Morphs from G3 to G8

cdpro_2831bbd990

nicstt said:

Ysabeau6 morphs transferred, except the body, couldn't get that right, so I created it in Blender (and is very close to what it should be). Textures transferred too, with the addition of a custom SSS. Ysabeau Hair and G3 clothes. Pleased with how everything turned out.

Awesome...love Ysabeau.  She was my first official Daz character purchase. 

3Diva

I transferred Girl 7 to G8F. :)

 

I then mixed Girl 7 in with Victoria 8 which I think turned out pretty nice:

That's Victoria 8 at 100% and The Girl 7 at 25%. 

I'm really having a lot of fun transferring older figures to G8F! :)

nicstt

Singular Blues said:

So, bad news.

In the last 2.5 days at least two people have managed to do weird, time tor reinstall G8 damage to their runtimes. Seeing as how my prototype method requires one to muck around with G3, I've decided not to share it, in general.

I'm looking into the possibility of scripting this out. I know the main step, creating place holder morphs on G8 is scriptable. But I don't know of I can copy the ERC data, as yet. I see a number of methods that access someof the necessary data, but I've yet to see something that convinces me you can access all of it. (It makes me long for a blender feature where the tool tips for most items contain their Python identification data.) Anyway, I think it should be possible to automate, at least the dangerous part, because the are Dz mothods for copying at least some of the data in any property and and for checking a target node to see if properties with the same names already exist. This would eleminate the need to muck around in G3's guts AND prevent the most dangerous aspect of the edits to G8.

Since I have, already, done most of the leg work to build the method, I will share directly, but under the following two conditions: You do not share the method with anyone else unless you are prepared to hand hold them when they break things. This condition is because of condition 2. I will not hand hold you if you break things. You have to be prepared to take on troubleshooting on your own.

I really want to get something relatively safe that can be used. This method and recent events have convinced me that what I have now is a disaster waiting to heppen. I could slap an as-is statement on it and walk away, but I'd feel bad if I did. In the last 10 days, I've run 8 full tests of the method, and even I managed to break things in half of them. I didn't think much of it because they were easy to fix. But they were easy to fix because I understood exactly what broke and why. (Most were cases that would not come up for you. Me trying to see if a step was necessary or could be combined with another.) 50% failure rate is too high by infinite%. Like I said, if I can solve the issue with a sript that does the heavy lifting, I'm sure that it will be relatively safe. Largely because I believe I can eliminate all other variables, so if the user breaks something, it will be a matter of deleting a folder to fix it.

 

Just include a large bold warning and disclaimer.

Folks then make their own decisions. :)

nicstt

cdpro_2831bbd990 said:

nicstt said:

Ysabeau6 morphs transferred, except the body, couldn't get that right, so I created it in Blender (and is very close to what it should be). Textures transferred too, with the addition of a custom SSS. Ysabeau Hair and G3 clothes. Pleased with how everything turned out.

Awesome...love Ysabeau.  She was my first official Daz character purchase. 

Yeh, my favourite (maybe) from G2

Singular Blues

nicstt said:

Singular Blues said:

So, bad news.

In the last 2.5 days at least two people have managed to do weird, time tor reinstall G8 damage to their runtimes. Seeing as how my prototype method requires one to muck around with G3, I've decided not to share it, in general.

I'm looking into the possibility of scripting this out. I know the main step, creating place holder morphs on G8 is scriptable. But I don't know of I can copy the ERC data, as yet. I see a number of methods that access someof the necessary data, but I've yet to see something that convinces me you can access all of it. (It makes me long for a blender feature where the tool tips for most items contain their Python identification data.) Anyway, I think it should be possible to automate, at least the dangerous part, because the are Dz mothods for copying at least some of the data in any property and and for checking a target node to see if properties with the same names already exist. This would eleminate the need to muck around in G3's guts AND prevent the most dangerous aspect of the edits to G8.

Since I have, already, done most of the leg work to build the method, I will share directly, but under the following two conditions: You do not share the method with anyone else unless you are prepared to hand hold them when they break things. This condition is because of condition 2. I will not hand hold you if you break things. You have to be prepared to take on troubleshooting on your own.

I really want to get something relatively safe that can be used. This method and recent events have convinced me that what I have now is a disaster waiting to heppen. I could slap an as-is statement on it and walk away, but I'd feel bad if I did. In the last 10 days, I've run 8 full tests of the method, and even I managed to break things in half of them. I didn't think much of it because they were easy to fix. But they were easy to fix because I understood exactly what broke and why. (Most were cases that would not come up for you. Me trying to see if a step was necessary or could be combined with another.) 50% failure rate is too high by infinite%. Like I said, if I can solve the issue with a sript that does the heavy lifting, I'm sure that it will be relatively safe. Largely because I believe I can eliminate all other variables, so if the user breaks something, it will be a matter of deleting a folder to fix it.

 

Just include a large bold warning and disclaimer.

Folks then make their own decisions. :)

With the clear evidence the folks don't bother reading the instructions? I'm pretty sre I could write a tutorial that was a warning every .5 steps and a diclaimer of responsiblity every .25 steps and people would still manage not to read either.

Anyway, I figured out how, in principle to automate at leas half of the dangerous part. I am less worried about telling people to delete and reinstall G8 as their collections of stuff have to be smaller. So we're back on for a general release. Which will have a disclaimer. Said disclaimer will be ignored, but this time I'll know I did everything possible to make it safe.

L'Adair

Singular Blues said:

nicstt said:

Singular Blues said:

So, bad news.

In the last 2.5 days at least two people have managed to do weird, time tor reinstall G8 damage to their runtimes. Seeing as how my prototype method requires one to muck around with G3, I've decided not to share it, in general.

