Saving a Character?

Deke

I'm creating a handful of characters...each in a separate project. I hope to then be able to create projects with a couple different characters. How do I save a character so I can import it into a new project? I currently save each character as a scene file. I've tried saving as a character preset, but that seems to just be the data for a specific morph that I can then apply to a new file with a new genesis body. It does not include the super suit info. I need a way to save the specific Genesis morph I've created, along with the specific suit and hair. I'm sure there's an easy way to do it, but can't find any so far by online searching.

Bejaymac

Which version of DS4 are you using ?

In DS the only way to save multiple figures/props in one file is as a scene file, in 4.0 and earlier versions of DS you only have the .DAZ scene format, in 4.5 you can also save as a DUF scene file.

In both cases you can merge multiple files into any scene by double clicking on them in the content library or by right clicking them and selecting "merge" from the menu.

Deke

I'm using Daz 4.03...just downloaded it a couple weeks ago and learning the ropes. There are several save-as options and what I'm after is just saving the character I've created. Then I could create a new project and import several different characters into one composition. Merging is possible, but it does import all the elements of one file (genesis, hair, super suit, etc) into another file. It would be easier to have the character simply exist as one entity. Does "baking" have something to do with this? Thanks for the help.

Jaderail

You are doing the proper thing. Create your character, clothing, hair, props and anything you wish to be loaded into your new Scene. Then save as a Scene file to be Merged at the time you wish to use it.

Tips: Only save the Character and its items. Delete all lights, none used props and sets, I even reset my Default camera before I save as Scene File.

Then at Merge time ONLY the character is added to the new Scene. At this time I have a Folder named Characters with all 14 of my finished figures saved into it.

Deke

Thanks. Glad I'm heading in the right direction. It must get confusing, however, if you're merging a handful of characters with the resulting handful of Genesis, wardrobes, etc. Is there a way to pre-merge all the parts of a character (body wardrobe hair) into one thing?

Jaderail

If you did that, "Merge all into say one new Figure", that is what I think your hinting at, you would lose all the morphs and rigging ect. The way we now do it with Save Scene, we can Pose the Figure, Change all the Hair morphs,(Need that wind in the Hair look for this render), and add stuff that only needs to be in that one scene. They need a big splatter of blood on that glove for this render, type of stuff.

I think the Save as scene is the best option. What happens if you need the character to lose the Helmet for one Render and then put it back on for the next render. You would need TWO saved characters, one with a helmet and one without the helmet. This way you just turn the helmet on or off when ever you need it. No need for two versions. Keeping everything as separate peaces gives you the option to change the BASE character when ever you wish.

Tip: I have more than one version of each Character for QUICK loads (Merge). Everyday clothes and full Hero. I just load the one I need when I need it. I can change anything when I load it into the New Scene if I need too.

TIP: If you Right Double Click in the Scene Tab you can ReName the character and all it's items. My Characters load by name. I do not get Genesis, Genesis 2, Genesis 3, what I get is Wraith, Trauma, Raven, and for the clothing I get Supersuit-Wraith, Supersuit-Trauma. Do the rename at design time.

DWG

dkutzera said:

Thanks. Glad I'm heading in the right direction. It must get confusing, however, if you're merging a handful of characters with the resulting handful of Genesis, wardrobes, etc. Is there a way to pre-merge all the parts of a character (body wardrobe hair) into one thing?

What I do is use a null (create/null). For each fully dressed character I create, I create a null, name it 'Character ', and drag into that null the character, hair, clothing and any props. I then save that as a scene file. When I come to make a piece I can then quickly merge in several fully dressed characters, each of whose entries can be collapsed to the single line of their parent null unless I'm working on them at that moment.

The image below is the piece I'm working on currently, each of the three characters (two Genesis and a D3) were loaded from separate scene files that were merged into the main image. The physical scene of the underground entrance is itself saved as a complete scene under another null, as are the lights and cameras. The entire scene can be reduced to six lines in the scene tab.

An additional benefit of using nulls is you can use them to move an entire group of elements around, for instance I altered the height of the entire underground set because it wasn't loading quite at the zero level the characters were. If I'd had to do that individually then that's over 20 items to move, with everything under the scene null I just moved it instead. Similarly the wheelchair isn't parented to the seated character, but because both are under the same null I can move the null, rotate it, whatever, and the character will remain seated in the 'chair. Equally you can delete an entire null with a single click, as I did for the fourth character who was in the scene at one point, and you can change what the character is wearing (or hair, skin, morph, whatever) at any point by deleting clothing from within the null, then adding new clothing and dragging it into the null, as I did for the two tracksuited characters halfway through working on this when I decided my initial clothing concept wasn't obvious enough.

Deke

Great tip. I'm not creating nulls and storing all the elements of a character in that null.