[LINKS] Archive of useful standalone 2D and DAZ & Poser tools

Comments

• IceEmpress Posts: 639

  January 2014 edited April 2014

  3D TEXTURE CREATION AND EDITING
  Geneica Viewer
  Description: Generous and useful free advertising tool (spam free!) from Spiralgraphics for viewing (and rendering) texture presets from Genetica with very basic editing (seed/variation + hue/saturation/brightness/contrast/intensity and scale) Some texture preset files include mask textures, which allow them to be used as LIE presets in the UbS2 if you have that (in order to render properly, you will need to render said textures with "render color only" and "render effect maps" on) Note that the EULA states that you must credit Filterforge if you redistribute their rendered textures-- you may also need permission from the texture creator. Many of the presets come with 3D maps, though the majority are given names such as "substance" "top mask" and "weathering"-- you have to use your discretion as to what type of texture these are, and you may need to render a reference pic with "color only" turned off. Genetica Viewer does not render normalmaps, though.
  http://www.spiralgraphics.biz/viewer/download_viewer.htm

  Wood Workshop
  Description: A fully functional but advanded wood texture creator by Spiral Graphics (the makers of Genetica) based on the same node-based editor found in Genetica. Wood Workshop is considered superior to Genetica for the creation of wood textures (warning: does not create bark textures!) Like Genetica Viewer, it is a highly useful and generous advertising tool (similar to 3D model freebies by artists like Sickleyield, 3DCheapskate/3DC, XFrog, etc.) Wood Workshop can create both raw and patterned wood textures (patterned as in wood tiles and parquet.) A downside is that it cannot create bump/specular/displacement/normal maps, though this problem can be solved by saving your Wood Workshop preset then copy/pasting the GTX file into one of your Genetica Viewer preset folders (In Windows 7, your Wood Workshop files are located in Programfilesx86 under "Spiral Graphics", while your Genetica Viewer preset folders are located in Program Files under "Spiral Graphics")
  http://www.spiralgraphics.biz/ww_overview.htm

  MaPZone
  Another (though less known) free node-based texture creator.
  http://www.mapzoneeditor.com/?PAGE=HOME

  Neo-Texture Edit
  Another (less known) free node-based texture creator.
  http://neotextureedit.sourceforge.net/

  Smart-Normal
  Description: An adobe Flash plugin which can generate great normalmaps from images-- so far it creates the highest quality normalmaps that I've seen in free software (I'd compare them to Crazybump). Unfortunately, it possesses a MAJOR drawback-- it creates seams along edges of the image and is therefore unusable for tiles, be they seamless or non-seamless.
  http://www.smart-page.net/smartnormal/

  Picturenaut (HDR image editing/tonemapping)
  http://www.hdrlabs.com/picturenaut

  2D POSTWORK OR PHOTOGRAPH-DERIVED TEXTURE CREATION
  Note: It is required that you apply a gaussian blur bet. .5 to 1.5 to the image before running the filter. It is also recommended that you open the Brightness-Contrast window and lower the brightness while increasing the contrast.
  If you are not familiar with Raster Editor programs, these functions can be found in the following Dropdown Windows:
  Photoshop: Enhance>> Adjust Lighting >> Brightness/Contrast; Filters >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur
  GIMP: Colors >> Brightness/Contrast; Filters >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur

  GIMP
  Description: Gimp is a paint/raster image editor which possesses a built-in Normalmap generator under Filters >> Maps, as well as a built-in Bumpmap and seamless tiling generators (seamless tiler may require manual enhancement to remove seams and enhance detail near edges)
  http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

  Useful GIMP plugins:
  NOTE: All listed filters can be found either packaged with GIMP itself or as part of the GIMP 2.8 Extension collection.
  The Windows installer for the GIMP 2.8 Extension collection can be found here:
  http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimpextensions/files/GIMP_2.8/GIMP_Extensions_v2.8_latest.exe/download