I'm looking into the possibility of scripting this out. I know the main step, creating place holder morphs on G8 is scriptable. But I don't know of I can copy the ERC data, as yet. I see a number of methods that access someof the necessary data, but I've yet to see something that convinces me you can access all of it. (It makes me long for a blender feature where the tool tips for most items contain their Python identification data.) Anyway, I think it should be possible to automate, at least the dangerous part, because the are Dz mothods for copying at least some of the data in any property and and for checking a target node to see if properties with the same names already exist. This would eleminate the need to muck around in G3's guts AND prevent the most dangerous aspect of the edits to G8.

Since I have, already, done most of the leg work to build the method, I will share directly, but under the following two conditions: You do not share the method with anyone else unless you are prepared to hand hold them when they break things. This condition is because of condition 2. I will not hand hold you if you break things. You have to be prepared to take on troubleshooting on your own.

I really want to get something relatively safe that can be used. This method and recent events have convinced me that what I have now is a disaster waiting to heppen. I could slap an as-is statement on it and walk away, but I'd feel bad if I did. In the last 10 days, I've run 8 full tests of the method, and even I managed to break things in half of them. I didn't think much of it because they were easy to fix. But they were easy to fix because I understood exactly what broke and why. (Most were cases that would not come up for you. Me trying to see if a step was necessary or could be combined with another.) 50% failure rate is too high by infinite%. Like I said, if I can solve the issue with a sript that does the heavy lifting, I'm sure that it will be relatively safe. Largely because I believe I can eliminate all other variables, so if the user breaks something, it will be a matter of deleting a folder to fix it.

 

Just include a large bold warning and disclaimer.

Folks then make their own decisions. :)

With the clear evidence the folks don't bother reading the instructions? I'm pretty sre I could write a tutorial that was a warning every .5 steps and a diclaimer of responsiblity every .25 steps and people would still manage not to read either.

Anyway, I figured out how, in principle to automate at leas half of the dangerous part. I am less worried about telling people to delete and reinstall G8 as their collections of stuff have to be smaller. So we're back on for a general release. Which will have a disclaimer. Said disclaimer will be ignored, but this time I'll know I did everything possible to make it safe.

Do like the software companies do, make them tick a checkbox that states they read the "legaleze" before they can download the tutorial. And when they mess things up, just point them back to the disclaimer they "signed!"

nicstt

Singular Blues said:

nicstt said:

Singular Blues said:

So, bad news.

In the last 2.5 days at least two people have managed to do weird, time tor reinstall G8 damage to their runtimes. Seeing as how my prototype method requires one to muck around with G3, I've decided not to share it, in general.

I'm looking into the possibility of scripting this out. I know the main step, creating place holder morphs on G8 is scriptable. But I don't know of I can copy the ERC data, as yet. I see a number of methods that access someof the necessary data, but I've yet to see something that convinces me you can access all of it. (It makes me long for a blender feature where the tool tips for most items contain their Python identification data.) Anyway, I think it should be possible to automate, at least the dangerous part, because the are Dz mothods for copying at least some of the data in any property and and for checking a target node to see if properties with the same names already exist. This would eleminate the need to muck around in G3's guts AND prevent the most dangerous aspect of the edits to G8.

Since I have, already, done most of the leg work to build the method, I will share directly, but under the following two conditions: You do not share the method with anyone else unless you are prepared to hand hold them when they break things. This condition is because of condition 2. I will not hand hold you if you break things. You have to be prepared to take on troubleshooting on your own.

I really want to get something relatively safe that can be used. This method and recent events have convinced me that what I have now is a disaster waiting to heppen. I could slap an as-is statement on it and walk away, but I'd feel bad if I did. In the last 10 days, I've run 8 full tests of the method, and even I managed to break things in half of them. I didn't think much of it because they were easy to fix. But they were easy to fix because I understood exactly what broke and why. (Most were cases that would not come up for you. Me trying to see if a step was necessary or could be combined with another.) 50% failure rate is too high by infinite%. Like I said, if I can solve the issue with a sript that does the heavy lifting, I'm sure that it will be relatively safe. Largely because I believe I can eliminate all other variables, so if the user breaks something, it will be a matter of deleting a folder to fix it.

 

Just include a large bold warning and disclaimer.

Folks then make their own decisions. :)

With the clear evidence the folks don't bother reading the instructions? I'm pretty sre I could write a tutorial that was a warning every .5 steps and a diclaimer of responsiblity every .25 steps and people would still manage not to read either.

Anyway, I figured out how, in principle to automate at leas half of the dangerous part. I am less worried about telling people to delete and reinstall G8 as their collections of stuff have to be smaller. So we're back on for a general release. Which will have a disclaimer. Said disclaimer will be ignored, but this time I'll know I did everything possible to make it safe.

Of course, but that makes it their fault, not yours.

... Having said that, there are ways of getting round the auto updates on W10, and I was going to post how... I thought about it and changed my mind. :)

PhilW

I'd just like to post a big Thank You to @Redz, @MelanieL and @Ben98120000 (if he is still around, his guidance was referenced by MelanieL) - I now have a range of morphs, mostly heads but some bodies too, from G1 and G2 and successfully transferred painlessly to G8F. There are a couple of things that don't look quite right, but I wasn't after perfection, more a range of useful morphs and I am more than happy how everything has turned out. Thanks guys, I really appreciate all your help!

Singular Blues

L'Adair said:

Singular Blues said:

nicstt said:

Singular Blues said:

So, bad news.

In the last 2.5 days at least two people have managed to do weird, time tor reinstall G8 damage to their runtimes. Seeing as how my prototype method requires one to muck around with G3, I've decided not to share it, in general.

I'm looking into the possibility of scripting this out. I know the main step, creating place holder morphs on G8 is scriptable. But I don't know of I can copy the ERC data, as yet. I see a number of methods that access someof the necessary data, but I've yet to see something that convinces me you can access all of it. (It makes me long for a blender feature where the tool tips for most items contain their Python identification data.) Anyway, I think it should be possible to automate, at least the dangerous part, because the are Dz mothods for copying at least some of the data in any property and and for checking a target node to see if properties with the same names already exist. This would eleminate the need to muck around in G3's guts AND prevent the most dangerous aspect of the edits to G8.

