Hi everyone,
OK, here I go again wanting to try something new in Poser. I've often thought about it, but never tried it.... how would I go about making a morph? Specifically, I'd like to make a morph that changes the shape of the face for Daz's Freak. If I understand it right, he'll accept any morph that's made for Michael 3, but I haven't found what I'm looking for, so I thought to my self   "Self", I said, "Why not try to make it yourself? You can make it for M3, and apply it to him or the Freak."

Sounds good, but I'm not sure where to start. I've made and saved poses before but never a morph. I'm almost afraid to ask, because I'm thinking the answer might be to use magnets, which I'm deathly afraid of! I've tried using magnets before, but it seems so difficult to get it right, that I usually end up more frustrated than anything else. If that is the case, I could go and look thru Dr Geep's magnet tutorials again (he was gracious enough to send me a CD with his tutorials on it).  But... is there any other way? Please say there is! Either way, what I'd like to ultimately do is create the morph I want, use it for the piece I'm working on, then save it and share it in the freebies section.
If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd much appreciate it.
Thanks -

Here's the link to my freebies:   https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?uid=493127

My cousin Jack can speak to beans. That's right.... Jack and the beans talk

There are various ways to create morphs. Besides magnets, Poser also has its own morphing tools, although I think they're pretty limited. For that matter, for supported figures (not DAZ, unfortunately), you can create morphs in the Face Room.

Personally, I use a third party 3D app to create morphs. (In my case, I use Argile, but there are a lot of other options.)

My workflow goes something like this:

1. Make a copy of the blMilWom_v4b.obj geometry (that's for V4, substitute whatever figure you're using).

2. Use UV Mapper (free tool) to remove UVs.

3. Import the un-UV'ed obj into Argile.

4. Sculpt to my satisfaction.

5. Export obj, open in UV Mapper and import original UV map back in. Save UV mapped geometry.

6. Create INJ/REM poses in SyrINJ.

Please note that these are just the tools I use. There are lots of other alternatives.

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Hardware: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X/MSI MAG570 Tomahawk X570/Zotac Geforce GTX 1650 Super 4GB/32GB OLOy RAM

Software: Windows 10 Professional/Poser Pro 11/Photoshop/Postworkshop 3

Pre-plan your morph,  then stick to the plan.  Content creep will destroy any project.

Quote -

2. Use UV Mapper (free tool) to remove UVs.

3. Import the un-UV'ed obj into Argile.

4. Export obj, open in UV Mapper and import original UV map back in. Save UV mapped geometry.

May I ask why steps 2 and 5?

Not strictly necessary. It's a safety precaution. Some 3D apps seem to end up altering UVs when you don't intend it. Early on, I had better luck not messing things up this way.

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Hardware: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X/MSI MAG570 Tomahawk X570/Zotac Geforce GTX 1650 Super 4GB/32GB OLOy RAM

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Attached Link: http://artcomp1.tripod.com

u can use wings 3d (it's free) there is even a tut at the top of the renderosity wings 3d forum that tells u how. i would suggest that u study how to use wings 3d magnets to help in deforming your mesh and keep ur vertices correct. it used to be that u could use amorphium it's always been tricky though the round off arithmetic between the two (poser and amorphium) doesn't work or something. argile sounds great could be a little less expensive though.

Computer Art by Charles McChesney

Attached Link: http://artcomp1.tripod .com

u know i was thinking phil c also has somekind of tool that is supposed to do something like this too. here's a morph i did on v 4.2 with wings 3d.

Computer Art by Charles McChesney

I haven't looked at the tutorial yet (I've been messing with the magnets, and yep... they're just as frustrating as ever! I'm gonna have a look at it now. Wish me luck!

Here's the link to my freebies:   https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?uid=493127

My cousin Jack can speak to beans. That's right.... Jack and the beans talk

I just had a look in the tutorials for Wings, but there were only 3 of them, and none looked like what you're talking about....

Here's the link to my freebies:   https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?uid=493127

My cousin Jack can speak to beans. That's right.... Jack and the beans talk

A morph loaded to Poser only needs the vertex info , the uv data is not used. The vertex count and order is critical because Poser calculates the offset vector for each vertex and creates the morph deltas.   Any modelling program that preserves vertex order can be used to make morphs .

