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Gedd is correct, you can use a mouse (or a pen/tablet as I use). As long as you have the 3-point control selected (see image below), you can move an object in either Object mode or Edit mode.
What Gedd is referring to as not moving as we would necessarily think, is because the trans tool is not the exact same trans tool we're used to in DAZ Studio. IOW, in Blender, the "up" arrow is the Z axis (in Object mode), and the "backwards/forwards" arrow is the Y axis (in Edit mode). You can see the differences in the Edit mode half of the image I attached below. What that usually means, if you want to import and object you've modeled in Blender into DS (and I believe Poser, though it's been too long so don't remember), you would have to match up the two axes or your object will come in lying on its side.
Not sure I'm understanding you. You mean if I then export the suit to ZBrush to make additional morphs for it they won't work or work correctly?
:bug:
Hi...
What jetsmart is referring to is what I said in my earlier post... that is, if you use your existing suit, that you already created morphs for, and then use the Mirror Modifier to maintain symmetry, it will change the vertex order... that's because you have to delete half the mesh to use the Mirror modifier... so when the mirror gets applied for export, a new vertex order is made...
Also, whether the X-Mirror/Topology Mirror in the Tool pallet works on your mesh that you created in ZBrush will probably depend on how ZBrush made the mesh... the topology and vertices need to match across the x-axis... I don't have ZBrush, so I don't know...
nicci... :)
Ah, I see. No, no morphs for the suit yet. I was looking to improve the pec/breast area before making fit morphs and others. So then any morphs made AFTER all this will be fine.
Yes, the mesh is symmetrical. There is a button in ZBrush called something like "fix symmetry" so if you somehow mess up one side or loose the sym some how this will restore that. Brilliant little extra and it does work. Wish I would have known about it when I was designing my FBM's for Genesis...
Ok then, you should be just fine if you decide to use the Mirror modifier...
There is another symmetry option in Blender, but it can be a little tricky... if your working on a whole mesh that has the same topology on both sides... you have to make all of your adjustments on the left side of the X-axis looking at the front of the figure... that would be the right side of the suit... make sure you don't cross the center-line... after you make your adjustment, press A once or twice to select the entire mesh... then select Mesh on the tool shelf and select Symmetrize... the changes on the left should now also be on the right...
Now the tricky part of using that is, if you move any of the verts along the center-line, then this function will create new edge loops to match the displaced verts... you might not see them if the verts were moved only slightly...
Also, the tip I gave you before about using the Circle loop tool might not work to well for you... I am so use to working on a low-poly Sub-Division cage that I forgot that your suit is already fairly high-poly... it works great on low-poly SubD cages...
For a high-poly model you could use the Relax loop tool... find the vertex that is closest to the nipple, then count outward the number of verts were you would like the circles to start... then edge select an even box from the outer most ring around the central vertex... press Relax repeatedly or in the Loop tools operator box increase the iterations to a higher number.... this will start to smooth out the selected edges... it wont go completely into a circle, but repeat this process working your way towards the central vertex... as you get closer to the center the rings will get rounder... you can then work your way back out doing the same thing... when they are all pretty circular, select all of the rings and then press the Smooth Vertex button on the Tool pallet... at this point it will just take some adjustments to smooth out the suface... you can use Proportional editing to make smoother adjustments...
It's a bit tedious, but it does work.... once the figure is in Studio, depending on how dense your poly count is, you can add Studio SubD to further smooth out the shape... this type of topology works pretty well on most all of the Genesis females with the only ones that poke through being The Girl4 and the Voluptuous morph, or any other overly large breasted morph...
Ideally though, true circular edge loops are best, but trying to cut in circular loops into an existing straight edge loop mesh is very difficult if it is already high-poly...
Well those are my suggestions, other Blender users may have some other ideas that might work better...
nicci... :)
edit to add example pics...
