News about the DAZ Studio and Poser software

Category Archives: Vue

Competition: Observatory Houses

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As south Italian hill-villages depopulate rapidly, there’s a need to create new types of attractions to bring in tourists and possibly new caretaker residents. The “Observatory Houses” competition seeks young… “designers will have to create a story composed by stars, silences and landscapes. This story will have to include architectural elements designed to create a place beyond compare” for observation of the stars at the hill-village of Roccascalegna. Deadline: 27th July 2017.

Nice idea, but as you can see there’s a tight deadline and also a hefty entry fee. But note that they have a free public 3D model, albeit only in the difficult .DWG CAD format and not quite the same as they one they’re showing in the promo…

However I’ve snagged it before the competition closes and made a basic .OBJ conversion, import-tested in Vue. Three material zones, soil, buildings and roofs, which all take Vue materials nicely.

Poser and DAZ new content survey: June 2017

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Slightly late this month, here’s my pick of the new Poser and DAZ content released since 1st June 2017. I’m assuming that everyone knows by now about the release of Genesis 8 Female and Victoria 8 for DAZ Studio.

Science fiction:

Nenana Alien HD for Genesis 8 Female. Fabulous Hollywood-quality from Josh Crockett, who did the excellent Robbus Goblin HD a few months ago.

Revo Hair for V4, and Revo Exposed for added colours and styles. Simple but stylish.

More funky future-fashion with Exoline Boots and Accessories for Genesis 3 Female.

Holographic Interfaces and Holographic Battle Charts for Poser, from Coflek-Gnorg.

Fusion Engine Room. Just add di-lithium crystals.

SpaceTech: Landing Platform for Poser, nicely detailed by 3-d-c.

The AntFarm’s Anti-Gravity Office Space is a standalone, and doesn’t require his previous anti-grav content.

Pin-Up Gynoid Phase8 for G3F.

Pd Poison for Genesis 3 Female offers unusual G3F skins.

Alpha Centaur for Centaur 7 Male, an alien-style centaur. Requires the base Centaur 7 for Genesis 3 Male.

A quality leather X-Fashion Kitty Girl Outfit for Genesis 3 Female.

Steampunk:

In what looks like it might be the first in a series, Sixus1 does steampunk with Aftermath: The Admiral for G3F.

Some Fascinators for Dawn for Poser, including an unusual steampunk-ish hat.

Harmonica Pistol and Old Repeaters from Cybertenko.

Historical:

Tommy Atkins from Cybertenko, a humble British ‘Tommy’ of the Second World War. For M4 in Poser.

Workers cottages of the English rural sort, from DryJack.

Cafe Racer, a vintage motorbike racing helmet for Poser.

Wooden Bleachers in the American style, and matching Crowd Reaction Poses.

Practical Archeology has Raiders of the Lost Ark -style poses, weapons and tools. Could work well the Gold Prospecting Equipment, also new this month, which has boxes of dynamite, shovels and suchlike.

Fantasy:

Fairy Bridge by 1971s.

DA Unicorn for DAZ Horse 2.

PBReal Blood Demon for Genesis 3 Female, which requires the Dark Fantasy Add-Ons for Genesis 3 Female.

Book of Souls and Book of Souls Add On for Poser.

Lumen Tenebris candlestick, and Illuminantis Libris candles for Poser.

Draconic Rising for Genesis 3 Female, a dragon-rider outfit with an especially stylish helmet.

A Titan Quest-style The Temple of Anubis, complete with “Attack” pose sliders for the statues.

Fantasy Throne Room for DAZ Studio.

People:

Tatsu for Genesis 3. A distinctive new face and character.

Maria G8F, a highly detailed and characterful new older woman for G8.

Outfit for G3F, a useful simple office suit.

Molly HD for Genesis 3 Female which requires the Growing Up for Genesis 3 morphs.

Nerdy Glasses for Genesis 3 and 8.

Fed up with searching for the eye controls among a zillion other sliders in DAZ Studio? Eye Clock Pose Control for Genesis 3 Male and Female, plus it’s claimed it “will adjust the eyelids automatically to keep the gaze natural looking”.

A Free Belly Button Morphs for Genesis 3, and Belly Button Morphs for Genesis 8 Female.

Also Sign Language Greetings as aniBlocks and Poses for G3F. The same maker has a range of other Sign Language pose packs.

