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Virtual World Dynamics F.A.Q (Last Updated: 2024 Nov 05 5:09 pm)




Subject: Daz Studio bridge to VWD


philemot ( ) posted Tue, 30 August 2016 at 2:09 AM

agape posted at 9:05AM Tue, 30 August 2016 - #4281537

This is what concerns me: Can't find Variable: VWDPluginSupportLib It means that Daz can't find the plugin. kwan says he placed the script and the VWD program but what about the Daz plugin. When I had my plugin in the wrong place, that is the same error message I was getting. Daz was saying "I can't find the plugin!"

The plugin should be where all your other Daz Studio plugins are. It should be in progam files - Daz3d - studio - plugins. Be careful to pick the right one from the archive (win32 or win64). Installing the wrong one won't work.


Smaker1 ( ) posted Wed, 31 August 2016 at 2:33 PM

@Phil and Kwan: something I found: I made a clothe invisible in DS4 (with clicking on the eye) and go in VWD

  • if I use this clothe as a collision I have "....obj does not exist" message

  • if I use the same clothe as cloth in VWD it works !!!


kwan ( ) posted Wed, 31 August 2016 at 3:08 PM

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I too all of your advice and discovered that I copied into the wrong plugin folder, Now I have another rookie issue I'm sure. Whenever I send pose or animation back to host, the material always comes out plastic looking and highly glossy. I'm sure it is some default setting that I screwed up somewhere in DS. I can go into the surface editor and change the lighting model to matte but it still doesn't look like the original material. Once again I need somebody's expertise I have no idea where to look for default material setting for imported objects. Thanks again

Kwan


Smaker1 ( ) posted Wed, 31 August 2016 at 3:32 PM

@Phil & Kwan: I have no problem with material but found a case where it don't work and have a pure white clothe. Perhaps not your case Kwan

  • make a first simu (animation in my test)

  • send back the last frame (pose not all animation) : the simulated clothe is correct

  • change the ....-VWD to another name

  • make a new simu (no animation)

  • send back the pose to DS4 : the clothe is white


gustaftoni ( ) posted Wed, 31 August 2016 at 5:14 PM

Hello developers, I'm getting the hang of your software and it's really impressive and way more convenient than the old Dynamic Clothing Control.

A few issues I'm facing:

1 - Closing the VWD bridge locks D|S for 30-40 seconds, even if I close it immediately after starting it. Most times it's just an annoyance, but sometimes D|S crashes without any trace left in the log file.

2 - Once the simulation is started, I cannot open the Collision parameters or the Dynamic parameters tabs. These menus remain inaccessible even after stopping and resetting the simulation. IDK if this is by design, but being able to adjust the friction of the collider after a first simulation would be very useful.

3 - If you use the mouse to drag the clothing item, the simulation gets reset to when you started clicking instead than resetting to the original imported shape. This could be useful, but having a full "reset to import/re-read obj shape" function would be a major improvement.

Now a few suggestions for incoming updates:

1 - When VWD/the bridge creates the new mesh, materials are set to 3DL instead of Iray. This would be a minor annoyance if the material names were not changed for the new object. As of now, you need to restore the Iray parameters and then copy/paste every single material because names don't match. If they did, you could copy/paste in a single move.

2 - Implementing a scissor tool to separate vertices that were welded at import would be great (it's easy to "go too far" and weld vertices that weren't meant to using the vertices neighborhood option without a preview).

3 - Please add an option to select only visible vertices instead of all vertices in the square.

4 - Please implement a round/oval vertice selection tool (click to set center, drag and release to select size, move around mouse to set eccentricity and click to confirm would be awesome).

Useful info: Core i7-5820K, RAM 16 GB, Rampage V Extreme, 2x GTX 980Ti, 1600 W PSU, OS and D|S on Samsung Evo 840 SSD (250 GB), Daz Library on a 3 TB WD Red. Windows 10 Pro 64, latest available drivers, D|S 64 Beta 4.9.3.71, VWD 1.0.408.2976 (can't say about the bridge, is there a version history available?)

Thank you for your time and efforts :)


philemot ( ) posted Thu, 01 September 2016 at 3:41 AM

Smaker1 posted at 10:38AM Thu, 01 September 2016 - #4281683

@Phil & Kwan: I have no problem with material but found a case where it don't work and have a pure white clothe. Perhaps not your case Kwan

  • make a first simu (animation in my test)

  • send back the last frame (pose not all animation) : the simulated clothe is correct

  • change the ....-VWD to another name

  • make a new simu (no animation)

  • send back the pose to DS4 : the clothe is white

I'll have a look into it. The main reason behind it is the OBJ importer that changes the material names. I already made a change in the code to correct it in a normal import. I will trace/debug what happens when the object is renamed.


