4.16 and the MetaMixer
inquire
Posts: 2,094
I'm wondering, can we add our own characters to those widgets? There's only three choices in my folder (Mac version). I read the entire tutorial, but it doesn't say anything about being able to select from the characters I've already bought.
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Do you have the HD versions of recent characters? A dozen-and-a-half of those are also supported via updates.
I haVE SEVERAL, BUT HOW DO YOU GET THEM INTO THE METAMIXER WIDGET INTERFACE? They don;t show up as something selectable in the shaping list. or do you have to actually go into the SHAPING tab and use from there?
The promo claims that "MetaMixer Toolkit comes with everything you need to begin using MetaMixer in Daz Studio." That is not entirely true. MetaMixer Toolkit lacks a manual or a help file. There isn't even a paragraph of documentation. I protest! DAZ3D should require the vendors of utilites like MetaMixer to provide introductions or overviews at the least, comprehensive documentation at best. Customers should not have to "wing it" and experiment. Products like this should come with instructions.
From another post I believe there should be three presets for each, to load the shape into one of the three slots for shapes. So you'd use preset 1 for one shape, preset 2 for anotherm, and preset 3 for the third to get a full set of options.
I am told that the HD updates have all you need to use those with the MetaMixer toolkit, but that for the base characters you do need the products released today.
Do you use Smart Content? Supposedly the "widgets" should be catagoried under Shaping - Apply then presumably you pick Widget A for one character, Widget B for another, Widget C for the third.
Disclaimer: I haven't actually done this myself, it just comes from reading the ReadMe for one of the HD characters that has been updated.
There is a PDF Tutorial that comes with it, and I have read that, and followed along in DAZ Studio, although I didn't save anything out. But, as I wrote before, I don't see a way to select characters. There are three characters there to choose from, yes. But there's nothing about how to select a character other than those three and use that character for one of the three options. And I do have recent characters, and HD versions of recent characters. In the Tutorial, however, it specifies that you do not need to use HD charcters, and can add HD details later. To get a smaller file size, you can opt out of the HD details. Or, you can save your preset as two files: a non-HD version, and then a file with just the HD details.
Oh, Wait! I just looked in the shop today: There are all these new MetaMixer Bundles. Maybe you have to purchase them in order to be able to add those characters into the widgets.
Maybe you have to do this! Maybe you have to do that! Maybe you have to stand under a full moon and pray to the gods. Inquire, I rest my case.
Mea culpa! Mea culpa! And my sincere and profound apologies to all. After a more diligent search, I have found the pdf. My impatience got the better of me. I do apologize from the bottom of my heart.
The HD characters [those grey figures sold] require the actual character for which they were morphed to. They apply HD to those existing morphs.
i.e. IF you have V8, and you buy V8HD, then the V8HD would apply the skin pores, etc. IF you have bought any of these HD characters, just download and reinstall them. Some have updated to have the required metamixer file in order to work on MetaMixer. Those files will appear in the same folder as the ones that came with MetaMixer.
AFAIK - if one does not have the HD character, by purchasing the metamixer file for the character, then one can use that and see some changes made. Some changes are shall we say, subtle. However there are several templates to use to affect changes, minor and major.
Also noticed over in the Parameters Tab, there are listed a lot of morphs that can be dialed in, same as one might any other morph. If I recall correctly I think he said there's something like 3,000 morphs in the main product.
@Catherine3678ab:
Oh, yes, just saw those morphs because you mentioned them. Didn't expect them. To get the morphs to show, select the root character in the Scene Tab, then they should show up in the Parameters Tab. I also noticed that the names of the characters you have placed in the Widgets will show up in the Parameters Tab. (See screen shot.) And, yes, you can also move the sliders in the Tab.
This time, I did save out a Shaping Preset, and then tried applying it to a character. It worked. But I also tried to use the "Adjust Rigging to Shape." I didn't think they explained that part very well. In any case, I am learning something.
Reading the tutorial, I see a step that requires enabling Filiment which isn't available on the Mac version of Studio. I haven't played with MetaMixer yet but this step is concerning. Is this another thing that's not compatible with Macs? I'm hopeful this is just a rendering speed enhancement but for those of us who have pretty powerful Macs, would the Iray preview setting suffice?
