Making custom PowerPose templates?
Squishy
Posts: 460
I've created a custom rig that I want to make a new PowerPose template for. The only documentation on this I've found is something reverse-engineered and posted on ShareCG 11 years ago:
https://www.sharecg.com/v/67300/related/3/PDF-Tutorial/Creating-PowerPose-templates-for-Daz-Studio
Is there no editor for this? Nothing in the store, no info in the DAZ documentation?
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
hmm I found a thread that looks a lot more promising
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/602891/alternative-powerpose-templates-genesis-1-2-3-8-8-1-9/p1
I've made one as well: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/498336/dragon-3-powerpose-new-diy-dog-8-powerpose-template-wip#latest
Thanks, I'll have a look at that - ran into a giant 100% repeatable crash bug right off the bat (when I delete a control point in edit mode) so that sucks lol
I can't even remember what I used as documentation. I found a lot of hints in the Change Logs in the Documentation Center (Home [Documentation Center] (daz3d.com)). Just search for "PowerPose or "Power Pose". I saw you post in the alternative templates for Genesis figures, but let's continue your adventure here so as to not derail the other one.
Yeah, deleting a point crashes. One of the firt things I encountered. I used Notepad++ extensively for stuff like that, and for duplicating node functions instead of creating them over and over again. The syntax is fairly easy to pick up, so if it is just a difference of, say, left and right, just copy the whole block and change l to r. Also handy for tweaking the control point's coordinates on the graphic. I kept a copy open in a graphic editor that fed back the cursor position, and could pinpoint exactly on the graphic where it would go.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Have fun.
Did you happen to keep a blank with no points defined?
I made mine by opening an existing template is notepad and just editing it until it suited my needs. I only used DS to test it. As a general rule, I don't encourage people to do things the way I do, because if I see a door marked "the easy way", I will sprint in the opposite direction.
It would just be a matter of editing the file and deleting everything from <node_points> to </node_points>, and other groups if you have them (template points, node group points, property points). You get the idea. Notepad++ with Language set to XML can nest code and do syntax checking so errors are easy to find. PowerPose fails silently if the template pages have errors.
If it is just a single point, you can cut from <node_data> to </node_data>.
I don't have any blanks, as they would serve no real purpose, other than beg to be filled.
Thanks anyhow, yeah I'm familiar with the basics there and I have Notepad++.
Had some frustrating false starts where I broke the template somehow and it wasn't saving a bunch of work but I just deleted the whole folder and started over and got it to work on the second try. Thanks again for the advice :)
I take it back, somehow I've got it in a state where the new template works great, but switching to it breaks? unloads? the PowerPose template for the G8 character, switching to the main character just shows no PowerPose node buttons
That is what happens when something goes wrong with virtually anything in the template, like the wrong node reference, among others (can't remember, it has been almost a year). Unfortunately PoserPose fails silently, with no error messages, and nothing logged. Are you using the default DAZ templates, or my alternates?
I modified one from scratch. Oh well it wasn't THAAAAAT much work, it's a pretty simple template to just rotate about 12 control points. I'll do it again, the hard part was figuring out how to get it to work at all. Thanks for the reply.
Ok it very consistently breaks this way even without any editing of files, neat
e: Seems like part of the problem is crosstalk? conflict? between having bipedDynamics.dsx files - renamed the copy added by my save * and while it isn't behaving correctly, at least it's pretty recoverable (switch to a camera and switch back to the figure) as opposed to just being broken until restarting the app
* renaming bipedDynamics.dsx breaks it in a different way, lol
What does the <version> tag do, did you figure that out?
When you save a new template set from (from the PowerPose utility, in Edit mode->Save As...), that is what is generated, just to get a starting point. I think that was the only part I actually kept, and replaced the rest.
I got a version sort of working but it consistently breaks when you switch between the character and the geograft (conformed or not). I wanted to blame this problem on the fact that it's a geograft but it still happens when you just load it separately and don't conform it so I have to accept it's not that. It's super frustrating to work with because it's so easy to break and you don't realize this until you quit the app and reload everything because apparently some things are just cached silently in a scene file that don't match what is saved to the library.
Just passing by here, um, a 'custom rigged figure' shouldn't be calling up the G8 powerpose template in the first place. The file that is for G8 [if I recall correctly] would need to be copied and renamed to the 'custom rigged figure' ... inside that file make whatever changes are necessary so it reflects the bones for the custom rigged figure. And the 'call' in it needs to refer to the new template you are making for this custom rigged figure.
So as G2 figures call up the G2 templates, G3 the G3 templates, G8 the G8 templates, 'new figure' calls up the 'new figure' template(s).
It is very important that the correct bone structure is maintained in the required order. The hip bone is connected to the leg bone is connected to the foot bone. If one has the hip bone done and then the foot bone, it will likely crash the program.
At some point you may wonder if it is really a vital thing to have a powerpoint template for this new figure. If successful, keep back-up copies as updates to the program may wipe out all new work.
Yeah whenever I tried any of those changes via the editor or text editing, it would break in this way. Taking a break from working on it because trying to debug something that is this fragile and doesn't have any sort of error handling or logging is not terribly fun, thanks for the advice.
Did you set the template set name and geometries tags appropriately? The name used for the geograft should be different from the base figure. The geometries tag should have the figure's node name.
It's very likely I missed a tag somewhere yeah. Since it's a geograft and the base model has some very old and weird crap embedded in it (e.g. the internal info refers to Genesis 3) it's hard for me to be really sure what's expected there. I had problems like it would sometimes show the background PNG and sometimes it wouldn't, really baffling.