Using non Daz and Poser models in Daz Studio.

[Charley]

Recently I downloaded some non Daz and Poser furniture models from a site that specialises in non Daz formats. Ideally, I would much prefer to use Daz or Poser products for the sake of convenience and ease of use, but unfortunately Daz, Rendo and the usual go to sites have very little by way of the style of furniture models I need.

I downloaded most of these third party models in obj formats. Whilst the obj will import into Daz without a problem, the .mtl files will not import with it. So, I'm asking for some advice as to how to either convert the .mtl files or how to sucessfully import them.
On a side note; they import without a problem into Hexagon, but the Hexagon/Daz bridge isn't working anymore.

I'd really appreciate any advice you guys can give. 🙂

[SkippyTheMeh]

I'm not an expert, but the .mtl files are just the material definitions for the .obj file (you should have something like sofa.obj and sofa.mtl and possible a mats folder containing image maps if used). The .mtl is imported when you open the .obj and doesn't need to be imported directly, just make sure you have 'Read Surfaces' and 'Read Material Library' ticked on the import settings.

However, the materials that import will very basic at best (colour, specular and maybe an image map) and you'll almost certainly need to retexture the .obj inside Daz to get the best results. Wavefront files are great for importing geometry and basic texture information as just about every 3D product supports them, but the format is ancient.

If Hexagon supports .fbx or Collada .dae exports, you could try importing the .objs into Hexagon, then exporting as .fbx or .dae to re-import into Daz.

[Charley]

@terahurts Thanks so much for the advice. I'll definitely give it a try.

Even though I've had Daz for a decade, I was primarily a Photoshop artist and used Daz to render mostly props and structures - and the odd character here and there - in my photoart and background packs.

It's only really in the past two years that I've become more interested in 3D art for its own sake. Even though I've made a lot of progress, I'm still not too well versed in everything 3D, so I appreciate every piece of advice I receive. I've recently taken up Blender and am actually doing okay with creating basic models, but there's still so much I don't know.

[Frank21]

The problem with many of these .obj files in that they don't have separate material zones so it's just one chunk. You can use the Daz Geometry Tool create your own zones. If you have the option to DL FBX format I'd do that as they usually have separate parts/zones. I have to import into Blender and export as a new FBX or .dae as DS usually won't open the DL FBX file for some reason.

[Charley]

@Frank22 I'll give it a try - thanks for the advice! I used Daz shaders on some objs I imported, and they looked fine, but there are certain obj furniture items that look terrible with the Daz wood shaders. I find it hard to find good furniture shaders.

I imported a few fbx items and they looked fine, but some others looked like they had exploded into smithereens.

[Frank21]

"....looked like they had exploded into smithereens." Yeh they have a tendency to do that.
The best way to not have that happen is to import the .fbx into Blender and export as .dae. Or you could try exporting as .obj.
Look through my stuff on the Free Resources forum. Most of the cars were originally .fbx which I converted to .duf for Daz Studio.
For furniture shaders look here and here.

[Charley]

@Frank22 I'm still getting used to Blender; so far I've learnt to model and render basic items within Blender, but I'm not too well informed on the whole exporting side of it yet, so I really appreciate the tip.

I bought the satiny shaders and uploaded them here, and they're great for certain things, but there are some intricately designed furniture obj items where they just look slightly fake and weird.

I'll definitely give those other shaders a go, though - thanks for the links. I also have the Woodworx shaders and find them to be - for want of a better term - crap. lol

[ulysses]

I remember this came up about a year or so ago. Blender is the answer. Import the fbx, not obj. Then export as obj with mats. Try below thread for more info. It's really quite simple, though it can be time consuming if you have a fbx with dozens of models. You will have to export each one separately in order to load in DS. And there are orientation and sizing issues that you'll have to fix in DS.

Kitbash3d question

[Charley]

@ulysses Thanks for the info and the link.

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