The Geometry Editor: An In-Depth Tutorial Guide

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.

Install Types:

DazCentral, DIM, Manual Install