Here’s a look at my second round of Vue freebies from the Cornucopia Store. They limit a customer to seven per week, so this is my second batch. Around 110mb for the lot, so once again the download wasn’t huge.
Category Archives: Vue
Some choice Vue freebies at Cornucopia
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
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…
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.
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
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
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!
Vue 2016 – R2 official patch is available
Got Vue 2016? There’s now an R2 update patch for Vue 2016. This weighs in at a 350Mb download, and in the changelog I see that they’ve added 360° VR panoramas and additional viewports, plus a host of fixes for EcoPainter and fixes for various stability and loading niggles. There’s also an R2 patch for Plant Factory.
If you don’t have Vue but want to try it, E-on has just announced the PLE (Personal Learning Edition) and trial versions of Vue 2016 and Plant Factory are now available.
Poser/DAZ content – new for February 2017
Well, it’s nearly the end of February. Which means it’s time for a look at the new releases for Poser and DAZ. As usual, it’s just my personal selection of what caught my eye and wallet. It’s been a pretty good month for affordable 3D content, and it’s not yet quite over.
Storybook:
Storybook illustrators may like this complete Hazel outfit and props for Genesis 3 female…
Fantasy:
The Armisael Wings for Genesis 3 and Victoria. Expensive, but it’s nicely cross-compatible with either Poser or DAZ Studio.
RawArt’s Frost Giant for Genesis 3 Male…
DA Let There Be Moss. “A system for adding moss to any object in a scene” in DAZ Studio. Possibly useful for faerie scenes and quickly adding new detail to older scenes which have muddy rock/tree textures.
Historical scenes:
WW2 Anderson Shelter. A typical back-yard bomb shelter scene, from the British Home Front in the Second World War…
I’m not a big fan of yet more medieval stuff, these days. But I have to tug my peasant forelock to Dante78 for his new Medieval Peasant House for Poser. It’s the usual very high quality and detail from Dante78, and if sunk down into the ground a bit it might also pass for a more primitive Iron Age structure. It also has a generic fantasy-game type interior.
The woodsman who lives here probably looks like the new Dragonsbane Barbarian Hair and Beard for Genesis 3 Male (for Dragonsbane Barbarian Character HD)…
Missing Jet is a crashed light aircraft / modern Robinson Crusoe scene complete with campsite and wolf-defying treetop bivouac. Possibly a scene that’s also useful in Vue, with some of the DAZ foliage stripped off and Vue trees/ecosystem substituted.
Lucky Vue users have a big new historical scene “Mel’s Drive In”, which might perhaps be given a sci-fi twist with flying cars and hover-bikes and retro robots…
This drive-in scene might be customised and enhanced in Photoshop, by being composited together with a render from the new Marquee Letters for DAZ Studio.
Science fiction:
The Gynoid_Tronic might work well in zero-gravity, inside the 2001-like minimalism of the new Echo Lima Halls…
A well-designed unusual sci-fi dress is MMLT Dress Set For V4 Elite A4.
Hr-175 Spectrum offers Victoria 4 hair as giant corn-row plaits, with a whole load of colour MATs. Possibly working well with the above MMLT Dress Set. Also likely to be useful alternative hair for something like a Trek-style sci-fi command-deck scene with several V4 ‘deck crew’ extras in the background.
There’s a nice sort-of late-1970s / mid-80s vibe to FaceMod for the new 2ndGen standalone robot figure for Poser.
Retro sci-fi pulp-art fans have a cool new 1960s-style monster, Kytis for Genesis 2 Male alien.
Also looking rather fun are the Swarmz Raiders. Definitely one for artists needing an unusual and fresh monster for your Doctor Who etc fan-art (although the TV would give them a chunky genital-concealing belt). I especially like the idea of their teleporting / inter-dimensional-shifting MAT texture — all sci-fi monsters should have such an easy-apply texture option bundled with them…
Need to send in the jets to destroy the Swarmz Raiders? KX Pilot Helmet for Genesis 3 female looks like a usefully generic prop…
Or perhaps the Swarmz Raiders can be taken out with the Dominator Crab, Petipet’s new mega-turret. Currently sensibly priced at an introductory $11.87…
Now that’s what I call a sci-fi turret. In terms of its design the Dominator works alongside Petipet’s similar Sci-fi Tank, Sci-fi UFO, Military Module and Dominator. Possibly these are manned (bugged?) by the new Mantisaran race…
Steampunk:
Abandoned Train Station could, with a bit of makeover (remove modern warning lines/decals, add rusty old steam trains) become a steampunk or valvepunk scene.
