[Released] ManFriday's Mesh Grabber [Commercial]

ManFriday

barbult said:

@ManFriday is there way to remove all Mesh Grabber changes from an object, to restore its original shape?

Yes, select the object, right-click into the scene with the mesh grabber tool active, select "Reset mesh grabber (clear all deltas)".

ManFriday

MrDarck said:

Hey ManFriday,

I have the problem here on the socks, that the green slider is kinda missing, its very low visible bot not useable, any idea why? I wanna fix this socks :/

That is strange indeed. Have you tried selecting something else in the scene and then selecting the sock again? Maybe the mesh grabber got confused with its selections. Also you could try switching to vertex selection in the mesh grabber tool settings.

Loony

barbult said:

@ManFriday is there way to remove all Mesh Grabber changes from an object, to restore its original shape?

Rightclick Reset, if you have the tool active. make sure you don't select the wrong! always read it 2x :) and CTRL+Z does NOT work, so... be 100% sure you want it ;)

Imago

ManFriday said:

MrDarck said:

Hey ManFriday,

I have the problem here on the socks, that the green slider is kinda missing, its very low visible bot not useable, any idea why? I wanna fix this socks :/

That is strange indeed. Have you tried selecting something else in the scene and then selecting the sock again? Maybe the mesh grabber got confused with its selections. Also you could try switching to vertex selection in the mesh grabber tool settings.

It happens to me too when zooming "too much". I posted about it some time ago.

Little question about the gizmo placement: isn't better place it in the center of the selected group, like in any other 3D modeling stuff? This way the gizmo won't jump around.

 

L'Adair

Imago said:

ManFriday said:

MrDarck said:

Hey ManFriday,

I have the problem here on the socks, that the green slider is kinda missing, its very low visible bot not useable, any idea why? I wanna fix this socks :/

That is strange indeed. Have you tried selecting something else in the scene and then selecting the sock again? Maybe the mesh grabber got confused with its selections. Also you could try switching to vertex selection in the mesh grabber tool settings.

It happens to me too when zooming "too much". I posted about it some time ago.

Little question about the gizmo placement: isn't better place it in the center of the selected group, like in any other 3D modeling stuff? This way the gizmo won't jump around.

I don't mind if the gizmo jumps around, as long as it's where I need it for the angle I'm viewing the object at. I would mind having it deep within an object, so it's out of frame if I zoom in close.

Here's a tip to make it a bit easier to see when the mesh of one object stops poking through another one, (works with morph sliders, dforms, etc., as well as with the Mesh Grabber.)

1. Set Draw Mode to Smooth Shaded.
2. Change the Base Color of the surface poking through to something unmistakable, like hot pink or lime green. (If necessary, note the original color in the Base Color.)
3. If necessary, change the Base Color of the outer surface to white. (Also making note of the original color.)
4. Adjust the mesh of either object, or both, until the obnoxious color doesn't show.
5. Change the Base Colors of your objects back to their original colors.

 

barbult

ManFriday said:

barbult said:

@ManFriday is there way to remove all Mesh Grabber changes from an object, to restore its original shape?

Yes, select the object, right-click into the scene with the mesh grabber tool active, select "Reset mesh grabber (clear all deltas)".

Worked perfectly, thanks.

jeylien

Sorry to obnoxiously bring this up again, but just dropping by as another Mac user who desperatly wishes there was a compatible version of Mesh Grabber! (Since you aren't sure of the mac userbase, just hoped tossing my vote/interest in there might contribute ????)

Loony

ManFriday said:

MrDarck said:

Hey ManFriday,

I have the problem here on the socks, that the green slider is kinda missing, its very low visible bot not useable, any idea why? I wanna fix this socks :/

That is strange indeed. Have you tried selecting something else in the scene and then selecting the sock again? Maybe the mesh grabber got confused with its selections. Also you could try switching to vertex selection in the mesh grabber tool settings.

