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GLBHow to Prepare Complex Custom Outfits for DAZ
121
Hi everyone,
I'm curious about the best approach for creating custom outfits for DAZ Studio. A while back I uploaded this design:
https://www.renderhub.com/gallery/75897/japanese-sailor-uniform-and-parka
Now Id like to start preparing more complex outfits like this for DAZ, but I want to make sure they deform correctly during posing and fit across different character shapes. I'm also wondering about handling accessories things like the cassette player or glasses so they sit naturally and don't get distorted.
For context, I don't have any prior experience with DAZ or rigging, but I'd like to start creating clothing for Genesis characters and eventually Metahumans. Could anyone share advice, recommended workflows, or tutorials/resources to get me started?
Thanks in advance!
I'm curious about the best approach for creating custom outfits for DAZ Studio. A while back I uploaded this design:
https://www.renderhub.com/gallery/75897/japanese-sailor-uniform-and-parka
Now Id like to start preparing more complex outfits like this for DAZ, but I want to make sure they deform correctly during posing and fit across different character shapes. I'm also wondering about handling accessories things like the cassette player or glasses so they sit naturally and don't get distorted.
For context, I don't have any prior experience with DAZ or rigging, but I'd like to start creating clothing for Genesis characters and eventually Metahumans. Could anyone share advice, recommended workflows, or tutorials/resources to get me started?
Thanks in advance!
! REPORT
I can give you some starting advice.
In general you'll want to build everything off the base figure without any character morphs dialed in. The transfer utility in Daz is a good start, but you will need to use the weight map brush and to increase, decrease, and smooth out the weight maps for each "joint" of the outfit. There's a product at Daz that is designed for clothing designers by offering a bunch of poses that will normally cause the outfit to "poke through" where you can see the character's geometry poking through the outfit. The poses are just designed to help you find the poke through and fix it.
You'll need to make morphs to fix the outfit to conform to the bend of the body. The problem with a tool like Marvelous Designer is that its simulation are hard to transform into a corrective morph because it will change the whole outfit geometry. Case in point, you make a pair of jeans for G8M. If you bend the left thigh joint of the figure up to -90, the thigh of the G8M pokes through the left jean leg. If you export the G8M figure's pose and then morph that on Marvelous' avatar, the simulation is going to simulate the whole jeans. You only want to fix the left jean leg. In this case it's easier to take it into Zbrush or blend and move the faces around for just the area that is poking through than doing a whole simulation in MD.
For things like button or a badge on a labcoat, you use rigid parent nodes and parent the button to the rigid node on the clothing itself. If you search youtube you'll find tutorials on this.
For a complex outfit that has buttons or multiple pieces you use the wardrobe preset to load a complete outfit vs a single article of clothing.
Hope that gives you some starting directions.
In general you'll want to build everything off the base figure without any character morphs dialed in. The transfer utility in Daz is a good start, but you will need to use the weight map brush and to increase, decrease, and smooth out the weight maps for each "joint" of the outfit. There's a product at Daz that is designed for clothing designers by offering a bunch of poses that will normally cause the outfit to "poke through" where you can see the character's geometry poking through the outfit. The poses are just designed to help you find the poke through and fix it.
You'll need to make morphs to fix the outfit to conform to the bend of the body. The problem with a tool like Marvelous Designer is that its simulation are hard to transform into a corrective morph because it will change the whole outfit geometry. Case in point, you make a pair of jeans for G8M. If you bend the left thigh joint of the figure up to -90, the thigh of the G8M pokes through the left jean leg. If you export the G8M figure's pose and then morph that on Marvelous' avatar, the simulation is going to simulate the whole jeans. You only want to fix the left jean leg. In this case it's easier to take it into Zbrush or blend and move the faces around for just the area that is poking through than doing a whole simulation in MD.
For things like button or a badge on a labcoat, you use rigid parent nodes and parent the button to the rigid node on the clothing itself. If you search youtube you'll find tutorials on this.
