Hi everyone, 

I am a content developer and I am here looking for some specific information regarding Daz. 

I create content in 3DMax, but when it is loaded into daz it is transparent. Requireing the user to set opacities back up to 100%

Not a major deal, I'm sure you will agree but I would like to offer my products as DAZ friendly also. My thoughts are 2 fold.

Either I'm doing something wrong with the export (which I'm sure I'm not) 

Or I need to restructure the OBJ file myself within Daz and then save it out in a Daz friendly file format?

If the second option is the correct way forward, how would I save it to make it most useable to Daz users?

Thanks in advance for your help, 

Kutter

Halo Kutter.

Check if you have inverted normals while exporting obj file to DAZ studio.

If however you wish to offer your products on the markplace, offering a DAZ Studio native version will be the best solution.  DAZ has some really nice tutrials for content creators, that you might want to get familiar with ;)

Well thats the thing you see.. I already am selling my product, and it's doing rather well.. But it's an 'obj/mtl' object. 

This is causing problems with Daz folks, and I have to confess I know absolutely zero about Daz and it's file types but I want all my customers to be able to use it easily.

So native.. What is that? When I go to save as, I see about 40 different options :) 

And I'd love to see those tutorials, where can I find them? 

Thanks for your help, appreciated.

Kutter

Kutter, as you know DAZ Studio is a free software.

Most recent native file type is .duf .

Actually in DAZ Studio all the file types have this extensions. I know there is a lot of options. Because there are quite few different types of content.

Here is a documentation of content creator tool, which is the part of DAZ Studio. :

docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/creating_content/start

Just let know if it helps you, and if there is yet other informations that you would like to know.

Wishing you good luck on your new venture :)

I just did quick import/export and only had to adjust opacity on glass

Hack the .mtl file.

Thanks for the help folks, it's greatly appreciated. 

I think I will take a few of the suggestions here and update my file. I will indeed hack the MTL file and change the things that are wrong with it for Daz... Just hope it doesn't mess it up for everyone else.

One further question... 

In presenting something such as my product here on Renderosity (the books) How would it be best to 'present' that to a Daz user?

I mean I take it you could use the books as background props, or the magazines for a coffee table.. But how would it benefit you 'most' 

Lined up neatly? Or scattered about? Or simply as it's already packaged?

Please don't think I'm shamelessly promoting my product, I'm not.. I just want to make it the best it can be for all users.

Thanks

Kutter

I saw your promos, they look pretty good.

First of all you should get a render in DAZ Studio, so the potential customer knows how it will look in the software he wants to use it in.   You can have one "artistic" render, with a product being actually used. If you do not know aplications to well I bet there will be some good artists who will help you .

Also look at the marketplace, and check how others are promoting their content. :)

Please remember though Gloomy, that my product is OBJ/MTL and as such for 'any' 3D app, not just Daz. 

What I wanted from you folks here was just an idea of how 'else' I could package this item... .duf seeming to be the most usefull file type

What I intend to do, is restructure the OBJ/MTL file in DAZ myself, and then save it out as .duf and I will upload this 'version' of it for the DAZ community specifically. You will have a choice of OBJ/MTL or Daz .duf essentially. 

What I don't know, is how to actually set up the books within the .duf file. Is it better for example for me to line them all up (as if they were on a bookshelf - making it easy to simply slot them into one.) or to leave the .duf file the same as the OBJ/MTL version which comes as shown in the main promo shot. 

I ask for these specifics simply because moving 50 books around by hand is tedious, and modelling them is tedious, which is why I did this product in the first place because I saw it would help a lot of people out. 

The last thing I want, is for someone to load or merge my file into their scene and have to re-arrange 50 individual items.

So although it's really 'opinion' that I'm asking for, I feel it will help enourmously. 

Thanks so much by the way, it has helped no end already just chatting with Daz users. 

All the best,

Kutter

Kutter, you can set them in one row, and save as "group of props"  and than make presets with having them scattered. There is a lot of possibilities ;)

Also you need to be aware of fact, that .duf format is the newest standard in DS implemnted in I belive version 4.5, and is not backwards compatiblie format.

