Loading...
> >

Getting rid of the timeline

CometsComets Posts: 87
in New Users

Hi, hoping someone can help with this.

I used the timeline to correctly position a figure into a sitting position to dforce a skirt. After a ridiculous number of explosions I have finally done it. Then I dforced the shirt. Now I need to dforce the hair (I love dforce), but I will need to use the timeline again.

Problem: how can I get rid of/delete the current  timeline and just keep the frame I'm happy with? I've tried select all nodes, memorise figure and objects, and then cleared animations for both; however, the timeline is still in place and when I move the yellow arrow back to frame 0 the skirt still moves back frames.

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,839

    You could save a Pose Preset and in the options dialogue choose Current frame, if you want to freeze the skirt shape you could hide everything else, set the skirt's resolution to Base, and export as OBJ, then bring that in as a morph with Edit>Figure>Moprh Loader Pro (making sure that the same preset was used for import and export).

  • CometsComets Posts: 87

    I'll give it a go. It's weird there isn't a simple reset button you can click for the timeline.

    Thank you for your help.

  • dougjdougj Posts: 92

    Maybe puppeteer will work. Go to the frame you like, then use puppeteer to memorize the pose at that frame. In the timeline set the number of frames Total to 1. If the pose changes, just use the puppeteer memorized pose.

  • CometsComets Posts: 87

    After hours of trying - I can't make this work. When I apply the morph it flies off in a different direction and turns into a cloth strip. When I set a new figure at position 0, the skirt morph applies the shape correctly, but moves the skirt away from the figure to the original position I save the dress morph from. Inconvenitently it still won't match the figure at that position just to close that option to me :/

    I found this tutorial: How to Save a Daz Studio dForce Frame as a Morph. Very good, however it directs to zero out all skirt properties except for the dforce parameters. At this point the skirt loses the dforce shape I wanted to keep. In the end the morph applies correctly as per the guide but the shape is wrong.

    I tried manually zeroing the position transforms so the dress wouldn't reposition, but that again changed the dress shape so no go.

    Regarding the puppeteer suggestion, that doesn't work because it isn't a pose to be saved for the skirt, it is the dforce properties acting on the mesh (according to the guide I read).

    Don't know what else to do at this point.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479

    @Comets, Here is a step-by-step how-to, with screenshots, for creating a morph from a simulation: Turning Your Perfect Simulation Into A Morph

    (These steps are based on information I got from Richard.)

  • CometsComets Posts: 87

    L'Adair you are the absolute best. That worked beautifully. There were two steps I hadn't been using earlier: clearing simulation data and selecting Yes for Reverse Deformations.

    Do I need to do ERC freeze? Or just leave the morph as is?

    Thank you so much. Many hours of frustration saved and I learned something  new which is a win.

  • dougjdougj Posts: 92
    edited April 2019

    Just in case you want to give this a try.

    More precise instructions for puppeteer. I tried this on a dforce animation/simulation and it worked for me.

     

    1. Go to the desired frame

    2. Select the character (not the dforce clothing)

    3. Use puppeteer panel to memorize the character pose

    4. In the timeline set the number of frames Total to 1 ( this will delete the animation )

    5. Select the memorized character pose in puppeteer from step 3. ( the dforce clothing should follow the character just like it did in the original animation/simulation )

     

    I attached a screenshot to show that the dforce clothing still follows the character even after the animation/simulation frames are deleted. My original simulation ran for 98 frames. You can see by the screenshot that total frames is now 1 (the timeline animation is deleted)  but the character pose and dforce clothing are retained. The dforce cloth position gets memorized with the character pose. You must have the character selected when using puppeteer for this to work.

     

     

    DazStudio.png
    1919 x 1036 - 323K
    Post edited by dougj on
  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    Comets said:

    L'Adair you are the absolute best. That worked beautifully. There were two steps I hadn't been using earlier: clearing simulation data and selecting Yes for Reverse Deformations.

    Do I need to do ERC freeze? Or just leave the morph as is?

    Thank you so much. Many hours of frustration saved and I learned something  new which is a win.

    I've never used ERC Freeze on these morphs.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    dougj said:

    Just in case you want to give this a try.

    More precise instructions for puppeteer. I tried this on a dforce animation/simulation and it worked for me.

