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For re-topology, there is a free mesh converter available. Check out the explanation and video at
http://igl.ethz.ch/projects/instant-meshes/
Custom Morph Tutorial Starts Here
Well, it has been a long time. But Misty's innovations with the Genesis 3 figures have re-energized me, as have some experiments with dynamic plugins. I intend to create some custom G3M character morphs and custom G3M clothing before the 3rd annual "Its Raining Men" challenge, which I hope occurs in the Fall. The intention here is to show one workflow to create a custom shape for G3M that changes its limb proportions in relation to the torso. A clothing set will be created with the custom G3M shape as the target shape, but that can also be used to autofit to the default G3M and several other common shapes.
First up, I will show screenshots for a workflow to create the custom figure shape morphs when limb proportions change. This workflow relies on the Daz content creation links, Beto's genesis character screenshots, and a great video tutorials by Sickleyield and Josh Darling. I will be using Carrara, but you can use any program to create the morphs. Many people are likely to use Blender, Hexagon, ZBrush, Sculptris, Silo. It doesn't matter as long as you can retain the mesh dimensions and location when exporting and importing from Studio for the morphloader tools. And remember, do not add or subtract any vertexes.
Hellboy's Daz Studio Forum Simplified Guide to Content Creation
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/14421/simplified-guide-to-genesis-content-creation/p1
Beto's Art Studio Forum Genesis Character Screenshots
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/13415/modeling-a-character-for-genesis/p1
Josh Darling channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtqhpxQyGa7fm0LPoDz4s4A
Sickleyield video
My project will be to create a major adventure character - a villain. My villain needs to be able to run away fast! That means longer legs. Contrary to what you might think from Di Vinci, human proportions can vary. For this particular project, I want a figure better at running than swimming, and thus the limbs will be longer in relation to the torso. Although I will be doing it while making the figure taller, height is not the actual factor. Someone can be short and still have long limbs in relation to the torso. For an interesting aside, google TED talk Jesse Owens Usain Bolt. The comparion of a great Olympic swimmer to a great Olympic runner was fascinating (to me).
In any case, the screenshots that follow will show screenshots for one workflow to create (a) custom figure proportions for G3M and (b) custom clothes designed for those proportions that can be used on other figures as well.
Creating Custom Character Morphs for G3M including Proportion changes.
You can use any modeling app that you want to create the change in the shape of the G3M mesh. The important things to remember are
- keep the same number of vertexes, that means eliminate smoothing if you export from Studio to your app, and do not add or subtract vertexes once in your app.
- do not change the scale or origin of the mesh, that means be careful if you export your mesh and have to import it back
The basic workflow will be to
- access the G3M mesh at base resolution in your modeling app
- manipulate the mesh shape as desired without adding or subtracting vertexes and save to new name
- use Studio's morph loader to access your new named morph or morphs
- use Studio's joint/rigging tools to adjust the G3M skeleton to your mesh's changed proportions
- use the ERC freeze tool to limit the skeleto changes to just your morph (very imortant!)
- save the asset for future use
I will be using Carrara to edit the mesh, but just ignore that. Use what you want - remembering to not change the number of vertexes and keeping scale on export and import. Carrara will be easier for me because I can load it natively with Misty's adapted G3 for carrara characters. Therefore, I don't have to worry about scaling issues as long as I use the correct import and export presets.
Here is G3M loaded in Carrara (using Misty's character - otherwise will crash).
I have applied a checker Danskin shader to avoid TOS issues.
In the following, I will be lengthening the limbs, with calves/forearms slightly longer than thighs/biceps.
I will also make a few minor changes to some of the major muscle groups but nothing like a bodybuilder.
First, make sure the mesh resolution is correct. What does that mean? Studio applies smoothing to its models, which increases the number of vertexes. If you send your model to Hexagon using the Studio brdge, make sure to set smoothing to zero in Hexagon. If you are exporting to Blender or another modeling program, set the Studio resolution to zero before exporting.
I am in Carrara, so I do this in Carrara's modeling room. I select the "actor" level of the G3M group in the lower right. I click the wrench in the upper right to enter the modeling room.
I get a protected topology warning, which I just ignore.
I select any polygon which brings up the editing menu on the right. I set smoothing to zero.
And here is a little aside. I will not be moving the bottom of the feet. That way the figure will stay on the floor when poses are applied in Studio.
