Daz3D 4 released

[Norse Graphics]

As the subject-line says, on the up-slope of the Uncanny Valley. That is, I was reading about the new Dublin-skin for V4 the other day, and found that it looked nothing like anything else of my repository, so I took a chance and bought it at Rendo. Anyway, I had happily rendered a picture of her in the Office, and uploaded it to my flickr-site, the render:



Then I started to read what Callad had done with her in Reality, and I suddenly feel awed. The picture!! Somebody needs to pinch my arm... The picture in question is in this post at the DAZ-forums here:

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=3218297#3218297

I can't believe how far we've come with good natural and high quality pictures these last years!

[lamont Sanford]

I really need to spend time and try to learn how to use daz, when I would use it I just was lost i'm afraid.

[Norse Graphics]

I really need to spend time and try to learn how to use daz, when I would use it I just was lost i'm afraid.

It's pretty easy to use. It just takes some time to get used to the interface. Library on the left side, parameters on the right side. In the upper corner, manipulating the view (zoom in, rotate view, pan). Well, that is DAZ Studio 3 Advanced, which I use. I'm not that familiar with DAZ Studio 4, but it should be relatively similar.

Lately I've gained some experience in Poser, of all things. I made some props from imported Object-files, and worked in the material room. But I'm afraid I need a lot more use to call myself intermediate Poser.

[Erubyr]

At this moment, Daz3D Pro is available for free, not sure how long it will last

http://www.daz3d.com/i/0/0?

[Greebo]

This offer has been raised by Ehlanna in a thread of its own viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2589 and is well worth pursuing particularly since it includes the latest Pro version of Daz Studio, together with the latest Bryce and Hexagon -- over $800 worth of software.

I believe the offer is open for the whole of February at least, and they give you a generous 6 months within which to download with 4 attempts for each of the ten packages involved. If you mess up the downloads and run out of attempts you can ask for them to be refreshed. Funny things can happen during downloading and I've found that my download account with Daz is showing some strange anomalies: the main Daz files and three of the Bryce files say I've never downloaded them, yet there they are on my USB stick, and the 3D Bridge files reckon I've downloaded more than once, which I haven't

I've downloaded the lot, and I'm planning to wait until I've got VirtualBox set up with a 64bit Windows 7 OS before installing them and seeing what I've got

[Norse Graphics]

I think that's a bug, as I've seen the same when I downloaded DS4P and Bryce7.

In this regard, I plan to learn a lot more about using Bryce for landscaping outdoor scenes. It should be easy to composite in Photoshop afterwards with figures, props and stuff. So I recommend to get both packages.

A caveat about the Content Management System (CMS), you can opt out of it, but at the expense of having to set up your folder-system so you can find your stuff. For those who are familiar with it, it shouldn't be much of a problem, but I'm used to the content system in DS3A, so it's a step up in this regard for me...

[fleet]

Dumb question time. I already have DAZ 3, and I've downloaded but not installed the new free DAZ 4. Will installing DAZ 4 mess up my DAZ 3 installation?

[Ehlanna]

No - I have DS3A (32- and 64-bit versions) working alongside DS4P (upgraded from DS4A) with no qualms whatsoever.
My runtime/content is a mess as I have a habit of just 'dumping' it all in one place, so I have a 'shared' runtime between all versions of DS, and 1 that is just for DS4 stuff.

[Norse Graphics]

No, you won't mess up your runtime structure.

BTW, if you need to learn more about Bryce 7 (for athmospheric and environment stuff that is difficult to get otherwise), you should watch these videos:

http://vimeo.com/channels/165037

Or go to this thread:

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=145803

I think I'll find these valuable as they'll enhance the scene(s). For the past few days I've watched how to use volumetric clouds and landscapes. Should be useful, though I want to know how easy it is to export texture-maps to D|S.