Mythico ( ) posted Thu, 01 September 2016 at 6:34 AM · edited Thu, 01 September 2016 at 6:40 AM

Hi, I have experienced a few incidents of attempt to exit VWD = hang crash. 95% of the times it works however. I'm keeping a bug notes and will observe the crash patterns further before I post it here.

gustaftoni posted at 6:16AM Thu, 01 September 2016 - #4281691

3 - Please add an option to select only visible vertices instead of all vertices in the square.

4 - Please implement a round/oval vertice selection tool (click to set center, drag and release to select size, move around mouse to set eccentricity and click to confirm would be awesome).

If I understood you correctly, what you want already exist.

Press Vertices Tool > V button to turn off/on backface selectability.

Press Vertices Tool > L button to switch between square marque or more organic lasso select.


I've also written to VWD Gerald on making it optional to import pre-selected polygroups from DS.

Most content-oriented users who work with clothing and prop setups will generally prefer the geometry selector tools of the host, no need to relearn hotkeys and mouse behavior. But I understand VWD was made for Poser with awkward last gen selection tools and only 2 group types.

DS's geometry editor allows FIVE grouping types! And comes with mirror symmetry XYZ, grow/shirnk/hide/lock add/subtract and fast naming options. Carrara also has more efficient group selection options than Poser.

VWD has yet to exploit DS and Carrara's group selection capabilities, which is a vital function in cloth sims. I like VWD having post-simulation or on the fly vertices re-selection options but from experience it would speed up the work process by 300% if Daz users could harness the more efficient grunt work capability of the host tools.

DS's Geometry Editor, for example, already has a Rigidity Follow Node, which actually correlates with Vertices Groups > Rigidity by Neighborhood function. This DS native weight group type could either be auto-assigned, or a simple drop down menu click like in current workflow. A time and click saver when using conforming clothing that has been rigged with buttons and belts with Rigidity weight groupings.



VirtualWorldDynamics ( ) posted Thu, 01 September 2016 at 3:55 PM · edited Thu, 01 September 2016 at 3:57 PM

@gustaftoni : Issues :

1 ) I don't know if it is possible to reduce this time. Philemot will make a better reply.

2 ) For a dynamic simulation, change a parameter during the simulation will generate a break in the simulation. For static simulations, I can give access to some parameters, You are right.

3 ) Excuse me, I don't understand your question. What do you mean by "you use the mouse to drag the clothing item"?

Suggestions :

1 ) I let Philemot reply to this question, my competencies in Daz Studio are not good enough.

2 ) Use a rigidity by neighbourhood to weld the vertices on the free edges don't give a perfect simulation, The vertices stay as separate vertices and this separation is visible sometimes in the simulation.

3 ) as said Mythico, you can press on the "V" button or press on the "V" key.

4 ) also as said Mythico, a lasso selection exists. It is activated by pressing on the "L" button or by pressing the "L" key.

____________________________________________

Follow me on Twitter : @VWDynamics

Watch demo videos on Youtube


gustaftoni ( ) posted Thu, 01 September 2016 at 5:50 PM

Thanks Mythico and VWD for your replies :)

I'm sorry about the L and V keys, I must have been blind lol.

I forgot to mention I went for the full version of VWD, but I work with stills most of the time and use dynamics only when absolutely necessary. This is an habit carried over from the Optitex DCC plugin. I watched Biscuit's videos and I need to adjust my workflow to the VWD plugin and take advantage of its new convenient options.

Point 3 was related to what in documentation is called Dynamic Positioning (page 13). If you do a Static Simulation, then do Dynamic Positioning and then reset the simulation (Alt + Start Static Simulation), the simulation resets to when you started Dynamic Positioning. It doesn't go back to the shape that came from D|S.

I know the neighborhood option is second tier quality (the documentation is clear about it), but i'm finding it very intuitive and good so far. It could get some more potential through a scissor tool. It could allow rigidification of fairly distant vertices and separation of nearer ones. This came to mind playing with a zippered jacket. If you set rigidification by neighborhood to 1.0, the small strings of the hood won't fall through the mesh (good!) but the zipper would be locked further than where it should (no good). If you set rigidification to 0.1, the zipper behaves perfectly (good!) but the strings fall through (no good). I found workarounds to this, but getting scissors would be the most straightforward option: rigidify at 1.0 and then cut the zipper at the appropriate length. IDK if this is clear, maybe I'll post images later.

Another big use for a scissor tool would be for action scenes: katana and sword fights, jaguar attacks, Hulk going green... being able to shred the cloth to your liking would be a killer option.

Another option I'd like to see is making the collision objects 50% transparent (I often start my simulation with clothing partially inside my models because of some D|S limitations. I like working this way because VWD is excellent at removing poke-through). I know I can hide an item from the scene viewer with Ctrl Click, but IDK how to make everything visible again.

