Solved Noob export question

[g1000]

Hello,
Just getting familiar with VaM's capabilities. I don't see any buttons for export. Can you export body textures - to edit in Photoshop?
Can you export a mesh - to edit in 3DS?

Thank You

 

[TToby]

Short answer: no.

Long answer: The basic male/female textures can be found in .../custom/Atom//Person/textures/...
It is the VaM original skin, that can be shared freely. The other skins VaM has build-in are copyright protected DAZ3d Genesis 2 textures. You can edit the basic skin in PS and use it with the "skin texture" tab.

You can export a figure mesh with your custom changes, but without hair and clothes. You will find the export button in the scene main menu. But you can NOT simply edit and re-import it as figure.
In VaM 1.x you can't use other figure meshes, only morph and edit the included Genesis 2 figure.

So you can use DAZ3d G2 morphes in VaM, you can merge the mophes of a figure with the Morph Merger plugin, then use a certain tool to convert the merged morph for use it in DAZ. Then use DAZ and 3ds Max (or an other modeling tool) to edit the merged morph, aso. You will find tutorials on how to create custom morphs. This comes as near as possible to "edit VaM meshes".

 

[g1000]

Thank you for the thoughtful reply,

To make sure I understand at a high level about the mesh and morphs:
-You can export a mesh out of VaM
-You can use that mesh in DAZ to make a Genesis 2 compatible morph
-You can then import that morph back into VaM

And you could add an additional step to use software other than DAZ to edit the morph further, provided you convert the morph file/files correctly so they remain compatible, However you will still need to make an initial pass through DAZ to create the first morph from the mesh you got from VaM.

Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[TToby]

No, not exactly.
-You can export a mesh out of VaM. BUT you can't use that mesh for anything in VaM! See this only as an additional, but different feature.

This is because you can't import custom meshes for figures in VaM 1.x !

-VaM uses the DAZ3d Genesis 2 figure. They are the same mesh. Nothing more, nothing less.
-DAZ morphs (temporal changes you made to a mesh as vector data, not as mesh) are compatible to VaM.
-VaM morphs are somewhat compatible to DAZ, but needs to be converted back to DAZ format.
-If you made changes in VaM to the Genesis 2 figure by morphs, you can merge those morphs to one single morph.
-This merged morph can be converted and used in DAZ to change the Genesis 2 figure to the same look as in VaM.
-As you can see, this is no real mesh-export/import, but only using the same morph in two different apps.
-You can't simply import external meshes into DAZ, too.
-But, there is a way in DAZ to create custom morphs with the help of a 3d modeling tool.
-So, you can use the VaM morph to recreate the same look in DAZ, and then change that look in DAZ with a 3d tool.
-Once you have created the edited morph in DAZ, you can use it in VaM.
-This morph will deform the standard Genesis 2 mesh included in VaM.

You see, the Genesis 2 mesh always stays the same, in VaM the same way like in DAZ. But you can transfer morphing-data between the two apps. DAZ has some mighty tools to create custom morphs with help of external tools, VaM has not.

Some definitions:
A MESH is some 3d data that defines points which will form a shape.
But it is more in this context: A figure with this mesh has bones and joints and a rigging, material data, UV mapping, weight mapping, aso. In VaM the figure has even additional features, like a collider structure, joint forcs, aso, for instance. You see, it is not only about the shape.
This is the reason why you can't simply ripp away the rough shape and replace it with something new.

A MORPH is more or less only some few data on how you have made changes to a certain mesh's shape.
"Move point xyz to an other coordinate", aso. A morph makes only sense together with the mesh it is made for. In DAZ and VaM you can't use morphs to add or remove points of the original mesh, you can only deform the shape.

 

[g1000]

Thanks so much for the detailed reply -
I get it now. Once you explained that the figure is the same in each app – it made sense how you could make morphs in DAZ and still know (more or less) what they will look like when imported back into VaM

 

[ilovebasilm]

I have now made a custom character (again) but now I cant get the eyes to stay at their correct position. I remade the rigging of the bones and it works fine in Daz3D but when I export the morph it seems like it uses the standard bones instead of my new rigging. (I can se it does not apply my rigging because the fingers bend as if the were linked to the standard bones) How do I access my own rigging? Or is my export what goes wrong? Do I need to export my rigging by any check box or as another file? I have searched for an answer online but could't find any.

 

[TToby]

I have now made a custom character (again) but now I cant get the eyes to stay at their correct position. I remade the rigging of the bones and it works fine in Daz3D but when I export the morph it seems like it uses the standard bones instead of my new rigging. (I can se it does not apply my rigging because the fingers bend as if the were linked to the standard bones) How do I access my own rigging? Or is my export what goes wrong? Do I need to export my rigging by any check box or as another file? I have searched for an answer online but could't find any.

Hi,
this sound to me like a very common mistake, many of us made before.
To make changes to the rigging of morphs in DAZ permanent, you have to do the so called"Erc Freeze".
This will "bake the rigging to the morph".
If you will do a Goole search "erc freeze" you will find several hits, including this video (I took quick a look at it and it seems good)

To verify if this applies to your issue, please do this test:
close and restart DAZ3d and apply your previously created morph to a G2 figure.
Has DAZ3d still "remembered" your changes your made to the rigging?
If you don't do an erc freeze, DAZ will keep the changes only till a reeboot.

 

[ilovebasilm]

Hi,
this sound to me like a very common mistake, many of us made before.
To make changes to the rigging of morphs in DAZ permanent, you have to do the so called"Erc Freeze".
This will "bake the rigging to the morph".
If you will do a Goole search "erc freeze" you will find several hits, including this video (I took quick a look at it and it seems good)

To verify if this applies to your issue, please do this test:
close and restart DAZ3d and apply your previously created morph to a G2 figure.
Has DAZ3d still "remembered" your changes your made to the rigging?
If you don't do an erc freeze, DAZ will keep the changes only till a reeboot.

Oh my god! I did the ERC freeze before re-rigging so I freezed it on the standard bones. You are my favourite person just now Toby!!! Is there anyway I can contact you directly, because you seem to have all the answers I need working with this. My model looks amazing now and I will start with textures, clothes and hair. It's so much fun. I can't explain how thankful I am. THANKS!

 

[TToby]

You can contact me here in the forum, if I answer your questions, some others may benefit from that, too.
Unfortunately I need much time to write most of my messages, because English is not my native lamguage, but fortunately I often have much time at work