Just to throw out there a kind of summary point. From what I've seen, the mirror modifier is often the easiest and most straightforward tool for symmetry where two halves of an object are to be exactly symmetrical and changing vert order or count is not an issue. This means no morphs already created for the object in question. The nice thing about the mirror modifier is that it will clean up any irregularities in the two halves, which most of the other symmetry tools won't, since one can delete half, and that half will get replaced by an exact replica of the other half.
This is of course obvious to many reading this but I thought I'd throw it out there for anyone following who this might not be obvious to.
A little off topic to the current discussion but... This is an important point in general for modeling that is not necessarily obvious to people getting started and teaching themselves. It is usually best to do as much as possible in as low a poly as possible before adding subdiv, and especially before adding subdiv to bake down and add more detail, for this (adding edge loops, maintaining good topology/poly distribution) and related issues. It is easier to fix many things in a low poly model then it is in a high poly one, to the point that sometimes it's easier to start over then to fix problems in a high poly model.
Part of getting experience and efficiency in modeling is getting better at doing the low poly model base layers before getting to a detail mesh.
Not that this pertains to your particular problem RAMWolf, was more again just for anyone following along that might not have found this out yet.
Well, z axis can be an issue for some, what I was more referring to was the idea of using one hand to manipulate the keyboard shortcuts and the other on the mouse/pen to draw out, such that one goes much longer stretches of actions without having to take hands off of either and swap out. In traditional environments where this is not the case, my pen spends half it's time or more in my mouth while both hands are on the keyboard for instance. Or conversely, the pointing device is spending much more time breaking away from the model at hand to manipulate menu screens and assorted other tasks. In a situation like blender that is rarely the case when one is efficient.
One of the best ways to see this is to watch some speed modeling where it shows the keyboard commands being used on screen. If one compares that to the keyboard commands in Blender that are assigned to the left hand, and watch how the model is being directed with the mouse/pen in the right continuously while the keyboard commands are flying on the left hand... it will become apparent.
I would wager that if there was a speed modeling competition where the people involved were equally skilled at a high level in their respective applications, it would be hard to beat Blender in any other package. Now that would of course depend on the model as some packages just have much better tools for doing a particular task, but if it came down to just keyboard/mouse tasks in a somewhat neutral model (one that isn't biased towards a particular packages tools) my money would be on Blender every time. I might loose, but that's how I'd bet.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.67
It's amazing that all this is for free, and it's only getting better all the time.
Agreed. it took me a while to wrap my head around this concept but remembered something from studying Michelangelo where he felt a block of stone already contained the sculpture, you only need to cut the stone around it. I released two nearly identical freebies I made in blender made about a week apart, the first one is easily 50x larger with unnecessary geometries because I didn't keep it simple. It was far easier to work with the 2nd one when I gave up trying to fix the first one and starting over, keeping it as low poly as possible and there were fewer things to clean up at the end, smaller file and better detail in the model since I had more control over it.
It's amazing that all this is for free, and it's only getting better all the time.
Yes and updates are like once every 6 weeks with nightly builds. The bug fix turn around on this app is astounding at times.
Well, z axis can be an issue for some, what I was more referring to was the idea of using one hand to manipulate the keyboard shortcuts and the other on the mouse/pen to draw out, such that one goes much longer stretches of actions without having to take hands off of either and swap out.
True, and I hadn't even thought of that, but definitely a point to consider.
Hi guys
There's a little thing called mirror editing, it was a button you toggle in 2.4, but forget where it is now. Somewhere under the mesh tab, tho.
A few key points are: it works in edit mode, paint mode, and sculpt mode. It requires a mesh to be symmetric across the x-axis. It does not change vert order or mesh geometry. It's pretty good about things that are almost symmetrical, and will work at the parts that *are* even if the entire mesh is not.
Handy little tool. I would greatly suggest against using symmetrize for making morphs, unless you've already done it halfway and need to make it work.
