3D – Page 17 – JAY VERSLUIS

How to set the origin (pivot point) in Blender

May 14, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Every 3D object has a point around which it rotates or scales from. It’s usually the point at which the 3D manipulator gizmo shows up. In Blender this point is called the Origin. In my screenshot, that point is at the top of the selected book. But perhaps I’d like to move it to the …

Joining and separating objects in Blender

May 13, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Joining objects in Blender means that two different meshes can become part of the same object. This sounds like it’s related to grouping and parenting, but it’s more useful in modelling. Think of a complex object made of several primitives: rather than having a hierarchy in Object Mode, you’ll have a single object with multiple linked …

How to use Reference Images in Blender

May 12, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Reference images are nice if you’re modelling something from scratch: take pictures from the front, the back, the sides, and then use them to create a 3D model with all those fancy extrusion tools and what have you. Trouble is, how do we get them into Blender as a backdrop? Let me show you, before I …

How to add thickness in Blender

May 11, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Adding thickness or depth to an object is easy in Blender, thanks to its lovely Solidify Modifier. It’s as easy as adding the modifier to your object and changing the properties – you can even do this while you’re still working on the geometry. Let me show you how to do it. For this example, let’s create …

How to weld points in Blender

May 10, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Screen Shot 2016-05-09 at 15.54.22

Sometimes 3D objects are created with duplicate vertices that should be in the same place. Imagine two sides of a cube: ideally they should share the same points, but when you place two planes closely next to each other, they’re just two planes and not one object.

For that we need to “weld” vertices together, an expression shared by pretty much every 3D package – except for Blender, where “being different” is just as important as “being complicated”. In Blender, welding is called “removing doubles”.

Let me show you how to do this – no matter what you want to call it.

How to add thickness in ZBrush using Panel Loops

May 9, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Screen Shot 2016-05-09 at 12.54.35

I have previously shown you how to add thickness to an object using the ZBrush Move Tool. While that method may have had its uses in the past, it is hugely cumbersome and can’t really be used on a complex object.

So today I’ve learnt how to achieve the same thing using something called Panel Loops. It a nutshell, with this feature ZBrush splits the whole model into separate little objects, adds thickness to them and merges if all back together again. It even adds Polygroups for all those little bits too.

Panel Loops can be used to create the backside of an otherwise single sided object (for example, a dress exported from Marvelous Designer).

Let me show you how to use it briefly.

How to create a pillow in Marvelous Designer

May 4, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Pillow

Marvelous Designer can add internal pressure to objects that are sewn together. This is great for anything that contains stuff, like satchel bags or pillows.

Let me demonstrate how to use this feature by making a simple pillow.

How to extract geometry from an existing mesh in ZBrush

May 3, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Screen Shot 2016-05-01 at 08.36.52

One way of making clothes in ZBrush is to paint a mask onto an existing model, and then extract that mask as a new sub tool for further sculpting. The possibilities are limitless for any object that needs to fit onto another one.

Here’s how to do it.

How to install 3D Content from a ZIP Archive on Mac OS X

December 30, 2023May 2, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Alt-Drag-and-Drop

Dealing with ZIP files from 3D content marketplaces isn’t easy. I’ve been asked several times how to install such content, and thought this article may come in handy for future generations.

The principle is the same on Mac and Windows, however it’s slightly more tricky on a Mac because it wants to replace the whole folder rather than merge it. We’ll see how to deal with this peculiarity and have our content installed in no time!

How to export a UV Texture Template in Photoshop

May 1, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Screen Shot 2016-04-29 at 11.21.17 Sometimes it’s necessary to have a 2D Texture Template for a 3D model. It makes texturing a lot easier in 2D painting apps.

While some programmes like Marvelous Designer can create the UVs, and quite clearly show them to us, there’s no easy way to export them as a flat file – akin to the one you see on the right here.

Photoshop to the rescue! All versions of Photoshop 3D and Photoshop CC can import OBJ files, and they can not only display the UV Map as an overlay, they can turn it into a new Layer for us as well.

Here’s how to do it.

How to add thickness to an object in ZBrush using the Move Tool

May 9, 2016April 30, 2016 by Jay Versluis

While other 3D apps usually have an option to bring thickness to an otherwise flat object, ZBrush does not. Hurra.

