Podcasts about daz studio

This week is our monthly news ep. We discuss various developments in the machinima and virtual production community. Tracy mentions the Reallusions 2024 3D Character Contest, highlighting Stefan Dufour's entry. Phil and Tracy discuss the potential of AI in character creation. Damien reports on Activision shutting down a Call of Duty mod and the impact of AI on modding. We also cover the Dragon Age: The Veil Guard game, the Secret Level series on Amazon Prime, and the new game inZOI. Phil introduces Daz AI Studio, a generative AI platform for DAZ Studio, and reflects on the impact of AI on the music industry, sharing the story of composer Sasha transitioning to AI-generated music.1:14 Reallusion's 3D Character Creator contest3:41 Skibidi Toilet being made into a move with Michael Bay? No way!5:03 Sandbox, the spiritual successor to Garry's Mod8:42 Celebrating TF2 community – a great fan-made trailer promo9:21 Activision shuts down a key CoD mod – not the best choice, and we discuss how the community is responding to this, free mods and review bombs16:58 Gamescon notes… Dragon Age; Secret Level on Amazon Prime; Inzoy22:34 DAZ Studio has a great AI tool in it25:25 Filmmusic.io update – the real impact of generative AI?Credits -Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien RiceProducer/editor: Phil RiceMusic: Animo Domini Beats

