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Decimator for Daz Studio

EsteisyEsteisy Posts: 7
in Daz Studio Discussion

Good afternoon,

 

I'm missing this plugin used to reduce the poligon count to export the bodel, but since a time I cannot find it.

I have tried to add the panel, and I have also looked for it at the "About Installed Plugins".

The version I have installed is the 4.21+ on Daz 4.21, I don't see why can't I find it.

I have also looked if it was still on the estore, and it is: Decimator for DAZ Studio | Daz 3D

 

Thank you.

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,888

    Do you own a license? It is not part of the free Daz Studio 4 (it was included with the paid-for version, but due to licensing restrictions it cannot be given away free).

  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,969
    edited April 2023

    If you ever bought Decimator, you would receive the updated package of this plugin in DIM when you install 4.21+, for General Release and Public Build ....

    Like this: the latest PB has just been pushed to me, plus the updated Decimator plugin...

     

    Post edited by crosswind on
  • EsteisyEsteisy Posts: 7

    Yes I have purchased it many years ago, and I have the key on my profile.

    After installing the beta and reinstalling also the public release, the plugin reappeared at the "About Installed Plugins" so I can put they key again.

     

    Thank you people!

  • jjoynerjjoyner Posts: 617
    edited May 22

    I bought Decimator on May 17 and installed it via DIM on May 19.  It shows in DIM as Decimator for DAZ Studio 4.22+ (Win 64-bit).  I am running Daz Studio 4.21.0.5 with no immediate plans to update to 4.22.  In About Installed Plugins, Decimator shows as "Plugin failed to load!" for the reason “Library could not be loaded. File is not a valid Daz Studio plug-in, or was made for a different version of DAZ Studio. Is Daz Studio 4.22 required to run the latest version of Decimator??  If so, how can I get the version that runs in 4.21?

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    Post edited by jjoyner on
  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,969
    edited May 22

    There're quite a few plugin DLL files are specifically compiled for each DS version (GoZ, MeasureMetrics, Decimator... etc...). This Decimator plugin(s) you can download and install in DIM are always the latest version for the latest DS General Release and Public Build.

    If you have no plan to upgrade your DS to the latest version, I'm afraid you have to send a ticket to Daz for requesting the correct version for your DS 4.21.0.5.

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    Post edited by crosswind on
  • jjoynerjjoyner Posts: 617

    crosswind said:

    There're quite a few plugin DLL files are specifically compiled for each DS version (GoZ, MeasureMetrics, Decimator... etc...). This Decimator plugin(s) you can download and install in DIM are always the latest version for the latest DS General Release and Public Build.

    If you have no plan to upgrade your DS to the latest version, I'm afraid you have to send a ticket to Daz for requesting the correct version for your DS 4.21.0.5.

    Thanks.  I was afraid that this would be the way things played out.   :( 

  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,969

    jjoyner said:

    crosswind said:

    There're quite a few plugin DLL files are specifically compiled for each DS version (GoZ, MeasureMetrics, Decimator... etc...). This Decimator plugin(s) you can download and install in DIM are always the latest version for the latest DS General Release and Public Build.

    If you have no plan to upgrade your DS to the latest version, I'm afraid you have to send a ticket to Daz for requesting the correct version for your DS 4.21.0.5.

    Thanks.  I was afraid that this would be the way things played out.   :( 

    And then the question would be if you could get response as well as the right version from them...

    Actually you may upgrade DS to the latest version while keeping the older version at the same time... More or less this tutorial from Jay can help: https://youtu.be/gK7BSfMtgvA?si=C9Oo3CrcCficpqZP

    Or, install the latest DS Public Build for using Decimator while you can still keep the older General Release.

    Or, you may ask for refund if you get no response finally...

  • jjoynerjjoyner Posts: 617
    edited May 22

    @croswond,

    Thanks.

    • And then the question would be if you could get response as well as the right version from them...

                 We'll see.  I submitted a ticket a few hours ago.

                 I watched Jay’s video a few months ago out of general interest.  Now, I may want to use his technique to run Daz Studio 4.22 without installing it.

    • Or, install the latest DS Public Build for using Decimator while you can still keep the older General Release.

