FM Gym Info

FM Gym Info & Tips, Table of content
Performance and Subdivisions
Iray specific infos
3Delight specific infos, reflections
FM Gym: Center Poses
Modifying Workout Stations and other props
Other modifications
FM Gym Poses: Workout Stations
FM Gym Poses: Dumbbells & Barbells


Performance and Subdivisions

This set has a lot of geometry making use of subdivisions.In the viewport core items like the Workout Stations are usually set to SubD Level 1, Deco items like the racks to SubD Level 0. They all render at SubD Level 2, so if something looks a bit blocky in the viewport it will be smoothed out in your renders.
If you need to optimize preview performance on your system consider turning “View SubD Level” Level down to zero for some of the core items too (Parameters / Mesh Resolution).


Iray specific infos

Rendering with Iray can be really fast if you just use a Workout Station and a Genesis figure together with Iray`s environment lighting. The full gym takes it sweet time though, from what I gather Iray tends to be that way with indoor scenes / indoor lighting.

As for Render settings, you can basicly run the default settings, but I like to turn “Draw Ground” off and switch Environment Mode to “Scene only” since environment lighting doesn`t affect the scene.
My own renders came out a little on the dark side, so you might want to slightly reduce the Exposure Value (under Tone mapping). If I am not mistaken Daz recommends this for indoor scenes anyway. At least I read somewhere that the default of 13 is meant for outdoor scenes and indoor should be reduced a bit.


3Delight specific infos, reflections

On the 3Delight version I wanted to keep render times in line, and 3Delight doesn`t take well to reflections.
Thus surfaces where real reflections didn`t seem necessary use an Envmap.
Basicly Glass and Chrome use real reflections, everything else is using the Envmap.
Some users might want to experiment with giving the floor surfaces or the Workout Station`s frame metals (usually that`s WS##Metal01) real reflections.
All preview renders show the set as it is of course, with Envmaps.

If you want to quickly adjust the brightness of the whole scene I recommend using the three distant lights in “LightingAmbience”.


FM Gym: Center Poses

So what are those good for? Foremost to aid the other pose sets.
If you apply a center pose to the Gym it will move the whole scene and center it on the Workout Station the pose refers too. The pose brings the related Workout Station in the same position it has when you load it individually.
That means you can use the Genesis 3 poses and don`t have to move the figure to the Workout Station, but can move the Station to the figure with a single click.


Modifying Workout Stations and other props

I hope the Workout Stations offer all modification options you might possibly need.
Of course the primary thing you likely want to do is picking a state between idle and full use. Each Workout Station has a single slider for that, which you find under both Parameters/General or Posing/General (with the Station selected). That slider is colored red. In the same tabs you`ll sometimes find additional options like changing the base hight of a pull-bar.
You can also easily change the amount of weights to be lifted. On cabled machines you do that by changing the parent. E.g. on WS01LatTrainer everything parented to the WeightLock joint is lifted, weights not parented to it stay in place. If you are into the small details you`ll also want to move the pin to match your change.
On not-cabled machines or barbells you can simply hide weights or add some by loading the single weight props. Tip: If you want to add a weight copy the position of a weight already in place and paste it to the new weight, makes positioning easier.
Also note that barbells and curlbars load with two different lock systems, one of them hidden. If you mind stuff like that you can quickly switch it by hiding the visible one and unhiding the other.


Other modifications

Most things in this set are quite easy to adjust to your personal taste, here`s just some quick pointers:

The frame color of Workout Stations doesn`t use textures, so you can quickly set whatever diffuse color you like. In general I`d recommend using the surface selection tool, but if you go by the material list the frame is usually WS##Metal01.

The Logo (Writing) on the machines is a seperate object, you can hide it or change it`s color as well.

The screens on the wall have a “Display” material, add any 16:9 Image you want there (Both diffuse and ambience channel). You can hide or change the posters on the walls as well.

The gym`s floor uses four materials, I like how that creates seperate “zones”. But it`s tileable, so you are free to go for your favourite texture all over it, e.g. make it all wood.

The Wall texture with the B-Forge X logo on it can also be switched to the Wall01 texture in order to remove the logo


FM Gym Poses: Workout Stations

These poses are made for Genesis 3 male and female, but of course you can use them with any Genesis 3 shape (likely with some adjustments required).

Understanding the naming of these poses will make your life a lot easier:
After the prefix you will see WS##, this refers to which Workout Station the pose is for.
Workout Stations are named accordingly both in the full scene and as single preloads.
So far so obvious. 😉
The ending of each name refers to posing the Station to fit with Genesis in this pose. “Pull 60” would mean setting the pull slider to 60%.
Sometimes the first pose of a sequence refers to a base setting like adjusting the base hight of a bar. That adjustment should remain for the following poses of the sequence, with the push or pull stuff on top of it.
Posing a Workout Station, keep in mind to have it selected at it`s top level (not any joints in the hierarchy). You`ll find the Sliders you need under Parameters/General or Posing/General.

FM Gym Poses can be used for keyframe animation. If you want to learn about the basics of keyframe animation with Daz Studio maybe check out my little tutorial:
Keyframe Animation Basics


FM Gym Poses: Dumbbells & Barbells

These poses are made for Genesis 3 male and female, but of course you can use them with any Genesis 3 shape (likely with some adjustments required).

The dumbbell poses are the most easy to handle since you can use the smartprop dumbbells and don`t have to care much about Genesis 3 grabbing something.
Barbell and curlbar are a bit more tricky. Don`t overlook the position poses to bring the items in place for each pose. They are made to fit with Genesis 3 base, but even with other shapes they should help to get at least close to the right position.

Special case Bench01 poses:
If used with the full Gym scene and the Center Pose you`ll notice the bench`s back doesn`t fit. That`s because it`s set to be more flat in the full scene. In the Parameters or Pose tab you can dial out “Back Down 5” and dial in “Back Down 1” to bring it into it`s default state and fit with the poses.

FM Gym Poses can be used for keyframe animation. If you want to learn about the basics of keyframe animation with Daz Studio maybe check out my little tutorial:
Keyframe Animation Basics