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DSF Toolbox DSF to OBJ conversion— is it supposed to be able to generate an OBJ .mtl file?

stein345stein345 Posts: 0
in The Commons

Hi.

I recently purchased and downloaded the DSF Toolbox standalone app to convert DSF files to OBJ for use in other programs. It does a great job on converting the DSF files to OBJ geometry files, but it doesn't seem to generate OBJ .mtl files which would be additionally helpful to apply the DSF model textures onto the converneted OBJ files. Does anyone know if the DSF Toolbox is supposed to be able to create OBJ .mtl files or do I need to create those manually after it converts the DSF file to OBJ? It seems that DSF Toolbox would create an OBJ .mtl file since the program asks if you want materials and groups, but doesn't seem to give an option to identify where the equivalent DSF metal and texture files are (it only asks for where the DSF geometry file, DSF morph and DSF UV files are. 

I appreciate anyone's help who has used this process. The DSF Toolbox instruction manual doesn't make it clear whether the program creates OBJ .mtl files, and I can't find an address to write the creator.

Thank you. 

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,418

    I don't have the tool, but I think it is asking if it should save out the surface groups rather than the actual material settings (which are not necessarily in the object definition/loading files to start with). .MTL is, in any event, very limited in the information it will carry so you would have to rework it in the destination application regardless.

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,889
    Just thinking about it, and I must say I don't have the tool, but I don't think the .dsf file has that information stored in it or a mechanism by which it can be found. The basic dsf file contains the geometry only. There is a UV .dsf in a sub directory, so the UV information can be found. The geometry .dsf includes the surface groups. But that's the lot. To get material, base colour, texture references etc, well, they're in the higher level .duf file that calls the geometry and UV .dsf files. There is no backwards/upwards reference to the .duf in the .dsf, either. So. I'd be surprised if the dsf to obj converter is meant to creat .MTL files. Probably not what you want to hear. You can export the obj with all the images and a .MTL file from DS under File| Export. The obj file so exported has flaws, but many programs can read it.
  • stein345stein345 Posts: 0

    Thank you both very much for your comments, @RichardHaseltine and @richardandtracy. I tried downloading the free DAZ studio but it actually seemed too complex for what I was looking for (the DAZ specific model content such as advertised on Renderhub that isn't also in a stand 3D model format) which is why I bought the standalone converter program. As you both alluded to, I did find in the DAZ folders when I downloaded them from Renderhub that there is a .duf file that seems to contain .mtl like specifications for scenes and textures to use. It also seems that DAZ uses a separate textures folder similar to the .obj standard. So, I'll go ahead and try and write my own simple .mtl file after previewing the .duf file in the DAZ downloaded folder that seems to have .mtl-like information. 

    Have a good rest of your week. :-)

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