[Released] ManFriday's dForce Companion 2.0 [Commercial]

2

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  • Ghosty12Ghosty12 Posts: 2,056

    barbult said:

    Ghosty12 said:

    Ascania said:

    Uthgard said:

    Excuse me if I am talking out of my ass, I am currently unable to check, but does the feature list of the new version mean users of the old version won't get the update to make non-figure dForce items (sheets, strings, and the like) available on the companion tab?

    You get a discount on the new version of you've got the old one. There should be a banner at the top of the page or a message in your account to that regard.

    I have the old version, I have not seen anything about a current owners discount for this version, and if there was a message it must of been a limited time sort of thing as I have no message about any sort of discount..

    There was a banner on the day of release of version 2. I don't know how long it lasted.

    Ahh k then I missed it as there is nothing in my messages about it, ah well maybe next time with version 3.. lol laugh

  • ManFridayManFriday Posts: 568

    barbult said:

    ManFriday said:

    barbult said:

    @ManFriday I noticed that the simulation settings in dForce Companion 2 don't stay synchronized with the Simulation Settings pane. If I change something in the Simulation Settings pane, it is not reflected in dForce Companion. When I click Simulate checked in the dForce Companion, it actually simulates with the settings in the Simulation Settings pane, not the settings shown in dForce Companion 2. Is there something I am supposed to do to keep them synchronized? I did skim the new manual, but I didn't see this mentioned.

    They should always be synchronized. If it's not working then that's a bug.

    I'm not at my Windows computer right now but i'll take a look ASAP.

    Edit: Are you keep both the "dForce Companion" tab and the "simulation settings" tab open at the same time, e.g. in different parts of the Daz Studio window? That may be the problem. I think the dForce Companion tab only refreshes its settings when it is made active (i.e. hidden and then shown again). I keep both tabs in the same part of the Daz Studio window so they're never visible at the same time, so that may have been an oversight on my part.

    Do the settings refresh when you switch away from the "dForce Companion" tab and then switch to it again?

    The problem occurs several ways for me when dForce Companion pane is already open:

    1. I have both Simulation Settings pane and dForce Companion pane open at the same time. One is docked on the left and one is docked on the right. If I change a setting in Simulation Settings, it is not changed automatically in dForce Companion.
    2. I apply a simulations preset shortcut from Visual Menus, the Simulation Settings pane is changed, but dForce Companion settings are not changed.
    3. I apply a simulation settings preset that comes with a particular product (applied from Content Library pane) the Simulation Settings pane is changed, but dForce Companion pane is not changed. Even if Simulation Settings is not open, applying the product preset does not cause dForce Companion to update, so when I simulate from dForce Companion, it does not use the settings that it shows. It uses the settings applied by the product's preset. It is confusing.

    Yes, if I switch away from dForce Companion pane and then switch back to it, it updates to match the Simulation Settings pane.

    I'm afraid it's working as designed then, and the design is not optimal. :-) I'll try to come up with a fix but it's not going to be out in a week or so, unfortunately.

    Thank you for the report!

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223

    ManFriday said:

    barbult said:

    ManFriday said:

    barbult said:

    @ManFriday I noticed that the simulation settings in dForce Companion 2 don't stay synchronized with the Simulation Settings pane. If I change something in the Simulation Settings pane, it is not reflected in dForce Companion. When I click Simulate checked in the dForce Companion, it actually simulates with the settings in the Simulation Settings pane, not the settings shown in dForce Companion 2. Is there something I am supposed to do to keep them synchronized? I did skim the new manual, but I didn't see this mentioned.

    They should always be synchronized. If it's not working then that's a bug.

    I'm not at my Windows computer right now but i'll take a look ASAP.

    Edit: Are you keep both the "dForce Companion" tab and the "simulation settings" tab open at the same time, e.g. in different parts of the Daz Studio window? That may be the problem. I think the dForce Companion tab only refreshes its settings when it is made active (i.e. hidden and then shown again). I keep both tabs in the same part of the Daz Studio window so they're never visible at the same time, so that may have been an oversight on my part.

