mcjTeleBlender:Daz Studio scenes/animations w/Blender's Cycles Engine

mCasual

lets re-acquaint ourselves with the lib_ trick

 

1 - in Daz Studio, we create a cylinder

2 - we run mcjTeleBlender and send this scene over to Blender

3 - we modify the cylinder material , so it looks real special,

a material we could not get from a simple material exported from daz studio,

and i named, the anisotropic shader node

4 - i rename this material "lib_ReallySpecial"

5 - i save this blender scene in my I:\z\ folder under the name lib_ReallySpecial.blend

6 - i render the cylinder, and save the image in my i:\z\ folder under the name lib_ReallySpecial​.jpg

7 - i close blender

8 - in Daz Studio, i apply the image i:\z\lib_ReallySpecial​.jpg to the diffuse color channel of the cylinder

9 - i make sure mcjTeleBlender's "Collect Maps" option is OFF

else the images would end up in a Maps folder instead of the i:\z folder,

and mcjBlendBot would not be able to know where to find  lib_ReallySpecial.blend

 

10 - i transfer the scene over to Blender 

and . . .

and ...

as expected it didnt work ... because ... Blender 2.76b changes ( i think )

so ! 

11 - close blender

12 - launch blender and our scene using  the batch file that was created in step 10 ... in my case test0841pm02152016​.bat

why? because this way we get access to Blender's "Console"

As Asphdubrov was saying, there are no Error messages from Blender, just normal warnings about the sound card and a log of what the obj importer did

 

the lib_  action should be happening in C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.76\scripts\modules\mcjMatsFromFilename.py ( blender python script )

 

my main suspects are hiding at line 81

            if( bLinked ):
                bpy.ops.wm.link( directory=matLib + "/Material/", files=matNamesList )
            else:
                bpy.ops.wm.append( directory=matLib + "/Material/", files=matNamesList )

at line 79 i insert

            print("we got one of them lib_ tricks materials " + matlib )

re-launching Blender .... yes ! we do get there, i mean, when importing the scene mcjBlendBot detects our lib_ image map ()

now in late 2015 we did make changes to the way the "use mat-lib" function was pulling materials from blend files

maybe we forgot to do the same thing about the "lib_ trick"

here is how the UseMatLib script does it

    if( bLinked ):
        bpy.ops.wm.link( directory=matLib + "/Material", files=matNamesList )
    else:
        bpy.ops.wm.append( directory=matLib + "/Material", files=matNamesList )

AH HA!

see the trailing slash character after the word "/Material" ?

no you dont

Solved !

so we had to change "/Material/" for "/Material" in mcjMatsFromFilename.py

else Blender is unable to locate our lib_ material in the blend file's sub-section named Material

=====================

i'll make sure i had/have the same version as everyone, fix the code and post the updated mcjBlendBot! 

========================

 

mCasual

mcjBlendBot UPDATE mcjBlendBot UPDATE mcjBlendBot UPDATE mcjBlendBot UPDATE 

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts4/mcjteleblender3

note you dont need to update the mcjTeleBlender script, just install the new version ( 14 ) of mcjBlendBlot

February 15th 2016 10PM

mcjBlendBot was updated to fix the lib_ ( material re-use ) trick

specifically, mcjNamedMatLib.py and mcjMatsFromFilename.py

had the path to the material subsection of blend files

changed from "/Material/" to "/Material"

Without this, Blender was unable to find the re-usable material

kimi.kimi.chi_fe07b9e9d3

Wonderful, thanks. :) I was looking around those sections, but know almost nothing about Python so I wasn't making progress. Your effort is really appreciated.

mCasual

kimi.kimi.chi_fe07b9e9d3 said:

Wonderful, thanks. :) I was looking around those sections, but know almost nothing about Python so I wasn't making progress. Your effort is really appreciated.

welcome ! it keeps mcjTeleBlender alive !