In this week's episode, I take a look at the movies I watched during fall 2023. We also have a brief digression about historical inaccuracies in crossword puzzles. This week's coupon is for the audiobook of CLOAK OF WOLVES, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. You can get the audiobook of CLOAK OF WOLVES for 75% off at my Payhip store with this coupon code: OCTWOLVES The coupon code is valid through November 8th, 2023, so if you find yourself wanting to get caught up before CLOAK OF EMBERS comes out soon, why not start with an audiobook? TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello everyone. Welcome to Episode 172 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is October the 22nd, 2023 and today we're going to talk about the movies I saw in autumn 2023. We also have a brief digression about historical inaccuracies in crossword puzzles. Before we get into that, let's do Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon is for the audiobook of Cloak of Wolves as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. You can get the audiobook of Cloak of Wolves for 75% off at my Payhip store with this coupon code: OCTWOLVES-that's OCTWOLVES and that will also be in the show notes. The coupon code is valid through November 8th, 2023. So if you find yourself wanting to get caught up before Cloak of Embers comes out before the end of the year, why not start with an audiobook? Now let's have an update on my current writing projects. I am 44,000 words into Cloak of Embers, which only puts me in Chapter 6 of 22 so far. So I think we would have to split up some of those chapters into smaller ones. I think Cloak of Embers is going to be the longest book I write in 2023 and I'm hoping I can get it out before American Thanksgiving at the end of November, though it might be long enough that it will slip to December, but we will see. In audiobook news, since I recorded the last episode, Dragonskull: Talons of the Sorcerer is now available. You can get it at Audible, Google Play, Kobo, Chirp and all the usual audiobook stores. Brad is hard at work on Dragonskull…what is the next one? I don't remember off the top of my head. That's how many Dragonskull books I've written. I can't remember the title was off the top of my head, but Brad is hard at work on the seventh one, which is Dragonskull: Wrath of the Warlock, and so hopefully we can get that out before the end of the year. 00:01:56 History Lesson via Incorrect Crossword Puzzle Clue Now for a brief digression into historical inaccuracies in crossword puzzles. Recently, someone I knew was working on a crossword puzzle, and one of the prompts was “Sacker of ancient Rome”-three letters across and the answer was “Hun” and that is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! The Huns never sacked Rome. The Huns did, however, sack a lot of the Western Roman Empire. In the 400s AD, the Western Roman Empire had entered its final decline, with a lot of its foreign territory getting carved up into new barbarian kingdoms. The Huns were a group of Eurasian nomads and were indirectly one of the causes of the collapse of the Western Empire. Their migration west had inspired a lot of terrified tribes to flee west as well to get away from them. Those terrified tribes became the barbarian invasions that overran much of the Western empire, but the Huns were still coming from the east. Under the leadership of their king Attila, the Huns became even more formidable, capable of taking walled and fortified cities, which was traditionally difficult for nomadic horsemen to do. Anyway, the Romans and their Visigothic allies had previously repulsed the Huns at The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451 AD. Attila returned the next year and essentially destroyed northern Italy and his army pushed towards Rome. Emperor Valentinian the Third sent envoys to meet with Attila at the River Po and one of those envoys was Pope Leo the First and no one knows exactly what happened next. According to one story, when Atilla met Pope Leo, he saw Saint Peter and Saint Paul flanking the Pope in all their holy radiance with drawn swords in their hands, promising Attila that he would die if he entered Rome. So impressed was Attila that he turned his army around, left Italy, and Leo was credited as the savior of the city. The truth is probably somewhat more prosaic. Attila's army was running out of supplies, since Italy had already suffered a couple of bad harvests before Attila had burned down most of the northern half of the peninsula, which as you can imagine, did not help. In addition, a serious disease, probably dysentery, was spreading through Atilla's army. The Eastern Roman Emperor had sent an army of his own to attack the Huns' current homelands in central Europe on the Danube, and until Attila to go deal with that problem. Another account says that Atilla's advisers feared that Attila might suffer the same fate as the Visigothic Alaric, who died shortly after sacking Rome a little over forty years earlier. There is a good chance that Atilla was superstitious in a way it is hard for the modern mind to grasp, but until the start of modern science and the universities in the Middle Ages, people generally did not distinguish between natural and supernatural causes for events. Considering Alaric's fate might not have been that outlandish for Attila when it came to his calculations. Pope Leo was also a man of great intelligence and charisma. Perhaps he simply pointed out all these facts to Atilla and the Hunnic king, knowing that he was overextended and potentially in serious trouble, decided that the possibility of divine wrath was an acceptable face-saving excuse to turn around. We'll never know what happened at that meeting, but whatever the reason, Attila turned his army around and left Italy without attacking Rome. The new Eastern Emperor had stopped paying tribute to the Huns and Attila planned to deal with him next, but he died of a nosebleed on his wedding night in 453 AD. Attila's sons immediately embarked on a civil war with each other and the Hun's empire fell apart in short order. So the Huns never sacked Rome. Granted a lot of other people did, in fact sack Rome in the 400s AD, but the Huns never did. And that crossword puzzle annoyed me so much that I just spent the last five minutes talking about it! 00:05:24 Main Topic: Autumn 2023 Movie Reviews Now on to our main topic, the movies and streaming shows I watched over autumn 2023. We are well in fall now, with winter just over the horizon and that's means it's time to discuss those shows and movies. As always, we will start from my least favorite and work up to my favorite. So we'll start with The Flash, which came out in 2023. This movie very famously failed at the box office, and it's not hard to see why. It's like the CG artists finally had their revenge on Warner Discovery for being overworked and underpaid because a lot of the movie's CG looks like something a beginner might crank out in an older version of Unity or Daz Studio. Plus there's all these various serious crimes that the lead actor has been accused of, which makes the main character rather less likeable. Also The Flash, like many modern movies, simply cost way too much money to make, which meant it had to make big money to earn back a profit. If your movie cost $50 million to make, a $200 million return is good news. If it costs $220 million, you're in big trouble. To be fair, the movie was not without its good points. The Flash realizes he can run faster than the speed of light, which means he can travel back in time and attempt to save his mother (since she was murdered earlier), unfortunately doing so breaks the space-time continuum and threatens to destroy Earth and Flash tries again and again to set things right. Michael Keaton does well as an older Batman, and Supergirl was pretty cool. There are also several genuinely funny bits in the movie. However, the movie leaned hard into two of my least favorite plot devices: time travel and the multiverse. The problem with time travel and the multiverse is that with an infinite number of alternate versions of the characters, the stakes ultimately become meaningless. I think it also shows how the superhero genre film has kind of run out of gas. Instead of telling new stories and new plots, all the multiverse movies are just churning up slightly alternate versions of old characters and stories. It's like playing a computer game you've already finished but making slightly different choices this time, like playing as a fighter/mage instead of a fighter instead of a thief/mage, or something. Overall grade: C- Our next movie is Black Adam, which came out in 2023. I think this was slightly better than the Flash, though not by very much. There is a somewhat complicated back story involving the Council of Shazam, wizards, a demon possessed crown, and a magical champion. In the modern day, the story takes place in the nation of Kahndaq, which is clearly meant to evoke modern Egypt and Iraq. Kahndaq is currently ruled by a British mercenary company called Intergang, but don't worry about them. They just disappear halfway through the movie without any explanation. The leader of the resistance against Intergang is an archaeologist named Adrianna, and her son Amon, who is the kind of annoying kid who uses words like “neo-imperialist occupier” with a straight face while outrunning mercenaries on his skateboard. Anyway, Intergang is looking for the evil magic crown and Adrianna tries to stop them. In the process, she actually releases Teth-Adam, the champion of Kahndaq, from his tomb. Adam annihilates the mercenaries chasing Adrianna and then tries to come with term with the fact that he's been asleep for the last 5,000 years. Now that would have been a more interesting movie: a superpowered Bronze Age warrior wakes up and tries to come to terms with the modern age. Or he decides that the decadent modern age needs enlightenment to reach proper Bronze Age warrior values. Instead, we get the Justice Society (I assume they're the store brand/Sam's Choice version of the Justice League), who show up to fight Black Adam. Unfortunately, after they convince Black Adam to stand down, the Crown's evil magic wakes up and chooses a host and only Black Adam can save the world. Like the Flash, this movie had its strong points. The CG was a lot better than in Flash, and Dr. Fate was an interesting character. So was Hawkman. Unfortunately, like The Flash, the plot didn't make much sense and relied too heavily on hooks to the rest of the DC universe. But on the plus side, no time travel. Overall grade: C Next up is Haunted Mansion, which came out in 2023. This