Trying to make an object with movable parts

crifmer_a3ace2ba16

Hi guys!

So I'm learning a whole lot and I've gotten back into Blender and I know enough to start creating stuff. I'm working on the inn that will be the main location for a webcomic I'm planning (for a while, anyway). I've purchased a few things from the shop which give me all the props and textures I need. Unfortunately, the buildings are pretty much static and not what I need. I will write in locations later so that I can use them, but I need a rather large inn with many rooms, and I know enough in Blender that I can make it myself since the building itself is very simple geometry with shaders applied.

I do, however, want doors to put in it with latches that can swing. Pull rings that I can flip up to fit in a character's hand to make it look like he's actually, you know, pulling the door open. Unfortunately, I can't quite figure out how to extract the doors from the buildings I purchased to stick them into the building I'm making. But doors are simple geometry, and I can make them myself.

But how do I make it so that I can get the latch to swing around through posing?

Can someone point me toward any relevant tutorials?

Thanks!

-C

WendyLuvsCatz

the quick way is pose it all in Blender if you are able to do it there and export multiple obj and load as morph targets
this can cause distortion morphing though so not good for animation
the tedious way is make everything a separate obj and transform it manually which I do.
the professional way is to rig it with bones weight painting parts.

Richard Haseltine

Make sure that you assign a separate group to each piece of the model. In DS, open the Figure Setup pane (from Window>Panes(Tabs)), then in that right-click in the Geometry list panel and select Add Geometry, find your OBJ, and import it using the correct preset for scale etc.. Once imported, drag the OBJ from the Geometry List into the Relationships panel to create a figure with bones; now you need to drag-and-drop to arrange the hierarchy correctly (doors parented to the building, handles and latches to doors and so on) and right-click to set the rotation order - the first axis is twist, the other two are bends so for a door you probably want y or z, whichever runs from hinge to latch, then the other, then y since that will usually be the main opening bend. Once done click Create. Switch to the Node Weight Map Brush, right-click on the figure in the viewport and select Weight editing>Fill be Bone selection group(s), which should make each group respond to its bone. That should just leave the fairly tedious business of using the Joint Editor tool to position each start and end point correctly.

crifmer_a3ace2ba16

Richard Haseltine said:

Make sure that you assign a separate group to each piece of the model. In DS, open the Figure Setup pane (from Window>Panes(Tabs)), then in that right-click in the Geometry list panel and select Add Geometry, find your OBJ, and import it using the correct preset for scale etc.. Once imported, drag the OBJ from the Geometry List into the Relationships panel to create a figure with bones; now you need to drag-and-drop to arrange the hierarchy correctly (doors parented to the building, handles and latches to doors and so on) and right-click to set the rotation order - the first axis is twist, the other two are bends so for a door you probably want y or z, whichever runs from hinge to latch, then the other, then y since that will usually be the main opening bend. Once done click Create. Switch to the Node Weight Map Brush, right-click on the figure in the viewport and select Weight editing>Fill be Bone selection group(s), which should make each group respond to its bone. That should just leave the fairly tedious business of using the Joint Editor tool to position each start and end point correctly.

Thank you, that helps a lot. At least now I have an understanding of where I go to play around with this and what to look at with existing models to see how they're set up.

Is there anywhere I can look at for more of a tutorial/lesson on the topic?

And would rigging in Blender be something I should learn? Is it a related subject that sets up the bones and such, or do I need to do all of that in Daz?

Richard Haseltine

Rigging needs to be done in DS, I'm afraid. It's often not that portable, and DS and Poser in particular differ from almost everything else in having a separate map for each axis of each bone.

crifmer_a3ace2ba16

Thanks again. I found what I needed (I hope) now that I know where to focus my searching. Learning all about rigging in Daz.now. All I want to do is add one bone that swings up and down, but this is very helpful for fending off a bunch of other newbie questions. :)

I appreciate the help. My biggest problem right now is I don't really know what to look at sometimes to learn what I want to know, so there'll probably be more questions like this coming up.

-C

Richard Haseltine

Yes, often knowing what terms to search under in the first place is the biggest obstacle of all.