New fixed page added to the blog: DAZ Studio 4 : the missing training DVD. This collects the various key official and unofficial training videos, and some key text/screenshot tutorials — and presents them in a logical order on one handy page.
Free King Kong morph, for Gorilla for Genesis
A cool free King Kong morph for the DAZ Studio Genesis Gorilla. For it to work, you need to have both the Gorilla for Genesis and Freak 4 installed.
Book review: Beyond Photoshop (2010)
Beyond Photoshop: Advanced techniques integrating Photoshop with Illustrator, Poser, Painter, Cinema 4D and ZBrush
Reputable British training book publisher Focal Press is one of the few with a good range of books of interest to Poser 9 / Poser Pro 2014 users, although at March 2012 there’s nothing specific yet from them for those programmes.
Chunky project-based books such as this are always welcome, and this is no exception. Although I have to warn readers that I found the actual Poser content to be very limited. Basically the power of Poser is set aside, in favour of a little simple figure posing in Poser 8, and then rendering out. In all, we get about twenty pages of Poser, which would be useful for beginners…
This is the final image you create from this chapter…
This book is from mid 2010 and so assumes you’re using Poser 8. It also assumes you have a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet. Project files are provided at the book’s website. Be warned that you also need to own all or at least a lot the software, or at least have the trial versions, to get the most out of it.
Overall the book is broken into seven chapters that run for about 50 pages each. Not being a fan of the fiendish and unintuitive Adobe Illustrator, the first three chapters were of little interest to me. However, the presentation was clear, and I’d no doubt be able to produce the intended results from these Illustrator chapters — if I had a couple of days spare and the cost of an old copy of Illustrator. Chapter 2, in particular, shows you how to produce a pleasing retro/children’s look that stradles 2D and 3D…
Chapter 4 is about compositing photos using Photoshop CS4 and Painter X.
Chapter 5 will be the most interest to Poser users although, as stated above, Poser is only used as a generator for figure cut-outs that can be composited with Photoshop.
Chapter 6 uses Cinema 4D and Photoshop to make the picture that adorns the book’s cover…
Chapter 7 uses ZBrush and Photoshop to make a picture of a demon’s head. This is fairly introductory and the absolute beginner would be much better served by the excellent “Z-Brush 4: Essential Training” video DVD at Lynda.com
Overall, it’s high quality content presented as a bit of a jumble of chapters. But if you’re a digital illustrator looking to sample a bit of each programme, within clearly presented and structured real-world projects, this could be for you. Especially at the current low price that it sells for used on Amazon, and if you can only afford used copies of the older software versions the book describes.
Note that the book is also available for the Kindle Fire tablet in the USA
Free Collada to FBX converter for Poser
Need to convert Poser Pro 2014’s Collada export format to FBX? Autodesk have a free FBX Convertor for Windows and Mac. The 2012 version is now available.
I had excellent results taking a Poser Pro 2014 Collada export to iClone this way…
Submarine Poser model is free Resources on how to create new figures for Poser
One of the things that I’ve never looked into, though I’ve modded for iClone extensively, is how Poser / DAZ characters actually get made. Here are some of the books and tutorials I found, on how to create new figures for Poser…
1. Secrets of Figure Creation with Poser 5
2. How’d You Do That?: Poser Character Creation For Beginners
3. Poser: Developer Trade Secrets, from Dark Edge, can be had on Content Paradise. It’s a set of video tutorials that cover 2 hours, rather than a book.
4. PhilC also has a series of three YouTube tutorials for Poser 7:
Rigging Figures for Poser, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
Update:
Digital Art Live has the webinar “Poser Rigging – Master the rigging process with Teyon Alexander”.
Darkseal has the video set “Poser Figure Creation”.
Poser 50% off – Smith Micro mail-out offer
Smith Micro are currently sending out a very special-offer email to those subscribed to its Poser site:
“Poser Madness: 50% Off Software, Exclusive Content Offers, Free Webinar”
Here’s a screen capture of the e-flyer…
Yes, half price on Poser Pro 2014 and Poser 9! Although there’s no sign of the offer on their public website, yet. It seems this is just for those who shop at Smith Micro and who get the Poser emails.
Poser and DAZ for comics
Here’s Kevin Richter taking you through the whole process of using DAZ Studio, a bit of Maya, and Photoshop Extended to make a finished digital comic. Kevin creates this as a regular comic-strip for the biggest newspaper in the UK, The Sun. It’s a fine (if a little dizzying) 8-minute speed-run…
If you need good comic book fonts (vital in getting the right look), try Blambot which has a strong range of free fonts as well as paid-for. Also Comiccraft, and Fonts.com. Free speech-balloon fonts are Komika Bubble (komikabb.ttf), and TalkTalk (talk.ttf).
