agape posted at 11:00AM Thu, 08 September 2016 - #4282515

I am using a short hair model in my animation. I imported it into VWD but right before it shows me the validate button, I get this error message: "Not enough memory size, you must change the parameters." I have 16g of ram and 4g of GPU ram. I shouldn't be running out! As for the parameters, I am at a loss. I don't where to tweek it. I am assuming it is in the parameters right after I hit the first hair button but don't know what to do!

In this case, the memory size relates to the number of springs involved in the simulation. The problem is not so much the memory in your system, but the fact that with several hundred of millions springs involved, the simulation will be to slow to be of any use. When I have this error, I'm sometime able to solve it by:

• after importing the collision and before importing the hair, I go in the bottom tab and I click on "restore default parameter"
• in the topmost tab, I click on "use spring reduction"
• then I import the hair.

Hope it helps

@agape : As said Philemot, you can use the "use spring reduction" function. You can also use the "Distance min" value. This function allows to keep only the springs that have a length higher than this value. For hair, the default distance for the springs is 0.5 and the distance min is 0.25. I suggest you to keep the 0.5 value but you can increase the distance min value to 0.4 if necessary. Some new hair at Daz are really beautiful but they have hundreds thousands vertices. When you have this message, at least 30 or 40 millions springs have been generated. This value is really the maximum value for a simulation even on a very fast computer. I want to write a mesh decimator specially made for the hair. I've began to think to how to write it, but it is not so easy. For now, you have to use the above solutions to create simulations on very high resolution hair.

DaremoK3 posted at 6:17AM Fri, 09 September 2016 - #4282449

(operating system, processors, RAM, video, etc.).

Win7 64bit Xeon 5670, RAM=12, SSDs only. (GPU is low relevance in VWD sim but here it is Evga TITAN Kepler updated driver).

VWD Gerald and Philemot should have noted by now another user has just reported almost exact pattern I and others are experiencing. Consistency is good.

I shall give hotkey T a try next time I run some cloth sims. Cheers...

Hello Mythico,

DaremoK3 made many tests on hair and It seems the problem comes from the self-collision checkbox. The self-collision cannot be used for the hair. In the next version, I will uncheck it and will disable it. Could you make some tests without the self-collision, please.

agape posted at 12:48AM Sat, 10 September 2016 - #4282515

I am using a short hair model in my animation. I imported it into VWD but right before it shows me the validate button, I get this error message: "Not enough memory size, you must change the parameters." I have 16g of ram and 4g of GPU ram. I shouldn't be running out! As for the parameters, I am at a loss. I don't where to tweek it. I am assuming it is in the parameters right after I hit the first hair button but don't know what to do!

Make sure the hair has zero sub d on it.

Hi Writers_Block,

When you import the hair try clicking the "Use springs reduction" checkbox under "Import as".

I find that when I use "Use vertices neighbourhood" that selecting "Distance min" and increasing the value also works. On one test I had to push the distance min all the way up to 3.5 to get it to run without memory error.

It is a program limitation and not hardware related. I can assure you that no matter how much system and or GPU RAM you have you will still get memory error when using some models.

The uninstall of Python 2.7.12 and/or Python 3.5.2 (64bit) and install of Python 3.6.0a4 (64bit) appears to have fixed the problems I was experiencing. Fixed for both Poser11 and DAZ Bridge and on both editions of Windows10.

However I did get a couple of Violation errors when using Poser11 with Python 3.6.0a4(64bit) and VWD. I also received an error 13 (or 30 I don't remember which). I was doing quite a bit of experimenting within poser trying to recall how to use it and the error may relate to some sort of data cache situation. I closed Poser11 and reopened it and was then not able to reproduce the error again.

For anyone trying to use Hair simulation, and are getting the Access Violation error which is not allowing you to simulate any hair, this is possibly due to the Cloth simulation parameter Self Collision as stated by VirtualWorldDynamics above.

They both share this parameter setting, but it is not available for Hair dynamics (greyed-out). The issue lies with going from cloth simulation using self-collision, and then moving on to hair simulation (even if at a different time, or day). This is due to the INI saved state file which records, and presents the last used parameters. If self-collision was last used on a cloth simulation, then it is locked in, and when using Hair simulation you will notice the greyed-out checkbox is indeed checked when it should be unchecked. This is causing the access violation errors.

