Convert Gen4 Shoes/Boots for Genesis

artistb3

This may already be a well-know workaround. If so, apologies all around. I don't monitor the forums as much as I probably should.

In any case, this is based on a tutorial “DS4 Tutorial:Rigging High-Heels for Genesis rev1” by niccipb at http://www.sharecg.com/v/61954/browse/3/PDF-Tutorial/DS4-TutorialRigging-High-Heels-for-Genesis-rev1 Niccipb’s method is probably best but the following represents a quick way to get fairly decent results.

This works for flat soles, high heels, long boots, etc. May also work okay for Gen3 shoes/boots but I have not tested it. This example will use V4.

- If Genesis or anything else is currently in the scene, either delete or turn it off its' visibilty.

- Load the V4 shoe(s)/boot(s) for conversion. This works for shoes/boots that load as individual figures and for shoes/boots that load as pairs.

- Export as an .obj [File—>Export]. Any name will do.

- Import the OBJ from the previous step.

- Load Genesis and apply V4 morph. I always set Left Foot Propagating Scale and Right Foot Propagating Scale on Genesis to -10%. Kathy provides a script for this at http://www.sharecg.com/v/61263/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/Genesis-Foot-Resize-to-V4

- Now we need to fit Genesis to the shoe and/or the shoe to Genesis. The advantage of using Genesis is that you will not have to re-export the OBJ. To do this, I recommend setting the opacity of the shoe to about 50-60%. This allows you to clearly see the foot and where it pokes through the shoe. It is important to final result to get a good fit here. In some cases, it might be easiest to scale the shoe/boot up a few notches in order to make for a better fit. This is okay. If doing this, make Genesis invisible and the export/re-import before going on to the next step.

- Run Transfer

- The Source will be Genesis and the source Item Shape will be Current. The Target will be the imported shoe boot figure and Item Shape Default.

- The Projection Template is set to Boots->BootsThigh

- On Show Options, select Add Smoothing Modifier. Press Accept.

- Now, at this point the shoe/boot will not look as though it is fit to Genesis. This is because the bones do not align.

- Select the Joint Editor[Tools—>Joint Editor]. First click on Genesis and then using also select the shoe (it must be done in this order). In the view, right click Edit->Transfer Rigging (Figure Space). This should put the shoe back on Genesis.

- Go to Parameters tab, select Currently Used and set FBMVictoria4 from 100% to 0%. The shoe(s)/boot(s) should fairly good at this point.

- Adjust Mesh Smoothing by selecting Smoothing Type->Generic and then upping Smoothing Iterations until the shoe looks the way you want. Usually a value of 10 should be enough. If there is significant poke-through, you may need to start over by re-loading the OBJ and re-fitting the figure to Genesis.

There will not be any morphs for the shoe(s)/boot(s) at this point. If there are any morphs from the original that you wish to transfer back in:

- Load the original .cr2 shoe/boot figure but do not fit it to Genesis. Select it in the scene.

- On the Scene menu select Edit->Convert Figure to Weight Mapping… and press Accept.

- Run Transfer.

- The Source will be the original shoe/boot figure and the source Item Shape will be Default. The Target will be the imported shoe/boot obj and Item Shape is Default.

- On Show Options, deselect all but Morph Targets. Click on Morph Targets and select Source Morphs. Press Accept. Morphs will be transferred.

- Rename the converted figure to something descriptive and apply your favorite texture if you wish. Be sure to reset the opacity to its original setting (usually 100%).

- Save as Figure/Prop Asset.

wancow

if it's well known, I didn't know about it till you posted it! So thank you VERY much!!!!

artistb3

wancow said:

if it's well known, I didn't know about it till you posted it! So thank you VERY much!!!!

Wancow,

You're welcome. I know I have been looking for a decent solution for well over a year before stumbling on this. I am quite surprised at how simple it is to implement and how well it seems to work. I am now curious to learn if it is working for others, as well.

artistb3

V4 Platform Pumps by Idler from DAZ fitted to Genesis

almahiedra

Months ago I was trying with heels and boots, using also niccipb tutorial. Look at here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/8925/P15/
Just now I'm very interested in your process. I still hadn't read it carefully, but paragraph "Go to Parameters tab, select Currently Used and set FBMVictoria4 from 100% to 0%" sound very promising.

artistb3

Okay, so here is an example using G V Sandals.cr2 from Dynamic Glamour for V3. To do this one, I used the V3 morph for Genesis and no change to the feet. However, I did decide to scale the shoes up both in general and then additionally in the X direction some. Otherwise, I do not see how the default V3 Genesis shape could ever fit into this shoe shape.

The only change to the procedure is to set FBMVictoria3 from 100% to 0% instead of FBMVictoria4. I did not try it, but I think it likely I could have gotten as good a result by instead using the V4 Genesis morph.

It seems that this method may also work fine for A3, A4, etc.

lface8

Thanks for the tutorial, but I have a few questions, maybe you could help me out.

1. "Export as an .obj file" - Which preset should I use? Daz obj, poser obj?

2. "Now we need to fit Genesis to the shoe and/or the shoe to Genesis." Am I supposed to fit Genesis/the shoe to the original shoe or the obj? If I'm supposed to fit it to the obj or vice versa, how do I do that? I was under the impression that objs could only be parented unless converted to a figure.

wancow

unless you're exporting for use in Poser, never use Poser OBJ. That will rescale the OBJ.

Always use DAZ Studio Export scale if you're working in DAZ Studio.

artistb3

lface8 said:

Thanks for the tutorial, but I have a few questions, maybe you could help me out.

1. "Export as an .obj file" - Which preset should I use? Daz obj, poser obj?

2. "Now we need to fit Genesis to the shoe and/or the shoe to Genesis." Am I supposed to fit Genesis/the shoe to the original shoe or the obj? If I'm supposed to fit it to the obj or vice versa, how do I do that? I was under the impression that objs could only be parented unless converted to a figure.

The attached shows the OBJ export/import settings I use.

I see the issue with the term "fit". Apologies for not clarifying step "Now we need to fit Genesis to the shoe and/or the shoe to Genesis". This is confusing. It does not mean that we want to use Autofit or that we want use General->Misc->Fit to on the Parameters tab. It means that we want pose Genesis such that the feet/legs fit neatly within the shoe(s)/boot(s) geometry. So it should read "Now we need to position Genesis to fit the shoe and/or the shoe to Genesis". If it is a shoe obj, then often it is a case of using the Rotation sliders to pose the Genesis feet/toes. After positioning, the shoe(s)/boot(s) are still not parented to any part of Genesis, nor have we "fit" them to Genesis.

As an alternative to posing Genesis, the shoes can be posed using (Translate, Rotate, Scale in General->Transforms under the Parameters tab). If making any changes to the shoe(s)/boot(s), please be aware that you will need to re-export/import the shoe OBJ after the change.

I have found it useful in many cases to both pose Genesis and to re-scale the shoe up some. So, whatever it takes to get the foot neatly withing the shoe/boot geometry, this is going to provide a better result.

If this method is working okay for others, it may be useful to do a more detailed tutorial for ShareCG. In fact, it may be handy to combine this with Wancow's tutorial on converting long dresses (and/or any other category of wardrobe that does not autofit well) since the two methods have a lot in common.

artistb3

Never mind.

Please see http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/15492/ as there is now a utility that should provide a much better solution (also applies to other Gen3-4 clothing items that currently do not Autofit well to Genesis).