Your opinion: modeling with mesh grabber
mding
Posts: 1,278
Hi everybody, as I learned in this Dreamlight tutorial (which I can heartily recommend), you can model a lot inside DAZ studio.
Now I would like to know, how close you can get to Hexagon 3D modeling with mesh grabber? Or maybe other tools I don't know? Has anybody tried to model (almost) completely inside DAZ?
Post edited by mding on
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Comments
It would be so much more trouble than it's worth.
Thanks a lot @blaz and @Gordig for your fast replies!
you can also use dformers and weight maps, plus the surface/geometry editor tool. There's a lot you can do in DS. and yeah, you CAN use meshgrabber to make some fantastic morphs. if you get the add on you can also rotate. I like to get the basic shape with dformers and then use meshgrabber for fine vert-by-vert control tweaking.
Better to get Blender.
Thankyou @DisparateDreamer , that sounds quite promising! After reading all the answers, I think I will give it a try without expecting too much.
Thankyou @jestmart! You are absolutely right with what you said, but Blender is a HUGE world in its own, and atm i really lack the stamina to go on that journey... Hexagon 3D would be the compromise i'd be willing to swallow :-)
I think the question is, what you are trying to achieve.
Mesh grabber is fine for moving a bit of mesh around, but it is not, in my view, for modelling.
Yes, blender can do a large amount of tasks and be overwhelming.. But start simple - focus on a few tools, and expand to others when you have the need.
Imo, it is far simpler to model in Blender. It is also far simpler to create morphs in Blender.
Mesh grabber is great for tweaking, especially after a dforce run.
I mainly use mesh grabber to quickly fix clothes for a single shot, otherwise i model and make morphs in blender.
Just don't do it!
I bought Mesh Grabber but gave up on it as I found that exporting to Blender and using the far superior tools - sculpt or edit - makes the task so much easier even for simple morphs, etc. Blender is HUGE but there are tools which are simple to learn in isolation. I don't like posing in Blender because DAZ Studio feels much more natural to me but, for the same reason, Blender is a more suitable environment for pushing polygons around. I wish I could afford ZBrush with its GOZ instant export/import but Blender is free and the sculping tools are similar.
Hexagon is buggy dead program don't waste your time on it.
Thanks a lot everybody for your caring comments, DAZ Community is really overwhelming!
In the long run I may end up where you are, but atm I will stay playing around with meshgrabber (and uvs, and clones and shapes, and Dforce, and deformers and converters and LIE etc. lol). I am still too much of a newbee, I guess, but hopefully won't stay there forever.
Again, thanks for your kind advice!
Blender can be overwhelming, but you don't need to master all or even most of it to create morphs.
The basic mesh tools; Translate, Rotate, Scale, Shrink/Fatten, Push/Pull have been all that I have needed in creating morphs for any characters in DS (or Poser way back when)
I bought it; i hate it.
I am in awe of what folks can do with it. The same can be sad of a multitude of tools: skills trumps all.
Yeah, I have bought utilities thinking that they would be useful or time-saving and found they tended to complicate matters even more. Some I returned, others I intended to use more until they became familiar but never got around to it.
[EDIT] Just noticed your bold type over ZBrush ... so that's what you were referring to. Ok - yes, it does look daunting. I used to have access to it before I retired - the company I worked for had a license - so I did try a few morphs and GOZ made that easy. But I never got into anything more serious and, frankly, that interface makes Blender's look user-friendly.
I fully agree. One of the BIGGEST advantages of DS is that it is rather intuitive to use. But, as with all other powerful tools, you need to learn and practice to get the best results. Blender has a much steeper learning curve, but there are cartloads of excellent tutorials available for free or small budget.
Mesh Grabber is a very useful tool, but not really intended for modelling. But, if your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
Try Carrara
if your on a PC
Blender is not difficult, it is just a little different and I think anyone that can handle DS is also capable of learning Blender. You don't have to be Andrew fricking Price, just learn enough to no longer be impressed with the clunky tools that DS has to do in complicated ways that which is drop dead simple in Blender.