                 This is a possibility also.  I see too that Decimator for DAZ Studio 4.22+ (Wind 64-bit) Public Build +Beta+ is available.

    • Or, you may ask for refund if you get no response finally...

                 Having gotten Decimator for less than $20, I don’t want to ask for a refund.  Someday, I’ll update Daz Studio but I have been holding off on version 4.22 as I continue to read about problems that some users are having.

    Post edited by jjoyner on
  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,969

    @jjoyner

    All right, fair enough. Wish it's worth the money you spent on it. coolyes

  • jjoynerjjoyner Posts: 617

    I bit the bullet and installed Daz Studio 4.22 BETA this afternoon so that I could explore Decimator.  I seem to be getting Decimator to do what it does.  I think I am correctly exporting a figure with a newly created LOD and importing the LOD.  Where I am having a problem is that when I select the newly imported LOD, the figure disappears in the viewport.  Here’s what I have tried many times - first with a G8F alien figure with and without clothing and finally with the G3M alien figure in the screen captures below.

    1. Load a G3M figure; the figure has more than 1 million faces.
    2. Launch Decimate => Prepare Selected Node(s); this appears to automatically decimate to a lower resolution.  I further lowered the resolution in Decimator.  See figure 1.
    3. Create a lower resolution LOD
    4. Export the lower resolution figure in OBJ format
    5. Load original figure again
    6. Use Edit/Object/Geometry/Add Level of Detail to import the lower resolution OBJ file
    7. When I select the lower resolution LOD, the figure disappears in the viewport although the bounding box (and eyelashes for G8F) remain.  See figure 2.

    Tonight alone I have watched many time Jay Versluis’ two videos on Decimator - Getting Started with the Decimator in DAZ Studio (2021) and Decimating your Characters and combining textures with Daz Studio (2023).

    Can anyone point out what I’m doing wrong?  Thanks in advance.

     

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    Imported LOD.jpg
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  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,969
    edited May 28

    Pls confirm one thing beforehand : You want to use this decimated Alien as a normal G3M figure in DS ?

    1st, Decimator plugin is used for decimate figure and export it to other format for use in non DS application (gaming, movie... etc.). And AFAIK, DS cannot save decimated resolution in any DUF format files and cannot correctly load in LOD mesh. So that's why you saw nothing after dialing it.

    2nd, if the answer to the above question is Yes.( Though I vaguely see less benefit that you may get from it... ). You cannot make it in the above way. Instead, you can :
    - Import Alien30% OBJ into the scene,  rig it on the original Alien with the settings in ss1.  Unfit it.
    - Import Alien30% OBJ again onto the rigged Alien with MLP (Reverse + Delta Only). Dial the morph and Lock it.
    - Adjust Rigging to Shape and ERC Freeze the fixing morph. Now you can use this decimated Alien as a G3M ~

    The cons is that you might have to make some necessary corrective morphs on this Alien30%, for the purpose of posing it correctly ~~

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    Post edited by crosswind on
  • jjoynerjjoyner Posts: 617

    crosswind said:

    Pls confirm one thing beforehand : You want to use this decimated Alien as a normal G3M figure in DS ?

    1st, Decimator plugin is used for decimate figure and export it to other format for use in non DS application (gaming, movie... etc.). And AFAIK, DS cannot save decimated resolution in any DUF format files and cannot correctly load in LOD mesh. So that's why you saw nothing after dialing it.

    2nd, if the answer to the above question is Yes.( Though I vaguely see less benefit that you may get from it... ). You cannot make it in the above way. Instead, you can :
    - Import Alien30% OBJ into the scene,  rig it on the original Alien with the settings in ss1.  Unfit it.
    - Import Alien30% OBJ again onto the rigged Alien with MLP (Reverse + Delta Only). Dial the morph and Lock it.
    - Adjust Rigging to Shape and ERC Freeze the fixing morph. Now you can use this decimated Alien as a G3M ~

    The cons is that you might have to make some necessary corrective morphs on this Alien30%, for the purpose of posing it correctly ~~

     

    Yes, that is what I was trying to do - decimate the G3M Alien as a normal G3M figure in DS.  I was trying to replicate what Jay was showing in his February 2023 video on YouTube - Decimating your Characters and combining textures with Daz Studio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU5FTHs-MDg) starting at time 7:54.  He was using Daz Studio 4.21 Pro Public Build.  I don’t know if I was misunderstanding what he was demonstrating or if something changed in Daz Studio 4.22 that makes what Jay was demonstrating no longer possible.  I also sent a message about this to Jay in Patreon.