For a complex outfit that has buttons or multiple pieces you use the wardrobe preset to load a complete outfit vs a single article of clothing.
Hope that gives you some starting directions.
REPLY
! REPORT
MASSX_RZ
Karma: 1,043
Fri, Sep 26thank you so much, this definitely gave me an overall idea of how things work, i wanted to avoid weight painting but i guess i never will.
SnarlTheWerewolf
Karma: 2,548
Fri, Sep 26With more complex clothing it's inevitable. You'll find things like a sleeve cuff that's just close enough to the hand that it gives the shirt a hand joint and now you have to remove the weight map/joint so the cuff doesn't end up distorting. Sadly, the Daz A pose is pretty horrible for clothing design.
For those new to rigging, I created a short tutorial in French with screenshots. Since the document is in both DOC and PDF format, it's easy to translate into your own language.
https://www.renderhub.com/my-downloads?add=65b75c93885a579487
https://www.renderhub.com/my-downloads?add=65b75c93885a579487
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! REPORT
Even if you want to build complex 3D clothing, I would suggest starting with something very simple. DAZ has many stumbling blocks, limitations, and rules that can quickly become frustrating.
In my opinion, the simplest 3D garment is a mini skirt (it really should be mini!). It's very quick to create (under 20 minutes), and you can gain your first experience with rigging in DAZ (Transfer Tool).
After rigging, you can set up simple test poses yourself, such as Legs Spread or Knees Up (both at 100%).
If you're happy with your simple mini skirt, you could either try enlarging it to knee length (then you'll immediately encounter a DAZ trap after rigging if you try the poses mentioned above). Or you could try what happens if you incorporate real 3D hems into your skirt and set the 3D garment to dForce (it will probably explode). Or you could try incorporating a simple button as an RFN (Rigid Follow Node).
For further tips and advice, I and others are happy to help. Just get in touch
In my opinion, the simplest 3D garment is a mini skirt (it really should be mini!). It's very quick to create (under 20 minutes), and you can gain your first experience with rigging in DAZ (Transfer Tool).
After rigging, you can set up simple test poses yourself, such as Legs Spread or Knees Up (both at 100%).
If you're happy with your simple mini skirt, you could either try enlarging it to knee length (then you'll immediately encounter a DAZ trap after rigging if you try the poses mentioned above). Or you could try what happens if you incorporate real 3D hems into your skirt and set the 3D garment to dForce (it will probably explode). Or you could try incorporating a simple button as an RFN (Rigid Follow Node).
For further tips and advice, I and others are happy to help. Just get in touch
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To ensure the glasses aren't distorted, you need to import the .obj or .fbx file, but don't use the "transfer utility" function. Remember, glasses are accessories, not clothing items.
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Quote: In this case it's easier to take it into Zbrush or blend and move the faces around for just the area that is poking through than doing a whole simulation in MD.
And for those who prefer not to pay for rentware like Zbrush, or MD the sculpting and polygon modeling tools of Blender are more than adequate.
I have a complete base mesh that encloses all of my base default characters.
I mostly use traditional modeling tool to duplicate that base and then cut away sections to leave pants, tops, boots etc, those are then detailed & sculpted and material zones set before exporting to Daz studio or Reallusion Character creator for conforming.
And for those who prefer not to pay for rentware like Zbrush, or MD the sculpting and polygon modeling tools of Blender are more than adequate.
I have a complete base mesh that encloses all of my base default characters.
I mostly use traditional modeling tool to duplicate that base and then cut away sections to leave pants, tops, boots etc, those are then detailed & sculpted and material zones set before exporting to Daz studio or Reallusion Character creator for conforming.
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I taught myself how to model way back in the Genesis 2-3 era because I was making an animated film where my characters needed to wear very story specific clothing.
once you get a base mesh for all of your default figures you can build out anything from it.
Here is a suit I made for the G3 male back in 2018.
once you get a base mesh for all of your default figures you can build out anything from it.
Here is a suit I made for the G3 male back in 2018.
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