Howler - Project Dogwaffle Pro!

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  • Hi Deepswing,

    Yes, PD Howler can create 3D terrain and do textures for it and export it as an object that you can import into Daz, where you can then add trees, , lighting, water, etc in Daz. You do have to watch out for texture stretching when you import, so it's often better to either create a much higher resolution texture to import (rather than the original texture), or use shaders. You can also create backgrounds with  with much higher resolution (including skies!), that you could import as well. There are 2 different 3d engines in PD Howler. One is 3d Designer - that is the one that create 3d mountains and some other 3d type objects, and allows you to export them as a wavefront obj. The other is Puppy Ray, which is 3d while you are in the engine, but then only exports a final print of the scene, and it does landscapes only. 

    So, yes, you can create and export a 3d object of a scene (or even create several different pieces of scenery, like a mountain, a gorge, another mountain, a rough hill, etc.) and then import each of those objects into Daz for further manipulation and setting your scene. I hope that helps? If you have other questions or want to see demos, just let us know!

    deepswing said:

    By accident I found out about this PD Howler software, but I am not sure I get it right and if this is the right tool for me to use. In general, I am interested in a tool which helps me building 3D landscapes I have in my head, export them to Daz in full 3D and then build my scenery around it (with some nice HDRI maps for lighting, models, trees, whatever I can think of). Is PD Howler such a software which allows me to do so? What about texturing mountains, grass etc, would you recommend doing it there or to do this in Daz or even somewhere else?

    For now, I mainly use TerraDome 3, but this is very limited to how the landscape looks in the end, as it is "just" some morphs I can play around with. I love it so far, but it doesn't give me 100% freedom for landscapes. 

    Happy to buy it if it fits into my style of creating art. :) 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    I am a Huge Howler fan -  I use it many times a day and love it. 

    Howler has amazing tools for making picturesque landscapes and is an all around amazing (and quite different) art room full of all manner of tools to create stunning art.

    It's in Constant development by a wonderful, inspired artist.

    Part of this includes the ability to create and export 3D landscape that can be textured within, and it's really fun and productive. You can export the OBJ, the textures including several types of map like erosion, bump, etc., and it even has its own ray trace render engine, PuppyRay!

    You should be able to import these OBJ into Daz Studio and wor with them with your HDRI and such - so, yes. You could get a lot out of this.

    Whether this is the right choice for what you're looking for, I can't say. I don't use it for that, so I'm not sure how elegant the process would be.

    This is a good video to help gat an idea - just be patient and follow Philip as he walks through. Speaking of which, in the beginning (after the intro images), once he starts talking, check out the color pallet on the right. That is an actual pallet that we can use to grab colors from. We can make our own too, and there are also All of the traditional color picking options and a whoole lot more. Painting in Dogwaffle (any version) is a real Blast!!!

    Now, this is an older video so keep in mind that the interface is much more elegant than this now. It has a whole new API (coding language? way over my head!) and a lot more flexibility and features, but this is the tool for doing what you are looking to do, I think.

    It works for making a lot of different types of height map based objects - let your imagination do the walking!

  • There is a free webinar coming up if you would like to see PD Howler in action and be able to ask questions of one of the developers:

    https://digitalartlive.com/event/fun-with-height-maps/

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    Hmmm... so that'll be 3pm my time. I'll try my best to attend!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,083
    edited February 2021

    Dartanbeck said:

    Hmmm... so that'll be 3pm my time. I'll try my best to attend!

    +1 - I am staying on the road, so to speak, so have only had intermittant internet.  Have tried to make the most of when I have had access.  Have missed a couple DAL webinars that I really wanted to attend.  Will try to make this one if I can get somewhere convenient and reliable for a long stretch from 3pm on.  RE: the Howler topic is heightmaps and I even posted some Carrara heightmap WIPs in the Lil Side Render thread.

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • Awesome! Look forward to "seeing' you both there!

     

  • Webinar starting now!  See you there if you can make it!

     

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,083

    It was good.  Thanks for the reminder.

  • So glad you got to attend! Are you a member of Digital Art Live Studio? It's free to join and there are lots of discussions there, and you get head's up on webinars and such. And if you are there and I'm just not matching up Handles to Names..Then I'm sorry! lol

    See you around!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    I was still out of town, so I missed it. Bummer.

    This is really cool! Philip's results from the webinar?

  • Philip's pre webinar examples. He showed this during the webinar. Sorry you missed it. He talked a lot about the animation timelines.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    ...which is where I live in Howler!

    I'm still not very good at animating in PuppyRay or 3D Designer due t lack of experience. I'll have to play more and also look for this session as a Digital Art Live purchase in the future.

  • Trying to get back on the Video horse. Got a new recording software (or two, I'm trying out). Nothing super special, just putting my shoulder to the wheel.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    Wow. Great deal on Howler 13 in the Daz Store!

