Philemot, I am loving the new version of the Bridge. Noticeable changes. Seems to work faster. I especially like some of the rewording done to explanations when mouse is hovering over a function. Well done!!

Some performance and various tips follow. Just a FYI, maybe you already noticed, maybe not:

As per the documentation, disabling self collision vastly improves simulation speed, especially on meshes with many polygons, wether the cloth really collides or not. Disable it for any cloth that you don't expect to crumple on itself (leave it on for a scarf, disable it for a T-shirt).

Setting Resolution to Base (disable SubD) prior importing the cloth to VWD has 2 advantages: faster sim due to less calculation, and more accurate cloth behavior. Many new clothes are so dense that they behave as they weigh a lot and are very soft, because the vertices are too close to each other and their deformations add to each other. You can add back both SubD and Smoothing Modifier, complete with collision, after sending the result of the simulation to D|S. Optimal spacing between vertices in VWD seems to be circa 3/4 inch or 2 cm.

Previous versions of the bridge automatically disabled the collider SubD, not the latest one to date. On my system the SubD applied to the collider doesn't seem to slow the simulation much. Its impact is way less than self collision or the density of the cloth.

Disabling the Floor collision leads to minor improvement in performance, just enough to justify leaving it off unless required. As with self collision, simulation slows down even if the Floor is not touched. Leaving it on is better than importing a mesh as your floor. You may have noticed that you can adjust the floor location along the Y axis, I find this very useful. It could be even better if we could set it as a "buoyancy limit" for scenes with people in water, but that would get limited use I suppose.

The Gravity parameter is not to be intended as a real world parameter (although you would lower it for Mars and increase it on Jupiter), but as a measure of the weight of every vertex on your cloth. So Jeans tissue would get higher gravity than a polyester one, but lower gravity than a carpet. If you have to simulate the Magic Carpet, turn off Gravity and use Stiffness/Rigidification to move the cloth according to its nature. Clothes with higher gravity require less Softness to hold together. Valid values seem to range between 1 and 0.0001. Could the authors confirm this range?

I'm nowhere near to full understanding and mastering VWD, but the above may be useful for anyone, so here you are :)

Hello gustaftoni,

Thank you for all these informations. They will be very useful for all the users.

The self-collision is very useful but it is necessary only for some clothes and generally the bottom of a skirt or a dress. This option needs many computations and must be applied on the parts of the cloth actor which can collide. The "No collide for self-collision" is here to remove the parts which never collide (the top of the dress).

After many tests, for me the best value for the mesh size if VWD is 0.7 (Inches) ie 17 or 18 mm. 2 cm are very good. For the presets I want to implement in the program, it is this value I will use for the SubDivision.

I am always very annoyed with the vertex weight in simulation. A cloth with all its vertices with a weight of 1 and a cloth with all its vertices with a weight of 1000 will fall at the same speed. The mass don't intervene in the gravity. It just corresponds to an acceleration. In the real world, two clothes don't fall at the same speed, not because they have two different weights but because their air resistance is different. On the moon (without air resistance) a piece of steel and a feather would fall at the same speed. (remember the test made by the astronauts).

The gravity set at 1.0 corresponds at the gravity on Earth (9.81 m/s2). This value can be positive or negative (very useful sometimes). If I remember correctly it can go from -10.0 to 10.0.

Well I fixed the issue of it 'thinking' the old dll was still installed.

I deleted the DLL files. I then ran VWD, imported an item and simulated; all it wouldn't do was return the simulated item.

I then closed down VWD, and Studio, and installed the dll files; it works now.

Well... The shader on OOT Katherina hair is only partially copied; some is still Studio. Yes, the original is all IRAY.

@Writers_Block nice to see you eventually solved this issue.

Would it be possible to add a "reverse subdivision" function to VWD, for the meshes that are too dense even at base resolution? The implemented subdivision engine is very clever, adding vertices only where distance is too far. An option allowing to remove vertices that are too close would be a nice addition to VWD flexibility.

Speaking of subd, when it is enabled, sometimes the timeout when inporting a mesh is too short and VWD reports the obj doesn't exist before D|S is done converting it.

