SILO Modeling For Beginners (Advanced Users Welcome Too)
Novica
Posts: 23,887
I'd like to explore Silo because from what I read, and the vendors' input who use it, I think it sounds like fun.
In the spirit of helping others, but also for myself (I learn best by reviewing material) this thread starts my exploration of Silo from the very beginning (after its installed) and covers some of the basics of navigating through Silo. Note that everything about a process or tool will not be covered, this goes in logical order as I go along, and builds from there. However, advanced users are welcome to contribute and take the concept further. Advanced users will hopefully guide me through any areas where I get stuck.
Anyone can help compile a list of useful resources. They will be consolidated into one post near the beginning of the thread.
Middle and advanced users can also post what they are doing without sidetracking the process because I will have the Contents (step by step order) in the first posts and add to them as I go.
I will be assuming you have Silo and while I will post some screenshots, the verbal description will be very clear for you to navigate to where you need to go and step-by-step screenshots will often be available. If you don't have Silo, the first screenshots will keep you in the loop so you can still learn how to use Silo and see if you might be interested in using it.
The screenshots MAY NOT be used reproduced without permission- but feel free to right click and save them to make tip sheets for your personal use.
I strongly recommend the book 3D Modeling In Silo (The Official Guide) which is helping fill in the gaps from online tutorials, the wiki, and forum research. It's so beautifully done- easy to follow and well worth the money. It goes into more depth than what is covered here.
Feel free to also post any Silo deals (when it goes on sale) and your Silo creations. So for me, it's time to have a Silo Summer!
Come participate, ask questions (there are no dumb questions), help us out, and share your experiences both good and bad!
SPECIAL THANKS TO Frank0314, Mattymanx, and Wilmap for generously donating their time and expertise to help steer new users in the right direction. We appreciate you very much!
EDIT: JUNE 2019: The files are no longer available from the book (3D Modeling In Silo) but have been located by HeavyRay. Thanks for sharing the information with us @HeavyRay It is discussed in this post- download them while you can get them!
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Table Of Contents
These progress in a logical order.
Selection & Manipulator Hotkeys /Selection Styles (Paint/Area/Lasso)
Setting Up Viewports / Switching Between Viewports
Accessing Create Menu / Hotkeys For Cube & Cylinder
Zoom, Rotate, & Pan / Mirror Geometry / Symmetry Toggle Mode
Instance Mirroring / Set Object Axis
Face Loops / Split Loops / Glide
Cut Tool / Combine Primitives
Reference Materials
Append Polygon /Ghosted Shade Mode / Wireframe Mode / Tweak / Merge
Save / Subdivision / Unsubdivision
Adding a Vertex / Combining Objects
Bridging
Hotkeys For Silo
Not all inclusive- these are the ones covered so far:
Menu tip: Right click viewport pane and menu will popup.
Selection:
A=Vertex
S=Edge
D=Face
G=Multi
F=Object
Manipulators:
W=Move
R=Rotate
E=Scale
Q=Multi
Views
1=Perspective
2=Front
3=Bottom
4=Left
5=Top
6=Right
7=Back
X, Y, Z translations: X is red, Y is green, Z is blue. (X left to right, Y up and down, Z front and back.)
Views: Moving Your Views
Zoom: Alt + right mouse
Rotate: Alt + left mouse
Pan: Alt + scroll wheel or middle mouse
Copy (Ctrl + C) and Paste (Ctrl + P)
Cube, Load: Alt+C
Cut: X
Cylinder, Load: Alt+Y
Deselect: Alt + Shift (For example, if you click on a surface and didn't mean to do that.)
Mirror Geometry: Alt + Shift + N
Polygon, Append: P
Tweak: Ctrl (uses whatever manipulator you have selected. Not found in any menu!)
Save: Ctrl + S
Select Loop: Alt + E
Slide Tool: J
Soft Selection: Alt + Shift + S (Roll scroll bar to increase or decrease selection)
Space Bar- to switch views (to go from one view to four, etc)
Split Loop: Shift + X
Subdivide: C (Tip-if edges are too round, add another edge loop near the edge.)
Unsubdivide: V
Other Tips:
Selecting All The Way Through An Object:
Use the Selector with the dotted box (Area Selection)
Hold down the scroll wheel (middle mouse button)
Selection the Visable Faces:
Use the Area Selector and Hold down the Left Mouse while selecting
Selecting Edge Loop
Double click the edge
TIP: You can double click on an edge and move it too.
