FBX morph export rules

VIArts

Ooookay, i'm clueless.,.

 

made a character with tons  of morphs. Now i need to fbx export it.

 

How mashed chocolate cake do i make/set rules?

FSMCDesigns

What app are you exporting to? different apps read the FBX format different

VIArts

Exporting to iClone. 

 

All Ll I know is “head.” and set it to export or bake? That’s just for the head though, I think. What about the rest of the body?

Doc Acme

Like much of DS, there's little to zero useful written documentation on this topic. That being said, it can be decyphered. Eventually. There'll be some needed experimentation depending what you import into.

First off, you can export a Posed character, but you'll have much more functionality if you use the Zero pose.  I also select and Memorize the figure FIRST; pose and shape and set Mesh Rez on all to Base.  Again, no documentation so don't know if I need to do all, but is quick & works.

For characters, I actually make two or three exportings. One, for what I call the expressivs; facial hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, beards, etc. The 2nd for wardrobe, head hair, attatchents such as eyeglasses, rings, ...

Be aware that some items such as complex har (Ponytails and such) add bones to the base heirarchy.

Beyond that, it's mostly setting the rules syntax so you get what you want w/o an excess number you don't want. Morphs are what increase the file size. DS doesn't have a means to to selective specify what morphs specifically for what item get exported, when you have multiple items, other than multiple exports and a different list.  Hair can bloat up to over triple its size if you don't, putting it over 2Gb and making it an invalid, unopenable object.

Be very attentative to the syntax. Check your list for every item that you got what you wanted and minimum if any unwanted.  A "," instead of a ".", typos (in the product itself), that sort of thing.

Put your Ignores at the top of the list, below the Exports.  Lastly, the CSV list you can export is a simple text file.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, that should get you going.

(Don't ya just love th 404 interruptions as your about to post?)

VIArts

Okay Doc, but I haven’t got a stinker what rules to add (I don’t see a list of names) or if I’m supposed to somehow write code to make rules. 

Doc Acme

Well, let's see if I can get this in before the frum 404's again

Ah. OK, starting further back...

No Code.  Just decyphering cryptic naming like pCTRL, or SCL, or FBM (figured that one out) or PHM (still haven't a clue), but fortunately you can for the most part ignore all of that.

You've the Main FBX Options panel that comes up, and then there's the Morph Export Rules List.

KISS for now 'till you get something working.  With FBX, you can't hide a layer to not export it, even with the check box marked. It corrupts the file, or at least for the Lightwave importer.  Each package has its own importer which is why it was asked what your importing into.

Your figure has geometry, bones, morphs, textures, etc.  Exporting as an FBX out of Daz, you've the choice of Bake, Export, or Ignore. But those get applied to ALL items of the figure your exporting. Somethings are semi-obvious to include or ignore.  Many are not.

For example:

".eCTRLv","Ignore"
".eCTRL","Ignore"
" Hand Pose","Ignore"
".Temple","Export"
"ExpandAll","Export"
".Adj","Export"
".Adjust","Export"
".Lift","Export"
".Bigger","Export"

... in this snippet, I'm NOT including expression morphs or Phonemes (those are the cryptic named .eCTRL and .eCTRLv, I can only guess they are for "expression Control" and "expression Control vowels"  (although they're really for phonemes...) I do separate exports as I mentioned.

But those are for the very basic expressions and will want to inluded those.  Look in your characters Pose Controls and that will tell you what is available in DS. Your not going to want to include all of them.  Some definitely look better for some characters.

"_i3D","Ignore"
".eCTRL","Export"
".eCTRLv","Export"
".Wise","Ignore"
".Druth","Export"
".Z ","Ignore"

 

VIArts

I think I'm starting to understand...

 

i' just trying to import my used morphs into iClone character creator 3.

 

how did you choose names for those rules? it looks like everything starts with a "." followed by a PAs name or function...well, except i3D, which has an underscore.

 

only rules i have are;

head. = bake

.CTRLVS = bake

Final Anything = bake

 

head. is the only one i added so far and i don't known if its doing anything

Doc Acme

Ok. See in the 1st attachment the section of morphs that will export, then in the Rules I've a .Z for Export.  Not just a Z, or a z, but a .Z.  Syntax is vital; even spaces.

Separation of elements with . is standard, or at least common syntax. So by using ".Z ","Export", I've told the exporter that any morph that has that pattern, gets exported.

So, Z Feiry Temper (Z FT) or Z Rebel Spirit (Z RS)

The exporter uses a limited RegEx.  The actual name of the morphs is Genesis8Female.Z FT 01 Aggressive, etc. but the .Z is all it needs to select them. Every item has it's name of the left side of the ., as different items can have the same morphs such as Jacket Daz_107320.Aging Breast Sag; the character itself, a shirt, etc.

 

VIArts

Thanks! I think I get it!