Whatever you save from the Daz Studio application will be a ".duf" file, whether it's a Pose Preset , a Material Preset, or a full scene.
Let's say you import a simple cube named "cube.obj", then save it as a Scene Subset named "cube", will create a "cube.duf" file.
Some exceptions are: ".dsa" files (scripts), ".dsf" files (some data files), and of course rendered images (".jpg", ".png", ".tif", etc.

Hello. I would like to know how I can create my own DUF files.

Specifically I would like to import OBJ models and convert them to DUF.

Greetings

Re-importing metadata with DIM, a couple hundred at a time. All Products get fully populated, unlike that first attempt, but no UserData import yet. That will be done at the end, after I back up the cms folder before trying it. Also taking the opportunity to clear problems with metadata that I had not noticed before. The DIM log shows every little discrepancy between what is installed and what the metadata thinks it should be.

MelissaGT said:

Wonderland said:

I'm having issues with older brushes not installing into Photoshop through DIM because they were created pre-CC and have to be manually installed because for some reason DIM refuses to install them into newer versions of PS. And every time Photoshop updates to a new version, you have to reinstall them again (or copy brushes over manually) which is a big pain. 

I keep all my Photoshop brushes in one central location on a separate drive where I can just load them into Photoshop from the "import brushes" menu directly in Photoshop. Nice n' easy.  

I do the same and still use brushes I bought/made in CS3 in Photoshop 2023. It never occured to me to try and use the DIM for this. 

Hi,

I have some basic knowledge about 3d so bear with me if I miss something obvious. I just made a first test to learn how to create some custom clothing in Marvelous Designer and then to use in DAZ.

I exported a "fresh" Michael 8 figure (without any morphs, positioning etc.) as an object, used this figure in Marvelous Designer to create a basic garment for that and exported this garment itself as an OBJ. When I first import this garment into DAZ3D everything looks good (see attached file "garment just imported". When I then use the "Transfer Utility" to parent the garment to the figure with the attached settings the boxershots is paced very strangely (see attached "garment after transfer"). I am not sure but it seems to me that the garment gets wider and is moving a little bit up. Can somebody help me?

I know everyone is telling me it's not so, but I had cause to do it again today and ...

• Bridge over from DAZ to HEX
• Export .obj from Hex
• Import .obj into DAZ at 100% and it's just 1/10th of what it was before.
• Import .obj into DAZ at 1000% and presto! Same-same

Maybe it's just my system or my settings. In the past I've tinkered with the HEX export settings without any obvious change in behavior. It's not a problem, as such, although wierd. It's just a quirk I have to work around, and the work aound is easy.

Wonderland said:

I'm having issues with older brushes not installing into Photoshop through DIM because they were created pre-CC and have to be manually installed because for some reason DIM refuses to install them into newer versions of PS. And every time Photoshop updates to a new version, you have to reinstall them again (or copy brushes over manually) which is a big pain. 

I keep all my Photoshop brushes in one central location on a separate drive where I can just load them into Photoshop from the "import brushes" menu directly in Photoshop. Nice n' easy.  

Uninstalling is painful. I get the following error on every product (a very small, ancient product). It eventually succeeds, but it takes 5 minutes. New or old, always the same error.

2023-05-03 04:24:45.156 [INFO] :: Uninstalling: 70-1 : Treasure Chest & Anchor
2023-05-03 04:29:45.373 [WARNING] :: ..\..\..\..\..\src\dzpostgresqlobjectdatabase.cpp(37): db delete error: ERROR:  canceling statement due to statement timeout
CONTEXT:  SQL statement "UPDATE ONLY "dzcontent"."content" SET "description_id" = NULL WHERE $1 OPERATOR(pg_catalog.=) "description_id""

2023-05-03 04:29:45.373 [INFO] :: db delete error: ERROR:  canceling statement due to statement timeout
CONTEXT:  SQL statement "UPDATE ONLY "dzcontent"."content" SET "description_id" = NULL WHERE $1 OPERATOR(pg_catalog.=) "description_id""

2023-05-03 04:29:45.392 [INFO] :: Uninstall Successful: Treasure Chest & Anchor

--

Any product that did not have DAZ-supplied metadata ends up in LOCAL USER, and categorized as Lost and Found even after re-importing User Data, which restores the Custom Categories, but leaves them in Lost and Found. Re-installing does not remove them from LOCAL USER, and re-importing metadata a couple of times does not correct it. Total fail.

I will start over tomorrow, slowly.

This is a disaster. The custom categories are there, but half are empty. The files are installed, according to DIM, but the Product in Studio is empty. Re-importing metadata for a specific product does nothing, and re-installing never seems to succeed in un-installing it first. Looking at the file list in DIM, tehre are certain shared files that never get removed from the product, so it seems to never finish the uninstall part. Eventually it completes, after maybe 5 minutes. Should take 2 seconds. There used to be a command to re-build that cross-index of shared files (InstallManagerFileRegister.json), but I can't find it. The file gets re-built somehow. Maybe it is all automated now.

Okay, going to go slowly and not try to import 27000 metadata files and 14 User Data files all at once.

