Marvelous Designer 7 Released

I happened to be browsing DeviantArt and came across an artist (johnpf) who creates all the clothes he uses in his (Poser) art using Marvelous Designer. They look so much more natural than conforming clothing. So I have been looking at the MD website the past few days and notice that today they annonced MD7 and, if I'm not mistaken, a price cut. This would still be a huge outlay for me, being on a small, fixed income but I'm still tempted. Something like the price of a 1070 GPU which is what I have.

I know that several DAZ Studio artists use MD so I have a question. I'm not looking to sell any clothing but rather create the clothes to use in still images. I've tried VWD but it just didn't meet expectations - and it crashed a lot. I have read that MD can be used not only to make the clothing but to pose and drape too which is what really interests me. Looking at the images that JohnPF displays in his DeviantArt gallery, I'm guessing that's what he does - pose the figure, then drape the clothing in MD, then import back into Poser. Am I right in thinking this is possible and, if so, does it involve rigging the clothes in DAZ Studio or can that be skipped?

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Comments

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255

    I used it only briefly when they had a trial basis and it's absolutely amazing. Fast, it drapes amazingly well, and it allows you to create clothes in the same way that real life clothing designers and makers do. You cut the "fabric" in a pattern and the software automatically stitches it and shrinks it to fit naturally. It's amazing. But expensive. From my perspective it's a fairly revolutionary technology that blows the doors off most other cloth sims for making clothing. 

    On the other hand, it's unfortunate VWD isn't working for you. IMO, it's a fairly close second in terms of making basic clothing, though clearly not in the same class when it comes to high end complicated clothing. 

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,400

    ...sadly, no longer can upgrade from versions older than MD5 so I have to pay the full price for a Personal Perpetual Licence.  Bugger.

  • ebergerlyebergerly Posts: 3,255

    Wow, though the pricing isn't as bad as I thought...just looked and a perpetual is $490. Hmmmm....

    I just have trouble justifying getting something that honestly I probably won't use that often. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to feel like my DAZ Studio hobby interest is slowly dissipating....starting to feel like I'm getting drawn back to my C# software development hobby. We'll see. 
     

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    edited September 2017

    I did buy VWD and I had a lot of support from the Rendo forum and the developer but, for some unknown reason, I couldn't keep it from crashing constantly. This was even happening if I followed, step-by-step, what someone on the forum instucted me to do and which worked fine for them. I also have the paid version of the Optitex plugin but that is a nightmare to work with. Scaling dynamic cloth is also an issue.

    My biggest problem with anything I try to create in DAZ Studio is to get the clothing to look natural (then the hair) and conforming cloth just doesn't do it. I constantly compromise on poses in order to hide the glaring unreality of the cloth drape. So MD is very tempting - especially looking at the natural appearance of the clothes in those DeviantArt gallery images from JohnPF.

    Post edited by marble on
  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    ebergerly said:

    Wow, though the pricing isn't as bad as I thought...just looked and a perpetual is $490. Hmmmm....

    I just have trouble justifying getting something that honestly I probably won't use that often. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to feel like my DAZ Studio hobby interest is slowly dissipating....starting to feel like I'm getting drawn back to my C# software development hobby. We'll see. 
     

    Yeah, it is so hard to justify but then I've been tinkering with DAZ Studio as my creative outlet for more than 10 years so I guess I've had some mileage out of it. I've seen some talk of DAZ and MD doing a deal to replace Optitex in DAZ Studio so I wonder how that would work and what would the costs be for a plugin.

  • marble said:
    ebergerly said:

    Wow, though the pricing isn't as bad as I thought...just looked and a perpetual is $490. Hmmmm....

    I just have trouble justifying getting something that honestly I probably won't use that often. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to feel like my DAZ Studio hobby interest is slowly dissipating....starting to feel like I'm getting drawn back to my C# software development hobby. We'll see. 
     

    Yeah, it is so hard to justify but then I've been tinkering with DAZ Studio as my creative outlet for more than 10 years so I guess I've had some mileage out of it. I've seen some talk of DAZ and MD doing a deal to replace Optitex in DAZ Studio so I wonder how that would work and what would the costs be for a plugin.

    If Daz is able to cut a deal with CLO and replace the current janky system with MD-style dynamics using MD's engine? I would fork over whatever they ask for, even if it's $100+. I am dead serious. 