Thank you for the clarification on gravity (the tip on neg values is very useful and also solves most of by buoyancy requests). I tend to use Gravity to control how heavy a cloth is, if the mesh is too dense or too sparse for Softness alone.

I updated the bridge to the latest version and since then I'm getting the error below. What is the issue?

I had issues with VWD plugin; I uninstalled the plugin; ran Studio without the plugin, once it realised the plugin was absent, I reinstallled.

It's a couple of posts above

@gustaftoni : I want to write a decimation function into VWD. I think it will be necessary to write two different decimations, one for the hair and one for the clothes. In all cases, I want to start from the free edges and extend inside the mesh. This function will not be into the next version.

Writers_Block posted at 2:59PM Tue, 20 September 2016 - #4284061

I had issues with VWD plugin; I uninstalled the plugin; ran Studio without the plugin, once it realised the plugin was absent, I reinstallled.

It's a couple of posts above

Thanks, this wasn't exactly my issue but it pointed me to what was. In my case, the plugin was missing altogether. I had been doing some cleanup on my PC and, long story short, did something wrong while trying to update VWD a few days ago. Did a proper reinstall and t's all fixed now, works fine. Thanks again.

Glad it's fixed.

@grinch2901 ; so what was the issue? I'm getting the exact same error and everything is a clean install {I started with VWD in Poser back in May but prefer DS and so waited untill the bridge was available - now on the very first try, I get this.............). I also get the message, "Orianna Hair OBJ does not exist" (Orianna hair was the hair I was attempting to "Springify") - well, being DS, no, the OBJ doesn't exist as DS uses DSF's {AFAIK} instead, so...........??

Anyone?

OK - I worked it out myself...............

@Erwin0265 : Excuse me I thought your problem was resolved. Have you this error only for "Orianna Hair" or this message appears for all the hair you tried to import?

Erwin0265 posted at 4:07PM Tue, 27 September 2016 - #4284608

@grinch2901 ; so what was the issue? I'm getting the exact same error and everything is a clean install {I started with VWD in Poser back in May but prefer DS and so waited untill the bridge was available - now on the very first try, I get this.............). I also get the message, "Orianna Hair OBJ does not exist" (Orianna hair was the hair I was attempting to "Springify") - well, being DS, no, the OBJ doesn't exist as DS uses DSF's {AFAIK} instead, so...........??

Sorry, I was offline for a while. I see you worked it out but for others, here's what my problem was. I had changed the accounts I use on my PC from one with admin rights to one with regular user rights. When I tried to re-install VWD it requested my admin credentials as expected, I entered them and it succesfully removed the old VWD but never wrote the new one in. So there was no VWD python file anymore. Putting it back made everything work. Probably not a problem many people will see, but if you do get that error it seems to mean that either the bridge thinks VWD is in the wrong place OR VWD is somehow missing from your system.

Regarding the missing OBJ, I found that if you have an item invisible in your scene when you invoke the bridge, if you attempt to use that item as cloth or as collision, it says it can't find the OBJ. I suspect that's because the OBJ export in DAZ Studio will only export visible items so it can't create the OBJ to send over to VWD.

Hello i have been learning vwd with bridge for daz and need help. My purpose for buying was to help get rid of the under boob cling that happens with all clothing. I tried many times with no success. Would anyone know certain settings i could use to have shirts and dresses drape over breast instead of clinging? Thanks!!

Hello mrgraphix, normally, VWD lets the cloth to drap itself naturally on the body of the character. Could you show the problem you have using the program.

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 10:57AM Tue, 04 October 2016 - #4285594

Hello mrgraphix, normally, VWD lets the cloth to drap itself naturally on the body of the character. Could you show the problem you have using the program.

Hello ok i am uploading a before and after images. I am using default settings in vwd im not sure what to change to make drape over breast so not clinging.

mrgraphix:

I was here last night, and started to write a rather lengthy post regarding work-flows for this, but it really needs it's own thread, because there are many factors and variables that come into play with different meshes, collision objects, and simulation choices. Warning: Lengthy work-flows post below...