movie flopped at the box office, but it wasn't that bad for a movie about a Disney ride. It wasn't a scary movie. It was a scary movie in the tongue-in-cheek way that jack o' lanterns are scary. Like, the original purpose of a jack o' lantern in Iron Age societies was apparently to keep malevolent spirits at bay during the harvest. That was serious business back then, but now it's sort of play acting to entertain small children. Haunted Mansion is the same kind of tongue in cheek scariness, overlaid with quite a bit of comedy. The plot centers around a bitter and disillusioned former ghost hunter hired to use his ghost camera to take photos of spirits at a haunted house. The ghost hunter goes along with it, hoping for a quick payday, but quickly becomes ensnared in the curse surrounding the Haunted Mansion. He then has to team up with a crazy professor, a fast talking priest, a medium with good Yelp reviews, and a widowed doctor and her precocious son to defeat the malevolent Hatbox Ghost who rules over the ghosts of the Haunted Mansion. I am not, generally speaking, a big fan of the Disney corporation. But I am told that the movie has many Easter eggs referring to the original ride for people who appreciate that kind of thing. The movie didn't do well in theaters, but I expect it'll have a long afterlife on streaming. Overall grade: B- Next up is Men in Black 3, which originally came out in 2012. The original Men in Black was a near perfectly constructed science fiction comedy. Men in Black 2 was good, but not quite on that level and I think Men in Black 3 falls at about the same ranking. In this one, a lethal alien named Boris the Animal breaks out of a secured lunar prison and embarks on a rampage of revenge against Agent K. To facilitate his vengeance, Boris steals a time travel device and goes back to 1969 to kill a younger K at a critical junction in the timeline. Once Agent J realizes what has happened, he obtains another time jump device and goes back to fix things. As I've mentioned many times before, I don't really like time travel stories. However, this one works because it's pretty funny. To make the time jump work, you literally have to jump off a building of sufficient height to trigger the device. The other comedy parts are good, and Josh Brolin does a pitch perfect impersonation of Tommy Lee Jones as the younger agent K. Overall grade: B Next up is Men in Black International, which came out in 2019. I'd heard bad things about this movie, but it was actually quite enjoyable. Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth star as Agent M and Agent H. Based on the movie's advertising, I thought Agent M would be an almost tediously infallible Girlboss character with Agent H as her dimwitted sidekick. Fortunately, this turned out not to be the case and both characters had considerably more depth. Agent M is a nerdy probationary agent who desperately wants to prove herself while Agent H is a charismatic, somewhat lazy hedonist who always manages to pull off his assignments in the end. Agent M's and Agent H's first assignment together is to bodyguard an alien royal who promptly gets himself killed by two mysterious shapeshifting assassins. As things go haywire in the aftermath, the agents realized that the royal had a dark secret, and there's a traitor somewhere within the Men in Black. I thought it was an entertaining movie and probably should have done better than it did. Agent M and Agent H make a great comedy duo and they were also excellently funny bits. Liam Neeson was also good as Agent T, the commander of branch office, and there are no time travels or multiverses in this one. Overall grade: B+ Next up is Ahsoka, which came out in 2023. I would say Ahsoka is good but unfinished, since only two of the major plots get resolved and in such a way that it sets up future adventures. I realized the other the other day that Star Wars is the American equivalent to Doctor Who. The similarities are remarkable. One, both are long running sci-fi franchises. Two: but they're definitely not hard science fiction. Three: both are under the stewardship of large, ponderous, frequently ineffective organizations (whether Disney or the BBC). Four: both have spawned a vast maze of tie in novels and comics and games. Five: both have fandoms that act like religions, complete with a crazy fringe and six: and like religions that break into warring factions, both have fandoms that decide upon a particular era or releases the best one and argue vociferously about which part of the franchise is the best, with almost the same fervor as people arguing about whether Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, or John Calvin had the correct interpretation of the Bible. This isn't to be glib, but to know that the same self-destructive tribal instinct that humanity exhibits in politics and religion also seems to appear in far less serious arenas like football supporters and science fiction franchises, or even in something as silly as game console brands, as a single glance at an online argument about the respective merits of the Xbox and PlayStation will demonstrate. Anyway, that was a philosophical digression. Back to the Ahsoka show. It was better than I expected. Once again I thought that Ahsoka would be another tediously infallible Girlboss type character, but she was nothing like that. Instead she made several serious mistakes, faced enemies who were stronger than her, and had to learn and adapt and grow to survive her challenges. In other words, a compelling protagonist. All the performances from the actors were good, especially the late Ray Stevenson. His Baylan Skoll character really stole Episode 4, and if this was destined to be Mr. Stevenson's last performance, at least it was a great one. Diana Lee Inosanto was great as Morgan Elsbeth, who asked to be one of the single most competent villains in all of Star Wars- evil, but she gets results. I also really liked the way the lightsaber duels are presented. They seem more like something out of a samurai movie. The combatants are careful of their footing and their stances, only to explode into some motion, rather than the more acrobatic flipping and spinning around in the prequel movies. I have to admit, in the publicity stills for the show I kind of thought that the show's version of Grand Admiral Thrawn looks sort of like Elon Musk transmogrified into a Smurf, but that was just a bad angle. Combined with his voice and mannerisms, Lars Mikkelsen's performance as Thrawn really works. I suspect Mr. Musk only wishes he had this version of Grand Admiral Thrawn's air of gravitas and authority. The show ends on sort of an Empire Strikes Back style cliffhanger. I hope the story will continue, but I have my doubts. Disney wasn't in great shape even before the writers and actors' strikes, and I wonder if the company is simply going to run out of financing for ambitious projects like Ahsoka. One more point: the soundtrack by the Kiner family was A+ work, with the Japanese style musical motifs for the lightsaber duels, the long, ominous horns from the Night Sisters, and the blasting pipe organ from when Thrawn makes his return. Overall grade: B+ Next up is Collateral, which came out in 2004. This is a superb neo-noir thriller. Jamie Foxx stars as Max, a hapless LA taxi driver who picks up Vincent, played by Tom Cruise, who claims to be in town to secure signatures for a real estate deal. Vincent offers Max $600 to drive around for the night and in need of the money, Max agrees, except it turns out Vincent is actually a hit man in area to kill five targets, and when Max realizes what is happening and tries to bail, Vincent forces him to continue. I really like this one. Tom Cruise's perpetual intensity works very well in the villain role, and the psychological duel between Max and Vincent was compelling to watch. Vincent claims that his targets are bad people who deserve their fates. But once Max figures out that Vincent's final target most definitely does not deserve her fate, the race is on to save the target's life. The movie did have the overused trope where the LAPD gets mad the FBI is taking over their case, which was a thing even way back in Die Hard. In fact, that was a major plot point in Die Hard, now that I think about it. In real life, the FBI's interaction with local law enforcement mostly involves providing consulting and lab services and local law enforcement is actually often eager to hand a troublesome case over to the Feds because it then becomes somebody else's problem. I also thought the soundtrack seemed a bit off in the first half of the movie, but those are minor quibbles. Collateral was a thoroughly enjoyable thriller. Definitely recommend if you like the genre of film. Overall grade: A. That brings us to the last movie I saw this autumn and I think it would tie with Collateral for the favorite thing I saw this fall and that is A Haunting in Venice, which came out in 2023. This is the third of Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot movies. I really like the first one he did, Murder on the Orient Express, but I thought the second one he did, Death on the Nile, was only so-so, which was disappointing because Death on the Nile is, in my opinion, one of the best of the Hercule Poirot books. But A Haunting in Venice is on par with Orient Express. The movie takes place in 1947 and Hercule Poirot, soul-sick and weary after the horrors of World War II and all the depths of human evil he has seen in those cases, has decided to retire in Venice. His friend Ariadne Oliver (Agatha Christie's self-parodying author insert in the Poirot novels) turns up to ask him to help debunk a medium preying upon a grieving mother. Poirot immediately demonstrates the medium is a fraud, but soon afterwards someone tries to kill him, and a few minutes later the medium herself is killed. It's then up to Poirot solve the case, even as the suspects become increasingly convinced that supernatural powers are behind the killing. This movie also had one of my favorite plot devices from the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie: the rationalist detective confronted by a seemingly supernatural mystery.  Branagh's provision of Poirot is darker, rather more angsty than the book version, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Tina Fey was also an excellent choice to play Ariadne Oliver. Overall grade: A. So those are the movies I saw this autumn, and check back towards the end of winter, when we'll do a winter 2023-2024 Movie Roundup episode. So that is it for this week. Thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. It really does help. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