TIP: Select a face, hold down shift, double click- it selects the entire loop.
Combining Objects:
Found in the Create>Combine Objects
Reference Links
CG Society Silo Forum
Glen's Silo Basics (Good Starting Point)
Nevercenter Silo Tools Series
Nevercenter Tutorials (Courtesy of Frank0314)
Nevercenter YouTube Channel
From Nevercenter's YouTube, this is the good starter video
Art Collaborations: Ann's Vase Tutorial
Create A Helmet: Tadd Mencer
Discusses Shell.
John Graham's Tutorials
*Not for beginners, but you can see Silo in action
This man really knows software! Check out his video list- over 215 and he knows Nuke, Modo, etc. He, like the others, needs to slow down, but you can pause the video.
Common Tools Part 2 (Apple Pro Training)
Building A Chair (Apple Pro Training)
none01ohone provided this link to Blender shortcuts:
http://www.blenderguru.com/wp-content/uploads/Exclusive/Blender_Cheat_Sheet.pdf
Selection and Manipulator Hot Keys
When you load Silo, you are in Perspective view, one pane.
Silo has easy hot keys to help with the selection of vertices, edges, faces, and the entire object. Keeping this simple: Vertices are the "points" at the end of the edges. (Two edges are connected by a straight line, that is the edge. Faces are the surfaces of the polygons. This is a simple (perhaps not quite technical) explanation.
Shown are the hot keys on the keyboard so you can quickly select what you want. Or, just click what you want!
Likewise, the Manipulator hotkeys allow you to easily go between Move, Rotate, Scale, and Multi- which means the others (Move, Rotate, Scale) are all selected.
Selection Styles
You can choose between Paint (think of freehand, like a paint brush).... Area (drawing a square)... and Lasso (yee-haw, Cowboy!) for selecting the areas you want.
Setting Up Viewports / Switching Between Viewports
As mentioned, when you first load up Silo, there is one big viewport (the viewing area) and that is in Perspective View. The other views/cameras are called orthographic- (Bottom/Top/Left/Right/Front/Back) and they do not change the size of your object in relationship to distance. In other words, when something retreats to the distance, in Perspective view, the side that is away from you gets smaller. Not so with the orthographic cameras.
Silo is a DREAM to switch views. The views relate to numbers on your keyboard. The main one to remember is number ONE. That is your perspective view! Even if you don't have Silo, if you are going to get it, learn these numbers in advance for the Cameras / Views. There are a few more but this gets you the basics:
1=Perspective
2=Front
3=Bottom
4=Left
5=Top
6=Right
7=Back
I memorized the number 1265 because I usually use Perspective / Front / Right / Top. (I know, some of you may be left viewers, I'm just a rightee. Just substitute in 4 for these next steps.)
Setting up the four panes is advisable- because you can switch back and forth to one view (probably Perspective) SO FAST. How?
Hit the Down Arrow. You go from Perspective (one view) by default, to 4 viewing panes. To get back to one view, hit the SPACE BAR.
You can just use SPACE BAR to go back and forth from one view to four.
So, hit the down arrow, and you'll see 4 viewing panes. The default Camera, Perspective, is on the upper left. It does NOT change.
Now, select a pane and LEFT CLICK it. It is selected. Type in the number of the view you want. I have Right (number 6) in that upper right corner pane, so I typed in "6." The minute you type in the number, the pane camera changes.
Repeat for the other panes. When you're done, hit SPACE BAR and you're back to one pane. Anytime you want to pop back and forth, think, "SPACE BAR!"
Note: whatever pane you are in when you hit Space Bar again to return to one view, will be the view. So if I am in four panes and have Bottom selected, if I hit Space Bar again to go back to single view, I will be in Bottom. That's why it's important to remember that number 1 is Perspective view- you don't even have to click the single pane, just by typing "1" your single pane view will change!
(The reason why you have to click the pane in the four view is because, DUH, you have to identify which pane you want to work with.)
Accessing Create Menu
Hotkeys for Cube & Cylinder
To quickly load a Cube, just use Alt + C.
To quickly load a Cylinder, it's Alt + Y.
(I remember that one because Y is the second letter in "Cylinder." And of course, "C" is for "Cube.")
The first 2 screenshots are self explanatory. Going to the upper left of your Silo, you'll see the Create Menu. Click on it and the options will appear. Opt stands for Option and that's where you enter specifics such as width, height, depth, etc.
TIP: A fast way to call up that menu- RIGHT CLICK in your viewport and the menu will appear. (See third screenshot.)
