Save character with materials, props, etc?
Testing6790
Posts: 1,091
Is there a way to save a character like in Poser, where I can just open it and it will be loaded with whatever I saved it with (full costume, hair, props and morphs)?
I've tried the character presets thing and that didn't work.
Thanks.
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Save the scene with the character's costume, hair, pose etc.
Then when you want to use the character in another scene, do File Menu > Merge, and bring in that old scene to the new scene.
Or if you save the character's scene into an official DAZ content folder, it should appear somewhere on the Content tab, so you can just double click it.
That works, be sure you do not have LIGHTS in the set you save JUST the character and all the clothes. Then save to your location of choice in the MY Library folder. When you wish to ADD the Fully made character to a new scene this is the SAFEST way to do it. RIGHT click the saved file, from the popup menu pick Merge. I use that method all the time. Right click never errors, I have had hiccups from the dropdown main file menu.
If you are using DAZ Studio, DS4.5 now has a feature to save only selected elements of a scene.
or you can try saving the whole character as Scene Subset. it will save the whole character along with its clothes, props, everything!! but you must do this with only the character you want to save in the current scene, or it will save everything in sight.
if you have new scene and you want to put one of your saved characters in it, go to My Library>Scene Subsets. your character must be there. load him/her into the scene and that's it.
if there's another way, please let me know... but this technique works for me just fine.
and yes, I'm still new to Daz and I discovered my technique tinkering around the whole thing.
I was looking for this same thing - saving as a Character Preset or as a Support>Figure/Prop Asset only saves the character morphs and textures. Saving as a Scene Subset as recommended above works beautifully, thanks!
Here are a few additions, if you use Smart Content... (I <3 Metadata!) </p>
Go to Render Settings, turn off Constrain Proportions, and set your Dimensions to 910x910.
Frame your character in the render box for your thumbnail.
Save As>Scene Subset
Save your Scene Subset in a good place in your Library to keep it organized - I'm saving mine in My Library>People.
Navigate to your new character in the Content Library.
Click the Active Pane Options over your Content Library (the little Arrow and 4 lines icon in the top corner)
Content DB Editor
Select your file in the top part of the window
Select your file in the lower part of the window also
Click on Type: in the middle of the window - Select Actor>Character
Make sure the Categories tab is selected on the lower part of the window
Right-click your file in the lower part of the window, and Add Root Categories to Selected File(s)
Select /Default/Figures/People/ (include any deeper subcategories you want to add for filtering, like Male/Female, Fantasy/Scifi, etc. You can Add Root Categories multiple times if you want to add more than one filter)
Accept.
Now your character will show up in Smart Content under Figures, for easy adding to scenes.
No need to right click>Merge with this method. Once you have the metadata set right, you can just drop characters into your scene at will. :)
That is a blessing for all them figures that are not in the smart tab to begin with. Thanks kaz42.
If this works like the Material preset thing, the Icon is produced from the view in the view-port when you save the stuff. It's best to set an aspect frame up (say 900 x 900 pixels in the render tab), then set the view-port to the aria you want to be in the smart tab icon. It's a simple and crude method rather then making your own icons elsewhere, and implanting them somehow.
Yep, the icon comes from your position when you Save As. Any 1:1 aspect should work fine, but as I just learned from one of the brilliant Randall Lloyd Supersuit tutorials on Youtube, the thumbnail default image is 91x91 pixels, so it will come out better if you use some multiple of 91. He saves his as 910x910, which is simple enough math and a good high-res thumbnail for your Smart Content. :)
On a side note, if anybody just bought the Supersuit pack in the recent sale, I highly recommend those videos. You'll be amazed at what all the Supersuit can do. There are several Tutorial videos and several Tips videos - watch them all. It can help fix and adjust all kinds of clothing problems, even clothing that doesn't have many morphs available to it naturally. I'm going to end up using a hidden Supersuit on almost all my character builds now. :) This is a link to the first Tutorial, just follow the channel from there. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg5EdvM1xUo&list=UUEGdlvNjr-U8GuQJJPObjeg&index=9
kaz42: You, Sir/Madam, are my new hero. This is exactly the information I've been searching for. Thank you.
What I've been succesfully experimenting with the last half year is a simple Control Box. I'm using Poser but want to try the new DAZ too.
I'm sure what I did in Poser will have it's similar approach in DAZ.
The box ( efrontier labs props Box04.crz) is a standard character supplied with Poser. I saved it as a standard 'Control Box' in the character library so I can find & reuse it easily.
I load it into my scene and make the box invisible. Then I reparent everything I need into the box (not the body). I even do sub-boxes within the box so I have all my conforming clothes listed conviently in one place. Examples of what I use this for:
(1) I'll set up a room or a scene with all the stuff in the control box. Say a campsite. Tent, backdrop, lights, trees, bikes, terrain, sleeping bag etc. Everything I want is put into the controlbox. Everything I don't want is left out. Then I click (in hierachy editor) the bodypart of the control box and save it as a new character in the character library. If it asks if you want to save everything, click Yes. Voila! I have a character, a set of characters or a scene that I instantly can add to a new scene without importing any stuff (like lighting) I don't want.
(2) I've tweaked a M4 or V4 character with everything I like. The character morphs itself, skin mats etc. I also have some std injects like Morphs++ that I'll always want in a figure. Then (conforming) clothes, glasses, hair, shoes. Props are allready parented to the character itself so I just make them invisible or not in the hierarchy editor. Everything goes into the Control Box. Even conformed clothing. This isn't really necessary but it's very convenient to have all the characters clothes in one place and makes for easy swapping. V4 in high-heels or flipflops. It's become just a matter of hiding or unhiding in the Hierarchy Editor.
I save the Control Box with all it's contents as a new character and I can load this new character into a fresh Poser scene with all the different sets of clothes etc. While the solutions provided above will work of course, I found out that my approach is superior in ease of use.
And I've basically made them into a new character, so I'll find them easily time and again in my Character Library.
(3) The added comfort of this approach as I found out is:
(a) I can (re)scale a figure and everything belonging to that figure very easily via the bodyscaling of the Control box
(b) I can parent two characters into a control box and easily move both of them around at the same time in a scene
(c) I have two extra ways of positioning a figure. Next to Body and Hip, I can also use the Control Box Body or it's box. Very handy if you have, say 4 characters in your scene. You just close everything in Hierarchy Editor until you just see you four character Control Boxes via just 'Body' visible. Character controlboxes are either positioned between the feet or in the hip. So without the endless listing of everything that's in the scene or belonging to a character, you just see your four boxes and can do ANY translations or rotations you want.
Before the Control Box I've tried something similar with a simple sphere. I don't know why, but it just didn't work out that easily as this simple Box character.
Just try it out, you won't be dissappointed!
Using a group in DS would do the same - select all of the items (DS allows multi-selection, Create>New Group, save the group and its children as a Scene Subset.
Magnificent. Absolutely magnificent.
Thank you! This thread saved me oh so many headaches, Spent hours working on a model, Tweaking and eding to get her just right only to have her locked into a SINGLE SCENE! But now i can move her as needed, A total life saver and should be stickied it not already.
Much thanks to Richard also! works perfectly, was having no luck saving custom morphs until I tried this method
When I try this it ends up saving the whole scene even selecting subset. How do I save only figure, hair and clothing?
Are you getting the options dialogue and checking only the items you wish to include?