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

1246

Comments

  • spearcarrierspearcarrier Posts: 686
    edited June 2014

    RKane_1 - thank you *so much*. I just spent all day in agony because I didn't know how to fix things when I imported my morph and all of the other things I found were for the days of Property editor. I was very confused and was getting no answers.

    The only thing is when it came time to save my morph character, I did exactly at the tut says to do and put Genesis to 0. Then i saved the morph.

    Now when I load Genesis it loads as the character.

    I've resaved it on the 0 setting numerous times.

    When it comes to this miraculous text editor solution, I *sort of* know what's being talked about in a "I sometimes play with epubs" kind of way but I'm not sure? Does anyone have any guidance? All I get when I open the dsf file in notepad and note++ is gibberish.

    Post edited by spearcarrier on
  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449
    edited December 1969

    The file is compressed. It can be uncompressed with either a zip utility or with the Batch Convert inside Studio (go to Window / Panes / Batch Convert).

  • spearcarrierspearcarrier Posts: 686
    edited December 1969

    Thanks! Gotta give it a shot. Genesis keeps getting weirder and weirder.

  • spearcarrierspearcarrier Posts: 686
    edited December 1969

    Okay. Unzipped using 7zip.
    Edited with notepad ++
    Rezipped with 7zip, had to change extension back to dsf
    ...breaks the morphs.

    Saving the morphs over with them turned off doesn't work.
    Editing doesn't work.

    And so far DAZ has decided four of the morphs I made were default settings despite me having them turned off on save.
    And they did it for my tester too.

    This is just... yeah. Sadness.

  • gypsyangelgypsyangel Posts: 1,010
    edited December 1969

    Out of curiosity, what exactly is your workflow? If you can, step by step it from the time you are importing your morph in.
    I ask because I just spent the last 5 months or so learning all about the wonders of Genesis morphing...

    I just finished my third character with G2, my second with G2M, and am working on my third---another G2F.

    There are precise steps, that if you miss one, you've broken the entire chain. I couldn't get my morphs to show up...they kept disappearing and breaking.
    But I got it ironed out...now I'm just cage fighting to the death with G2M gens. I swear, I cannot understand why they took a perfectly good system and broke it, then called it progress...

  • spearcarrierspearcarrier Posts: 686
    edited December 1969

    Well I don't have all the steps memorized yet so I generally have a tutorial open while I'm working to follow.

    But export Genesis, usually already changed a bit towards what I want with what I can do in DAZ
    Blender
    re-import as morph, usually with Morph Loader Pro
    Saving to get the morph in.
    Then I follow the tutorial here coupled with the one Sickleyield gave me in this thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/42774/#628409
    Which includes things like fixing the bones and savingt morphs.
    Then saving.

    Saving was never an issue until I followed this tutorial for the first time. I've had these morphs in my system for days and they never took over the system. I followed this tut, saved, and boom. Genesis now loads as a monster.

    Saving Over them doesn't work.
    Deleting and starting from scratch doesn't work.
    And editing them as best I can figure out from what this thread says also does not work. Which is bizarre to me. All I'm doing is changing that one little value that somehow got stuck on 1. I'm not changing anything else.

    Interestingly I was originally saving my morphs turned completely on because I thought you had to get them to work. I'd never thought of turning them off to save to avoid this problem. I'd save over with them turned on except I doubt it will work at this stage.
    I definitely don't want to re-import one of them. The head MCMs are no longer fun because I"ve done them 10 times already trying to fix this from scratch.

  • Nav1982Nav1982 Posts: 2
    edited December 1969

    Howdy All,


    Unfortunately I did not have this forum post/tutorial when I originally started morphing my character, so I had no idea you could not use the DAZ sliders to alter the base shape before importing the character into Zbrush. This is fine because I got to learn a little more about what 'not' to do. So I have since restarted my morphing on the base Genesis model but I am running into an issue that I am unsure of how to fix.