Since I have, already, done most of the leg work to build the method, I will share directly, but under the following two conditions: You do not share the method with anyone else unless you are prepared to hand hold them when they break things. This condition is because of condition 2. I will not hand hold you if you break things. You have to be prepared to take on troubleshooting on your own.

I really want to get something relatively safe that can be used. This method and recent events have convinced me that what I have now is a disaster waiting to heppen. I could slap an as-is statement on it and walk away, but I'd feel bad if I did. In the last 10 days, I've run 8 full tests of the method, and even I managed to break things in half of them. I didn't think much of it because they were easy to fix. But they were easy to fix because I understood exactly what broke and why. (Most were cases that would not come up for you. Me trying to see if a step was necessary or could be combined with another.) 50% failure rate is too high by infinite%. Like I said, if I can solve the issue with a sript that does the heavy lifting, I'm sure that it will be relatively safe. Largely because I believe I can eliminate all other variables, so if the user breaks something, it will be a matter of deleting a folder to fix it.

 

Just include a large bold warning and disclaimer.

Folks then make their own decisions. :)

With the clear evidence the folks don't bother reading the instructions? I'm pretty sre I could write a tutorial that was a warning every .5 steps and a diclaimer of responsiblity every .25 steps and people would still manage not to read either.

Anyway, I figured out how, in principle to automate at leas half of the dangerous part. I am less worried about telling people to delete and reinstall G8 as their collections of stuff have to be smaller. So we're back on for a general release. Which will have a disclaimer. Said disclaimer will be ignored, but this time I'll know I did everything possible to make it safe.

Do like the software companies do, make them tick a checkbox that states they read the "legaleze" before they can download the tutorial. And when they mess things up, just point them back to the disclaimer they "signed!"

I'm going to do that anyway. Always was. But knowing how complex the whole thing really, is it seemed churlish to make a broad statement of "you're on your own." More of the standard "It is gamma tech. Not even beta. No warranties." I think there a difference between "I won't take legal responsibility for you using my idea," and "I won't take any responsibility for you using my idea."

nicstt said:

Singular Blues said:

nicstt said:

Singular Blues said:

So, bad news.

In the last 2.5 days at least two people have managed to do weird, time tor reinstall G8 damage to their runtimes. Seeing as how my prototype method requires one to muck around with G3, I've decided not to share it, in general.

I'm looking into the possibility of scripting this out. I know the main step, creating place holder morphs on G8 is scriptable. But I don't know of I can copy the ERC data, as yet. I see a number of methods that access someof the necessary data, but I've yet to see something that convinces me you can access all of it. (It makes me long for a blender feature where the tool tips for most items contain their Python identification data.) Anyway, I think it should be possible to automate, at least the dangerous part, because the are Dz mothods for copying at least some of the data in any property and and for checking a target node to see if properties with the same names already exist. This would eleminate the need to muck around in G3's guts AND prevent the most dangerous aspect of the edits to G8.

Since I have, already, done most of the leg work to build the method, I will share directly, but under the following two conditions: You do not share the method with anyone else unless you are prepared to hand hold them when they break things. This condition is because of condition 2. I will not hand hold you if you break things. You have to be prepared to take on troubleshooting on your own.

I really want to get something relatively safe that can be used. This method and recent events have convinced me that what I have now is a disaster waiting to heppen. I could slap an as-is statement on it and walk away, but I'd feel bad if I did. In the last 10 days, I've run 8 full tests of the method, and even I managed to break things in half of them. I didn't think much of it because they were easy to fix. But they were easy to fix because I understood exactly what broke and why. (Most were cases that would not come up for you. Me trying to see if a step was necessary or could be combined with another.) 50% failure rate is too high by infinite%. Like I said, if I can solve the issue with a sript that does the heavy lifting, I'm sure that it will be relatively safe. Largely because I believe I can eliminate all other variables, so if the user breaks something, it will be a matter of deleting a folder to fix it.

 

Just include a large bold warning and disclaimer.

Folks then make their own decisions. :)

With the clear evidence the folks don't bother reading the instructions? I'm pretty sre I could write a tutorial that was a warning every .5 steps and a diclaimer of responsiblity every .25 steps and people would still manage not to read either.

Anyway, I figured out how, in principle to automate at leas half of the dangerous part. I am less worried about telling people to delete and reinstall G8 as their collections of stuff have to be smaller. So we're back on for a general release. Which will have a disclaimer. Said disclaimer will be ignored, but this time I'll know I did everything possible to make it safe.

Of course, but that makes it their fault, not yours.

... Having said that, there are ways of getting round the auto updates on W10, and I was going to post how... I thought about it and changed my mind. :)

Pretty much that. Just because you can do a thing, it does not follow that you must tell everyone how to that thing.

I really am all for sharing what I know in this case, but I want to have simple version for the people who want to do but can't be erm, motivated, to understand what they are doing.

I've found the right Dazscript methods to do what those people shouldn't do. I haven't found a method to launch Transfer Utility and run it, but that is safe enough so long as they don't save the figure. I've found a mass file editor with a commandline interface, so I can eleminate the use of FAR and, instead, do all the edits with a bat file. All but one, but testing suggests that edit isn't needed, and will be overwritten in the final save step, anyway.

Once I have a working script and prove out the bat file method, I should have a product that is no more dangerous to the n00b than Redz's files, and that's good enough.

Of course, I've never written a Dazscript before (though I've edited them) so I can't say how long it will take for me to write this. It's not super complex. It needs to iterate over the G3 proerty list, find all the favorites and subcomponents, compare them to the properties list of G8 and drop any matches, pull the URI's of remaining peroperties, convert the URIs to file paths and invoke DzFile to copy the files to a new location. Excepting the bits where I invoke DzURI, findMatchingProperty and DzFile, I know roughly how to do all that (because I can read the code of others. I have yet to find an example of scripts that use the last two methods, and I'm not sure what find matching property returns. It would be nice if it returned a bool, but if it returns a string it'll be annoying. If it selects the property, it'll be a pain).

