Blender to Daz

alaltacc

(EDIT) I PARTIALLY solved (for the most part) my problem, so I'm writing my partial solution in a reply at the end of the thread. I still have things to consider and I will thank all the suggestions (for the absolute noob here) to creating things (at this point only props)in Blender and importing into Daz.

ORIGINAL POST:

I imagine it's a common question, but after searching not only the forums but also "the Internet" (that epic episode of "The IT Crowd" always come to mind when I say this) I turn to you, that are here ages longer than me.

So, I'm learning Blender. I put together a very good copy of my living room TV rack with textures and all, grouping things together as I should and etc. Then, I started trying to export to "some format" and import into Daz. I had success, but I still have a problem:

- If I export to an OBJ file, I lose all the textures AND my object is imported as a single "thing", no parts, no nothing (so I can't even apply different textures to different parts of the object)

- If I export to Collada (DAE), EVERYTHING works. I have my textures, all the parts are independent, etc. But... I have each piece of my object as a separate object and even if I parent or group them together in Daz they still are affected separately if I click in one of them and apply any transformation (moving, scaling, etc)

I've tried lots of things, followed dozens of suggestions "on the Internet" like changing options when exporting, but I always end up in one of the two situations above.

In my ideal, imaginary world, I would be able to export an object where I could CHOOSE parts to be movable (for example, I have two drawers on my rack that I would like to have the option to open or close in Daz), all the rest would be a monolyth (so, no dismantling my rack when trying to move it clicking in one of the pieces) AND I would have all the textures.

The Collada format nearly gave me it all, but I can't find a way to join the parts I would like to join (preferrably in Blender).

Any suggestions?

Gordig

There isn't really a way around the texture issue, partly because Blender and DS use different render engines, but also because it's my experience that textures never survive conversion from one program to another fully intact. You'll generally get the diffuse/base color maps over, but you're lucky if you get anything else. If you say that you get the textures with DAE export, then that might be the way to go, with one additional step: once imported into DS, re-export them as OBJ, then import the new OBJ and use that. I've never used DAE myself, so I don't know what might be causing them to spurn attempts to manipulate grouped DAE imported objects.

zombietaggerung

This: Rigging a Door in DAZ Studio is a great tutorial for exporting things from Blender to DS and then rigging them for DS. 

alaltacc

Partial solution (only applicable to things with just a few different textures: I joined together (in Blender) everything that has the same texture before exporting (remember to NOT overwrite your original file or you will end up with only one solid in place of the individual ones you joined). Now I STILL have a problem, as my rack has two colors and in Daz I have two separate parts that move independtly, but it's an improvement from the dozens I had.

@Gordig, thanks for the reply. The textures don't look exactly the same in Daz, but are passable.

@Zombietaggerung, thanks! I'll watch the video

Gordig

At least in C4D, the solution to creating material zones (how you apply different textures to different parts of your thing) on exported objects for use in DS is not by creating polygon selections, as one might expect; the surfaces and their respective names are derived from the materials you apply to the object. This means that, even if you want to export it fully untextured and do all your texturing inside DS, it's still necessary to create dummy materials and name them according to the parts to which you're applying them.

alaltacc

@Gordig, I think you're right. What I have in the "surfaces" tab after importing are the names of the materials I've used in Blender, not the objects. So, I can use the same material for lots of separate parts and them change it all at the same time in Daz. :-)

 

alaltacc

OK, what I did (if you have an object without moving parts, this solves everything):

1) Create the object in Blender

2) Apply the textures, taking care to use the same material name to the parts with the same texture

3) Save your work

4) Join everything together in Blender (select all the objects and, in Object Mode, go to the menu Object and select Join - THIS WILL LITERALLY JOIN THE OBJECTS AS ONE, so SAVE A VERSION BEFORE DOING IT)

5) Export as Collada (DAE)

6) Go to Daz

7) Import the Collada object

   Now you have a solid object (no movable parts) with all the textures in place and, if you go to the Surfaces tab, you can edit these textures separately (each material from Blender can be edited separately and will affect all the parts that have that material applied)

   I'll attach my final DAZ render. Please note that this is an EXERCISE in Blender (I'm still learning) and that I didn't bother to light the scene properly in Daz

@Gordig and @Zombietaggerung , Thanks again!