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Ligtwave in DAZ3D

jhmcd2_1e24c121f5jhmcd2_1e24c121f5 Posts: 0
in The Commons

Okay, before anyone asks, yes, I still use Lightwave, have now for over 15 years, and I won't be changing any time soon. Its just too expensive and I do not like the stupid subscription scheme Autodesk came up with for Maya.  Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I use to get this a lot.

Now, I have used DAZ features since they just made content for Poser (which i also still have). But Lightwave is my primary modeler, I have all the tools memorized, heck, I make some custome character content in it.  I just can barely make peopel in it, my background is in Architecture and you don't to many people from scratch when making 3D building models.  Yet, I need to be able to find a way to merge my Lightwave scenes and objects in DAZ.  I know that I can make them OBJ's and I do tend to sometimes use poser as a middle man for this, it doesn't work for larger more complex scenes or objects.  Is there any tool out there that would allow me to better integrate these two programs together?

Comments

  • FSMCDesignsFSMCDesigns Posts: 12,844

    Not that I am aware of. DS is proprietary in many of the ways it does things and in my experience, no matter the app, or format you use for importing things into DS, you are still going to have to adjust/edit/or rework them to fit with what DS needs to use it. I am a Max user and find .OBJ the best method so far. Would be very cool if DS could read a .Max format or a .LWO, or .Ma format. I would actually prefer that instead of a plugin to export any DAZ assets to other apps.

    BTW nothing wrong with Lightwave at all. It is still a powerful modeling app used by many

  • TheRetiredSailorTheRetiredSailor Posts: 273

    Greetings, jhmcd2_1e24c121f5.

    I create my models in Lightwave (v. 9.6 - The upgrades are too expensive).  What I create are mainly rooms, buildings, furniture, etc.  I don't create people either.  I Export from Lightwave Modeler as an OBJ which cleanly imports into DAZ Studio with the sizes adjusted properly.  I then do the texturing in DAZ Studio and have almost fully switched over to iRay in DAZ Studio for rendering.

    If you are not already, UV map your models in Lightwave.  The surfaces you assign in Lightwave show up on the Surfaces tab in DAZ Studio.  It doesn't seem to matter what your UV maps are named in Lightwave in terms of what shows up in DAZ Studio.  It is important thought to assign a UV map to the surface (obviously).

    Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions. 

    RS

  • hphoenixhphoenix Posts: 1,335
    jhmcd2_1e24c121f5 said:

    Okay, before anyone asks, yes, I still use Lightwave, have now for over 15 years, and I won't be changing any time soon. Its just too expensive and I do not like the stupid subscription scheme Autodesk came up with for Maya.  Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I use to get this a lot.

    Now, I have used DAZ features since they just made content for Poser (which i also still have). But Lightwave is my primary modeler, I have all the tools memorized, heck, I make some custome character content in it.  I just can barely make peopel in it, my background is in Architecture and you don't to many people from scratch when making 3D building models.  Yet, I need to be able to find a way to merge my Lightwave scenes and objects in DAZ.  I know that I can make them OBJ's and I do tend to sometimes use poser as a middle man for this, it doesn't work for larger more complex scenes or objects.  Is there any tool out there that would allow me to better integrate these two programs together?

    I'm also a LW3D user.  It's a very intuitive modeller (for me) so it's my go-to for doing actual creation of new meshes.  UV layout is a little painful, but no worse than most.

    Writing a LWO importer script or plugin wouldn't be too hard.  The .LWO format is well-documented.  Though one might just as easily write a LScript exporter to write out both the OBJ and the DUF file for DS to use (so you can get any skelegons and such converted to bones, etc.)

    Beyond that, you can't really integrate them any further.

    And no-one is going to write a .MAX file importer for DS.  .MAX format is a machine-state snapshot of 3DSMax, and CANNOT be read by any other program (without 3DSMax installed on the same machine and it's core DLLs used to load the state and then export the geometry.)  Which is why I hate finding meshes online in .MAX format.  It locks the content to 3DS Max owners ONLY.

     

  • AlienRendersAlienRenders Posts: 794

    I too love Lightwave. I own the most recent version and use both Lightwave and DAZ Studio together all the time. You can try exporting to FBX if you don't like obj. Note that if you export to obj, you need a more recent version of Lightwave. I forget what version they fixed the point ordering. At least 9.6 I think.

    As for exporting surfaces, you can do that too. For UV maps, I think you have to assign it to at least one surface (in the T button on the surface editor), otherwise it will not export.

    I have code to read and write the first two lwo versions (pre and post LW6). If I knew how to make a plugin in DAZ Studio, you could load lightwave objects directly. I might give it a shot someday. In Lightwave 2018, they released a third lwo version.

    Let us know what you need specifically. Do you want to be able to load a Lightwave scene? That's a neat idea actually. I might be able to write a basic lws to duf converter. So it'd be a standalone program. I'd have to check if there's a way to write a lws exporter as a Lightwave plugin. The lwo exporters are simple enough, but I don't use layout that often.

     

  • Silver DolphinSilver Dolphin Posts: 1,638

    I'm a Lightwave user myself a importer for duf to lightwave would be great! I usually do most of my modeling in Lightwave also and am used to it.

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