Add-On To Mesh Grabber: Mesh Destruction
OrionPax09
Posts: 419
Okay. I like the idea of ManFriday's Mesh Grabber, and being able to manipulate meshes in DAZ Studio without having to export to anywhere. But how about an add-on that allows us to break apart meshes? Rip apart clothing in mid-animation, or other forms of destruction? That sounds like something with a lot of potential.
Comments
That would be a great add on actually! How about contacting the vendor on this?
kr
That sounds to me like it would be well outside the scope of anything Mesh Grabber could do, and may not even be possible within DS as it currently exists, but @ManFriday would be the one to ask.
That would break UVs.
You can already do that using the geometry editor.
Step 1 - Select tool geometry editor.
Select what you want. Right-click, select delete or hide visibility, done.
I was aware of that. I was thinking more along the lines of dissociating vertices as you can do in Hexagon.
I'm not sure whether this is feasible within Daz Studio. Mesh Grabber certainly can't do it because it's a Daz Studio geometry modifier, like the smoothing or dForce modifier, which, by definition, cannot change the geometry other than moving vertices around in 3D space. It cannot add or remove vertices, and it cannot change the edges and polys made from those vertices.
But even outside the scope of a geometry modifier, if I wanted to write something like a geometry editor add-on, this would break all sorts of things in Daz Studio, at least as far as the Daz Studio figures are concerned. I think Daz Studio's rigging also depends on the no. of vertices being constant. So it could be done for geometry that has no rigging, but then it's the Daz Studio figures (i.e. rigged geometry) that makes Daz Studio special so I don't see the point of doing that, really.
Correct me if I'm wrong please, I haven't done extensive research on this. :-)
GeoGrafts can make changes to the geometry, and both SubD and the polyline tessellation divide the geometry.
Morphs depend on the vertex order (and count) when loading (and even so can cope with SubD and GeoGrafts), but removing geometry with the Geometry Editor does not break existing morphs or rigging.
How practical a breakage system would be I can't guess, but I think it would be doable in pronciple - though there might be a lot to keep track of.
I recommend you use this:
https://www.daz3d.com/ptf-grungy-threads
and genereal the Cutout map and try to create destroyed surfaces with the surface system.
And btw. Go to the Mesh Grabber Thread, there get you the best Feedback :)
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/372546/released-manfriday-s-mesh-grabber-commercial/p1
I think this is more in the realm of simulation, if this is to be made. I'd love to see more simulation capabilities in Daz.