How to export from Daz3D to Blender/Godot for GameDev?

ipbv

I want to use the characters I create in Daz Studio as a game asset in Godot. To do this, I need the characters to be in a T-pose during import. With a test character I've attempted this in two ways, encountering the following issues:

• Direct FBX Character Export: 
  • Textures were imported, but the shading was overly glossy, and transparency was lost.
  • Clothing did not align with the custom T-pose, instead sticking to the default A-pose. I couldn't find an option to disable 'Convert Clothing to Static Geometry.'
•     Blender Bridge:
  • Shading was better, but not all textures/materials were imported. The body texture and material were particularly missing. Even when using 'copy' path mode with 'embedded texture' enabled, as suggested in some tutorials, it still didn’t work.

Has anyone successfully imported Daz3D characters into Godot or prepared them as game assets in Blender? Any advice on this pipeline would be appreciated.

Versions:
    DAZ Studio    4.22
    Blender          4.1
    Godot             4.1.3

crosswind

As for FBX format, the most accountable DS version with enhanced FBX exporter is the latest DS Public Build version. And you have to tweak shader nodes yourself. For the clothing, you need to tick Merge Followers.

With DTB bridge, it'll be better but still limited in terms of materials, morphing process, posing, rigging, etc. Suggest you use Diffeomorphic Daz Importer.

As for Godot, I don't use it but AFAIK the best imported format for it is glTF 2.0 and Blender support exporting to such a format without using any add-on. So you may give it a try.

Padone

Importing iray materials in blender is not trivial, depending on the material complexity. Then again I suppose you will have to use eevee in Godot being it a game engine, which of course has its own limitations over iray. That basically means you have to fix some materials and textures yourself so what you are experiencing is normal.

That said you can try diffeomorphic with the "extended principled" material option, that provides a fair good conversion for eevee. Meaning you will have to fix only a few materials.

https://bitbucket.org/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/wiki/Material Methods

ipbv

Thank you for your replies. I tried using the Diffeomorphic Daz Importer along with a glTF 2.0 export from Blender. Similar to the DTB bridge, the character was successfully imported with no issues, as far as I could tell at this stage. Both methods managed to transfer all textures into Blender, however only with Diffeomorphic Daz Importer all those textures could also be transfered over to Godot.

As Padone pointed out, the Iray materials weren't imported correctly. As this is quite normal when importing I guess its something to live with and fine as long as only some material settings need tweaking, it's manageable. My main concern here was getting all textures for into Godot, which now works.

In my last post I forgot to mention clipping issues with some clothes in Blender. Does the Diffeomorphic Importer or Daz Studio offer some options to fix those?

Padone

You can use a smooth modifier in daz studio, then set it to interactive before exporting, this way it will be baked in the dbz. Otherwise you can use shrinkwrap in blender, that's similar to smooth in daz studio but tends to work better. Otherwise you can sculpt out as needed.