Introduction mcjIsosurface is a plugin for Daz Studio version 3 THIS WAY FOR THE IRAY-Compatible BETA 4 August 2 2015
NEW in 2015 : there's a new version for DS4.5, 4.7 4.8
Note : IRay doesn't render the meta-objects
but you can use mcjMetaDump to save the metaobject as an obj file
then import and render it just like any other object!
 Once installed the "Create" menu of Daz studio has a new item named "new mcjIsosurface" General definition of an isosurface: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isosurface To reduce the load on your computer resources, the mcjIsosurface can only exist in a cubic section of space which we will call the domain The shape of the mcjIsosurface is influenced by objects which we will call metaballs or meta-primitives Installation The installation files are located at the bottom of the web page: mcjisosurface3_32bit.zip contains the plugin for Daz Studio 3 for Windows (PC) 32-bit (mcjisosurface3_32bit.dll) it should be unzipped in your Daz Studio plugins folder on a typical installation this means C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio3\plugins mcjisosurface3_64bit.zip contains the plugin for Daz Daz Studio 3 for Windows (PC) 64-bit (mcjisosurface3_64bit.dll) it should be unzipped in your Daz Studio plugins folder on a typical installation this means C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio3\plugins if you did this properly, your Daz Studio will now have a "Create" "mcjIsosurface3" menu item if someday for unknown reason your Daz studio seems to freeze when opening scene files containing Isosurfaces you could try to delete the plugin file (mcjIsosurface3_XXbit.dll) or just move it away from the plugin folder. If it still crashes it means it's not related to this plugin. Another warning: This plugin is really demanding on your computer resources, so it's better to save your scenes often in case it crashes!. mcjIsosurfacePlugin3_Manual.zip contains a copy of the wen page you are currently reading unzip it where you please and open index.html in your browser to view it mcjIsosurfacePlugin3_Scripts.zip contains two scripts ( mcjMetaConsole and mcjMetaDump ) unzip this file in your Daz Studio Content folder, typically this means C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content if you did this properly the scripts will be in the Studio/Scripts/mcasual section of your Daz Studio library Adding the Isosurface to the scene we use Daz Studio's menu and do a "Create" "new mcjIsosurface" the white cube is the aforementioned domain  Adding meta-primitives to the Isosurface if you installed the package properly, you should find a script named mcjMetaConsole in your Daz Studio library, in the Studio/Scripts/mcasual section the icon for the script looks like this  here is the mcjMetaConsole  click on the Accept button to add metaball to the scene ( note to advanced users : you could "manually" create a metaball by creating a Null and naming it "metaball 0" or "metaball 1" etc ... ) here is metaball 0 ( or rather the isosurface letting us visualize the presence of metaball 0 )  if you select metaball 0 and go in the Parameters tab of you can change the ball's radius using the "X Scale" slider  reate a second metaball ( metaball 1) using mcjMetaConsole move the two metaballs apart there's now 2 metaballs, imagine that each metaball has a temperature of 100 degrees the isosurface is like a skin that covers the area in space where the temperature is 50 degrees  note to advanced users : you can manually create a metaball by creating a Null, and naming it exactly "metaball 0", metaball 1" etc ... The Other meta-primitives Below you will find the 12 other meta-primitives that can be added using mcjMetaConsole Some of those shapes are influenced by their respective XScale , YScale , ZScale and Thick parameters ( see the parameters tab )
metaplane  metacylinder  metatorus  metatube  metastick  metadome  metadisc  metasphere  metacube  metawalls  metacup  metanuball  The Isosurface Display Options If you select the mcjIsosurface node in your scene and go in the Parameters tab you will find the following options  Resolution: increasing the resolution improves smoothness and precision of the displayed/rendered isosurface but it will considerably slow down the rendering, display, and editing of your scene You will want to keep resolution at 1 or 2 while working on your scene, and increase it to, say, 4 at render time, then bring it back to 1 or 2 when you're done. ( a setting of 8 means the domain is subdivided into 256x256x256 cubes ... that's 16 million cubes ) Show Domain Box Show/Hide the isosurface's domain box in the 3D viewport and in the hardware renders thw domain box is not rendered in software renders Render Wireframe Show/Hide the wireframe. Only applicable to the 3D viewport and in the hardware renders.  Wireframe Width the width of the "oen" used to draw the wireframe, in pixels. Render Faces Show/Hide the triangular faces that make up the isosurface. Only applicable to the 3D viewport and in the hardware renders. The Isosurface Materials The isosurface has two materials attached to it, one for the wireframe and one for the faces a special treatment makes it possible to get a mirror effect in your hardware renders !!! just set an image in the Reflection channel of the material  that's a hardware render  Some Shaders like the Velvet shader and Chrome shaders amd Supershiny filters were used with success when you render with a mirror ( reflection ) material, it's important to set the "strength" to, say, 100% you will probably have to turn down Diffuse Color Strength nd Ambient Strength to 0% software render  Exporting the Isosurface as a wavefront ( .obj ) file The zip package below also contains a Daz Script named mcjMetaDump if the installation went well, it will be found in Studio/Scripts/mcasual   Select the Isosurface using Daz Studio's Scene Tab and launch mcjMetaDump Specify the destination folder and filename, using the browse button Press the "Do it" button wait press the Exit button  |
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