So, I have a texture set that I created to be used in Poser.  Transparency maps are a large part of the set.  Now, I have a guy, who is trying to use the set in Daz Studio.  I am not familiar with DS at all.  Regular textures seem to work fine, but the ones with the transparency maps are causing problems.

I just spent an hour on google with no luck, except for some hint towards alpha maps.

Can anyone tell me exactly what I need to do with transparency maps from Poser to make them work for DS?

I'm praying that a simple script exists to do this, but I won't hold my breath.

Thanks in advance!

Problem is, there is no real User's manual or documentation for DS.  There is their wiki and some video tutorials on You Tube but that's about it.

What exactly is the problem the user is experiencing?

Did they tell you which version of DS, and any other pertinent information such as surface tab settings, lighting, render settings?

I used DS on a off up through 3A but stopped with that version.  I do know from other threads over at the DAZ forums that the UE2 lighting enviroment can cause problems with textures that work perfectly fine in Poser but look like garbage in DS.

If the user didn't say, ask if they are using UE2 in their lighting.  If they are tell them to do a simple light set up (standard 3 light set up) and see if that improves the render.

Thanks for the tips.  Unfortunately no, I do not know the details of his version or lighting set ups.  I will ask about that.  We'll see where that gets us.  Thanks again!

Transparency map in Poser = opacity strength map in DS. There are two potential issues: - because Poser sets a maximum transparency and DS a maximum opacity, if your range isn't 0-100 the results will differ or be unmatchable using plain settings (if, for example, you have set the TransMax in Poser to 50 and are applied a map the surface will be between 50% transparent and opaque; but in DS, if the map is used directly with the default values the surface will vary between fully transparent and fully opaque, or if the numeric value is set to 50% it will be between fully transparent and half-opaque, neither of which is the goal). - again, because Poser and DS are measuring from the opposite end if you have a black map applied to a material in Poser that has transmax set to 0 the material will be opaque, which may happen when people set all the materials to a common starting configuration and then customise, but in DS that will be seen as a surface with a maximum opacity of 100%, a minimum opacity of 0% and a map setting the opacity to 0 throughout -the oppoiste of the Poser look. The second issue can be avoided simply by removing the transparency map from any material that doesn't need it, but the first issue is trickier - I would use the layered image editor to add a semi-opaque white overlay to the transmap, say at 50% fro the example above, so that the map went from 50% grey and white instead of black to white and therefore gave the result in DS that the bare map gave in Poser but it would be hard for you to talk the user through doing that (though it isn't actually hard).

Simply put, in DS white on the trans map means the mesh is visible, black on the trans map means the mesh is invisible, and varying shades of gray give varying degrees of transparency.

If your transmap is the usual Poser kind, then it's just black and white with very little to no gray, which means that part of the mesh is visible while the rest of it is invisible, the classic example is the stocking, in Poser you get the whole thing, in DS we get the stocking top and the seam down the back of the leg and nothing else.

It means new transmaps with gray instead of black in the transparent areas, either that or learn how to use the Shader Mixer or the Layered Image Editor (LIE).