these days i use iRay a lot, but Blender-Cycles preview mode is more responsive, and Blender has all those other goodies to fix a scene

In 2016 i hope to find time to improve teleblender in relation to rigged figures and props

 

madsergio

OSX, Blender 2.76.11 with latest mcjBlendBot, DS 4.9.0.54

create scene in DS (simple sphere, for example), export with default mcjTeleBlender parameters, open it in Blender and...

strange error :(

 

 

mCasual

 windows 7 blender 2.76 here

when i look at the Blender-supplied file

C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.76\scripts\addons\io_scene_obj\

at line 826

i find the definition of the load() function

it goes something like def load(operator, context, filepath,....

the error message you got seems to indicate that the import_obj.py

that comes with your Blender-for-MAC is different

The error message was complaining about the load() function expecting 2 values but being given 3

in my version of import_obj.py, as you can see the load() function expects 3 values, (operator, context, filepath)

so when mcjBlendBot supplies 3 values, my  import_obj.py load() function is satisfied and doesnt complain

----

right now i'll see if there's a more recent version of Blender 2.76 than the one i got, install it and see if i can get the same problem

 

 

 

mad s said:

 

OSX, Blender 2.76.11 with latest mcjBlendBot, DS 4.9.0.54

create scene in DS (simple sphere, for example), export with default mcjTeleBlender parameters, open it in Blender and...

strange error :(

 

 

 

mCasual

well my Blender for Windows was already at the latest version from November 2015 i think

i downloaded the MAC version and unzipped it

if i look at line 826 of the blender-supplied script import_obj.py

i see exactly the same thing in the MAC version as in the Windows version

def load(operator, context, filepath,.....

------

note that if you really really used the default TeleBlender settings it's almost sure it cant work

you must minimally change the path to the .obj file that will be exported to a folder that exists

and that teleblender-daz can write to, and that Blender can read from

 

 

mad s said:

OSX, Blender 2.76.11 with latest mcjBlendBot, DS 4.9.0.54

create scene in DS (simple sphere, for example), export with default mcjTeleBlender parameters, open it in Blender and...

strange error :(

 

 

 

mCasual

another possibility is that you are using a non-standard or beta version of Blender with a custom .obj importer script (import_obj.py)

or that somehow Blender is told by, i dont know what, to use an import_obj.py which is not the one found in

2.76\scripts\addons\io_scene_obj

 

mad s said:

OSX, Blender 2.76.11 with latest mcjBlendBot, DS 4.9.0.54

create scene in DS (simple sphere, for example), export with default mcjTeleBlender parameters, open it in Blender and...

strange error :(

 

 

 

madsergio

Thanks for your reply. I found a temporary solution - downgrade Blender to a latest official buld, 2.76b. And all worked great again :)

ttnn

Remarkable!

So, what about Blender 2.77? 

Alt260

Hi,

I update to Blender 2.77, now mcjteleblender3 fail again, it open a empty scene in Blender.

All was working in Blender 2.76b

My OS is Windows 7 Pro 64 bits

Daz3d 4.9 64 bits

mcjTeleBlender3_v12

mcjBlenderBot_v14

Thank you,

mCasual

I'll look into it this evening

 

Alt260 said:

Hi,

I update to Blender 2.77, now mcjteleblender3 fail again, it open a empty scene in Blender.

All was working in Blender 2.76b

My OS is Windows 7 Pro 64 bits

Daz3d 4.9 64 bits

mcjTeleBlender3_v12

mcjBlenderBot_v14

Thank you,

 

mCasual

first test result

note: mcjTeleblender produces a .bat file in the same folder as the .obj

when you launch the scene this way, you get access to the Blender Console and its important error messages

