The latest version of DAZ Studio (my all time favourite render-and-messing-about-in-3D engine of choice) is out now, and the good news is that the Pro version is still 100% completely free.
Ok, that’s not the only good news. The real good news is that DAZ Studio is even better than ever, especially if you define “better” as meaning “faster, more stable than ever before and contains a slew of shiny new features to tease your pleasure centres”. Which I do.
I’m still working through the new features (full list here) to try them out but three things immediately caught my attention:
- A 64-bit version that actually works! I’ve not had good experience with the 64-bit version of DAZ Studio in the past, preferring to stick to using the 32-bit release even on Windows 8 Pro 64. It’s either been less stable than an unstable thing on unstable ground, or just plain refused to work with even the most well behaved of plugins. This time around though, DAZ Studio 64-bit is lightning fast and stable as a rock. So far, anyway. This is definitely a Good Thing.
- New Render engine! DAZ Studio 4.6 uses the very latest 3Delight render engine which is far faster than the previous edition (especially when it comes to fully raytraced renders), and is optimised to make full use of your graphics cards capabilities. Which is nice.
- Subsurface shading! DAZ Studio has supported (and implemented) Subsurface Scattering for ages, but this is a new implementation which allows full subsurface shading to be added to any existing surface. This is especially terrific for skin textures (skin is the single most complex texture around) as all of your existing characters and textures can be given a whole new lease of life and reality. Expect a full tutorial soon!
There’s more – much more – including a full update to the Starter Essentials pack so you get the latest release of Genesis along with sets of hair and clothing to get you started. It’s all good stuff.
Here’s a quick 5-minute (from start to finish, including render time – I told you DAZ Studio 64-bit was fast!) render to show you the pretty new Subsurface shading on an existing skin texture. The legs have come out a little too shiny for my liking, but that’s easily tweakable. Default settings are called defaults for a reason, y’know.
I’m having trouble with my Daz Install Manager. Not sure if it’s my worse-than-dial-up connection at work, so I’ll try again at home tonight. Looking forward to trying this out!
I haven’t gotten to grips with the Daz Install Manager yet, so you’re not alone.
As far as I could tell 3Delight does very little to use GPU technologies, unless you mean the open GL preview and render options? I haven’t tried out the Open GL render since before 4.5, so it might be a good time to go have another look. The new features and free subsurface shader by Age of Armour is great. Can’t say I’ve experienced any recuring instability with any of the 4x + releases I’ve used so far. Though, I hear the program tends to be more stable on PCs.
Terrible. I can’t register my copy of Daz Studio 6.0.18 and can’t register the “fit” plugin, so none of the 200$ worth of wardrobe fits on the Genesis or Victoria 4 characters. The software is useless.
The Current DAZ Studio is at version 4.6. There is no Version 6.0.18 as far as I know. Did you download the proper free product?
Is this program Free free or just free for 30 days and it locks up? Any intel?
It’s 100% free and unrestricted in any way. No time limits, nothing. Enjoy!
Are you sure is not a trap or something, sounds really umbelieveble to me.
The only catch, if you can call it that – it is released for free in the hope that you will become hooked and spend lots of money buying new characters, clothing, props and poses at the DAZ 3D Store :D
There’s no in-app advertising in DAZ Studio either – but if you do get into making images it’s a fair bet you’ll end up at http://daz3d.com pretty quickly.