Dynamic Morphs?

jmucchiello

Is it possible to dynamically load a morph?

This is a hypothetical example.

Load a base figure in Daz (G9, for example).

Apply a character morph, let's call it ABC Jane Doe 9. (Totally made up)

Daz does its thing and the figure now looks just like a textureless ABC Jane Doe 9 from whatever store Jane comes from.

Save the scene and close Daz.

Go into the /data directory and move all the ABC Jane Doe 9 morphs outside of the Daz content library.

Restart DAZ and load the scene. Jane won't be looking like herself

Is there anyway, at this point, to point Daz at the morphs (currently sitting outside the content library) and have them applied to Jane?

crosswind

There would be a message popping up to warn you there're modifiers missing .... but DS wouldn't give you an option of relocating the modifier asset files (DSFs).

Besides, reading from a non-mapped "Daz Library" is not in line with DS current approach of loading modifier assets ~~ i.e. the assets must be in a Daz Library that is defined in Content Directory Manager ~

jmucchiello

crosswind said:

There would be a message popping up to warn you there're modifiers missing .... but DS wouldn't give you an option of relocating the modifier asset files (DSFs).

Besides, reading from a non-mapped "Daz Library" is not in line with DS current approach of loading modifier assets ~~ i.e. the assets must be in a Daz Library that is defined in Content Directory Manager ~

I'm not asking what will happen. I'm asking can I twist Daz to my will? I hate that morphs and sliders are loaded every time I load a figure when 99% of them will never be needed. Windows reports 320,000 *body*.dsf files in my G9 library alone. 

I use Turbo Loader. I've removed 90% of the expression assets using it because I don't need them all and most of them came with figures.

When I load an old DUF, it tells me there 50 missing products. Not a single figure in those products uses any one of the assets that are "missing". And yet my DUF files have references to them. For no reason except I **might** want to use them, maybe.

Now, is there any way on Earth to do what I am actually asking? Aside from not using Daz apparently.

I suspect my only recourse is going to be getting heavily aggressive with Turbo Loader. But I'm not there yet. (And it doesn't work in DS6 yet that I'm aware of.)

crosswind

Nope, there's no way to do what you asked as per the scenario you mentioned above... as you've moved the morph files out of your Daz Lib ~~ Neither DS nor any existing products can handle that, AFAIK.

But since you're using Turbo Loader, why not use Turbo Loader's companion: Turbo Loader Booster Utilities ? https://www.daz3d.com/turbo-loader-booster-utilities

It can load disabled morphs on demand when opening Scenes... only you may have to sacrifice a bit loading speed.

Edit:
I'm not sure what you mean by "missing products..." but telling you missing products (show you product thumbnails...) and telling you missing morphs (show you a morph list...) are different things.

jmucchiello

Booster Utilities works with G9? It's not listed on the store page. Seems I own it. It wants my DUF files to be in the content library. No clue why it couldn't just have a file open dialog.

It doesn't load JCMs. How do I know if that's a problem when whether there's a JCM isn't obvious most of the time?

And again, still waiting for DS6 support.

I still can't believe there's no way to pass a file name into Daz (somehow) and have it apply the morph(s) inside to the currently selected figure. Daz has this capability somewhere inside it. It isn't exposed to the SDK?

crosswind

Booster Utils. supports G9... https://docs.daz3d.com/public/read_me/index/85000_85999/85820/start

As long as JCMs have DSF files, they can be loaded with no problem.

Again, not like DUF files that can be loaded from anywhere... DSF files can only be loaded from Daz Libraries that're defined in CDM. You have no way to load them from other locations that're not defined in CDM ~~ Whatever scripts / SDKs... they also call configuration in CDM. 

You can submit function request to Daz if you're willing to do so ~~ though I don't think you can get what you want.

lilweep

jmucchiello said:

Is it possible to dynamically load a morph?

This is a hypothetical example.

Load a base figure in Daz (G9, for example).

Apply a character morph, let's call it ABC Jane Doe 9. (Totally made up)

Daz does its thing and the figure now looks just like a textureless ABC Jane Doe 9 from whatever store Jane comes from.