So, you've learned:
*Alt + C creates a Cube.
*Alt + Y creates a Cylinder.
*Create Menu is where you go to load primitives and pre-made meshes. You can access it from the upper left, or simply right click in the viewport.
*OPT stands for options.
Zoom, Rotate, & Pan
Mirror Geometry
Symmetry Toggle Mode
You can zoom, rotate, and pan your view by doing the following (and you are NOT moving your object.)
Zoom: Alt + right mouse
Rotate: Alt + left mouse
Pan: Alt + scroll wheel or middle mouse
Mirror Geometry is fun!
Keeping this simple, when you think of mirroring, think symmetry. You are creating geometry similar to what currently exists. You can work on one side and the effect will apply to the mirrored side. Mirror Geometry actually creates new polygon geometry, which is different than Instance Mirroring which are "ghost" polygons that do not actually exist.
To Mirror Geometry, (create a duplicate of your entire object) SELECT YOUR OBJECT (hotkey F and click on your object.)
Go to Modify>Mirroring>Mirror Geometry. (TIP: If for some reason you have messed up the Tolerance by experimenting, in OPT put Tolerance back to 0.001)
It also turns on symmetry, so any changes made to one side of your model will change the other side in the same manner.
If you want to disable the symmetry of the two sides- Modify>Mirroring>Symmetry Toggle Mode.
A few tips from videos- before you mirror, go to Top View and put your object neatly in a quad (if possible.) When OPT comes up for selecting which axis you want to mirror, use the XYZ manipulator tool to select the side. (X is red) Y (green) Z (blue)
Instance Mirroring
Set Object Axis
Only the original side will actually be editable. The mirroring is centered on the object's axis. So let's move the axis to where we want it:
First, select a SINGLE VERTEX where you want the center of the mirror (think of it as the place of connection, where the two halves will meet.) To select a vertex, remember that is keyboard "A" or just click on the Vertex Selection at the bottom of the viewport. It's the first square. (See screenshot.)
Go to the top left/middle menu- Selection>Set Object Axis.
Second, go to Modify>Mirroring>Instance Mirror Toggle, and you will have the shapes connected below. The manipulator will be located where the forms connect.
EDIT: Thought you'd like to know: To turn off the Instance Mirroring, go to Modify>Mirroring>Instance Mirror Toggle>Opt and Toggle Mirror.
CLICK TO ENLARGE WHEN YOU SEE SMALLER IMAGES :)
Interesting: Related Link:
Opinions On Using Instance Mirroring Instead Of Mirror Geometry
http://www.polycount.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-62221.html
Face Loops / Split Loops
Glide
Face loops are quads which are together end to end, they come back around like a track, forming a loop, hence the name. You can guess what an edge loop is.
If you want to practice dividing up Face Loops:
Create a primitive (go to the Create Menu, or right click the viewport as previously mentioned) and select ONE vertical edge.
Modify>Split Loop will cut that edge in half ALL AROUND THE LOOP. The hotkey which you really should learn, is Shift + X. You'll use it a lot.
TIP: If you hover over an edge while in Edge Selection, and do Split Loop (Shift + X) it will do the split all the way around too.
Which faces you select will yield different results- if you select two faces next to each other (or a single edge) you get the entire loop cut as mentioned above.
However, what if you only want to select SOME of the faces in the loop? What if you don't want to click each one? (And you must hold down SHIFT while clicking more than one face, btw)
If you have a long loop and want to quickly select some of the faces, click the ones on each end of the section you want (and leave the ones in the middle alone.) Then simply go to Selection>Select Loop. It will select the ones in the middle for you!
Hotkey for Select Loop is Alt + E. (It's another goody to memorize.)
Now, let's say you don't want the new edge to cut through the middle of your vertical edge. No problem. Hold down on that hotkey (Shift + X) and you will see "Glide" appear. By moving your mouse (I found horizontally made for a smoother gliding motion) you can put that new edge wherever you want.
TIP: You can double click on an edge and move it too.
TIP: Select a face, hold down shift, double click- it selects the entire loop.
Edit: You can also use the menu Modify>Split Loop and the Glide tool will automatically trigger- you'll see the little yellow sphere out in the viewport and you just click/drag. Hit Enter or Esc to finish your changes.
You can also use Modify>Slide or press J for the Slide tool.
SEE NEXT POST FOR CUT TOOL- it's great for when you want to create localized edges- in other words, you don't want to do a complete loop.
