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

mCasual

that's Stephanie 4 Elite , the poser-compatible / non-shader materials
so all the materials are based on the Daz Default "shader"
and that's ideal for TeleBlender ( though teleblender 3 ( and 2?) will be improved )

tele-rendered using today's Teleblender 2

i reduced the bump map strength by half
i "manually" adjusted the specular map multiplier from 0.1 to 0.15
i adjusted roughness from 0.3 to 0.1 which makes the glossiness look more wet ( tighter bright spots )

MelanieL

Well thanks to all who helped, with a bit of tinkering in DS and the updated scripts I managed to get the eyes reasonably good.
Here's what I've got so far - now to work on the hair a little (rather dull) and learn how to light things a bit better...
I'm loving Cycles though - reasonably fast and I get to use the CPU for something else at the same time!

nakamuram002

Nice render, MelanieL!!!!! Nice shadow.

mCasual

MelanieL said:

Well thanks to all who helped, with a bit of tinkering in DS and the updated scripts I managed to get the eyes reasonably good.
Here's what I've got so far - now to work on the hair a little (rather dull) and learn how to light things a bit better...
I'm loving Cycles though - reasonably fast and I get to use the CPU for something else at the same time!

great render!
a few times i experimented with getting the tight bright eye reflections
the way i did it was to place an extremely bright area-light ( a plane with an ambient light )
it was quite large,
since it's far away the light doesn't illuminate the character

next i made the eye surface( in the case of Aiko, that's just the cornea ) very glossy like a mirror, but very weak
this way the area-light reflexion is visible, since it's extremely bright, but the rest of the scene, which is normally bright
is not seen on the eye surface

i basically build that material "manually" then saved it as a mat-lib material for later re-use

note that if you save a blender scene as a blend file, later on, using Blender's File/Append you can go pick in that file any material and bring it into your scene -- which is exactly what mcjTeleBlender/mcjBlendBot do with the mat-lib trick

around the 1:05 mark in this video you can see the result of that setup but animated
https://www.youtube.com/watch

ladaga

I express my gratitude to the creator of this very necessary script. I want to share a link to a script which can be imported into DAZ studio animations in the format attached to the mdd objformat
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=9E5F8EE5BF3FA682&id=9E5F8EE5BF3FA682!281
Just wanted to ask about how to export animation in blender.How can I upload sequence objfiles in the blender?

mCasual

ladaga said:

I express my gratitude to the creator of this very necessary script. I want to share a link to a script which can be imported into DAZ studio animations in the format attached to the mdd objformat
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=9E5F8EE5BF3FA682&id=9E5F8EE5BF3FA682!281
Just wanted to ask about how to export animation in blender.How can I upload sequence objfiles in the blender?

welcome !

your onedrive link is not valid

are you saying you have a script to import mdd/obj to Daz Studio? i guess not

here's what i understand about mdd/obj, it's a way to package an animated scene
the obj file contains the initial geometry and materials, the mdd file contains
the vertex movements ( morphs ) for each frame - and probably lights and cameras
i think i did see there was/is an mdd/obj file importer for Blender
and there's a mdd/obj import/export plugin for Carrara
www.daz3d.com/mdd-file-format-for-carrara

so one way mcjBlendBot could help is, after importing the mdd/obj in Blender
you could run the special version of mcjBlendBot which was designed for Carrara obj/scenes
https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts2/mcjblendbotspecial

or even the one for Poser's obj/scenes https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts3/teleblendforposer

note that those scripts are quite old, so they possibly dont work anymore

or they work only with Blender versions before 2.71

but if they do work, they would make the scene cycles-renderable

---

a while ago also, i created scripts to convert a sequence of obj files into a morphing prop
a prop with 1 morph per animation frame, which is very similar to what mdd does
So if you figure how to export an animation in Blender into a series of obj files
You could import it in Daz Studio as an animated morphing prop
Then you could adjust the materials
Then you could render the animation using mcjTeleBlender 2 from Daz Studio

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts2/mcjobjstomorphingprop

i'm sure this script works with Daz Studio 3, and ..... it works in DS 4.6 ! ( tested it right now )

--------------

ok i did some research
importing the mdd in Blender is done by
1 - loading the base obj file
2 - applying a "Modify / Mesh Cache" modifier

But you have to be very carefull about the way you import the base obj file
for instance the "preserve vertex order" option must be used
also there are axis ( X Z ) issues to figure
in various Blender forums they discuss this

example: http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-274406.html

mCasual

oops no navel
thinking of participating in the August freebies challenge which ends this weekend

and finishing teleblender 3

.. i have doubts :)

but anyway , if you missed it, be aware that a new mcjBlendBot for Teleblender 2 was posted this week, it now handles the eye opacities without the need for a black opacity image map

