Flipping hands on White Knight

thistledownsname

I recently got the White Knight for G3F because the 7th picture shows a nice armored gauntlet, which most DAZ armor doesn't.  Sadly, on installing I found out it is only for the left hand.  The right has some metal on the back of the hand but is mostly just a chain glove.  So, what do I need to do to flip the left gauntlet for right-hand use?  I've gotten some of the extra programs recently, but haven't tried using them yet.

Any walk-through type advice?

Thomas Windar

That is.... not a quick process. 
You will need:
- a modeller (like Hexagon)
- a program that can modify a bitmap (like gimp or photoshop)

And then it'll be a bit of work in DAZ Studio. 
So... what do you have?

thistledownsname

I recently got Hexagon but haven't worked with it yet.  I've got photoshop elements 8, which I'm fairly comfortable with.

Thomas Windar

Alright, so this will not be a quick process. 

First in DAZ Studio:
1. Open the White Knight for G3F clean, without any figure loaded.
2. Select it in the Scene tab. 
3. Go to File -> Send to Hexagon. 
4. Do not close DAZ Studio.
 

Now in Hexagon:
1. You should see the new figure in it. 
2. Select the figure in the Scene tab.
3. Press F2 to enter Face Selection.
4. Holding the ALT button will let you move the camera with your Mouse. Lefty click to rotate, right click to move, wheel to zoom.
5. Select carefully the faces of the Glove that you want to mirror. Holding CTRL will add faces to existing selection.
6. Once you are done, press CTRL+C to copy. CTRL+V to paste it.
7. Now go to the upper tab, you should find Vertex Modelling. Find a tool called Symmetry. 
8. Select the freshly copied glove. Press Symmetry. 
9. Inside the "Properties window, you will have two icons under the words Clone and Clone Off, Select the icon on the right.
10. In the viewport you will see as you move your mouse that there is a line showing, with a square between. Try to put the square in the 0 position on the X axis. You will not manage to get it perfectly to 0 mind you.
11. Select the original glove. Check its X position. Now you will have to write down the same X position for the mirrored glove, except in reverse. (so a "-1.02" would be a "1.02"). Press Validate on your selection.
12. Delete the original figures from the scene tab and leave only the Mirrored Glove.
13. Select it and choose File - Send to DAZ Studio.
14. If DAZ asks you what is being imported select "prop". 

And now we do even MORE work in DAZ Studio. 
 

thistledownsname

Ok, it looks like it came through.  For some reason Hexagon wouldn't let me delete the original, but I was still able to select just the copy and bring it back.

Daz now has a new prop called Form1 with no rigging and opacity strength set to 0.

Oh, and the gauntlet was its own conforming prop within White Knight, so I just worked with that instead of the entire outfit.  That should be correct?

Thomas Windar

Yes.

Remember that you can NEVER SHARE the item you are making now. 

Alright, so now you have Form1. 
1. Select the Joint Editor tool. Select the Form1. Right Click in the viewport and choose Edit -> Rename Node. You can now name it somehow. Make sure the Name and Label are the SAME NAME. You can called whatever you like, like "Mirror Gauntlet" or whatever. Something that should work for you.
2. For now, Save the current Scene. So it won't be deleted, just in case. 
3. Go to your Content Library pane (tab) and use it to locate the folder that has the White Knight items in it. There should be a "material" option in it. Select the gauntlet and use the Material on it. If everything is alright, it should look normal now.

Do that and then we will make this move.

thistledownsname

Ok, looking good.  Thanks for the help on this.

Thomas Windar

You'll thank me once we have a working gauntlet.
Alright, now the tricky part.

Save the Scene cause this might mess up the glove. We do not want to repeat this from the beginning.

 

1. After saving the Scene, select File - New to work on a new file.
2. Load Gen 3 Female figure into the scene. Just Gen 3 Female, no Victoria, no nothing.
3. Go to File - Merge. Select the Scene with the gauntlet. That will bring the file into this new scene, but the original Scene should be safe.
4. Go to Edit -> Object -> Transfer Utility.
5. There it will open a new window. Select Genesis 3 Female as the Source. The Mirrored Gauntlet should be the Target.
6. Select "Show Options" to see more options.
7. From "Projection Template" choose "Gloves".
8. As "Content Type" at the very end choose "Follower/Wardrobe/Glove/Left/Right" depending on whether the glove is left or right. 
9. Choose Accept. DAZ will do calculations. 

Now try posing the hand. Check if the glove functions correctly. If it works, do this:

1. Go to File - Save as -> Support Asset -> Figure/Prop Assets. 
2. Name it so you recognize the file for future use. A window will pop up now.
3. As Vendor Name, input the name of the Vendor that created the original Item.
4. As Product Name give it "White Knight for GF3 Mirror Gauntlet".
5. As item name you can give it any name you wish it to have.
6. In Metadata, set the Content Type as "Follower -> Wardrobe -> Glove -> Right/Left (depending on hand it is for)"
7. Set Category as Default/Wardrobe/Gloves (just copy this text and input it there)
8. As Set Compatibility Base choose "Genesis 3 /Female". You will have to search for it a bit, but its there.
9. Set Compatible With the same as above.
10. Unmark "Compress File". 
11. Accept. 

 

In case you have Poke-Through happening with the glove:
1. Select the Gauntlet.
2. Go to Edit -> Figure -> Geometry -> Apply Smoothing Modifier. 

Then just save the prop. 

thistledownsname

Hmm.  Not poke-through, but bending the middle finger tries to drag a bit of the other fingers with some stretched polygons.  Smoothing modifier helped, but not entirely.

Thomas Windar

Dang it... this is tricky then. 

What is happening there is that the Weight Map projection did not work correctly. Do you know how to use the Node Weight Map Brush to adjust the weight maps?

thistledownsname

I think I saw a video on it once.  The stretching is only apparent when the finger moves independently of the other fingers, so most of the time it will be fine, but let's give it a go.

Got the brush, what should I do with it?

Thomas Windar

Alright, so BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING - Save. This might wreck a lot of work you did. 

Now, the idea here is that you have to correct the maps that bind the mesh to the rig. Bend each finger and check which one of them causes "unwanted Geometry to move". The moment you find one finger that does it, do the following:

1. Open the "Tool Settings" Pane from Window -> Panes (tabs) -> Tool Settings. Dock it somwhere nice.
2. Select the Node Weight Map Brush.
3. Select the Finger in the GLOVE (not Gen 3F) that is moving more than it should in the Scene tab. Click on the "General Weight" map in the Tool Settings. 
4. You should see red and blue areas on the glove. These are weight maps.
5. Notice where the map is spreading to the WRONG fingers.
6. Select those FINGERS in the Scene tab and paint the map on them in these areas so that their weights belong to that finger. Be careful here though.
7. Check the "Main Problem Finger" and check if it has maps spreading to other fingers. If yes - repeat step 6. 
8. Do this until fingers move only the "correct" areas. 

This is a time consuming process. In the "Tool Settings" you can adjust Sensitivity lower or higher. Just be aware to save this as a different file in case you screw up. 

Also - do NOT erase the maps on the "wrong bone". The map spreads around to nearby maps, which will cause really weird bending. This might badly screw up your gauntlet. You have to just slowly increase the maps on the correct fingers. 

This will be a time consuming process, especially when you are new. 

 

I do know there is the "Distribute Selected Bone Weights" option that should technically do this for you.... but You'll have to wait a moment, cause I need to check up on this thing before I give you the rundown. 

If you wanna wait a bit with the painting - I'll write it down soon. 

Thomas Windar

Alright - wait before you do anything. Gonna write you down the easier method.

Thomas Windar

In Node Weight Map Brush do the following:

 

1. Open the "Tool Settings" Pane from Window -> Panes (tabs) -> Tool Settings. Dock it somwhere nice.
2. Select the Node Weight Map Brush. 
3. Right click on the Vieport to open the menu. Choose Brush Mode -> Geometry Selection.
4. Select the Finger in the GLOVE (not Gen 3F) that is moving more than it should in the Scene tab. Click on the "General Weight" map in the Tool Settings. 
5. You should see red and blue areas on the glove. These are weight maps.
6. Notice where the map is spreading to the WRONG fingers. If it spreads to more than one finger, choose only one other finger at a time. Select that area (it will be covered in Yellow). Hold CTRL to add to the current area, hold ALT to de-select area. Make sure your selection is ONLY there.
7. Select the finger you WANT THE MAP TO BE TRANSFERED TO in the Scene Tab. Hold CTRL and Select THE FINGER IT WILL BE TRANSFERED FROM. 
8. Right click in the viewport, Choose Weight Editing -> Distribute Selected Bone Weights. 
9. It should transfer the incorrect area to the finger.

Be aware - you will repeat this several times. Remember to use right click -> Geometry Selection -> Clear Selection to get rid of the previous selection when you do not need it.

And... that should fix it. Save it afterwards. 

thistledownsname

"Distribute Selected Bone Weights. " is not one of my available options on Weight Editing.

Thomas Windar

DAZ Studio 4.9 should have it. When you select the figure (glove), the Weight Editing should have that option. 

thistledownsname

Ran studio through an update and it showed up.  Putting it through its paces now - looks like it's holding up great.  Thank you so much!

Thomas Windar

Well, glad it works for you now.

Just remember - You cannot share this gauntlet with anyone else. It is for your private use only, since what you did is modify a mesh you bought. That means you cannot re-distribute it. 

That said, enjoy your mirrored gauntlet. You can make as many renders as you wish with it and flaunt the pictures around.