    MD is amazing when it comes to simulating cloth, IMHO. You can even simulate non-dynamic garments (though it takes a bit of work and it's not 100%) and it's just overall so worth the investment if you use it to make clothes or props, or use as proper cloth draping reference. I pretty much swear by it, tbh. 

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    edited September 2017
    Finlaena said:
    marble said:
    ebergerly said:

    Wow, though the pricing isn't as bad as I thought...just looked and a perpetual is $490. Hmmmm....

    I just have trouble justifying getting something that honestly I probably won't use that often. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to feel like my DAZ Studio hobby interest is slowly dissipating....starting to feel like I'm getting drawn back to my C# software development hobby. We'll see. 
     

    Yeah, it is so hard to justify but then I've been tinkering with DAZ Studio as my creative outlet for more than 10 years so I guess I've had some mileage out of it. I've seen some talk of DAZ and MD doing a deal to replace Optitex in DAZ Studio so I wonder how that would work and what would the costs be for a plugin.

    If Daz is able to cut a deal with CLO and replace the current janky system with MD-style dynamics using MD's engine? I would fork over whatever they ask for, even if it's $100+. I am dead serious. 

    MD is amazing when it comes to simulating cloth, IMHO. You can even simulate non-dynamic garments (though it takes a bit of work and it's not 100%) and it's just overall so worth the investment if you use it to make clothes or props, or use as proper cloth draping reference. I pretty much swear by it, tbh. 

    So, to go back to my OP question, do you need to go through the complicated rigging procedure in DAZ Studio every time you import from MD or can you just pose a figure, send her/him to MD, add and drape some clothing and return the posed and clothed figure to your DAZ Studio scene? That seems to me to be a better option than creating a conforming clothing item, rigged in DAZ Studio, and then posing it. To my mind, you are then back to the usual problems with conforming clothing.

    Or perhaps I'm making the pose/export/clothe/drape/import sound too simple. Perhaps it would take an hour for each pose which would certainly be a show stopper for me.

     

    Post edited by marble on
  • xmasrosexmasrose Posts: 1,408
    edited September 2017

    I am pretty new at MD but here what I do : create the clothe in MD on the T-pose or A-pose depending on the avatar I pick (let's say G8F) then pose G8F in DAZ Studio and export the animation (from A-pose to final pose, very fast and easy to do) to MD and run the simulation. Then export the garment in obj format to Daz Studio. Hope I am not confusing you. Like I said I am a beginner !

    A very simple exemple using this technique :

    17_Baby-Luna-small.png
    600 x 462 - 367K
    Post edited by xmasrose on
  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    edited September 2017

    I am pretty new at MD but here what I do : create the clothe in MD on the T-pose or A-pose depending on the avatar I pick (let's say G8F) then pose G8F in DAZ Studio and export the animation (from A-pose to final pose, very fast and easy to do) to MD and run the simulation. Then export the garment in obj format to Daz Studio. Hope I am not confusing you. Like I said I am a beginner !

    A very simple exemple using this technique :

    Thanks, I get the idea of using an animation from T- or A-pose to the desired final pose. I wasn't aware that you could export the animation to MD though. I guess you would have had to create the avatars first by exporting G8 (or G3) to MD.

    But, even though you say you are a beginner, I'm impressed by how natural the baby clothes look compared to something similar as a conforming item.

    Post edited by marble on
  • N-RArtsN-RArts Posts: 1,538

    Has MD always been Subscription-based, or is that a new thing?

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500

    Has MD always been Subscription-based, or is that a new thing?

    It has while I've been looking but I would probably go for the Perpetual License. I really dislike subscription schemes.

  • I am pretty new at MD but here what I do : create the clothe in MD on the T-pose or A-pose depending on the avatar I pick (let's say G8F) then pose G8F in DAZ Studio and export the animation (from A-pose to final pose, very fast and easy to do) to MD and run the simulation. Then export the garment in obj format to Daz Studio. Hope I am not confusing you. Like I said I am a beginner !

    A very simple exemple using this technique :

    I believe some people use this technique to generate morphs, or if they want to retopologise the MD mesh (which can be very untidy, though there are ways to neaten it up using - as I recall - internal lines to guide the process) they will take the retopologised mesh into MD and drape that (which loses some of the features of MD, but is workable) to generate morphs.