The utility I've found for mass edits has a handy automatic commandline generator, and I know how write a bat file. So the hold up is going to be figuring out those last script methods, and proof testing the resulting script.

Once I have all that, the tut will be reduced for 80 critical steps, to "Install files, copy utility to this folder, make a clone. Dial special morph and make a second clone. Select a morph and add it to favorites. Run script. Run Bat file. Run second bat file. Load G8. Transfer Uility. Save Morphs. Close Studio. Run 3rd bat file. Run 4th bat file. Run fifth bat file. Open Studio. Load G8. Test morphs.

So 18 to 25 steps, down from nearly 100 and most of them idiot proof. The one downside is it will be Windows only. If I knew of a Mac tool that would do the mass file edits, i couldn't test it.

dracorn

I have successfull

Redz said:

dracorn said:

Redz said:

dracorn said:

Sorry for asking an obvious question, but what is meant by "zeroing the figure?"  I thought that when I load G8F that the base pose IS the zeroed figure?

If I'm wrong, please let me know how to zero a figure.  Thanks!

You are correct that G8F loads at zero. G3F doesn't though, as she has navel and mouth realism morphs applied. It's always best practice to make sure all morphs are set to zero before saving out any morphs. Otherwise your G8F will save with those morphs on by default (as happened somebody earlier in this thread) and it's a pain to fix later. With G8F selected in the scrne tab, go to the parameters tab, and in the drop down menu in the corner, there's an option to zero - figure. 

Also remember to hide the lashes or use the developer G8F if you at exporting for morphs. Otherwise the vertex count of your morph won't match. 

Thanks Redz!  Now I have a couple more questions - from your tutorial:

"Zero G8F and click File-Save as- Support Asset- Morph Asset -
Check only your new morph, under Morphs - Morph Loader or your
custom location. Enter a Directory and vendor name and click accept.
Next time you open Daz Studio your new morph should be available."

By this do you mean after I complete the morph that I must dial it to zero on G8F?  When I save the Morph Asset, D/S automatically knows what I'm saving?

"You can edit your morph dial to customise it's category etc. If you don't it
will show up under Morphs - Morph Loader."

How do I customize the category?

To your first question, yes you must zero the morph. Daz will jnow because in the save morph asset you must expand the categories until you find your morph/morphs and check only those to save. Uncheck anything else. 

To the second, if you are in edit mode on the  parameters pane (an option in the parameters dropdown menu), you can click the gear symbol at the top of your morph slider and choose parameter settings. Under path you can choose where your morph should show up - eg head/full body/people etc.

I have successfully created and saved my morph, thank you.  I went back into Parameters and changed the label (renamed) after I had saved it.  However when I reopened D/S it's back to the original name.  So...

1) How do I rename a morph and make it permanent?

2) How do I change the vendor/product name on a morph I have already saved?

3) How do I delete a morph I don't want?

 

EnchantedPixie

Loving the pointers Redz ! I got it working the first time and without much fuss at all. 

Singular Blues

dracorn said:

I have successfull

Redz said:

dracorn said:

Redz said:

dracorn said:

Sorry for asking an obvious question, but what is meant by "zeroing the figure?"  I thought that when I load G8F that the base pose IS the zeroed figure?

If I'm wrong, please let me know how to zero a figure.  Thanks!

You are correct that G8F loads at zero. G3F doesn't though, as she has navel and mouth realism morphs applied. It's always best practice to make sure all morphs are set to zero before saving out any morphs. Otherwise your G8F will save with those morphs on by default (as happened somebody earlier in this thread) and it's a pain to fix later. With G8F selected in the scrne tab, go to the parameters tab, and in the drop down menu in the corner, there's an option to zero - figure. 

Also remember to hide the lashes or use the developer G8F if you at exporting for morphs. Otherwise the vertex count of your morph won't match. 

Thanks Redz!  Now I have a couple more questions - from your tutorial:

"Zero G8F and click File-Save as- Support Asset- Morph Asset -
Check only your new morph, under Morphs - Morph Loader or your
custom location. Enter a Directory and vendor name and click accept.
Next time you open Daz Studio your new morph should be available."

By this do you mean after I complete the morph that I must dial it to zero on G8F?  When I save the Morph Asset, D/S automatically knows what I'm saving?

"You can edit your morph dial to customise it's category etc. If you don't it
will show up under Morphs - Morph Loader."

How do I customize the category?

To your first question, yes you must zero the morph. Daz will jnow because in the save morph asset you must expand the categories until you find your morph/morphs and check only those to save. Uncheck anything else. 

To the second, if you are in edit mode on the  parameters pane (an option in the parameters dropdown menu), you can click the gear symbol at the top of your morph slider and choose parameter settings. Under path you can choose where your morph should show up - eg head/full body/people etc.

I have successfully created and saved my morph, thank you.  I went back into Parameters and changed the label (renamed) after I had saved it.  However when I reopened D/S it's back to the original name.  So...

1) How do I rename a morph and make it permanent?

2) How do I change the vendor/product name on a morph I have already saved?

3) How do I delete a morph I don't want?

 

Are you sure?

I'm probably going sound mean here. I'm not trying to be. I have computer skills, not social. But computers aren't magic, and Daz doesn't persist data between sessions. The Content Database doesn't store settings, just keeps track of items installed. A morph is not the kind of thing it is designed to track.

The reason the morph keeps oming back under the same name is because you saved it that way and you have not removed it. The data are stored in a text file. Nothing more special than that. If you remove the text file, the data go away.