Cut Tool
Combine Objects
While it would be easy to get carried away using Cut, remember it creates new edges every time it is used. If you have something selected before you activate Cut, it knows to work on the selection. If you don't have anything selected, whatever you click on gets pinpointed.
Modify>Cut or the shortcut X. (I love X- such an EASY shortcut.)
Your cursor should change to an arrowhead of two dull gray colors.
Screenshot 1: Your first click will make a green dot. You can hold down your mouse and wherever you drag it, you will see a thin line showing where the edge will be made if you were to click and add the next dot (vertex.) Simply click and add your next vertex. When you are done (and be sure your vertexes go back and connect to the first vertex) you can hit ESC to finish. Tip: if it doesn't get you out of the tool for some reason, just hit a different Selection Tool like Object, Edge, Face, whatever.
NOTE: if you are crossing an edge of the next face, click on the edge or the cut won't take. Cut won't jump across faces unless you give it permission to do that- and selecting the edge says, "Go ahead."
See notes below regarding your Instance Mirroring object with regards to doing Cut.
Next, to cut out the selection, be sure you are in Face Selection (Hit D) and click on the face inside your cutout. Hit Delete, and Poof, the face is gone. Look at your ghost Instance Mirrored Cylinder. Section gone! Remember- you can turn off symmetry using Modify>Mirroring>Symmetry Toggle Mode if you do not want the "ghost" image to be affected by the Cut or any other tools you use.
One thing about creating holes- I've read it is not good when using subdivision to have holes in the mesh, that it is better to have solid polygons surrounding an opening. From diagrams I've seen, put your holes ALL THE WAY THROUGH and that should create the desired polygons around the opening. (If I'm wrong, jump in. I'm looking at diagrams of do's and don'ts, and the do's have the hole going all the way through the object.)
EDIT: Worth mentioning: If you use Face Selector (D) and hold down shift and select many consecutive faces (A Face Loop) and Cut (X) the entire loop will be cut in half.
USEFUL VIDEO: Watch how to make a chair, using all these tools. It shows you how to combine the primitives too.
Combining Objects:
Found in the Create>Combine Objects
http://www.nevercenter.com/silo/tutorials/nc_basics/?vidclip=basics_arm_chair.mov
Reference Images
Silo allows the user to bring in drawings, photos, whatever reference materials you want to use. You display them in the other viewports! (Another great reason to learn how to set those up.) Your 3D work obviously has to look good from every angle, so having drawings and references from all angles increases the likelihood of your success.
I'm going to give you a personal tip- use Fotosketcher (.com) to turn your photos into line drawings. Makes it easy if you don't draw, or even if you do- this gives you a fast, clean line. It's also fun for artistic effects, and I've mentioned/shown it several times in my Art Studio threads. Please remember copyright laws.
You obviously can't load reference images into Perspective View, but you can in the other viewport cameras.
Go to the 4 pane camera view (down arrow to first set up, or Shift if already set up.) Click on the viewport you want to use.
Display>Set Viewport Image and pick your image. If you don't like it, Display>Delete Viewport Image.
Helpful hint: if your image comes in too small, don't be disappointed. You can go to Display>Select Viewport Image and then use your manipulator tools (move, zoom, scale) to tweak the image.
When you bring in your reference material, please note if you save your scene, those images are NOT part of it. I repeat- Silo files do not include the images!
TIP: While in an orthogonal camera (NOT Perspective) if you'd like two panes so you can put two reference materials next to each other (Say Front and Right) do this:
Display>Viewport Layout>Vertical Split Layout will give you two large panes. The second one comes up UV 2D, you can just use your numbers to change the views. (2 Front, 6 Right, etc) Be sure you zoom and get the grids of the two views exactly the same. (Using Alt and your mouse buttons. That changes your view, whereas when you use the Display>Select Viewport Image, that changes only the photo/reference drawing.)
I've got the grids lined up, but the important thing is that your drawings (say front and back) are at the same scale, the main features line
up the same on the grid (like the mouth, the bottom of the chin, the nose, the eyes, etc) According to the book "3D Modeling In Silo" the program will center the material and fill the grid, so if they are proportional when you bring them in, you should be good to go. If you need to move the reference material around, just use Display>Select Viewport Image. You then go down to your tools (Scale, Rotate, Move) and put your image where you want it.
I've got to explore this further. Getting the images lined up from different angles to be the same scale may take some practice.
Below, you'll see the giraffe from the front, and the side- but I am only going to be using the side view to demonstrate Append Polygon.
