I have been struggling with DAZ Studio 3.0 for the past four days, running into one problem after another.  It seems that the many tutorials I've already accessed all over the Internet just don't seem to get me where I need to go.  

My latest struggle is getting some clothing items to follow the figure when posing.  Some clothing will work properly, while others do not.  I guess I'm looking for the magnetize function.  I have found it but it doesn't seem to work, or I don't know how to properly apply it.

What I need is a good, comprehensible guide.  I have downloaded the DAZ Studio PDF manual, searched for days around the internet, read a bunch of stuff, all to no avail.  Either the guides refer to functions that I can't seem to locate, or they are in video format which does not work for me.  Reading is my preferred method of learning. Something like Robinwood's excellent tuts for Bryce would be invaluable for DAZ Studio, but alas, he has not offered one.

I'm pretty good at figuring things out, have successfully used Bryce5, Winds3d, and World Machine, but this DAZ Studio is IMPOSSIBLE!!

Any help would be enormously appreciated! Thanks!!

Mike (gmvgmvgmv)

Normally you dont need it. Make sure the clothes has V4 as parent and you could even try the morph follower. Sometimes during a pose some clothes wont fit right and you will need to asjust them manually via the morphs. Also it is possible that some times wont work on a pose. example a skirt wont fit in a sitting pose since not made for it. Maybe if you post a sample render we get better idea.

Hey Mike,

I realize you're frustrated, but we're going to need a bit more information to help you out.

First, what characters?  Second, what clothes?

Which version of D|S 3 are you using, the free one of the Advanced one?  If the free one, are you past the 30 days so we can figure out which options might be turned off? 

Have you tried morph follower?  Did you conform the clothes to the character before you tried to pose?

Help us out with some more info and we can try to help.

Roxanne

I have the free version, DAZ Studio 3.0 which was installed three days ago and supposedly has all advanced, premium features enabled for the next month or so.  I have installed Michael 3, and purchased the Shadow Dancer clothing set for Michael 3.  There were three separate downloads for the clothing set which included a 1meg texture file.

The installation went fine, the clothing appeared in the content area and applies to the Michael 3 character but does not move with the character when posing.

What is a morph follower? How does one conform clothing?

Listen, I usually do NOT ask for help.  I've been Brycing for seven years and have maybe posted to the Bryce forum three or four times in all these years.  When I read a well-though-out tutorial, I can figure things out.  I just got finished watching a You Tube intro video for DAZ Studio.  It was terrible!  Poor resolution, no explanation of even the most basic DAZ functions and tabs, and generally awful presentation.  The written material out there is just as obtuse.

I appreciate your help, but am really frustrated at this point.  I've been up since 6am, have struggled with this for almost four hours now, and this is day three of this!

Mike

First, select Michael, then in the Parameters tab, click the arrow on the right and select Zero Figure Pose.  We want the main character in the T Pose for the time being.

1.  Take any hair you have on the character out of the scene for the time being. (because it will cause what I'm about to tell you to do will cause a crash with hair in the scene)

2.  Select each clothing item in the scene tab (Highlight it) then open the parameters tab.  Scroll down until you see the Fit To bar and make sure it says Michael 3.  That's how you conform the clothes.

3.  Once you have conformed the clothing, in the active viewport, right click on any clothing item.  From the menu that comes up, click MorphFollower.

If you need additional screen shots, let me know.

To clarify........if you try to use Morph Follower with hair in the scene, it will cause D|S to crash.

Go to your Pose Tab and in the scene window select the clothing, then from your Parameters window click on the 'Fit To' button and select the model {eg: Michael 3} and they should move with the model when posed.

This should fix your current problem.

Thanks all!  I'll give it a try as soon as my blood transitions from a roiling boil to a gentle simmer.  Really, I appreciate the help, but is it me, or is this program really tough?  It's like nothing I've ever used before, mostly because of the really poor documentation and dearth of comprehensible learning material online.

Mike

Quote - Thanks all!  I'll give it a try as soon as my blood transitions from a roiling boil to a gentle simmer.  Really, I appreciate the help, but is it me, or is this program really tough?  It's like nothing I've ever used before, mostly because of the really poor documentation and dearth of comprehensible learning material online.

Mike

It's because their documentation is written by the software techs.  The documentation is poor and not understandable.  The video "tutorials" are little more than a sales commercial.

Don't get me wrong, I use and like DazStudio, but you are truly on your own learning it.  After a year of struggling with it, I broke down and took a $25.00 DAZ class at Visual Arts Academy.

If you are interested in the basics, there is a book available (Figures, Characters and Avatars) which is well written for that purpose.  In addition, for the 20 something dollars for the book, you get several hundred dollars worth of software with it as well.  The CD which comes with the book contains Hexagon 2.5, D|S and Carrara 6 Pro, along with several hundred dollars worth of characters (Gen 4), morphs, clothes and props as well.