Save the scene and close Daz.

Go into the /data directory and move all the ABC Jane Doe 9 morphs outside of the Daz content library.

Restart DAZ and load the scene. Jane won't be looking like herself

Is there anyway, at this point, to point Daz at the morphs (currently sitting outside the content library) and have them applied to Jane?

I didnt read all this thread, but to answer your question yes this is easy,  just put the files in a new directory

Daz doesnt care about root path, only relative path, so as long as your new directory still has all folders from /data and onwards kept the same, daz will find it, provided:

- the scene .duf still has all the same reference (i.e., you didnt resave it after it declared missing files)
- the /data folder is in one of the directories that you have added to your content library in daz studio (and it is structured properly)

 

i dont understand why the thread is titled "dynamic morphs".  How is this dynamic morphs? This is "moving content to a new content library".

jmucchiello

lilweep said:

jmucchiello said:

Is it possible to dynamically load a morph?

This is a hypothetical example.

Load a base figure in Daz (G9, for example).

Apply a character morph, let's call it ABC Jane Doe 9. (Totally made up)

Daz does its thing and the figure now looks just like a textureless ABC Jane Doe 9 from whatever store Jane comes from.

Save the scene and close Daz.

Go into the /data directory and move all the ABC Jane Doe 9 morphs outside of the Daz content library.

Restart DAZ and load the scene. Jane won't be looking like herself

Is there anyway, at this point, to point Daz at the morphs (currently sitting outside the content library) and have them applied to Jane?

I didnt read all this thread, but to answer your question yes this is easy,  just put the files in a new directory

Daz doesnt care about root path, only relative path, so as long as your new directory still has all folders from /data and onwards kept the same, daz will find it, provided:

- the scene .duf still has all the same reference (i.e., you didnt resave it after it declared missing files)
- the /data folder is in one of the directories that you have added to your content library in daz studio (and it is structured properly)

 

i dont understand why the thread is titled "dynamic morphs".  How is this dynamic morphs? This is "moving content to a new content library".

I have six library paths. It's called dynamic because I want Daz NOT to know about the morphs until I tell it to load them: dynamically.

Richard Haseltine

The shape data is not loaded until used, but the property details (slider name, location, and links) are. If you want to have the morphs unavailable until you add them just uninstall/reinstall - reloading the figure after that is going to be needed regardless of how the process is handled.

If a morph from the Daz store that you own but do not have installed is needed for a character, and if DS has it in the CMS database, then it will offer to download and install it when you try to load the character. But that is using Connect to install, which some people wish to avoid, and does require updating metadata.

jmucchiello

I don't use connect. And the morphs are available. I just don't want them visible unless needed. Look at the attachment.

Exactly zero of these assets are actually used in the DUF. But they are referenced because they were loaded when I made the DUF months ago. I hid them with Turbo Loader because I don't need Addy Kate's smile expression when I'm not using Addy Kate. But it was loaded and ended up in the DUF file as a reference. The Daz way of just loading everything up front doesn't work well when the user has a large library. This is why I want dynamic loading.

But it isn't a space issue. I have all of these assets downloaded. I could reactivate them with Turbo Loader at any time. But they aren't necessary for what I'm doing now. Yet, if not for Turbo Loader, they would take up time every time a G9 figure loads.

Bejaymac

Yes and No.

Character presets have a "morph call", this tells DS what morph to load and where to find it and to even set the "parent".

The problem is the morphs would have to be outside the figures "Morphs" folder to stop DS loading them with the base figure.

The morph call in the preset would have to be setup manually as DS wont do that.

A few years back I did a very tongue in cheek POC with G8F to show this.

Character Presets are the only files that can do this, so not only is it a lot of work, it's not very practical.

jmucchiello

I'm not looking for anything automatic. The morphs not being in the normal folder isn't the problem. It's the solution.

I'd expect there to be a script for each asset "set" that would bring it's morphs in when I wanted them brought in. And another script to remove them.

In any case, thanks to all you tried to help. Time probably to cull my library harshly.