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So if you have followed this thread for awhile, I have always been trying to get the details of the muscle, without the bulk (think fitness competitors). But to get to that Split Bicep that RenderPretender and I both like to see, I have had to overdrive the AME flex size. This can cause some unwanted distortions by lengthening upper arms, and messing up proportions. I tried d-formers, and manipulating the bones Hidden parameters, all with limited success. So upon discovering how to access the Hidden properties, I found DMasters major Bicep and Bicep Pose morphs. From there I created inverse or negative morphs of the Bicep morphs, then ERC (Enhanced Remote Control) linked them to the appropriate Bicep and Bicep Pose parameters. Next was linking the new inverse parameters to the Hand and Forearm bends and twists. Finally creating a master controller allowing me to "blend" in the desired extra amount of Biceps, without overdriving the rest of the body. I also developed an additional Tricep Flex morph, and did the same thing for DMasters Calf Flexing parameters, all controlled with the Master controller. If there is interest, I can put out a step by step, but it is basically a rehash of the PDF classes I have allready posted, just with different Parameters. The only draw back here is the files and master controller are optimized for the amount of AME Body that you want to start with. I have tried this with as low as 1% AME, but have found that 10-30% of AME body seems to work best, you can keep the original body shape mostly intact (especially if you inverse the AME body also).
I can't say how many trials and errors I have performed to get to this point, but am pretty happy with the results. TD
The Render is of a G3F imported model (Tamara) with only 10% of AME dialed in at 100% Flex
The other two screen shots are the same G8M with just the Left enhanced, and then G8F cloned with just the Right enhanced
These look amazing!! I would definitely be interested in a step by step instruction guide to be able to do this.
These results look terrific. Lately, though, I've been slogging around trying to find at least a partial solution to creating a convincing split bicep on a G8F base. Still no luck. It's frustrating because, just today, yet another altogether insufficient and unrealistic full body muscle morph hit the DAZ marketplace. I can't understand why only one PA (I'm ever grateful to him) has had any inclination to respond to a clear market call for an anatomically correct human upper arm. But there's no shortage of toonish drivel because, I suppose, it's easier to produce that.
I would pay a fair price for a quality, authentic offering. I have done so (for G8M). I long to begin using my G8F characters in near-photoreal artwork again without having to deal with all the secondary/collateral issues (mainly clothing fitment/misbehavior) that occurs with G8M ported characters. Still, I applaud your efforts and successes with the G8M platform.
I don't think that's a fair assessment. First, just because the product you're referencing isn't what you're interested in doesn't mean it's drivel. That PA only has a few products (at least in the Daz store), but that product appears consistent with their style, so it's a bit presumptuous to say that they only make it because it's easier. Second, there's a market for toony characters as well, and honestly, it's probably a bigger market than what you're asking for. This thread is mostly just the same three or four people sharing their results over and over; you might be overestimating how much of a demand there is for the very specific thing you want. Third, there might be technical reasons that other PAs haven't made a product like this that D.Master was the first one to crack. D. Master hasn't made a whole lot of products, and past their initial toony characters, they've been incredibly specialized, mostly utilizing the same techniques and mechanics that would make AME possible. There are plenty of other musculature products on the market, so it's not as if this is an entirely unserved market. Maybe D.Master was just the only one who knew how to do it right.
My point is that I own most, if not all, of the products you reference, and I find it frustrating that none of them answer my artistic requirements. You're free to disagree with me, but my status as a paying consumer affords me the right to decide what products I will or won't buy, and to assess them accordingly in a relevant venue. Whether or not you feel that my assessment is correct or "fair" doesn't really constitute a reason why I shouldn't be able to express it.
I'm not challenging your right to express anything at all. Telling you that I think something you said is wrong isn't a form of censorship.
Well I guess I am guilty as charged by Gordig. I am still investigating new and different ways to use this incredible product, and looking at the viewers visiting this forum, a LOT of people seem to be interested, even if they don't post their work. To that end, here is the tutorial that was asked for on this page. This took quite awhile, and is quite complicated the first time thru. Even if you don't end up using it, the exercise should still be of interest to many. This is probably not the only way to do something like this, but it is what I have figured out to date. TD
Thanks for all this work, TD. I'm sure it will greatly benefit those who want to maximize control over the bicep and extend the functionality of DMaster's great product.
