Adding a character shape parameter to clothing

marble

I notice that many clothing items come with in-built support for different DAZ characters. Is there a way to add one of my own morphed characters?

I know there is a script which I think might do that for me ( https://www.daz3d.com/shapesinjector ) and I have it wishlisted but I missed it a few days ago when it was on sale at a big discount ($5.99). It will probably be on sale again but, in the meantime, is there any way to do this manually for just a single character?

EDIT: on reading the product description for that script I'm not sure it will do what I want because it says:

ShapesInjector is a DAZ Studio script to speed up the process of setting all CTRL and FBM morphs for all supported characters

The problem is that my character is heavily morphed (heavy being the operative word here) so autofit produces some very ugly results with that inevitable cling under the breasts and heavy belly. I can morph the dress in Blender but I thought that having the shape injected into the dress might be a better option. Also those ugly results are obvious on any of my X-Large character shapes.

crosswind

Yes ~ as long as Auto Follow is checked in the property of your character full body morph / head morph, it'll be injected on the clothing the moment you dial it on the figure (or with auto-fit...) But in most cases, you still have to fix the FBM on the clothing especially with such a 'heavily-morphed' character. I use Blender as well and I rely on it very much for fixing all these morphs / pJCMs, etc. etc.

WelI I believe Shapes Injector can trigger / import FBMs on wearables all together, but there're some free scripts as well, for instance, some good scripts from a PA - MikeD : http://www.mikededes.com/category/3d-section/3d-gifts/free-scripts/

Phatmartino

@marble, I know you mention loving to spin the dials to create characters... Are you aware that if you select your Parameters Pane, Click the "Hamburger" Menu, choose Preferences>Show Hidden Properties, then with the Clothing Item Selected in the Scene Tab (and fitted to your figure), select Actor in the left side of the Parameters Pane, the "greyed out" dials to the right are the Projection Morphs that have been applied to the clothing, that make up your character morph and pertain to the clothing item (upper body morphs for a shirt, etc)... You can dial those even further or back them off, just for the clothing item. It's sure not a custom morph from Blender, but especially with G9 and there being no Fit Control available yet, I've been using the Projection Morph Manager product a ton (which just gives you a little easier interface to control these Projection Morphs without having to look at greyed out dials and with extended undo features). Between that, smoothing modifiers and adding dForce to absolutely anything that will handle it, I've been having a lot of fun with G9's and their clothing which anymore seem to come with no morphs at all.

 

Anyway, this isn't the exact solution you're looking for, but it's part way there at least letting you see your character's morphs which are already there in the fitted clothing and possibly do some adjustment without buying or exporting anything. I think that should be true for any clothing (or Hair for that matter) fitted to any Character who's morphs one way or another began from dial spinning. Might be worth looking at even just to see it and understand a little more about what's going on under the hood of a fitted tutu...

marble

Ok, thanks although I think I need to dig a little deeper into your answer as there are bits beyond my present understanding.

The character morph I have is the result of a playing with numerous morph dials so I don't have a single parameter to dial-in to change to that shape. I believe it is possible to do that - is that what you are suggesting? I saved my character as a scene subset.

By "fix the FBM" do you mean the process of exporting to Blender and using the Edit/Sculp tools to make it fit nicely? I then re-import it to the original garment using Morph Loader Pro. That creates a morph but I am not sure that's the same thing as FBM, is it (I wish I had a better understanding of these DAZ terms - what on earth is a pJCM??).

Thanks also for the tip on the free scripts - I'll take a look. It was already on my to-do list to scroll through all the Casual scripts too - I bet he has one.

crosswind

marble said:

Ok, thanks although I think I need to dig a little deeper into your answer as there are bits beyond my present understanding.

The character morph I have is the result of a playing with numerous morph dials so I don't have a single parameter to dial-in to change to that shape. I believe it is possible to do that - is that what you are suggesting? I saved my character as a scene subset.

