richardandtracy said:

There seems to be a very common theme with people who can't load stuff, so common it's hard to ignore. The common theme seems to be DAZ Central. There are people who succeed with DAZ Central, but large proportion of those who do have problems & ask about it in the forums use DAZ Central.

It's the whole process that is being presented to new users that's essentially bound to create problems.

At DAZ site, they are given a link "Download Studio", which doesn't download DAZ Studio, but offers to install DAZ Central instead.
When the user has installed DAZ Central, downloaded and installed DAZ Studio and the assets that come with it and starts DAZ Studio the first time, the user is presented with a dialog asking for login credentials in a way that one thinks they should be given.
Having given the login credentials to DS and permission to go online, DAZ Connect within DS starts updating the metadata and 'bugging' the user that the content has not been installed (with DAZ Connect) and makes the user think it has to be installed again, which DAZ Connect does to an other location, taking twice the space on users C-drive (default location)
As any content installed with DAZ Connect takes priority over the installations made by other methods (DAZ Central/DIM/Manual installation), even when DAZ Connect installed content is corrupt, the user ends up with content that does not work and no way to figure out why...

There is no warning or notice explaining that logging in to DAZ Studio, is only needed when one chooses to install content with DAZ Connect within DAZ Studio and if one does choose to do that, there is no point in using the other installation methods.

So Ive exported a few Daz environments to Blender and it usually works perfectly fine with some tweaking.

But I have been trying to export this particular environment (attached) with no success.

In Daz:

• Save as Duf
• Export to Blender with dbz with same name

In Blender

• Import Daz
• Mesh Fitting = dbz (or any other option has same results anyway)

All i get is an empty collection.

@SofaCitizen, I thought I nailed it.

I have found a place with some cars.

These are individual zip files containing *.obj files, also include some texture file, the problem is not easy to import the later into daz studio.

At first the file went too big, then tried another way but it seems not perfect.

Now, what is needed is some background with some road view, I can put that into the viewpoint.

As you can imagine is bad luck again! 

If anyone comes to and read this please help! I am struggling big and I am in no good mood now! 

When you say you can't load it, do you mean that

1. you can't load it from smart content
2. you can't load it from the library
3. or you can't load it from products?

I definitely can load it from the library (Content Library > Daz Studio Formats > My 3D Library > Environments > Landscapes > Multiplane Cyclorama) and Content Library > Products > Multiplabe Cyclorama) but it is probably too old to have smart content metadata.

It is not your setup. The UV mapping appears to have been made from a different version of the mesh. How it got through QA is anyone's guess, and who knows if anyone else noticed, or if they filed a help ticket. This is not some trivial metadata problem or file path error, and correcting it requires tools that are likely beyond the average user. It could literally take years to get officially corrected. I will add my own complaint to the queue, and so should anyone else with the product.

ETA: Looking closely at the promos for the original and the texture add-on, you can see the mismatch when you know where to look, although they are strategically positioned so as to not emphasize the defects. It has been that way from day 1, and somebody knew about it.

You must import in FBX format (OBJ doesn't save rigging).
look here for FBX settings/version to use: https://youtu.be/eRWzMtZViyo?t=2218

Hi everyone,

I would like to use this free robot in Daz3D. It was created with Blender, is rigged and has nice surfaces:

https://open3dlab.com/project/33935/

How would it be possible to convert it / import it to Daz3D with the rigging, surfaces, etc?  I have been able to import it, but without rigging and surfaces.  If you could give me some suggestions, that would be nice!

Thank you for your help!

M.

How do I import Daz stuff into UE5 with the emissives intact?

@SofaCitizen, How you go?

I am trying hard to do some renders, these got displaced after I thought I saved.

And up to this moment there are no freebies around here; in Rendo there are some usable frebies I got, I had to spend some time there.

And now I need to catch some zzz, if I have time I will try again.

Also I saved one tutorial I will follow up and hope this can be useful for a later project.

Unfortunately the BMW and Audi cars are in another format, I can't import into Daz Studio to work with.

Take care buddy.

Sounds like something got re-defined in the metadata. Try re-installing the Genesis 8 Starter Essentials.

Note: Instead of loading the whole character, there is an Anatomy add-on for the Ferocious Beast Whip Mouth, with and without saliva. Ew.

Delete the Whip Mouth and dial out the morphs, and you will be left with the Ferocious Beast Saliva Lips on a normal G8Male.

You can leave the buttons as part of the dress and use the Geometry Editor, in Vertex mode, to select each in turn and assign it to a Rigidity group, then select where it would attach to the dress and make that the reference group for that button. It will follow changes projected to that area but will not distort in the process.

Alternatively you can model one button and import it. Use the Geometry Editor to create a Rigid Folow Node on the dress for each button and aprent a copy of the button model to each follow node - again, that will follow chnages to the node area but rigidly so there is no distortion.

Mada has Youtube videos on both approaches.