  Useful image cleanup plugins:
  --G'Mic: EXE plugin with a whole slew of filters, including several sharpening and blurring filters.
  --Grain Colors: Splits the image into a despeckled, unsharpened color and a grain + sharpness layer. Fairly useful for making bumpmaps and the like from a diffuse texture.
  --Separate Lightness: (useful filter which separates color and brightness layers-- useful for cleaning up pixelated JPEGS.
  --Wavelet Decompose: (useful filter which separates sharpness and other components into different layers-- useful for manually cleaning up pixelated or grainy JPEGS)
  http://registry.gimp.org/node/13439
  --Wavelet Denoise: (useful filter which removes noise from image-- I find it confusing and difficult to use however)
  http://registry.gimp.org/node/13549
  --Mehdi Noise Shampoo (Photoshop filter which cleans up noise/pixelation while preserving black lines/borders. Requires PSPI to use in GIMP, which is included in the GIMP 2.8 Extensions collection)
  http://www.mehdiplugins.com/english/noiseshampoo.htm
  --Xero Graphics Clarity (Photoshop filter which sharpens the image without the typical oversaturation and overexposure found in most sharpening filters. It's in the free classic downloads collection *bottommost link on page* Requires PSPI to use in GIMP, which is included in the GIMP 2.8 Extensions collection)
  http://www.xero-graphics.co.uk/downloads.html

  USEFUL PAINTSHOP PRO PLUGINS
  PSP Vector to Object Script
  This is a script for Paintshop Pro 12 and up (possibly works in 11) which creates 3D cookie-cutouts out of a vector image and exports it as an .obj and .mtl file. As I do not yet have PSP, so I cannot vouch for how well this works, and there's only one comment on the page.
  http://morganrlewis.deviantart.com/art/Vector-to-OBJ-Script-for-PSP-157731780

  As an addition to the above:
  Vector decompose (Decomposes non-connected sections of a vector into separate vectors-- see example image for details)
  http://morganrlewis.deviantart.com/art/Vector-Decompose-Script-68790555
  Again, I haven't tested this as I don't have PSP, yet.

  3D MODELLING PROGRAMS

  Sculptris
  Pixlogic's much more limited variant of ZBrush. Like ZBrush, it is a 3D sculpting tool, but far more limited.
  http://pixologic.com/sculptris/

  Blender
  The most famous and best by far open-source 3D program. There's a lot of things Blender can't do as well as other programs (e.g. RealityPaint/Blacksmith3D), and it can't handle big textures too well, but it's an excellent alternative to expensive programs like 3DS Studio and Autodesk Maya.
  The downside is that Blender's interface/workflow has a steep learning curve that many have difficulty with. Blender Wiki's tutorials do help with this, however.
  Blender also features innumerable script add-ons, many of which you'll have to hunt down on your own-- these include plugins capable of importing and exporting various 3D model formats.
  http://www.blender.org/

  Teleblender
  Mcasual, aka Mcj, has been both gracious and ingenious enough to create a plugin which allows one to export a DAZ Studio scene to Blender's Cycles Engine-- it is still in the Beta. Note that because this uses a different render engine, DAZ Studio shaders, cameras, and lights WILL NOT work in it-- it is meant to make use of Blender's Cycles materials and lights, some of which are superior to 3Delight shaders (built-in default render engine in DAZ Studio)
  Note again this thread is NOT for posting DAZ Studio scripts-- I am merely posting this one as it is an accessory for Blender.
  https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts3/mcjteleblender2
  An add-on package can be found here:
  http://www.sharecg.com/v/72122/browse/8/Script/Mods-for-mcjTeleblender-DAZ-Studio-to-Blender

  Meshlab
  An open-source 3D modelling program-- far more limited than Blender, but is still one of the favorites among the 3D community, generally ranked #3 behind Blender and Wings3D.
  http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

  Plantstudio
  Free program for creating herbaceous plants.
  http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/PlantStudio/
  Noggin has provided many plant parameter files: (click "free materials & resources" then "parameter files for Plant Studio")
  http://www.nigelpickering.mistral.co.uk/
  as has Dreamview:
  http://www.varian.net/dreamview/dreamtools/plant/params/index.html

