[Released] Gescon, CSG plugin for Daz Studio [commercial]

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Comments

  • HavosHavos Posts: 5,294

    Bear in mind that the end result of using this plug in is an static object mesh, so even if you can use it on clothing, there is no way for a character to continue to wear it as all the rigging will be lost. In theory you could dforce it, but you need to tweak the parameters to reduce the final poly count, as sometimes it can be very high if you want good precision.

  • MarshianMarshian Posts: 1,459

    Oh yes. I didn't think of that. Make sure your pose is final as the clothing will get reeaaallly stiff once it's Gesconed.

  • Haruki790Haruki790 Posts: 53

    Oh my I never thought of that, good to know - thanks for the tips!

  • mcorrmcorr Posts: 1,018
    edited August 2021

    Havos said:

    Here is my first real world usage of this plug-in. I needed an angle bracket for a DIY picture pack for our game I am working on. I could not find a suitable photo, or 3D model of one, so I knocked up a quick one using this plug-in. Only 5-10 mins work. I know you could do the same in a modeller easily, but it was nice to do all the work in Daz Studio.

    looking at this render makes me think that it would be very useful if we could get a bevel around the edges of a, for example, hole punch.

    Post edited by mcorr on
  • mcorrmcorr Posts: 1,018

    For what it is worth: I have found that applying multiple operations on a mesh will increase the processing times substantially, but when that same mesh is exported as an obj, then reimported as an obj, the plug-in processes a new/additional operation lightening fast.

  • Okay, maybe I'm missing something.  I have a fixture -- say, a free-standing sink -- that is a non-seperate part of the rest of a whole structure -- say. the wall and the floor, existing that way because the maker of that product made all of that construct be one single object, rather than making the sink a distinct object unto itself.  I want to slice the sink off at the base, so that it becomes a separate object, so that I can then move the sink a couple of feet to the left in the scene.  I don't see an obvious way to do that in Gescon.  I placed out a stretched cube, so that it completely enclosed the sink, then selected the structure that included the sink, and selected the cube, and tried to do Intersaction on that, and when Gescon then told me to subsequently select one of these objects as item B, it didn't do anything noticeable, i.e. I didn't wind up with another split-off object showing up in Scene pane.  Clearly I'm doing this wrong, but I don't know how else to go about this.  Maybe I should be trying this with a plane-prim instead?

  • AscaniaAscania Posts: 1,838

    Best guess, it's not a closed mesh.

  • Just bought this.
    Do we install both of these?
    Or just one of them depending on our version of Daz (I'm using 4.12)

     

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  • AlbertoAlberto Posts: 1,381

    psfilipe said:

    Just bought this.
    Do we install both of these?
    Or just one of them depending on our version of Daz (I'm using 4.12)

     

    Install both. One is the plugin, and the other is some content (cutters).

     

  • Alberto said:

    Install both. One is the plugin, and the other is some content (cutters).

     


    Thank you for the clarification, Alberto.

  • AlbertoAlberto Posts: 1,381

    psfilipe said:

    Alberto said:

    Install both. One is the plugin, and the other is some content (cutters).

     


    Thank you for the clarification, Alberto.

    You're welcome! 

  • Just purchased Gescon: Constructive Solid Geometry and using it with Daz Studio 4.16 on Windows 10 (64 bit).
    Seems to work, creates union or difference of simple primatives, but selecting newly created geometry in scene window cause program to crash with following error:
    DAZStudio.exe caused ACCESS_VIOLATION in module "C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins\abGescon.dll" at 0033:00000000590DC270, getPluginDefinition()+60624 byte(s)

    Any advice?

  • AlbertoAlberto Posts: 1,381

    wschwind said:

    Just purchased Gescon: Constructive Solid Geometry and using it with Daz Studio 4.16 on Windows 10 (64 bit).
    Seems to work, creates union or difference of simple primatives, but selecting newly created geometry in scene window cause program to crash with following error:
    DAZStudio.exe caused ACCESS_VIOLATION in module "C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins\abGescon.dll" at 0033:00000000590DC270, getPluginDefinition()+60624 byte(s)

    Any advice?

    Only by selecting the new geometry?

    What objects were you using? 

  • I really like this, but it doesn't seem to work with the thickener plug-in as expected . If I use thickener to make a wall in an existing building prop or interior into closed geometry, for example, i can't get it to work with Gescon for "difference" to make a hole in the wall. It will work for union but nothing else. I've tried to thicken several objects and none seem to work. 

