Display all Keyboard Shortcuts in DAZ Studio

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. …

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My Rig(s), Devices and Rendering Workflow

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.

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Discovered in December 2018

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 …

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How to add Subscription Alerts to your stream in OBS Studio

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 …

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Where is the Symmetry Option in ZBrush

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, …

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Creating a Zoom Blur Effect in Photshop

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 …

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Created in December 2018

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

How to duplicate an audio channel in Premiere Pro

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 …

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How to use SOUL REFLECTIONS for DAZ Studio

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 …

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Storyist 118: Bookmarks and Comments

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)

Discovered in November 2018

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 …

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Multi Camera Editing in Premiere Pro CS 5.5

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

Jonathan Lang explains it here:

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Created in November 2018

Here’s what I’ve been up to over the last 30 days. It’s been highly productive, even though what I have achieved was not quite in line with what I had set out to do. It’s always interesting for me to see how unpredictable creativity is. SUPER SURVIVOR – Season 1 (Podcast) I’ve turned my second …

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Storyist 117: Using Story Sheets

In this episode I will (try to) explain the concept of Story Sheets to you. Those are writing aides, akin to writing bibles and index cards. Think of Story Sheets as a supercharged version of a post-it note. They let you define relatively vague “things” like plot points, characters, settings, scenes, character development points and …

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Storyist 116: Working with Images

In this episode I’ll show you how Storyist lets you import images and how you can use them in your project. Images are not linked and are stored with your project, so feel free to delete the original. Storyist can use images in-line with your text, or they can be part of the storyboard view …

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DAZ Studio 111: Installing Content in a Second Directory

In this episode I’ll show you how to install 3D Content with Install Manager into another directory of your choice. By default, Install Manager will use a folder called “My DAZ 3D Library”, but sometimes you may need a second directory to install content in. For example, to keep pre-release files separate from “release versions”, …

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Storyist 115: Writing Shortcuts

In this episode I’ll show you some of the shortcuts I find useful when using Storyist. I’ll show you how to navigate words, paragraphs and whole lines from the keyboard, and I’ll also explain a couple of tab key shortcuts. Lastly, I’ll show you how to access a full list of shortcuts that are supported …

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DAZ Studio 110: Object Hierarchies, Grouping and Parenting

In this episode I’ll show you how parent objects to one another, and how to create groups, and the implications either of these actions has on your scene. I’ll also explain the Null object and when/how to use it. Understanding these concepts means you’ll be able to build scenes more efficiently: hierarchies let you move …

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Storyist 114: Headers and Footers

In this screencast I’ll show you how to customise the headers and footers of your document. The principle is the same for either. In particular, we’ll look into aligning the page numbers in the footer: off numbers to the left, and even numbers to the right – just like some books do. Storyist can help …

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DAZ Studio 109: Adjusting the Pivot Point and using Multiple Viewports

In this episode I’ll show you how to change the location of the Pivot Point in DAZ Studio. It’s the point at which the 3D manipulator gizmo shows up and from where objects are translated and rotated. Blender calls this the “origin point”. DAZ Studio uses the Joint Editor to manipulate this point. While I’m …

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Created in October 2018

Another busy month draws to a close. Let’s see if I can remember all the exciting stuff I’ve been able to create, which consisted mainly of video content.

Blender Logo Creation – Mini Series

I’ve created a 5-part mini series on how to take a rasterised image, turn it into an extruded 3D object in Blender and use it to create a snazzy logo.

I’ve used this technique to create thumbnails for two of my recent projects (the DAZ Studio 101 series and my WordPress podcast). There are many steps to the whole process and I thought I’d record how I did it. I also created thumbnails for the videos in the series using the same approach, showing bit by bit what each video is about. Like this one:

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Storyist 113: Customising Your PDF

In this episode I’ll show you how to customise the print-ready PDF we’ve created in the previous video. When Storyist formats a PDF with templates, it create intermediary files that we can tap into and further refine the output to make it look exactly as we want our book to look. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Storyist-13-PDF-2-v2.mp3 Podcast: Download (Duration: …

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Discovered in October 2018

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Julie Rothenberg MS, RD, LDN (@julienergynutrition) I found this post by my wonderful nutritionist Julie Rothenberg in Instagram this month. It struck a chord in me about awareness and helped me through a day on which I felt angry and aggravated. I really didn’t want to …

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