Details regarding the Geometry Editor
Erwin0265
Posts: 63
Hi all,
OK, I'm back again to ask more questions of those in the know..............
I'm playing with creating new surfaces on an imported OBJ so I can add some more detail in the texturing. I've pretty much worked it out except for one thing (well, one thing right now - I'm sure there will be other things I'll get stuck on later).
In the Geometry Editor, there are 2 columns entitled "Add" & "Sub"; now I understand the titles but have no idea how they work as I inadvertantly (with my first try at creating a new surface) created a surface that has the "Sub" column checked whereas the rest have the "Add" column checked - and sometimes, when I render, the surface with the "Sub" column checked doesn't appear in the render (also makes sense but I can't work out how to fix it and check the "Add" column instead)............
None of the so-called "Complete Guides" even mention the Geometry Editor and every tutorial (text or video) I have found just goes through the very basics and makes no mention of these columns (Probably because they are generally not involved?)...
Any suggestions?
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Comments
They add or subtract those already assigned polys from your selection. If you want to make a new surface you have to right click and "surfaces" and chose create new from selected.
The non-grey +- signs are buttons - click to add the whole of that group to the selection ior to remove it. If a group is partially selected both may be lit at once.
Thanks for the fast replies! I had noticed later that the minus sign lights up when that group's polys are selected; once unselected, they go back to having a plus sign.
I also realised later that it's very easy to select more than one group at a time as there appears to be no need to hold down ctrl or similar buttons to add to a selection (I found this out the hard way when I realised my last three assigned surfaces had become part of my next surface - you have to consciously unselect a given group before going on to create your next selection).
I'll keep playing and post back later when I have my multi-textured spaceship done..................
As someone that just did this yesterday on the DAZ Seal take care to DESELECT the polygons you have just take great care and much time selecting and adding to your (maybe new) surface group so that when you go to select the next group of polygons for the next surface group you will be creating the prior selected polygons don't wind up being taken from the surface grup you prior created and added to your new surface group.
Nonesuch00, that's exactly what I was talking about in my post before yours; "I found this out the hard way when I realised my last three assigned surfaces had become part of my next surface - you have to consciously unselect a given group before going on to create your next selection"....
Very easy to do when virtually everywhere else in the user interface you have to hold down ctrl to add to a selection or alt to take away from..............
Whilst I am writing this; I althought I may as well ask a related question; that being, is there a quick way to hide/unhide the face groups or surfaces within the Geometry Editor? I found that the easiest way to select fiddly parts is to hide all other parts so that the part I wanted to select was the only one left visible in the Viewport (this is not the same as hiding the surfaces in the Viewport by setting the Cutout Opacity to zero; they have to be hidden in the Geometry Editor - as far as I can tell)...
No, I don't think you can hide an entry in the Tool Settings list.
You can hide them, but we may be talking about different things. What I mean is using the eye open/closed icon within the Geometry Editor to hide surfaces within the viewport. This allows for easier selection of especially fiddly items; hiding them in the Scene pane is of no use as, generally, it's all one piece and using the Surfaces pane to hide surfaces by using the Cutout Opacity is also of no use as they are still selectable.
If the surfaces are hidden in the Viewport, using the Geometry Editor eye open/closed feature [ie. Visibility column], they are no longer selectable in the viewport using either the Geometry Editor's Marque, Lasso or Drag Selection; so selectively leaving certain surfaces visible makes them easier to select when using the Geometry Editor.
I have all of that working fine but am just hoping/wanting to speed up workflow by being able to hide/unhide many surfaces at once. Currently, all I can do is click on each eye icon individually to hide/unhide it. Is there a faster way?
I hope I've explained myself better this time...........
Thanks for your time, Richard; it's awesome to see how much time and effort you spend in the forums helping others and it is truly appreciated...............
You assume it's voluntary. I've always suspected that he's like Ed, the guy that Jack Benny had locked up in his vault as a guard, and that most of his posts contain coded pleas for help. And I'm pretty sure his name is actually an anagram for "In Dire tale! Chase!"
It's his job to be here (notice the grey Daz logo in his avatar), though he is very helpful besides just keeping us in line.
I can't see a faster way - either click all the eyes, or click the +es and then right-click in the viewport and seelct the hide option. If you want to hide more surfaces than you want left visible a semi-shortcut would be to select the ones you want to keep and then right-click in viewport, Geometry Visibility>Hide Unselected Polygon(s). You could request a new feature to add more options to the right-click in ToolSettings, since you can select a range of groups by click/shift-click http://www.daz3d.com/help/help-contact-us .
Thanks for the thanks, Fisty and Cybersox are of course correct.
I've been in many many forums of different kinds, and Richard Haseltine is pretty much the most responsive and helpful mods I've ever encountered.
Thanks Richard. At least I know that there is no faster way and that the way I have been doing it is the way to do it (although it might be nice if the ability to shift-click and select multiple surfaces at once so that hiding and unhiding can be done more efficiently be considered in a future update; although I am sure that there are many more features to consider that would have more general use to be thought of first)...
AND I realise that Richard is employed by Daz3D, but as Will mentioned (can I call you Will? ;)), he is definitely one of the rare 'ones' that actually helps and responds and, dare I say, cares..... That is something I have only seen here and at the Planetside (Terragen) forums...
At all the other forums I frequent, most of the mods couldn't give a flying f__k about their customers; so long as they get paid, they're happy. Hell, most moderators don't even take the time to actually read the question; the 'best' you can hope for is that they skim-read the question/issue/problem and provide a link that may provide something remotely linked to what you were asking...........
So, again, from a generally jaded individual, I thank you, Richard for your responsiveness and care..............
Now, back to the model I was texturing. As promised, I said I'd post back when I had my multi-textured spaceship done This is by no means to show off or anything silly & pointless like that (it really isn't that good) - but I'm learning and hope others may benefit from this also...........
Firstly, I'd like to make clear that what I talk about below should in no way be seen as a criticism of the model I retextured. It's an awesome model, as are all of Keith Hazelet's (skynet3020). This model is the "Allied Fleets Destroyer" model which I only had in OBJ format [I think that you can also get it in 3DS, MAX and Poser format] as I originally purchased most of the Allied Fleets collect to use in Vue [I'm using them again because I'm getting better results in DS!].
So after some work, I now have a spaceship textured with Iray shaders and considerable diversity when compared with the original. The original ship had 5 texture maps [6 separately assigned surfaces]; each was basically a 1024 x 1024 px image of plain, steel panels, I created 42 surfaces [of which 36 were newly allocated].
FYI, I have been using DS for about 6 months, so this stuff is pretty easy even for beginners. If anyone has any questions regarding the workflow - just ask; I'll do my best to explain.
I have attached a few screencaps & test renders for anyone who may be interested
That's certainly a dramatic difference
Thanks [I'm taking it as a compliment because you didn't say, "That looks awful!" and I gotta take it where I can get it.......yeah; I'm joking].
I'm not yet sure whether the change is better or not but then it's only part of a composited image that I have in my head, so we'll see.......