There's definitely something broken in your setup. See attached.

Looks like the morph isn't loading properly.

Check your log file for errors(Help>Troubleshooting>View Log File) and see if there's a "couldn't find" error in relation to it.

Might need to reinstall the underbelly character.

Syrus_Dante said:

thats what I did and it kinda work ok normally. I only get this distorded version when I put her into a walk animation for example. 

This is a strange behaviour but shows that something went wrong with your custom ZBrush morph.

However there are two methods of using ZBrush for creating morphs for DazStudio. One is to use the GoZ Plugin its free but not always easy to install / activate and once you get it to work you have to tread it with care it seems to be not that stable but this is just my personal experience I made with this plugin.

The other method I prefer and you have used for this is the OBJ export and Morphloader Pro import process.

If you had exported the figure OBJ with a character morph applied you need to make shure the Reverse Derformation is set to yes in the Morphloader Pro import options (right-click on it). This will filter out any already applied morph shapes and creates a morph silder with only the alternations you have made in ZBrush on top of your current character shape in the DazStudio Scene. Keep in mind that this can actualy just filter out the difference of the two shapes - so if you have altered the shape of your character in the DazStudio scene in comparison to the character shape you have initialy exported as an OBJ file - the Reverse Deformation dosnt do what it is intended to do.

Before I did know of this Reverse Deformation I invented my own workflow with first importing the base shape figure into ZBrush and then add Morph Layers - one for the full body character shape and the others for various other shape alternations. Once you have the shape you want in ZBrush you can turn back the "full body character shape" Morph Layer and export just your custom morph shape - this is like the Reverse Derformation process but you have more control of the output and you can avoid this issue with Reverse Derformation where you need to save a matching DazScene along with your ZBrush project file. Also the advantage is you can use the Morph brush shortcut B-M-O in ZBrush and slightly paint back the base shape on your current Morph Layer if you first have used StoreMT (Morph Target) with the base shape.

However you have to make shure to update the "full body character shape" Morph Layer in ZBrush once you did change something related to this shape in DazStudio otherwise even this process can lead to unwanted messed up shapes. Lest just say I've run into trouble several times in various ways but I've learned from that expirience.

Some links of interest in random order related to this topic:

• G3F textures in zBrush

• Poser GoZ to Zbrush - Saving progress on a project?

• Understanding how to build custom morphs

• How do I use ERC-Freeze? @ TUTORIAL - Creating a Genesis/G2F/G2M/G3M/G3M Full Body Morph for DAZ Studio Pro 4.6 by RKane_1

• ERC-Freeze / Property Hierarchy / merge property Sub-Components

 This was of great help and I never said thanks. Hm very sorry, 4 years later ^^
Have a nice day!

richardandtracy said:

That's nice to hear. Well, nice to hear there's a chance that the effort is not entirely wasted!

All your effort will certainly not be wasted!

OMG! As soon as Xue heard from her trainer and coach that the construction of the new running track was really making progress she immediately started warming-up!

Credits:

Amy AiMei for Genesis 8 Female (morphs only) by Amy Aimei
https://www.deviantart.com/amyaimei/art/Amy-AiMei-for-Genesis-8-Female-morphs-only-687709757

Athletics Uniform G8F by Yomiuri
https://sharecg.com/v/97273/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Athletics-Uniform-G8F

Dforce Walther 2.0 vest for G8M by Ruslanomar
https://sharecg.com/v/97281/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Dforce-Walther-2.0-vest-for-G8M

Eyes Dilate for Genesis 8 Female by felldude
https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/eyes-dilate-for-genesis-8-female/82869

Facial Hair and Short Hair for Genesis 8 Male(s) by Matari3D
https://www.daz3d.com/facial-hair-and-short-hair-for-genesis-8-males

G8F Face Mask by anjeli93
https://www.renderosity.com/rr/mod/freestuff/g8f-face-mask/84930