    Do the settings refresh when you switch away from the "dForce Companion" tab and then switch to it again?

    The problem occurs several ways for me when dForce Companion pane is already open:

    1. I have both Simulation Settings pane and dForce Companion pane open at the same time. One is docked on the left and one is docked on the right. If I change a setting in Simulation Settings, it is not changed automatically in dForce Companion.
    2. I apply a simulations preset shortcut from Visual Menus, the Simulation Settings pane is changed, but dForce Companion settings are not changed.
    3. I apply a simulation settings preset that comes with a particular product (applied from Content Library pane) the Simulation Settings pane is changed, but dForce Companion pane is not changed. Even if Simulation Settings is not open, applying the product preset does not cause dForce Companion to update, so when I simulate from dForce Companion, it does not use the settings that it shows. It uses the settings applied by the product's preset. It is confusing.

    Yes, if I switch away from dForce Companion pane and then switch back to it, it updates to match the Simulation Settings pane.

    I'm afraid it's working as designed then, and the design is not optimal. :-) I'll try to come up with a fix but it's not going to be out in a week or so, unfortunately.

    Thank you for the report!

    OK. At least there is a workaround. Always switch away from dForce Companion and back in order to refresh the settings.

  • benniewoodellbenniewoodell Posts: 1,968

    Has anyone else had trouble installing through DIM? I bought it the day it came out and every day I go back into DIM and find that it's there to download and install again as if I hadn't pressed the button the day before to download and install. 

  • JamieMJamieM Posts: 356

    benniewoodell said:

    Has anyone else had trouble installing through DIM? I bought it the day it came out and every day I go back into DIM and find that it's there to download and install again as if I hadn't pressed the button the day before to download and install. 
     

    Yes. That happened to me. I've had to do it a few times. Seems to install. Works in Studio. Then pops up in DIM again. 

  • DaventakiDaventaki Posts: 1,624

    Do you have DS open when your installing it?  I know this was an issue with some other things.

  • Daventaki said:

    Do you have DS open when your installing it?  I know this was an issue with some other things.

    I actually usually do. I'll try with Studio turned off later this evening, thanks for the tip, fingers crossed!

  • I'm having trouble installiing this on Daz 4.15. I have Dforce Companion 1 installed and working, but no matter how I install Dforce Companion 2 it does'nt show up in the Panes. Tried to install through DIM and manual and tried removing Dforce Companion 1 before installing with no succes. The install is going without any problems, but it does not show. Any help would be appreciated. 

  • LoonyLoony Posts: 1,817

    Eggs Actly said:

    I'm having trouble installiing this on Daz 4.15. I have Dforce Companion 1 installed and working, but no matter how I install Dforce Companion 2 it does'nt show up in the Panes. Tried to install through DIM and manual and tried removing Dforce Companion 1 before installing with no succes. The install is going without any problems, but it does not show. Any help would be appreciated. 

    go to your daz studio folder (not the content Lib) and check the folder Plugins, if the .dll is there.

    also look here:

    if the dll is correct there:

    ↑there see you also the path, where it should be, its important, that you have only ONE dforce.dll dont have 2! also not one named (backup), you need to move the old one out of that folder.

  • Thank you, Loony - only the old dll was in the plugin-directory - deleted that and reinstalled DC 2 - and it works like a charm :)

  • LoonyLoony Posts: 1,817

    Eggs Actly said:

    Thank you, Loony - only the old dll was in the plugin-directory - deleted that and reinstalled DC 2 - and it works like a charm :)

    Very good ;) If you want to dforce a towel etc. that isnt a figure, make sure to disable the rigged thing in the new panel at the top right, that is one of the greatest  changes! I hated that all need to be a figure :)

  • QuasarQuasar Posts: 636

    Is there a way to uncheck everything that is marked as "vis" all at once? When I have a really large scene, it takes a long time to go through the list and uncheck everything that is visible to dForce. It would be faster to uncheck everything at once and select the items I do want visible instead. I love this plugin BTW.