    I am currently using :

    DAZ 3D 4.6 Pro
    Zbrush 4R6 P2
    Mac OSX 10.7.5

    ---

    So this is the morph I have been working on :

    [image: BAM-S001.jpg]

    [image: BAM-S002.jpg]

    The issue I seem to be having is with the mouth region. When I was moving the topology (move topology tool/brush), I had only the face selected. At the time I did not think it was wise, moving the mouth region around while I was morphing the face. I assumed that the mouth would be destroyed and morphed into something unrecognizable once imported back into DAZ; being more noticeable if I used the sliders to open the characters mouth to say, have it roar or something.

    [image: BAM-S003.jpg]

    So my question is : When working on my morph in Zbrush, should I be moving the topology of the whole head and only block or 'mask' off parts that I do not want moved?

    Also : what the hell is the weird thing in this picture? Should I be worried about that showing up in DAZ later on?

    [image: BAM-S004.jpg]

    ---

    Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I am certain there is a super obvious solution to fixing this issue but I have not been able to think it out clearly at this time.

    PS : Sorry if the attached pictures do not show in the correct order. I used to know how to attach image files to forum posts, but I seem to suck at it now.

    BAM-S004.jpg
    600 x 600 - 27K
    BAM-S003.jpg
    600 x 600 - 23K
    BAM-S002.jpg
    600 x 600 - 24K
    BAM-S001.jpg
    600 x 600 - 25K
  • ben98120000ben98120000 Posts: 469
    edited June 2014

    @ spearcarrier

    Click on the little cog icon on the morph and select Parameter Settings. Value in Default field should be 0 if you dont want morph to be active when you load the figure. If you change the value, re-save the morph.

    Clip_10.jpg
    316 x 473 - 88K
    Clip_09.jpg
    391 x 604 - 86K
    Post edited by ben98120000 on
  • PendraiaPendraia Posts: 3,591
    edited December 1969

    Has anyone had any problems with morphs moving in the parameter tab okay, saving alright but when loading a new figure they are back where they were?

  • ssweetessweete Posts: 115
    edited December 1969

    Bookmarking this should be a sticky!

  • BlazeMystEraBlazeMystEra Posts: 464
    edited December 1969

    Thanks a ton for this tutorial, this really helped me out!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,026
    edited December 1969

    ssweete said:
    Bookmarking this should be a sticky!

    I agree. Thank you very much for the information. This should be a sticky.

  • BlackFeather1973BlackFeather1973 Posts: 739
    edited December 1969

    And yet again, this thread comes to my rescue (removing a part of a morph using morph target in Zbrush).

    Thank you !

  • RKane_1RKane_1 Posts: 3,037
    edited March 2017

    So glad it is of service to you but Rammy deserves the credit on that one. :)

    Post edited by RKane_1 on
  • RKane_1RKane_1 Posts: 3,037
    edited December 1969

    Pendraia said:
    Has anyone had any problems with morphs moving in the parameter tab okay, saving alright but when loading a new figure they are back where they were?

    Did you save the morph as an asset already or is that before you did AND did you save as a morph asset BEFORE you changed it's location?

    I kind of ran into that situation once (and i don't know if this is your situation but just sharing something similar) when I saved as a morph asset, moved it and saved it again but then when I went back, it had moved the location of the parameter dial in the tabs BACK to the location it was before.

    To remedy that, I had to go and FIND the morph in Microsoft explorer, delete it and save it again.

    Hope this helps, Pendraia.

  • PendraiaPendraia Posts: 3,591
    edited December 1969

    RKane_1 said:
    Pendraia said:
    Has anyone had any problems with morphs moving in the parameter tab okay, saving alright but when loading a new figure they are back where they were?

    Did you save the morph as an asset already or is that before you did AND did you save as a morph asset BEFORE you changed it's location?

    I kind of ran into that situation once (and i don't know if this is your situation but just sharing something similar) when I saved as a morph asset, moved it and saved it again but then when I went back, it had moved the location of the parameter dial in the tabs BACK to the location it was before.

    To remedy that, I had to go and FIND the morph in Microsoft explorer, delete it and save it again.

    Hope this helps, Pendraia.thanks for the info...I've ended up editing the actual file located in the data folder. I think it was the same issue because when I was working on some morphs yesterday I was able to move them but that was before saving the morph. Would be nice if you could do it after saving but I can get it done through a text editor at least.

