Nail System Cornfusion

ebergerly

Now i don't want to criticize, but seriously...

There is a fingernail shader system I purchased (Nail System Genesis 3), and every time I try to apply the fingernail polish to a G3 I end up spending 10 minutes trying to figure out how to do it. And the image below are the "hint" icons that appear in Smart Content for the product. There's a "Shader System" and a "Top Coat System" and you can only apply some shaders to one and not the other, but apparently have to do it in exactly the correct procedure. 

Now, the "hint" icons say they're "Scripts", but when I click on them it takes me to the DAZ store website in my browser. And trying to figure out what the "hints" mean gives me a headache. 

It can't be that difficult. But every time I try the nails refuse to change to the colors I select. And after I've applied it, for some reason later on after I've worked on the scene for weeks, suddenly they've changed back to this clear, transparent color. 

Geez. 

Sorry, having a frustrating day.  

SpottedKitty

ebergerly said:

And the image below are the "hint" icons that appear in Smart Content for the product.

That might be part of your problem — when this sort of product is set up, frequently the different types of scripts and content files are put in different subfolders in the actual physical files stored on your computer. Smart Content (which unfortunately isn't always) is not a view of your actual content, it's a sorted and filtered view of a database of links to your content. If the metadata that goes into the content database isn't set up right to preserve this subfolder organisation, it smushes every item in the product into one grand mess, ignoring any subfolders that organise the different bits and pieces. Have a look at the same item in the Content Library tab instead of Smart Content, and see if it makes any more sense.

Richard Haseltine

Right click on the file in Smart Content and use Show Asset In>Content Library > Virtual folder (if it was installed by Connect) or Show Asset In> Content Library > Mapped folder (if isntalled via DIM) to do as Spotted Kitty suggests

ebergerly

Thanks. The only place I found reference to that set in Content Library was under Products, and under "N" for Nail System it had one folder with about 200 icons all smushed togther, just like Smart Content. 

Strange that I couldn't find it in the regular area of Content Library, like under Materials or something. 

Anyway I think I got it to work. I looked thru all the icons/hints/scripts and found one to remove/reset the Top Coat. I clicked on that, then clicked on the color I wanted, and it worked. Not quite sure why, but I'll worry about that next time.

3Diva

They set up a folder system hierarchy for better implementation of the product's settings. According to the Read Me, you should be able to find the files under:

People >> Genesis 3 Female >> Anatomy >> Nail System Genesis 3 Female

As far as I can tell, with products like this, the folder system should walk you through the settings better. :)

ebergerly

Interesting...now there's a concept...

Maybe I should actually read the instructions 

(I'm trying to find an "embarassed" smiley to insert here...)

SpottedKitty

Come to think of it, is it actually possible to shoehorn Smart Content into mirroring a subfolder hierarchy in the Content Library? That smushed-all-together display is just like similar messes people have posted queries about since way back when Smart Content was first introduced — and that was more than enough to persuade me to forget about the whole idea and stick with the Content Library I was familiar with.

ebergerly

I just don't understand why there are like 30 icons with hints on how to use the thing, instead of ONE icon you click on and it jumps you to a web page which clear instructions. 

I've looked at those hints like 10 times and still can't figure them out. There's "Hint" and "Hint 3" and on and on.

I don't consider it a Smart Content or Content Library issue, just a poor implementation of simple instructions.  

Geez. 

Richard Haseltine

ebergerly said:

I just don't understand why there are like 30 icons with hints on how to use the thing, instead of ONE icon you click on and it jumps you to a web page which clear instructions. 

I've looked at those hints like 10 times and still can't figure them out. There's "Hint" and "Hint 3" and on and on.

I don't consider it a Smart Content or Content Library issue, just a poor implementation of simple instructions.  

Geez. 

If you were in the folder hierarchy the hints would be with the matching presets

IceDragonArt

Richard Haseltine said:

ebergerly said:

I just don't understand why there are like 30 icons with hints on how to use the thing, instead of ONE icon you click on and it jumps you to a web page which clear instructions. 

I've looked at those hints like 10 times and still can't figure them out. There's "Hint" and "Hint 3" and on and on.

I don't consider it a Smart Content or Content Library issue, just a poor implementation of simple instructions.  

Geez. 

If you were in the folder hierarchy the hints would be with the matching presets

I have this and Richard is right, I loaded it with DIM and its much more understandable in the content library format that provided than what you have posted happened with Smart Content.

jestmart

And Products in the Content Library pane uses the database just like stupid Smart Content so if it doesn't work in Smart Content it is not going to work in Products.

Richard Haseltine

jestmart said:

And Products in the Content Library pane uses the database just like stupid Smart Content so if it doesn't work in Smart Content it is not going to work in Products.

Products is just a flat view of al the files. As I said above, you can use the Mapped folder for DIM Installs or the Virtual Folder for Connect Installs to see the hierarchical view, which can be reached from the database views via a right-click. Shadrs often need to be accessed this way, as do some pose sets.

ebergerly

Geez, I'm sorry, but this is the poorest excuse for a shader set I've ever encountered. Now I'm a reasonably intelligent guy, and I've spent the last 1/2 hour going thru the Smart Content and Content Library and following all the suggestions here, and for the life of me I can't find the magic set of steps to simply change the shader on a set of nails. A while back I got lucky and it worked, but everytime I venture into this insanity it's another 45 minutes of throwing up my hands.

There's the Nail System and Top Coat System and you can reset the Top Coat or Turn Off the Top Coat or Use the Top Coat with the other shaders or choose not to use the top coat and there's 30 "hints" and some of them load the DAZ shopping page and others seem to do nothing and on and on. 

