DAZ Studio free and advanced

[ha14]

Hi


DAZ Studio is a feature rich 3D figure modeling, posing, and animation tool that enables users of any skill level to easily create stunning digital imagery. DAZ Studio is the 3-D posing, rendering, and animation software created by DAZ Productions and is available as a free program and an advanced shareware.

Daz Studio 3 offers improved OpenGL preview display with new camera and light pointer tools, depth of field and support for version 8.5 of the 3Delight render engine.

This tool is designed to allow the creation of unique digital art and animation using the already available list of virtual people, animals, props, vehicles, accessories and environments. Users can select their subject and/or setting, arrange accessories, setup lighting and immediately begin to create artwork.

This free version of DAZ Studio also doubles as the 30-day trial. Features for DAZ Studio 3 Advanced are enabled in the free version for 30 days, at which time they will be disabled unless the Advanced version is purchased. The Core version of DAZ Studio 3 will remain free.

Daz Studio 3 Advanced adds a set of new professional-level tools including advanced render effects and shaders, Collada import/export, animation keyframe editing, figure mixing and support for 64-bit systems.
This advanced version is designed for advanced hobbyists and professional artists with the features needed to bridge the gap between art and reality. This is accomplished with added render enhancements allowing the artist to control the how, what, and where of rendering. These enhancements in combination with new features will have you rendering like never before. New features include; Figure Mixer, Morph Follower, Shader Builder, Shader Mixer, Shader Baking, aniMate Lite, Map Transfer, and 64-Bit capabilities.

Daz says that with these high-end tools, extended export capabilities and greater compatibility with Carrara, 3D enthusiasts can easily transition into serious 3D artists. It costs US$149.95 (around £93).

What's Included & Features
DAZ Studio 3 Advanced
Advanced Shaders and Effects - DAZ Studio now includes HDRI, IBL, Ambient Occlusion, Area Lights, Volumetrics, Velvet, Indirect Lighting, Translucency, Layered Anisotropic Specularity, and Sub-Surface Scattering. Special thanks to omnifreaker.
UberEnvironment 2 (by: omnifreaker)
Image Based Lighting (IBL)
High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI)
Global Illumination (GI)
Indirect Lighting
Color Bleeding
Ambient Occlusion
UberSurface (by: omnifreaker)
Sub-Surface Scattering (SSS)
Velvet
Skin
Layered Anisotropic Specularity (hair)
UberArea Lights (by: omnifreaker)
UberVolume [Fog/Smoke] (by: omnifreaker)
Scripted Renderer - Gain full control of the rendering process. If you're into scripting and are familiar with the RenderMan API, this is for you.
Shader Mixer (Advanced Material Editor) - Mix and match over 90 included shader bricks (or design your own) to create custom lights, cameras, and surfaces within a simple node network for amazing render effects.
Figure Mixer - Now you can blend between different figures to create your own unique figures. This tool will not only blend two or more shapes together, but it will also provide a working joint rig and preserve the original morphs of the figure you started from.
Morph Follower - This feature allows you to add support for new figures in old clothing by automatically creating new morphs to fit an unsupported shape.
64-Bit for Windows - This functionality not only makes things go faster, it expands memory support, and allows large scenes to be arranged and rendered much easier.
Map Transfer - This allows you to convert a texture from one figure's UV's so they can be used on another figure's UV's.
Shader Builder - Built for advanced artists who need a deeper level of control and want to create shaders from scratch.
Shader Baker - Bake surface shaders, bump maps, displacement maps, and textures into a single image-based texture for a final-render look straight out of the box. You can then share or sell to other users who may not have the same advanced shaders you use to make it look its best.
Animation Keyframe Editor - Now you can easily see where your keyframes are. Add, delete, copy, paste and/or move your keyframes around with great visual feedback. Special thanks to GoFigure!.

DAZ Studio 3 (core)
Improved Render Engine - DAZ Studio is now compatible with version 8.5 of the powerful 3Delight render engine. Improved performance and memory management reduce render times and handle heavy, complex scenes like never before.
COLLADA Import/Export - Now you can export figures, conforming clothing, morphs, and scenes into Carrara 7.
aniMate Lite - Create animations by dragging and stacking aniBlocks into a timeline. You can also crop, split or combine aniBlocks and/or create completely new sequences. Special thanks to GoFigure!.
Visual Helpers for Cameras and Lights - Provides visual cues for the spread angle and falloff of your spotlights, as well as the limits of your camera's depth of field. Special thanks to Dreamlight.
Selection/Bounding Box Display - Change the opacity, size, color, and length of the selection bounding boxes.
Render Album - Store recent image renders in an album format, which can then be loaded into the Render Editor to perform various editing functions on the image. The editor provides options for blending two images, adjusting colors, comparing images, and applying filters without having to open a separate paint program.
Visible in Render - Added support for whether or not a node's geometry is visible in render without the need to make surface

Both versions run under Mac OS X 10.4/5, and Windows XP/Vista.

http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/studio/download?_m=d


The basics of working with lights in DAZ STUDIO .

The lights can be made under Create and changed under Parameters.
They have the following options : Shadow with the options Shadow Type, Shadow Softness and Shadow Bias, and Light with the options Illumination, Color and Intensity.

You'll instantly notice that your scene will become darker. This is because Daz studio's default light automatically turns off since you're taking over by adding lights. So check In Parameters where you can now rotate it to create different light effects.


There are 3 different lights : Point light, Distant light and Spotlight and they all have their own uses.

1)Point light : this light shines in every direction, so rotating it has no effect.

2)Distant light : this light can be compared to the sun since it will light up the entire scene and you can rotate it but repositioning has no effect.

3)Spotlight : this works as a actual spotlight and you can move it around and rotate it and change the spread angle to get the desired light effect.

With all the lights you can change the color and turn on the various shadow settings.
Resizing doesn't have any effect but it is useful to make it easier to see in which direction it's pointing. If you want to get more light you'll either have to increase the intensity or add more lights.

Then for changing the 3D scene into a picture you have to go to the tab Render.
In the General tab you can decide to either partially render it or fully render it in Speed. Try first fully render it (Software renderer) because this gives a better idea about what needs to be changed.


Then go for Dimensions where you decide the shape and size of your picture.
Also check The Timeline is for making animations and then simply press the Render button and wait. Bigger dimension longer rendering time! So be patient!