Append Polygon
Ghosted Shade Mode / Wireframe Mode
Tweak
Merge
I am posting this so you can dabble in actual modeling polygons. We haven't discussed Extruding and the other tools that can assist in rapidly modeling polygons, this is just a basic starting point for you. Keep in mind I am posting as I am learning. Any forum posts related to this, I will add below, as I know we all will be asking questions in the thread.
First, let's discuss TWEAK. I does not have a hotkey, nor is it in any menu. It is CTRL. If you Tweak and do not have anything selected, it will select your object and do whatever manipulator (move, scale, zoom) you have selected, until you release the mouse button. It's a fast way to change things without using menus!
While this shows how to create a polygon, remember Silo comes with pre-made forms and you'd probably logically jumpstart with that. For instance, if I were doing a giraffe's body, I THINK I'd start with a horizontal cylinder for the torso.
Modify>Append>Polygon or the hotkey P
First, I noticed when I hit "P" the Selector when to "Object." (Could be vertex, edge, face- remember? The Selectors are at the bottom of the viewport) The cursor changes and a green dot appears to place a vertex when you click. When you click four vertices (dots) it fills in with the polygon. Note- sometimes the edge line will zip across and form a triangle when you have three clicks- you want to avoid that so Edit-Undo and start over. You need to go in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction to avoid triangles.
Right click or Enter to complete the process. That fills in the polygon with a dense milky white surface- so to see your image underneath, you can select Ghosted Shade Mode or Wireframe Mode. Remember too, all you have to do is right click in the main viewport to get the menu to open.
Display>Object Display Mode>Ghosted Shade Mode (or Wireframe)
Okay, I'm tackling the giraffe for this part, just to show you some of the tools. As I said, I'd start with a cylinder for the torso instead of doing this polygon by polygon. What I want you to see is my setup that I am trying. I like the Perspective on the right, because as a newbie, I can get a good feel of what this thing is doing! Just take a peek at how you can place each polygon.
Edit: I continued with Append Polygon to get a better feel for that. So let's talk about Merge- it's Ctrl + M and if you have two polygons with a gap between them (particularly an uneven one) select the vertices(or edges) that you want combined into one (two vertices will go into one vertex, or two edges will merge into one edge) by using SHIFT when selecting them. Then Ctrl + M and your mesh is fixed.
Ctrl + M=Merge
Save
Subdivision
Unsubdivision
Ctrl + S=Save
(C) Subdivide
(V) Return To Rough Polygon Mesh
This is what Append Polygon can do. However, these are flat surfaces (or the depth is so shallow it's not seen.) It was a good exercise regarding how to use that tool. Not sure what to do with it from here.
Silo has indeed crashed on me, twice. Therefore, let's discuss SAVE. I found the crashing occurred when I did several motions quickly, aka, I was testing subdivision (C) and (V) going back to basic "rough" polygon mesh. I would recommend that if you are doing something painstaking, that you get in the habit of CTRL + S in between several of the actions.
Subdivision will divide the polygons and make them appear smoother. I found it helpful when experimenting with different shapes.
Soft Selection
Smooth
Extrude
If you've used the Polygon Editing Tool in DAZ Studio, seeing a red, orange and yellow mesh and moving it around will be familiar to you. The Soft Selection tool allows you to select many areas all at once. Click on a face, edge, or vertex then activate the tool. You can increase or decrease the area of influence by using your middle mouse button or the scroll wheel. Then by pulling your mouse, you can move the surface area. If you're wondering how to move the area, wherever you click will cause the field to go with you. So if I am working on the shoulder of an animal, then leave that and click on the rump, the field will disappear from the shoulder and re-appear on the hiney.
To exit, click ESC.
Soft Selection is FUN!
Selection>Soft Selection
Here's the post from page 4 where I use Soft Selection to do a giraffe's body.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/41937/P45/#618398
See it in action here in Glen's video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcxsjd2VziU
The Smooth Command will tighten the mesh and you should highlight larger areas instead of doing it surface by surface. Be sure and check your mesh after you use it because it can cause distortions (check your seam lines, particularly if you are mirroring.)
Modify>Smooth
Extrude:
Glen's video will show you something fun- to make an indentation, remember you can extrude out, but also IN. If you extrude in once, then shrink by scaling, and extrude that in again, you have a nice round indentation (depending on the level of subdivision.)
See it in action in Glen's video. Part 5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3IG50vuzq8
If you have any questions regarding Silo feel free to ask me. Been using it for 10 years and an advanced user. Every model in our store was created in Silo. The only feature I don't use is Silo's mapping. UVLayout does a much nicer job.