By "fix the FBM" do you mean the process of exporting to Blender and using the Edit/Sculp tools to make it fit nicely? I then re-import it to the original garment using Morph Loader Pro. That creates a morph but I am not sure that's the same thing as FBM, is it (I wish I had a better understanding of these DAZ terms - what on earth is a pJCM??).

Thanks also for the tip on the free scripts - I'll take a look. It was already on my to-do list to scroll through all the Casual scripts too - I bet he has one.

 

OK, I got it ~ there's no single dial of Full Body Morph (FBM) and Full Head Morph (FHM) of your character, but still you will find lots of 'morph dials' in the hidden properties of the clothing, and most of them shoud be Partial Body Morphs (PBMs) or Partial Head Morphs (PHMs, esp. on headwear etc.) or sth. like those...
In fact you may create single dials of FBMs and FHMs with ERC Freeze for you characters, just like what PAs (who make character products) do. That turns out to be a pretty optimal and clean way, and you still can save it as a Scene Subset or a Character preset.

As for 'Fix the FBM' and the process you mentioned, yes, that was what I meant. If you have a single dial of FBM of your character, there'll be a hidden FBM on the clothing, you export the figure + clothing as obj to Blender, sculpt the clothing well with the best fitting result, then export the clothing to obj and import it back to DS 'as a delta' with Morph Loader Pro, so as to 'overwrite' the hidden FBM on the clothing. That's a typical process of 'Fixing FBM' for a piece of clothing.

pJCMs - Pose JCMs which means JCMs triggered by a Pose. You must've known JCMs (Joint Corrective Morphs) --- when a figure's joints rotate (Bend, Twist, Side-Side), the relevant partial body morphs could be automatically corrected by pJCMs (hidden morph dials as well).
All these pJCMs from the figure will be also injected on the clothing. So, for instance, if the figure's upper arms bend, you need to check if the pJCMs around the armholes of the clothing are correct or not. If there're some distortions, you have to fix them. More or less, the process is as same as fixing an FBM.

 

marble

crosswind said:

marble said:

Ok, thanks although I think I need to dig a little deeper into your answer as there are bits beyond my present understanding.

The character morph I have is the result of a playing with numerous morph dials so I don't have a single parameter to dial-in to change to that shape. I believe it is possible to do that - is that what you are suggesting? I saved my character as a scene subset.

By "fix the FBM" do you mean the process of exporting to Blender and using the Edit/Sculp tools to make it fit nicely? I then re-import it to the original garment using Morph Loader Pro. That creates a morph but I am not sure that's the same thing as FBM, is it (I wish I had a better understanding of these DAZ terms - what on earth is a pJCM??).

Thanks also for the tip on the free scripts - I'll take a look. It was already on my to-do list to scroll through all the Casual scripts too - I bet he has one.

 

OK, I got it ~ there's no single dial of Full Body Morph (FBM) and Full Head Morph (FHM) of your character, but still you will find lots of 'morph dials' in the hidden properties of the clothing, and most of them shoud be Partial Body Morphs (PBMs) or Partial Head Morphs (PHMs, esp. on headwear etc.) or sth. like those...
In fact you may create single dials of FBMs and FHMs with ERC Freeze for you characters, just like what PAs (who make character products) do. That turns out to be a pretty optimal and clean way, and you still can save it as a Scene Subset or a Character preset.

As for 'Fix the FBM' and the process you mentioned, yes, that was what I meant. If you have a single dial of FBM of your character, there'll be a hidden FBM on the clothing, you export the figure + clothing as obj to Blender, sculpt the clothing well with the best fitting result, then export the clothing to obj and import it back to DS 'as a delta' with Morph Loader Pro, so as to 'overwrite' the hidden FBM on the clothing. That's a typical process of 'Fixing FBM' for a piece of clothing.

pJCMs - Pose JCMs which means JCMs triggered by a Pose. You must've known JCMs (Joint Corrective Morphs) --- when a figure's joints rotate (Bend, Twist, Side-Side), the relevant partial body morphs could be automatically corrected by pJCMs (hidden morph dials as well).
All these pJCMs from the figure will be also injected on the clothing. So, for instance, if the figure's upper arms bend, you need to check if the pJCMs around the armholes of the clothing are correct or not. If there're some distortions, you have to fix them. More or less, the process is as same as fixing an FBM.

