3D – Page 14 – JAY VERSLUIS

How to render “Manuel Bastioni LAB” characters without purple skin in Blender

April 9, 2017 by Jay Versluis

I recently discovered the Manuel Bastioni LAB add-on for Blender. Judging it only by the title you’d never guess it’s an extravagant people generator of the highest caliber! Bastioni was working with the folks from MakeHuman for many years, but The LAB is his own project.

In a nutshell, it creates ready-to-use characters, complete with poses and morphs, as well as many other complex goodies. And as with many complex things, rendering can take a while. I tend to prepare a scene on one machine, transfer it to a faster system and let it render while I setup the next scene.

This workflow usually works a treat with .blend files, but not necessarily with those containing Manuel Bastioni characters. Turns out the skin has a good chance of looking alien purple. Quite a nice effect, but perhaps not all the time.

Lucky for us, knowing why this happens will help us understand how to fix the problem. It’s not a bug, just a question of which box to tick when saving those files. Let me show you which box that is and how to avoid the purple skin effect.

How to hide lights in DAZ Studio with NVIDIA Iray

April 5, 2017 by Jay Versluis

As with real life objects, lights in the Iray Render Engine are by default not invisible. They’re like a lamp in a film studio: if it wasn’t there, it wouldn’t emit light. But now that it’s there, it can sometimes get in the way, even though we want it to emit light. Turns out there’s …

How to use Spotlights with NVIDIA Iray in DAZ Studio

April 4, 2017 by Jay Versluis

The NVIDIA Iray render engine can be a bit of a mysterious box sometimes. Especially when it comes to lighting. But it doesn’t have to be. Let’s see how we can add a standard spotlight to our scene and set it up so we can use it properly with Iray.

Let’s take this simple scene as as demo and a staring point. It’s a there and a plane, both of which have Iray shaders applied (it’s Walnut on the floor, and orange car paint on the sphere).

Iray Default Light (IBL)

The default lighting for a new DAZ Studio Iray scene comes with a small HDRI image applied by default, and when we render our scene, we can see the effects of that light source.

Notice that there’s a small specular highlight on the sphere, on the left hand side (a small shots spot). This is the sun’s hotspot from the HDRI image map. As you turn the camera around, the hotspot moves. Alternatively you can move the Iray Dome to move that hotspot (under Render Settings – Environment – Dome – Dome Rotation).

Not every HDRI image has a sun though, and depending on which map you use, you may not even see such a hotspot in your renders.

Adding a Spotlight

The left hand side of our sphere is a little darker, and if this was a character’s face, we may want to brighten it up a bit. In 3Delight we’d just add a standard spotlight, tweak the intensity and shadows until we’re happy, and then we’re done with it. With Iray we’ll do the same thing – but the settings are just a little different.

How to combine an Image Sequence into a video file with Blender

December 8, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Did you know that Blender has a built-in video editor? We can use that to turn an image sequence into a movie file. I’ve described how to do this Photoshop here, but I thought it would be fun to try the same thing in Blender.

Here’s how to do it:

How to display a movie on a plane in Blender (Blender Render)

December 7, 2016 by Jay Versluis

To show an animated video clip on a plane inside our scene, we can texture our plane object accordingly. Here’s how to do it using the Blender Render. engine (this won’t work in Cycles). select the plane object and create a new Material on it (in the Materials Tab on the Properties Palette) under the Shading …

How to hook a track to a vertex in Blender

December 6, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Hooking is a technique with which you can attach one vertex to follow another object. This can be useful if the outline of an object (such as a plane) needs to be distorted when it follows tracking markers. Here’s how to do it: select the the object you want to track (such as an empty …

How to combine a 3D render with a background image in Photoshop

November 30, 2016 by Jay Versluis

In this video I’ll show you how to render an image in DAZ Studio and compose it onto a background image in Photoshop. We’ll use the Shader Mixer and a Shadow Catcher in DAZ Studio to make the figure cast a shadow but be otherwise transparent. In Photoshop we’ll add artificial depth of field to …

Combining a DAZ Studio Render and a background image in Photoshop

September 10, 2018November 28, 2016 by Jay Versluis

In this episode I’ll show you how to render an image in DAZ Studio and compose it onto a background image in Photoshop. We’ll use the Shader Mixer and a Shadow Catcher to make the figure cast a shadow but be otherwise transparent in DAZ Studio. In Photoshop we’ll add artificial depth of field to …

