To start off this tutorial, I recommend and assume you’ll be starting with an empty scene. Now, within Daz Studio, load the Genesis 3 Figure into the empty scene.

Daz Studio to ZBrush via GoZ

If you are having issues with GoZ or prefer to export and import as an .obj, please see my other tutorial: Creating Morphs For Daz Studio Figures – Exporting as .obj.

1. Configure exported deformations



With the Genesis 3 figure loaded in the scene and selected, open your Parameters tab, click the Currently Used selection bar, and set both the Mouth Realism HD and Navel Morphs to 0.

This step isn’t necessary if you uncheck “Export with deformations” within the GoZ Export Settings (see below).

2. Send to ZBrush

Go to File > Send to ZBrush… or click the GoZ button on the UI (it’s location may vary depending on how your UI is configured).

3. GoZ Export Options

1. Make sure export at current resolution is unchecked (if you export at a higher resolution, you will not be able to import the morph back in, unless you’re a Daz PA).
2. Export with or without deformations? Read Below:
*Important*
If you plan on selling or redistributing the morphs you create in anyway (whether for free, or for profit) you must reverse out any morphs you have dialed in when you export out the figure (I’ll explain how in the ZBrush to Daz Studio section of this tutorial), except for certain merchant resources. Check their individual license agreements (please note, most merchant resources don’t allow redistribution for free, only for profit).

If you’re planning on using them only for personal projects, you can export any combination of morphs you would like and use as a starting point for your sculpting. Just remember, you won’t be able to sell them or give them away!

Once you decide whether or not to export out Genesis 3 with deformations, click Accept.

Once ZBrush loads Genesis 3 will be loaded as the selected tool. Click and drag on the canvas to draw out the model (if ZBrush was already opened before using GoZ, the model may already be drawn out on the canvas).

Preparing the Figure for Sculpting

1. Draw out Genesis 3 on the canvas, if you haven’t already.

If you need help importing Genesis 3, refer to:

• Creating Morphs for Daz 3D Figures: GoZ to ZBrush

or

• Creating Characters and Morphs for Daz 3D Figures: Export .obj to any Modeling App
2. Make sure you’re in Edit mode (hotkey T).

Preparing to Create Body Morphs

Fortunately, sculpting on the body doesn’t really require any pre-setup. I just want to point out the fingernails and toenails are separate meshes, that way you’re aware and can use the masking techniques described below to assist you when working on the hands and feet, if necessary.

Preparing to Create Head Morphs

Masking Certain Features

I like to be able to easily mask off certain features of the face to avoid distorting those that I didn’t intend on; mainly the eyes and sometimes the teeth. Since eyes are typically always at least mostly round, I like to mask them off while I do most my sculpting on the face and then deal with them when I’m basically done.

Depending on how much you plan on changing the jaw and mouth, you may also want to mask off the teeth and deal with them at the end as well. Sometimes they’ll move appropriately with the jaw when left unmasked.

Here’s my method for masking them off

1. Turn on Draw Polyframe

   I find it easier to have visual feedback as I go through the steps, so I like to turn on Polyframe (hotkey Shift+F).

2. Group similar features

1. On the tool palette, Expand the Polygroups Palette.
2. Click Auto Groups to group individual features of the mesh into separate groups.
3. Click Merge Similar Groups. This will merge symmetrical features into one group, grouping the eyes together, the top lashes together, the bottom lashes together, etc.

1. CTRL+Shift+Click any part of the main body’s mesh to hide everything except the body.
2. CTRL+Shift+Click+ drag on the background to invert the visibility.
3. CTRL+Shift+Click+ drag and draw out a box around the teeth. This will set the teeth as the only visible objects.

Sometimes some of the teeth will get grouped with the eye lashes, so we’ll manually group them together to be on the safe side.

4. Click Group Visible. This will group all the teeth together as a separate group.
5. CTRL+Shift+Click the canvas to unhide everything.
6. CTRL+Shift+Click any part of the main body mesh to hide everything except the body again.
7. CTRL+Shift+Click+ drag on the background to invert the visibility again.
8. CTRL+Shift+Click everything you want to leave unmasked (it will toggle visibility by group, meaning both upper lashes will be hidden when you click on one of them). I usually click the upper lashes, lower lashes and the lower lash line.

If you want to mask off the teeth as well as the eyes, leave them visible at this point, otherwise click on one of them.

9. CTRL+Click the canvas to invert the mask. This will mask off everything that is visible, even though nothing was masked prior to this step.
10. CTRL+Shift+Click the canvas once again to unhide everything.

At this point you should have something that looks like this (your polygroups may be different colors).

Congratulations, you now have your masking set up! You can turn off Draw Polyframe now if you want.

Pro Tip, Use Layers!

Now before you start sculpting away, I highly recommend using layers!

1. First create a Base Layer and name it.

Don’t record any sculpting on this layer, save it as is just in case you ever need it.

