The right way to export Victoria 4 into, and out of Daz?

N-RArts

What is the right way to export Victoria 4(.2) into, and out of Daz?

This whole thing has been driving me mad for months. 

Grab a coffee, this could get confusing, and monotonous (plus, I'm in a library, and I hate the keyboards here).

Like with G8 you have to delete eyelashes. Does anything of V4 need to be hidden or deleted? Does her resolution need to be set at "Base"? Does her Sub-D need to be lowered? What settings to I use in Blender when I'm importing and exporting her? (Are the setting that I use for G8 good enough?) What settings do I need the importer and exporter do I need Daz to be set at (is it the Poser option, or does it not work anymore, like Blender's setting from the drop-down menu)?

I'm trying to create a morph for V4(.2) in Faceform Wrap. The mesh wrap with no issues. The only issue is getting the morph back into Daz without having a delta go missing.

One Wrap failed because the eyes failed to morph with the figure (the figure morphed, but the eyes stayed in place). Then there's the eyelashes that don't morph with the morph (i.e. either get bigger or smaller with the size of the eye, or conform to the shape of the eye).

I'm probably mad for trying to do this. But what's driving me is that I know that it CAN be done.

 

WendyLuvsCatz

well unlike Genesis+ you don't have to export all of the mesh, just the head

(with eyelashes etc, whole head)

as all body parts are separate meshes by bone name

you then reimport that mesh using morphloader specifying its the head (or whatever other part under attenuate I think (read or watch a tutorial been a while and I used Poser or Carrara personally)

eyes and mouth you can move the bones manually to fit (again separate meshes)

creating ExP injection files is another load of fun (I have done it but following DAZ documentation tutorials)

crosswind

1. Even with Genesis figures, you don't have to hide or delete anything, just use Filter Objects option when exporting OBJ ( DS version 4.12+, IIRC...). The same settings apply for V4 when exporting to OBJ, there's nothing special.

2. V4 has no multi-resolutions by default. Leave it alone if you did not convert it to SubD beforehand.

3. If you use FaceForm Wrap, as the floating geometry, V4's vertex positions must have change after wrapping. Then when importing OBJ with MLP, you'll get the delta with no problem, just by using Reverse Deformations + Deltas Only.

4. As per my exp., with wrapping V4/G2, in FaceForm Wrap, 1) hide eyelashes, inner mouth, gum, eyes related surfaces, etc. on the floating and fixed geometry with the nodes of Selection Polygons and Subset; 2) Add a Brush Node after Wrapping node to smooth / tweak any distortion / displacement.

5. After importing OBJ into DS, if there's any rigging issue on eyeballs / mouth cavity, etc., re-rig them as needed.

NylonGirl

That is two cats in a row.

N-RArts

WendyLuvsCatz said:

well unlike Genesis+ you don't have to export all of the mesh, just the head

(with eyelashes etc, whole head)

as all body parts are separate meshes by bone name

you then reimport that mesh using morphloader specifying its the head (or whatever other part under attenuate I think (read or watch a tutorial been a while and I used Poser or Carrara personally)

eyes and mouth you can move the bones manually to fit (again separate meshes)

creating ExP injection files is another load of fun (I have done it but following DAZ documentation tutorials)

It took me a while to figure out how to move the eyes and mouth in Daz. It's just a shame that it isn't possible with the eyelashes. Because then everything thing could be corrected in Daz Studio.

Alas, no.

crosswind said:

1. Even with Genesis figures, you don't have to hide or delete anything, just use Filter Objects option when exporting OBJ ( DS version 4.12+, IIRC...). The same settings apply for V4 when exporting to OBJ, there's nothing special.

2. V4 has no multi-resolutions by default. Leave it alone if you did not convert it to SubD beforehand.

3. If you use FaceForm Wrap, as the floating geometry, V4's vertex positions must have change after wrapping. Then when importing OBJ with MLP, you'll get the delta with no problem, just by using Reverse Deformations + Deltas Only.

4. As per my exp., with wrapping V4/G2, in FaceForm Wrap, 1) hide eyelashes, inner mouth, gum, eyes related surfaces, etc. on the floating and fixed geometry with the nodes of Selection Polygons and Subset; 2) Add a Brush Node after Wrapping node to smooth / tweak any distortion / displacement.

5. After importing OBJ into DS, if there's any rigging issue on eyeballs / mouth cavity, etc., re-rig them as needed.

Attached is my attempt. I managed to reposition the eyes. But the Lacrimal, lashes, and eye sockets have "dropped". I've tried to fix everything in Blender, but when I try to import it through MLP into Daz, I get the "missing deltas" message.

As a quick test. I even created a morph for V4.2 in Blender. When I tried to load the morph through MLP, "No deltas".