The UVs aren't used, no... but Poser's obj import and export functions are problematic, so it's smarter to use the original figure .obj, which of course has UVs. Whether or not you need to peel them off depends on whether the program you use has difficulties with them... I had bad luck early on, but OTOH, I really didn't know what I was doing at the time, and I'd prefer to be safe.

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Hardware: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X/MSI MAG570 Tomahawk X570/Zotac Geforce GTX 1650 Super 4GB/32GB OLOy RAM

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Quote - > Quote -

2. Use UV Mapper (free tool) to remove UVs.
3. Import the un-UV'ed obj into Argile.
4. Export obj, open in UV Mapper and import original UV map back in. Save UV mapped geometry.

May I ask why steps 2 and 5?

Most Poser figures etc. are mapped to use multiple textures and the overlapping UVs can cause trouble.
Also a lot modelling apps that do something with the groups defined in an OBJ file cause splits at the group boundaries which makes sculpting awkward at best, so removing them UVMapper provides a single continuous mesh (assuming the orignal is properly welded).

Is Black smith 3D still offering the free Morphing edition? If so, there is the easy to use app you want to create your morphs, no dealing with magnets ect just sculpting.

Here's a link:  http://www.blacksmith3d.com/Downloads/B3D-3.1.2.0-Win.zip

. 

A HOMELAND FOR POSER FINALLY

Alright this is my first attempt at making a tutorial. I can show you how to make a custom head morph in Blender. I tried to document every step the best i could so even someone who is not familiar with Blender can do it. It may take me a while to finish posting it.

Step 1:  Load figure in Poser

Step 2:  Select bodypart (head for this example)

Step 3:  Select File-Export-Wavefront OBJ

Step 4:  Select ok

Step 4

Step 5:  This brings up the Hierarchy Selection Menu

Step 6:  Left click on UNIVERSE check box to deselect all parts

Step 7:  Select the head in the Hierarchy menu click ok

Step 8:  Create a name (like head original) for obj and Export to desktop

Step 9:  Brings up export menu, select As Morph Target only (no world transformations), hit ok.

Step 10:  Minimize Poser, Open Blender, select File-Import-Wavefront OBJ

Step 11: Left click on the little box (with two arrows pointing up and down) to bring up menu, select desktop.

Step 12: Left click on head original.obj, then select import an obj button.

Step 13: Brings up this default menu

Step 14:     "IMPORTANT" use these settings to import obj.

Deselect "NGons as FGons" and "image search" and lower "clamp scale" to 0.   Make sure the "Keep vert order" button is selected, Selected buttons are dark grey/green, deselected buttons are powder blue.
         
Then select import.

Step 15:  The head obj will import but it will barely be visible due to the small scale of Poser. Use the mousewheel to zoom in or  select on your keyboard numberpad period to view object up close. Right click on the head to make sure it is selected.

Step 16:  Left click the little box on the side of the "Object Mode" to bring up menu, select "Sculpt Mode" with a left click.

Step 17:  Hit the N key to bring up sculpt properties menu, select x in the symmetry control. We can use the draw mode with all the rest of the default settings.

Step 18:  Press left click on the left side of the forehead. It should blow up like something in the image.

Step 19:  Select File-Export-Wavefront OBJ (the same way you imported the original obj), export obj to desktop by selecting the same little box in  step 11. Name it something like puffy head.obj

Step 20:  Use these settings in the menu that pops up "IMPORTANT" Make sure "Keep Vert Order" button is selected.

Step 21: Close Blender, maximize Poser. Select Object-Load Morph Target

Step 22: Click on the box with the 3 dots to import are puffy head morph.

Step 23: You should now have a little slider dial in your parameters tab.          Try the dial and presto your first morph should be made.

         Save the figure. You might want to make something a little better
         for your second morph than puffy head:blink:. Hope this tut helped a little.

Phantom3D, the free software by Blacksmith is easy to use, but... since it's free, they have it set up so that you can't save or export anything back out of the program, once you've finished. In order to do that you have to buy the program, then it can do all the saving and exporting you want.
210x2, Thank you for putting this together! I have Blender, and I've only used it once, long ago, so I'm very, very unfamiliar with it.... so the fact that you're making this tutorial simple, is very much appreciated!