Creatures:

aniBlocks for Millennium Cat and Run AniBlocks for Millennium Horse.

Handmade Old Doghouse, which could also add clutter to an Anglo-Saxon or Celtic settlement in an overhead picture. I guess it could also double as a medieval henhouse.

Toons:

Morpheus for G3M, a stylish movie-quality semi-toon set of guys. Plus a superb Strongman for Morpheus and a Toon Super Guy Suit.

Bori Bori.

The Hungry Plant, which looks a bit basic but it might work well tooned-up in Poser 11’s Comic Book mode.

A set of free Cupcake Expressions for the Cupcake toon cat.

A toon-ish little Seahorse, a stand-alone for DAZ Studio. I’m not sure how dynamic it is, but I seem to remember that they don’t do much more than flutter their fins and curl their tails.

A new dress for Mavka. Apparently it’s been specially commissioned by a Mavka fan. I like the idea of that. Perhaps we need a dedicated Poser/DAZ Kickstarter-style site which would aggregate donations for similar project ideas, to sustain much-loved older figures?

Places:

AJ Floating House for Poser, and also likely to be of interest to Vue users.

Recording Studio and Guitar and Microphone with poses for G8F.

Mediterranean Courtyard and Towers.

The Streets Of The Wild West by Stonemason, with his usual high quality.

Nature:

Flinks Instant Meadow 3. Plus Flinks Instant Meadow 3 – Small Parts and More Small Parts and Flinks Dandelion, for Poser.

TruForms Jungle for Poser. OBJs available “on request”.

Oskarsson’s The Forgotten Park for DAZ Studio.

Vue users have Green Canyon, a classic ‘Lost World’ type of scene. Also a Green Valley hamlet which I guess is sort of a ‘the Green Canyon a million years later’, which suggests some sort of time-travel story that would link the two scenes.

David Brinnen’s Gritstone Hills, new for Bryce 7.

That’s it, more picks next month!

Poser and DAZ content survey: new in May 2017

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What new goodies were released in May 2017, for the Poser/DAZ content ecosystem? Here’s my survey of what caught my eye this last month…

Science-fiction:

A new set of matching Greeble City Blocks from Stonemason.

Also some modular Eco buildings to add a bit more greenery to your Greeble city.

UFO crash site looks very cool. Someone will presumably give it an additional texture set in due course, to make it more steampunk / The War of the Worlds? Perhaps also a retro ‘Roswell’ 1950s makeover?

Storm Robot for Poser by Moscowich. A homage to the Mass Effect videogame, so probably not suitable for commercial use.

Med Shells to make a medbot of the Main Frame robot for Poser.

You Medbot (above) could be the robot tattooist in Coflek-gnorg’s new highly detailed Tattoo Salon for Poser, which has a Blade Runner / cyberpunk vibe. There’s also an equally detailed Tattoo Machine.

The AntFarm has an Anti-Gravity Diner and an Anti-Gravity Lift that will fit most vehicles.

Starship Wanda, an unusual fish-shaped spaceship.

Cyberia Dress V4, a basic but rather good-looking 1970s-style sci-fi dress for V4.

Greylien For Genesis 3 Male, from a hand-sculpt in ZBrush and with detailed textures.

There’s a free Mane in fibermesh, which fits the vast herds of Genesis 3 centaurs which have recently been released onto the DAZ Store. Could possibly also enhance an alien G3 character.

Fantasy and monsters:

Any new set from DM is usually worth looking at, and his latest is DMs Mystic AtmoSPHERE. G3F poses, matched to an emissive glowing iRay sphere. It looks perfect for wizards and seers and the like.

Cheech Evolution for G3M and poses. He looks like a remake of the free Poser character Creech, which shipped for free with Poser 8 and which I seem to remember was modeled on a public domain B-movie monster from the 1950s. In his new DAZ Studio incarnation he now has various add-ons such as the deep-sea King of the Deep outfit and poses.

Monster Skulls, including a cyclops.

Death Stalker, an unusual hybrid between an insect and a dinosaur. Just the sort of thing for your explorers to encounter in a Lost World or alien planet.

Historical:

Legionnaire for Genesis 3 Male. There’s already authentic Roman military gear floating around for M3 and M4, but if you need it for G3M then these do look rather good. They also include fits for a couple of G3 variants.

