Hello,

It is Gérald who has come a long way.

A big problem with one eye made it impossible for me to use the computer.
I had complex retinal detachment which required silicone to be inserted into the eye for several months.
It limited my use of the computer to a few minutes.
Throughout this time, I wasn't sure if I could go back to writing VWD.

In short, now, even if everything is not perfect, I want to resume this project.

This expectation also made me think about what I want to do in 3D.
It also means that the future of VWD could be different.

This project depends a little on me but mostly depends on you.
Without your interest in the program, it will have no future.

The choice I made at the start of the project was probably not the right one.
I now think the program itself should focus on the calculation.
The new program will also have functions for creating and modifying clothes and hair.
The problem with the old VWD is that I tried to make it simulate elements whose mesh was not suitable for simulation at all.
This discredited VWD because there were many crashes that weren't necessarily related to the program itself.

The other problem of the program was to have to communicate with several applications which evolved regularly.
A better solution would have been to concentrate on the calculation part inside VWD and to develop independent gateways to communicate with other applications.
This solution would also have had the advantage of communicating with new applications without complicating the program itself.

To get started on this new project, I need to know what interest you might have in it.

Please tell me your opinion on this message. Thanks in advance.

      Gerald

Hello Gerald, it has been a long time !

Sorry to ear about your health troubles . Hope you it's behind you now. No fire ? not too hot this summer ? . 

After a big slowdown I'm trying to create again some new pictures (different topics, workflow,..) And, of course, with VWD inside for sure

A few weeks ago I decided to re-read the manual (back to school !) : I better understood some paramaters and of course found options I didn't used and see now what's their purpose. So again BRAVO. Dynamic simulation is complex but, for me, it's an investment to get better results .Now I must check the videos again.

Of course I want to continue to use VWD and will follow the next steps with pleasure . I will keep DS4 for VWD if DS5 is not compatible :-)

Best regards

Georges Delatour tribute (detail for the clothe) 

      Gerald

Hello Gerald, it has been a long time !

Sorry to ear about your health troubles . Hope you it's behind you now. No fire ? not too hot this summer ? . 

After a big slowdown I'm trying to create again some new pictures (different topics, workflow,..) And, of course, with VWD inside for sure

A few weeks ago I decided to re-read the manual (back to school !) : I better understood some paramaters and of course found options I didn't used and see now what's their purpose. So again BRAVO. Dynamic simulation is complex but, for me, it's an investment to get better results .Now I must check the videos again.

Of course I want to continue to use VWD and will follow the next steps with pleasure . I will keep DS4 for VWD if DS5 is not compatible :-)

Best regards

Georges Delatour tribute (detail for the clothe) 

Bravo Gérald,

I was quite worried that the Covid event got the better of you, so seeing that you are 'well' and getting back on track from your eye malady is superb news!

Oddly, I'm having problems with my left eye that also hint of retina detachment issues. If we weren't continents apart, I'd think it was something in the water!

I'll connect with you in the background, but want you to know how happy I/we are to hear you are well. That VWD may take on a new life/direction is icing on the cake.

best,

VWD3D

Hey--another asset--the ability to drape more than one item at a time and keep the textures in tact?

Sepiasiren posted at 9:31 PM Sun, 21 August 2022 - #4443114

Hey--another asset--the ability to drape more than one item at a time and keep the textures in tact?

"Restore DAZ Mats+Animations (DAZ Studio only): Re-apply the original surface material settings and
animations to the imported and selected collision-item. If no specific items are imported and selected,
all of the xxxx_VWD items in the scene will have their materials and animations restored when you
press this button (if they are available in the VWD results cache/Exchange folder).
This fixes an issue that occurs in reloaded Daz Studio scenes, where the xxxx_VWD items lose their
surface materials and animations when the DAZ Studio scenes are reloaded."

Hello Smaker1,

The problems with my eye are not quite solved, the months of silicone have left me with a general blur and a very annoying hyper luminosity.

About the weather, no, no fire but 4 times above 40°C. It's very tiring! This heat is also an advantage of the south of France which is gradually becoming a handicap.

VWD has always lacked tutorials, now I want to do a lot with my still bad English.

Thank you for all the images you have shown and which you will certainly continue to show on the forum. It is always a pleasure to see such a perfect result achieved with the help of the program.

