Hi gang,

I really hope this is allowed because although I am talking about 3rd party software products I do think it's fair to say that these can (and will!) drastically enhance the way you'll be using Daz Studio, I'm fully convinced of that.

This week I discovered that Adobe is selling 3 of their Substance 3D software environments on Steam, in specific: Substance 3D Painter, Designer and Sampler (all individually) and because it's on Steam... that means no dumb subscriptions but a perpetual ("one time only") purchase. And in my opinion the price they charge is more than fair as well! I can only comment on the first two products because that's what I treated myself to yesterday and honestly you guys: I am amazed by all the possibilities I now have, this is mindblowing.

But for those who are not familiar with these products...

Substance Painter 3D allows you to paint on 3D models "just like that". It provides a large collection of brushes, material and texture presets which can be used to work on your figure(s). It's fully compatible with Daz Studio though no "out of the box" bridges exist. Still... all you have to do is export an item out of 'Studio' using the Wavefront ("obj") format after which you can then import the mesh into Painter. And that's not all... Painter is also fully capable of adding & using any existing texture maps you may have so that you can change those or create fully new ones if you so desire. One thing to keep in mind here is that this isn't an automated process. So while you set up your new project (and point Painter to your mesh) you'll also have to manually add the texture maps to your project and later on assign them to the appropriate surface groups.

Even so... I am convinced that with this software your days of purchasing texture packs will be over. Because it's honestly that easy to create new textures for whatever figure you're working with. Not to mention... once you're more familiar with its workflow then nothing is stopping you from designing your own skins as well.

Substance Designer 3D then is all about creating, or maybe better put: generating materials. Materials which you will then be able to use in either Substance Painter or apply them to your 3D figures within Daz Studio. Unfortunately I can't fully comment on this part just yet because at the time of writing I simply lack the experience. What I can say though is that if you're familiar with the Shader Mixer within Daz Studio then you'll feel right at home within 'Designer' because it also uses an interface where you add nodes to your work sheet and then customize and connect them to generate shapes, textures, colors and/or a large scale of effects.

Of course the only requirement here is that you will need to have a Steam account and you can only install and use this software with the Steam client installed; this is needed because that's how Steam can verify that you're licensed to run the software. While I can imagine that this may seem like a severe limitation at first I can rest assure you that it doesn't have to be. Steam can even allow you to run certain software offline too if you need / want to. Now, some bias goes into effect here because I've been a very satisfied Steam "fanboy" for quite a few years now but even so... I can honestly say that I never had any issues where I suddenly couldn't run my favorite games or watch my favorite videos.

Although I definitely consider myself biased here I can honesty say that in the few hours that I've been using Substance Painter I already managed to enhance quite a few things in my library. Most noteworthy a 3D figure which I once downloaded for free but which came without textures. Even being completely new to the sofware didn't proof much of an issue to make this figure look much more realistic. I also managed to change some clothing which didn't render properly using Iray and apply much better materials to it which made it look a lot more realistic.

Of course I still have a lot to learn, but even so...  this is truly something else. And with no dumb subscription fee's either!

Alas, thanks for reading and I hope this was useful for some of you.

RiverSoftArt said:

Cheri Lasota said:

Decided to go ahead and reset database and reimport metadata and it finally showed me there was a bunch of assets in Local User Product. I'm removing references from there as I type this. Will try Smart Collections again after I'm finished with that and let you know if it worked. Thanks for the tip!

UPDATE: Got it working again at long last. It took removing everything out of Local User, resetting the database, reimporting metadata, removing another 2000 items from Local User. amd uninstalling/reinstalling Smart Collections, but it's finally done.

Thank you for continuing to help me troubleshoot this. Couldn't have done any of this without you. I promise I won't bug you for at least a whole day. LOL!

I am so glad you got it working!  I am so sorry you had to go through so much effort to get it working, but sometimes DS just gets in a state where I think only the programmers know who to fix it. 

I'm glad I was able to clean up a bunch of filing issues, but super happy I can now use Smart Collections again. I know it will save me boatloads of time in the end.

I did want to mention that I found a workaround for one of the original issues I was having with Smart Collections where it'll randomly freak out and dump hundreds of assets into a Smart Collection for no particular reason. It happens really randomly, but I can tell you it only happens when I select more than one asset at a time to add to a collection. But anyway, the work around is to just get out of the smart collection by hitting the cancel button, opening the collection again, and then adding each item to that collection one at a time only. That seems to get around the glitch somehow or other. If anyone else has this issue and you find a fix for it, let me know. It happens quite a bit for me.

