Skin tone does not seem to export correctly in OBJ
crimsondrac
Posts: 4
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong when exporting Daz characters as OBJs to import into Blender? As little as back in November of 2019, I was able to adjust the skin tone of the G8M in Surfaces and export them properly so Blender would open them with the correct skin tone. I made some Goblins and orcs for a story I was working on. Anyway, been trying agin recently to add some darker skin toned characters but all I gat is the pale white, default skin tone. I have not changed any settings I can see but nothing I have tied will export the tinted skin tone. I think it may have to do with v4.12 as I believe the older version worked properly but unfortunately it does not seem like they allow you to run older versions of Daz so I am unable to test it. Below is a link to a ss of the settings I use by default (which worked back in 11/19). I have tried all the other settings and the only one that seems to come close is Selecting No Maps under Write Material Librarby but that acutally just colors each surface a flat color and does not use any of the texutring in the body maps. Collected maps use the same pale skin tone and Convert Maps does not really do anything for Blender. I've tried turing off Write surfaces and Write MAterial Library in various combinations as well as un checking and checking boxes over on the left hand side without any positive effect. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated. I use Skin Bulder for G8F so I do not have an issue with those.
https://imagebin.ca/v/5HLGZzjLsy34
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Comments
OBJ carries very few of the material settingsd, and no shader code, so it will hardly ever be usable without reworking the materials in the destination application. Geenrally materials are application- and engine-specific.
It worked just a few montsh ago without any issues. I have never done anything special to export characters to OBJ and into Blender and I was able to do it with a few Goblins and Orcs I made back in November. Is there anyway any knows of that I can run an older version of Daz to test?
I am surprised that this ever worked. I've exported quite a few figures from DS to Blender via OBJ and never seen it work, and I don't believe there is anything in the OBJ file format that would convey the necessary information.
However, it may depend on how you are changing the skin tone. So, how are you changing the skin tone in DS? Are the materials on the figure in DS Iray or 3Delight?
You need a daz importer for blender, they do exist.
Google "diffeomorphic"
Again, it used to work just fine without one. I did it all the time making demons and goblins and such. I have not changed a thing in how I export OBJs except to upgrade Daz and Blender. I have already rolled back on Blender versions which has not helped so it has to be something to do with daz 4.12. I believe it updated around december or so of 2019 which is about the last time exporting worked without the need of a third party app. It did work.
OK, so I think I've figured out what the issue is. I did not roll Blender back far enough. I rolled all the way back to Blender 2.79 and made a startling discovery. Blender used to be able to interpret the skin tones and was able to build a node map that could display the skin tone. However, starting in 2.80, it seems it was massivly simplified and now does not know how to read the information properly or just shooses not to. I guess I have to take that up with the Blender crowd. Either way, thanks for your input everyone and if you are interested, here is a comaprision of the node map Blender makes in 2.79 comparedto 2.8.
https://imgur.com/a/4TKjNmQ
Thanks again.
I'm not familiar with Blender at all, but the top, simplified node system looks a lot like Lightwaves now. You should be able to create add'l imputs similar to the Base one, plug them in the appropriate spots, & be good to go. You'll only need to connect 4-6 rather than the spagetti fest in the lower image that it was doing for you.
Yeah, I know I can manually add the needed nodes it was just it used to get done automatically by Blender and now it doesn't. I am happy the issue isnot with Daz though. I can actually use multiple version of blender at once so I can still run the older version to import characters when I need to. After I save them in Blender the textures remain tinted properly so I can use them in other scenes.
There ya go. Good solution.
I (well, everyone) was struggling with understanding all of that too when Lightwave transitioned to their Principled system. Picked up some 3rd part tools by a Lightwave wizard who's since jumped to the Houdini ship. He's done a number of bridges between various products so who knows. Side effect of all that is I understand what's going on much better. Now if I can just make heads &/or tails out of Daz's LIE system...
My only hesitation with Blender is I'm already taxing the wetware as it is & some of the storage cels are having refresh issues.
You should have tried blender before they implemented an undo function, the new version is good for a file converter, but i still can't figure out why all my models are pink.