  • AlbertoAlberto Posts: 1,381

    TGSNT said:

    I really like this, but it doesn't seem to work with the thickener plug-in as expected . If I use thickener to make a wall in an existing building prop or interior into closed geometry, for example, i can't get it to work with Gescon for "difference" to make a hole in the wall. It will work for union but nothing else. I've tried to thicken several objects and none seem to work. 

    When the thickness is too small, Gescon could not detect the geometry, unless you increase the precision. Try it, and let me know if this doesn't work, please.

     

  • MRZ2KMRZ2K Posts: 5

    Has anyone else had problems getting GESCON to work?  I installed it using DIM and there was no discernible change to my DAZ Studio layout -- no additional options or tabs appeared.  I couldn't use it at all because it simply didn't appear in the program.  

    Any thoughts anyone may have as to how to correct this would be welcome.  : )

  • Did you restart Daz Studio after installing? Have you checked its status in Help>About Installed Plug-ins?

  • AlbertoAlberto Posts: 1,381

    MRZ2K said:

    Has anyone else had problems getting GESCON to work?  I installed it using DIM and there was no discernible change to my DAZ Studio layout -- no additional options or tabs appeared.  I couldn't use it at all because it simply didn't appear in the program.  

    Any thoughts anyone may have as to how to correct this would be welcome.  : )

    Did you activate the plugin with your Serial Number? 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 23,050

    The Daz Studio layout will not automatically change after installing a new plugin. You need to go to the Window menu and select Panes (Tabs) and then Gescon. That will open the pane for the Gescon plugin. Then you can dock that pane if you wnat to.

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  • MRZ2KMRZ2K Posts: 5

    No, I had no idea that was necessary ...    :O

     

    I haven't had to do that with other plugins that I am aware of ... any guidance as to where to find the serial number / perform the activation would be much appreciated!   : )

     

    Alberto said:

    MRZ2K said:

    Has anyone else had problems getting GESCON to work?  I installed it using DIM and there was no discernible change to my DAZ Studio layout -- no additional options or tabs appeared.  I couldn't use it at all because it simply didn't appear in the program.  

    Any thoughts anyone may have as to how to correct this would be welcome.  : )

    Did you activate the plugin with your Serial Number? 

  • MRZ2KMRZ2K Posts: 5

    I'll give that a try, thanks!  : )

     

     

    barbult said:

    The Daz Studio layout will not automatically change after installing a new plugin. You need to go to the Window menu and select Panes (Tabs) and then Gescon. That will open the pane for the Gescon plugin. Then you can dock that pane if you wnat to.

  • AlbertoAlberto Posts: 1,381

    MRZ2K said:

    No, I had no idea that was necessary ...    :O

     

    I haven't had to do that with other plugins that I am aware of ... any guidance as to where to find the serial number / perform the activation would be much appreciated!   : )

     

    Alberto said:

    MRZ2K said:

    Has anyone else had problems getting GESCON to work?  I installed it using DIM and there was no discernible change to my DAZ Studio layout -- no additional options or tabs appeared.  I couldn't use it at all because it simply didn't appear in the program.  

    Any thoughts anyone may have as to how to correct this would be welcome.  : )

    Did you activate the plugin with your Serial Number? 

    Scripts don't need registering, but plugins usually do.

    You can see the instructions for activating the product in the manual. This is in the Daz Studio folder of installation:
    "/DAZStudio4/docs/Plugins/Gescon Constructive Solid Geometry/Gescon Constructive Solid Geometry Manual.pdf"

    Or you can see this comment: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/3916516/#Comment_3916516 

    (Your serial number is here https://www.daz3d.com/downloader/customer/serialnumbers)

  • MRZ2KMRZ2K Posts: 5

    Alberto / barbult, the guidance in the product manual and in your posts was all very helpful, and worked perfectly.  The plugin is working fine now.    Thanks!  

  • AlbertoAlberto Posts: 1,381

    MRZ2K said:

    Alberto / barbult, the guidance in the product manual and in your posts was all very helpful, and worked perfectly.  The plugin is working fine now.    Thanks!  

    You're welcome! 

  • pighelmetpighelmet Posts: 16
    edited April 2022

    EDIT: Solved. I had misplaced some files during reinstallation (DIM pointed to wrong directory). All fixed!