Part 4 of the "Digital Art Renaissance" series for Strategic Possibilities Podcast. Having just been through COVID, many people have taken the opportunity to change their careers. On top of that, internet and social media provides so many new opportunities from moonlighting podcasters who grow from their closets to stories like Dawn Spears' who started her career in Science and Tech and eventually transitioned into the Book Illustration space. In this episode, Dawn reveals her advice and tips for those looking to break into book illustration. But she also shares how certain life situations essentially forced her to learn new technology. Throughout the episode, she shares interesting insight into her creative habits, how she prefers to tackle opportunities to learn head on, as well as some specific tips on how you can get started or grow a career as a book illustrator. With that, Dawn wanted to introduce herself directly: Bio from Dawn: I am a freelance illustrator and 3D modeler based in the UK. I also have a background in science and software development. I've illustrated for many clients, including book publishers, independent authors, retail businesses, and interiors. I use mainly Photoshop for illustration. ZBrush for 3D modelling and Daz Studio or Unreal Engine for adding rendered material to illustrations where necessary. You can find Dawn's work online via: www.dawnydawny.com www.mythicstock.com https://dawnspears.artstation.com/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/strategic-possibilities/support

In this episode I’ll tell you much of what I know about the Environment Lighting in DAZ Studio. This technique is also known as Global Illumination. I’ll explain the meanings of such cryptic abbreviations as IBL and HDRI, and how all these pieces fall together to make your scenes look handsome. This is a continuation … Continue reading DAZ Studio 117 – Global Illumination, Environment Lighting, IBL and HDRI explained →

In this episode I’ll explain the basics of using Mesh Lights. Those are surface properties that can make any object emit light. I’ll show you how to set this up, how to adjust it and how to make it invisible so you can shoot through it. I’ll also throw in some random anecdotes about surface … Continue reading DAZ Studio 116: How to use Mesh Lights →

On today’s stream I’ll take sneak-peek at the new features in the brand new beta version of DAZ Studio 4.12. It was released earlier this week, and it’s all about better animation tools: integrated features from GraphMate and KeyMate, and IK Chains inside a scene hierarchy. The highlights in this version are: overhaul of the … Continue reading DAZ Studio 4.12 Beta – a Sneak Peek – 3D Shenanigans #25 →

In this episode I’ll give you an introduction to the various parametric light objects we can create from the menu, how to use them and how to tweak their respective parameters as they apply to the Iray render engine. Here’s the link about Colour Temperature I’ve mentioned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature Here’s the one about Luminous Flux: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_flux

In the following episodes I’ll tell you everything I know about lighting in DAZ Studio. It’s so much that I’ve decided to split this section into multiple smaller parts. In this part I’ll explain the different types of lighting we have at our disposal, touch on surface properties as they apply to Iray and 3Delight, … Continue reading DAZ Studio 114: Introduction to Lighting →

In this episode I’ll show you two ways of measuring the metrics of objects from DAZ Studio using Blender. We can measure the distance between two arbitrary points using the new Measure Tool, while we can measure the circumference of an object with the MeasureIT add-on. DAZ also offer a plugin to do this, but … Continue reading Measuring DAZ Objects with Blender (Distance and Circumference) →

In this episode I’ll explain how I’ve made the Fluffy Disco animation that I’ve posted last week. I’ll start by building the animation in DAZ Studio using aniBlocks, then import the file into Carrara and add the hair. Once applied, we’ll drape it and have Carrara simulate the strands as the figure dances. You can … Continue reading Building the “Fluffy Disco Kimokawaii” Animation in Carrara – 3D Shenanigans #21 →

On today’s live stream, I’m giving you an overview on how to get started with the new Strand Based Hair feature in DAZ Studio 4.11. It’s only been released to the public yesterday, and we have not many details on how to create handsome looking hair with this tool, but I’ll let you in on … Continue reading An Overview of Strand Based Hair in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #20 →

On this episode of 3D Shenanigans, I’m creating a character animation in which our protagonist steps out of the dark and is gradually revealed with light. We’ll do the walk, light and camera animation in DAZ Studio, then add my Patreon Freebie fog assets to the scene in Photoshop. Join me on this creative journey … Continue reading Step into The Light – 3D Shenanigans #19 →

In this live event I’ll show you how to build the above funny kitchen scene. It’s simple with several subtle nuances, such as lighting and expressions. I’ll explain how to add your characters, pose them, adjust the camera, and add appropriate (comical) expressions. Then we’ll adjust the lights of the set and add our own … Continue reading Building a Kitchen Comic Scene in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #18 →

I’ve recently explained how to make use of the realistic sun disk in DAZ Studio. I’ve talked about how to make this thing visible and how to set it to mood/effect you want, and I’m pleased with the results. This workflow works great for still images, but for animations, it quickly becomes clear that the … Continue reading Animating sunlight (SS Time) in DAZ Studio →

In this live event I’ll show you how to create a realistic sunset portrait in DAZ Studio. I’ll explain how to use the Sun and Sky option in the render settings to tweak the time of day, how to make the sun visible and how to move it into position. Finally we’ll add a character … Continue reading Creating a Sunset Portrait in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #17 →