Here's the link to my freebies:   https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?uid=493127

My cousin Jack can speak to beans. That's right.... Jack and the beans talk

Your welcome arrowhead42, just be patient. Everyone who tries to make morphs for the first time has trouble. Took me about a year to get really comfortable with the whole process. Just keep trying you'll get it.

Attached Link: http://artcomp1.tripod.com

here's the link to the wings poser morph tut its at the top of the wings forum page here at renderosity.

Computer Art by Charles McChesney

Attached Link: http://artcomp1.tripod .com

nice! here's the perfect human female with someone else's off beat texture. this is right out of the tube. u can't morph her in the face room.

Computer Art by Charles McChesney

Attached Link: http://artcomp1.tripod.com

now here she is after a few minutes of changing her in wings 3d and then morphing her in poser. i could have gotten much more involved. i guess she must be her alien sister now.

Computer Art by Charles McChesney

Attached Link: http://arcomp1.tripod.com

and here's her alien brother. he's not a morph, he's an asparagas.

Computer Art by Charles McChesney

lol@ he's an asparagas..

Let me introduce you to my multiple personalities. :)
     BluEcho...Faery_Light...Faery_Souls.

Attached Link: http://artcomp1.tripod.com

i was able to use amorphium 3 to morph as well. this is jessi.

Computer Art by Charles McChesney

Good information. But I am having a bit of trouble with this.

First, I am not altering the geometry externally.
What I have done is created a spun-dial morph that I like. But I would like to have something more useful than the "apply to figure" or "load figure options" instead, I would like to have a loadable full body morph (and later specific part morphs) that I can use in a  utilitarian fashion:

Dynamic clothing - applying the morph over several frames would be better than scaling the figure, I believe

Conforming clothing - (maybe?) applying sub-part morphs might work better for fits than what is usually offered (if any is at all), particularly if your model isnt the usual stick figure (ahem)

So I spin the dials. Then I export to OBJ. I uncheck everything but the "morph target" option. I select only the figure tree (I do include the top level, but not the mass and such)

Then I load up a plain V4.2, inject the morphs++ (used in dial spinning) and load the morph .obj....aaaand...poser(pro 8) crashes.

any ideas? or is it a waste of time?

How many parts of the body are you exporting as morph targets? How are you attempting to load the morph .obj?

BTW... Poser Pro is Poser Pro. Poser 8 does not yet exist.

______________

Hardware: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X/MSI MAG570 Tomahawk X570/Zotac Geforce GTX 1650 Super 4GB/32GB OLOy RAM

Software: Windows 10 Professional/Poser Pro 11/Photoshop/Postworkshop 3

Quote - How many parts of the body are you exporting as morph targets? How are you attempting to load the morph .obj?

BTW... Poser Pro is Poser Pro. Poser 8 does not yet exist.

I stand corrected on the version :)

anyhow...

I am using full body morphs in morphs++, could that be the problem? I was assuming that I would export everything as "body.obj" and could just import it as a morph for the whole figure.

I have been experimenting and it seems that anytime I try to load a morph to the whole body, the app crashes. But if I export each part (hips, chest, ab, etc) then I can apply a morph to each part. Not what I was after, but it may work?

Well I got what I wanted..sort of.

I exported each part and can load the morphs individually. It just means extra dial fiddling.

I dont think it will work with conforming clothing the way I wanted it to "wrong number of vertices" I guess I was hoping for a magic "fixitall" button

But I think it will work for dynamic clothing

Yeah, no, I don't think that would work with conforming clothing, as your geometry is altogether different. I've never used dynamic clothing, so I can't say I understand the principles there.

I'm still not wholly clear exactly what you're after. Is your whole purpose here in order to copy your settings to clothing, or is it firstly to re-create your character? And if the latter, are you needing all the individual dials or would you be satisfied with a single body dial?

As far as clothing goes, I think the simplest solution is to use an app that can add morphs to clothing (e.g. CrossDresser, Morphing Clothes etc). Of course, you'd have to save your character as a morph first.

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Hardware: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X/MSI MAG570 Tomahawk X570/Zotac Geforce GTX 1650 Super 4GB/32GB OLOy RAM

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Actually the conforming clothing idea was mores a "Wouldnt it be neat if..?" thought than anything else.

One of the ways to get dynamic clothing to fit better is to have the figure start out undersized and expand to fill the clothing. it prevents hiccups when the clothing intersects with the body during simulation

Okay, so what exactly are you trying to achieve, character-wise? A distributable set of dial spins for Morphs++, or exactly what?