  Sketchup
  Google sketchup is a simple program which creates models via 3D line drawing-- the demo is only free for a measly 8 hours however. Google also has a database of fan submitted models-- the vast majority are low-poly crap, but a few are very good-- (unfortunately, some are so high poly that I can't get them to open in DAZ Studio O_o) Even after your free trial expires, you can still download and export models to both dae (collada) and obj format. (and even among the crap, some might be useful-- I know of nowhere else to find a free starfruit/carambola/bilimbi model, for example) There are some very high poly tree models (including a Bilimbi/Carambola tree" that I have been unable to import into DAZ Studio in .obj form as of yet (crashes the program at 99%.)
  Poseray (see 3D conversion program section) can be used to fix one of the distortion problems found in some models when imported into DAZ Studio.
  http://www.sketchup.com/

  Wings 3D
  A free but somewhat simple 3D modelling program. I'm told the interface has a fairly easy learning curve compared to most 3D programs. Herminio Nieves/Sevein and Epony/Tessier Jacky use Wings3D to create most of their props.
  http://www.wings3d.com/?page_id=84

  Bonus Mention: Our PA Pal Ignus Serpentus has a collection of nice Filterforge presets available. His page can be found here:
  http://www.filterforge.com/filters/author16638-page1.html

  Bonus#2:
  Scott Warren's tutorial on "Recovering Detailed Normals from Photo Textures" (note: though labor-intensive and not for novices, this procedure is by far one of the best for creating seamless normalmaps-- the tutorial makes use of the Nvidia Tools filter for Photoshop, but can be used with GIMP's filters as well. Beware however that every image editor program produces slightly different results-- for example, Photoshop's overlay layer style results in oversaturated colors compared to Gimp, while Gimp's hue and color layer styles are more likely to oversaturate dark/blackish areas.)
  http://cgtextures.com/content.php?action=tutorial&name=normalmap

  Bonus #3:
  This is a short summary of texture equivalents in other 3D programs. It is intended as a reference guide for those importing models exported from other programs which are accompanied by a set of textures-- as well as for those who wish to utilize Nobiax's (aka Yughues on ShareCG) lovely textures. This is NOT a glossary of texture types-- you can find those elsewhere.
  This list is still a work-in-progress.
  Please let me know if any of this information is incorrect.

  General Rule of Thumb: As with DAZ and Poser texture sets, most texture creators do not indicate in the texture's title whether a texture is a color or strength map-- though usually you can tell based on whether the texture is in color or grayscale (black & white only)