  • I love MD. I've been using it for a few years to make clothes that I give away on sharecg.com. The documentation admittedly sucks, but there are some really good tutorials (CGElves) and a book (Lori Griffins) that will definitely help speed things up. Lori also has a subscription platform for MD where you can get base patterns that you can then use for your own creations. She also has videos to show you how to put it all together. 

    I was a beta tester for MD 7, and it has a number of really cool new features. New zippers, draw patterns directly on avatars, collection of stabdard wardrobe pieces to make design faster, etc... Outside of DAZ, it's my favorite 3D software to use. 

    Jason

    PS. I am not directly affiliated with any of the people/products mentioned in this post. I'm just an avid user.

  • xmasrosexmasrose Posts: 1,408
    edited September 2017

    Thank you Marble.

    You are right you create first the avatar : just export G8F or else in obj format and you have an avatar.

    Post edited by xmasrose on
  • marble said:
    Finlaena said:
    marble said:
    ebergerly said:

    Wow, though the pricing isn't as bad as I thought...just looked and a perpetual is $490. Hmmmm....

    I just have trouble justifying getting something that honestly I probably won't use that often. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to feel like my DAZ Studio hobby interest is slowly dissipating....starting to feel like I'm getting drawn back to my C# software development hobby. We'll see. 
     

    Yeah, it is so hard to justify but then I've been tinkering with DAZ Studio as my creative outlet for more than 10 years so I guess I've had some mileage out of it. I've seen some talk of DAZ and MD doing a deal to replace Optitex in DAZ Studio so I wonder how that would work and what would the costs be for a plugin.

    If Daz is able to cut a deal with CLO and replace the current janky system with MD-style dynamics using MD's engine? I would fork over whatever they ask for, even if it's $100+. I am dead serious. 

    MD is amazing when it comes to simulating cloth, IMHO. You can even simulate non-dynamic garments (though it takes a bit of work and it's not 100%) and it's just overall so worth the investment if you use it to make clothes or props, or use as proper cloth draping reference. I pretty much swear by it, tbh. 

    So, to go back to my OP question, do you need to go through the complicated rigging procedure in DAZ Studio every time you import from MD or can you just pose a figure, send her/him to MD, add and drape some clothing and return the posed and clothed figure to your DAZ Studio scene? That seems to me to be a better option than creating a conforming clothing item, rigged in DAZ Studio, and then posing it.

    Yes you can do this. This is what I do. First, export your base character in the t- or a-pose. Import this into MD as an avatar and create your clothing around it. Save this. Then, pose your character in DS and export the posed character as an object. Load this into MD as a morph target. This will gradually move the figure and redrape clothing. Export clothing and import to DS. Bang. And because you've saved a project with the figure wearing the clothing in the base pose you can always go back to that to load a different pose as the target and get all kinds of mileage out of the same outfit.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    marble said:
    Finlaena said:
    marble said:
    ebergerly said:

    Wow, though the pricing isn't as bad as I thought...just looked and a perpetual is $490. Hmmmm....

    I just have trouble justifying getting something that honestly I probably won't use that often. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to feel like my DAZ Studio hobby interest is slowly dissipating....starting to feel like I'm getting drawn back to my C# software development hobby. We'll see. 
     

    Yeah, it is so hard to justify but then I've been tinkering with DAZ Studio as my creative outlet for more than 10 years so I guess I've had some mileage out of it. I've seen some talk of DAZ and MD doing a deal to replace Optitex in DAZ Studio so I wonder how that would work and what would the costs be for a plugin.

    If Daz is able to cut a deal with CLO and replace the current janky system with MD-style dynamics using MD's engine? I would fork over whatever they ask for, even if it's $100+. I am dead serious. 

    MD is amazing when it comes to simulating cloth, IMHO. You can even simulate non-dynamic garments (though it takes a bit of work and it's not 100%) and it's just overall so worth the investment if you use it to make clothes or props, or use as proper cloth draping reference. I pretty much swear by it, tbh. 

