I saw a comment from Richard Haseltine in another thread about the next major version of DS supporting exporting UV Maps in SVG format and it reminded me of a script I had not yet posted to do this for DS4.

I've only used it with Inkscape, and I'm not sure how well the material groupings will import into other software, but it may be useful for anyone looking for some sample code for a similar use case.

barbult said:

I bought the Fabiana Velvet Shaders and the Blankets. The only disappointment with this purchase is that Daz didn't bother to add useful metadata. Everything is lumped in Lost and Found, without types, categories, or compatibilities. This is no fault of Fabiana. Metadata is supposed to be created by Daz after PAs submit their products. Fortunately for users, Fabiana has things well organized in the Content Library folders. I'm in the process of creating my own metadata for these two products, because I rely on Smart Content for efficient workflow.

I used the velvet shader on the dress, draped a blanket over her shoulder and added one of the feather earrings.

I'd love to create metadata for the ear and face chains products but I'm not sure how to go about it. Do you know of a good tutorial anywhere on that?

Assigning new weight maps to the clothing is the way to do it as Richard suggests but you don't have to do it manually yourself. Let Studio do it for you. There are a couple of steps and the use of utilities you might not yet have seen and, as you're posting in the New Users section, I'll try to list the actions as comprehensively as possible but if I miss something or you're not sure about anything please just ask.

What we're going to do is create a completely new version of that hoodie with the hood down and save it as a separate clothing item. During the import phase of creating your new clothing Studio will assign weight maps to it based on how close the geometry is to the various bones of the skeleton. In this case the shoulder bones are closer than the head bones to the hood so the result is that the hood now follows the body parts you want it to.

1. Load a base G8 and leave it in the default A-pose.

2. Load your hoodie.

3. Apply the hood down morph and run the default dForce simulation.

4. Select just the hoodie and then export it as an .obj to a folder on your hard-drive: File -> Export. Make sure that 'Filter Objects' is ticked in the options box that pops up otherwise you may end up exporting the figure geometry as well but leave all the other options at their default settings.

5. Delete the original hoodie. We don't need anything more from it at this stage.

6. Import the .obj hoodie from your chosen folder. If all has gone well it should appear to be properly fitted to your character although it actually isn't. If this doesn't happen, start again from Stage One!

---

7. Now we're going to make it fit your character using the Transfer Utility. This process copies the skeleton from G8 onto your clothing and assigns the weightmaps. There are a few ways of starting the Transfer Utility and here's one of them. Select your hoodie and then Edit -> Object -> Transfer Utility.

8. In the window that appears select Genesis 8 (or Genesis 8.1) in the drop down box labelled Scene Item in the Source section. Select your new hoodie object in the corresponding Target scene item drop down. Leave everything else at default and click Accept. The hoodie is now properly fitted as clothing to G8.

Try moving your figure around now - you'll see that Studio has correctly weight mapped the hoodie for it's hood-down state. You also might notice that you've lost all the other morphs from the original and you can't now apply the materials that came with the outfit (because the import process changed the name of the surface slightly) but both of these are easily fixable. Rather than another wall of text (and sorry about this, screen shots tend not to upload on weekends due to server overload!) if you want to know how to finish the process off please just ask.

9. Finally.... File -> Save As -> Support Asset -> Figure/Prop Asset. Set the content type to Follower -> Wardrobe -> Shirt or whatever else you want to, same for all the other options. You don't have to set them but it helps if you use Smart Content.

Give your clothing a new file name and don't save it over the original!

I only have iC6 pipeline but see this thread

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/532406/iclone-blendshapes-import-animated-into-d-s-but-there-is-a-catch

I don't know if it will be of any use to you as I know iClone 8 uses a transfer and baking process to copy thirdparty figures to their own mesh whereas I import FBX exports from DAZ

Hi.

Is there any way to import Face Animation from iclone8 to Daz Studio? or From Nvidia Ai2Face to Daz Studio?

If software like Autodesk Motion Builder can help in this field?

Thank you.

It depends. G1 G2 use shapes for the facial expressions, so you have to import the face units first. G3 G8 use bones so you don't need face units. G81 G9 use FACS that's shapes plus bones, so you need to import FACS first.

when importing it into MD it seems fine although maybe on the smaller side. 

SMall how? Like 90% the size you want or 10% the size you want. You can adjust scale in several ways, either before exporting from Daz or before importing to MD.

Are you using Sagan exporter from Daz?

If it is moved or the piece of clothing are moved it then enlarges and rotates where the front face points upwards. 

No idea what you are describing.  You are moving and scaling the alembic in MD and then are acting suprised it is transformed and scaled? 

What is the alembic? The avatar with no clothing, the avatar with clothing? Is the clothing exported as alembic from Daz along with the avatar?

I have two outfits made already on still avatars, is there a way I can give them movement - such as a catwalk - (fashion project) or are they stuck like that. 