I think I tested also the other modes, selecting something other, I don't think so, but I let the socks untouched and worked on the dress and then come back, but I also showed a pic that it finally worked, by rotating the camera :)

and weird, yesterday I didnt saw your answer... and now it show your answer before my last answer (where I did tell the suer how to reset...).

 

Loony

Hey a other thing here.

I have a surgery dress and I love the idea to open the backside *g*

But here comes the problem:

If a piece have the option to get open, the mashgrabber does still grab BOTH parts, even if you selected just the one part, In this scenario I just selected the right side to open it, but the grabber grabs trhough both.

 

And then it does not open it, only stretch the complete object.

With dforce magnets is it possible, so it IS possible, so maybe you can improve in this too? if something is overlapped, that it will not select all together? I tested all 3 Selection types, it moves always both sides together.

Magnet result:

 

the magnets are kinda nice, but sad, that it is needed that you have to simulate them always... thats what I love at mesh grabber, you SEE what you do and you don't have to wait and to realize you made it wrong.

 

L'Adair

MrDarck said:

Hey a other thing here.

I have a surgery dress and I love the idea to open the backside *g*

But here comes the problem:

If a piece have the option to get open, the mashgrabber does still grab BOTH parts, even if you selected just the one part, In this scenario I just selected the right side to open it, but the grabber grabs trhough both.

 

And then it does not open it, only stretch the complete object.

With dforce magnets is it possible, so it IS possible, so maybe you can improve in this too? if something is overlapped, that it will not select all together? I tested all 3 Selection types, it moves always both sides together.

Magnet result:

 

the magnets are kinda nice, but sad, that it is needed that you have to simulate them always... thats what I love at mesh grabber, you SEE what you do and you don't have to wait and to realize you made it wrong.

It's possible to affect less by dialing the Sphere Influence, (Tool Settings; and The Beast isn't on, so that's from memory.) Lowest it goes is 0.5, but that's worked for most things I've worked on.

You've found one of the areas where dForms works better, if you use the Weight Map. You can remove the influence from the rest of the garment, smooth the influence to prevent buckling, and even rotate the area. But knowing MF's products, Mesh Grabber will be able to do all that, too. One of these days.

Loony

Thanks Sir!

0.5 gizmo is working! cool!

But its still a bit... hard to move it smooth and not so... stable/stiffed.

Weightmap is... never used from me, so i don't know how to use that :D

L'Adair

MrDarck said:

Thanks Sir! Ma'am

0.5 gizmo is working! cool!

But its still a bit... hard to move it smooth and not so... stable/stiffed.

Weightmap is... never used from me, so i don't know how to use that :D

Weight maps… You'll get there.

In the meantime, try moving things in stages:

1. Use the Geometry Editor tool to select some polygons at the bottom of the fabric.
2. Switch to the Mesh Grabber tool and move those polygons out slightly.
3. Switch back to the Geometry Editor tool.
4. Press and hold the Ctrl (CMD) key and select a few more polygons.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 as many times as necessary to smoothly, (okay, somewhat smoothly,) move the section out without the stretching effect at the top and sides.

When you select the polygons with the Geometry Editor tool, that selection remains until you specifically clear it, so each time you come back to the tool, the previously selected polygons will still be highlighted. You can add to the selection by holding down the Ctrl key, and remove from the selection by holding down the Alt key. (There are lots of other timesaving key shortcuts, too. The Geometry Editor tool is one of my favorite tools inside DS, and an important tool to learn, as well.)

Loony

I did try it, and it kinda works, but its also very very slowly going... I wish the dforce magnets would be more handy... or mash grabber would act like the magnets, but without needing the simulation :/

But maybe with the add-on of rotating, I could select the area and just open that .

 

L'Adair

MrDarck said:

I did try it, and it kinda works, but its also very very slowly going... I wish the dforce magnets would be more handy... or mash grabber would act like the magnets, but without needing the simulation :/

But maybe with the add-on of rotating, I could select the area and just open that .

