Question about importing 3D products
dream-weaver
Posts: 146
in The Commons
There are lots of sites here you can buy high quality car models, e.g. www.cgtrader.com
If the product incl. obj file format, is it just as simple as importing the object into DAZ and it's ready to go (textured etc,) or is it just the polygon model and I would have to finish the model myself?
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Comments
To get the best results, you need to apply the proper shaders in Daz Studio: iray or 3DeLight.
Unless the default materials are very simple there will probably be a lot of maps unassigned so you will almost certainly need to do soem reassigning as well as adjusting settings (assuming the model uses maps and not procedural materials, which won't import at all).
The biggest gotcha is that the materials used in the .obj file format are very limited — .obj is an ancient format in computer terms, and the Iray materials used in modern DAZ models can do a lot more. The basic texture files will probably load OK, but many of the more advanced materials settings will need to be set up manually.
There are lots of very good and specific texture packs for IRay. But the problem with that is that everything you import and texture will be unrealistically pristine looking.
There is no standard/convention on sites like cgtrader or turbosquid etc for how the vendors package their models. So there will be a lot of variety across vendors for the types of textures that are/are not supplied with the model.
For some types of obj files (clothing, furniture, weapons), a consumer should expect the usual pbr textures to come packaged with the model (obviously read the product details to understand this). For other types of models, there is an expectation that the materials would be set up in the relevant render engine by the end user.
It probably pays to read the product description - or even contact the vendor or support - to further understand what comes with the product. I have seen many vehicles that do come with texure maps, and many which obviously dont.
If the product comes with texture maps, you should be able to plug those into Daz Uber shader (or another metallic, irridescent shader preset) and get good results. If a product doesnt come with texture maps, you will need to apply a shader to the material zones (using your library of Daz Shader presets or create a new shader). The vendor should ideally list the material zones/textures that come with product.
Don't forget the issue of scale. Imported items are often out of scale with Daz characters, sometimes by extreme amounts that can make an import seem broken till you rescale it.
I usually spend anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days going at an inported .obj in the geometry editor either renaming and re-organizing the existing matt zones to something intelligible, or just plain creating new ones. And then applying shaders until I have something that I'm pleased with.
Of course it varies a lot depending on what the original model is like. Some modelers provide basic materials, which usually means they've actually created matt zones. Others just upload the raw model. It's usually UVMapped in at least some form, so that's something. But it's often all one surface.
Of course it's a lot more likely that a model will be in FBX format than .obj these days. Or some other format. I prefer .obj because I'm used to it.
ETA: And they are usually just static props. Nothing comes in rigged.
Adding to the complications, many 3D programs use different scales. If you look at the presets in the DAZ|Studio import dialog, you'll see what all the default options are; IIRC they range from one unit being 1cm (Maya, the same as in D|S) to 8ft (Poser and Bryce). If you know which program was used to create the model, that can help figure out which scale setting to apply.