This means A) if you've been saving the morph under the same name, but in different vendor folders, there are bunches of files. Assuming Daz loads propertes the same way the Dazscript methods do (Just learned this yesterday, btw) each time it reads a new text file with a the same moprh ID is overrides the last one it read. I have no idea what order Daz reads the text files that make up any figure in, but the facts here strongly suggest it's reading an old file last.

Until you track down EVERY single copy of the morph you made, this will probably keep happening. There a decent chance could get down to the point where the one you want loads last, but if you haven't eliminated all of the bad ones, and daz changes the way it reads in the data, you'll end up with the same problem or an even worse conflict.

If you saved the morph under a different name, it should also have loaded. If you saved loaded it under the old name, and ERC froze it, then changed the NAME (I can't stress here enough. The NAME as shown in the properties setting dialog. If you changed the label, i.e. the name it shows on the slider, and left the NAME the same, it still has the same ID and thus will be cleared during figure load when Daz encounters the next file with that same ID). I digressed so much that last sentence is a fragment. Anyway, if You ERC'd then changed the name, it's likely that Daz would have retained the old IDs in the ERC controllers. You would start getting duplicate formula and ID errors on load. As I said in the fragement, above, if you only changed the label of the morph, you're going to have always have the old morph when you reload, and if do go and delete that file, you are going to have another old morph show up in its place. You need to go in to My Library\data\Daz 3D\Genesis 8\Female\Morphs and search for all the files you made, and remove all of them.

This is why I said you would need to delete the Genesis 8 folder if you decided to reinstall. Auto removal via Install manager will leave those folders in place, because nay other products installed might be using them. Which means the morphs you made will still be there when you reinstall. The only way to get rid of them is to hunt them down. Either surgically, by searching the folder and killing each one as you find it, or carpet boming the whole folder out of existence.

PS: I didn't fully grasp what said. All edits you make to properties die when studio closes. The only way to save a changed property is Dazscript (for many individual changes) or by saving the asset. Some poperties are tied directly to the figure, so only by saving Figure assets can you save them. Some (like morphs) have their own save function.

Saving a file and changing its name means you now have an usaved files, Just like if you saved a picture, then added a bunch of filers and closed photshop. None of your changes will be saved.

L'Adair

dracorn said:

I have successfully created and saved my morph, thank you.  I went back into Parameters and changed the label (renamed) after I had saved it.  However when I reopened D/S it's back to the original name.  So...

1) How do I rename a morph and make it permanent?

2) How do I change the vendor/product name on a morph I have already saved?

3) How do I delete a morph I don't want?

Based on the first paragraph, I think by "rename" (item 1) you mean change the Label of the morph. Changing the label is easy. To make it permanent, you have to save the Morph Asset after you change the name.  Same process as you've already done, just in a different order. Here's a screenshot of a morph's Parameter Settings window with the Name and Label fields highlighted. I've been leaving the Name alone, (it comes up with the name of the file I used to create the morph,) but I change the Label as it also comes up with the name of the file.

Again, to make your changes permanent, you have to Save As -> Support Asset -> Morph Asset(s). The resulting screen is also where you will tell DS the name of the Vendor and the product. Here's the screenshot:

The above is the default for my computer. DS assumes you are the vendor, and will populate the field with the name you specified in Preferences (F2). It's a good idea to keep that as your vendor name as it makes it a bit easier to find stuff you later decide you want to remove. The Asset Directory will also default to your main product directory. You can save to another location by selecting it from the drop-down list. In the example above, I have Genesis 8 Female selected in the scene, so anything I select in this window will show up in the morphs subfolder of Genesis 8/Female. As shown above, the path to my new morph will be: D:/Daz3D/My DAZ 3D Library/data/DAZ 3D/Genesis 8/Female/Morphs/L'Adair/Product

To delete a morph you don't want, you have to locate the file. If like me, you never changed the Name of the morph, you can open the Parameter Settings for the offending morph and copy the name from the Name field. You can paste that name into the search field of your folder window. If you don't know what "Vendor" name the morph was saved under, start in the Genesis 8/Female/Morphs folder, otherwise, start in the Vendor folder. For me, that would be D:/Daz3D/My DAZ 3D Library/data/DAZ 3D/Genesis 8/Female/Morphs/L'Adair

If you have more than one directory set up for your content, like I do, you may need to look in more than one "DAZ Studio Formats" folder. As Singular Blues pointed out, you will need to delete every instance of the morph, as DS will include any morph it finds.

(I've had to clean up a number of Save Options Oopses... But I'm getting much better at remembering to make my changes in the Save Options dialog window. You will, too. It just takes repetition.)

I hope this helps.

dracorn

Wow. It's a good thing I saved only one morph before I asked the question. There's nothing wrong with that morph by the way, I had just decided on a better naming convention. I'll do my homework and decide on my names and categories before I save any more morphs, and save myself the headache. Most of my work to date had been using GenX2 to step the morphs from older generations to G3. I'll make sure I'm happy with the G8 conversion before I save them.  

I really appreciate your assistance, by the way. Thanks.

PhilW

While we are looking at the Parameter Settings, if you put something like Actor/G3F Morphs (choose your own name) into the path box, it will create a new category of that name. I have set up categories for Genesis, G2 and G3 morphs, it just helps me find them. I hope that is helpful in creating your own organization structure.

nicstt

Singular Blues said:

dracorn said:

I have successfull

Redz said:

dracorn said:

Redz said:

dracorn said:

Sorry for asking an obvious question, but what is meant by "zeroing the figure?"  I thought that when I load G8F that the base pose IS the zeroed figure?

If I'm wrong, please let me know how to zero a figure.  Thanks!

You are correct that G8F loads at zero. G3F doesn't though, as she has navel and mouth realism morphs applied. It's always best practice to make sure all morphs are set to zero before saving out any morphs. Otherwise your G8F will save with those morphs on by default (as happened somebody earlier in this thread) and it's a pain to fix later. With G8F selected in the scrne tab, go to the parameters tab, and in the drop down menu in the corner, there's an option to zero - figure. 

