So that's how you make Daz Studio 4.6 recognize your Smart Content compatible content

It's Christmas time and I finally have time to, once again, play with DazStudio.  Everytime I pick up Daz Studio again, there's something new I need to learn.  This time, it's the Smart Content.  Specifically, how to find content in it.

So I tried to use the QuickStart Guide with Bareboot Dancer video.  Problem comes: I could NOT find Barefoot Dancer.  I checked around for a while and still couldn't find it.  Eventually I stumbled upon this link, After reading it, I still couldn't find my solution.

Eventually, I found out that there's this "Content Database Maintenance..." menu item above the "Smart Content" tab.  I looked inside, and found the item "Reset Database".  I selected it and clicked "Accept", and found that ALL CONTENT were gone from the Smart Content window.  Shocked, I looked into the Content Database Maintenance" dialog again, and found "Re-Import Metatdata...".  I selected it and Accepted it.  A big list showed up, and I also accepted it.  After like 10 minutes, I got a lot of content in the Smart Content!

So this seems to be a way to make Smart Content to recognize those content that I installed in non-traditional way, like manually add them in the content folder.

I still have not find barefoot dancer, though.

Like Santa, Aiko 6 and Daz Studio 4.7 Pro exist!

I didn't have time to check with any development related to DazStudio for the last half year.  And then today when I was relaxing at home on Sunday after thanksgiving, I suddenly thought, "I wonder if there's anything new with Daz Studio.

That's when I surprisingly found out that not only there a newer version of Daz Studio (4.7 Pro) exist, but there's a new version of Aiko model called Aiko 6.

So did I update from my current DazStudio 4.6 Pro to 4.7?  Nope.  Partly because I was lazy, but also because I found out that I can use Aiko 6 in my current 4.6 Pro without any problem (as far as it seems).

It's always nice to find reason to come back to Daz Studio again.

No portable for Manga Studio 5 EX

Whenever I try a new piece of software, I always check and see if I can make it "portable", meaning, grab the application folder and put it on another machine, and see if it works work out a full installation.  As I constantly moving from one machine to another machine, this practice helps me to being productive since I don't have to spend time re-installing all the applications I need.  Sure, not all applications are portable friendly.  But so far, majority of application I care are portable friendly.  So far so good.

Recently I tried to pick up manga drawing, and Manga Studio 5.0EX is the best on the market.  So the question is: can Manga Studio 5 EX run as a portable app?

Answer: errr sort of .. if you don't mind missing EX features.

Here's the features I lost if I run the app in Portable mode:

• Multiple page support is NOT available.
• Material library is NOT supported.
• The software identify itself as Manga Studio 5 instead of 5 EX.

Still at least all the basic features are there in portable mode.  So I am not complaining.

Another interesting Painter X3 brush

I found another Sumi-e brush called Thick Blossom Sumi-e interesting to play with.  Again, not the Chinese calligraphy brush I am looking for, but interesting enough for me to take notes.  Maybe I just need to practice more with it?

Looking brush that simulates Chinese calligraphy

Among all the painting tools, Painter has a special spot in my heart, since this is the first application that allows me to draw something on my tablet while still maintain certain natural look.  Recently I have a need to do a design that involves Chinese calligraphy.  I was hoping that Corel Painter X3 can give me what I need, but so far I haven't found a brush that works for me.  I did, however, found a brush that gives me effect that I can use in the future.  That is the Sumi-e Opaque Bristle Sumi-e.

It's unique look, but still a bit mechanical.

So it was the mouse, not Blender, that has problem

It started when I tried to use scroll wheel button to scroll and pan the 3D view on Blender, and found that it didn't work.  At first I found it was the Blender software that had problem.  And then I thought maybe it's the system mouse setting.  

Finally I found out that it's the mouse itself that had problem.  After some serious slamming, it seemed to work ok now, but it may die again.  Luckily there's replacement 3rd button simulation in Blender, or maybe I should just buy another mouse.

How to create a color poster using Adobe Illustrator CS5

- Create a new document with the dimension of your final poster, but take overlap area as consideration.  for instance, if you want to print out on 2 Ledger Paper (17 inch x 11 inch), and you want .75 inch overlap, then your dimension should be:
Width: 22 inch - 1.5 inch = 20.5 inch
Height 17 inch - 1.5 inch = 15.5 inch
- Put your image on the art-board, enlarge it to fill up all the space
- Select [File][Print...] to bring up print dialogue.
- In Media, select your paper size. I chose Ledger.
- In Options:
- Choose tile
- In Overlap, enter 0.75 inch.
- Look at the preview to make sure everything look good.
- Click Print to print the page out.
- Use Scotch tape to put together together.

Fitting older clothing with Genesis models

I was pretty excited when I realized that Genesis models (like Aiko 5) can take clothing from older Daz Studio model format and still fits reasonably well.  Nothing is perfect though:

• It only works for Victoria/Akio 4 and later, meaning my clothing for Aiko and Victoria 3 won't work.
• Something specifying clothing type works, sometimes it doesn't.  Like when I tried to fit Maiden 4 Glove to Akio 5, the glove had some spikes generated.  If I don't specified the clothing as glove, the spikes disappeared.

Make sure I use customize Installation when installing Genesis content

I realized that I have my own directory to story all my Daz content, so when I install Genesis content, instead using the "Use Default Settings", I need to use "customize Installation", and then I need to choose "Choose from a pre-defined list of mapped DAZ Studio Directories".  From there I can choose my "C:/Users/Public/Documents/.." directory, and keep everything in a centralized place.

Continue journey with Daz Studio 4.6

After making sure that Daz Studio 4.6 being installed and working properly on the new machine that I received 2 weeks ago, I kind of ignored Daz Studio until today.  And then I realized that there's no new Genesis model that I could play with.

Turns out I have to install the Install Manager in order to download Genesis Starter and Genesis 2 Female Starter Essentials.

I was also surprised that there's already Aiko 5, Victoria 5 and Victoria 6 exist.  Man so much stuff to catch up.