  • qejcweffqejcweff Posts: 2
    edited December 1969

    Thank you for the great info here, it has been very helpful.

    Was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction with the following please...

    When you attach the G2F genitals to the G2F figure the genitals remove the corresponding poly's from G2F, which can been seen if you hide the gens from the scene tab. If you use the GoZ plugin to go to zbrush you end up with two tools, the figure and gens.
    My question is, if you pose the character with the gens attached and I want to create morphs that affect the G2F mesh and the gen mesh (i.e. smooth the mesh buttocks and gens where they would connect) how do I go about this with zbrush?

    I have also exported as an obj, with groups using figure names, which then brings the mesh into my modeler as a single object. This works great for tweaking the mesh, but bringing it back to Daz stumps me every time with errors.

    Doing clothing or other props works just fine, but with the gens it seems quite different.

    Any assistance will be appreciated.

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,626
    edited December 1969

    qejcweff said:
    Thank you for the great info here, it has been very helpful.

    Was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction with the following please...

    When you attach the G2F genitals to the G2F figure the genitals remove the corresponding poly's from G2F, which can been seen if you hide the gens from the scene tab. If you use the GoZ plugin to go to zbrush you end up with two tools, the figure and gens.
    My question is, if you pose the character with the gens attached and I want to create morphs that affect the G2F mesh and the gen mesh (i.e. smooth the mesh buttocks and gens where they would connect) how do I go about this with zbrush?

    I have also exported as an obj, with groups using figure names, which then brings the mesh into my modeler as a single object. This works great for tweaking the mesh, but bringing it back to Daz stumps me every time with errors.

    Doing clothing or other props works just fine, but with the gens it seems quite different.

    Any assistance will be appreciated.

    Do the morph for the figure without the gens on it. Then test it with the gens conformed. If it doesn't look right on the gens, you'll need to do a matching morph for the gens by exporting them as a separate object. Remember, they're not really part of the body; they're a conforming figure, just like a shirt.

  • qejcweffqejcweff Posts: 2
    edited December 1969

    Thank you for that SickleYield and for the fast reply.
    I've tested it and works when using my modeler. I'm still having issues with zbrush, but may be my GoZ plugin. I'll reinstall it and see, but not a big deal, since it works fine when going from my modeler to zbrush via GoZ and back again.
    Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

  • Dark-ElfDark-Elf Posts: 955
    edited December 1969

    Thank you! I've just followed these instructions for creating a character for G2F and they work great :)

    Just one thing though, don't know if you want to update step 22 for the newer 4.7?

    Under the File menu, choose Save As→ Support Asset (at the bottom) -> DSF Morph File…

    DSF Morph File is now just Morph Asset(s)... :)

  • oomuoomu Posts: 175
    edited December 1969

    First

    Thanks to SickleYield. I learned EVERYTHING from this tutorial. Well, it was the first step to justify learning Zbrush, and it's great. Well written and very detailed, I was never lost. Even when discovering ZBrush and the whole subdivision and tool craziness.

    -
    I have a question about ERC Freeze :

    I have a lot of morphs bought from DAZ Store which helps to improve how G2F bends (elbows and stuff) to make them more realistic, or simply more round. (by the way I'm still confused by the acronyms sellers use : JCM, MCM, FBM.. I guess joint control morph ? full body morph ?)

    I did a crazy toon morph for the body and heads in Zbrush. It works fine, I can adjust the rigging to the shape and all, and it moves fine.

    But if I do an ERC Freeze, then when posing the figure, all joints and articulations like knees, elbows, neck are weird, like no more weight map (I guess, I'm still not sure of what it does) : they bend just like a tube.

    So, why ? is it because I forget to include something when making ERC Freeze ? Because some morphs are lost ?

    Thanks a lot.

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,626
    edited December 1969

    FBM: Full Body Morph.
    JCM: Joint-controlled morph. A morph for fixing the bend of a joint in a given situation.
    MCM: Morph-controlled morph. A morph to fix the interactions of one or more other morphs (e.g., fixing the eye close movement when a custom head is on).