Finally, the only thing I'm missing from the DCC plugin: what in VWD is the Scale(%) option was able to shrink indipendently along the Y and X axis. This allowed to shorten a belt without making it too narrow. It's not essential, but it would be useful.

Thanks again :)


VirtualWorldDynamics ( ) posted Fri, 02 September 2016 at 4:01 PM

Hello gustaftoni,

I try to reply to your questions by order.

  • For the Point 3, I will look how to return to the original shape.

  • The rigidification by neighborhood is good in many cases. It is for this reason it is the rigidification by default. This rigidification can be applied at the creation of the cloth but can also be applied several times on differents parts of the cloth using the vertices tools and groups. You can apply a rigidification with a distance of 1 and a softness of 0.1 to a part of the cloth, you can also apply a rigidification with a distance of 0.1 and a softness of 0.001 (very stiff) on another part. The vertices tools are here to help you to make your selections and the vertices groups are here to apply the functions on the selected vertices.

  • The scissor is a function to which I never thought. It is a very good idea. This remembers me a great cloth simulator named "cloth REYES" in 3D Studio Max. This plugin had a function which allowed to tear the cloth when the stress between the vertices was too high.

  • The transparency can be very efficient in some cases. Today, I added it to the program. For now, you can use the "A" key to see through a dynamic element or a collision element. This function only shows the lines of the mesh. I don't know if you have used this functionnality.

  • The scale made in a particular direction can be very useful. Just a question, when you say Y and X axis. I suppose you say X and Z direction for a horizontal scale and Y direction for a vertical scale. Is it right?

Some functions are easy to implement in the program. All will not be applied tomorrow ;-)

____________________________________________

Follow me on Twitter : @VWDynamics

Watch demo videos on Youtube


gustaftoni ( ) posted Sun, 04 September 2016 at 10:30 AM

Hello VWD,

Thank you, your reply was very helpful, especially the neighborhood part :)

I know programming takes time, I'm not demanding immediate changes. I'm glad you liked my suggestions so far. For the scissor tool I was thinking of something quite easy (draw a line or a lasso and the cloth is split where the line passes or at the nearest vertice). Physical interaction would be awesome, I couldn't think of that.

About the XYZ scaling, yes, it worked as you say (X and Z together, Y). Since in VWD we can select vertices to our liking, separating the X and Z would not be necessary: for Z we can select the sides of the cloth, for X the front and/or back. IDK why in DDC the values were just named X and Y, maybe because dynamic dresses start as flat meshes. All I know is the X/Y directions were inverted on some clothes. You never knew what was going to happen. Also in DDC, simulation would often crash if you went to negative values (to relax the cloth around some areas, e.g. pregnant woman or to make the cloth bigger altogether). I didn't yet try values higher than 100% in VWD's scale, but I think it would respond better ;) .

@ ANYBODY listening:

On a side note, I need suggestions for items that are _not _cloth. VWD has huge potential, I'm just not very good at harnessing it yet.

  1. I'd like to make a cuirass appear beaten by an axe, but the distortion propagates too far, or stiffness isn't enough?

  2. I'd also like to simulate a person sitting with his cheek resting on his hand. I know the trick of using an invisible glove or an empty geometry shell as the collider, but I can't control very well how far the deformation travels or avoid crushing. Is there a way to apply some pressure coming from the inside of a cloth? I think that would help.

If anybody can give some directions or hints it'd be much appreciated.


agape ( ) posted Sun, 04 September 2016 at 5:03 PM

I agree with you gustaftoni, this plugin has HUGE potential!! There are so many things I want to experiment with but I don't know how to go about it yet. It will be very helpful when we can get a tutorial that goes a little deeper into all the buttons and values. I am very excited about this!!


Writers_Block ( ) posted Mon, 05 September 2016 at 3:42 AM

gustaftoni posted at 9:41AM Mon, 05 September 2016 - #4281691

Hello developers, I'm getting the hang of your software and it's really impressive and way more convenient than the old Dynamic Clothing Control.

A few issues I'm facing:

1 - Closing the VWD bridge locks D|S for 30-40 seconds, even if I close it immediately after starting it. Most times it's just an annoyance, but sometimes D|S crashes without any trace left in the log file.

2 - Once the simulation is started, I cannot open the Collision parameters or the Dynamic parameters tabs. These menus remain inaccessible even after stopping and resetting the simulation. IDK if this is by design, but being able to adjust the friction of the collider after a first simulation would be very useful.

3 - If you use the mouse to drag the clothing item, the simulation gets reset to when you started clicking instead than resetting to the original imported shape. This could be useful, but having a full "reset to import/re-read obj shape" function would be a major improvement.