Hello Sepiasiren,

I'm sorry to hear that you also have a health problem.
I hope you can spend enough time doing what makes you so happy....3D.

Thank you very much for your compliments, I will try to be worthy of them.
As I told Smaker1, VWD needs tutorials, especially for its installation.

You will see that there will also be new features to discover.

What I'm asking you is a little time because I have to immerse myself again in the program and everything that revolves around it.

Hello Dan,

I will write to you very soon.

Hello Gerald and good to see you back, and that you're recovered/recovering/dealing with it.  As we get older, those seem to be the three categories more and more things fit into. :)

If a new version of VWD emerged that worked with Poser 12 and was capable of even MOST of what the original could do, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.  It is literally the only thing keeping me in Poser 11- I use the original VWD version in every render.  Yes, it crashes sometimes because reasons, at which point I "issue the challenge" as my viking heritage demands, restart, and carry on.

I wish you all good luck!

Hello cabled,

sorry for replying to you so late.

Personally, I haven't used Poser for a long time but I would be happy to satisfy you.

I never bought Poser 12 and it seemed to me that VWD worked with the new updates. Apparently, that's not the case.

Would you agree to help me in this process of updating the program.

I know I have the same problems with the latest versions of Daz Studio. In this case, the advantage of Daz Studio is that it's free... even if it's not that simple.

What amazes me is that I only use very simple functions.

Could you tell me when the program crashes.

Cordially.

       Gerald

Hi Gérald

It's good to hear from you again. So sorry to hear about your eye - Hoping for the best for you.

I still use VWD all the time (animations) and would be very sad to lose the capability we have now. 

I don't think I understand where you are saying you might take VWD in the future. I use Daz Studio but I am very happy manipulating meshes in Blender, either changing existing meshes or making new ones, so I don't think I want another program to do that!

I seem to be getting fewer crashes in VWD these days, (I don't know why), but that could still be improved.

For me, your English is absolutely fine. (But I hope my English is ok for you!)

Best regards

Hello fuqol217,

When I say that I want to modify VWD, it is at two levels:

 - on the one hand, I have interactions with the hosts (Daz Studio or Poser) on a very small part of the program and it is a sensitive part because the two applications evolve and sometimes do not have backward compatibility. I would like to offer the possibility of reading the files which will be used for the simulation directly in the interface.

 - on the other hand, I would like to offer the possibility of creating clothes and hair with the quality that will allow with certainty to have a quality simulation.

For me, the most important part to do now is to create a significant number of tutorials that will allow you to see and then understand the various functions of the program. I say see because the constraints related to the shape of the interface on the right part of the screen, require to concentrate the functions to a minimalist size.
Perhaps it is possible to think of redoing a different interface?

For all this, I will ask you all for a little patience because I have to immerse myself in the program again and my possibilities of working on the computer are for the moment modest but they are improving day by day.

Regarding your English, I would be slightly pretentious to criticize it in view of the state of mine. :-)

Thank you for your message.

      Gérald

Good to hear you're back and getting better. I also would be very interested of new version of VWD. My biggest problem of the current version is that 32-bit architecture, which limits it's use considerably, so I hope you'll make your next version 64-bit. Also 1 collision item limit is annoying, and errors and crashes are quire frequent, so hopefully next version is going to be more stable. Still even with all it's quirks and problems, I think VWD is one of the fastest cloth simulation to date and I still use it frequently. In my opinion it's strongest point is how you can "grab" the cloth and move it almost real time. I've never used Poser so I have no idea how good it is, but Daz Studio dForce magnets and stuff are nowhere near what VWD can do.

I was thinking that maybe for next version you could consider Blender and maybe even Unreal/Unity bridges to grow your audience. There's some cloth addons for Blender, but I still haven't found anything as good as VWD. I know most indie developers are not doing this just for the money, but making some extra surely wouldn't hurt. Also since Daz has made some effort to support bridges for Studio, you probably should contact them to get full support for your program.

I have to admit I'm quite curious what you mean by creating and modifying clothes and hair, but personally I wouldn't put too much effort for that at first. Stable and fast cloth simulation program hopefully is the first priority, and then later on you could add extra modules/addons for secondary tasks like simulating hair or creating/modifying items.

Anyways, good to hear you're back, and I wish you best of luck no matter what path you choose. I sincerely believe you have a great product in your hands that just needs some love to grow big, so hopefully you'll decide to make a new and better version of VWD.