1. Expand the Layers Pallette.
2. Click the New Layer button.
3. Click the Name Button and type in Base

1. With the Layers Pallette still expanded.
2. Click the New Layer button.
3. Click the Name Button and type in Nose 01 (or whatever you want).
4. Make sure Record is on.

Now that you’re done creating your magnificent morph(s), it’s time to make them available inside Daz Studio!

ZBrush to Daz Studio via GoZ

1. Click the GoZ button located on the tool Palette

1. When the GoZ Import Options dialog pops up, toggle “Update an existing object.”
2. Make sure the proper figure is selected in the drop-down menu (probably Genesis 3).
3. Click accept.

1. Make sure “Update Geometry” is checked.
2. “Create Morph” is toggled.
3. Give your morph a name.
4. Set the group path.

The Group Path determines where the morph will be found within the Genesis Figure’s Parameters hierarchy; it can also be set and/or changed later.

I usually leave it set to “ZBrush” to make my morphs easy to find, and then change it once I’m happy with them (I explain how in this post).

5. Overwrite Existing Morph?
• Leave unchecked – If this is your first time sending the morph to Daz Studio, or you want to create a new, separate morph.
• Check the box – If you want to update a morph you already sent to Daz Studio.

Make sure the name is the same as the morph you want to update.

I explained what this means and why it may be necessary in this post: “Creating Characters and Morphs for Daz 3D Figures: Daz Studio to ZBrush with GoZ”

Make sure inside Daz Studio that all the morphs you need to reverse out are dialed in at the same values you exported them out at (this will need to be done before using GoZ from ZBrush.

1. Click Advanced
2. Expand the ZBrush Morph parameters by double clicking or clicking the arrow to the left.
3. Right click on the value field next to “Reverse Deformations” and select “Yes.”

Your morph should now be loaded into Daz Studio. Find it in the parameters tab, under the Property Group you specified.

Configuring Morph Properties

Once your morph is loaded into Daz Studio, you may want to configure its properties, change where in the parameters hierarchy it is located, etc. This is how:

1. Locate Your Morph

Your more will appear in the Genesis 3 hierarchy tree where ever you told it to in the previous steps (by setting the Property Group value).

1. Select the Genesis 3 Figure.
2. Expand the Parameters Tab.
3. Navigate to the appropriate Property Group.

For my example, I set the Property Group to “ZBrush” and the name of the morph to “Liz Head 2.0.”

• Name: This is what the file name will be called when the morph is saved (typically, full head morphs start with FHM, full body morphs start with FBM, and partial body morphs start with PBM).
• Label: This is the name of the morph that will be shown inside Daz Studio’s parameters pane.
• Path: This is where you set where in the Parameters hierarchy your morph will be found.
• Type: This is a field that Daz Studio uses for certain organizational processes and can be ignored by the average user. Modifier/Shape is fine for most scenarios. PAs will sometimes change the type for Joint Corrective morphs, etc.
• Color A, Color B, and Card: These are all relatively self-explanatory through a little experimentation. Use them to change the presentation of your morph.
• Icon: To be honest, I’m not sure what this changes, but it’s commonly left at the default of None.
• Most of the other settings are pretty much self-explanatory.

A lot of times for FHMs and FBMs you’ll want to set the Min value to 0.

• Auto-Follow is best left checked, I can’t think of a scenario where you would want to uncheck it, off the top of my head. It basically tells figure assets, like clothing and hair to follow the morph, so they’ll in most cases fit better.
• The bottom three tabs: Sub-Components, Controllers, and Keys are advanced settings and usually only messed with during content creation beyond what the average user will usually require for most of their figure customization.

Now that you have your morph all set up in Daz Studio, you need to save it if you want it to be there next time you fire up Daz Studio.

1. Make sure the morph is at 0

This will ensure that it won’t be dialed in every time you load in Genesis 3.

2. Save the Morph Asset

Go to File > Save As > Support Asset > Morph Asset(s).

3. Select the Morph(s) to be Saved



Following the same hierarchy you set in the previous steps select the morph(s) you created and want to save. It is VERY important you select your morph(s) and only your morph(s). Or, you may accidently overwrite some other morphs and have to re-install a bunch of products to fix the damage (it has happened to a lot of people, including Daz PAs).

4. Set the Asset Directory

I like to save all my creations in a separate Daz Studio Library than the one I install all my content into using DIM (if you haven’t already, you may have to add the Library using the Content Directory Manager within Daz Studio’s preferences). I feel it’s a little bit safer and helpful with content creation.

5. Vendor Name & Product Name

These two fields will determine the folder structure that Daz Studio will use when saving your morph. The folder hierarchy will end up like this when saving a G3F morph:

Your Selected Daz Studio Library\data\DAZ 3D\Genesis 3\Female\Morphs\Vendor Name\Product Name\Name of the Morph.dsf

6. Click Accept, once you have everything configured the way you want.

Congratulations! You have now officially created your own custom morhp(s) that will still be there next time you open Daz Studio!

Using the steps outlined in this Learning Path, you can create morphs for clothing, hair and props too!