Is there a way to know at which level an HD morph was sculpted ?

Elor

Hello,

HD morphs are still a bit of a mistery to me.

If I understand correctly, if a morph was sculpted at level 3, I need to set the Mesh Resolution of the prop/figure/clothing item for which it was made at 3 too. If I set it below 3, I'll lose details from the morph, and I set it higher than 3, I'm likely vasting memory with the added geometry.

But how I'm suppose to know at which level a morph was sculpted ?

With some products, it's in the name of the slider (like CJ Eden who has a HD3 level morph, so with Mesh Resolution set at 3, I'm good I suppose) but with others, I don't have the first clue.

I thought the name of the files could be a good indication, but looking at some HD Addon I bought for Daz characters, I'm not so sure.

Victoria 7 HD file are named FBMVictoria7HDLv4.dhdm and FHMVictoria7HDLv4.dhdm and I suppose Lv4 is for Level 4. But loading Victoria 7 HD preset, the Mesh Resolution is set to 3.

Victoria 8 HD file are named FBMVictoria8HDLv4.dhdm and FHMVictoria8HDLv4.dhdm but this time Victoria 8 HD loads with a Mesh Resolution set to 4.

Both non HD Victoria 7 and 8 will load with a Mesh Resolution of 2 so at least, there is a difference between the non HD and HD version, which is not always the case.

As an example, Arianna 8.1 and Arianna 8.1 HD both have a Mesh Resolution set to 4, which may not be enough to take advantage of either of them:

• Arianna 8.1 have files called MCMArianna8_1Navel_HDLv5.dhdm, MCMArianna8_1Nipples_HDLv5.dhdm and PHMArianna8_1_Iris_HDLv5.dhdm (so level 5 morphs for her navel, nipples and irises ?)
• Arianna 8.1 HD have FBM and FHM morphs called FBMArianna8_1HDLv5.dhdm and FHMArianna8_1HDLv5.dhdm

I also have at least one clothing item which will have different Mesh Resolution levels, depending on which way I loaded it (the Untamed Warrior Shoulders): if I'm using the whole outfit preset, the Shoulders' Mesh Resolution is set to 1. If I'm loading only the Shoulders, their Mesh Resolution is set to 4.

Two other items of the same outfit also have HD version, but all are loaded with Mesh Resolution set to 1, but to make the situation even messier, the legs will only have their HD Morph (called Legs HD) dialed at 100% if loaded independantly: the version from the outfit is loaded with this Legs HD morph set to 0. And this time, none of the file has a Lv[number] in their name.

So…

Is there a way to know at which level an HD morph was sculpted, preferably one that doesn't required rendering each item at a different Mesh Resolution, then scrutining every details to decide if Mesh Resolution N+1 is more detailled than Mesh Resolution N ?

lilweep

Elor said:

If I understand correctly, if a morph was sculpted at level 3, I need to set the Mesh Resolution of the prop/figure/clothing item for which it was made at 3 too. If I set it below 3, I'll lose details from the morph, and I set it higher than 3, I'm likely vasting memory with the added geometry.

That's correct, you will still see an effect of the HD detail at lower subD, but it wont be the full effect.

But how I'm suppose to know at which level a morph was sculpted ?

Some of them will say the level of HD in the morph name. Otherwise if they dont say which SubD level it was sculpted at, then i think there's no way to know.  Also, since it is jus in the name, the author could be overstating and say it is at SubD4 when in reality all the detail could be captured at SubD1

But loading Victoria 7 HD preset, the Mesh Resolution is set to 3.

I wouldnt read too much into what resolution is set by an HD preset.  SubD3 is a fairly high SubD, perhaps the preset just didnt want to push up the SubD higher to 4 and were leaving that to the user to adjust in parameters.

Victoria 8 HD file are named FBMVictoria8HDLv4.dhdm and FHMVictoria8HDLv4.dhdm but this time Victoria 8 HD loads with a Mesh Resolution set to 4.

Again, wouldnt read too much into that,

Personally I would say just to use your eyeballs and set viewport drawsyle to smooth shaded, look at the screen, and see if increasing SubD higher (in parameters) will change the level of visible detail while an HD morph is dialled in.

Richard Haseltine

A higher SubD level isn't necessarily wasted, if it helps to smooth the mesh noticeably for the aprticular fframing and lighhting you are using.

Elor

Thank you all for your answers

Richard Haseltine said:

A higher SubD level isn't necessarily wasted, if it helps to smooth the mesh noticeably for the aprticular fframing and lighhting you are using.

I use higher SubD level to get a better shadows on clothes regularly, but some products don't like when a figure has a high Mesh Resolution (Vellus Horizon has a tendency to get Daz stuck on the geometry step needed before a render can start when used with a figure with a Mesh Resolution higher than 3) so it would be ideal to know when a Genesis 3/8/8.1 HD character is using a HD Level 3 morph.