1, which he says can handle finger-bones and thus hands. This freebie doesn’t support these 1.1 style hands, and it hasn’t yet been updated for them. Thus… for 1.1+ hands support you would instead need Poser 12 or 13 with Ken’s paid OpenPose for Poser 12 plugin script.
Note that Ken’s scripts are encrypted and thus require Windows 10 or higher. Note also that Poser 12 can currently be had for $49.
Free scripts and workflows to convert older poses to G8F:
Many old poses in .PZ2 Poser format can just be drag-dropped to a G8, and may be ‘good enough’. But if you need more precise conversion, try…
V3/A3 Pose Transfer to G8F (Victoria 3, Aiko 3). Also try these scripts.
V4/A4 Pose Transfer to G8F (Victoria 4, Aiko 4).
G1F Pose Transfer to G8F (Genesis 1)
G2F Pose Transfer to G8F (Genesis 2).
G3F to G8F Pose Adjust Scripts.
You might also look at the DAZ Pose Converter (Standalone), also free. Half the many commenters just can’t get it to work, the other half think it’s ‘the best thing since sliced bread’. Apparently it can do batch conversion, if you can get it to work. I couldn’t.
It’s the start of the pre-Black Friday, pre Christmas big releases. A biggie, the Blender 4.0 Release Candidate is expected on the 14th November 2023. New is…
– An updated UI (again, will it never end?). There’s even a whole new UI font. Huge UIs menus can now be searched, which is something.
– The vital Principled BSDF node “had a full rewrite”, seemingly enabling slightly better shading and shadows. Hair shading is also a little more realistic, at least considering it’s 3D hair.
– The Anisotropic shader is gone, and Specular BSDF is on the way out.
– The Asset Library is now an ‘Asset Shelf’, under your workspace and viewport.
– Developers can now hook external render engines into Blender.
– User-colored wireframes for 3D meshes.
– Lights now can be textured, and also made to only affect specific parts of a model or figure.
– Nodes can now have collapsible sections.
– “Transparent images in the File Browser now have a checkered background” like in Photoshop. Thumbnail previews for .SVG vector images.
– “Mesh to Volume” node now creates proper volume fog, via OpenVDB.
– Various modelling and rigging changes, which are breaking people’s rigs.
– The minimum OpenGL requirement is now 4.3.
Some of these will likely feed through into Poser 14 in due course, since Poser’s SuperFly is Blender’s Cycles re-branded.
A much better-than-usual DAZ Freebies page, this month, as we head today Black Friday.
Wild Hunt: Wildenlander for Michael 3 is a fine go-to fantasy outfit if you’re still using M3.
Five chairs + quality Genesis 2 poses for them. Also FBX versions.
A fairly good set of sci-fi weapons for V4/M4, which are not too ‘videogame’ in looks. There’s also a .ZIP file with Blender versions.
DAZ Dimension Lights 2. HDRI lights with presets. Seems to be geared for larger scenes? (Dragons are shown).
IDL2 Burlesque for Poser. Saved ‘preset’ .PZ3 Poser scenes, with lights set up for you. Possible useful for Noir lighting as well.
Faces of Teens presets for the original Genesis (Genesis 1). With Poser CF files. Any Genesis 1 expression sets are worth having, and these look rather good.
Terra-Tropolis are future-city heightmaps for Bryce. 2D, which can be extruded into 3D. At a guess, they might also work in Vue or PD Howler?
A new UserScript for Amazon Historical Prices. Useful for those tracking big purchases such as graphics cards over time, and months ahead of any possible purchase. Perhaps also useful for spotting trends (e.g. “a three-day discount, every six weeks”). The open-source code looks fine to me.
PD Howler 2022 for free, in a ‘probably time limited’ summer offer. The last such offer was time-limited and in the summer. The download is build 52 buy the look of it.
PD Howler is a fine 2D painting software, but uniquely has a wealth of mature 3D-friendly features.
The last Windows 7 version was PD Howler 2021.3 build 85. In my experience, later versions will install on Win 7 but then they do things like fatally crash on exit, will not allow setting the number of CPU threads, and possibly have many other problems.
I see that Mandelbulb3D updated in spring 2023.
2023-03-05: Mandelbulb3D V1.99.37 released: (optional) generating of z-buffers, including batch renders
2023-02-07: Mandelbulb3D V1.99.36 released: support of network rendering for batch renders
The Batch rendering module appeared in the version released last July.
A new UserScript for your Web browser, TurboSquid Paid Asset Tile Remover In Free Sections.
Intel’s excellent Open Image Denoise (OIDN) has been released in version 2.0. OIDN offers a superb free AI model that’s specially trained to clear 3D renders of noise and grain.
This 2.0 release mainly adds GPU acceleration and support for newer GPUs, along with expanded API features. No speed boost in 2.0, so far as I can tell, other than that which might be added by using your NVIDIA CUDA or AMD graphics card to drive the denoising.
I guess it’ll be added to Poser and Vue relatively soon, as they both have OIDN plugged in by default. There’s still no Photoshop plugin for it though, so far as I know.
Update: Now at the 2.01 update, with better speed.
A big Hollywood sound FX library lands at Archive.org. Including, magic spells, sci-fi, explosions, fireworks and so on.
The DAZ freebies page has updated.
Bike Eleo. Has some basic mono-colour textures though no-one ever made a texture set for it. Comes with rider poses for M4 and Genesis 1. And a Poser version! Nice.
After install, find it in Poser under Figures | Bike Eleo. Works rather nicely in Poser’s real-time Comic Book mode…
Yes, I know… I didn’t take time to dress M4 properly. He’s headed for the beach.
Blender 3.51 for Windows 7 (early May 2023).
Now needing no installer, it will at last launch for me! Hurrah. Everything works, and it renders to Cycles using 12 CPUs with fair speed… while ignoring my unworthy GPU.
Previously the 3.x installers had decided my graphics card was unworthy, and totally refused to install Blender. Yes… I more than meet the minimum OpenGL 3.3 requirement, having 4.4.
Of course, not really needed now for most people. Since Poser 13 uses the latest Blender Cycles as the photoreal renderer. But still, nice to have it tucked away.
