Bring Daz Genesis Characters to iClone - Introductory Content Pack


https://forum.reallusion.com/Topic122474.aspx
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By Visconti - 12 Years Ago

When we first saw Genesis characters perfectly animated inside iClone, in real-time, we automatically knew that an amazing alternative for highly realistic character animation was coming. To let iClone users take advantage of the pipeline benefits, Reallusion agreed to partner with DAZ in order to provide all animators with an introductory content pack at the best value. As promised, Reallusion will continue supporting facial animation for DAZ Genesis characters in the next 3DX5 patch release. So, it's great timing to start when DAZ Studio 4 Pro is still available for free!

Reallusion, Inc.

www.reallusion.com/creative/creative_dazgenesis.aspx

Note. The facial animation for external FBX characters will be available when 3DXchange5.1 is released in this summer.
http://www.reallusion.com/iclone/3dx/coming_features.htmlheight=650&width=800

By bluemidget666 - 12 Years Ago
I think this is a very good partnership for both parties and the end users Smile
By animagic - 12 Years Ago
Exciting news indeed! Smooooth

As Reallusion has obviously more clout than a simple user like me, maybe they could impress on DAZ to take a serious look at the stability of Decimator. I have been trying to reduce the polygon count of hair (which would give the biggest savings), but have not been able to do so due to DAZ 4 crashing all the time when I try to use Decimator. Crazy

Other than RL, DAZ is not particularly responsive when the issue is brought up in forums. Apperantly, this has been simmering for a while without very clear information. A working Decimator would surely be of interest to RL as it would greatly enhance the capability to use DAZ characters in iClone projects and still have some real-time response. Ermm

So we are on the right track! Just a little bit of work on DAZ's side and we are in for a great combo! Look at me: from a skeptic to a DAZ enthousiast! w00t

Note. The facial animation for external FBX characters will be available when 3DXchange5.1 is released in this summer.
http://www.reallusion.com/iclone/3dx/coming_features.htmlheight=650&width=800

BTW, I get a Page Not Found error for the above link. It should be something like this: http://www.reallusion.com/iclone/3dx/coming_features.html.

I'm still a bit concerned: it says Facial Morph Characterization; is that equivalent to facial animation as in facial expressions and lipsynching?

By brothertcoleman - 12 Years Ago
So when I buy this content pack ,its everything I need to do everything thats on the (DAZ Introductory Content Pack Demo Reel )?

I already have 3DX5 and Iclone 5.

By elektron2kim - 12 Years Ago
I upgraded some parts in my DAZ3D Studio recently and bought the Decimator from there as well. Bringing props, vehicles and characters to iClone with great success. I bought this pack instantly and enjoy it already.

So far, I mostly experimented with V4 and props, so the Genesis upgrade is greatly welcomed here. Great product. Over.
By animagic - 12 Years Ago
elektron2kim, are you using the Decimator with DAZ3D version 4? I've just haven't had much luck trying to reduce Genesis hair.
By animatom - 12 Years Ago
he he, Animagic, you said: "So we are on the right track! Just a little bit of work on DAZ's side and we are in for a great combo! Look at me: from a skeptic to a DAZ enthusiast!"
I was other way around; always loved DAZ but skeptic for iClone and now I'm iClone enthusiast.
Is this proof that this combo is on right track or what?
Machinima, or better yet, Anymation is way to go, real time animation is future and we are, my friends, on the first seats...

(ah, I got this "future is bright, I can do anything, including saving whales" feeling as result of good news and first coffee this morning, now I just need to find few extra lives to complete everything I want to do...)
By bluemidget666 - 12 Years Ago
If you are in partnership with Daz could we see a Iclone exporter from within Daz studio or Carrara ?BigGrin
By Paumanok West - 12 Years Ago
bluemidget666 (5/12/2012)
If you are in partnership with Daz could we see a Iclone exporter from within Daz studio or Carrara ?BigGrin


No, because RL invested a lot of resources in developing 3DX5 as a profitable product, and they want you to use that instead.
By bluemidget666 - 12 Years Ago
No, because RL invested a lot of resources in developing 3DX5 as a profitable product, and they want you to use that instead.


This did cross my mind. So maybe a optimized FBX output from Daz might be on the cards or rather a set of tool available in Carrara like the developers tools available for 3D max. See 3DX5 is more than just getting Daz character into Iclone, it opens up the Developers pipeline that was restricted to Max users and that would (I think) benefit Daz and RL.
By elektron2kim - 12 Years Ago
animagic (5/11/2012)
elektron2kim, are you using the Decimator with DAZ3D version 4? I've just haven't had much luck trying to reduce Genesis hair.


Yes. I Use DAZ3D 4 Pro, 64 bit. I have been using it mostly on V4 hair and meshes, but after reading your question here, I got two DAZ program crashes in a row with some Genesis hair I intentionally aimed Decimator at.