The lovely AJ SteamFlyer 2.0 is now in a “new version of the previous ‘Steam Flyer For Poser’ package”. Now tested and tweaked for DAZ Studio and iRay, by the looks of it…
DryJack is continuing to produce beautifully crafted models for British 20th century steam-railway enthusiasts.
10 Downing Street, famously the home of the British Prime Minister. Complete with detailed interior, but I’d only want the famous door. Perhaps Blue Tree Studios might consider also making a cheaper frontage-only package?
I see Blue Tree Studios also has the new Steampunk Slum. I like its wibbly-wobbliness…
Serenading his beloved in the yard of the Steampunk Slum might be the One Man Band for Genesis 3 Male. Includes the usefully-generic top hat for G3M…
Everyday:
Millennial Business Casual Outfit for Genesis 3 Male is a generic ‘millennial boy’ look. The hair is Heath Hair for Genesis 3 Male(s) & Female(s)…
Man About Town for Genesis 3 Male(s) is a generic ‘online start-up / crowd-funder’ kind of chap.
Oh My Body Hair for Genesis 3 Male is “nine morphing fiber hair models” for G3M, for easy body hairiness…
Animals:
HiveWire Cougar for the Hivewire Big Cat…
18 PuddyTat Poses for the HiveWire House Cat. The Hivewire House Cat also has a BNB Talking Cat add-on for Poser, for speech, and also emotion dials for human-like emotions.
Helpers:
Finally there are some possibly-useful helpers for Poser and DAZ Studio this month:
Flamer – A flame tool for Poser. Flamer is a basic “prop with shaping morphs used to create various fire objects such as fireballs, rocket flames, flames for torches and candle.” Could be useful for that time when you need a quick adjustable rocket exhaust or candle flame. So far as I can tell, you don’t also get presets with the emissive light shown in the store preview.
FaceGen Artist Pro lets you create DAZ Studio Genesis 2 or 3 heads from just one or two real-life photos of people. Windows-only.
BOSS Pro Light Set for Portraits & Promos in DAZ Studio, complete with place-holder mannequins to indicate exactly where to position your characters for the best results.
Lastly Hands Dial-up for Genesis 3 Male and Female is a big set of hand poses plus control dials.
That’s it. Another pick next month.
Vue 2016 available
e-on VUE 2016 is now available. Now supports Poser 11 Pro.
New “Rendering Presets”: OpenGL, Preview, final, broadcast, superior, ultra, Path Tracer, user settings. I’m not sure if that speeds up the workflow re: Vue’s sluggish native rendering, but it might. If it doesn’t, then there’s another option…
“Render VUE content using any renderer (such as Arnold, Vray RT, Octane, Renderman…) thanks to the xStream Convert tool: In 3dsMax, Maya and Cinema4D.”
Also… “Maximum supported Poser version: Poser Pro 11 (SR1) and Poser Pro GameDev in standalone mode.”
Highlights of the many new features are:
Scenes and assets thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer. (Update: Requires the proper Windows Explorer, won’t work with Explorer++ etc.).
Hybrid GPU/CPU interactive Real-Time Path Traced preview in the main view. Default OpenGL engine set to Shader 4.
Export EcoSystem populations as FBX, including texture maps. Export textured objects as FBX. Export full scenes as FBX (including EcoSystem populations and sky maps).
Other videos about what’s new for Vue 2016…
VUE 2016 – HeightField Terrains
VUE 2016 – Interactive GPU PathTracer
Also videos of the Plantfactory 2016 improvements…
PlantFactory 2016 – Plant Variations and Growth Node and Level of Detail.
Vue competition: Jungle Book
There’s a new e-on software competition, Jungle Book, for Vue users.
Poser and DAZ New Content Survey: February 2016
Well, it’s that time of the month again. Here’s my survey of what I found to be the most unusual / freshest / adaptable new content for DAZ Studio and Poser.
Before I start the post, I should note that it’s now official that the Runtime DNA store is being sold outright to DAZ. My guess is that the growing Hivewire3D store will get some of the more Poser-centric RDNA vendors and Poser script/utility makers — and perhaps even get the official Poser forums. I also guess that a few smaller vendors may not want all the hassle of moving elsewhere and their content could just vanish altogether. So… if you have anything on your Runtime DNA Wish List you’ve always wanted, especially if it’s from a small vendor, now might be the time to grab it.
