Genesis Morph Reduction
Carrara works with Genesis figures differently than Daz Studio. The technology involved with the new Daz Studio/Genesis platform grows harmoniously to be as efficient as possible on the artist's computer. In this, Genesis morphs are only 'attached' to the figure when used. Otherwise they just remain quietly in the database without taking up any additional resources.
In the way that Carrara stores (saves) objects to the browser (or anywhere else, for that matter) every morph available for use is saved as a part of the mesh's resources, and therefore included fully with each individual file, rather than simply being accessible like it is in Daz Studio. This can make for some larger than expected file sizes when we have a large collection of available morphs - even if we're not going to use them.
For both platforms, each morph will have parameter control sliders.
Admittedly, I don't use Daz Studio enough as a character/scene/render platform to be used to the best workflow. So I find it even more cumbersome in Studio when I have too many morph dials, but that's a different story.
Morph Reduction
To reduce the amount of morphs available to be in either platform, I simply edit the appropriate Data folder - essentially uninstalling the morphs I don't intend to use for any specific project.
Using Windows, the data folder is located where Genesis is installed. By default this is: Public Documents > My Daz3d Library > Data
For Genesis 1: Public Documents > My Daz3d Library > Data > DAZ 3D > Genesis > Base > Morphs
NOTE: if you're not finding the Genesis folder, be sure you're looking in "DAZ 3D", not "DAZ" or "Daz3d" or anything else
Inside the "Morphs" folder, there are a number of folders labeled for the artist who created the morphs. Inside each of those folders is a list of folders for individual products that contain the morphs.
What we're looking for are morphs that we don't want available to use for a particular character creation session.
We're going to remove (not delete!) anything we don't want and leave behind everything we do want. This can be accomplished a few ways - here's how I do it. Both begin with making a Backup of the Morphs folder. I simply copy the whole thing to my Desktop, but where you keep it is irrelevant, so long as you remember where it is!
After making the backup I begin by selecting whole folders of artists in the main Morphs folder that I know I don't want, and delete them.
Next I open the remaining individual morph folders and look for individual products that I won't need. For example, if I'm making a male character, I might know already that I won't be using vyktohria's Riley or any of Raiya's Female Body or Female Face morphs, but would still like to try some of the male offerings - so I delete the female folders leaving the male folders. After a lot of this, I have tested many of the morphs and know what they do, so I can be really specific in what I keep and what I do not.
The DAZ 3D artist folder
While the above is true for most artists (not all - like SickleYield, xenic101, and Zev0, for example) the DAZ 3D female folders might contain morphs that we will want to keep - and they don't (or might) actually contain a user-facing slider.
I'm talking about Clone morphs, expressions, clothing adjustment (like Poke-Away, for example) type of things. I like to keep these things intact for nearly anything I'm making. One exception being, perhaps, a gorilla that I want to be an actual Gorilla!
Once I've reduced the amount of morphs I have in my Data folder, I open Carrara (or Daz Studio) and start designing my character.
I try to work quickly making sure that all of the morphs I will need are present. Once in a while I accidentally delete the wrong stuff or leave in something that just constantly glares at me as something I really don't want available. So if I need to make any changes to my morphs list, I do so immediately because in Carrara, changes to these folders only take effect on newly loaded figures of Genesis.
After we've established the appropriate collection of morphs and have a good design brewing, we can save it in Carrara and once again restore or further change the Data folder without affecting this character, as long as we open the Carrara version of it.
Beyond the Backup
With major characters like Rosie and Dartanbeck I like to take the Backup idea a bit further, and backup the Morphs folder the way I like it after a successful character creation is made. I do this the same way as my main backup, but with a new name - I use the name of the actual character.
This becomes important for those times when we get a new set of morphs that we didn't have before. Newly installed morphs are not present in Carrara-saved figures, so we need to make a new character. If this happens to you, don't panic - and also, don't decide against an important character upgrade simply because it might seem like a lot of work. Just check out the following article:
Have a Question? Just Ask!
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