Satine Detective Outfit for G3F.

Dr. Graverobber by Cybertenko is a complete 1930/40s Indiana Jones outfit for Michael 4, plus whip.

The new Palm Road seems to fit well with Dr. Graverobber. It’s detailed enough for Vue users to also be interested in this.

Temple of Anubis for Poser. A simple but convincing bit of a fantasy Egypt, and it could also easily be imported to Vue. There’s also a new Secret Ancient Catacombs scene.

Pirate Dining, the cabin of a pirate ship. With a bit of work and some candle-light it might also double as the inside of a hobbit-hole. I’m thinking of the scenes with the singing dwarves in Bilbo’s kitchen, at the start of The Hobbit.

Classic Rickshaw, possibly also useful for a steampunk Fu-Manchu vs. Sherlock Holmes type of adventure-mystery.

Old_Revolver for Poser, another high-quality prop and texture set from Dante78.

An authentic Texas Ranger Outfit for G3M, complete with some really nice Wild West boots. Probably needs some “And I just rode thu’ that there desert…” MATs, to dust up the clothes.

Got milk? A traditional milk-churn and related props.

Double Trouble Braids for G3F. A nice Celtic look, and slightly mussed up, which would suit shield-maiden battle scenes. Audrey Hair is similar and shorter, with a pony-tail effect on top. Apparently the Bronze Age people used heavy metal crimped stoppers on the ends of the braids, to weight the hair braid.

Everyday characters and clothes:

Amber for G3F, with hair and everyday clothing. See also the new Real Sneakers 2.0 for G3F.

April Rain Gear for G3F.

H&C Casual B outfit for G3M has a nice simplicity about it, while also being quietly futuristic. Designed to work well in close-ups and I foresee quite a few texture makeover packs being made for this set.

Scenes:

A Paris-style Metro Train interior.

An Island House complete with island and ocean.

There’s also a new Downtown Loft : Living Area, new from Stonemason.

Animals and nature:

SongbirdRemix’s bird expert Ken Gilliand has turned his attention to frogs, and he’s just released the Nature’s Wonders Frogs of the World Vol. 2 for Poser. It has those highly colourful, but highly deadly, ‘poison dart’ frogs. Created with Ken’s usual attention to detail and scientific realism.

Animations for the HiveWire Kitten.

Sea Washed Beach Rocks in hi-res for Poser, plus sand and a scene preset. May also be of interest to Vue users who want to do rock-pools and low-tide scenes.

iReal Animated Dandelion for DAZ Studio. Vue users already have a dandelion, but it’s not animated.

Country Ford for DAZ Studio and Carrara, a classic English ford. A useful addition for those with horses, hounds and historic vehicles in their runtimes. Also for stream-dipping scenes with child characters.

Wild Mossy Bamboo Forest for Poser.

The Forest could probably work well with Flinks Mossy Rocks HD for Poser and Vue.

Garden pottery for DAZ Studio. Very nicely textured with weathered textures that get past the ‘3D always looks too clean’ thing.

Vue users also have Ground Cover No.7: Pine Forest Floor which uses instancing to make sure each patch is unique. So you can apply it as an ecosystem on small patches of ground and not get repeating moire patterns.

Plugins and tutorials:

Scene Optimiser for DAZ Studio 4.9.3.29 and later, which allows you to drastically lower the memory required for certain types of scenes, and thus speed up your renders. I didn’t feature this last month because I wasn’t sure how well it worked, or how easy it was to operate. But I find it does work and it works well, making iRay rendering on a CPU ’10-minute feasible’ at 1800px x 1200px. It doesn’t only reduce the size of the big 4000px textures, but also seems to offer many other tweaks. Only for DAZ Studio 4.9.3.29 or higher, as it calls a function in the software that has only recently been introduced. The only frustrating thing is finding the damn thing. It’s under “Scripts” with the utterly obscure name of “V3Digitimes”. Who on earth would look for it under that name?

The Ultimate Guide to Creating Complex Outfits, a big multi-part training series with digital clothing expert Arki. Learn exactly how to make quality long dresses, full-length skirts, long-sleeved and multi-layered outfits.

Poke-Away3! for Genesis 3 aims to help cure clothing ‘poke through’. Often it’s just a case of making the offending body parts invisible, but there are times when that’s not going to work and you might need help from something like this.