Gérald is working to rectify this for the next version (as stated above), but for now, a work-around is to before you select your Hair mesh and press the Hair button, open up the Dynamics Parameters Tab and uncheck the Self Collision checkbox. Then select your hair mesh and press the Hair button. You will see the greyed-out checkbox is now clear. Your hair simulation should now work as expected.

I hope this helps...

npayn posted at 10:15AM Sat, 10 September 2016 - #4282839

Hi Writers_Block,

When you import the hair try clicking the "Use springs reduction" checkbox under "Import as".

I find that when I use "Use vertices neighbourhood" that selecting "Distance min" and increasing the value also works. On one test I had to push the distance min all the way up to 3.5 to get it to run without memory error.

It is a program limitation and not hardware related. I can assure you that no matter how much system and or GPU RAM you have you will still get memory error when using some models.

thanks but I was replying to another post.

Thank you for your great suggestions. I spent most of Saturday doing hair simulations on one hair model. It gave me fits! I finally decided to reduce the polys with Daz's decimator. That hair model started at 288,000 polys and choking the plugin! HUGE! I took it down to 30% and then it performed correctly!

To prevent problems with VWD, it's required to simulate one piece at a time. Not load the complete bridal wardrobe with 4 dynamic parts at once.

Start with the first layer. (hair always last) After the first piece is simulated it's wise to spawn a morph target to bake your final position into clothing or hair.

Use that vwdprop to collide the next piece on.

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 2:38AM Mon, 12 September 2016 - #4282740

Hello Mythico,

DaremoK3 made many tests on hair and It seems the problem comes from the self-collision checkbox. The self-collision cannot be used for the hair. In the next version, I will uncheck it and will disable it. Could you make some tests without the self-collision, please.

Will do...

Because of the hair sim bug, I've still yet to figure out what is it that the Hair sim does that the Cloth sim doesn't. Is it just the popular character's scalp pre-selected vertices presets? Is it post-simulation further vertex groups re-selection?

To me they are just meshes, conforming or plain unskinned, Hair is just another Cloth actor. So if I could use VWD Cloth sim on my Hair objects with good result, even with self-collision working on these hair-as-cloth-actors, that's ok, right?

On the self-collision note...

I know VWD is quite heroic and capable of multimillion springs, but I think it is reasonable to ask VWD users to avoid simulating hair with more than specific number of verts.

Also, remind Daz users that they do have a very useful Scene Info pane in Windows>Panes, where they could see how many tri/quad/face whatnot of individual scene objects.

Report of a few minor bugs

bug 1. After Cloth simulation, Vertices Tools. Viewport won't highlight vertices. Material group drop down, select any Mat group, will produce the follow error message.

Found a workaround today:

After the above error message, click on any other scene items loaded in the Host List, will cause Clothing vertices to be highlighted in blue and become ready for selection again.

This doesn't look like an expected behavior.

bug 2. During Cloth simulation, accidentally press Shift in viewport background without left clicking, caused severe crash (freeze hang).

Need to eventually Task Manager force kill to close VWD.

Daz Studio scene seems normal. Launch VWD, freeze hang crash.

Can't exit Daz Studio the normal way after that, right click task bar to exit, or Task manager force kill.

That's it for now....

When you forcekill VWD, you should restart the script in studio. As there is already a script running, it will be stopped.

I clicked on the custom action, which is effectively restarting the script? That caused the crash hang as stated above.

Anyway, I've noted the same pattern as a previously report bug.

Mythico posted at 8:07AM Mon, 12 September 2016 - #4281747

One crash pattern observed:

Sim actors can be the usual figure/prop, or both Daz primitives with sufficient vertex density.

-after dynamic simulation, press Vertices Tools + Vertices Group tab

-try to load material group = produce error message

-nothing can be done any further for this simulation session

-attempt to exit VWD = crash hang

-Task manager to force close VWD

-In DS, everything seems normal. Click on VWD action button to launch next sim session

-DS crash hang

-Task manager or Ctrl Alt Del to force close DS

(same as freshly reported bug no.1, which also happened after Cloth simulation)

So, this hair sim issue is also resolvedby the same workaround as the bug no.1 above:

After the above error message, click on any other scene items loaded in the Host List, will cause Clothing vertices to be highlighted in blue and become ready for selection again

So good news basically. Had 2 successful VWD Hair sim sessions on Genesis so far since this workaround is discovered. One is under 20K RadiantJaguar hair. One is crazy-high-poly 160K LoveMeHairGN.

