Flexibility to alter 3d models faces and expressions in Daz3d?

[dontcarewhateverno]

Hey there. I'm looking to design a game and was wondering about the model morph capabilities of Daz3D. I've seen the facial expression and face morphing presets on their site, but I'm not entirely satisfied with them.

What I was wondering is if there is some sort of tool or program for Daz3D that allows you to morph a character's face and body by hand (clicking and dragging portions of the face or some such thing), like you would see in a great character creation game? I've got 20gb of mods for TS4 for instance that basically allow me to, through an inordinate amount of sliders and presets, create truly recognizable characters paralleling IRL counterparts.

Likewise, if there's a program/tool that allows you to easily lift eyebrows, open and droop eyelids, crease foreheads, ect to minute degrees, so you can forego those preset expressions.

I'm not a big fan of the repetitive, exaggerated or blank expressions I see in Daz3D models or in the repetitive facial shapes and features. I'm an absolute beginner at 3d modeling, but have experience in sculpting IRL by hand. My plan, if possible, is to create a story with very few characters but concentrate on realistic, natural expressions and original faces for each. Daz3d models tend to give me this dead-expression, lifeless-eyes feel (usually. I've seen exceptions in several games) and I'm trying to avoid that if possible.

If an intuitive tool is available to sculpt models to your liking, I'll probably go with Daz3d. Otherwise... probably tracing a bunch of porn and stock photos to try the 2d route. Sculpting is a lot easier for me than drawing, for some reason.

I appreciate the help!

 

[Baka_Energy_studios]

DAZ isn't meant for sculpting and modeling. If you want to sculpt your models free hand then Blender, Zbrush or Maya
are the applications you're looking for.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

DAZ isn't meant for sculpting and modeling. If you want to sculpt your models free hand then Blender, Zbrush or Maya
are the applications you're looking for.

Thanks. I figured that, but was hoping there was a mod or tool for DAZ that would allow more free-hand modifications of current models than what I've seen on their site without the added work of importing and exporting the model to another application (unless there's a program that imports/exports easily without many steps). I don't want to build a character from the ground up. I just want more leeway in morphing current Daz models and more control of changing expressions than what you see in those preset packages, for more subtle and minoot expressions.

 

[Baka_Energy_studios]

If you have some characters, you get some sliders to morph face and body a bit. You can expand the possibilities when you get
assets like bodymorphs and/or headmorphs for G8 or G3(have no clue about 8.1).
But fiddling with expressions in DAZ is quite tedious, I got some expression packs but rarely use them. Just some unusual ones are helpful like Heavy Hitters for Combat/Fightscenes or Drunk and Happy.

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

If you have some characters, you get some sliders to morph face and body a bit. You can expand the possibilities when you get
assets like bodymorphs and/or headmorphs for G8 or G3(have no clue about 8.1).
But fiddling with expressions in DAZ is quite tedious, I got some expression packs but rarely use them. Just some unusual ones are helpful like Heavy Hitters for Combat/Fightscenes or Drunk and Happy.

Thanks. So it sounds like I'm going to have to import/export a bunch to blender or another app if I want natural looking expressions in Daz3d.

 

[DelinquentProductions]

Thanks. So it sounds like I'm going to have to import/export a bunch to blender or another app if I want natural looking expressions in Daz3d.

Not necessarily. Daz is absolutely not meant for model creation but unless you're doing some radical restructuring of the face Blender or Maya are absurd levels of overkill for expressions.

Expression packs are usually fine, not great but a perfectly workable starting point. On top of that the G8 models have face rigs. You can muck with them individually if you so choose, they're just in the head.


More than than there is also the PowerPose tool, included within daz, which gives you access to those nodes without having to find each one manually.


Is this the best way of doing expressions? Don't know but it is possible without an export/import loop

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

Expression packs are usually fine, not great but a perfectly workable starting point. On top of that the G8 models have face rigs. You can muck with them individually if you so choose, they're just in the head.

More than than there is also the PowerPose tool, included within daz, which gives you access to those nodes without having to find each one manually.

Thanks! That info is exactly what I'm looking for regarding expressions. Will go PowerPose over expression packs if I go the Daz3d route. I'll fiddle around with face/body customizations in Daz too, though may need to export to Blender for that part. The model-perfect clone characters and unnatural body morphs I've seen in some games using Daz have often killed my interest to continue playing, so I'd like to avoid that if I can't get something interesting and natural with the presets.

 

[mickydoo]

When you get expression packs, you don't have to click on the expression and use it as is. In the pose tab if you go to head - expressions you can dial them in.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

Thanks! That info is exactly what I'm looking for regarding expressions. Will go PowerPose over expression packs if I go the Daz3d route. I'll fiddle around with face/body customizations in Daz too, though may need to export to Blender for that part. The model-perfect clone characters and unnatural body morphs I've seen in some games using Daz have often killed my interest to continue playing, so I'd like to avoid that if I can't get something interesting and natural with the presets.

Best way today is the new Face control thing tho. Take a bit of time to get used with it instead of Powerpose, but quite effective.



Model-perfect is not really a problem, annoying but Daz should cover most of your bases outside weird fetish with a bit of work. Common Daz problems is more akin to half baked ideas: strand based hair, critical animation fonctions, filament.. And that list could go on for a while lol

 

[dontcarewhateverno]

Best way today is the new Face control thing tho. Take a bit of time to get used with it instead of Powerpose, but quite effective.

Thanks for the info. Does the new face control tool you mention come with the latest Daz3d version or is it a mod or tool add-on?

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

Thanks for the info. Does the new face control tool you mention come with the latest Daz3d version or is it a mod or tool add-on?

All 8.1 models comes with a new face rig and a free face control interface with Daz 4.15 and all the updates.
8.0 models in other hand need a

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.
Rigging not been done by the same person, so expect discrepancy tho.