[Diffeo] Strength of custom morph JCM? (resolved)

acdum1857

Probably correct, but a question for sure.

In Daz, I applied 50% Jacqueline 8.1 body to the 8.1 base figure.
After that, Diffeo imported Jacqueline's JCM as the custom morph.
If so, is it correct to adjust only the custom morph(Adjust Custom) to 0.5?
No need to lower the base figure(Adjust JCMs) to 0.5, right?

acdum1857

I just tried bending knees, and even though the 'Adjust Custom' strength was 1, the custom morph JCM didn't work.
Only the standard morph JCM worked.

(After importing standard and custom morphs, I set 'Make All Bones Posable'.)

Padone

I made a 50% Victoria 8 and she works fine here, are you using the dev version ?

acdum1857

Yes, tested with latest dev version Diffeo + Blender 3.0 & 2.93
Custom morphs worked for Victoria, but not for other characters.

[Not working]
Base : Genesis 8.1
Custom Morphs : Jacqueline 8.1, RosaMaria 8.1

[Worked]
Base : Genesis 8.1
Custom Morph : Victoria 8.1

Padone

Jacqueline seems to work fine here.

steps:

1. in daz studio export Jacqueline as dbz (or any other figure)
2. in blender import Jacqueline then merge rigs then make all bones posable
3. import standard jcms
4. import the custom Jacqueline jcms

 

 

Padone

Also tried a mix Victoria + Jacqueline and works fine too.

steps:

1. in daz studio make a figure mix 50% Victoria + 50% Jacqueline then export as dbz
2. in blender import the figure then merge rigs then make all bones posable
3. import standard jcms
4. import the custom Victoria jcms
5. import the custom Jacqueline jcms

Padone

As a side note making figures by mixing other figures is bad practice anyway, because you end up with a morphs hell. It is much more flexible and optimized to use the body and head morphs to customize the basic figure.

Padone

As another note, to optimize the custom jcms you can use the "mix shapekeys" tool in the morphs panel. This way you can mix a single jcm with base + customs. But this needs to be done by hand for every jcm. Not something I really wish anybody to deal with.

As for me, I usually try to minimize morphs. The standard jcms are usually good enough for most figures so I only add custom morphs that are really necessary. For monsters figures for example custom jcms are usually necessary for knees and elbows.

acdum1857

It's only recently that I know that custom character jcms are also used.
This is because when mixing vendor characters in Daz, their jcm is ignored and only the base jcm is applied.
So I thought the official Daz characters were like that too.

Now that I know this, I couldn't ignore the jcm of another figure, but as you said, it became tons of morphs, so I'm worried.
'mix shapekeys' requires a lot of hands, but it seems like a viable alternative.
I'm also seriously considering part of the muscle system, not the shape keys, to avoid this complexity.

Anyway, the problem is that the jcm still doesn't work.(!)
I'm trying a bunch of different ways, including yours.
I'll fix it soon and post a reply.

ThomasLarsson

I rarely use adjusters myself, and until recently the code was buggy. It still has problems, e.g. when loading missing morphs. Also the UI was confusing, because there are really two types of adjusters, so I just change the way it works.

Type adjusters are used to mix morphs for mixed characters. That controlled by an option when custom morphs are loaded. Standard morphs don't have type adjusters anymore.

The strength adjuster can be used to improve morphs if the character deviates much from the base character. The is still controlled by a global setting.

I think this is clearer than before.

 

acdum1857

ThomasLarsson

Yes, adjusters are like full body morphs in Daz, intuitive and easy to use.
In the case of Victoria 8.1 jcm, a Custom Morph that worked, it was very convenient because it was applied in real time just by adjusting the adjusters value. 

acdum1857

Padone

There is one strange thing.
Only custom morphs of Victoria 8 and Victoria 8.1 worked, the other characters didn't.
I tried bending the limbs in pose mode, and in bodymorph as well.
(Tested with pure Daz original characters, not mixed / DAZ Studio 4.16 BETA / 'Expot To Blender', Not HD)

All G8 characters custom morphs were imported from here :
D:\My DAZ 3D Library\data\DAZ 3D\Genesis 8\Female\Morphs\DAZ 3D\Character's Name
All G8.1 characters custom morphs were imported from here :
D:\My DAZ 3D Library\data\DAZ 3D\Genesis 8\Female 8_1\Morphs\Daz 3D\Character's Name

 

I have already checked these paths in Daz. (yellow box in image)
After importing these morphs I didn't set anything further.
Even though they are all original characters, and same path, why did only two Victoria work?
Am I importing these morphs from the wrong path, or do I need to set something more? 

Padone

Don't know, everything works fine here I can't reproduce this issue. Both with single figures and mixed figures I can see the custom jcms working fine.

acdum1857

I recorded the process of importing custom morphs.
If there is anything wrong with this, please let me know at any time.

 

https://youtu.be/U0xIbIzaDNk

Padone

I can confirm that with the latest version 1.6.1.0761 only Victoria 8 and Victoria 8.1 seem to work, the other figures don't. For example Jacqueline that worked fine for me before. I see Thomas changed something in the adjusters code, going to report the bug ..

https://bitbucket.org/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/797/

acdum1857

I'm glad you found the problem too.
I thought there might be a problem on my side, so I reinstalled and rolled back both Daz studio and Blender, but the problem was still there.
If it's a bug, I'll wait for the fixed version.
Thanks for your reply and report to Thomas :D

acdum1857

Thomas mentioned this in the link above.
"Custom jcms are typically multiplied with the corresponding fbm. That works fine as long as you don’t actually load the fbm, because they fbm is already baked into the character."
I thought this meant, for example, when Rosa Maria 8.1 is imported, her own jcm is also already applied and imported, so there is no need to additionally import her jcm through 'import custom morphs'.
(I may have misunderstood.)
But from what I tested her jcm didn't apply.
As you can see in the attached images, in the case of the knee, it is more angular if her own jcm is not applied.
That is, her knee shape is the same as when 'pJCMRosaMaria8_1ShinBend_90_L' = 0% in Daz.

Padone

Yes you have misunderstood. That is, fbm stands for full body morph and refers to the figure body shape, that's typically baked in the dbz when you export. While jcms are not, unless you pose the figure. Then custom jcms are to be imported later. So you typically do the following.

steps:

1. in daz studio mix a figure from other figures
2. export as dbz in rest pose, so no custom jcms are baked, but fbms are
3. import in blender, merge rigs and make all bones posable
4. import standard jcms
5. import custom jcms, with a separate category for every figure you used in the mix
6. use the adjusters to set the percentage for every figure in the mix

The latest commit seems to work fine here. Please let us know if something is not clear or if you find a bug.

Again, though mixing is possible, I strongly advise not to. To customize a figure it is way better to use the genesis body and face morphs, this way you only use the standard jcms.

acdum1857

I misunderstood for a moment.
FBM is the shape of the character itself, and when it is imported into Blender, it is the shape of the character, so of course it is already baked.

Anyway, I installed the latest commit, and the problem is finally solved.
I've tested both single and mixed figures and they all work fine.
I appreciate Thomas for fixing the bugs quickly and you for testing to the end. :D
And yes, I'll take your advice on character customization.