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DAZ Studio and Poser Sci-fi Content Roundup

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Looking for more sci-fi content articles?
Ok, so I’m biased. I know no content theme has been the topic of more of my posts here, but this is the stuff that gets the grey matter infused with that delightful creative juice (in my case anyway). Maybe it also has something to do with seeing Elysium today. Not a bad movie, thought the plot was somewhat disappointing and predictable (especially last half). Good CGI, reasonable to good acting with Sharlto Copley playing a seriously vile character very well.

But, I’m not here to talk movies. I’m here to talk content. I know just about all the content I post about here comes from DAZ 3D, but I hope to change that in the future. I am but one man. Maybe I’ll even branch out and post about content that isn’t sci-fi. Maybe.

DAZ 3D Premium Sci-fi Content For Your Runtime

So, a lot of good stuff released over at DAZ 3D to create and fill those sci-fi themed renders. I don’t own most of these, but those that I don’t are on my wishlist. Let’s start with a D3D favourite, Stonemason.

Featured content

The inspiration for Desert Outpost is blindingly clear to any Star Wars fan, but as if there was any doubt you only need to read the opening sentence from the product description: “You will never find a more deplorable colony of trash and knavery than the Desert Outpost. Home to thieves, smugglers, and anyone who has ventured south of the law”. Stonemason not only know how to put a spectacular environment together, but he also knows how to sell it. His promo images always inspire awe and tempt the imagination to find a home for his creations.

DZFire’s Tenshi immediately grabbed my attention when I first saw a prerelease image posted on the artist’s Facebook page. Tenshi is a texture and prop expansion set for the artist’s Cyborg Version 4, which I am quite fond of. I have been a big fan of Dz’s cyborg/android creations, and am very happy that there is another similar, but suitably different product that should be released in the near future.

Sci-fi clutter

Technological clutter is always in need for those workshop, lab and construction scenes that are so often the setting for sci-fi renders. Empty scenes don’t look convincing and we all know it.

Thanks to artists like Nightshift3D, we need for nothing. His latest offering, aptly titled Sci Fi Gear Bundle (beneath left) brings together 3 sets of medical instruments and industrial tools that will fit many situations. Lazarus Containment Cell Crates (beneath right) is another great addition to the DAZ store.

Future fashion and battle wear

Midnight_Stories is another favourite of mine his Sky Chaser for Genesis (beneath right) is simply  beautiful. Sky Chaser also has an expansion pack that adds a helmet, jetpack, and weapon. On the left we have The3dwizard’s sexy Vinyl Jumpsuit for Genesis and V5 will find itself put to use in many sci-fi settings, and perhaps even edge into more “contemporary” renders. Heroine, fashion portrait, cyberpunk street fashion – got you covered.

 

 

 

 

 






This is another one that immediately grabbed my attention. Great anime sci-fi outfit, that has many possibilities if you are the retexturing type. Tech Soldier: Special Forces for Genesis, V5, and M5 was a an instant grab with the use of the monthly PC coupon.

techsoldierspecialforces

Need something different? Design Anvil’s Black Dragon Clothing set for Genesis and V5 might just be it. “Just because danger lies around every corner, doesn’t mean you don’t need to look sexy! This futuristic Sci-fi suit blends sleek looks with practical armor…”

As a warm blooded male I’d buy that – well all except that nonsense about practicality 🙂

Scenes and environmental props

Why, oh why did I not buy Shantara City when it was first released with 75% off? While this majestic city does not fit into my typical sci-fi ideas, there are undoubtedly situations where this would be perfect. Sci-fantasy scenes come to mind, but with many of the large building being free to move at will, the possibilities to mix and match with other sci-fi city sets explodes open the possibilities. Throw in DAZ’s instancing abilities and the potential for huge and varied cityscapes is limitless – depending, of course, on how much geometry you can stack onto your graphics card.















Sometimes you need to blow things up, have an apocalypse or an earthquake. Thankfully there are a lot of good props on DAZ 3D’s store that fit this role. Stonemason has many good props in this category as does the DigiVault. Many of this items can be found in the previous sci-fi content articles.This one in particular is the work of Dreamlight, who is well known for his environmental props, light sets, and training material. In The City: Destroyed Bridge will fit the needs of just about any city in chaos.

Carrara 8.5: The Carrara We’ve Been Waiting For?

