Query for more in depth support on D-Formers
drcharbonneau
Posts: 0
Basically that.
The Videos out there on DS Pro version 4.5 are helpful but most are difficult to see where the instructor is picking and clicking.
Step by step or screen grabs in a thread like these would be a real blessing.
I've been playing with the D-formers and have looked at some other threads that seem to be looking for that same type of support.
I've made it all the way to using the parameters tab on the Right Side sash to control the location and scale of the D-former, base and field, but, save for accident, I have no idea of how to control the deformer. Some step-by-step instruction would be nice.
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I don't have step-by-step instructions, but here are a few useful notes that should help getting started:
In the Scene tab, your D-former has three parts. The D-former field, the D-former base, and the D-former.
The D-former field specifies which points will be deformed. Move and resize it until it covers the desired area. If you use the default settings, the effect will be stronger in the center of the sphere and weaker towards the edges, and this is indicated by the color of the points (yellow, red, etc.)
For example, if you wanted to create a bump on an object, you would make the D-former field very small (about the size of the bump). If you wanted to deform the entire object, the field would need to enclose the entire object. If only the very tip of the field touches an object, the effect will be very weak, wheras if the center of the field is on your object, the effect will be very strong. you would probably put the center of the field on the surface of your object.
Once you have your field set up, translating or rotating the D-former around actually deforms all the points within the field, dragging those points in the direction you move it.
For example, if you wanted to create a bump on an object, you would drag the D-former away from the surface.
I think you can ignore the D-former base for now if you want. it's just a visual handle to aid in positioning. It may prove helpful, although I don't recall the last time I looked at it.
An easy way to test might be to create a new cube primitive with like 100 divisions, and experiment with that. Once you get the hang of this, let us know...
The Deformer Base does have an effect, the Angle will effect the Deformer Field when you move the De-Former away or toward it. The De-Former is Parented to the Base. The Angel of the Base and the position of the De-Former away from the Base can help make what seems to be not doable very doable sometimes.
The base also sets the centre point for rotation and scaling via the DForm
That's a good tip, I never noticed that. TY.
Wow. Thanx guys.
Sean. Save for the cube (I used a plane and even tried a genesis figure.) I'm at that point exactly. The question that comes to mind is setting sub-divisions. Is there a way to select all the chosen vertices in a given surface, then subdivide into say an addition 20 facets?
The base as a center of motion? I noticed the base had the radial setting when playing with it. Am I understanding correctly the dial that appears around what we might describe as the base's ecliptic center, sets the angle of effectiveness?
What happens, as now, by the time someone notices and responds, I've been messing with the d-formers again. More related questions arise. This appears to offer more in-house modeling tools than thought. I've managed to convert objects from my CAD modeler, to DAZ via MeshLab converting capabilities. That's a plus, if I can just get other objects into DAZ.
What should I be learning immediately to compliment using d-formers? I was looking into morph starters, I think they are called.
Okay.
Question 1: In DS4.5 I can find no "View" menu in the menu header bar, thus no clue where to look for the choice(s) involved to make a Spawned Morph.
Question 2: How do I select a deformed area itself upon which to build a new d-former? In essence, a morph on top of a morph. How deep can such be nested?
I only have partial answers to some of your questions, others will have to answer the rest.
The Spawn Morph button is located in the Dform pane. If you don't see that pane, you can enable it by going to the menu and selecting Window > "Panes (Tabs)" > Dform .
There are other options in here as well, which honestly I haven't looked at as closely as I should have. You can change the way the D-former field works by clicking the "Edit Spline" button and dragging points around on the graph.
When I opened up panes before, I didn't see the dform option. It's quite a list. Thus far I've been unable to select a morphed area of an original primitive as a basic object for another d-former and those areas do not seem to allow for the field's center.
How could I add two primatives?
Hmm... Thats odd. I can, using the Deformer Tab, convert one deformer to a Morph. Go into Parameters and zero that morph and then add a second Deformer to the same object and add a Second morph to the same area.
To Add another Primitive just use your Create Menu. I use them and deformers to make small props all the time.
I didn't state my quandary correctly. I was unable to get a d-former to center its field on top of another d-former. Once I finally got the hang of spawning the original d-former into the morph, I was able to build more morphs upon the original.
Some of the queries evolve from watching the tuts that are really intended for earlier DAZ versions. I still have a lot to learn in DAZ, but it appears one can do a lot of modeling in it. I'm going to guess I could model some more complex base forms in another program and finish it up in DAZ?
Can I create textures in DAZ or do I need to import materials and textures beyond basic color?
Yes, you can. Check out the Shader Mixer pane, which lets you create materials within DAZ Studio for use in DAZ Studio. Also research creating shaders for DAZ Studio outside of the Shader Mixer. If you want to make minor changes but don't want to get too serious, there are of course other controls in the "Surfaces (Color)" pane, and you can of course create or copy and modify various images used for diffuse, bump, etc. with something like Photoshop and point those parameters at your custom images.