Thanks again!

If you modify a product it is written to the product's .dsx file in /Runtime/Support/, and should be reread on importing metadata - unless it went to a different content directory and so wasn't copied across. Non-product (well, Local user product) chnages get written when you export userdata.

Cheri Lasota said:

RiverSoftArt said:

Cheri Lasota said:

Okay, figured all that out. Please see the attached correct log for my Body Adornments Collection. It definitely hung up for quite awhile and eventually finished up. At least it's not currently crashing. That's something, right?

Would it help if I reimport metadata in Content DB maintenance? I assume if I reset the database, I'd have to reinstall all my collections again.

Do you have a large local user "product"?  The log is showing a LONG time between the messages to "Removing XXX asset from local store: LOCAL USER" and the next log message.  The line hanging things is trying to remove the asset from the local user product (which is a Daz DB call) and it is taking 1.5 minutes or longer for each call to the one line.  I don't see how I can speed that up as that is dependant on DS.  You need to look at ways to clean up the database so it is fast again

Decided to go ahead and reset database and reimport metadata and it finally showed me there was a bunch of assets in Local User Product. I'm removing references from there as I type this. Will try Smart Collections again after I'm finished with that and let you know if it worked. Thanks for the tip!

UPDATE: Got it working again at long last. It took removing everything out of Local User, resetting the database, reimporting metadata, removing another 2000 items from Local User. amd uninstalling/reinstalling Smart Collections, but it's finally done.

Thank you for continuing to help me troubleshoot this. Couldn't have done any of this without you. I promise I won't bug you for at least a whole day. LOL!

I am so glad you got it working!  I am so sorry you had to go through so much effort to get it working, but sometimes DS just gets in a state where I think only the programmers know who to fix it. 

Reimported metadata. I don't have a database backup, or at least I don't think so, unless there are automatic backups.

EDIT: So, I've been trying to manually fiddle with various parts of the metadata files, and I've discovered that any <Asset> entry that was already recognized can be used without an issue, even after stripping off all of its metadata and even if using it in a product that doesn't show its own files. It shows up in the Smart Content as belonging to the Lost and Found category, but it still loads up fine and can be used without an issue.

However, any asset that wasn't recognized before just won't shop up no matter what I do to it. Values from <Support Assets> are recognized and update as well as header items such as Global ID or Author, but no matter what I try with unrecognized Asset entries they just won't show up.

I've deleted the installed files for the example product from the OP, redownloaded it and reinstalled it and files show up. The new manifest files are a carbon copy of the old manifest files. I'm at a loss...
One thing that comes to mind is that I manually assigned categories from inside Daz studio to some of the products that would otherwise be categorized as Lost and Found. I don't know if the product that were affected are the same as the ones that have issues, but that's the only thing that comes to mind so far as a potential issue.

cjfea said:

Hello.  I’m creating my first 3D model in Blender – a set of cabinets.  When I import my model into Daz there are dark smudgy dirty looking lines.  I’ve attached images showing the drawer fronts with 3 textures: a pink base color, a rough oak wood texture, and a glossy metal texture.  The dark line problem is gone with Iray textures with a Glossy Reflectivity of 0 and Glossy Roughness of 1 but extremely apparent with shiny textures.  The dark smudgy lines appear on all parts of the cabinet – doors, cabinet outside frame, etc.

It looks like an issue with your vertex normals.  I would re-open that OBJ inside Blender and double-check that vertex normals are pointing in the exact direction you want: Edit Mode, then click the Overlays options drop-down on the upper-right toolbar menu:

Padone said:

@danielbui78

At diffeo we're studying the mdl code of the daz shaders that's included in the daz studio distribution. The purpose is to make similar shaders for blender so to better import the daz materials. Personally I don't think there's anything wrong doing this, but our contributor Midnight is worried if this is allowed by the DAZ EULA.

Can anyone give an answer please ? I know if I ask to the daz support they'll never reply so I need someone inside daz to ask for us please.

https://bitbucket.org/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/1075/better-material-conversion

I will try to ask around for someone at Daz who can answer this question for you.  I have not read through your discussion thread yet, but you might also consider asking in the Nvidia Iray Developer Forums and/or checking 3D-related patents, depending what exactly you plan to do.

Did you restore the database from a back up or did you reimport metadata?