Now a few suggestions for incoming updates:

1 - When VWD/the bridge creates the new mesh, materials are set to 3DL instead of Iray. This would be a minor annoyance if the material names were not changed for the new object. As of now, you need to restore the Iray parameters and then copy/paste every single material because names don't match. If they did, you could copy/paste in a single move.

2 - Implementing a scissor tool to separate vertices that were welded at import would be great (it's easy to "go too far" and weld vertices that weren't meant to using the vertices neighborhood option without a preview).

3 - Please add an option to select only visible vertices instead of all vertices in the square.

4 - Please implement a round/oval vertice selection tool (click to set center, drag and release to select size, move around mouse to set eccentricity and click to confirm would be awesome).

Useful info: Core i7-5820K, RAM 16 GB, Rampage V Extreme, 2x GTX 980Ti, 1600 W PSU, OS and D|S on Samsung Evo 840 SSD (250 GB), Daz Library on a 3 TB WD Red. Windows 10 Pro 64, latest available drivers, D|S 64 Beta 4.9.3.71, VWD 1.0.408.2976 (can't say about the bridge, is there a version history available?)

Thank you for your time and efforts :)

Yes I'm getting those lockups; always have had a few seconds and the occasional crash. Thought I'd actually posted about it already (iirc).


philemot ( ) posted Mon, 05 September 2016 at 7:27 AM

I'm working on the time delay when exiting VWD. So far, I went down to 3 seconds. I'm checking for potential side effects, and also looking into material issues and I'll release a new version


Writers_Block ( ) posted Mon, 05 September 2016 at 8:01 AM

philemot posted at 1:59PM Mon, 05 September 2016 - #4282229

I'm working on the time delay when exiting VWD. So far, I went down to 3 seconds. I'm checking for potential side effects, and also looking into material issues and I'll release a new version

I've noticed when looking at Poser, there is a stop VWD (or similar). Would something similar work in Daz Studio?

What does work better, but still occasionally causes a crash, is starting a new instance of VWD; closing the open one is then immediate, or so close to it that I haven't noticed.


Mythico ( ) posted Tue, 06 September 2016 at 12:06 PM

Writers Block - good tip, will try that next time it happens.

Philemot - good to know you're working on the exit hang/delay issue.

There's a minor thing I spotted, probably specific to VWD-Daz: after VWD turn a clothing figure into a Cloth it also ignores the material transparency so the dress's materials need to be reapply afterwards.

I can also confirm the increased specularity of clothing material after VWD.

Side note, if you could add Daz's Selection Subset group to the Vertices Tool 'select by material zones' drop down it would be really really really appreciated! Makes it 300% faster to select clothing stitching parts for more detailed and realistic simulation.

Thank you!



philemot ( ) posted Tue, 06 September 2016 at 2:12 PM

I'm also working on the material issue. I think I've almost solved it. One last improvement is to add the compatibility tag to make it possible to use the materials from the original figure through the smart content tab.


grinch2901 ( ) posted Thu, 08 September 2016 at 12:35 PM

Hi, bought this product a few days ago and have been experimenting with it. Some observations / questions, if I may:

  1. When you start a simulation sometimes you see that it's not behaving as you want. For example it might be slipping off the body and you need to start over with more vertices declared for nailing. However once it's simulated poorly there seems to be no way to reset it back to the original shape and start over. All I've been able to do is stop, delete exchange info, kill VWD, go back to studio and resend the whole scene back to a new VWD. Is there a way I'm missing to reset the simulation without having to burn it down and start over?

  2. Related to above, sometimes when killing VWD, Studio crashes even though I deleted the exchange files first and so in theory they are not connected to each other. Is there a way to shut it down from within Studio?

  3. More of a VWD specific question, but I have a reasonably capable i7 processor yet the simulations seem to be a lot slower at default settings than I'm seeing in the various tutorials. Are there any recommendations for settings that might be slowing things down that I could experiment with?

Thanks, this bridge and the VWD are both great products and a real improvement to DAZ Studio's functionality, look forward to getting better at using them!


VirtualWorldDynamics ( ) posted Thu, 08 September 2016 at 6:59 PM

@grinch2901 : Thank you for your remark.

  1. I currently have a problem to clear the memory in VWD. I want to resolve this problem to be able to restart a simulation without leaving the VWD interface. For now, the problem is not resolved but it is in progress.

  2. Philemot is currently writing a new version that corrects the crashs in Daz Studio. he will explain this, better than me.

  3. Please, I need more informations to understand your speed problem. VWD is parallelized for the constraint computations (Springs and collisions). Generally, it works quickly on reasonable meshes. Could you give me : the number of springs, the number of threads and the time by frame for your simulation. Normally, the number of threads must be the number of threads on your computer, multiplied by 2.