However, the Hampton hair worked for me. Guess the correct linking of the nodes could be a factor and obviously theres a bug as well when a crash occurs.

By animagic - 12 Years Ago
Thanks, elektron2kim. I have the Hampton hair now so i'll try it out.
By sbaerman - 12 Years Ago
Dissapppointig.

a) DAZ Content is only structured if you buy the newest content ! Otherwise you go crazy finding the stuff you created

b) all characters imported from DAZ cannot be animated in the face. This is disabled :-(

By bluemidget666 - 12 Years Ago
a) DAZ Content is only structured if you buy the newest content ! Otherwise you go crazy finding the stuff you created

b) all characters imported from DAZ cannot be animated in the face. This is disabled :-(


Daz content structure in Daz studio is something else I agree ..

The facial animation stuff is coming in 3DX5 just have to wait a bit ...
By bsperan - 12 Years Ago
sbaerman (5/13/2012)
Dissapppointig.

a) DAZ Content is only structured if you buy the newest content ! Otherwise you go crazy finding the stuff you created

Content Management can be a real headache with DAZ Studio. At least version 4 has the Smart Content system, even if it only works with the newest stuff. Older versions of DAZ did not have that luxury even. DS does seem to have a sharp learning curve, too.

Unfortunately, with the recent changes on the DAZ website, most of the forum content is gone - including a lot of tips and helpful advice. May I suggest some helpful DAZ articles and tutorials? The following is from the DAZ Knowledgebase and applies to version 4.

* Content Configuration in DAZ Studio 4

This next one is part of the official DAZ 3D Docs, though it applies to DS versions 2 and 3. However, principles 1, 2, and 3 still seem to apply to using older content in version 4. In particular, principle 3 is important: Most content is in Poser format, not DAZ Studio format, so most stuff in the Content Library will be found in the Poser folder.

* Understanding Content Installation in DAZ Studio

I might also recommend a series of videos for version 3. (Mileage may vary, due to being for an older version): DAZ Studio for Beginners. In particular, I found Tutorial Number 5: Advanced Content Management to be useful.

There are other methods and tutes on organizing content, such as:

* Reorganizing Your Content in DAZ Studio
* DAZ Studio Content Management Tips

Even if these are for version 3, these are still useful in understanding how content is organized and how to organize older content to make it easier to navigate and use.

Myself, I originally purchased DAZ Studio 3 Advanced as part of the "3D Essentials Bundle". So I have the option of using version 3 and version 4 and can "Migrate" my old content database from version 3.

BTW: If you can't find the Content Library in version 4, you can get it to appear by clicking Window->Tabs->Content Library. You can then drag it to the top of the Smart Content pane on the left and it will "dock" to the top of that pane. Once you've positioned and resized the panes to your liking, you can use Window->Workspace->Save Layout As (F4) to save the layout.

animagic (5/11/2012)
As Reallusion has obviously more clout than a simple user like me, maybe they could impress on DAZ to take a serious look at the stability of Decimator. I have been trying to reduce the polygon count of hair (which would give the biggest savings), but have not been able to do sodue toDAZ4 crashing all the time when I try to use Decimator. Crazy

sw00000p (5/12/2012)
@Animagic,

Daz hair is NOT simple polygon strips like iClone!
Realistic Hair comes with a Price! Try and poly reduce Realistic.... MAYA HAIR!

One solution:
Remodel it with "TopoGun's" Tube Tool!
Very nice results!.

I recently came across this offsite forum thread which suggests using certain powerful plugins for 3dsmax as a "better way to bring the polycount down". Apparently, the Decimator "tend to leave the mesh a bit hacked" while these plugins do the job while "still preserving the structure of the mesh".

PS: TopoGun can be found on topogun.com. (Searching for "Tube Tool", I had trouble finding it at first... Tongue )
By animatom - 12 Years Ago
bsperan, thanks a lot. This is very useful.
Yes, with old DAZ forums tons of great materials gone away, and from now on I will grab whole sites I visit and find useful to have them offline. Starting from your links.
By bsperan - 12 Years Ago
animatom (5/27/2012)
...Yes, with old DAZ forums tons of great materials gone away, and from now on I will grab whole sites I visit and find useful to have them offline.

I started using the internet back in '93. And I've seen a lot of websites disappear over the years. It's sad, really. Crying And sometimes, like with DAZ's website restructure, a lot of data is lost.

As such, I've gotten into a habit of grabbing stuff on the Internet that truly interests me, such as how-to pages and tutorials, by saving them locally. I used to save them as .html, but that often creates a separate folder of images and stuff. Now I prefer to save as a single "web archive" file or .mht format in either IE or Opera.

As for grabbing entire sites: It's a hassle, takes up a lot of HD space, and it's a big drain on the website's bandwidth and other resources. (Websites generally frown on it's use.)