I purposely reinitiated sim after a round of 30sec animated dynamic session. Did the T for Vertices Tool route, and this time, I ignore the error message, went to the Host List and click something else, I was able to continue working with vertices selection, ridigidy some more etc etc, then another round of sim without any incident.

Mythico posted at 3:33PM Mon, 12 September 2016 - #4283102

-attempt to exit VWD = crash hang

-Task manager to force close VWD

-In DS, everything seems normal. Click on VWD action button to launch next sim session

-DS crash hang

-Task manager or Ctrl Alt Del to force close DS

---

I'll look into it. Restarting the script should really terminate the previous one. It should work better with the new version which terminates the script more efficiently. I'm just waiting for an update authorization from Rendo.

@Mythico : I would like you can use the hair import to simulate hair because this method allows to attach the hair to the head more precisely. You can use the "Nail to collision" function on the head of the character and animate your hair using this method. Like for a cloth actor.

You are right, a simulation of a cloth actor and a hair actor works with the way. There are 2 differences ;

• How the mesh is attached to the character.
• the size of the rigidification. For the hair, I use a distance which is half.

I thank you for the words I have to use for a cloth simulation. For me, These words don't correspond to a precise definition. I will use them when I will rewrite the documentation.

I will look precisely to the errors you have. I never had the problem you have with the hair selection. Have you this problem if you try to make a selection manually on the head of the character, before to click on the "Show hair vertices" button.

I will give you more informations tomorrow.

By looking at the program, I think I have found the problem. When you do the selection of the vertices on the head of the character, Are you sure you always use the good character name. When you select a character in the list, in the hair tab, many vertices, defined by a number in the HRV file, are defined as selected on the head of the character. If the character is not the right one, some vertices can have an indice higher than the number of vertices in the character. I should have done this test but it don't exist in the program. This could explain the access violation you have . I will correct this forgetting in the next version.

Could you make a test with Genesis 3 character and Import a hair using the "Genesis 3 DAZ" in the listbox.

Sorry for the delay in response. I am currently using VWD version 408.2976. I have and continue to get the french message described before almost every time I run a dynamic sim in poser 2014. I can run a static sim and it works, but then without changing anything if I try and run a dynamic one I get the error message. Using cloth I get that error about 50% of the time. Using hair I get the error 90+% of the time. Sometimes I also get the python error below:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:....RuntimePythonposerScriptsVWDExchangevwd.py", line 5, in modif_verts() File "C:....RuntimePythonposerScriptsVWDExchangevwd.py", line 222, in modif_verts

File "C:....RuntimePythonposerScriptsVWDExchangevwd.py", line 93, in export_verts_figure

I also have the Carrara plugin and the DAZ studio plugin. Carrara works most of the time. I have yet to get DAZ to work correctly. Your plugin goes through the calculations but the mesh is deformed, usually squished down in one axis like flattened and not in the correct positioning that the original figure was at.

Sorry I'm not more technically inclined to explain things better. But the Lecture ua-dela' de la fin de fichier error is what constantly shows up in poser for some reason. This error does not show up in DAZ studio but the mesh gets deformed. And then things work much better in Carrara but I do sometimes get that same error. And sometimes the "xxx.obj cannot be found" error message.

Thanks for the great work on these terribly missing features from all three of those products. I know the bugs will all get worked out in time. If no one else is reporting these errors I am sure it is on my part. But I have also reset to default all the attributes and it doesn't change the results.

Hello primeuser, I really would like to correct these errors.

Looking at your error messages, I see you use the Poser default folder for VWD. Sometimes, This very long path generates a problem in Poser and some users have resolved their problems by displacing VWD in a very short path.

Please, could you make a try by moving VWD directly under the C: driven, ie in a folder named C:\VWD. You can make a copy of your current VWD folder to C:, and modify your access to the program in the Poser Python interface by changing one of the buttons. If you have a problem to do so, I can send you the script to write for the button.

I wait the results of this test and I hope this modification will resolve definitively all your problems.

philemot posted at 9:25AM Wed, 14 September 2016 - #4283105

I'll look into it. Restarting the script should really terminate the previous one. It should work better with the new version which terminates the script more efficiently. I'm just waiting for an update authorization from Rendo.

OK, new version has now a "Stop VWD" script to use in case of VWD crash (self crash or force kill).

Hi! First of all, thank you for creating this wonderful tool!

