Genesis 9 clothing questions & answers

Mada

Good news :) The programmers identified the reason templates crash with transfer utility so its should be a lot more stable in future releases of DS.

Catherine3678ab

Oh that's great news! Thanks Mada :-) {and to the team of course}

Before I start plundering my way through the "trial and error" method, does there happen to be any tutorial or information about how we might go about making these projection templates ourselves? Or is it even possible if one is not a PA?

 

Mada

Its not just for PAs - I'll write the instructions out a bit later today :)

Catherine3678ab

Wonderful, thank you very much :-)

Diomede

Mada said:

Good news :) The programmers identified the reason templates crash with transfer utility so its should be a lot more stable in future releases of DS.

Yay!  

Mada

Quick explanation for making your own templates :)

First part is easy

1. Load the clothing item you want to make into a template
2. Don't conform or fit to figure
3. Add colour scheme for mat zones if wanted
4. Save the same way as for a conforming item - File - Save As - Support Asset - Figure/Prop Assets but the difference comes in where you save to - saving in the correct directory will make the item accessible as a template.

You can save the initial user facing duf anywhere in your directory - just make sure you know where it is because you're going to drag it into the following folder in the data directory : My Daz 3D Library - data - DAZ 3D - Genesis 9 - Base - Projection Templates - Base

File save dialogue:

Asset Directory: Wherever  you have your files saved for DS - for me its G:/My DAZ 3D Library
Vendor Name : Daz 3D
Product Name : Genesis 9/Base/Tools/Projection Templates
Item Name : your product name here

A quick way to see the paths to where templates is located on your machine is to load one of the templates on G9 utilities.  You can easily see where its supposed to be by going through the save process (but not actually saving it - just make a note of the paths and folders). Fill those same paths in when you save your item.

Location of Utilites on G9 in image below

 

Once its saved locate your saved file in DS, and move the .duf it to the following spot :  My Daz 3D Library - data - DAZ 3D - Genesis 9 - Base - Projection Templates - Base

Now when you load Genesis 9 you should be able to see your template when you select Genesis 9 and your clothing item to transfer to. Any folders you add will be in a dropdown to choose from.

 

barbult

Thanks, Mada.

barbult

I'm not sure I fully understand the function of templates. Are they for transferring weight mapping and adjustment morphs to the target clothing, or is there another function they perform?

Catherine3678ab

Mada said:

Quick explanation for making your own templates :)

First part is easy

1. Load the clothing item you want to make into a template
2. Don't conform or fit to figure
3. Add colour scheme for mat zones if wanted
4. Save the same way as for a conforming item - File - Save As - Support Asset - Figure/Prop Assets but the difference comes in where you save to - saving in the correct directory will make the item accessible as a template.

You can save the initial user facing duf anywhere in your directory - just make sure you know where it is because you're going to drag it into the following folder in the data directory : My Daz 3D Library - data - DAZ 3D - Genesis 9 - Base - Projection Templates - Base

File save dialogue:

Asset Directory: Wherever  you have your files saved for DS - for me its G:/My DAZ 3D Library
Vendor Name : Daz 3D
Product Name : Genesis 9/Base/Tools/Projection Templates
Item Name : your product name here

A quick way to see the paths to where templates is located on your machine is to load one of the templates on G9 utilities.  You can easily see where its supposed to be by going through the save process (but not actually saving it - just make a note of the paths and folders). Fill those same paths in when you save your item.

Location of Utilites on G9 in image below

 

Once its saved locate your saved file in DS, and move the .duf it to the following spot :  My Daz 3D Library - data - DAZ 3D - Genesis 9 - Base - Projection Templates - Base

Now when you load Genesis 9 you should be able to see your template when you select Genesis 9 and your clothing item to transfer to. Any folders you add will be in a dropdown to choose from.

 

Thank you so much.

Next question I have concerns putting morphs into my clothing template. Would I make the morphs after I have moved the clothing template to its final location? or before and then move the entire lot over at the same time?

Mada

barbult said:

I'm not sure I fully understand the function of templates. Are they for transferring weight mapping and adjustment morphs to the target clothing, or is there another function they perform?

Its for transferring rigging. fixed JCMs (cbs on G9) and weightmaps, as well as cleaned up figure morphs. For example muscular morphs can make clothes look very lumpy - but in a cleaned up template it will be smoother. Weird texture distortions created by bodymorphs in the figure can be cleaned up in the template so when you transfer clothing it fits better. The closer the donor and the outfit its transferred to the less cleaning up you have to do.

Mada

Catherine3678ab said:

Thank you so much.

Next question I have concerns putting morphs into my clothing template. Would I make the morphs after I have moved the clothing template to its final location? or before and then move the entire lot over at the same time?

I usually finish everything completely as a regular clothing item, including morphs etc. Once its finished I resave with the correct folder names and transfer the duf to the right folder.

Diomede

Thank you again.  A lot of great information to digest.

I am still confused about templates and morphs.  I can understand the template transferring rigging related to the skeleton, such as placement of bones, rotation of joints, and weightmaps.  I don't understand the discussion of the template and morphs.  I thought the meshes needed to have the same number of vertexes in the same order for morphs to work.  How does a template created from one garment match the number of vertexes and order of vertexes for another garment?  

RAMWolff

Thanks so much Mada!  

Mada

Diomede said:

Thank you again.  A lot of great information to digest.

