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Saving Materials / Textures Files?

TouristTourist Posts: 108
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

I have downloaded a car model on another site, it comes as an OBJ file with TGA and PNG material files.

After importing the OBJ car I applied the materials using DAZ's surface pane.

I then saved the finished model as a Scene and as Material Presets but when I later tried to open it again all the surfaces were missing.

Should I save it differently?

Should I place the TGA and PNG material files in a specific DAZ folder?

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,712

    Both should work, indeed the materials should load with the scene.

  • TouristTourist Posts: 108

    They don't, when the model loads I get a message listing the missing materials.

    The only materials that do load properly are the DAZ shaders I added to the car.

    The TGA material files that were downloaded with the car model are not saved after being applied.

    Now, the downloaded car files are on my computer but not in my DAZ library.

    Should I put them there like I do when installing  a DAZ file manually? 

    If yes, where do I place the TGA and OBJ files?

     

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,712

    DS should be able to store and use absolute paths for items thata re not in the content library. Presumably it isn't something like a drive letter for an external drive changing, or OneDrive moving files to its own location?

  • TouristTourist Posts: 108

    No, there is no external drive or OneDrive.

    Just my Mac laptop.

    I just don't get why the files are "missing" even though I manually browse to their location when applying them.

    Any ideas?

  • Sven DullahSven Dullah Posts: 7,621
    edited July 2019

    A shot in the dark...try converting the TGA images to jpg or png? Save as a new materials preset.

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,088
    edited July 2019

     Material presets requires that the mat texture maps are within a Library file structure. 

    Post edited by Totte on
  • JonnyRayJonnyRay Posts: 1,744

    Normally, when I'm loading a model (OBJ) into Daz, I follow the following steps, but I can't say they are all required OR that they are "best practice". I can just say that they work for me.

    1. I navigate to my Daz Library on my HD
    2. I go into the 'data' sub-folder
    3. I have a folder there for everything I created called JRStudios, so I click into that. You could maybe create a folder called "downloaded" for things you got somewhere else?
    4. I create a folder for the object (e.g. "CoolCar")
    5. I copy the object file and all of it's textures into that folder
    6. In Studio, I import the object from that folder, then setup the surfaces using the texture files from that folder as well
    7. Then I save it as a Support Asset -> Prop Asset
      • This might be the key step you're missing as I recall a tutorial somewhere that says that is what ties everything together in Studio. Saving as scenes would embed the OBJ and textures into the scene file, but this kind of lets Studio's content DB know where everything is
    8. If I have other surface settings, I'll set those up and save them separately as Material Presets after the prop is saved.

    Like I said, it works for me. There may be "better" places to put your files (especially if you were packaging something for distribution), but if it's just for you, as long as it works, it should be okay.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,712
    edited July 2019

    Bump removed, reply to duplicate post merged.

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • TouristTourist Posts: 108
    edited July 2019

    Thank you all very much for your suggestions, I will test them and let you knwo if they help.

    Post edited by Tourist on
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,712
    Totte said:

     Material presets requires that the mat texture maps are within a Library file structure. 

    Are you sure? It should just save using absolute paths, rather than relative paths for images in a content directory.

  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,088
    Richard Haseltine said:
    Totte said:

     Material presets requires that the mat texture maps are within a Library file structure. 

    Are you sure? It should just save using absolute paths, rather than relative paths for images in a content directory.

    I haven't tried i a while but I think that is the case, and you do mean " absolute paths, rather than relative paths for images not in a content directory.)

    Will see what happens, back soon....

  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,088

    OK, works as @Richard says in the current version.

     

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,712
    Totte said:
    Richard Haseltine said:
    Totte said:

     Material presets requires that the mat texture maps are within a Library file structure. 

    Are you sure? It should just save using absolute paths, rather than relative paths for images in a content directory.

    I haven't tried i a while but I think that is the case, and you do mean " absolute paths, rather than relative paths for images not in a content directory.)

    Will see what happens, back soon....

    No, if the image file is not in a content directory then the preset uses absolute paths, saying exactly where it is; if the image is in a content directory then only the relative path, the location within the content directory, is used. As far as I know and recall.

  • TouristTourist Posts: 108

    Jonny Ray, thank you for taking the time to write a detailed answer.

    Your "recipe" works beautifully.

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