I was wondering the same thing as VirtualWorldDynamics above, and am glad you have included a screen-shot. It appears you are working with the By Neighborhood rigidification due to buttons, overlapping panels line, and possibly non-welded mesh components. If this is the case, the cloth mesh will try to retain it's shape as closely as possible to the original. Also, that is a tight fitting shirt for that body shape, so there won't be much room for a transition. You could try to add scaling inside VWD to loosen the cloth some more (unless you want the tight fit).

You can try a few things to coax your cling-wrap free including:

1. Scaling vertices under the breasts to loosen (but might not yield optimal results).

2. Using a secondary collision proxy under the breasts on the torso for the cloth mesh to collide with (this method usually gives me two VWD sessions to be used; One for proxy collision, and then one to final drape cling-wrap free).

3. Using a completely different proxy cloth mesh to drape with that has zero non-welded components and using DS to create what you need by conforming your shirt to the proxy shirt (but this is a different work-flow that includes morph targets, and Transfer Utility).

4. Turn off DS morph targets for the breasts, so the shirt remains as close to possible to original (breasts should poke through shirt), and then using Dynamic Deformation Sim Tool inside VWD to quickly fit to breasts with less cling-to (Press SHIFT once [do not hold], and watch the magic. Some might need a couple of quick presses, but usually one or two quick presses does the job). Then run a normal Static Simulation with your chosen settings.

5. Try to simulate your cloth under different settings with different rigidity settings for the separate components of the shirt.

Example for the last one; When importing the cloth, uncheck both rigidity settings. Then inside VWD select all non-welded components and give them a By Neighborhood rigidity setting. Depending on what you set, and what variables, you should get a shirt that both drapes more natural, and external components should not fall off.

If you are doing this as an animated drape to get both the drape, and have it on the final pose, I would suggest you first work on the no cling-wrap work first on static simulation, and then use the resulting cloth mesh for your animated simulations.

Also, there is one more thing you can try, but I have to warn you, it is a monotonous task inside of VWD. What you do is after your initial drape, freeze every vertex on your mesh (X hotkey). Next, uncheck the Release Nails box in Simulation Tab for the Dynamic Deformation Sim Tool (SHIFT, and CTRL + SHIFT [which is for push/pulling in view-port direction] hotkeys). This will pin the vertices where you move them (if Release Nails is ON they will just snap back to their original position). Last, you get to work hand sculpting the cling-wrap transitions that you want vertex-by-vertex.

You can also perform the last example inside of DS with the Deform Magnets Tools, or if you have Hexagon (with DS Bridge) or another 3D modeler, you can perform that same task even easier with sculpting tools, Tweak-modes, or vertex translations with a soft-selection modifier.

Here are a couple results from a simple shirt with cling-wrap breasts (both small and large) just to illustrate it can be done:

From this:

To this:

And, from this:

To this:

DaremoK3 thank you so much for lengthy post and taking time. Your image examples are exactly what i'm trying to achieve. I will try every tip you wrote and hopefully learn to get results as you get.Which method did you use on samples below? Again thank you so much very appreciated.If i have anymore questions or want to share my own tips or results on this subject i will create a thread for this subject only.

mrgraphix:

You are welcome. If you need specific help on any area, or techniques, then go ahead and create a dedicated thread for this. I have about twenty screen-shots, and can go into detail regarding any technique if you need it.

For the two examples above, the method I used was the turn off breast morphs in the conformed clothes, and using the quick Dynamic Deformation Sim Tool fits. But, since I am using Genesis1 with default Female Shape, and the clothes object is the default G1 Kids Shape Tankini, it defaults to a flat torso shape that is easily used in VWD. If you are using a dedicated female figure with dedicated clothing with breast shapes built in, there would probably be some smoothing work that would need to be done, or initial drapes where you exclude figures breasts from the simulation collisions.

The one with the larger breasts is a little different from just a standard drape. I turned the small tanktop shirt into a long loose shirt with VWD using the scaling function. I also have versions where it is still a tight fitting shirt, but without the cling-wrap. I have turned shirts into dresses, and dresses into shirts with scaling.

I forgot to mention an important part of the work-flows I use in VWD for fitting/draping cloth objects.