Sci-fi:
New content-creator Sharktooth shows sci-fi promise with his Nanoflight Jetpack for Genesis 2 and 3 (Manga-Anime Battlesuit and helmet not included)…
The AntFarm has a delightfully designed little Helper bot, in a 1960s Italian retro style…
Sleek Chic for Genesis 3 Female is possibly useful generic sci-fi clothing, for background extras in a large scene.
VYK_Meerka for Victoria 4…
Edit Male Hair for Genesis 3 Males, which has a futuristic/sci-fi vibe…
Elegant for Genesis 3 Female has a nice steampunk / Sky Captain feel…
Rebel Star for Genesis 2 Female will be useful for those making fan-art for the new Star Wars movie…
This month coflek-gnorg has Futuristic Promenade, which can double as a future museum or alien aquarium…
In sci-fi scenes Stonemason has Our Lost Future. A naff name, but a very fine sci-fi-horror tunnel entrance…
How to reach that remote and abandoned tunnel entrance? There’s a highly detailed Expedition Truck for Poser. This looks absolutely outstanding in its attention to detail, range of texture makeovers, and inclusion of a complete interior.
For commercial use you’d want to remove some of the trademarked decals via a little Photoshop cloning. Use of the famous Red Cross / UN symbol should also be very carefully considered, even in non-commercial renders. Diluting the power of the Red Cross brand could cost real lives…
The AntFarm has Explosive Props, always handy for the “Destroy ALL Monsters!” type of sci-fi. You can probably scavenge some similar items for free, given an hour’s searching, but here they all are in high quality and they come with DAZ iRay materials…
Cybertenko’s STRATCOM War Room may be useful for some, with a bit of re-texturing of the screens. It reminds me of early Sean Connery-era James Bond movies (Dr No to You Only Live Twice are the ones worth seeing)…
Need close-ups pictures of meteorites or small asteroids, for your sci-fi? Weathered Rocks come with hi-res 4096px textures for Poser and DAZ…
And there’s also some unusual new Zero-G Pinup Poses for zero gravity portraits.
Generic scenes:
ironman13 has an amazingly detailed i13 Coffee Shop for DAZ Studio iRay complete with G3 poses.
TruForm has an Italian-style Small Library for DAZ and Poser.
Stonemason also goes with the Italian vibe with The Streets of Tuscany…
Tuscany looks just the place for Vue users to park their snazzy new 3d replica of the vintage 1928 Mercedes-Benz SSK…
Slightly less alluring than Tuscany are the terraced side streets of the northern Midlands and Northern England. Northern Terrace Street faithfully recreates those. Just add half a ton of litter, and choke the roadsides with parked cars…
Jackson’s Field doesn’t look much at first glance, but is fairly unique. It’s a typical scraggy bit of English farmyard, plus a ditch which might suit insect and pond-dipping storybook pictures. If your runtime has small children in dungarees and cute farm animals, who all need some exercise, then this might be the place for them. Jackson’s Field also comes in a DAZ Carrara version.
Dante78’s new Medieval Plantation models may be able to turn your Jackson’s Field into a more medieval scene.
Characters, body shapes, and hair:
There’s now a free Genesis 3 Poser Updater, allowing G3F and G3M to be imported into Poser 11 (previous Genesis incarnations and related props can of course be brought into Poser 11 very easily, via the existing free DSON importer plugin). This new free G3 converter works inside DAZ Studio, converting and outputting a Poser 11 -compatible figure…
There are two fine new characters for Poser 11’s new flagship Pauline character (she comes with Poser 11’s free 5Gb content bundle)… Elly for Pauline and Altea for Pauline…
Also some conforming clothing for Pauline, MMOS-Sweety Set…
Kimi Style for Genesis 3 is a flexible everyday clothing set, which could be livened up with some chunky hiking boots and ankle-warmers.
Doris V4 is a characterful older woman for Victoria 4…
Growing Up for Genesis 3 Bundle is now available, for both boys and girls…
The best-selling Rayn and Skyler G2F/G3F characters now each have a set of distinctive new face/head presets, via the new Rayn’s Friends pack and the Skyler’s Friends packs…
Fantasy and macabre:
1971s has a fine new Fantasy rock house…
Poisen mixes twee and macabre with his new set of heart-shaped CharmZ…
Muud for Genesis 3 Male is unusual and suitably priced. He might benefit from an add-on that pools the mud around the ankles and feet, and has drips and splodges on the floor, like he’s just raised himself up out of a cave-pool and is still wet and dripping. Maybe also a preset to have him become a Lava Man.
