NASA’s Mars 3d-Printed Habitat Challenge: the winners and runners up…
Digital Art LIVE magazine – free sci-fi art magazine
The new monthly Digital Art LIVE magazine featuring in-depth interviews with 3D and 2D sci-fi artists. Available now, for free! The first issue is a special themed issue on ‘future cities’.
Microsoft’s Project Spark – now free
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Microsoft’s Project Spark is now free. It’s a successful 3d game-making engine for advanced beginners, intended to nudge sparky young game developers toward Windows and the Xbox.
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.
Reality 4.1 for DAZ Studio – released
Those without the Nvidia graphics cards needed to run DAZ Studio’s iRay renderer might like to look at the new Reality 4.1 – DAZ Studio Edition. It’s available now and is currently at a 30% discount, along with the 4.1 Poser Edition.
Senior members of various forums are testing 4.1 with DAZ and seem generally impressed with the speed, saying things like…
“… reaches 714 samples at 10 min!! (that’s 23 times faster than Reality 4)!!”
Note that AMD users — whom I presume many DAZ + Reality 4.1 users will be — need to update to OpenCL 2.0 to get these big increases in speed. This seems to be done simply by getting the latest AMD Catalyst graphics drivers installed for your graphics processor (GPU).
Note that graphics GPU drivers offered via Windows Update often lag far behind what’s available on the manufacturer website, to keep things super-safe. So if a Windows Update of drivers doesn’t do it for you, you might see if there’s a newer set available direct from AMD.
Sculpt of Thrones
“Sculpt of Thrones” is a new live Zbrush sculpting webinar by Digital Art LIVE (formerly 3D Art Direct, now breaking out into both 2D and 3D digital art).
Save a 30% early-bird discount on a ticket, until the end of the weekend (Sunday 27th Sept). John Haverkamp provides live sculpting in Zbrush of the patriarch character from your fave fantasy-intrigue TV series.
Cosmos Laundromat – First Cycle
“Cosmos Laundromat – First Cycle”, a 12 minute short made by the Blender Foundation to showcase their Blender software.
The production and final assets are, as usual, Creative Commons and are on Blender Cloud. Though they’re sadly not as open as Blender Foundation assets used to be. A “This content is only available to subscribers” paywall pops up everywhere. Not sure how that move squares with the “Made with the support of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union” credit (translation from EU-speak: “paid for by taxpayers”) on “Cosmos Laundromat”, let alone the old-school open source ethos.
Even the Foundation’s old Big Buck Bunny and Tears of Steel Creative Commons assets repositories are now locked down and ‘subscription only’. Something has gone badly wrong in Blenderland, by the looks of things. What was once accessible to the planet to access and remix now appears to cost 45 Euros for three months, and to be basically limited to hardcore Blender users. Is that even ethical? Given that those who worked on the likes of Elephant’s Dream and Big Buck Bunny and Tears of Steel worked under the assumption that they were making genuine open source movies — open as in “accessible to the whole world, forever, always, including all the assets, instantly, and for free”?
Batch render for DAZ Studio 4.5 and higher
Going away for the weekend, but leaving your PC running? Then the new Batch Renderer for DAZ Studio may interest you. It will churn out a series of renders, while you have fun. Works with Daz Studio 4.5 and higher, and is compatible with iRay renders.
DAZ and Poser: summer content survey
Gosh, is it September already? Time for another monthly survey of the most interesting scenes and props for Poser and DAZ Studio.
Are you back from your summer holidays? Then slip on the ol’ fuzzy slippers and relax with the Cosy Kitsch Living Room Props for the new A Cozy Kitsch Living Room…
Want to quickly fake some summer holiday photos, showing yourself in amazing locations? You might need some new exotic Poser/DAZ settings, then. Aurelio’s new Venice for instance, puts you in a gondola on the lagoon at Venice…
His Venice might be used with a hazy background made with 1971s’s new Coastal Pier set.
Or how about a trip to Chinatown? Only this is Stonemason’s fantastic new Chinatown, done in the same high-rise style as his classic early sci-fi cityscapes.