    I’ll take a look at your steps to see if I can achieve what I am trying to do.  I’m just a dabbler so nothing that I do in DS (Poser, etc.) is urgent or crucial.  Perhaps I’ll take the next step of trying to get started with Blender which I also have installed.

     

    Decimating your Characters and combining textures with Daz Studio.jpg
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  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,969
    edited May 28

    Nope ~~ I have to say that Jay might've wrongly got it... This LOD loading function with decimated mesh generated by Decimator plugin couldn't really work from very beginning... otherwise it would not make sense that it worked before with older DS ver. but it failel you with the latest ver. ~~

    Again, decimated figure is better for the use in gaming or animation. For instance, if you want to make an animation with such a figure, doing in Blender would be also a nice choice.

    Post edited by crosswind on
  • jjoynerjjoyner Posts: 617

    @crosswind,

    Hmmmm ....   Thanks.

  • jjoynerjjoyner Posts: 617

    As a dabbler/hobbyist, I looked for a simpler (for me) way to achieve what I wanted – a lower resolution version of a figure.  So, I loaded the G8M Grelien HD alien (more than 1 million quad faces) that I bought last night, Decimated it, and saved the decimated version (16K quad faces) as a Character preset.  I can load the decimated G8M Grelien HD alien now when desired.

    I’m wanting to reduce the computer resources used on my modest system (Windows 10 Pro laptop, 16 GB RAM, RTX 2060 with 6 GB VRAM).  Decimation plus other resource reducing utilities (Scene Optimizer, Render Throttle for Iray, Resource Saver Shaders, Camera View Optimizer, etc.) are my friends.

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    Decimated alien.jpg
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  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,969
    edited May 28

    Yea, I understand your requirement. But you don't have to use Decimator to decimate it. You just set Resolution Level to Base, that'll do. That 1 mil quad faces are polycounts with SubD ( defined as Level 3 on this alien ), its Base polycounts is still 16K as a normal G8M...

    As I mentioned above, you have no way to save the decimated LOD within any DUF format files including Preset files. The Character Preset you saved and loaded is just with Base Resolution Level rather than decimated LOD... If you open Character Preset with Notepad++, you'll find no data related to decimated LOD but only Base Resolution Level 'cause decimated LOD could not be read and saved by DS other than being sent to Resolution Level via Decimator plugin.

    And if you press Ctrl + 8, you should find the topo on the alien is still quads but not decimated triangles. (It's shown in your 2nd screenshot... Total Triangles is zero...)

     

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    Post edited by crosswind on
  • MustangMikeMustangMike Posts: 15

    Crosswind, where does Studio store the data for the decimated LOD? I want to remove the LOD option from a model I created and decimated but can find documentation or tutorials on how to reverse the process. The model now loads in the decimated (ugly!) LOD and I have to switch back to Base resolution. How can I eliminate the LOD option and have the model load only in Base resolution?

    Thanks!

  • crosswindcrosswind Posts: 6,969

    MustangMike said:

    Crosswind, where does Studio store the data for the decimated LOD? I want to remove the LOD option from a model I created and decimated but can find documentation or tutorials on how to reverse the process. The model now loads in the decimated (ugly!) LOD and I have to switch back to Base resolution. How can I eliminate the LOD option and have the model load only in Base resolution?

    Thanks!

    Ah, the decimated geometry data is firstly stored in RAM then LOD options will be put into Resolution Level property.. Unfortunately you have no way to remove LOD options from Resolution Leve property in current scene...

    But I wonder how you could load a figure with LOD options in Resolution Level, is it a scene or scene-subset or somthing else ? Because as far as we know, LOD options generated by Decimator plugin are not able to be saved in any usfer-facing files of DUF formats... 

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