Genesis 3 to Unreal 4 now super easy.
frankiev888_28b3c399af
Posts: 51
Games developement wise I did a Youtube overview of how as an independent games development team we are making use of Daz Studio and Genesis 3 as part of our development pipeline that some might find of intrest.
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Super easy.......lol and pigs can fly, post a step by step tutorial then I might believe you
I have never found getting DAZ content into Unreal easy either, not hard just a lot of reapplying maps and shaders and a hellava lot of fiddling around to get animations working.
Agree with the last two comments. And I'm trying to write a better system for importing morphs separately in UE4. Seems like you have to add them all at once to the same FBX file. Haven't fonud a way around it.
Sure here you go
Did it from scratch so if you don't want to wait for the import feel free to fast forward.
Importing single morphs seems more like it should be an engine side feature but there are ways to work around it if one needs a unique snowflake
where do you get the animations to make her walk, could you use the Third person template animations or what?
In this case I exported the walk animation from Daz Studio and yes you could retarget the Third person template animations
Hey frankie. Interesting stuff. In UE4 you are selecting a G3-BasePlayer_Skeleton. Where does that come from? Also any link to the game you guys are working on?
I would like to know this as well, where you get the skeleton
In this case export the Genesis3Female and import it into UE4. The first time leave Skeleton selection set to none and Unreal 4 will import the model and separate the model into two separate elements. One will be just the mesh and the other will be the skeleton. The next instance you import set the selection to the name of the first skeleton instance you imported and the mesh will use that skeleton and all assets assigned to it.
If you want to add a component like hair or the male G3 model change the root to Genesis3Female and most times it will use the same skeleton as well. After that all things connected to the selected skeleton will work like physics and animations.
This is the site of the game we are porting.
http://www.urbanterror.info/home/
Our official YouTube Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC547Klqrd3y4AUij2Au4LTw
So the G3 skeleton is actually compatible with UE4? Cool thanks for the info.
I dont see any kind of walk animation in daz studio, where and how do I export it?
Not exactly. You can use your own skeleton is what that previous comment is saying. So you can import the G3F skeleton and use that. You could also try retargeting the default UE4 skeletal animations to G3F, but I don't find it works well at all. I've also found that anything related to facial expressions doesn't translate well. G3F has a massive amount of bones in the facial area. UE4 default skeleton does not. The tools to adjust skeletal animations in UE4 are quite nice though. So in other words, if you use your own skeleton and make your own animations, you're fine. But you can't use any of the animations used for the default UE4 skeleton without a lot of tedious work.
Just to make sure I follow. You can use the G3 skeleton, but it won't be compatible with any animations that were made for the default UE4 skeleton? That would certainly make sense.
So while we talk about games, I don't understand the idea behind game developer licenses for Daz content. Not only do you have to buy the content itself, you also have to buy pretty expensive gamedev licenses. Not only that, but you need to buy a license from every PA whose content you wanna use. This is way too much, especially for indies. Having been involved in indie games I can say we didn't consider Daz even for a second. I find it very strange that they chose to do it that way when both UE4 and Unity have their own market places with content that not only was made specifically for the respective engines, it also doesn't cost anything beyond just the base price of admission. How do you even compete against that when your own content is both not specifically made for games, and then on top you ask ludicrious amounts of money for it? Does it have to do with their Morph3D initiative (that I have also never seen anyone use) so as to not create competition with their own product?
Not to derail the thread but you (frankie) apparently bought such licenses and I'm interested to hear why your team chose to spend that kind of money.
I would like to know this as well
The Game Developer Licenses, as a type of product, are a fair bit older than Morph3D. The basic license covers 2D use, 3D use requires the additional Game Developer License - per PA if the items are not Daz originals (if Daz 3D is listed as a vendor then you need on;y the Daz license).
Yeah sure, I'd be interested in the reason behind it though. Does it make sense commercially for Daz to try and make money with a few gamedev licenses as opposed to selling more content to the ever growing indie game market? From my experience at least, Daz content is currently all but irrelevant in the game industry, and one big reason for that is people aren't willing to buy content and then pay for additional gamedev licenses on top, especially not indies (I'd argue AAA devs aren't interested because they have their own armada of artists and very strict art direction). Again, content is readily available in the engine-specific markets, ready to go and not invovling hundreds or potentially thousands of dollars in extra gamedev licenses.
