DAZ Studio 3 to DAZ Studio 4?
Boingo the Clown
Posts: 97
My current computer has DAZ Studio 4 installed. My old computer has DAZ Studio 3 installed.
I want to redo a scene I originally started on the old computer in DS3 on the new computer in DS4. I already know that DS4 will not load scenes from DS3, so I unhooked my new computer and hooked up the old one and exported the pose of the figure in the scene as a pose preset. I then unhooked the old computer and hooked up the new computer and tried importing the pose preset in DS4.
It didn't work. Apparently, DAZ Studio 3 presets are "depreciated" in DAZ Studio 4 and will not load.
So I unhooked the new computer again and hooked up the old computer again and tried exporting the pose as a BVH file. (BVH is a standard format, so it should work, right?) Then I unhooked the old computer again and hooked up the new computer again and tried to import the BVH file.
It didn't work. I have no idea why.
Is there some fundamental difference between DAZ Studio 3 and DAZ Studio 4 that is preventing me from using a pose from Michael 3 in DAZ Studio 3 with Michael 3 -- the same figure -- in DAZ Studio 4?
I really want to use this pose. I really don't want to have to completely redo it again from scratch. Is there any way I can export this stinking pose from DAZ Studio 3 to DAZ Studio 4?
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Comments
What sort of "didn't work" are you seeing? I can load old poses made by pretty much any D|S version (and Poser, for that matter) and they work. "Deprecated" only means you shouldn't save into that format, because the current .duf file standards are preferred, it doesn't affect how an already created pose is loaded.
FWIW, I've only occasionally had problems loading old D|S3 .daz scenes into D|S4.5+ — although this is using content folders all on the same computer with the relevant locations set up in the Content Directory Manager. I'm puzzled by the way you say "hooked up" and "unhooked" — how exactly are you accessing the old content folder? You should be "loading from the Content tab", not "importing", this may also make a difference.
The old computer and the new computer are *TWO DIFFERENT COMPUTERS*. One was purchased in 2003 and the other was purchased in 2012.
hook up = take it out of the closet, bring it over to the desk, plug the power cord into it, plug the monitor into it, plug the keyboard into it, plug the mouse into it, and turn it on.
unhook = turn it off, unplug the mouse, unplug the keyboard, unplug the monitor, unplug the power cord, take it off the desk, and put it back into the closet.
What content tab are you talking about?
Not quite what I meant. You saved the pose in D|S3, then you tried to load the pose into D|S4. How did you get the pose file from your D|S3 computer to your D|S4 computer? There are several different ways to do this, but not all of them will work, depending on how D|S is set up on the two computers.
The first time:
(On the old computer) I selected Michael 3 in the scene window in DS3. I clicked on File>Save As>Pose Preset. I saved the preset as "Pose.dsb" to a USB flash drive.
I took the flash drive out of the old computer, unhooked the old computer (see definition above), hooked up the new computer (see definition above), and inserted the flash drive into the new computer.
(On the new computer) I selected Michael 3 in DS4. I clicked on File>Merge and selected "Pose.dsb" from the flash drive.
Nothing happened. I tried again and tried several variations, but still nothing happened. It didn't work.
The second time:
(On the old computer) I selected Michael 3 in DS3. I clicked on File>Export, selected "Save as type: BioVision File (BVH)" and saved as "Pose.bvh" to the flash drive.
(On the new computer) I selected Michael 3 in DS4. I clicked on File>Import, and selected "Pose.bvh" from the flash drive.
Nothing happened. Usually a window pops up with options for BVH import when I use a BVH file, but this time the window did not appear and no change in the pose occurred. It didn't work.
{{EDIT: I should not that I also exported a BVH file of a pose from the M3 skeleton. This BVH file does work in DS4. The pose is somewhat incorrect however.}}
That's odd, that ought to work. There should be no difference between importing a pose from a non-content location and loading from the Content tab; a pose shouldn't contain any references to data files that might not exist on your D|S4 computer.
Have you tried copying the pose or BVH file from the flash drive into an easy-to-find location in your D|S4 computer's content folder? Then you can load it the more usual way from the Content tab in D|S4. If that still doesn't work, then something very weird is happening.
Incidentally, which D|S4 version do you have? Some old versions have the occasional weird bug, one of them might be the cause of your problem.
A look at the last few lines of the D|S log file might also give a clue, do you know how to find it? (I can't give you directions, it depends on which D|S4 version you have.)
Shortly after I read your post above, I updated from 4.6 to 4.7.
I would like to speculate a little bit here. My old computer has had most of the different versions of DAZ Studio from DAZ|Studio 1.x to DAZ|Studio 3.x installed on it. Each time I installed a new version, it would replace the older version. Is it possible DS3 is not saving/exporting properly due to an incorrect file left over from and ealier or later version?
That's always a possibility when you update a program without doing a complete scrub and reinstall, every now and then the uninstaller misses something. All I can say is it's never happened to me, and I've done the same as you, steady updating from the very first D|S public release versions. (Apart from the couple of times my computer went and I had to rebuild from scratch.)