G8M Walther 2.0 by Ruslanomar
https://sharecg.com/v/97276/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/G8M-Walther-2.0

Gear Fit 2 Smartwatch by CGAXIS
https://free.cgaxis.com/product/gear-fit-2-smartwatch/

Hitomi Tanaka Head Morph for G8F by TritiumCG
https://www.deviantart.com/tritiumcg/art/Hitomi-Tanaka-Head-Morph-for-G8F-819861473

Kiara Interior by HDRIHaven
https://hdrihaven.com/hdri/?h=kiara_interior

Megumi - Head and Body Morphs for G8F by TritiumCG
https://www.deviantart.com/tritiumcg/art/Megumi-Head-and-Body-Morphs-for-G8F-842318536

Morphing Poster by SquarePeg3D
https://www.renderosity.com/rr/mod/freestuff/morphing-poster/87552

Nike Air Zoom for G1 by Tranquil
https://sharecg.com/v/97066/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Nike-Air-Zoom-for-G1

Phantom For G8F by CheckerToo
https://www.deviantart.com/checkertoo/art/Phantom-For-G8F-Dl-858507130

RGB HDRi Soft Lights for Daz Studio - Iray by VAlzheimer
https://gumroad.com/valzheimer  (4th item)

Simple Glasses for Genesis 8 Male/Female by GEOmetalics
https://www.renderosity.com/rr/mod/freestuff/simple-glasses-for-genesis-8-male-female/85459

Soul Calibur 6 Seong Mina's Head Morph for G8F by TritiumCG
https://www.deviantart.com/tritiumcg/art/Soul-Calibur-6-Seong-Mina-s-Head-Morph-for-G8F-813924805

Summer Casual for Genesis 8 Male by Elleque
https://sharecg.com/v/97301/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Summer-Casual-for-Genesis-8-Male

SY 200 Morphs for Genesis 8 Head and Body by SickleYield
https://sharecg.com/v/91888/view/21/DAZ-Studio/SY-200-Morphs-for-Genesis-8-Head-and-Body

Victoria 8 by DAZ Originals
https://www.daz3d.com/victoria-8

G8F Warm-up 1-5 by richardandtracy
https://www.renderosity.com/rr/mod/freestuff/g8f-warm-up-1-5/87721

WorkOut Mask G8M by SdeB
https://www.sdebstore.com/collections/free-stuff/products/workout-mask-g8m-free

You could try this one by Aeon Soul, it does have an upside down morph.

https://www.daz3d.com/wave-hair-for-the-genesis-3-female-s-and-genesis-2-female-s

and if you're looking for pigtails, they also have this one and it has an upside down morph.

https://www.daz3d.com/twin-tails-for-genesis-3-female-s

Though they no longer sell it, if you contact them you could see about buying the Caprice hair which also included upside down morphs.

Yes, very similar.

I'm using Genesis 1 because I really like all of the things I've collected for it, so instead of using the Daz Studio to Blender Bridge for these figures, I'm using Diffeomorphic Daz to Blender Export, which supports pretty much everything, I think.

I bought GenX2 a while back and all of the addons for it, so I can put whatever morphs from generation 4, Genesis 2 and 3 into my Genesis figure. So she's (my main character) quite a complex thing.

I'm hoping that the Daz Bridge expands to include more generations, but the Diffeomorphic plugin is currently Much more robust for chracter transfer to Blender.

Example (with Diffeomorphic installed):

Create character with clothes and hair, etc.,

Save as scene file (duf)

File > Export to Blender (same scene, same file name - it will be a different file extension)

Now we can go into Blender, open the Daz Importer tab and simply import the saved character and apply a plethora of options (or not) to further enhance the Blender experience.

Now we can do the same thing saving poses and timeline animations using Save As > Pose Preset, then again, the same thing as File > Export to Blender in the same location under the same name. Now in Blender with the character loaded already, we can go to the pose portion of the Daz Importer tab and import the pose or animation... it totally Rocks!!!