Also remember to hide the lashes or use the developer G8F if you at exporting for morphs. Otherwise the vertex count of your morph won't match. 

Thanks Redz!  Now I have a couple more questions - from your tutorial:

"Zero G8F and click File-Save as- Support Asset- Morph Asset -
Check only your new morph, under Morphs - Morph Loader or your
custom location. Enter a Directory and vendor name and click accept.
Next time you open Daz Studio your new morph should be available."

By this do you mean after I complete the morph that I must dial it to zero on G8F?  When I save the Morph Asset, D/S automatically knows what I'm saving?

"You can edit your morph dial to customise it's category etc. If you don't it
will show up under Morphs - Morph Loader."

How do I customize the category?

To your first question, yes you must zero the morph. Daz will jnow because in the save morph asset you must expand the categories until you find your morph/morphs and check only those to save. Uncheck anything else. 

To the second, if you are in edit mode on the  parameters pane (an option in the parameters dropdown menu), you can click the gear symbol at the top of your morph slider and choose parameter settings. Under path you can choose where your morph should show up - eg head/full body/people etc.

I have successfully created and saved my morph, thank you.  I went back into Parameters and changed the label (renamed) after I had saved it.  However when I reopened D/S it's back to the original name.  So...

1) How do I rename a morph and make it permanent?

2) How do I change the vendor/product name on a morph I have already saved?

3) How do I delete a morph I don't want?

 

Are you sure?

I'm probably going sound mean here. I'm not trying to be. I have computer skills, not social. But computers aren't magic, and Daz doesn't persist data between sessions. The Content Database doesn't store settings, just keeps track of items installed. A morph is not the kind of thing it is designed to track.

The reason the morph keeps oming back under the same name is because you saved it that way and you have not removed it. The data are stored in a text file. Nothing more special than that. If you remove the text file, the data go away.

This means A) if you've been saving the morph under the same name, but in different vendor folders, there are bunches of files. Assuming Daz loads propertes the same way the Dazscript methods do (Just learned this yesterday, btw) each time it reads a new text file with a the same moprh ID is overrides the last one it read. I have no idea what order Daz reads the text files that make up any figure in, but the facts here strongly suggest it's reading an old file last.

Until you track down EVERY single copy of the morph you made, this will probably keep happening. There a decent chance could get down to the point where the one you want loads last, but if you haven't eliminated all of the bad ones, and daz changes the way it reads in the data, you'll end up with the same problem or an even worse conflict.

If you saved the morph under a different name, it should also have loaded. If you saved loaded it under the old name, and ERC froze it, then changed the NAME (I can't stress here enough. The NAME as shown in the properties setting dialog. If you changed the label, i.e. the name it shows on the slider, and left the NAME the same, it still has the same ID and thus will be cleared during figure load when Daz encounters the next file with that same ID). I digressed so much that last sentence is a fragment. Anyway, if You ERC'd then changed the name, it's likely that Daz would have retained the old IDs in the ERC controllers. You would start getting duplicate formula and ID errors on load. As I said in the fragement, above, if you only changed the label of the morph, you're going to have always have the old morph when you reload, and if do go and delete that file, you are going to have another old morph show up in its place. You need to go in to My Library\data\Daz 3D\Genesis 8\Female\Morphs and search for all the files you made, and remove all of them.

This is why I said you would need to delete the Genesis 8 folder if you decided to reinstall. Auto removal via Install manager will leave those folders in place, because nay other products installed might be using them. Which means the morphs you made will still be there when you reinstall. The only way to get rid of them is to hunt them down. Either surgically, by searching the folder and killing each one as you find it, or carpet boming the whole folder out of existence.

PS: I didn't fully grasp what said. All edits you make to properties die when studio closes. The only way to save a changed property is Dazscript (for many individual changes) or by saving the asset. Some poperties are tied directly to the figure, so only by saving Figure assets can you save them. Some (like morphs) have their own save function.

Saving a file and changing its name means you now have an usaved files, Just like if you saved a picture, then added a bunch of filers and closed photshop. None of your changes will be saved.

This can be a lot of fun (yes lots of sarcasm here).

My advice.

Backup before you start.

Backup the particular set of folders as you make changes. This might prevent a folder deletion and re-installation... And it might not.

If you don't know where the folders are or the structure, what the hell are you doing? (I also have computer skills and limited people skills.)

Wildman oS

Singular Blues said:

nicstt said:

Singular Blues said:

So, bad news.

In the last 2.5 days at least two people have managed to do weird, time tor reinstall G8 damage to their runtimes. Seeing as how my prototype method requires one to muck around with G3, I've decided not to share it, in general.

I'm looking into the possibility of scripting this out. I know the main step, creating place holder morphs on G8 is scriptable. But I don't know of I can copy the ERC data, as yet. I see a number of methods that access someof the necessary data, but I've yet to see something that convinces me you can access all of it. (It makes me long for a blender feature where the tool tips for most items contain their Python identification data.) Anyway, I think it should be possible to automate, at least the dangerous part, because the are Dz mothods for copying at least some of the data in any property and and for checking a target node to see if properties with the same names already exist. This would eleminate the need to muck around in G3's guts AND prevent the most dangerous aspect of the edits to G8.

Since I have, already, done most of the leg work to build the method, I will share directly, but under the following two conditions: You do not share the method with anyone else unless you are prepared to hand hold them when they break things. This condition is because of condition 2. I will not hand hold you if you break things. You have to be prepared to take on troubleshooting on your own.