  • LoonyLoony Posts: 1,817
    edited September 2022

    Quasar said:

    Is there a way to uncheck everything that is marked as "vis" all at once? When I have a really large scene, it takes a long time to go through the list and uncheck everything that is visible to dForce. It would be faster to uncheck everything at once and select the items I do want visible instead. I love this plugin BTW.

    The answer is very simple, you just select anything and everything other will be unselected.

    Explaining Clip:

    https://s1.webmshare.com/0y0Aw.webm

     

    Post edited by Loony on
  • QuasarQuasar Posts: 636

    The link sends me to a 404 page, but I get what you mean. Select everything in the scene tab and turn off visibility for everything all at once. That makes sense. Thanks for the tip.

  • LoonyLoony Posts: 1,817
    Hi, no. Go in the dforce panel and click the checkbox of a item 2x. Then it will remove all other. Dont hude things in the scene tab for this selection. But hiding will however help, everything that is visible makes dforce slower, it calculates longer. Only have the things visible who get in contact with the item you simulate. Btw. No idea why my url got broken :(
  • LoonyLoony Posts: 1,817
    edited September 2022

    Quasar said:

    The link sends me to a 404 page, but I get what you mean. Select everything in the scene tab and turn off visibility for everything all at once. That makes sense. Thanks for the tip.

     

    Click on this checkbox 2x then all other get unselected. If you wanna simulate multiple, hold CTRL and click the checkboxes, then it will use multiple.

    Post edited by Loony on
  • QuasarQuasar Posts: 636

    Thanks for taking the time to show me Loony. That works great for the left side. I wish I could do the same thing on the right side under "Vis" but since that correlates to a settings option in the parameters tab, it might not be possible. The idea of selecting everything in the scene tab and turning off "Visible In Simulation" still works a lot better than unchecking each item one at a time though, especially when there are a ton of props in your seen that don't need to collide with your dForce items.

  • LoonyLoony Posts: 1,817
    I never use the checkbox for visible things, if I want that dforce ignore things, i just hide them in the Scene panel. Just hold shift and then click toselect multiple fast ;).
  • junkjunk Posts: 1,317

    I have a scene that seems to kill Daz Studio with the attached error.  Hitting "Ignore" two time seems to make everything continue otherwise Daz Studio crashes out with a bug report.  

    Any tips on how to avoid this in some scenes?

     

     

    Daz3D Manfriday Companion 2 - Error Screenshot 2022-12-04 205044.png
    1920 x 1200 - 1M
  • junk said:

    I have a scene that seems to kill Daz Studio with the attached error.  Hitting "Ignore" two time seems to make everything continue otherwise Daz Studio crashes out with a bug report.  

    Any tips on how to avoid this in some scenes?

    Oh, I'm sorry, that does look like a bug in my code. I've never seen that though so I'm not sure what's in your scene that triggers this.

    In what situation exactly does the error appear? After you load the scene file or when you click on something?

    My suspicion is that there is something in your scene that the Companion considers worth hearing about for updates, but it's not willing to provide them -- but I don't know what exactly that is. Can you try deleting scene nodes until the error stops appearing to try find out what item causes it?

     

     

  • jd641jd641 Posts: 458

    ManFriday said:

    junk said:

    I have a scene that seems to kill Daz Studio with the attached error.  Hitting "Ignore" two time seems to make everything continue otherwise Daz Studio crashes out with a bug report.  

    Any tips on how to avoid this in some scenes?

    Oh, I'm sorry, that does look like a bug in my code. I've never seen that though so I'm not sure what's in your scene that triggers this.

    In what situation exactly does the error appear? After you load the scene file or when you click on something?

    My suspicion is that there is something in your scene that the Companion considers worth hearing about for updates, but it's not willing to provide them -- but I don't know what exactly that is. Can you try deleting scene nodes until the error stops appearing to try find out what item causes it?