Why would they be stuck "like that"? MD is simulation, so of course they are not stuck unless you froze them.  Unfreeze them.
Process:

1. Export the unclothed daz avatar as Alembic using Sagan.

1. Before export, make the daz avatar the correct size for your garments. (How? Import your MD garment to Daz and then size your daz avatar accordingly.)
2. Create pose transition animation from (a) pose that fits the clothing to (b) your start pose. Then (c) animate over timeline for your catwalk animation
3. Export avatar animation as alembic using the Sagan exporter plugin (SubD = 1 or lower is probably fine)

2. Import alembic avatar to MD

3. Simulate the MD garments to fit the avatar at frame 0.

4. In animation pane, run and record simulation animation.

5. If issues, rerun after fixing issues, playing with animation simulation settings, animation warp speed, iterations etc, and garment properties, like Particle distance.

5. Export your animated garments as alembic.

6. Bring animated avatar and animated garment to your renderer of choice (e.g., Blender).

N-RArts said:

crosswind said:

As for DS / Blender's pipeline and workflow, when exporting figures / objects as OBJ from DS, always keep Scale as 100%.  When importing / exporting OBJs to / from Blender, always keep Scale as 1%. Then there'll be no Scale issue no matter you import OBJ into DS or load OBJ with MLP.

 

Thank you for posting images of your settings. It made me scrutinise my own to find the problem.

The axis settings were wrong on import into Daz Studio. However, the weirdest thing was that the import scale had to be set to 5000%

Everything appears to be sorted (for now), and I've just converted my first outfit. 

Thank you for your help 

You're welcome!

But that 5000% should be the old conversion rate in b/t DS and Blender. I've never used it since I started with Blender / DS workflow...

BTW, pls try using the latest version of Blender and DO NOT use the meothod of Legacy OBJ import/export if you're still with Blender 3.x. If you start it over with your full workflow of making the outfit by using the above settings, there won't be any issue. Good luck !

crosswind said:

As for DS / Blender's pipeline and workflow, when exporting figures / objects as OBJ from DS, always keep Scale as 100%.  When importing / exporting OBJs to / from Blender, always keep Scale as 1%. Then there'll be no Scale issue no matter you import OBJ into DS or load OBJ with MLP.

Thank you for posting images of your settings. It made me scrutinise my own to find the problem.

The axis settings were wrong on import into Daz Studio. However, the weirdest thing was that the import scale had to be set to 5000%

Everything appears to be sorted (for now), and I've just converted my first outfit. 

Thank you for your help 

Lack of adequate metadata is not such a problem with products bought here IF you use Content Library>Products>1-Z to locate them. I can count on one hand the times a product was listed under a name different to the one it has in the store (and in those cases, its name in DIM was the same as its listing in Products).

My purchases are slowing down, but not just due to DAZ's marketing, the Rendo artists' arrival, or the world at large. I took a hard look at my finances and while I was setting up my new Win 11 laptop, I examined my existing purchases from DAZ, Rendo, HiveWire, and freeebies. How many I have never used or find I can't use due to my lack of skill or frustration with my hardware (Win 10 and OS). I am also kind of anal about metadata, and after dealing with old products, Poser era, and the RuntimeDNA items that were purchased by DAZ with no metadata also, to find the Rendo items came with no metadata also, is frustrating. At least when I bought it directly from Renderosity or Hivewire, I can import it with Content Wizard and have most of the work done for me. Just have to fix the bits the program can't handle. I have found I bought two of the same outfits from Rendo with two different sku's, two different versions of PAs' names, the identical outfit but a year or so apart. So it is not so easy to remember what you have.

If I currently own a product that I find useful, well made, and I can convert it up the generations without issue, I have no issue with installing it again onto a new computer, nor buying a new one from an older generation if it is something I can use today. Or a pose set. Bone Minion works quite well for me. Characters now, well, G8 taught me to be careful not to overbuy.

Regarding AI, may I suggest that AI adjusted promos and renders could be posted with a label as 'AI modified and not true to the product as purchased'. How many photos/renders have we admired to find out it was heavily modified in Photoshop?

Mary

Leana said:

nemesis10 said:

Those poser formatted honey shapes can be exported as simple obj's so that you can add the shader you want afterwards. 

You don't need to export them, DS can use basic poser props like that directly. You would need to load them from the "poser content" section of the content library tab once they're installed, as they won't have metadata for Smart Content.

And if one needs the OBJ files in some other program, the OBJ's for Poser items can be found in Runtime\Geometries\[some folder name]\ 

nemesis10 said:

Those poser formatted honey shapes can be exported as simple obj's so that you can add the shader you want afterwards. 