Using Filament is optional. It says so in the tutorial.
This is on Windows, not Mac, but this is MetaMixer in Texture Shaded mode. I applied the MetaMixer materials to the character, but I reduced the shine a little.
I'm not seeing an available MetaMixer template when the widget root is sellected.
Did you select the "Metamixer Widget Root" in the Scene Tab?
Yes.
In your screenshot, you have selected a "Root" under "Metamixer Widget Root"
By the way, as you're working with the Metamixer, you can also open the Shaping Tab and work with any head, neck, eye, ear, throat, mouth, etc. morphs that you have there. Along with all of the Metamixer morphs which show up in the Parameters Tab, you can do some very close sculpting of the figure. And you can always save the entire thing out as a Shaping Preset. And if, by chance, you have the 200 Plus Puppeteer Morphs, you can send a character with your Shaping Preset on, into Puppeteer, and do more morphing there.
The template isn't there. Doesn't matter what I sellect.
Did you update Daz Studio?
If I can upload it, here's a morph I did, using the Metamixer and also the 200 Puppeteer Morphs, and, of course, the G8 male morphs. I started with a Basic G8.1 Male. It's of Zane Holtz, one of my favorite actors, as he appears in From Dusk to Dawn, the TV series (not the movie). I'm really happy with how this turned out, and wanted to show how much can be done with this MetaMixer device. You can Google images of Zane Holtz, and he does look different in a variety of the images, but if you also Google the title of the TV series, I think you will see the similarity. I used the Michael 8.1 textues on him.
I see the resemblance to some online photos, although I am not familiar with the TV show. You did a nice job!
Thank you very much. He does look different in various photos: older here, younger there, and in some kind of makeup in From Dusk to Dawn. Actually, I disliked the TV show, but some of the actors gave very fine performances.
@crashworship: Er, a possible bug problem. Maybe that's why you report that the template isn't there. First, I'm on a Macintosh, running DS 4.16.0.3 and OS Catalina, 10.15.7, and you may be using Windows. But here's what happens to me, at least sometimes: I follow the Tutorial, loading a figure, and then clicking on Load the MetaMixer setup. After choosing Characters, and opening PowerPose, I don't see the Template in PowerPose. I have to go back and click again on that first thing, "Load the MetaMixer Setup." Then, the template looks correct.
Don't know why that happens, at least some of the time, but you might try loading the MetaMixer Setup again. Sometimes, I even see MetaMixer Root 2, as if I've got two loaded, but where or where is the first one? You might also notice that for each of the Characters you load, there is a Root. But clicking on a Character's Root isn't going to help. You actually need to see the MetaMixer Root loaded, and click on that. Hope that will do it for you.
Just to be more explicit, if you look at the first screen shot, you will see that in my Scene Tab I've clicked on the MetaMixer Widget Root. In that same screen shot, you'll see that each of the Widgets, C, B, and A also has a ROOT, if you open it up. But, to get the Template in the PowerPose Menu, you must click on the MetaMixer Widget Root, not any of those individual Widgets Roots. Then, you should see the Template in the PowerPose menu, as in the second screen shot.
I SUBMITTED A TICKET ABOUT THE ABOVE ISSUE.
@crashworship: Perhaps you should submit a Ticket also.
The MetaMixer PowerPose template doesn't show up until you click on the MetaMixer Widget Root (not the character root node or other ROOT nodes) in the Scene pane. That is what the tutorial says to do, and that has always worked for me. I have never had to load a second MetaMixer setup or widget. I am on Windows, though, not Mac.
Well, on the Macintosh, sometimes it just doesn't show up in the Scene Tab. I have used "Expand All," and then gone down the hierarchy looking for it.
I hope your support ticket gets results for you.
Well, overall, it's working pretty fine. Here's something that I did with the MetaMixer Toolkit to look like an actor, but then I continued on another day or two to get something I really liked. And here's also an impression of Curran Walters, another actor, also done with the MetaMixer Toolkit.