Alternatively, you might consider using the Internet Wayback Machine or www.archive.org. It's amazing what it can do (and other stuff it hosts, such as public domain works). It has archives of many old websites which are long gone and can show previous versions of even existing websites. Sometimes I'll use it to grab a page from a website that disappeared.

Unfortunately, Archive.org does not catalog all web pages. And some pages it has it won't show due to a "robots.txt exclusion". Sadly, it does not have DAZ forum pages.

However, you can use Google's web page cache to read old DAZ forum pages. Next time you do a Google search, hover your mouse to the right of a search result. A panel will appear with more info and possibly a preview. There you will find a "cached" link. Click it to see an archived copy Google saved the last time it crawled the page.

BTW: I see from the DAZ Introductory Content Pack page on the CS that it comes with a lot of stuff. If purchased seperately, the Genesis Starter Bundle, Ethnicity for Genesis Bundle, aniMate Martial Arts Kicks, and aniMate Belly Dancing for V4 would come to a total of $115.80. And that's not including the extra content it comes with in iClone Format.
By animagic - 12 Years Ago
DAZ is really brilliant in screwing things up. Since I'm using DAZ Studio more now (or trying too), I was also looking for the existing forum. Many, many links on other websites that refer this forum of course no longer work. I was looking for information about Mimic (the product) and even DAZ's own links don't work anymore.

It's like pulling teeth to find a straight answer (everybody's just in awe about the new forum...), but finally, finally, somebody asked the question and got a response. The former forum is at: http://forumarchive.daz3d.com. So at least the old information is accessible, but the Search function gives an error, so finding it is another matter.

It would be very simple to program a redirect from forum.daz3d.com to forumarchive.daz3d.com, since the new forum is at www.daz3d.com/forums, but that would be too convenient.

By Paumanok West - 12 Years Ago
animagic (5/27/2012)Theformer forum is at: http://forumarchive.daz3d.com. So at least the old information is accessible, but the Search function gives an error, so finding it is another matter.


For searching, have you tried Google "site:/domain name/ /search terms/" ?
By bluemidget666 - 12 Years Ago
I can not remember the name of it off the top of my head but Firefox has a plugin that can grab the page you are on and save it and index it and lots of other cool stuff with it

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/zotero/?src=cb-dl-users

By animagic - 12 Years Ago
Paumanok West (5/27/2012)
animagic (5/27/2012)The former forum is at: http://forumarchive.daz3d.com. So at least the old information is accessible, but the Search function gives an error, so finding it is another matter.


For searching, have you tried Google "site:/domain name/ /search terms/" ?

I haven't; thanks for the tip!

By Paumanok West - 12 Years Ago
animagic (5/27/2012)
Paumanok West (5/27/2012)
animagic (5/27/2012)The former forum is at: http://forumarchive.daz3d.com. So at least the old information is accessible, but the Search function gives an error, so finding it is another matter.


For searching, have you tried Google "site:/domain name/ /search terms/" ?


I haven't; thanks for the tip!


sorry for the lame slashes -- I was trying to avoid generating emoticons

For everyone's general reference:

http://www.justice.gov/google_user_help.html#restricted_search

Note: This will send you to the Department of Justice. No guarantee you'll ever get out. Ermm

But seriously, this approach makes an *excellent* alternative for this very forum when you can't get good results with the Forum's own search function. Wink
By reallusion_20120303154843592 - 12 Years Ago
@Visconti
Where can I find further information about 3DX5.1 (and exporting for facial animations?)
your link does not work...
http://www.reallusion.com/iclone/3dx/coming_features.htmlheight=650&width=800

And... do you mean by facial animations posig of face parts, eye movements, mouth expression and so on?

I looked for ways to do this with the current 3DX5 and found none... (are there no workarounds)?

Thanks
By moogaloonie - 12 Years Ago
OK, I've got one more day to buy 3DXchange5 on sale, and I'm not sure whether to get this bundle now or wait until I can better afford it...

Do I need this bundle if I do not plan to use the Genesis figure? I use PoserPro/D|S4 and would like to convert my older pre-Genesis figures to iClone format (for my own use). If I'm still using figures like Posette, James, or Victoria, is there anything in the Daz Introductory Content Pack I'd wish I had?

Also, when we get facial animation, will it be limited to Genesis, or will it work with any figure exported from D|S?

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
I have 3DX5 and I cant do Facial animation with imported DAZ characters either.

Is there something Im missing or is it sill not an available feature?

It sucks to have such Vivid characters with frozen faces, I can only use them as stunt doubles!!w00t

By animagic - 12 Years Ago
rcsinger29 (6/10/2012)
I have 3DX5 and I cant do Facial animation with imported DAZ characters either.

Is there something Im missing or is it sill not an available feature?

