How to efficiently export many trees from Bryce to Daz?

Zone 822

I'm doing an architectural project. The building goes from Hexagon to Daz via export/import of an .obj file. Bryce is not cooperating with sending a forest of trees to Daz. Selecting each tree and exporting it separately would be a colossal waste of time. Each in its own file probably would not preserve their arrangement and relative sizes either. The forest/plants need to keep their arrangement and fit into their places around and on the building in Daz. No, I don't want to render this in Bryce.

Using Daz 4.9 and Bryce 7.1.

I've tried these things:

- Export a group of trees. Result: File->export is not active. Ungroup them and it will be active.

- Export multiple selected trees made with the instance tool with "instance" off. Result: only one tree in .obj file. Bryce locked up.

- Export multiple selected trees made with the random multi-copy tool (stretches the trees but tried export anyway). Result: only one tree in .obj file. Bryce locked up.

- Use "send to Daz" bridge. Result: Daz fails to start even with one tree. A cube did transfer.

- Export to FBX. Result: no file created. Bryce locked up.

- Export to DAE. Result: no file created. Bryce did not lock up.

Ideally, I would put the building in Bryce, create the flora, and send the entire landscape, terrain and plants and rocks ..., to Daz.

I realize this is not Vue. As a hobbyist this low price/free software is great for me. But, the programs really need to communicate better. Bryce and Hexagon should be updated with repairs, improvements, and new features.

Chohole

What you have to remember is that Bryce trees are essentially groups of metaballs, Bryce metaballs.    Bryce instancing, there is only one actual tree,  the instances are copies of that tree, but won't work without that tree, they are not actual trees themselves.  Instancing in Daz Studio works differently apparently than instancing in Bryce. 

Zone 822

Thanks Chohole. I didn't expect instances to export nor any trees imported into Daz to be instances. Bryce does export non-instance trees converted to mesh but so far only individually. So I tried not to make instances but rather full copies of the base tree hoping to export them as a group(s). Even so, they still behaved as your advice suggests: only the base tree exported.

The goal is to use Bryce's abilities to easily create a forest and then send that forest to Daz. A problem is exporting from Bryce so that the the group characteristics of relative size, orientation, and placement are preserved and importable into Daz. Another problem is to gain the advantages of Bryce's instance spraying or randomizing without creating unexportable instances.

To spray or randomize non-instance trees I have tried these things:

- Unselect the "instances" option in the instance lab. (It is on the Painter page just left of the Size control.) I hoped that would produce randomized copies instead of instances. Result 1: The trees still behave as instances. Although they appear as "copy of tree 1" where instances do not, changing the leaf color of tree 1 changes all their colors. So they are still linked as instances are. Result 2: Although File->Export is active with these pseudo-copies selected only one tree is in the obj file.

- Use Edit->Random Replicate with "instance" unselected on its control panel. Result: Same as above plus the copies were stretched and distorted.

- Use the convert tool (Edit, left-right double arrow along the top) to convert the instances into full trees. Result: Trees randomize on conversion and still only one is written to the obj file. (This technique worked well for making a field of non-instance random rocks to send to Daz.)

It seems that the "instance" control on those panels has no effect. Copies are still not independent objects.

Attempts to export multi-selections caused Bryce to lock up.

If Daz could import Bryce scenes, br7 files, like Bryce can import trueSpace scenes that would be great ... wait a minute ... nope can't do that.

Looks like I either have to render in Bryce (slow and Iray beats Bryce true ambience for realism) or import single trees and create the forest manually in Daz. At least I'd benefit from Daz instances that way. Unless ... anyone know how to get a Bryce forest into Daz. Or is there a great new plant generator out there that can do this (free or cheap)?

Chohole

I actually once made a reasonably good forest for the background of an image using billboard trees. XFrog bill boards,  Click for full size

TangoAlpha

I don't have any experience with Bryce, byt I do have similar problems getting native trees from Carrara into DS, so I know the issue only too well. Right now, I believe the only practical solution is to export a single tree obj and then use DS instancing to create multiples. It's pretty memory efficient, but depending on the complexity of your tree, the viewport UI will crawl to a halt after only a few dozen instances (DS doesn't have much in the way of instance optimisation). In theory it sould be possible to write a script in Carrara (maybe Bryce too?) that records the position, rotation, scale etc of each instance, and then another that  recreates them in Studio. But that's beyond my skill level.

There is a tool in the store - http://www.daz3d.com/instances-plus-for-daz-studio that can create a specified number of instances, randomise them within a bounding box and drop them onto a terrain. It's still only a partial solution and a bit clunky in use, but it does take a lot of the work out of the job. I also recommend setting Instance Preview to off for all the instances. It'll hide them in the viewport (making it responsive), but they'll still show in the render.

Zone 822

Thanks Chohole and TangoAlpha.

Chohole, your deer picture is beautiful!

I guess I'll render in Bryce then. It is for fun so I should be flexible about such things. Making the forest and environment in Bryce will be fun. Bryce can do realistic renders like these.

The building is like a letter "C". Plants in the "C" transition from the forest beyond to a more formal or urban designed garden. I'll post an image if it works out well.