Sepiasiren posted at 9:31 PM Sun, 21 August 2022 - #4443114

Hey--another asset--the ability to drape more than one item at a time and keep the textures in tact?

Hello Sepiasiren , is this what you are looking for concerning tectures ? Manual page 106 fresh from my new reading :-) :

"Restore DAZ Mats+Animations (DAZ Studio only): Re-apply the original surface material settings and
animations to the imported and selected collision-item. If no specific items are imported and selected,
all of the xxxx_VWD items in the scene will have their materials and animations restored when you
press this button (if they are available in the VWD results cache/Exchange folder).
This fixes an issue that occurs in reloaded Daz Studio scenes, where the xxxx_VWD items lose their
surface materials and animations when the DAZ Studio scenes are reloaded."

 Hello Mendoman,

Thank you for all of your comments.
And thank you for your questions.

At the start of writing the program, I was particularly happy with the results of the simulations and I wanted to treasure the sources that made it possible to obtain these results.
I would say that it was a programming error that allowed me to create the few lines of source that allow running smooth simulations in a relatively short time.
GPU calculations also speed up simulation speed.

The program then evolved by including a large number of functions which made the interface more complex as I needed to solve new difficulties.

My pleasure was more to create algorithms than to simplify the program to make it accessible. It's probably a mistake but it was a choice I don't regret.

I'm coming to a point where I no longer want to spend the time that I previously spent on this project and yet, I would like this project to continue and I would like to participate in its evolution.
I also realize that what I like the most is seeing simulation results made with VWD rather than receiving money.

I will do as you say and contact different companies to set up this new project.
If people would be interested in working on this project, I am ready to provide them with everything that would be necessary for this work.

Here is something to think about for you and me.

    Gérald

Hello Sepiasiren,

I had not answered your question about the possibility of being able to simulate several elements at once.

In fact, this solution has been around forever. It is just necessary to check that this simulation will not generate instabilities.

Just import the objects to simulate on the character, hide the character and save these objects in an OBJ file with saving textures.

Then you can delete the objects and import the newly saved OBJ object.

The simulation can be carried out normally by activating the self-collision of course. Pay attention to the penetrations between the different objects at the start of the simulation.

I hope this solution will help you solve your problem.
Tell me if you have any problems with it.

Hey--thank you--I haven't been able to use VWD sadly because the upgrades to DAZ have fried my earlier versions and I can't seem to find all my files to re-install both the bridge and the upgrades. Is there a way to possible get those files so I can re-install VWD once more???  I'd be forever in your debt :-)  A

Gerald, when I try to access my upgrade to try to reinstall I get this reading: Sorry! You have reached the download limit for your copy of VWD Cloth and Hair - Version 2 - Upgrade Version.

Oh, and before I forget--do we have settings 4 ponytails and updos like buns--that may be cool if we do not...?

So I tried re-installing again and got this error  and it crashed :-)

Hello Sepiasiren,

in the weekend, I will look at how to create a simple method of installing the program.

Hello Sepiasiren,

in the weekend, I will look at how to create a simple method of installing the program.

Hello Sepiasiren,

I assume you have all the program files.
They separate into two categories:
  - the program itself composed of
    * VWDClothAndHair.exe, RestartVWD.exe and settings directories.
    These files can be in any directory.
  - The DAZ Studio files composed of the scripts:
    * Start VWD.dsa
    * Stop VWD.dsa
    * Reset path.dsa
    These files must be in a directory accessible from the Daz Studio interface.

The first line of the Start VWD.dsa script must correspond to the name of the directory where the VWDClothAndHair.exe file is located.
If the executable is in C:\VWD, the first line should be VWD_Base = "C:/VWD/"; . The quotation marks, the slashes and the semicolon are all necessary.

In the example corresponding to my installation, VWDClothAndHair.exe is in E:\VWD

Warning: in the script the "\" is replaced by "/".

I hope these explanations will be useful for a simple installation.

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 5:04 PM Sun, 11 September 2022 - #4444324

Hello Sepiasiren,

I assume you have all the program files.
They separate into two categories:
  - the program itself composed of
    * VWDClothAndHair.exe, RestartVWD.exe and settings directories.
    These files can be in any directory.
  - The DAZ Studio files composed of the scripts:
    * Start VWD.dsa
    * Stop VWD.dsa
    * Reset path.dsa
    These files must be in a directory accessible from the Daz Studio interface.