I have a problem rendering hair when I have more than one collision item in use. I purge the previous settings and reset the values. In my example, I am using G2F, a cape that I run through VWD before, and a shoulder-pouldron as a collision item. I use the default settings for collision items. This all loads without a problem. Then, I load the hair, also using the default settings for hair. G2F is the default selection for the collision question, so I just confirm. Then, when (in the tutorial vid) the character (in this case, G2F) should be pre-selected for the haircap-default preset, instead, it jumps to the cape, or the shoulder-poldron (depending on which I loaded last before the hair).

The default selection of the preset then happens to that item.

I can manually change to G2F and apply the preset, but then something is still wrong.

When the hair is finally loaded (all like the video, just using default settings), and I press MR to re-show the stored selection, the polygons are marked in the hair instead of the head.

This is very weird. I haven't been able to complete a sucessful hair drape, though the cloth drape works fine. I am using DAZ Studio 4.8, Win 10 and the VWD Studio bridge. I am sorry if I explained things badly, English is not my first language.

Bee

@beemeekay : I rarely make hair simulations with several collisions actors. I will redo your test and I will give you the result as soon as possible. I suppose you import all the collision objects and then the hair actor. This method is good and should work correctly. Could you make a test by importing the character, then the hair, and at the end, the other collisions objects. In all cases, I will reply you more precisely after some tests.

Okay, I'm going to test it. What I did found out is, if you have G2F as collision item first, then load the cloak as cloth, and then load the shoulder-piece, the cloak opens up the menu part for HAIR.... Much weirdness ensues. ;-)

@beemeekay : excuse me, I don't understand. You want to say that the hair menu opens when you import the shoulder-piece without pressing on the "Import hair" button. Could you make a short video showing this.

I made some tests for the hair and you can import the hair actor and the collision actors in the order you want. If you import G2F as collision actor, you have to select "Genesis2 Daz" in the listbox, then click on "Show hair vertices" and then click on "Generate springs".

I'm sorry, I can't make a video of it, I do not have recording equipment installed on the render PC. I can try screenshots, if that is of any help? The order is:

• Import G2F as collision item,
• Import cape as cloth (default),
• Import shoulder piece as collision item Then the hair menu opens instead of the collision item dialogue.

As for the other error, it's regrettable that you can't replicate it; you did use the DAZ bridge, and DS 4.8 for import? I followed the steps as shown in the tutorial video for hair that can be downloaded here on this website. I did select Genesis 2 DAZ, as the screenshot shows.

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 9:24PM Sun, 18 September 2016 - #4283132

I will look precisely to the errors you have. I never had the problem you have with the hair selection.

Actually, the earlier hair sim bug I reported is the same as my later report of cloth sim bug no.2.

Both hair / cloth sim cases = after a round of simulation; reinitiate dynamic sim; Vertices tool; select Material group from drop down; ERROR MESSAGE; the rest of Vertices Tools remains non-responsive after closing error message. Non-responsive = vertices won't be selected nor will it turn blue.

Typically when that happens, I just end the sim session = quit VWD and restart new session. However, as stated in my last 2 posts, it's been discovered it's POSSIBLE TO WORK AROUND THE BUG = go to the Host List, randomly click on any other iterms, the Vertices Tools and Groups selection tools become responsive again, and I could continue selection and rigidification for the next round of hair/ cloth sim.

It seems the bug has to do with Vertices selection menus becoming unresponsive after a round of sim.

I hope it's clearer.

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 9:37PM Sun, 18 September 2016 - #4283812

@beemeekay : excuse me, I don't understand. You want to say that the hair menu opens when you import the shoulder-piece without pressing on the "Import hair" button.

I can confirm this as a bug.

G2F import as collision. Default G2F free blouse Persian Full Top as Cloth. No problem so far. Click on a box prop in the Host List, HAIR PARAMETER + Vertices tools menus auto expand - without even pressing the Collision/ Cloth/ Hair button! This is of course not an expected behavior.

IF continue session without importing any more Collision actor, ignore the opened Hair menu, the session proceed as per normal with no issue. Select vert, nail to collision, rigidification, sim, etc.

IF import box as (a second) Collision actor, ignore the opened Hair Menu - select verts; nail to collision = ERROR POPUP: The selected object must be a cloth object.

More tests. Results...

Genesis 1 also has the same "highlight imported Box in Host List, Hair menu auto-expand for no reason issue".

Again, if continue session and ignore hair menu, will carry out sim session per normal.

