mcjTeleBlender:Daz Studio scenes/animations w/Blender's Cycles Engine

mCasual

ladaga said:

I apologize for the wrong link to download MDD Importer for DAZ Studio 4.6 and for my english:) Instead of that, use this.
http://amarijun.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/mdd-importer-for-daz-studio-4-6/
also recorded a short video tutorial on how to use the plugin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cqpa7mUZhU&feature=youtu.be
please explain how to use the plug-in for the successful transfer of the animation in blender?

example 2,

i loaded Md3_output_frame0.obj in daz studio

applied a texture

added a light

exported the scene for a single-frame-render using mcjTeleBlender

as you can see the exporter/importer system created a material suitable for Blender-Cycles renders

since Daz Studio's OBJ exporter did not make any effort to preserve the vertex count and the vertex order
we can not apply the MDD to the dress - Blender displays an error message

we delete the dress that came from Daz Studio ( but this did not delete the materials !!!

we import Md3_output_frame0.obj using Blender's importer

it's very important to activate the "vertex order" option during the import

we apply the blender-cycles-dress material to Md3_output_frame0.obj

we apply the "mesh cache" modifier to the dress, we specify we will use Md3_output.mdd

and we now can render the whole animation using Blender Cycles

HellKorea

Thank you for quick update..

There is another problem.

TeleBlender does not export "Specular Strength" image map.
would you fix it? please~

Thank you again.. I love mcjTeleBlender.

mCasual

you know what i did just now ?

i wrote a Windows-PC-exe OBJ-sequence-to-MDD converter

as you know, mcjTeleBlender and other programs, can export animations as a sequence of obj files

once converted to MDD format,

in blender, you can import only the first frame's OBJ file

the whole scene is one big mesh

then you load the mdd file ( as a mesh cache modifier )

which is a bit like 1 morph channel per animation frame added to the big mesh

and there you have it an animated scene, which can be rendered

it's not "rigged" so you cant change the Figure poses, but you can add objects and lights and cameras, tweak the materials etc

----

so, very soon i'll publish the free PC-Windows Obj-to-Mdd utility

and i'll share my C source code which is only 160 lines long for now

-----

in the example below the figure is a low poly Aiko3-like figure
so it works quite well
but for figures like Victoria 4, or the real Aiko3 or Genesis etc .... the data load on Blender will be quite severe
( 100K data points per frame )

mCasual

jerrycrow said:

Thank you for quick update..

There is another problem.

TeleBlender does not export "Specular Strength" image map.
would you fix it? please~

Thank you again.. I love mcjTeleBlender.

maybe if you place that map on the Specular color channel you'll get the desired effect

it was set up like that in TB2 because the Daz Studio obj/mtl exporter exports only the Specular
Color map. The .obj format doesn't support specular strength maps

since TeleBlender3 can export maps separately ... yes soon i may export them too

HellKorea

Casual said:

jerrycrow said:

Thank you for quick update..

There is another problem.

TeleBlender does not export "Specular Strength" image map.
would you fix it? please~

Thank you again.. I love mcjTeleBlender.

maybe if you place that map on the Specular color channel you'll get the desired effect

it was set up like that in TB2 because the Daz Studio obj/mtl exporter exports only the Specular
Color map. The .obj format doesn't support specular strength maps

since TeleBlender3 can export maps separately ... yes soon i may export them too

ok. i got it. Thank you for explain.

sioc

Trouble with TeleBlender3.1 beta

I just tried the new beta export with cycles choice and all default values and ... no lights exported.

In that scene I have a distant light and a spot light (both with luxus settings)

Any idea ?

Szark

I think but I am not 100% certain, that your issue is Luxus Settings, have you tried with removing the Luxus settings?

sioc

So I tried to investigate more:

I removed Luxus parameters => same trouble.

I deleted all lights and added a distant light => same trouble.