How to create a translucent shader in Blender (Cycles)

November 26, 2016 by Jay Versluis

By default all our 3D objects are opaque, meaning light does not pass through them. Like a brick wall. But many objects in reality let some amount of light through, like a piece of paper or a glass of lemonade. This partial transparency is called translucency. In the picture above, light passes through the leaf, …

How to create a Shadow Catcher in Blender (Cycles)

November 25, 2016 by Jay Versluis

shadow-catcher

Setting up a Shadow Catcher in Blender is a bit more tricky than in other applications, but nevertheless straightforward if you know what you’re doing. I certainly did not when I first tried it, but thanks to this short YouTube video by Nonsense Blender Tutorials, I was able to set this up.

Here’s how to do it:

How to create a transparency shader in Blender (Cycles)

November 23, 2016 by Jay Versluis

screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-14-03-09

Texture files can have a transparency value, and as such we’d like to use it on occasion with 3D objects. The above image is created using flat square leaves, onto which an image of a leaf is projected. Outside the leaf, the area on the PNG file is transparent.

Here’s how to create a Cycles Shader in Blender that will show only the leaf and not the surrounding area of the texture.

How to make a texture repeat in Blender (Cycles)

November 21, 2016November 21, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Sometimes we need a seamless texture to repeat on an object without the help of Photoshop. That’s possible in Blender’s Node Editor, albeit not exactly intuitive. We need to add both a Texture Coordinate node, as well as a Mapping node to our shader to make this happen. Here’s how to do it: setup your texture …

How to grow grass on a landscape in Blender

June 11, 2017November 20, 2016 by Jay Versluis

I have previously grown some grass on a terrain in Carrara, and thought I’d try the same in Blender. I didn’t know much about how to do this, but the approach is very similar in Blender.

Like with my Carrara approach, I’ve modelled a few grass stalks from a cylinder first. Those are then replicated over a larger terrain. Neither a replicator nor a terrain generator exists in Blender, so here’s how I did it.

How to flip or rotate a texture in Blender

November 20, 2016 by Jay Versluis

When you’re UV unwrapping in Blender, it can sometimes happen that a texture doesn’t show the way you had intended it to. Instead it may appear rotated or mirrored (flipped). Take the above example of a simple frame with a picture in the middle. When I originally added the texture file after unwrapping, the crab …

How to rename Parameter Dials in DAZ Studio

November 18, 2016 by Jay Versluis

screen-shot-2016-11-17-at-18-22-57

Parameter Dials are everywhere in DAZ Studio. But sometimes they’re not in the right place, or they’re not called what we’d like them to be called. For example, if you bring in a Morph Target via Morph Loader, DAZ Studio will create a folder by that same name.

It’s easy to change most Parameter Dials. Here’s how to do it.

How to add margins between UV islands in Blender

November 17, 2016 by Jay Versluis

When UV islands are packed too tightly together, there’s little to no room between them. That’s great because it makes use of every available pixel on the UV Map, however when it comes to texturing in Photoshop, selecting separate islands is very difficult. Blender has a nice feature that lets us add a margin in …

How to turn a mesh into a path in Blender

November 17, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Not all 2D shapes are created equal in Blender: create a circle via Add – Mesh – Circle and it will be fundamentally different to creating one with Add – Curve – Circle. Even though, they look exactly the same in the viewport. The trouble begins when you want to do path related things on 2D …

MIRABEL Textures – now available at Renderosity

November 14, 2016 by Jay Versluis

mirabel-main

It is with great pleasure that I give you my latest texturing endeavour: MIRABEL Textures for Sunny’s First Date outfit, perfect for an autumn stroll.

MIRABEL contains a total of 48 texture presets for DAZ Studio, 24 for Iray and 24 for 3Delight. I’ve created high-resolution texture maps for the top, skirt, scarf and boots, 6 outfits in total – but the combinations are endless.