The first line of the Start VWD.dsa script must correspond to the name of the directory where the VWDClothAndHair.exe file is located.
If the executable is in C:\VWD, the first line should be VWD_Base = "C:/VWD/"; . The quotation marks, the slashes and the semicolon are all necessary.

In the example corresponding to my installation, VWDClothAndHair.exe is in E:\VWD

Warning: in the script the "\" is replaced by "/".

I hope these explanations will be useful for a simple installation.

Sadly, I don't have access to all the files, sadly--the last time I tried to download the folder, I got a message that said I had tried to download too many times and couldn't access the folders. It says: Sorry! You have reached the download limit for your copy of VWD Cloth and Hair - Version 2 - Upgrade Version.

Hello Sepiasiren,

I don't understand why you are receiving this message.
Personally, I have never included limits in the program.

I will send you the complete installation file as soon as possible.
I need to find the ZIP file corresponding to the latest version.
I found an old email that I used to communicate with you.
Can I use this email?

Hey! Sure, it is sepiasiren@yahoo.com  -- tysm :-)

Hello Sepiasiren,

I don't understand why you are receiving this message.
Personally, I have never included limits in the program.

I will send you the complete installation file as soon as possible.
I need to find the ZIP file corresponding to the latest version.
I found an old email that I used to communicate with you.
Can I use this email?

Hello Sepiasiren,

I don't understand why you are receiving this message.
Personally, I have never included limits in the program.

I will send you the complete installation file as soon as possible.
I need to find the ZIP file corresponding to the latest version.
I found an old email that I used to communicate with you.
Can I use this email?

Hey--does anyone know where tutorials are on how to use the hair assistant--I forgot some of the parameters for that...

Bonjour Gerald,

I'm really happy to see you're back.

Very sorry for your sight problem. I "pray" it's going to continue to improve.

Sepiasiren,

I know I have a number of things to do to explain the program.

I ask you for a little time because I realize that I will need to immerse myself again in its functionning.

yvesab,

I replied to your message and will get back to you in a while. Thanks.

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 12:19 PM Wed, 28 September 2022 - #4445404

Sepiasiren,

I know I have a number of things to do to explain the program.

I ask you for a little time because I realize that I will need to immerse myself again in its functionning.

yvesab,

I replied to your message and will get back to you in a while. Thanks.

Hi there,

I realize that the most urgent work is to make the program compatible for its two hosts: Poser and Daz Studio.

The program is more and more directed towards Daz Studio... sorry for Poser users, but I will start by making it compatible with Daz.
I know the program is not working properly since version 4.14 of Daz Studio.
For the moment, I do not know exactly the problem which appeared since this version but I think that it is possible to use it with some changes of practices.
First, I'll try to show how to use the current version of VWD with the latest versions of Daz. Then I will modify the program to make it fully compatible.

VWD modifications for its use in Poser will come just next.

Hello.

I just wandered in here on impulse but I'm happy I did.

I was one of those who had to give up on the old version of VWD because of crashes. I really appreciated the help I had from the VWD developer(s) and other forum members but I never got it to work with DAZ Studio. Then dForce appeared and I bought Marvelous Designer so you might think that I am all set up for cloth simulation. Well, not quite.

I find dForce so very, very slow and the fact that the cloth cannot be manipulated during the simulation is a huge drawback. MD is very fast and the cloth can be pulled around during the simulation but I tend not to use it because it is distracting to have to export and work in another software and thne import back again. Also, I have to export the posed figure and the cloth is not cloth any more after the import - it is just an OBJ file so I can't adjust anything.

Something that would be my ideal solution might be a faster dForce which is at least a plugin for DAZ Studio. I have an RTX 3090 GPU and quite a powerful CPU so I have the hardware. If my wishlist helps with your decision, I am happy too. I am writing this while waiting for a dForce simulation in the other window on my PC.

Hello.

I just wandered in here on impulse but I'm happy I did.

I was one of those who had to give up on the old version of VWD because of crashes. I really appreciated the help I had from the VWD developer(s) and other forum members but I never got it to work with DAZ Studio. Then dForce appeared and I bought Marvelous Designer so you might think that I am all set up for cloth simulation. Well, not quite.