A depth-fogging tool is going to be a ‘must’ for this sort of big scene. A new one for Daz Studio 4 + iRay + a powerful PC is AtmoCam for Iray. Likely to be a whole lot quicker, provided you have and know Adobe Photoshop, is making multiple pass renders with Light Dome PRO (Dreamlight’s successor to the very useful old Mood Master II) and then compositing them together using the Screen blend mode in Photoshop.
Need to give Chinatown some aerial anti-gravity powered traffic, like in Blade Runner? The AntFarm has a fine new Floating Junk…
If you have a graphics card that lets you use DAZ Studio’s iRay rendering with any kind of speed, and you want to get a Blade Runner style ‘rain look’ on your Chinatown scene, then Dreamlight has some new DAZ Studio iRay Rain Look Tutorials…
Ground level in Chinatown? 1971s’s new Old town houses kit might serve for that…
Or what about Coflek-Gnorg’s new Cyberpunk Corner for a Chinatown ground level scene? Coflek-Gnorg also has Street Shops…
What about taking your characters underneath the new Chinatown? The new Subway Train is a subway train/carriage that looks like a useful stock prop for your runtime, highly detailed on the exterior and interior. See also the new Ruined Subway Tunnel scene.
Need a new character to roam Chinatown? I love JerryJang’s new CosHero for M4 suit, it looks like something out a 1980s Bilal comic in Heavy Metal. It’s a touch expensive at present, but even so I suspect we’ll see more than a few texture-set add-ons for this one…
And your hero’s cypherpunk underworld contact in Chinatown? Sixus1’s new Outlanders Stalker might work…
Stonemason’s new interior nicely blends together sci-fi and nature, in NWX Section 18…
Some of the exotic plants from Dinoraul, such as his Pandanus tree might look interesting in the NWX Section 18 terrarium…
3DA Stella and eDarlyn for Victoria 4.2 also both look like they might be at home in Stonemason’s new NWX Section 18 scene…
Could NWX Section 18 be a room inside the Deep Core Explorer, a new deep-sea drilling/mining rig?
Need futuristic submersibles floating around your Deep Core Explorer? The new MMRship looks like it would work in a sub-sea situation…
Vue users also have a new realistic two-person submersible this month…
Anyone doing fan art or comics for The Witcher is going to feel right at home in the AJ Northern Citadel…
Also rather Witcher-esque is Dante78’s new Medieval Fisherman’s Hut, with his usual fine levels of detail…
Decorative Easel Set is currently free at DAZ…
The Easel Set could be useful for showing your characters making a painting from the deck of the new Summer Tree House Deluxe, which has a modern design that looks like it’ll suit adult characters more than a small brood of DAZ/Poser kids.
Also very pastoral is the new Portals – The Shire. This makes the fine (though rather gothic) 3 Gate Pass scene into a lush portal suitable for the furry feet of hobbit folk.
Not much steampunk/dieselpunk, this month. But Rosemill Astrometry has some nice instruments that would suit any era between about 1750 and 1900.
Oskarsson’s new Diesel Punk Clothes for Genesis 3 Females is unusual, and nicely designed. A sort of hybrid between 1930s ‘jolly hockey sticks’ girls and 1940s air cadets.
If you have Second World War / World War II uniforms in your runtime, then Predatron’s detailed new miniature set Beach Barricade may well interest…
New semi-toon standalone characters are always welcome, and this month we get several of them. NeftOoN Gal comes complete with hair and clothes. Possibly not new? Possibly just a new bundle of character + extras? Anyway, she also has a Neftoon Pal…
I’m thinking that the above two characters might be especially useful for a comic book artist making a domestic gag-strip, and looking to over-paint and/or toon their renders in Photoshop?
Packy the Toon Elephant is another toon standalone, for Poser 9+ only…
Another fine character from the same maker is Tiny, a sort of aquatic ‘fire newt’ , for Poser 10+ only…
Finally, available now is iClone 6 PRO + 3DXchange Bundle + DAZ Genesis (1 & 2 only) import, currently at a 40% discount. iClone is the mature and speedy real-time animation tool, with some excellent model and character conversion tools. Those looking to make 5-minute YouTube-size 640px animations will probably find that iClone is a better option for making animations than DAZ or Poser.
That’s it, more next month!