DAZ Studio also has a Billboard plugin which gives you 2D billboards that always face the camera. I’m guessing you can probably do this by hand in DAZ Studio, but it’s likely that the plugin makes it easier and faster.

Lastly, currently on $2 clearance is the Poser Format Exporter for DAZ Studio 3 and 4, which from DAZ-only formats “generates Poser format Pose (.pz2), Face/Expression (.fc2) and Hand (.hd2) files from directly within DAZ Studio”.

That’s it. More picks next month.

A free 3D trilobite

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I found a scientifically-correct base trilobite in 3D, made in 2003. Because… trilobites! One of the most famous fossil types. They ruled the earth for 270 million years, although the closest thing to a trilobite which most people encounter today is a cute little wood-louse standing on a wood-pile.

The 3D model appears to be the best available for free, and…

“features the basic properties evident in the species but no specifics of any of the many subspecies … as anatomically accurate as possible, based on current knowledge.”

Sadly the model’s in Maya 4.5 .MB format from 2003. But if anyone with an (old?) copy of Maya wants to convert it to .OBJ it seems they can. The model is OK for non-commercial educational use only, as per the original rights notice. There are various bits of software which claim to be multi-3D-file converters (3DWin5, PolyTrans, SAP Visual Enterprise Author etc) that can open .MB files, but I’m told they all require a copy of Maya installed before they’ll actually open an .MB file. I haven’t found any simple “.MB in, .OBJ out” utility.

And here’s a picture which suggests the coloration of your trilobite, and the sort of soft parts that don’t survive to be seen in the famous polished fossils…

We think of them today as hard and black and like an Alien face-hugger, but in their time they were perhaps as attractively coloured as modern-day cuttlefish can be.

There’s also an un-rigged $12 Trilobites Set for Vue, although it’s a bundle so getting it into your wishlist seems to be impossible. There’s nothing worth having for Poser and DAZ Studio.

Of course there’s also some on Turbosquid, but they also come with the usual ridiculously high Turbosquid prices ($250!) that appear to be aimed at big advertising and movie production studios.

Drone -2- Mesh

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Want to create a high-precision 3D map of your own specific bit of the earth, for beautification in Vue or Terragen? There’s no need to hijack a passing NASA satellite — just launch your GPS-enabled drone, snap some HD photos and use PrecisionHawk‘s free software for drone mapping…

“Using GPS information embedded within the drone images, the software automatically stitches together a complete map, viewable in both 2D and 3D. Free users of PrecisionMapper can create up to 60 surveys a year without resolution or export limits.”

The precise types of 3D models that can be exported is left a little hazy by the publicity, but I presume they’re fairly standard types.

Possibly it’s easier just to sculpt the terrain with reference to a good large-scale map with contour-lines, of course. Or wrestle with some public geo-data sets. But if you happen to own a HD/GPS drone then it could be a nice project to use it to make an accurate and crisply Vue-beautified “bird’s eye view” version of your valley, local nature reserve, cycle-way, etc. Possibly even for VR fly-throughs.

Digital Art Live magazine – winter issues catch-up

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As we head into the really-leafy bit of the springtime, here’s a catch-up on last winter’s free monthly Digital Art Live magazine. The list below features the issues which have appeared since I last featured the magazine on this blog.

DAL is a Poser and DAZ -friendly magazine, devoted to science-fiction art and artists. It is currently regularly nudging 90-100 pages per issue, and is able to get in-depth interviews with the likes of Syd Mead. Next up is the Vue-themed issue, set for release any day now. Contact Paul to be put on the mailing-list and get your free copies. DAL will also soon be inviting advertising at very reasonable rates, so Poser / DAZ content vendors may also want to ask Paul about that.

Issue 12 : Second Skin, a Skin Art issue with a heavy Poser / DAZ contingent.

Issue 13 : Spacewrecks!

Issue 14 : Cybertronics. A Tron tribute issue for the mid-wintertime, with lots of glowing neon.

Issue 15 : Mystworlds, a tribute to the videogame Myst, with a lead interview with original Myst artist and animator Chuck Carter.

Issue 16 : Future Vehicles, with exclusive in-depth interview with Syd Mead.

Issue 17 : Movie Magic, on makers of VFX for movies and TV and more.