@terry_duquette: You've certainly done a tremendous amount of work preparting this tutorial. One thing I don't get. At the beginning of the pdf, you state: I recommend you save your work in a Scene Subset, while going thru all this.
What is a scene subset? Is it different from just a regular scene? Is this so that in case I make a mistake and save something I shouldn't, it won't effect the DS files?
I am sure someone can give a clearer answer, but for me, saving as a scene subset, allows me to import that scene subset into another scene. I believe it isn't all that much different than saving as a scene, and saving as either will work. It just ensures that all your modified settings, morphs and ERC freezes are stored on that character, even it they haven't been saved into DAZ for use on other characters. So if you have not saved the morphs as File--Save As-Support Asset-Morph Asset, then it is still stand alone from all your other characters. You can always delete any morphs you make at:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\My DAZ 3D Library\data\DAZ 3D\Genesis 8\Male\Morphs\(Your User Name Folder)
TD
For the most part, I save empty scenes that only have lights, environment, and render settings as Scenes.
When I'm working on characters, I save them as Scene Subsets and only select the items that I want to save in the Save Scene Subset dialog box. Typically, I only select the character which (by default) includes all the hair, clothing, textures, and pose.
My basic explanation of a Scene Subset is that you get a chance to select only those items you wish to save, unlike saving a scene which gets everything. The beauty of a Scene Subset is that I can easily load (for instance) a complete character into an existing scene. I routinely save Scene Subsets while I'm working on a character, so I can merge them back into one of my standard empty scenes later.
And yes, the scene subset doesn't overwrite any of my products. They're very convenient and easy to work with. I highly recommend using Scene Subsets if they make sense for your workflow.
Not sure if I explained this very well or not. I've been going through yet another series of migraines the past couple of months. I'm still a little fuzzy! :)
Also, thank you to Terry for the excellent and detailed PDF on the AME Bicep Enhancement. You are awesome, Terry! :)
Lee
Thanks for the explanations, Terry and Lee.
Can you explain how this works? I am having issues with this product (specifically the veins morph) distorting various parts of the mouth, particularly the teeth. What is the process I need to do so that I have files correctly set up to not have this happen any more?
Thanks.
Thanks for this Terry. I'm on my 4th attempt to get this to work but haven't gotten it yet. Here's the two issues I've had so far:
-Step 18 when setting the AME Body to 20% or more and the Flex size to 50% or more... the R Bicep Muscle and R Bicep Pose 01 are affected, but the L Bicep Muscle and the L Bicep Pose 01 sliders do not move. I want to say one of the times I've tried going through your document it did impact both, but at least the last two times it has not. Any tips on why this may be happening?
-Step 21: The Pose 01 Parameters do not show up in the ERC Freeze Dialog. Any idea why that may be the case?
For Step 18, it sounds like your pose is not symmetrical, D.Masters morphs are triggered by certain bone movements in relation to each other, so the right arm seems to have hit those triggers, where the left has not (try raising the shoulder, that one is especially important along with the hand bend)
For step 21, the parameters will not show up if you did not "unhide" . the tell tell sign is that the letters in the parameter box will be white and easily readable.
Hope that helps, don't give up, you will really like the results once you get it working!! TD
Alright I've made it a bit further. Pretty sure I got the arms into symmetry which gave both arms values (although they weren't the same). So that's fine. The other issue seemed to be caused because on Step 19 I didn't "Set the Bicep Pose to the previous value". I had only had the Muscles set to 100% and the Neg Morph set to 100%-the previous value of the muscle. After correcting updating those values the parameters showed in the ERC freeze dialog.
But now I'm having the same issue but in a different step... I got the first ERC freeze with the hand bend to work (step 26-28) but then at Step 29/30, after zeroing the figure pose and then setting the left forearm bend and twist both to -90% and the left Neg morph to 25%, when I go to ERC freeze the Neg morph does not show up. Thoughts?
My first thought is that the negative morph is being controlled inadvertently by another movement to the 25% setting. If there is no "change or Delta" to the parameter it will not show up in the list. Try zeroing the pose, then while in the edit mode go to "Show in Property Heirarchy", open the window up and expand to look at the controllers. If something isn't correct, you can remove it and try again, no harm no foul.
Attached is what it should look like, three first stage controllers, and then when you are done, a final second stage (multiplier) controller. You are almost there, it is a bit tedious the first time thru, but the techniques you are learning are invaluable! TD
Below is what my left Neg Morph looks like in the property heirarchy. The right one has nothing in the 1st or 2nd stage.
Makes sense I'd be missing the Left Forarm bend freeze properties in the 1st stage since I haven't been able to get through step but I'm not sure on the 2nd stage property.
Given what you see, would you recommend I start over again and give it another go after deleting the neg morphs?
That looks correct for where you are at, I would recommend doing the forearm twist and bend ERC, freezes separately. You could always just remove the hand bend controller and start from that point again, in case something isn't quite right. It is sooooo easy to inadvertently tag something else, or link it to the wrong value. TD
I got it! The morph looks great! The last issue was occuring because I was selecting the wrong morph to ERC freeze. Not having an understanding of how this process led me to do that, but now I understand that the freeze should be ocurring on the bone pose morph and not the AME morphs.
Still gotta figure out what's going on with the teeth/gums... the veins morph still does some crazy things there (and clearing selected deltas from favorites doesn't solve the problem), but I'm glad I was able to get through that tutorial.
EXCELLENT! I have continued to experiment around these techniques, and now have created Neg Morphs for every property in the AME folder and built them a master controller, that blends out AME size on any model, then layered this technique over that. Have fun, don't be afraid to try different AME bodies and flex amounts, I have a folder full of subsets ranging from .00001 to 50% AME with various amounts of Flex Size, and with the negative AME morphs I can now reliably "overdrive" the flex property, and bring the proportions back to something I can live with. Again Congratulations, hope other folks have made it thru the tutorial also. TD
Wow td! You never fail to amaze.
Thx Sigurd!
Well after the new Thor trailer, got me thinking about Natalie Portman working out for the part, to be able to handle the reconstucted Mjolnir. So I used the Padme head morph and texture from Shinteo over at DA, built the body morph on the G8F platform, moved all of it to the G8M platform. This is an absolute minimum (0.01% AME and AME Flex, with ASE at 25%), with my extra enhancements added. Used the X-Splitter tool to split the upper and lower bodybuilder morph and details. A little enhanced "Hero" scaling, but dialed back overall scale to keep the character at the "real world" 5' 3". A bit of Kit Bashing and this is what I came up with today. Still a work in progress, some weird forearm bending from all the morphs, may have to rethink my technique! Still a lot of fun to get the character to somewhere near where I wanted to go, Still amazing to me what even a little AME can provide. TD
Impressive as always.
Anyone trying out "Squishy Human Male" product with AME yet? Might be helpful in solving some of the challenging soft body interactions, Lat insertion, armpits, knee joints and breast interactions on female conversions. Or it could D-Forcexplode into insanity!! Can't wait to see what starts shaking out. TD
It's a good idea in theory, but it's going to be a resource killer. In terms of, say, the ever troublesome torso/arm intersections, I've often wondered if it's possible to "teach" the mesh where those undesireable intersections occur, and then give the user a way to select and mitigate them manually... kind of like an "intelligent" deformer.
Is there a female version coming at some point? I check this thread every day for updates about anything like that. I would buy it in a heartbeat. I'd buy it twice.
Almost certainly not. The vendor (DMaster) who created AME for G8M was working on a G8F version and was... from his own reports over 2 years ago... right on the verge of submitting it to Daz for testing/approval. Two weeks away he said. Then he had a family tragedy which seems to have resulted in him disappearing from the Daz scene.
Aw man. That's a bummer. Oh well. At least now I know not to wait for it anymore. I was waiting and checking this thread daily for about a year and a half. Thank you for your reply. While that's very sad and disappointing, I do accept that it's the situation. Thank you anyway!
Yup, I was crushed. I'd been hoping for something like that to finally appear on the scene. And it was so close...