Reinstalling DS, converting things to Dawn and Diva and my experiments along the way

[Pendraia]

So true Ram... and it seems to take forever.

 

[Pendraia]

Just realised I lost my Esha content creation webinar files from Digital art live. So I've emailed them to see if I can redownload. Really disappointed to have lost them when the drive went...still playing with weight maps and it's driving me crazy. Which is why I went to look for them. There is a lot to be said for buying thru a store that keeps the downloads available.

 

[Miss B]

There is a lot to be said for buying thru a store that keeps the downloads available.

I agree wholeheartedly. I hope you hear back that they're available.

 

[Pendraia]

Me too...does anyone know of any tutorials on DS weightmapping that specifically talk about where different axis intersect?

 

[DanaTA]

Just realised I lost my Esha content creation webinar files from Digital art live. So I've emailed them to see if I can redownload. Really disappointed to have lost them when the drive went...still playing with weight maps and it's driving me crazy. Which is why I went to look for them. There is a lot to be said for buying thru a store that keeps the downloads available.

I do that on my site. Always have.

Dana

 

[RAMWolff]

Digital Art Live? If you have a logon hon you should be able to redownload them from your account. If not they are usually good about getting back in touch!

 

[Pendraia]

I'm not sure if I ever logged in on a Web site for them. Everything was done via email and links to the chat.

 

[Pendraia]

Still very much a work in progress. It's very low poly at this stage and I want to add some length to it.

I needed a break from the dress I was weightmapping.

 

[Pendraia]

Still playing around. dforce only at the moment, no real weightmapping on the cloak. Couldn't focus on the weightmapping of the dress in DS as I didn't sleep well last night so my brain isn't working. My first attempt at a cloak. Basically a plane in zbrush with a hole cut into it and the front edges clipped. Dress is getting closer to what's in my head but the sleeves and collar still need some work. Third remesh attempt with zremesher but still not totally happy with it. Colour and a base iray shader applied.

 

[Miss B]

That's looking good Pen. I like the way the cloak flows over her shoulders and down her back.

 

[Pendraia]

Thanks Miss B, it's my first attempt at a cloak. I've been playing with getting the weightmapping so it doesn't scrunch up when applying the poses. It's fine when it's simulated but looks horrible when it's conformed. No template for a cloak so I'm having to play with it.

 

[Pendraia]

Just posted this in Dawn's render thread. I like the cloak with fur shaders.

 

[Pendraia]

Strand based hair and a glitter shader. Plaits need to be moved forward on the last image.

 

[Miss B]

I've been playing with getting the weightmapping so it doesn't scrunch up when applying the poses. It's fine when it's simulated but looks horrible when it's conformed. No template for a cloak so I'm having to play with it.

I'm not surprised about it not working if conformed. I see something like that, and I immediately consider it dynamic, which needs simulation to get it to fit/flow right.

 

[Pendraia]

In DS dynamic clothing has bones also. So it needs to look okay not a bundled up mess when you apply a pose. It still works when simulated but it looks very messy. So it needs at least a basic weight map. I'll post an image later so you can see what I mean.

 

[Pendraia]

Here are the images. In order
1. Unsimulated and unposed
2. Posed but not simulated
3. Simulated and posed side
4. simulated and posed back

 

[Miss B]

OK, it's now obvious to me that dynamics works differently in DS than it does in Poser.

I don't recall ever seeing a freshly loaded up cape standing out in the back like that in PS. We don't "pose" the cape, only the character that's going to be wearing it.

For instance, I would load up the character, and the cape, in T-Pose in frame 1, and then pose the character in the final frame, in this case about 30 to 35 frames would be necessary. Then I set up the cape to be simulated while I'm in the last frame, and when I run the simulation, the character, and the cape, go from T-Pose in frame 1 to the final pose in the last simulation frame, 1-step-at-a-time.

 

[Pendraia]

I set the cape like that so it would simulate without colliding with the dress. I have seen things like that for Poser dynamics as I bought some with the thought to convert to ds many years ago. I think it depends on the creator how they approach that.
I generally only use 30 frames but have seen hairs that go up to 60. I use an animated simulation as that also help avoid collision issues.
DS dynamics are very easy to use...

 

[Miss B]

Poser dynamics aren't that difficult either once you've done it a few times, and that's mostly because different items will probably need different settings.

In Poser there are settings to use so an object doesn't collide with either the character, or whatever clothing s/he is wearing under a coat or cape. Sometimes I need to adjust those settings to get better results.

 

[Pendraia]

Paul at Digital Art kindly helped me to redownload the files for the Esha tutorial. So today I spent my time weaving and watching the video, stopping to take notes when needed.
I have to get the weaving finished by next Thursday for my daughters birthday.