    So, to go back to my OP question, do you need to go through the complicated rigging procedure in DAZ Studio every time you import from MD or can you just pose a figure, send her/him to MD, add and drape some clothing and return the posed and clothed figure to your DAZ Studio scene? That seems to me to be a better option than creating a conforming clothing item, rigged in DAZ Studio, and then posing it.

    Yes you can do this. This is what I do. First, export your base character in the t- or a-pose. Import this into MD as an avatar and create your clothing around it. Save this. Then, pose your character in DS and export the posed character as an object. Load this into MD as a morph target. This will gradually move the figure and redrape clothing. Export clothing and import to DS. Bang. And because you've saved a project with the figure wearing the clothing in the base pose you can always go back to that to load a different pose as the target and get all kinds of mileage out of the same outfit.

    Thanks. Now it just became even more tempting, dammit! ;)

  • BlueIreneBlueIrene Posts: 1,318

    Give the trial a go, Marble. Find out if it's for you.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500

    Yep, I'll try that but I have an idea I might have downloaded a trial a couple of years back and let it lapse without doing anything. I have a new PC since then so I should be ok.

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,331

    I am pretty new at MD but here what I do : create the clothe in MD on the T-pose or A-pose depending on the avatar I pick (let's say G8F) then pose G8F in DAZ Studio and export the animation (from A-pose to final pose, very fast and easy to do) to MD and run the simulation. Then export the garment in obj format to Daz Studio. Hope I am not confusing you. Like I said I am a beginner !

    A very simple exemple using this technique :

    I believe some people use this technique to generate morphs, or if they want to retopologise the MD mesh (which can be very untidy, though there are ways to neaten it up using - as I recall - internal lines to guide the process) they will take the retopologised mesh into MD and drape that (which loses some of the features of MD, but is workable) to generate morphs.

    It's too bad the program doesn't natively support figures and their FBM's so folks could drape to the default shape, save that out and the morph to what ever other shapes, drape and save those out as follower morphs when the main figure is morphed to that shape.  Dream, I can dream can't I?  LOL

    On a more serious note I too am really really tempted.  Money is tight but a perpetual license seems doable if I live off of PB&J sandwiches for the next too months! lol

    Question, can one import their own OBJ's to drape in this program? 

    Save

  • RAMWolff said:

    I am pretty new at MD but here what I do : create the clothe in MD on the T-pose or A-pose depending on the avatar I pick (let's say G8F) then pose G8F in DAZ Studio and export the animation (from A-pose to final pose, very fast and easy to do) to MD and run the simulation. Then export the garment in obj format to Daz Studio. Hope I am not confusing you. Like I said I am a beginner !

    A very simple exemple using this technique :

    I believe some people use this technique to generate morphs, or if they want to retopologise the MD mesh (which can be very untidy, though there are ways to neaten it up using - as I recall - internal lines to guide the process) they will take the retopologised mesh into MD and drape that (which loses some of the features of MD, but is workable) to generate morphs.

    It's too bad the program doesn't natively support figures and their FBM's so folks could drape to the default shape, save that out and the morph to what ever other shapes, drape and save those out as follower morphs when the main figure is morphed to that shape.  Dream, I can dream can't I?  LOL

    On a more serious note I too am really really tempted.  Money is tight but a perpetual license seems doable if I live off of PB&J sandwiches for the next too months! lol

    Question, can one import their own OBJ's to drape in this program? 

    Save

    I believe you can, provided you import the OBJ as a garment instead of an Avatar or Prop. 

    As a side note, SickleYield has an amazing tutorial for how to sim garments from Daz in MD. It should be a good starting point for importing other OBJ clothing you make in other programs into MD, too.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    Finlaena said:
    RAMWolff said:

    I am pretty new at MD but here what I do : create the clothe in MD on the T-pose or A-pose depending on the avatar I pick (let's say G8F) then pose G8F in DAZ Studio and export the animation (from A-pose to final pose, very fast and easy to do) to MD and run the simulation. Then export the garment in obj format to Daz Studio. Hope I am not confusing you. Like I said I am a beginner !

    A very simple exemple using this technique :

    I believe some people use this technique to generate morphs, or if they want to retopologise the MD mesh (which can be very untidy, though there are ways to neaten it up using - as I recall - internal lines to guide the process) they will take the retopologised mesh into MD and drape that (which loses some of the features of MD, but is workable) to generate morphs.