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Carrara 8.5 pro box artThe long-awaited Carrara 8.5 hit the digital streets on the 26th of August. The point release comes packed with a beefy list of updates. As with any such release, some are super happy, some are dismissive, some others are firmly on the fence. Taking a look at just what is on offer gives us a good hint as to reasons for the mixed response.

What’s in the box?

The overwhelming bulk of the update relates to incorporating Genesis in to Carrara. This means that TriAx weight maps, the new DSON file format, smart content (plus CMS), and AutoFit have come to Carrara. Perhaps cynically, this can be viewed as paying for the privilege to purchase and use Gen 5 and 6 content.

On top of these new features are improvements to keyframe and animation tools, and new viewport representations for lights. According to some users that took part in the beta there are additional improvements not included in the new features list, such as improved stability, and faster viewport response.

For some, the hands-down best part about Carrara 8.5 is it finally offers support for Mac OSX 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8. The final cherry on top is the inclusion of Genesis content. Carrara 8.5 Pro buyers will get access to Victoria 5 and Michael 5 pro bundles. Carrara 8.5 (standard) users will receive starter bundles for the same figures. See the product page on the Carrara at DAZ’s store for full list of features.

Never been a better time to get Carrara?

If you are a long-time DAZ Studio or Poser (or even Bryce) user who has wondered if Carrara would be a good next step, then with Carrara being ready for Genesis 1 and 2 there really hasn’t been a better time. Carrara can do just about anything these other programs can, and then a whole lot more. Carrara has solid modelling and UV mapping tools, texture and weight painting, terrain and vegetation generation, volumetrics, rigid and soft body dynamics (which anecdotally have, or are being improved), and a fast and flexible render engine with many great features (multipass, SSS, global illumination etc). See tech specs for full mouth watering features gravy (currently only lists Carrara 8 features).

If you are already a Carrara user then the price of upgrading might seem a little steep, especially if you already own the included Genesis figures. If you couldn’t care a fig for TriAx, Genesis, and smart content then the upgrade might seem like an insult. Of course, if you’re a Mac user with a newer OS, then you’re probably just happy (or less angry) to finally have access to a version of the program that’s going to work with little hassle.

Pricing

If you are a platinum club member you receive 50% off the current $285 ($171) for Carrara Pro. 40% off standard Carrara, usually $149.95. If you are an owner of a previous Carrara version (purchased through DAZ 3D), you can pick up Carrara Pro for $85, and standard for $44.98.

Carrara 8.5 Verdict

Regardless of what you think about Genesis and TriAx, 8.5 is a solid point release and a good base for Carrara 9, which is forecast for a Q1 2014 release. Getting full implementation for Genesis in Carrara was always going to be high on DAZ 3D’s list of priorities, so it is good that it is done and more-or-less out of the way – get that AutoFit with G2 working! With this done, DAZ will be able to spend more time getting a stellar 9 finalised and polished.

It would have been great to see some little hints for 9 dropped into the 8.5 release, and perhaps they are there for a closer inspection. Sure would be good to see a features list, but I’m getting away from the topic at hand.

Carrara 8.5 probably has the most to offer to new users that are only just picking up Carrara. For current users there is still a lot here, but paying for what is essentially a content delivery pipeline might not sit too easily, especially for those that already own the included Genesis content.


Carrara 8

 

A New Dawn Due This Weekend… For Some

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Update: HiveWire3D announces Dawn Release Date 9th August. Store now open.

Dawn to heal the split in the DAZ and Poser community?

A good number of you have likely heard the rumblings about a new female figure that is both Poser and DAZ Studio compatible. If you’re a regular on DAZ and Poser FB pages, or the Renderosity and RuntimeDNA forums, you could well know a good deal about this new figure by now. If you tend to get your news from the DAZ forum, or somewhere way down the deepest darkest reaches of the grapevine, this might all be a new revelation for you.

The new lady’s name is Dawn, and an upstart mob known as HiveWire3D are her creators. With a public announcement made just back on the 20th of June it looks like the release is only around the corner. Dawn will be free for a limited time after release.

There was a moment of excitement when I went to check HiveWire3D’s Facebook page for updates. There was something that looked a lot like a release announcement: “Final version of Dawn to be ready by end of this week! Once she is in hand, we’ll announce her release date and get things moving with all interested content creators.” Of course, without coffee in hand, I took this to mean that she would be released by the end of the week. No dice! Content creators will get their hands on her first, and then we’ll hear about the general release. It makes sense that a new figure should be released with a certain amount of content and vendor interest from day one. Runtimes can be very unkind to a figure without a wardrobe.