How to split and detach viewports in Blender

November 4, 2016 by Jay Versluis

By default Blender has one window with multiple interface sections: the main viewport, the properties panel, the outliner, and so forth. We can easily create more of those sections by clicking on the little triangle in the top left corner of a window and drag left or down. Likewise, we can collapse those windows by …

Rendering with Depth of Field in DAZ Studio

September 10, 2018November 3, 2016 by Jay Versluis

In this episode I’ll explain how to render a camera with depth of field in DAZ Studio 4.9. The assets I’m using are available from DAZ 3D, they’re called BC Movie Stands “The Office” by The Ant Farm. For Branson. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Rendering-with-Depth-of-Field-in-DAZ-Studio.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 30:30 — 27.9MB)

How to upgrade Blender while retaining your settings

September 10, 2018November 1, 2016 by Jay Versluis

In this episode I’ll show you how to upgrade to a new version of Blender and copy your settings from a previous version. Blender is a bit “special” in that it does not automatically overwrite an existing version, instead it installs the new version alongside the old version. The idea is that if the new …

How to copy and paste materials in Blender

October 20, 2016 by Jay Versluis

chocolates-gpu-render-37mins

Sometimes you want to use the same material on another object and only make a small change to it. Rather than this change affecting all linked objects, we need a new material with all the settings of the old material.

For example, in the above image I’ve used three chocolate shaders. They were all the same, except for the colour of the chocolate. I started with milk chocolate, then changed the colour for the dark and white chocolates.

There is an easy way to do this in Blender, albeit not entirely obvious at first sight. Let me show you how to copy and paste materials in this article.

How to render the current viewport in Blender 2.79

March 12, 2020October 20, 2016 by Jay Versluis

In other 3D applications, it is common to “look through” a camera to position and manipulate it with the usual viewport controls, and then render the result. In Blender things are a little different (of course). We can manipulate the viewport, but we cannot render it. We can see it rendered as a preview, by …

How to use Normal Maps in Blender (Cycles)

October 19, 2016 by Jay Versluis

When we setup a standard material for Blender’s Cycles render engine, it’ll start with just a single diffuse node like this: To add a Normal Map to this setup, we’ll need to add two things: a new Texture Map node (Add – Texture – Image Texture) a new Bump Map node (Add – Vector – Normal …

How to use Bump Maps in Blender (Cycles)

October 18, 2016 by Jay Versluis

When we setup a standard material for Blender’s Cycles render engine, it’ll start with just a single diffuse node like this: Feel free to change the diffuse colour or add a texture map to it’s colour input. To add a Bump Map to this setup, we’ll need to add two things: a new Texture Map …

How to expand selections in Hexagon

October 16, 2016 by Jay Versluis

I’ve just learnt of a new way to expand selections in Hexagon: select some faces (or edges), then position your cursor away from the object, then hold down CMD (Mac) or CTRL (PC) and drag in any direction. The selection will grow into the direction that you drag. It doesn’t always reliably work, because some weird …

How to use First Person Navigation in Blender

October 10, 2016 by Jay Versluis

In large scenes it can be handy to navigate as if we’re playing a 3D computer game. And that’s possible in Blender: Hit SHIFT+F to enter First Person Navigation mode, then use your mouse to look around in 3D space. Now use the following keys to move around your scene: Left Cursor (or A) – move left …

LILIKOI Textures – now available at Renderosity

October 9, 2016 by Jay Versluis

Here’s another texture set I’ve made for the wonderful Cathy Outfit by outoftouch. I call them LILIKOI. It means “passion fruit” in Hawaiian. Very fitting I thought! LILIKOI contains a total of 20 texture presets for DAZ Studio, 10 for NVIDIA Iray and 10 for 3Delight. You can mix and match any skirt with any top for a total of 100 …

EQUINOX Textures – now available at Renderosity

October 4, 2016 by Jay Versluis

I’ve just released a new texture pack, this time for the very versatile Strapless Mini Dress for Genesis 3 and Victoria 7, by hameleon and santuziy78. EQUINOX contains a total of 40 texture presets for DAZ Studio, 20 for NVIDIA Iray and 20 for 3Delight. I’ve added presets for the whole dress, as well as separate presets for the …

How to add Material Zones to an object in Blender

October 3, 2016 by Jay Versluis

screen-shot-2016-10-03-at-18-07-59 Material Zones are – as the name suggests – different parts of a single object that can each be assigned a shader. This sounds more complicated than it actually is.

In a nutshell, you can tell an object that its top should look different than its bottom at render time – figuratively speaking.

Such zones can be assigned only at the modelling level, so that each surface can be described differently by your rendering app. Here’s how to assign these Material Zones in Blender.

3D Archives

Iray Default Light (IBL)

Adding a Spotlight