  --Ambient Occlusion: Ambient strength.
  --Anisotropic: Anisotropy simulates the types of specularity seen in hair, stones like cat's eye and moonstone, and general long-thin specularity that is not simulated by default in most render engines. I do not know if anisotropic maps are compatible with DAZ Studio or not, though they are almost always anisotropic strength maps.
  --Bampu or Bamp: Japanese loanword for "bump".
  --Banpu or Banp: As above-- Japanese loanword for "bump".
  --Color Map: Diffuse color.
  --Cubemap: No equivalent in DAZ or Poser. In some programs, this is used as an alternative to skydomes, but it is NOT compatible with them. If applied incorrectly, it results in vertical "seams" or gaps in parts of the sky (interesting note, this was done intentionally in the game "Return to Mysterious Island" as a special effect, which IMO, though a tad lazy, is quite creative.)
  --Darkmap: Similar to lightmaps (see below), but are based on the subtractive color model (CMYK or cyan, magenta, yellow, and black instead of RGB used in Lightmaps) Darkmaps are combined with the "Base Texture" to darken the model.
  --D-Normalmap: aka Derivitive Normalmap-- a type of normalmap that uses the RGB rather than the CMY colorspace. These are not compatible with DAZ Studio, and you'll be able to tell a D-Normalmap from a regular one as it will be mostly green and red. They look similar to the .bum files from Poser 4.
  --Emissive: I don't think there's an equivalent for this in Poser and DAZ. Emissive maps "create the illusion of a slight aura/corona/glow emission off the surface of an object with high ambience". In Luxus emissive maps are used for area lights (compare to UberArea light, which is used to light up a model/mesh object). However, they usually work just fine in DAZ as ambient color maps.
  --Environment Map: This is usually Reflection Color. However, they are also used in image-based lighting (IBL)
  --Gloss: Specular Strength
  --Glow Map: This one is usually a synonym for an ambient strength or ambient color map. Usually one can tell the difference by looking at the texture-- if it's grayscale, then it probably goes in Ambient Strength; if it's RGB (color), then it goes in Ambient Color. In their native 3D programs, glowmaps are meant to make an object glow in the dark.
  --Height Map: Usually this is a displacement map, but sometimes it's meant as a bump map.
  --Lightmap: I don't think there's an equivalent for this in Poser and DAZ. Lightmaps are typically used for light baking in 3DS Studio and other high-end programs, with the goal of exporting the model to a game engine. Think of it as fake image-based lighting (IBL)-- lightmaps are used as an alternative to dynamic lighting (lighting which changes based on camera angle) Lightmaps are used with a basemap in additive color models (aka additive texture blending) and usually multiplied to lighten the model or parts of it. Theoretically, you might be able to get a similar effect by plugging the texture into ambient color or ambient strength.
  --Metallic Map: This is a special type of reflection map which DAZ does not at this time possess. A metallic map may work just fine as a reflection map, or (in UE2) the Reflection Map 2 if the model or texture set has already been assigned with a reflection map.
  --Opacity Map: Transparency map.
  --Reflective Occlusion: Reflection Strength.
  --Roughness: Usually this is a bumpmap.
  --Specular Color: Specular Map (the color map)
  --Specularity: Specular Color or Strength.
  --Specular Power Map: Specular Strength
  --Spheremap: These are generally light probes-- pictures-- usually in HDR format, of a chrome sphere with a reflected surface over a black background. Light probes are not compatible with DAZ Studio (but they are compatible with Poser and Luxus/Reality) Rarely, a spheremap may be used as the title for a reflect map in Poser-- as this is the name for the environment map shader node in that program.

  Abbreviations:
  AO: Ambient Occlusion (Ambient Strength)
  B: Bump
  Bampu, Bamp, Banpu, or Banp: This is the romanization of the Japanese loanword for "bump".
  C: Diffuse Color
  D: In other 3D programs, usually displacement.
  E: probably environment map (usually reflection color)
  G: In other 3D programs, may stand for either "gloss" or "glow"
  H: In other 3D programs, usually bump, but possibly displacement (see "Heightmap")
  M: "material"-- usually diffuse color.
  Nml: Normalmap
  O: Opacity
  R: May stand for reflection
  S: Specular (usually strength)
  SSS: Subsurface Scattering
  T: Usually stands for transparency-- in very rare instances, it may stand for translucency.
  TL: Translucency-- either color or strength.

  Post edited by IceEmpress on April 2014
• JonnyRay Posts: 1,744

  January 2014 edited December 1969

  Thanks for these links! Much appreciated information.

  One I would add...

  XNormal
  A standalone tool to create normal maps. Works best in the way that normal maps should be created (from high and low resolution object files), however it can also convert bump and displacement maps into normal maps. XNormal Downloads
• Richard Haseltine Posts: 96,712

  January 2014 edited December 1969

  Moved to the Freepozitory because it is an offer of, not a request for, freebies.
• IceEmpress Posts: 639

  January 2014 edited December 1969

  ^^Thank you. I don't know if you moved it before or after I made the request that it be moved to the freepository
• robkelk Posts: 3,259

  January 2014 edited December 1969

  Thank you for taking the time to make this list!

  I have a couple of the missing links for the first post...

