Screencasts Archives

Anything I’ve recorded on my monitor and turned into a video. Tips and tricks to help my future self and other nice people.

DAZ Studio 117 – Global Illumination, Environment Lighting, IBL and HDRI explained

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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 …

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Building JAY PLAYS – a Title Sequence Animation in Blender

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In this series I’m building an animated title sequence using a set made for DAZ Studio in Blender. This requires lighting and material tweaks, and messing with textures. It’s not a tutorial, just some dude trying his best at Blender (without knowing much about it, but learning a lot in the process).

The end result is an intro for my my game streams, as well as these new seasons of 3D Shenanigans. Once the set is built, I’ll replace a couple of key textures so that the cinema and screen show something different. It’s a lot of work!

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Converting aniBlocks into regular keyframes (and back)

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In this quick tip I’ll show you how to convert an aniBlock into regular keyframes to make a change to the animation, then turn it back into an aniBlock for use with aniMate. The process is simple, yet not exactly obvious. Enjoy! https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Aniblocks-to-Keyframes.mp3 Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:54 — 4.5MB)

Working with a Full Screen Viewport in Blender

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In this quick tip I’ll show you how to go full screen AND immersive with Blenders viewport. I’ll explain how to remove the grey bar at the top and remove all tool shelves temporarily with a single click (or two). Enjoy! https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Blender-Immersive-Viewport.mp3 Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:07 — 1.9MB)

DAZ Studio 4.12 Beta – a Sneak Peek – 3D Shenanigans #25

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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 …

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Trying out Chocofur Asset Management for Blender 2.8 – 3D Shenanigans #24

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In this episode I’ll try to install the Chocofur Asset Management add-on for Blender. It’s recently been updated to Blender 2.8, but right now not so easy to find on their website. Chocofur have lots of free assets to try out, perhaps we can work out how this works together. I was unable to get …

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DAZ Studio 115: Parametric Light Objects in Iray

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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 …

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Going Shopping in Ironman13’s Clothing Boutique – 3D Shenanigans #22

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In this live stream we’ll take two Genesis characters shopping in Ironman13’s Styling Clothing Boutique. We’ll build the whole scene from start to finish, including lighting and depth of field. This will bring some of the techniques together that I’ve shared with you recently, including how to spin the sundial. PS: The stream dropped out …

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Building the “Fluffy Disco Kimokawaii” Animation in Carrara – 3D Shenanigans #21

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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 …

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An Overview of Strand Based Hair in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #20

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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 …

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Building a Kitchen Comic Scene in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #18

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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 …

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Animating sunlight (SS Time) in DAZ Studio

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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 SS Time parameter under Render Settings – Environment cannot be keyframed.

Or can it? Looks like it can, thanks to a little helper tool called the Sun Dial. Let me show you how it works.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 7:05 — 6.5MB)

Shattering my Logo in Blender – 3D Shenanigans #15

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On this week’s live stream I’ll take my 3D Shenanigans Logo and shatter it into pieces, to build a creepy backwards animation using the Cell Fracture add-on in Blender 2.79. I’ll start by explaining how the tool works, then we’ll move on to building the logo from scratch, add materials, and then we’ll build something …

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Creating Animated Fog with Carrara – 3D Shenanigans #14

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In this live event I’ll create animated volumetric fog with the highly underrated Carrara. I’ll show you around the app and explain how the programme works, introduce you to some of its features, and then I’ll animate good looking fog. Once exported as a transparent image sequence, I’ll try to animate it live over my …

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Using Iray Canvases in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #13

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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 …

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Animating Numbers with Blender and DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #12

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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 …

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Building a Creepy Corridor Scene in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #05

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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 …

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Converting older Skin Shaders for use with Iray in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #04

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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 …

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Using Older Content in DAZ Studio – 3D Shenanigans #03

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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 …

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How to use Reference Images in DAZ Studio

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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 …

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Creating Depth of Field in Photoshop

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In this episode I’ll show you how to create an artificial depth of field effect in Photoshop, using the Blur Gallery. This can be useful for cutting down on render time, or to apply to images that have been taken with small fixed focus cameras (like the GoPro). This technique is similar in style to …

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