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.
DAZ’s time-limited freebies have updated with a new set.
Worth having, “To the Beat Poses” dance-exercise poses set for Genesis 2, with Poser CF files (for DSON import to Poser).
Also two large IBL light-probe environment sets for Poser, including Renderstudio – Skylight And Atmosphere which has 8,000px sky panoramas and atmosphere presets. “Extremely fast rendering”, according to the original RuntimeDNA blurb…
The included Atmosphere module will not put any strain on your rendering times as it is generated by Poser’s very own ‘Depth Cue’ cue system. I have found that using these atmospheres adds no extra rendering time at all!!!
Tested and working in Poser 11, and as it uses no scripts I assume it would also work in P12 and P13.
It’s true, it’s pleasingly fast. But it’s also only able to use the old Firefly engine, since the depth-fogging atmosphere and sun-colour don’t appear in the newer SuperFly (i.e. Blender Cycles).
Simpler and quicker than Poser to Vue. Here are comparisons…
Simple English terraced houses with Renderstudio set up in Poser. Very quick Firefly render, less than a minute at 1800px.
Simple English terraced houses with saved Poser scene to Vue import. Slow even at 1800px (8 minutes), textures now look a lot better but more grungy.
Note that Vue’s default Final preset was possibly using high bumps and displacement, which with a different render setting I might have been able to add to the Poser render to make it more grungy and 3D textured.
Anyway, it’s not SuperFly or Vue… but yes, it’s fast as well as easy in Poser. You get fast Poser atmosphere presets with an easy sunlight position dial and sun colour presets. Which may be just what some Firefly users need for a big outdoor backdrop, for a finished product in which the foreground is going to be the focus of attention.
By comparison, the same prop/scene is so horribly unwieldy in the DAZ Studio viewport as to be essentially unusable. I didn’t even get as far as rendering, before I gave up on it.
Shap-E, a basic ‘prompt to 3D object’ generator. Fast and free. Tested and working.
Testing Shinteo’s free fan-art G8 figures. There’s a lot of them, but he has a handy page which groups them by game, movie or whatever. Sadly, no Gravity Falls (no game?) or Lord of the Rings.
Click through to the one you’re interested in. There are hundreds of game characters. Click to a character, click the Patreon link, and there on the .ZIP file link.
I got Tintin, Doctor Doom (Marvel), Classic Spiderman (Marvel), Capt. Jack Sparrow, and Godzilla (I think he’s public domain now?) with no problem.
My quick pose and render of Capt. Jack. Responds to G8M expressions.
They’re low-poly game rips, so you probably shouldn’t expect to do pore-probing close-ups on the face. Also, I imagine you should expect texture atlases, so no re-texturing. Some require commercial morph packs to be present. Some of the eyes are a bit glazed and filmy, so may need tweaking.
Once installed they show up in Characters | @Cosplay, not G8. I haven’t tested if they can be mixed with other G8’s via sliders.
Note also the Tutorial on posing with my converted models, re: facial expressions. And the Eyes Offset Tutorial.
DAZ’s free Photoshop Bridge only fully works when using 32-bit with a 32-bit Photoshop. Ideally Photoshop CS6. As I’ve explained before here on MyClone, here and here.
But imagine you’ve got it working and are auto-sending renders to a comic-book page that’s set up in Photoshop. Each render drops into a comic-book panel. But, since there’s a lot to render on each page, the renders are quick and grainy and have ‘fireflies’. This grain will not matter so much, if you’re then filtering them using a non-naff artistic Photoshop filter (Mediachance, Sketchmaster 2018, some G’MIC filters).
But what if you’d just like to denoise a photoreal render? Sure you can filter with an NVIDIA-only denoiser, back in DAZ Studio. But that feature has never worked for me, and I guess my NVIDIA graphics card is just not worthy. Or you could lift the shadows and create a flatter and more comic-book look with the Exposure Value and Shutter Speed sliders in DAZ. Less shadows, less noticeable grain and fireflies.
True, there’s a free mcjDenoise plugin for DAZ which actually uses Intel’s OIDN. But it can only be applied to the stack of recent renders. Thus it can’t work to process the render that’s to be automatically sent to Photoshop via the Bridge.
