Star Trek Builders Unite 5 : Where no pixel has gone before

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Comments

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    I think I need some assembly tips for putting this Lounge set together in DAZ|Studio. Translating the Poser instructions into D|S just isn't working easily for me; none of the % size values match up, in fact none of the relative size values seem to match up. And yet I can see from the pics here that everything does fit together, somehow. Except for the viewport glass, the individual parts seem to be twisted just enough so they don't fit into the window openings no matter how I fiddle with the dials.

    One of the things I've noticed is the .obj files seem to be just bare mesh data: none of them start with .mtl file references, so all the .mtl files and all the textures are ignored when I import the plain shiny white pieces. Does Poser do this stuff so differently?


    I just sent an e-mail to Patience55. She worked with the sections in D/S as soon as I hear from her, I'll pass her info on.

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    FWIW, I just tried pulling the individual parts into PoseRay, and it picked up all the proper colours and textures. Sizes were all over the place, though. Maybe it's another almost-but-not-quite-right file syntax compatibility issue between D|S and Poser?

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    FWIW, I just tried pulling the individual parts into PoseRay, and it picked up all the proper colours and textures. Sizes were all over the place, though. Maybe it's another almost-but-not-quite-right file syntax compatibility issue between D|S and Poser?

    I'm still waiting for Patience55 to get back with me. I wish I knew more about Daz Studio. Between this and the Docking berth, it's tripped me up twice now...

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    FWIW, I just tried pulling the individual parts into PoseRay, and it picked up all the proper colours and textures. Sizes were all over the place, though. Maybe it's another almost-but-not-quite-right file syntax compatibility issue between D|S and Poser?

    Have you tried the scene file? Does it mess up, too?

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    mdbruffy said:
    Have you tried the scene file? Does it mess up, too?

    No, everything seems to have come in OK in the scene file (which I didn't notice at first). Just need to fix up the materials for D|S, and I'm about to try a Luxus test render. If I can get the scale right, judging from the size of the recesses the single chairs go into...
  • patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
    edited December 1969

    Hi Folks.

    Okay ... yes the import/export thingies are different between D/S and Poser.
    Neither edition of Poser that I have is consistent even for itself on how big anything is when I import 'any' object from anybody including my own creations.

    Some of the items do load in D/S on the very small side. And whether it is D/S or just how things go, I don't know, but one can not select 'everything' and en masse resize them larger.

    As for percentages. Sigh. I eyeball things. If one wants to keep the .pz3 small for placing inside one of the spaceships, one can always shrink down a figure or two for the windows.

    What I did find is that importing several of the objects into Hexagon using my usual 1m settings works just fine. If the main lounge is somewhat larger than the grids, that's the right size. The floor and planter inserts import very small even into Hexagon using these settings. But one can resize them larger to fit the main lounge. Hide/close whichever pieces you want to and export out the .obj to anywhere on your computer. Use the 1m settings. In D/S import in the .obj using the Poser settings. Should land just as desired.
    Save out a .duf file to a Props folder directly under My Library. It can later be found in the program in the Content Library. [may have to refresh it to see it].

    For making the chairs I found that if I created a prop in D/S using the free utility, loading that in Poser, then importing the .obj however it arrives [sometimes one has to flip the normals], resize and position that where it should be [same as the prop created in D/S], then being sure to use the .obj file [not the D/S file], I had Poser make the chair props. The chairs should all be loading in either program at the correct size for the usual people figures.

    If wanting to use the chairs in a tiny scene in Poser anyway, zoom them down to about 10% in size.

    The image that is named that it was tweaked in D/S is from the download sent me. Surfaces in D/S usually require a color more black than white on one or two of the Surfaces that Poser uses a colour more white on.

    .....................................

    And for those who are have a bit of patience, providing it's okay with Madison ... for myself I have continued working on the set as I desire the whole shebang as a .cr2 file. I stress the patience thing because this is a season of high stress, and I'm supposed to avoid stress. Easier said than done some days. I sit here mulling over the sad fact that in this most wondrous nation, near the top of the list for standard of living ... I can't find a pair of jeans my size. So "RL" means I have to clear the computer off the table and set my sewing up for awhile too.

    DS_render_tweaked_a_little_as_per.jpg
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  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    Hi Folks.

    Okay ... yes the import/export thingies are different between D/S and Poser.
    Neither edition of Poser that I have is consistent even for itself on how big anything is when I import 'any' object from anybody including my own creations.

    Some of the items do load in D/S on the very small side. And whether it is D/S or just how things go, I don't know, but one can not select 'everything' and en masse resize them larger.

    As for percentages. Sigh. I eyeball things. If one wants to keep the .pz3 small for placing inside one of the spaceships, one can always shrink down a figure or two for the windows.