 

contrary to last time, i get the error message that Mac 2.76b had 

wont take long to solve this

and i'll make sure not to break backward compatibility

( which mean i have to install 2.76 elsewhere )

mCasual

here's the issue, the .obj importer service, used by my BlenderBot, but not written by me, changed

def load(context,         filepath,         *,         global_clamp_size=0.0,         use_smooth_groups=True,         use_edges=True,         use_split_objects=True,         use_split_groups=True,         use_image_search=True,         use_groups_as_vgroups=False,         relpath=None,         global_matrix=None         ):

i'm not too experienced in python, so i never saw a * , which must mean "anything", and is possibly now ignored

under this i see the note

    """    Called by the user interface or another script.    load_obj(path) - should give acceptable results.    This function passes the file and sends the data off        to be split into objects and then converted into mesh objects    """

my script used to call this function like this

io_scene_obj.import_obj.load(bpy.ops,bpy.context,objFile,global_matrix=gm,use_image_search=False)

because the importer service was like ... lemme see 

WHAT!!! Blender refuses to reinstall 2.76b just because i have 2.77!? not nice

but i have a 2.71

so ... the old loader was like

def load(operator, context, filepath,         global_clamp_size=0.0,         use_ngons=True,         use_smooth_groups=True,         use_edges=True,         use_split_objects=True,         use_split_groups=True,         use_image_search=True,         use_groups_as_vgroups=False,         relpath=None,         global_matrix=None,         ):

so, if i dont want to do this using the blender version number

my script needs to ~interrogate~ python to get the signature of the load() function

 

 

mCasual

https://docs.python.org/3.5/library/inspect.html#inspect.getargspec

that must be it

inspect.getargspec(func)

Get the names and default values of a Python function’s arguments. A named tuple ArgSpec(args, 
varargs, keywords, defaults) is returned. args is a list of the argument names. varargs and 
keywords are the names of the * and ** arguments or None. defaults is a tuple of default 
argument values or None if there are no default arguments; if this tuple has n elements,
 they correspond to the last n elements listed in args.

Deprecated since version 3.0: Use signature() and Signature Object, which provide a
 better introspecting API for callables.

i wont use the v3 functions, for fear of losing backward compat

 

mCasual

this is the way we'll load the .obj when version 2.77 is detected

dont worry i wont make you program it !

if we're lucky it works with older versions

 

mCasual

there ya go

import bpy
import inspect
import io_scene_obj.import_obj

res = inspect.getargspec( io_scene_obj.import_obj.load )
if( res.args[0] == 'operator' ):
    print( "we'll do it the old school way" )
else:
    print( "we'll do it the new school way" )

oops getargspecworks with 2.71 but not 2.77

i have to use getfullargspec() 

mCasual

well i solved the Blender 2.77 incompatibility

( i didnt upload it yet ! )

but, blender  had trouble finding the my textures

i used the "Collect maps" option

this didnt work well either

so i opened the scene's .mtl file and changed all the

entries like

map_Kd /Maps/mitsuhairbrown.jpg

to

map_Kd Maps/mitsuhairbrown.jpg

and this works

so......

i'll address those issues before uploading the fix for Blender 2.77 

maybe i'm simply using a too old version of mcjTeleblender3

 

next hour it should be ready !

that's my manually fixed render in Blender 2.77 BTW

 

mCasual

there that should help

this way, if you use the "Collect Maps" option, and the brand new "No Leading / in .mtl File"

then the .mtl file, which by the way is created by Daz Studio's exporter, will be stripped of the leading / characters

and recent versions of blender will be happy and able to find your collected textures

----------

the new mcjBlendBot and the new mcjTeleBlender 3 will be released in the next 30 minutes

mCasual

actually i'll see if i can fix the issue when you dont use "Collect Maps"

looking in the .mtl file

i had the "no  quotation marks" option enabled

map_Kd C:/Users/*******/Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio/My Daz Connect Library/data/cloud/1_4394/runtime/textures/daz/hair/mitsuhairbrown.jpg

 

awh look at what the daz connect thing did, it captured my mitsuhair textures in its matrix

and Blender couldnt access it

lets try  this time with quotation marks

still not working

but see? front Slashes ... this probably is OK for MACs and Linux but in Windows it can cause problems

and AH HA!!!! the "No Quotation marks" option was Off and ... no quotation marks in the .mtl file !!!

we're close Doctor Watson, the game's afoot

 

i get it now

Daz Studio 4.9 and maybe other versions does NOT add quotation marks to the Absolute Paths to texture images in the .mtl file

so, Not Removing quotation marks doesnt mean there will be quotation marks !!!