RawArt’s Woody for Genesis 3 Male is superbly macabre. Possibly he needs a set of marionette strings, though, as a freebie. And a matching ramshackle/rustic performance stage with spooky light presets…
Nature V4 Hair seems like it’s a nature/faerie hair base that will inspire a few texture makeovers. It might even be amenable to a sci-fi makeover, or could become wood-shavings + nails hair for RawArt’s Woody…
Semi-toon and comics/storybook:
This month saw the release of the way-too-expensive The Guy 7 and The Girl 7 for DAZ Studio’s Genesis 3.
Anime and manga comics makers may like the new Lynn for NearMe. This requires the specialist anime production base-character for Poser, NearMe 1.1…
There’s a new Leotard for Star!…
Sewing Notions is unusual, and seems to have the items a children’s book illustrator might need for a mice-meet-faeries storybook tale set around a sewing table at night…
dhouck has the latest in his Moon Modern Jetsons-style sci-fi retro furniture and rooms. The growing series is not especially well presented by his main store previews, but the range of clean n’ curvy shapes might work very well with the Comic Book Mode in Poser 11.
Animals:
Not much this month. Australian and New Zealand animals seem to be popular, at present. Alessandro has a new Tasmanian Devil with Look At My Hair plugin presets.
Songbird Remix has New Zealand Kiwi birds and a Kiwi Burrow for them. (They burrow? Yes, apparently so…)
Others:
Stonemason has a $800 Stonemason Indie Game Developer License for his content. Good luck in poly-reducing them to run in action games. But for rendered cut-scenes and splash screens, and for other games genres such as point n’ click adventures and gamebooks, they could look awesome. Stonemason has a small gallery accompanying the license that seems to suggest that sort of use.
Lastly, Hologram Image Maker for Daz Studio is very intriguing. It makes a series of video files that apparently then go into Adobe After Effects or similar, and can then be made into a hologram that can be projected by a smartphone into a little prism-like container. It’s not exactly ‘Princess Leia holograms’, but it’s an interesting novelty until the Microsoft Hololens arrives in the shops.
That’s it, more next month.
Vue 2015 and the NPR feature
I’d almost forgotten that Vue XStream 2015 added a new NPR (Non-Photorealistic Rendering, or ‘toon and paint’ to the rest of us) module, when it shipped last spring. I took a quick look at what people have been saying about it, and doing with it over the last nine months.
Unfortunately there seems to have been very little interest in this feature. Judging by the half-dozen 2015 NPR renders shown online, there was even less use of the feature. Just a few tests.
Here are the better ‘not-too-Photoshoppy’ demo pictures made with Vue 2015’s NPR: Vue’s own planes’ promotional picture; some trees by CG-Garlic; and (with some Photoshop) Dave de Kerf’s “Trench Run”.
This again confirms my general theory that the mass of 3D users only really want “photoreal, photoREAL, PHOTOREAL!”. Though we may may occasionally go “oooh!” at an NPR picture for five seconds, before going back to using the magnifying glass to get each of Genesis 2 Female’s individual SSS skin pores looking just right.
But I also have a theory that the professional artists — those who can massage these sorts of NPR effects up to the level where most paying clients can’t really tell if they’re 3D or 2D — they just don’t want to say anything about it or show it off in public. Because they’re making money off it. Mostly that’s just my educated guess, but I have heard various people say things along those lines. Did you know, for instance, that the artist Dave Gibbons extensively uses Poser and he made one of the all-time-great graphic novels, Alan Moore’s Watchmen? Yup, Poser. And I bet most readers can’t get a third of the way through a copy of ImagineFX, without muttering: “they must have used Poser or DAZ for the basis of that one…”.
Anyway, here’s everything I could find on Vue 2015’s NPR. There’s not much. Nothing official from Vue on YouTube, which is kind of amazing. But Vladimir Chopine of Russia has a good solid 35-minute tour of the NPR module for free on YouTube, part of his longer paid-for GeeksAtPlay video introduction to using Vue 2015. The NPR module looks very powerful and flexible, able to combine and merge multiple lines and effects. If this was a Photoshop plugin for sketching and painting over imported 3D models in Photoshop, there would be a mini-industry built around it by now…
GeeksAtPlay’s video tutorial continues in Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4, to get the full 35 minutes.