 

 So, who is Hivewire3D

This is a question that troubled me some. The initial announcement indicated that the team contained the talents of the creator responsible for Victoria and Michael line of figures. But, who is this mysterious individual? Google turns up very little when you look for the creator of these figures, but after a couple of hours I finally realised I should be looking for who is behind HiveWire3D, not Victoria (durrr). So, Eric Merritt turns up, and then, following soon after, is Christopher Creek, who IS the man responsible for the figures in question.

Eric and Christopher [edit – also e-commerce and marketing guru Steve Kondris], HiveWire3D’s founders, have a long history in the industry spanning back to the top echelons of DAZ 3D, and Zygote Media Group. Among many other more impressive feats, Zygote is responsible for a number of early Poser figures. If you’re a DAZ/Poser trivia buff you will undoubtedly know a split within Zygote resulted in the birth of DAZ Productions. So it’s clear, these guys are not new kids on the block. They know their stuff inside and out.

But what about Dawn?

Enough history and more about our new lady. She isn’t technically compatible with both programs, well not in a singular package, and that’s due to the different weight mapping solutions employed by DAZ Studio and Poser. So, what we really have is two identical figures except one is weighted for Poser and the other for DS. If I’m not mistaken this means that content creators will have a relatively simple time in ensuring their products work for both versions of the figure, at least as far as fitting goes. When it comes to materials, many a vendor would rather walk through burning buildings than go to the lengths of creating two sets for two very different rendering programs. Still, given the differences between the two programs, this is probably the only real way to have a universal figure with all the flexibility it was intended to include at design.

As good as DSON is, it just can’t beat a Poser native weighted figure for performance and flexibility. For many it is close enough, especially for those that happily use both programs.

Weight maps

Being a weight mapped figure, Dawn will conform to the new standards Poser and DS users have come to expect. Although with unweighted Victoria and Michael (and the others) still making up a large proportion of figures in use (not to mention selling!), for some, Dawn might be a first when it comes to serious work/play with weighted figures. Oh, what you users will realise you’ve been missing all this time! As you can see from the images she has plenty of well-defined details, and has nice natural bending in the joints.

Posable

In addition to all the usual movable and posables, Dawn also has a posable jaw (not reliant on morphs), and individually posable toes (Genesis 2/Victoria 6 also has these features). Unlike any figure I have seen, she comes with two sets of eyelashes – one regular and the other “super long” for those fantasy characters. Looking at the image of the ear it seems the figure is designed with subdivision in mind. Dawn seems to be a slightly higher poly figure than the base Genesis 1/2, but a single level of subdivision should be fine on most systems, and then perhaps another at render time for larger images. Over all Dawn appears to have a good level of geometry detail for most uses typical to DS and Poser applications, and looks set to make a valuable addition to runtimes on both sides of the software border.

 

Reality support

Paolo Ciccone has thrown the support of Reality behind Dawn, and has added her material zones to Reality 3 and is working on ACSEL shaders for Reality 2. These additions will be free. Paolo states the goal is to have “excellent renders of Dawn straight out of the box for all Reality users.” Given the creators humorous comments (intentionally so?), likening Victoria 4’s domination of runtimes everywhere to a looming potato famine, and his mute indifference to Genesis, his enthusiasm for Dawn is no surprise.

Destined to succeed, or another figure to the tomb?

New figures are nothing new to the DAZ/Poser community, but few, especially independent ones, tend to go on to live full healthy and broadly supported lives. Antonia is one of the more recent examples of a great figure fighting a valiant fight, but ultimately failing to take off. The figure came in both weight mapped (Poser 9+) and unweighted (Poser + DAZ) varieties, and was Posers best hope for a current weight mapped figure. Her site and dedicated store is all but abandoned, and the other retailers like Runtime DNA and Renderosity only have a handful of compatible products on their shelves.

What is to say that Dawn won’t go down this street? First and foremost, experience. Between them, Eric Merritt and Christopher Creek have a lot of experience, not just putting quality products together, but in managing and growing businesses and communities. Ensuring Dawn is 100% finished before release seems a priority, as is getting solid content creator support. Both of these factors can only lead to a launch that will be as successful as it can be. Enthusiastic and innovative content creators will turn heads.

