You totally honor me with that Ralph Bakshi comment!
FWIW, the bridge to and from Hex usually works great without a hitch. DS just locks up sometimes. I doubt the use of the bridge had anything to do with it directly ;)
I love it, Diomede, when you get into these 'learning' modes and write about it. Huge Fan over here!
I also use nulls and primitives to aid navigation. Do you think it is a Carrara-veteran thing? Jay is a Carrara veteran and entered the monthly challenge for the 'Give Me a Sign' theme.
Alberto released a Text Modeler for Studio. It is interesting to me that Howie released a replicator add on (ultra-scatter) to mimic Carrara and now Alberto has released a text modeler. Who is going to release the Metaball modeler? Not just a metaball sticky, but an actual modeler? There is a store item that will goop blobs all over your figure.
I hope to be through the rest of the public MasterClass tutorials by close of business today. Then I will start on the Masterclass tutes for Daz+.
I am a few days behind schedule, but I got through parts 1-55 of the Jay Versluis Masterclass videos on the Daz3D Community/Help Page/Tutorials. Parts 1-22 are available to everyone. Have to be a Daz+ subscriber to watch the others. I am very glad I watched from the beginning to end. I had watched a few on specific topics on an ad hoc basis. Found out I was completely unaware of a number of features that make life easier and faster. For people who intend to use Daz Studio as part of the work flow, I highly recommend being a Daz+ subscriber long enough to watch the entire Masterclass tutorial series.
Next up? Content creation, not storytelling. Integrating other programs. I plan to mix in tutorials for ZBrush, Marvelous Designer, and Substance Painter while my subscriptions for the paid programs is in effect. I also intend to watch some Blender tutorials and continue watching Daz Studio videos.
Learning a content workflow. Today is the 12th. I am picking the 15th as the day to start a specific advanced content project to offer as a high quality freebie. Something like an outfit for G9 that is also backwards designed for either G8F or G8M. By advanced, I merely mean that it should have appropriately adjusted weight maps, appropriate morphs to address joint bends, appropriate morphs for a few commonly used major full body characters, dedicated custom materials created in Substance Painter painted on UVMaps that can support tileable shaders. In other words, completing quality content creation from alpha to omega. So after the 15th, I will be spending a lot of time with Mada's Genesis 9 thread, Bohemian3's Marvelous Designer Sewing Concepts thread, and tutorials by Esha from Digital Art Live, among other resources. Along the way, I will try to make sure I properly respect the tutorials that are for sale and act as an ad for them, not undermine them. Where possible though, I will point to resources freely available.
Encouragement encouraged! And if I get through all of this, the community gets a decent freebie.
Important video illustrating using utilities in the G9 clothing setup process
Mada added the following comment - "The weightmap is for quick and fast poke through fixes, especially after layers in dforce or extreme poses. If you want to use the fix in multiple scenes then its better to export a morph and import that into your clothing." and "You misunderstood yes :) The weightmaps are primarly for dforce poke throughs after draping or posing and not meant for animations. It can be used to fix poke through in character morphs as well, and in that case it would be better to export the fix as a morph. That way it will load in the clothing everytime you apply the character morph." and "You export the template as an obj and import it into MD as an avatar, then drape against it. Then export the garment as an obj to bring into DS and use transfer utility as before. If you're draping against the male or female morph dialed up in the template then you will use the same method as in the video to get the base shape (using G9 of course, not the template)."
Select Morph Verts
Put parameters window into edit mode, select a morph and then run the script - it will select all the vertices used in that morph
Clear Morph Verts
Dial up the morph, select it and then use clear morph deltas and it will delete those vertices from the morph
Clear HD Morphs
N/A for users
Remove empty morphs
If you have empty morphs that came across from templates you can select them in the parameter window and run the script. It will remove all empty morphs.
Resave with a new folder name so DS create a new data folder without those morphs included. If you simply resave in the same folder those morphs are already in there and will simply reload next time.