There are some videos from Glen Southern that are fantastic for the beginner. http://nevercenter.com/silo/?section=tutorials
This looks impressive, powerful, and complex. Out of curiosity: if I wanted to invest the time to learn a 3D modeling program, why not use Blender, which is free (and, afaict, just as powerful)? I honestly don't know, having not done any 3D modelling.
I have been using Silo now for 3 years. I learnt from Fugazi's great tutorials - The Digital Tailor - in which he showed not only how to make clothing but how to use Silo.
I learnt so much from him that I had the confidence to share my free items on ShareCG.
This should be a great learning thread Novica. I have opened silo a few times but not gotten very far. One thing I noticed is when I opened it, it always opened in UV view and I had to change it to perspective ( which took some time to find) now it always opens in right view and I have to keep hitting space bar to get to perspective view.
and #2, every time I load a new object it is blue instead of grey and I cannot find any options to change this, the blue is very distracting. Anyone know how to change the settings for this?
Try changing the default colour to light grey
Editors/Options>color settings
Frank- Thanks SO much- will need the support! And please tell me if I haven't said something the correct way- or incorrectly. If there's other things you think could be added to a particular topic, please feel free to mention it and I'll add to the post. I know it seems weird that a totally new user is trying to help other new users, but I knew I wouldn't assume they knew things because I'm coming at it with the same perspective. (Similar to when I started my first Art Studio thread.)
I know my big area of questions will be subdivision, and how much is too much- and using smoothing. I don't have a feel at all for polygon counts- what would make the render time unrealistic.
Again, this is so kind of you!
I'm going to GUESS- go to the four view and see which one you have selected- click on the Perspective View. Shift to get to the single view. Whichever view you have/had the last time you were in the four panes is the one that (I think) will open when Silo is opened. Let us know if that is the solution?
Wilmap, was going to add the link but it's not coming up. When I Googled, I found your other posts telling me it was over at Rendo. In that search engine, nothing coming up for Fugazi or Digital Tailor :(
EDIT: It came up in Google further down the page. Over at rendo, type in The Digital Tailor Starter Kit. (Digital Tailor, nothing came up.) Ten bucks.
I of course haven't tried Blender, but trying to research it for you this is what I found. Hopefully some Blender/Silo users can help out. :)
And BIG NEWS- in another thread, I found there is a gentleman who is updating/fine tuning some of the features. He was going to try and have it done the end of May! (and yes, he is working with Nevercenter, not doing it on his own.)
I'll keep looking and add to this list- Blender Vs Silo:
FYI: Silo hasn't crashed on me yet. Used it about a week so far.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2858690
thank you Frank for the color options, I couldn't find a spot to change the object color itself but at the bottom there was options for default, presets and maya, so I picked the maya optiona and I now have a grey object instead of blue...I can now see the edges to select them as before both object and edges were blue.
As far as the default viewport, I can not get it to open with the perspective view, no matter which option I try ( thank you for the options to try Novica) still doesn't stay on perspective.
I'm Googling that Kharma but not finding anyone with that same problem.
BTW, here's sample pages from the book I recommend (that I am using along with tutorials, YouTube, etc)
http://www.ant-online.co.uk/FTP/AntWard_SiloUV.pdf
The book is 3d Modeling In Silo (The Official Guide) by Antony Ward, David Randall, Nevercenter
Worth every penny, tons of good illustrations, and step by step. EDIT June 2019: There is a link on the first page where you can find the resources used in the book.
Cut Tool is now posted.
Reference Materials is now posted. I haven't experimented with trying to get a front view and a side view to match up in the grid, but this is the information on how to put the image there.
It's Fugazi1968 on Rendo, and if you find The Digital Tailor Starter Kit you'll find links underneath to all his other tutorials, including zips, belts etc.
They are aimed at Poser, but the principle still works for Daz.
Glad to see you've started this type of thread having dabbled in Silo and Blender recently.
This is handy from Andrew Price. A shortcut key PDF for Blender 2.5. Still useful.
http://www.blenderguru.com/wp-content/uploads/Exclusive/Blender_Cheat_Sheet.pdf
Novica in your post about setting up the viewing areas you are saying to hit the shift key to change views, I was trying and trying that and found I have to use space bar not shift to change the view...shift does nothing.. Curious does anyone else find the same issue? I am beginning to wonder if my version of Silo is posessed ...lol