Faster Than Light
The guys behind the Poser-created Anomaly comic book have a new Poser product coming soon. Faster Than Light is a new SF 3D comic complete with invisibly-embedded QR Codes which spark your phone or tablet into showing Augmented Reality overlays. Sounds a lot better than the old red-blue cellophane glasses!
Muvizu
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It’s all happening! A new Poser coming, and now Muvizu wakes up as well. According to their news mailing Muvizu, the very useable and free real-time toon production software from Glasgow, is moving forward again with a new Chief Exec. Also…
“From August we will introduce a market place where we will offer new characters – and content packs as well as expansion packs including multi-layer rendering and key framing.”
Poser 11 to integrate Blender Cycles render engine
Interesting. Project Manager for Poser, Charles Taylor, reports that Poser 11 is set to plug in the powerful Cycles rendering engine from Blender…
“Poser 11 will include … Our new render engine … based on the Cycles engine of Blender fame. Don’t worry; the familiar FireFly render engine is still going to be there. We’re just giving you another rendering option.”
“Poser’s integration of Cycles, (currently code named SuperFly) is going to give you a much-requested feature: rendered caustics. SuperFly will use the same material room you already know from FireFly. You won’t need to learn a new material interface.”
And since I seem to remember that Blender Cycles does glow very well indeed, this may (my guess) also bring a proper spillover glow effect to Poser users?
Survey of new and fab content for Daz Studio and Poser: July 2015
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It’s moving towards the end of the month, so it’s time for my survey of the most striking new content that’s just become available for Poser, Daz Studio, and Vue. I guess many of the freelance scene/character/props making creatives are off on their summer holidays, but there’s still quite a nice selection of new items…
The famous Stonemason has released a new domestic interior for his growing ‘contemporary apartments’ series, The Pool House for DAZ Studio…
And, of course, in Stonemason’s sci-fi future no apartment is ever complete without its own walk-in Robotics Lab to maintain the robot assistants…
And what about adding a talking-point sculpture to your new Stonemason apartment? Predatron’s new Classical Morphing Bust is an unusual item for DAZ Studio, that might just suit…
The Forestals are an unusual and well-designed forest family of characters for M4, V4 and Kids4 (K4). The faces are especially well made…
Also at Runtime DNA, the new Arcane Seer seems to fit with the Forestals’ design aesthetic…
Need fresh and convincing child characters to explore the weirdly magical forest? Skyler for Genesis 2 Female is a very high-quality base character, from the expert character designers at 3D Universe…
The new Explorer Diary stones are meant for sci-fi exoplanets, but might suit a mysterious forest inhabited by the likes of the Arcane Seer and Forestals…
Flink’s Flinks Green Hills…
Need a foreground for your green hill? Quality outdoors-man Merlin Studios obliges with a new Wild Borders foliage and scene set for DAZ Studio…
Creepy Crawler for Poser looks like a lot of fun…
I’ve pretty sure I’ve never seen a quality Ventriloquist’s Dummy for Poser, but here it is…
Need a weird Ventriloquist to operate your new Dummy? VYK Cosplay…
Equally unusual is the Millenium Dog (Poser) makeover that is War Dogs for Mil Dog…
There are also War Unicorns for Mil Horse. I like the idea — take a character like Mil Dog or Mil Horse that everyone has in their runtime, and give it a armour/robot makeover…
Last month’s Vue Rusted Space Tug is now also available for Poser…
A classic Scenicruiser 1954 long-haul Greyhound bus for Poser, and a basic matching Bus Station…
DryJack’s Dunster station is a fine example of the classic British village train station…
Runtime DNA has a Fun in the Sun Props pack for free…
Vintage British Caravan and 1960s chairs, plus HD materials and interior…
For those with a taste for more exotic holiday destinations, Vue users have the new high ice plateau Silk Road High and the tropical Holiday Villages…
That’s it! More next month.
Freebie: classic 1950s dress for V4
A nice new retro freebie from Japan, which will interest many readers of this blog. A classic 1950s dress (page linked via Google Translate). For Poser (V4/A4), with 4 MATs plus morphs.
Disney Accelerator
The Disney Accelerator opens on 6th July 2015. Ten startup companies from around the world…
“will be selected to gather in the Los Angeles area for three months, to accelerate their ideas and build exciting consumer media and entertainment products.”
