Toolbox Treasures : Super Scripts for DAZ Studio

Authors:

There are a number of super smart scripts that Code 66 has written to make tedious tasks easier in DAZ Studio as well as enrich your existing (including legacy) content .

He has released a series of script volume “toolboxes” in the DAZ 3D store that include some of his most useful scripting gadgets to date.

In this tutorial he goes over eight case studies, where he spruces up legacy content, enhances that content with advanced materials and shows new powerful controls over that content across a range of scenes demonstrating how to use his scripts in combination.

This product includes a searchable version of the MP4 video files that includes optional subtitles.

Tutorial Content

Central to Code66's presentation will be showing you the power of chaining together these tools , magnifying your control even further over the content in your DAZ Studio scenes.

For example….

Legacy Set Converter and Advanced Material Converter is applied to older Stonemason sets.
Prop Merger is combined with Dungeon Builder .
Tile Master - to create tileable textures on clothing or used in terrain scenes with ground textures
GridSpawn and RandomRotate - quickly populate a repeating element in a scene but rotate these place the elements at different angles.
Tags - hide and show items in a scene
Using some tools for UltraScenery for ease of use and to reduce resources : eg. RoadMask and Decal Scattering

You'll also see demonstrations of his Volume 3 tools:

Decal scattering : for example creating a ecosystem of rain pools on a road or a set of foot prints.
Pinning feet or hands of a character to aid with posing.

Case Studies used across the tutorials

Case Study #1

Convert Materials of Stonemason Modular Sci-Fi Kit 01
Create wall sections using Props Merger
- Build a floor section
- Build a wall section
- Build a ceiling
Dungeon Builder
- Dungeon Set Builder - build a demonstration set
- Dungeon Builder make - a big open space room
Add Tags to walls and ceilings to demonstrate control over element visibility
Add Scifi barrel
- Grid Spawn
- Random Rotate
- Add some crates with Stack Em Up

Case Study #2

Load UltraScenery scenery
Show materials and show the road mask
Use roadmask for UltraScatter Pro
Use Decals Distributor on terrain to distribute some ground decals

Case Study #3

Converter

Poser Props Dragon Ballista - props and figures

Advanced Material Converter
- Dragon Ballista

Case Study #4

Start with a ground prop
Use MeshGrabber by ManFriday to add some height
Use GridSpawn to spawn it

Case Study #5

Legacy Set Converter (Stonemason Streets of NY)
Advanced Material Converter

Case Study #6

Genesis 9 Load - pose using Pin Master
Case Study #7
- 1. Bend Manager on a rope prop with long chain rigging.
Case Study #8
- Line'em up

Sample Video

About the Presenter : Totte Alm (Code66)

Totte lives in Sweden and has been programming since the late 70s. He started to dabble in 3D back in the early 1990s with StrataVision 3D and later Bryce.

His interest for the world of DAZ Studio started around 2010, to create maps and handouts for the many table top role playing game adventures he was writing and playing.

Totte then started to create some 3D content for DAZ Studio in 2015 and then gradually moved over to create more and more script based products instead of pure 3D prop content.

His favourite tools for making 3D products and textures are Modo, UVLayout, the Substance suite and FilterForge.

Totte has been an independent IT consultant for over 20 years, and also have been using DAZ Studio renders in dialogs in many bespoke development projects for various clients to brighten up otherwise boring programs!

He spend a lot of time walking the dogs and tries to play role playing games as much as time provides.

What's Included and Features

Toolbox Treasures : Super Scripts for DAZ Studio
Video 1 : 32 minutes (.MP4)
- 00:00 Introduction
- 00:01 Advanced Materials Converter used on Stonemason’s Modular Sci-fi Kit 01
- 00:01 Set the .DUF folder
- 00:02 Dealing with emissives
- 00:03 Importance of properly named material zones
- 00:04 Conversion of the set
- 00:05 A shout out to Lyrra Madril
- 00:07 Load an Iray converted floor piece from Modular Sci-fi Kit 01 to demonstrate how it looks now.
- 00:08 Create a square merged prop from the floor piece using Props Merger
- 00:10 Q&A on the Advanced Materials Converter
- 00:13 Use Dungeon Builder to take converted/grouped props from Sci-fi kit 01
- 00:15 Demo of Dungeon Set Builder
- 00:17 Demo of Dungeon Generator
- 00:18 Question on Props Merger
- 00:22 3D Dungeon Scene now built in DAZ
- 00:22 Adding tags to certain part of the set
- 00:24 Dungeon Builder : Like UltraScenery for Buildings!
- 00:27 Demonstration of Grid Spawn inside the new scene
- 00:28 Sci-fi cylinder props spawned
- 00:29 Apply Random Rotate to spawned props (instances)
- 00:30 Use Stack’em up to add stacks of props into the scene.
- 00:31 Using Tags invisibility
Video 2 : 51 minutes (.MP4)
- 00:00 Using Toolbox Scripts with UltraScenery
- 00:01 Load a road scene. Consider making a “messy” road with potholes and other features on a road.
- 00:01 Create a cube primitive and scatter this using UltraScatter across the road.
- 00:05 Use Decals Distributor to create a messy road
- 00:07 Use masks with Decals Distributor.
- 00:08 About Martin J Frost’s Tire-tracks-and-road-rut-decals
- 00:10 Decals Distributor
- 00:12 Add ruts and tyre tracks to the road
- 00:13 Why cubes are used for the markers
- 00:15 Rendered result of messy road.
- 00:16 Decals Distributor can be used for realism in UltraScenery
- 00:19 Legacy Set Converter to work on a crossbow prop (can work on old DAZ or Poser formats)
- 00:21 Resulting conversion - check the bones. See how it renders with the original older materials.
- 00:22 Use Advanced Materials Converter
- 00:22 Materials/maps discussion on older content
- 00:23 Map the old materials to new.
- 00:25 Now converted. Compare with a new render
- 00:27 Using Meshgrabber / Geometry editor to create a mini terrain tile.
- 00:29 Apply a Substance ground material.
- 00:29 Apply Gridspawn to make a large scale terrain with the tile.
- 00:31 Decals Distributor could then be applied on the terrain.
- 00:32 Using Meshgrabber in combination with Geometry Editor
- 00:34 Add a figure to the scene.
- 00:35 Use Pins Manager (Toolbox Set 3) to lock the character’s hands and feet in place.
- 00:35 Other parts of the figure can be pinned down - great for posing.
- 00:36 Ideas for scenes using this tool
- 00:37 Load a rope prop
- 00:38 Totte shows how Bend Manager is often used by Published Artists to save time.
- 00:40 Bend Manager also caters for side-side and twist orientations
- 00:42 Now run Legacy Set Converter on Stonemason’s Streets of New York. This script rescues content in the old Studio .daz format, or Poser .cr2 or .pp2 format.
- 00:44 Now apply Advanced Materials Converter to the converted “Streets of New York”
- 00:47 Use a light set to show the new set in an Iray render.
- 00:48 Demonstration of Line’em up - a tool for placing decals or props in lines, curves or even spirals!
- 00:49 Build a curved line and place some primitive cubes
- 00:50 Stonehenge pattern example
Documentation : SearchableVideoLinks.PDF
- Single PDF document containing links for keyword searchable versions of these tutorial videos