In this video I show how to quickly and easily rig custom sculpted characters using Daz Studio’s Adjust Rigging to shape tool. You can also use this technique to adjust rigging for morphs as well.
Skill Level: Intermediate/Advanced
In this video I show how to quickly and easily rig custom sculpted characters using Daz Studio’s Adjust Rigging to shape tool. You can also use this technique to adjust rigging for morphs as well.
October 23, 2017 2 comments
My first webinar, Daz Studio: Mastering the Fundamentals of Iray Lighting and Rendering was just released recently!
I’m extra excited about it’s release because it’s my first ever webinar! Plus, I snuck in a few treasures I discovered recently like render canvases and how to improve viewport performance with the NVIDIA Iray drawstyle by setting it up so it doesn’t have to reload the textures every time you make an adjustment!
So, if you weren’t able to join the live session you can now purchase the recorded version!
For more information and to see what all I cover check out the product description in my store.
Thanks for checking it out!
March 31, 2017 42 comments
The first 3 parts of this learning path are specific to ZBrush. I go over how to use GoZ to handle transferring meshes back and forth between Daz Studio and Zbrush. And, a few tips to hopefully make your sculpting experience easier and more productive.
I also have step by step tutorials on how to export meshes out of Daz Studio as an .obj so you can create morphs in your modeling application of choice, and then how to import the meshes back into Daz Studio with Morph Loader Pro to create morphs out of them.
I would like to point out, you can also use these same techniques to create custom morphs for clothing, hair, and props!
I put a lot of effort into trying to make this tutorial comprehensive, yet concise, with the goal of creating a solid tutorial that’s easy to follow. If you notice anything that doesn’t make sense, is unclear, any typos, or have any suggestions, I would truly appreciate it if you let me know! E-mail me at Landon@LayLo3D.com.
Thanks, and lets get started!
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.
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.
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).
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).
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).
If you need help importing Genesis 3, refer to:
or
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.
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.
I find it easier to have visual feedback as I go through the steps, so I like to turn on Polyframe (hotkey Shift+F).
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.
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.
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.
Now before you start sculpting away, I highly recommend using layers!
Some people like to create all their layers before they even start sculpting, then select them as they go when they plan on sculpting on each feature. The point is to figure out a system that works well for you.
Don’t record any sculpting on this layer, save it as is just in case you ever need it.
This may come in handy as you’re fine tuning your sculpts.
Since you’re working off the base mesh inside ZBrush, you’ll probably want to know what your morphs will actually look like once they’re loaded into Daz Studio and subdivided. You can always send the mesh back and forth between ZBrush and Daz Studio to check your progress (which I recommend doing every now and then anyway, to check your progress by seeing what it looks like rendered), but there’s another way. You can also use Dynamic Subdiv to see what the mesh will look like when subdivided without actually subdividing the mesh, that way you get to see the results, but will still be able to send it back to Daz Studio as a morph!
You can also leave it on as you sculpt!
Now that you’re done creating your magnificent morph(s), it’s time to make them available inside Daz Studio!
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).
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.
Your morph should now be loaded into Daz Studio. Find it in the parameters tab, under the Property Group you specified.
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:
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).
For my example, I set the Property Group to “ZBrush” and the name of the morph to “Liz Head 2.0.”
A lot of times for FHMs and FBMs you’ll want to set the Min value to 0.
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.
This will ensure that it won’t be dialed in every time you load in Genesis 3.
Go to File > Save As > Support Asset > Morph Asset(s).
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).
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.
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
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!
In this video I show how to remove vertices from a morphs influence. This can be useful if you want to break a morph in separate individual morphs by body part, accidentally tweak a part of an object you didn’t mean to, or to break a full body morph into separate head and body morphs.
In this video I show how to quickly and easily rig custom sculpted characters using Daz Studio’s Adjust Rigging to shape tool. You can also use this technique to adjust rigging for morphs as well.
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.
This will ensure that it won’t be dialed in every time you load in Genesis 3.
Go to File > Save As > Support Asset > Morph Asset(s).
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).
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.
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
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!
March 29, 2017 4 comments
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.
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.
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).
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).
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).
March 29, 2017 Leave a comment
Go to Edit > Figure > Morph Loader Pro or click the click the icon on the UI.
Select the appropriate scale depending on which modeling application you used to create the morphs (1 unit = 1 cm for ZBrush).
Click the Choose Morph Files… button and select the morph .obj file you just exported.
Double click the name text field on the value side of the properties if you want it to be different then the .obj file name.
If desired by double clicking the text field on the value side of the properties.
The Property Group value determines where the morph will be found within the Genesis Figure’s Parameters hierarchy; it can also be set and/or changed later. At this point I usually leave it at its default of “Morphs/Morph Loader” which makes it easy to find and then I just change it later (I explain how in Part 4).
If this is your first time sending the morph to Daz Studio, or you want to create a new, separate morph.
If you want to update a morph you already sent to Daz Studio.
If you need to reverse deformations out.
I explained in Part 1 why this may be necessary.
Your morph should now be loaded into Daz Studio.
Find it in the Property Group you specified.
March 29, 2017 7 comments
By double clicking the name or clicking the arrow to the left of it.
if you export at a higher resolution, you will not be able to import the morph back in, unless you’re a Daz PA.
If you see any other morphs dialed in under the Currently Used section, set them to 0 as well, or you will need to reverse them out later (I explain how in Part 3 of this Learning Path).
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!
Now that the Resolution Level has been set to “Base” and you configured your morphs, you’re ready to export.
I like to create a dedicated project folder for each of my projects and keep all related filed organized within that folder.
Make sure to use the correct scale.
The settings to the right are what I typically use for creating morphs (you may need to change the scale depending on the modeling application you plan on using, 1 unit = 1 cm for ZBrush or 100%).
March 29, 2017 Leave a comment
Now that you’re done creating your magnificent morph(s), it’s time to make them available inside Daz Studio!
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).
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.
Your morph should now be loaded into Daz Studio. Find it in the parameters tab, under the Property Group you specified.
March 29, 2017 8 comments
If you need help importing Genesis 3, refer to:
or
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.
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.
I find it easier to have visual feedback as I go through the steps, so I like to turn on Polyframe (hotkey Shift+F).
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.
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.
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.
Now before you start sculpting away, I highly recommend using layers!
Some people like to create all their layers before they even start sculpting, then select them as they go when they plan on sculpting on each feature. The point is to figure out a system that works well for you.
Don’t record any sculpting on this layer, save it as is just in case you ever need it.
This may come in handy as you’re fine tuning your sculpts.
Since you’re working off the base mesh inside ZBrush, you’ll probably want to know what your morphs will actually look like once they’re loaded into Daz Studio and subdivided. You can always send the mesh back and forth between ZBrush and Daz Studio to check your progress (which I recommend doing every now and then anyway, to check your progress by seeing what it looks like rendered), but there’s another way. You can also use Dynamic Subdiv to see what the mesh will look like when subdivided without actually subdividing the mesh, that way you get to see the results, but will still be able to send it back to Daz Studio as a morph!
You can also leave it on as you sculpt!
March 29, 2017 4 comments
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:
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).
For my example, I set the Property Group to “ZBrush” and the name of the morph to “Liz Head 2.0.”
A lot of times for FHMs and FBMs you’ll want to set the Min value to 0.