I'm back with P7 after a year.  I want to create a figure (mainly for a head/shoulders render) but with the facial/head features from a photo.  I've got FaceShop, but I'm still learning this and am not sure just if it's what I want at this stage.  Apart from which, the 'head' created in FS has no transmaps for brows and lashes.

Sooooooo I want to add morphs to M3 head/face but to be honest I'm not sure how to do it.  Can anyone help, as I'm a 'morph virgin!'

Sheila

Well, you can either try doing it all in Poser, or outside of Poser using a separate modelling application.

Within Poser, you can use magnets, or the P7 Morph Brush tool. Dr Geep's tutorial here will take you through the basis of using magnets and spawning morphs:
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2654441&page=1

I'm not aware of any tutorials for the morph brush per se, but with the help of the manual (yes really) I find it very easy and quite intuitive to use.

If you have an external modelling app (such as Hexagon, Zbrush, Carrara, etc) then you can export the head and eyes as an .obj from Poser, morph it in your modeller, and then reimport the obj as a morph target to Poser. 

Wings3D is a free and efficient modeller which will let you do this. It does take some learning though. 

For best accuracy in reproducing someone's actual face, I would definitely go with the external app. The morph brush tool is good for small touch-ups, but it's much quicker to work with an external app if you're making large changes - or at least, that's my experience.

Cheers Karen - I'll follow up the links etc., later - I'm having a day out today (yippee); I have Z Brush, Carrara, etc.  Haven't quite got to grips with Wings 3D - anyway, I shall toil and sweat and learn - my main gripe is that M3s head has so few morphs (comparatively speaking) to allow for a lot of eccentricities in people's faces.  

Sheila

my main gripe is that M3s head has so few morphs (comparatively speaking) to allow for a lot of eccentricities in people's faces.  

Yes, that's why you definitely need to use magnets or otherwise change the mesh. I've found that heavy usage of Mike's Daz morphs can have the effect of making him look slightly odd, too. I think the problem is that each Daz morph only affects one small part of the face - so if you use the "Mouth Raise" morph, the lips climb towards the nose, but the nose doesn't move, and neither does the chin, which leaves him with a tiny philtrum and a huge jaw. To really get a unique look, you need to reshape the whole face/head. 

ZBrush seems to be the morphing weapon of choice these days, so I'd have a play with that if I were you :-)

11/20/07

Don't forget the Ghost of MacBeth Morphs, $12.95 USD,  at DAZ3D. They really do add a lot of extra flexibility. And, some of the morph exchange programs will let you move morphs from other characters, such as David 3 or Victoria 3. You would have to experiment to see if any of these morphs add anything to what one can already do with the M3 facial morphs.

LMK

Thanks everyone - what a plethora of info - you guys rock!  Just let me set the clockwork mechanism which passes for my brain into gear, and ........... :lol:

Sheila

Quote - 11/20/07

Don't forget the Ghost of MacBeth Morphs, $12.95 USD,  at DAZ3D. They really do add a lot of extra flexibility. And, some of the morph exchange programs will let you move morphs from other characters, such as David 3 or Victoria 3. You would have to experiment to see if any of these morphs add anything to what one can already do with the M3 facial morphs.

LMK

As to the morph exchange programs - what are they called, please?  (Remember, I'm a Morph Virgin!)

Sheila

11/21/07

BarrowLass:

I am also a "virgin" when it comes to morphs. I found these two programs for transfering morphs.

UMT - Unimesh Morph Transfer: $12.50 (USD)

 http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=33250&

Morph Manager 4: An old utility not recently updated, FREE (USD) :)

http://www.morphography.uk.vu/dlutility.html 

There was a tutorial showing how to transfer the morphs from David to Hiro, but I cannot find it. Maybe some one else will remember where it is posted?

LMK

cheers - I'd forgotten about Morph Manager - since it's free I'll download it and have a play around - should be interesting!

Sheila