One does really not do oneself any favors by just saying "Blender is too hard" or "I'll stick with DS for now" instead of sitting down getting stuck, getting unstuck, and getting stuck again, but at a more complex point...
The Blender forum is full of people that have gone through those phases already and are more than willing to help out.
The Mesh Grabber tool. dForce Magnets. Give me a break... I cringe every time I read about them.
I found meshgrabber to be great for deforming things like mattresses and chair cushions, for when you have a figure laying or sitting.. Also it is good for deforming clothing, like when you have a character tugging at a shirt/jumper collar..
I still use Hexagon for when I do teeth morphs and the like, because it has a direct route to and from Daz Studio.. I tried to use Blender to do the same, but it seems the option to hide certain body parts in Blender has not yet been implemented..
Yeh, the problem probably lies with Daz trying to make folks who struggle with DIM, actually manage a 3D package - even a simplified one like Studio.
Point taken. I just empathize with the people who use DS exclusively and want to do something but can't.
As someone who, as you know, has struggled with Blender I would like to point out the reason I keep reverting back to DAZ Studio. Let's say I use the best method available to get things from DS into Blender (the Diffeomorphic plugin). I still have a long way to go to get to where I am comfortable maniplulating the scene as I would in DAZ Studio. I found it difficult to get Cycles to look even close to what I could get from IRay. I find posing in Blender to be cumbersome. The rigging is different so there is another learning curve. You can't just pose a figure and drape the clothing - Blender's cloth sim is even worse than dForce from what I've seen. I envy people like you who have intimate knowledge of the workings of CG software but most of us don't and, to be frank, my focus is just on making a nice picture or a very short animation - I'm not hoping to be discovered by Pixar any time soon.
Personally, I will continue to use Blender for making morphs and perhaps even get into making my own props. But I would prefer it if DAZ could fix the animation timeline so that feet don't wander off on their own. A working IK system would be a bonus. Also, dForce could be improved immensely - there is a huge gulf between what you can do with Marvelous Designer and what dForce is capable of and I'm not talking about making clothes here - just draping them.
Slightly OFF TOPIC but wondering if "working IK system" l(ike @Marble wanna have) , it will breaking compabilites with a lot of wardrobes ?
And about Modelling , start with Hexagon because its offer straight import bridge one to another . If Hexagon give you more crashes than production times , there is Blender . Just dont go crazy or fall with add on galore at first . It will makes your brain exploded LOL .
Those addon means to speed up our WORKFLOWS . But first we need to have solid workflow before thinking to make it faster right ?
There is also BforArtist , Blender fork with slighly intuitive UI . Install it side by side with Vanila Blender and using both until you dont need it anymore .
Its personal matter but I dont think I`ll be having interest with Blender if not using BforArtist first . Another option will be SILO
If you use Hexagon or think about using it, the beta version is more stable than the other one.
How do you figure?
I do similar - I'm pretty comfortable in Blender (and I do like the cloth sim) but I'll export stuff to DS for rendering - mostly because I'm really familiar with surfaces and lighting in DS and less so in Cycles. I'd love to take the time to be able to do all those things in Blender too ... but time's a precious commodity ;)
All the scenes and Props I make are made in Blender - but then converted to DS (so I can sell them here, yes, but also so I can use them easily with my other content)
I wasn't a fan of the previous 32bit version - not because it was 32 and crashed a lot.
There are tons of tools out there, find one you like and go with it - occasionally remembering to check out the alternatives.
The only package I've preferred so far to Blender is a niche product (but it is), is Marvelous Designer; it is excellent at what it does, brilliant even. I still use Blender for clothes, but have incorporated MD into it.
Folks often talk about the competition when discussing other 3D packages. They aren't competition - not to us as users and/or artists - but alternative tools.
LOL, not for everyone. I honestly wish blender would click for me, but it hasn't. I have used numerous modeling apps thru the years, Rhino, Maya, C4D, Gmax, Wings, etc. I am very comfortable with 3DSMax, but sadly don't have access to it anymore because of cost. While Max makes sense to me, I never tell anyone it's easy or makes sense because that is subjective to each user, just like Blender.