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I renamed the thread inserted Geometry Tool Tutorial. That way people doing searches will find it easier.
I have got to make time to read this and give it a try.
Would this work to add a surface to a geograft figure?
@ carrie58
Shure keep in mind that those changes you make to the items in the scene only gets saved with the scene file. There are other options to save those customized items to your content library, like save a scene Subset to 'merge' it into other scenes. A Wearable Preset would also save the 'fitted' item in its current customized state and automaticly gets fitted to the selected figure by loading it from the library.
Another thing you could use is the Update Base Geometry to load any changes you made to the UV-map (in case you want to update the 'default' UV map), the Face Groups (Poly Groups) and the Surface Groups (Material Zones) from an exported Wavefron OBJ file onto the current item in the scene. Of course the most obvious usage scenario for Update Base Geometry would be to change the Base Shape, but you could keep the base shape untouched and update the other base geometry characteristics instead.
Be careful while using, unlike the manual changes that only gets saved to the current scene file the Update Base Geometry command will 'update' the actual content files in your content library to have all morphs targets on the figure refer to the new base shape instantly. Try this restart Daz Studio, load the item into a new scene and see if the update had changed the content itself.
@ Novica
Nice tutorial instant bookmarked a while ago, even I didn't read thru the entire workflow in the given very detailed example. Thanks for that your threads are always full of in depth information - your work is inspiering.
Its more like to have this thread in my list of bookmarks to post it as reference for others.
The Geometry Editor can be a useful tool if you know how to work with it. There are even more handy options build in for morph editing, deleting geometry and such.
Please let me suggest some minor improvments to things that catch my eyes as I just had a second look at this thread.
Its the thing with the technical terminology how I would call it. I read "Material Zone" in the thread title and thats how its called in Hexagon but in Daz Studio in the "Geometry Editor" tool those are called Surface Groups. So the opening post should make clear that this tutorial is for Daz Studio and not for Hexagon. Also maybe add some definition and initial explanation of what you mean with Material Zone in the opening post as well. I see you added this What is a material zone? in a post after the tutorial that is much to scroll thrug.
Also an initial summary of what you will doing in the step 1 to 20 would help maybe add some more headlines like in setp 4-8 we will do this step 9-14 is about this and so on. Maybe this is the point that holds me back from reading every step by step. I just quickly read over the first sentences then I realise ok this I know already, next step... again a big text block, I read thrug well maybe its more meant as a follow along tutorial for beginners. I mean you realy need to be concentrated and focused to not loose the overview by all this explanations. The red and blue text colors already help to highlight some but maybe consider to also use the text formating Heading 3 for example for headlines.
Links to Anchor Points
A quick tip from me is to create an index with Anchor Points that you can click and the browser jumps to the desired anchor point in the other post. It can improve the structure of a thread and ease up navigation.
I recently discovered how to do that: First highlight a headline or something with the text cursor, then press Ctrl+C to copy, next click the edit forum post button on top with the flag icon and paste the Anchor Point name with Ctrl+V, hit OK. Now the text looks like a link with blue color and gets underlined with mouseover.
Now you need a link to this Anchor Point, for this highlight another text, click on the edit forum post button "Link" and in the popup instead of the default Link Type: "URL" choose "Link to Anchor in the text" and select the Anchor Point that gets listed if its exists in the same post.
Example:
1. Edit Opening Post - add the text line "What is a material zone?" two times - the second line becomes the Anchor point with the red flag in front - the first line becomes the link to the anchor with Link Type: Link to Anchor in the text.
2. Cut and paste the Anchor Point from the OP to some other desired post in the thread. With the Opening Post Edit mode select the Anchor Point with the red flag and press Ctrl+X cut out text - hit Save Comment - scroll to the other post down in the thread - press Edit Post and paste the Anchor Point there with Ctrl+V - Save Comment done. Next time you click the Link in the OP the browser will jump to the Anchor Point in the other post even it is no longer found in the OP.
I've used this method with Anchor Points to an extend in my latest thread see here [Freebie] Collection Nature: vegetation, plants, ground, textures, landscape, 3D scans.
I prefer to link to Anchor Points for navigation inside a thread instead of links to your individual posts because the navigation will be much quicker. If you provide links to your individual post URLs that can be found in your recent posts list, this will reload the entire site of the thread.
For example in my other thread I've posted the URLs into the opening post giving you an index and overview where to navigate to.
How to Customize Daz Studio - to speed up Workflow!? [WIP]
My customized Keyboard Shortcuts - Downloadable Config File
And this is what I want to show you how I managed to quickly 'Clear Selection' in the Geometry Editor by customizing the keyboard - mouse controls.
@Syrus_Dante ,is it also possible to have the new Material zone/surface to use the material from a different UV map?
The UV Set used is a per-surface setting, so you can assign any loaded UV Set to a new surface.
So I create a new surface on the Aguja Mertail Base called "Torso" and I want it to take the same textures as the Base G8Texture "Torso" or any texture that uses the Base UV ,how would I do that ?
Only if the tail already has a UV Set, or you create a new UV Set, for that. But if there is a UV set, then yes.
Okay I think I created the new UV fore the Tail and now have that on the tail instead of Default UV now how do I get the new Torso to accept the Base G8 Torso texture?
So it's mapped correctly, you just need to apply the shader and material settings? One way would be to select the surface on the base figure, Edit>Copy>Copy Surface(s), then select the surface on the tail, apply the base shader used by the skin, and then Edit>Paste>Paste to Surfae(s).
I'm probably making you nuts but Richard is there a way to make one part of the UV map line up with a different map? for example I want the tail torso that I created to line up with the Base G8F torso .....
does that make sense?
That requires remapping the model, it isn't something you can do in DS (well, I guess the data is available - but the tools aren't, other than using a script to had edit the values for each vertex affected). That's why I kept stressing that you had to have the right UV Set available. To do that you would use a modeller or mapping application to bring the areas you want into alignment with the areas of the other maps you want to apply, export as OBJ, and use the Surfaces pane option menu (the lined button in the top corner, or right-click the tab) to import the OBJ as a new UV Set.
Well I added the new suface in DS and then I exported a new UV ,I've given myself a migraine try to figure out just how to get the new surface to it's own map in UV Mapper (so far no success) and I've tried in Hexagon which I obviously don't know enough about .... so I'll stop bugging you now and call it quits . thank you for your help
Just discovered this thread today, and walked through it with the Artemis Moon dress. Fantastic walkthrough. Thank you for the html thread tips also. Image below is the threads opening sample by Novica which I learned by going throught the thread.
@wscottart You're welcome :) Glad you could use it. I found out long ago that if I didn't write something down, I'd forget it, so that was why I originally documented everything LOL.
Well, fantastic job documenting your learning, and of course sharing. Here is my attempt following your documentation.
Very nicely written and illustrated!
Hey Novica, Thank you So Much for this awesome tutorial!
I can do this stuff in my sleep in Carrara, but wasn't sure how to do it in Daz Studio, so I did a Google search and... well, here I am!
You've really done a great job with this and will definitely be sharing it (link to this thread)!
Thanks Again!
Thanks. Been a long time since I created it, hopefully it hasn't changed too much, if at all. :) Always glad when folks can get something out of a tutorial/tip.