Hello again.

Thanks to all who have responded so far. Please note that I updated my most recent post (restarting this thread) with "Given that SketchUp is no longer free, is there any interest...".

The current state of SketchUp affairs is something that I want there to be no mistake about. When I originally developed the importer being discussed here, SketchUp Make 2017 was available for free. Since then, as has been pointed out, SketchUp is NO LONGER FREE, with pricing (as of the date of this post) as follows:

SketchUp Go is a web-based tool that, as far as I know, does not support Ruby scripting. Therefore, SketchUp Pro would be required to use models from there. SketchUp Make 2017 is also no longer supported (no surprise there), with the following statement (as of the date of this post) taken from the Trimble website:

If you still have SketchUp Make 2017, it should still "work". My plugin is certainly compatible with it, having been originally developed there. Having said that, it is possible that a given model on the 3D warehouse will no longer be available for download in SU2017 format, and therefore will be inaccessible to you if that is the only version of SketchUp you have.

These are some of the things that are driving my decision process, as to whether or not to resume this project. Additionally, if I restart this project, then proper development practices dictate that I must have a valid current subscription to SketchUp so that I can guarantee continued functionality of the plugin as SketchUp itself continues to evolve. This is a non-trivial expense that I have to consider, particularly in terms of whether or not I will recoup that investment, year after year, and then achieve some sort of margin that makes all of this worthwhile. That may sound harsh, but it's something I have to think very hard about.

In terms of the geometry questions that have come up, I'd like to chime in from the standpoint of having already developed a successful version of this importer for the Trainz Railroad Simulator. It's been in use for many years there, and I can confidently state that the geometry is internally structured in terms of triangles, and that triangles are used in my geometry transfer process. I will also say, however, that SketchUp models can sometimes have a large number of materials, and this can also affect performance in the target system (i.e. Daz). If you are using the SketchUp model as a static entity, I would not really expect this to matter; but if you are using it as part of an animation, it might. I say this with only limited knowledge of Daz, so please forgive me (and correct me) if this is not how it works.

My tool consists of a three parts: (1) a Ruby plugin that runs inside SketchUp, and creates an XML file that contains all the information needed to import the model into a given target environment; (2) an image processing utility that runs behind the scenes; and (3) a Daz script that reads the XML file and renders it in Daz.

The first part of the transfer process, in SketchUp, is governed by a parameters dialog that looks like this:

As you can see, there are options to deal with both sides of a given face. I also have some internal logic that attempts to automatically compensate for reversed faces when they are detected, but there is only so much you can do in this regard. The fact is that the person working with the SketchUp model is responsible for making sure that the model is READY to be transferred to another environment. My tool is not a substitute for laziness.

The produced XML file is read in by a Daz Plugin, with a very simple UI:

This plugin can (usually) auto-locate the XML file, and it uses Daz geometry APIs to re-create the model directly. So we go from this:

to this, with not much effort on your part, at least in terms of the transfer process.

As noted, my decision to proceed with this development effort will be -- in part -- based upon comments received here, both good and bad. I can tell you that there have been flame wars on the Trainz forums about how evil SketchUp is, and that I should be burned at the stake for even having dared to allow models from there into Trainz. I have also been praised by those who have taken the time to 'do it right' and have created iconic models that all seem to enjoy. The last thing I want to do is see a similar flame war erupt here, so part of my decision will also be based on the veracity (or not) of those types of comments.

Thank you for your kind attention. I look forward to reviewing continued comments from everyone.

Regards,
Mike

RIGIFY. Rigify is a professional full featured ik rig for original animation in blender. Unfortunately it is not so good to import daz poses and animations because there are some strong differences with the daz rig.

MHX. MHX is more intended as a compromise for people who wants to animate in blender but retain a good compatibility with daz poses and animations. So you can mix blender original animation and daz. As for blender animation MHX is less featured than rigify.

SIMPLE IK. Then even the MHX rig is not perfect with daz poses, though it's quite good. That's why the simple ik rig is provided that uses exactly the daz rig as base so the match is 100%. This is mainly useful to animate in blender then export to daz with "save pose preset", thus using blender as animation tool for daz studio. The simple ik rig is also better to export to game engines. But it is more limited in features than MHX or rigify.

