How to import a rigged and morphable character from Daz to Blender? ( renamed post)

Support Animation and Rigging
1

The original question is at the end of the message.

The problem left are just before the original question.

This is the tutorial I am trying to folow: http://conceptdigital.org/blog/daz3d-to-blender/

This is how I folow the tutorial for now since I had help with most of my previouse probleme. It didn’t work perfectly but I hope it’s mostly usable.

Daz side :

Export your character in collada format using these settings:


I’m not sure about the “ merge material by diffuse map” but I’m hopping it will help me blender side as I rework almost all my material once in blender.

On the morph panel everything is suposed to be set on bake and thats what you want.

once exported in collada format remove from your scene any object that you don’t want the associate morph. ( In my test that left only G2F)

Export in fbx using these settings:


I’m not sure for the “animation” box but that was checked on the only video tutorial I anderstanded on fbx export so I used it.

I have no clue if the “subD information” is useful either. I have to try without these two I guess.

I tryed 2 or 3 set of rules in the “edit morph export rules” button pannel and non was realy satisfactory. I think I will end up having to use a rule “0 / Anything / Export” and remove manulay everything that dont work in blender as I dont anderstand how it work. In a video tutorial it was stated that if you use Head as a rull everything in the head tree of the pose panel will be added but I ended up with like 10 morph when you have more than that in the visemes sub tree by himself, and non of these 10 were visemes by the way. Even naming every sub entry of the head tree I didnt get part of the morph that where in these sub entry, so I can’t anderstand how to make rules in this panel.

Blender side once both export have been made:

Import the fbx file

Select and delet the skeleton

Rotate the model 90° on X axis [R][9][0]

Rescale the model by 0.01 [S][.][0][1]

Import the collada file

(This part was in the wrong order in the tutorial) Select the two identical model ( In my test G2F ) first the colada version and then with [shift] [RMB] the fbx (you can spot the colada as he dont have any shape key)

Go to wheight paint mode

On the left panel click the transfer wheight button and select the option “All” “Nearest vertex” “All”

Come back in 3d mode and select the fbx model ( he one with the shape key)

In the modifier panel add root node as an object in the armature modifier.


Now if all worked fine in pose mode you can move the bones, and the body is suposed to folow corectly. If so return in 3d mode select the collada model and delet it.

Probleme left in blender: learn to wheigt paint to get the bend of the limbs smoother or learn how to link the proper shape key to bone movement as daz char use both linked to get the bending right.

Some shape key do absolutly nothing, some do it wrong and some are perfect. Not sure why, but I think some are suposed to work together in daz but even so that don’t explain the ones who have no effect.

Probleme left in daz: morph export rules. O_o

Original message:

I’m trying to folow a very lacunary tutorial and I think I finaly have it good until the last line who say:
Add an armature constraint and choose the armature from the Collada import

I did my last rigging in blender like 6 or 7 year ago, so I have no clue what that mean.

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Select the mesh, find the Modifiers panel (it’s the button with the spanner on it), click “Add Modifier”, select “Armature”, then in the box provided select the armature object you want.

3

Thx.

I tryed to ask you your setings for exporting fbx and colada from Daz on an other post. Fopefully I Figured it out but I doubt it on the fbx as the skeleton come like crasy but as the whole point is to use the colada skeleton in the tutorial I guess its not that bad.

Edit: aparently I failed the tutorial but I get the armature part at least. I botched the part where you transphere the wheigt paint from the colada to the fby body I guess.O_o

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Yes… there actually is no ‘Armature Constraint’ I’m sure the guy in the tutorial ment to say “Armature Modifier”…

note there are Constraints… and their are… Modifiers… they are almost the same thing…

but not quite…

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Androol, you use the Collada figure and armature. The FBX one is just for transferring morphs (shape keys); in my experience its armature will be entirely messed up when you import it. Treat the Collada figure as the main one. I haven’t done the transfer for a while and don’t remember the settings, but I think the Collada export from Daz was just standard ones. The FBX export, you need to set to export the morphs.

Basically, if you don’t want the morphs, you don’t need the FBX export at all. Does this help you?

6

Thx for your answeres.

Well that’s prety much what the tutorial say aint that he transphere the wheight paint and armature from the colada to the fbx instead of the morph the other way. Now I know I anderstanded it well. The fbx vertex didnt totaly match the colada and the transfer didnt work so I have to make more reaserch. I guess.

I found yesterday that there is an option to export morph with colada directly take me hours to make the export I have to try it now. Hopefully it will save me the pain of the transpher part.

Edit: After a 3 sec brain shutdown when I see the more than 2 GB .DAE I tryed import it in blender and … nothing apened in blender empty scene. Guess I have to figure out this fbx transphere thing. :smiley:

Edit :I made a test at exporting the morph directly in colada format with less morph ( just half of the head morph actualy as that the one I need in blender mainly as I can set up the char in daz but will need head morph to make the character smile, up is brow etc… well some muscle morph may be of use too but with the head morph that would be enough) after one of 2 hour to export I ended up with a 400 mo file and this time blender crashed when I tryed to import. I wonder if it qualify as progress from doing absolutly nothing before.