Here’s an extremely fiddly and imprecise way to add thickness to a flat object (such as a 2D plane) using a Morph Target trick I’ve learnt from BadKing the other day.

First, bring in a flat object into your otherwise empty document. The Plane_3D primitive will suffice nicely for this demonstration. Drag it out, enter Edit mode and turn this thing into a PolyMesh 3D.

Turn the object on its side and hit Move (right next to the default Draw).

If you held down SHIFT while looking at the plane from its side, you’ll notice that you don’t see your object anymore – only the Move Tool. That’s just fine. It’s all part of the “fun” of using ZBrush. Have you used the Move Tool before? It takes a bit of getting used to. But I digress…

Click on the little blue circle on the right and you’ll see the tool change, expanding itself to the right. That’s excellent because we’ll move our invisible plane ever so slightly to the right in just a moment.

Screen Shot 2016-04-29 at 17.31.33

So in my screenshot, where the green line is, that’s the side of my plane. Feel free to turn the view around a little so we reveal the plane like so:

Screen Shot 2016-04-29 at 17.35.15

How to apply Subdivision Surfaces in DAZ Studio

April 29, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Screen Shot 2016-04-27 at 22.37.50

I was modelling a chair in ZBrush the other day and wanted to bring it into DAZ Studio for rendering. So I exported my chair as OBJ from ZBrush, imported it into DAZ Studio and was slightly surprised by the result: it looked more edgy, and not as smooth as it appeared in ZBrush.

Why was that, I wondered, and – more importantly – how could I fix that?

The secret sauce is called Subdivision Surfaces (SubD) and it’s easy to add to any object or figure that doesn’t already have it applied. Let me show you how to do this in DAZ Studio 4.8.

How to cut holes in ZBrush

April 28, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Screen Shot 2016-04-27 at 10.52.43

Sometimes we need to cut holes into an object. Every other 3D app under the sun would call this a Boolean Operation – except for ZBrush of course, where this problem is solved with a (totally unintuitive) DynaMesh trick.

While the ZBrush manual mentions that this is easily achieved, they’ve missed out the part on how to actually do it.

Let me explain that here before I forget (which is probably tomorrow).

How to select multiple parts of a brush in ZBrush

April 24, 2016April 24, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Several brushes in ZBrush insert 3D meshes into your object rather than sculpting it. Some of the default brushes are named IMM in the brush menu, but you can get dozens of others from sites like BadKing.com.au (check it out – they’re phenomenal). IMM stands for Insert Multi Mesh, and such brushes can be created …

No more Tweet Counts

November 23, 2015 by Jay Versluis

Twitter have recently announced that they will stop supporting the API endpoint that allows developers to show how many times an article has been tweeted. Services such as Jetpack, Shareaholic or even the old fashioned Twitter Button can no longer display a number next to them. Although announced a while ago, on the 20th of …

How to enable the Magnifying Glass in ZBrush

August 30, 2015 by Jay Versluis

On some systems it can be hard to read the plethora of menu items that ZBrush presents. It’s hard enough to find the one you need, but it’s even harder to do so without straining your eyes. ZBrush has a lovely solution that can help us, both for modelling and viewing menus: The Magnify Glass …

How to create seamless texture tiles in ZBrush using the elusive Tilde Key

August 25, 2015 by Jay Versluis

There is a convenient way to create seamless texture tiles in ZBrush using the oft neglected 2.5D functionality. Like many things in ZBrush, it’s extremely easy – if you know how to do it. The principle is just like the Photoshop Offset filter. Before we start, it’s probably a good idea to resize the current …

How to remove polygons from your model in ZBrush

August 23, 2015August 23, 2015 by Jay Versluis

In Hexagon you can simply select a face (polygon) and hit the delete key, but things are slightly more complicated in ZBrush. Here’s how to remove one or several faces of your 3D object in ZBrush. First, select the desired polygons. In my example above it’s the flat side of a cylinder, so I’m rotating …

Say hello to Victoria 7

April 21, 2020July 9, 2015 by Jay Versluis

Victoria 7 is here! According to the marketing hype she’s “totally amazing”, but we don’t know much about her yet. Feeling finally better, I thought I’d give the new girl a spin and see how DAZ have improved upon the previous generation of Genesis 2 (which – let’s face it – wasn’t shabby at all).