____________________________________________

Follow me on Twitter : @VWDynamics

Watch demo videos on Youtube


grinch2901 ( ) posted Thu, 08 September 2016 at 10:05 PM

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 10:56PM Thu, 08 September 2016 - #4282648

  1. Please, I need more informations to understand your speed problem. VWD is parallelized for the constraint computations (Springs and collisions). Generally, it works quickly on reasonable meshes. Could you give me : the number of springs, the number of threads and the time by frame for your simulation. Normally, the number of threads must be the number of threads on your computer, multiplied by 2.

My PC is a couple year old gaming laptop so not so impressive specs. CPU is i7-4700mq with 4 cores / 8 threads. I didn't know the rule to set VWD threads to 2x the CPU threads. Will try that.

How do I see how many springs there are, though? I haven't seen that anywhere yet.


VirtualWorldDynamics ( ) posted Fri, 09 September 2016 at 1:39 AM

@grinch2901 : The program displays the number of springs at the bottom of the interface each time you open the Simulation tab. On your 8 threads computer, a simulation must go fast enough if you have less than 10 millions springs. If you use the self-collision, which needs many computations, you have to remove, from the self-collision, all the parts of your cloth which are not concerned by it. This will accelerate the simulation.

____________________________________________

Follow me on Twitter : @VWDynamics

Watch demo videos on Youtube


3DFineries ( ) posted Sat, 10 September 2016 at 9:34 AM

I know I don't see anyone here misbehaving and bashing my Hexagon and other software.... Wish I would have caught it sooner.

Please, we are not going to have trouble in this forum. I will not tolerate it.

Have a creative day!

********

My Lil' Store




3DFineries ( ) posted Sat, 10 September 2016 at 9:37 AM

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 9:37AM Sat, 10 September 2016 - #4282670

@grinch2901 : The program displays the number of springs at the bottom of the interface each time you open the Simulation tab. On your 8 threads computer, a simulation must go fast enough if you have less than 10 millions springs. If you use the self-collision, which needs many computations, you have to remove, from the self-collision, all the parts of your cloth which are not concerned by it. This will accelerate the simulation.

Good tips!

Have a creative day!

********

My Lil' Store




Writers_Block ( ) posted Sun, 11 September 2016 at 7:12 AM · edited Sun, 11 September 2016 at 7:15 AM

grinch2901 posted at 1:02PM Sun, 11 September 2016 - #4282573

Hi, bought this product a few days ago and have been experimenting with it. Some observations / questions, if I may:

  1. When you start a simulation sometimes you see that it's not behaving as you want. For example it might be slipping off the body and you need to start over with more vertices declared for nailing. However once it's simulated poorly there seems to be no way to reset it back to the original shape and start over. All I've been able to do is stop, delete exchange info, kill VWD, go back to studio and resend the whole scene back to a new VWD. Is there a way I'm missing to reset the simulation without having to burn it down and start over?

  2. Related to above, sometimes when killing VWD, Studio crashes even though I deleted the exchange files first and so in theory they are not connected to each other. Is there a way to shut it down from within Studio?

  3. More of a VWD specific question, but I have a reasonably capable i7 processor yet the simulations seem to be a lot slower at default settings than I'm seeing in the various tutorials. Are there any recommendations for settings that might be slowing things down that I could experiment with?

Thanks, this bridge and the VWD are both great products and a real improvement to DAZ Studio's functionality, look forward to getting better at using them!

  1. If it's static simulation, as well as using Pin, you can use Fixed Vertices under Vertex Groups; it is easy to Clear Fixed when required; clearing unPin requires a different process. The fixed wont work for dynamic simulations. Although once the dynamic simulation has run, you can use it when tweaking individual frames.

Alt Click allows a simulation to be reset; it depends if the simulation has been previously stopped and started; I've also had issues with errors afterwards.

  1. Start a new version of VWD; this will disconnect it, it then rarely crashes Studio.

  2. VWD likes lots of cores; reducing Spring Count can help. For example, experiment with the minimum distances when initially setting up, and when changing 'something'. If I use the Vertex Neighbourhood option when setting up hair (another example), I'll have distance to 3, and minimum to 2.7. I normally use Vertex extension for hair, and then add neighbourhood to the scalp and some head hair - that does, however, add a lot of springs; it often looks better though - as it can help keep some shape to the hair on the head and scalp. Once my system goes above 10 million springs it gets niticeably slower; I have had over 30 million, but not since the Spring Reduction check box was added.

With hair, it can be worth reducing the distance the scalp is from the head; I usually leave everything at default, but the scalp I set to 0.06 to 0.1.


grinch2901 ( ) posted Sun, 11 September 2016 at 8:55 AM

Hi, I've been making progress with the products but ran into an odd situation lately. I am set up an animation in Studio and sent it to VWD. Let it do a dynamic simulation and it calculated 30 frames but the character didn't move during the process, or maybe just a tiny bit. It's as if it only sent the first one or two frames over via the bridge.

