mcjTracer lets you display objects edges as curves and object vertices as discs, balls or blobbys

Those lines are visible in the 3D viewport and can be rendered in Daz Studio's Hardware / OpenGL render modes

Contrary to the 2010 version, they can also be software-rendered ( 3Delight and other Renderman compatible renderers )

mcjTracePath the companion script that creates paths for mcjTracer

http://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts/mcgtracepath-for-mcjtracer

also, to make your animation life easier get the setInterpolation script

http://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts/setinterpolation-for-ds2-3

Installation

you will find the plugin at the bottom of this web page in the "attachments" section

mcjTracerDS45x32.dll for Daz Studio 4.5 32 bits

mcjTracerDS45x64.dll for Daz Studio 4.5 64 bits

this dll must be placed it in your Daz Studio 4.5 plugins folder

typically

the 32-bit version of the plugin ( mcjTracerDS45x32.dll ) goes in C:\Program Files (x86)\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins

and the 64 bit version of the plugin ( mcjTracerDS45x64.dll ) goes in C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins

First Example: A Simple Object

We have a sphere in our scene

Select the sphere;

in Daz Studio's "Create" menus, do a "Create New mcjTracer"

a mcjTracer object should appear in your scene

the mcjTracer can only be selected using the Scene Tab which can be made visible using Daz Studio's menu : View / Tabs / Scene

You can move , scale and rotate the mcjTracer object as you wish.

Any change made to the object that was used to create the mcjTracer

( in this case the gray sphere )

will be replicated on the mcjTracer.

here i created two mcjTracers based on the sphere,

i moved them away from the sphere, and i scaled one to make it smaller.

Then i applied and animated a D-Form on the sphere,

and as you can see the mcjTracers mimic the sphere.

Second example : a Figure

If you select a figure ( by double-left-clicking on the figure )

and create a mcjTracer, a ''ghost'' is created for the whole figure

( software-rendered )

That's 75000 faces being ''ghosted'' ! :)

mcjTracer's Parameters

Node being traced

This lets you select which object is being traced. Avoid selecting nodes like cameras.

Spline

If this is turned On, the edges will be software-rendered as Splines ( smooth curves )

Edges illuminated

turning this on is similar to making a surface 100% ambient,

lighting and gloss effects are ignored

left : Edges Illuminated : Off

right : Edges Illuminated : On

Colorize curves with ...

this lets you select which material will provide the image map that will colorize the edges

if "object material diffuse map" is chosen, the image comes from the "Diffuse Color" channel of the object's surface(s)

if "tracer material colorize map" is chosen, the image comes from the "Colorize Map" channel of the "Edges" surface of the the mcjTracer node

if "None" is chosen, no map will colorize the edges

Note that in Software renders you can have an image map which is used to paint the edges/discs/spheres/blobbys

and another image used to colorize them.

Show Edges

to show or hide the edges

Edges Width ( animatable )

note that the width is animatable,

if you want a stable edge width, set the edge width only once, usually at frame zero

the edges are the same width even if seen from a great distance

Rendered Edges Width ( animatable ) / 10 mm

Same as "Edges width" but for software renders".

note that in this case the width of the edges is "real" so lines that are far look smaller than the close ones.

Edges Closed

For cases where the 'polygons' to trace are long curves, we turn this to OFF

Edges Use Source Materials

By default the edges are the same color as the edges in the object that is being ghosted,

but the mcjTracer also has its own material named "edges".

You can turn "edges use source material" OFF then adjust the color of the whole ghost

Show Vertices and Vertices Diameter ( animatable )

By default the vertices ( extremities of edges ) are visible but tiny. Here you can show or hide them.

In the image below i changed the Vertices diameter to 4

Display Vertices as

points - discs facing the camera ( without image maps )

disc - disc facing the camera ( accepts image maps )

sphere - balls ( accepts image maps )

blobby - organic looking balls ( accepts image maps )

warning : a large number of blobbys covering high definition screens may crash software renders due to memory consumption

Vertices Use Source Materials

By default the vertices are the same color as the edges in the object that is being ghosted,

but the mcjTracer also has its own material named "vertices".

You can turn "vertices use source material" OFF then adjust the color of the whole ghost..

Here we see Aiko's hand with "vertices use source material" = ON

Treat Vertices As One Long Line

Sometimes the base object is a specially constructed object that defines a long curve, possibly hundreds of points

( A script named mcjTracePath found elsewhere on this site can produce those special objects )

turning Treat Vertices As One Long Line to ON lets us display those special objects correctly.

example, a 384 vertices long line

Treat As N-vertices Curves

Lines passing through groups of N-Vertices will be traced

N Vertices per Curve

lets you specify 'N'

example, nine 32-vertices-long curves

Percent Drawn, Start ( animatable ) and Percent Drawn, End ( animatable )

This effect is only implemented for hardware renders

Sometimes the base object is a specially constructed object that defines a long curve,

possibly hundreds of points

those 2 parameters let us create animate how much of the curves are drawn

here we see the "Jacques" long line, displayed from Start=25% to End=75%

and here is an animation created with this method

Sparse preview % drawn

if the object being traced contains a great number of vertices, the preview may become very sluggish

This lets you reduce the number of traces being drawn.

and here is an animation created with this method