turning dressed character into a single object

Mosk the Scribe

Is there a way to turn a figure (like M4/V4) with Hair and clothes and maybe a prop into a single object so I could export as object sequence (for use in Element3d/AfterEffects?)

Is there a way to do that in DAZ Studio perhaps (create all of that as a single character or DUF file)?

I saw promos for a dressed and animated character in Element 3d - but it's possible that was from a 'figure' that had the clothes and accessories built into the original character.

Thanks for any suggestions.

WendyLuvsCatz

think Casual has a DAZ studio script that does thats for Blender cycles

Blender itself certainly exports animations as obj sequences 

WendyLuvsCatz

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts/mcjgeosender

WendyLuvsCatz

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts4/mcjteleblender3 has a Carrara version

Mosk the Scribe

Hey Wendy - that would be great if it works. Do you know where the mcjTeleBlender3 directory goes? It looks like the directory structure of DAZ Studio has changed since those instructions were written. Here's what the instructions said for the two scripts:

mcjTeleBlender is a script for Daz Studio 3 and greater, we suggest you install it in your daz content folder

example: C:\Program Files (x86)\DAZ\Studio\content

once installed it will be in the content/scripts/mCasual folder

[The best guess I have is where I keep my content: H:\My DAZ 3D Library\Scripts 

Also looks like some scripts are included here D:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\scripts  but those aren't add on scripts]

 

mcjBlendBot is a set of Blender-Python scripts used to import the scenes exported by mcjTeleBlender

the mcjBlendBot package (zip) must be unpacked the current Blender version's "modules" folder

typically :  C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.71\scripts\modules

 

Am I correct that nothing goes into the scripts file within Carrara 8.5Pro?

Thanks for your help.

 

WendyLuvsCatz

never downloaded or used either I am afraid 

Mosk the Scribe

ok - thanks - may follow up on blender forums at some point, but probably have to let that go for this project since doesn't seem to be doing much at this point.

Tried to export my dressed, animated character as fbx file and that gave me unusable distorted character without texture.

 

3DAGE

I don't think you're going to find something that will work well for you,  the problem is more complex than,.. "make this all one mesh",.   would just make a big intersecting mesh.

which may just work,.. but will eat a lot of memory,. and also have multiple texture maps to deal with.

one issue is that the figure,. it's hair, and any clothing ,. are each separate figures,,. and they're all high poly

I'm not sure if using Daz /poser type figures, with hair and clothing is a great option,. the polycount will be huge and clunky to work with,. unless you go with something like a low res figure,  build as one thing,. (no additional clothing or hair) .. the texture for that should also be one or two images

I think it would be easier, and better, to render out your fully Dressed Daz/Poser figure's from Carrara with alpha, and composite that seqence into AE,. rather than using an obj sequence.

Element 3D is great for building scenes,. making text,.  or loading some animated/simulated obj's  ,but,.. like anything else,. it'll really slow down when you throw in high res stuff.

Building a simpler, all in one "dressed figure"  in carrara would be a better approach,. but not as easy.

rendering out your figures as sequenced images,. and compositing in AE is probably your best/easiest option

 hope it helps :)

Mosk the Scribe

Thanks @3DAGE - I'll probably end up using a hybrid approach for this - doing some regular object exports (as opposed to obj sequence) - along with some renders and compositing. Just would have loved the flexibility you can get when manipulating things directly in After Effects  and Element 3D.  

And for what I do, I wouldn't usually need high poly figures - so could certainly decimate the figure in DAZ Studio (assuming that's still working) and bring into Carrara as low poly. But I don't want to have to re-rig everything each time a do that. May have to check on the DAZ Studio part of the forums to see what studio lets you do.

mindsong

Does poser 2014 have a feature that lets you do exactly that (gamedev or newer) sort of consolidating export?

I recall seeing that as a new feature in one of the more recent updates... (2014 = recent?... Urg...)

--ms

Mosk the Scribe

Not sure - I've barely used Poser, though I do have the game developers version from a few years ago.

The object export will have to suffice for this project - will save object sequence for animals / monsters / objects that don't need to be dressed - but will check out poser and maybe blender when I get a chance.

Thanks for the suggestion.