    What I did find is that importing several of the objects into Hexagon using my usual 1m settings works just fine. If the main lounge is somewhat larger than the grids, that's the right size. The floor and planter inserts import very small even into Hexagon using these settings. But one can resize them larger to fit the main lounge. Hide/close whichever pieces you want to and export out the .obj to anywhere on your computer. Use the 1m settings. In D/S import in the .obj using the Poser settings. Should land just as desired.
    Save out a .duf file to a Props folder directly under My Library. It can later be found in the program in the Content Library. [may have to refresh it to see it].

    For making the chairs I found that if I created a prop in D/S using the free utility, loading that in Poser, then importing the .obj however it arrives [sometimes one has to flip the normals], resize and position that where it should be [same as the prop created in D/S], then being sure to use the .obj file [not the D/S file], I had Poser make the chair props. The chairs should all be loading in either program at the correct size for the usual people figures.

    If wanting to use the chairs in a tiny scene in Poser anyway, zoom them down to about 10% in size.

    The image that is named that it was tweaked in D/S is from the download sent me. Surfaces in D/S usually require a color more black than white on one or two of the Surfaces that Poser uses a colour more white on.

    .....................................

    And for those who are have a bit of patience, providing it's okay with Madison ... for myself I have continued working on the set as I desire the whole shebang as a .cr2 file. I stress the patience thing because this is a season of high stress, and I'm supposed to avoid stress. Easier said than done some days. I sit here mulling over the sad fact that in this most wondrous nation, near the top of the list for standard of living ... I can't find a pair of jeans my size. So "RL" means I have to clear the computer off the table and set my sewing up for awhile too.

    Patience, If you want to do up a D/S version I'll add it to the zip file- or you can post it on your own. By now, you've done as much work on this as I have.

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    mdbruffy said:
    Have you tried the scene file? Does it mess up, too?

    No, everything seems to have come in OK in the scene file (which I didn't notice at first). Just need to fix up the materials for D|S, and I'm about to try a Luxus test render. If I can get the scale right, judging from the size of the recesses the single chairs go into...

    Okay.

  • patience55patience55 Posts: 7,006
    edited December 1969

    mdbruffy said:
    Hi Folks.

    Okay ... yes the import/export thingies are different between D/S and Poser.
    Neither edition of Poser that I have is consistent even for itself on how big anything is when I import 'any' object from anybody including my own creations.

    Some of the items do load in D/S on the very small side. And whether it is D/S or just how things go, I don't know, but one can not select 'everything' and en masse resize them larger.

    As for percentages. Sigh. I eyeball things. If one wants to keep the .pz3 small for placing inside one of the spaceships, one can always shrink down a figure or two for the windows.

    What I did find is that importing several of the objects into Hexagon using my usual 1m settings works just fine. If the main lounge is somewhat larger than the grids, that's the right size. The floor and planter inserts import very small even into Hexagon using these settings. But one can resize them larger to fit the main lounge. Hide/close whichever pieces you want to and export out the .obj to anywhere on your computer. Use the 1m settings. In D/S import in the .obj using the Poser settings. Should land just as desired.
    Save out a .duf file to a Props folder directly under My Library. It can later be found in the program in the Content Library. [may have to refresh it to see it].

    For making the chairs I found that if I created a prop in D/S using the free utility, loading that in Poser, then importing the .obj however it arrives [sometimes one has to flip the normals], resize and position that where it should be [same as the prop created in D/S], then being sure to use the .obj file [not the D/S file], I had Poser make the chair props. The chairs should all be loading in either program at the correct size for the usual people figures.

    If wanting to use the chairs in a tiny scene in Poser anyway, zoom them down to about 10% in size.

    The image that is named that it was tweaked in D/S is from the download sent me. Surfaces in D/S usually require a color more black than white on one or two of the Surfaces that Poser uses a colour more white on.

    .....................................

    And for those who are have a bit of patience, providing it's okay with Madison ... for myself I have continued working on the set as I desire the whole shebang as a .cr2 file. I stress the patience thing because this is a season of high stress, and I'm supposed to avoid stress. Easier said than done some days. I sit here mulling over the sad fact that in this most wondrous nation, near the top of the list for standard of living ... I can't find a pair of jeans my size. So "RL" means I have to clear the computer off the table and set my sewing up for awhile too.

    Patience, If you want to do up a D/S version I'll add it to the zip file- or you can post it on your own. By now, you've done as much work on this as I have.

    Okay and thank you. Adding it to the zip file as well is fine with me ... actually I'll even repack the whole thing so hopefully there's no confusion as to what goes where [as there'd be even more .obj files in it].

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited February 2014

    Any Poser Pro 2014 users have an answer to this? When the corridor section is rendered from the scene file,it renders fine. BUT, Export it, import it and you find that the damn program has merged the material zones. This is why I had to release the Lounge in sections.