I had done this succesfully just two days ago using Genesis 3 Female and since this failire used Genesis 2 Female I thought I'd redo it with Genesis 3. That did the same thing, cloth draped over a static figure, then played a looping animation of the cloth draping like onto a statue. Is there something special that the bridge is looking for like key frmes at certain points or something to make sure I get my full animation sequence over? Appreciate the help!


grinch2901 ( ) posted Sun, 11 September 2016 at 8:59 AM

Writers_Block posted at 9:57AM Sun, 11 September 2016 - #4282947

grinch2901 posted at 1:02PM Sun, 11 September 2016 - #4282573

Hi, bought this product a few days ago and have been experimenting with it. Some observations / questions, if I may:

  1. When you start a simulation sometimes you see that it's not behaving as you want. For example it might be slipping off the body and you need to start over with more vertices declared for nailing. However once it's simulated poorly there seems to be no way to reset it back to the original shape and start over. All I've been able to do is stop, delete exchange info, kill VWD, go back to studio and resend the whole scene back to a new VWD. Is there a way I'm missing to reset the simulation without having to burn it down and start over?

  2. Related to above, sometimes when killing VWD, Studio crashes even though I deleted the exchange files first and so in theory they are not connected to each other. Is there a way to shut it down from within Studio?

  3. More of a VWD specific question, but I have a reasonably capable i7 processor yet the simulations seem to be a lot slower at default settings than I'm seeing in the various tutorials. Are there any recommendations for settings that might be slowing things down that I could experiment with?

Thanks, this bridge and the VWD are both great products and a real improvement to DAZ Studio's functionality, look forward to getting better at using them!

  1. If it's static simulation, as well as using Pin, you can use Fixed Vertices under Vertex Groups; it is easy to Clear Fixed when required; clearing unPin requires a different process. The fixed wont work for dynamic simulations. Although once the dynamic simulation has run, you can use it when tweaking individual frames.

Alt Click allows a simulation to be reset; it depends if the simulation has been previously stopped and started; I've also had issues with errors afterwards.

  1. Start a new version of VWD; this will disconnect it, it then rarely crashes Studio.

  2. VWD likes lots of cores; reducing Spring Count can help. For example, experiment with the minimum distances when initially setting up, and when changing 'something'. If I use the Vertex Neighbourhood option when setting up hair (another example), I'll have distance to 3, and minimum to 2.7. I normally use Vertex extension for hair, and then add neighbourhood to the scalp and some head hair - that does, however, add a lot of springs; it often looks better though - as it can help keep some shape to the hair on the head and scalp. Once my system goes above 10 million springs it gets noticeably slower; I have had over 30 million, but not since the Spring Reduction check box was added.

With hair, it can be worth reducing the distance the scalp is from the head; I usually leave everything at default, but the scalp I set to 0.06 to 0.1.

Thanks, good tips to try! The last few simulations have been quicker, less than 3 million springs. I'll have to reload the problem one and see if it had a super dense mesh or something.


grinch2901 ( ) posted Sun, 11 September 2016 at 10:20 PM

grinch2901 posted at 11:19PM Sun, 11 September 2016 - #4282951

Hi, I've been making progress with the products but ran into an odd situation lately. I am set up an animation in Studio and sent it to VWD. Let it do a dynamic simulation and it calculated 30 frames but the character didn't move during the process, or maybe just a tiny bit. It's as if it only sent the first one or two frames over via the bridge.

I had done this succesfully just two days ago using Genesis 3 Female and since this failire used Genesis 2 Female I thought I'd redo it with Genesis 3. That did the same thing, cloth draped over a static figure, then played a looping animation of the cloth draping like onto a statue. Is there something special that the bridge is looking for like key frmes at certain points or something to make sure I get my full animation sequence over? Appreciate the help!

I figured it out, I had somehow unticked the Animated checkbox for G3F in the Collision paramaters menu. Ticking it back to on made her animated.


agape ( ) posted Tue, 13 September 2016 at 12:59 AM

Playing with a skirt to see how flowy I can get it but have some questions.

1 - First, I noticed that the waistband of the skirt is not attaching to the waist of my girl. She spins...inside of the skirt! After I import the skirt, I selected the waistband and nailed it to her waist but it doesn't stick. I tried playing with some of the numbers but nothing changed. How can I make the waistband stick to her waist?

2 - Next, how can I change the texture of the skirt? I can't seem to find the right number combination to make it flow like silk.

Sorry for all the questions! I have been obsessed with this plugin and just want to know how do what I want it to do!


philemot ( ) posted Tue, 13 September 2016 at 2:35 AM

agape posted at 9:23AM Tue, 13 September 2016 - #4283205

2 - Next, how can I change the texture of the skirt? I can't seem to find the right number combination to make it flow like silk.