A big factor in getting people in right from the start will be the limited time free release. This will undoubtedly have a positive feedback for content creators and the community at large. Finally, given the current state of scene with the generation 4/Genesis/Genesis 2 split, now might just be the perfect time for a new cross compatible figure to emerge. It is unlikely that Dawn will be the extinction event for any of these figures, but she could well become a viable alternative. Who knows what the future will bring.

One anomaly is that HiveWire3D’s figures are and will be without genitals. One of the stated reasons for this decision is that they want to pursue business and educational channels in the future. To me, it seems strange to offer a product that isn’t anatomically correct when educational channels are being perused, but then again I can imagine some problems occurring during high school 3D arts classes. For a large portion of the community this won’t pose a problem, but for instances where full or partial nudity is required it will involve a greater degree of creativity, and perhaps expense, to get the figures ready for these uses. To me this rings puritanical, or pandering to these sensibilities, but then I’m not the one attempting to launch a new figure/content business.

All the best to HiveWire3D and their soon to be released Dawn. May it be the first of many.

At the time of writing HiveWire3D’s website was unavailable, apparently still under construction, but according to a message on their FB group we can expect to see it up very soon.

DAZ3D’s Genesis 2 And Victoria 6: Bringing An Early Sunset to Generation 5?

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Looking for a Full Genesis 2 and Victoria 6 review?

Genesis 2: rumour to reality

Rumours of Genesis 2 have been bouncing around since December of 2012, just a year after the release of Victoria 5. Whether the quote from a 3D World promotion was correct at the time or not is not known. It prophesised the emergence of the sixth generation of figures and characters for 2013, which to many seems absurdly soon considering Genesis was only released at the end of 2011. Considering Victoria 4 and her gen 4 counterparts ran rampant for more than half a decade before the birth of Genesis, a two-year reign does seem on the short side.

The subject was quite for just over six months until the release of Gwen Hair, on the 13th of June, once again exploded the cat in the bag (that’s how the saying goes, right?). In the included features it lists Genesis 2 and Victoria 6. Whether this was an intentional slight or not is debatable, but since then several other products have come out with similar support, with the release of one character product (FW Candace) designed specifically for Genesis 2 being promptly removed.

A Member’s Club (PC) only Genesis 2/Victoria 6 preview thread (which I can’t directly link to for some reason) was created on the 11th of June but not made public till the 14th. The thread features renders by various DAZ published artists depicting Genesis 2, Victoria 6, and other related characters and products. Examining the images does yield some information about what we can expect. Character mesh appear to be more detailed, and flexing joints are more realistic. There is no other concrete information, but judging by the wording of some of the promo material and comments by some of the vendors has led to speculation that Genesis 2 characters will not share a common mesh. Whether Gen 6 products will be backwards compatible with Genesis is not known, and many are wondering if this indicates a return to the days of buying matching his and hers morph sets and the like.

I would love nothing more than to spruce up this thread with some fresh Gen 6 images, but alas the images posted on the member’s forum have yet to leak onto Google in any serious or obvious way. I feel compelled to play by the rules here, but in any case it should only be a matter of a day or two before we can expect a full press release and/or product release.

Generation 6 splits community

Sentiment and opinions are split between those are looking forward to seeing new advancements, those that are wary, and those that are out-and-out pessimistic. With Genesis being supported primarily by DAZ 3D, and only a very small pool of content creators selling on other stores working with the figure, the days of fresh Genesis content could be short indeed. Generation 4 figures, on the other hand, have remained popular with vendors servicing the other big DAZ/Poser stores like Renderosity and Runtime DNA.

Why?

Why exactly DAZ has decided to release Genesis 2 just two and a half years after Genesis is a head scratcher, but for it to gain a slice of the market, let alone own it, there would have to be some serious advances in technology. One suggestion is that it could be Poser compatible to a greater and more flexible extent than is currently possible with Genesis’s DSON plugin for Poser. Certainly since Poser’s adoption of Pixar’s OpenSubdiv, which was included in the last DS point release, this removes one obstacle. Of course, the two programs still work with two different weight mapping solutions… Specific inclusion of OpenSubdiv’s power into Genesis could be another reason for the release, but alone seems unlikely to generate a huge amount of interest.

Whatever the reasons DAZ has decided to spring this rather unexpectedly early Gen 6 on the community, some are already chalking this one up as another DAZ PR disaster, but only time will tell.

See our Full Genesis 2 and Victoria 6 review