Digital Art Zone

I have been studying the hexagon tutorials and had a question the tutorials didn’t answer.  If I create an extremely simple statue model (seemed like the simplest thing to start modelling with), would it be necessary to create a texture map for it since it only uses one material on the entire object?  I know I need to apply material zones and flatten and create the uv map in hexagon in order to apply a texture, however, do I need to create a texture map image for others to make textures, since any seamless texture applied in the surface section of Daz will apply a texture, as well as any shader.

Also…once I have the item created, if it has parts to it, there is the matter of grouping (read somewhere that it was necessary). in which case I would also need bones I think, so the parts would move.  Can Daz apply bones to a prop?  I know it can add bones and morphs to clothing, just not sure about props.

http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/publishing/start

Might help.

If you want to apply any kind of image (.jpg or something like that) on your object as a texture, then you need to uv map your object. You can apply other shader effects that don’t use an image file in your render program though (color, reflections,...).

You need to make one group with a unique name for each part that you want to move. Check out this tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWVB2XOjh4o
It’s for ds3, but i assume it will still work in ds4.

PS: technically you don’t need bones for a prop, but that’s the way i do it…

Thank you both and I did grab the tutorials, however I think I may have confused you.

What I meant was…when in Hex creating a model, you assign material zones, you can cut and flatten if necessary…all in Hex and you can use Hex to make your uv map.  Now when I download something, you have Geometry, Library and Texture folders.  Sometimes you have an extra file for the template.  Now if I only use Hex for the model. material zones and uv map, do I have to do anything else in order to bring this into Daz or whatever program and want to apply a texture either from an image or a shader? aka a template, which is what I normally use to make textures for anything.  If doing a statue, since it only uses one texture on the entire item, would it be necessary to do the extra steps of creating a uv map or template?

As for the bones, I read the one Tutorial on how to do so with clothes, I did not see anything that suggests you do the same thing for a prop, like a chair that has a back that pivots or arms that move up and down or shoes since they have to move with the foot of a model?, though I suppose shoes might be considered under the same context as clothes.  For instance, if I wanted to do a Halloween animation and I make a statue with a head that moves, would I not need to add bones to accomplish this and can that be done in Daz?

I hope I am clearer this time in what I wanted to know…sorry for the original mix up.

I understood what your asking.
I get you don’t want to waste time mapping and rigging etc etc if you don’t need to.
I don’t know about grouping ,material zones.
I don’t know for sure & hate giving bad advice.
I am trying to learn all this stuff my self.
All I know for sure is DAZ has this Doc for venders.

http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/publishing/start

If you want to sell stuff in the store.
It’s my understanding if you don’t follow there guidelines then your mesh will not be accepted.

It’s a fight to learn D/S 4.5 Pro.

In terms of UV mapping and creating a texture for a single, solid object, that’s entirely up to you.

If I know I’ll be using only procedural textures I can leave the model with no UV and a single material zone.

Sometimes I designate a few material zones and leave it at that.

...but sometimes even a simple solid object can need full uv mapping and textures.
for example, when I’m intending to add detail via bump or displacement maps.

A UV template is not needed for any program as far as I know. It’s only additional information for the users, so they can easily see how the object was uv mapped.
Any user that has a basic modelling program (or UV Mapper,...) can easily make the template themselves from the obj.
Personally I think it’s good practice to include a template for myself as for other people who might use the object… Specially since you just need to push the little camera button in the uv window of hexagon to create it. But it is not needed.

DAZ Studio can do rigging (which i think will work in Poser too afterwards, but I’m not sure with these newer versions lately).
Usually a “prop” is a model that has no moving parts, a “figure” is a model that does have moving parts.
Now if your model only contains rigid parts that move, then it is possible to create it using only props but i don’t use this technique and i think it can’t be done with only daz studio anyway.
If the model only contains rigid parts, it can easily be rigged as a figure in daz studio though (see tutorial)

...If I understand correctly this time

PS: I assume you mean “DAZ Studio” when you say “Daz”. DAZ (the company) also owns the program “Carrara” that can also rig figures.

I think I have all my questions answered, thank you all for responding and for the links.  I will be spending the day in Hex and Sculptris to create a model.  I have found creating the actual model is not difficult for me, it was the other steps about material zones, cutting, uvmaps, ect that I was having the hardest time understanding, think I finally get it.

