How far modification/morph can be made to Genesis characters via GoZ in Zbrush

videoninja719

Hello. I have some collection of custom preset characters purchased from Daz Store. 

I see vendors in daz studio usually saying sculpted this and that and finished in zbrush...i know they all look wonderful.

But i never see such tutorial on how they do it? Im abit curious because all i see are minor morphs using dials only....

Do you always have to start morphing from genesis base models?

Are we 'ONLY" allowed to use moved brush in zbrush, and dials in daz studio to make morphs?

What if in Zbrush i want to delete parts of nose or mouth that I dont like and sculpt a new one using claybuildup smooth damstandard after subdivisioned, and the change to lower res model and send back to Daz Studio. Does it work that way?

I hope to see answers to my question but after 6 years of daz i think i need to take things to higher level if i can do my own custom 'advanced' morph, for my own pleasure.

Thank you in advance for any guidance i appreciate it so much!

felis

A morph is an adjustment of the existing mesh. So with a morph you cannot change vertex count or vertex order, and thereby limited to moving of existing vertexes.

If you want to replace something, then you can make an geocraft, where you essentially have some reference vertexes, and then can build on from that.

I think Sickleyield has some tutorials for both on YouTube, although she uses Blender instead of Zbrush.

videoninja719

felis said:

A morph is an adjustment of the existing mesh. So with a morph you cannot change vertex count or vertex order, and thereby limited to moving of existing vertexes.

If you want to replace something, then you can make an geocraft, where you essentially have some reference vertexes, and then can build on from that.

I think Sickleyield has some tutorials for both on YouTube, although she uses Blender instead of Zbrush.

Hi. ah thank you for stopping by and for awesome info and the comment. I was thinking about making face morph like the pros doing it and selling it here in daz store. Didnt know i can do geocraft thing. looks like fun. Thank you @felis

 

Syrus_Dante

Do you always have to start morphing from genesis base models?

No you can use a morphed character shape as base for your own ZBrush sculpt.

I would skip using the GoZ plugin and instead export the character as OBJ. Once you'e done your sculpt in ZBrush export another OBJ from there and import it into DazStudio with the Morph Loader Pro where you have the Reverse Deformation setting. With Reverse Deformation the morphed character shape of the figure in the scene gets removed from the OBJ shape you load with Morph Loader Pro. You end up with a morph slider that containes only the deformations you've sculpted on top of the character morph. Keep in mind that while using Morph Loader Pro with Reverse Deformation the character morphs on the figure currently in the scene have to be set the same as you have exported them otherwise Reverse Deformation can't work properly. Its best to save a Shape Preset or a Scene file of the Character morph in Daz Studio if you plan to continue your work in ZBrush another day and you need exactly the exported character shape again in DazStudio with Morph Loader Pro.

Are we 'ONLY" allowed to use moved brush in zbrush, and dials in daz studio to make morphs?

In general you can use all brushes that moves the mesh around. But don't use brushes that alter the mesh topology the vertex count has to be the same. I guess in your example with "delete parts of nose or mouth" you meant to use the smoothing brush until the nose and mouth is flat and use it as a base to start sculpting. Thats OK also using brushes like claybuildup and damstandard, actualy there are only a few brushes that will change the mesh like the dynatopo ones. If you are not shure press Shift+F Draw Polyframe and see if the brush does change the mesh there is also a polycount info in the top titlebar.

videoninja719

Syrus_Dante said:

Do you always have to start morphing from genesis base models?

No you can use a morphed character shape as base for your own ZBrush sculpt.

I would skip using the GoZ plugin and instead export the character as OBJ. Once you'e done your sculpt in ZBrush export another OBJ from there and import it into DazStudio with the Morph Loader Pro where you have the Reverse Deformation setting. With Reverse Deformation the morphed character shape of the figure in the scene gets removed from the OBJ shape you load with Morph Loader Pro. You end up with a morph slider that containes only the deformations you've sculpted on top of the character morph. Keep in mind that while using Morph Loader Pro with Reverse Deformation the character morphs on the figure currently in the scene have to be set the same as you have exported them otherwise Reverse Deformation can't work properly. Its best to save a Shape Preset or a Scene file of the Character morph in Daz Studio if you plan to continue your work in ZBrush another day and you need exactly the exported character shape again in DazStudio with Morph Loader Pro.