Other way to go would be using poser native file format .pp2 ( this is props format)  which will broad the usage of files to DAZ Studio and Poser.  This can bring a lot more work trough ( not saying the need of investing in, and learning new software)

Quote - Please remember though Gloomy, that my product is OBJ/MTL and as such for 'any' 3D app, not just Daz. 

Yes I am aware of that, bur since you aiming at a specific customer base, in my opinion it would be good choice.  ALso rendring promos in few other apps, can bring more attention ;)

If you are not familar with Poser or Studio don't try to make it Poser or Studio specific format.  Be honest about your products and list them as multi-platform 3D objects for intermediate to advance 3D artists.  The last thing you want are a bunch of noobs that bearly know how to turn their computers on giving a lot of negative feedback because they can't get something to work.

Hmm, thats a fair point, worth considering. 

Kutter

  Concerning individual books vs. a group, you could do both.  I have a lot of products that have content thumbnails for each individual element in the scene, plus another one that is a "preset" scene with all the elements arranged into a scene that's ready to use, and that works well for me.

  Personally I like the ability to break a scene down into it's individual components (ie, a single book) because that allows me to arrange the scene however I want; maybe I don't want a line of books on a shelf and I want a single book, or I want a pile of books on the floor, or I want a staggered stack of books, etc.  But it certainly would also be helpful to have an entire row of them if I did want to stock a library or something.

  If you decide to use the .duf DAZ Studio format, it should be very easy to do.  Just import your object, get the materials working the way you want, then File > "Save As" > "Scene Subset".

  (If you save as "scene subset", that creates a file that will be added to an existing scene when you load it.  If you save as "scene", that creates a file that will REPLACE the existing scene, which you probably don't want.)

  If you wanted to create a single book and a row of books, you could just put the single book into one file like Book.duf, then make the row of books and save that into a second file like BookRow.duf.

  As a DS user, while I do sometimes use products distributed in .obj format, it generally scares me off because in the past too often something was wrong or materials are missing when I import it, so I've mostly stopped trying.  I'm probably missing lots of good things because of this.  Unless I'm the only one like that, you may find additional customers simply by offering it in a different format.

Thats actually encouraging, thanks Sriesch! Also well worth thinking about. My books have done fairly well, and I have only had 2 customers who weren't able to use them and that was 'exactly' for the reason you stated (and both Daz users).. 

Hence why I'm here looking for options. 

I think to offer my models as a scene subset seems like a great idea, and thank you for your input.

Kutter

I work with object for Marvelous Designer and import the obj's into Daz and find saving as a .duf works for me.  Save as > support asset > Figure/Prop

Then I can go from there once the Obj is in the software.

Hope that helps

Oh, nice to discover this thread. I am DS user and I also bought Books. :) Can't say I was disappointed to find that I had to do my own work to get it into my scenes - I can only blame myself for not reading all the print that is on the product page. But on the other hand - who does? Most people buying at DAZ store expect things to work in DS, Rendo purchases "should" work in Poser (DS with adjustments), etc. That's a sort of rule of thumb. Therefore it is wise to include information to the contrary in the product name itself (e.g. "My Doodad (Vue only)").

Kutter, you'd be a hero if you did a freebie add-on to load Books into Poser/DS. :) And maybe added files for loading into Poser/DS in the future products. One click solution market is arguably larger than DIY :) Also, the pros that would use your models in other apps are smart enough to know that they could just grab OBJ/MTL and ignore the specific Poser/DS "chaff". :)

That's just my two cents from user's perspective. Looking forward to your new products!

Watch this space Vienastoks, I am away for a couple of days but I intend to do exactly that on wednesday. :)

I will make it as a scene subset, and upload that as an alternative download for Daz and Poser users. 

I can't thank everyone enough, I am very impressed with the responce I got from here

Kutter.

Hi.. Just to let the DS community know that I am working on this, every day :(

I have hit another stumbling block that I can't seem to get answered and I invite other DS users to see if they can help out. 

The thread is here: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2870929

Thanks for all the help I have already received in this thread. 

Kutter