Bones for a snake - how to?

XoechZ

Hello!

I have successfully modeled a simple snake in Hexagon and imported it in DAZ Studio. The problem now is, that the snake is one solid object. I can move, bend and rotate it as a whole, but not parts of it. I think what I need to do is to create some "bones" in it, to make if flexible and bendable. But unfortunately I have no idea how to do that. Is this done in Hexagon or in DAZ Studio? What do I have to do?

Please point me in the right direction.

Thank you!

Wee Dangerous John

Here's one of a series of video tutorials Rob put together. These only show you what to do after you have exported the snake as an OBJ file.

Before you get to that stage, in Hexagon you will need to cut the snake up into sections (shading domains). This is a bit complicated so hopefully I have not left anything out -

1. Make the figure in Hexagon and save it out as an obj file.

2. Load it into Daz Studio and export it out again as an obj (see image for setting).

3. Divide the figure into shading domains, copy and paste the domain name onto the material (so they are named exactly the same-important).

4. Export it as an OBJ.

5. Import the object into DS and make sure the materials are correct - No Def-material errors.

6. New. Then load the object into Figure Set Up and follow videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV9OqFK5m7w

Hopefully I got the above correct - John

 

XoechZ

Thanks for the detailed answer! This seems to be a bit more complicated than I thought. i am already familiar with the shading domains in Hex. But I thought this is only necessary for texturing. Different shading domains means different material zones in DAZ Studio. Anyway, I know how to do that. So I will watch the videos immediately. Thank You very much!

Wee Dangerous John

Shading Domains = Bones. So if you had say wardrobe, you would have materials named -

DoorLeft, DoorRight, Drawer and Wardrobe.

Then in DS you would load the object into DS (Figure SetUp Tool), create the prop, set the rotatons etc (Joint Editor). Set the surfaces (Geometry Editor), so with the wardrobe example you would have 1 or 2 textures depending on the map size and materials (handles maybe metal while other materials would be wood). Hide and Lock as reqired. 

Personally, I find the steps can take a while so I save scenes as I go along, that way if I make a mistake I can go back a step. 

There are also a few video tutorials in the store here which go into the process a lot better than I could ever explain.

http://www.daz3d.com/daz-studio-content-creation-mastery-parts-4-and-5-rigging-morphing-props

http://www.daz3d.com/creating-content-for-daz-studio

Also, just found this one by Smay3D, no audio. But I think its just what you are looking for -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cyxhir31Ng

Morkonan

Just a note in regards to Poser and groups.

I don't DS, but if you wish to use the old Poser rigging scheme using individual groups assigned to bones, you do not have to dedicate your Shading Domains for using to designate groups. In fact, that's a bit cumbersome and might just cost you extra work setting up your Material Zones in your chosen app.

First, set up your Material Zones (Shading Domains) in Hexagon, UVMap it, assign Material Names to it, etc. Then...

For Poser, all you have to do is copy the faces from your model that you want in the group, paste them as a separate object (don't move the object, afterwwards) and then rename that object the same name that either the rigging you're going to use uses or whatever name you wish the group to have that you'll be rigging. Do this for each group in the master object, pasting them and naming them appropriately.

Then, hide the original, ungrouped, object and export a wavefront object file consisting of all of those now renamed individual objects into one object file. Those individual sections will now appear as groups suitable for rigging in Poser.

Example:

I create a pair of jeans for V4. It's all one continguous bit of geometry. I highlight the area that I want to assign to the "hip" region. ("Hip", in lowercase, is the name of the hip bone in V4's rigging. It's critical that the group name matches the bone's INTERNAL name exactly when creating conforming clothing for an existing rig. For a new rig, it's critical that the bone that you create matches the Group's INTERNAL name, as well, for a newly created figure.) Then, I copy that "group" of faces and paste them right where they are. I then highlight the thigh groups I want to use. (Using Symmetry if it's a symmetrical geometry is possible, just have to do an extra step to separate the righ/left groups.) I copy them, paste them, then highlight the group portion on the left, copy it, paste it, rename it to "lThigh." I do the same to the group on the right, pasting it and renaming it "rThigh." (I tend to copy/paste and not cut/paste because the latter doesn't leave the original geometry unedited.)

Working through the entire model of a pair of jeans, I would have five separate objects visible in the main Hexagon work window. (hip, lThigh, rThigh, lShin, rShin) Three objects would be hidden. (The original, uncut, jeans object, and the dual thigh groups before I split them left/right and the dual shin groups, before they were split left/right.) The UVmaps, Shading Domains and Material assignments are preserved. (Hexagong does not destroy UVMaps for cut/copied and then pasted groups of faces.)

In Poser's classic rigging, this results in duplicate vertices at the seams where the various groups meet. (That does not do anything to the UVMap and, since the Shading Domains are entirely preserved, one can very easily edit/manipulate the UVMap afterwards to move things around as necessary.) In Poser's classic rigging, Poser will do this anyway, creating groups and duplicate verts at the border of the group's joining, when things like automatic grouping are chosen in versions that do that or when the object is regrouped manually.

TLDR - IOW, one doesn't have to sacrifice one's Shading Domains only to have to recreate them in one's chosen application if using this method. This works for Poser and, I would assume, DS, since the latter also accepts Poser rigs.