However, I have also found, IF import 3rd object (box/other scene items) as Collision Actor, and with Hair Menu still auto-expanded, the issue can be worked arouond IF we go up to Host List, RE-select the Cloth Actor, then NO ERROR POPUP claiming "must be cloth object". Hair menu REMAINS opened/expanded btw, but the Vertices Tools selection grouping and the rest of the sim session can continue as per normal. Cloth actor will collide with BOTH collision actors.

It's good that the 'Hair Menu Auto-expand at 2nd Collision Actor Import" is not a big bug and can be bypassed. In any case, this still has to be fixed. Because

• Highlighting a 3rd object in the Host List should not auto-expand Hair menu.

• The Hair menu should not remained opened in a multiple Collision actors session for no reason.

So far, it seems most of the "bugs" I've come across can easily be resolved by making VWD auto-selecting (or auto-REselecting) the Cloth or Hair object in the Host List, when users click on Vertices Tools at any point of the session.

@beemeekay and @Mythico : I want to be sure to understand your problem. I made a short video showing the workflow you use. Can you confirm that you would have a problem on your computer using the same actions. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9c39Rz2Ec-JMUN4OHJmbkp5bWs

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 2:42AM Tue, 20 September 2016 - #4283925

@beemeekay and @Mythico : I want to be sure to understand your problem. I made a short video showing the workflow you use. Can you confirm that you would have a problem on your computer using the same actions. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9c39Rz2Ec-JMUN4OHJmbkp5bWs

Correct. Hair menu will open as soon as I click on the next item in Host List. (Win 7 64bit DS 4.9.2.7. Latest DS bridge installed )

Yes, that is also the steps that cause the hair menu to show up.

please, allow me to say... I love you guys .. since the last VWD plugin fix, I am a lot more involved with my Daz hobby (hair dynamic). And of course, thanks to the users in this forum, for making less sharp our learning curve. Go on like this!

@Keycode17: thank you for your review. By rereading it, I realize that I have answered you as someone who is overwhelmed and I apologize for this. Sometimes I feel I cannot answer at all. The hair simulations also are also my favorite ones. I am happy you use VWD to make hair simulations you want.

i experienced an error while i am using dynamic simulation to the cloth can u please suggest me what to do to never experience such error again

Hello Gauthi,

The version you use is not the version sold at Renderosity. It is linked to another project.

Could you send me an email. This message has not to be written here.

Hi,

I have been using VWD successfully for weeks and done many sucessful simulations. It has been great fun. I've hit a problem that is incredibly simple, and I'm sure it never used to happen, but now I can't get rid of it. I am modelling V4 in a gown sitting on a bench. V4 and the bench are collision objects, and I use 100 timesteps to go from default pose to sitting. The dress always intersects the bench. It is as if the bench is not there (although I can see it in VWD Scene Viewer).

I set all parameters to default. It still does it. I have added a picture of the sim half-way through to show that the dress is not in any way deflected by the bench.

Help :-)

Hello valkeerie, I suppose the bench has a very large mesh structure. You can resolve this problem by using the subdivision fonction on the bench with a value of 1 or 1.5. I hope this solution will resolve your problem.

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 3:49PM Sat, 24 December 2016 - #4293284

Hello valkeerie, I suppose the bench has a very large mesh structure. You can resolve this problem by using the subdivision fonction on the bench with a value of 1 or 1.5. I hope this solution will resolve your problem.

Hi VWD, thank you for your prompt suggestion. It took me a lot of trial and error but I was able to resolve the issue by using a subdivision value of 0.5. Even at 1 interpenetration was still occuring. I have attached a screen capture of the complete animation (for the benefit of future readers). Getting cloth to drape well is hard, but I am satisfied - it is 1000 times better than anything I could achieve with morphs.

I may have uncovered a simple bug. The check boxes "use animation" and "Subdivide" are mutually exclusive. If I import the stone bench after V4, and select "Subdivide", it clears the animation checkbox and animation for the figure does not occur. If I import the bench first, and then V4, I can click "use animation" for V4, and dynamic simulation then works as intended. I lost many hours discovering that.

VWD is brilliant and it has radically changed the way I work in DAZ. Even with cloths that fit well I do a quick static simulation and it makes an enormous difference to the appearance.

Thanks Valkeerie

.

Hello Valkeerie,

I am happy you found the solution.