As for comics layout software, the best and simplest for most people is Comic Life Deluxe
New book: 2nd Edition of the official DAZ Studio book, April 2012
Added to the New training books in 2012 page on this blog — a new second edition of the official training book for DAZ Studio, Figures, Characters and Avatars: The Official Guide to Using DAZ Studio to Create Beautiful Art
This new training book is due to be published on 15th April 2012, according to Amazon USA, and will presumably be updated for DAZ Studio 4.
Dr. Pitterbill freebie
New at Nursoda’s website, free wood-gnome clothes, for the superb Dr. Pitterbill character for Poser/DAZ…
My other blog, just before I decided to spin off this new blog, had a long detailed survey of all the Doctor Pitterbill addons available at February 2012. I’d bring it over here, but the post has 13 comments that I don’t want to blank.
New for 2012: my round-up of the new sci-fi scenes for Poser/DAZ
You can never have enough high-quality prebuilt scenes to put your characters and craft into. Here’s my pick of the Poser and DAZ multi-purpose “hard science fiction” scenes that have been released in the first months of 2012…
1. The new “Andromeda Station” (Poser 9 / Poser Pro 2014) is a huge multi-part sci-fi scene with 90 light presets…
2. “Andromeda Station” might be used in conjunction with the new “Space Station: Planet Base” (OBJ file format) which itself seems like an unofficial offshoot of the excellent “Allied Fleets” series. Perfect for ‘space art’ renders…
3. “Andromeda Station” could also be used with the oddly-named “Oskarsson’s Icon Extractor” (Poser), which would seem to have many uses as a 3D inspection platform for information-spheres / planetary or space-battle holograms …
4. Finally, and certainly not least, Predatron’s useful new “14 MU Link Chamber”, at the DAZ Store, for DAZ or Poser (it comes with a Poser light set)…
DAZ February freebies offer still on, but scaled down
Well, we’re now well into March. But the “February only” free software offer for DAZ Studio and Bryce 7 Pro and Hexagon 2.5 is still available. Grab these now, if you haven’t already got them or upgraded. Some of the valuable plugins, though, such as the DAZ ZBrush plugin and DAZ Studio’s useful 3D Bridge for Photoshop, seem to have gone back to being paid-for.
Update: July 2012… 3D Bridge for Photoshop is back to being free again. It’s also been updated for the new Photoshop and DAZ Studio 4.
A collection of H.P. Lovecraft 3D resources for DAZ/Poser users
This is my fairly comprehensive list for those making stills, comics and animations in Poser or the free DAZ Studio, featuring the personage and mythos of the science fiction / horror author H.P. Lovecraft. I’m assuming that you want to limit yourself to the Mythos created by the man himself, and not the bolt-ons added by his many acolytes.
Everything in this list is royalty-free content.
1. You might want to start with the man himself, who can be found in 3D form at Meshbox/Miyre ($13). Only Poser users get eyes-mouth facial motion capability (there’s a free expression set for Poser), as these features of the model don’t work in DAZ. In DAZ, the figure accepts aniMate animations. Once installed, he’s found under ../figures/HPLovecraft. He looks a bit waxy, but some good Poser skin shaders would probably make quite a difference. (Update: Meshbox also now offer an updated DAZ friendly version from their website).
2. His typewriter, complete with moving platen, can be purchased at Renderosity ($7) and comes with a distressed and aged texture as well as the usual ‘brand new’-look textures. Purists will want to hack the textures, to change the logo to that of a 1906 Remington…
3. A version of Cthulhu, seemingly an early effort by Sixus1, is available at Renderosity ($20)…
4. There’s also Poisen’s Cthulhus ($6) which is well worth having and beautifully modelled and textured…
UPDATE: new high-quality Cthulhu, the DAZ Store’s excellent Cthulhu Rising…
5. There’s an Elder Thing ($20), also at Runtime DNA…
6. A Mi-Go ($8)…
7. Sixus1 has a range of Aquarians ($10) inspired by “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”…
8. And there are also addons for the Aquarians, such as the Priest of Dagon ($7) and Aquarians: Obed’s Clothes ($8)…
There’s also an Aquarians Bundle.
