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Export OBJ with maps

lina.catfishlina.catfish Posts: 25
edited September 8 in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

Technical help or questions by new users? Sorry, I don't know. Please move it to where it is better, please.

I tried exporting an object as OBJ and including the maps.

The first step worked fine, but the second didn't quite work the way I wanted it to: DAZ saved the path to the maps as an absolute path. In many cases, it's not really useful, so I'm completely sure there must be a way to create relative paths for it, and that I just missed something.

But how and where?

 

Thanks for all suggestions!

Post edited by lina.catfish on

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 107,953

    Where are the maps? Are they in a mapped content directory (e.g. somewhere in the My Library folder)?

  • lina.catfishlina.catfish Posts: 25
    The maps are in the DAZ library. They are located in the ./runtime/textures/. folder. I tried it with some objects from the welcome package to learn the workflow. But I was never asked about it (by the software). I mean, I didn't have to manually select anything. I started with a new file, loaded something and exported.
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 26,205
    edited September 9

    OBJs that I export from Daz Studio or Blender always list the texture file by absolute path, from the drive letter in windows on down to the actual filename.
    For example: map_Kd "N:/DAZ 3D/Studio/My DIM Library/Runtime/Textures/Cherubit/Clothing/Men's Casual Clothes/ES_Sweatshirt_Diffuse.jpg"

    AI says: 

    In Daz Studio, you can export an OBJ with relative paths by using the "Collect Maps" option during the export process. This creates a subdirectory containing all the texture files and ensures the material file (.mtl) references them using relative paths, which is ideal for sharing the model or moving it to another system.

    I haven't had very good luck with these AI responses, and I haven't tried this suggestion, but you may want to try. AI also says you can configure Blender to use relative paths. I haven't tried that either.

    EDIT: I was curious so I tried following the AI instructions for Daz Studio. It worked! It created a Maps folder with the texture files, and then the mtl contained relative paths to the Maps folder.

    Post edited by barbult on
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 107,953

    barbult said:

    OBJs that I export from Daz Studio or Blender always list the texture file by absolute path, from the drive letter in windows on down to the actual filename.
    For example: map_Kd "N:/DAZ 3D/Studio/My DIM Library/Runtime/Textures/Cherubit/Clothing/Men's Casual Clothes/ES_Sweatshirt_Diffuse.jpg"

    AI says: 

    In Daz Studio, you can export an OBJ with relative paths by using the "Collect Maps" option during the export process. This creates a subdirectory containing all the texture files and ensures the material file (.mtl) references them using relative paths, which is ideal for sharing the model or moving it to another system.

    I haven't had very good luck with these AI responses, and I haven't tried this suggestion, but you may want to try. AI also says you can configure Blender to use relative paths. I haven't tried that either.

    EDIT: I was curious so I tried following the AI instructions for Daz Studio. It worked! It created a Maps folder with the texture files, and then the mtl contained relative paths to the Maps folder.

    Yes, I think that the MTL file can use paths relative to its own (and the OBJ's) location, but not paths that have to back-up through parent folders as /Runtime/Textures/ would.

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 7,113

    I think the safest way to have a relative path is to have no path, which means 'In this directory'. That can be obtained by manually editing the .mtl file and copying all the referenced files into the file with the .mtl file. It's messy, though.

    Regards,

    Richard

  • lina.catfishlina.catfish Posts: 25

    Thank you for all the help!

    I tried the "Collect Maps" option (maybe my foreign language problem or a bit confusing? I would expect something like "include"... Okay, found it anyway with your help :)) and it *collected* the Base Color and create a relative path to that folder.

    While it's obvious why Metallicity, Overlay, etc. aren't included - it's PBR/MR or DAZ specific - I was just wondering why Bump & Normal isn't included. But that's not a problem, just surprising.

  • lilweeplilweep Posts: 2,746

    because youre using obj which doesnt write all maps

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