I find dForce so very, very slow and the fact that the cloth cannot be manipulated during the simulation is a huge drawback. MD is very fast and the cloth can be pulled around during the simulation but I tend not to use it because it is distracting to have to export and work in another software and thne import back again. Also, I have to export the posed figure and the cloth is not cloth any more after the import - it is just an OBJ file so I can't adjust anything.

Something that would be my ideal solution might be a faster dForce which is at least a plugin for DAZ Studio. I have an RTX 3090 GPU and quite a powerful CPU so I have the hardware. If my wishlist helps with your decision, I am happy too. I am writing this while waiting for a dForce simulation in the other window on my PC.

I hope your health is returning to normal and those problems are now behind you.

Sorry for the duplicate posts. I don't see a way to delete the first one.

VirtualWorldDynamics posted at 11:19 AM Sun, 2 October 2022 - #4445715

Hi there,

I realize that the most urgent work is to make the program compatible for its two hosts: Poser and Daz Studio.

The program is more and more directed towards Daz Studio... sorry for Poser users, but I will start by making it compatible with Daz.
I know the program is not working properly since version 4.14 of Daz Studio.
For the moment, I do not know exactly the problem which appeared since this version but I think that it is possible to use it with some changes of practices.
First, I'll try to show how to use the current version of VWD with the latest versions of Daz. Then I will modify the program to make it fully compatible.

VWD modifications for its use in Poser will come just next.

Can you say specifically what is not working correctly since DS 4.14?

Many thanks!

"Me too " :

WWD works as usual with Daz Studio 4.20.0.17.

There's still a problem with shaders not staying on WWD items when I save a scene.

Hello,

for me it is a strange issue. I am getting this error/message:

"The file nom_objects.txt does not exist."

It seems like VWD does not "understand" that daz is running. V1 and V2 beta worked perfectly. Also, on my second pc VWD is running ok with daz 4.20.

I tried numerous install/uninstall of Daz studio, but nothing worked. I even did a restore on windows but still nothing. Is there a way to reset/restore settings and maybe solve this issue without formating my pc?

Hi all,

I have been (and expect to be) less involved in the 3D/VWD domain. Such is my life situation.

That said, I will fully support any of our customers in any way I can, including logistics, re-downloads, etc. Please contact me/us at the 'support@virtualworlddynamics.net' address for the most reliable response to anything that gets in the way of your acquiring or operating the VWD programs you've purchased! If we don't respond, let us know in here and we'll see if there's a logistic issue going on with the emails, etc.

I like the program, Gerald, and our wonderful users, and truly wish WVD had gotten more 'legs', as I still think it's modern-day magic, and that Gerald is a modern-day wizard.

Perhaps, per Gerald's above comments re: handing off some of the development to additional participants to keep VWD alive, we will see some new life injected into this wonderful little gem of a program. If anyone is interested, please contact Gerald directly, but know that everything that I know and all of the logistic resources I've managed (docs, website, patreon, domain, email, branding, etc. - everything but the code/program) will be made available, with the details to make it all useful, to anyone - at Gerald's request/approval. Until then, I'll keep doing so.

I've made a few wish-list requests to Gerald, but this thread seems to be a good place to re-post them:

 1) 64 bit - mostly for more memory when using today's meshes. I run out of memory all of the time nowadays, even with the clever tricks available within VWD.

 2) the ability to save and restore the selections (red-selected-vertices) that are used for most of the VWD mesh parameter settings. It would save me *hours* to be able to select very specific chunks of a cloth or hair mesh and simply save that meticulous work for a later session. None of the parameters - just the selection - red-dots - saved as a named file so that 10 days later I could open VWD and have those red-dots available again to try some new settings, etc. (yes, I know it can save a current setup with its parameters, but I don't want those parameters, I just want the selection, so I can try new parameters.)

Gerald, you promised an email a while back - it's been too long since I've heard from you. Maybe email is broken, and we're both wondering why the other isn't responding. Send me something and let me know (in these forums) if you don't get a response. I've sent many messages and have heard nothing back, so I am wondering what is happening.

best,

dan/VWD3d

a techincal note:

In the last official release of VWD, I made some changes to the official VWD *start-up scripts* (and only those scripts)  that added some checks and warnings to the start-up process - to help verify and trouble-shoot the generally rough-edged initial installation process. I also encrypted them (from *.dsa to *.dse).

This may make the advice that Gerald posted above a bit confusing, as there is no way a user of the latest VWD version can read/or edit the start-up scripts in the way he describes above.