I'd like to see some way to exclude mesh from the influence. One way to do that would be to not affect hidden polygons. Another would be to limit influence to a selected Material Zone, although that wouldn't be much help with products that have very few material zones, unless we created them ourselves.

I had the same problem with the leather jacket that you're having with the surgery dress. I was able to pose the figure's arms up, though, and tweak the sleeves and the body of the jacket separately. If I'd been able to limit the influence by material zones, I wouldn't have needed to change the arm pose and could have separate the sleeves from the sides much faster.

Sadly, I don't see how changing the figure's pose will help with your issue.

I stll find Mesh Grabber the fastest and easiest way to move the mesh around, even with the current limitations.

Loony

Yeah absolute, mesh grabber is like a morphing tool in Gimp/photoshop, but it still could do more :D

But I have no idea how complicated daz3d is to be coded... I mean its already a wonder that someone have to create a tool for it and that it is not a basic from the software.

Maybe they also wanna save money, because its "just" a Freeware ;)

And I guess ManFriday do all of his work alone.

barbult

I am using the V1.1.0 Public Beta in DS 4.12.1.55 Public Beta. I've run into some confusing information in the Mesh Grabber Tool Settings:

1. When I select geometry with the Geometry Editor and then switch to the Mesh Grabber tool, the Modifier statistics do not properly represent the number of polygons/edges/vertices that were selected by the Geometry Editor. Mesh Grabber Tool Settings will say, for example, "One Vertex selected" when the Geometry Editor selected a large number of vertices. I have to switch Selection Type in the Mesh Grabber Tool Settings to get the Modifier Statistics to be properly recalculated.
2. If I increase the Falloff radius, the number of deltas in modifier gets much larger, but if I reduce the Falloff Radius, the number of deltas in modifier does not get smaller. Does a temporary experimentation with changing the Falloff radius make a permanent change to the number of deltas that get saved in the file, even though maybe only one vertex appears to be moved on the screen in the end?
3. When I change from one object to another in the Scene pane with the Mesh Grabber tool active and the Tool Settings pane visible, the Modifier statistics don't get updated to represent the statistics for the selected object. They still show the last statistics for the previously selected object.
4. If I move some vertices with the Mesh Grabber and then do Ctrl Z to undo that change, the viewport shows that the vertices correctly go back to their original position, but the Modifier statistics still show a lot of deltas in modifier. It seems like the number of deltas in modifier never get smaller, even after undoing all Mesh Grabber changes. Will geometry information still be written to the saved file, even though I have done Ctrl Z to undo the Mesh Grabber changes? 

adriant1987

Been spending about two hours trying to get this installed and it doesn't want to show up at all! DIM keeps saying download failed and the manual install only gives me an uninstaller

ManFriday

adriant1987 said:

Been spending about two hours trying to get this installed and it doesn't want to show up at all! DIM keeps saying download failed and the manual install only gives me an uninstaller

The Daz servers seem to be having some issues right now. I've been trying to download unrelated products with DIM yesterday and got "download failed" too. Hopefully Daz will be able to fix things when they wake up in Utah. :-)

ManFriday

barbult said:

I am using the V1.1.0 Public Beta in DS 4.12.1.55 Public Beta. I've run into some confusing information in the Mesh Grabber Tool Settings:

1. When I select geometry with the Geometry Editor and then switch to the Mesh Grabber tool, the Modifier statistics do not properly represent the number of polygons/edges/vertices that were selected by the Geometry Editor. Mesh Grabber Tool Settings will say, for example, "One Vertex selected" when the Geometry Editor selected a large number of vertices. I have to switch Selection Type in the Mesh Grabber Tool Settings to get the Modifier Statistics to be properly recalculated.
2. If I increase the Falloff radius, the number of deltas in modifier gets much larger, but if I reduce the Falloff Radius, the number of deltas in modifier does not get smaller. Does a temporary experimentation with changing the Falloff radius make a permanent change to the number of deltas that get saved in the file, even though maybe only one vertex appears to be moved on the screen in the end?
3. When I change from one object to another in the Scene pane with the Mesh Grabber tool active and the Tool Settings pane visible, the Modifier statistics don't get updated to represent the statistics for the selected object. They still show the last statistics for the previously selected object.
4. If I move some vertices with the Mesh Grabber and then do Ctrl Z to undo that change, the viewport shows that the vertices correctly go back to their original position, but the Modifier statistics still show a lot of deltas in modifier. It seems like the number of deltas in modifier never get smaller, even after undoing all Mesh Grabber changes. Will geometry information still be written to the saved file, even though I have done Ctrl Z to undo the Mesh Grabber changes? 

Thank you for reporting! Seems like the settings statistics are not updating as often as they should, I'll have a look at this.

Btw, regarding the tool icon issue you also reported, I'm still waiting for word from Daz. I haven't forgotten!

barbult

ManFriday said:

barbult said:

I am using the V1.1.0 Public Beta in DS 4.12.1.55 Public Beta. I've run into some confusing information in the Mesh Grabber Tool Settings:

1. When I select geometry with the Geometry Editor and then switch to the Mesh Grabber tool, the Modifier statistics do not properly represent the number of polygons/edges/vertices that were selected by the Geometry Editor. Mesh Grabber Tool Settings will say, for example, "One Vertex selected" when the Geometry Editor selected a large number of vertices. I have to switch Selection Type in the Mesh Grabber Tool Settings to get the Modifier Statistics to be properly recalculated.
2. If I increase the Falloff radius, the number of deltas in modifier gets much larger, but if I reduce the Falloff Radius, the number of deltas in modifier does not get smaller. Does a temporary experimentation with changing the Falloff radius make a permanent change to the number of deltas that get saved in the file, even though maybe only one vertex appears to be moved on the screen in the end?
3. When I change from one object to another in the Scene pane with the Mesh Grabber tool active and the Tool Settings pane visible, the Modifier statistics don't get updated to represent the statistics for the selected object. They still show the last statistics for the previously selected object.
4. If I move some vertices with the Mesh Grabber and then do Ctrl Z to undo that change, the viewport shows that the vertices correctly go back to their original position, but the Modifier statistics still show a lot of deltas in modifier. It seems like the number of deltas in modifier never get smaller, even after undoing all Mesh Grabber changes. Will geometry information still be written to the saved file, even though I have done Ctrl Z to undo the Mesh Grabber changes? 

Thank you for reporting! Seems like the settings statistics are not updating as often as they should, I'll have a look at this.

Btw, regarding the tool icon issue you also reported, I'm still waiting for word from Daz. I haven't forgotten!

Thanks!

tkdrobert

This looks interesting.  I'd probably use it to modify robots.

ManFriday

ManFriday said:

barbult said:

I am using the V1.1.0 Public Beta in DS 4.12.1.55 Public Beta. I've run into some confusing information in the Mesh Grabber Tool Settings:

1. When I select geometry with the Geometry Editor and then switch to the Mesh Grabber tool, the Modifier statistics do not properly represent the number of polygons/edges/vertices that were selected by the Geometry Editor. Mesh Grabber Tool Settings will say, for example, "One Vertex selected" when the Geometry Editor selected a large number of vertices. I have to switch Selection Type in the Mesh Grabber Tool Settings to get the Modifier Statistics to be properly recalculated.
2. If I increase the Falloff radius, the number of deltas in modifier gets much larger, but if I reduce the Falloff Radius, the number of deltas in modifier does not get smaller. Does a temporary experimentation with changing the Falloff radius make a permanent change to the number of deltas that get saved in the file, even though maybe only one vertex appears to be moved on the screen in the end?
3. When I change from one object to another in the Scene pane with the Mesh Grabber tool active and the Tool Settings pane visible, the Modifier statistics don't get updated to represent the statistics for the selected object. They still show the last statistics for the previously selected object.
4. If I move some vertices with the Mesh Grabber and then do Ctrl Z to undo that change, the viewport shows that the vertices correctly go back to their original position, but the Modifier statistics still show a lot of deltas in modifier. It seems like the number of deltas in modifier never get smaller, even after undoing all Mesh Grabber changes. Will geometry information still be written to the saved file, even though I have done Ctrl Z to undo the Mesh Grabber changes? 

Thank you for reporting! Seems like the settings statistics are not updating as often as they should, I'll have a look at this.

Btw, regarding the tool icon issue you also reported, I'm still waiting for word from Daz. I haven't forgotten!

Update :-) I've taken a closer look at this. Regarding items 1. and 3., that was just a cosmetic problem and will be fixed in the next beta. Regarding 2. and 4., however, I was fairly confident that I had added some cleanup code to the mesh grabber that eliminates empty deltas but that doesn't seem to be working. I checked, and the empty deltas do not get eliminated in memory, and they do get written out to the scene file. That is a waste, of course, and I'll try and find a fix. Thank you for reporting this!

Regarding the tool button, I have a fix for that as well. I'll post another beta soon.

Thank you for having a close eye on this!

Loony

hey Manfriday will you also update your Turbocontent for custom content in the future? sadl atm, you only look in this thread :(

ManFriday

MrDarck said:

hey Manfriday will you also update your Turbocontent for custom content in the future? sadl atm, you only look in this thread :(

I replied in the Turbo Content thread. Please don't mix topics, this only confuses everyone.

ManFriday

Hello everybody! I have fixed most the remaining items reported here, and I'm pleased to announce

Mesh Grabber 1.9.0 public beta

Please check this link: https://mega.nz/#F!TmpxjbQb!1fVMane6DXncuIo60tqFFA

The folder contains two DLL files, both of which you can copy to your \Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins directory (or wherever your Daz Studio is installed). The directory should have an existing MF_meshgrab.dll file.

The two files are an update to the existing Mesh Grabber with more fixes, plus a first beta of the upcoming "Mesh Grabber Rotation Add-On". If both files are in the plugin folder, the rotations should work seamlessly in the Mesh Grabber.

Important notes:

1. Please make a copy of the old DLL before copying the new ones over it.
2. You will need Windows administrator permissions to replace the DLL because the plugins directory is protected. You cannot download the files directly into that directory, so please save the files to "Downloads" or some other place and then copy them using Windows Explorer.
3. The new DLL is time-bombed and will stop working four weeks from today to make sure I don't get bug reports for it two years from now. The Tool Settings dialog will have a heading with the version number and a "TEST" marker. When the DLL stops working, please copy back your backup, or reinstall the product via DIM.
4. This is beta code. It hasn't gone through Daz testing.
5. The DLL is for 64-bit Windows only.

What's new since the previous 1.1.0 beta:

• Rotation support. Please see the PDF in the download folder for instructions.

• Added missing statistics updates to Tool Settings for some situations.

• Added a compaction step that eliminates zero deltas from the modifier to speed up computation and calculations. The compaction is triggered with a three-second delay after any change has been made to the deltas and can be observed in the Tool Settings statistics after that delay.

• Add a “Lock in place” checkbox to tool settings dialog.

• Allow a falloff radius of 0 (previous minimum was 0.5).

• Fix tool icon having the wrong highlight color after activation / deactivation.

• Fix face / edge / vertex selection having an off-yellow color instead of bright yellow in “texture shading” viewport drawing style.

I have not yet looked at the gizmo resizing problems when the camera is moved (reported by barbult), that's still on my list.

If this works well for you all, I think this is pretty close to a product update that I can submit to Daz. The rotations will be a separate product, but everything else will come as a free update.

L'Adair

Thank you, @ManFriday.

barbult

Testing Mesh Grabber 1.9.0 Public Beta:

Thanks for the update! The toolbar icon toggle is working correctly. So far, the compaction of deltas seems to be working. Both of these fixes are greatly appreciated. I will continue to test the other fixes and new features. Right now, I am just playing - see attached render. 

I see another issue, though. I saw this is in the past, too. The keyboard shortcuts to grow and shrink selections do not work reliably for me. 

This is not an error - I did this on purpose, believe it or not! G8F as you've never seen her.

Loony

ManFriday said:

MrDarck said:

hey Manfriday will you also update your Turbocontent for custom content in the future? sadl atm, you only look in this thread :(

I replied in the Turbo Content thread. Please don't mix topics, this only confuses everyone.

I just asked here, because you didnt commented there anymore ;(... since december.

 

Uhh rotating beta cool!

 

Update: my first experience was kinda... dissapointing, maybe I do it wrong...

And yes I made it wrong :D now I managed it, so it just need  a bit learning! and FINALLY, without Zbrush or anything, I can open that diaper ^^

before:

 

After:

 

Absolute what i wanted :)

and I'm sure it will be much more ^_^

(Now I just need to learn/understand, how I can make this "opening" into a morph...)

you said it in your PDF.

"It is however possible to convert the Mesh Grabber deltas into a morph. To create such a morph, export the object with deltas as an OBJ file using Daz Studio’s “File” → “Export” and re-import that OBJ with Morph Loader Pro (“Edit” → “Object” → “Morph Loader Pro”)."

let's see if I understand it.... xD....

 

Update, in the export window did I not see any "delta settings" I guess, delta is just how you call the movement from mesh grabberß I think I saw that word in the resetting mesh grabber windows.

I did export it as .obj as you said but... with morph loard pro can I not load a .obj O_o....

so.... I assume you should be more clear with the tutorial if I dont understand it :P

 

Edit: I just saw left form it the other loading button....^^....

worked, thanks!!

 

barbult

Testing Mesh Grabber 1.9.0 Public Beta:

1. Edge and Vertex selection are unreliable to the point of being unusable for me.  I know people commented on this trouble before and that you are limited by what Daz gives you access to. If there is no way for you to fix edge and vertex selection, I think the limitations should at least be explained in the Mesh Grabber manual.
2. The ? button in Tool Settings, and the right-click context menu option to open the manual, both open the version 1.0.0 manual. I assume that it will correctly open the new manual once the update is available in DIM.
3. Is there any way to reactivate the previous selection? If I select some geometry with Mesh Grabber but then accidently miss the arrowhead of the gizmo when I click, it clears my selection. I would like to get that selection back!
4. I like the new tri-state of the Influence Size display. The simple circle still indicates the influence size, but does not obscure so much of the working area. Excellent!

ManFriday

barbult said:

Testing Mesh Grabber 1.9.0 Public Beta:

1. Edge and Vertex selection are unreliable to the point of being unusable for me.  I know people commented on this trouble before and that you are limited by what Daz gives you access to. If there is no way for you to fix edge and vertex selection, I think the limitations should at least be explained in the Mesh Grabber manual.

I thought I had fixed that with the previous beta? Others have reported that it works better now.

barbult said:

1. The ? button in Tool Settings, and the right-click context menu option to open the manual, both open the version 1.0.0 manual. I assume that it will correctly open the new manual once the update is available in DIM.

Yes. Or you can copy the new PDF to your Daz Studio docs folder where the old one is.

barbult said:

1. Is there any way to reactivate the previous selection? If I select some geometry with Mesh Grabber but then accidently miss the arrowhead of the gizmo when I click, it clears my selection. I would like to get that selection back!

No, not yet, unfortunately. A good solution would be to be able to undo selections but that's a bit of work.

barbult said:

1. I like the new tri-state of the Influence Size display. The simple circle still indicates the influence size, but does not obscure so much of the working area. Excellent!

Great! Thanks for testing!!