Marvelous Designer and Posed figures
marble
Posts: 7,500
I bought MD8 before Christmas but have been away since and have not had a chance to play with it yet. Now that I'm back, I have a simple question for MD users here: do you drape your garment on a posed avatar in MD or import the garment as an object into DAZ Studio and drape it using dForce?
I had a chat with a Poser user at DevArt and he confirmed that he exports a posed figure from Poser and drapes in MD, exporting both as objects back to Poser. Perhaps that makes sense for Poser but does DAZ Studio have an advantage by having dForce? I seem to remember reading that MD garments tend to explode when dForce is used so perhaps not. All of which is, of course, why I'm asking.
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Normally, I export the model in a A pose as OBJ to MD. Make the clothes, then Import MDD animation from A pose to whatever pose I may need and simulate in MD. Unfortunately if I remember correctly, the MDD export isn't free, but in animate pro bundle. It gives me the best results I have found though, after about a month of experimenting. I haven't had a lot of luck with dforce, outside of simple standing type poses. If I need anything more complicated like that, I would rather use MD to handle it.
I have Animate Pro so that's a good tip, thanks.
As for dForce, I've had more success with clothes designed for dForce than anything else. Lots of explosions with other items which can become very frustrating after reading so many forum entries trying to suggest ways of avoiding those explosions - but failing to do so. I know to avoid buttons, belts and laces but I still get a screen full of polygons.
I drape in MD and export to Studio, which for me is much faster and less frustrating than attaining dForce compliance. I’m far from an MD expert, but I do have a method that works for me. Creating folders to keep the multiple steps organized is key. FWIW, this is my MD to DAZ Studio workflow:
Create folder “ObjFiles” with subfolders “Bases” (for A or T posed figures), “Clothes”, “Poses”, “Props”; create folder “DufFiles” with subfolders “Bases”, “Poses”; create folder “MDfiles” for .Zprj projects.
Load figure in Studio and change resolution to base, remove eyelashes (G8). Save as .duf file in DufFiles Bases.
Export A posed figure as .obj file. Save in ObjFiles Bases.
Pose the figure in Studio, taking care to avoid extreme bending and hands too close to the body. If you use a preset, you’ll want to make sure that the figure stays at 0,0,0. Save as .duf file in DufFiles Poses.
Export posed figure as .obj file. Save in ObjFiles Poses.
Open MD. Click “File” “Import” “OBJ”. Navigate to ObjFiles/Bases folder and open your saved .obj file. Choose Load Type “Open”, Object Type “Load as Avatar”, if it isn’t already, check the box for “Automatically Add Arrangement Points”, Scale “cm (DAZ Studio)” click ok.
Create garment and save as .Zprj project in MDfiles folder. You may also want to save as a garment to use with other figures. Once garment is draped to your satisfaction on the A Pose avatar, Import the .obj pose into MD. Choose Load Type “Open”, Object Type “Load as Morph Target”, Scale “cm (DAZ Studio)” click ok.
Your avatar will assume the new pose. Once garment is draped to your satisfaction again (there will be tugging!), choose Export, “OBJ”, navigate to ObjFiles/Clothes and click “Save”. Under Object, click the “Select All Patterns” box (uncheck “Select All Avatars”), choose “Single Object”, choose “Weld” and “Thin”, check “Unified UV Coordinates” and “Unified Texture” (these are important even if you don’t plan to use MD textures, because they allow you to select the individual pattern piece surfaces in Studio). Scale “cm (DAZ Studio)”, click OK.
In Studio, open the corresponding .duf file in DufFiles Poses. Import the saved clothing .obj. Please note that all this saving of different file versions is because the .obj garment won’t be autofitted when you import it into Studio. It will, however, import directly onto the saved figure in the DufFiles Poses. If you need to move the figure away from 0,0,0, be sure to parent the garment to the figure.
Note: the “Props” folder is for props such as chairs/beds exported as .obj from DAZ Studio and then imported into MD (“Import (Add)” “OBJ”) for draping.
Hope this was helpful.
Yes indeed ... I hope to try your routine later so I'll probably be back to ask a question or two. Many, many thanks for taking the time to outline your methods.
Sorry - distracted with other things again. Just want to check the Export settings from DAZ Studio, etc. with anyone who does this regularly. Here's mine ...
Here is what I used last time (made a jacket for G8F ) for DS 4.10 and the ones for MD7. I didn't update (yet?).
That way my avatar has no texture of course.
I never do understand the DAZ Studio export settings so it is usually trial and error until something looks like it works. I had a similar problem with Blender and there seem to be differences in preferences depending upon who you ask.
Me neither.
All I can say is these settings work. Are they the best? I don't know.
Here's mine, also can't say what settings work best. :)
I think my settings export the figure complete with skin textures. At least, when I played with other settings I was getting a white avatar in MD8 - which is OK but I wanted to see if I could get the figure complete with texture.
I've also notced that trying to import a morphed figure which has geografts will not work unless the original avatar has the same geografts. IOW the polygon count has to be identical.