Ideally there would be a Photoshop plugin that uses the open-source Intel OIDN denoiser. Which has a superb AI model especially trained to clear 3D renders. This plugin would speedily fix all the grain and fireflies, in one click. But, rather surprisingly (given the potential market and the very open licence) no-one has made such a thing. There are only two Windows GUI standalones.
What about other AI-powered denoiser plugins for Photoshop? The Topaz AI Denoise plugins were available for CS6, but… only for 64-bit and they were trained for megapixel night photographers, not 3D renders. There were three or four pre-AI denoiser plugins for 32-bit, but they were expensive and (even if still available) are not ideal now.
Thus the fallback in 2023 would be the free and actively developed G’Mic plugin suite. Its 32-bit .8BF is happy to run as a Photoshop CS6 32-bit plugin. Currently in G’Mic, the 2022 filter Testing | Afre | Denoise appears to be the quickest/best on 3D renders. In fact it’s near-instant, which is very nice. But obviously it’s not as good as OIDN. The results are softer than OIDN, and not all noise is cleared. But it’s better than nothing, and if your comic-book page is destined for digital-only… then it may be good enough.
And don’t forget that .PSD is a portable format, so you can do all the render-catching and layout in CS6, and then load the CC 2018 or higher for postwork and filters.
But the ideal for CS6 would be that someone plugs OIDN into G’Mic in the near future.
Sickleyield has kindly made his formerly-paid ShareCG items free. I’m not sure what was formerly paid there, but going through the items I noted…
SY Big Wave iRay. A big ocean wave with spray. And posing bones.
SY 200 Morphs for Genesis 8 Head & Body.
His conversion of DieTrying’s 182 Morphs for Genesis 2 Male and Genesis 2 Female. Also available for Genesis 1.
His paid G8 items are now over at the new 3D Shards store (slow to load, give it time). A very slick store, with 78 items there at present. Has his new G8 Pinocchio wooden puppet-boy and the older Marshmallow Man / Snowman, among others.
Clavicula 0.9.9.5, a new release for the free and innovative modelling software.
And in the comments, “export renders with a given screen resolution” may be coming by the end of 2023.
A brief note on Raffael for Poser, for the benefit of future searchers. I didn’t know this existed. Raffael is a flexible ‘base figure’ with several unique character morphs, and his Renderosity store page says he now ships free with Poser 11. He’s quite low-poly, but looks pleasing and ships with a great many sub-morphs.
To load after install, he’s not under !Raffael or Raffael or 3D Dream (the maker), in the Library listing. Actually buried deep, under…
Library | Figures tab || Figures folder | Raffael | 3Dream | Raffael
Also loads in DAZ Studio…
Poser | Figures | 3DDream.
To make the most of this freebie you should install his vital Raffael – Freebies collection 1, which among others includes neanderthals (male and female), a stylised doll, and two unique youth presets (unique for Poser).
Here we see my quick render of the Neanderthal with Creepy Kid hair. Backdrop photo by Toby Speight.
After install, the freebies are then all found under Poses | ! Raffael with a good range of figure types as one-click morphs. There are also MATs and more, all nicely organised. Renders in SuperFly with no problems. Has a paid but rather fabulous male skin pack along with others.
Takes Hiro 3 action poses, I found, more or less. But make sure you first save a T-Pose to get back to. There’s no T-pose in the freebie pack. Elbow crease-bending is definitely not great on some poses, like many older figures. Otherwise anatomically correct, though.
Commercial renders OK on all content.
Raffeal appears to have a completely unique face rig, since none of my existing expression presets will move it at all. There are many face part control dials, but no dials for expressions (happy, sad etc).
What this (now free) figure totally lacks is clothing, other than a basic one-click photo-mapped body suit (to remove this, reload the skin MAT in Poses | ! Raffael). And there’s no CrossDresser licence for Raffael either, so clothing can’t be had that way. Only by wrestling with the Fitting Room. Ugh. Such a pity… what a waste of a nice friendly figure. There is one basic clothing maker’s ‘merchant resource’ for sale on Renderosity, though, for making basic clothing.
