Rigging or converting single-mesh .obj files to have movable/posable parts?
joea64_bdfaa5ca94
Posts: 298
I recently bought this casket model from Turbosquid:
https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/coffin-wood-3ds/745338
I had no problem importing the .obj file into Daz Studio, and after a bit of tinkering, was able to texture the model nicely inside and out with various materials. However, I have a problem - this is a single-mesh object without movable parts. I wanted a model with both parts of the lid able to open and close, but as things stand, the model is what it is, set in its current pose as seen in the promo pictures at the above link. (Good thing I only paid $6 for it!)
There are several other coffin/casket models at Turbosquid with movable or posable lids, but they're all more expensive than this one, though I am seriously considering getting https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/coffin-modelled-lwo/508876 . So my question is, basically, how do I convert or rig single-mesh objects to have posable/movable parts (in this case, to have lid parts that open and close)? Are there any tutorials online that explain the process? Can this be done in Daz or will I need to use another application?
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Switch to the Geometry Editor tool and, with the coffin selected, open the Tool Settings pane (if it isn't). Under Face groups are there several entries? If there are try clicking the + next to each in turn, to select all the polygons - can you select (shown by an overlay of the highlight colour) the polygons that make up a part and no others? If so then setting it up as a figure will be fairly simple, if not it will require a bit more work.
Thanks. I'll try that and report back. Hope it works because that artist at Turbosquid has a number of inexpensive (used to cost a fair bit more but they've slashed the price lately) casket models that are very very attractive.
I do the same thing with architecture. I've bought several models from turboSquid (and other shops), then seperate the mesh and rig them in Blender. Some are only available as 3DSMax models requiring a short trip through Autodesk's 3DSMax.
I've seen several very nice models on Turbosquid that are only in 3DSMax, but since I don't have that program (WAY out of my price range; even the monthly subscription is much too pricey for me) I've unfortunately had to pass them up. :\
3DS can be opened by many 3D programs, MAX is a proprietary format to 3D Max.
Ah, OK, thanks. I hadn't known that - but then that means if it's in 3DS format on Turbosquid, I ought to be able to open/convert it in Daz.
If I can get the procedure that Richard outlined above to work with the current object, I'm going to try it with other similar props; for instance, would the casket in BRC-Empathy (http://www.daz3d.com/brc-empathy) be moddable with this technique? I've wanted to use this particular prop for quite a while because it's so fancy but since it was single-mesh as far as I could tell, I didn't think it'd be moddable until now.
I haven't actually given the procedure, just a test to see which procedure is necessary (or rather, how many steps are needed - not having useful grouping adds more steps at the beginning).
Oh OK, I misunderstood. Anyway, I'll run that test and report back, then see where we go from there.
BRC Empathy is just a skin, no groups and no modelled interior. You would need an actual modelling aplication to get that into a state from which it coudl be made openable.
Hi,
I've used a similar coffin prop from this author, so the procedure should be the same.
https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-coffin-wood-1-model/764439
Firstly, add a pane called "Figure Setup". Right clickon the Geometry List column and select the OBJ file to import. Select the top node in the list and drag and drop into the Relationships column. Once imported, you'll see a list of bones in the Relationship column. On the Rigging Type, set this to Parametric and the Content Type to Actor.
Hit the Create button and you should see the coffin prop in the viewport. Select the Scene pane to display all the relevant bones that make up the prop. From here you need to figure out which bones make up the coffin lid. If there are multiple bones that make up the lid, then you need to go back into the Figure Setup pane and drag the child bones to the parent bone. This will ensure that when you move/rotate the parent bone the children will follow. You can also rename the bones to something meaningful. Once you've done this, you will need to hit the Create button again and a new prop is created. Select the bone that is this coffin lid, and select Parameters and you should now be able to rotate (Bend. Twist etc) the lid.
It's highly likely the lid will not pivot at the right position when you rotate the lid bone. To fix this, you will need to use the Joint Editor tool found under the Tools menu. Go to either Front/Back/Left/Right view and you will see a green joint (two arrows and a select point). Select the joint selection point and move it to the pivot point of the lid. You can test the lid by selecting the bones Parameters, and moving the Bend/Twist slider. You'll have to experiment a bit to find the right position so the lid opens and shuts.
Cheers,
NB
Thank you NB - that will definitely help! On the particular prop you worked on, were the two halves of the lid a single bone each or composed of multiple bones? The one I have right now is https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/coffin-wood-3ds/745338 , so as you can see the upper and lower lids are separate. I'd hope each of them would be a single bone, which would make the task easier. As a general note (you'll have noticed this previously, of course) the model, as well as all other coffin/casket models made by the same artist, has a glass cover over the open "viewing" area. When I imported it as a straight .obj, it came over without any of the textures so the cover was opaque and I had to go into surfaces to fix the opacity to make it clear (as well as re-texture the entire model). I assume that importing and rigging the model by the method you described will preserve the original materials?
Here's hoping this works well - there are several other models by the same artist I want to get!
I'm having a problem when I try to drag the top node into "Relationships" - simply put, I can't do it, all I get is the international "no" symbol when I right-click on the object or any node within it. What am I missing or doing wrong? (EDIT: Disregard - I figured it out, the object needs to be dropped OVER the "Geometry" item in the "Relationships" window.
OK, I think I've got a good decent figure for the open coffin:
However, I need to copy the upper lid lining (which I've identified as planes 59 and 60 in the figure) to the lower lid to make it look right. How do I do that? From the instructions above, it looks like I need to make at least two copies of the object to do that, and then move the selected planes from the upper lid of the first object to the lower lid of the second object, or maybe I'm mistaken.
