Hi there,
yes so I'm looking to add some morphs or generally touch up the geometry a little. Sculpting software seems like the way to go.
Personally I don't want to paint or anything else just export, morph, import. So far this supposedly simple process has proven inexplicably complex... and I'm not completely computer illiterate.

The packages I've tried so far and my experiences:

1) Zbrush - import & export a breeze, but complex to use and some major quirkiness like the 2Dvs3D thing

1. Mudbox - seems like what I'm looking for in terms of ease of use... but I can't get the import to work, the original import makes the figure so small mudbox can't handle it, or if I scale it up with Obj Scaler and import the mesh is the right size, but it's messed up in parts.

3) Sculptris - super easy to use, but apparently subdivides automatically, which immediately makes it useless for poser re-import as far as I understand it

I really don't want to drag verts one by one with something like 3ds max or similar. So what sculpting sofware do all you guys use? All I'm looking for is A easy import/ export and B ease of use for sculpting.

Thanks in advance!

Don't think me facetious, but I use Poser's morph brush ;o). For me, it does the job.

Laurie

Let's clarify morphing.  The exporting process of any particular body or prop part involves preparing it for morph targeting.  Once you import it into a 3rd party program and modify the mesh structure without disrupting vertices, you load your object as a morph target. 

I have used Argile with good results and with a minimum of fuss.  Have never worried about rescaling and never encountered verts disruption.

Or you could use Poser's native morphing tool.  It has improved significantly in PoserPro 2010.

 Blacksmith3D wins hands down in my book. You can morph the WHOLE figure in one go, and it will output the proper injection channels (on figures equipped with such) or easy-to-use obj based morphs - OR write a whole new CR2 with the new morphs inside.

Plus it's easy to use (although I prefer version 2 to version 3, but that's probably because I'm more used to that)

Quote - 3) Sculptris - super easy to use, but apparently subdivides automatically

Unless you press Q and disable the subdivision, then it works perfectly for morphing. It's a dream to use.

I know it isn't cheap but Carrara 8 Pro is worth a look.  It's probably way too much if all you want to do is morphs, but it's other tools will give you greater scope if you plan to model in the future.

John

Zbrush without a doubt (it's not quirky at all).
Sculptris is also very handy, just without the bells and whistles.

 For some reason I have failed in bringing in a morph from Sculptris. First of all it imports Poser objs in miniscule size and after zooming in enough to actually locate it, I tried making a simple "forehead bump morph" - only to get the Wrong number of vertices when I tried to load the morph.

I did uncheck the Clay mode (which subdivides) but stil.. I must be soing something wrong since others can make it work.

I really like sculptris for sculpting from scratch, but for morphs I'll stick with Blacksmith :)

Have used cinema 4d from time to time. I don' t know how it compares to the other apps mentioned, though.

thanks for all the feedback, let me respond to some of them:

1. if PoserPro 2010 has improved in that department, I'll def have to try that first... obviously easiest to do at the source so to speak

2. Sculptris - Unless you press Q and disable the subdivision... if that's all it is, I'll have to try it again, cause it's def the simplest to use for what I need, hope the re-import works as TrekkieGrrrl seems to have had issues

3) ok have put Argile and Blacksmith3D on the try list as well

4) Carrera or Cinenam4D seem a bit much for what I need right now, but I have found it hard to keep round surfaces round with sculpting tools, which might be easier to do with traditional modelling, I'm a noob re modelling though, so I'm prob not doing it right

1. Zbrush is the only prog where import/ export worked on the spot and it is possible to get used to the workflow, still I find how tools work non-intuitive, that they become 2d once out of edit mode and such, it's def got a higher learning curve as well, but I would def go back to zbrush if necessary

Quote -  For some reason I have failed in bringing in a morph from Sculptris. First of all it imports Poser objs in miniscule size and after zooming in enough to actually locate it, I tried making a simple "forehead bump morph" - only to get the Wrong number of vertices when I tried to load the morph.

I did uncheck the Clay mode (which subdivides) but stil.. I must be soing something wrong since others can make it work.

I really like sculptris for sculpting from scratch, but for morphs I'll stick with Blacksmith :)

TG, try the V3 figures, they work.  V4 and the Poser series don't because their poly count is too high causes Sculptris to crash and use only the grab function on V3.  Jan

V4 has fewer polygons then V3.  I can't remember the exact numbers, but V4 is about 66,000 while V3 is about 74,000.

Mudbox in my experience works just fine IF...

You use DAZ Studio to output your base mesh, either just by exporting or using the Send to Hexagon (assuming you HAVE Hexagon) bridge.

That way you get easy bone welding so you don't get mesh splitting on FBM's, and once you import the mesh using the Scale tool in Mudbox set to 100 allows you a nice big mesh to morph around, then just return the scale to 1 when finished and export back into DAZ, save as a prop or whatever.

DAZ is free, and Hexagon can be gotten for a song half the time.

Quote -  For some reason I have failed in bringing in a morph from Sculptris. First of all it imports Poser objs in miniscule size and after zooming in enough to actually locate it, I tried making a simple "forehead bump morph" - only to get the Wrong number of vertices when I tried to load the morph.

I did uncheck the Clay mode (which subdivides) but stil.. I must be soing something wrong since others can make it work.

I really like sculptris for sculpting from scratch, but for morphs I'll stick with Blacksmith :)

I've been having the same troubles with Sculptris.  If I press Q everything is fine until I hit symmetry.  That seems to screw up the vertices.   Has anyone made morphs with symmetry turned on?

If you're having trouble with symmetry, what you can do is sculpt just one half the face and bring that into Poser. Then split the morph and use something like ockham's morph mirror to put it over to the unsculpted side. I know it's not a solution, just a workaround ;o).

Laurie