Looking for advice regarding Daz3D and Low Polygon Models for Game Development

Venged

Hello ALL,

I have been at Game Development for almost two years and I have learned a lot in the time. Before I learned to model my own Character with Blender and Zbrush I used Daz3D decimated Character as my first prototype models for the game I am working on.

Now I have come to realize that I can't model all the characters for my game myself because with me doing all the scripting and art it is just too much. I like using Decimator for prototyping and NPC but I want clean Geometry for the main Characters. I also have learned to use Morphs in the game Engines Unity 3D and Unreal Engine 4 for character customization which brings me to the questions I want to ask Daz3D and the community.

Question 1) I have Stephanie P4 Lo which is a low rez model. I can't find a resource kit with basic shirt, pants, and shoes that I can use Goz with to make my own custom outfits. Can somebody show me where this is on the Daz3D store or already in my library?

Question 2) Other than the models provided by LoRez brand on the store are there any other low Poly figures similar to Stephanie Lo and Stephanie P4 lo?

Question 2a) Is there a Victoria 2,3,.... or 6 Lo version? Is there a low poly version of Genesis 1 and 2

Question 3) Can I rigg the female body I made myself in Zbrush to the Genesis 2 Skeleton and make my own Genesis compatible figure.

Question 4) Can I make/create and rig my own Low Poly character and make cloths for it and sell it on the Daz3D store.
Note: The geometry would be what I created in Blender and Zbrush.

Question 5) Are there any Game Developers on the Daz3D forum that has had experience with the CCT Game Developer license that Daz offers and the Licenses that LoRez offers, how is working out for you?

Another reason I have reconsidered Daz3D for the main Characters is that I could use the High poly versions for my cut scenes and still for promo.

Thanks in advance for reply's,

Robert
AKA Venged

ReDave

I can reply only to some parts.
Q2/Q2A: there are several. Victoria 3 had a separate (I think? It was before I joined the community) Reduced Resolution (RR for short) version which has 24406 polys compared to the 74.5k of the default. V4 and M4, both at 68k-ish(?) polys, have LOD models, in several versions, one at 17k polys, one at 4k, one at 2k, and one at 1k if I remember aright. Getting them to work was slightly fiddly, and as far as I remember there was always at least one black poly (inverted poly) in at least one of the resolutions.
Genesis 1 has 18872 quads and probably doesn't need a lower res version, although it might be an idea for an enterprising PA.
Genesis 2 has 21064 quads and apparently a few triangles. I am not aware of a lower res version but I haven't followed much of that generation.
Q3. I don't remember much about rigging, but my guess is that unless your Zbrush model has the same number of polys of G2 you'll need to redo the weight maps.
Q4: sure, as long as you build the whole geometry yourself it's all good.

Venged

ReDave said:

I can reply only to some parts.
Q2/Q2A: there are several. Victoria 3 had a separate (I think? It was before I joined the community) Reduced Resolution (RR for short) version which has 24406 polys compared to the 74.5k of the default. V4 and M4, both at 68k-ish(?) polys, have LOD models, in several versions, one at 17k polys, one at 4k, one at 2k, and one at 1k if I remember aright. Getting them to work was slightly fiddly, and as far as I remember there was always at least one black poly (inverted poly) in at least one of the resolutions.
Genesis 1 has 18872 quads and probably doesn't need a lower res version, although it might be an idea for an enterprising PA.
Genesis 2 has 21064 quads and apparently a few triangles. I am not aware of a lower res version but I haven't followed much of that generation.
Q3. I don't remember much about rigging, but my guess is that unless your Zbrush model has the same number of polys of G2 you'll need to redo the weight maps.
Q4: sure, as long as you build the whole geometry yourself it's all good.

Thanks for the reply.

I just tried G1/G2 in the game engines and your correct they are already low enough. Matter fact they are not much higher thank the Steph RR model.

Regard to Q4: I have a mesh already that made 100% from scratch and rigged. I want to delete my Skeleton and rigg it to a Daz Skeleton. So far i can't find the Genesis 1 or 2 Skeletons by by them selves. Would you recommend I use my own Skeleton? I am assuming if I use my own Skeleton the model will have to only have cloths that I made and rigged to it?