Also, for some reason, the materials didn't load onto the object. That's not really a showstopper because I plan to retexture the surfaces in different ways anyway, but I'd still like to know how to get the .mtl file to load correctly with the .obj file so that the finished prop shows up with its intended materials in DS.
Looking good :)
I had to re-apply the textures manually, but like you I retextured most of the casket anyway.
The only way I can think of duplicating the lid lining in Daz Studio is to use the Geometry Editor tool (under the Tools menu) to delete all the surfaces except the two planes (59 & 60) so what you are left with is just the lid lining. From there you can export the lid lining as an OBJ and then re-import as an OBJ. This will result in a single prop that you can then add as child to the bone that makes up the lower lid.
To delete surfaces using the Geometry Editor Tool, give this procedure a try...
Save your original coffin that you are have rigged as a scene / scene subset.
Using the Geometry Editor tool, right click on the coffin and select menu Geometry Selection / Select By / Face Groups. Select a Face Group and you should see the surface highlighted. Now, right click on the coffin again, and select the menu Geometry Visibility / Hide Selected Polygons. Repeat this for each Face Group until all you are left with is the two faces (planes 59 & 60) that you want to retain. Next, right click on the coffin and select menu Geometry Editing / Delete Hidden Polygons. After you have deleted all the hidden polygons you'll be left with only the two faces that make up the lid lining. Select the coffin prop in the scene and select File / Export to export the coffin as an OBJ.
Load the original coffin you saved as a scene, and use the File / Import OBJ option to import the lid lining. The lid lining should come is a single prop that you can now add as child to lower coffin lid bone in the scene pane.
I think I've finally got it!
With the lid open:
With the lid closed:
I saved the prop in both open- and closed-lid versions for convenience's sake; manipulating the lids during a series of renders isn't difficult but does require some manual tweaking to line the lower lid up correctly with the upper lid. Also, the satin strip at the bottom of the upper lid (Cylinder 007 in the bones list) needs to be hidden when the upper lid is closed. And to actually put a figure into the coffin (I tested this with the untextured version last night) I will have to resize the prop, particularly if the figure is dressed in fancy clothing that might poke through the coffin's sides.
Overall, I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. :D Now back to Turbosquid to buy some more of those models!
P.S.This coffin is designated as a "Victorian" model; therefore, to give it a more authentic and ornate period look, I put lace drapings on it from a curtain set in my runtime. The result:
I also resized the prop to be able to comfortably accommodate a fully dressed fourth-generation (V4/M4) figure.
Well done :)
Another question: once I'm finished working with one prop in Figure Setup, how do I clear the geometry and relationship windows so I can load a new one?
The only way I could figure out how to do this shut down and restart DS :(
That's pretty much what I've had to do. Anyway, I just bought several more props from Turbosquid and am working on them now. I'm almost done with the first one, a traditional lozenge-style coffin, but I have to do some more tweakings to put in a proper lining.
Several years ago, I posted to ask if anyone could help me develop a coffin prop that looked like a late-19th-century-coffin of the style in favor among the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy (specifically, a coffin resembling the one Baroness Marie Vetsera was buried in after Mayerling). I have today finally devised what I think is a pretty decent lookalike:
(closed)
(open)
The lace draping was the trickiest part to do, involving a lot of tweaking along all three axes, and to be honest it still needs some work. Even so, I think I've got a pretty fair lookalike now to this (sans nameplate and clawed feet):
Select all of the bones, right-click, and Remove Bone(s)
While I was working on the last prop, I took a closer look at the materials in the bones list in Figure Setup and realized that most of them were hidden.
I think I'm going to have to do them both over tomorrow (I think I'm going to have to re-do the Victorian coffin prop anyway, as I think I made an error with the coffin lid lining this morning as its byte size is a lot bigger than it should be; I suspect I made a mistake and loaded the full prop before exporting the lining as an .obj).
Richard, for some reason the procedure you described isn't working - the option "Remove Bones" either doesn't exist in the menu or seems to be greyed out.
While we figure that out, I re-did both the first coffin prop and the second one (the lozenge coffin, which I kitbashed into what I call a "Marie Vetsera" style coffin, as described in a previous post with the original historical example). I textured the second one and believe I've finally come up with a good, usable prop for vintage funeral scenes (once I adjust the lace draperies a little bit more):
(For some reason, Imagebam images are coming out distorted today - these are supposed to be 2000 x 1000, but for some reason are coming out square even though they show up properly in the previews):
With crucifix (kitbashed from a Cybertenko prop using Geometry Editor to remove the staff:)
Without crucifix:
Open:
Sorry, right-click>Hierarchy Menu>Remove Bone(s). The Geometry menu has an option to remove the geometry references, but if you've cleared the bones that isn't needed.
I'm not sure what's going on, but I just tried this and I didn't get a Hierarchy Menu (or a Geometry Menu, either.) I only got this:
(Please disregard the widgets. :) )
You do have Remove Bones but it's greyed out. Which version of DS is this in (Help>About Daz Studio)?
Version 4.8.0.55.
Try getting the public beta 4.9.3.166 - my suspicion would be a bug, that has since been fixed - the beta can coexist with the release build you have, assuming you have deliberately not updated. It shouldn't be an issue, but make sure you export userdata from the Content DB Maintenance dialogue laujched from the Content Library option menu first.
For anyone else who is going thru the process of rigging a static prop with bones, Christopher Wichura has a nice tutoral video that takes you thru the steps at
I have a question... I have a couple creature models in obj format I want to rig for posing, but when called up in Daz, Posray or other programs there are no groups to use as bones. Any advice for how to solve this issue?