Can you import Pz3 files into DS4 w/ textures?

Mercblue22

Hello everyone,
I am using DS4 and would like to import a Pz3 file into it.(Greenpots School Library) When I try to do so, the OBJ files import into DS4, but the textures for the library do not. (All that shows is a transparent building and props inside it)

Is there a way to have the textures for this item import along with the OBJs, without having to add them manually?

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Merc

mjc1016

Look in the Surfaces pane...and check each surface,

There was something else recently that came in with all the Opacity values set to 0%...the textures were loaded and everything, but, basically, everything was set 'invisible'.

Medzin

DS cannot understand the Poser shader network in this case.
The wall was meant to have a simple color blended with a mask to roughen the texture.
DS puts the mask directly in the diffuse color node and material becomes black (the raw color of mask)

mjc1016

Medzin said:

DS cannot understand the Poser shader network in this case.
The wall was meant to have a simple color blended with a mask to roughen the texture.
DS puts the mask directly in the diffuse color node and material becomes black (the raw color of mask)

Well, in that case, it looks like manually adding textures is going to have to be the way to go...

Merc, you could probably get away with using some shaders to make the job easier.

icprncss

Does the obj use jps or poser material collections? If it uses jpg's and for some reason they aren't showing up, you can point the surface tabs to them and tweak them. If the obj uses poser material collections, you will either have to create your own textures using DS Shaders or jpg's.

Mercblue22

Hello everyone,
Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it. :) Sadly, I feared that PZ3s might not be compatible with DS. And being I not familiar with adding shaders or wanting to add textures manually for literally, 20-30 items for that one item, I'll just upload it in my Poser instead and save myself the hassle. :) The reason why I wanted to import the library DS because I am using a Genesis figure. I'll think of something, thanks guys!

Merc

Szark

PZ3's are compatable just not the textures it seems. I have just tested this by using an old PZ3 scene I have and loaded it all with no issues using DS4.5.1.6

Mercblue22

Yea,
It seems the OBJ file works alright in DS Szark, its just the textures wont load. All that appears is a white building, no textures.

Merc

wancow

Have you tried changing the PZ3 extension to CR2 and then tried opening it? I'm betting that might work.

PZ3 files are the same basic format as CR2. I've done this trick before when I worked with Poser.

Mercblue22

Hey Wancow,
Great idea, but sadly, it does the same thing. (OBJ files and no textures) I think Greenpots created these to not be compatible with DS, to be honest. :)

Thanks for the help!

Szark

That would be ok wnacow if the PZ3 isn't a full scene with lights etc which many are.

mjc1016

And...

Medzin said:

DS cannot understand the Poser shader network in this case.
The wall was meant to have a simple color blended with a mask to roughen the texture.
DS puts the mask directly in the diffuse color node and material becomes black (the raw color of mask)

The scene isn't failing, it just that for at least some of it, there ARE NO TEXTURES. Not that they are not loading...there ARE NONE. Poser nodes, like that are 'procedural' textures...meaning that like a applying a bump map, other than the 'base' color, the texture is 'generated' by the software/render engine. Without being able to figure out what goes where (in 3Delight/rsl terms) DS can't do anything...and in this case, it looks like the 'node based' textures have something that isn't all that simple...because DS can usually get things like 'base' color (diffusion), at least.

There are lots of simple DS shaders that do the same thing. In fact, I'm guessing that the whole scene can be quickly 'textured' in DS with just a couple of off the shelf shaders. For the most part things like Fabricator will do that for clothes.

Some that I know work in DS 4.x...

http://www.sharecg.com/pf/full_uploads.php?pf_user_name=Cinnamon369

ULTIMATE SHADER PACK FOR DAZ STUDIO

Groovemaster (DS shader packs 1-3)

Fabricator presets

There's many more...

Basically, select the item, select the surface...click on the shader preset...done.

Have many items with the same surface material?

Use the Surface Selection tool and one the 'select all..' options (right click on the desired surface)...

DWG

DS4.5 will definitely handle PZ3s, I've just opened up one of Greenpots Dormroom scenes, complete with textures, which means the issues with this one are down to the individual PZ3, and probably due to Poser procedural shaders, as the others have been saying. When I decided the shaders on another PZ3, an outdoor scene, didn't cut the mustard (they loaded very basic textures - possibly there were meant to be procedural elements added to dress them up), I set a little time aside and went through it systematically fixing it, where the textures needed replacing I borrowed textures from a Stonemason building and tiled them to cover the complete parts of the scene that needed to be improved. Didn't really take that long, but the important thing is remembering to save it off so you only need to do it once! Some of the others have suggested Shader packs to buy, but if you have a reasonably comprehensive content folder you can just borrow appropriate donor textures.

Bejaymac

Just because textures aren't loading doesn't mean it's a procedural shader, I have "fixed" quite a few items where there are textures but they just don't load, the problem is that DS only reads around two thirds of the old Poser4/ProPack material code and doesn't even see the shader tree code from P5+, so if the textures are only in the shader tree then DS can't see them and you get a white mesh instead.

mjc1016

Bejaymac said:

Just because textures aren't loading doesn't mean it's a procedural shader, I have "fixed" quite a few items where there are textures but they just don't load, the problem is that DS only reads around two thirds of the old Poser4/ProPack material code and doesn't even see the shader tree code from P5+, so if the textures are only in the shader tree then DS can't see them and you get a white mesh instead.

True...but specifically...for this item, going by what Medzin posted, it looks like, at least the wall texture is.

But the moral of the story is...that's why there's both Poser and DS material presets for a large chunk of items. And it doesn't have to be limited to PZ3 files to have this specific problem. About the only Poser products that can't be made to work in some fashion are the Hair room hairs...dynamic clothes, especially with DS 4.x and Genesis can be made to work to some degree and if one has both Poser and DS, can be made to work a lot better, as conforming items (or the shaping/pose morphs can be made in a modelling app. I've converted a couple of dynamic items by using Blender to run the cloth sim, exporting the simulation as its own obj and loading it as a moprh).

Joe Cotter

Interesting Bejaymac, that point would have been harder then many to troubleshoot.