     

     

    The cause my not be the same but it's a reproducable issue that happens 100% of the time for me. If I apply Bone Minion then go to the dforce Compnion tab I get that exact same error, but if I hit Ignore twice the message goes away and Studio won't crash. Once I delete Bone Minion the error message stops though.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,498

    I bought this updated version in the PA sale. I previously had the original version which didn't work for me so I disabled it. Now this version is proving just as difficult to work with. Once I have made something not-visible in simulation (outside of dFroce Companion) there seems to be no way to make it visible again. I am attemting this with a couple of dForce bed covers and they just refuse to be visible in dForce Companion or, indeed, able dForce at all. If I disable the companion, they work again. Doesn't matter whether they are enabled/visible in the companion, they are just static items which give an error when attempting to dForce them.

    As with the previous version, I don't have the time to figure out why things don't work with this plugin so it is now disabled. Very frustrating but I am back to painstakingly making objects visible or invisible in the viewport which is how I have worked since dForce was released.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223
    edited September 2023

    marble said:

    I bought this updated version in the PA sale. I previously had the original version which didn't work for me so I disabled it. Now this version is proving just as difficult to work with. Once I have made something not-visible in simulation (outside of dFroce Companion) there seems to be no way to make it visible again. I am attemting this with a couple of dForce bed covers and they just refuse to be visible in dForce Companion or, indeed, able dForce at all. If I disable the companion, they work again. Doesn't matter whether they are enabled/visible in the companion, they are just static items which give an error when attempting to dForce them.

    As with the previous version, I don't have the time to figure out why things don't work with this plugin so it is now disabled. Very frustrating but I am back to painstakingly making objects visible or invisible in the viewport which is how I have worked since dForce was released.

    dForce Companion 2 has a 6 page PDF document explaining how to use it. Have you looked there for instructions? For example, it shows you how to use it with non-rigged items by selecting an option in the node list filters. (see attached screenshot snippet from the documentation.) If your bed covers are not rigged figures, you need to disable the filter that says "Show only figures (nodes with rigging)". If the covers have dForce applied to them, they will then be visible in dForce Companion 2 and will simulate.

    Screenshot 2023-09-14 230527.jpg
    671 x 195 - 35K
    Post edited by barbult on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223
    edited September 2023

    Here's a snippet from the product readme, in case you don't know where to look for the PDF documentation:

    File List
    Below is a list of files provided by the dForce Companion 2.0 product.
     
    Core
     
    dForce Companion 2 for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Mac 64-bit)
    • DAZ Studio 4.5;4.x Public Build;4.x Publishing Build :
      • /docs/Plugins/dForce Companion 2/dForce Companion 2 Manual.pdf
      • /docs/Plugins/dForce Companion 2/dForce Companion 2.dsx
    • DAZ Studio 4.5;4.x Public Build;4.x Publishing Build (64-bit) :
      • /plugins/MF_dforce.dylib
    dForce Companion 2 for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)
    • DAZ Studio 4.5;4.x Public Build;4.x Publishing Build :
      • /docs/Plugins/dForce Companion 2/dForce Companion 2 Manual.pdf
      • /docs/Plugins/dForce Companion 2/dForce Companion 2.dsx
    • DAZ Studio 4.5;4.x Public Build;4.x Publishing Build (64-bit) :
      • /plugins/MF_dforce.dll

    Or, even easier, if you installed it with DIM, you can right click on the product name in your DIM Installed Files tab and select Show Installed Files, then click the URL for the manual.

    Or, inside Daz Studio, hit F1 to open the Help browser and navigate to Plugins section, Expand dForce Companion 2, and select Documentation.

    Post edited by barbult on
  • marblemarble Posts: 7,498

    I tried with the rigged switch on and off - still the same. I displayed everything in the scene - rigged and non rigged in the companion and went through selecting and deselecting. When I say "visible" - I don't mean visible to the companion (although that can also be a problem, it seems). I mean visible to the simulation.I just can't get them to simulate whether I use the companion or not. It seems something gets switched off and does not switch on again. 