If you've already finished your morph but the vert order is messed up, could also bring in a fresh copy of genesis and just grab/snap the verts. If there are too many to do by hand, can use projection mode or shrinkwrap modifier, but you're going to have to manually move some verts anyways since they each have their caveats.
Those are some good tips, thanks :)
Tried my best to follow getting the C Circle created. I think it looks OK. I found as I got to the outer areas to "Circle" that lowering the Influence by about 15 points allowed the circle to slowly relax but there are areas that really need to be more smoothed out and I'm not sure how to do that. I did figure out how to subdivide the center areas to make more mesh for nipple morphs so hopefully no poke-throughs there when Genesis is morphed up a bit. Worked on just one side and then Mesh>Symmetrized it and BAM, other side was just like it. COOL. BUT yea, need to figure out three things:
How to soft select
How to Multi Select areas (faces, edges or verts)
How to Smooth out areas that are looking a bit odd.
Thanks again for all the great info folks. This thread is totally worth Bookmarking at this point! :-)
How to smooth is pretty easy. In sculpt mode use the 'smooth' brush. In edit mode, select all the vertices in the area you want to relax, press 'w' on your keyboard, and select 'smooth' on the pop up list. You can then choose the number of iterations for smoothing in your toolbar. Hope that's what you're looking for. :)
Hi,
Thanks Dave. Part of what I'm experiencing with some of the smoothing is that I'm loosing the circle shaping. There is a tool in ZBrush under the Deformation panel called Polish Crisp Edges, that holds the shape but polishes the area so that all the faces are a nice smooth surface. Anything like that in Blender?
Hi...
For multi-select...
B - for Box select of verts/edges/faces
C - for a circle brush to select verts/edges/faces by painting across the mesh, then Right-click to turn off the brush
Ctrl + Right-Click to select verts/edges/faces one at a time
Alt + Right-Click to select a continuous loop of verts/edges/faces... changing the position of the mouse pointer around the active vert/edge/face will the determine which loop path is selected
When using Edge select... Alt + Ctrl + Right-Click will select parallel edges along a loop..
nicci... :)
Not familiar with ZBrush, I'm afraid. Great program from what I've seen and someday I may buy it.
Is it possible for you to post a screen shot? I know there is a 'polish' brush in the sculpt mode as well as masking. In edit mode smoothing only affects the selected vertices. Alternately, you could select and hide the vertices you don't need to change ('h' to hide selected, 'shift-h' to hide non-selected, 'alt-h' to reveal) in edit mode. That makes for less clutter in the viewport so you can see what you're doing too. Hidden vertices are not affected by edit operations.
this I didn't know, thanks!
Oh man, this is fabulous info. Thanks. *adds more notes to the growing list*
Thanks so much . Love C the most so far.
Discovered another key mouse combo. Alt + Left click will loop select edges faces or verts.
Not familiar with ZBrush, I'm afraid. Great program from what I've seen and someday I may buy it.
Is it possible for you to post a screen shot? I know there is a 'polish' brush in the sculpt mode as well as masking. In edit mode smoothing only affects the selected vertices. Alternately, you could select and hide the vertices you don't need to change ('h' to hide selected, 'shift-h' to hide non-selected, 'alt-h' to reveal) in edit mode. That makes for less clutter in the viewport so you can see what you're doing too. Hidden vertices are not affected by edit operations.
Screen grab below. I know the C Circle is kinda small. I'll add more to it when I get the smoothing issue figured out. I tried fixing allot of it by hand (which is good practice learning the key strokes and what not) but didn't really improve it much I'm afraid.
One of the other questions I have, which I DID look in the Sculpt left side bar panel for this option .... is there a way to have the mesh show the mesh lines? I found this helpful in ZBrush when doing morphs. The glaring white with no mesh lines is hard for my eyes to adjust in trying to work in the Sculpt area.
Thanks again!
Hmmm, Polish works rather well. It's pretty lagging though. As in if I drag the brush over the area it seems to take a moment to decide to follow the cursor but after calling patience and working with it at this slow pace and then turning back on the Edit mode to see the mesh lines it looks like it kept the shape but got it all nice and evened out! YAY!
If you know of a setting that will speed up this particular brush let me know. :coolgrin:
Thanks for bringing the update to our attention. The interface certainly looks much improved over what I first saw.
Will download it and take for a spin :-)
Hi...
Glad your enjoying getting the hang of it... :cheese: I was a blob of ooze after my first few days of 2.49....
Hmmm.... Alt + Left-Click for loop select... i thought is was with Right-Click, but I'm so use to just doing it without thinking as it's just instinctive now... and trying to go through the motions without Blender in front of me has me all confused now.... %-P
You can add a MatCap to your mesh to get rid of the glaring white... click on the little + at the top right corner of the viewport to open the settings/options panel.... scroll down to find MatCap and check it on... then click on the image to bring up a selection of choices... I like to use the clay MatCap myself... the neat part of this feature is that only the currently selected object will have the MatCap, everything else will have either the default mat or the assigned mat...
I think you can have the mesh lines visible in sculpt, but I just can't remember were to enable that is right now.... I'll check when I get home tonight...
The lagging in sculpt is pretty normal on a mesh that is already high-poly... lots of ram and a big graphics card help... using the Multires modifier on a low-poly mesh is how most get around that... I think there are some settings you can try adjusting in the preferences panel...
nicci.... :)
That's a very handy shortcut page ... clicking on the picture in it, brings up a larger image with a drop down menu.
To note that the shortcuts change depending upon which function one is working in.
Hi...
If your still following this thread... sorry, I intended to make a reply, but I forgot what thread I had seen your post in... :shut:
When in Texture Paint mode, scroll down to near the bottom of the Tool box and you will see a button to import images as brushes... load your image, then go back up to the box that has that cloud image and click on the image, you should now see a selection box that should have the image(s) that you loaded... click one to make it the active brush...
nicci... :)
A little off topic to the current discussion but... This is an important point in general for modeling that is not necessarily obvious to people getting started and teaching themselves. It is usually best to do as much as possible in as low a poly as possible before adding subdiv, and especially before adding subdiv to bake down and add more detail, for this (adding edge loops, maintaining good topology/poly distribution) and related issues. It is easier to fix many things in a low poly model then it is in a high poly one, to the point that sometimes it's easier to start over then to fix problems in a high poly model.
Part of getting experience and efficiency in modeling is getting better at doing the low poly model base layers before getting to a detail mesh.
I couldn't agree more... and I learned it the hard way when I started modeling...
Thanks Gedd for expanding on the topic and it's importance... since learning how to model in low-poly I don't think I could ever go back...
nicci.... :)
Hiya,
Thanks again. The MatCap works OK but still would love an option to sculpt with the mesh lines visible. Perhaps in a later update they will have that implemented.
So is there a soft select option? Like if I use the "C" option to select a bunch of verts is there a controller that I can switch on that will make moving things nicer rather than so abrupt and leaving ledges and other undesirable bits?
You can sculpt with wire frame enabled from the object menu select wire display.
Hi...
Also check "draw all edges" otherwise the display will look like some are missing... I can't believe I forgot that, I use it all the time... :shut:
I'm not sure what soft select is, but I think you mean Proportional Edit... You can enable it down on the tool shelf, it's the grey circle to the right of the select buttons next to the magnet... or press Space Bar and select Proportional Editing... there are three options, Connected - will affect only vertices connected to the selection within the influence sphere, Enable - will affect all vertices within the influence sphere, and Disable - turns Proportional Editing off... When active you can set the falloff from a list box that will appear next to the button on the tool shelf or from the context menu using Space Bar. The size of the influence sphere or brush can be adjusted using the mouse wheel...
nicci... :)