You can get the book at Amazon or at Daz, but you get serial numbers for Carrara and Hex as soon as you pay if you purchase at Daz.
http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/figures-characters-and?item=9166&_m=d

Great!  Now I'm getting somewhere and at least I don't feel like the posterior end of a horse any longer - well not as much!

By the way, tokejr, your suggestions worked!!  The clothes are working.  Thanks again!

Great, glad it helped.  Next time, don't wait so long to ask for help so we can keep your blood pressure down. :-) 

All we D|S users have been there at some point.

Now, if I could just find someone knowledgeable about the Figure Setup Tools, I'd be happy!

The book is not all that useful for learning the functions Studio, it even has a few errors in it.  There is some good info about composition, lighting (from a visual, mood point of view, not technical) and figure posing.  That plus the software and content make it worth the price.  But for learning don't be afraid to ask questions here or at DAZ's forums.  By the way it is a will know fact that there are more horses' arses then horses, so don't be embarrassed.

Well, thanks all for the assistance and encouragement.    I hate to be a bother, but it looks like this application is full of potential, but rife with mystery and challenge.  Further assistance will probably be required.  Guess I'll talk to y'all soon!

Mike

 Hang in there.. I'm a Daz user (although, to be honest, it was the first 3d program I'd ever encountered, so I assumed they were all documented like that!) and it can be quite lovely.

Tokejr - have you seen the Cliffnotes tutorial for rigging/joints in Daz? Is this what you're after?:

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=98085&flatnum=1

Quote -  Hang in there.. I'm a Daz user (although, to be honest, it was the first 3d program I'd ever encountered, so I assumed they were all documented like that!) and it can be quite lovely.

Tokejr - have you seen the Cliffnotes tutorial for rigging/joints in Daz? Is this what you're after?:

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=98085&flatnum=1

I have seen them, but they are incomplete.  It's too bad, too.  Cliff is very good with his tutorials.

Ah no worries.. wasn't sure exactly sure what you needed. As you say, he's excellent. Let me know if you find anything that goes further though as I'm struggling with a few bits of that myself! :)

Quote - Ah no worries.. wasn't sure exactly sure what you needed. As you say, he's excellent. Let me know if you find anything that goes further though as I'm struggling with a few bits of that myself! :)

Well, I'm certainly willing to share what I have learned through trial and error, but it's not likely to help you much.

My biggest problem was in creating some freebie clothes for the figure mixed teen - in which case there was no obj file, no cr2 file, no nothing to work from.  So a lot of these tools are even more confusing because there are some basic assumptions made about what you have available to work with.

I ended up creating my own obj and cr2 files in order to use the tools.  That, alone, was a nightmare with no documentation to assist.

 Thank you, that's much appreciated. I'm literally just starting to touch on the learning (or possibly catastrophy curve) of clothing, so can only imagine what a nightmare starting from an essentially unique figure must have been!  Will add you on as a friend here, and if I do come across anything useful, will pass it along, although I suspect it's going to be a good long while before I stop screaming quietly just at the thought of what's involved. Best of luck with your projects :) 

Cheers, and sorry Gmv for hijacking the thread!  I'm gently coming to the realisation that Daz users tend to have a loads of good info out there, it's just not all in one head or one place, so just shout if you get stuck, as I think we've all been there before and, fortunately, they're all a pretty darn friendly bunch :) Daz is an excellent program (depending on your needs) and they do keep steadily improving it.

The only major issue I've ever had was the lack of information that falls somewhere between 'first time you open the program' and 'requiring a goodly level of technical knowledge' at the other end, with regards to clear step-by-step walkthroughs of the more advanced functions. It's just such a shame as what little I have touched on is potentially quite powerful and (for me at anyrate) more intuitively laid out than Poser. However, before I get pounced on, that's not a criticism of Poser :)  Otherwise, it's a good, generally very reliable and unexpectedly potent bit of kit with some really nice features. 

don't feel bad still haven't gotten it to download properly compared to poser ( which did download rather quickly)

Seeing that we are all suffering from the same dilemma, should we maybe create our own reference material somewhere here on what we know. Put it somewhere where it will be easier for others to find. Maybe in it's own section.
A thought!

here's a stupid question,but coming from someone who is self teaching I'll have to start somewhere
 I am having trouble downloading content I get the default destination which when used sends the downloads to a place I can't use withing the program- I don't think it's even in the program proper the tutorials keeping saying send it to the "correct destination" but are mum on where that might be so what is the correct destination?  Also, have Bryce 6 and Carrara 8 hope they don't have a steep learning curve one final thing why does Daz 3d have so many installers I mean really Poser has one for mac and one for windows on different discs it was very easy to load.
 There's another thread here that says Daz is better than Poser but until it written material to help users it's just another program.

The correct destination is the folder you have selected in Edit>preferences>Directories for that content type (most downloads are in Poser format): use the button at the top of the dialogue to switch lists, or click the Advanced button to see them all.