I've made a google search to see what settings other cloth sim tools were using. In a nutshell, we have:

  • it's a light fabric, so low gravity and/or inertia
  • it has very little stiffness
  • it has low resistance to bending, so spring distance should be short (low extension)
  • it has low friction

The problem with exchanging numbers is that it's linked to mesh density. The same stiffness value will vary according to this density. That's why it's important to use VWD sub division to get a common reference frame.


agape ( ) posted Tue, 13 September 2016 at 11:02 AM

I am sure the skirt is very dense. New product, just released. Thanks for the info! Besides sub division, I can also decimate it too.


philemot ( ) posted Tue, 13 September 2016 at 11:04 AM

A new version of the Daz Bridge is available. You should receive a site mail with the details.

This new version includes the following enhancements:

  • Initial shaders are preserved
  • leaving VWD is now more efficient (faster and less prone to crash)
  • new "Stop VWD" script added to use after VWD has crashed or a force-kill has been necessary for it.
  • restriction on high resolution (subdivided) meshes has been removed for collision objects.


Writers_Block ( ) posted Tue, 13 September 2016 at 5:34 PM

agape posted at 11:27PM Tue, 13 September 2016 - #4283234

I am sure the skirt is very dense. New product, just released. Thanks for the info! Besides sub division, I can also decimate it too.

If an item has too dense a mesh; I've exported as an .obj, then imported into Blender and decimated.

I then import back into Daz, and use the Transfer Utility (Edit Menu>Figure) to fit it; it is good enough at default for basic posing, or sometimes just do a fit from T pose without using the transfer utility.

Materials usually still apply ok, and on rare occasions when haven't, then just copy and paste in the surfaces tab from the original to the decimated copy.


agape ( ) posted Tue, 13 September 2016 at 7:16 PM

I have the Daz decimator so it has come in very handy!


Writers_Block ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 5:54 AM · edited Wed, 14 September 2016 at 5:55 AM

error.jpg Since release was waiting for funds to purchse the bridge, anyway I've just installed it.

I deleted all the beta files, and first time trying to use it, I get the error as shown. VWD worked without issues, but obviously I couldn't return it to Daz Studio.

The bridge shows up in Daz Studio plugins when I checked. It must send the data correctly(?) as VWD works; the hair keeps the shader as you specify.

Any help over the issue would be appreciated; I'll post if I fix it incase others come across the issue.


philemot ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 8:34 AM

@Writers_Block

It seems that you haven't updated the plugin part of the bridge. BTW, thank you for buying :-)


grinch2901 ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 8:41 AM

philemot posted at 9:41AM Wed, 14 September 2016 - #4283235

A new version of the Daz Bridge is available. You should receive a site mail with the details.

This new version includes the following enhancements:

  • Initial shaders are preserved
  • leaving VWD is now more efficient (faster and less prone to crash)
  • new "Stop VWD" script added to use after VWD has crashed or a force-kill has been necessary for it.
  • restriction on high resolution (subdivided) meshes has been removed for collision objects.

I haven't received any sitemails about this. Is it live?


philemot ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 9:02 AM

grinch2901 posted at 3:59PM Wed, 14 September 2016 - #4283325

I haven't received any sitemails about this. Is it live?

Actually, not a site mail, but a regular mail send by rendo but signed with my very own private email address :-( (I would have preferred knowing that before hand). It may be in your spam box. Anyway, new version should be available for download. I don't really know where from, maybe someone else could tell you how.


grinch2901 ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 9:44 AM

philemot posted at 10:43AM Wed, 14 September 2016 - #4283326

grinch2901 posted at 3:59PM Wed, 14 September 2016 - #4283325

I haven't received any sitemails about this. Is it live?

Actually, not a site mail, but a regular mail send by rendo but signed with my very own private email address :-( (I would have preferred knowing that before hand). It may be in your spam box. Anyway, new version should be available for download. I don't really know where from, maybe someone else could tell you how.

Ah. I had an old e-mail address linked to Renderosity, no longer valid. I just fixed it. Is there a way to get Renderosity to resend the message to me?


philemot ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 9:59 AM

grinch2901 posted at 4:57PM Wed, 14 September 2016 - #4283330

Ah. I had an old e-mail address linked to Renderosity, no longer valid. I just fixed it. Is there a way to get Renderosity to resend the message to me?

Actually, I don't think it's necessary. The message in the mail is the same as the one I've posted in this thread. I think you have to go to the product page to see the new download.


grinch2901 ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 10:34 AM

On the product page there is no download available except the Readme. In my account, I can get this file: VWDClothAndHair V1.0.408.2976_193109.zip. Is this the latest version? It has the exact same filename as the one I downloaded originally so that makes me suspect it's not the updated version.