Any “alternate rigging” of genesis 8.1 will result in loss of JCM’s thus bad looking joints,

.....Except Diffeomorphic import to Blender with the basic Daz FK rig. (NO conversion to MHX or rigify)

Manually posing the FK  in Blender will be pure torture however you can import Daz poses directly via Diffeo.

Alternatively you can re-rig G81 in blender with Autorig pro($40) and manually create your own corrective morphs with the add-on.

Blender will render Daz scenes & content in both Cycles and EEVEE with non NVIDIA  Hardware ,even on Intel UHD graphics with no GPU at all.

such samples here:

Average render time 16-48 seconds per frame

seansicher_ce107c1d61 said:

Hello, I've run across an issue with using the DAZ Install Manager on the Mac where files will download but then it gets stuck in Ready to Install with "Install Failed". It's not every package, I've been able to successfully download and install content through DIM since this problem started. I've tried the following steps to get these files installed.

1) I've deleted the packages in the Ready to Install tab, and redownloaded them. Same results.
2) I've manually deleted the .zip files and xml files from users/shared/installmanager/downloads and tried redownloading from DIM, Same results.
3) I've manually downloaded the package from the Product Library page. It shows up in ready to install, but then moves back to ready to download in the product updates section. At this point the package is not installed, checking both in the Smart Content in DAZ Studio and in the library hierarchy in My Daz 3D Library. If I click to download from the product updates, it ends up back where I started with "Install Failed".

Any suggestions to other ways I could try to get these installed through DIM or otherwise to be able to install and use the metadata features?

Thank you!

I guess the issue is that you need to allow DIM helper in the System Controls Panel, Security and Integrity and the Integrity Tab
Allow full disk access to the DIM helper and DAZ3DIM.app

Hello, I've run across an issue with using the DAZ Install Manager on the Mac where files will download but then it gets stuck in Ready to Install with "Install Failed". It's not every package, I've been able to successfully download and install content through DIM since this problem started. I've tried the following steps to get these files installed.

1) I've deleted the packages in the Ready to Install tab, and redownloaded them. Same results.
2) I've manually deleted the .zip files and xml files from users/shared/installmanager/downloads and tried redownloading from DIM, Same results.
3) I've manually downloaded the package from the Product Library page. It shows up in ready to install, but then moves back to ready to download in the product updates section. At this point the package is not installed, checking both in the Smart Content in DAZ Studio and in the library hierarchy in My Daz 3D Library. If I click to download from the product updates, it ends up back where I started with "Install Failed".

Any suggestions to other ways I could try to get these installed through DIM or otherwise to be able to install and use the metadata features?

Thank you!

I can't for the life of me seem to export with the bridge without it subdividing automatically. When the "Bake subdivision" box is unticked, I expect the base levels to be exported (that's how it previously worked anyway). Even when ticking the box and choosing either 0 or 1, still subdivides multiple times anyway? Would you be able to tell me what setting might be enforcing this?
On the left is the simple base level but I'm always getting what is on the right, no matter if I choose no divisions or 1 or 2.
It's hard to test because it takes about 10 min to export and import because of this, and it didn't used to do this before as it actually exported the level I set it as.

Okay, to get you started...

Load a wall segment with the parts you want to keep. Select the wall segment in the Scene tab, and switch to the Geometry Editor tool. Go to the Tool Settings tab and expand the Surfaces group. The idea is to isolate the part(s) you want to keep. To include in the selection, click the + sign. You can only delete selected polygons, so invert the selection if needed, then delete.

Take a moment to plan the next steps. Rename the parts left over in the Scene tab (just slow double-click) to give it an appropriate title (this is the Node Label). You will need a folder to save it to if you don't want to mix it in with the originals.You will need to come up with a unique name for each of the parts. The saved part will load in the exact position it is in now, so make sure it is located where you want it to be.

Once you have what you want, you can Save As -> Support Asset -> Figure/Prop Assets. Enter the name of the file (.duf) that it will be saved under, in the content folder of your choice (must be in a Library). The next dialog (Save Options) is a bit daunting. The Asset directory is where the /data folder will be located (top level). Sub-folders are determined by what you put in Vendor, Product and Item Name. Put the original vendor name, since they actually made the parts. Product can be something new to indicate that it is different from the orignal product. Item Name is the internal name used (aka Node Name, not the same as Node Label), and can be the same as Node Label, but sometimes adds more descriptive or technical details. Clear any metadata entries at this point, that can be entered later for all the parts at the same time.

Accept and that's it. Load your new asset to see if it what you wanted.

Here is a custom template for Daz3D users of 3DConnexion

Place the file in any location you save your other configurations.

Open 3Dconnexion Home

click on settings there should be an option under more... to import configuration.

Be sure you are making edits for Daz3D and not another application as shown in the image.

I found this set to be very useful.

The model, indeed, seems troubled for some reason.

I tried to open various files from it via "import" menu. And while I can confirm that I could open .dae, .3ds and .fbx formats, it seemed like something was going wrong with model, though perhaps it could be fixed.