G (gravity), and I (inertia) are your friends, and learn to use them to control your draping. I start with both Gravity and Inertia set to OFF. This gives a slow controlled drape (keeping mesh shape, but alleviating poke-through), and is especially great for cloth fits using the Dynamic Deformation sim. I will add gravity starting at a low setting (0.1), and gradually going up in value. At points I will introduce inertia, then remove it again, or gravity, or sometimes both. I add gravity, remove gravity. Add inertia, remove inertia. It is like a dance when simulating watching the cloth closely as I perform adjustments until I am satisfied with something. Then I use the Send Pose To Host button, duplicate the mesh in Studio, and go back into VWD to play with Dynamic Deformation for multiple send poses to host sessions, and duplicating the meshes for morph targets.

Also, before sending to VWD, a quick method to set your breast auto-conformed morphs, and cloth mesh back to zero is to just unconform (fit to none) the cloth object from the figure.

Here is the large breast tight fitting version that I should have shown before instead of the nightgown drape:

I'm having two problems getting this to work, one might be a bridge problem, and one might be a VWD problem that may or may not be related.

First, when I click on the "VWDPython.dse" file, I get an error that the External program c:/blahblah/VWD/VWDClothAndHair.exe launch failed. The file path is correct, so it isn't that the file isn't where it thinks it is.

I can manually start the .exe while the script is running, and it will import the list of scene objects, so it seems to be a workaround, but then I have my second problem.

I can load the figure as the collision object, but some clothes will not import. It seems to be the name issue that the manual talks about, as it says it cannot find the .obj file, but no matter what I rename the clothing it still won't work. Ironically in one case it is a dress named "dress", so it is the exact example of what the manual says to rename it to.

Hi Thoreandan,

For the first point, the Studio plugin does not start the exe file directly, but it launches a python file named StartVWD.py which, in turn, starts the exe file (amongst other thing). This StartVWD file and the exe file need to be in the same directory. Anyway, the bridge tracks a lot of actions in the Studio log file. Could you PM me this file (It's in Studio help menu, troubleshooting item)

For the second point, I also need the log file

Though I have been having good success performing cloth sims, I am unable to do any hair sims. I have been using Esidor hair on V4 in Daz Studio. I follow Biscuit’s excellent video on hair sims to the letter and all goes well until I hit the “Start Static Sim button. At that point, I consistently get an access violation message. I have attached a screen shot. Any help would be appreciated.

As a followup to the previous message. Sometimes the access violation address is 00680F46, and the "Lecture de l'adresse" is 00000294.

I've reported that too; try looking at my hair sim tut. There's a point I suggest to check in it. Not sure which vid (but probably the second one). It has to do with the checkbox being checked for self collision on hair, when it shouldn't be. I think. If that doesn't work, try a different hair; on occasions, I seem to get more issues with a specific item than others.

The vids are on: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKzRtu0dYy0uC7MDU-C6WXA

@Writers_Block Many thanks indeed. Unchecking the Self-collision fixed it. And well done on those videos. Very helpful.

@dushka Glad that fixed it. :)

The new public release of DAZ studio has caused some issues with the VWD bridge, at least for me. When invoking the bridge, the collision items trasfer over fine. However the cloth item opens a dialogue box to export OBJ which you have to click accept on (never did that before,it just handled it behind the scenes). I could live with that but there are two things that are messed up. First, the VWD copy of the cloth item is the ONLY version of it in the scene now, the original item is deleted from the scene instead of made invisible. And second, the new VWD version has no materials applied to it, possibly because it wants to get them from the original but that's gone.

Anyone else getting this behavior?

Just an edit, I think the materials are not transferring because the OBJ created is assuming a 3Delight material but the original had a Iray shader based material applied and when you copy/paste an Iray material onto a 3Delight one, it results in nothing happening. I don't recall this being an issue before though.

I'm using beta; i have 4.8 available in case i need, but the beta version i'm using is the same as the release. Have you tried going to utilities in VWD, and clicking: 'Delete all Exchange Files' and 'Restore Default Parameters'? That can often solve issues.

Writers_Block posted at 1:14PM Tue, 10 January 2017 - #4294498

I'm using beta; i have 4.8 available in case i need, but the beta version i'm using is the same as the release. Have you tried going to utilities in VWD, and clicking: 'Delete all Exchange Files' and 'Restore Default Parameters'? That can often solve issues.