    Corridor_mess_.jpg
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    Post edited by mdbruffy on
  • rschulterschulte Posts: 489
    edited February 2014

    On 3D Warehouse, I found this nice Federation Patrol Craft in sketchup format. Did the best I can do with the
    software for these renders. Its not my mesh so I can't give it away. But it is a nice looking ship.

    http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=61d84ce3c9abae8ecaecd6faa349f197&prevstart=0

    Patrolcraft3.png
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    Post edited by rschulte on
  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited February 2014

    rschulte said:
    Its not my mesh so I can't give it away. But it is a nice looking ship.

    http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=61d84ce3c9abae8ecaecd6faa349f197&prevstart=0


    Ummm....actually...

    Rights granted to other end users of the Services. You give other end users of the Services a perpetual, sublicensable, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute Existing Geolocated Models, Existing Non-Geolocated Models, New Models and related content and derivative works thereof which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

    http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/preview_tos.html

    Post edited by mjc1016 on
  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,481
    edited December 1969
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  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    mdbruffy said:
    Just need to fix up the materials for D|S, and I'm about to try a Luxus test render.
    Okay.
    FWIW, been running 24 hours now and still not hit 500 samples/pixel. Still lots of speckles tonight, after tweaking the LuxRender mesh lighting a bit (had to turn down the inset lights above the gold thingie, they were glaring out the wooden wall panels). I'll see what it looks like in the morning. Not quite the longest Luxus render I've let run and run, but it's close.

    BTW, does this look like I've got the scale about right? There's a single seat with arms in the side recesses, and a 4-seat with arms in the centre one, I just scaled the whole thing up until the seats fit.

    LoungeTest-01.jpg
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  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited February 2014

    mdbruffy said:
    Just need to fix up the materials for D|S, and I'm about to try a Luxus test render.
    Okay.

    FWIW, been running 24 hours now and still not hit 500 samples/pixel. Still lots of speckles tonight, after tweaking the LuxRender mesh lighting a bit (had to turn down the inset lights above the gold thingie, they were glaring out the wooden wall panels). I'll see what it looks like in the morning. Not quite the longest Luxus render I've let run and run, but it's close.

    BTW, does this look like I've got the scale about right? There's a single seat with arms in the side recesses, and a 4-seat with arms in the centre one, I just scaled the whole thing up until the seats fit.

    To paraphrase "By George, I think he's got it!" Looks great, SpottedKitty! :-)

    Bet it'll look even better in the morning.

    Post edited by mdbruffy on
  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    mdbruffy said:
    Bet it'll look even better in the morning.

    Fingers crossed. Eyes crossed. Legs crossed.

    I must say the tweaked materials are working out nicely. The gold thingie is using the LuxRender metal2 set to a dull, not-too-shiny gold, and the seats have one of the freebie Slosh Leather Luxus shaders.

    BTW, nearly forgot to mention. The doors that weren't included in the scene file — are they supposed to be all red? I took so long trying to get everything to fit when I was assembling bit by bit, with the scene file I just added the seats and figure, so I set up the camera so the empty doorways weren't visible. And I just realised the doorways after scaling are slightly huge, I thought they were the same size as the standard ship's doors.

    Arghle. On having another look I realised the poor girl's floating a couple of inches off the floor. I think maybe I must have tweaked the scene scale a bit more after placing her feet on the ground. What happened to "cats always land on their feet"...? Arghle. :red:

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    mdbruffy said:
    Bet it'll look even better in the morning.

    Fingers crossed. Eyes crossed. Legs crossed.

    I must say the tweaked materials are working out nicely. The gold thingie is using the LuxRender metal2 set to a dull, not-too-shiny gold, and the seats have one of the freebie Slosh Leather Luxus shaders.

    BTW, nearly forgot to mention. The doors that weren't included in the scene file — are they supposed to be all red? I took so long trying to get everything to fit when I was assembling bit by bit, with the scene file I just added the seats and figure, so I set up the camera so the empty doorways weren't visible. And I just realised the doorways after scaling are slightly huge, I thought they were the same size as the standard ship's doors.

    Arghle. On having another look I realised the poor girl's floating a couple of inches off the floor. I think maybe I must have tweaked the scene scale a bit more after placing her feet on the ground. What happened to "cats always land on their feet"...? Arghle. :red:

    There are 2 door objs- "Lounge Back door" and "Side door". I didn't make them a permanent part of the structure because they weren't part of the offical design. The deck plan in "Mr.Scott's Guide..." shows an open deck clear back to the kitchen.I included them to hide the fact that the rest of the deck beyond the lounge wasn't there. I left them as seperate pieces in case someone in the future decides to go back and build the rest of the deck.

    Officers_Lounge-_Daz_post.jpg
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  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    OK, got it. Just needed to see that plan again to refresh my memory, I'd misremembered a few details.