Wow after so many years quiet on this project, you're the first one to report an issue, and this is such a weird phenomenon !

First, in theory, there was a rule for ALL genesis 8.1 figures which is that : PA MUST use PBRSkin as their main shader. Now, I am surprised that Daz accepted an IrayUber shader on a Genesis 8.1 figure. Maybe you bought it from another store? (if it is on Daz Store, can you tell me what figure it is?)

Since Daz Studio software updates can put some handmade shaders in danger (and since I cannot check ALL my products as soon as a Daz Studio update is released), I took the time to check that it went fine on Rosa Maria 8.1, and on the 8.1 base female. I realised that my product had an update I was not aware of (I don't know why, maybe metadata because it's the only thing I'm not involved in). So I tried them before the update, and they worked fine for the tan/tan lines/wet looks. It seems to be the same with the updated version of wet and tanned skins for 8.1.

What can happen from time to time is that a version of DS messes up hand made shaders (via shader mixer), and then in the next update or in another build this is fixed. I use none of the "classical" builds (there are other versions as mentioned in the changelog page), but if it comes from that, in my "future" version I have no issue.

It can come from the IrayUber you have at start. When you use the "apply", actually not only a new shader is applied, but also some maps are transferred from PBRSkin properties to WNT81 shader properties, and some properties values might be adjusted. I have the feeling your main issue is that you start from IrayUber, and this is not optimized for that. If your IrayUber was using furthermore "SSS amount" instead of "SSS color" to set up the SSS it might be even more problematic. If I were you I would try to change the volume settings using low translucency weight (0.5), low transmitted measurement distance (0.1), "brown" transmitted color (with NO component -RGB - at 255) low scattering measurement distance (0.015), and that the SSS mode is chromatic with a color NOT being black or white (mid pink?). Said differently make sure all volume properties are similar to what you have in PBRSkin. Make sure also that your translucency color property is mapped.  I think, but I don't have a lot of details to be sure of this, that in your initial figure there is one setting in the translucency/transmission/SSS settings which either does not exist or is probably set up "not as usually" and that the applier cannot "translate" properly. Normally the applier can work on Genesis 8.1 user IrayUber, since it is the case of the "base" Genesis 8.1 males and females. And make aslo sure that the "Refraction Weight" is 0 in your initial shader (even if it should not matter in WNT81).

Eventually if you want to solve this with me, what you can do you can try on another 8.1 figure which would basically use the PBRSkin shader; If it is not transparent, it very probably comes from your IrayUber setting, if it is, it very probably comes from your Daz Studio version.

As far as I remember, Nothing in the WNT shader implied opacity, so there is not reason why the figure should become transparent, except if it comes from volume phenomena. So the first question is : does it work properply with other Genesis 8.1 figure (using PBRSkin, or even on Genesis 8.1 base female, which works for me tonight)?

On the subject of Daz content for Space:1999, I know there's Moonbase Alpha set build parts out there, but the only ones I've found have been OBJ format that have to be imported into Daz to use them, and the size the various parts import at are all over the place, so I gave up on trying to use that one.  Has anyone made a set of Moonbase Alpha walls and furnitures like this that is already in Daz or Poser scene/prop format, ready to just load into a scene?  I notice that this site over here has detailed diagrams and pictures of what all the wall modules, computer panals, and stuff look like, and what they were meant to be used for.

Where are you looking? The Wearables category appears to eb vendor data, from the metadata supplied with the product, and as such it will not hide in the Content Library 9since that is used for managing categroies) but it should hide in Smart Content and in the various Presets tabs in settings panes.

function said:

crosswind said:

So you unchecked 'Wearables' in the above screenshot and clicked Accept, they were still there ?

Uncheck Wardrobe? I didn't try that but just tried it, they still there and still in the Wardrobe, very stubborn, nothing can be changed.

(Edit: if you mean uncheck wearable in the Saved Files and Accept, yes that's what I did before, no use)

Not all files in the Save Files folder like this, just some products after the re-import metadate, I'm using 4.21.0.5 Pro.

So stubborn... Pls try this: RMB click menu... as screenshot 1;  or RMB click menu... as screenshot 2 - 3 (Remove Reference for all Categories !)
Hopefully it'll work, but I really experienced some very very stubborn ones long time ago, finally I had to directly delete them from the cms database...

