fit to... function on a rigged figure asset causing mesh deformation

timsterdaz49

I'm using Daz Stusio 4.12 on a Genesis 8 character.

I created some shoes in Blender, exported as OBJ, imported to DAZ (they align perfectly to the default pose) and went to work:

1. opened bone editor, selected genesis 8 figure, then "bake joint rotations"
   1. PROBLEM 1: the shape of the figure changes a little bit - why would it do that? It's like some bones suddenly reset or something.
2. transfer utility> set Source G8, destination shoes obj, unticked "fit to figure" and "parent to figure"
3. opened bone editor; selected genesis 8, then crontrol+selected shoes, then edit>rigging>transgfer rigging (figure space)
   1. MAIN PROBLEM: now I select the shoe, and do "fit to..." and choose genesis figure. the mesh somewhat deforms into an ugly mess! What is happening? 

I've messed around with the weight paint, tried various things like removed a bunch of useless bones for toes and metatarsals, since all I need is the foot, I then ried to set the entire mesh to 100% weight, but no matter what, it just stays deformed.

I'm so lost - what is causing these deformatinos and how do I avoid it? I would have thought that "fitting to" the source figure would simply hook the bones up to each other. But it looks like somehow there is errant weights going on.

Mada

Flat shoes? or high heels

timsterdaz49

heels

timsterdaz49

This hsa been absolutely driving me bananas, but thanks to an old video from one of the fine people at DAZ (search YT for "rigging heels in daz", its from 2015), I finally worked out how to do this.

The key aspect to note are the hidden parameter dials that get set when posing a base figure. These parameters will cause issues when you zero the joint rotations, and therefore have to be re-dialled in again during the transfer procedure. The second aspect is that you have to first zero back the base figure pose completely, and then re-zero the joint rotations, in order for the asset bones to load in symmetry to the base figure.

It's really not terribly straightforward, so I noted my step-by-step notes.
 

1. load g8
2. pose tip toes and toe spread
3. notate JCM75footdown  values (49.07%)
4. bake joint rotations
5. reset JCM75 values from 0 to orig
6. export g8 for modeling
7. model shoes, import
8. transfer utility: source g8(current shape), obj target (default), else defaults
9. reset JCM75 on shoe to zero to make fit again
6. pose to zero base pose (negate tip toes and spreads)
7. symettrical weight paint smoothing on shoe bones
8. bake rotations on shoe
9. fit shoes to none, unparent
10. delete (not just disable!) g8
11. export shoe temp obj
12. edit>object>geometry>update base geometry (note the shift)
13. reset JCM75 from negative to zero on shoe
14. load g8 back, load setup pose