Can Geometry be Duplicated?

TomDowd

Can geometry, isolated with the Geometry Editor Tool, be duplicated ending up as its own object?

I suspect not, but...

Thanks!

JonnyRay

As I understand it, Geometry Editor is for making tweaks to the existing mesh inside Studio. It isn't intended to create entirely new objects. I suspect you'd need to export it to OBJ format and use a true modeling program like Hexagon or Blender to do what you're trying to do.

TomDowd

Yea, pretty much what I expected. I also know there's functionality buried in the program that I don't know about, so I figure it is worth asking.

Richard Haseltine

You could delete the rest of the mesh (right-click>Geometry Visibility>Hide Selected or Unselected, right-click>Geometry Editing>Delete Hidden) then export as OBJ and reimport as a new item.

TomDowd

Thanks, Richard. That is what I literally just did.

Syrus_Dante

The export as OBJ and reimport is useful for example if you want to apply some scaling or a new position to the base shape of the object.

Also you can define a new origin point by translating the seperated parts near the world center and you can use Move to Floor Ctrl+D before exporting.

By importing the OBJ back you get a new object placed at the world center with the origin point most likely at the bottom and center of the geometry. This origin point is used for defining the center of rotation and scaling and can be further tweaked in the Tool Settings with the Joint Editor active.

 

About duplicating, before you use Hide Selected / Delete Hidden you can even use the Edit > Duplicate > Duplicate Nodes (with Hierarchy for figures), to get a copy of the original object/figure.

There is something weired with Duplicate Nodes and the item name it gives to the duplicates those seems to remain the same. Check the real node name by selecting the duplicate and choose Rename Node from the Joint Editor right-click menu. With giving the duplicate another name it is threated as an idependent item.

If you use the tools in a wise order you could first create some Selection Set(s) in the Geometry Editor to select the parts you want to have seperate.

Then Duplicate Nodes, Rename Node, use the Selection Set to isolate the seperate parts Hide Selected / Delete Hidden.

Next you could repeat this on the original item with the inverted Selection Set to remove the parts you just have seperated.

Save often before using the Geometry Editor and deleting parts of the mesh, Daz Studio may crash by deleting huge parts of an object.

Also consider to save those seperated objects as Support Assets > Figure/Prop Assets before you continue to work on them.

 

In this video you can see how I duplicated the clothing item "TheCapeV4" a few times and split it up into three parts the cape, the scarf and the hood. The duplicated figures/objects initialy inherit all geometry settings of the parent like the polygon groups and the Geometry Visibility, but once you Rename Node(s) those are seperated objects and can be further edited independently with the Geometry Editor for example.

DazStudio TheCapeV4 G2F 01 at 8:42

DrNewcenstein

If you're splitting an object into separate pieces for dForce, you can do that by assigning Surfaces to the selected areas instead, thus keeping the mesh a single object, and not having to worry with rigging. Each Surface can have separate dForce settings/Dynamics Strengths.

However, if you're splitting it up to modify the scale of each piece, then yeah, breaking it up into separate pieces would probably be better.