In addition, if you happen to have them, the original VWD version 1.x scripts should work with the current/latest version,if the paths in those scripts are set properly.

best,

dan/VWD3d (support@virtualworlddynamics.net)

Hello,

I'm still on the move but I promise to answer all your questions as best as possible as soon as I get back, that is to say from next week.

Excuse me for this delay.

I don't have much to contribute to the discussion, but I STILL use VWD in Poser 11, mostly for hair. Over the years of working with the script, I've learned to adjust the model's pose so that the script isn't overwhelmed by excessive movement.  I like being able to take a conforming cloth prop and make it dynamic.  If I had my wish, I'd like to see a new version of VWD work in Poser 12, as this would greatly simplify my workflow. It would also be nice to be able clear simulations without closing the script.

And yes, the jiggle physics in P12 would be great!

;)

Here's a render I did this morning, using VWD on the 3D Age Honey halter top and Pallene Hair, with V4 and a dynamic skirt (done in Poser's cloth room). Isn't it lovely?

I wish you well!

PS: The nudity tag is for the benefit of the Modesty Police.

;)

Hello,

excuse me for the time I took to answer.

One issue that has been addressed in the past is the move to 64-bits.
I will again try to answer it precisely.
There are many recent clothes or hair that generate memory errors.
To solve this problem there is a solution... the passage in 64 bits which solves all the problems.
Unfortunately it's not that simple.
The meshes that generate these problems are either:
   - unnecessarily fine meshing
   - meshing having meshes with very different sizes.
These two types of meshing are not suitable for numerical simulation.
For me, the best solution is to correct these meshes to make them compatible.
Going to 64 bits would mean being able to simulate 100 million springs or more. This will be slow and probably unrealistic.

Prior to my eye problem, I had made many modifications to the program.
These modifications make it possible to create garments with a regular mesh size and an adjustable and precise UVMAP.
I also worked on generic clothing for Victoria 8 allowing to create almost all types of complex clothing.

At the level of the hair, I integrated into the program a method of generating hair based on extruded triangles allowing to obtain much more realistic simulations than the meshed bands because of their structure which makes it possible to easily control the rigidity of the locks of hair and especially to tie the locks together which makes the rendering much more realistic.
This hair can be subdivided using a powerful smoothing method in the case of static rendering.

All these functions work perfectly although there will certainly be improvements to be made.

This is where the current development of the program is.
Now my problem is whether my choices are compatible with your wishes.
If your wishes are to buy a piece of clothing or a hair and have a perfect simulation at the press of a button, I might as well stop right now. because I would have the impression of playing "Don Quixote" and fighting against windmills. I could never give you what you want.
If you want to obtain very good simulations by accepting to spend a little more time in order to obtain the best conditions which will allow a quality simulation, then I am ready to work with you.
I am also ready to work on a mesh correction program although this work is one of the hardest there is.

I know, and I've already said that the most important thing will be to make videos clearly explaining everything I'm trying to express now.
The association with Dan will find its best justification there because of a good distribution of tasks and my disastrous English.

Please give me your opinion!

Dan, I'll send you a long message tomorrow.
If you don't see it, tell me here after tomorrow.

anupaum, thank you for your image.

Friendly to all.

        Gérald

I appreciate the work you've already put into the script, Gérald, and I would like to encourage you. As it IS, I have to go through many steps in order to make hair work in VWD, and while clothing is easier, in both cases, tweaking and experimenting are necessary to optimize results.

I'm not sure how much of a market you can reach among Poser users, especially for people like me who are still using old figures, but I want to encourage you. The work that you've done has been very helpful to me.

Thank you!

:)

@VirtualWorldDynamics

Thank you for your explanation. After having failed to get VWD to work despite your generous help in the past I would love to have another try with your new developments. My question arising from your question is this: would the time taken be a one-off time-cost per garment or would it slow the whole process down for every simulation? I imagine you would create a new clothing mesh which could then be saved and simulated without the initial set-up process needing to be repeated, right? In that case I would have no problem.

My desire is for something that is better (and faster) than dForce. If that means mesh modification and saving alternative versions of clothing, then so be it so long as the actual simulation is quick, accurate and the cloth has the ability to be manipulated (pinned, dragged, etc.) during the simulation.

Hi all,

Glad to see the update from Gerald!

