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Please fix the DAZ to Unity Bridge

rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15
edited June 2022 in Unity Discussion

I really like DAZ Studio and the content you can buy. But for me, the DAZ to Unity bridge has always produced less than stellar (DAZ quality) results. Not even [] close. When I see what's possible with Unity given some of their demos, I'm like, "Why am I wasting my time trying to move things over?" Why does everyone have to mess with this, that and whatever to try and get things to look right? And then it still looks like a mannequin with a bad paint job and fake eyeballs. I have better things to do with my time.

I don't know if DAZ has ever considered this before, but Unity does offer consulting services. Why not just hire them to help make the DAZ to Unity bridge the best possible product it can be? Those guys know what they're doing on the Unity side and I'm sure they can make significant improvements. If anything, it would be worth it just to ask how much it would cost.

Sorry for the rant. I just want the situation to get better.

 

 

 

Post edited by Richard Haseltine on

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 105,045

    Aside for materials, which are always a pain to move between applications (and it will depend on what settings were used in DS) you don't really indicate what the perceived shortcomings are, which would make it hard for anyone to give a meangingful response.

  • danielbui78danielbui78 Posts: 333

    rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 said:

    I really like DAZ Studio and the content you can buy. But for me, the DAZ to Unity bridge has always produced less than stellar (DAZ quality) results. Not even [] close. When I see what's possible with Unity given some of their demos, I'm like, "Why am I wasting my time trying to move things over?" Why does everyone have to mess with this, that and whatever to try and get things to look right? And then it still looks like a mannequin with a bad paint job and fake eyeballs. I have better things to do with my time.

    I don't know if DAZ has ever considered this before, but Unity does offer consulting services. Why not just hire them to help make the DAZ to Unity bridge the best possible product it can be? Those guys know what they're doing on the Unity side and I'm sure they can make significant improvements. If anything, it would be worth it just to ask how much it would cost.

    Sorry for the rant. I just want the situation to get better.

     

    I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with the Daz to Unity Bridge.  Like Richard has stated, we can do a better job of helping you if you give more details and screenshots.  However, based on your brief comments, it sounds like the Bridge is not correctly installed and you are loading the raw FBX files rather than the Enhanced Unity Prefabs with custom materials and custom shaders designed to work the Daz Assets.  Let's start with some basic questions:

    1. What version of Unity are you using?
    2. What render-pipeline are you using?
    3. What Daz Assets are you using?
    4. Are you using the latest version of the Daz To Unity Bridge?

     

    I will try to make some videos over the weekend to demonstrate how to correctly install and use the bridge with the latest version of Unity.  There are a couple of things which I think may be causing your issues:

    1. Did you click "Update the Script API" when asked by the Installer?
    2. Did you install one of the alternative Shader Sets if you are not using the HDRP render-pipeline?

     

    There is a section on the main Github page with instructions on How to Install and How to Use the Daz To Unity Bridge:

    I will try to update them with more detailed step-by-step instructions for people that may have less computer expertise.

  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15

    danielbui78 said:

    I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with the Daz to Unity Bridge.  Like Richard has stated, we can do a better job of helping you if you give more details and screenshots.  However, based on your brief comments, it sounds like the Bridge is not correctly installed and you are loading the raw FBX files rather than the Enhanced Unity Prefabs with custom materials and custom shaders designed to work the Daz Assets.  Let's start with some basic questions:

    1. What version of Unity are you using?
    2. What render-pipeline are you using?
    3. What Daz Assets are you using?
    4. Are you using the latest version of the Daz To Unity Bridge?

    Thanks, Daniel! I appreciate your resolve and efforts to assist me. I think a video would help everyone.

    Here are the answers to your questions:

    1. I tried 2019.4.29f1, 2020.3.22f1, 2021.3.4f1 yesterday.

    2. HDRP and URP, with and without iRay

    3. I primarily work with this asset: https://www.daz3d.com/xia-hd-for-genesis-8-female, but I have others.

    4. Yes

     

    I saw that it creates a prefab folder and added the prefab to the scene.

    I will step through the steps as you describe and share screenshots as you and Richard asked. I usually don't take screen shots of stuff that doesn't come out right. 