I'm tossing around an idea of doing a tutorial on Content Creation using just DS for the modeling app. Much can be done with just the Primitives and Deformer's and the Deformer Tab. Including adding Morph assets to the finished items using the DS4.5 built in commands. Materials can be added in DS as long as they are Surface Tab or Shader Based and saved as well. To go beyond just DS a UV mapper will be needed. That will move the created item into the use of Texture Mapped textures. All this is not that hard to do and I find making small props of my own design very enjoyable.
Hi guys,
Sean,
I'm aware that DS is not a full blown modeler. It focuses around figures and animate objects. Still in just the past couple days of exploring the d-formers, I've found it could be used to do quite a bit. A question was asked of me in a Hex query concerning rigging technically accurate bones to produce a horse skeleton, then the horse. I was pointed to Blender (a lot) and Sculptris (not bad at all) and I have a crude clone of ProE 5, that I wrote the code from scratch on my own in Pascal, which will do a lot of complex objects that I can convert for DAZ using MeshLab. The question asked if I was ready to do a horse. From the knowledge of horses and being a bona fide artist for well over 50 years, yes. From knowing Hex or Blender or DAZ, no, but now I could say I'm closer to building that skeleton in DAZ.
Jaderail,
What you might want to do is a sort of "master tutorial" that includes somewhere a list of subject areas to study and study well. What I've been doing a bit is just running through each menu item on the top bar to see what it does. A set of suggested functions could have someone up and running quicker. The more written-word type instructions that point to a particular menu sequence the better. I used to write and illustrate technical manuals for more than one company. All the steps must be there and understandable. Videos help, but systems vary. What is just right on one person's screen is a postage stamp on another's.
I did download the webpages for the DAZ tutorial. I've also built up a video library of tuts for DAZ, Blender, Meshmixer. MeshLab and even Hex, but this thread has walked me through d-formers enough to concentrate on DAZ for a bit.
All the help is greatly appreciated.
Now that I have actually been successful in taking a basic character and adding some morphs to it, I discovered it isn't as simple as just saving a new character. When I did just that then created a new scene, the character did not load with the new morphs intact. How do I get the modified character to retain all the rework?
Read this from here on down. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20187/#296477
Said better than I could.
I'll give that a whirl next time I fire up DAZ.
On my screen (4.5pro) edit has no SaveAs, but Files does. I could not find those following steps/functions.
I tried a few saveas's in different formats, but was still unable to save the modified Genesis as a new actor and have the morphs load into a new scene. I did save the original scene, though, so when I load that scene all the morphs are there. One I saved as a shape file, but it would not apply to the new actor.
The steps. Create your deformer and the Morph from it. Test on your Figure. Then do this as shown bellow. Then fellow Hellboy's instructions.
Your Morph/s should now list in your LIST of morphs in all Genesis figures in the Future.
You are Correct it should have been the FILE menu.
Click image for full size.
That worked! Now I feel better about creating my army of characters.
It seemed as though it might be possible to make clothes right in DAZ. Is that correct? If so a point in the right direction would be helpful. If not, would this be on of those areas where Blender comes in handy?
Blender or Hexagon would be better choices for Creating the clothing Mesh (object file) DS has all the tools needed to rig to the figures.
Some Great threads on the topic here also. I like this one. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/2174/
Now that I'm having fun with morphs, I'm wanting to have fun with hair...
Particle systems were mentioned in another thread. Does DAZ have particle systems?
DS4.5 does not as yet but a Plugin is in the works I do believe.
Hmmm... I see learning the state-of-the-art (no pun intended) figure modeling is a journey more than an end. What comes to mind is learning the Python scripting language. With my current programming to do list, that's enough to make a fellow want to run out back and scream, or at least grab a V8 Juice. (Try to remember to open and drink before smashing can on forehead... or the foe's head...)
Can I remove a set of morphs from an object after saving them with the Morph Assets? I actually modified the Genesis original and, although the results were respectable, I didn't want them to be a permanent inheritance.
I have a CPU use gadget on my W7 desktop. I should experiment with morphs and higher res on this machine, I imagine, seeing just what it does. 4Gb RAM at 64bits does wonders compared to 2Gb at 32bits on the other one. The other one has more screen real estate...
There is two ways around the altered Default Genesis, one is just to reinstall the Starters Essentials pack. The other I'll need to hunt down for you.
It would be good to know "the other."
Reinstalling won't help as it will not remove the additional files. If you go to \Data\DAZ 3D\Genesis\Base\Morphs there should be a folder with whatever you entered for your name when saving the morph assets, and in that there should be a folder with the product name, and in that there will be the .dsf files for the morphs - delete those.
AH did not know the reinstall would not work. Takes notes.
What directory would I find Data? Looked in WE and could not find it...
Never mind. Used the search, found it, them and deleted them. Checked. All is good. Thank you.
This is what I did:
I deleted all the morphs. I created a new actor from Genesis. Called that character "Genesisf1" now anatomically correct, or closer to such. I saved the morph assets. They reverted back to the original Genesis. Can I delete the morphs from the original but retain them in the Genesisf1?