Writers_Block ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 11:01 AM

philemot posted at 4:59PM Wed, 14 September 2016 - #4283324

@Writers_Block

It seems that you haven't updated the plugin part of the bridge. BTW, thank you for buying :-)

I've deleted all the files plugin and script, and I get the same issue. I tried it with a beta version and it worked. When this render has finished, I'll try again in 4.9 and I'll load a new figure; this scene had an old copy of VWD hair already present; no idea why that might effect it, but worth a shot.

You're welcome. (BTW). :)


Writers_Block ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 11:35 AM

Well I've deleted all the files; then I've reinstalled them. I'm still getting the error.

Incidentally, although it works in Beta (4.9.3.56), when the bridge is dealling with the importing, I get a dialog box: obj Import Options.

obj options.jpg


gustaftoni ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 12:42 PM

@ Writers_Block You just need to click Accept, that will allow the cloth to appear in VWD. For the sake of precision, after the first, another identical window will appear. Accept that one too.


VirtualWorldDynamics ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 1:58 PM

@grinch2901 : yes, the version you have is the latest one. Currently, I work on a new versionthat will be ready for the end of the month.

____________________________________________

Follow me on Twitter : @VWDynamics

Watch demo videos on Youtube


Writers_Block ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 2:33 PM · edited Wed, 14 September 2016 at 2:40 PM

gustaftoni posted at 8:32PM Wed, 14 September 2016 - #4283359

@ Writers_Block You just need to click Accept, that will allow the cloth to appear in VWD. For the sake of precision, after the first, another identical window will appear. Accept that one too.

I did accept, but its new since beta.

EDIT I deleted all the files and was able to revert to a copy of the beta; deleting all those files doesn't allow me to use the new version. I am deleting them all, it's not like there are many; and to be sure I checked the excellent pdf that comes with the release version. I also checked I had a valid version of VWD.


gustaftoni ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 2:48 PM

IDK, I didn't bother installing VWD on the General release. I thought that was the default plugin behavior, although that passage not being automated felt strange.

Anyway the new bridge behaves better than the old version :)

The delay on exit is still noticeable, but waaay shorter and as such not a nuisance anymore.

The occasional crash will still happen, but being always on exit it's predictable, and since VWD doesn't lock the D|S interface, you just save, than exit the bridge.

All in all, good work so far :)


grinch2901 ( ) posted Wed, 14 September 2016 at 5:36 PM · edited Wed, 14 September 2016 at 5:37 PM

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 6:36PM Wed, 14 September 2016 - #4283368

@grinch2901 : yes, the version you have is the latest one. Currently, I work on a new versionthat will be ready for the end of the month.

Ooops, I meant to post the filename for the Daz Studio Bridge: Is this the latest? Studio_Bridge_2_VWD_Cloth_Hair_194386.zip


philemot ( ) posted Thu, 15 September 2016 at 2:20 AM

@grinch2901 I'm afraid I don't know how Rendo is managing the version names. lease download it and check if there is a "Stop VWD.dse" script in the script directory.

@Writers_Block The mergeVertices function has been added in VWDSupportLib.dll toward the end of the beta. The fact the script invokes it and that it's not found would indicate that an old version of the DLL is running.

@gustafton and @Writers_Block : If I understand correctly, the new studio beta version has a new behaviour on import which is not as silent as before ? I'll download it, install it in a virtual machine and try to debug.The bridge wouldn't be the first dynamic cloth script to stop working correctly after a new studio release :-(.


Writers_Block ( ) posted Thu, 15 September 2016 at 5:49 AM · edited Thu, 15 September 2016 at 5:51 AM

philemot posted at 11:49AM Thu, 15 September 2016 - #4283408

@grinch2901 I'm afraid I don't know how Rendo is managing the version names. lease download it and check if there is a "Stop VWD.dse" script in the script directory.

@Writers_Block The mergeVertices function has been added in VWDSupportLib.dll toward the end of the beta. The fact the script invokes it and that it's not found would indicate that an old version of the DLL is running.

@gustafton and @Writers_Block : If I understand correctly, the new studio beta version has a new behaviour on import which is not as silent as before ? I'll download it, install it in a virtual machine and try to debug.The bridge wouldn't be the first dynamic cloth script to stop working correctly after a new studio release :-(.

HA! Sadly not.

There should only be the dll files in the one place (and two if beta is installed also)?

First time I overwrote them, but the two tries since, I deleted the dll files before copying new ones over.


grinch2901 ( ) posted Thu, 15 September 2016 at 8:20 AM

philemot posted at 9:19AM Thu, 15 September 2016 - #4283408

@grinch2901 I'm afraid I don't know how Rendo is managing the version names. lease download it and check if there is a "Stop VWD.dse" script in the script directory.

Yup, it's there. Renderosity, I guess, just links the file in your available downloads to the latest version. Thanks, can't wait to try it out.


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