I tried to open the EXR and from another rendering in Blender and also in another third party EXR viewer called Veneta. Both displayed the same error, that Photoshop also showed me. I'm getting the feeling, it is not the import plugin, that's causing the issue, but DAZ Studio. What's suprising about it is, that I only have this issue, when I try large renderings.

crosswind said:

So you unchecked 'Wearables' in the above screenshot and clicked Accept, they were still there ?

Uncheck Wardrobe? I didn't try that but just tried it, they still there and still in the Wardrobe, very stubborn, nothing can be changed.

(Edit: if you mean uncheck wearable in the Saved Files and Accept, yes that's what I did before, no use)

Not all files in the Save Files folder like this, just some products after the re-import metadate, I'm using 4.21.0.5 Pro.

Dolce Saito said:

yes, slip is a problem, I tried rigid method before, also has a little bit slip problem. But the cutout map will not slip, so how about put a bloody cylinder ( '>' cutted) inside the limb?

geograft I never used, but yesterday I saw a thread talked about this, here: https://zonegfx.com/forums/topic/any-good-tutorials-for-geografts/

they also talked about Mesh grabber, I thought this is an idea, maybe you can try to modify the limb by Mesh grabber, then save as a custom morph.

I tried cutout before. Unfortunately, it causes light to enter into the figure, so that is a no go. Mesh-grabber is not animatable, so that limitation eliminates the option.

Yes, you are right, cutout doesn't work, light enter problem.

I made a quick test, the Geograft method works, see attachments.

I cutted a small piece of leg surface, bridge to Blender, Boolean it, save as .obj, import the obj to DAZ, use Transfer Utility to add bones on it, then Geometry Editor to assign the graft as the toturial, finally Fit it to the figure, done, no slip anymore. 

This is my first attempt to create a scene in Blender and using it in Daz - so please bear with me if I overwatch something basic. I've created a scene in Blender (a room with a sofa and some more interior) as I am more familiar with Blender for things like that. Then I wanted to import this scene as a whole into Daz. I've tried it in three ways: exporting everything from Blender as OBJ, COLLADA (DAE) and FBX and then importing this three different formats into Daz. With OBJ the whole scene becomes one big object, with Collada and FBX every object in the scene keeps being an individual object in Daz after import which - I found out - is what it is. But both remaining ways(FBX ( collada) lead to some other troubles:

• FBX: all items are misplaced heavily. I applied all transforms in Blender before export as FBX but nothing helps: when importing the FBX most of the objects in the scene are not visible because they are placed somewhere in the nirvana of the 3d space.
• the most promising result comes with collada/dae: all objects are seperated objects and they are placed in 3d space like in Blender. But some of the objects are missing there textures totally (I've not figured out what may be the difference between those which are imported with texture and those without) and the ones which still have their texture seems to have the wrong shaders (as I think in my basic knowledge of daz): When I go to "Surface" I see the base color map applied to "Diffuse color" which confuses me as with Daz models I know I have "Base color" as a choice and some other configurations - I don't have them here. I get these configurations and the base color setting when I choose the surface and then go to my content library and apply the "!Iray uber base" shader... which leads me to the theory that it is not an iray shader?! (although in my render settings I have iray set and I've read that then imported object get iray shaders?!)

So my question is: is there a way to "mass-import" objects of a scene into daz and to assure that a) iray compatible shaders are created for all objects and b) that the normal maps, specular maps etc. are applied to the corresponding configurations of the shader?

It's a birthday gift. My3yr old computer cannot hand the massive jump in DAZ product sizes, even for older stuff which has expanded I guess with metadata. I read the DAZ requirements, I ordered it, had to be Win 11, as Win 10 was going to be upgraded to the system thingsy,  I wanted  it without an MS account and certainly not the one drive. But 2 days after I plugged it in,  I had one of those upgrades which placed those items on my new computer. I don't need a new cloud, DAZ already has a cloud, I don't want my data held hostage by a subscription. Not in business, don't travel, have external hds. I did not realize, nor is it mentioned, that my Desktop was not local, it was "on the cloud". I had uninstalled the app, but there it was, Desktop on cloud. and since I uninstalled it I couldn't do the "Unlink".  All sorts of confusing instructions on the web, as it appears many other users felt the same,  I just moved everything I could find to new folders, onto my personal path, and deleted away any thing that said one cloud. My Desktop is mine, I wish to use it, not have my folders I placed on it for my access, are not to be swept off. I am messy. I don't need a gleaming empty desktop. No where was it mentioned that this One Drive thing owns the Desktop. That really chaffes my hide. Win 11 assumes all stuff should be on the cloud. I think it should say so before installation. Had a heck of time tracking down my new renders, when the folder I put on the desktop disappeared. Hoovered up by the onedrive. Since I already had one previous brand new computer die with the onedrive that time sucked up all the downloaded DAZ and other vendor products---out of my content directory!!!, I knew where to look. So be aware, your desktop may not be yours. It's a sham.  I made my own Deskop path, and I was able to find my personal postwork renders folder and other important stuff. So it is doable. 