New figures are fun to play with, and I’m sure over the next two years we’ll find out more about Genesis 3 than we will in the first few days. Here’s what I’ve found so far.

How to preview HD Morphs in DAZ Studio

July 8, 2015 by Jay Versluis

In the above picture we have a render of Michael 6, the standard version on the left and the HD version on the right. Zooming in closer we can see that his abs and knees for example have a lot more detail – as we’d expect from an HD version of a model.

Comparing the two Michaels in our viewport instead of the render however, we can barely make out a difference. Both figures look nearly identical (except for the belly button indentation perhaps).

Screen Shot 2015-07-07 at 12.59.33

So why is that, and how can we preview those HD details before we render them?

The secret lies in our viewport’s subdivision levels.

Cardozo Textures for Peplum Dress – now available at Hivewire3D

July 8, 2015June 23, 2015 by Jay Versluis

Take Stephanie’s Peplum Dress and Blossom Shoes for a walk on the town with our brand new Cardozo Textures: 10 brand new outfits for the dress and the shoes, all carefully crafted with love from Miami Beach!

This gives you a total of 40 Material Presets for both DAZ Studio and Poser (via DSON Importer). This is our second release on Hivewire3D, and something tells me it ain’t gonna to be the last 🙂

HW-Main-Promo

I’ve rendered the promo shots using Stephanie 6 (it is her dress after all, even though it fits all the Genesis 2 Females) and Stonemason’s fantastic Streets of the Mediterranean.

In the background you’ll find 3D Universe’s Jason and Amy walking up the stairs, the Millennium Cat licking his paws and the Toon Mouse fleeing in panic (and presenting the shoe compilation too). The red bike is courtesy of Carrara.

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All these things and the Peplum Dress are available from DAZ 3D.

In this article I’ll explain how to get the most out of our texture pack.

Breakwater Textures for Frilly Triangle Bikini – now available at Hivewire3D

July 8, 2015June 17, 2015 by Jay Versluis

Promo-1

Summer Time means Bikini Time – unless you live in Miami Beach, where it’s Bikini Time all the time. May I present with pleasure a brand new texture set from Team V:

Breakwater Textures adds 10 new Material Presets for the beautiful Frilly Triangle Bikini by Nikisatez. Take your Genesis 2 ladies out for a dip in the lake or a stroll at the beach and give the Frilly Triangle Bikini a whole new spin (watch out for little green monsters though).

The set is now available from Hivewire3D.

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All the above were rendered in DAZ Studio, but separate Poser Material Presets have been carefully crafted from scratch. The backdrop was made in Carrara using HowieFarke’s beautiful Secret Lake scene, and the little green critter is another 3D Universe classic called “Monsters in my Cupboard” (both available from DAZ).

Our models are Victoria 6 (left) and Lilith (right, and in single shots), featuring textures designed by my wife Julia. Right on!

Let’s see how to use those Breakwater Textures.

How to change the launch image in DAZ Studio

June 16, 2015 by Jay Versluis

Did you know that you can change the splash screen / launch image that comes up when you start DAZ Studio? It’s nothing major of course, but just in case you find the default image too distracting you can make DAZ Studio launch with something more plain, as pictured above. Head over to Preferences – …

How to enable Hardware Acceleration in DAZ Studio

June 15, 2015 by Jay Versluis

Are the viewport movements in DAZ Studio getting you down? Does it seemingly take forever to make a small camera adjustment, despite your decent hardware? Check if Hardware Acceleration is enabled – because it isn’t by default. They do this so that most hardware will work with DAZ Studio out of the box, but they don’t …

How to reduce the Depth-Of-Field frost effect in DAZ Studio

September 23, 2016June 14, 2015 by Jay Versluis

Something that’s always been bugging me is the “frost effect” that DAZ Studio introduces on renders with depth of field. The above picture is a perfect example of it. Where does it come from, and how can we avoid it? I’ve mentioned two approaches in an earlier article that discusses how to setup depth of …

How to render DAZ Studio RIB Files on another computer

March 27, 2017June 13, 2015 by Jay Versluis

I have previously described how to render DAZ Studio Scenes without DAZ Studio. This is done by rendering to a RIB File (RenderMan Interface Bytestream), using the standalone 3Delight Studio to create the final render. The procedure frees DAZ Studio up and allows you to work on your next scene without having to wait for the render to finish.