In this live event I’ll show you how to use Atmospheric Fog Planes in DAZ Studio. They can be used as a subtle effect to make your scenes more realistic. Fog Planes can fill the screen, or they can be used as prop splats to show steam rising in parts of your image. I’ll show … Continue reading Atmospheric Fog Planes in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #16 →

In this live event I’ll tell you everything I know about Iray Canvases in DAZ Studio. It’s a huge topic, and admittedly I don’t know everything about this subject, but it will cover how to get started with multi pass rendering and the principles of creating separate images from your scene. About Depth Passes There’s … Continue reading Using Iray Canvases in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #13 →

In this live event I’ll show you how to create 3D Text Objects in Blender 2.8, then bring them in to DAZ Studio to animate and render. We’ll animate a single number first, then apply the same animation to the other numbers and add small variations using aniMate. Other than that, I’m happy to answer … Continue reading Animating Numbers with Blender and DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #12 →

In this live event I’ll build a creepy “survival horror” type scene: an unsuspecting janitor is working the night shift, while a bunch of super intelligent bugs have escaped and try to take over the facility. I’ll start by modifying the stock corridor to make it longer, then I’ll setup a camera with an extreme … Continue reading Building a Creepy Corridor Scene in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #05 →

In this live event I’ll explain how we can use an existing Iray skin shader and apply it to an older character like Staci. In my last stream I’ve shown you how to apply existing Iray materials from the library to various surfaces, and this time we’ll create a whole shader (almost) from scratch. I’ll … Continue reading Converting older Skin Shaders for use with Iray in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #04 →

In this live event I’ll show you how to utilise some of your older content in DAZ Studio and make it compatible with the NVIDIA Iray render engine. Specifically, I’ll take two 3D Universe characters from 2004, pose them in a brand new set by Danie and Marforno and create a riveting Sci-Fi scene. I’ll … Continue reading Using Older Content in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #03 →

In this episode I’ll show you how we can use Reference Images in DAZ Studio. This is not a built-in option, but with the help of a Plane Primitive and a dedicated camera we can use references to help us build scenes, poses and shaders. We can create as many planes and cameras as we … Continue reading How to use Reference Images in DAZ Studio →

I’ve met a new primary doctor to make sure my hand isn’t getting any worse. Turns out she had the same oncologist as I did, and she’s a cancer survivor! Meanwhile, the results of my latest blood work are back, and I’ve got some news on how the next instalment of DAZ Studio 101 is […]

In this live event I’ll build a scene with the Hotel Indoor Pool product from DAZ and Imaginary 3D (available for free this week for Platinum Club Members). I’ll explain how to walk through the scene to explore the the whole set, pick a good camera angle, convert existing objects into light sources and add … Continue reading Building an Indoor Pool Scene with DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #02 →

In this episode I’ll show you how to create a morph for an item in DAZ Studio using ZBrush, without using the GoZ bridge. It works by exporting your object in OBJ format from DAZ Studio, importing and changing its shape in ZBrush (or any other 3D modelling app for that amtter), then re-importing the … Continue reading Creating ZBrush Morphs for DAZ Studio without GoZ →

In this episode I’ll tell you many interesting things about how to use cameras in DAZ Studio. It’s a rather complex topic, which is why this episode is a little longer than usual. We’ll create a simple scene together from the latest Platinum Club Freebie product, frame up a shot, and create a couple of … Continue reading DAZ Studio 113: Using Cameras →

In this first Live Event I have planned for y’all I’m going to explain how to create an easy turntable animation in DAZ Studio. We’ll dress up a character, pose him (or her), set some lights and create a 360 degree slow spinning animation of it. This technique is a nice way to show off … Continue reading Creating a Turntable Animation in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #01 →

In this episode I’ll show you how to create morphs for DAZ Studio using ZBrush, thanks to a free plugin called GoZ for DAZ Studio (it’s like a ZBrush Bridge). I’ll also explain the prep-work necessary for GoZ to work properly and how to install it. For Allan.

In this episode I’ll explain the differences between the Content Library Tab and the Smart Content Tab. I’ll also show how to bring content into your scenes, and touch on the different types of content (for example, a shirt fits on a figure, but a material preset fits on a specific shirt).

In this episode I’ll show you how to manipulate objects in the viewport using four tools: the translate, scale, rotate and universal manipulator tools. I’ll also explain the concept of world vs local/object coordinates and touch on screen coordinates. These are tough concepts to grasp, but with a bit of practice, you’ll be flying around … Continue reading DAZ Studio 107: Manipulating Objects with Tools →

In this episode I’ll talk you through the various Viewport Drawing Styles. The default we usually see is “texture shaded”, which is a nice compromise between displaying a good looking “live” picture, while keeping your computer responsive for navigating and posing. However, with larger scenes your system may become slower and less responsive. We can … Continue reading DAZ Studio 106: Viewport Draw Styles →

Jay’s new Primary Care Physician Dr. Keller has prescribed a higher dose of his thyroid hormones as of two days ago. He also manages to lose his wife (very briefly) and is inspired to create a new 3D lighting product for DAZ Studio called SOUL REFLECTIONS – Vol. 1. Patreons get a free copy!

In this episode I’ll show you how to navigate your 3D world within the viewport. I’ll explain several ways to do this, and I’ll also show you how to customise the modifier keys for faster navigation using your mouse and keyboard. In addition, there’s also a fully immersive way to “walk” through your scene using … Continue reading DAZ Studio 105: Navigating in 3D Space →

In this episode I’l explain how we can utilise Install Manager to update both DAZ Studio as well as content if and when updates are available. I will also show you how to update Install Manager itself. This happened to me today and was not a planned part of the series, but I found it … Continue reading DAZ Studio 104: Updating Content →

In this episode I’ll show you how you can customise the interface in DAZ Studio. I have previously shown you how to select Workspaces and Styles, and now we’ll see how to make the interface your own by changing the colours of the interface. In addition, I’ll elaborate more on the macOS intricacies on moving … Continue reading DAZ Studio 103: Customising Styles →

In this episode we’re launching DAZ Studio for the first time after a fresh installation, we’ll fix the database manager, and we’ll learn how to customise the interface. I will also show you where those important context sensitive menus are hiding.