Whichever modeling app you choose, you will want to be familiar with the tools to move vertexes around, select multiple vertexes, preserve symmetry, and influence nearby vertexes.
For rigged figures like G3M, Carrara's tools to move vertexes around include the translate arrows (and hot keys), the magnet tool, and the displacement brush.
Selection tools include box, lasso, and paint tools on the lower left and specialty tool for lines, points, faces, invert, between, loop, ring, etc. in the upper right.
If a point/line/face is active, the option to turn on symmetry appears in the righthand box.
Similarly, if a selection is active, the option to turn on soft select and adjust its parameters appears on the right.
If desired, you can prepare reference images to help you shape your morphs. How you do that may vary among applications, but it is worth finding out how. If references are not built in, you can typically insert a couple of planes with reference images applied.
In Carrara, add reference images using the global tab. There are checkboxes for front/back, etc.
To see the front/back reference image you must be using the front camera, not the director's camera. In Carrara, change the camera in the upper left. Use the view menu to adjust scale. I inserted Curly as an example.
I won't go through all of my edits. Just enough to illustrate the process. The details will vary a little from modeling app to modeling app. However, the basic workflow involves selecting vertexes and moving them around. This can be done with vertex manipulation tools like translate, or it can be done with sculpting tools like a brush. Here are a couple of examples that use the tools within Carrara.
First, I wanted to lengthen the shins. With symmetry turned on, I selected all of the mesh above the ankles and made sure soft-select was at my desired setting. I noted that the selection started at z = 349.
I used the tanslate tools (z axis arrow or a hot key) to move the mesh upwards. In this case, I move up to z = 366.
I repeated the process for the thighs. However, I did not move upwards quite so much. I started at z = 433.
I moved up to z = 441. I am only noting these numbers so that you can confirm that my plan was to lengthen extemities relatively more. I don't really pay close attention to the numbers - but you could.
I repeated the same process for the arms. However, I only selected the arms on one side. With symmetry on, I translated in the X axis. Note that the figure's arms are bent in the default pose so adjust x extension as desired. Similar to the legs, I lengthened the forearms more than the biceps.
I made some other proportion changes, but won't go through them all because I just want to illustrate the process. For example, I Iengthened the neck and fingers a little. In addition to selecting vertexes indivudally and in groups to move around, you might use a modeling app that adjusts the mesh with a brush. I will show an example of that next.
You can see in the attached pic a comparison of G3M with limbs extended with the default G3M. Note that the feet remained on the floor.
You can use a displacement brush in Carrara's modeling room. The mesh will turn all white and the cursor will become circles.
You can adjust the size of the brush circles and its hardness (relation of outer and inner circle) using the menu on the right. By default, the Carrara dispalcement brush is much too strong for my tastes. I reduce it to 1%. You can also change the bush image.
Carrara has a variety of presets for the displacement brush. You can add more using an image editor.
When done applying the displacement brush, I typically change the setting to smooth and brush over my changes. It helps preserve the organic look most of the time.
I used Carrara's displacement brush to enhance some of the major muscle groups. I wasn't going for a bodybuilder, but you should be able to see some differences in the neck, shoulders, biceps, triceps, lats, hamstrings, and calves. As mentioned above, when finished, I repeated with the displacement brush set on smooth to avoid any changes that were too pronounced.
First pass
After some smoothing
And here is a comparison of the default G3M with the morph that I made.
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Now it is time to get your morphs from your modeling app back to Studio as a morph. The workflow here is to save out your changes under a new name, and preserve the number of vertexes and the scale and position of the mesh. It will depend on your modeling app. If using Hexagon, you can use the bridge (convenient!). With Carrara, I can use the presets included in Carrara's and Studio's export import menus.
If you are using Blender, the settings are in Sickleyield's video linked above.
Here are the settings to export from Carrara. Return to the main assemble room.
- confirm that smoothing is still zero. Just a precaution.
- use File : Export and choose obj format and then select Daz Studio Morph from the drop down menu. Make sure the box to include morphs and sknning is selected. Choose a name for your file. Note your file save location. Good idea to be organized.
The rest is in Studio. The basic workflow is to use morphloader to import the new morph, the joint editor to adjust the skeleton, and ERC freeze to limit the skeleton change to the new morph.
I started a new Daz Studio scene. I loaded default G3M.