Save and restart Daz Studio (tried with both 'stable' and beta) using the file with the new light => same trouble

Szark

Worth a try though. I will have to leave this with Casual. Also I just realised I have never had any lights exported in my scenes either but for me that isn't a problem as I mainly use Area and HDRI's. For the Sun I use this http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?297721-Script-Connect-Sun-with-Cycles-Sky-Texture&p=2617757&viewfull=1 to line up the Sky Texture and Sun

sioc

I reinsalled mcjBlendBot and that fixed it... Weird

And no normal map, wasn't that one of the new supported futures ?

mCasual

Lighting study , just the basic setup
i may improve on it later

outside the window there's a large emissive panel, strength = 1
behind the camera there's a pink spotlight
H.S.V. = 0.999 0.0500.300
Strength 80

there's a 4 m. x 4 m. white plane as the floor

there's a strength 80 sunlight behind the window light panel but i think it doesn't contribute much since it's blocked

the environment light is the beach sphere very weak 0.05 strength

Based on a photo of Jen Selter
http://www.jenselter.com
http://instagram.com/p/q44p1PGkTX/?modal=true http://www.jenselter.com

==========

Fig 2 - the areaLight plane object's Ray Visibility was set to not cast shadows
then a sun light with power 3.33 and size 0.3 was positioned to cast light perpendicular to her chest

mCasual

sioc said:

I reinsalled mcjBlendBot and that fixed it... Weird

And no normal map, wasn't that one of the new supported futures ?

i had them, then i basically re-designed the whole thing and forgot to put them back in

the normal maps will be back today (99% sure about that )

mCasual

sioc said:

So I tried to investigate more:

I removed Luxus parameters => same trouble.

I deleted all lights and added a distant light => same trouble.

Save and restart Daz Studio (tried with both 'stable' and beta) using the file with the new light => same trouble

for standard daz studio lights it should work
as long as you updated the mcjBlendBot files in the Blender/scripts/modules folder for the current version of Blender you are using
also there's 2 checkboxes in TB3's "auxiliary" Tab

nakamuram002

Why not export all cameras in the DAZ Scene? I think the original mcjTelebelender did that...

mCasual

nakamuram002 said:

Why not export all cameras in the DAZ Scene? I think the original mcjTelebelender did that...

i'll add it as an option checkbox,

only the user-created cameras, and the perspective camera, not the orthogonal ones

eventually i could add animated cameras like what mcjExportCamToBlender does http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/17032/

for orbiting cameras, or ... upcoming ... to render obj-sequences converted to MDD format( or directly to Blender's mesh-cache modifier )

mCasual

i strayed into the world of bra-rchitecture but am re-focusing on TeleBlender 3 ...

expected release in the night

mCasual

upcoming version
all the cameras will be exported
the camera names will be exported and used in Blender
this will remain compatible with old blendBots

 
if 'addCamera2' in dir( mcjBlendBot ):
 addCamera2( 4.022, -0.002, 2.67, 68.683, 0, 89.77, 137.143, True, "Camera_Main" )
else:
 addCamera( 4.022, -0.002, 2.67, 68.683, 0, 89.77, 137.143 )
addCamera2( 2.637, -2.602, 1.454, 80.49, 0.003, 42.926, 59.429, False, "Camera_Pose" )
addCamera2( 3.703, 1.001, 1.828, 74.875, 0.003, 101.94, 59.429, False, "Camera_side" )
addCamera2( 0.054, -0.407, 0.792, 98.71, 0.004, -5.363, 59.429, False, "Camera_Hands" )

mCasual

as long as you are using the newer version of mcjBlendBot with mcjTeleblender 3 Beta

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts4/mcjteleblender3

the normal maps applied to the surfaces with the Default Daz material do work

next i'll see if it's the case when the normal map is part of a ''shader''

=====

Fig 3 - the Normal maps for Shader materials like AoA's SSS shader will be exported to Blender and used by blender
as long as the shader uses the property name "Normal Map"

....... in teleblender 3 beta 3.02 posted veryverysoon

the other shaders i have dont use normal maps

mCasual

UPDATE TB3.02 beta UPDATE TB3.02 beta UPDATE TB3.02 beta UPDATE TB3.02 beta UPDATE TB3.02 beta

Teleblender 3.02 Beta and mcjBlendBot were updated

there's now an option to export all cameras

but i have to fix something i forgot about : apparently, when exporting into an existing Blender scene, the default camera setting doesn't seem to be acknowledged by blender )

and better support for Shaders with 'Normal Maps' as long as that shader uses the very specific name "Normal Map"

note that this is TB3's Home > https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts4/mcjteleblender3

sioc

Sorry, but I still have issues:

why the camera focal change (50 mm in daz => 45.71 mm in blender) ? I got that before and after mcjBlendBot update.