I decided to re-import the metadata. I have long been telling users to export your User Data to back it up, which I have been doing regularly. Time to put it to the test, myself. If it works properly, I will have only lost about 10 days of categorization (<100 packages installed, or about 0.36% of the total) since the last export, so I'm not really complaining. Just need to remember to do it more often.

If you want to create an independant figure, you can export the mesh as obj, import that into DS then use the weight mapping tools to rig it.

1. As a SOP, use Genesis Base figure to sculpt your custom figure in ZBrush and import the morph back to Ds by using Morph Loader Pro;  - Search 'Zbrush DAZ' on youtube...

2. If it's a standalone character sculpted in ZBrush, try to use Wrap3D/4D to convert it as a Genesis figure. - Search 'Daz Wrap' ...

Most people will be doomed with 'manual rigging', so not suggested...

Wonderland said:

Richard Haseltine said:

Wonderland said:

Richard Haseltine said:

Wonderland said:

Lately I've been having several big problems with DIM.

1. All newly purchased items show up without their thumbnails and I have to select the entire group each time and click to download missing thumbnails.

Thumbnails have never auto-downlaoded as far as I can recall, certainly it has required a uer action for a very long time.

2. It says "Not responding' so long when trying to download or instal (not just start up) and I keep restarting it but only a few things download or sometimes nothing and stays stuck at Not Responding. There's an option to "restore program" which gets it going again but then everything downloads without metadata and I have to uninstall and reinstall several times until it shows the metadata is installed but... (see 3)

DIM or Daz Studio? Downloading has been a bit iffy recently, though it doesn't cause DIM to hang for me. However, "downloading without metadata" doesn't make sense in DIM - unless you mean installing.

3. The majority of my products are greyed out in Smart Content although they were downloaded through DIM. I have to keep uninstalling and reinstalling items. Even when the metadata icon is dark (formerly checked off) most items still show as greyed out when I open DS. Random products from various generations will be in color and usable and others are not. 

This sounds like a pathing issue, and does suggest you are meaning install rather than download.

Thumbnails used to show up and download automatically in DIM. All the little icons next to products are grey symbols now until I ask it to download thumbnails.

No, it has been confirmed that this is the way it has always been.

DIM hangs often in the middle of downloading or installing. When I click the X to close it, it sometimes gives me the option to restore program. Then everything will download and install but without metadata. That little grey thing that looks like a stack of CDs is either dark grey or light grey. It used to be a checkmark. The light grey ones are installing without metadata (usually old Poser products or V4 and earlier.) But often new products will install light grey showing they don't have metadata installed and I have to uninstall them, close DIM and restart, then reinstall them. But even many of the items that look like they have metadata, won't show up in Smart Content and are greyed out. 

I don't recall ever seeing a restore otpion on a hanging application - this does sound as if soem kind of add-on system tool may be present, and thenmay be a factor in what you are seeing. Given the metadata issue it is possible that something, such as security software as frank suggests, is interfering with the communication between DIM and PostgreSQL. Are the products available under Daz Studio Formats (or Poser Formatsfor Poser cotnent) in the Content Library even when the product data is missing?

The restore thing is part of regular Windows 10.  When a program hangs for too long and you click the X to close it, there's an option to restore if possible. For DIM it lets me restore to download the items but then if I install those items, no metadata installs with it so I have to uninstall them and reinstall or just download them then close DIM, restart and install the downloaded items to get the metadata to work.

I wouldn't trust a feature like that, which I still don't recall seeing - just wait or close now. It sounds very much as if it is losing PostgrSQL in whatever it does.

Some items are greyed out thumbnails with product images and others are just grey with a triangle on it. The only way I've been able to fix anything, a little at a time, is to screenshot some of the grey ones, uninstall and reinstall in DIM. Some of the items that worked before like the Christmas Sleigh stuff are now greyed out and I'm uninstalling and reinstalling. It seems that some items randomly get greyed out later and others install already grey. With the many thousands of products I have, it's a real pain having to constantly uninstall and reinstall products. 

The triangle (in a broken circle) indicates can be installed through DS - it will appear, where the CMS knows you own the product and that it installable through DS, on anything - grey thumbnail (not installed according to the CMS) or coloured. A coloured product icon without the symbol was installed through DS itself. I'm not at all sure how you could get a plain grey thumbnail.

Also, the way it was before, DIM WAS downloading all the icons and thumbnails. Now they show up with no image whatsoever, just grey little circles or something. I never had to download the icons each time, they were somehow automated. 

Both my memory and the developer say this not so, though.

I suspect there may be some crossed wires here - please post some screenshots so we can be sure we are talking about the same things.

Richard Haseltine said:

Wonderland said:

Richard Haseltine said:

Wonderland said:

Lately I've been having several big problems with DIM.

1. All newly purchased items show up without their thumbnails and I have to select the entire group each time and click to download missing thumbnails.

Thumbnails have never auto-downlaoded as far as I can recall, certainly it has required a uer action for a very long time.