    As well as the cool tutorials by Tiffanie Gray and Philip Staiger!

    Digital Art Live

  • Hey! Make sure you post that in the other PD Howler thread, too, which is in the public....oh wait, it's not a commercial thread.  Maybe I need to start a Howler commercial thread....

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    tiffanie_gray_aceaa3bc71 said:

    Hey! Make sure you post that in the other PD Howler thread, too, which is in the public....oh wait, it's not a commercial thread.  Maybe I need to start a Howler commercial thread....

    Do it!!! And post a link to it here!

    Good idea Tiffanie

  • I'm looking and not sure where to put it!? 

    It looks like the 3rd party software is specific to 3d stuff.
    I'm technically not a Daz PA (my things are through Digital Art Live) so that category doesn't work.

    The commons? I guess? Hmmm.

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    That's been an ongoing struggle. Philip and myself have asked Daz for a Project Dogwaffle forum here, but nothing ever came of it. So I keep this one here. I need to have a place to share my love for Howler, and I am first and foremost a Carrara Artist Howler/Waffler! ;)

  • There is the one in the Art Studio area... But, that isn't commercial.

    I suppose I could start it in the PA forum, because PD Howler is a PA, right? No, I guess it's Staigerman that it's under.
    I suppose I could start it in the PA forum and they could just move it! lol
    Or I could try to start it in the 3rd party software, or just software area....hmmm
    Choices, choices... I'm going to think on it for a day or so.

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    The only people who see the PA forum are PAs

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    I have a feeling that Art Studio is the best option right now. Maybe ask chohole if she has better ideas?

  • Message sent. Will wait to see what she says!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    Maybe she'll get us a Project Dogwaffle entry in the Software forums! I certainly wouldn't put it past her! If she can, I bet she does :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    That's something that Dan, Philip and I have been dreaming of as long as I've been a Waffler/Howler - actually even before that. I started the first of these threads as a thinking box when I was considering it as an option. 

    I must say, I am So Glad that I remembered seeing those old wacky ads here at Daz 3d about Project Dogwaffle when I told Adobe to go fly a kite.

     

    I remember that, at first Dogwaffle was such a different way of working that it took me some time to wrap my head around it - so I was glad to have Corel's PaintShop Pro as a comfort blanket. Now, I don't even remember the last time I've launched PSP. I love Howler! It's like having my own Art class full of all of the wonderful tools right on my computer.

     

    I've become so proficient at what "I" need to use it for that I don't even need to think about it anymore - just go in and do it, even if I have to find some filter that I've never used before. Yet most of this incredible software remains undiscovered or unpracticed. But that's how it has to be, right?

     

    Take you and me, for example. Both of us have entirely different muscle-memory when it comes to using Howler (or any Dogwaffle product - I have them all, don't you?), yet we're both happily jamming out art and smiling about it - showing it to our friends!

  • I totally agree with you! And Phillip does different things than I or you do, each of us (and other users!) having their own favorite styles and it works amazing with Howler.

    So, I talked to Chohole and Richard, and by the rules I can't do a "commercial" thread until I am a certified PA myself. BUT, they did say that I could promote my videos when they were on sale here at Daz, and that I could promote the software when it was on sale, with no issues. So, as we have done before, we can continue to do.

    And I guess that means, that I need to really get off my duff and get some products in the store, so that I am a PA and then can start a commercial thread for Howler! Argh! lol

     

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,229

    Well, a "Commercial Thread" is really nothing more than another part of the forum to put a thread - a part of the forum where anything can exist. 

    What we really need is a Dogwaffle forum! From all of the activity that goes on with masking tape and bandaids behind the scenes, I can assure that the Dogwaffle forum would be a busy place!

     

    Yeah, we all work differently. It was a tall honor when Phil wanted to demonstrate some animation techniques for a Photoshop seminar, so he asked if I could make him an animated star ship render - then he got me an invite to the seminar. His recent Digital Art Live product on Animating with Howler has some of those techniques in it too, which makes me proud! Our whole family of Dogwafflers truly is a fun and special bunch!

  • Since PD Howler 2023 is Fresh in the store and people will start asking things....

    There is a free webinar overview next Saturday 25, 2023. https://digitalartlive.com/event/new-pd-howler-2023-powerful-for-painting-animating-particles-and-3d/

    I'm also always happy to answer questions about PD Howler, and my YouTube tutorials about the older version are at YouTube - ImmortalMomentsArt

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,083

    Thanks for the notice, Tiffanie.  The link has three levels of tickets for the webinar.  Does the free ticket include the entire session? Or, just the first half?  Not all DAL events have the same structure.

  • Hi Diomede!

    The Free ticket gets you into the whole thing (1 1/2 hours), just not recording or bonuses.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,083

    Thanks

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