It sucks to have such Vivid characters with frozen faces, I can only use them as stunt doubles!!w00t

One more time then: facial animation of DAZ characters will be possible through a future free update.

Has been discussed repeatedly, for example here: https://forum.reallusion.com/Topic125133-299-1.aspx.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
animagic (6/10/2012)
[quote]rcsinger29 (6/10/2012)
I have 3DX5 and I cant do Facial animation with imported DAZ characters either.

Is there something Im missing or is it sill not an available feature?

It sucks to have such Vivid characters with frozen faces, I can only use them as stunt doubles!!w00t

One more time then: facial animation of DAZ characters will be possible through a future free update.

Has been discussed repeatedly, for example here: https://forum.reallusion.com/Topic125133-299-1.aspx.[/quote]

 

I understand the redundancy frusteration, but in any forum, thousands and thousands of posts and multiple topics covering the same thing exist. between the time I asked this question and I reviewed this topic, I had found in another thread where this was stated, but you cant expect someone to read every post of every related forum before asking a question,

 

Sorry.

By maxieonline - 12 Years Ago
RCSinger, until facial animation/lipsynch will be available in iClone, you could do the lipsynch in DAZ 4 (it must be the 32 bit version), for instance on a green background, and put the talking face/body on a track in your video editor, chromakeying the green background.
Happy learning and film making!
Martina
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
maxieonline (6/12/2012)
RCSinger, until facial animation/lipsynch will be available in iClone, you could do the lipsynch in DAZ 4 (it must be the 32 bit version), for instance on a green background, and put the talking face/body on a track in your video editor, chromakeying the green background.
Happy learning and film making!
Martina

Can you run the 32 bit in windows 7, I have the 64 installed, but I havent tried to use the 32. Some 32 bit apps screw up in win 7

By Peter (RL) - 12 Years Ago
rcsinger29 (6/12/2012)
Can you run the 32 bit in windows 7, I have the 64 installed, but I havent tried to use the 32. Some 32 bit apps screw up in win 7

You can run the 32bit version of Daz Studio 4 in Windows 7 64bit. For a long time it was the better option as the Daz Studio 64bit version was a bit unstable. Now it's much better though.

By jamijrodca - 12 Years Ago
Hi guys, Im a DAZ user and I already have most of the bundle content, but Im not -yet- an IClone User .   Do you know if I can test the DAZ integration with the iClone Trail and my Daz content?

Any DAZ content can be imported ? or the iClone is a special version of DAz characters?

What are the steps to import them? I couldnt find an import option in IClone trial

Thank you!

By animagic - 12 Years Ago
jamijrodca (6/15/2012)
Hi guys, Im a DAZ user and I already have most of the bundle content, but Im not -yet- an IClone User .   Do you know if I can test the DAZ integration with the iClone Trail and my Daz content?

Any DAZ content can be imported ? or the iClone is a special version of DAz characters?

What are the steps to import them? I couldnt find an import option in IClone trial

Thank you!

Welcome!

Import into iClone requires a separate application called 3DXchange. There is a trial version for that as well: http://www.reallusion.com/download.asp. It says it's the PRO version (which you need), so you should be able to test this out.

The character import works best for DAZ Genesis. You need to export as FBX from DAZ and then import into 3DXchange. In 3DXchange there is a conversion step. On the right is an option for Non-standard Character. Select that and then select the Profile for DAZ Genesis.

There is more about this process here: http://www.reallusion.com/iclone/3dx/3dx_features_character.aspx. There are also tutorials, but I don't have a link handy.

Note that there is currently no facial animation; this will be available in a future free update.

By jamijrodca - 12 Years Ago
Thank you! I will try this right away!

How does  IClone handles facial animation? does it use bones? or morphs?

In bones case,  I imagine somehow the Daz characters will receive extra-bones and rigging

when imported to IClone?

Thanks

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
How do you get the textures to carry onver from daz?

I do the whole shader baker thing and the textures from the cloths and skin carry but not the eyes, lips and eye lashes.

It says they are available in the "root" folder and they are there but cannot be loaded because they are not in iMaterial format.  

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Is there a problem with the Michael 5 and Victoria 5 models being imported into 3dx?

Every time I import my FBX into 3dx, the hierarchy loads but the model is completely invisible, also, there is a "file input error" message upon loading.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
ok, I purchased M5 and V5 during the sale and now. 3dX will not load any new characterrs I create in DAZ.

Ther previous characters I created still load fine, but any new character crashes 3Dx or the file loads but the character is invisible??

By Cricky - 12 Years Ago
rcsinger29 (7/6/2012)
ok, I purchased M5 and V5 during the sale and now. 3dX will not load any new characterrs I create in DAZ.

Ther previous characters I created still load fine, but any new character crashes 3Dx or the file loads but the character is invisible??


Try re-sizing all images to 1024x1024 or 2048x2048. Try the smaller 1st, and don't select the adjust materials automatically when importing. You can always adjust and embed after import.

