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Conversion Process Guidance

stevenjamesfrank_783cb48346stevenjamesfrank_783cb48346 Posts: 13
in Daz Studio Discussion

I have a project to take a model in the file format .stl (very basic, primarily used for 3D printing), to somehow shade it (basically "paint" various parts) and finally end up with a .x3d model.

Please note that the source format (.stl) and the destination format (.x3d) are immutable and outside of my control, so discussion of options in regard to those aspects in irrelevant.

I have a process that is working after a fasion, but I strongly suspect that due to my ignorance, some aspects can be improved.

My current process:

  • DAZ Studio does not import .stl so step one is converting to a format that Studio does accept. I am currently going to .obj and this works just fine. Please note that my conversion here is using a paid service so any way to get a .stl directly into Studio and I'd be very interested. I'd also be interested in options (and reasons) for choosing something other that .obj at this point.
  • Once I open the .obj in Studio I save it as a native Studio file (.duf) and get into the "painting" process.  The model, due to the source, has only 1 surface so creating surfaces for all of the vaious parts I want to paint comes first.  I have this down to a tedius but manageable process.  The good news is that the models are not very large but selecting out every little piece takes some time. I'm using the Geometry editor and it seems to do the job. Does anyone know how to change the size of the Drag selector?
  • Now I have a model with a bunch of Surfaces that I can Shade.  It's my understanding (shaky at best), that there are only certain (simpler) Shaders that can be used without further work on my model.  Any clarification on that would be helpful, especially what, specifically, I can/should use for Shading without doing further work on the model.  I am having trouble with a couple of things here but I believe it's primarily the Shaders I've been experimenting with.  When I just use a simple color, things come out as expected.
  • After the "painting" is complete, it's time to get the model into the .x3d format (web based VR).  Unfortunately, no DAZ to X3D bridge (I don't think) so I'm stuck with another conversion.  Currently, I output the model from Studio as a .obj again.  I'm very curious if there is a better option at this point?  Do I "lose" anything with the .obj output and is there a better option? Is there a way to get the .duf directly to .x3d?
  • And finally it's back to a paid conversion (CAD Exchanger) from .obj to .x3d.

That's it.  I'd really like any advise on getting rid of conversion steps if possible.  I'd also be very interested in any advice on the "painting" process that I describe and/or any hints or tricks for selecting parts of a model (as described) in a more efficient way.

Thanks!!

Comments

  • AnimAnim Posts: 241
    edited May 2021

    Even though I like DAZ Studio for what it does I like to mention two other software packages here. Both are free and open source:

    Blender (https://www.blender.org/)

    Meshlab (https://www.meshlab.net)

    DAZ Studio is focused on giving users an environment to make scenes with ready made content. Its focus is not mainly to create or edit this existing content. I understand your workflow as a pipeline from source -> edit -> target.

    Meshlab started as a 3d format conversion software but is now more than that (check the website for details). It can import stl and output x3d and alot of other formats.

    Blender also has x3d and stl support and on top of that is content creation and alteration package. I assume you will find everything you need in those two packages as they are made for this type of work.

    But, of course this comes at the expense of a learning curve. It takes some time and tutorials to understand what, how and why to do certain things in Blender or Meshlab. But, when I was new to DAZ Studio it was a similar experience.

     

    [EDIT]

    Even though my initial response was not directly helpful regarding your specific questions I at least can tell you how to increase the selector size in the geometry editor:

    geometry-editor.png
    708 x 471 - 81K
    Post edited by Anim on
  • stevenjamesfrank_783cb48346stevenjamesfrank_783cb48346 Posts: 13

    Thank you very much for your response, that is incredibly helpful!  I will checkout both of those packages. I chose Daz primarily because I was minorly familiar and just didn't find any information on the others through a lot of searching.  The learning curve doesn't bother me, I've spent a bunch of time in Daz recently, I'm not too worried about the others.

    Also thanks on the tool info, I did, subsequent to my post, find that.

    Again, my gratitude for your time.

  • AnimAnim Posts: 241

    You are welcome smiley

  • stevenjamesfrank_783cb48346stevenjamesfrank_783cb48346 Posts: 13

    Just fyi, and for anyone interested, I'm using Blender and it is working perfectly for what I need to do.

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