May 2017 – JAY VERSLUIS

How to select every other vertex in Blender

May 30, 2017 by Jay Versluis

Hexagon had a really nice nth-selection tool (1 over n it was called). With it you could select every other vertex or edge or face, creating things like the star shaped pattern above. You’ll be pleased to hear that Blender can do this too! Rather than select every other point though, Blender likes to deselect instead. …

How to install content for DAZ Studio

September 10, 2018May 27, 2017 by Jay Versluis

In this episode I’ll show you how to install content you’ve bought for use in DAZ Studio. I’ll go through using Install Manager, DAZ Connect, and I’ll explain how to install content from ZIP archives (bought from marketplaces such as Renderosity or Hivewire). For Dwayne. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Install-DAZ-Content.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 18:37 — 17.1MB)

How to change the size of the Layer Thumbnails in Photoshop

May 27, 2017 by Jay Versluis

Quick and easy: In the Layers Palette, right-click somewhere underneath all layers (in the empty space), then pick a size (small, medium, large). Or choose not to display thumbnails at all.

Creating Walk Animations in DAZ Studio

August 23, 2018May 23, 2017 by Jay Versluis

In this episode I’ll show you how to use aniBlocks to animate a character, how to animate a camera around it like a dolly, and how to merge one scene with another. This is a kind of a “behind the scenes” walkthrough of the following walk animation I’ve rendered recently. I’ve received several comments on …

How to create a drape effect in Photoshop

May 10, 2017 by Jay Versluis

It’s easy to create an effect of draped cloth in Photoshop, like in the image above. We can do this with the Gradient Tool. It’s the icon with an actual gradient on it, sometimes hiding behind the Paint Bucket or 3D Material Drop tool (if you don’t see it, left-click and hold for about one …

How to run DAZ Studio on a remote machine via RDP

May 7, 2017 by Jay Versluis

I’ve been playing with Windows Azure the other day, specifically to hire rendering machines. My idea was very simple: if I have a long animation to render, why not pay a nominal amount of cash, but have the result back within hours rather than days?

So I created a Windows VM, logged in from my Mac via RDP (Remote Desktop Connection), installed DAZ Studio and some content… but sadly I couldn’t start DAZ Studio. I remember having had this problem before on my home network, where I have a similar setup.

This happens because DAZ Studio needs OpenGL 1.3 or higher, and with an RDP connection, only OpenGL 1.1 is supported. Quite rightly so, DAZ Studio throws an error message and quits. However, the app works just fine via RDP, so how can we circumvent it closing prematurely?

What is the /data/auto_adapted folder in DAZ Studio

March 19, 2021May 7, 2017 by Jay Versluis

I was setting up an animation on one system, then transferred the scene over to a more powerful rendering machine. Usually DAZ Studio 4.9 does a good job at installing required content automatically (thanks to DAZ Connect), but this time my scene showed up with several scary grey blocks instead of content. In addition, I …

Getting started with ShadowBox in ZBrush

May 6, 2017 by Jay Versluis

ShadowBox is an interesting feature with which we can create 3D geometry from three intersecting masks. Let’s see how to get started with it step by step in ZBrush 4R7. Select any tool to begin, perhaps something that can serve as a starting point. I’ll use the Dog tool. To do this, hit the COMMA key …