Are we 'ONLY" allowed to use moved brush in zbrush, and dials in daz studio to make morphs?

In general you can use all brushes that moves the mesh around. But don't use brushes that alter the mesh topology the vertex count has to be the same. I guess in your example with "delete parts of nose or mouth" you meant to use the smoothing brush until the nose and mouth is flat and use it as a base to start sculpting. Thats OK also using brushes like claybuildup and damstandard, actualy there are only a few brushes that will change the mesh like the dynatopo ones. If you are not shure press Shift+F Draw Polyframe and see if the brush does change the mesh there is also a polycount info in the top titlebar.

WOW... just wow!. you summed it all up in one post. I thank you deeply from my heart,@syrus_Dante for taking the time and making this concrete explanation for me and others. I have tried a bit as you said the deleting part and resculpt a bit here and there the nose and mouth area, i can  reimport them back via goz to daz flawlessly, however the textures and the model has shifted places a bit...maybe because extended polygons out of range of the uv texture. Hope  to learn texturing or retexturing one day...

About the morph loader part, im really not experienced in using it...i m justing using GoZ and end up with 4-5 different morphs....i guess i have to dial them all up to see the difference. i didnt select to replace the morph but create new one.About the morph loader part youre saying, i think i have to reread and understand it more once i get the chance.

Thanks again!

Syrus_Dante

If GoZ is working for you thats fine. If something goes wrong with some brush that alters the geometry you will get notified by the time you reimport with GoZ to Daz Studio that you only can add a new object to the scene instead of a morph to your figure.

i didnt select to replace the morph but create new one.

This is new to me so they've added a dialog to replace some kind of morph I wonder what morph gets replaced. Well you can combine those 4-5 different morphs with exporting an OBJ and loading it with Morph Loader Pro. If you want to get serious with morph creation there is no way around using Morph Loader Pro.

I know a great thread from where I've learned most things about creating morphs with ZBrush and how to use Morph Loader Pro.

TUTORIAL - Creating a Genesis series Full Body Morph for DAZ Studio Pro 4.10 by RKane_1

drzap

If you are an adventurous sculptor, you could start from scratch and create your own character in Zbrush or your app of choice (starting from a ball and building up)  This would of course result in a completely different topology from a Genesis figure.  You would then need to wrap the Genesis topology to your custom sculpt using specialized software.  I highly recommend Wrap3 ( https://www.russian3dscanner.com/).    This will get you back to a Daz3D topology and you can import back into Studio for re-rigging.  This way also works for human models you see in other markets like TurboSquid.

videoninja719

Syrus_Dante said:

If GoZ is working for you thats fine. If something goes wrong with some brush that alters the geometry you will get notified by the time you reimport with GoZ to Daz Studio that you only can add a new object to the scene instead of a morph to your figure.

i didnt select to replace the morph but create new one.

This is new to me so they've added a dialog to replace some kind of morph I wonder what morph gets replaced. Well you can combine those 4-5 different morphs with exporting an OBJ and loading it with Morph Loader Pro. If you want to get serious with morph creation there is no way around using Morph Loader Pro.

I know a great thread from where I've learned most things about creating morphs with ZBrush and how to use Morph Loader Pro.

TUTORIAL - Creating a Genesis series Full Body Morph for DAZ Studio Pro 4.10 by RKane_1

Thank you @syrus_dante will look into morph loader thing

drzap said:

If you are an adventurous sculptor, you could start from scratch and create your own character in Zbrush or your app of choice (starting from a ball and building up)  This would of course result in a completely different topology from a Genesis figure.  You would then need to wrap the Genesis topology to your custom sculpt using specialized software.  I highly recommend Wrap3 ( https://www.russian3dscanner.com/).    This will get you back to a Daz3D topology and you can import back into Studio for re-rigging.  This way also works for human models you see in other markets like TurboSquid.

Hi @drzap .Thank you for the tips and compliment. I love to sculpt and modify but only from base mesh that i can find. but im not an artist just a hobbyist in 3D and learning the ropes. Making a character from scratch will be a nightmare or god knows when I ll complete. lol. Although it would be wonderful if i or anyone can do it. I wonder if stylized character are easier to sculpt from scratch?