A few more things, I have tried in the meantime...

1. uninstalled the exr-io plugin and open the exr again with default exr importer. Got a prompt for how to handle alphas, either as transparency or as alpha channel. in both cases it look broken, but different to my bug experience.

2. installed exr-io, the bug looks the same as before. No prompts on import for further options. After restoring the prompt for import, several options still resulted the broken alpha.

There are 4 objs in the attached zip.

You can import them into Daz Studio. I have modelled them to be around 3 cm tall. Be aware that the objs are in blender scale, so when importing to DS size should be 10000%, or they will end up very tiny.

Moving from one PC to another PC and idk how to bring over all my custom settings. I dont mind redoing everything but I would rather not lol.

Padone said:

To apply mixamo animations, or mocap in general, it is better to use the daz rig. You use mhx or rigify for original animation in blender, though they can import daz animations in duf format. Then if needed you can also use a retargeting tool.

https://github.com/Mwni/blender-animation-retargeting

Richard Haseltine said:

crosswind said:

Technically you can export the simulated result as an obj file and import it as a delta morph with Morph Loader Pro, then dial it and simulate from current status. But usually we don't do that, for instance, if we find the clothing does not drape well, we may add some Initialization Time or tweak dynamic surface a bit, etc...

That isn't extending the simulation as all information about energy and momentum is discarded, it is starting from the previous final shape and will have an abrupt changes of direction compared with the previous simulation (which would be lost on running the new simulation).

Yes, that's true in most cases... the params still need to be tweaked before the 2nd simulation ~ Then the final result might be the same.

crosswind said:

Technically you can export the simulated result as an obj file and import it as a delta morph with Morph Loader Pro, then dial it and simulate from current status. But usually we don't do that, for instance, if we find the clothing does not drape well, we may add some Initialization Time or tweak dynamic surface a bit, etc...

That isn't extending the simulation as all information about energy and momentum is discarded, it is starting from the previous final shape and will have an abrupt changes of direction compared with the previous simulation (which would be lost on running the new simulation).

To apply mixamo animations, or mocap in general, it is better to use the daz rig. You use mhx or rigify for original animation in blender, though they can import daz animations in duf format. Then if needed you can also use a retargeting tool.

https://github.com/Mwni/blender-animation-retargeting

Technically you can export the simulated result as an obj file and import it as a delta morph with Morph Loader Pro, then dial it and simulate from current status. But usually we don't do that, for instance, if we find the clothing does not drape well, we may add some Initialization Time or tweak dynamic surface a bit, etc...

Dodger said:

OK now getting the DAZ rigging done.
I have to learn DAZ JCMs apparently because no amount of futzing with the transfered weight mapping is helping on the elbow.

If you're making items with the aim to sell in the Daz store then yes you have to learn how to create JCMs (or CBS for Gen 9). Daz Studio uses reverse deformation when you import a JCM (and since the JCM already exists in the figure you can just replace it and don't need to create a new one). That means you can pose the figure - fix the poke through in a modeler and then import your morph with reverse deformation which will recreate the exact same look as in your modeler.

Using a push modifier is not a great workaround, as soon as the user fills the modfier with zero weightmap its gone. The push modifiers are useful for when you have a dforce item with a bit of poke through, users can then go and paint the poke throughs away after simulation, same with general poke throughs when posing. A better solution would be to either fix with a JCM when the elbow bends, or to update your base mesh with that area moved outwards, same effect as what you get with the push modifier added but users can't accidentally remove it.