I really want to get something relatively safe that can be used. This method and recent events have convinced me that what I have now is a disaster waiting to heppen. I could slap an as-is statement on it and walk away, but I'd feel bad if I did. In the last 10 days, I've run 8 full tests of the method, and even I managed to break things in half of them. I didn't think much of it because they were easy to fix. But they were easy to fix because I understood exactly what broke and why. (Most were cases that would not come up for you. Me trying to see if a step was necessary or could be combined with another.) 50% failure rate is too high by infinite%. Like I said, if I can solve the issue with a sript that does the heavy lifting, I'm sure that it will be relatively safe. Largely because I believe I can eliminate all other variables, so if the user breaks something, it will be a matter of deleting a folder to fix it.

 

Just include a large bold warning and disclaimer.

Folks then make their own decisions. :)

With the clear evidence the folks don't bother reading the instructions? I'm pretty sre I could write a tutorial that was a warning every .5 steps and a diclaimer of responsiblity every .25 steps and people would still manage not to read either.

Anyway, I figured out how, in principle to automate at leas half of the dangerous part. I am less worried about telling people to delete and reinstall G8 as their collections of stuff have to be smaller. So we're back on for a general release. Which will have a disclaimer. Said disclaimer will be ignored, but this time I'll know I did everything possible to make it safe.

Like many I use many folders within my daz3d library to hold specific content, IE Genesis_8 folder for all things specific to Genesis 8 ONLY

If people are causing corruption to their Genesis 8 files then why not suggest this 'specific folder' funtionality, and then go on to suggest backing up said folder BEFORE any actions are taken

THEN saving any results from the action carried out to yet ANOTHER specific folder EG 'Genesis_8_Mods'

IF any problems arise, then all they would need to do is DELETE the existing Genesis_8 folder and REPLACE it with the copy which was saved previously

Of course during this time NO new files from DAZ should be included in the Genesis_8 folder

would this help ?

Singular Blues

Wildman oS said:

Singular Blues said:

nicstt said:

Singular Blues said:

So, bad news.

In the last 2.5 days at least two people have managed to do weird, time tor reinstall G8 damage to their runtimes. Seeing as how my prototype method requires one to muck around with G3, I've decided not to share it, in general.

I'm looking into the possibility of scripting this out. I know the main step, creating place holder morphs on G8 is scriptable. But I don't know of I can copy the ERC data, as yet. I see a number of methods that access someof the necessary data, but I've yet to see something that convinces me you can access all of it. (It makes me long for a blender feature where the tool tips for most items contain their Python identification data.) Anyway, I think it should be possible to automate, at least the dangerous part, because the are Dz mothods for copying at least some of the data in any property and and for checking a target node to see if properties with the same names already exist. This would eleminate the need to muck around in G3's guts AND prevent the most dangerous aspect of the edits to G8.

Since I have, already, done most of the leg work to build the method, I will share directly, but under the following two conditions: You do not share the method with anyone else unless you are prepared to hand hold them when they break things. This condition is because of condition 2. I will not hand hold you if you break things. You have to be prepared to take on troubleshooting on your own.

I really want to get something relatively safe that can be used. This method and recent events have convinced me that what I have now is a disaster waiting to heppen. I could slap an as-is statement on it and walk away, but I'd feel bad if I did. In the last 10 days, I've run 8 full tests of the method, and even I managed to break things in half of them. I didn't think much of it because they were easy to fix. But they were easy to fix because I understood exactly what broke and why. (Most were cases that would not come up for you. Me trying to see if a step was necessary or could be combined with another.) 50% failure rate is too high by infinite%. Like I said, if I can solve the issue with a sript that does the heavy lifting, I'm sure that it will be relatively safe. Largely because I believe I can eliminate all other variables, so if the user breaks something, it will be a matter of deleting a folder to fix it.

 

Just include a large bold warning and disclaimer.

Folks then make their own decisions. :)

With the clear evidence the folks don't bother reading the instructions? I'm pretty sre I could write a tutorial that was a warning every .5 steps and a diclaimer of responsiblity every .25 steps and people would still manage not to read either.

Anyway, I figured out how, in principle to automate at leas half of the dangerous part. I am less worried about telling people to delete and reinstall G8 as their collections of stuff have to be smaller. So we're back on for a general release. Which will have a disclaimer. Said disclaimer will be ignored, but this time I'll know I did everything possible to make it safe.

Like many I use many folders within my daz3d library to hold specific content, IE Genesis_8 folder for all things specific to Genesis 8 ONLY

If people are causing corruption to their Genesis 8 files then why not suggest this 'specific folder' funtionality, and then go on to suggest backing up said folder BEFORE any actions are taken

THEN saving any results from the action carried out to yet ANOTHER specific folder EG 'Genesis_8_Mods'

IF any problems arise, then all they would need to do is DELETE the existing Genesis_8 folder and REPLACE it with the copy which was saved previously

Of course during this time NO new files from DAZ should be included in the Genesis_8 folder

would this help ?

Because morph assests include relative paths at save time, you can't save them to a different folder or backup folder. They will not work. They won't even load because they won't be in the right folder.

The present manual method for dealing with this has, as I said, instructions of backing up both the G3 and G8 data folders. But it's exactly because people are already having issues dealing the relative benign method like Redz's that I do not want to to go there. One slip, and they could lose their backup and source files in a single go.

Fundamentally, you want all transfers to live in the same folder. Which is why I'd really like to be able script transfer utility and the have the sript go difrectly to saving the files, without user input. The files would then be saved to a specific folder. COmbined with the sript checking for name conflicts, it should be the safest possible way to do it. The main isse remains the easiest way to do the job involve lobotomizing Genesis 3. I'm a bit less concerned bout damge to g8 because if they have to start over, there will be less to reinstall.

Of course, anyone without some kind of collection for G3 has no need of this method as they have nothing to transfer.

jestmart

You can save morph data to another folder that is in a known Studio library.  I know it works because I just picked up Genesis 8's data folder from the Genesis 8 library I have her installed to and moved it to my Starter Essentials library and everything still works

L'Adair

dracorn said:

Wow. It's a good thing I saved only one morph before I asked the question. There's nothing wrong with that morph by the way, I had just decided on a better naming convention. I'll do my homework and decide on my names and categories before I save any more morphs, and save myself the headache. Most of my work to date had been using GenX2 to step the morphs from older generations to G3. I'll make sure I'm happy with the G8 conversion before I save them.