Poser and DAZ content: what’s new in April 2017

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What’s new in the DAZ and Poser content in April 2017? Here’s my personal selection from the month’s new releases.

Sci-fi:

Morphing SciFi Glasses for G3F look like they could made flexible use of across a range of sci-fi and superhero characters, even if everyone is going to say “oh, that X-Men guy!” when they see it.

For something similar but more retro, the Project Zero Goggles for Poser.

Slime Attack for G3F is very unusual, and the slime models would also appear to have possibilities as standalone exports for ‘alien garden’ scenes.

Swamp Mushrooms by 1971s for Poser. Simple, but effective.

AJ Hibernation Hall for Poser.

Liquid Lab for DAZ Studio.

Missing those good ol’ Bryce 3D primitives? DAZ now has a pack of Impossible Objects.

A freebie, an iRay pack of Shimmery Sheer Fabrics suitable for sci-fi.

Aeon Soul’s new Proxy Outfit for Genesis 3 Female is an everyday cyberpunk style. No texture add-on packs yet, but Aeon Soul’s quality sci-fi clothes usually get one or more texture packs fairly swiftly.

Nostalgia:

The free Milkshake Props for DAZ iRay look like they’re worth a shake.

The Realigh Hopper 1970s Chopper bike, plus G3F and G3M preset poses. And if you want a ‘newspaper delivery-girl’-style duffel coat for the rider, there’s one in the new GaoDan Uniforms pack for G3F.

Historical:

Classic James Bond-style 1960s Mountain Cable Car with sliding door.

Coflek-gnorg’s Bunker Hill is a large freebie scene for Poser.

U.S. Musket is a very high quality recreation of a musket. There’s also a new Lee-Brooke Railway Gun from the American Civil War.

Shadow Jester Outfit for Genesis 3 Male looks a bit silly on a standard male, but would fit to a more suitable G3M character.

Tus – Persian Warrior Outfit for Genesis 3 Male is obviously fine workmanship and has a more toned-down texture pack.

There’s a new Ancient Celtic Adrian Hair and Beard for G3 Male.

There’s also a charging herd of male fantasy-historical centaurs on the DAZ Store this month, obviously high quality, but way too many content packs to link.

Steampunk and valvepunk:

New on Content Paradise. Meshbox’s old content can often be rather too low-poly since it was meant for old videogames, but their Steampunk Helicopter certainly looks nice and appears to have detailed engines. Beware that their stuff tended to use a single texture atlas, so swopping out the materials can be impossible.

Small town Newspaper Office of the 1910s-1930s, complete with a news-sheet printing press in the basement and a big bundle of period props.

Creatures:

‘Mr. SongBird Remix’ Ken Gilliland has a new creature, Nature’s Wonders Frogs with two common species created with his usual high quality and realistic approach. Certainly the best Poser frog I’ve yet seen, and I have a few in my runtime. His Renderosity Gallery suggests a “Giant Monkey Frog” morph may be forthcoming in volume 2.

AM has a rodent base and a squirrels morph and LAMH hair preset pack for it plus poses.

BoneZ for the HiveWire Big Cat gives you the base skeleton for things like museum displays, magazine illustration cut-aways, and horror scenes.

Somewhat similar to Sanctum Art’s old Drub figure, Res Mortifera plus Poses and Expressions.

Nature:

Dirty Mudyard is an unusual one, and might perhaps also double as part of a small harbour at low tide. The new Frozen Lake Scenery also looks like it could also help with a kitbash of a low-tide harbour scene. The Dirty Mudyard might also be used for the inside of a recent bomb crater that’s been rained on for a few weeks, and which your Res Mortifera monster (see above) rises up from.

Got ducks and dragonflies? The Harpwood Trail – Mallard Pond.

Stonemason also has a new similar water-side setting at Willow Creek.

Vue users have a base for an ornamental Palace Gardens and topiary. Also a large White Meadow frozen stream-side winter scene which looks superb and is currently a mere $8.

If you fancy something more steamy there’s a new Vue Jungle Scene.

Clearance:

I also see that the DAZ Store currently has a (mostly) sub-$5 clearance sale on many items, as well. Lots of characters mostly, rather than scenes and props, but on a quick skim-through I spotted:

Gothic Muse has an unusual skirt which may interest makers of steampunk scenes, to make background characters more interesting.