RiverSoftArt said:

Cheri Lasota said:

Okay, figured all that out. Please see the attached correct log for my Body Adornments Collection. It definitely hung up for quite awhile and eventually finished up. At least it's not currently crashing. That's something, right?

Would it help if I reimport metadata in Content DB maintenance? I assume if I reset the database, I'd have to reinstall all my collections again.

Do you have a large local user "product"?  The log is showing a LONG time between the messages to "Removing XXX asset from local store: LOCAL USER" and the next log message.  The line hanging things is trying to remove the asset from the local user product (which is a Daz DB call) and it is taking 1.5 minutes or longer for each call to the one line.  I don't see how I can speed that up as that is dependant on DS.  You need to look at ways to clean up the database so it is fast again

Decided to go ahead and reset database and reimport metadata and it finally showed me there was a bunch of assets in Local User Product. I'm removing references from there as I type this. Will try Smart Collections again after I'm finished with that and let you know if it worked. Thanks for the tip!

UPDATE: Got it working again at long last. It took removing everything out of Local User, resetting the database, reimporting metadata, removing another 2000 items from Local User. amd uninstalling/reinstalling Smart Collections, but it's finally done.

Thank you for continuing to help me troubleshoot this. Couldn't have done any of this without you. I promise I won't bug you for at least a whole day. LOL!

Hello.  I’m creating my first 3D model in Blender – a set of cabinets.  When I import my model into Daz there are dark smudgy dirty looking lines.  I’ve attached images showing the drawer fronts with 3 textures: a pink base color, a rough oak wood texture, and a glossy metal texture.  The dark line problem is gone with Iray textures with a Glossy Reflectivity of 0 and Glossy Roughness of 1 but extremely apparent with shiny textures.  The dark smudgy lines appear on all parts of the cabinet – doors, cabinet outside frame, etc.

To create these drawer fronts I started with a cube in Object Mode, typed in the dimensions in inches, and then went to Object – Apply – Scale.  In Edit Mode using Vertex Selection I selected the front of the cube and used 1) the Inset Faces tool to create the frame shape, 2) the Extrude Tool to inset the new face, 3) the Bevel Tool to bevel the outside of the frame (Width 2, Segments 2, Harden Normals), and 4) the Bevel Tool to bevel the inside of the frame (Width 1, Segments 1, Harden Normals).  Next, I quickly UV mapped it with Smart UV Project (didn’t apply any Blender materials) to check how the bevel and inset would look with a texture applied in Daz.  I exported it as a Wavefront Obj with “Selection Only Checked” and imported it into Daz.  Also, attached are images of the wire frame, the exact Wavefront Obj export settings, and the Daz import settings.  Does someone know what is causing this problem?  Thanks!

Pickle Renderer said:

Yes you can do it.  Export the .obj file first frame from Blender and import that into Daz.  Now assuming each blender frame has the same number of vertices and they're in the same order, you can import subsequent frames as morphs on the original object.  The WP Guru on YouTube did a tutorial of something similar, though he used Animate2.  You don't need to.   May be useful to find some scripts for importing sets of morphs though, as that sounds really tedious.

Yes. Otherwise I don't think I would be able to access the files from Content Library/DAZ Studio Format. Also, original DAZ installations placed in the same folder work fine, both in Products view and in Smart Content.

Just to make it clear, third party products were working properly before the reinstallation (with both Products and Smart Content being available for them), and they are located in the same master folder as DAZ marketplace products.

I also tried reimporting metadata for said products with no luck.

EDIT: Also something that I should probably mention, only some third party products don't work. I tested all the products that already came with metadata integration and they all worked fine, as well as some products for which metadata was build with third party tools.

Yes you can do it.  Export the .obj file first frame from Blender and import that into Daz.  Now assuming each blender frame has the same number of vertices and they're in the same order, you can import subsequent frames as morphs on the original object.  The WP Guru on YouTube did a tutorial of something similar, though he used Animate2.  You don't need to.   May be useful to find some scripts for importing sets of morphs though, as that sounds really tedious.

My windows installation bricked. After reinstalling on a different hard drive and setting up Daz, I noticed that all of the third party and custom products were being registered, but they were missing all files both in Smart Conent or Prodacts view of Content Library. The metadata still exists, the files can be accessed from Daz Studio Formats view and Daz Studio still recognizes the products in scenes that already use said products.
An example below:
 

I'm using Blender physics to apply softbody implementations using the Diffeomorphic approach: http://diffeomorphic.blogspot.com/2022/01/softbody-simulations.html?m=1

Unfortunately my Daz character looks significantly worse when using the Blender renderers, so I was hoping to import it back into Daz in order to use iRay.