Diffeomorphic User's Manual

please, please, please

mention if it includes the head map.

its a vital purchase decision bit of intell.

i also need to know if the character morph will work in ds 4.11
 

ALLIEKATBLUE said:

This is a very versatile character.  I love the skin

 

I LOVE her head morph! Thanks for showing another side, ALIEKATBLUE! 

I think the original poster was looking for wysiwyg realtime viewport previewing of animated scene items - even if in openGL or wireframe, if it would show an accurate preview of the motions/morphs in any manner.

My suggestion for future readers that animate...

Bottom line: lots of morphs in a figure really bog down the animation preview engines in DS. Note that the DAZ store 'GenX2' morph conversion tool has a little-known feature in the last tab that lets you disable and re-enable active morphs with checkboxes - handy but perhaps not worth the trouble if you have lots of morphs installed with your figure(s).

One option to help remedy this effect during animation work is to use a figure with few(er) morphs:

Create a dedicated content library with just the basic figure (G1 or G8, etc.) and as few morphs as you can get by with to validate your animations as you rework the motions, etc. Kind of a 'draft mode' for the animation.

Use that minimal library/figure for your base animation work by unmounting your full-figure library, then mount the new minimal version and rough out your core animation. This also speeds up puppeteer notably, and reduces the size of the puppeteer layers that are saved.

You can then save these animation sequences as scenes, scene-subsets, or 'pose-presets' that can be applied to your fully-populated figures in your real scenes. If you use aniBlocks, you'll have to save these reduced scenes as full-scenes if you wish to save the aniblocks tracks and layers ('merge these full-scenes into your final scenes later using the DS 'file->merge' menu command).

For your final runs, swap the figure content libs to use your *real* figure's fully populated content library, apply/merge the 'drafts' and finalize your work.

Also, in the timeline 'hamburger menu' in the upper right of the timeline tab, there's a 'play all frames' option toggle that lets you see a 'more realtime' version of your animation, but it happily skips frames to keep  up the framerate. When it's set to show all frames, a figure with a lot of active morphs will bog way down, but it will be accurate to the frames.

hope this helps,

--ms

Thanks for confirming. I think this morph will be better as a prop instead of a morph. (Or possibly a prop with morphs.)

Maybe if I left the prop with the same root as the clothing item it will replace will ease placement.

jbowler said:

algovincian said:

1. Have you uninstalled content that you've paid for because G8F takes so long to load?

Yes, currently I have 892 packages uninstalled, in the sense of not normally visible when I'm working on a scene.

2. Have you slowed down, or even stopped, buying G8F characters because G8F takes so long to load?

It's not been a factor because I had already decided to not buy additional characters, poses or expressions unless I have a specific purpose and a matching specific product.

I guess if DAZ Productions suddenly decided to discount the entire G3 catalog to $1/item the load time issue would stop me buying character, pose or expression products, even at $1.

Yes, the more I follow this thread the more I am content with the fact that I can't afford to keep buying new characters. I have a very small selection of G8F characters but a fairly comprehensive array of morphs that I can dial-in to my heart's content. I know this is a dress-up doll kind of pastime but being able to create your own characters from morph dials does give me some creative satisfaction.

Now the question is: do our own morph-dialed creations count as new characters and therefore affect load times? I would think not because they don't introduce new morphs.

Speaking of 'Big Eyes', maybe someone here can help me out with this (didn't want to start another thread unless absolutely necessary).

I recently picked up 'Posey and Petunia for Genesis 8 Female' pack:

https://www.daz3d.com/posey-and-petunia-for-genesis-8-female

Well, I tried the morph for the first time, and this is the result.......

So, WTF happened?!?!

The product doesn't mention anything else other than the Base Genesis 8 female is necessary.

Is it possible its conflicting with some other product in my library?

Anyone have a fix for this?

You can't lock the geoemtry, except by editing the weight map, which is what you are asking I think - Reverse deformation would let you apply a morph to the posed figure, but it would be wrong the other way when the pose was removed (or any other pose applied).