3dOutlaw

Just lurking by... ;-)

mCasual

3doutlaw said:

Just lurking by... ;-)

after the mcjJet and matAnim diversion i'll be back on the mcjTeleBlender3 project

it was aaalmost ready

( in fact i already use it )

3dOutlaw

Casual said:

( in fact i already use it )

OK, now your are just teasing us, LOL!

robert_c_gladstone

This has probably been covered. But while I am able to export the static Daz character into my blender created scene, what I really want to do is export that fully animated character into that scene. Is this possible with this script or no? And if not, any suggestions about how to best go about doing that?

mCasual

robert_c_gladstone said:

This has probably been covered. But while I am able to export the static Daz character into my blender created scene, what I really want to do is export that fully animated character into that scene. Is this possible with this script or no? And if not, any suggestions about how to best go about doing that?

there's http://www.blender3dclub.com/posertools/CharacterImporter.php

and there's a method that uses daz studio's fbx or collada export

i discussed it a few pages ago
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/2877/P555
see here http://maddieman.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/exporting-daz-studio-4-figures-to-blender/

ladaga

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?

nakamuram002

Casual,

Why don't you release a "Beta" version of mcjTeleblender 3 and let us play with it for a while? That way, you could get ideas and feedback from your users?

mCasual

nakamuram002 said:

Casual,

Why don't you release a "Beta" version of mcjTeleblender 3 and let us play with it for a while? That way, you could get ideas and feedback from your users?

it's almost ready it's almost ready :)

i'm on the case

i can always say it's Beta

mCasual

Dawn with the default materials

one sunlight

rendered in TB3 add-specular mode

and shadow catcher plane similar to

http://blender360.blogspot.ca/2012/01/integracion-de-imagen-real-con-imagenes.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7gKzgvFiGM

oops i rendered the background image the wrong size

mCasual

as previously stated teleblender 3 has better support for daz studio "shaders"
case in point, Dawn uses the OmHumanSurface, even for the eyes
the specular color is a very bright white, which would often result in very glossy materials in Blender
but since we now have new ways to transfer the "specular strength" value
we get properly not-too-glossy eye surfaces

mCasual

publishing teleblender 3 ( beta ) tonight
I will write the manual this week
though the teleblender 1 and 2 manual covers most of it

you'll notice that spotlights, distant lights are now properly oriented spotlights and sunlights
instead of point lights

i want to have a very sleek looking and better written user manual,
with details about the material node trees

also i'll study and discuss rendering of Poser / Carrara scenes,
using the same "mcjBlendBot" scripts used by mcjTeleBlender
and see what exists for rigged figures and formats like ... what was it called ...

same render as the previous one but HDR environment lighting instead of JPG

---- next forum post is the link for TB3's homepage ! ---

... oh oh did i re-write code for the the normal maps .... bah we're in Beta :D ah sweet beta

Szark

I haven't looked back so apologies if this has been mentioned already.

I noticed bump maps (Image Texture node) are set to Colour when they should be set to Non Colour Data. And Mix Shader gives more control over Add Shader even though you mentioned it last time. But I still think Mix Shader is better which gives more control of Diffuse and Glossy mixing. ;) I have spent the last few days doing a big scene with lots of materials and this what popped in my head

mCasual

Brave mcjTeleBlender 3 Beta testers go here

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

mCasual

Szark said:

I haven't looked back so apologies if this has been mentioned already.

I noticed bump maps (Image Texture node) are set to Colour when they should be set to Non Colour Data. And Mix Shader gives more control over Add Shader even though you mentioned it last time. But I still think Mix Shader is better which gives more control of Diffuse and Glossy mixing. ;) I have spent the last few days doing a big scene with lots of materials and this what popped in my head

there's a "glossy mix" checkbox in TB3 which selects the use of a mix shader or an add-shader for the specular mix

for bump maps, if you mean in the blender node network, i observed that bump maps
work as expected without the need to convert the image color output
well i didn't study that matter a lot, you seem to say we can change the output type to non-color
i'll see if it changes the bump map appearance .... if there's gamma correction on color outputs for example

( TB3 and the new Blendbot is out in beta testing )

nakamuram002

Thanks Casual!! I gave TB3 a quick test. My hair transparencies don't work properly in the new version. Also, the world output is messed up -- There is no World Output node and it does not appear to support .hdr equirectangular mapped images.

If I use the "TB2 Legacy Mats" option, I get much better results, but my world image is not equirectangular mapped, like it was in TB2.

mCasual

nakamuram002 said:

Thanks Casual!! I gave TB3 a quick test. My hair transparencies don't work properly in the new version. Also, the world output is messed up -- There is no World Output node and it does not appear to support .hdr equirectangular mapped images.