In this episode I’ll show you how to get started with DAZ Studio, namely by installing it. To be able to install both DAZ Studio as well as content, and update both those things going forward, the easiest thing to do is use a helper application called Install Manager. I’ll show you how to get … Continue reading DAZ Studio 101: Using Install Manager →

In this course I’ll explain how to use DAZ Studio, a free 3D content manipulation and rendering app. It’s aimed at beginners and medium casuals alike, it explains the foundations of how the software works, and also illustrates how 3D software works in general (sort of a “3D for Humans” approach). This episode is a … Continue reading DAZ Studio 100: Introduction to the course →

Welcome to Session 44 of 3D Art Direct's podcast, where Paul Bussey interviews Oshyan Greene, the business manager of Planetside Software, which produces Terragen 4 for rendering and animating realistic natural environments. Terragen 4 is used in film, TV, commercials, as well as educational disciplines, to name but a few. We're primarily talking to Oshyan about the recent release of Terragen 4.1, as well as SIGGRAPH held recently in Los Angeles. Digital Art Live's mission is getting behind the scenes with top digital artists and leaders by featuring them in in-depth interviews, through our magazine, podcast, and live event webinars, allowing you to connect with them and other artists and discover what inspired them, the steps they've taken in conceptualizing their work, and the techniques that they've used in building their creations. You can stay informed of our live webinars and podcasts by subscribing to our free monthly magazine at digitalartlive.com. While there, take the time to browse our growing library of new events and live webinars, as well as past recordings and magazine issues. Our site is constantly being updated, featuring topics such as modeling, sculpting, rigging, lighting, and digital composition for software such as DAZ Studio, ZBrush, Poser, Terragen, and Vue, to list but a few. So let's get to the interview.

Kim Schneider, better known as Arki is a 3D modeller and texture creator that has just completed a definitive series of tutorials in association with Digital Art Live called Creating Complex Clothing and available on DAZ3D's website that takes the student from concept to finished, saleable product which covers modelling, UV mapping, rigging and texturing. Find out more about our podcast, webinars and magazine at www.digitalartlive.com Kim has worked as a professional illustrator for RPG games, and her started her 3D digital art journey in 2000 with Poser and then Poser Pro and started selling her content in 2006. Since then, she's been hard at work creating content for DAZ Studio. Her choice of modelling software is Hexagon, UV mapping using UV Layout Pro and UV Mapper Pro, among others such as GIMP, Photoshop, Terragen, Blacksmith3D and more in her workflow. (clicking on image will open an new window and take you to DAZ3D site) During the interview, Kim talks about Her inspiration for her modelling concepts. How to sell your models for profit and her recommended "path to success." She talks a little about her pen and paper (role-playing) game that she's in the process of creating. Practical knowledge of how things work in order to be able to model them, realistically. and her fascination with dragons, for just a few topics. Snippet from the transcript DAL: ... How critical is it to understand how something works in order to be able to model it properly? For example, you and I talked a bit before about modeling a weapon, and you said that you have no interest in it because you have no working knowledge of it. So how critical do you think it is to understand how something works to be able to model it properly? Kim: Well, if I think of a current project I'm working on, it's a dragon skeleton and I had to do huge amount of research about animal and human skeletons before I could do that. So you have to learn how to model a joint, what kind of joint is used in an elbow or a knee or a wrist. So those are three types of joints already. Or the shoulder, that's another joint there. So if you don't understand this and don't know how the shape defines functionality, you are probably not going to have a very good time or a fun time modeling that thing. So at least it's true for me, first I have to know what I'm doing, first I have to understand what I'm doing before I can put it into 3D, or model it in clay for that matter, which is very similar in the process. DAL: Do you model in clay much to get inspiration or to flesh out ideas, I guess? Kim: I used to. It's very messy. Takes up a lot of space and you have to fire the clay. So I don't do it anymore, but I hope when I get into zeeBrush or zedBrush a little bit more, I will be able to do some more sculpting without the mess and the firing. I said "ZedBrush." DAL: You said "ZedBrush," yes, that's good, ZedBrush. In Canada, we don't say "Zee," we say "Zed." So ZedBrush. Kim: The eternal struggle. DAL: And ZedZed Top. Kim: Yeah. That's a bit clunky. DAL: Yeah, doesn't quite roll off the tongue. So, that's an interesting question. You know what? I had never thought of the human skeleton in that way, that there are, you know, a fixed number of joints that move in a fixed direction, and depending on any fantastical creature that you're gonna build, you have to understand how all of the different joints come together. And I'm assuming, just extrapolating on that, then now you have to understand the different kinds of muscles and the connection points to the bones in order to flesh out, if you will, the figure as well, right? Kim: Yes, exactly, because what I'm doing right now with the dragon skeleton is... the starting point was a sketch of one of my dragon species for my game, and I used the silhouette to model the skeleton inside. And what I was doing that I already noticed I think the proportions are off, it's not going to work the way I thought it would. So maybe when I have a lot of time, I'm going to add muscle and maybe internal organs and then model the outside skin and then see how that looks. It's going to be close to my initial design, but then slightly different. So I will sort of reverse engineer my own species, so it's going to be interesting...