    The render's still not hit 500S/p — I think tomorrow I'll concentrate the render on the gold thingie, floor and seats, that's where the worst speckles are right now, then call it done.

    For my next trick, I wonder how easy (or otherwise) it would actually be to plug this set into a Connie-class primary hull...? < ponder, ponder >

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited February 2014

    OK, got it. Just needed to see that plan again to refresh my memory, I'd misremembered a few details.

    The render's still not hit 500S/p — I think tomorrow I'll concentrate the render on the gold thingie, floor and seats, that's where the worst speckles are right now, then call it done.

    For my next trick, I wonder how easy (or otherwise) it would actually be to plug this set into a Connie-class primary hull...? < ponder, ponder >

    Good luck on that. I've been photoshopping it into renders of mine.

    Officers_Lounge-_WIP_M.jpg
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    Post edited by mdbruffy on
  • nightwolf1982nightwolf1982 Posts: 1,169
    edited February 2014

    Tried out the lounge set, and... wow. I definitely think it would be an awesome set to work with, but you weren't kidding when you said "some assembly required".

    What program was it modeled in? That might help with importing the pieces into DAZ at least.

    Post edited by nightwolf1982 on
  • blutobluto Posts: 848
    edited December 1969

    nightwolf

    ,I believe mbruffy uses sketch-up to build his sets with .

  • rdudarduda Posts: 579
    edited December 1969

    Thank you ssgbryan, got the OBJ loaded and normals reversed where needed. Made up new textures too.

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  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    Tried out the lounge set, and... wow. I definitely think it would be an awesome set to work with, but you weren't kidding when you said "some assembly required".

    What program was it modeled in? That might help with importing the pieces into DAZ at least.

    I started with Sketch-up. Then I took them into Poseray to check them and re-saved them as Poseray objs before taking them into Poser to get them oriented like they needed to be, then I exported them as Poser objs. The ones that have texture maps to them were then taken into UV Mapper , mapped and saved as UV mapped objs.

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    edited December 1969

    Okay, I'm calling it done.

    Nearly. Forty. Hours. And it still only reached 700S/p when I stopped it, yeesh. :bug:

    Still, it looks pretty good for my first really long Luxus render. Mesh lights on all the light surfaces, all materials tweaked so nothing gets washed out by the specular values, and actual Luxus materials here and there where I wasn't sure the autoconvert would work well. Then a bit of despeckle and sharpen in PaintShopPro, and that was it.

    Next time I think I'll use 3Delight instead of Luxus, that was a little bit on the long side.

    LoungeTest-02.jpg
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  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    Okay, I'm calling it done.

    Nearly. Forty. Hours. And it still only reached 700S/p when I stopped it, yeesh. :bug:

    Still, it looks pretty good for my first really long Luxus render. Mesh lights on all the light surfaces, all materials tweaked so nothing gets washed out by the specular values, and actual Luxus materials here and there where I wasn't sure the autoconvert would work well. Then a bit of despeckle and sharpen in PaintShopPro, and that was it.

    Next time I think I'll use 3Delight instead of Luxus, that was a little bit on the long side.

    Looks good. Glad it's working for you now. :-)

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    Tried out the lounge set, and... wow. I definitely think it would be an awesome set to work with, but you weren't kidding when you said "some assembly required".

    What program was it modeled in? That might help with importing the pieces into DAZ at least.

    Have you tried the scene file? It has the basic structure already assembled.

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited December 1969

    Well, I'm at a stand still as far as exporting any thing else is concerned. On top of hanging and crashing- which Poser pro 2014 has been doing for the last 8 months, It's now merging material zones- some of you might have seen my earlier post about that. I did a complete un-install- even had a tech dig out the files the process usually misses, then I re-installed Just Pro 2014- no que manager, no DYSON, no 32 bit version- Just 64 bit Poser Pro 2014.
    It's still merging material zones. :-(

    Until Smith Micro comes up with an answer- if they do- I'm out of the model exporting business.

  • mdbruffymdbruffy Posts: 2,345
    edited February 2014

    I've got folks helping on a lot of projects lately and I want everyone to know that I really do appreciate it. Bluto's helping me with my new corridor section. Since I can't get Poser Pro to import anything without merging textures- I'm still waiting to hear back from Smith Micro- Bluto agreed to export the obj from the scene file on his system. This is a test render with the curved section duplicated 3 times and using the doors from my original Corridor kit. I still have a few details to add.

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    Post edited by mdbruffy on
  • rdudarduda Posts: 579
    edited December 1969

    had some time last night to buuil up the Eng Table, no textures yet.

    ENg_PoolTable.jpg
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  • shadowhawk1shadowhawk1 Posts: 2,200
    edited December 1969

    Rduda said:
    had some time last night to buuil up the Eng Table, no textures yet.

    WOW that looks really amazing! Can't wait to see what else you do with this set.

This discussion has been closed.