    It's too bad the program doesn't natively support figures and their FBM's so folks could drape to the default shape, save that out and the morph to what ever other shapes, drape and save those out as follower morphs when the main figure is morphed to that shape.  Dream, I can dream can't I?  LOL

    On a more serious note I too am really really tempted.  Money is tight but a perpetual license seems doable if I live off of PB&J sandwiches for the next too months! lol

    Question, can one import their own OBJ's to drape in this program? 

    Save

    I believe you can, provided you import the OBJ as a garment instead of an Avatar or Prop. 

    As a side note, SickleYield has an amazing tutorial for how to sim garments from Daz in MD. It should be a good starting point for importing other OBJ clothing you make in other programs into MD, too.

    Oh - it just gets better. I did think about importing some of my stock of conforming clothing into MD but I figured that would be too much to hope for.

  • nono Posts: 43
    edited September 2017

    I've been looking at CGElves Mastering Marvelous Designer workshop - it's only $99 during September with the "Back2School" coupon. Has anyone gone through the workshop? I believe it was made with MD5, has a lot changed since then or will I be able to follow along pretty easily with MD7?

    Post edited by no on
  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    edited September 2017
    unizen said:

    I've been looking at CGElves Mastering Marvelous Designer workshop - it's only $99 during September with the "Back2School" coupon. Has anyone gone through the workshop? I believe it was made with MD5, has a lot changed since then or will I be able to follow along pretty easily with MD7?

    Unfortunately, "only" $99 is too much for me as scraping the funds together to buy MD in the first place is really stretching my resources. I hope to find some free tutorials somehow, somewhere.

    Post edited by marble on
  • marble said:
    unizen said:

    I've been looking at CGElves Mastering Marvelous Designer workshop - it's only $99 during September with the "Back2School" coupon. Has anyone gone through the workshop? I believe it was made with MD5, has a lot changed since then or will I be able to follow along pretty easily with MD7?

    Unfortunately, "only" $99 is too much for me as scraping the funds together to buy MD in the first place is really stretching my resources. I hope to find some free tutorials somehow, somewhere.

    All over the MD forums. You should have no problems. Also will be happy to help.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    marble said:
    unizen said:

    I've been looking at CGElves Mastering Marvelous Designer workshop - it's only $99 during September with the "Back2School" coupon. Has anyone gone through the workshop? I believe it was made with MD5, has a lot changed since then or will I be able to follow along pretty easily with MD7?

    Unfortunately, "only" $99 is too much for me as scraping the funds together to buy MD in the first place is really stretching my resources. I hope to find some free tutorials somehow, somewhere.

    All over the MD forums. You should have no problems. Also will be happy to help.

    Thank you. The temptation is getting stronger by the hour.

     

  • I've been messing with the new features and this is great! A really good update for the stitching details alone.

  • RuphussRuphuss Posts: 2,631

    theres a steam version announced to be released tomorrow

    but no price

  • RuphussRuphuss Posts: 2,631

    I love MD. I've been using it for a few years to make clothes that I give away on sharecg.com. The documentation admittedly sucks, but there are some really good tutorials (CGElves) and a book (Lori Griffins) that will definitely help speed things up. Lori also has a subscription platform for MD where you can get base patterns that you can then use for your own creations. She also has videos to show you how to put it all together. 

    I was a beta tester for MD 7, and it has a number of really cool new features. New zippers, draw patterns directly on avatars, collection of stabdard wardrobe pieces to make design faster, etc... Outside of DAZ, it's my favorite 3D software to use. 

    Jason

    PS. I am not directly affiliated with any of the people/products mentioned in this post. I'm just an avid user.

    may you share the link for sharecg account ?

  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,813

    Just found Jason cloth made in MD: https://www.sharecg.com/v/82049/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/JPolo

     

  • JamesJABJamesJAB Posts: 1,762

    When learning to use MD, I recommmend copying some retail DIY clothing patterns for practice creating clothing.  The process for creating clothing in MD is very simmilar to real cloths.  
    Here's a good example of clothing that can be created in Marvelous Designer. (The Boots are from the Patchwork Shoes series fo sale here, and the Belt buckle and chest insignia where made by me in Hexagon)
    Don't mind the textures as they are all just placeholders.

    Here's another example of marvelous designer clothing made by me.

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