HellKorea

Thank you update..

but.. there is error.
in mcjMakeCyclesNodes.py

>>> "links.new( mulNode.outputs[0], glossNode.inputs[0] )"

mCasual

sioc said:

Sorry, but I still have issues:

‘Normal Maps’.

In daz studio with as shader the "Daz Studio default", I have a normal map image in the surface of an object and no normal map in blender.

I have the same result with both TB2 Legacy Mats and new one.

Also why the camera focal change (50 mm in daz => 45.71 mm in blender) ? I got that before and after mcjBlendBot update.

about the focal lengths - in Daz Studio the focal length is relative to the vertical aperture of the camera for a backplate 35 mm tall
in Blender the focal length is relative to the horizontal apperture of the camera for a backplate 32mm wide

in your case apparently you were using a square screen ratio, so 50 mm * 32mm/35mm = 45.71mm

using the way mcjTeleBlender computes it, so far i always had almost-pixel-perfect results

it's important to use the default Export scale of 1% in teleblender's "Aux Settings" tab

----

for the normal maps - see Figure 2 - the material editor is where you can see if the normal map was imported
you can then check if the specific image is the problem, maybe its the normal strength that is too low
Note that in TeleBlender's Aux Settings tab, there is a setting called "Normal Maps Strength" the default value is 0.5
For now i dont think ( not sure ) if TeleBlender uses it, but in the next version it will

if you exit blender and re-launch it using the .bat file created by mcjTeleBlender ( in the same folder where your .obj files are written to ) , you will have access to the Blender Console, and in it you can see messages that are displayed during the import process - if you see an Error message, please tell me what is written

mCasual

jerrycrow said:

Thank you update..

but.. there is error.
in mcjMakeCyclesNodes.py

>>> "links.new( mulNode.outputs[0], glossNode.inputs[0] )"

thanks !

i didnt test the mix node a lot [ insert Sir Mix-a-Lot pun here ]

i see it has serious problem

i'll fix it today

.....

mCasual

coming up in the next minutes - i fixed the renders for TB3 & Glossy Mix renders

( thanks JerryCrow )

but i still have to fix the issue where you have a pre-existing scene with non-glossy-mix materials

and you are importing a daz scene with glossy-mix materials

( normally mcjBlendBot is supposed to leave pre-existing materials alone ! )

--

oh i also see TeleBlender and BlendBot should not attempt to tweak materials in Blender that are not even exported from DS because they are invisible in the Daz Scene

mCasual

Important Update TeleBlender 3.03 Beta and mcjBlendBot

2014 September 15 6:45 PM - Version 3.03 beta -

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts4/mcjteleblender3

TeleBlender 3 with GlossMix was repaired

i added a bOld property to all objects, so "old" objects in the initial .blend scene are tagged as old
and disregarded when processing the objects imported from Daz Studio

mcjTeleBlender now saves the Normal Map Strength value on exit

mcjTeleBlender now doesn't attempt to get mcjBlendBot to fix objects and materials
that are not actually exported from Daz Studio

Both your mcjBlendBot and the mcjTeleBlender script need this update

Thanks to everyone for pointing the things that need fixin' like that coffee machine in the little café just around the bend

sioc

empty

mCasual

sioc said:

Thanks for the focal explaination.

I reinstalled my blender then your scripts to be sure I didn't broke something.

Sorry but I still got the trouble see the screen-shots below

And the normal map image (V4C_MAT_RIBBED_NML.jpg) is not copied in the \Maps subfolder of the script export

thanks for posting the screen copy, looks like it;s the bump map that's causing the problem
i should be able to correct the problem !

it's normal that the normal map is not collected in the maps folder
because map collection is handled by Daz Studio's obj/mtl exporter

so until i post the fixed code for the bump map
if you remove the bump map from that material
you should be able to see the normal map and avoid the error

sioc

empty

mCasual

sioc said:

I updated my previous post :) You answered too fast :p

I removed from the scene the objects having bump map

I do the test with the same cloth I had trouble with last time I asked for help and you made me add the normal map by hand.

well i was looking for the exact line number where the bump map error occured, did you keep the old image? :)

sioc

sure :