Go into the export folder you used for DAZ, usually FBM that matches the character name, and re-size your images to something that is more reasonably sized. It's likely the output size from DAZ is 3000x3000 regardless of the size you say you want.. FBX export from DAZ Studio is not quite stable.

The version you are using would help answer also, as DAZ has recently released Studio 4.5 in two separate versions.
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
4.5 is the version I have now.

The textures are 512/512 I believe, there is also a file import error.

 

edit: these are the errors when baking RTR Fiery Genesis

ERROR: 3Delight Process exited abnormally: "C:/Program Files/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4/bin/tdlmake.exe -ushort -bakeres 512 -nomipmap C:/Users/Scott/AppData/Roaming/DAZ 3D/Studio4/temp/1_SkinFace.bake C:/Users/Scott/AppData/Roaming/DAZ 3D/Studio4/temp/1_SkinFace.tif"

tdlmake: cannot open input file 'C:/Users/Scott/AppData/Roaming/DAZ 3D/Studio4/temp/1_SkinFace.bake'

tdlmake: error while making texture file

 

Also, when you purchase a bundle such as M5, rathr than having one installation package, each individual product must be installed individually, the product, then the metadata, blah blah. It doesnt indicate an order to install, is this a potential problem, such as installing the metadata before the actual product?

 

edit 2: Reinstalled daz 4.5

Log fine error upon export

Error exporting file: C Exception: Memory Access Violation - Attempted to read memory at address 0x00000000
Failed to export file: C:\Animation Assets\Characters\sci fi trial.fbx
 Unhandled exception during operation

 

When saving the Daz file, upon close, launch, and reopen file, some of the textures cannot be found.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
I uninstalled Daz 4.5 and installed 4.0 XX and it works now??

Related Question:

I built a "superman" character using Michael 5 in Daz, colored his skin (I dont have supersuit) added the elvis cape, and created a decent looking superman for iClone.

I cannot load the texture in photoshop to add the superman logo to the torso and I pasted it to the cape but it did not carry over.

Is it a no-no to upload the iAvatar (zip) since it was created from purchased Daz content? Not to sell, just to let others have it if they like (freebie) and to see if someone else can add the logo?

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
I got the logo on the cape

But still cant get it on the torso, I tried the layer tool in Daz but it crashed

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Made a Batman character also,

Michael 5 "Heroic"

Skin Coloring

Briefs

Free Batman Cowl fron Turbosquid

Torus and Capsules from 3D Blocks

Elvis Cape Free from Marketplace

Image from Google

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
I have updated the batman and he looks a ton better, I got the logo on the superman, and am now trying a custom texture job for spiderman.

Sorry if I sound like a goob, but I thought they turned out well, I plan on doing a short animation with them and posing.
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Massive need question.

The Daz cape for supersuit is a boned mesh, can this be imported to iclone as a non human character? Allowing full cape animation in iclone?
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Ok, here are the updated characters

Do they suck?

Are they Awesome?

Does anyone really give a rip??

I just want to see what y'all think

 

By bluemidget666 - 12 Years Ago
They are Awsome dood love the colours ... very catching Wink
By MrStockboto - 12 Years Ago
You've done a wonderful job with those characters. They look great, coloring, textures, body features, all spot on. Looking forward to your continued endeavors.
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Have they fixed the problems with decimator?
These are VERY high poly characters. I want to have some that are more animation friendly.
By animagic - 12 Years Ago
Your characters look great!

As to Decimator, I hope it gets fixed, but I don't know if it has yet.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Superman isnt ""TOO"" bad but batmans poly's SUCK!!!!!

For slow movement and stop shots its pretty awesome but I really need him cut in half or more for RTA.

I have a great story in mind but getting it in motion is going to be a long process without some decimation!!

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Never heard of it, I'm still trying to learn all this stuff. Decimator is the only one I knew about. And it's a daz product.
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
I sincerely request you pardon my profound nooberance, I have been at the hospital with my mother since Sunday night and haven't had but about 6 hrs sleep.

Yes, I have considered using a "proxy" (double).
My mind is very fatigued.

I don't currently have a suitable replacement for either of them.
And there's, ahem, about 7 more to go.
There will be one scene where I will be using 10 or more in one shot.
Some of them will be generic but several will be specific.

Side note, does anyone have a decent spiderman head?
I have a suitable one, but standing beside superman and batman it looks like a Walmart Halloween costume. Not ready to dig into my pocket for turbosquids model.
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
First attempt at Proxy

Will it fly??

 

200K Versus 20K

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
ROFL!!!!!!

Ahem, ya,

This wont work

I need some way to cut the origonal models down..

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Well, what do I do form here?