Anu-naki, a sci-fi V4 character by TheAntFarm which I wasn’t previously aware of.

AnimeEyes for V4 and Aiko 4 / Hiro 4, possibly useful for making comics with the Poser 11 comic book mode. On the DAZ forums you can also find a freebie set of Genesis presets for fitting the eyes to Genesis 1 in DAZ Studio. (If you need similar for Genesis 2 see DG Toon Style Eyes for Genesis 2 Female).

Swordist for M4, a big collection of sword and hand poses which fit a set of weapons made by Xurge.

Merlin’s Flintlock pistol.

The Moebius-style Space Mother head-dress for V4, which is actually fan-art for the Lotus character in the Warframe videogame. This toons up very nicely, in Poser’s Comic Book Mode with flat lighting.

Gear Cybernet for Victoria 4.

Feral is set of quality cat-girl / cosplay poses for V4 and the Poser Furries Melody/Micah characters.

That’s it, more picks next month.

DAZ/Poser Content Survey: Halflings made easy in 3D

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You don’t need a wizard to conjure up some halflings from Middle-Earth, just a copy of the free DAZ Studio and some content packs. Here’s my survey of the suitable content for making fan-art.

The following may contain spoilers, for the early chapters of the book, for those who’ve not yet read it.

The basic halfling:

The good thing about the following being Genesis 2 is that G2 can be easily imported to Poser, and can thus get Poser 11’s Comic Book Mode treatment.

Dwarf Creator for Genesis 2 Male.

Dwarf Clothes for Genesis 2 Male.

Dwarf Poses for Genesis 2 Male including pipeweed smoking and walking-with-a-staff poses. This includes a matching pipe and walking staff as props.

The above packs may use the name ‘dwarf’ on the store, to avoid the wrath of the Tolkien estate (‘halfling’ and ‘middle earth’ are fine, as they were in use pre-Tolkien). But in terms of body shape and feet, it’s really the only DAZ / Poser halfling worth having.

There is however, and also for Genesis 2, the rather neglected Ferdibrand Goodchild for Genesis 2 Male character. Perhaps suitable as a Woody End inn-keeper, but he would need adapting to look far more rustic and Shire-like and less Byzantine. I’ve been unable to discover any ‘rustic Ferdibrand’ materials makeover packs, or any other add-ons. He might also provide the foundation for making a large rural halfling of the Farmer Maggot type.

Better faces:

Most of the Dwarf Creator promo faces don’t look right to me, as they’re too pixie-like and pinched. Halflings eat well in the Shire, what with ‘second breakfasts’ and all, and their faces should generally be far rounder and more cheery. Dwarf Creator for Genesis 2 Male does have some face morphs, but to get a movie-quality halfling face you might also want to have Genesis 2 Male Head Morphs installed.

Hair:

Wyatt Hair for Genesis 2 Male, for which you probably want to play with adding extra curls.

Michael 6 Sport Dynamic Hair for Genesis 2 Male.

Jordan hair for Genesis.

Also see Gurumarra for Genesis 2 Male, for the hair.

Hairy feet:

Real Hairy for Genesis 2 Male has foot hair as polygons. It’s applied in a modular manner and there are hair modules for… “knuckles and toes. Each module has its own morphs for length, thickness, clumping, wetness as well as color and glossiness options.” However, even that might not do it, as I get the impression that some of the most robust halflings have something akin to curly “woolly” sheep-like hair on their feet. Some post-work painting of hair, using Photoshop, may still be needed for certain types of halfling.

More clothing options:

Work Clothes for Genesis 2 Male. An impractical collar, but it includes useful dirty texture sets.

Steampunk Working Class for G2M, for a good plain base of Sam-like gardening shirt and trousers on which you could build an outfit.

Poses:

Gardening poses for M4.

Props:

You’ll probably want to avoid the Meshbox Halfling Village (versions 1.0 and 2.0 alike) series, as they are too old and low-poly now, and use a single texture map so can’t be easily re-textured.

Mortem Vetus has a rustic pipe and bedroll, both freebies for Poser.

Classic Pipe Collection has a long-stem pipe suitable for the best Longbottom Leaf.

The Party Tree might be Giant Tree DR from quality maker Dinoraul, and Ancient Tree by DarioFish would also be a good choice.