 

30 minutes

mnope actually it seems to be a problem with the length of paths

....

will we make it before midnight? it's 11:30

...

awwwh, the blender importer seems to refuse textures in folders with paths containing spaces !!! that's so sad !

and since it apparently refuses quotation marks that could solve this ... 

short of modifying Blender's obj/mtl importer, all i can do is warn users about this

so we'll be stuck mostly with the "Collect Maps" option

 

 

 

mCasual

i think the Blender programmers, modified the .obj loader for the needs of 3ds max users

here's a line from the current importer

if b'_' in imagepath:
        image = load_image(imagepath.replace(b'_', b' '), DIR, recursive=recursive, relpath=relpath)

so, since the quotation marks are prohibited in the .mtl file

if i replace all the space characters in file paths with underscores, Blender's new importer will be happy

But older Blenders probably wont !

i'll see in Blender 2.71 ... ok the underscore trick is there ... in 2.62 too ! yay !

but i'll make it optional, since i think some people use mcjTeleBlender to export to Octane or others

....

the underscore works well but, yes there's a but, if the real path to the texture does contain underscores

then Blender will go "oh that must be a 3dsmax .mtl file, all the underscores must be replaced by spaces .... and that will fail

Unfortunatelym the Daz Connect contraption does create and use folder names with underscores,

so ... you'll have to use the "Collect Maps" feature of mcjTeleBlender

or only use texture files with nice normal paths and filenames

mCasual

IMPORTANT UPDATE IMPORTANT UPDATE 

March 24th 2016 1:24AM

mcjTeleBlender was updated - version 3.13

there's two new checkboxes in the Auxiliary Tab

- "No spaces in .mtl paths" will replace all the spaces in your texture image paths with underscores

with the current 2.77 version of blender this seems to be the only way to deal with paths containing spaces

But you can also use mcjTeleBlender's "Collect Maps" options and save yourself a lot of trouble

- "No leading slashes in .mtl paths" : When you use the "Collect Maps" option, your texture images are placed in a Maps folder

using this option, the paths to those images are declared as being in the Maps folder instead of the /Maps folder

that's enough to please Blender, else Blender wont find them and your actors will be purple

 

mcjBlendBot was updated - version 3.15

There was a substantial change in the Blender 2.77 addon used by mcjBlendBot to load .obj/.mtl scene files

The new mcjBlendBot will detect your version of the io_scene_obj.import_obj.load() function and act appropriately.

---

With current versions of Blender and Daz Studio 4.9

i suggest you use the following mcjTeleBlender settings

"Collect maps" ON - This works best because paths and filename dont get processed 

"Fix .mtl file for Blender" ON 

"No quotes in .mtl paths" ON ( needed for recent versions of blender since about 2.74 )

"No spaces in .mtl paths" ON when "Collect Maps" is OFF. Preferably OFF when "Collect Maps" is ON

"No leading / in .mtl Paths" ON ( this one is crucial for the "Collect Maps" option )

 

 

---

nicstt

Cool, for some reason it's the first time I've got this to work.

With a caveat, the eyes have no textures on them, everything else does. I checked you suggestions in the post above; well, all were checked but for Collect Maps; checking the maps folder, the eye textures are in the export folder. And they seem to be applied correctly. Rendering grey.

mCasual

hi there glad to see it mostly still works 

here you see Aiko3 and Genesis Victoria 7

Note that mcjTeleBlender prefers DS Default materials instead of the more complex Shaders found on newer generations like Genesis

I'll do some more tests with Victoria 4 Genesis 1, 2, with and without "TB2 Legacy mode"

---

 

nicstt said:

Cool, for some reason it's the first time I've got this to work.