It's ok if it loses all the rigging mechanics etc as no further animation is required, I just need it back into Studio with the softbody animations so I can render. Presumably I'd need to export it from Blender as some kind of mesh? The .obj approach exports a file for every frame which seems like it will be impractical getting that back into Daz.

I'm having enough stability issues on my main computer that I think I have to concede to reinstalling the main OS drive.

My Daz Studio install is on this drive, as are most other programs (although my data/render/scenes libraries are on two other drives) - can someone please provide a comprehensive reminder of what I need to back-up to ensure I don't lose my program customisation/metadata/whatever?

whispers65 said:

felis said:

If I understand right, you would like to make a model of your school.

Daz Studio is not a modeller. You can make some simple operatations, and maybe with great patience you could do something out of primitives. But in my view it would be a a tediuos job with little reward.

My suggestion would be to make your model in a modeller and then import it into Daz Studio. You could then do materials inside DS and render.

For a modeller, two comes to mind. Carrera that can be obtained within Daz store, or blender.

Carrera is to my understanding fairly easy to use, but it hasn't been updated for years, and most likely never will.

For blender many people would say it is way to complicated. Case is blender can a lot, but in my view if you just stick to one task, i.e. modelling, I would say that you in decent amount of time could learn it. The interface has since blender 2.80 got much improved and much more user friendly. And if you are in doubt of something, it is most likely that there will be a YouTube video covering it.

Well, not quite.  I have some of Collective3d's build a room packs.  I was going to take the wall pieces and use that to do the layout of the hallways and stuff.  Then use some classroom props to fill in.  With the wall pieces I can make the room as big as I want without doing any modeling.  Everything else like a gym or something like that I would take the prop and plop it into place.  Basically, kit bash it altogether.  I'll have to knock out a wall here and there to make it work.  So basically, I'll do all the hallways with the build a room stuff and then use other props to fill in the actual rooms.  Hope that makes better sense.

If you have a lot of the same walls you can also make instances of those walls to reduce the load on your system.

@danielbui78

At diffeo we're studying the mdl code of the daz shaders that's included in the daz studio distribution. The purpose is to make similar shaders for blender so to better import the daz materials. Personally I don't think there's anything wrong doing this, but our contributor Midnight is worried if this is allowed by the DAZ EULA.

Can anyone give an answer please ? I know if I ask to the daz support they'll never reply so I need someone inside daz to ask for us please.

https://bitbucket.org/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/1075/better-material-conversion

I have succeeded in the past fitting clothing to a base G8 dev load character, but I'd really prefer to design clothing around one of my existing characters so I know exactly how it will look with all the morphs applied. The character I am using has a few FBMs, as well as being scaled.

Using the transfer utility on this morphed and scaled character is really making a mess, especially in the crotch. My expectation was that if I selected "Current" in the transfer utility source, It would look identical to the unrigged clothing item (at least prior to moving joints and revealing weighting issues). With Reverse Source Shape from target selected, I get the distortion around the crotch. With Reverse Source not selected, It offsets the clothing, and the clothing rig appears to be an unscaled G8 rig.

I also tried to create a single morph that combined all the morphs I was using into a single morph, and then used the "Morph" option, with my single morph selecte, in the transfer utility with and without Reverse Source from Target without luck, It does appear that the morph I made doesn't scale the rig, so the morph looks right when the rig is zeroed, but since the rig is now larger than the morphed character, none of the joints line up.

Do I continue with the single morph method? If so, how to I get the rig transfered from the source multi morph character into my single morph character?

Should I scale up the character to 100% to at least get that out of the equation? It should be easy to scale the clothing item in blender prior to import.

I'm just not sure where to go... or if this is even possible.

Cheri Lasota said:

Okay, figured all that out. Please see the attached correct log for my Body Adornments Collection. It definitely hung up for quite awhile and eventually finished up. At least it's not currently crashing. That's something, right?

Would it help if I reimport metadata in Content DB maintenance? I assume if I reset the database, I'd have to reinstall all my collections again.

Do you have a large local user "product"?  The log is showing a LONG time between the messages to "Removing XXX asset from local store: LOCAL USER" and the next log message.  The line hanging things is trying to remove the asset from the local user product (which is a Daz DB call) and it is taking 1.5 minutes or longer for each call to the one line.  I don't see how I can speed that up as that is dependant on DS.  You need to look at ways to clean up the database so it is fast again.