No matter what I do the nails are some transparent glass-looking shader. I tried to turn off and reset the top coat and apply the color I want, but apparently you can only turn off the top coat on an individual nail. 

Geez. There's Scripts and Shaders and Properties and Materials. I give up. I'll just make my own shaders and toss this in the trash.  

jestmart

You do realize that this is a set of conforming nails that have to be applied to G3F first (see divamakeup's post)?  The shaders then apply to the nails conformer not G3F so you have to that selected.

ebergerly

Yeah, thanks, I've got all that. The remaining issue is the simple steps, once that's all done, to apply a simple shader from the set to the conforming nails. It's not as simple as choosing the Nail System object, then selecting the associated Surfaces, and double clicking on one of the many nail shaders. 

jestmart

Yes it is, in Smart Content make sure you are have Files highlighted not Products.

 

ebergerly

Thanks but as I say I assure you I've done exactly those steps, as well as many variations, and it doesnt work. My guess is that maybe once you've applied the shader in a particular way, subsequent attempts require you first erase everything and re-apply from scratch. Although I cant figure out exactly what all of that is.

jakiblue

omg THANK YOU Richard! Holy heck, that has been driving me nuts for the "thigh highs and stockings for Gen3/Gen8". The metadata has everything in one folder, so you have no idea how to apply them - base colour, then design etc. I've been opening up data -> cloud -> sku etc and then going back and forth to figure that product out. Had no idea about the "virtual folder"!!! 

Richard Haseltine said:

Right click on the file in Smart Content and use Show Asset In>Content Library > Virtual folder (if it was installed by Connect) or Show Asset In> Content Library > Mapped folder (if isntalled via DIM) to do as Spotted Kitty suggests

 

ThatOneDude226

Does anyone know how to apply the morph lengths to both hands?

katjesarts

I have a problem with my nails as well...In some environments they become transparend. Does someone have an idea what I can do?

GaryH

Here's the Fix:

The product's "top coat system" is a geometry shell that sits on top of the "nail system" nails.  If you expand the Nail System node in the Scene tab you'll see the Top Coat System node.  Select it and go to the Parameters tab.  Expand the General section and change the Mesh Offset from 0.001 to 0.01.  The original mesh offset is too close to the underlying geometry on some characters and causes weird rendering issues by partially/fully blocking the underlying material.

Other Tips:

• Select the Nail System node in the Scene tab and then one or more nails in the Surfaces tab to change the color of the base nail system nails.  The colors can be found in the Files tab of Smart Content under Default->Shader Sets->Nail System Genesis 8 Female->2 - Nail Shaders - Iray.  Again, be sure you have one or more nails selected in the Surfaces tab or you won't see the shader choices in Smart content.

• Select the Top Coat System node (the geometry shell) in the Scene tab and then one or more nails in the Surfaces tab to change the nail's overlaying geometry shell colors and color blending design.  With the increased mesh offset this should now work as described in the hints, which unfortunately don't show up here, namely that the black areas of the pattern will show the color polish of the underlying Nail System and the white areas will show the chosen color for the Top Coat System.
  • You must first select the Top Coat System color.  The colors can be found in the Files tab of Smart Content under Default->Shader Sets->Nail System Genesis 8 Female->zNail Designs - Apply to Top Coat->1. Colors.  Again, be sure you have one or more nails selected in the Surfaces tab or you won't see the shader choices in Smart content.
  • You can now select a Top Coat System nail design that will blend the underlying nail color with the top coat color.  The designs can be found in the Files tab of Smart Content under Default->Shader Sets->Nail System Genesis 8 Female->zNail Designs - Apply to Top Coat->2. Designs.  Again, be sure you have one or more nails selected in the Surfaces tab or you won't see the shader choices in Smart content.
  • You can easily change designs using your chosen colors by simply click on a different pattern.
  • You can easily change the underlying Nail System color, using the current Top Coat System design, by simply selecting the Nail System node in the Scene tab and selecting one or more nails in the Surfaces tab.  The nail design and top coat color will stay the same.
  • NOTE:  if you decide to change the Top Coat System nail color then you will have to reapply a Top Coat System nail design.
• There are two types of nail shaping - morphs and material masks.  The morphs work just fine and change the nail geometry to make them longer/shorter or curvy/straight.  Select the Nail System node in the Scene tab then choose the shape in the Files tab of Smart Content under Default->Shaping->Apply.  This will apply the morph to all the nails and you can quickly change between morphs without first having to remove the previous morph.
  • The material mask shapes, incorrectly typed as "Shape" when they are "Materials", allow you to further change the nail's shape through Cutout Opacity masking, creating shapes like claws etc.  The shapes are located on the Files tab of Smart Content under Defualt->Nail System Genesis 8 Female->1 - Nail Shapes.  The hints say to apply these masks to both the Nail System and Top Coat System and this works fine for the individual nail material masks but not for the "all" nail variants (i.e., "Nail System Shape - All Coffin").  The problem is the "all" shaping materials work fine for the Nail System but not the Top Coat System as the material does not change the Cutout Opacity mask (a bug?) when applied to the Top Coat System.  The end result is the underlying nail and geometry shell shapes become mismatched.  As the directions say, both systems must be masked the same.
  • The workaround is to NOT use the "all" material shape masks but instead hold the <CTRL> key and select both the Nail System and Top Coat System nodes in the Scene tab the then select all the nails in both systems in the Surfaces tab.  You can then apply any of the "Individual" material shapes and behold, both systems are correctly masked to the new shape.  You can now color your nails as you wish as those opacity masks will not be effected.

metalskin

Finally got color on the nails but spent several hours on this and can only get the left hand to change nail length???? so have a character with two different nail lengths...  frustrated AF!