And 3D World magazine #196 (July 2015) offered a free downloadable preset (48Mb) for the NPR module, as part of its review of 2015. No-one else seems to have whipped up some cool presets for NPR in Vue 2015 and given them away free, so far as I can find. The same issue of 3D World also had a short Vue 2015 review, which said of the NPR…
“Vue contains a new, extraordinary NPR (non-photorealistic render) engine, which is simply awesome. There are several NPR engines in different applications, but e-on did something truly revolutionary and created a free and customisable tool for artistic abstraction. Here you can determine the full artistic style of the rendered image. This is a valuable addition because you have the opportunity to combine, for example, the brush weights with the colours of the pictures and other manipulators. […] For backgrounds in animation and feature films this could bring a strong uniqueness. Unfortunately, NPR engine only currently supports Vue xStream module.”
For artists to read that about a major 3D software in a major magazine review, and then give a collective shrug of the shoulders to it… it seems a bit sad.
Vue Star Wars fan art contest
Vue users have a new The Force Awakens! Star Wars competition (link has spoilers for the new movie!). Star Wars fan artists should use their 3D skills (and, I guess, Vue) by making new artwork on the theme “The Force Awakens”. However, the rules also say…
“This is a generic Star Wars fan art contest, your artwork doesn’t have to be themed only on the Force Awakens (Episode 7) movie!”
Deadline is Sunday 3rd of January 2016. 1 entry per person. First prize is VUE xStream 2015, PlantFactory Producer 2015, and a 1 year CClub Membership.
The Black Friday sales
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Posted in Companion software, DAZ Studio, Poser, Special Offers and Discounts, Vue
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Posted in Companion software, DAZ Studio, Poser, Special Offers and Discounts, Vue
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Ok, so it’s 3.30pm on ‘Black Friday’ here in the UK. Which means its about 9am in the morning in the USA. So, what has Black Friday got to offer the 3D artist?
DAZ has 55% off nearly all Stonemason content, though not his most recent packs.
Also discounted by 55% are a wide variety of core sets of age morphs for DAZ Studio’s various Genesis base characters.
And most of Dreamlight’s catalogue is at 55% off, including the useful Light Dome Pro for $15.73.
Runtime DNA has a Black Friday Real Deals page. Lots of discounts, plus a 10% discount code.
1,700 Cornucopia 3D Vue models are 50% off. The Vue software itself is 50% off.
Renderosity just has a one-day one-use 35% coupon code offer, at their Black Friday Savings page.
Poser 11 Pro is of course 30% discounted, through 30th November. Only three days left to grab it! While you’re there, note that Manga Studio 5 (comics production software, with some of the best inking brushes in the business) is also a whopping 65% off.
HiveWire 3d has a “Save up to 70% with Black Friday / Cyber Monday” Sale. Not a big selection on offer, but I did notice Fluffy Cat (Poser only) for the Millennium Cat, for just $5.23. (Note that for some reason it requires the Java runtime to be installed on your PC ‐ for security I strongly advise un-installing Java afterwards, if it’s only needed for the installer).
HiveWire also have a horse-crazy CWRW Cloud Foundation Sale, which is a big sale of its superb 3D horses and stable-wear clothing.
What’s new in DAZ & Poser content in October 2015?
Here’s my personal monthly pick of October’s releases for Daz Studio and Poser (and a couple for Vue).
The famous Stonemason has more sci-fi with Section 04 out this month. You might think: “Oh no, not more generic SF corridors!”. Until you see the quality of the texturing, the wear and the detailing that Stonemason always gives to his scenes. Section 04 also comes with an optional Sections 05 and 06 Textures pack.
Need corridor guards? The new Quadra (Poser 9+ only, it seems) could look rather good, though it might need to have some wear applied over the textures, in order to match Stonemason’s look…
Need somewhere for your corridors to go to? Petipet’s Sci-fi Lab…
(Note that 1971s has a nice steampunk take on the same lab idea, this month: Steampunk area B).
Also in sci-fi, the Titan Suit Texture Expansion Set gives a new look to the various versions of the popular Titan Suit.
Alessandro’s new Koala Bear shows how far we’ve come in just the last five years in getting quality animals into the DAZ/Poser ecosystem. Requires Look At My Hair, for which the koala comes with fur presets. A Koala environment is also available this month, too, with Alessandro releasing an Australian Outback environment (note this is also in .obj, Vue users) and a pack of extra Australian outback plants.