With a caveat, the eyes have no textures on them, everything else does. I checked you suggestions in the post above; well, all were checked but for Collect Maps; checking the maps folder, the eye textures are in the export folder. And they seem to be applied correctly. Rendering grey.

 

ttnn

mCasual said:

... UPDATE ...

March 24th 2016 1:24AM

Oh, Jacques: you absolutely deserve our support!

Astounding. 

mCasual

this time with "TB2 Legacy mode" OFF

Aiko3 and Genesis Victoria7

 

 

---

wedGlossfactor         0.025
wedGlossRough          0.3
bUseSingleMtl          false
bFixMtl                true
bCollect               true
bGlossMix              false
bLegacy                false
bNoQuotesInMtl        true
bNoLeadingSlash        true
bNoSpacesInMtl         true

nicstt said:

Cool, for some reason it's the first time I've got this to work.

With a caveat, the eyes have no textures on them, everything else does. I checked you suggestions in the post above; well, all were checked but for Collect Maps; checking the maps folder, the eye textures are in the export folder. And they seem to be applied correctly. Rendering grey.

 

nicstt

mCasual said:

this time with "TB2 Legacy mode" OFF

Aiko3 and Genesis Victoria7

 

 

---

wedGlossfactor         0.025
wedGlossRough          0.3
bUseSingleMtl          false
bFixMtl                true
bCollect               true
bGlossMix              false
bLegacy                false
bNoQuotesInMtl        true
bNoLeadingSlash        true
bNoSpacesInMtl         true

 

nicstt said:

Cool, for some reason it's the first time I've got this to work.

With a caveat, the eyes have no textures on them, everything else does. I checked you suggestions in the post above; well, all were checked but for Collect Maps; checking the maps folder, the eye textures are in the export folder. And they seem to be applied correctly. Rendering grey.

 

Thanks for looking, but with TB2 Legacy mode checked and unchecked, the eyes still render grey.

mCasual

this time with "TB2 Legacy mode" OFF

Aiko3 and Genesis ( 1 or 2 ?) Aiko5-

now what's up with Gen's lips? ... 

 

nicstt

mCasual said:

this time with "TB2 Legacy mode" OFF

Aiko3 and Genesis ( 1 or 2 ?) Aiko5-

now what's up with Gen's lips? ... 

 

 

Err... Pass.

The lips rendered well; just redoing it, and I've added an HDRI to blender, so will be lighter.

Not done any rendering in Blender since the car in my profile, I don't think, so it has been a while. :) Ha just noticed I can add one via your script.

EDIT:

Add image.

Incidentally, any idea on why the hair renders like it does in places?

mCasual

that's Victoria4

maybe you could go in Daz Studio's surfaces tab, and for the eye materials, 

if the glossiness setting is at 100%, turn it down to 70%

the specular color should also be brought down to gray if it's full-white

you can also turn doen specular strength a bit

if one of the eye surfaces uses an opacity map, try replacing it by a simple opacity strength setting

or you could try to apply an all-black image as the opacity map for surfaces which need to be transparent

if one of the eye surfaces uses files of type .tif or even .png, this may be a source of problems, .jpg maps have more chances of surviving export

earlier i applied an image from my collected /maps/ folder on aiko's hair, and when i exported the scene a second time with the "collect Maps" option ON, it apparently destroyed the .jpg

though this may be related to Daz Studio's connect ... thing

-------

about the hair, maybe maybe , your Blender Cycles settings have a transparency rendering setting that is too low,

maybe also the surface has too much glossiness, not enough roughness

--------

nicstt said:

mCasual said:

 

Thanks for looking, but with TB2 Legacy mode checked and unchecked, the eyes still render grey.