Tutorial on how to export prop?

RGcincy

Is there a step-by-step tutorial on how to package a prop for distribution? I have a number of freebies made of assembled and scaled .obj files. For Bryce, I can export as an .obp file. I was wondering what was the equivalent when using Daz Studio? I searched the forums and Google but nothing stood out as a complete explanation.

Rich

SickleYield

Import the prop's obj or other mesh file into DAZ Studio.

Assign materials in the Surfaces tab. Your textures should be in runtime/textures/yourname/yourproduct, and that's where you should be navigating in Surfaces.

File--Save As -- Scene Assets -Figure/Prop Asset.

Now choose your directories - one popup asks where you want the main .duf file (ideally Props/YourName/Yourproduct), one asks where you want the vendor and product folders in data files to go (this is a more complicated small box with "Compressed" checkbox at the bottom).

Now that the item is saved, the files you need in the final package are:

The user-facing .duf prop file. This is the one from the library and probably Props/YourName (you chose where to save it).

The data files. These pack the geometry and are found in data/yourname/yourproduct, hopefully.

The texture files. These are found where you put them in Runtime/textures/etc.

Your package should start from these three folders - data, the library folder Props/Environments/People/Whatever, and Runtime.

Design Anvil - Razor42

Hi, I have this tut for sale at my old Rendo store, it may be helpful for you.
http://posercontent.com/tutorials-for-daz-studio/da-tutorial-daz-prop-distribution

RGcincy

Thanks for the quick replies! I'll give SickleYield's approach a try first. Thanks for the link to the tut as well.

RGcincy

Here's a test zip file containing the duf files. Can someone download and see if it works. Should look like the image if all the parts come through. There are no textures.

http://shapemagic.com/downloads/ShapeMagic_Curved_Knife.zip

Design Anvil - Razor42

Works fine :) Though you may want to consolidate the geometry, unless you're keeping the pieces separate for a reason? Maybe just knife and sheath.

RGcincy

Thanks for checking it out. Can you consolidate geometries in Daz Studio?

Design Anvil - Razor42

Sure, the easiest way I know of from within Daz Studio is to position and scale the item to the final parameter settings.
Hide any piece you don't want as part of that piece of geometry and then file/export out as an obj (naming the object as you would want for the final name)[DS will include only visible object as part of the exported obj].

Then re-import the item as a solid piece, this will make the parameters set to default zero.

There may be other ways but I find this the easiest method.

jestmart

You need to clean up your model first. It looks like the top surface of the jewels were n-gons in the modeling program, never leave n-gons in a finished model as there is no way to know how they will be handled in other 3D programs. You should also refine the naming of the material zones.

SickleYield

jestmart said:

You need to clean up your model first. It looks like the top surface of the jewels were n-gons in the modeling program, never leave n-gons in a finished model as there is no way to know how they will be handled in other 3D programs. You should also refine the naming of the material zones.

DS can handle n-gons as a jewel facet. I've used this technique more than once in a published product, in fact.

jestmart

Studio can handle some n-gons but not all therefore they should never be left in, its just sloppy modeling.

RGcincy

Thanks Razor42. I'll give that a try.

RGcincy

Finally got around to trying the additional suggestions. I consolidated the objects into just two objects: sheath and knife. I also consolidated and renamed material zones into something more user friendly. I lost one of the sheath jewels but decided to leave as is for now. It's uploaded to my site and seems to be working when I download it.

http://shapemagic.com/downloads/ShapeMagic_Curved_Knife.zip

Jestmart, I rechecked the jewel face and it has 272 tri and quad polygons.

Thanks for the training!

jestmart

Whether the jewel is/was an n-gon in the modeling program it is badly modeled tris now so still needs to be cleaned up. The following image is from Blender, on the left is the jewel face as it is currently modeled, notice the edges all radiate to a single central vertex and many are outside the outline of the jewel face. On the right is just one way of cleaning up mesh so there are no edges outside the outline. If you switch to wire shaded in DAZ Studio you will see those same edges so while DS may initially so the jewel okay there is no guarantee that some advance shader, lighting or camera might no have a problem with it.

RGcincy

I changed the design slightly by reducing the amount of indentation so as to eliminate the overlap. The convergence in the middle will remain as that is how my program Shape Magic creates the mesh. At least in Bryce it has not caused a problem for over 10 years. I'm only now trying it in Daz Studio. Thanks for sharing the example of the different mesh layout.

Mage 13X13

When you are talking about consolidating a model, what do you mean by that? I am thinking it may have something to do with making a group from more than one mesh, but I cannot be sure of that.

I too am working on several of my own models in DAZ Studio, some made from multiple .obj formatted meshes, which in many cases are joint edited to make swinging doors, hatches, rotating wheels and gears, and so on.

Usually I will create a group from all the components and then use the parenting system to parent individual parts to the parts they are hinged to (in the case of doors and hatches); or in the case of wheels and gears, I make their axes centralized and aligned with what they must rotate around. I then go to the parameters and set the limits for each part, to ensure that those parts work only the way I need them to work. All unused parameters are hidden as a rule. After doing all of that work, the group works the way I want. 

I know about the N-Gon thing, and I work to keep that to a minimum or none. Thankfully, in my experience DAZ Studio handles quads and tris fairly well, though I try to keep my models made completely of quads where possible.

I am here just to learn how to make my props ready for use in DAZ Studio in DAZ Studio formats, ie .DUF. And I want to know how to package them for upload to sites where I can sell or offer them for free. This mention of consolidating a model is confusing me, so I would ask that this process be explained in detail.

One can look at the folder structure of a given existing prop, with all the files that are needed for it to work as a DAZ prop, but when setting one's own props up, something seems to be missing, so that installing to DAZ Studio on another computer does not go as expected, and you get something that won't work correctly.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Design Anvil - Razor42

" I am thinking it may have something to do with making a group from more than one mesh, but I cannot be sure of that."

This is pretty much right, but it is referring to when you import into DS multiple meshes as a single object, rather than seperate meshes and parenting them together within DS.

Take the example above with the knife, there is no advantage to having the scabard and the decoration as independent imported items parented together within DS. It would be much cleaner to import them to DS as a single object. Each component can then be given it's own surface attributes, face groups and regions with the Geometry editor. This also works for your example of a car door. The car and the door should be imported together as a single object, then each component designated to a face group and rigging added for the door to open and close. This means when you save the figure (rigged prop) you end up with a single car asset, with it's own data resource that includes all of the various components of the full car and not lots of individual props linked together.

The rigging and the face/surface group within DS are what allows you to give each part independence. For example look at a typical figure, the eyes are a totally seperate piece of the mesh but they are seen in DS as one figure. The eyes can move independently to the figure because they are a separate face group attached to its own bone as part of the figures rigging.