Paolo Ciccone is the author of Reality, a plugin for Poser and DAZ Studio that introduced Physically Based Rendering (PBR) around 2010, when PBR was not that familiar for Poser and DAZ Studio artists. PBR provides more photorealistic or natural looking renders than previous render techniques. The Reality plugin continues to takes advantage of the LuxRender rendering engine. In this interview session we learn:- 1. How can the reality plugin help with gaining realism with skin materials in a render? 2. There are a number of SSS parameters, such as surface thickness, abortion scale and scattering scale. What settings tend to work best for which circumstances? 3. There's a thread on Runtime DNA that talks about how you spent weeks of development testing thousands of combinations, was that with getting the automatic SSS function correct? 4. Is it possible to make the skin “glow” using Reality? I know there is a “light emission” modifier that might be used since this can be tweaked in any material. 5. You could use a procedural texture to get some interesting patterns on the skin using Reality, without having to use Photoshop. Firstly what's a procedural texture and how might you apply that in Reality? 6. Since we last spoke in January, you've released Reality 4.3. What are the main changes to see in 4.3? 7. You had a surprise phone call this year from a manager at Apple computers. Tell us about that story. 8. You've introduced a new Reality Facebook Group. Tell us about this and some of the good things that have come out of this for Reality users. 9. What's next for Reality? See digitalartlive.com for more podcasts, magazines and webinars on digital art

This is a special session of the podcast where we go in depth in learning about behind the scenes of Renderosity, one of the most well known digital artist communities and digital products stores on the web. I speak with Tommy Lemon, vice president of Renderosity and also Tim Haskasma manager of business development and marketing. In this session we learn - The original vision for Renderosity back when it started in 1999 - The deep history of Renderosity. - The challenge of selling digital content in the stone age of the internet. - All about the mission statement for Renderosity. - Initiatives that highlight community members, artists, vendors.  - Dig into some of the demographics of the Renderosity community - Who are some of the longest serving staff members and what they've brought to Renderosity. - The Renderosity community on Facebook?  - How regular feedback from the community helps improve the services and website.  - What tools are offered to vendors at Renderosity  - Video tutorials are an important part of the Renderosity marketplace. Just remember you can sign up for our free digital artists magazine at digitalartlive.com, where you can also discover live webinar events and our store containing recordings of those events. You'll find tutorials on Poser, DAZ Studio, Vue, Terragen, Hexagon and ZBrush.

in this session, we're focussing on a subject to do with the exploration and colonisation of Mars, which is part of our overall theme for our forthcoming Digital Art Live magazine, where we will feature artwork on the colonisation of space. We will have at least three artists with some stunning sci-fi artwork and in-depth interviews with the artists on their work and you can get this magazine for free, which will include the PDF at digitalartlive.com and click on the “Get Started Now” button on the home page. You can also check out our live webinar events we host for training on software such as Poser, DAZ Studio, ZBrush, Vue and more. So I was very privileged to talk to Nicol Willett the education director of the mars society and to see her enthusiasm for teaching about the opportunities for us on Mars. In this session we learn:-  - What is the Mars society and why it was formed - How concept illustrations have helped in some of the Mars society projects - What are the two most significant barriers in getting humans to Mars. - Is it easier to colonise the moon rather than Mars? - The new "160 mission" organised by the Mars Society. - Nicole's view on the top two achievements of the society since it's been formed. - How you can help the Mars Society.      

Jeremy, Paul, John and Doug discuss Daz Studio's recent acquisition, and some 3d art tips and tricks.

Doug and Jeremy discuss 3d art work with tools like Daz Studio and Poser, comic books and Doug's history with 3d artwork. Links: Comic Book Companies Mentioned Dc Comics Marvel Comics 3D Art Companies Mentioned Smith Micro Daz Studio Renderosity Sturkwurk.com Bobandtom.com

Podcast Introduction This is session 36 of the 3D Art Direct podcast speaking to Paolo Ciccone, author of the Reality plugin for DAZ Studio and Poser, one of the most advanced Physics Based Rendering systems in the market, producing photorealistic results. Podcast Prologue Welcome to this session. I'm really pleased to talk to Paolo, who we've interviewed several times in the past and he's always a joy to speak to. He's done a lot of good work with his Reality plugin to make a real gem of a tool to help you the artist generate realism in your renders. We've had Paolo as a keynote speaker at our last Poser Expo live webinar conference and we'll no doubt see him again in some more of our events this year. Check out digitalartlive.com. It's now early January 2016 and we've got two events coming up this month including a Poser clinic where you can submit a problem or challenge and we'll try to resolve for you with Charles Taylor, probably the foremost expert on Poser and that's on Saturday January 23rd at 20:00 GMT. And we have Chris Hecker a respected sci-fi artist taking us through the making of one of his best illustrations created with Vue and Photoshop – that's on Saturday January 23rd also  at 8:00 pm. Join us if you can and you can get in touch on the contact page at digitalartlive.com.   Introduction Paolo Ciccone is the author of Reality, a plugin for Poser and DAZ Studio that introduced Physically Based Rendering (PBR) around 2010, when PBR was not that familiar for Poser and DAZ Studio artists. PBR provides more photorealistic or natural looking renders than previous render techniques. Reality takes advantage of the LuxRender rendering engine. So Reality gives a rendering solution that extends DAZ Studio and Poser and is described as providing the most advanced Physics-Based Rendering system in the market.

Regina LaGrone also known as Lady Littlefox is an experienced 3D content developer for Poser and Daz Studio. Her strengths are in character and costume designs including contemporary, fantasy and  cartoon styles. She is skilled in all stages of content development and has modelled in Modo, Lightwave, XSI and ZBrush. She is at present a freelance developer and beta tester for Smith Micro software and has successfully run her own business of Lady LittleFox Studios for at least 16 years. In this Session - The origins of Littlefox Designs, how it started some of the earliest design highlights. - Beta testing for over 8 years at Smith Micro for Poser and Anime Studio. Have you been able to initiate some good changes or fixes during this time? - One of your earlier experiences in work was being a 3D Avatar specialist – what did this involve? - The foundations of STAR. - Key design objectives for the STAR anime figure. - How flexible and smooth motion is a significant aspect of STAR and how this is accomplished. - The advantages of facial rigging built into STAR. - Future content from Littlefox Studios

This is session 31 of the 3D Art Direct podcast with Paolo Ciccone on the new Reality 4 software giving  photo realistic rendering in Poser or DAZ Studio. In this session we learn from Paolo:- The history of the LuxRender engine, which Reality 4 uses. What‘s all the fuss about physically based rendering (PBR)  and what are the advantages to the artist? Is PBR still advancing and what might we see next with this? What are some of the changes that have made Reality 4 easier to use for the artist?  All about the presets library and some of the goodies inside it. What lies ahead for Pret-a-3D in 2015?

