(Probably repeated) Armor and garment peeve / request

1gecko

This is more a request of ALL content makers rather than for a specific person or product...

(Ahem... <clears throat>) Please, please, please:

1) Check that the plates / pieces of *armor* do not bend, stretch, etc. !!!  I cannot stress this enough - it is so INCREDIBLY irritating and saddening to FINALLY find an item that perfectly fits your image / story / etc. and then notice (hopefully BEFORE buying) that the plates and pieces of armor are more flexible and maliable than spandex!  That's not armor - that is a kid's Halloween costume!

• yes, I REALIZE I could (sometimes, depending on the mesh) go through the armor, select and reconfigure details and parameters and probably re-rig items to get them to act correctly - but I shouldn't HAVE to with a product I *PAID* for!  (especially considering prices! Not complaining of prices in general, just when things are not up to the level of a purchase item)
• yes, I ALSO realize that can often restrict an artist's 'creative vision' as then you can't just make *anything* - but if you are going to make armor that does not act like ARMOR, at least acknowledge (and texture it) as magical/sci-fi "liquid metal armor" or whatever 'because I want it that way' reason.  But for everything else (and something that is supposed to be actually WORN, please consider (and model appropriately) the design of the rigid plates.

2) Also, when designing your worn items (whether armor or other item with rigid pieces), while the flanges, points, flares, etc. may look good; please consider the effect of someone actually attempting to MOVE when wearing said item!  It is very, very irksome (and an almost immediate 'no-buy' decision for me) when you look at the armor / garment and realize the wearer would be IMPALING themselves (quite possibly fatally) the first time they took a step, bent, etc.!  Well, unless you are deliberately AIMING for a "Hellrazor" deamonite self-torturing costume... then it is fine (though somewhat limited in useability).  This is ESPECIALLY true when we are talking all those 'fantasy' armors for the half-naked ladies!!  For example: nothing says, "I am just not thinking at all" like all those nice spikes on the bottom of the bra or top of the belt that will grusomely GUT our fair lady the first time she makes even the tiniest bending motion!

• if you are really wanting those flares, flanges, etc. for effect; take the bit of extra time to model them as seperate (or at LEAST seperate material zones) from the plates and then designate them as leather.  It still would impede movement (which is extremely undesirable for anything intended for combat), but at least would *work* and also not be suicidal.

3) Next - and this is not limited to armor, but any garment - please take a moment to consider exactly HOW the wearer is supposed to put on, take off, or move in the item in question.  No, I am not talking 'strip' morphs or anything like that; I am referring to when you look at an item and think, "Hey... that looks interesting!  Pretty coo... wait - how the **** do you WEAR that?"  All those times when simple things like a zipper, snaps, buttons, buckles along a fold or seam would allow your mind to not break the immersion / imagination of the image.  This includes those outfits with the interesting straps or rigid/heavy leather sections that would effectively immobilize parts of the body...

 

Please note: I am not bashing impractical, artistic, etc. armor and garments nor speaking out the Nth time about 'slut-wear' or some such.  I am talking about those glaringly impossible or suicidal designs reminiscent of a small child's costume idea.  Well those and where the creator just gets sloppy.

Drip

Rigging rigid items that are connected to non-rigid fabrics is a pain. Daz Studio really wasn't designed for that, so results will vary a lot, no matter the amount of time invested in the design. There are a variety of tricks, including disconnecting rigid items from the clothing and making them a seperate wearable, and maybe there are even some undiscovered features available with dForce that could give some solution, but the problem remains: it's hard, and depending on the design sometimes just impossible. And changing the design to something else entirely just is not not an option, there is always some vague result the artist had in mind, and that result is the target, no matter how unrealistic it would be in real life, or how limited the result would be in usage.

Funny enough, some real life items are still near impossible to realistically make for Daz Studio, simply due to rigging limitations. The result of making them in DS shows effects that are not real, which the user will have to figure out how to mask, be it through posing constraints, smart camera angles, covering up the problematic area with some conveniently placed object, or photoshop.

On a sidenote, I always find it funny when people complain about the figures' body glitching through a body armor. Unless that piece of armor is transparent (heloooo Barbarella!), the solution is extremely simple: make the figures' body transparent.

WendyLuvsCatz

IMO armours work better as smart props, I have a few that are and can be used on almost any figure or critter

however one PA mentioned in a post DAZ QA expects everything to conform though I bought at least one new AFTER that comment

https://www.daz3d.com/spartechops-for-genesis-3-female-s

futuristic but props and work well on males too

bdell_53_4baf2b3d9b

Drip said:

 

On a sidenote, I always find it funny when people complain about the figures' body glitching through a body armor. Unless that piece of armor is transparent (heloooo Barbarella!), the solution is extremely simple: make the figures' body transparent.

Good tip ! I never thought of doing that.

1gecko

bdell_53_4baf2b3d9b said:

Drip said:

 

On a sidenote, I always find it funny when people complain about the figures' body glitching through a body armor. Unless that piece of armor is transparent (heloooo Barbarella!), the solution is extremely simple: make the figures' body transparent.

Good tip ! I never thought of doing that.

Have done this many times myself (with both armors and sometimes just regular clothing that proved troublesome)!  

 

... not bragging; I know it was a real, "DHO!!!" moment when (after a year or two of fighting with things - been using DAZ for... !!! whoa... 12-ish years now!! O.O) I realized I could just make that body part unseen and stop fighting with it!

And while it may be self evident to most (to me it was NOT), the same is true with anything not visible from the camera's perspective - as long as you aren't having/using something reflective of course (or have the lights such that the shadows give away that pieces/parts are missing or clipping).

And Drip's other comment about making the rigid armor piece/plate a smart prop is a perfectly fine solution - in fact a BETTER than 'fine' with some cases when you want to give part of the armor 'battle damage' or such (scored, broken or melted for example - something you can't do easily with texturing/shaders).  You just have to kit-bash that piece into what you want and go on.  Unfortunately you are out of luck trying to do that with an integrated plate.

 

Heh, it is funny when you think about it - it is near impossible to model some fairly simple real world items, but you can freely model items that can never exist in the real world!! (and not talking about fantasy / sci-fi; I mean things like M.C. Escher architecture)