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 …
I have recently explained how we can create morphs for DAZ Studio assets with external applications, and how to apply them to characters and clothing using Morph Loader, or something like the GoZ Plugin. You can watch those videos here and here.
One of my viewers was asking – quite rightly – what to do with the applied morph, and how to save it. The answer to that question is a little in-depth, and depends on what you’d like to do with said morph. I thought I’d expand on the answer I gave Scott in one of the above videos with this article.
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 …
By default, OBS Studio likes to record files in FLV – for a reason that’s absolutely beyond me. I easily forget to change this setting into something more sensible, which means I frequently end up with FLV files that contain my material. At that point I have no way to edit those properly.
This means I’ll have to transcode my files in order to make them useful.
Or do I? Well, yes and no. Let me explain a bit more about this dilemma.
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 …
Thanks to deep learning, NVIDIA’s own DGX-1 AI Super Computer and a lot of trial and error, this machine developed an algorithm that can predict how accurate the final result will look like when only a limited amount of ray bounces are available.
In a nutshell, their Artificial Neural Network went ahead and compared a partially finished render with a finished one, and each time it made a prediction that was not looking handsome, it learnt from it. Eventually they came up with what’s currently integrated in the latest release of Iray, which has made it into DAZ Studio 4.11, and that in turn is available for us to beta test right now.
I’ve run some tests with this new toy, and I’m excited to share those with you today.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1901-DAZ-to-ZBrush.mp3 Podcast: Download (Duration: 12:48 — 11.7MB)
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). https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1906-DS-112-Content.mp3 Podcast: Download …
I like the way my PlayStation 4 adds a soft round cutout mask to the PlayStation Camera Feed when streaming gameplay. I wondered how I could best recreate this effect in OBS Studio for a consistent experience, no matter which device I decide to stream from.
Here’s how I did it, with a little help from Photoshop – feel free to use the resulting asset without any need for further fiddling.
You can download the mask further down (anchor link).
I’ve recently found out that there IS indeed a way to show a list of all DAZ Studio Keyboard Shortcuts. Sadly this functionality is not built in to DAZ Studio (as of 4.11 as far as I know), but we can convince the app to use the following script to show us a handy list. …
From time to time I get asked what hardware and GPU I’m using for my 3D adventures, including video games. Rather than typing it out every time, I thought I’d make a handy post that I can refer interested parties to, and update as my configuration changes.
This is that post.
It may contain more information than necessary, but I thought I’d add it all here, including a bit of history on how this setup came to be and what it cost. I keep this page updated as my configuration and workflow changes.
TL;DR
These are the main systems that I use for work and play. They run the Adobe Creative Cloud, games, 3D apps. Most systems are CAT-5 wired with a 1000Mbps connection.
Main Workstation / Presentation PC
HP Z840 Workstation
2x Xeon E5-2670 CPUs (48 threads)
48GB of DDR-4 RAM
2x RTX 2080 GPUs
Streaming PC
HP Z600 Workstation (Rev B)
2x Xeon x5675 CPUs (24 threads)
24GB of DDR-3 RAM
RTX 3060 GPU
Elgato HD60 Pro HDMI capture card
Render Node 1
HP Z800 Workstation
2x Xeon x5675 CPUs at 3.07 GHz (24 threads)
48GB of DDR-3 RAM
2x GTX 970 GPUs
Render Node 2
HP Z600 Workstation (Rev A)
2x Xeon x5560 – 2.80 GHz CPUs (16 threads)
20 GB of DDR3 RAM
GTX 970 GPU
Email / Coding / Chat PC
Apple MacMini 2012 Server Edition
Intel Core i7CPU at 2.3 GHz
16GB of DDR-3 RAM
Intel HD 4000 GPU with 1.5GB of RAM
The Longer Story
Most visitors are probably content with the info above. However, if you’re interested in how all this equipment came to be, and how I’m using it in my home/office, read on below. I’ll tell you how I acquired most of the parts and how I’ve built them from older technology that still packs quite a punch.