I'll try to explain why as a Indy group why we committed to add Daz Studio as a preferred application to our development pipeline and in part how “ our” purchase of the $350 dollar license extension solved a lot of problems was an inexpensive solution as compared to the amount of work involved putting together a single channel solution we all could work with.
The first problem to solve was getting our content creators, more so our character model developers, working in a productive manner where they have a destination and a process to hang their work off of in an efficient manner working with the tools and applications they were use to using everyday. The main reason to buy a license was to have access to the Genesis 3 frame work which after extensive testing was compatible with our current pipeline as to what is involved “between” Daz Studio and Unreal 4 and the fact that G3 can now go from App A to App B is an add bonuses as to problems that were solved over time by improvements made to DS and UE4.
Daz Studio is free and Genesis 3 is free to start and to have access to something even close as an out of pocket expense with an off the shelf solution we were looking at a per seat purchase of about $400 dollars per seat of an application choice before even considering the the hidden costs of additional usable asset purchases. What we needed and available to us via licensing extension is seat additions can be added of the shelf as to the same ability anyone could download the package from a single source, in this case Daz3d, and do their work as to the need of requirement 1.
Daz Studio along with the Genesis 3 product by extension is flexible as to the need of asset development in general of conforming to the design intent rather than conforming to a single direction solution which in most cases on has to settle for the final result in favor of ease of use as compared to the much more complex and complicated need for results based on design choices. The GoZ bridge for example means that our artists who use Zbrush can make their assets that fit the G3 framework and in the process make use of key features like auto fix and share the result with other characters as to similar design requirements.
In Indy development Time is the most expensive resource and cost and considering the cost of our need for a low price licensing option $350 dollars is cheap as compared to the amortized cost of a solution to a complex problem derived via sweat equity.
More important is DS and G3 both solves the problems and issues relating to design of intent today rather than being the promise of other off the shelf solutions tomorrow as to the needs and demands of ease of use.
Sorry about the length but the simpler answer is “we” use DS>G3 because it works as to our needs “now”. ;)
How do you get the character to walk in UE4, I imported Victoria 7 just fine and when I assign her to the Third Person Character she just floats accross the level so I still dont get where your getting the easy part from, if it was easy she would be walking not floating lmao
I see, interesting. So you're not using any actual Daz content outside of the base figures and your artists create clothes and accessories manually with Daz Studio as sort of a character glue app? No content by PA's is ever used (would need additional licenses)?
The animation “has” to match the naming convention of the Genesis 3 rig so if you animate the character first in Daz Studio you can then export the animation along with the package. As to our use we import the base G3 rig into MotionBuilder and retarget all of our animation set to match up with the G3 frame work but if you want to make use of the provided animation you first have to retarget the animations made for the Epic base character to the G3 rig.
One of thous things thats only hard until it becomes easy but a good starting point is to start the process using poses and expression sets.
That's right as a starting point of getting everyone working on the same page. Our asset creators and coders have their own skill sets they like to work with but do need a safe process as to a destination for their work so it does not get lost in the mix.
More or less they build things along the same line as to products you would buy directly from Daz3d that fits with all things Genesis 3 but for our custom requirements that best fits a use for a video game.
Once in game the art asset can be managed as a single solution as to things such as optimization, custom material work, with out having to deal with each element as a unique snowflake.
What we get in return is the benefit of a character design framework that exceeds our requirements as far as a run and gun video game goes that is just there as part of the G3 “product”
for example we don't need player models that can sing and dance
But
We can as it's built into the framework by default.
I bought the game developer license and am working on a game. DAZ Originals has TONS of content. There are plenty content from PA's that are also DAZ Originals and you can use those under the game developer license. I could make my entire game out of only DAZ content if I wanted and pay nothing extra for anything else if I wanted. Also, I got the game license for really cheap. It was on a really big discount when I bought it.
As mentioned, the figures have different skeletons. So the animations aren't compatible. You can retarget the animations from the default UE4 figure that is used in the "Third Person Character", but I already said that doesn't work so well. What I do instead is use the G3F character in Mixamo, download the animations I want and then use that in UE4. I also have DAZ animations and also animations that I create in Lightwave Layout that I can use. There are ways to capture and make your own animations with Kinect or other such sensors. They need cleaning up, but it's no problem doing that in Lightwave or even in UE4 directly.