Get Morph Delta Info
Select a figure/clothing/prop and click the button - If you have no morph selected it gives you a list of everything. If you select any amount of morphs it limits it to the selection
Texture Convert : Single UDIM to Multiple
The script is for texture artists...it was easier for our texture artists to work on a single 16k or 8k image so they would export G9 with the single UDIM, texture it, then once they are done they run this script on their images and it breaks them back out into multiple images for use with the multi UDIM UV
Adjust Eye Rigging
If your head morph moves the eyes somehow you dial up the morph and select it on G9 with the eyes loaded, then run this script and it will adjust the eye bone position to fit the shape
Set G9 to Shape
Select G9, run script and then select the shape you want for base. Create follower
Quickly set up a follower from obj Update Follower Base shape
Select base and run script to change base shape
Save current pane info
Saves the position and size of the floating pane
Project Choice - Golf/Polo Shirt for G9 both Male and Female
As discussed above, my next focus will be on creating a quality conforming/DForce garment for G9 with appropriate weightmapping and morphs. My intent is to use Marvelous Designer, ZBrush, and Blender for the mesh, uvmapping, and morphs. My intent is to use Substance Painter to create the materials.
I have decided upon a Golf/Polo shirt. I chose this project because (a) it is good for males and females of the G9 unimesh, (b) has extras like collars and a pocket, (c) has rigid follow nodes for the buttons, and (d) I have the option of putting a logo on the shirt.
There are plenty of free patterns on the web, and Marvelous Designer has some similar samples. Here are some references for the general idea. These are just for the general idea. No one particular one is my exact project. I want a pullover, not a full button down.
3DMegaverse is the interviewee in the Daz+ LiveStream #9 I pointed to above. For people who are not Daz+ members, you might consider 3DMegaverse's Youtube Channel. It has tutorials for lots of programs such as Blender, Substance Painter, and more. Here is a link to 3DMegaverse youtube tutorials on Marvelous Designer.
The Mada tutorials I have linked to above (thank you, Mada) discuss using templates. The following online tutorial by 3DMegaverse demonstrates how to use a template in the workflow to create a clothing mesh for genesis 9 in Marvelous Designer, and bring it back to Daz Studio, and use the template to help weightmapping. This is a dress. There are other templates.
Stepping away from the clothing project for just a moment for another tree project. Have been looking at tree modeling in Blender. Thought I would share a recent video tutorial by Bro 3D, who posts some Blender videos. I have used Carrara to make trees in the past. I even have a tree for Daz Studio that was initially modeled in Carrara. This post is a different workflow. It shows how a Blender add-on can be used to make trees.
The tutorial video is here. If you find it helpful, I encourage you to Like and subscribe to Bro 3D for making sharing.
Comments
You totally honor me with that Ralph Bakshi comment!
FWIW, the bridge to and from Hex usually works great without a hitch. DS just locks up sometimes. I doubt the use of the bridge had anything to do with it directly ;)
I love it, Diomede, when you get into these 'learning' modes and write about it. Huge Fan over here!
I am a few days behind schedule, but I got through parts 1-55 of the Jay Versluis Masterclass videos on the Daz3D Community/Help Page/Tutorials. Parts 1-22 are available to everyone. Have to be a Daz+ subscriber to watch the others. I am very glad I watched from the beginning to end. I had watched a few on specific topics on an ad hoc basis. Found out I was completely unaware of a number of features that make life easier and faster. For people who intend to use Daz Studio as part of the work flow, I highly recommend being a Daz+ subscriber long enough to watch the entire Masterclass tutorial series.
Next up? Content creation, not storytelling. Integrating other programs. I plan to mix in tutorials for ZBrush, Marvelous Designer, and Substance Painter while my subscriptions for the paid programs is in effect. I also intend to watch some Blender tutorials and continue watching Daz Studio videos.