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Hardware: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X/MSI MAG570 Tomahawk X570/Zotac Geforce GTX 1650 Super 4GB/32GB OLOy RAM

Software: Windows 10 Professional/Poser Pro 11/Photoshop/Postworkshop 3

Oh no this is just for me to use.

I prefer my characters to have more variety in their shapes than normally seen in poser. women with hips, men with bellies, etc.

I like dynamic clothing so I wanted to create a single morph dial that would allow the character to start with zero morphs and then morph during the simulation, allowing the clothing to work more successfully. But I appear to have a solution in the multiple morphs on multiple parts...its just more work than a single dial.

The conforming clothing idea was just a stray thought.

You are aware that once you have your figure all morphed to how you want, you can save your character as a cr2 when you're in the Figures menu, right?

If you want to turn that into one dial, Injection Magic should be able to take your new morph to a single INJ pose.

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Hardware: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X/MSI MAG570 Tomahawk X570/Zotac Geforce GTX 1650 Super 4GB/32GB OLOy RAM

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A quick illustration of what I was on about. pay no attention to the multitude of problems, its a quicky

See trying to get this dynamic dress to fit a gal with this much curve is a pain in the neck without adjusting the character size. Before I was shrinking the character X and Z and then expanding 5-6 frames into the simulation to "fill" the dress. But even that would cause problems, because some items would try to resize with the figure causing other problems.

With the morphs, it seems to work much easier. add figure, load morphs, add clothing. pose at frame 15 of 30. zero morphs at 1 and and "full morphs" at 10. run sim and it looks pretty good in one shot. 

The problem with saving the figure is that once applied, it appears for all frames (as far as I can tell) and so it is back to square one.

I wanted to make sure the technique would work before I go spending on other apps. If an app can make it even easier, I might consider picking it up.

What I'm saying is that if you save the figure as a morph INJ, then you can start with the dial at 0 and then dial it up to get the dynamic clothing to work the way you want.

If I'm understanding you correctly, at any rate.

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Quote - ... My workflow goes something like this:

1. Make a copy of the blMilWom_v4b.obj geometry (that's for V4, substitute whatever figure you're using).
2. Use UV Mapper (free tool) to remove UVs
3. Import the un-UV'ed obj into Argile.
4. Sculpt to my satisfaction.
5. Export obj, open in UV Mapper and import original UV map back in. Save UV mapped geometry.
6. Create INJ/REM poses in SyrINJ....

Couple of quick questions: when you use a copy of V4's original geometry (blMilWom_v4b.obj) do you use the whole figure? Even if all you're morphing is, say, the face?

I have been struggling with this for ages, and have never achieved the satisfaction of a successful morph. Either Poser crashes altogether, or it gives me the "wrong number of verts" error.

What I've been trying to do is export only the head and neck. The following summary kinda indicates the steps I've been taking, or a variety of those steps.

In summary, what I want to do is (besides curing the common cold, which at this point seems easier):
--Dial some morphs in Poser for V4 (morphs++ stuff - gets a fair bit done that way)
--Save out the morphed bits (like head and neck) into an obj file that I want to generate additional morphs in
--Save vertex map info (or recreate the vertex map if that works better - I have UV Mapper Pro)
--Load into the morphing tool of choice - been getting decent results in Blender
--Export back into obj file and if needed somehow either restore vertex map or regenerate it
--Bring the morphed obj into Poser as morph object
--Not have Poser crash completely or generate a "wrong number of Vertices" error

I do have Poser File Editor but for the life of me can't sort out how I'm meant to create a morph target from an obj file in that programme... thick as a brick, I am. I must have read the morph chapter over a dozen times, but the solution eludes me.

Thanks for responding to this... any response at all is welcome. Helpful ones will be most gratefully acknowledged.

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

Metaphor of Chooks

I only use the whole body if multiple groups are involved. Otherwise, yes, I export from Poser.

I think what you're trying to do is problematic if it's for redistribution, as exporting things done with Morphs++ as an object will mean that Morphs++ won't be called by your new morph. Which DAZ definitely won't like. I would work in the opposite order: due your sculpting in your third party app, then use Morphs++ to fine tune.