There’s an old Doors pack for Poser that has a ‘Hobbit Hole.cr2’ in it, and a hinged door which opens. It’s old, so needs re-texuring, but you may find it your runtime if you have a decade-old collection. It looks like a good starting base for quality hi-res retexturing.

Walking over The Shire, to the Woody End:

Vue’s Walk in the Forest is a fairly good approximation of the ‘neglected cart road’ which takes the back way from Hobbiton to the Woody End. Note that for this to work properly you need to have installed Large European Ash-Summer sparse foliage / Broad Leaf Straight Trunk / Alder-Late Summer / and Long Grass, all shipping in the Vue Infinite/xStream default free-content pack.

Poseable Trees with Ivy is less realistic and more storybook. It’s a bit bare in terms of ground cover and thus would need either a good low-poly ground-cover pack, or lot of grass and low herbs ‘Photoshopped in’ at the postwork stage.

Campfire and Cooking Set. Also Campfire which is self-illuminating and casts light, in Poser.

Survivors Backpack by Cybertenko for M4 would need modification of its modern textures, but it looks fairly useful as ‘Sam’s big pack’ if you can convert it for G2M.

Luthbel’s Dragonworld: Wildenlander for V3 also has a softer and less-square backpack prop to fit V3, and it also has a water-bag.

Other Shire characters:

Oskarsson’s HellHorse and Dynamic Wraith for V4, both for Poser. For the horse, note that the… “Materials will not work in Daz Studio” and I can’t quickly find any free DAZ MATs for it.

Also look at Soul Nexus for the original Millennium Horse.

Robed aged wizards with big pointy/floppy hats are, of course, very common and they really deserve their own content survey. Storybook dwarves, likewise.

Lastly, as an alternative to the Dwarf Creator for G2M, Nursoda’s Gosha could also be looked at if you want a crowd of background halflings, since you might want a less memory-intensive base character for that than G2.

Some choice Vue freebies at Cornucopia

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Building a Vue content Wishlist on the Cornucopia Store is a bit odd. You first have to add-to-Cart, then go to the Cart and turn it into a Wishlist item, then you get taken through to the Wishlist. It slows down powering through the Store to build a Wishlist. But I spotted some nice free small scenes there, such as “Crypt” and the Pit” and some others…

That lot came it at around 200mb total, so the download time was acceptable too (Vue scene files can be big).

A few Vue freebies

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Here’s a little round-up of some Vue freebies I found and checked today on a quick 30 minute scoot-around, and which are not fan-art…

Vue – Powder Snow material.

Reeds 2.0 as a .veg file.

And the shiny new D&D Creations web store has a nice free frozen lake material which uses multiple layers.

Merlin’s Free Rope Bridge.

Starbase1 – 26 semi-transparent PNG alien planets for Vue.

Vue Scaling Objects – 34 different types of sports ground terrains. I’d never considered that Vue might be good for sports scenes, but it makes sense — big fields and stadia, atmospheric weather, large squads of easily-posed and placed characters via Poser.

And of course the 3D free samples of trees and plants from Xfrog and the Silva3D freebie plants.

D&D Creations new store

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Vue content makers D&D Creations have a shiny new Web store, and if you sign up to the email newsletter first (and confirm) then you should get a 10% discount coupon code. They also have some nicely-priced sale items at present. I picked up five full scenes with atmospheres, and a cool multi-layer freebie, for a low price…

Note that your purchase download links are delivered by email, and I didn’t see them show up immediately on my account dashboard.

What’s New for Poser and DAZ – March 2017

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It’s time for the monthly survey of what’s new in the world of content for Poser and Daz Studio. Here’s what caught my eye, in March 2017.

Characters and clothes:

Dale for Genesis 3 Male is a distinctive character, who could serve in a role as a sensitive craftsman or a spaceship’s ‘alien ecosystem’ expert. He comes with fibremesh goatee and eyebrows…

Adaptable new sci-fi clothing from veteran designers like Aeon Soul is always a treat, and especially when it’s made for males. Such as the new 20.50 Cyberpunk Everyday Clothes for Genesis 3 Male…

Hair and headwear:

Poisen’s new HelmetZ 3 is the third expansion pack for the wonderful Helmetz series for Poser, and you also get a folder of .OBJ files alongside the Poser files…

Sci-fi Head Gear for Genesis 3 Females and Males…

Gwennili Hair for Genesis 3 female is a very nice freebie from Kayleyss and is inspired by a hairstyle to be found in the recent The Witcher 3 videogame…

Toon and storybook:

DAZ Studio’s Real Toon Expressions for Toon Generations 2 for Genesis 3.

