Free High Res Content for DAZ Studio

I'm back on my graphics kick again, and just spent some time in DAZ 3.0, an unbelievable free piece of software. A couple of weeks ago I picked up a copy of 3DWorld magazine, and the October issue came with a CD with hundreds of dollars of software and resources, including a copy of DAZ 3 and a neat, high res image of a brain courtesy of Flat Pyramid.

The brain comes in a couple of formats, and the .obj was easily imported into DAZ Studio. I was impressed with detail and size of the object. In the image I created below using DAZ's Aiko Character, and I had to reduce its size to 0.03% to get it to fit into her head.

The texture comes in at 2048x2048 jpg file. Nice and slimy looking. A great piece for your 3d scientific imaging needs.

I've got a bit of free time, so I'm off to either play some Warcraft 3, or do some more rendering!

Enjoy!

DAZ|Studio 3

Just found out that DAZ|Studio 3 has been released, so I can't wait to try it out. I also played with Terragen 2 today, and it is one complicated program.

Anime Hottie in Outerspace - Free 3D Models

I created this last night from free stuff from DAZ. The flier in the background is actually quite large, and shown here at 10% its original size. Its called the Stinger and is currently bundled in the Anime Star Fighter set, for FREE!.

The background is actually Cargo Bay Doors by Stonemason, which I think was a freebie at one point but I wasn't able to find it in the DAZ3D catalog.
The figure is Aiko3 Base, with skin and XinXin shape and morph as well as the Sailor outift and hair from Made In Japan, which also comes with the free Anime Uniforms bundle. The Made In Japan bundle alone costs $49.95 so this is a totally amazing set.

Keep your eyes open, because there is always lots of free material available from DAZ but also lots of excellent models, props, outfits and other great resources. Join the ArtZone and look for me as Tigerrune. I also have some images of a slightly more scantily clad XinXin available on Flickr.

Leave a comment if you're interested!

Great new items at Daz 3D

I just found another great surprise in my inbox. How could you possibly turn down an item like this?

That is a hot uniform package outfit available for Victoria 4. I think the tattoo looks great!

Also available right now is a free set of seats inspired by the Kingdom of Marrakesh. AND if that wasn't enough, you can also get a free set of lights with 1002 Nights - Party Light Set which includes:

135 DAZ|Studio Lights in total

• 2 Door lights
• Main light
• 8 Window lights
• 28 Arch lights
• 24 Ambient lights
• 16 Ceiling lights
• 56 Pillar lights

Makes me wish I had more time to work in Daz|Studio these days. Once work slows down, maybe in May I can put up some new images of my own.

Enjoy!

Experience Dublin: Second Life Style

After all this time, it's hard to believe I've never tried Second Life. Second Life (SL) is a virtual world where you can take on a 3D avatar and wander a totally virtual world... but it's even harder to believe that even some techy people still ask what Second Life is. I bit the bullet last week, and have now logged in about 40 minutes of time, and its my current favourite thing. After my honeymoon in Dublin this summer, I've found and connected to a virtual Dublin, and I'm loving it.

(Click here to view the larger image)

I work at a post-secondary institution and I'm interested in Linden Labs' work on the Second Life Grid and how it can be used in academia. I'll be attending a workshop on SL on Dec 2 and I'm interested in seeing how its being used here in Canada, and I want to see if there is any potential for me to be involved in an SL project here in the future. I was trying to find some information on the speaker, but due to an mis-spelled Google Search, I ended up at a blog entry by Dan Power. Dan writes about his experiences setting a virtual Iowa and has even included a PowerPoint presentation he's put together. As a warning, the online slides he's using won't view very well unless you're using Internet Explorer.

A virtual world like Second Life has a wide variety of uses, and many universities are taking part in areas ranging from course delivery to recruitment. The question is how it can be adapted for my specific needs. And that is a question I would *love* to investigate.

Create 3d graphics with DAZ3D

I just got back from vacation so hopefully some of the wonders of Ireland will rub off on me and I can begin creating some Celtic-inspired work. The Book of Kells has been a big thing for me and I am about to check it out on CD-ROM so I can't wait to get started!

But what is REALLY great is that DAZ3D and the ArtZone Community have just made it even easier to work with 3D graphics. DAZStudio is a great product, and by joining the ArtZone community you'll get to read about amazing artists and get great tips and free 3d models. Sign up for the DAZ emails because every now and then some of items that are on sale are given away for free. And we're not going to complain about free models and textures are we?

When you get to the download page at http://www.daz3d.com/i.x/software/studio/-/download?&_m=d&refid=391015437 , scroll halfway down to the Download.com links. The two bundle advertised at the top of the page are not required, you can find free models very quickly. Besides, DAZStudio comes bundled with a lot of free models to start with!

I'll get around to posting some of the images I've created with DAZ over the years and post them here. I'm by no means an expert, but I can help you get started in working with this great program.

Review: Google SketchUp

Google’s SketchUp is a great program to get you started with creating your own 3d virtual objects, buildings and worlds.

For months I had wanted to check out Google’s SketchUp application but never got around to it. I’ve been in love with 3d graphics for years but never spend enough time on it for my liking. With things at work getting a bit quieter for the summer, I found time to download and install the SketchUp Viewer and the free tool itself, but just had time to work on it today.

I was amazed! Even though the program runs a bit slow on my computer (due to either the problems I’ve had with Windows recently or the fact that I have a crappy video card) I was very impressed with what can be accomplished with only learning 2 design tools and 3 navigation tools!

When you start up SketchUp, you are provided with the “tips” screen, which they call the Learning Center. The first tip has a link to a model, so you should click on that link and it opens a “model” that has been designed as a multi-tabbed tutorial. Each tab of the tutorial has some information on how to use a given tool and you can actually use each tool from within the tutorial. In 15 tabs it shows you how to create a relatively complex object or building with only 2 creation tools.
The 3 navigation tools it introduces are the Orbit, Pan, and Zoom tools:

And the 2 design/create/edit tools are Square and Pull-Up:

The “pull-up” style of building a box from a flat plane is nothing new, as it is a common tool used in 3D graphics modeling packages such as Maya and Wings3D and others, but I’ve never quite had it explained so clearly and concisely before.

Google SketchUp offers a clean interface, helpful tutorials (which I will definitely check out) and an interesting Model Warehouse feature which will keep you busy for well…months! I’ll definitely be trying out some more of the program to see what can be created. At the end of the tutorial, I was able to create quite a complicated object considering it started with only 1 square shape. Click on the image to view a slightly bigger version:

Write a comment and let me know what you think about Google SketchUp and what other tutorials you’d want to see on the program, or any other tutorials you’d like to see. I’ll do what I can!