    It occurs to me that when I disabled the companion and I could then simulate again, I think I restarted DAZ Studio just to make sure it was disabled. Perhaps restarting DAZ Studio was the trick to clearing the "stuck" switch.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223

    I've never experienced the problem you describe. I use dForce Companion 2 exclusively for simulation. There are multiple ways to make something not visible to dForce, though. You can turn simulation visibility off in the Display section of the Parameters pane, and you can turn if off for a surface in the Surfaces pane, and you can turn it off in dForce Companion 2. Maybe one of those that you are not thinking about has caused your problem. Also, maybe you have set the item to be frozen in simulation, preventing it from simulating. Without seeing all of your settings, it is hard to guess. I don't want to be insulting, but since it sounds like you don't have a lot of experience with using dForce Companion 2, are you sure you are clear about the meanings and effect of each of the checkmark columns (Sim and Vis)? Both of those need to be checked to simulate the item. The Sim column is essentially the freeze column. If it is unchecked, the item is frozen will not simulate, even if the Vis box is checked. If Sim is unchecked and Vis is checked, it means that other dForce items will see it and be able to collide with it.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,498

    barbult said:

    I've never experienced the problem you describe. I use dForce Companion 2 exclusively for simulation. There are multiple ways to make something not visible to dForce, though. You can turn simulation visibility off in the Display section of the Parameters pane, and you can turn if off for a surface in the Surfaces pane, and you can turn it off in dForce Companion 2. Maybe one of those that you are not thinking about has caused your problem. Also, maybe you have set the item to be frozen in simulation, preventing it from simulating. Without seeing all of your settings, it is hard to guess. I don't want to be insulting, but since it sounds like you don't have a lot of experience with using dForce Companion 2, are you sure you are clear about the meanings and effect of each of the checkmark columns (Sim and Vis)? Both of those need to be checked to simulate the item. The Sim column is essentially the freeze column. If it is unchecked, the item is frozen will not simulate, even if the Vis box is checked. If Sim is unchecked and Vis is checked, it means that other dForce items will see it and be able to collide with it.

    I am not experienced with dForce companion but I am familiar with dForce itself so the settings in the Companion seem fairly self-explanatory. As for much of the remainder of your post, yes, I know about making things visible for simulation, about freezing, etc. I may have misunderstood the Sim column by assuming that it was related to "Visible in Simulation" rather than the Freeze option, however.

    This maybe related to something you, yourself, discussed in another dForce thread here:

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/275451/solved-dforce-no-objects-to-simulate ;

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223

    Do you mean the mCasual script? Do you use that? I haven't. Do you mean static vs. dynamic simulation property? Only dynamic objects with move with gravity and wind when simulating. Static lets you set a friction value that will affect other dForce objects interacting with it. I have had some dForce hair products that are dForce only because the use strand-based hairs and they are not meant to be simulated. However, you are not talking about hair products. There is also the case that if you get an "error during simulation" message, you often have to restart Daz Studio before simulation will work again.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,498
    edited September 2023

    barbult said:

    Do you mean the mCasual script? Do you use that? I haven't. Do you mean static vs. dynamic simulation property? Only dynamic objects with move with gravity and wind when simulating. Static lets you set a friction value that will affect other dForce objects interacting with it. I have had some dForce hair products that are dForce only because the use strand-based hairs and they are not meant to be simulated. However, you are not talking about hair products. There is also the case that if you get an "error during simulation" message, you often have to restart Daz Studio before simulation will work again.

    No, I don't use any script. Nor am I switching between static and dynamic. I appreciate your help but it has little to do with the problem I am seeing. I don't use dForce hair either.I'm not getting the "error during simulation" either.

    Simply put: if I make something invisible to the dForce simulation (I mean in the Display parameter settings), the Companion no longer recognises that object in the scene even when I make it visible again. If I disable the Companion, I still can't simulate that object unless I restart DAZ Studio. If I don't restart, I get an error complaining that there are "no objects to simulate".  

    Post edited by marble on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223

    What is the "something"? Is that the bedding you were talking about, or does this problem happen for EVERYTHING you try to simulate? I'll try to replicate your scenario as closely as possible and see what happens.

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