While .obj files were totally broken. However, I could also open .blend in Blender and export to .obj from here, which provided better results. Still, weirdly, when opening all those formats, either some parts of the ship were gone missing, or - in opposite - appeared differently. What a mistery!

Richard Haseltine said:

windli3356 said:

Richard Haseltine said:

All I can suggest is trying to reinstall one or two of the items and see if they then work - but I have no idea what might cause this.

I reinstalled Daz and put all my contents to another driver, that solved the problem, took me a whole 2 days to reinstall all my stuff. i'm pretty sure Daz's postgresql caused all this, it mess up users local enviorment often, before all morph disappear on these products, I got a "log in error' saying my postgresql wasn't linked. by the time I logged in, that's when things starting getting messy.   Daz should really leave their users local enviorment alone.  

I doubt the presence or absence of PostghreSQL would affect morphs or joints - except that if morph packs were installed through daz Studio itself (Connect). But joints and geometry are part of the same package so it would not really be possible to have one without the other due to a missing database connection.

It is simply not true that PostgreSQL "meses up users['] local environment" though ti is true that having Daz Studio work online can lead to downloading bad metadata if it gets uploaded in error (it can also fix the issue once the error is corrected).

Using a mix of installation methods can lead to problems, though again I am not sure how it could allow the geometry to load but not the rigging.

I was saying, right before all this disaster started I got this "can't connect to postgresql" error poped out and than when I log back in after a restart, things don't work the same anymore, I only install 5% of my content(content from 3rd party outside of daz store) thro manual file moving, that's the saftest/cleanest way of installation, why would that cause problem since none of these content even sycned to daz metadata?  

None of those broken product installed thro DIM or manual file moving 

 I am not sure how it could allow the geometry to load but not the rigging.

 

This is for Daz team to know, us to find out, again, it won't even happen if Daz don't "auto merge metadata" randomly to mess with users' self established enviroment.   

jays222 said:

Hello, I've read many many posts about how some users have done this, with many varying opinions and degrees of success. 

I want to: Keep Daz installed on local drive, move ALL content/assets to an external drive. This includes DAZ purchased products, products from other providers, and scenes created by me. I use Daz 4.20.0.17 (current as of today), and use DIM for managing DAZ installs. I am using a Mac in case that matters.

First question: When you save a custom scene which uses many DAZ and third party products, custom textures, morphs from different products etc, and you save the scene (.duf) -- does that .duf file contain everything I need to successfully open that scene again regardless of the drive location of my installed products? OR, does the duf file still require pulling in assets from various library items? (in other words, what exactly is inside a duf file?). One of the issues after my move to ext drive was that when loading my scenes Daz kept asking for many missing files. This surprised me for 2 reasons. A) I assumed .duf files were complete and self contained. B) Even if .duf files are reliant on other library assets, I assumed that DAZ cms would know to manage the new location of the assets, and allow previously created scenes to load correctly without manually having to locate them.

The file contains pointers to the assets, otherwise it couldn't beshaed and would waste a lot of disc space with duplicating content. The pointrs are relative for files in a known Content Directory, just the location withind the directory 9e.g. /data/daz 3d/Genesis 8.1/female/some file.dsf) so as long as the content directories are properly set the files should open. One reason they might fail is having one content directory inside another one.

Beyond the above issue, all of my installed content was available and worked under "Products" (albeit with some broken thumbnails), but in Smart Content nothing would open even though the content seems to be there (again, still with some broken thumbnail images).

How was it installed?

Here is what I did:

1. Made a copy of all assets and put on external drive. Directories at root level are "My DAZ 3D Library", and another path i use for other content "My Library".
2. Changed the paths in Content Directory Manager under "Daz Studio Formats" to point to the above mentioned directories on my external drive.
3. In DIM, changed the path under "Content Path Shortcuts" to point to the external drive location "My DAZ 3D Library".
4. Deleted from my local drive (moved to trash) the library directories mentioned above.

What happened:

• items showed up under products, and do work, but nothing in Smart Content will open when clicked (can't find it). Some thumbnail images blank.
• my saved scenes ask for missing content when opening

I then tried:

• re-importing metadata in Content Database Maintenance (brought back some thumbnails, but solved nothing else)
• reset database (not sure if that was a good idea, but grasping at this point)

So, I now put all my content back where it was, but am getting some weird issues that didn't happen before I started this process. Most notably when opening my saved scenes, everything looks correct, but all custom morphs that used to be available when editing are no longer there.

Apologies for the long-winded question, but:

1. Am I missing or misunderstanding any steps in this process?
2. Or, (I ask fearfully) Am I better off uninstalling everything including the Daz app, install Daz on local drive, re-install products directly on external drive? If I do this, will DAZ automatically install my library to local drive by default, or will it ask me where to put my library? Otherwise I may end up in the same place I am now.

I'm concerned that in either case all my existing scenes will no longer load or work correctly. Any help or suggestions at all are greatly appreciated... Thanks!