Digital Art Zone

Hi there. 

I am in the process of packaging my second release for the Daz marketplace. I have looked all over the KB and these forums and can not seem to find a clear answer:

Is there a reason I should include OBJs as a part of my package?  My first product was released as a Daz scene file but I am concerned about not including anything in the Geometries folder because it feels like I am missing something important.  Does Daz Studio require OBJs for anything or is this for the ease of the end user?

Thanks for taking a moment with me.

~Blue

Hi Bluebird

You only need to include OBJ’s if your product includes geometries, i.e. anything that can be loaded into the scene (hair, clothes, props etc.).

If your product only contains materials, lights, cameras, morphs etc. then no OBJ’s are necessary.

I do suggest you get 1 or 2 people you trust to test your product for you (on a different PC than yours) to make sure thay have all the required files.

Thank you, cridgit!

My set is all props.  What I don’t quite get is why the OBJs are necessary when the Daz scene file loads everything anyway.  I think this might be why I was able to submit my first product without these files.  They are all saved as scene files instead.  When do the OBJs come into play?

~Blue

The OBJ contains the geometry of the props (vertices and UV’s). It could be that scene files (.DAZ and .PZ3) include geometry, making the OBJ obsolete. But the OBJ may be needed for people to load props individually if you have that option. I suggest you make sure it works for all combinations of platforms/tools/audience you want to support e.g. Win/Mac, DS/Poser, Scene/Props.

If you create the set with obj files and had some friends help you make matching Poser materials files you could increase your customer base. The Poser users could then buy and use your sets because they would be able to load the set. Poser can not load DS data files. I’m sure other PA’s could help you if you wanted more info on how to do that.

Hi Bluebird, if you already have a product in the store you should email Kevin at DAZ to get you access to the PA forum. You can then post queries there.

I have created my first model.

The model has the following sections, outer ring plint, light housing units, main inner ring, inner ring glyphs and chevrons 1-9.

chevrons 1-9 each, has a single morph “engaded” with a slider to move the chevron up and down.

Inner ring glyph z rotation has been changed to “rotate inner ring” value 0 - 360.

Currently I have the scene saved and can access it easily.

within the scene I have parented all the items to the outer ring plint.

I now need to set up the correct runtime so that others can easily load the model as per my current saved scene.

So:

How do i do this ?

I have the apartment, it would have been good if it was split into zones, so I could load up a specific section rather than everything or nothing.

Oh my gosh you guys are all so helpful!  Thank you so much.  <3

Jaderall - Ah ha!  Now that makes sense.  I see where I was confused - using the OBJs for Poser makes complete sense and I will be including these for sure simply for use there.  I don’t care for being forced to use a specific software simply because of a technical limitation that couldn’t be worked out somehow and I don’t want to place someone else in that position, either.

Eva1 - Good idea, I’ll do that today.

anikad - You might be talking about my loft.  Noted!  I’ll keep that in mind for this new product.  I should have this shipped off to Daz QA by the end of the week.  That kind of feedback is fantastic because I can use it to improve as I go.

Thanks again, everyone.  I genuinely appreciate it.

Preliminary PA File Submission - what to include for uberenvironment light

Good news! I’ve signed my Published Artist documents and received upload instructions from Paul but am not sure of what folder structures are needed. I’ve looked in the forum and knowledge base but have not found an answer.

For my product- I have been able to save shader and distant light presets but am not sure how to save uberenvironment so that the .tif file is included and accessed properly. The .tif file for UE2 is not directional so no sphere/geometry is needed.

Is this as simple as creating a MyLibrary folder with standard folder names? Or is it a Runtime folder?

Such as- the Textures folder contains the .tif for UE2 and the Shaders & Lights folders have the .duf and .pngs?

I thought I’d start here for an answer, thanks in advance for any ideas.

Update- I think I answered this- I moved all the files to another Mac and found that I just need to make sure the path to the .tif file is in my own designated folder within “Textures” folder when I save the UE2 preset.

marshian - 17 May 2013 02:47 PM

Preliminary PA File Submission - what to include for uberenvironment light

Good news! I’ve signed my Published Artist documents and received upload instructions from Paul but am not sure of what folder structures are needed. I’ve looked in the forum and knowledge base but have not found an answer.

For my product- I have been able to save shader and distant light presets but am not sure how to save uberenvironment so that the .tif file is included and accessed properly. The .tif file for UE2 is not directional so no sphere/geometry is needed.

Is this as simple as creating a MyLibrary folder with standard folder names? Or is it a Runtime folder?

Such as- the Textures folder contains the .tif for UE2 and the Shaders & Lights folders have the .duf and .pngs?

I thought I’d start here for an answer, thanks in advance for any ideas.

Update- I think I answered this- I moved all the files to another Mac and found that I just need to make sure the path to the .tif file is in my own designated folder within “Textures” folder when I save the UE2 preset.

You beat me to the punch, well done. Looking forward to seeing both of you in the store.

Okay, this is POSER info. It may or may not apply to DS. I’m only putting it in here because I can’t tell whether you’re targeting poser users or not.

A .CR2 (Character or figure) is supposed to be a rigged item like a person animal or clothing. A CR2 does not contain the mesh, but has a link to the .obj in the Geometries folder.

A .PP2 (prop) is supposed to be a simple object with texturing. The PP2 usually contains the mesh info so no link to geometry (and on obj) is needed. HOWEVER, you can create props that DO have links to the geometry. But if you were doing that, you’d know

A .HR2 is simply a prop with a different extension.

An “articulated prop” is really a CR2 and follows those rules.

If you look inside your prop and don’t see a link to a .obj and DO see a lot of vertex info, you don’t need the .obj’s. If someone wants the obj, they can recover it from the pp2.

Most products I’ve seen that are pure props have no Geometries folder at all.

As time has gone on Poser has gotten more flexible about file extensions, so any of these “rules” may be broken.