Deformers (For a dummy)

jdavison67

OK, sorry if this is an old exhausted topic.

How do these frigging things work???

1. I create the deform tab 

2. Bring in my model and object which needs the deformation.

3. I change what the deform influences.

4. I apply the changes to the deform and copy these settings to the base.

5. I click on the node I want to spawn my deform on

6.  I click spawn and name my new deformer...and

where is it?  I can't find it anywhere...it is in some alternate universe...why God why! 

:) (feeling dramatic this AM)

Any ideas? 

Thanks in advance!

FSMCDesigns

Not sure what you are doing or trying to do. I use deformers for small areas where the mesh needs to be deformed. For instance in this image I needed to create a bulge in the jeans. When you create a deformer you have 3 parts, the base, the field and the actual deformer. The field is what you move and/or scale so that it covered the specirfied area you want to deform. Then you move the actual deformer to see the results.

kaotkbliss

Note that

#1 you have the item selected, then create a dformer

#2 the dformer always assumes the item is unposed so if you want to dform a shirt and your character is bending over, the dform circle will actually be above the character, not covering the shirt. (This can get real tricky with weird or laying poses)

#3 when you have the dform field selected, the verticies of the mesh will light up that are effected so if you don't see any light up, then you need to move the field around until you find where it starts effecting the item (see #2 above)

#4 once you have your area selected you want to adjust, expand the dform in the scene tab until you find the dform handle, then select that and rotate, scale and translate to have the mesh dformed.

#5 from there, I usually just render as my dforms are pretty much a 1-shot thing, but you can convert it to a morph to re-use later

jdavison67

OK so maybe this will help explain my issue:

1. I create the deform tab (so it appears in the GUI)

2. I Bring in my model, say a V4 in default pose, and object which needs the deformation, say a skirt that doesn't fit in the rear.

3. I change what the deform influences, meaning I play with the field to have the red dots close to the area I want to influence, and scale the field to ignor things I do not want altered.

4. I apply the changes to the deform and copy these settings to the base ( I was told I had to do this...not sure why).

5. I click on the item I want to spawn my deform on, in this case my skirt, checking the three check boxes...

6.  I click spawn and name my new deformer...and...when I look on the parameters tab there is no slider....no new morph with my new name

JD

kaotkbliss

I'm trying to think (but cannot at the moment) and I'll look as soon as I can since I am away from my home pc, but I want to say that the dformer morph is located in an odd spot (like in the parameters tab under actor or something like that or under the shaping tab...)

SimonJM

Just tried it and despite naming it, ir went under the Dforms entry as Dform.

Applied a 'big bum' to V4 so got pokethorugh on the Medusa skirt, added a Dformer to skirt, sized and adjusted the field, then applied the Dformer and clicked 'Spawn Morph ...'

 

jdavison67

SimonJM said:

Just tried it and despite naming it, ir went under the Dforms entry as Dform.

Applied a 'big bum' to V4 so got pokethorugh on the Medusa skirt, added a Dformer to skirt, sized and adjusted the field, then applied the Dformer and clicked 'Spawn Morph ...'

 

Intersting....maybe I just couldn't find this due to the default name....

I'll try this when I get home...still odd about the name...

Thanks!

JD

Richard Haseltine

You need to move the base only if you are going to rotate or scale the DForm as the base sets the centre of rotation or scaling. Its orientation can be changed to adjust in which direction the DForm works, which may be useful. Scaling the base has no functional effect but can be useful to enable you to see what you are doing. I can't think of any reason to apply the transforms from the DForm to the base, and in some cases reasons not to.

CypherFOX

Greetings,

kaotkbliss said:

#2 the dformer always assumes the item is unposed so if you want to dform a shirt and your character is bending over, the dform circle will actually be above the character, not covering the shirt. (This can get real tricky with weird or laying poses)

OMG; THIS!​

Thank you, I've NEVER understood why dformer axis seemed randomly selected, sometimes moving the field 'up' would move it 'over' instead, etc., but this answers that!

It sucks, mind you, because I almost never care about dforming in unposed form, but it helps me understand wtf is going on!

Thanks for that nugget of information!

--  Morgan

 

timetwist

CypherFOX said:

Greetings,

kaotkbliss said:

#2 the dformer always assumes the item is unposed so if you want to dform a shirt and your character is bending over, the dform circle will actually be above the character, not covering the shirt. (This can get real tricky with weird or laying poses)

OMG; THIS!​

Thank you, I've NEVER understood why dformer axis seemed randomly selected, sometimes moving the field 'up' would move it 'over' instead, etc., but this answers that!

It sucks, mind you, because I almost never care about dforming in unposed form, but it helps me understand wtf is going on!

Thanks for that nugget of information!

--  Morgan

I'm another one that was totally baffled by this behavior.  Most of the time, I can wrangle the deformers without much trouble.  They seemed off occassionally, but I could work through it.

Then one day recently I spent hours trying to make adjustments on a reclined figure that was partly twisted away from the camera and was pulling my hair out and the unpredicatble movement. I suspected the program was bugged.  I'd work on it for a bit, then save and restart Daz.  I even went so far as to reboot my system.

Atleast now I know why it was occurring.

kaotkbliss

LOL the only explination I can come up with is a limitation in the programming. Maybe it was to buggy to use when they tried to program it to interpret bends and rotations and such.

jdavison67

I still finddeformers a bit limited.
I wish we had the ability to deform with a primitive,  or the ability to assign something as the deform object, like a characters body...

 

JD

sriesch

jdavison67 said:

I wish we had the ability to deform with a primitive,  or the ability to assign something as the deform object, like a characters body...

Research collision with a primitive.  I can't remember how anymore, but have this thread bookmarked to go back and look at again later: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/19005/square-shaped-d-form ;