     

    1. Go to the desired frame

    2. Select the character (not the dforce clothing)

    3. Use puppeteer panel to memorize the character pose

    4. In the timeline set the number of frames Total to 1 ( this will delete the animation )

    5. Select the memorized character pose in puppeteer from step 3. ( the dforce clothing should follow the character just like it did in the original animation/simulation )

    I attached a screenshot to show that the dforce clothing still follows the character even after the animation/simulation frames are deleted. My original simulation ran for 98 frames. You can see by the screenshot that total frames is now 1 (the timeline animation is deleted)  but the character pose and dforce clothing are retained. The dforce cloth position gets memorized with the character pose. You must have the character selected when using puppeteer for this to work.

    Thank you for this. I have been wondering, and asking, how to do something like this since around the time dForce came out!

    My biggest concern is how the previously dForced item responds to running dForce again on something else, especially with a new timeline. I assume it should be fine if Freeze Simulation is enabled. I'm going to try this and then run it through a couple of tests, see what limitations it has with dForced objects.

  • CometsComets Posts: 87
    dougj said:

    Just in case you want to give this a try.

    More precise instructions for puppeteer. I tried this on a dforce animation/simulation and it worked for me.

     

    1. Go to the desired frame

    2. Select the character (not the dforce clothing)

    3. Use puppeteer panel to memorize the character pose

    4. In the timeline set the number of frames Total to 1 ( this will delete the animation )

    5. Select the memorized character pose in puppeteer from step 3. ( the dforce clothing should follow the character just like it did in the original animation/simulation )

     

    I attached a screenshot to show that the dforce clothing still follows the character even after the animation/simulation frames are deleted. My original simulation ran for 98 frames. You can see by the screenshot that total frames is now 1 (the timeline animation is deleted)  but the character pose and dforce clothing are retained. The dforce cloth position gets memorized with the character pose. You must have the character selected when using puppeteer for this to work.

     

     

    I tried this, the pose applied but the skirt lost the dforce properties and reset. So I must be using pupeteer incorrectly or I'm missing a step. I did the following:

    1. ran dforce simulation over an animitated range of 61 frames
    2. select frame 60 (that is where the yellow arrow is), select genesis 8 figure.
    3. Puppeteer: Edit mode. Created node for pose.
    4. set Total frames to 1.
    5. Puppeteer: Edit mode. Select Node. Pose reapplies but the skirt resets.

    Note: After point 5, if I restore the timeline frames to 61, the skirt animation is still in place, and at frame 60 it is back in its dforce position but the figure does not move throughout the animation.

    What am I missing?

     

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,839

    The simulation isn't animation data in the same way, I'm not sure you can un-timeline it directly but you could export as OBJ, with everything else hidden, and load as a morph.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    Richard Haseltine said:

    The simulation isn't animation data in the same way, I'm not sure you can un-timeline it directly but you could export as OBJ, with everything else hidden, and load as a morph.

    And if you need help with creating a morph, you can find step-by-step instructions here.

  • CometsComets Posts: 87

    Thanks, I'm good with creating a morph thanks to the linked guide. I was querying Dougj on his alternative approach as that, if successful, promises to be useful.

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    Comets said:

    Thanks, I'm good with creating a morph thanks to the linked guide. I was querying Dougj on his alternative approach as that, if successful, promises to be useful.

    I haven't figured out how to "Use puppeteer panel to memorize the character pose", but according to Richard, dougj's solution won't work on the dForced object. What I've done in the past is to save a pose preset and create a morph from simulation. Then I set the frame back to 0, apply the pose, and dial the morph to 100%.

    One issue with not creating a morph, even if you're successful with dougj's solution, is the potential for losing the simulation. If you hit the Clear button in Simulation Settings, it will remove the simulation from any item that has a simulation, even if Freeze Simulation is set. And if you lose that on an item you've removed the timeline data from, you'll have to start over completely for that item.

  • dougjdougj Posts: 92
    edited April 2019

    Well, after more experimenting with the puppeteer tool, I can confirm that it doesn't retain the dforce simulation after clearing the timeline. I believe the scene that I used for the screenshot in my first post was not complex enough to reveal that the dforce simulation was actually lost and the clothing just contoured to the character after using the puppeteer pose. I tried some more complex dforce clothing poses, and as you guys already know the simulation data gets lost upon clearing the timeline. Sorry for the confusion.

    -Doug J.

    Post edited by dougj on
  • CometsComets Posts: 87

    All good. I appreciate everyone's help. If nothing else you made me look at puppeteer again.

  • Chemical FireChemical Fire Posts: 2

    I think you're looking for Richard Haseltine answer.
    Here the process is explained very well: https://thinkdrawart.com/how-to-save-a-daz-studio-dforce-frame-as-a-morph

Sign In or Register to comment.