Converting Poser content into D|S native format - need help

SpottedKitty

I've started one of my occasional binges of converting old Poser content (only clothes, props, scenery so far — no non-Genesis people/critters yet, that can wait until I'm better at this) and I'm hitting a few learning cliffs. Pointers to existing tutorials would be very much appreciated.

Some single Poser items are made of lotsandlotsandlots of separate props and/or figures. Is a Save As Scene Asset the only alternative to saving each individual part as a Prop Asset then combining them in a Scene Subset?

Converting figures to Weight Mapped seems to break some ERC chains while leaving others a bit scrambled but usually still working. I've discovered if I save a Scene Asset but don't first convert to Weight Mapped, the ERC responds to the control dials properly. When I do this, has everything saved into the /data/ folder properly? Is there some alternative save method?

Converting to Weight Mapped also seems to break geometry switching. Same questions as above.

More gotchas will probably follow as I smack nose-first into other "learning experiences". Ideas, anyone?

Richard Haseltine

SpottedKitty said:

I've started one of my occasional binges of converting old Poser content (only clothes, props, scenery so far — no non-Genesis people/critters yet, that can wait until I'm better at this) and I'm hitting a few learning cliffs. Pointers to existing tutorials would be very much appreciated.

Some single Poser items are made of lotsandlotsandlots of separate props and/or figures. Is a Save As Scene Asset the only alternative to saving each individual part as a Prop Asset then combining them in a Scene Subset?

Yes, as far as I know.

SpottedKitty said:

Converting figures to Weight Mapped seems to break some ERC chains while leaving others a bit scrambled but usually still working. I've discovered if I save a Scene Asset but don't first convert to Weight Mapped, the ERC responds to the control dials properly. When I do this, has everything saved into the /data/ folder properly? Is there some alternative save method?

Not sure.

SpottedKitty said:

Converting to Weight Mapped also seems to break geometry switching. Same questions as above.

Yes, geometry switching has had issues in DS 4 - at one stage it wasn't working at all.

SpottedKitty said:

More gotchas will probably follow as I smack nose-first into other "learning experiences". Ideas, anyone?

 

Bejaymac

"SIGH"

Converting Poser content to DSON formats.

PP2 and HR2 are fine to convert, Figure/Prop Asset will do the job properly, for an item made up of lots of PP2 then use the Scene Asset, this will save out each prop as well as give you a scene subset DUF file to load it all back in again, anything with rigging in it will fail.

Converting anything that uses Poser rigging however is a completely different story, and I'm not talking fairytale either more like full blown horror nightmare.
There are a few reasons for this, one is the differences between a Poser figure and a Studio figure, Poser is collection of props bolted to the bones each with it's own set of morph deltas, Studio is a container that holds a seperate skeleton and mesh, the mesh has all the morph deltas while the WM connects the mesh to the skeleton (a bit like the strings on a puppet). Oh BTW I explained that in simple terms so most can grasp the idea, it's actually a lot more complex than that.
Another reason is that Studio can't use Poser figures, the import plugin we use has to convert the Poser figures into very poor quality Studio figures, with a whole heap of issues, yet as the end user you have no idea about any of that. Why? because there is also a lot of special code in Studio that works with the imported figure, it's there to make the figure appear to you as if it's still a Poser figure, saving this as a subset means all that special code is retained.

Using the "Convert to WM" feature is where the nightmare begins, all that special code I mentioned gets removed from the figure. Which leaves you with a very poor quality General WM rigging, hit/miss JCMs (especially the magnets Vicky 4 uses), hit/miss ERC, and a million and one morph asset files that are only fit for the trash can.
Basically you are looking at a total rebuild if you want it to work even a fraction as good as Genesis 1, and that should take you a good few months just on the figure.

Now you see why I say nightmare, I've done it, back with 4.0 I started to convert Aiko3, stopped early 4.6 as I had learned how the system worked, that and I realised I still had a mountain to climb with all her content.

Best thing to do with Poser rigged content is scene subset the base figures (INJect the morphs so the only empty channels are the Legacy channels before you save), and save the conformers as wearables, as sadly the DSON formats are just as user unfriendly to Poser content as the old .DAZ scene files were.

SpottedKitty

I suspected that; thanks for the breakdown. OK, I'll muddle through with the stuff I was working on and see how far I can go before I get stuck again.

nsl696_6065580ac1

What I do in Poser (Daz certainly will do something similar and/or have it's equivalent):

I group props into a simple character (I use a simple small no-frills box, that is a character). That way you can save and load all props in one go.

Then in the hierarchy editor (sure Daz has an equivalent) I just drag the props I need to the right place in the main figure so that they are correctly parented. Some moving around can be involved to get your x,y,z correct.

Or you can pick out the props you like best from various groupers you made and combine them into a new grouper. Just use the hierarchy editor to reparent the props quickly to their new grouper via drag n drop. You can set their x,y,z to zero, with a little x offset to make a nice line up of the props you've collected.