Thought I’d start a thread for those like myself out there who are using 3ds Max to render DAZ Content or using it in your production pipeline for game development, etc. Looks like the game developer forum has bit the dust, so I’m starting it here.
Hoping to provide a space for discussion on resources, tips, shortcuts, lessons learned in using the two software packages in conjunction. Also provide renders to show off your DAZ content work in Max.
Quick, gentle reminder that 3ds Max is available free to students (or if you have a student in the house and are planning to use it for non-commercial use only! We are all students of life.) http://students.autodesk.com/ - Be warned: the learning curve is steep, but luckily there are lots of resources for learning it. Books, etc., plus tons of amazing video tutorials at http://www.digitaltutors.com/ many ,free.
From experience I’ve learned it’s best to dial up your core morph on frame 1 and then set a keyframe. Then set a key on on frame 2 and dial up your adjustment morphs.
From my experience so far morphs created by GenX have unpredictable results when transferred to Max via FBX - the eyes especially seem to go all hinky so I’m still experimenting with how to maintain fidelity to the morph when transferring and would appreciate any tales from the trenches.
That’s it for me for now…. hope to see others contribute.
I’m new on Daz 4 and has some hours on max.
I prefer render on max also, but have not really test to export from DAZ to MAX.
Some test export (FBX) fail with cloth not well fit.
I would like to have a scene on MAX with a girl showing an object (done on CatiaV5 and exported to MAX), with dynamic cloth and hair.
I think to make cloth and hair in MAX and import the girl genesis from DAZ.
But I think it’s better to import also cloth and and then convert to dynamic ?
Could I do the same way for hair ? hum I don’t think so.
There will be some wind in the scene to move cloth and hair.
Could you give me some advices and tips for material convert (skin texture and especially eyes)
I’m new on Daz 4 and has some hours on max.
I prefer render on max also, but have not really test to export from DAZ to MAX.
Some test export (FBX) fail with cloth not well fit.
I would like to have a scene on MAX with a girl showing an object (done on CatiaV5 and exported to MAX), with dynamic cloth and hair.
I think to make cloth and hair in MAX and import the girl genesis from DAZ.
But I think it’s better to import also cloth and and then convert to dynamic ?
Could I do the same way for hair ? hum I don’t think so.
There will be some wind in the scene to move cloth and hair.
Could you give me some advices and tips for material convert (skin texture and especially eyes)
Thanks
The important thing to remember when exporting via FBX is to apply all morphs etc. before you add the clothing, otherwise the clothing will do weird things when exported.
There are lots of tutorials on dynamic cloth and hair on the Max Training and Help Site. The approach you take depends on your final goals. Hair in DAZ is actually a mesh so can’t be converted to dynamic hair in MAX as you figured out. If you are only interested in producing 2d images, you can edit the mesh in MAX (or create Morphs) to produce the wind effect which I’ve found easiest.
Regarding cloth, - MAX in 2013 now has two cloth engines. The old one can’t convert meshes. It relies on the garment modifer. The new one, MassFX, can, but again, it takes some time to learn it.
Here is an example of simply editing the mesh brought in from Daz. I simply edited the geometry for the scarf without using wind or dynamic cloth. While not all that ‘realistic’ it server the purpose for this render.
What version of Max are you using? I have a very old version (3DS Max 9 not 2009 just version 9) and I’m not sure my version will work with the current version of Daz Studio-would love if it did. Right now I’m using Poser for all my transfers. I like your work in Max though.
I’m using Max 2013 - Unfortunately the scripts won’t work for your version. I don’t think FBX was available then (don’t know) but you can still transfer geometry back and forth using .obj format. - hope that helps to start, and thanks for the kind words.
This image was made using 3ds Max, by my friend….....he purchased 3ds just 3 months ago and had never used it before then. I think he kinda has it nailed!
If your friend started completely from scratch, no previous 3d experience, it’s truly extraordiinary! Very nice render. There’s a tutorial at DigitalTutors that creates a very similar image: http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?pid=684 It’s. Level 6 (I’m still at level 2;).
I mentioned in my first post the learning curve is steep - but luckily there are really good resources out there to help learn it.
He has a degree from Coventry in car design, but all his work is produced using Alias….......I was the guy that made him purchase 3ds Max, and he absolutley loves it. He is also a brilliant free-hand artist
Now here is my question: How do you carry textures over from 3ds to Daz Studio 4.5…....is it possible?
The important thing to remember when exporting via FBX is to apply all morphs etc. before you add the clothing, otherwise the clothing will do weird things when exported.
There are lots of tutorials on dynamic cloth and hair on the Max Training and Help Site. The approach you take depends on your final goals. Hair in DAZ is actually a mesh so can’t be converted to dynamic hair in MAX as you figured out. If you are only interested in producing 2d images, you can edit the mesh in MAX (or create Morphs) to produce the wind effect which I’ve found easiest.
Regarding cloth, - MAX in 2013 now has two cloth engines. The old one can’t convert meshes. It relies on the garment modifer. The new one, MassFX, can, but again, it takes some time to learn it.
Hope that helps. Dynamic hair and cloth are a challenge in any software.
Thanks,
I think to do all my scene in DAZ with dynamic cloth, pose and animation and then transfer all to 3DS for camera placement and rendering. Dynamic hair will be done in 3ds.
Now i’m learning on dynamic cloth in DAZ.
Now here is my question: How do you carry textures over from 3ds to Daz Studio 4.5…....is it possible?
YES! There are lots of options for materials in 3ds Max. First choose your rendering engine. 3ds Max ships with the Mental Ray rendering engine (academy award winner in technical area!) - great place to start.
When objects from DAZ are imported into 3ds max, they come in as standard materials, which have very limited functionality - you need to convert them to a better material type.
The process is similar to using shaders in DAZ - if you have never done that, it might be good to start there.
Next step is to decide what kind of materials you want to convert. For metallic and car paint, etc., I don’t use any of Daz’s materials. I reassign them in 3ds Max. The mental ray materials are amazing when it comes to hard surfaces. (You’ll need to look up multi-sub object materials in Max.)
For cloth and other materials I convert Daz material to mental ray architectual materials - lots more option and setting. It’s a matter of remapping the diffuse, bump, specular, etc. Luckily I created two scripts that do this quickly. The script assumes the material you want to convert is in the first material slot.
So there are lots of options. Eventually I hope to throw together a tutorial, but don’t have time now, unfortunately.
Most importantly, you definitely want to convert skin to mental ray’s subsurface scattering material - extremely powerful. I’ve only scratched the surface, and am putting together a script for that.
So there is conversion, but worth the results you get.
I know this is real high-level - hope it helps to start with. There are so many ways you can go once you get into Max.
I’m using Max 2013 - Unfortunately the scripts won’t work for your version. I don’t think FBX was available then (don’t know) but you can still transfer geometry back and forth using .obj format. - hope that helps to start, and thanks for the kind words.
Thanks for the info Bohemian3, it was very helpful-I was thinking my version was too old. Man-I have to get 2013…someday.
I put together a quick and dirty cheat sheet for how I transfer DAZ human figures to MAX to take advantage of the Mental Ray subsurface scatter materials. The Stephanie render was used using these techniques (way too much bump I know!)
Two quick things:
1) I in no way shape or form pretend to be an expert at this – I’ve not found a lot of info for this so had to figure it out on my own. Any better ways, comments, etc. are genuinely appreciated.
2) This presumes you know the basic of Max, How to apply materials, and most importantly how the mult-materials work in Max.
I’m happy to see there are other people interested and enthused about bringing in DAZ content to MAX to take advantage of all that Max has to offer.