You don't need to export them, DS can use basic poser props like that directly. You would need to load them from the "poser content" section of the content library tab once they're installed, as they won't have metadata for Smart Content.

milliethegreat said:

What about the poser ones you guys mentioned earlier? Can they be used on anything and are they transparent similar to the pictures if I do. Mind you it doesn't have to be iray as it's getting exported to unreal engine and therefore it's not necessary for it to be specifically iray. I have other assets i import into unreal engine 5 that are fbx blender and cinema 4d so I don't see why the poser honey shaders wouldn't look terrible when exported into unreal engine 

Those poser formatted honey shapes can be exported as simple obj's so that you can add the shader you want afterwards.  The next thing you have to decide is how photorealistic you want the honey to be. As in my previous illustration, sometimes the high refractive index of honey causes too much reflection for an idealized "honey" which is transparent from every angle.  I might use instead a gem amber shader (you can find tons in the store or roll your own amber glass shader).  I thought I woulld show you these to give you some ideas:   https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oby1mw   &  https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=iHxNQE9n_Gw

What about the poser ones you guys mentioned earlier? Can they be used on anything and are they transparent similar to the pictures if I do. Mind you it doesn't have to be iray as it's getting exported to unreal engine and therefore it's not necessary for it to be specifically iray. I have other assets i import into unreal engine 5 that are fbx blender and cinema 4d so I don't see why the poser honey shaders wouldn't look terrible when exported into unreal engine 

Havos said:

Faeryl Womyn said:

I tried using Open Office Calc but it looks exactly like the CSV file.

Check that in the import options the separator is set to comma

That worked and I also figured out how to properlly use the CSV file, seems I was looking at it wrong lol I have both as a CSV and PDF now. 

Thank you both Frank and Havos. 

Richard Haseltine said:

MelanieL said:

And I guess Daz is snowed under with all these transfers as well as the normal releases and maybe are prioritizing the latter?

Making full metadaat for several hundrd products would not really be practical in the available time. We have asked if they will be revisitied later, but no response yet. People who do their own categorisation could share the result, though care  would be needed to make sure it could be removed with a proper update.

Yes, well, then maybe delay the store launch until said products are actually fully functional according to the store's own standards ...? Anyways, not your fault Richard, thanks for taking this up with them. I'm sorry for the migrated vendors, but I for one will postpone any further purchases from them until the metadata is fixed. Have such masses in Lost & Found already, spending so much time fixing it - geeee, I do have a life lying around somewhere ... (I guess ...)

wildbillnash said:

Crosswind, funny thing. The leggings are the ones that are completely missing. I checked DIMS product list and they don't ever show up, even though I bought it and it's on my product library online. Go figure.

just tried that search and no dice. Didn't come up at all.

I had another missing product I found was listed by initials. But it was missing elsewheres. 

If so, go to the folder: your Daz Library\runtime\support, search by 94740, see if you can locate metadata DSX file...

Or go to DIM - Installed tab, right click on the installed product of this Leggings, select "Show Installed Files". From the list, see if you can locate the DSX file in runtime\support folder.

If you can, attach DSX file in here if possible. I can help to check.  If DSX file cannot be found anywhere, request for refund !

Normally categorizing or re-categorizing asset items has be done on product basis 'cause the user-facing files locate in different folders... I'm afraid there's no shortcut. Surely you can dump the files of multiple product into a single folder and edit metadata as per that folder... but it's not a best practice.

Well, the commonly-seen error that results in "missing product" in Smart Content is that no metadata or wrong metadata was imported in cms database when you installed the prodcut via DIM.

I don't know which product is missing but let's take "dForce Capri Leggings G9" ( https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-capri-leggings-g9 ) as an example. You either enter "dForce Capri Leggings G9 in the filter field as per screenshot 1, see if you can get it. Or enter "SKU::94740...as per screenshot 2 ( I bought it from Rendo, so SKU number is different but the method is the same...), see if you can get it....

Well, I have no idea about what an analogue JCM is... but if you want to make pJCMs on a geo-graft of anatomical elements, actually you need neither of the above ways, as well as diffeomorphic add-on (standard import / exporting will do, neat and fast...)

1. After posing the figure as needed, just export the anatomical element (Base Resolution!)  via File - Export... (wavefront OBJ). Use the settings in screenshot 1. Import OBJ into Blender, sculpt its shape as needed, export to OBJ file.
2. Import OBJ file with Morph Loader Pro with the settings in screenshot 2. (create new or update an existing pJCM...)
3. If it's a new pJCM, set ERC Link in b/t the joint rotation(s) and pJCM in Property Hierarchy.

Be noted:

1) Since the geo-graft is conformed to the figure's body mesh, you don't have to worry about issue of seamlessness. Just sculpt on it in Blender as needed, with Mesh Boundary option or Mask(s);
2) If you do need the figure as a reference when sculping on the geo-graft, export the figure + geo-graft to OBJ file by Ctrl + Selecting them in Scene pane (with the settings shown in screenshot 3). But before export, remember to press Alt Shift + G to make the geo-graft floating, otherwise their mesh will be merged...