Blender Sub-Forum?
marble
Posts: 7,500
I'm feeling the need for another sub-forum - a sub-forum beneath the Blender forum. It seems to me that most of the posts here are concerned with the bridge products and few about actually using Blender. I have been thinking recently about attempting to make a prop or perhaps geografts. I often use Blender to make morphs for figures and clothing. These subjects are all to do with Blender but have little to do with the bridge add-ons.
Obviously there is a wealth of tutorial material online for modelling, sculpting, rigging, UV unwrapping, etc. in Blender but little of it is focused on making (or kit-bashining) content for DAZ Studio. I suppose that most of the PAs here use ZBrush for that but some discussions aimed at amateurs who only have Blender might be nice.
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Comments
Sickleyield is (at least also) blender user, and has a number of tutorials for interworking with DS.
Yeah I agree.. there are lot "layers" in Blender which we need to understand first before we decide to jump in "look like a simple one but more complex " stuff like Bridges and Add on . its like you start with Box Cutter without getting know about vanila Blender modelling . Its ok for quick job but still.... we need the basic
Basic things like Controlling Camera - Pointing Light to object - Exclude object from render or lights - Node shader types - render setting - Morph creation for DAZ contents and kitbashing until Compositor "101" are topics which still mystery for most of us in here .
You can create special thread/post about Tips of creating Morph for character and Clothing , so if people needed they know which one post/thread they need to follow .
Agree that a sub thread specifically about using Blender to make Daz content vs bridge issues is a great idea.
Meanwhile: I have found the Udemy "Blender 2.8 Encyclopedia" to be one of the best resources for quick reference for most Blender features. You can get it when it's on sale for 5-10$
For using cameras I highly recomend the Photographer Add-On. I use it every day and it gets better each build.
Blender is deceptive in that it's fast to learn the basics but trying to master it feels endless since it's got so many hidden tricks and multiple ways to do the same thing. Also though it's "free" to get the most out of it you may find your self buying a few 100$ of Add-ons and content.
I never knew about this add-on, it looks fantastic! And only eight bucks? I'm totally in. Thank you for pointing it out!
Well, this is a good start. Thank you. I still think a dedicated sub-forum would be nice but if people want to drop tips and tutorials into this thread, why not?
I too will look at the camera add-on because that is one of my big gripes with Blender. Coming from DAZ Studio where I look through the camera to set up my scene, I don't like the Blender way which requires you to switch into camera view which is obviously not the same as the viewport.
[Edit] Just watched the features video for that add-on and it looks like a must-have.
Bennie I think you will dig it the most. Camera targets, focus targets and a super easy to use folder system accesible from the view port. Also it has a great light manager as well. Anytime you can control settings from the view port I am a fan.
Here is a quick list of the main paid Blender Add-Ons I use regualrly:
- Photgrapher 4.2 - As mentioned above it is my favorite add-on and the developer is always adding more features. I don't think the render que supports Animations, yet, and I have requested the ability to check box off and on depth and mist passes if possible.
- Group Pro - Easy way to make multi-object groups and different options to than multi-instance, etc. Can store animation data as well and works fine with Geography nodes for me so far.
- Eyek - Just discovered this one and it can be a little buggy but it adds some needed functionality to Blender similar to IRay Decale Nodes. Great for adding designs to clothes or tattoos to skin etc.
- BPaint - Adds a layer painting system into Blender similar to PSD, Gimp, Krita etc. Works well - The downside is I notice texture painting in Blender to be slow in general with any method. There are a few Add-ons like this, This one seems to work the best.
- K-Cycles - For me has litterally 2x most of my Cycles render times and has made the viewport more usable with Cycles as the preview engine. E-cycles works well for many people too but i found it buggy. Developer said it had to do with how memory heavy my scenes are but so far K_Cycles has run much smoother. The gains may not be as intense once Cycles-X is finished being built, but for the next 4 months it was like getting a new video card for 50$.
- ROKOKO Retargetting Add-0n - free add on to retarget BVH and FBX data between armature rigs. I set a preset that was workign great to transfer Mixamo to Daz with the old Bridge's rig, but that rig seems to have been replaced now.
MAIN BLENDER SHORT FALL FOR ME = V-RAM issues - Inevitably for me I use to many high poly objects and high res textures, which Blender has a big problem of crashing or not rendering if the scene exceeds the memory on your GPU. I have a 1280 Ti but still my scenes fill up fast. I end up having to build my scenes in sections with levels of detail Iin folders I can turn on and off. Something my frineds makign shots in Unreal seem to not have to worry about even on lesser computers. But I prefer the multi-functionality in blender so probably not switching too soon.
- Something that the Daz bridge figures with subsurface on can do very quickly. I am trying to find a good "Culling" add-on to only load the faces facing camera. I think the Scatter Add-On does it but haven't tried it yet.
Tutorial Series:
- Blender Encylopdedia on Udemy. Best quick reference for almost all functions in blender
- Ian Hubert - Mind boggling world builder and creative ball of energy. I've learned a ton from his patreon.
- Royal Skies on Youtube - Again someone who gets straight to the point and is easy to follow. Great for basic blender animation and learning the basics quickly for many other character based tricks.
- There are a lot of other great ones out there but personally I avoid people that post 15 minute videos to explain things I see other people do in 90 seconds. There are some very popular channels that seem more like social sets dedicated to the creators vs people looking for accellerated learning. I try to avoid them just as a time save as I have found myself at the end of full days of tutorials with little show for it.
Hope this is helpful. Love to hear what other people are using in Blender.
Tutorial
Addon ++
Blender Daily is great as is Jan's Daily Blender Secrets and if you purchase his PDF it has them all in it.
Thanks for this great feedback. Much of what has been mentioned and recommended is still way beyond my skill level (which is ultra-basic) but I have already watched videos on some of them. I tend to go for Royal Skies first if I want to get an idea of what it is all about.
I'm working on a shot right now where a stone slab moves to reveal a hidden staircase and just being able to have the photographer tab open while I'm working and quickly changing settings is awesome. And to be able to pick using setups like Super 16? Oh, I'm floored. It pains me a lot setting up shots as I shoot with a 5.6mm lens a lot in the real world but that is super distorted in the 3D world, but with this, it looks like I know it would! This is awesome. And I like the way DOF is done here with the focus plane as well as being able to control light stuff in the panel as well. This is super, super helpful :D
@pretendforreal_707d4f4a31
Check the Simplify checkbox on the Render Properties tab and keep lowering the texture limit until it fits.
I'm subscribed to Ian's Patreon. Best money I spend every month.
I'm trying to do cinematic Sci-Fi, but some Studio models are failing me a bit.