Learning a content workflow. Today is the 12th. I am picking the 15th as the day to start a specific advanced content project to offer as a high quality freebie. Something like an outfit for G9 that is also backwards designed for either G8F or G8M. By advanced, I merely mean that it should have appropriately adjusted weight maps, appropriate morphs to address joint bends, appropriate morphs for a few commonly used major full body characters, dedicated custom materials created in Substance Painter painted on UVMaps that can support tileable shaders. In other words, completing quality content creation from alpha to omega. So after the 15th, I will be spending a lot of time with Mada's Genesis 9 thread, Bohemian3's Marvelous Designer Sewing Concepts thread, and tutorials by Esha from Digital Art Live, among other resources. Along the way, I will try to make sure I properly respect the tutorials that are for sale and act as an ad for them, not undermine them. Where possible though, I will point to resources freely available.
Encouragement encouraged! And if I get through all of this, the community gets a decent freebie.
Important video illustrating using utilities in the G9 clothing setup process
Mada added the following comment - "The weightmap is for quick and fast poke through fixes, especially after layers in dforce or extreme poses. If you want to use the fix in multiple scenes then its better to export a morph and import that into your clothing." and "You misunderstood yes :) The weightmaps are primarly for dforce poke throughs after draping or posing and not meant for animations. It can be used to fix poke through in character morphs as well, and in that case it would be better to export the fix as a morph. That way it will load in the clothing everytime you apply the character morph." and "You export the template as an obj and import it into MD as an avatar, then drape against it. Then export the garment as an obj to bring into DS and use transfer utility as before. If you're draping against the male or female morph dialed up in the template then you will use the same method as in the video to get the base shape (using G9 of course, not the template)."
Select Morph Verts
Put parameters window into edit mode, select a morph and then run the script - it will select all the vertices used in that morph
Clear Morph Verts
Dial up the morph, select it and then use clear morph deltas and it will delete those vertices from the morph
Clear HD Morphs
N/A for users
Remove empty morphs
If you have empty morphs that came across from templates you can select them in the parameter window and run the script. It will remove all empty morphs.
Resave with a new folder name so DS create a new data folder without those morphs included. If you simply resave in the same folder those morphs are already in there and will simply reload next time.
Get Morph Delta Info
Select a figure/clothing/prop and click the button - If you have no morph selected it gives you a list of everything. If you select any amount of morphs it limits it to the selection
Texture Convert : Single UDIM to Multiple
The script is for texture artists...it was easier for our texture artists to work on a single 16k or 8k image so they would export G9 with the single UDIM, texture it, then once they are done they run this script on their images and it breaks them back out into multiple images for use with the multi UDIM UV
Adjust Eye Rigging
If your head morph moves the eyes somehow you dial up the morph and select it on G9 with the eyes loaded, then run this script and it will adjust the eye bone position to fit the shape
Set G9 to Shape
Select G9, run script and then select the shape you want for base.
Create follower
Quickly set up a follower from obj
Update Follower Base shape
Select base and run script to change base shape
Save current pane info
Saves the position and size of the floating pane
Buttons
- Rigid Follow Nodes - Video by Mada
Very Cool! Thanks for posting!
Project Choice - Golf/Polo Shirt for G9 both Male and Female
As discussed above, my next focus will be on creating a quality conforming/DForce garment for G9 with appropriate weightmapping and morphs. My intent is to use Marvelous Designer, ZBrush, and Blender for the mesh, uvmapping, and morphs. My intent is to use Substance Painter to create the materials.
I have decided upon a Golf/Polo shirt. I chose this project because (a) it is good for males and females of the G9 unimesh, (b) has extras like collars and a pocket, (c) has rigid follow nodes for the buttons, and (d) I have the option of putting a logo on the shirt.
There are plenty of free patterns on the web, and Marvelous Designer has some similar samples. Here are some references for the general idea. These are just for the general idea. No one particular one is my exact project. I want a pullover, not a full button down.
Tutorial - Daz+ LiveStream on Creation for G9
For Daz Plus members, the Livestream series includes one specifically on using Marvelous Designer to create for G9.