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I’ve just tried it again with the files I exported from Daz as .dae and .fbx. The fbx figure will have both a broken skeleton and weight painting. You need to use the collada figure (.dae) as your main figure; it has the mesh, armature (one or two misplaced bones perhaps but you can fix them), materials and weight paints. The fbx figure just has the morphs. The mesh should be identical in both figures and has the same vertices.

When exporting the fbx from Daz, there is a process for selecting which morphs to export; many are duplicates and there is a huge number, but they have prefixes like “PHM” (head morph) and “PBM” (body morph) so with some experimentation you can work out which is which and use wildcards to select them. If you want any more help with that let me know.

But like I said, the Collada figure has most of it. The FBX just gets you the morphs. You shouldn’t be exporting morphs with the Collada, and no way a 2GB file!

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Well I made 3 test with the colada morph export all were failing even the third that was like 20 morph only and 160 mo in size ( 100 mo of morph compare on the char without morph)

Then I tryed it the other way, transferer the morph from the fbx as you sugested.

I found the wiki article about shape key and tryed transpher shape key and had an error message. I discovered somwere that you nedded at least one basic shape key on the target of the transfer but then I get another error message saying that I didnt had the same number of vertex. I guess the export settings matter.

Edit: It wasent the “remove unused vertice” in the colada export. I was hoping it had made the bad vertex count. I m a little out of idea.

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You should have the collada export set to bake morphs, not export them. Check in the fbx export that you’ve just got “figures” and “morphs” checkboxes selected, and mine is set as type to “binary 2012”.

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As I explained befor if I export the morph in .DAE, blender crash or do nothing when I import it, so it’s with backed morph that I have a bad vertex count. Same more or less for binary. fbx, the ascii wont load in blender, I used only figures and morph I think, I m less sure it was 2012 I think it was 2014 maybe thats the reson.

Well I will test with 2012 then.

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Androol, I have said several times now that you don’t export the morphs in the .dae file. Set it to “bake” in Daz. I don’t know why you are getting different vertex counts, I tried it myself yesterday evening and it worked fine. My version of Daz is 4.5, so maybe they’ve changed something in later versions?

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Thx for the help.

You misinterpreted my last message I think.
I was saying that the vertex count can’t be broken by exporting morph in .DAE since the file cant be opened in blender, it didn’t reach the point where I can try to transpher the shape key. I was pretty much sumarising what it can or can’t cause of the bad vertex count. And everything aint the 2012 fbx export version I had tryed before.

I just tryed your setup with another char ( lilith 6) and I didn’t had the vertex count error. So it was either the model I used or the 2014 bin in the exporter setup that caused the vertex count error message.

Sadly the shape key do nothing when I turn it from zero to one so I still have some trouble but the vertex count part is solved I guess.

I will try the same setup with the morphed char I was trying to export in the first place and know if it was the model or the 2014 binary setting that caused the vertex count error in 5 or 10 min depending on how fast DS want to export.

Edit: No vertex count error with my premorphed char either so the vertex count must have been broked by the 2014 binary setup in the fbx export panel. ( or I had somthing else wrong but anyway no probleme with the setup you provided for both dae and fbx.)

I still do somthing wrong. I asume it was in modifying the bfx morph export rules ( I added a rule 0/ anything / export befor the final/ anything/ bake ) or it can be blender side that I am missing a step. I never used shape key in blender before.

In blender I add a basic shape key by clicking the + bouton right of the shape key window and then transphere the shape key from the fbx model. Then a new shape key apear in the colada model shape key window with the right name but has no visible effect when sliding the value from 0 to 1.

Edit: I was making some test on the daz fbx exporter and after checking animation I wanted to try the morph on the fbx before trying to import the .dae and some of the shape key do nothing on the fbx itself when other work fine and other strangely ( for the strangely one I tested them after removing the skeleton so it may be the reason but other who worked fine with the skeleton still work fine now so not sure.

With the number of shape key to transfere, I think more and more that the unfinished and uncomplete tutorial from wich I started these experiments is right, and that it will be easyer to transfer the wheight paint and armature from the .dae import to the .fbx import than transphering all shape key one by one in the other direction.

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I edited the title and the first message as they didn’t realy make sens anymore.

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Ok I figured out the stange behaving shape key they are suposed to be linked to the armature movment. How do I make them work together? Its for exemple when you bend an arm or leg the muscle will change forme or the breast will go up with holding your arm up.

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Personally I didn’t bother with those morphs, I made my own.

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I Just figured out how to get geografted thing imported corectly. Will be usfull if I want to import the dragon in no wings or no arms verssion.:rolleyes:

I had all the box on the right part of the fbx exporter checked aint “[]merge difuse and opacity texture” and “[]colaps uv tiles”.

Well my last question stand. I will have to do it your way if I can’t get the shape key ascociated with the rigging. But as it means having to basicaly redo it for every char I want to import. I will gladly have the option to simply link the one that already exist instead of trying to do badly a job that some as already done right. ( I’m not saying you do it badly, but I have no illusions of my capacity of making this as good as the guys who make them for Daz)

I’m wondering if it didnt make sens for me to transform this post in a progress log of this attempt to get the most things properly transphered from DS to blender and do separated treads for the coming up questions.

Until I resolve this philosphical inner conflict, I’m still interested on how you link shape key to a bone, if its possible of course.