If I use the "TB2 Legacy Mats" option, I get much better results, but my world image is not equirectangular mapped, like it was in TB2.

the world-environment is one of the features that didn't change
when all goes well, it's the first task executed right after the obj/mtl files were loaded

ladaga

Found interesting, and I think can be useful to facilitate the scene

Szark

Casual said:

Szark said:

I haven't looked back so apologies if this has been mentioned already.

I noticed bump maps (Image Texture node) are set to Colour when they should be set to Non Colour Data. And Mix Shader gives more control over Add Shader even though you mentioned it last time. But I still think Mix Shader is better which gives more control of Diffuse and Glossy mixing. ;) I have spent the last few days doing a big scene with lots of materials and this what popped in my head

there's a "glossy mix" checkbox in TB3 which selects the use of a mix shader or an add-shader for the specular mix

for bump maps, if you mean in the blender node network, i observed that bump maps
work as expected without the need to convert the image color output
well i didn't study that matter a lot, you seem to say we can change the output type to non-color
i'll see if it changes the bump map appearance .... if there's gamma correction on color outputs for example

( TB3 and the new Blendbot is out in beta testing )silly me yes you did mention the Glossy Mix node, sweet idea thanks a lot for that.
Here you go some visual references on what I am talking about. I noticed a better Opacity Maps implementation when Non colour data was chosen. Colour didn't cut it and for the bump I noticed an increase in quality when set to non colour. :) Saves using a RGB - BW node. ;)

These aren't complaints as a you are doing this for free and b I love this script so much.

PS It would help to attach the image

HellKorea

Thank you Teleblender3

===================================
Error in script execution!
WARNING: Script Error: Line 2088
WARNING: TypeError: Result of expression 'mat.findProperty( "Glossiness" )' [null] is not an object.
WARNING: Stack Trace:
()@:2088

error comes when use AoA SSS Shader.
it will need error processing when not using default and omHumanSurface shader.

(sorry my poor english..)

mCasual

jerrycrow said:

Thank you Teleblender3

===================================
Error in script execution!
WARNING: Script Error: Line 2088
WARNING: TypeError: Result of expression 'mat.findProperty( "Glossiness" )' [null] is not an object.
WARNING: Stack Trace:
()@:2088

error comes when use AoA SSS Shader.
it will need error processing when not using default and omHumanSurface shader.

(sorry my poor english..)

it will be a chance for me to try AoA's SSS !

this will be easy to fix, thanks giving me the error message

someday i may do SSS export to Blender Cycle's SSS, which i think is still CPU-only

------
Fig 1,2 - DS render the mcjTeaPot, less the spout which had problems - also i had to inverse the normals -- so, i'll update the free mcjTeaPot prop very soon

The Aoa Subsurface shader will now be processed by mcjTeleBlender 3 ( TB3 was looking for DzShaderMaterials, but this is a DzBrickMaterial

the OmSimpleShader does not contain specular/glossiness properties. TB3 will now deal with this by setting specular strength to zero, glossiness to 0.5 and specular color to gray ... or simply doing nothing
-------

mCasual

Update - TeleBlender 3.01 beta - Update - TeleBlender 3.01 beta - Update - TeleBlender 3.01 beta - Update - TeleBlender 3.01 beta

History
2014 September 9 10:54 PM - version 3.00 beta released

2014 September 10 4:00 PM -
version 3.01 beta released -
now supports all non-DzDefaultMaterial materials including those with no specular properties
tested : Aoa Subsurface - OmSimpleSurface
only the script needs to be upgraded not the mcjBlendBot package

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

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?

i'll check it out today

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?

i used your mddImporter right now and imported the houdini ball, then imported the mdd

then i used mcjTeleBlender to export the animation as a series of 50 numbered obj files

mcjTeleBlender also created a batch file ( .bat ) which is used to start Blender in hidden-mode
it then renders each frame as an image

then i can convert the images into a video using a video editor like virtualDub

-----

to get the whole animation in Blender you'd have to import it using Blender's mdd importer

the materials would probably be usable for "Blender Internal Render" renders but not Blender Cycles renders

next i will see if you could use some of the mcjBlendBot scripts to create the Blender-Cycles-compatible material-node-trees

-----

How to import an mdd in Blender

File / Import / Wavefront (.obj )

imported MDDImporter\sample data\houdini13_output\houdini_output_frame0.obj

i selected the ball

i went in Blender's Object Modifiers panel

and added a "Mesh Cache" modifier

i selected the MDD file that comes with the ball : MDDImporter\sample data\houdini13_output\houdini_output.mdd

and its done this is now an animation in blender but the materials are not good materials for cycles

-----

next we will borrow the materials from an mcjTeleBlender exported scene