2. It says "Not responding' so long when trying to download or instal (not just start up) and I keep restarting it but only a few things download or sometimes nothing and stays stuck at Not Responding. There's an option to "restore program" which gets it going again but then everything downloads without metadata and I have to uninstall and reinstall several times until it shows the metadata is installed but... (see 3)

DIM or Daz Studio? Downloading has been a bit iffy recently, though it doesn't cause DIM to hang for me. However, "downloading without metadata" doesn't make sense in DIM - unless you mean installing.

3. The majority of my products are greyed out in Smart Content although they were downloaded through DIM. I have to keep uninstalling and reinstalling items. Even when the metadata icon is dark (formerly checked off) most items still show as greyed out when I open DS. Random products from various generations will be in color and usable and others are not. 

This sounds like a pathing issue, and does suggest you are meaning install rather than download.

Thumbnails used to show up and download automatically in DIM. All the little icons next to products are grey symbols now until I ask it to download thumbnails.

No, it has been confirmed that this is the way it has always been.

DIM hangs often in the middle of downloading or installing. When I click the X to close it, it sometimes gives me the option to restore program. Then everything will download and install but without metadata. That little grey thing that looks like a stack of CDs is either dark grey or light grey. It used to be a checkmark. The light grey ones are installing without metadata (usually old Poser products or V4 and earlier.) But often new products will install light grey showing they don't have metadata installed and I have to uninstall them, close DIM and restart, then reinstall them. But even many of the items that look like they have metadata, won't show up in Smart Content and are greyed out. 

I don't recall ever seeing a restore otpion on a hanging application - this does sound as if soem kind of add-on system tool may be present, and thenmay be a factor in what you are seeing. Given the metadata issue it is possible that something, such as security software as frank suggests, is interfering with the communication between DIM and PostgreSQL. Are the products available under Daz Studio Formats (or Poser Formatsfor Poser cotnent) in the Content Library even when the product data is missing?

The restore thing is part of regular Windows 10.  When a program hangs for too long and you click the X to close it, there's an option to restore if possible. For DIM it lets me restore to download the items but then if I install those items, no metadata installs with it so I have to uninstall them and reinstall or just download them then close DIM, restart and install the downloaded items to get the metadata to work.

Some items are greyed out thumbnails with product images and others are just grey with a triangle on it. The only way I've been able to fix anything, a little at a time, is to screenshot some of the grey ones, uninstall and reinstall in DIM. Some of the items that worked before like the Christmas Sleigh stuff are now greyed out and I'm uninstalling and reinstalling. It seems that some items randomly get greyed out later and others install already grey. With the many thousands of products I have, it's a real pain having to constantly uninstall and reinstall products. 

Also, the way it was before, DIM WAS downloading all the icons and thumbnails. Now they show up with no image whatsoever, just grey little circles or something. I never had to download the icons each time, they were somehow automated. 

lou_harper said:

The full flight suit has Blender files. I don't know if that helps.

For posing in blender, but not DS. It's not any different from any rigged FBX game character that gets ripped from a game. None will import into DS with rigging intact (I have tried so many times)

follow up:

in less than 10 minutes, added some new verts and exported as obj.  Imported to Daz and used transfer utility with just one bigger morph active.  Changed a few transfer util settings (worked first time and not sure how necessary).   Wow!  New higher vert node has old morph.

Then tried with lots of morphs.  Custom weights for new bones there too. All worked.

And using bridge to Hex for geograft and then OBJ export/import resulted in scale difference as well.  Quick change to 1000 for obj import and all was fine again.

Glad i stopped in here. Thanks again Stitlown. 

That is odd - there should be far more ioptions than that with the Default Resources installed, and you wouldn't be gettign far if it wasn't. try unchecking the Filter By Context box at lower-left, in case it's an issue with the metadata derfining compatibility.

I have never used the bridge, but is you import and export manually,  exporting anything from DS at 100% imports into Hexagon at the same 100% size, and then exporting from hexagon at 100% will import back into DS at 100%.  They have the exact same scale.

Poser on the otherhand,   is a whole different story.

UncannyValet said:

I made some notes about using Strand Based Hair Editor here

Daz3d PAs do not need to make hairs in SBH Editor as they can import curves, apparently.

Thanks for that. It's been a few beta updates since I messes with making SBH and your notes look helpful. The hair in those renders looks great.

daveso said:

UncannyValet said:

I made some notes about using Strand Based Hair Editor here

Daz3d PAs do not need to make hairs in SBH Editor as they can import curves, apparently.

probably an entire different game then. No fair, 

It is unfair (being able to import curves being the least of it). But that doesn't necessarily mean the SBH Editor cannot be used, especially for basic hairstyles, and even more especially for short hairstyles.

If your hairs are looking bad or becoming difficult to style, it could be because:

• Style curve segment lenght is too high 
• Interpolation segment length is too high
• Haircap vertex count is too high (sometimes this is good, sometimes it is bad. It is good if you want to have fine control over hairflow, but bad if your hair style becomes too complicated to style due to too many style curves) 
• Using too high values in Tweak tab (e.g., random root angle, frizz, scraggle). Unless you are making an afro these should usually be used with moderation.

I mention these concepts in that document i linked.