In this session we interview  Paolo Ciccone with his new book "The Complete Guide to DAZ Studio 4". You can find out more about the book here:- http://3dartdirect.com/GuideToDazStudio4 And the book is also available on Amazon here:- http://3dartdirect.com/DAZStudio4Amazon Suprisingly, despite the wide reach and community of the DAZ Studio software (it's a free application), there are not many publications to choose from when it comes to learning the software. Of course, there are the DAZ 3D forums where you can get answers to specific queries, but a complete map and guide to using the sofware in the form of a book will be greatly useful. The book is aimed at those starting out with DAZ Studio up to the level of mostly intermediate users, but more advanced level users will find gems in here also. The author, Paolo Ciccone is a software engineer and photographer who now lives in Santa Cruz, California.  He is an experienced software developer with 20 years of experience. His field of expertise is developing applications  for both Mac OS and Windows  that assist computer graphics artists achieve photorealistic results. He founded Prêt-à-3D (www.preta3d.com) in 2010 , a company dedicated to bringing high-end computer graphics tools to the masses.  His Reality software for Poser and DAZ Studio has been used for video game illustration and for the preproduction of Hollywood large budget movies such as Jurassic Park IV and Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  In this session we ask Paolo about:- - His first contact with DAZ Studio the strengths he noted from it during his early use of the software. - Whether he immediately saw a gap in the market for the book? Or did it take some time for you to identify some needs of the DAZ Studio community that could be fulfilled? - We talk about the by-line of the book “Community Experience Distilled”.  - The book cover artwork. - Paolo is an educator and writer in the 3D Arts world, but this Was Paolo's first book project. What were some of his early barriers he had to overcome in starting up and getting a writing regime going? - Who the the book is aimed for? - The mind-set barrier of being able to pose figures naturally when first starting and how this book overcomes that barrier. - How the book covers creating new characters with morphs - the ability to start adapting existing characters to create new ones. - The practical content of the book - customising DAZ studio, finding and installing new content and navigating the studio environment. - The aspects of lighting covered in two major chapters : lighting a scene and achieving photo realism with the Reality Plugin. - How the new Dawn figure is covered in the book- what readers can learn about using this figure. - Paolo's favourite topic or chapter.

Welcome to session 20 and I hope you are having creative success at the moment, whichever 3D application you are using.  We'd love to see your artwork, especially if its in the sci-fi or fantasy genres, which you can share on the facebook.com/3dartdirect page. Dawn is the newest in a line of significant figures developed by Chris Creek, who created the original Poser figures, Dork and Posette, and the original Michael and Victoria figures. Dawn is for both Poser and DAZ Studio users in mind, with two versions available, one with native Poser files compatible with Poser 9 and above, and another with native DAZ Studio files compatible with DAZ Studio 4.5 and above. I've really pleased to interview not only Chris Creek, but Eric Merritt , Steve Kondris and Paul Lesard from HiveWire 3D, who are freshening up the market with this new significant figure. I'm also pleased to announce a new live and on-line conference for the Poser community: Poser Expo 2 : Creative Professionals Live. Chris Creek and his crew from HiveWire 3D will be the keynote speakers at the beginning of the conference, and then we'll go into nine more webinar sessions of Poser training content on the weekend of the 18th-20th of October, with some of the brightest and creative minds in the community presenting. At the moment there is a reduced price for the event tickets that will get you into ALL the webinars. Up until around the end of September, you can take advantage of a 23% discount on the ticket price. http://3dartlive.com/poserexpo2ticket

Welcome to session 7 And a warm welcome to those who have just found the podcast via iTunes or elsewhere. After listening to this episode, I'd invite you to leave a brief review on iTunes and we'd welcome any feedback to improve the content or your experience of these sessions. This session is called "Sci-Fi Spacecraft Design: Is It Really Rocket Science?" I'm discussing this question with two special guests: Rob Caswell who we've previously interviewed as a DAZ Studio artist in Session 3 and secondly Tom Peters who likewise publishes artwork on DeviantArt.  They've both worked as illustrators for games and Rob and Tom have had an on-going discussion on sci-fi spacecraft design for some time.  The crux of the topic is whether more science should be involved in sci-fi ship design, or should we just go with cool looking ships that would end up burning up in the nearest atmosphere. After listening to the discussion, I'd love to know your thoughts on sci-fi spacecraft design - are you more pro-science or pro-cool looking design in not worrying about the science or somewhere in between.  You can do this by replying to the session 7 show notes at 3DArtDirect.com or visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/3DArtDirect.

Welcome to the 3D Art Direct Podcast Session 3 I'd like to introduce Rob Caswell, a DAZ 3D Studio artist who grew up during the space race and spent his time watching the Apollo moonshots as well as bat girl on TV, and then managed to avoid these distractions just enough to gain a degree in astronomy. He has a popular space on DeviantArt, with the moniker as “Arcas-Art”, that includes a well written blog and gallery of renders created with DAZ 3D Studio and post processing with Photoshop. Rob has a good grounding in multiple visual art zones, including science fiction & fantasy illustration for paper and pen RPGs, computer game art and comic book lettering. Rob has a good selection of general Science Fiction and Star Trek Art in his portfolio, including mock up book covers. There's also some art based on a running theme of "Spy Girls".  He's currently living in Western Massachusetts, operating a digital print business. In the interview we cover:- - All about Star Trek mock-up Book Covers  - The Spy Girls series with Rob's character “Cassie Blaine”.  - A drawback of 3D Digital Art is that it is easy to have a lack of focus. You can “doodle” for a long time. - Likening 3D digital art to “virtual photography”, taking elements that already exist and use these in a unique way from the artist's own skills and imagination - Figure work, the more you tweak, the better your chances of imbuing a sense of life and personality. You can sign up for our free monthly digital arts magazine at www.3dartdirect.com