Graphic&Web, 3D Design Downloads » DAZ 3D Models & Poser » The Geometry Editor: An In-Depth Tutorial Guide

The Geometry Editor: An In-Depth Tutorial Guide

13 December 2022
57
0
0
The Geometry Editor: An In-Depth Tutorial Guide

The Geometry Editor: An In-Depth Tutorial Guide

Compatible Figures: N/A

Details



The geometry editor provides a powerful tool to enable you to fix and edit your existing content and even create new model content. It also acts as an in-built "kit bashing" engine, maximizing the use of your content library and allowing you to split models into more components.


Dawn Spears provides an in-depth set of tutorials including a wide range of 14 case studies to demonstrate how effective the geometry editor is. She includes best-use examples of the editor tools, as well as caveats where in some cases other software may prove more effective.


Tutorial set total running time: 3 hours and 3 minutes


This product contains both a set of 13 MP4 files and a searchable video library version with optional captions. Any word or phrase spoken during the recordings can be searched for across the entire library.


Video 1: Introduction to basic geometry


Aims: Understand the very basics of how 3D models are created and why we need this as a foundation for geometry editing.



  • How models are constructed of vertices, edges, and polygons
  • How to view these in the viewport
  • Why the different wireframe views are useful when editing geometry - which one does what etc.

Video 2: Overview of the geometry editing tool


Aims: Understand the uses and limitations of the tool and when to use it over other methods such as hiding a body part/surface



  • Where to find it.
  • How to dock/undock the pane
  • The importance of the tool settings panel
  • The context-sensitive right-click menu
  • Linking back to the basic geometry intro, how to use the different selection modes.
  • Note that we will mostly be focusing on editing polygons as this is most useful for us as render artists.

Using the tool to remove polygons



  • Different selection modes (marquee, lasso, and drag)
  • The selection modifiers (grow/shrink/connected and loop)
  • Why loop selection is so important
  • Importance of orthographic views for accurate selections

Video 2a: Adding the Geometry Editor tool to the toolbar



  • Aims - Learn how to customize the Daz toolbar
  • A walkthrough of customizing the Daz toolbar and how to save it

Video 3: Case studies 1 & 2 (removing polygons)



  • Aims - Understand how removing polygons can be used in real-case scenarios (in this case making windows)
  • How to put a window in a flat wall plane - Alien Corridor Prop
  • How to put a window in a full geometry (inside and outside) and plug the “holes” -
  • Stucco wall plane

Video 4: Case studies 3 & 4 (removing polygons)



  • Aims - Learn how we can use the removal of polygons to edit clothing items
  • How to shorten a dress and remove sleeves from clothing.
  • How to cut trousers so boots fit better
  • Fixing troublesome poke-throughs

Video 5: Case studies 5 & 6 (removing polygons)



  • Aims - Learn how to use Daz primitives to make our own lighting props and add these to a scene. Dealing with problematic hair
  • How to make a cut-out sci-fi lighting from primitives for scene lighting
  • Removing hair sections from the face, how to recover if you accidentally go too far.

Video 6: Case study 7 (removing polygons)



  • Aims - Understand that we can apply these techniques across many applications e.g. environments.
  • Editing environments, removing leaves from a scene where they are blocking the camera.

Video 6a: An examination of standard quad mesh vs a Marvelous Designer mesh



  • Aims - Understand why some meshes may look quite different from each other and the ways we can deal with that.
  • Demo of both meshes side by side.

Video 7: What are Surfaces and how we can use them



  • Aims - Understand what a Daz surface is and what they are used for. Learn how to
  • use the Surfaces tab and Tool Settings tab to make easier selections
  • Revisit the dress shortening scene and make our own edits and add trim details
  • Making areas of fabric transparent/sheer
  • Making areas metallic
  • Making our own surfaces on existing models
  • Assigning shader materials to them

Video 8: Case Study 9 (Adding glowing strips to clothes and footwear — Saving your creations as presets)



  • Aims - Learn how to add LED-style lighting to garments to create a sci-fi/Cyberpunk effect.
  • Understand how we can then save these assets as wearable presets so we can use them again in a different scene.
  • Adding glowing strips to clothes/shoes
  • Using material zones to add transparency to areas
  • Saving your creations

Video 9: Case study 10 (Making clothing out of primitives and surfaces)



  • Aims - Understand how we can edit Daz primitives to make a simple clothing item
  • and how we can use surfaces and dForce to texture and fit it correctly.
  • Making a striped skirt and using dForce to fit it to the model
  • Using different d-force settings on different zones (belt vs fabric)

Video 10: What the Rotate Triangulation of selected polygons does.


Video 11: Case study 11 (Kitbashing texture sets)



  • Aims - Learn how to create your own combinations of textures
  • Using surface copy and paste to make new texture combinations on an outfit.
  • Using geometry editor and surfaces to remove parts of a texture set and reuse that on a different set.

Video 12: Splitting models into parts



  • Aims - Understand how we can use geometry editor to split models into separate smaller parts. Understand that while this is useful it is more time-consuming than using traditional 3D modeling software.
  • Why might we want to split models into parts?
  • How to use Daz to deal with imported models from places like Turbosquid or
  • KitBash3d that are all “lumped together”
  • Case study 12: Splitting part of an outfit to make a separate belt
  • Case study 13: Splitting a railway track from a subway station scene
  • Case study 14: Splitting buildings from a large set (example used is by KitBash3D)

Video 13: BONUS Section - Making everyday objects from primitives



  • Aims - Learn how we can make and texture everyday objects using Daz primitives and geometry editor
  • Making a champagne glass and filling it with liquid
  • Walkthrough of cocktail table scene as examples of other ideas

Sample Tutorial Segment




About the Presenter: Dawn Spears:


Dawn Spears lives near London and has gained a broad range of experience in DAZ Studio. She is a professional illustrator, regularly creating custom-made and engaging book covers for authors. She also is a 3D model content creator using ZBrush and Marvelous Designer, most recently creating custom models for an architectural visualization studio. Additionally, Dawn is a qualified teacher, specializing in computer science and is used to helping students understand complex ideas with step-by-step and bite-sized explanations.




What's Included and Features




  • The Geometry editor : An in-depth tutorial guide
  • Video 1 : Introduction - 07 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:00 About workspaces
    • 02:00 Starting with a primitive cube
    • 03:00 About vertices, faces, edges and polygons
    • 06:00 About viewport options when working with geometry


  • Video 2 : Overview - 18 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:00 Topics in this video
    • 00:00 Advantages and limitations of the editor
    • 00:03 Selection types
    • 00:04 About Selection modes
    • 00;:06 Using orthographic views to help with selection
    • 00:08 Geometry selection options
    • 00:12 Geometry visibility
    • 00:13 Geometry editing
    • 00:14 Geometry assignment
    • 00:15 The tool setting panel


  • Video 2a : Adding the geometry editor to the toolbar - 3 minutes (.MP4)

    • A few ways of adding the editor to the toolbar


  • Video 3 : Case study - windows and frames - 19 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:00 Example 1 : Alien sci-fi corridor
    • 00:01 Add scene lighting first
    • 00:02 Looking at the scene prop parts and selecting them
    • 00:03 Selecting and deleting selected polygons
    • 00:04 More about lighting in the scene and lighting tips
    • 00:08 Example 2 : Making a wall plane and a window frame within it
    • 00:11 Constructing the prop with primitives and using the scaling tool
    • 00:14 Create the window frame and sill and using duplicate
    • 00:16 Adding shaders to the wall and frame


  • Video 4 : Altering clothes and fixing poke through - 18 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:01 Example 1 : Shortening a dress
    • 00:02 Several ways to shorten the hem
    • 00:04 How to make a dress sleeveless
    • 00:04 Selecting the polygons with the selection
    • 00:06 Render the results
    • 00:07 Example 2 : Fixing poke through with trousers/boots
    • 00:10 Loop selection and grow selection
    • 00:11 Working on the top of the boots
    • 00:13 Nudging the morphs
    • 00:13 Final result
    • 00:14 Example : 8.1 male character with medieval coat
    • 00:15 Fixing bad clipping around the collar
    • 00:16 Considering which selection tool to use in this situation
    • 00:17 Checking around all the model
    • 00:18 Caveat on the lasso tool


  • Video 5 : Making sci-fi light props and fixing hair - 22 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:01 Example 1 : Creating the sci-fi light from a primitive
    • 00:02 Cutout opacity
    • 00:03 Deleting polygons caveat
    • 00:05 Sci-fi light ready and save as a scene subset
    • 00:07 Import the light into the sci-fi corridor scene
    • 00:09 Selecting brightness and checking effectiveness
    • 00:11 Duplicating the light prop in the scene and utilising instancing
    • 00:14 Result of the lit set
    • 00:15 Example 2 : Fixing hair
    • 00:15 Caveat - which types of hair best for fixing with geometry editor
    • 00:17 Best selection methods for hair
    • 00:19 Tidying up the hair
    • 00:21 Render and check how it looks
    • 00:21 Bald patch mistake and how to fix


  • Video 6 : Editing environments to remove unwanted foliage - 3 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:00 Improving composition in a natural scene
    • 00:01 Wire shaded view
    • 00:02 Best method for selection in this kind of environment
    • 00:03 Result


  • Video 6a :Standard quad mesh vs Marvelous Designer quad mesh - 7 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:00 Showing the differences
    • 00:02 Selection challenges
    • 00:04 Trying to select a loop with an MD mesh
    • 00:05 Lasso tool
    • 00:06 Alt drag and Ctrl drag helps


  • Video 7 : Surfaces : what they are and how they can be used - 21 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:01 What are surfaces?
    • 00:02 Explore surfaces in an existing dress model
    • 00:04 Assigning a new shader to certain surfaces
    • 00:04 Assigning your own surfaces
    • 00:07 Applying properties of the new surface to others
    • 00:10 About face groups
    • 00:12 Assigning new shaders to surfaces and new surfaces
    • 00:13 Example 2 : chain male jacket on male model
    • 00:14 One surface only to start with
    • 00:17 Attempt to select a loop of polys around the arm : challenges
    • 00:19 Assign a new shader to a new surface area
    • 00:21 Result : a new look for the chain mail jacket


  • Video 8 : How to add glowing strips to clothing / wearable presets - 8 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:01 Glowing strip around the soles of the boots
    • 00:01 Test to see if symmetry tool can be used in this case
    • 00:03 Select a cyberpunk colour
    • 00:05 Applying neon strips on the pants
    • 00:06 Final effect : model rendered
    • 00:07 Save out as preset


  • Video 9 : Make a striped skirt out of primitives with dForce and surfaces - 14 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:00 Start with a skirt made from a cone on a G8F model
    • 00:02 Adjust the height of the skirt
    • 00:03 Sort out the waist
    • 00:04 Make surfaces to enable stripes
    • 00:06 Start putting different colours on the skirt
    • 00:08 Back to wire shaded view and add dForce modifier
    • 00:10 Look at various dForce parameter values such as sheer stiffness quads and bend stiffness values
    • 00:12 Pokethroughs require new simulations to fix
    • 00:14 Add a tank top for the final result


  • Video 10 : Overview of rotate triangulation of selected polygons tool - 3 minutes

    • 00:01 Example using a table cloth on a circular table
      00:01 Use lasso selection
      00:02 Convert subD to smooth
      00:02 Final effect


  • Video 11 : Case study - kit bashing texture sets - 12 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:00 Using the surface and geometry editor tools for kit bashing
    • 00:01 Two ways to do this.
    • 00:02 Copy selected surface - boots
    • 00:03 Material preset save
    • 00:05 Using the geometry editor to select a chosen clothing section (sleeves)
    • 00:08 Kitbashing the belt/sashes
    • 00:10 Wearable and material presets : the differences and when to use.


  • Video 12 : Splitting models into different parts - 19 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:00 When to use DAZ for splitting a model and when not to.
    • 00:01 Splitting a belt
    • 00:03 Geometry selection : select connected
    • 00:04 Save preset
    • 00:05 Load belt onto a new figure
    • 00:06 Split a large scale environment (subway station)
    • 00:08 Examine surfaces list for subway station and delete hidden polygons
    • 00:09 Clean up and check for other parts not needed
    • 00:10 The track is just left
    • 00:11 Use hide selected to check any geometry selected by mistake
    • 00:12 Break up a city model. Caveat when using DAZ Studio.
    • 00:14 Using top view to pick out a single building to split. Use marquee selection
    • 00:17 Use invert selection.
    • 00:17 Save building as scene subset
    • 00:19 Bring in the kit bashed assets into a new scene.
    • 00:19 Finally add in textures and render.


  • Video 13 : Make your own props (more advanced) with the geometry editor - 9 minutes (.MP4)

    • 00:00 Start with a sphere
    • 00:02 Elongate and cut off the top for the bowl
    • 00:03 Create the base
    • 00:04 Use a cylinder for the stem
    • 00:04 Start to apply shaders
    • 00:06 Add liquid section
    • 00:07 Render for the result
    • 00:09 Martini glasses and table


  • PDF document : Link to the searchable videos version of this product.


Notes




  • This product includes:

    • 08 General Installer




Download The Geometry Editor: An In-Depth Tutorial Guide Links:

HOT4SHARE.COM
Comments (0)
Information
Users of Guests are not allowed to comment this publication.