I am still confused about templates and morphs.  I can understand the template transferring rigging related to the skeleton, such as placement of bones, rotation of joints, and weightmaps.  I don't understand the discussion of the template and morphs.  I thought the meshes needed to have the same number of vertexes in the same order for morphs to work.  How does a template created from one garment match the number of vertexes and order of vertexes for another garment?  

Its not a vertex based morph like you use on the figures - its a projection morph. Basically it will take your clothing mesh and project the morph from the template into your clothing item. That is why the closer in volume/position your clothing item is to the template the better the results. The further away the receiving mesh is from the donor mesh, the smaller the effect of the projection morph.

Catherine3678ab

Mada said:

Catherine3678ab said:

Thank you so much.

Next question I have concerns putting morphs into my clothing template. Would I make the morphs after I have moved the clothing template to its final location? or before and then move the entire lot over at the same time?

I usually finish everything completely as a regular clothing item, including morphs etc. Once its finished I resave with the correct folder names and transfer the duf to the right folder.

Okay, thank you so much. Something new for me to discover how to do :-) 

Tugpsx

@Mada, Thanks for the tips. 

barbult

A couple questions about templates:

1. Why are there no breast adjustment morphs? There are morphs for many other body areas.
2. Who is Nikolai9? He looks kind of chubby according to the morph. Why would he have morphs in the bodysuit template, but released characters like Michael and Victoria do not? Do they not need them, but he does because of his size?

 

Diomede

Mada said:

Diomede said:

Thank you again.  A lot of great information to digest.

I am still confused about templates and morphs.  I can understand the template transferring rigging related to the skeleton, such as placement of bones, rotation of joints, and weightmaps.  I don't understand the discussion of the template and morphs.  I thought the meshes needed to have the same number of vertexes in the same order for morphs to work.  How does a template created from one garment match the number of vertexes and order of vertexes for another garment?  

Its not a vertex based morph like you use on the figures - its a projection morph. Basically it will take your clothing mesh and project the morph from the template into your clothing item. That is why the closer in volume/position your clothing item is to the template the better the results. The further away the receiving mesh is from the donor mesh, the smaller the effect of the projection morph.

Thanks for the explanaton.  I was indeed thinking of a clothing figure morph.  This clears it up.

Timotheus

Timotheus said:

Thanks, Richard and Mada, for the replies. I will see what I can do and report back.

So I completed the outfit, using weight maps and custom morphs for the belt. Also added bones to the end of the belt so it could be posed. Thanks again for being generous with your time and wisdom!

 

RAMWolff

Super cute outfit there!  

Havos

barbult said:

A couple questions about templates:

1. Why are there no breast adjustment morphs? There are morphs for many other body areas.
2. Who is Nikolai9? He looks kind of chubby according to the morph. Why would he have morphs in the bodysuit template, but released characters like Michael and Victoria do not? Do they not need them, but he does because of his size?

Based on that name, and the time of year, my guess would be that Nikolai 9 is an upcoming St Nicholas (ie Santa Claus) character.

Mada

Timotheus said:

Timotheus said:

Thanks, Richard and Mada, for the replies. I will see what I can do and report back.

So I completed the outfit, using weight maps and custom morphs for the belt. Also added bones to the end of the belt so it could be posed. Thanks again for being generous with your time and wisdom!

Looks good :)

Mada

barbult said:

A couple questions about templates:

1. Why are there no breast adjustment morphs? There are morphs for many other body areas.
2. Who is Nikolai9? He looks kind of chubby according to the morph. Why would he have morphs in the bodysuit template, but released characters like Michael and Victoria do not? Do they not need them, but he does because of his size?

I ignored this question up to now because I didn't want to draw more attention to a shape that's not released yet. Unfortunately this means that from now on upcoming shapes will have to go into the templates after the figure gets released, not before. With the templates so easily accessible there's no other way for me to prevent the shapes being posted in a public forum.

Yes he has morphs in the suit because he is very chubby, and there were some clothing distortions especially on the back.

The loosen morphs are aimed at helping with kitbashing, for example to fit items from different sets to each other - tops over pants etc. If you meant breast adjustment morphs to fix issues with the shrinkwrap effect - there are too many scenarios and should be a product by itself.

barbult

Thank you for responding at the appropriate time. I was thinking of loosen morphs for the breast/chest area for clothing layering as you described, like a jacket over a shirt, or overalls, etc.

Mada

I'll play around with some breast morphs and see what I can set up that would work.

barbult

In DS 4.21.1.26 Public Build, when running the Transfer Utility to rig an OBJ, the item is rigged and parented to G9, but the OBJ is left in the scene after the Transfer Utility finishes. Is this intentional? It is a change from the way 4.21.0.5 works.

Mada

Yes its intentional. Once you're happy with your transfer just delete the obj that's left in the scene. If you're like me and like to try different templates before settling on one, it means you don't have to keep on importing the obj :)

barbult

Mada said:

Yes its intentional. Once you're happy with your transfer just delete the obj that's left in the scene. If you're like me and like to try different templates before settling on one, it means you don't have to keep on importing the obj :)

Thanks for the explanation,  Mada.

Richard Haseltine

barbult said:

Mada said:

Yes its intentional. Once you're happy with your transfer just delete the obj that's left in the scene. If you're like me and like to try different templates before settling on one, it means you don't have to keep on importing the obj :)

Thanks for the explanation,  Mada.

Apparently this is the result of fixing the crash logged here http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/change_log#4_21_1_24 . However, it is being reviewed for promotion to a feature due to its utility.

Mada

Thanks Richard :)