I have reset the paramaters to default and deleted exchange files. Behavior still like this: when I populat host list, that works fine. When I select items as collision, that works fine. When I select items as cloth, an export window pops up in Studio with scale as "custom" and everything else defailt, I have to click "okay" and it close, then another opens and I have to click "okay" again and it closes, then the cloth appears in VWD. If I don't click "okay" VWD eventually says the object is not present.

yeh it times out as the default now seems to be to agree to the imports

I got the same problem with the new DAZ Studio Version and VWD Bridge like Grinch. Is there a fix coming up?

it didn't happen during beta, but has been added; don't recall seeing why.

Hello- (I suppose this should go into the "Carrara Bridge" thread but where is it?) I'm using VWD with the Carrara bridge. I have tried a static simulation with some items I built myself, but when I click the Host List, I encounter an Index List Error ("Index de liste hors limites (-1)). While I don't expect my objects to drape correctly without serious edits, namely sub-divisioning, I don't understand why the objects won't even list so I can test them. The kooky thing is, I tried a scene using a simple cylinder and vertex plane and it worked easily and wonderfully, so I don't think I have an installation error. Thanks in advance for you attention to this matter.

By the way, a glance at the debug text shows this curiousity. I'm not schooled in reading these reports, but maybe this is can offer a clue to what is going on.

MikeO posted at 9:38AM Mon, 16 January 2017 - #4295236

By the way, a glance at the debug text shows this curiousity. I'm not schooled in reading these reports, but maybe this is can offer a clue to what is going on.

Can you use content installed that you've got from Daz/Renderosity?

If so, that narrows it down; i've not yet had cause to go through the logs, but certainly 'trying to find...' looks interesting, but I don't know enough to offer constructive advice.

Daz/Rendo (V4 and a tank top) items loaded fine and listed successfully. Also simulated, although with a tight fitting shirt, I guess, nothing draped much. ;-) Thanks for your attention, WB!

Just tried it with a dress. Draped beautifully!

One thing to note, only drape one item at a time; not sure if you can drape more than one, but don't try imo. Even tight fitting, the breast area will look more believable; basically it won't look like they were sown around the breasts, or they've be wearing it since before puberty.

Another thought; if you've made the item yourself, and I've used my own without issues, try going through the process of making it conforming. I do that with items I create for dynamic use only, it saves on a pose series to drape some of them; not always but often. Presuming that works without issues, then it may drape well leaving it fitted to the figure; and if not, just 'unfit' then try draping. I'm wondering if the item you're using has issues, then those might also cause Daz to object when you're trying to fit.

Well, keep in mind I am using the Carrara Bridge, with items I created in Carrara. I am not using Daz Studio, nor the Daz Bridge. I apologize if this was not the correct thread to post this issue, but I could not find a corresponding Carrara Bridge sticky thread. I could start a new thread if that would help.

nah no worries it can use daz items though, right? maybe do the test anyway

Yes, V4 and a Daz dress work just fine. Is it okay if I use the Carrara skeleton tools, or do I have to use the Figure Setup tools in Daz Studio? Right now both the figure and blouse is setup in Carrara. And so far, still no go. Thanks again for your help!

I've never used Carrara, so no idea.

Incase you are unaware of the Daz procedure:

Load into Daz as an Obj (is probably easiest).

Edit > Object > Rigging > Convert Figure to Prop: then let the defaults go. This part isn't really needed as far as I can tell; I leave it out unless I have an issue, and so far the only time i had one, it didn't help.

Then do:

Edit > Object > Transfer Utility

Select the source figure (G3F perhaps) in left part Scene Item

Select Target in right side > whatever you've imported

If you click o show options: you can deselect: Fit to Source Figure. Unless you actually want to see how it works. If issues, try both.

Okay! I'll give it a try! I'll use the G1 or G2 Figure Transfer Utility tools, since Carrara cannot yet work with G3.

MikeO posted at 12:22AM Tue, 17 January 2017 - #4295334

Okay! I'll give it a try! I'll use the G1 or G2 Figure Transfer Utility tools, since Carrara cannot yet work with G3.

Hang on a sec; i told you wrong, sorry bout that.

I can't edit it, so others might try it too; mods could correct?

Actually forget it; it's late and I think I told you correctly. Been a while.