Can Geoshells be officially edited (Geometry editor, MeshGrabber) independent of its parent object?

pixelquack

I just tried for giggles to indent a Geoshell with Meshgrabber and much to my suprise it worked. I thought a shell always followed its parent?

I then tried to delete polygons on the parent and that did not delete the corresponding polygons on the shell either. 

Is that an official feature?

I have not managed to delete polygons on the shell, though. 

Needless to say, this way one could create rather cool effects. 

pixelquack

Ok, I tried saving my test object and reloading the scene the shell is as expected, it follows the parent. The Meshgrabber indents stayed, though.

Richard Haseltine

A Geometry Shell is a live copy of the base mesh, that is what they are for - a way to have a partial (via visibility controls) additional layer on an item, with an offset (via Push Modifier) and its own Material Settings. The shell, along with any isntances or other characters using the same base asset, shoudl always have the same geometry (though other figues using the same asset can have their own modifiers, giving them different final shapes from morphs and posing).

• Instance: identical aside from placement and overall scale
• Geometry Shell: same geometry and shape/pose but can have its own materials, and can take a Push Modifier (but no other modifier)
• Figure/prop using the same asset: has the same base geometry, which is what the Geometry Editor works on, but has its own modifiers and materials.

hansolocambo

delete polygons on the shell

Select the shell > Paramters Tab > Shell > Visibility.

There you can set parts of the shell On of Off. That's how you hide parts. No deleting them.

reloading the scene the shell is as expected, it follows the parent. The Meshgrabber indents stayed, though.

As explained by Richard, Shells have the exact same geometry as the object they were made from. The push modifier (offset) or MeshGrabber do NOT modify the geometry, they just move things around like a morph. Same amount of polygons, same vertices order, same rigging to bones. So yes of course, it still follows the original object's bones, and modifications to the Shell's geometry (movements) is taken into account.

this way one could create rather cool effects. 

If you want total control over a shell... don't use a shell.

- Create a Geoshell. Export it as obj (or send it to ZBrush, etc).

- Edit this shell object (a pure copy of Genesis) with any 3D app. Let's say you want a tattoo on the arm : delete all shell's polygons but the ones on the part of the arm you need. Export that object as obj.

- Import the obj into Daz and use the Transfer Utility to fit it to Genesis like you'd do for socks, etc. You now have only a small portion of a "shell", which is a basic 3D object, fitted to the arm. But because it was made from a shell : it has the exact same shape as the arm (with the offset of the orginial shell) and the exact same UVs. Which makes it easy to texture it with anything you want.

- Such an object has most of the advantages of a shell : it moves with Genesis, adapts to morphs, accepts any shader and materials, still has UVs from the original arm, etc... without some eventual inconvenients of a shell.

pixelquack

Interesting. Never used that, will have a look.