Dartabeck's Website Has a page for Content Creation Tools
https://www.dartanbeck.com/daz-zone/daz-studio/content-creation-tools
3DMegaverse is the interviewee in the Daz+ LiveStream #9 I pointed to above. For people who are not Daz+ members, you might consider 3DMegaverse's Youtube Channel. It has tutorials for lots of programs such as Blender, Substance Painter, and more. Here is a link to 3DMegaverse youtube tutorials on Marvelous Designer.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmvWo_ZS_5kP-sO3WLLXTDdVCcbp5KtB6
Marvelous Designer, UVs. The first 5 minutes of this video shows the basic UV situation for Marvelous Designer clothing to be exported.
Templates - Marvelous Designer - Genesis 9
The Mada tutorials I have linked to above (thank you, Mada) discuss using templates. The following online tutorial by 3DMegaverse demonstrates how to use a template in the workflow to create a clothing mesh for genesis 9 in Marvelous Designer, and bring it back to Daz Studio, and use the template to help weightmapping. This is a dress. There are other templates.
Mesh From Marvelous Designer to Daz Studio - Using Templates in Setup Process
This is the 3DMegaverse video on transferring the finished Marvelous Designer mesh for G9 to Daz Studio and using the templates.
Trees Again
Stepping away from the clothing project for just a moment for another tree project. Have been looking at tree modeling in Blender. Thought I would share a recent video tutorial by Bro 3D, who posts some Blender videos. I have used Carrara to make trees in the past. I even have a tree for Daz Studio that was initially modeled in Carrara. This post is a different workflow. It shows how a Blender add-on can be used to make trees.
The tutorial video is here. If you find it helpful, I encourage you to Like and subscribe to Bro 3D for making sharing.
Trees in Blender based on Bro 3D method in video linked in the post above this one - Some screenshot highlights
First, find the add on in Edit Preferences, which is requires enabling sapling tree curve
Second, once preferences active, can use the add menu to add a curve and choose sapling.
Third, the tree menu appears in lower left when initially add the sapling curve. Gives you the opportunity to choose initial settings
Because I have linked Bro 3D's video, I am not going to cover the entire workflow. However, I do want to provide some notable reminders.
- Tree Presets - the menu has a number of choices for base trees. Very helpful
- Seed - Adjust the seed number to get some randomness. Trees in your forest should not be all the same. :)
- Settings - Use this menu to dive deeper into the branches and other details. Gives options per category
- Branch Splits - Want to fill out your tree? Complexity? Branch splits may help.
- The rows are for Trunk and then for each level of branch and subbranch
- Resolution - very important to have control over the number of polygons if intending to use in another program, including Daz Studio
- Branch Growth setting menu - more ways to add detail
Trees continued.
- Pruning is key for leaves!!!!
- Leaves have a menu
- Enable check 'Show Leaves' and can control quanitity of leaves
- Default leaves, Bro 3D recommended scale of 0.8
- Leaf Shape - Typically rectangular plane to apply leaf map with alpha
- Check on Leaf count again
Trees Continued - Reserved for Materials and Shading
Trees Continued - Reserved for Mesh Conversions and File Transfer
Trees - Blender - Method 2
Modeling Trees Starting from an Extruded Point then Using a Skin Modifier
Trees - Blender - Method 3
TBD
Measurement Tools in Blender's Vetex Modeler
Video 1 - Basic settings
Video 2 - Measurement Ruler Tools
Video 3 - MeasureIt Add-On
.
Blender Archimesh Add-on for Modeling Architecture
Archimesh Video
Break from tutorials to just do some fun fan art. For those of you who remember the 1980s version of Flash Gordon with the soundtrack by Queen.
Another video on combining an existing image (eg, a simple 3D render) with Stable Diffusion.
And a video on the Inpaint Anything extension in Stable Diffusion
Cool Stuff - As Always!
I just watched Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets again last night, and immediately thought of you, Brash and Moxie!
How are all of you these days anyway? Good, I hope!
Doing great, thanks. Blender is finally clicking, and so two thumbs up to that. I will not be renewing ZBrush. ZBrush is fantastic, but so expensive.
Awesome! Coming to grips with Blender is Huge!!! Bravo!
Only took 12 years, and complete revision of the Blender user interface.
Yeah... I hear that!!!