Vue sci-fi artists have a couple of new items of alien fauna this month, with the Velveteen Bag Worm and the Ray Snake…
Vue users also have a new fine woodland stream setting from Luigi Marini…
I didn’t spot much that’s unusual or unique for fantasy lovers this month, but the Halfway Up the Mountain scene is perhaps one of the best takes on the idea that I’ve seen. If you need a vast panorama with a cast of thousands assaulting a mountain stronghold, then this might be the one. Just add a cult of crazed monks casting defensive spells, squadrons of attack-serpents, and a small army of armoured mountain trolls.
A standout standalone semi-toon character this month is She Gini, a sort of robot version of the famous original Ball-joint Doll.
Anemone for Genesis 2 Female. Nicely designed, and subtly semi-toon, she’s more detailed than she seems at first glance. Anemone would probably work rather well in a comic-strip or point-‘n-click game set under the sea.
Twiggy is a quality standalone toon character, with an outfit already…
Vintage era items this month include Vintage Television Sets.
Also a nicely detailed Vintage Piano Room. Plenty of possibilities here for Christmas scenes, or even for a story-book tale such as a “mouse adventure” set around and inside the piano.
Musica Fantasia is a new classic violin, which might accompany the piano. And fantasy / faery / Ancient Greece / mythological artists might note that it also has a detailed set of pan-pipes.
And to play the piano/violin? Nalfaar iRay is a new DAZ Studio 4.8 standalone update of a classic older male character…
Lastly, some poses. It’s not every day we get five “riding a bicycle poses”, which are in the new 50 Essential Sports Poses pack. Note it seems that these are only compatible with the new Genesis 3 Female.
I also see that MightyMite has started a whole series of classic superhero comic-book poses, which may be a useful time-saver for some.
That’s it, more next month!
New DAZ & Poser 3d content: September 2015 survey
Here’s the monthly pick of what caught my eye in DAZ and Poser content, during September:
Making concept art showing Mars colonisation? This month brings a few extra items to your runtime, that Elon Musk probably doesn’t have yet. Such as the Remus 02 from DzFire, very similar to the vehicle in the movie The Martian…
Need heavy-lifting done? Take along a platoon of Mars worker-bots…
Long-distance exploration of Mars? Just roll out the new Robot Mars all-purpose exploration robo-vehicle…
… and then have your characters follow along after it on a rather more sleek Dual Mode Dragonfly, which on Mars might be used in conjunction with the new Dust and Trail Tool…
Planning to send your DAZ/Poser characters into the caves of Mars, in search of alien life and xenobiology? They might encounter some of the new Alien Botanicals 2 set…
Hopefully there won’t be any Alien Collector Flesh Mech II‘s or Alien Collector Flesh Mech I‘s lurking down in those Martian caves..
Space Debris Set looks useful for sci-fi space scene artists, as does the new Sci Fi Hand Gadgets 1 set…
Still fondly remembering your summer holiday? The new Summer Island and On the Beach may appeal…
Among 3D props for historical recreation, Pioneer Kitchen is a vignette model that looks like it’s had a lot of care put into it…
Shenandoah: Greatcoat for Genesis 2 Male looks like it could be re-purposed for the streets of Victorian London, for the Doctor Watson character in a Sherlock Holmes style scene. Comes with presets for both clean and raggedy versions.
Vue users have a new Ouija Board, again useful for a Victorian / steampunk setting.
DryJack has a classic British Level Crossing to go alongside all his other quality British model-railway 3D models.
In the field of generic interiors, Ironman13’s new i13 Modern Office stands out and looks very flexible. Might be used in conjunction with the new The Lobby…
Also nicely generic is Predatron’s new Wasteground Vignette, likely to be useful for pictures in the style of the Norman Rockwell’s paintings of American childhood, through to cat / dog / bird / insect / fairy pictures.
A few of ShaaraMuse3D’s new Lupinus Flowers might enhance the wasteground corner…
Not much new in semi-toon this month, though the Star! character does have a good-looking Adventurer Set, which might work with a toon re-rexturing of Cybertenko’s new Jungle Transport set…
And finally, Reality 4.1 is out, and with talk of a large speed boost (provided that you also upgrade graphics card drivers).
That’s it! More picks next month.