Remember, I am as new to this as a bird in water.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
The poly count of the model on the left reduced to a more RTA friendly value.
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
What is the deal with the finger and hand animation in iClone with imported Daz characters?
It's like the axis' are off or something, when you try to close the hand to a fist, the fingers break toward the thumb??
By AverageJoe - 12 Years Ago
rcsinger29 (7/13/2012)
What is the deal with the finger and hand animation in iClone with imported Daz characters?
It's like the axis' are off or something, when you try to close the hand to a fist, the fingers break toward the thumb??


There's a 3DXChange tutorial video showing how to tweak the T-Pose for DAZ characters, which covers the hands and finger positions.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Spiderman??

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Custom Characters Created with DAZ Studio

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Blender has a decimator in it and I just used it to cut a very high poly head from 600K to 8k poly's
By RB3006 - 12 Years Ago
ohh, if also some pics of my daz custom characters. They have between 40 and 60. 000 Polys..

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Mine are ahem...

Well, the face count of that pic I posted was 960K

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Somebody who knows how to operate max???

Please help me figure out how to "apply" the mesh changes after calculating using the ProOptimizer?

 

Edit: I have a 151K model and I have applied Pro Optimizer on it, I then export fbx and oprn in 3dxchange. I can tell that the modifer has had an effect because the model is no longer smooth, but the face count in 3dxchange is still 151K?

Any help?

By animagic - 12 Years Ago
sw00000p is the man for Max questions and answers... He's been in a good mood lately...Tongue

As to the smoothness difference, that may just be a matter of applying Auto Smooth in 3DXchange. Also, does Max count polygons or triangles? One polygon (with four sides) is converted into two triangles by 3DXchange.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
I patiently await word from the master!!!

I have spent most of this weekend working on custom textures for Spiderman.

I have now created 4 Avatars and there is some disagreement as to which one is the best.

I think the far right is the best, but my family and a few others claim that the first 2 are the best??

 

BTW, this model was created using FREE content.

Genesis base, pics from the net and boots.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Can you use the existing Daz rig and just weight paint it or must you delete the existing rig and skin using biped?
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
ok swoooop,

    When I apply the skin modifier to the existing daz rig, then select edit verticies and click to activate envelopes, it applies weighting, but uhm!!!

like this

what should I do?

Basically, I am asking you to point me in the direction of a really good weight painting/enveloping tutorial.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Yes I can

I can also type

Skinning mesh 3ds max biped

Rigging 3ds max

and many other phrases

They send me all over the place and mention adding the biped rig to a mesh with no bones. Tails bells and whistles

I am asking for either instruction from you, or a "good" tutorial link from you because just as in all things, the road has many many paths, many of which lead you in the WRONG direction.

I have already optimized these characters to a more RTA friendly value, but now I have to get them in motion again, some of which were reduced by 75-85%.

 

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
The problem is that as soon as I select "edit verticies", some bones have weighting (not all of the verticies and not in the right place) and some have none at all. Adjusting the "marker" doesn't change the weighting and painting only paints blue and yellow. It's not trouble, it's lack of knowlege and lack of "road map" for the thousands of buttons and commands.
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Does the fact that "some" weighting is already applied to the Daz rig cause a problem?
When you import the Daz fbx, the skin modifier loads automatically. When attempting to export after using pro optimizer, max automatically removes the skin modifier before export. If you apply it yourself, or you don't remove it, some weighting is already applied. How do you get rid of the existing weights and start all over?
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Lol. I'm not procrastinating, I'm just asking the questions that came about as a result of the 3 hours I spent messing with this last night.
Plan on working some more tonight.
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
3 hours involved watching tutorials, tinkering with the tools, trying different things, reading, clicking the wrong thing and having to fumble around trying to get back in the right "mode".

One, uhmm, 2 more questions;

1.) When you decimate/optimize a mesh as a whole, is there a problem (or potential problem) around the joints? e.g. certain polys crossing from one bone area to another?

2.)the genesis clothing and specifically the supersuit, are as attached props to the genesis base. when imported into max, there are 2 meshes, the genesis model and the clothing. each is selectable and transformable individually. How does this apply?

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Now thats what Im talking about,

Thanks Swooop!!

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Ok

Using the methos you described, I wsa able to (quick job, just experience) eliminate the rubber arms from the first pic. I ended up with a functional character.

I did not properly weight the areas between the joints and the resulting fbx had sharp distortion between the joints, (this is absolutely my fault).

Is there a "circle select" or something other than "box select" or selecgint the verts 1 by 1?

The main problem is this:

After I decimate/optomize the model, is I exoprt immediately, the polys are reduced by roughly half, but when I add the skin modifier, it removes the optimizition and reverts back to the origonal poly count.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
It's not that I didn't try, actually I did and the knees, wrists, and elbow joints were perfect.
The shoulders, feet, and hips were not weighted properly because the only selection methods I found were individual vert select or box select.

