Ideal DS with Marvelous Designer Workflow?

bigfatface

I've been going back and forth between Daz and Marvelous Designer to try to sort out a way I can reliably create scenes within DS featuring clothing that flows with the characters and their environments. I've no idea why DS can't take onboard cloth physics when a program like MD can, but nevertheless, I've come to the conclusion that I will have to use a second program if I want coats splaying out in the wind rather than sticking to the thighs of characters, etc. There are limited morphs that come with some of the garments but they lack enough freedom for the many images I want to create as references to draw from, and other custom morphs within the program just appear to distort/stretch the garment. I just seem to encounter problem after problem with trying to do this. I would appreciate it if anyone can offer ways around these problems or other workflows that are successful.

1. DS garments to MD - Some are welded/merged, some are not. You can't tell until you've imported them into MD and seen them slowly fall apart within the simulation. Welded ones do move to a degree as cloth within MD; however, the sculpting can leave them remaining unnaturally bent/folded and I've also found the mesh begins to rip when placed in the MD wind simulation.

2. Creating garments in MD - In theory, this should be fine. You export a DS figure OBJ in its T-pose/base pose, import to MD as avatar, make the clothing in MD to fit the character, then use that same garment for other poses you export from DS. Then you would import them back into DS as an OBJ, and the simulated clothing would fit the same posed figure you exported. But...

3. Exporting poses from DS as morph targets in MD - I've got around the problem of the morph in MD breaking limbs during the morphing process by exporting the gradual change from t-pose to finished pose using separate OBJ exports from the animation timeline in DS. Then you can import one morph target OBJ at a time into MD, until your avatar has finally reached the position you require. This works for quite subtle poses, but if the finished pose is turned/higher up than the t-pose, the import back into DS just doesn't match. Feet haven't moved quite enough, or the body hasn't twisted quite enough etc. so the garment won't fit over the posed DS figure. I've tried extending the time given for the morphing to take place in MD but to no avail.

4. Exporting Collada animations from DS for import into MD - Again, this should work. T-pose at one end of the timeline, finished pose at the other. Export as Collada using the right preferences (I think). Import into MD as avatar for the garment you've created. Go to the MD animator, click the record camera and watch it slowly animate your avatar into the pose you want, complete with simulated clothing. Then export that posed garment as an OBJ, import back into DS and... it doesn't have the same pose again. The arm hasn't raised quite enough again, etc. I've tried extending the timeline in DS before exporting so it takes longer for the figure to complete the pose but to no avail.

I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but any help from people who have managed to get a successful workflow for this, explaining their process or where I might've gone wrong, would be appreciated. dForce clothing is something else I've seen mentioned around these forums but it appears to be limited to certain clothing and movements rather than a universal approach, or maybe I'm wrong?

Thanks,

Richard Haseltine

Have you looked at dForce in Daz studio 4.10? https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/203081/dforce-start-here#latest

DrNewcenstein

Dforce can make clothing bend as much as is needed, and far more than most MD morphs allow, without all the obscene texture/garment stretching. If you want your skirt to not pass through a chair when seated, dForce can do that. If you want the skirt to crumple around the hips when the figure's legs are stuck out at 90 degrees in both directions, dForce does that.

You no longer need to go through all that rigamarole of exporting MD morphs. dForce has you covered. It even made the Gothic Maid Dress for G2F useful.

bigfatface

Thanks for the responses. I've been trying dForce for the past few hours and it does look like it might be very helpful. However, it seems to take an exeedingly long time to simulate and crashed when I tried to add a wind simulator. Maybe it'll prove useful when I have a more powerful PC setup but I'm not sure if it'll be a solution for me right now.