 

Yes, I thought that (create a single dial) was possible although I am not familiar with the process (ERC Freeze, etc.). Maybe there's a tutorial somewhere.

I do know what JCMs are but I had not heard of pJCMs. Still not sure what the difference is, TBH. A pose is just moving the joints/bones isn't it?

I have seen all those hidden parameters in the clothing - they do a good job of hiding them because, in my viewport, I can't read the labels with highlighting each individual parameter.

Not sure what the Morph Loader Pro "delta" is but I usually say "Yes" to Reverse Deformations - is that what you mean?

crosswind

marble said:

crosswind said:

marble said:

Ok, thanks although I think I need to dig a little deeper into your answer as there are bits beyond my present understanding.

The character morph I have is the result of a playing with numerous morph dials so I don't have a single parameter to dial-in to change to that shape. I believe it is possible to do that - is that what you are suggesting? I saved my character as a scene subset.

By "fix the FBM" do you mean the process of exporting to Blender and using the Edit/Sculp tools to make it fit nicely? I then re-import it to the original garment using Morph Loader Pro. That creates a morph but I am not sure that's the same thing as FBM, is it (I wish I had a better understanding of these DAZ terms - what on earth is a pJCM??).

Thanks also for the tip on the free scripts - I'll take a look. It was already on my to-do list to scroll through all the Casual scripts too - I bet he has one.

 

OK, I got it ~ there's no single dial of Full Body Morph (FBM) and Full Head Morph (FHM) of your character, but still you will find lots of 'morph dials' in the hidden properties of the clothing, and most of them shoud be Partial Body Morphs (PBMs) or Partial Head Morphs (PHMs, esp. on headwear etc.) or sth. like those...
In fact you may create single dials of FBMs and FHMs with ERC Freeze for you characters, just like what PAs (who make character products) do. That turns out to be a pretty optimal and clean way, and you still can save it as a Scene Subset or a Character preset.

As for 'Fix the FBM' and the process you mentioned, yes, that was what I meant. If you have a single dial of FBM of your character, there'll be a hidden FBM on the clothing, you export the figure + clothing as obj to Blender, sculpt the clothing well with the best fitting result, then export the clothing to obj and import it back to DS 'as a delta' with Morph Loader Pro, so as to 'overwrite' the hidden FBM on the clothing. That's a typical process of 'Fixing FBM' for a piece of clothing.

pJCMs - Pose JCMs which means JCMs triggered by a Pose. You must've known JCMs (Joint Corrective Morphs) --- when a figure's joints rotate (Bend, Twist, Side-Side), the relevant partial body morphs could be automatically corrected by pJCMs (hidden morph dials as well).
All these pJCMs from the figure will be also injected on the clothing. So, for instance, if the figure's upper arms bend, you need to check if the pJCMs around the armholes of the clothing are correct or not. If there're some distortions, you have to fix them. More or less, the process is as same as fixing an FBM.

 

Yes, I thought that (create a single dial) was possible although I am not familiar with the process (ERC Freeze, etc.). Maybe there's a tutorial somewhere.

I do know what JCMs are but I had not heard of pJCMs. Still not sure what the difference is, TBH. A pose is just moving the joints/bones isn't it?

I have seen all those hidden parameters in the clothing - they do a good job of hiding them because, in my viewport, I can't read the labels with highlighting each individual parameter.

Not sure what the Morph Loader Pro "delta" is but I usually say "Yes" to Reverse Deformations - is that what you mean?

1) Yea, Jay ever made a tutorial - how to create 'a single dial' - : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ1TOAqIzeU&t=323s

2) pJCMs and eJCMs (Expression JCMs) are just the naming convention of those 'hidden corrective morphs' (as SS 1 - 2 down below) The former is driven by poses, the latter by expressions,

3) Oh, for better reading, I think you may tweak the color in menu: Windows - Style - Customize Style...

4) Yes, Delta (or Delta Only) is one of the options of  'Overwrite Existing' in Morph Loader Pro dialogue box. Normally we export a pJCM for fixing, we just make a 'delta' change on the morph with sculpting tools in ZB or Blender, then update the pJCM on the figure or garment with this 'Delta'. (SS - 3)

5) A table of frequently-used abbreviations... (SS - 4)

 

marble

1) I shall revisit that Jay tutorial. I've probably watched it before but my memory is atrocious.

2) My initial question was really to do with the morphs included in the garment and how to add a shape - just like those listed in the screenshot (attached).

3) I use the Darkside style which is a little harder to read than the others. I have adjusted the colours now so that I have a little more contrast in those boxes.

4) Should I be using that Delta Only option each time I adjust clothing with a morph imported by MLP?

 

crosswind

marble said:

1) I shall revisit that Jay tutorial. I've probably watched it before but my memory is atrocious.

2) My initial question was really to do with the morphs included in the garment and how to add a shape - just like those listed in the screenshot (attached).

Yea, that's great!

3) I use the Darkside style which is a little harder to read than the others. I have adjusted the colours now so that I have a little more contrast in those boxes.

Looks better !

4) Should I be using that Delta Only option each time I adjust clothing with a morph imported by MLP?

Yes, as long as you export an 'existing single morph' for fixing, use 'Reverse Deformations : Yes' + 'Overwrite Existing: Delta Only' when importing with MLP.

When you create a single dial of your character, normally - 'Reverse Deformations : No' + 'Overwrite Existing: Make Unique' ...

 

marble

crosswind said:

marble said:

1) I shall revisit that Jay tutorial. I've probably watched it before but my memory is atrocious.

2) My initial question was really to do with the morphs included in the garment and how to add a shape - just like those listed in the screenshot (attached).

Yea, that's great!

3) I use the Darkside style which is a little harder to read than the others. I have adjusted the colours now so that I have a little more contrast in those boxes.

Looks better !

4) Should I be using that Delta Only option each time I adjust clothing with a morph imported by MLP?

Yes, as long as you export an 'existing single morph' for fixing, use 'Reverse Deformations : Yes' + 'Overwrite Existing: Delta Only' when importing with MLP.

When you create a single dial of your character, normally - 'Reverse Deformations : No' + 'Overwrite Existing: Make Unique' ...

 

Ah - I just did a couple of single dial body shapes before reading this and I did say Yes to Reverse Deformations. Will that be a problem? They shape dial seems to work fine so what would be the consequences?

UPDATE: I discovered that when I tried to apply a pose to the saved morphed figure it distorted horribly. I guess that answers my own question about consequences. I wish I hadn't deleted the original morphed character after I saved the single morph dial.

UPDATE 2: I give up. No matter what I do or how I export/import the morphed figure, it looks fine in zero pose but the moment I try to apply any pose it looks like Miss Elastic having walked through a propeller.

crosswind

Ah, I forgot if Jay ever showed the step of Adjust Rigging to Shape in that tutorial.... Anyway, press Alt Shift + J, RMB menu in Viewport: Edit - Adjust Rigging to Shape, the distortion will be gone.

As for Reverse Deformation for this case, in fact that'll be all fine no matter you choose Yes or No, as the character single dial will be created with 'Make Unique' option..

marble

crosswind said:

Ah, I forgot if Jay ever showed the step of Adjust Rigging to Shape in that tutorial.... Anyway, press Alt Shift + J, RMB menu in Viewport: Edit - Adjust Rigging to Shape, the distortion will be gone.

As for Reverse Deformation for this case, in fact that'll be all fine no matter you choose Yes or No, as the character single dial will be created with 'Make Unique' option..

Thankyou - I did watch that tutorial again (and again) and, unless I'm unconsciously skipping parts of it, I don't believe that step was included. 

EDIT - I should have read the YouTube comments ...

@WPguru
2 years ago
Quick note on ERC Freezing: once you've combined your moprhs as shown here, you have to adjust the skeleton to the figure - otherwise poses may look crooked. I've explained how to do this here: