Watched 3DXPro 5.4 and 5.5 and addon packs and read conflicting forum posts , noise began to overwhelm signals. Clarification appreciated.

I do not have 3dx5 but researching to see if there is any point to get in now or wait for all the dust to settle when 3dx6 comes along.

My priority is a clean efficient workflow between Zbrush morphing - iClone/3DX5 using Genesis as my character base.

To use Genesis as iAvatar, or to get a Genesis rig option under Characterization when importing custom Genesis all one needs is 3DX5 Pro, which comes with lighter-weight "iCloned Genesis", correct?

To have Daz Genesis existing face morphs loaded into Expression editor the Facial Pipeline pack with a special Daz extension is a must? Without it you need to load face morphs manually?

Or it is possible - in Daz, load selected face morphs into Timeline as Daz keyframes manually, export as FBX to 3DX5 and have them loaded into Expression editor custom pane automatically?

Could I also - in Daz, load poses or body morphs into Timeline as Daz keyframes, export as FBX, which then loads into 3DX5 as a morph list?

Will it be a simpler cleaner workflow if I just use "iCloned Genesis" as a base and go between 3dx5-Zbrush to create a fresh morph list, and bypass Daz altogether?

Will I be able to select within 3DX5 - one morph/ one custom expression/ one viseme expression, and export them as Obj to Zbrush for some adjustment and back easily?

Thanks for any input...

  >>> Indie Generalist modeler-rigger-animator <<< Hardware: AlienWare i7-HK 32G GTX1080 2T-SSDs BenqSW320 Wacom-Intuous 3Dconnexion ||| Software: IC6 Pipeline - CTA3 Pipeline - ATK2 - Indigo ||| Zbrush4R8. Blender 2.79. DazStudio 4.9. Carrara. Poser. Octane.

There is no "iCloned Genesis". Whatever mesh you export from DAZ as FBX is what you get in 3DX.

The "facial pack" is not needed, and it only supports Genesis 1.

The "best" way, in my opinion, to get your morphs out of DAZ is to include them in the FBX export (there's an option to choose which ones) and then manually assign them in the expression editor. It's good to learn how, because then you can use Poser, Makehuman, etc. models as well with morphs as well.

I recall from a previous thread that setting an export rule of "head" in DAZ will include all facial morphs, visemes, head morphs. Also, tick the "export morphs" box in the FBX export panel.

I remember I used a smaller subset of morphs, just for simplicity.

Thanks for responding again...

By "iCloned Genesis" I was referring to thesesample characters, part of the resource pack included in 3dx5 pro. I think this is how "Characterization" drop down get all the other common/ industry standard rigs. Possibly a 5.4 addition.

[quote/]The "best" way, in my opinion, to get your morphs out of DAZ is to include them in the FBX export (there's an option to choose which ones) and then manually assign them in the expression editor. It's good to learn how, because then you can use Poser, Makehuman, etc. models as well with morphs as well.
[/quote]

Makes sense... I'm relatively fluent in zBrush now so no longer feel too attached to the morphs I'm made for Daz. Don't mind to start clean. Prioty now is to blendshape on the fly. I'm trying to get a feel of...

- how fast can I get a Genesis base back and fro Zbrush to make a new character
- how tedious it is to adjust say the mouth corner or hair on the fly between iClone Zbrush
- how to export one viseme morph out of existing viseme set for fine-tuning...

I'm also not hung up on the form of the models, more the underlying functions. If I do choose iClone as my animation platform I would probably use G6 since it's most likely to have the least issue with new physix features. Meanwhile Genesis is the simpler all-round actor solution, also a familiar topology I'm comfortable with.

Still trying to wrap my head around 3DX5 import/export Genesis head morph/ body morph, trying to understand Morph List and Expression editor. Still looking for related promo-free official video that focus on the basics.


  >>> Indie Generalist modeler-rigger-animator <<< Hardware: AlienWare i7-HK 32G GTX1080 2T-SSDs BenqSW320 Wacom-Intuous 3Dconnexion ||| Software: IC6 Pipeline - CTA3 Pipeline - ATK2 - Indigo ||| Zbrush4R8. Blender 2.79. DazStudio 4.9. Carrara. Poser. Octane.

I think you're referring to the facekey .duf file, or the Mimic Pro solution.

Facekey file is part of the Daz Extention which is part of the Facial Pipeline which is not free.

The Mimic Pro solution only applies for older version of 32bit Daz Studio, and mine if 64 bit with no Mimic Pro.

3DX5 manual seems to imply that it is capable of importing all kinds of rigging systems, bones, morph, morph bones. So perhaps Facial Pipeline Daz Extension Faceky yadda yadda isn't necessary. Waste of precious time to find out all of the above through sales-focus iclone videos.

iClone universe is becoming as unnecessary convoluted as Daz3D. Reallusion's insistence on muddying the already-complicated 3DX5 water with all these inter-related add-ons create confusion even for past iClone users like me, good luck to noobs who have to get through multiple versions of iClone5 then multiple versions of 3DX5 then G5/G6 just to face even more sales-BS in the way.

Thanks again for trying to help though.






  >>> Indie Generalist modeler-rigger-animator <<< Hardware: AlienWare i7-HK 32G GTX1080 2T-SSDs BenqSW320 Wacom-Intuous 3Dconnexion ||| Software: IC6 Pipeline - CTA3 Pipeline - ATK2 - Indigo ||| Zbrush4R8. Blender 2.79. DazStudio 4.9. Carrara. Poser. Octane.

like Rampa says
Expression Morphs are included in DAZ for Genesis >FREE


Now, RL does complicate things made easy
and has create the easy push button for us

Therefore, there is now the facekey or the iclone pack. Actually It is not a special thing


The Figures in this pack are examples for non DAZ User , only optimized (reduce Polycount and Texturaltals) for better performence .

Also the face key duf is a DAZ file A Animation with the Genesis expression morphs.
Every key on the timeline represented a Morph.


3D xchange can read this morphs animation , and can automatic assign with the expression editor

But if you are advanced DAZ User, you dont need it , you can do it self !

You works with DAZ as before, use and create your morphs and exportet all as fbx into 3D xchange

Assign your morphs and Bones manually in the editor , and then save it as template.
So you not need do the same thing every time .

-------------------------------------------------------------------
liebe Grüße vidi

meet us here

For this reason, I keep both versions of DAZ.

BTW, DAZ to ICLONE is simple.

1) Activate all the morphs in DAZ.
2) Export FBX
3) Convert it to Non-Standard ICLONE Talking character in 3DX
4) Use the Expression Editor to activate the visemes and transfer the facial Morphs to the custom groups.
5) Transfer the Bone Animation as Animation / Perform for the character.
6) Save & Use the Template for all future Genesis Characters for ICLONE

Forget about the facial pipeline etc.



Hope it helps.

Thanks for responding, vidi and prabhatM. Good to have experienced Daz users around here.

I don't consider myself an advanced Daz user, more like intermediate. But enough to load my own morphs ERC freeze and use transfer utility etc. My issue is a lack of perspective with 3DX pro (I left iClone around 3DX4basic era). This means 3DX concepts like "Templates", Perform as Template, Morph List, Expression editing, even custom viseme are barely a week old iClone vocab.

But yes, I've dabbled far enough to know one must become a lexicologist to learn 3D anything lol. Getting there...thanks for your patience.


Much clearer now.

By "Activate" Daz morphs, do you mean assign each one manually to a single keyframe?

And (4) basically means by selecting Expression Editor's "viseme pane" it will detect and automatically load Genesis facial morphs as a "viseme custom group"? Does that mean EE by default differentiate Genesis visemes from a Genesis face expression? I ask this because there are multiple EE custom groups or tabs, one of which is viseme. Correct me if I'm wrong..

Thanks again.




  >>> Indie Generalist modeler-rigger-animator <<< Hardware: AlienWare i7-HK 32G GTX1080 2T-SSDs BenqSW320 Wacom-Intuous 3Dconnexion ||| Software: IC6 Pipeline - CTA3 Pipeline - ATK2 - Indigo ||| Zbrush4R8. Blender 2.79. DazStudio 4.9. Carrara. Poser. Octane.

When DAZ-ICLONE pipeline was introduced, they created a very systematic process with an excel sheet etc.

But if you "activate" all desired morphs to a key frame each it will work. Keep everything "neutral" and just assign one morph ( smile / sad etc) to one frame each. That should take around 30-40 key frames for all DAZ stock expressions.

There is Mimic sample voice file in daz for lipsync test. That will activate most of the visemes. Balance you can activate manually in daz or even expression editor in 3DX.

You can assign the expressions ( smile/sad etc) to the custom groups in 3DX. The MIMIC test file would create around 200 frames. The ICLONE solution was 1700 frames or so. Not sure.

I am not sure, but even activating them to just one Key frame would work. The advantage ? The export of FBX is quick.

My one frame solution, I guess worked too.

Save the template and reassign to any DAZ characters in future in 3DX.


NOTE : All my ICLONE knowledge and observations are based on the extensive 2 week testing just after ICLONE 5.5 release. That's a long time now. So there could be few deviations. But usually I remember the broad process once I work on something.

Just check out personally. There could be few deviations, but 90% of what I just wrote would be correct.

Take a chance.

There are actually 3 different ways to do this.

1. Use the "export morph" option in DAZ, with the proper rules set. The visemes are in there in 64 bit, but the plugin is disabled. You can still export the morphs, though. (my favorite, free and easy).

2. Use the DUF file, or create your own DUF file that creates an animation of all your morphs.

3. Import your morphs directly into 3DX as OBJ or FBX. (I used to do this with Makehuman, but now they have a facial bone rig.)

It sounds like number 3 is what you really want, and to skip DAZ altogether. This option is the unknown for iC6 at this time. I searched for the thread about not being able to export iC6 avatars, and it only mentions FBX and BVH.

So, I have sliver of hope!