No  matter what I do, everything just comes up as having no deltas. Right now, I feel like smashing my face into a blender - turned up to full.

NylonGirl said:

That is two cats in a row.

It'd be three, but my boy doesn't stay still for very long ^^'

Thank you for the replies.

crosswind

Oh... how does that result came from.. by importing a morph or sth. ?

As for Blender / "No delta" issue, I'm sorry that I forgot to mention..., AFAIK, you have to first of all convert V4 to Weight Mapping - General Weight. Then when exporting V4 to OBJ, uncheck "Ignore Invisible Nodes" as there's a hidden node "eyeBrow" on V4 (or unhide it)... otherwise you'll get geometry mismatch error when importing OBJ from Blender to V4 with MLP...

N-RArts

crosswind said:

Oh... how does that result came from.. by importing a morph or sth. ?

As for Blender / "No delta" issue, I'm sorry that I forgot to mention..., AFAIK, you have to first of all convert V4 to Weight Mapping - General Weight. Then when exporting V4 to OBJ, uncheck "Ignore Invisible Nodes" as there's a hidden node "eyeBrow" on V4 (or unhide it)... otherwise you'll get geometry mismatch error when importing OBJ from Blender to V4 with MLP...

Sorry I haven't replied sooner.

I did that... And it didn't work.

I'm just flabbergasted, and fed up with this. I've got to the point where I've had to leave it, because there's other things that I want to work on.

I do have some good news. A friend got an older version of this morph working in Poser, but the mesh needs correcting (plus, I'll have to pay them to do renders). 

Plus, after going through this, I'm not going to become a V4 content creator anytime soon (especially where Daz Studio is concerned).

Thanks a lot for the help though 

 

Torquinox

I think the best way is to use GenX2 to convert V4 to a more pliable generation and export that. You can then use Cayman's excellent UV products to apply V4 skin to the updated character. I recently started using GenX2 and I find it to be very competent. Since you're not making content for distribution, you can convert the V4 figure to CR2 and then use GenX2 on that. Here's the tut I used: https://sharecg.com/v/82334/related/3/Text-Entry-Tutorial/COF-GenX-Plugin-Tutorial

Otherwise, you can use PZ2 injection morphs. Here's an excellent tutorial on that:

As GenX2 only goes up to G3 (with add-ons for G2 and G3), you can use  https://www.daz3d.com/xtransfer--genesis-3-to-genesis-8-converter to make the last jump from G3 to G8 - If you want to do that. I found it was effortless whereas I immediately had problems with face structure using Riversoft's G3 to G8 converter. It could be operator malfunction, but I haven't had time or interest to troubleshoot on that. Sorry Riversoft.

N-RArts

Torquinox said:

I think the best way is to use GenX2 to convert V4 to a more pliable generation and export that. You can then use Cayman's excellent UV products to apply V4 skin to the updated character. I recently started using GenX2 and I find it to be very competent. Since you're not making content for distribution, you can convert the V4 figure to CR2 and then use GenX2 on that. Here's the tut I used: https://sharecg.com/v/82334/related/3/Text-Entry-Tutorial/COF-GenX-Plugin-Tutorial

Otherwise, you can use PZ2 injection morphs. Here's an excellent tutorial on that:

As GenX2 only goes up to G3 (with add-ons for G2 and G3), you can use  https://www.daz3d.com/xtransfer--genesis-3-to-genesis-8-converter to make the last jump from G3 to G8 - If you want to do that. I found it was effortless whereas I immediately had problems with face structure using Riversoft's G3 to G8 converter. It could be operator malfunction, but I haven't had time or interest to troubleshoot on that. Sorry Riversoft.

But I'm trying to do the opposite. I want to take a character from G8F, and convert her to V4(.2) 

Besides a few issues, I'm pretty much there. I just need to replace her nails, and her eyes.

The former is proving to be a challenge. But I think the latter could be solved with either donor eyes (i.e. eyes from another V4 - If possible), or buying prop eyes (something like Eyedeas3+ - Although I can't see why Eyedeas requires the Ethnic Faces product. I assume that it will work without it).

 

Torquinox

N-RArts said:

But I'm trying to do the opposite. I want to take a character from G8F, and convert her to V4(.2) 

Besides a few issues, I'm pretty much there. I just need to replace her nails, and her eyes.

The former is proving to be a challenge. But I think the latter could be solved with either donor eyes (i.e. eyes from another V4 - If possible), or buying prop eyes (something like Eyedeas3+ - Although I can't see why Eyedeas requires the Ethnic Faces product. I assume that it will work without it).

Ah, silly me! I did not realize. It does sound like you've got pretty close to the answer. Hoping everything works out well for you.