Can you rename your characters to help editing scenes?

SpottedKitty

gederix said:

To load the scene subset into a scene use file/merge (r-click merge).

Isn't that how you merge a scene into what you've already loaded? This is one of the differences between saving as scenes and scene subsets — by default (unless you use the File menu or right-click) loading a scene will replace everything, by default loading a scene subset will merge.

Fisty

JOdel said:

FYI, parenting wigs to the head without 'fitting to' can sort of bypass some of the issues that happen with hair when the character has elf ears. You have to position it globally and then parent when you have it in place.

Or you can conform it as normal, turn on show hidden in the parameters tab, and dial off the ear morph in the hair that gets automatically copied over.

JOdel

Ah, that sounds like an even better solution.

Fisty

Yeah, usually works well unless you have a head morph that has the ears built in - which is super annoying but I've only seen a couple times in 10 years.

Stryder87

JOdel said:

Don't be afraid to parent things into the main heirarchy of what they are associated with.

Same thing with groups of props. If there is a table *and* chairs, *and* the stuff on top of the table, parent everything to the table and if you are going to use that table to build a dining hall, then save it as a scene, and merge in multiple iterations of that scene and just move the tables around where you want them. Name them Table 1, Table 2 once you get them into the target scene and make it easier on yourself.

If, once you have a group of tables and want to move those, then create a Null, and parent the tables to that. and move the Null. The tables should all move as a group. You can select the individual tables inside the group if you need to tweak their placement.

 

I do this frequently.  As an example, in a recent scene of a wedding, I parented the bride and groom once I had them posed properly kissing.  Since it had taken me hours to get it right, I didn't want it to suddenly get wiped out.  I've done the same thing with ym current scene where they are dancing.  After hours posing, I parent them and they can be moved together without wrecking all the posing work I did.

Very handy ability.  I just need to figure out how to save the poses themselves for use on other chracters.  I haven't spent time on that yet.

JOdel

I think I may have missed a step in the instructions above. You've got a choice. You can parent everything to the table. Or you can parent everything into a Null in the original source scene.

Merging the scene will bring in everything in that scene -- parented or not. So make sure that everything is parented to *something* if you want it to move as one group.

waltn3mtj

JOdel said:

I think I may have missed a step in the instructions above. You've got a choice. You can parent everything to the table. Or you can parent everything into a Null in the original source scene.

Merging the scene will bring in everything in that scene -- parented or not. So make sure that everything is parented to *something* if you want it to move as one group.

I saved the figures and customized props as Subsets, and they merged into a brand new scene perfectly. After a render is finished, I need to see about how to parent things. Exploring what DS does, I saw selections for parenting and undoing parenting. I have some props with figures attached that I hope to move together. I appreciate the good advice here!

JOdel

I gather there's a menu item somewhere for parenting things. But I generally just grab what I want to parent in the scene list, and drag it up or down the list and on top of whatever it is I want to parent it to. It turns into a subfolder of the Parent item.

gederix

Fisty said:

Yeah, usually works well unless you have a head morph that has the ears built in - which is super annoying but I've only seen a couple times in 10 years.

My workaround for this is to dial in an elf ear morph at say 1% so it shows up in the hair morphs, then go to that hidden parameter and dial it way down, kind of forcing an ear morph that wasnt there.

sturgisisaac44_5d9582c848

What i do is i double click the name of the model in scene tab. then a blinking line shows and you should be able to change it then

JQP

Hmm, I just did a quick test scene to check if simply renaming figures "broke" hierchical poses. Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, dropped them into a Group, posed them, selected the group, saved it as a hierarchical pose. Zeroed the figure poses, renamed F 1-3 and the Group (just appended a variable), selected the group, and loaded the saved hierchical pose. It seems to have worked fine. So maybe my bad experience was just due to a glitch in my scene, or whatever. I know it happened after I renamed the figures I was posing. Basically, two of the characters had their places swapped, and were being sent the other's poses. But maybe did something else with the hierarchy, and forgot, or maybe it was just a weird bug, or content conflict. [paragraph break was here] So, I take it back. But, YMMV. :)

fastbike1

Right click on the subject to be parented. "Parent XX to >>>>" Click on the new Parent.  If the subject is already parented, the right click subtext changes to "Change Parent". 

JOdel said:

I gather there's a menu item somewhere for parenting things. But I generally just grab what I want to parent in the scene list, and drag it up or down the list and on top of whatever it is I want to parent it to. It turns into a subfolder of the Parent item.

 

Richard Haseltine

JQP said:

Hmm, I just did a quick test scene to check if simply renaming figures "broke" hierchical poses. Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, dropped them into a Group, posed them, selected the group, saved it as a hierarchical pose. Zeroed the figure poses, renamed F 1-3 and the Group (just appended a variable), selected the group, and loaded the saved hierchical pose. It seems to have worked fine. So maybe my bad experience was just due to a glitch in my scene, or whatever. I know it happened after I renamed the figures I was posing. Basically, two of the characters had their places swapped, and were being sent the other's poses. But maybe did something else with the hierarchy, and forgot, or maybe it was just a weird bug, or content conflict. [paragraph break was here] So, I take it back. But, YMMV. :)

Did you rename or relabel?

waltn3mtj

So far I haven't had any glitching renaming parented items. I click twice (not a fast double click though) on what I want to rename in the top right Scene window so cursors blink on both sides of the name, then rename. The first click selects the item, the second click over the name allows editing the name. I think Richard is the one saying to try this.

I have found that often using a camera that isn't parented to something (say a car with a couple women parented to the car and a camera - also parented to the car - looking over the front seats between their shoulders) lets the women and camera wander around when I move the car. If I move the car with the parented camera everything stays in place no matter how I move it.

Anrgy Kermit

Is there a scene properties tab for Mac users, or do we [miss out] once again?

Richard Haseltine

What do you mean? I think everything mentioned here is cross-platform and part of the core. The Scene pane, if that is what you mean, is certainly part of the base application - and probably open by default.