Are you having any better luck with D|S4.7? I'm pretty much out of ideas here, you might be better off filing a support ticket.
No change I am afraid.
I looked at the BVH file in a text editor, and it seems to be normal, and yet DS4 does not want to apply it.
That shouldn't be true - I don't now, but I did have DS 2, 3 and 4 installed before my HD started to die. Major versions (the very first number) should be able to coexist.
I was allowing the newer versions to overwrite the old ones back then to preserve my content, since there was no content manager, so DS 2 was indeed installed over DS 1, and DS 3 was intalled over DS 2. It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time, but could be the source of my problems.
I am wondering whether the problem stems from the files DS3 is saving or if DS4 is somehow loading them improperly.
I have uploaded copies of the two files. Could somebody download these two files and check to see whether or not the files work for them, please?
http://www.doomlegends.com/deimwolf/misc/Pose.bvh
http://www.doomlegends.com/deimwolf/misc/Pose.dsb
The character is hiding around a corner with his a pistol in his right hand. His left hand is clasped around his right wrist. His head is turned hard to his left.
When I try to load this pose nothing happens. If you try it and the figure does take this pose, please let me know.
Well, there's definitely something wrong with the .dsb file — it isn't a pose, I don't see any joint setting data for a Generation-3 figure. Are you sure you had the M3 root body part selected when you saved from D|S3? Did you tick the "Record All" button in the selection dialog? The .bvh file does seem to have all the proper joint settings, but I've never used .bvh files before, I'm not sure how to use them.
Another possible glitch source, you've saved it as a binary file (the filename extension is .dsb instead of .dsa for a plain text script file). When you save the file from D|S3, there is a little dropdown in the save dialog that lets you select the file type. Saving as binary or binary encrypted if you're going to be transferring the file to another D|S version is not a good idea, the binary format can get a bit temperamental. Try going back to D|S3 and save as a plaintext script file instead. (FWIW I've never used binary format in saving preset scripts, always plaintext.)
Edit: going back to your original post, what is going wrong when you load D|S3 .daz scene files into D|S4? I do it all the time with only occasional glitches. If you can load the original scene directly, that would also solve your problem.
I am going to be out for the rest of the day, but when I return I will try the pose preset again as a .dsa and see what happens.
BVH files need to be loaded through File>Import, or I think through the Other Formats section of the Content Library pane.
I tried again, this time with a DSA preset file, and again it did not work.
I opened the DSA file in a text editor and could see absolutely no pose information from the figure.
I appears that DS3 is not saving any actual information to the file.
Is it possible I have some setting wrong that is preventing it from exporting the right information? Do I manually have to select every joint on the figure to force it to save the joint information?
Nothing manual about it, I've discovered how to recreate the dud pose presets you've been saving.
* In D|S3, select your M3 figure (or any other figure you want to save a pose for)
* Either use File>Save As>Pose Preset or save directly into the Content tab as a Pose Preset; the Save Pose Preset Options dialog will come up.
* In this dialog, there are two sections, Animation Range and Data. In Animation Range, you must only select the Current Frame Only button unless you're actually saving an animation.
* In the Data section, the Record All button will save every joint on the figure without you needing to select anything else. Record Custom lets you save the pose for only part of the figure, e.g. for a "holding" hand pose, or for top half/bottom half partial poses.
* I've found that if I select Record Custom but don't actually select any body parts to be saved, I can get a pose preset that not only doesn't work, but also looks just like the one you posted. Check the dialog the next time you try to save — have you selected the Record All button, or Record Custom?
* Click Accept to go on to the Save dialog, and remember to check that the Save As Type setting is at "plain text".
That finally got the pose to save and load into DS4. The preset was somewhat off however. Instead of the right hand (holding a pistol) being clasped at the wrist by the left hand, the character's arms were crossed like an Egyptian mummy's. I was able to tinker with the pose and got it looking good eventually.
http://www.doomlegends.com/deimwolf/screenshot/DWSPLASH-test1.png
It's a work in progress. Have you any suggestions for making it better?
I am really happy for your help in getting this pose to save out. I really appreciate it.
Lighting seems to be off. The characters are lit, yet they don't seem to be in any of the visible light sources. The foreground character has a lot of light and none on the wall behind him. It would make more sense for the further character to be lit by the lights on the ceilings. They have a falloff, the figure should fall within that falloff to look right. Adding a little bit of light for definition isn't bad, but don't make your non-visible lights make things out of place.
This sort of thing usually means the saved pose was at least partly made by using the arm pose controls (the Pose Controls section at the bottom of the Parameters or Posing tabs when the figure is selected; in the Pose Controls>Arms sub-category). These dials are not saved when you save a pose, only the actual joint rotations (in the General>Transforms subcategory of the Parameters or Posing tabs) will be included in the pose file.
Note that this causes annoyances when you apply a pose to a figure that you've already used the Pose Controls on; instead of replacing the joint settings, the saved pose settings are added to the Pose Control settings. I did this the other day with a G2F figure, and instead of having her hands on her hips, they were crossed behind her back. Cue headdesk. :red: