Making clothes in Carrara vs Blender

rfrydryckstudio

I started a post in the basic forum by mistake but want to know if Carrara 8.5 is better make Daz clothes in than Blender? I want to make a tight outfit for Victoria 4.  Any links to get me started?

3DAGE

In Carrara,. start a new "medium scaled" scene,. thn load V4 (or whatever figure you need).

INSERT / Vertex object.

in the vertex modeller,. create a circle or rectangle and extrude it slightly.  (then return to the main carrara Assemby room.

In your scene,. you'll have a figure, and the new vertex object,. select the vertex object,. click on the edit (wrench icon) in the top left of the toolbar.

Click on the HAND icon (top left) to finish editing.

This allows you to edit the vertex model,. directly in the assembly room,. so you can model the vertex object around your figure. in the same way that a tailor would use a manequin as a form to create the outfit.

Hope it helps

 

 

Diomede

This thread has a number of tutorials and links to tutorials.

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/65357/the-male-content-creation-mutual-support-group-thread/p1

PhilW

I am not a Blender user so can't really comment on the differences. It is possible to make clothes in any modeller, the differences will arise from ease of use and how familiar you are with the program.  To be honest, if I were getting into serious clothes modelling, the two tools I would most look at are Marvelous Designer, which has a superb draping engine, and Zbrush which you can use to extract the shapes from a figure to make clothes, sculpt them and then retopologise them. But both of these are quite pricey!

Roygee

Modelling apps are pretty much standard, so at the end of the day it really depends on the skill of the user and knowledge of the tools.  Carrara is pretty basic for modelling, so a lot easier to learn.  Blender has many more functions that simplify making clothing, such as snapping to the surface of the base object, shrinkwrap, sculpting and retopo.  Cloth draping does actually work without exotic workarounds.  Being more complex, it does take more effort to learn.

 So, really up to how much commitment you are prepared to give to the project:)

FifthElement

Roygee said:

Modelling apps are pretty much standard, so at the end of the day it really depends on the skill of the user and knowledge of the tools.  Carrara is pretty basic for modelling, so a lot easier to learn.  Blender has many more functions that simplify making clothing, such as snapping to the surface of the base object, shrinkwrap, sculpting and retopo.  Cloth draping does actually work without exotic workarounds.  Being more complex, it does take more effort to learn.

 So, really up to how much commitment you are prepared to give to the project:)

Let's not forget something Blender has and we all want it in Carrara but we will most likely never get it: vertex weights can be easily transfered from original model to clothing 

rfrydryckstudio

Thanks for the input.  I am not sure what FiftElement ment by transfering weights, but I am now hot on researching that. I am in the process of seeing if I can do a big 3D project.  I do have past experience in modeling, but it was all still work.  I got past the first two steps in my plan so far.  But this is my first real hard part.  I need to model a three item for a Victoria 4 character.  All drawings are done for the items:

1 - The first is any of the following: boots, a close fitting top, or  gloves.

2 - Close fitting leggings that are skin tight.

3 - Importing an (archery) bow.  It is 90% modeled in Blender. I need figure out how  to make the morphs so when it is pulled it moves, and how to attach it to a hand.

Any additional direction on modeling the items for V4 would be appreciated. As at this time have no idea how to start it (for a Daz figure).

3DAGE

"Weight's" refers to "Bone weights",. when a mesh object is rigged with bones,. each bone exerts an area of influence over a section of mesh nearest it. (like a magnet) which allows the mesh to be animated by moving the bones,.  this area of influence increases and decreases along the bone length, creating a smooth transition between each bone's area of influence.

Carrara automatically creates the basic bone weights when you attach a skeleton to a mesh,. and these Weight areas can be adjusted by painting or using sliders in the Vertex modeller.

Daz Studio has a "Transfer utility" which allows you to transfer the bines and weights from Genesis/G2 etc,. into a model you've imported,. which makes that model a "Conforming clothing" item.

You could use a Genesis figure insrttead of V4,. and get the V4 shape for genesis to make Genesis lok like V4,. which woul allow you to use that transfer utility in DS to handle the weights.

One thought on "skin-tight",.. You could create a new texture map,. (based on the V4 Skin texture maps as a starting point/template).

you could "texture" a pair of skin tight leggings,. rather than modelling them.

there were several outfits sold here,. for Victoria 2 , 3 and 4 which use this (painted on) "Second Skin" principle.

 

You make a Morph target by adjusting the vertices of your model into a different shape (drawn-back),. then saving that obj

you should experiment with your bow model in Carrara's vertex modeller,. create some morph targets and see how they work.

You would "parent" the bow to the figures hand,. Drag and drop in the figure's heirarchy

In Poser and Daz Studio,. you should be able to save that "parented model and it's position" as a "Smart prop" which a user can simply click to load and parent to the figure.

Hope it helps

FifthElement

Here is You Tube video which explains weight transfer in Blender:

Basically, if your actors weightning is painted and done, when you add shirt, pants, shoes or whatever (made out of original model and modified or just simply modeled around body mesh) this function "copies" weights from body mesh to clothing by using a nearest face or vertex approximation, it is pretty good, I used it more then few times myself 

rfrydryckstudio

Thanks for your input.  Before I start my first piece I would like to know:

1- Can my archery bow be made up of seperate objects?  Or does the grip and limb need to be one piece.  the bow limb is made up of differnt parts to make a few fancy detials easy to model.

2a - How would you approach modeling something complex like fish net stocking with so many holes?

2b- I see how to make pants, but how do you add holes and straps with out making a super complex mesh ( see picture)

 

3DAGE

HI :)

If you want to have a morph in the model, then it needs to be a single model,.however,. that single model,. can be made up of several unconnected polymeshes.

The Bow would be a single mesh,. the string would be a different mesh,. the Morph targets would be made by selecting Both meshes, and creating a morph area and morph target.

If you look at the pics,. I've made a quick Bow mesh, and a string mesh,. then selectd both meshes to create the morphs area,. and then created a morph target, and edited that target to change the shape of the model.

 

2.a you would use a texture map with an alpha channel (transparent) to create the effect of holes in a simple mesh, you could also apply a texture map to the figure which has the Skin and an ovelaid fishnet pattern or texture,. then you don't need to model stockings,. tight leggings etc,. just apply a different texture map to the models existing shading domains,

2, b,. same solution, you make a simpler mesh and apply textures to add details such as lace edging.

If a model is the main element,.or the point of focus,. then it's worth taking the time to model it more accurately, and texture it well,. so,. it depends on how and "if" that item will be seen in the final image or sequence.