Creating a Pose Control *

2012-04-25T17:10:59+00:00

Creating a Pose Control *

* = Review

Summary

TriAx™ rigging, like Poser® rigging, allows direct manipulation of individual bones of a figure using Transform sliders, particularly Rotation and Scale. However, sometimes it is convenient to provide additional dials for the user that combine a number of transformations. These parameters differ from Pose Presets in that they allow the user to set the figure pose along a continuous range of motion defined by the parameter slider, rather than setting the figure to a single fixed pose.

Process Overview

Pose Figure
Select Figure Root
Open Property Editor
Select “ERC Freeze…” Menu Item
Move Control with Property Mover
Test Control
Save as DSF Morph

Foundation

ERC (Enhanced Remote Control) consists of a number of enhanced methods for remotely controlling various channels within DAZ Studio (and Poser). ERC is basically a repurposing of the internal code of Full Body Morphs. The “channels” that can be affected by ERC span the gamut of those within the figure files, with a few exceptions.

While ERC parameters can be created manually by editing figure files, the Content Creation Tools provide a simple method to capture changes from the figure default and store them in a new parameter. This is called “ERC Freeze.”

Step By Step

Pose Figure

Begin with your figure in the default pose, for simplicity.

In this example, we'll make a hand pose for the American Sign Language gesture meaning “I love you.” Begin by focusing on the part of the body we will pose.

Set your pose using any combination of selection and manipulation with the Rotate tool, Active Pose tool, the Transforms dials, etc.

The final position:

Select Root

To create a control dial in Genesis or another TriAx™ figure, select the root of the figure.

Open Property Editor

Show the Property Editor tab, if it is not yet visible

The Property Editor tab may take some time to populate when a full figure is selected at the root.

Select ERC Freeze Menu Item

In the Tab Options menu, select “ERC Freeze…”

When you select Genesis as the figure, the Node and Freeze Properties will automatically populate.

Change Node to Right Hand. Check the Freeze Properties to make sure the only properties captured are the ones you want to include in this control.

Click Create New… to create a new control property.

Set Path Defaults to Pose Controls.

Give the control a unique internal name and a display name (Label). Leave other parameters set to the defaults unless you have a specific reason to change them.

In the past, pose controls have been created as an Empty Morph for compatibility with Poser. Since the Genesis figure is not yet compatible with Poser, this step was omitted.

Click the Restore Figure option and click Accept.

Move with Property Mover

At this point, the control has been created. You can view it in the Hierarchy (right) sub-tab by opening the Genesis figure and the Right Hand joint.

The new control will appear alphabetically with respect to the other controls in the same section of the node hierarchy.

However, it is not yet visible within the Property Editor under the Grouping/Settings (left) sub-tab. The Hand section of the Pose Controls is not visible with the root of the Genesis figure selected.

In the Scene Tab, select the Right Hand node. The contents of the Property Editor tab will change:

We would like this control to appear within the Hands sub-section of Pose Controls. We can move it there with a simple drag and drop:

Test Control

Return to the Viewport and the Parameters tab. With the Right Hand node selected in the Scene tab, the new control is visible under Pose Controls in the Parameters tab:

Scrub the control to verify that it works as it should:

Save as DSF Morph

To save your new control so it can be used later, select Genesis and click File→Save As→DSF Morph File…

Fill in your vendor name and the name of the product (e.g. a Pose Control or Morph set) and select just the control you wish to save out:

A folder will be created in a subdirectory of the data folder dedicated to the figure you created the control for. In this case, the folder is created in …data\DAZ 3D\Genesis\Base\Morphs\YourName

Wrap-Up

This process creates a Pose Control using ERC Freeze. Again, to create a static pose preset, the simpler process of posing the figure and using File→Save As→Pose Preset… will be more efficient.

Creating the Pose Control adds it to the Parameters tab, but to display it in the Posing tab, you will need to access the Presentation Editor. For more information, see “Next Steps,” below.