To start morph loader pro, go to the top menu bar and select EDIT : FIGURE and morph loader should be an option. Its menu will appear. At the top of the morph loader menu, it says convert to and from. Make sure that you use a matching scale for import/export for your modeling app. In my case, it is as simple as setting the "from" to Carrara. Then navigate to your saved obj file using the "choose morph files" menu.
.
Your morph will load with the name of your file. You can change the name and some other features in this menu. Click the triangle next to your morph name to expand the menu. In SY's tutorial, she changes the morph's location (figure level or actor level) here.
The morph will work within this scene but is not saved yet for future use. First, it is good to find and test the morph in the current scene. To do so, go to the figure's parameters pane. Use the property group line t change the location, as per Sickleyield. I put mine in the actor / full body moph location. I clicked the gear icon in the upper right to edit the morph's properties. I set the minimum value to 0 because this morph is designed only to be increased. I then set the morph to 100% and observed the figure's shape adjust as expected
There is a problem. By changing the limb proportions, the skeleton no longer matches the mesh. To confirm this, check the joint editor. Start the joint editor, look under the tools tab in the top menu. Notice that the arms of the mesh are higher than the skeleton.
The joint editor can be used to fix the skeleton.
Right click in an empty area of the scene. A menu will come up for the joint editor. Use EDIT : ADJUST RIGGING TO SHAPE. A menu with a list of bones will appear. Check the bones that you want to adjust. In this case, I want to adjust all of the bones because of the scale changes.
The skeleton will shift to match the morphed mesh. See how the arms of the skeleton moved vertically.
VERY IMPORTANT
Looking good, but still not done. It is very important to use something called ERC freeze so that the changed skeleton does not apply to all future G3M figures. To find ERC freeze, return to the figure's parameters pane (not joint editor). Find the morph again. Because I used default, mine is still at the top figure level under morphs, morph loader. You will now have to do two right clicks,
First, right click on the morph name and choose EDIT MODE
Second, right click again and choose ERC freeze and new box comes up with accept.
OK, I returned to Daz Studio's main scene area and tested out my morph. The figure's limb proportions and major muscles can be altered as per the morph saved from Carrara. Here are some simple G3M clothes coformed to G3M with my FBMsprinter set to zer and at one. Note that I don't really understand the distribution stuff for morphs. However, ou can save your results as a morph asset and put in an organizaed location.
If I open a new Studio scene and load G3M, I can use my new morph. If I load a typical G3M clothing item and conform it to G3M, autofit will attempt to adjust the clothing to the new shape.
In future posts, I will try to design a custom clothing item for the new shape but that can be backwards compatible to default G3M, and used with other major G3M shapes. Hope you find it useful. As always, suggestions welcome.
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Really interesting! Most of my morphing efforts haven't been that successful. You have a lot of great tips in there.
I've tried to keep my contributions to this thread software agnostic. Hopefully, this tutorial is still useful for people who use Hexagon, Blender, Silo, or whatever. As much as I appreciate the youtube tutorials, it helps me to see things in writing. Maybe this bump of the thread will get some more folks to share their recent experiences.
I am the same... Youtubes are great for overall...but sometimes I find if you blink, you miss a step with the cursor going all over too quickly for me with some expert tutors. Love their knowledge, but I need slow motion LOL!
This is great. Have a lot on these next two weeks, but will try to get to trying some out. I have used ZBrush to do morphs that do not increase or decrease polys, just move them, eg facial enhancements for my Neanderthals. Have not tried to do that with Misty's CarrarActors yet. Don't know if doing from Car>ZBrush>Car will work. I've only done it from ZBrush>DS>Car so far.
Making clothing that is very basic is my DREAM... needs a lot of work on my part!
Cheers, Dio, for tackling this. You are always up for a challenge!
Silene
Silene,you have me considering changing my project (excuse to learn Studio). Have an idea for a scene with some mesolithic villagers. Might change the G3M and G3F characters to archaic hominids, and change the male clothing item accordingly. Giving it some thought. Recently saw this article on lice and clothing.
http://www.livescience.com/41028-lice-reveal-clues-to-human-evolution.html
Got me thinking.
Saw some folks being frustrated with lack of practical armor for female warriors in another thread. Many of the posts in this thread might also be of interest to people who want a greater variety of female combatant stuff.