  PropViewer:
  http://www.sharecg.com/v/47408/

  IrfanView:
  http://www.irfanview.com/
• mjc1016 Posts: 15,001

  January 2014 edited December 1969

  I think along with GIMP and the other image editing stuff, this fits...a bit of a niche fit, but still something that I find useful on occasion.

  http://www.inkscape.org/en/#front-banner-features

  And probably one of the best file archive (zip) programs...

  http://www.7-zip.org/
• Kerya Posts: 10,943

  January 2014 edited December 1969

  Dizzi's .rsr to .png convertor - it does subfolders too:
  http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/details.php?item_id=57197
• Takeo.Kensei Posts: 1,303

  January 2014 edited December 1969

  I'll add Krita as painting program http://krita.org/

  And Meshlab to manipulate/view 3D mesh http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/
• Lissa_xyz Posts: 6,116

  January 2014 edited February 2014

  Node-based procedural texture editing/creation (similar to Filter Forge/Genetica):
  Neo Texture Edit: http://neotextureedit.sourceforge.net/
  FxGen: http://fxgen.sourceforge.net/ (this one looks confusing as hell)
  MaPZone: http://www.mapzoneeditor.com/?PAGE=HOME

  Picturenaut- HDR Imaging/Tonemapping: http://www.hdrlabs.com/picturenaut

  
  Texture Studio 1.14: Seamless texture creation. http://opensim-creations.com/2013/01/31/texture-studio/

  FBX Converter- Convert OBJ, DXF™, DAE, and 3DS files to or from multiple versions of the FBX format.: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=10775920

  Blender: http://www.blender.org/
  Wings3D: http://www.wings3d.com/
  Sculptris: http://pixologic.com/sculptris/

  I personally use Inkscape for vector images (linked above by mjc), but just for the sake of completion...
  Microsoft Expression Design 4- Vector based editor: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36180

  Also, Ignis is a she. ;)

  Post edited by Lissa_xyz on February 2014
• Faeryl Womyn Posts: 3,273

  January 2014 edited December 1969

  A lot of people use ZBrush to create morphs for the various models and can't get what they are looking for with the morph packages that are available. Not everyone can afford ZBrush, however, there is a similar program (less options but still very doable) that is free.

  http://pixologic.com/sculptris/
• Mattymanx Posts: 6,879

  January 2014 edited January 2014

  Geometry Stripper:

  This program performs the following process:
  1) Removes the geometry information from a prop (pp2) file.
  2) Saves the geometry information to an obj file.
  3) Adds a reference to the obj file back to the prop file.

  This program will also work with props which have multiple objects within it: each set of geometry information is saved to a separate obj file.

  http://www.vanishingpoint.biz/freeitemdetail.asp?FreeItemID=421

  MAT Pose Edit BETA 4.2:

  Older mat file editor

  http://www.mediafire.com/download/6u9r8cw8bp264eg/MAT Pose Edit BETA4_2.zip

  Post edited by Mattymanx on January 2014
• mjc1016 Posts: 15,001

  January 2014 edited December 1969

  Mattymanx said:

  Geometry Stripper:

  This program performs the following process:
  1) Removes the geometry information from a prop (pp2) file.
  2) Saves the geometry information to an obj file.
  3) Adds a reference to the obj file back to the prop file.

  This program will also work with props which have multiple objects within it: each set of geometry information is saved to a separate obj file.

  http://www.vanishingpoint.biz/freeitemdetail.asp?FreeItemID=421

  Thanks, I knew that something like that existed, but couldn't think of the name of it...sure beats doing it by hand (usually several times, because I screw something up the first few times through...)
• IceEmpress Posts: 639

  February 2014 edited December 1969

  Anyone else have any programs they'd like me to add to the list?
• IceEmpress Posts: 639

  February 2014 edited December 1969

  Just added RTEncoder to the list. I need to know if anything in the paragraph is incorrect.
• IceEmpress Posts: 639

  March 2014 edited December 1969

  Alright guys, I need links to free STANDALONE particle physics system apps. I'd look for it myself but I'm not sure where/how to look.
• WandW Posts: 2,783

  March 2014 edited December 1969

  Morph Manager, an oldie but a goodie... :)

  http://www.morphography.uk.vu/dlutility.html

  Dizzi's RSR convertor (Windows)...

  http://neocron.webspaceforme.net/alforum/index.php?topic=1489.0

  CR2 Builder...

  http://www.geocities.co.jp/Bookend-Ohgai/9483/tool/CR2Builder/index.html
• rwbergerson Posts: 4