9. Sixus1’s Phibians ($10) would, with a bit of modification, pass as far-gone Deep Ones.
10. Those wanting to digitally sculpt their own Deep One in the ZBrush software, can find a tutorial in the February-March issue of CG Arena…
11. For free over at the Google 3D Warehouse, is a huge collection of Lovecraft items and buildings. These can be saved as OBJ files from the free Google Sketchup, and the collection has already been converted for iClone.
12. You’ll also find a lot of 1910s/1920s props floating around the content stores (see the links over on the sidebar of this blog), such as trucks, buses, and store interiors such as the Old West Mercantile Interior ($17)…
That’s all I know of, as of Spring 2012 October 2012. Most of these DAZ/Poser items can also be converted for iClone fairly easily.
Do you know of any more 3D characters and models, that arise from Lovecraft’s original vision?
Update: Summer 2012. The Spiral Descent Cave Entrance looks nice and could be combined with The Pit.
Update: Summer 2012. The Mantabat for Poser could be textured to be a cool Lovecraftian Night Gaunt.
Update: August 2012. Found Sixus1’s early Night Gaunt. (Now vanished)
Update: October 2012. New quality Cthulhu character for DAZ and Poser.
Update: September 2013. A new free Cave Octopus for DAZ (.duf file).
Update: March 2014. Dead Pool could be a stand in for the working fishing port section of Innsmouth.
Update: January 2019. 24 Expressions for the Lovecraft 3D character from Meshbox.
Update: August 2020: There was a Stonemason item called “Whispering Wall”, which featured a strongly Lovecraft-like face in a wall, with a few expression morphs. I’ve tried it and it’s not worth having, and has been withdrawn from the market. Hopefully Stonemason might one-day remake it in some new form.
Free default lights replacement for DAZ Studio
I found that Paolo Ciccone, the lighting wizard behind the well-reviewed Reality 2 plugin (it hooks up DAZ with the powerful and free LuxRender), has a free set of improved default lights for DAZ Studio. Plus a handy little tutorial on how to install them…
“The default lighting in DAZ Studio is very unflattering and un-inspiring. Basically it’s one single flood light mounted on top of the camera and it creates very flat, boring lighting. [so] I created a startup file for you that installs a simple but nice three-light system that immediately improves your lighting in Studio. This is not meant to be your final lighting, just the starting point.”
Here’s a preview of the changes that the new lights make…
They work with DAZ Studio 3 and 4.
New German-only training DVD for the latest Poser
A new full German-language video training DVD for Poser 9 and Poser Pro 2014, landing in Europe on 12th March 2012.
Hopefully we’ll see something similar in English, soon, and at the same affordable price. Until then, have a look at my new Poser: the Missing Training DVD video embed-and-links page, on this blog. This de-jumbles the YouTube videos and presents them in a logical order.
Octane renderer is coming to DAZ Studio, cloud-powered
Cloud-based rendering could be coming to DAZ Studio soon, as Otoy has purchased New Zealand’s Refractive Software. The news from GDC 2012 is that Otoy will now reportedly pair its cloud-gaming power with Refractive’s GPU-rendering software. The result will be Refractive’s Octane plugin presented as a cloud-renderer… “for DAZ 3D Studio”. No time-frame on that yet, but possibly 2012?
Although quite how a home user will send the bundle of data (FBX?) required for the cloud render, is another matter, especially on slow broadband uplink speeds.
The standalone desktop version of Octane costs only $99. So there’s hope that the DAZ Studio version would be at the same affordable cost. Poser users can already use Octane. My guess is perhaps $250 a year with the cloud rendering thrown in? That would certainly be cheaper than that the dual top-end Nvidia graphics cards needed to run Octane optimally on its own. Even then, you might need to scale down your 4000px skin textures on your DAZ exports.
One of the interesting aspects of Octane’s blurb is that…
“Octane Render provides [a] ‘What You See Is What You Get’ rendering environment […] The viewport on the screen IS the final render”
Nice, especially for 32-bit systems. But don’t think it’s going to replace software built on game engines, like Lumion and iClone any time soon. Here’s a real-world Octane user review, just published…
“At work, I use a fairly old quad-core workstation with bags of RAM. A 1080p frame with AO, some reasonably complex geometry and soft shadows will take me around 3 and a half minutes to render in Cinema4D’s native renderer. In Octane I can get much higher quality (including, I might add, working AO) in about 1 and a half minutes.”
Not bad, and no doubt useful for shaving down a commercial production company’s billing times. But what I want is genuine WYSIWYG 1080px in the viewport at 60 frames per second, like a videogame.