[fleet]

Confirmed, my DAZ Studio 3 structure was not messed up.
Looks like I've got some work ahead of me trying to figure out how to use DAZ 4.

[Bunny the Veggie Slayer]

Confirmed, my DAZ Studio 3 structure was not messed up.
Looks like I've got some work ahead of me trying to figure out how to use DAZ 4.

For basic scene rendering D4 is fantastic. My favourite feature (aside from Genesis) is the autofit and collision detection for clothing. It's also worth knowing that your "old" Gen4 clothing and textures are pretty much totally compatible with Genesis.

This means you can load Genesis, throw on some Gen 4 clothes and skin textures and dial up your poses/morphs. Then with a few passes of smoothing it all fits nicely with no trace of poke-through.

[fleet]

Using DAZ3 I morphed a very good nude Michael 4 figure and successfully opened it in DAZ 4. Will the autofit feature allow me to use the 3 pieces suit for Michael 3 on Michale 4? If so, how do I use it?

My goal is using Aiko 3 clothing on Stephanie 4 (morphing Stepanie 4 now).

[Bunny the Veggie Slayer]

Using DAZ3 I morphed a very good nude Michael 4 figure and successfully opened it in DAZ 4. Will the autofit feature allow me to use the 3 pieces suit for Michael 3 on Michale 4? If so, how do I use it?

My goal is using Aiko 3 clothing on Stephanie 4 (morphing Stepanie 4 now).

I don't have any M3 items in my runtime at present. I can walk you through applying V4 items to M4, the process will be the same for M3 to M4.

If anyone wants, I could make a video of this over the weekend. The official vid is found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBGzfNgfdyo

1: Load your M4 into the scene.

2: Load the clothing item you want, by fitting it to M4.

3: Go to the scene tab, and make sure the clothing is selected.

4: Make sure the scene tab is selected. Left click on the drop down box just above the scene tab (it looks like 4 horizontal lines with a triangle at the top corner)

5: From this drop down menu select "Edit" -> "Apply smoothing modifier"

6: Now go to the Parameters tab. A new option is added called Mesh Smoothing.

Ok now there are 4 (well technically 3) options you need to consider.

Enable Smoothing is on by default (so you don't really need to bother with it)
Collision Item Defines what other item in the scene the clothing you are using interacts with. At present you can only have 2 objects interacting eg. a shirt and M4. So you can't (at present) have say, a blouse, checking collisions with Victoria and a separate bra. (I personally hope they do provide an option for multiple interactions in future. Hello VPL!)
Smoothing Iterations tries to smooth out deformations of the items mesh. This is especially useful when you use extreme poses of your characters. If you look at the video I linked above, you'll see how it can even be used to improve the underlying V4 mesh at shoulders etc. Basically the higher the number of iterations, the more Daz tries to smooth out "wrinkles".
Collision Iterations This is the biggie. This tells daz how many times to check if the clothing mesh is passing through the characters mesh. In practice you'll want to play with this and smoothing iterations to get the effect you want.

Important
When you adjust the Smoothing or Collision Sliders let Daz process. There is a lot of maths going on, and your system may (will) slow down. Also the higher you set you iterations (ie. the further to the right you move the sliders) the longer the maths takes.

I'm off work tomorrow, so I'll make some example renders.

[fleet]

@Bunny the veggie slayer,
I started using the process you described. It seemed to be working (legs stopped poking thru the pants), but then DAZ 4 stopped responding. I'll try again tomorrow using fewer iterations.
very respectfully,
fleet

[Bunny the Veggie Slayer]

@Bunny the veggie slayer,
I started using the process you described. It seemed to be working (legs stopped poking thru the pants), but then DAZ 4 stopped responding. I'll try again tomorrow using fewer iuterations.
very respectfully,
fleet

If that comes up, sometimes you just have to leave it running. It sometimes happens when your machines running flat out.

It's bed time for me I'll look back in tomorrow, see how you're doing. Feel free to pm me tho.