  August 2014 edited December 1969

  Thanks for posting the links they are very helpful
• dakkuuan Posts: 305

  August 2014 edited December 1969

  Might want to add Sprite Sheet to GIMP's useful plugins. http://registry.gimp.org/node/20943
  As the name implys it lets you render animations frame by frame and use the plugin to create a sprite sheet, for use with creating games.
• Speculativism Posts: 77

  January 2015 edited December 1969

  Deep Paint was a commercial programme sold by a company called Right Hemisphere. Version 2.0 of this software eventually became freeware. It is a stand alone painting programme which paints in layers (diffuse, alpha, bump, shine...) and creates a layered 2D image which looks like 3D because it has an adjustable light source which shines across the bump in the paint. There are lots of brushes and textures and these are completely customisable. It also comes with a photoshop compatible plugin (8bf) which enables Deep Paint to send the image to Photoshop (or Gimp or Bryce or any other software which can use 8bf type of plugins) and receive the image back again when updated.

  Grab it from here: http://grafnet.com.pl/Filters/Deep-Paint

  

  

  deep_paint.jpg

  640 x 480 - 243K
• MilosGulan Posts: 1,950

  January 2015 edited December 1969

  Thank You, this looks amazing :) I will have to check trough the list.
• Speculativism Posts: 77

  January 2015 edited December 1969

  There are several useful freeware programmes available at http://www.debugmode.com/. There are 4 programmes: Wax, Wink, Winmorph and Frameserver. The author, Satish Kumar Sampath, developed these projects a few years ago and now occasionally does updates.

  Debugmode Wax is a slightly buggy non-linear video editor. It is unusual amongst video editors in that the video frames are held in a 3D space. This means that the video can be rotated in any direction, including the "Z" axis. Also, 3D objects can be imported in 3DS format, Quake MD2 or Milkshape MS3d. The 3D objects can use an imported texture or the video frame itself can be the surface texture. So that makes it possible to, for instance, export a 3DS shape from Bryce, position that shape against an animated video backdrop, use another animation for the surface of the object and have the object move 3-dimensionally in relation to the backdrop. There are lots of other possibilities. The video editor has its own special effects and transitions. It is also able to use VDUB plugins (if you don't know VDUB you should check it out, it is another useful tool for a video toolbox) and Freeframe plugins (which are available from Sourceforge at http://freeframe.sourceforge.net/. As I said before, this software is slightly buggy. However, its range of unusual functions make it a useful way of doing some tricky video tricks cheaply (i.e: free).

  Debugmode Winmorph creates video transitions by morphing (in the sense of stretching pixels to make one image "morph" into another.

  Debugmode Frameserver speeds up a video creation pipeline by enabling one programme to send video frames directly to another programme. Works with Debugmode Wax, Adobe Premiere and a few other video editors.

  Debugmode Wink creates presentations and is an alternative to Powerpoint.
• Speculativism Posts: 77

  January 2015 edited December 1969

  OpenFX is an open source ongoing project to edit 3D objects and animations. It's not as advanced in some ways as Blender or Hexagon but it is open source and gradually coming along. One interesting feature is the abilty to "explode" a mesh object or, in other words, to move the vertices of the chosen object outward randomly to create a destroyed shape. Weird.

  It has its own quirky charm and is worth keeping an eye on.

  OpenFX is available from http://www.openfx.org/.
• Speculativism Posts: 77

  January 2015 edited December 1969

  Did anyone mention MakeHuman? http://www.makehuman.org/
• Aeridis Posts: 10

  January 2015 edited December 1969

  I JUST discovered an awesome 3D tool: https://clara.io/

  Build 3D objects on your browser, no downloads needed! It's in beta right now and I haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising!
• Speculativism Posts: 77

  February 2015 edited December 1969

  Google Earth Pro is now free

  
  http://google-latlong.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/google-earth-pro-is-now-free.html
• Speculativism Posts: 77

  February 2015 edited December 1969

  Meshmixer is a fun free tool from Autodesk: http://www.meshmixer.com/
• atticanne Posts: 3,009

  February 2015 edited December 1969

  This thread is cluttering up my computer. Free? I gotta have it right now. Never mind that I probably will never use. I cannot resist downloading. :cheese: