Question Gf2 figure import... animation not recommended?

[Sam000]

Hi, I'm new to VaM. I just tried importing a custom figure morph as a test to see how the system works.
Work flow is generally as per guide by
donkilluminatti
(here are the steps I used)
5) ADD NEW GENESIS 2 TO DAZ SCENE
8) CHANGE GENESIS 2 "Resolution Level" TO "Base"
10) EXPORT AS ".obj" WITH "DAZ Studio" PRESET AND CHECK "Ignore Invisible Nodes" ON
12) ADD NEW GENESIS 2 TO SCENE
13) GOTO MENU: Edit - Figure - Morph Loader Pro
14) CLICK "Choose Morph Files" AND SELECT YOUR "*.OBJ" FILE
15) CHANGE IN ITEM: "Reverse Deformations" TO "Yes" AND CLICK "Accept"
16) GOTO "Parameters" OF NEW GENESIS 2 AND FIND SAVED MORPH
17) CHANGE "Parameter Settings": SET "Min" TO "0" AND CLICK "Accept"
18) GOTO MENU: Edit - Figure - Rigging - Adjust Rigging To Shape
19) CHANGE NOTHING AND CLICK "Accept"
20) CLICK ON NEW MORPH AND SELECT "Edit Mode" ON
21) CLICK ON NEW MORPH AND SELECT "ERC Freeze..."(uncheck the checkbox "restore the figure") AND CLICK "Accept"
22) GOTO MENU: File - Save As - Support Asset - Morph Asset
23) FIND AND SELECT YOUR MORPH AND CLICK "Accept"
24) OPEN EXPLORER AND GOTO "%Path to Daz Library%\data\DAZ 3D\Genesis 2\Female\Morphs\%Your Daz Login%\Product"
25) COPY YOUR MORPH WITH FILETYPE ".dsf" (Note: In my case, this is a whole list of individual dsf files not just a single one. Is this the way it should be, since it is a full body morph?)
26) OPEN EXPLORER AND GOTO "%Path to Virt A Mate%\Custom\Atom\Person\Morphs\female\%Your Vam Username%"
27) PASTE YOUR MORPH WITH FILETYPE ".dsf" HERE
28) OPEN VAM.EXE OPEN ANY SCENE WITH CHARACTER ATOM AND FIND YOUR MORPH (under the morphs tab)

The morph appears and works (though the arms float a bit in default pose. Could this be because my morphed figure is a bit shorter than the default figure?).
The morph dial has a red gear icon top right:

When I mouse over the red gear icon, I see a popup which warns:
"Has bone morphs. Animation not recommended."

So, is this going to be a problem when I do start animating? If so, how do I solve this?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Eye9]

As far as I understand it, it isn't recommended to animate the morph, meaning dynamically dialing it in and out as part of an animation. Animating a figure that has the morph on it should not be an issue.

I think if you skip the "Adjust rigging to shape" step in DAZ Studio, you will get a non-bone morph. You should only do that for morphs that do not move any joints (including eyes etc.) though.

 

[Sam000]

Hi Eye9,
Thanks for your reply. I see your point about the animation referring to the morph only and not the figure. That's nice to know.
Thanks for the tip about "adjusting rigging to shape", however, in this case, it's a full body morph with alterations to the standard Gf2 proportions which will probably mean changes to the joints. Even small changes could lead to unwanted distortions in some poses, I would imagine.

 

[Eye9]

Yes, you will need a bone morph for that.

I would take special care about the eyes, they distort easily. My usual workflow has been to load the morph three times. Once "normally", and the same morph once for each eye (you can limit a morph in the morph loader to a face group). Then I dial the two "eye morphs" in the opposite direction of the actual morph. That way, the eyes will revert to their original shape and position. You can then move and scale them with the DAZ transforms so they fit your morph. Export that figure again and load the cleaned mesh into the Morph Loader for the final morph. You don't need to do the rigging/ERC stuff for the intermediate mesh, as the morph loader only looks at the mesh anyway (at least to my knowledge).

 

[Sam000]

Let me see if I understand your workflow:
1) export full body morph (obj file)
2) export left eye only morph (obj file)
3) export right eye only morph (obj file)
4) load the above three morphs on to the Gf2 base figure in DS
5) save asset as morphs
6) move dsf files to VaM folder
7) Apply the three morphs to a figure in VaM
8) Use the two eye morphs to correct distortions caused in the eyes by the full body morph
Is that correct? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

 

[Eye9]

Not quite, you don't leave DS for this.
1) Import morph (obj) of everything + import same morph, but limited to right eye (in the Morph Loader, via face group iirc) + same for left eye
(this can all be done in one go, in the same Morph Loader dialog, you just click add morph multiple times and give appropriate names like morph, morph_lEye, ...)
2) Dial in your main morph to 100%, dial the two eye morphs to -100%
3) Correct the eye position and scale manually (if necessary)
4) Export the result as obj
5) Load the new "cleaned" obj as a morph, using the normal workflow

This process just makes sure the eyes are not altered in a weird way. If you already use something like ZBrush and have locked/masked the eyes, this isn't necessary of course. Converting from other figures like Genesis 3/8 often causes distortions though, which is where I have used this process often.