Also, you have to be able to build a wall before you build a house. I did this to make sure I was making progress, then I posted my initial results (progress), and asked if there were alternate selection methods.

Alternate also, as I had mentioned earlier, the clothing is a seperate mesh and the boots were in the way of the feet. Yes, I can move them and complete the weighting, but I wanted to get clarification on alternate selection methods and what to do about the clothing. There are thousands of hidden and otherwise useless verticies in the figure behind the clothing.

You are helping me a ton and I sincerely appreciate it.

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
I exported the supersuit cape (only 5 functionable bones, Daz uses morphs for most cape animation), imported to max, deleted the Genesis rig, added 2 more bones, adjusted 2 non functional bones, painted, and got a wworking cape, again, it's not complete and has some definate flaws, but I understand just a little bit more about this now.
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Lol, I am still doing that too. I chose a flat surface to practice on. I also wanted to test the option of rebuilding the rig versus just using the existing Daz rig.

The point is you are helping me learn period. Spiderman is going to get rigged, ahem, skinned; I promise, your efforts will be fruitful.

Dude, why do you do that???
Your information and what you have posted is priceless to me.
You said yourself it takes "MUCH PRACTICE", i am practicing. I was also awaiting a reaponse to the question that i asked regarding the oprimization being lost when i applied the skin modifier. I will end up ultimately building my own rigs and skinning static meshes due largely if not completely to you.
Please repost
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
OH Swoooop???

Oh Swoooop????

Look what you did!!!!!!

http://youtu.be/FgUUr2W3mVE

 

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago

all between 26 and 39K

By RB3006 - 12 Years Ago
Hi,
very nice, but it looks that it was as small holes and cracks the shirts.
Robert
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Updated and Added

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
Kustom Kano

By RB3006 - 12 Years Ago
looks great ... now only waiting for facial update 3DX ...
Robert
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
When is it coming??
By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
HAHA

 

By rcsinger29 - 12 Years Ago
lol, because the whole premise of the video is that it appears as though they are going to fight, then they pull out controllers and play a video game.

Theres actually a second part that I'm going to do that will have not have any video game footage.

It wasn't meant to be a top rate production, it was meant to be humerous.

Glad you're talking to me again though!!

BigGrin

By RB3006 - 12 Years Ago
good to know.. BigGrin
By pintorxx - 11 Years Ago
when importing an image Iclone 3d daz 3DX. Figure out naked without clothes. and do not tell me to do?
By doubledutch - 9 Years Ago
I see DAZ 3D have Genesis 3 now.
Is this supported in 3DXchange 6?
By vidi - 9 Years Ago
Of course . 3D xchange is not only a DAZ Figures converter . It support any kind of biped rigged mesh
By doubledutch - 9 Years Ago
vidi (6/27/2015)
Of course . 3D xchange is not only a DAZ Figures converter . It support any kind of biped rigged mesh




And is there a DUF-key for facial animation?

I will first see and shall wait for the trialversion of it.
By vidi - 9 Years Ago
G3 has now Bones in her face and you can make a expression setup  self.
 save it as template and you can it use  for all another your G3 as well .
By Kelleytoons - 9 Years Ago
How does 3dxchange differ from the Daz genesis extension? If I have change do I still need the facial pipeline pack (the only way you can get genesis extension).
By Rampa - 9 Years Ago
mike_20091214085613313 (9/10/2015)
How does 3dxchange differ from the Daz genesis extension? If I have change do I still need the facial pipeline pack (the only way you can get genesis extension).


Glad to see your searching the forums for goodies. You may also end up with some outdated info, so try and find more recent references if you can as well. Smile

The DUF and T-pose files are all you need, and if you have 3DXchange Pro 6.2, then you don't need them at all. It's even more automagic!

If your using an earlier version of 3DXPro, then download them for free here:
https://forum.reallusion.com/236607/Daz-Genesis-1-2-DUF-Files-Download-Now-For-FREE

By Kelleytoons - 9 Years Ago
Thanks for the reply -- I *am* trying to read as much as I can, but it's a lot to absorb all at once.  My main goal right now is to get some kind of clear idea on what I need to purchase (while I still have a half-off coupon :>Wink.

So since I'm going to buy the latest Xchange I guess I'm good to go.  (I need as much automagic as I can get -- at my age time is far more important than money <G>Wink.
By Kelleytoons - 9 Years Ago
Hmmm, must be particularly stupid, but there was nothing even *close* to automagic when I tried opening up a Genesis 3 character FBX file.

Perhaps I do need those two files after all, even though I'm using the demo of 6.2, but without them it was a mess, giving me all kinds of errors and making me assign bones manually (quite unlike bringing in a BIP file from Max).

I'll download those files and give it a shot again.  Sigh -- I'm too old for this.
By Kelleytoons - 9 Years Ago
Ah... nevermind, it was a Genesis 3 character (which apparently isn't supported yet -- all of these many file changes are driving this old man crazy.  Between G5 and G6 and now Genesis 1, 2 and 3 I'm about out of what little mind I had left).