Your point is valid though. It is definitely NOT easy. Far from it.
I know this was directed at someone else. Not sure on their decision on this. But for me, being able to use all the clothes and figures in the store that have the little blue DAZ icon on it is really nice with the game developer license. These include a vast array of figures, clothing, shoes, armour, swords, props, etc. Many are done by PA's also, but they have "DAZ Originals" also as the Artist, so it is covered by the game developer license. It's a great bargain IMO. And if you see something you really like from other PA's, many of them offer licenses too. In this case, it's a rather high price, but if there are several items from that PA you want to use, it can be worth it. And some of those PA produce really high quality items that are quite elaborate. Not to mention tools, morphs, etc. that are really worth the price.
Well the use of Daz3d products directly with in a video game has never been an issue of unacceptable products on Daz3D part but rather due to the hard coded limitations represented as a requirement on the part of the game engine as a destination.
As a random occurrence Daz3D products, characters, would show up from time to time in various “game” engines that also included the problems and work arounds to shoe horn as much of the original fidelity of the original asset as designed.
I've always been a fan of Daz Studio since version one and placing their studio grade assets into a 3d game engine space has always been an interesting idea but whats the point if the engine limited parsing of the data to 64k models and power of 2 textures, more so forget about 2k+, along with some ability to maintain material connections.
Unreal 4 on the other hand adds “zero” hard coded limitations and one could go 1 million in mesh resolution with an 8k texture if you wish and at the very lest maintain material connections to rebuild materials.
Regardless of how we are using their products is nothing more than a point of interest that adds on to the ongoing dialogue that in fact Daz3D products are usable with in “that” 3d space based on a need to figure out things via discovery so it's not really what is being done to day that is of importance but what will be available a year from now.
To me this is the conversation I'm most interested in as up to now it's been a case of “it is what it is” and no one was even talking about possible, low cost, solutions that there was no point in discussing due to the demands of the “game” engine requirements.
What I should have said was it will become easier but check back a year from now as “ it is what it is” always improves. :D
edit:
removed more detailed comment about the challenges of using multiple personal licenses in team projects vs not available studio licenses that can be used by all employees of a company
Reason: in the example desicribed in this thread only free Genesis 3 content is used.
So what do you guys do with the UDIM textures by the way?
Are
animate2
keymate
Graphmate
Worth the investment?
Also have any of you used the Decimator
Hi for character animation
within Daz studio in general,
All of the Plugins you mentioned are a worthwhile investment
.
There is however one caveat in the context of using a strictly Daz Genesis3 based workflow
As already mentioned ,after a fashion,
Any Character motions created for non G3 Daz Figures Including
The"Millenium4" Figures & Genesis versions 1 & 2 cannot be directly used on Genesis 3 Due to Radicially different rigging.
There are two really useful Daz studio Solutions for retargeting Such motions to G3.
one a commercial script by vendor "Draagonstorm"
and an excellent freebie by a user named "ZAZ777"
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/109961/pose-and-animation-conversion-for-multiple-generations-of-daz-figures
Both require that you apply your motions to the donor figure initially
(Mike ,Vicky,G1,G2 etc).
You must then load G3 and run the script to transfer the motion frame by frame automaticly.
The only difference with UDIM is that the UV coordinates are outside of the usual 0 to 1 range. You can export the figure and set the option to collapse the UV textures so that they use the 0 to 1 range. Once you do this, the textures work as they have in pre-G3 figures and in traditional workflows.
Just noticed this thread and want to add my 2 cents:
When using DAZ content in 3D game you MUST be extremely cautious about licensing, because available gamedev licenses don't cover everything, only selected content from DAZ itself (marked DAZ Original) and some PAs. So you have to double check that all you're using is really covered. For example it's extremely easy to dial some morph or facial expression (as they all are integrated together) which is not DAZ Original.
I can notice that right in the video above - they used the SKAMotion's walk animation from http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-3-female-s-victoria-7-high-heel-walk-aniblock, which is NOT even possible to license for game usage. (But it's OK to make youtube video with it :) )
I have indie gamedev license myself and finally came to solution of having distinct runtime only with DAZ Originals in it.
Thank you very much for these great vids, I really appreciate them and your work. Can you please help me work out the hair and eyes for the Genesis3 models in unreal. I have been breaking my head to find a method that gets the results you are getting and it has not been easy. Thank you in advance for any support you can give me.