I’m a big fan of Anders Enger Jensen. He’s a retro composer from Norway, I’m proud to support him on Patreon, and I love using his music for incidental underlays and many other video projects (with his very kind permission of course). His latest compilation album is available on Sportif – check it out and …
Have you seen those fancy graphic overlays that animate over gaming live streams? They’re great for audience interactions, and when I did my research on how to create those, I came across Streamlabs.com. That’s a service most successful streamers seem to use these days. There are two ways to set this up: either download a …
OBS Studio can start recording automatically when we hit the Start Streaming button. The option to switch this on is hiding under Settings – General – Output. The destination and file format for the resulting video file can be set under Settings – Output.
No matter how hard I try, I just never remember where the Symmetry option is hiding in ZBrush. At least I remember this website, so when I search here next time, this post should come up. Which tells us that Symmetry in ZBrush is in the Transform Menu. Here’s a link to the official documentation, …
In this episode I’ll show you how to create a moving Zoom Effect in Photoshop, using the Radial Blur Filter. I’ll also explain the use of Smart Objects and how to blend the original image with the blurred version using a Layer Mask. I’ve used this effect to create the thumbnail for my Vertigo Shot …
Minor tweaks on themes for versluis.com and The WP Guru sites. Updates are live on GitHub: https://github.com/versluis/The-WP-Guru-2013 https://github.com/versluis/Versluis-TwentyThirteen
In this episode I’ll show you how to create a Dolly Zoom animation in DAZ Studio. That’s a camera trick made famous with Alfred Hitchcock’s movie VERTIGO, hence it’s often called a Vertigo Shot or Jaws Shot (because Steven Spielberg has used it for great effect in Jaws). In Part 1 I’ve explained how the …
In this episode I’ll show you how to create a Dolly Zoom animation in DAZ Studio. That’s a camera trick made famous with Alfred Hitchcock’s movie VERTIGO, hence it’s often called a Vertigo Shot or Jaws Shot (because Steven Spielberg has used it for great effect in Jaws). In this part I’ll explain how the …
I recently had a clip in which the audio was only present on a single channel. Trying to edit that in iMovie proved impossible, because iMovie doesn’t have a way to deal with single tracks of audio. So I thought, I’m sure Premiere can do that. The question was… how? It had occurred to me …
In this episode I’ll show you how to use my new lighting product SOUL REFLECTIONS – Vol. 1. I’ve had so much fun exploring the eye reflections I’ve explained in my previous two videos, importing several interesting shapes and turning them into reflective surfaces. SOUL REFLECTIONS is the result of my endeavours. I’ve compiled presets …
In this episode I’ll show you how to create a ring flash in DAZ Studio so we can use it to create catchy reflections in our characters’ eyes. Full credit for this method goes to s1rmunchalot, who very kindly left a comment on my previous video about creating such a ring flash from a torus …
In this episode I’ll show you how to use the bookmarking feature in Storyist. I’ll also explain how to use comments and where to find a list of them so you can see them all in one place. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Storyist-18-Comments.mp3 Podcast: Download (Duration: 12:27 — 11.4MB)
In this episode I’ll show you how to create reflections in the eyes of a character in DAZ Studio. I’ll explain why these things happen in reality and how we can re-create them in the software. I will show you this principle with three types of lighting: using IBL, using parametric lights, and using an …
More like a re-discovery, Yellowjacket’s 1992 live album entitled LIVE WIRES is a timeless classic. I remember when my friend Oliver bought the CD back in the early nineties. It was like dynamite in our Walkmen. Except for a couple of inevitable duff songs that seem to find their way into the best album, 7 …
Even my ageing version of Premiere Pro CS 5.5 has multi-camera editing capabilities built in. And even my ageing Mac Mini from 2012 can cope with full HD clips during those edits.
It’s a slightly mysterious process, and until very recently I didn’t quite know how to do it, so there are my notes. This workflow is also helpful if you a have single camera feed and want to switch live (vision mixer style) to zoomed-in versions of the same footage.
In short, we need to
drag all camera clips into a timeline (all on top of each other)
sync all clips in this timeline (select them all, then right-click and choose “synchronize”)
create a new sequence from that sequence
enable multi camera on that clip
open the multi camera monitor, press play and switch live between cameras, creating edits on the fly