DAZ Studio 4.15 and Blender 2.91.
When I try to transfer a G8F character, I get an error in the Blender import phase.

Any hint about that ?
 

Good insight,

I do some similar steps and use your recommended pose-presets (and properties presets) to good effect as well, depending on the context, but my current workflow has been *formed* around separating the animation elements into distinct layers (body-movement, personality/posture, face expression (4 layers), lipsync, etc.), and it was all literally built-upon the DS aniblock paradigm - so I have libraries of block-etts and a a way of thinking about the process that I can't practically escape (yet), and so for me it is not-so-efficient to transpose to a single-track timeline until the final bake and maybe some final fixit tweaks before the 'run'. For me to take a more 'bake-it' path, relative to my non-traditional layered workflow, would be like losing layers in Photoshop when doing complex image work, and it would cripple me until I changed my approach or tools.

Hence my original post question. How to easily save the entire aniblock timeline/layer-set for a scene node as a 'scene subset' of some sort. It's something I need to do a lot, and my current method feels more like a workaround to a missing capability than a well-thought design decision. I was hoping there was something I missed, or a clever trick, but alas - none so far.

Of course this is my own issue, and the value-to-cost analysis of using DS this way will keep me here for a while longer, which is fine for now. I envy the traditional keyframer animators in this regard. In some ways, my shortcut is not-so-short, although I enjoy the control and process, once I'm actively working with these tools.

That's part of why I'm still 'stuck' in DS, as the aniblock and puppeteer ideas are dead-on brilliant, but their implementation is incomplete to my experience - and the rest of the DS wrapper has proven to be pretty 'expensive' (although still amazing, considering) as they continue development. I paused at 4.12.0.86 and enjoyed the timeline updates, but have since returned to 4.11 to get work done with some reliability. Perhaps a 4.15+ hop will occur on a later project, but I can't afford to be doing the last 10% of the release version Q/A and still meet my deadlines. That said, it's silly to complain with this much power at my fingertips, but I do anyway :)

Iclone's curve editor is really close to being a viable replacement, and I use it for bone/BVH body motion to good effect, but Iclone misses on the morph editing and transfer back to DS for rendering (Its non-standard morph conversion only transfers *from* DS, and not back) so it's still more efficient for me to 'get it done' in DS, even with the Iclone-like workflow alternatives out there. I'm guessing you are up against the same kinds of exernal tool 'seductions' vs 'git-r-done' efficiency decisions too.

I'm already actively migrating my *render* work to Blender as frame-sequences (alembic via 'sagan'), and as I become more familiar with that world and its tools, I expect that I will someday settle there completely, as the Blender development direction and thinking are *far* more to my liking and logic-style, relative to where the current DS roadmap (?) seems to be going. To my eye, DS keeps behaving as if they really support animation - and they arguably do - but it's still very much like it's keeping 'just enough' animation capability (timeline/dforce/aniblocks) to enable the generation of beautiful static images, not for dedicated animation workflows. The recent FACS tools for G8 raised my eyebrows, but the animation feels like a supporting capability, not a core design value.

Given that *my* needs are hardly a call to change their business/market plans, I'm not going to plan for, or expect any such changes in that direction, nor will I begrudge them not humoring my wants - but I will happily poke at the ongoing 'sell' that DS is a comprehensive animation tool. Given the activities of their sister companies and their new content exporters, I don't see DAZ finding big value in the re-inventing of the animation wheel, when they can sell content that exports to the most powerful animation engines in the industry. That they still sell clothes and hair products with built-in morphs tells me everything I need to know about their current target market. It's too bad, given how close DS is to having some really powerful animation capabilities that *could* offer a nearly complete solution for users like me. So close.

best,

--ms

Convert it to a morph dial.

Apply the D-former to the mesh, adjust accordingly.

