Marvelous designer is a 2d pattern based 3D modeling software with extras, basically you create 2D shapes and then stitch them together to create 3D cloth based items like clothing etc, it has the ability though to import an .obj drape it and export it back as .obj so if you are doing a still frame and want to go to the effort you could use it to drape the items in your scene, by exporting them, simulating and then importing back as a morph.

I don't know what hardware you have so I can't really give decent suggestions, but graphics cards from 2011 onward have opencl support but require drivers with such. processors go back to the old core 2 duo's from intel, amd seems to supposedly support more but their dev page 404's

you could try installing the opencl sdk and see if that lets you run dforce on your cpu

https://software.seek.intel.com/intel-opencl?os=windows

or if you have an intel cpu with intel hd graphics ability (hd 4000 and up) you should be able to just update your intel graphics drivers.

saving fast and furiously is probably the best advice, daz can be a perfectly well behaved beast and then it eats you in a fit of unprovoked madness especially when you get to trying to break the dforce engine.

if you're not already it might be a good idea to load items in and set up your initial scene with the preview window set to smooth shaded or texture shaded and only iray preview once everything is more or less placed as you want it. conflicting content can also cause instant crashes on attempting to load a figure (I somehow made a g8f morph that would kill my saved scene and daz on load).

the log file can get pretty long winded if you've been running for a while so you can try delete it then launch and load your scene that way there will be only the current info in the log file and it might be easier to diagnose.

when you create custom content with daz, when you save the content out daz deals with the data folder for you based on what you select for vendor name, product and item name.

for textures its not required but the default is to have them under runtime/textures/vendor name/ product/ as long as they are somewhere under the content folder tree when you reference them from daz and save your item then daz should be able to find the relative path provided they are installed to the exact same location under content on the users side. the use of the runtime folder is best though as users may move items around and as long as they don't mess with runtime it should still work fine.

it is common practice to save items under the content folder location that matches their item type, so if it is an item for genesis 8 female, it would go under People/genesis 8 female/ <type of item prop,clothing,pose etc.> /

if its more generic like a prop, environment, lighting, shader it would just go under a folder of that type under content.

so pretty much everything is in a folder path somewhere under content content/type of content/product or vendor name (/product name)

poser is a little different and I don't use it so can't comment much but there pretty much everything goes under runtime.

pretty much every graphics card from ati or nvidia should be opencl at least 1.5 by now, but dforce can be set to use the cpu.

I'm not sure on if it is any cpu or intel only (I'd assume it would work with any).

under the simulation pane, select the advanced tab and there will be a drop down list of available dforce engines.

you could also shell out for marvelous designer (great piece of software) but it may not be worth it if you are only looking for draping, it is on special until the 28th of jan though if I remember correctly.

you can use dforce to do this but there are some requirements, start with memorised pose zeroed out, and first check for dforce starting collisions simulation pane > options menu> dforce > select dforce starting collision vertices.

the next question is was it designed for the shape you are using ? if not and you're going for a still image, move your actual image to frame 1 of the timeline then set frame 0 to a zero'd shape zero pose, if the zero shape doesn't have the breast issue you can then go to parameters pane of the top and under simulation set simulation base shape to 'use scene frame 0'. then go back to frame 1, set initialisation time to around 0.5 -1, start bones from memorized pose to on, and simulate the current frame.

all of this assuming you still haven't found a solution almost 2 weeks later and that the top was made for dforce

some extra shots while I pack up everything and sort out promo images

oops, the shoes certainly are pretty but I better mention that no they are not part of the product, they are the wonderfull Valeria heels by Arryn. Thanks for the comment Jenn :)

uploaded for review and testing, now here's to hoping I didn't forget anything

with these two final test renders the outfit is done and will be uploaded for testing as soon as I finish the adminy stuff (readme, promo pictures etc)

Working on materials Datura Blossom (purple) and Shimmery Shadow

Progress update, not much new to look at but rigging, morphs and probably improved dforce settings are done. rigged the cape and collar wings with new bones so that they can be dragged with active pose tool to adjust collision in some poses prior to running dforce. while smoothing out some fitting morphs I also fitted the mantle part to my previous product, the Party frill dress (was more an experiment at the time but it turned out ok).

Left: mantle with partyfrill Dress, Centre: g8f showing some dforce sliding and folding, Right: Fitted to Victoria 8.

Now on to texturing.

Thanks :). Ah right yea a standing pose is a good idea. so here is a pic of both A-pose and a more natural standing pose.

Also if anyone has suggestions on the best way to handle the semi stiff collar, I'm all ears. My current Frankenstein of settings and a dynamic surface addon appears to work but if anyone knows the 'proper' way to use the surface addon settings and is willing to share I'd appreciate it.