SyrINJ (and numerous other apps, I presume) only works for a figure with injection channels built in. Otherwise, you pretty much need to use PMDs, I think. But since you're talking about V4, that shouldn't be an issue. However, I don't think I've used Poser File Editor, so can't give you any advice there.

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I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes here.  I haven't had time to read this whole thread, but I want to clear something up.  Morphs do not need UV info.  It is simply a record of what vertices are moved, how far, and in what direction.  The actual object carries the UV info.

I also want to warn you, if this has not been covered, to never use exrtrusion when making a morph.  Only move the vertices.  Poser will reject any morph that has the wrong number of verts.

John

or wrong order of verts, for that matter.

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Thank you, both of you.
@ Believeable3D: the only reason I did the morphs using Morphs++ for V4 first and then exported to Blender3D was to see if the changes in the mesh could be exported to a 3D program. Turns out they could. Morphs++ don't add any geometry to the basic V4.2 object, does it?

So, now I have a mesh shaped differently to the original V4.2 (verts have been moved around) but nothing else is different. I.e., ( BeyondVR ) I'm not doing anything to the mesh except moving the verts around a wee bit more. I'm not adding any, not changing their order. Just taking an already-changed mesh and modifying it a wee bit more.

I could have achieved the same result - theoretically - with the Poser Morphing tool. For the sake of argument, let's say I did and exported the result of that. I don't want Morphs++ to be called with my new morph: I just want one dial where the user would dial in the degree that they want my character's ... um.... characteristics to change V4.2.

So, I want a PMD? Partial Morph Dial? Happy to have a go at that. I'm not going to bore you with a lot of remedial Morph Creation questions: could you point me at something current that I could study in terms of tutorials?

Thanks so much!

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

Metaphor of Chooks

I understand that you only want one dial. My point is that if you're doing this for redistribution and there's no call to Morphs++, the user won't need Morphs++ in order to use your morph. That's a no-no.

But as far as I know, you can have a single dial and still call Morphs++, anyway.

PMD has nothing to with partial or full, it's just a dfferent kind of injection that doesn't use channels (it also doesn't work natively in DS, although there's a free script for it).

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@RobynsVeil Like Believable3D said, distributing hybrid morphs is a "no no no". If you have a character that is a mixture of DAZ morphs and your own morphs, and you want to distribute that character, you would have to: 1) dial out the DAZ morphs (set their values to negative) 2) export your morph target and make it a vertex-only OBJ file 3) write an injection pose file with readscript cammands to inject a) DAZ morphs, b) your own custom morphs and c) set their values.

Le cinéma substitue à notre regard un monde qui s'accorde à nos désirs. - André Bazin

Thank you Believable3D... that was very clear and explains your workflow: loading a virginal V4 and making your morphs first, then fine-tuning with Morphs++.

So, 3DVice, just make it clear in my mind, I would do the Morphs++ injection with all values set to 0 before I export my obj file? Theoretical question: is that because the geometry does change with a Morphs++ injection and it would have to be to that Morph++ed figure I would have inject my vertex-pushed morphs back into, using your injection-pose-file-with-readscripts-commands method as outlined above (which is a bit daunting, but I'll have a go, anyway).

Thank you, both of you for your patience. I have this sneaking suspicion that this has been covered somewhere and I just missed it.

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

Metaphor of Chooks

The issue is that if you export the figure after you've got the Morphs++ alterations, you have a new geometry that doesn't need Morphs++. That's why you need to do your Morphs++ work afterward, so that it's not going into your morph geometry.

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I understand your point and agree with you, Believable3D. Thanks for taking the time to explain it.

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

Metaphor of Chooks

The dial spun part has to be done first to provide the base for the further morphing in the external application. This can be handled without violating the EULA.

Load V4
spin up the dials
export the dialed object
import into modeling app
make the changes desired
extract those changes from the dialed object (this is your crafted morph data only)
create a morph from the extracted data
include readscript lines to call Morphs++ and load the morphs

Use of the created character then requires the end user  to have V4 and Morphs++, staying within the EULA as interpreted.

Over @ DAZ there is an article about how to create your own morphs in addition to DAZ original morphs without violating the EULA. It's in their KNOWLEDGEBASE. You have to log in in order to have access to it. In earlier times it was easier to access -as far as I remember- in their tutorial section of the site.

Le cinéma substitue à notre regard un monde qui s'accorde à nos désirs. - André Bazin