Gimp ,Blender is free also.

Calie, I think this might help. When you UV Unwrap (map) something it embeds U & V coordinates in the obj file for a texture to be applied. The ‘template’ is a visual representation of that UV Mapping to the obj so that it can be used to alter/add etc textures after the fact. Once you unwrap something all you ‘need’ is the obj and the matching texture file. Be aware that path issues can break the connection between the obj and the texture file if they get moved to different paths after. How to handle this depends on the program you are using to unwrap, the program that it’s being imported into etc…

Gedd - 27 October 2012 04:49 PM

Be aware that path issues can break the connection between the obj and the texture file if they get moved to different paths after. How to handle this depends on the program you are using to unwrap, the program that it’s being imported into etc…

In simplest terms, the obj, mtl and texture files need to be in the same folder to make it mostly accessible by everything.  This prevents ‘path’ issues, because it’s all ‘local’.

A program like DS can import the obj with the textures, only if the path is ‘unbroken’.  Now, since DS has a specific ‘convention’ it follows for where the textures should be loading from, that ‘breaks’ that connection, if you didn’t start there.  So, what I do, manually reload the textures from the ‘final’ location I want them to be in (a subfolder in the texture folder…usually in this format /mjc/itembeingmade/itemtext.jpg/png/tif (whichever format you want to use)).  That way, when the item is saved, in DS/Poser the path information to where the textures are points to where they are supposed to be.

Thanks mjc, I ran out of breath (energy really ;p ) before I got to that part. Usually DS will complain if it doesn’t find the texture and you can just point it to the texture which will update the path in the file. Same goes for the obj if loading a poser or daz file and it doesn’t see the base obj. That’s why it is frustrating to me when artists use unintuitive naming conventions for their obj/texture folders and worse, use multiple since they can’t seem to remember how to spell their own (shortcut for their own) name sometimes. It makes it a royal pain to fix broken files.

Gedd - 27 October 2012 09:03 PM

Thanks mjc, I ran out of breath (energy really ;p ) before I got to that part. Usually DS will complain if it doesn’t find the texture and you can just point it to the texture which will update the path in the file. Same goes for the obj if loading a poser or daz file and it doesn’t see the base obj. That’s why it is frustrating to me when artists use unintuitive naming conventions for their obj/texture folders and worse, use multiple since they can’t seem to remember how to spell their own (shortcut for their own) name sometimes. It makes it a royal pain to fix broken files.

One of my absolute hates… ! name, !! name, !!! name and so on.

If I plan on using a texture/image on more than one item, I’ll place it in the textures/mjc folder.  If it’s going to be used on just one item it will most likely be textures/mjc/item_name/textname.(format extension), all in lowercase letters…yeah, hey, it’s not ‘artistic’...but any OS/99% of the apps in the world can find it.  And who really cares if my name is the top of the heap of thirty bazillion texture folders.]

Another tip…naming materials and their associated textures the same is a GOOD IDEA.  Naming a shirt collar material collar is pretty straightforward.  But naming the texture used by that material BN950XJ32.jpg is absolutely nuts, especially when the button texture is CR853.jpg…of course the sleeve in this example would be FT693 B54.jpg.  We aren’t trying to keep the secrets of McDonald’s ‘special sauce’ out of the hands of the North Koreans or anything…

Spaces in file names are a BAD IDEA.  Not every OS/version OS/file system or program can deal with them.  Just because the version you are currently using can, doesn’t mean the next update will.  The same thing for letter case.  If you must pick one, pick LOWERCASE letters and make sure it is used consistently.  Don’t in one place load Collar_txt.jpg and save the texture as collar_txt.JPG.  Some OS/file systems will most definitely throw a wobbly over that…and for me, running on one of the pickiest, that simple thing resulted in lots of ‘broken’ files. 

The naming ideas should be rules…not like ‘law of gravity’, more like ‘don’t run with scissors’, type rules.  With file names we aren’t looking for ‘artistic’, we want functionality on the widest range of systems/conditions…so that means stick to the most simple, straightforward, basic means of doing so as possible.  Save the ‘fancy’, artistic stuff for the actual content/texture files, not their names.