Yes, the Gen 2 comes in just fine, with no problems.  So thanks (I guess I need to try a Gen 1 figure just for perversion sakes).
By Rampa - 9 Years Ago
Here is a really good site for free Genesis 1 and 2 clothing:
https://www.wilmapsdigitalcreations.co.uk/introduction.php

And here is a site with all kinds of free DAZ goodies:
http://www.sharecg.com/b/21/DAZStudio
By CaseClosed - 9 Years Ago
rampa (9/10/2015)
Here is a really good site for free Genesis 1 and 2 clothing:
https://www.wilmapsdigitalcreations.co.uk/introduction.php


Nice!  
Wouldn't also be nice if we could just fit a dress onto a CC character, and assign it as soft mesh, then just let it drop and hang on the character?  Haha, I know, dreaming. But, is there a way to select the character mesh as a collision object rather than using geometric collision shapes?  Haha, I know, dreaming again... right?



By Rampa - 9 Years Ago
CaseClosed (9/10/2015)
[quote]rampa (9/10/2015)
Nice!  
Wouldn't also be nice if we could just fit a dress onto a CC character, and assign it as soft mesh, then just let it drop and hang on the character?  Haha, I know, dreaming. But, is there a way to select the character mesh as a collision object rather than using geometric collision shapes?  Haha, I know, dreaming again... right?


Yeah. Sorry, that's dreaming. Rolleyes PhysX uses the proxies because it'd be to heavy on the computing otherwise. Even Max and Maya are that way for PhysX cloth on realtime characters.

You might try exporting your clothing mesh as an avatar without the body from DAZ. Then give it the identical animation, and use the collision shapes of your CC character.
By Kelleytoons - 9 Years Ago
But you *could* use the collision proxies, right?  I mean, it might be a lot of work to set them up, but I've seen a video where some one added some invisible collision spheres that then had the material draping correctly.

Or is this WAY too complicated and tedious a process?  Frankly, I'd just like to get some skirt twirl or some such -- I would think that would go a long way towards being convincing.  But I'd love to see a video on someone who went through this entire process (taking a Daz character with clothing and making parts of the clothing into "soft cloth" somehow).
By CaseClosed - 9 Years Ago
You might try exporting your clothing mesh as an avatar without the body from DAZ. Then give it the identical animation, and use the collision shapes of your CC character.


Very creative!  I'm keeping that idea in my notes BigGrin
I prefer to stay within iClone as much as possible. I know that wasn't even considered by ambitious iClone users until recently.

I'm hoping to get the clothes I want within CC by the time I'm ready to animate (and hair too). Working on building out the sets while I figure out the animation pipeline. 

By Rampa - 9 Years Ago
mike_20091214085613313 (9/10/2015)
But you *could* use the collision proxies, right?  I mean, it might be a lot of work to set them up, but I've seen a video where some one added some invisible collision spheres that then had the material draping correctly.

Or is this WAY too complicated and tedious a process?  Frankly, I'd just like to get some skirt twirl or some such -- I would think that would go a long way towards being convincing.  But I'd love to see a video on someone who went through this entire process (taking a Daz character with clothing and making parts of the clothing into "soft cloth" somehow).


That is what you do. Here's a help page on setting them up. There won't be any initially on your DAZ avatar, so you'll just have to add them. You can save the settings for later, though.
http://manual.reallusion.com/iClone_6/ENU/Pro_6.0/20_Physics/Physics_Settings_for_Characters.htm
By CaseClosed - 9 Years Ago

Wouldn't it be cool if Character Creator gave us really tight collision shapes for our characters? Like the image on the page you referenced? "Let the computer do the work... "  Messing around with collision shapes is so time consuming, and it's really tough to get an ideal result.

I'm going over to the Character Creator suggestion thread BigGrin

By ahmednet1000000 - 8 Years Ago
Visconti (5/11/2012)
https://forum.reallusion.com/Uploads/Images/4b562341-c54d-4725-9779-8216.jpg

When we first saw Genesis characters perfectly animated inside iClone, in real-time, we automatically knew that an amazing alternative for highly realistic character animation was coming. To let iClone users take advantage of the pipeline benefits, Reallusion agreed to partner with DAZ in order to provide all animators with an introductory content pack at the best value. As promised, Reallusion will continue supporting facial animation for DAZ Genesis characters in the next 3DX5 patch release. So, it's great timing to start when DAZ Studio 4 Pro is still available for free!

Reallusion, Inc.

www.reallusion.com/creative/creative_dazgenesis.aspx

Note. The facial animation for external FBX characters will be available when 3DXchange5.1 is released in this summer.
http://www.reallusion.com/iclone/3dx/coming_features.htmlheight=650&width=800