For the importation, you are right the checkbox "subdivide" unchecks the checkbox "Use animation". The reason is that if I import the animation for this element, the subdivision can be different at each frame (not the same number of vertices). The "Subdivide" checkbox must be used only for static collision element (as the bench).

Nevertheless, you can import the collision elements in the order you want. You just have to check the "Use animation" checkbox for the character. I have to give more informations in the documentation.

Have a great day.

  Gérald

Hi, I hope I'm posting this in the right spot...I just bought the plug in for Poser and the Bridge to DS. I'm having a lot of fun with static simulations but I'm finding that when I try and do a dynamic simulation VWD crashes. This is most likely user error as I'm still trying to work out the process so I'm hoping someone can point me in the direction of a simple tutorial for the DS bridge? At the moment I'm loading and setting up the timeline in DS. Putting the timeline back to the start in zero position and then opening VWD, then I'm showing the host. I set up Dawn as the collison and the clothing as the cloth and then starting the simulation. Is there something I'm missing?

Hi pen,

I'm not sure if the bridge would be the issue, but I never tested for Dawn (or Dusk), so I could not verify if this could be a causation.

Is VWD locking up (not responding) when you run the dynamic simulation, and you have to force kill it through Task Manager?

This happens for me for only one figure I tested and use; SM G2 Olivia.

I believe it might be some kind of rigging anomaly error that isn't accounted for, or at least possibly the case in my account. Static sims with G2 Olivia are fine, and both static and dynamic sims are fine with G2 Jessi, but animated sims for Olivia with same clothes that work on Jessi fail ten out of ten times without exception.

Try this for a test; Load in your animated scene as you have before, but do not press the Dynamic Simulation button. Instead, cycle through the animation one frame at a time (right arrow key) all the way to the end to see if the animation data is intact. For me, the animation plays through to the end one frame at a time, but fails (locks up) the second I press the dynamic sim button.

I have been using a long-about technique of simulating each frame independently with static simulation, and dynamic deformation (holding SHIFT key) while cycling through all frames to the end. Not so bad for 30 frames to achieve a draped pose, but not for an animation or anything longer.

If Dawn is failing like Olivia, I believe these figures might need to be looked into as how VWD is using them with animation.

Hi DaremoK3, thanks for the info...I'll give it a try tomorrow. It sounds like it may pay to try doing it with Genesis3 and see what happens. If that works then it is possible that it could be something like you've mentioned. I'll see how I go...thanks for the help.

So I gave it a try with Genesis 3Female and a simple dress...dynamic simulation seemed to work but when I sent it to the host the dress disappeared.

I may have to give your technique of multiple static simulations...I'm not animating I just want a draped pose.

pendraia:

Well, that is good that you were able to accomplish an animated drape with G3, but sucks that it failed sending to host. Did you try to send back a static pose, or the animation which contains every pose from every frame?

Send Pose to Host usually works on a consistent basis for me, and I usually send many poses to host per VWD session. Maybe try some smaller tests to rule out variables regarding VWD, the DS Bridge, and your PC environment. Some software don't like some setups, but I highly doubt this is the issue.

What are the settings you were using with the dress, and also what is the vertex count?

You can check the vertex count in DS, or inside of VWD by going into the Vertices Tools Tab (shortcut key T), and selecting the "INV" (invert) button. It will select all vertices and display the count at bottom right of screen.

Also, you have one more option to achieve your draped pose with VWD and DS. You can run the animated drape in DS only with conforming clothes, and then send both the collision figure and the cloth object in their posed states to VWD (on the last frame). Then you run a static sim to complete the draping which you can control by the rigidity settings. If you are using a dynamic cloth you will have to turn it into conforming first for this to work. I do this with my static dynamic clothes created in Marvelous Designer.

The trick here is to have your animation tab open, and after you launch VWD and then populate the Scene Import Tab with the Host List, VWD will resort back to the first frame. Just press the skip to end frame button, and you will be able to load in the collision objects and cloth objects in the posed state on the last frame. Make sure you do this before loading in either mesh objects or you will get first frame posing only.

Below is a WIP image I am working on that employs both techniques. The figure on the left is a 30 frame animated sim, and the figure on the right is a static drape utilizing the technique described above. Notice the drapes on the Hakama pants for each figure. Both are the same meshes, but are draped with very different settings. I wanted a stiffer, heavier cloth while managing the pleats on the left, and a lighter, flowing cloth on the right, but still be able to maintain stiff pleating. For the one on the right I added a pleats material zone inside of DS that allowed me to set high rigidity on them while keeping the rest of the cloth soft and springy.