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I reinstalled Daz Studio after a hardware change and installed Gescon Constructive Solid Geometry via DIM. Daz Studio is located on my D: drive (Windows 10). When I start Daz Studio (v4.0.20.2) now, I get a series of error messages before DS starts up that seem to have to do with Gescon (screenshots attached). The Gescon plugin is checked in the plugins panel, and the indicator is green. Gescon shows up in the Panes menu. When I look in the indicated folder, there is no /Gescon in /Libs. If I uncheck the Gescon plugin, the warning goes away. I have uninstalled and reinstalled several times, stopping and restarting DS every time and rebooting my computer, with the same result.

    Any way to get rid of this error and message? Thank you for any help.

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    Post edited by pighelmet on
  • Alberto said:

    leemoon_c43b45a114 said:

    I think Gescon is a wonderful tool.  I'm in a situation where it won't install via DIM on my particular macOS and Mac.  Support had asked for the particulars (log files, configurations, etc.) regarding my system, software, and DAZ version numbers.  I've not heard back since the initial discussions, so I'm assuming that whatever is unique about my system has the support folks stymied.

    I've sadly had to ask for a refund.

    To reiterate, I believe there's something peculiar about my system setup (though I don't know what it would be) and is likely not a problem for other macOS users, as I believe others running macOS Catalina are using Gescon.

    A very sincere thank you to Alvin for creating the plugin and having it available for the Mac.  You are an awesome developer!

    Lee

    You can still try to install the plugin manually, if you wish.

    Inside the folder of DAZ installation, something like "/Applications/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4 64-bit", you will find two subfolder: "libs" and "plugins"

    Extract the contents of the DIM file: "IM00081368-04_GesconConstructiveSolidGeometryforDAZStudio45Mac64bit.zip" You will find two folder:

    1. DAZ Studio_4.5;4.x Public Build;4.x Publishing Build
    2. DAZ Studio_4.5;4.x Public Build;4.x Publishing Build_(64-Bit)

    Inside the first folder there is the manual. But in the second folder there are the plugin files. You will see two subfolder inside: "libs" and "plugins":

    •    Copy the content of the "libs" folder into the "libs" subfolder  of the  "/Applications/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4 64-bit" folder. 
    •   Then, copy the content of "plugins" of the extracted zip into the "plugins" folder of  "/Applications/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4 64-bit"

    The last step is to register the product with the serial number (the manual has instructions about it).

    Hi, Alvin, 

    I've been studying this 6-page thread because I'm also having installation problems, but apparently I'm the only one deliberatey trying to do a 100% manual install so I was very glad to see this post. 
    My Download page for this product has only one .zip file link: IM00081368-01_GesconConstructiveSolidGeometryforDazStudio.zip. This is the folder with the cutters, and they installed just fine.

    Your post sort of suggests I'm experiencing a Daz error and that there should be a Download link in the Manual column. (That's where I expect to find the "IM00081368-04_GesconConstructiveSolidGeometryforDAZStudio45Mac64bit.zip file you mentioned, as well as its Windows counterpart.)  I've submitted a ticket but I might as well post the question here too.

    I'm attempting my first model to share with other users, and your plugin will be indispensable. I can't wait to try it! :)

    (I'm attempting a historically-accurate US Cavalry spur circa 1863 that, hopefully, can be adjusted with built-in morphs to fit most boots. If I can make it work for me, I'll post it as a Freebie.)

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  • AlbertoAlberto Posts: 1,381

    john_antkowiak said:

    Alberto said:

    leemoon_c43b45a114 said:

    I think Gescon is a wonderful tool.  I'm in a situation where it won't install via DIM on my particular macOS and Mac.  Support had asked for the particulars (log files, configurations, etc.) regarding my system, software, and DAZ version numbers.  I've not heard back since the initial discussions, so I'm assuming that whatever is unique about my system has the support folks stymied.

    I've sadly had to ask for a refund.

    To reiterate, I believe there's something peculiar about my system setup (though I don't know what it would be) and is likely not a problem for other macOS users, as I believe others running macOS Catalina are using Gescon.

    A very sincere thank you to Alvin for creating the plugin and having it available for the Mac.  You are an awesome developer!

    Lee

    You can still try to install the plugin manually, if you wish.

    Inside the folder of DAZ installation, something like "/Applications/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4 64-bit", you will find two subfolder: "libs" and "plugins"

    Extract the contents of the DIM file: "IM00081368-04_GesconConstructiveSolidGeometryforDAZStudio45Mac64bit.zip" You will find two folder:

    1. DAZ Studio_4.5;4.x Public Build;4.x Publishing Build
    2. DAZ Studio_4.5;4.x Public Build;4.x Publishing Build_(64-Bit)

    Inside the first folder there is the manual. But in the second folder there are the plugin files. You will see two subfolder inside: "libs" and "plugins":

    •    Copy the content of the "libs" folder into the "libs" subfolder  of the  "/Applications/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4 64-bit" folder. 
    •   Then, copy the content of "plugins" of the extracted zip into the "plugins" folder of  "/Applications/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4 64-bit"

    The last step is to register the product with the serial number (the manual has instructions about it).

    Hi, Alvin, 

    I've been studying this 6-page thread because I'm also having installation problems, but apparently I'm the only one deliberatey trying to do a 100% manual install so I was very glad to see this post. 
    My Download page for this product has only one .zip file link: IM00081368-01_GesconConstructiveSolidGeometryforDazStudio.zip. This is the folder with the cutters, and they installed just fine.

    Your post sort of suggests I'm experiencing a Daz error and that there should be a Download link in the Manual column. (That's where I expect to find the "IM00081368-04_GesconConstructiveSolidGeometryforDAZStudio45Mac64bit.zip file you mentioned, as well as its Windows counterpart.)  I've submitted a ticket but I might as well post the question here too.

    I'm attempting my first model to share with other users, and your plugin will be indispensable. I can't wait to try it! :)

    (I'm attempting a historically-accurate US Cavalry spur circa 1863 that, hopefully, can be adjusted with built-in morphs to fit most boots. If I can make it work for me, I'll post it as a Freebie.)

    Hi, John:

    The Download page (your Product Library), in fact, only allows downloading the contents. You have to download the plugin using the DIM. After that, you can manually install the package.

  • Hi, Alvin. Thank you for that. I'm asking Daz for help with this part, but just FYI I'm having trouble with DIM. I downloaded it and installed it just for this, and it won't connect. But that's not your issue; that's Daz's. Thank you for all you do! :)

  • Hi, Alvin. Well that only took a week (Daz tech support is all backlogged) but now it's installed and it runs. But it also crashes Daz when I try to use it. (version 20.0.17.) I will explain for anyone else's benefit how I made this tool work.

    I'm trying to cut two slots out of a cube primitive (shown in red in the screenshot), using two additional cubes. You said above that someone should increase the Precision. For me, it crashed whether the Precision is set to 1 or 12. I mentioned I'm working on a spur. In my scene, there's a G8M figure wearing a pair of boots, and the spur is being built around one of the boots. The spur has many components: So, the boot geometry is there and the G8M geometry, and the spur geometry too (leather strap and brass hardware - several more morphed primitives).

    In the screenshot, let's call the red cubes A and B. Cube B is a Node Instance of A. There are two cubes intersecting them. Let's call them 1 and 2. For purposes of the screenshot, the boot geometry is visible and transparent; G8M is hidden. When I run the plugin, only Cubes A, 1, and 2 are visible in the scene. Everything else is hidden.

    I'm only trying to execute the Difference function on Cube A and, in the plugin language, setting the "B" nodes as Cube 1 and Cube 2. And Daz crashes. I even deleted everything from the scene except these three primitives. It still crashes.

    Then I grouped the three remaining primitves and scaled the the group by 500%. Then I unparented them, deleted the group node, and ran the plugin again with a Precision value of 1. Only now did it execute properly. So I did get what I wanted but I have to repeat a ton of work in order to get back to the point where I can resume what I was doing a week ago. I wish I knew how much of what I did was necessary to make the plugin work. 

    Also I'm having trouble following both the user manual and the product video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdZnvwlRyiQ&ab_channel=AlvinB%C3%A9mar). They are better as demonstrations of what the plugin "can" do than they are at showing "how" to do it. (Is the video supposed to be silent? I can't get any sound out of it.) For example, it would have been nice if it said up front that no additional geometry should be in the scene, or specified the minimum parameter values necessary for the plugin to work.

    But again, I did get the thing I was trying to get so I guess that counts as a very unsatisfying win. In my experience - for whatever this is worth - the difference between a satisfying and unsatisfying win is expectations, which are set by the user manual and any tutorial videos. The only video I can find is a promotional video, which is very different from a tutorial video. 

    I will use this plugin again for other things, and now I know better, so this is still a big "thank you" :)

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  • windli3356windli3356 Posts: 219

    Tried it! Amazing!! This is a game changer in making custom objects and destructable objects in frame to frame render or animation!! buy it!! 

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