If I weight map it out side of Daz will Daz recognize the weight mapping when I import it into Daz?

Can I sell a Character if it does not have a Daz Skeleton but rather my own rigging? I assume I would have to provide cloths for it since it won;t be compatible?

Thanks!

Thanks,

ReDave

You're welcome!
Regarding rigging as I said it's not my strong suit, but I think you can copy over the rigging from model 1 to model 2 if both are loaded in the scene, by using either the Transfer Utility or the Figure Setup tools (I forget which). However that would probably be perforce an approximate method, since the bones in the two meshes will more likely than not be of different length, and thus their respective area of effect will also be approximate. Refined work is done using the Figure Setup tools. There's an icon for both of these utilities on the right hand side of the City Limits Layout (Window->Workspace->Select Layout). Learning to rig is a great skill to have, but naturally it takes time to master. Once you have rigged your figure you can copy the rig to your modeled clothes, even on a static OBJ.
The weight mapping is usually local to the program, but it can be ported in some cases. Experience shows that FBX export from DS to the big boys (Maya, Max, etc.), works; but the reverse, sadly, doesn't. I do not know if Blender rigging transfers well in either direction.
You can sell figures that have their own rigging. In principle you can make use of smoothing modifiers and autofit templates (which you would have to do yourself) to fit pretty much anything to any figure, but I don't remember a thing about that. Might be fun to investigate again, though. ;)

Venged

Thanks for the reply and advice. I will rigg the character OBJ from scratch in Daz3D. It will be good chance to learn Daz3D Rigging. I'm gonna use the Gen 2 Models and CCT license for the extra Game Characters for they seem to a low enough resolution.

Because, after you pointed it out, I see Gen 2 figures are about the same low resolution as Stephanie 3 RR I am going to focus my efforts for making cloths and things for extras in game on those Figures. Now I'm looking for a Merchant resource kit for those similar to the one offered by a vendor for Genesis. If you or anybody know it exist please point me to it. I found the Merchant Resource kit for Gen 2 Females. Silly me I had it in my cart already but all this time thought it was for Genesis. LOL!

I wish searching the store could be done by filters more easily. But if that is my biggest compliant now I have come a long way. When I first got Daz3D 2 years ago I used to just open it and look at it and could not do anything. When I would purchase items I could rarely find them in my l;library. Gotta love the Download/Install software they provide:-) Now I'm making morphs and other cool things and might be rigging in Daz3D soon:-) I love this software now that I can get around in it and do a few things:-) Love this forum to!

I'm also gonna buy a character from LoRez and play with it before I get too far. Those may be nice for NPC's and background characters as well.

It just occurred to me that I learned rigging originally in Carrara. I bet those skeletons automatically work Daz. I'm go try it first:-) I stopped rigging in Carrara because the FBX export was giving me a problem and Blender worked. That was an older version of Carrara before 8.5 came out. I bought 8.5 update but never really used it yet.

I think all my questions got answered,. Thanks for the quick reply.

Thanks for your helps!

WendyLuvsCatz

unfortunately Carrara rigging does not work in DAZ though it does FBX export, I use both in iClone and have gotten Carrara dae exports rigged and animated into Blender, not studio.

Toyen

Don´t know if this will help but I think you can get a lower poly version of the genesis 2 figure when exporting it as an obj from daz by setting its resolution to Base before exporting it.

Venged

dave.evert said:

Don´t know if this will help but I think you can get a lower poly version of the genesis 2 figure when exporting it as an obj from daz by setting its resolution to Base before exporting it.

Way cool! Thanks! I will try that tonight:-)

Venged

wendy♥catz said:

unfortunately Carrara rigging does not work in DAZ though it does FBX export, I use both in iClone and have gotten Carrara dae exports rigged and animated into Blender, not studio.

Hey thanks Wendy Catz! I remember you! you were a lot of help on the forum when I first got Carrara and Daz3D. This is good to know. I will stick with the rigging in Daz3D and or Blender for now. I always wanted to try to rigg something in Daz3D anyway:-)