I generally use Xender for PC for my file transfer needs, but I’ve been looking for ways to transfer such RIB files to another computer which does not have the content or even DAZ Studio installed, and I think I’ve found another one!

When used as described in my previous article, DAZ Studio creates a RIB file that references temporary files as well files on the local system. Neither of those can be used on a different computer because they most certainly don’t exist. This means your render will likely be missing a few textures.

There’s a handy command line tool that will collate all those files needed to render the image. The drawback is that – depending on the size of your scene – this may result in a rather large file (1GB or more). However the approach is great if you’d like to render that super long animation for several weeks without blocking your regular office computer.

Here’s how to do it.

How to batch render RIB Files on your Mac

June 12, 2015 by Jay Versluis

If you’ve read my previous article about rendering DAZ Studio files without DAZ Studio, you already know that I’m big fan of batch rendering my images. For this I mainly use the excellent Batch Render Script by Draagonstorm. It allows me to queue up several scenes, and while I do something else, DAZ Studio will load up one after the other and render like a champ.

Windows users have a special treat that can have the same script create a .bat file, allowing the 3Delight standalone renderer to work on a batch of files without using DAZ Studio. Mac users don’t have such luxuries, and will still “block” DAZ Studio until all renders in the batch have finished.

I have good news: for the hackers among us, we can create such a batch queue on the Mac manually, using a simple Shell Script. In this article I’ll show you how to do it. Some Mac/Linux command line experience is necessary to follow along.

How to render a multi-camera animation in DAZ Studio

May 25, 2019June 10, 2015 by Jay Versluis

When you’re rendering a multi-camera animation, chances are you want to change shots from one camera to another. This means that you have to render your sequence from all camera angles and then employ an editing application to stitch your shots together.

There are several drawbacks to this approach: for one, a lot of render waste will accumulate for the images you don’t want to include in the final animation. Another is the time it takes to render an animation several times – as if one pass doesn’t take long enough already.

Thankfully there’s a free script that can help us render much more efficiently, and create the whole sequence in one pass: it’s called CamSeq by the amazing mCasual / Jaques (thanks, Jaques!)

Here’s how to use the script in DAZ Studio 4.8, step by step.

How to create keyframe animations in DAZ Studio

June 7, 2015 by Jay Versluis

Animation

DAZ Studio can handle two types of animation: aniMate aniBlocks, as well as traditional keyframe animations, much like many other 3D applications. The principle of animating objects is very simple, but as a scene becomes more complex you may find that additional tools (such as graphMate and keyMate) may be of help.

Here’s how it works:

select an object and set a keyframe (in the Timeline Tab)
move the timeline slider to a new position
move your object to a new position
and set another keyframe

When you move the timeline slider back and forth, DAZ Studio will calculate the movement between the two positions. All aspects of an object are animated, so with cameras it includes the depth of field and focal length, or with lights it would include the intensity. Sometimes you may need to tweak the keyframes, or set additional ones if the calculated motions aren’t working well.

Let’s see how this works with a primitive.

How to create Material Presets in DAZ Studio

June 3, 2015 by Jay Versluis

Material Presets in DAZ Studio describe the surfaces of your 3D objects. A simple object may only have one material zone, but more complex objects can have several. These zones are also known as Shading Domains, which are setup when the object is created in a 3D modelling application.

Material Presets are closely related to Shaders, in fact they work with very similar concepts. The difference is that a Shader describes a single surface, whereas a Material Preset describes which Shader is applied to which part of an object, or more accurately, which Shading Domain shall be rendered with which Shader.

While you can apply a Shader to any object’s surface, you cannot necessarily apply any Material Preset to any object: Material Presets are object specific, whereas Shaders are not.

Let’s take a closer look at Material Presets in DAZ Studio, how to set them up and how to save them to your library.

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