Dragon 3 Powerpose / new DIY Dog 8 PowerPose template WIP
Gordig
Posts: 10,187
Because I apparently don't have enough concurrent projects, I sat down to see if I could create a PowerPose template for Daz Dragon 3. Thankfully, I wasn't too far into the project before I found out that dragon PowerPose templates already exist; they just don't really work, because a lot of the bones aren't mapped correctly. It doesn't take a lot of text editing to make them functional, and the wings and tail are already basically finished aside from the bones being misnamed. The "claws" template for the hands and feet is odd, since it has only three fingers/toes per limb rather than the Dragon 3's four, and three joints per toe as opposed to the two. The head includes a bunch of joints that Dragon 3 just doesn't have, like nictitating membranes and horns. This and the claws template lead me to believe that the templates were actually made for Millennium Dragon, although I don't own the MilDragon to check for myself. My question is: having done all this work, would I be permitted to redistribute the files? I strongly suspect the answer is no, which leads to the next question: is there any chance of Daz releasing a PowerPose update for Dragon 3? I'd be happy to share my work with whoever at Daz would be responsible for this.
As a side note, there's also a dragonDynamics file, and I don't know where this fits into the picture. What is it for?
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Comments
Well, lacking a response to my original post, I'll refrain from posting my Dragon 3 PowerPose files. However, I made a Dog 8 PowerPose file from scratch. It's only the body so far, but here it is for now, and I'll update it as I progress.
I posted two questions yesterday that I really need the answers to, but got no response so far. That's not unusual, and there are people who may not have seen this thread yet, so hopefully someone will give you an answer soon.
At this point, the trickiest part is figuring out which parts of the face rig need controls. I've got the eyes, brow, jaw, tongue and ears, with a control to close the eyes with the LMB and widen them with RMB, but I've also got a node to move the eyes with LMB and close them with RMB. Is there a way to rig a single node so that the vertical control activates the Eyes Closed control in one direction and Eyes Widen in the other?
cool, thanks
You're welcome!
Update with the head where it currently stands. Not sure what I'll end up doing with the EyesClosed control, so right now it's on two different nodes. I haven't yet created template links, so you'll have to use the drop-down menu to switch between body and head.
Changelog:
A question: I set the tail controls up using a node group, which allows for more extreme movements than the existing pose controls. Should I keep it as it is, or switch to using those pose controls? Which would you find more useful?
I haven’t tried it yet but I would think the more extreme poses. I often have to turn limits off anyway. Thanks for the work you’re doing. Hope I can figure out how to use it!
I will try it tomorrow evening and post back here. I have a scene I what to try using this.
Cool, thanks very much I like it!
Sorry about the delay in my tests, all I can say is it's so much easier using your pose controls then drilling down to the bones and moving those sliders.
Complaints (well not really, sort of)
1) Why in every long skinny thing that I try toi pose does it wind up looking broken? DAZ Eastern Dragon - I pose & it looks broken. DAZ Dog 8 "Any Specie's"'s Tail? I pose & it looks broken. Should there be some sort of limits to stop the pose from looking like a broken tail?
2) I can't open and close eyes individually.
3) I can't move the eyes independently, eg to create a cross-eyed dog.
4) I can't seem to figure out how to move the ears enough to make them seem as flexible & floopy as you'd expect.
No issue but it is confusing - the tongue looks like it's moving, but it's really not, when you move other pose dots because of "redraw noise". Not really nothing can be done by you about it though.
Regarding the tail: the sliders are easier but your controls, with care, can make the poses more unique. Same with the head poses but not as much.
The main thing is I like your pose controls better for the legs and body then the sliders but they can work to compliment each other.
Thank you for this! I downloaded the file some time ago and started playing with it today. I think it is very helpful.
No Dog8 but I do have the Dragon3. I'd be glad to have a PowerPose for it.
I can't fully answer that question, because even with fairly extreme poses, the tail never looks "broken" to me. I wonder if JCMs aren't firing for you or something. Can you post an example of a pose that looks "broken"? .I did observe that my method of posing the tail allows for more drastic posing than the pose slider. I haven't tried combining the two, but that might yield interesting results.
Those would be easy enough to add.
There are plenty of sliders I could add as controls in the PowerPose, but the problem for me has been deciding which ones to include. Any specific ones you would want as a user?
Interesting, I don't see that on my end. Maybe we have some different settings, or maybe I'm not fully understanding what you mean.
Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you like it.
As I never got a response on whether I'm permitted to share the files I made, I'm going to err on the side of caution and not do so. If you're interested, I could share the steps I took to make my version.