In the D-form tab, check the Create root control parameter, Delete applied dformers, and apply spawned morph. Then press the "Spawn Morph...: and enter a name for your new morph in the pop-out.

Then you can add controls, to the new morph to have it apply automatically when other things happen.

If you save the item as a "Scene subset", depending on item, it'll contain the new morph, but won't change the original item.

Nice head morph, though.  Skin didn't look amazing in this light, so Danny's pinch-hitting.  Sophia's brows line up nicely, so I kept those.

The first one is literally “out of the box” just a slight expression and default HDRI lighting, the second one is some  post tweaking on an iPad. I am not thrilled with her morph, expressions look awful on her, can’t get a good smile on her but I rarely, if ever, use characters as is, so I’m fine with reducing her morph quite drastically but I still don’t know how to make the 8.1 shaders look good even with Morris’s nice skin. I’m still not a fan of of G8.1 at all and don’t see any advantage to the new shaders. Luckily I never do straight renders and everything can be fixed or made artistic easily with postwork.

OK, this product says its for 8.1 and 8.

But when I load either the full set or just the outfit on a G8F I get the Auto-Fit dialog and need to select full-body etc. to make it work. Shouldn't a product that says 8 is supported load without that? And isn't there any kind of projection morph from DAZ available as G8.1F ist not even available from the autofit dialog.

SickleYield said:

Hm.  For V4 to G8 and then G8-G3 you might be able to, I don't think we overwrite the whole rig in that case.  As long as the V4-G8 morph is intact, changing the bone positions and updating the rigging space shouldn't ruin it.  I'm not sure how good the fit would be with two layers of transference, but it's doable.

Thank you for replying. Sounds like there's not much to lose by trying things out. If it works, great. If it doesn't, well, at least I tried. x.D The G8 to G3 hair converter is in my wishlist, so I'll add it to my cart on my next Daz shopping spree.  :)

At least 80% of my renders feature children that I have dialled in using the Growing Up Youth Morph bundles. Finding hair that I feel is right for my characters is difficult. First I have to find a hairstyle, then I have to hope it fits the figure without distorting too much. Being able to properly convert hairs between figure generations is a really great asset for me. I use G3 figures as much, and possibly more, than G8, so the extra functionality of converting hair from any generation into G3 and G8, and between G3 and G8 is a must.

I find a lot of hairstyles for sale here at Daz and other places such as Renderosity tend to look too supermodel for my tastes. I generally prefer simple, everyday styles - especially for my child characters. Again, the ability to convert between generations widens my search.

I have since tried converting several V4 hairs to G8 and all those with morphs in 'neck' are immediately hidden. Unhiding them lists the morphs as either '1_Neck, 2_Neck, ...' etc without any kind of identification. Or the morphs are listed something like 1_Neck_All_Back ...., so at least they are identifiable. However, due to the name changes, shaping presets that come with the hair model no longer work. As an example: I bought Sensual Hair when it was recently on sale, and that hair exhibited this behavior.

I did notice some V4 hairstyles were originally designed for Poser. Could that be a factor in why the shaping morph names are lost?

For now, I have to write down the morphs in number order so I can find them after conversion.

However, I also encountered a couple of additional issues:

Long hair does not always follow the breast shapes - particularly with the Youth Morph. A flat chested character has hair that bulges out as if following large breasts.

Some converted hairstyles are not properly following the character's pose. No amount of morph shaping fixes it. In this situation, the hair tends to act as one solid object - like a hair-shaped hat - that only follows the position of the head. Unfortunately as of yet I do not know enough about DForce to convert them to DForce hair.

Say I have created a morph that I am importing with Morph Loader Pro that pulls a clothing item far away from the body. If the legs are posed, the morph is highly distorted. I know this is how a morph should work, but what I am wondering: Can a morph operate as if the body were in a base pose?

I tried locating documentation for Morph Loader Pro to see what all the options meant. I tried turned Reverse Deformations on for that morph and it didn't make much difference. There are other options that look interesting, butI don't know how to use them.