  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15
    edited June 2022

    This is what I was able to accomplish using Unity's Heretic demo skin shader and spending countless hours redoing and creating new textures last April 2021. There are certain textures I don't know how to create, so it's still not the best it could be.

    quick_test.png
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    Post edited by rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 on
  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15

    Video using the Heretic Demo Skin Shader.

    https://youtu.be/f2VeRAK0Ex8

  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15

    Bridge Test: Unity 2021.3.4f1 Video

     

  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15

    Daz Render

    Xia Ultra HD.png
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  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15
    edited June 2022

    Unity 2021.3.4f1 bridge photos. Set 1

    bridge01.png
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    bridge02.png
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    Post edited by rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 on
  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15
    edited June 2022

    Unity 2021.3.4f1 Bridge photos. Set 2

    bridge04.png
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    bridge04a.png
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    Post edited by rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 on
  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15
    edited June 2022

    Unity 2021.3.4f1 Bridge photos. Set 3

    bridge05.png
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    bridge06.png
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    Post edited by rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 on
  • danielbui78danielbui78 Posts: 333
    edited June 2022

    rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 said:

    danielbui78 said:

    I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with the Daz to Unity Bridge.  Like Richard has stated, we can do a better job of helping you if you give more details and screenshots.  However, based on your brief comments, it sounds like the Bridge is not correctly installed and you are loading the raw FBX files rather than the Enhanced Unity Prefabs with custom materials and custom shaders designed to work the Daz Assets.  Let's start with some basic questions:

    1. What version of Unity are you using?
    2. What render-pipeline are you using?
    3. What Daz Assets are you using?
    4. Are you using the latest version of the Daz To Unity Bridge?

    Thanks, Daniel! I appreciate your resolve and efforts to assist me. I think a video would help everyone.

    Here are the answers to your questions:

    1. I tried 2019.4.29f1, 2020.3.22f1, 2021.3.4f1 yesterday.

    2. HDRP and URP, with and without iRay

    3. I primarily work with this asset: https://www.daz3d.com/xia-hd-for-genesis-8-female, but I have others.

    4. Yes

     

    I saw that it creates a prefab folder and added the prefab to the scene.

    I will step through the steps as you describe and share screenshots as you and Richard asked. I usually don't take screen shots of stuff that doesn't come out right. 

     

    Thanks for posting this information and the screenshots and video.  They were very helpful in understanding what you were describing.  If you set the Dual Lobe Specular Weight value in the skin materials to 0.35, this should help with the skin issues.  I do not see any issues with "fake eyes".  One major issue that I see you having is that you are using an Iray Nvidia render that uses a complex HDRI light source for your reference image and comparing it to a Unity scene which is lit using a relatively small number of directional or spot lights.  In order to get a similar reflection in the eyes as well as more flattering lighting for your character, you will probably want to use an HDRI light source, or add baked lighting, or apply environmental reflection maps or all of the above.

    Video Tutorials for DazToUnity Bridge (including how to tweak materials on Xia HD):

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/573571/daztounity-2022-bridge-what-s-new-and-how-to-use-it

    Post edited by danielbui78 on
  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15
    edited June 2022

    danielbui78 said:

    Video Tutorials for DazToUnity Bridge (including how to tweak materials on Xia HD):

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/573571/daztounity-2022-bridge-what-s-new-and-how-to-use-it

    Thanks for the instructional, informational and helpful videos. Very interesting.

    Attached are the results of some material tweaking. I still need to do more tweaking - lol

     

    bridge07.png
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    Post edited by rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 on
  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15

    One thing that I noticed is that the latest bridge eyelashes seem a little heavy on the mascara. This screenshot is from bridge version 1.0.

    previous.png
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  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15

    Back in 2015 I took a course that included how to apply a person's actual skin texture to their 3D model. The person stood in the middle of a room and they had cameras positioned every 10 degrees (I think it was 10, I need to check) around the person to take a single set of photos. Then they loaded up the 3D model and pictures in Maya and projection painted the photos onto the model using a blending technique. What a PITA but the end result looked really good. The same technique could be done using DAZ renders. Is there a better program other than Maya to do something like this?

  • danielbui78danielbui78 Posts: 333
    edited June 2022

    rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 said:

    Back in 2015 I took a course that included how to apply a person's actual skin texture to their 3D model. The person stood in the middle of a room and they had cameras positioned every 10 degrees (I think it was 10, I need to check) around the person to take a single set of photos. Then they loaded up the 3D model and pictures in Maya and projection painted the photos onto the model using a blending technique. What a PITA but the end result looked really good. The same technique could be done using DAZ renders. Is there a better program other than Maya to do something like this?

    That class was teaching you an early form of photogrammetry technology.  It is much more advanced and much more accessible to the common person now.  Just search for photogrammetry in your smart phone app store.

     

    Here are some examples:

    https://all3dp.com/2/best-3d-scanner-app-iphone-android-photogrammetry/

     

    Post edited by danielbui78 on
  • rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7rmdhawaii_1879cab1b7 Posts: 15

    danielbui78 said:

    That class was teaching you an early form of photogrammetry technology.  It is much more advanced and much more accessible to the common person now.  Just search for photogrammetry in your smart phone app store.

     

    Here are some examples:

    https://all3dp.com/2/best-3d-scanner-app-iphone-android-photogrammetry/

     

    Thanks!

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