Parented props changing scale

nabob21

Hello,

I have noticed that parented props are changing their scale to match the character when I use a character that has been resized. For example, if I make Genesis smaller than the default figure and then add a parented prop, the prop seems to scale to the new size. Is there some way to prevent this? I would like the smaller characters to interact with the props at their 'real world' size and not be scaled to them.

Thanks for any replies.

nabob21

Richard Haseltine

I don't think you can stop it, but you can reset the scale after parenting. You could try locking the Scale parameters (you may need to Show Hidden in the parameters pane options menu, the lined button in the top corner or right-click the tab) to get at the individual X, Y, and Z scale sliders.

Toonces

If it's conforming cloth, you want it to auto-update scale since it helps with conforming to look natural at various poses.

If you're using dForce cloth, simply put use 100% scale at frame 0 and X scale at frame 60 and simulate the pose. The cloth will remain the original size while still using the figure as it's colliding object (resulting in a natural/oversized cloth look).

You could always convert the cloth to a prop via right-click so it stays same scale (but loses all conforming properties). You could also use export/import to create a new oversized clothing item with either transfer utility or 'update base geometry'.

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

Basically lots of ways to do the same thing with varying amounts of work involved. Depends on type of clothing you're using and end-goal.

nabob21

Thank you for the replies. I should have mentioned that the props are things that are being held in the figure's hand and not clothing items. I have generally been doing what Richard has suggested but this can be very time consuming. For example if I have a restaurant scene and it is populated with characters of different sizes it is very tedious to go through the scene and then manually adjust the scale of the objects the characters are holding since the scales will vary depending on the size of the character holding the prop.

Syrus_Dante

I found a solution for that a while ago in the Joint Editor. Open the Tool Settings pane and activate the Joint Editor, have the prop selected and uncheck Inherit Parent Scale. This works not just for rigging figures but also for parented props.

Mistara

Syrus_Dante said:

I found a solution for that a while ago in the Joint Editor. Open the Tool Settings pane and activate the Joint Editor, have the prop selected and uncheck Inherit Parent Scale. This works not just for rigging figures but also for parented props.

helpful tip for the whole community. thanks!

nabob21

Awesome! Thank you very much Syrus_Dante.

Syrus_Dante

I'm glad I can help with those easy questions.

The down side is you can only change Inherit Parent Scale of one node selected at a time. I can imagine a script would be better for mass editing multible selected items.

With that "common question" topic I coudn't resist and had to post another image I quickly made. Just trying to compensate the poor documantation.

If you wonder where all these screeshots are coming from https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/3722021/#Comment_3722021.

Maybe one day I have a screenshot of every menu and dialog and I can write my own documatentation. OK now I'm getting megalomaniac LOL.

adoniogts

I'm trying to parent a figure with another figure. I select the figure I will parent, I go to Tools and choose Joint Editor and uncheck inherit parent scale... But the figure changes scale anyways when parented. The strange thing is the scale number of the figure I want to parent stays the same, and you can change the figure's scale with that new value as zero...

Richard Haseltine

Have you tried using Parent in Place? That should preserve scaling.

adoniogts

Richard Haseltine said:

Have you tried using Parent in Place? That should preserve scaling.

Bingo! That did the trick! Thanx Richard Haseltine!

stitlown

Here's an interesting one, and this seems as good a thread as any to explore it.

I have a prop, which is then instanced 11 times, each instance parented to a different figure. FWIW, this prop is a bit of water cupped in a character's hands. I then have a 2nd prop, parented to the first prop. Again, FWIW, this is the water being poured out of the hands. By some magic, when I parented the real 2nd prop to the real first prop, instances of the 2nd prop appeared in the 1st props instances. Not a separate instance in the sense of a different node I can manipulate, just that the instance node now has both parts. So far, this is a brilliant time saver. The 2nd prop is <joint edited> to have <inherit parent scale> unticked, so that the hand water can be scaled away to nothing as the pour water pours.  Works fine for the real prop and its child. For the avoidance of doubt, the 1st prop was instanced before the 2nd prop was brought into the scene - hence my surprise at the magic instancing.

BUT in the magic instances, the 2nd prop inherits some wierd distortion of the 1st prop's scale [specifically as the 1st prop is scaled down in the Y axis, the 2nd prop gets longer in that axis. And because there is no node in the instance for the 2nd prop, there is no <joint editor> dialgoue to control it's scale inheritance.

Anyone seen this effect before? Anyone know how to deal with it within the magi instances?

The workaround is to keep the two props as siblings (maybe parented to a common group) and instance them separately. But I was hoping this magic instance might save me that effort.

Cheers, Lx