Screencasts Archives

Anything I’ve recorded on my monitor and turned into a video. Tips and tricks to help my future self and other nice people.

Storyist 109: Using the Project Trash

In this episode I’ll show you how to use the Project Trash option in Storyist. It works just like the trash function in macOS and Windows, with which you never directly delete documents from the system. Instead, they’ll go into the “trash”, which when emptied, will delete a document from the hard drive. Storyist has …

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How to turn a Raster Image into a vectorised SVG in Photoshop

The other day I wanted to convert a logo into a path, so that I could use it as a shape in Blender. It was in fact the WordPress logo that was provided as a PNG or PDF from the WordPress Branding section.

The trouble was, both the PNG and the PDF are rasterised, and as such cannot easily be used for an extrusion in 3D as an SVG file would. The question then was, how do I convert an image into an SVG in Photoshop, so that I could import it into Blender?

It took a bit of fiddling, but here’s how I did it.

Quick introduction to SVG Files

SVG files can actually contain three types of data:

  • Vector Graphics, such as paths (which is what we want)
  • Raster Graphics, such as bitmap images (which we have, but don’t want)
  • and Fonts

What I needed in Blender was indeed a Vector Path. Although the other two data types can be contained in an SVG file, Blender can only read path information at the time of writing. It makes sense too, because really I’d like to the path information available as a curve in Blender, not the potential raster or font information.

I’m mentioning this here because

  • a.) I didn’t know this, and
  • b.) importing an SVG containing either fonts or raster graphics will import nothing into Blender – which had me stumped.

Thanks to cegaton on Blender Stackexchange for this explanation!

Hence, for Photoshop to export vector data instead of raster data in our SVG file, we need to jump through a few hoops – but it is possible. Let’s see how!

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DAZ Studio 103: Customising Styles

In this episode I’ll show you how you can customise the interface in DAZ Studio. I have previously shown you how to select Workspaces and Styles, and now we’ll see how to make the interface your own by changing the colours of the interface. In addition, I’ll elaborate more on the macOS intricacies on moving …

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DAZ Studio 102: Workspaces, Tabs and Styles

In this episode we’re launching DAZ Studio for the first time after a fresh installation, we’ll fix the database manager, and we’ll learn how to customise the interface. I will also show you where those important context sensitive menus are hiding. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/102-Interface.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 19:28 — 17.8MB)

Storyist 105: Version Control Features

In this episode I’ll show you how to save your files in Storyist, and how to keep your work safe. Besides “save” and the equivalent of “save as”, Storyist also offers Version Control built in, which means you can save a modified version of your project, similar to how Git projects are controlled. I’ll explain …

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Storyist 104: Formatting and Styles

In this episode I’ll show you how to use some of the formatting tools Storyist has to offer. I’ll also explain how to apply formatting collections known as styles to parts of your manuscript. Styles are not only used to format chapters and body text in a cohesive way; Storyist also uses these styles to …

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How to create Text Objects in Blender

In this episode I’ll show you how to create text objects in Blender, modify font and extrusion properties, and how to turn a text object into a proper mesh. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Blender-Text.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 10:52 — 10.0MB)

Storyist 103: Creative Writing Tools

In this episode I’ll explain some of the excellent writing tools Storyist has to offer. In particular, I’ll show you how to create chapters and sections/scenes inside chapters, I’ll explain the outline and index card view, and I’ll show you how you can see the outline view and your actual manuscript side by side. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Storyist-3-Writing-Tools.mp3Podcast: …

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Storyist 102: Meet the Interface

In this episode I’ll give you a brief overview of Storyist. I’ll show you how to create a new project, how to create a new manuscript inside the project, what the panels do and how the layout works. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Storyist-2-Overview.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 18:46 — 17.2MB)

Storyist 101: Introduction to Storyist

In this series I’ll introduce you to Storyist, the creative writing application for macOS and iOS. In this episode I’ll speak about the software’s philosophy and how it differs from other writing applications such as Microsoft Word and Apple’s Pages.  https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Storyist-1-Intro.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 8:07 — 7.4MB)

How to create DAZ Character Morphs with Blender

In this video I’m demonstrating how to export a character from DAZ Studio, apply a geometrical change in Blender, and import that change back into DAZ Studio as a Morph Target.

First we’ll prepare and export a Genesis 3 character (Eva 7) as OBJ. Here are the steps I’m using in the video:

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How to fit DAZ Clothing using Marvelous Designer

In this episode I’ll show you how to use existing items of clothing and re-fit them to a other characters in DAZ Studio, using Marvelous Designer. Although auto-fit does work in many cases, it can also give extremely ugly results, and by having Marvelous Designer re-fit clothing, this can be greatly improved. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/How-to-fit-DAZ-Clothing-using-Marvelous-Designer.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: …

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How to fix obstructed Viewport Controls in DAZ Studio

In this video I’ll show you how to fix the partially obstructed or occluded Viewport Controls bug in DAZ Studio. I’ve experienced this problem when I have the Shader Mixer tab docked somewhere, but it stands to reason that other docked panes also have the potential of causing this bug. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Obstructed-Viewport-DAZ.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:29 — …

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Exporting assets from DAZ Studio to Blender (and back)

In this episode I’ll show you how to export assets from DAZ Studio to Blender and back, at a consistent scale and orientation. The default Blender export preset in DAZ Studio is broken, hence the workflow requires a bit of tweaking and knowledge on how Blender thinks about units and scale (which I’ll also show …

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How to create dramatic lights in DAZ Studio (Iray)

In this episode I’ll show you how to create a string side light in DAZ Studio 4.9. The default light looks very soft and does not create a dramatic effect, so we’ll see how to remove those first, and then apply our own parametric spotlight. In addition, we’ll add and tweak the default IBL to …

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How to install content for DAZ Studio

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)

Creating Walk Animations in DAZ Studio

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 …

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