FairyTale Furniture as .OBJ or for Bryce…

Old Windmill for Poser, a freebie from VanishingPoint. Possibly a bit of an old model newly converted for Poser, but it should still look fine in the far distance of a storybook scene. The sails can be animated in Poser…

The AntFarm is developing a very appealing line of Nursoda-like characters, and his latest is Kobold Woodland Spirit for DAZ Studio, currently nicely priced with an introductory offer. Both .FBX and .DAE exports get badly crushed on import to Poser but Kobold can be successfully taken to Poser for Comic Book Mode, with pose intact, using a basic .OBJ export.

Animated lip-synced Talking Kitten? It’s now a possibility, with the new Talking Kitten for the HiveWire Housecat kitten. There’s also a set of 18 PuddyTat Poses for the HiveWire Housecat.

Creatures:

The Great Kraken, a squiddy sea monster for DAZ Studio. Might also look interesting small, re-textured with some luminous stripes, and placed in a sci-fi lab tank…

Need a demonic moggie? SkeleCat for the HiveWire Big Cat…

Need a robot dinosaur? The new R.A.P.T.O.R. and R.A.P.T.O.R. Battle Poses…

Steampunk and valvepunk:

Freakshow Tent for DAZ Studio.

Also in the sideshow section, a bucking Mechanical Bull by Coflek-gnorg, which might even be given a steam-driven copper-plated steampunk makeover. Perhaps pop a clock-face dial texture on the central circle…

This valvepunk Snowmobile is nicely quirky…

Oskarsson’s The Great Library is a scene where you may struggle to get satisfactory low-level camera angles, but this certainly is a very good-looking library with a pleasingly fantasy/steampunk edge…

1920s Explorer:

Ancient Egypt Exhibit is for DAZ Studio, but looks like it would also look good in Vue (via a Collada .DAE export) provided you’re willing to wrestle it to get the camera angles…

Ancient Egypt Exhibit might be combined with the new The Wraithgate from Orestes, and the M4 World War I Headwear Pack II. The latter is a freebie and includes a good Michael 4 Pith Helmet…

Cornucopia has a delightfully ratty old Swampboat / Riverboat for Vue, with detailed interior and many accessories…

Natural scenes:

With Vue 2016 and Poser 11 now both fully patched up, speeded up and talking nicely to each other, now seems like the time for those with fast multi-core CPUs to take another look at using Vue — especially if you want to render Poser scenes that require lush natural landscapes or rich atmospheres. (Note that Vue’s rendering isn’t speeded up by a faster graphics card, as its final rendering is CPU based).

There’s a complete traditional Medina oasis settlement for DAZ Studio, which might also be adapted to serve as a future or off-world setting found in the cult videogames such as Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (which opens in Casablanca in the year 2219) and Elder Scrolls: Morrowind (which starts largely in the town of Balmora). Might be combined with the new Tropical Palm Trees for Daz Studio.

And if you need a large city then the Medina is accompanied by a fascinating sounding Cityscape Generator script for auto-generating vast low-poly 3D backgrounds…

And how will your camel reach the Medina? Perhaps take the new Wild Road for Vue, available at Cornucopia…

DryJack’s Railway Cutting is a fairly simple scene, but this .OBJ could save someone a lot of time in Vue if they wanted to set up a lush summertime steam train scene. DryJack also has a host of other beautifully modeled British train line scenes and props…

Sci-fi scenes:

There’s a very appealing Tomorrowland-style / Mass-Effect-style Sci-Fi Square from Mely3d…

If you have a need for secret underground test facilities, also have a look at Mely3D’s Secret Underground Base and Mecha Hangar.

Dominator Planet from Petipet…

Ahead of the release of the Blade Runner sequel later in 2017, the new Stonemason scene Urban Future 5 is well worth a look, and can of course be used as an expansion for the other Stonemason scenes in his series.

And finally, free tentacular Repair Drones that should work well with Stonemason’s Urban Future 5…

That’s it, more next month!