LIE and Geometry Shells...

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

I'm putting this here because it's not actually a DazStudio question, but...

Is there any kind of equivalent in Poser for the LIE editor and-or geometry shells that we have access to in Daz Studio? I'm asking because if I can't find an equivalent, then the upcoming set of dirt/mud overlays (and some other special effects stuff I'm working on) will end up being DS-only, as they are likely going to rely on either the LIE editor or geometry shells so that they can be applied over any skin.

If anyone has any ideas, I'm wide open. I'm no good with python scripts - it's way, WAY over my head, so I can't go that route. I had considered modeling a sort of all-over body suit to use for the Poser version, but then I get into rigging which is also way over my head, and we get back to being stuck to just one figure for the overlays...

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

This is an example of what I mean - this is a dirt overlay on default Dusk with his default skin, using a geometry shell that I have the mesh offset assigned to a value of zero so that it hugs the skin properly...

 

[Lyne]

Well it SHOULD be available in poser... I used 'INKED' tattoos for Dawn in both poser 9 and 2014!! I don't understand how it works, but now that you explained, and I went to look at my inked options- they are indeed overlays- things that go 'on top' of skin! But it's an area I have not learned yet... hmmm.

 

[Lyne]

YES! I see it, but not sure how to hook it in...here is Dawn's wrist tattoo applied in piece I'm working on, showing how the IMAGE ON WHITE?! (with no trans map I can see) is INSERTED as an alternate diffuse, right into my Dawn SE! amazing!?

every other node connected to that tattoo image is the 'original' node for Dawn SE's arm! So maybe it is possible? I might try playing myself when I have time...that elusive element!

 

[Dawn]

Lyne, Are you applying that manually or is that tattoo a one click mc6 "does the business for you" type of thing leaving the original skin intact? The only way I can see it working is to use Semidieu advanced shader plugin that was available at RDNA, I believe lululee uses that for her corsets and such. The end result can be achieved using math nodes and masks but it's all manually done and a customer will not be willing to do all that if they purchased a product. When you save you cannot save without the skin and it wont load leaving the original skin intact.

Having said all this,my LIE pack relies on black and white masks for the majority and the colour is changed in the surface tab so you wouldn't even be able to add the colour shadows in the manual way in poser if you had the pack, you will get a black face with skin coloured eyelids/lips

edited to correct vendor who has plugin

 

[frogimus]

Not sure if this still works the same way as I don't use it much

PhilC Designs: Home | Tutorials | Texture & Materials | Second Skin

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

That does look promising as an idea, though. Thanks!

 

[Dawn]

It wont let you save without the skin, I have tried this before in the past on mats up to PP14, the only way is to do what lululee does with her corsets and use the advanced shader plugin what was at RDNA but you are reliant on someone having that and not sure where that will be available now.

I did what Frogimus put up on my Luna ballet leotard but used it also in the bump and spec as well as diffuse, but you have to save the skin with it, if you are redistributing the skin then all well and good, but if not and you want it to work on more than one skin type then I can only see the above plugin working.

Having said that P11 has layers, so it may work on that but I haven't even ventured down that road, also you are then limiting your customer database to a smaller percentage.

 

[phdubrov]

EzSkin3 for P11 and EzMat or EzSkin2 (don't remember) for P9-10. (Ask Snarlygribbly.) P11 has material layers, but I'm not shure it's possible to load layers without overwriting base.

 

[phdubrov]

SWP_ShanaC_Math0 should be Multiply here. But you need a script to insert such things and this way would not work with SuperFly.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Hmm. Alright. What I'm aiming to do with this is to try and do a set of overlays that can be used on whatever skin people want to use them on. Hence the term overlays.

In DS it's easily achieved through the use of either the LIE editor or geometry shells... so I was mainly hunting to see if there was a possible way to do it for the Poser folks, as otherwise this ends up being a DS-only package.

No, I'm not distributing a skin with it. These are intended as just special effect overlays.

P11 isn't an option for me, either, as I only have PP2010 and P10 myself.

 

[Dawn]

I can't remember that being in EZskin2, I must have missed that, I only ever used it for SSS mats.

I suppose you can do it with plugins, but you are then reliant on someone having that plugin or willing to download it, personally I steer clear of doing anything that relies on a plugin that is not officially connected to the programme, you never know when it will 'not' be available.

An alternative, is to have it available in PSD or better still PNG format like they do the makeups, so people can lay it over skins and make their own, but you may find people wanting to use it as MR.

 

[Alisa]

Hopefully I've not completely messed people up lol.

Since Seliah started this thread, I moved a few related posts from Lyne & Dawn, then moved the thread over to the Poser forum. I think this is something interesting to discuss even if you're not developing characters.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

It's okay, Alisa. Threw me for a loop at first, but makes sense now.

I'm just trying (reaching for straws, really) to find a way to accomplish these overlays in such a manner that Poser folks can make use of them. I don't like limiting things to one program or another unless I have no choice. At the moment, I'm just not sure there's an equivalent in Poser to the LIE editor or geometry shells that DS has, and those are what I've been using for the dirt and other special effect overlays I've been working on.

An alternative, is to have it available in PSD or better still PNG format like they do the makeups, so people can lay it over skins and make their own, but you may find people wanting to use it as MR.

Yeah, this definitely wouldn't qualify as an MR source. And that's the reason I did not want to distribute in PSD or PNG format. Also, I was aiming to have the overlays basically be able to be clicked-in on the scene so that folks didn't have to fool around with adding the effects to their skin texture and all of that.

 

[3WC]

I asked this same question and got pointed to a thread at RDNA. You basically have to use a blender node in Poser. I will find the link and post it.

EDIT: Here it is:
Layered image preset in Poser 9?

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

I asked this same question and got pointed to a thread at RDNA. You basically have to use a blender node in Poser. I will find the link and post it.

From what I understand, though, using the blender node requires having a skin attached - which I don't want. I was trying to find a way that people could just use the overlays on whatever skin they wanted, without having to manually edit their skin textures to do it...

 

[Gadget Girl]

So I checked, because I knew I had just seen something about how to do this in one of the scripts I own, and yes, it's Shaderwork's Advanced Shaders. I'm not sure what the best way to do what you are talking about is, but it does have several features for creating things like tattoos, but it can also create other things that can be overlayed on other shaders. Because a lot of the freebies from RDNA have been disappearing, I'm not sure if you can still get it, but theoretical this is the link.

 

[3WC]

From what I understand, though, using the blender node requires having a skin attached - which I don't want. I was trying to find a way that people could just use the overlays on whatever skin they wanted, without having to manually edit their skin textures to do it...

I think you just have to have an alpha map, and the overlay can be added to any skin you want.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Yep, it's still up and available. Grabbed it and will take a look at it. Depending on how it works, it might do the job... thanks.

I think you just have to have an alpha map, and the overlay can be added to any skin you want.

That's another thing I'm still looking at, yes. I'll test out both methods later on. Hopefully one of them works. *crosses fingers*

 

[3WC]

That's another thing I'm still looking at, yes. I'll test out both methods later on. Hopefully one of them works. *crosses fingers*

Check out that RDNA link, too, I edited my previous post to include it, didn't know if you noticed.