And this image shows the setup for the stiff pleats using by neighborhood rigidification:

Thanks for the info...it will take me a while to digest it I'm afraid and try it all out. VortigensBane has provided me with a list of tutorials also over at Hivewire and expained where to find the pdf file so I will be checking all that out also. I'm tending to think most of my problem is user error because I don't really know what I'm doing but I will try out your suggestions as soon as I get chance. I start back at work tomorrow so it may take me a while to work my way through. VB also said that decimating stuff helps some times so I'm going to give that a try also and see if it helps. Thanks again for all the help...

Hello pendraia,

The documentation is not very userfriendly. WimVDB is writing a new documentation which will be very well made. It will be very helpful for you. We have to improved it for Carrara and Daz Studio. Some parts are a bit different from Poser.

Despite all the help given by DaremoK3, Tell me if I can help you. I want to make VWD easier to use and more stable. Feel free to send me the actors with which you work and have issues. If I own them, I can make some tests to solve your problems.

I currently correct some bugs and the next version will have some new functions and will allow to restart a simulation without (really) leaving the program.

Thanks VWD...I'm really enjoying using it and I think at this point many of the issues I have might be lack of knowledge on my part. DaremoK3 and VortigensBane(over at Hivewire) have been really supportive at the moment I just need to get to work on watching the videos and reading the pdf file that VB mentioned. Once I've done that if I still am unsure I'll be in touch. Glad to hear that you are doing more work on the documentation because I think that will help a lot. I'm willing to work through finding solutions if it does turn out to be a bug and I will get in touch if that is the case.

DaremoK3 posted at 6:20PM Mon, 30 January 2017 - #4296101

Well, that is good that you were able to accomplish an animated drape with G3, but sucks that it failed sending to host. Did you try to send back a static pose, or the animation which contains every pose from every frame?

I didn't know that I could send a static pose for a dynamic simulation so I sent using the button for the dynamic simulation.

Send Pose to Host usually works on a consistent basis for me, and I usually send many poses to host per VWD session. Maybe try some smaller tests to rule out variables regarding VWD, the DS Bridge, and your PC environment. Some software don't like some setups, but I highly doubt this is the issue.

That's what I do when I'm doing a static simulation. At the moment I'm trying to stick to using simple objects for the draping...and I've learnt now that I can have more than one collision item which may have been obvious but took me a while to catch onto.

What are the settings you were using with the dress, and also what is the vertex count?

I'm still tending to use default settings except for Gravity as that tends to pull things down when using the default so I tend to lower the gravity. Sorry I didn't look at the vertex count. I will do better next time. I think I need to start taking notes in OneNote and get more serious about this...

You can check the vertex count in DS, or inside of VWD by going into the Vertices Tools Tab (shortcut key T), and selecting the "INV" (invert) button. It will select all vertices and display the count at bottom right of screen.

Thanks...I didn't know this.

Also, you have one more option to achieve your draped pose with VWD and DS. You can run the animated drape in DS only with conforming clothes, and then send both the collision figure and the cloth object in their posed states to VWD (on the last frame). Then you run a static sim to complete the draping which you can control by the rigidity settings. If you are using a dynamic cloth you will have to turn it into conforming first for this to work. I do this with my static dynamic clothes created in Marvelous Designer.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this but once I've watched some of the videos it might start to make sense.

The trick here is to have your animation tab open, and after you launch VWD and then populate the Scene Import Tab with the Host List, VWD will resort back to the first frame. Just press the skip to end frame button, and you will be able to load in the collision objects and cloth objects in the posed state on the last frame. Make sure you do this before loading in either mesh objects or you will get first frame posing only.

Thanks for all the tips...

Below is a WIP image I am working on that employs both techniques. The figure on the left is a 30 frame animated sim, and the figure on the right is a static drape utilizing the technique described above. Notice the drapes on the Hakama pants for each figure. Both are the same meshes, but are draped with very different settings. I wanted a stiffer, heavier cloth while managing the pleats on the left, and a lighter, flowing cloth on the right, but still be able to maintain stiff pleating. For the one on the right I added a pleats material zone inside of DS that allowed me to set high rigidity on them while keeping the rest of the cloth soft and springy.

And this image shows the setup for the stiff pleats using by neighborhood rigidification:

This looks amazing...again, thanks for the help.