I really appreciate your assistance, by the way. Thanks.

You're welcome.

PhilW said:

While we are looking at the Parameter Settings, if you put something like Actor/G3F Morphs (choose your own name) into the path box, it will create a new category of that name. I have set up categories for Genesis, G2 and G3 morphs, it just helps me find them. I hope that is helpful in creating your own organization structure.

I do this, too.

And just to clarify for the newbies, Phil is talking about the structure you will see in the parameters for the figure when it's selected in the scene, not not where the files are located on your hard drive. It really helps when you're looking for your custom morphs.

L'Adair

Here is the base G8F with both custom morph of Aibell for G3F and her material, with makeup and brows via Skin Builder 3. I got a little carried away, and did a complete scene. The original image is 2K wide and can be found from the gallery page, here.

Respite
 

---

 

nicstt

L'Adair said:

Here is the base G8F with both custom morph of Aibell for G3F and her material, with makeup and brows via Skin Builder 3. I got a little carried away, and did a complete scene. The original image is 2K wide and can be found from the gallery page, here.

Respite
 

---

 

Nice job

Singular Blues

jestmart said:

You can save morph data to another folder that is in a known Studio library.  I know it works because I just picked up Genesis 8's data folder from the Genesis 8 library I have her installed to and moved it to my Starter Essentials library and everything still works

I am soooo not encoraging people who don't read instructions to add a second library. This whole thing is dangerous because it's complex. 

In reducing the danger, it go more complex. I'd say that for every problem solved by the additional complexity, at leas one new problem cropped up.

The solution is not more complexity. Especially not more complexity that will give friendly troubleshooters fits in the future when they say, "Oh, you did that? Delete this file." and the n00b replies "There's no file there." Becase some people will, litterally, blindly follow tut instructions not only not having a clue why they are doing things, bt not having a clue what they are doing. Thay may break something while never absorbing the fact that they've fndamentally changed the way the figure backend work and it's important to lead with that change when asking for help with problems and puzzlers.

L'Adair

nicstt said:

L'Adair said:

Here is the base G8F with both custom morph of Aibell for G3F and her material, with makeup and brows via Skin Builder 3. I got a little carried away, and did a complete scene. The original image is 2K wide and can be found from the gallery page, here.

Respite

Nice job

Thank you.

azancocchio_48aa49bbdb

anyway you can repost that link?

L'Adair

azancocchio_48aa49bbdb said:

anyway you can repost that link?

Which link? For the Morph Transfer? Redz's Tutorial for Morph Transfer G3 to G8

Or for Adding Clones to G8? Redz's Tutorial for Adding Clones to G8

Or something else?

barbult

L'Adair said:

Here is the base G8F with both custom morph of Aibell for G3F and her material, with makeup and brows via Skin Builder 3. I got a little carried away, and did a complete scene. The original image is 2K wide and can be found from the gallery page, here.

Respite
 

---

 

Beautiful! I commented on your Gallery image, too.

L'Adair

barbult said:

L'Adair said:

Here is the base G8F with both custom morph of Aibell for G3F and her material, with makeup and brows via Skin Builder 3. I got a little carried away, and did a complete scene. The original image is 2K wide and can be found from the gallery page, here.

Respite
 

---

 

Beautiful! I commented on your Gallery image, too.

Thank you. I'm glad you like it.

Rod Wise Driggo

Singular Blues said:

jestmart said:

You can save morph data to another folder that is in a known Studio library.  I know it works because I just picked up Genesis 8's data folder from the Genesis 8 library I have her installed to and moved it to my Starter Essentials library and everything still works

I am soooo not encoraging people who don't read instructions to add a second library. This whole thing is dangerous because it's complex. 

In reducing the danger, it go more complex. I'd say that for every problem solved by the additional complexity, at leas one new problem cropped up.

The solution is not more complexity. Especially not more complexity that will give friendly troubleshooters fits in the future when they say, "Oh, you did that? Delete this file." and the n00b replies "There's no file there." Becase some people will, litterally, blindly follow tut instructions not only not having a clue why they are doing things, bt not having a clue what they are doing. Thay may break something while never absorbing the fact that they've fndamentally changed the way the figure backend work and it's important to lead with that change when asking for help with problems and puzzlers.

Well, might be. But for me a second (where I place stuff bought elsewere) and third (where I have my own saved stuff) library is essential. It sure might add to complexity but unfortunately some PAs tend to not obey proper folder structures unfortunately. My main runtime is organized solely by DIM and it is a mess where I would never ever want to add things manually. Examples? There are content folders in the root directory because some PAs tend to forget the overall structure. There are 5 folders (Documentation, Documents, ReadMe, ReadMe's, ReadMes) where the info files are saved. There is even a "Light Presents" folder - yes, that was you ElianeCK ;-) and so on. The data-folder is a mess as my beloved Mediterranean environment places all it's parts without any main folder etc. I don't care as the benefits of easy installation by DIM are great.

But for all manually added stuff I sure want to have a "clean" runtime where I can at least organize the people-folder (like placing additional textures by different PAs in the mat-folders of the main product not elsewhere) the way I want. It's still bad enough that I cannot change structure of data or textures as again some PAs don't use main folders to put all their stuff under.

 

 

glaseye

Singular Blues said:

I am soooo not encoraging people who don't read instructions to add a second library. This whole thing is dangerous because it's complex. 

????

I have many 'libraries' (separate content folders, for example for G8F content) in use. In fact, I don't even use the default content library DS sets up. Not sure what the danger or complexity is. (But then, I don't use DIM or any other Content Mangler System; strictly manual install. That has been the most safe and trusted install method for me for the past 10 years for DS, Vue and Poser....  )