    It sounds like you're not saving your morph with the rigging frozen. You need to load your FBM, do the rigging adjustment, then freeze the ERC of the shape, then save it to the library, delete, and reload.

  • oomuoomu Posts: 175
    edited December 1969

    "JCM: Joint-controlled morph. A morph for fixing the bend of a joint in a given situation."

    it make sense. I need to know how to do that. For my tiny toon, I need something to correct the armpit when the arm is near the body.


    "MCM: Morph-controlled morph. A morph to fix the interactions of one or more other morphs (e.g., fixing the eye close movement when a custom head is on)."

    ho I definitely need to learn how to do that, to make the eyes close now (big cartoony eyes and stuff :) )

    -
    "It sounds like you’re not saving your morph with the rigging frozen. You need to load your FBM, do the rigging adjustment, then freeze the ERC of the shape, then save it to the library, delete, and reload."

    But I think I do that. I make the rigging adjustment, like in a the tutorial, no problem here.
    Then when I freeze the ERC (not when saving or reloading the figure with the morph asset), immediately I lost all JCM and MCM (well I guess), and the figure pose like some flexible tube or a serpent.

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,626
    edited December 1969

    Did you watch the entire video tutorial? Maybe it will help.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnzhd33mbvA

  • oomuoomu Posts: 175
    edited December 1969

    ho I don't know why I thought SickleYeld wrote that specific tutorial, it's RKane. ^^,

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,626
    edited December 1969

    lainsd said:
    ho I don't know why I thought SickleYeld wrote that specific tutorial, it's RKane. ^^,

    That's right, and he deserves all credit. I did the video, though. ;)

  • oomuoomu Posts: 175
    edited December 1969

    lainsd said:
    ho I don't know why I thought SickleYeld wrote that specific tutorial, it's RKane. ^^,

    That's right, and he deserves all credit. I did the video, though. ;)

    ha yes, I already watched that video. Watching it again now. Surely it's a simple error.


    thanks.

  • Fragg1960Fragg1960 Posts: 354
    edited December 1969

    This is a great thread. I come back to it regularly (and have done so since I got ZBrush). Thanks RKane and all the contributors.

    I've been creating morphs in ZBrush for some time now and bringing them back to Studio with GoZ with no issues. But I have a question regarding the limitations of Studio as far as sub-division and detail.

    I know I can't add vertices or subdivide the model (we can only push/pull/inflate/manipulate the existing mesh in its current resolution in ZBrush) if we want to be able to bring the the changes as a morph back into Studio.

    Are there any tips or tricks that can be applied to add fine details to the Genesis 2 mesh in ZBrush that will carry back into Studio? All we seem to be able to do is what I consider "gross" changes to the mesh, but can't really add slight crevices or wrinkles (for example to the faces) that look good at the relatively low resolutions that Studio forces us to work under in ZBrush.

    Zbrush has so many detail tools if you sub-divide the mesh, but the Studio import subdivision limitation is the equivalent of forcing us to use a jack hammer to sculpt when we have access to so many fine sculpting tools. Is there a Studio version or plugin that allows the use of higher mesh subdivisions--Hell, I'd pay for it, if it allowed Studio to handle more than a couple of subdivisions.

    Otherwise any tips or tricks to adding fine detail in ZBRush using the limited mesh resolution would be helpful.

  • Fragg1960Fragg1960 Posts: 354
    edited June 2015

    By the way--I just tried exporting a figure to ZBrush (Genesis 2) and used the Inflate brush in ZBrush to reshape the nose a bit and then sent it back to Studio via GoZ and it won't come back as a morph (only as a new object). I though if I did not add any vertices or change the resolution, it would be okay, but Studio throws a fit even with inflating the mesh slightly (unfortunately Studio is even more limited than I thought in how it handles this).

    I would love it if Studio could work a little better with sculpting programs like ZBrush and Mudbox.

    Post edited by Fragg1960 on
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,197
    edited December 1969

    Did you have Export at Current resolution unchecked? if not it will have had extra vertices as soon as it left DS.

Sign In or Register to comment.