Hello all,
    I have a complex model with 4k textures that I am wanting to get into Unity. I was initially just going to do it with Daz, but I heard that using CC3 was a good idea to make the import process easier so I went ahead and bought it, but I have been having nothing but issues with it. Everything works perfectly in Daz, no editor lag or hickups what-so-ever, but as soon as I import into CC3, it just doesn't seem like it can handle it. The import process itself using the Transformer workflow takes at least 5 minutes, which I figured that is fine, it probably has some converting to do, this and that, etc but once it is actually loaded into CC3 the editor is just horrendously slow.

    I am wanting my output texture size to remain 4k, so I imported everything at 4k, but it just doesn't like it. I have been trying to fix some issues that occurred from the import, such as normal map on the skin not being sized correctly, etc and having to reimport and try again. I have watched every recent tutorial on youtube looking for tips and tricks but the iteration time of trying to get things right is really what is killing me most as I have been at this for about 6 hours now and have yet to be able to export. The one time I was finally able to get to the point of exporting (I didn't try to create LOD or anything, pretty much just a straight export to Unity) the editor hung at 72% for probably 15 minutes and then the editor just closed. I restarted just to make sure everything was good but the same thing happened when I tried again. Between it taking 5-7 minutes to open the editor and load the project with the character each time, another 5-7 minutes to try importing again, etc, etc, I am just not getting anywhere.

    So my question really is, is there any settings perhaps in the CC3 editor I can change so that I can import my character/textures at 4k but have the editor not explode? Daz does an amazing job when you are in the editor handling your character, but in CC3, even when I try and set the performance dropdown above the viewport to "Minimal", (or whatever it happened to be in which I can still see the texture enough to be able to work with it) it still is just not getting my anywhere. Can anyone suggest any more settings I might be able to change in order to help editor performance?

    Is it at all possible that I can export from Daz at 1024, import into CC3 at 1024, export to Unity, but then swap out the textures with the original 4k ones so that at least the process is smoother and I might be able to actually get to that point? I don't know what the textures look like or are named after they are exported or how things are done with the Unity import plugin because I have not been able to get there but has anyone tried this? I honestly would not like to have to do this, as the entire reason I up and bought CC3 was because I heard it was easier to get everything into Unity with minimal amounts of manually have to assign textures and everything each time, so if I have to manually do it all anyways, there is really no reason for me having got CC3 as if I were to just export from Das and import to Unity, I would have to manually assign the textures just the same.

(Not sure if it makes a difference, but I am wanting to keep the model and textures as high quality as possible, as the whole reason for use is to make cinematics using the HDRP, it will not be used for gameplay or anything, so decimating the mesh and such is not necessary)

If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it,
-MH

P.S. Just in case anyone asks about my system specs in regards to performance and such, I have a watercooled R5 2600, RTX 2070, 32gb 3200 memory, and a 970 Evo NVMe. I do not expect my system itself would have any issue, as within Unity I deal with dozens of models and textures of this particular quality with no issues, it just feels like CC3 is having the trouble.

Can you tell me *exactly* what it is you are importing?  Please provide links to the Daz site itself and indicate which item(s) you are doing.

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Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

I am working on guides for Daz to CC3 and then CC3 to Unity, which are linked in my signature. Coming from Daz, the main thing that causes CC3 to lag is the hair, which often comes in at >~200K polycount. Polygon Reduction with recommended settings will knock it down to ~40K and things will run smoother. Do this right away for anything with high polycounts.

4K textures are another matter. I have done comparison tests between 1K, 2K, and 4K, and I am convinced that—unless you are working on a mountain or a mammoth—you do not want to use them ever. They are the most extreme performance-killer, and there is no visual difference between 2K and 4K in ~95% of cases. Go ahead, test it even with facial close-ups. But here's another option for you...in CC3 just export your 4K textures so that you can manually reapply them in Unity, then you can work with 2K textures in CC3. You must do this from CC3 and not from Daz because Transformer remaps those body (but not clothing) textures, meaning the Daz textures will not look right if they are reapplied.

One more thing...CC3 creates a useless white Opacity textures on the Head, Body, Arms, Legs, and Nails, which in your case will be a performance-eating 4K texture. You can safely delete this.

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CC3 & Daz Tricks | CC3 to Unity workflow

Thanks for the replies. I have been working at it non-stop since I posted this and ended up mostly figuring out a way to go about things. Part of the issue was attempting to import the character with props and such, I removed those and used a plugin I found for Daz and Blender to export the props to Blender, then exported out to FBX from there and into Unity and that worked great. I then imported the character using the 1024 textures, made some slight adjustments and then exported out to Unity and for the most part things have been good. I did come across a situation like you mentioned where the texture shape ended up being different in CC3 vs what it was in Daz, but was able to work through it.

It doesn't seem like CC3 brought over the skin weights, though? Everything was weighted perfectly in Daz when I was trying out different poses, but once I brought it into CC3, even the T-Pose had spots of the body showing through. Is there a way of fixing that short of trying to redo the whole character, as it is pretty much from head to toe as seen below. I tried to use some of the automatic corrections, but they just ended up messing up the actual mesh as seen in the image below the video. The right is how it should be (where the leg goes into the boot, and knee), and the left I tried to use the calculated weight adjustment. Is there a tool or setting for properly getting the weights from Daz? Another solution would be possibly hiding the actual body below minus the head, as 99% of it is not visible in that outfit, but I believe the body is one single mesh, but the textures are separated. Perhaps an opacity adjustment for what is hidden. I wonder if that is something I can just do within Unity without having to change out the shader.

I have a number of questions, but I suppose most of them will end up being CC3 general questions, so I will make a new post about the other things.
Thanks again for the help, I do appreciate it!
-MH

Hi there. I like your determination. Daz has an automatic "Calculate Collision" effect that does not function outside of the program, so that is one reason why skin weighting is so good there. The other reason is that clothing is modeled specifically for one exact figure; Genesis 2 clothes won't work on Genesis 8 for instance. The CC3 avatars accomodate clothing for all figures. The result is very good but not perfect. For the record, I am also having trouble with CC3's Calculate Collision warping the mesh...I seem to recall it working better in an earlier version. So, what to do?

If you will never be changing clothes in Unity, the very best option will be to hide the mesh parts of CC_Base that will not be visible under clothes, then use the export option "Delete Hidden Mesh." That will solve the problem and increase your game performance at the same time. Great for all NPC's.

I think the best path is to use Opacity textures. There is a "Launch UV Reference" option in CC3 which can guide you if you use it as a semi-transparent layer in software like Photoshop. It probably is not too difficult to switch those textures on and off or swap them with code in Unity. It is trivial with the Mount Points asset, which may be overkill. The Standard shader set to Transparent or Cutout supports Opacity maps which are baked to Albedo (Diffuse), and CC3 does this part automatically for you.

Editing the mesh is the difficult path. This generally involves inflating the mesh to a degree. You can do it easily with Conform > Increase Size, or you can do it manually with sculpting tools for a potentially better result, but that sort of work can become time consuming. Tessellation also inflates meshes automatically, and you can see this if you turn it on just the CC_Base and not the clothes; you will notice more mesh penetration (or use it on clothing only to resolve penetration). Phong Tessellation is a small performance hit, and you'd also have to purchase a shader such as Beast to have it available in Unity.

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CC3 & Daz Tricks | CC3 to Unity workflow