More questions about using Cascadeur with DAZ Studio
SnowSultan
Posts: 3,802
Can someone confirm that a) the Indie version of Cascadeur ($8/month) allows export to DAZ Studio using it's DAZ-specific preset (not just a generic FBX), and b) are either the Indie or Pro versions able to convert animations designed for Unreal Engine to work with DAZ figures? Thanks very much for any information.
Post edited by SnowSultan on
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a) Generic FBX is the format used for transferring 3d animation data between all these programs. (Unreal, Blender, Daz, Cascadeur) Cascadeur has a dedicated "Export to DAZ" menu option, but that still exports an FBX (in one click)
b) Cascadeur can definitely import and retarget Unreal Engine animations (as FBX). It should work for any bone-based character rig but humanoids are easiest to work with. You can also add Blender to your pipeline and use retargeting tools or plugins from its marketplace (eg AutoRig Pro) if you are working with a lot of unusual rigs.
I don't know if youtube links are allowed but here are some resources. If the links get removed you can still look up the videos by title.
"Animating Daz Characters with Cascadeur: Part 1" from
@Daz_3Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch7VV9T3GL0"Animating Daz Characters with Cascadeur: Part 2" from
@Daz_3Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxpEZf_8mWw"Cascadeur to Daz 3D - How to Export Animation" from
@Cascadeurhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHiKCx8nj5k&t=7sThank you very much, I'm going to watch those videos now. Do you need the Pro version to convert Unreal animations to work with DAZ figures, or can the Indie one do it? Based on the description on their webpage, it sounds like you need the Pro one, but I'm not sure. Thanks again.
I've not used Cascadeur's retargeting tool and it sounds like it's black-boxed to where you open an animation timeline in one file > copy the frames you want > paste into another animation timeline in another file. It somehow automatically maps the animation to the target character and adjusts for proportions, small differences in bone hierarchy, etc. Sounds like a useful time saver if it works, but it appears not to expose any options to give you any control over how it's doing the mapping, so you'd have to use another approach if it ever failed. Documentation is a bit opaque so I'm not sure under what conditions it might fail.
imo you will most likely end up using Blender in your workflow anyway as a (free) bridge to have better retargeting control over animations that apply to the different Daz, Unreal, Cascadeur rigs. Daz rigs have more bones than Unreal rigs, and Cascadeur works best with simple humanoid rigs, so either Blender or Cascadeur needs to map the animation onto the subset of Daz bones that matter. If Cascadeur can do that with a simple Pro version copy/paste command, that would be a pretty streamlined workflow.
The price difference between Indie and Pro is significant enough I'd recommend installing the demo version and following some Youtube tutorials to test a basic workflow for your use case, and see what kind of things you run into.
"Animation Retargeting in Cascadeur" @Cascadeur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aycqbvl8mFY
Thanks for the additional information. Yes, it seems you need the Pro version for retargeting, although I've only found one tutorial about Cascadeur and DAZ Studio that is less than a year old (Dartenbeck's). I have the demo, but it doesn't export. I might try the Indie version for one month at some point in the future. Thanks again.
If what your really only interested in is just retargeting, then Cascadeur might not be the best choice. I'm sure there is probably something a bit less costly and more flexible for Blender (I don't know, I'm just guessing). But, if you want to clean up the animations, make adjustments to imported animations fix movements that aren't quite right, fix movements that intersect the body/limbs due to different body types (i.e. the original animation was for a skinny male figure,the DAZ animation is for a plus sized femal figure), then Cascadeur would be a great choice. Or, if you wanted to create your own animations combining external animation with your own original work, Cascadeur is also a great choice (or just creating your own).
I'm no expert, I started learning Cascadeur last August, but life got in the way. Hopefully I can begin again for the new year. I'm quite impressed with it's capabilities, and the fact that it will take the shape of your imported figure into account when performing "AI" in-betweening when making an animation, or cleaning up an FBX animation with using in-betweening.
Another plus right now if your seriously looking at getting into animation is a yearly subscription on sale. Even though they use a subscription model, if you subscribe for a year, you get the permanent license for the current version at the end of that year, so at that point it's more like a payment plan for a permanent license.
Thank you for the replies. I did end up getting the Indie plan and it seems like an extremely powerful animation tool so far. I do have a few questions if you wouldn't mind though because seemingly EVERYTHING I try to learn, the tutorials and Youtube videos are somewhat outdated and never seem to solve the issues that I have. ;)
- The attached image show what the Cascadeur manual recommends the FBX export settings are from DAZ Studio. Is this still accurate?
- When importing the exported FBX from DAZ Studio into Cascadeur, should you use the preset Add Mode, Model, or Scene?
- Is it possible to export a single frame from Cascadeur to use as a pose in Studio?
- Recent DAZ figures are recognized and rigged automatically, but when I use Export from DAZ, I get a large message that says "Exporting without mesh requires your model's skeleton to have a Model Pose. To set the Model Pose, select your DAZ model's whole hierarchy while the characters is standing in their default A-pose and run the command at "Commands -> Transform -> Set Model Pose". The question I have here is that as soon as Cascadeur rigs the figure, it changes to Cascadeur's slightly hunched default pose. How do we set the default A-pose, do we even need to, and what is the best way to answer this message for accurate animation export?
Thank you very much for any help.
Yes, those should still be accurate (at least they worked for me).
IIRC, I used "Model" the last time I did it.
I don't know if that is possible, but it's really easy to save a single frame as a pose in DAZ.
I use the "Export selected frames with mesh" option. It makes the exported fbx a bit larger since it includes the mesh data, but when you save the animation as a DAZ format, the mesh data isn't saved with it.
Hope this helps.
As a side note there is a post from another user having some difficulty exporting an animation to DAZ. It might be that you need the pro version to use the "Export to DAZ" feature, that is what the video I linked in that thread states (I don't know, I have the pro version so I can't check). They are getting some odd joint rotations with the exports using export to DAZ. It could be that they are exporting using the option without the mesh, and an improper zero pose (I'm not sure how to set that, maybe import a static Genesis9/8.1/8 mesh, and move everything to match), or that you need the pro version. The OP did mention that exporting directly to FBX worked.
Thank you very much, that helps. I just wanted to hear some thoughts from someone who is currently using it and not nine month old tutorials. I am using the Indie version and it does properly export to Studio using the Export to DAZ feature, I just keep getting that big error message asking for the A-pose. Take care.
I'm glad it helped.
I really like the way Cascadeur automatically keeps the figure balanced during posing (keyframing). I think it will also be great for using individual frames from the animations for poses in DS. There are just so many possibilities for quickly creating poses that don't exist in the vast quantity of the repetitive stuff that you see in the store. Plus, often if you try to use a purchased pose from a different angle you realize it's out of balance and need to fix it. That shouldn't be a problem with Cascadeur.