Need Help Creating Prop / Material Presets [SOLVED]

guitarec

Okay - I'm hoping someone here can assist me with a bit of an issue.

I'm trying to create a prop made from multiple OBJ Imports to Daz.  I'm wanting to have movement and rotations of these parts managed from a root Null Object I've created and parented all the imports to.  Right now, I've got things working, but I'm hoping to simplify the setup with all control sliders in one place.

Also, when I try to create a Materials Preset for these multiple objects, it will only write the materials for the last object selected - not for the whole batch.  Is there something I'm missing here, or am I going to have to setup presetes for each one?

I'd appreciate any help that can be offered.

guitarec

Okay - I figured out the materials issue (derp - Hierarchial Material Presets)...

Richard Haseltine

Why not combine the parts into a figure?

guitarec

Richard Haseltine said:

Why not combine the parts into a figure?

That's what my ultimate goal is, but I guess my "Google-Fu" is weak - I can't seem to find a base-level tutorial I can follow the process thru.  As it stands now, I've imported the various OBJ files, where needed I've created Null objects to parent the moving parts to (to set correct rotation points) and set limits/renamed the proper null rotation properties into "understandable" parameters.  IDEALLY, I'd like to move these custom movement properties to the root OBJ as a single point of access for the whole.

As it stands now it works, I just would like it to work more smoothly/professionally.  

Richard Haseltine

I think you will need to make the base item a figure - just a one bone figure, available through Edit>Object>Rigging - then you can set up your links using the Property Hiearchy pane and the Parameters pane in Edit Mode (right-click) - then add new properties to the base by right-click in the Parameters pane, and drag the properties from other objects into the appropriate property's Sub-components>1st Add/Subtract section in the property Hierarchy. You can then save a Wearables preset that will, I think, preserve the links (obviously, try this with a simple test first to make sure i haven't missed a vital step).

guitarec

Richard Haseltine said:

I think you will need to make the base item a figure - just a one bone figure, available through Edit>Object>Rigging - then you can set up your links using the Property Hiearchy pane and the Parameters pane in Edit Mode (right-click) - then add new properties to the base by right-click in the Parameters pane, and drag the properties from other objects into the appropriate property's Sub-components>1st Add/Subtract section in the property Hierarchy. You can then save a Wearables preset that will, I think, preserve the links (obviously, try this with a simple test first to make sure i haven't missed a vital step).

Okay - first tries are looking good, the only nit-picky thing now is how to scale the main objects property sliders to go 0% to 100%, but this looks like it will solve a lot of my headaches!   EDIT:  Oh, and also finding a way to make all nodes except the parent figure hidden in the Scene Pane...

Richard Haseltine

Nodes can be hidden with the Joint Editor tool - with that tool active, and with the node selected, go to the Tool Settings pane and check Hide in Scene View(s)

guitarec

Richard Haseltine said:

Nodes can be hidden with the Joint Editor tool - with that tool active, and with the node selected, go to the Tool Settings pane and check Hide in Scene View(s)

HOLY COW - Joint Editor can let you change an object's Center Point!!!  Well, I should now be able to kill off all these Null Objects I created to center the rotational motion!!!

 

Mattymanx

If you take your initial setup, the one that looks good to you and export it piece for piece out of DS (pay attention to your settings) Then import those pieces in to a modeler, ensuring its all lined up, you can then export them all as a single OBJ.  Double check the names of everythign first to make sure they all have different names.  Anyways, after its exported, open DS, go to the Figure setup tab and import it there.  That will allow you to set up how the nodes are connected to one another.  Then simply hit "Create" in the bottom right and the model will appear in teh scene.  Then use the Joint editor tool to define the center and end joints.  You will want to define your materials too in the modeler first cause any items that share teh same surface name will be seen as one in DS.

guitarec

Mattymanx said:

If you take your initial setup, the one that looks good to you and export it piece for piece out of DS (pay attention to your settings) Then import those pieces in to a modeler, ensuring its all lined up, you can then export them all as a single OBJ.  Double check the names of everythign first to make sure they all have different names.  Anyways, after its exported, open DS, go to the Figure setup tab and import it there.  That will allow you to set up how the nodes are connected to one another.  Then simply hit "Create" in the bottom right and the model will appear in teh scene.  Then use the Joint editor tool to define the center and end joints.  You will want to define your materials too in the modeler first cause any items that share teh same surface name will be seen as one in DS.

I may look into doing that for my next import project.  I'm pretty close to getting this one wrapped up, but I'm willing to look into other ways to do it - just wish this process was better documented for relative beginners like me.  Lol.

guitarec

I wanted to drop a quick note to everyone to offer my thanks.  I was able to get my project in a state that I was more than pleased with, and I feel a lot more confident in trying more moving forward.

I'm attaching the results of your help as a token of my appreciation.  Again, thank you so very much!

Syrus_Dante

Good point Mattymanx I was about to suggest something like this.

But instead of using an external geometry editor you can simply export what is visible in the Daz Studio scene as an OBJ file to combinde all the objects into one single object if this OBJ gets imported again.

Before doing the export or after the import of this OBJ I would open up the Tool Settings pane and select the Daz Studio Geometry Editor tool to edit the Face Groups and Surface Groups.

Anything that should move as a part should get a seperate Face Group and the Surface Groups are for material settings. Export the object in the scene once more as an OBJ.

Then open the Figure Setup pane and load in the last exported OBJ file on the left (right-click choose Geometry), setup the node/bone hierarchy on the right (drag&drop) and hit create. Any Face Group you define in the OBJ file will get a seperate bone to control rotation.

The new figure from the Figure Setup pane will appear in the scene. First have a look at the rigging with the Joint Editor tool the bones should already be aligned roughly with the Face Groups.

If they don't point in the right direction you can delete the figure, switch to the Figure Setup pane again and get the (Bone) Rotation Order right. Then hit create again to spawn the new version into the scene. The (Bone) Rotation Order can also be edited with the Joint Editor tool and the drop-down menu at the top of the Tool Settings pane but this dosn't fix the bones end points position. Actualy the Rotation Order is not that important it only defines which of the three rotation axis xyz is for Bend, Twist and SideSide.

With the Figure Setup pane you get some automation to create the figure with bones named by the Face Groups from the OBJ. Next I would switch to the Node Weight Map Brush tool, right-click the viewport and choose Weight Editing > Fill By Selection Group or how its called. The initial weight maps from the Figure Setup may be not what you want. Fill By Selection Group will fill the weight maps as needed for a mechanical prop with full rotation/scaling influence on the Face Group the bone is linked to.

Some Youtube video I made: DazStudio Rigging a Cylinder