Marble - please send us a note at 'support@virtualworlddynamics.net' with respect to your specific issues. We've been getting really good results when we can dig in a bit deeper on user-specific issues.

I'm going to start a new thread for specific tech issues and notes, and will summarize our various on-line and off-line deep-dives there (when it makes sense), and the final results/lessons can be shared with everyone - without the noise. e.g. Some of the specific questions in this topic will be answered there. I might take some initiative and see if I can get the (empty) VWD F.A.Q. topic populated with some of our repeating patterns.

In any forum tpoic, when we actually get someone to talk to (!) to throw our questions out there, fast and furiously, heh. Perhaps a new 'tech' topic will become the goto place for issues, and maybe work better since that'll be its intention from the get-go.

more to come,

VWD3D/dan

There are some work-arounds that I've needed to develop. The most important involves hair simulations, and animations in particular. I've learned to move the figure into the desired pose at frame 1, and allow 30 or so frames for the hair to "settle" before the animation begins.  It's also REALLY important that the figure doesn't move very far from the x,y and z axes of the initial pose. Otherwise, the hair tends to fly off . . . .

For Poser, the figure can't be a P12 version, and it MUST use traditional skinning, rather than unimesh. (I have separate figures in my runtime for this purpose.) Otherwise, the script will give error messages in French, or simply crash.

Having an updated video card is a real bonus. Simulations with the GPU are faster.

It would be really nice to have some kind of a guide that explains what each of the parameters actually does, especially for simulating hair. Sometimes I wish I understood how to make hair seem heavier and less prone to flying around, especially in animations.

:)

Hi Dan.

Unfortunately the sub-forum I posted to back then when I was getting help from Gerald and others seems to have been removed now. In the end, I was given a refund because none of us could fathom why my DAZ Studio was crashing when i tried to run VWD. In the spirit of fairness, I removed the plugin because I received the refund so I can't test it again as I don't have it. Not that I would have it now anyway because I had a hard drive failure recently and lost a lot of my DAZ Studio content including all my Renderosity purchases. I can re-download all those that are still under my account as purchased but obviously a refunded item will not be.

I'm quite excited to see there may be a new VWD cloth simulator coming because I have been complaining about dForce on the DAZ forums for a while. It is slow (even though I have an RTX 3090) and it is very limited (can't drag the cloth around during simulation). So if there is to be development I will definitely buy again when that software is released as I can't see DAZ doing much to improve dForce in the meantime.

Marble,

I'm glad you're interested in working with VWDClothAndHair again.
If you would like Dan or I to send you the current version of the program, let us know. With pleasure.
I remember we talked several times about the program.
I know the program needs improvement and your views and ideas are welcome.

Anupaum,

I also had hair that fly a little too much.
Normally, if the hair uses a wizard method, the spring generation helps to stiffen the mesh bands, obviously.
However, this generation also creates springs that allow the mesh bands to be linked together.
This method allows the hair to fly but in a more limited, more constrained way.
This makes the simulation more realistic.
The hair on which I worked allows to make realistic simulations like in the last videos that I posted on Youtube. Unfortunately over a year ago.
Regarding the explanation of each parameter, I completely agree with you. It is necessary to make videos on this subject.
The problem is that it takes a lot of time and it is almost impossible to make the most of this time.
Dan and I know perfectly well that it will always be impossible no matter how long or complicated.
It does not matter, it is just necessary to find the right compromise between pleasure and necessities.
Coming back to the videos, I'm sure they will be done but this work will take time.

I take advantage of this message to thank DAN who continued to work on all the essential parts that revolve around the program.

Thinking about it, I realize the immensity of the work to be done (apart from the work on the program itself).
I admit that I feel a bit overwhelmed by it all.
You really have to organize this work and break it down into simple parts
I thank you for your support and I hope that you will find in the program something to satisfy your pleasure of creating because that is the most important thing.

    Gérald

Hi Gérald

Yes, Dan did contact me via private message and I did respond a few days ago but he must be busy because I have not had a reply since. Yes, I am interested for a few reasons:

Maybe it will not crash with the later versions of DAZ Studio.

Maybe there have been developments I am not aware of.

Maybe you will develop it further into something that I can use instead of the dreadfully slow and inadequate dForce (I wish DAZ had come to you instead of going ahead with dForce).

Thank you for your generosity - much appreciated (as was all your help previously).