Using Poser Content in Daz Studio for New Users

Hi everyone!

There seems to be a lot of confusion, with Users new to DS, about using Poser Content in Daz Studio so I thought I would post a simple Tut here on how to set DS up to read a Poser Runtime. For those of you already familiar with this capability in Studio, this Tut won't add much, but new users can greatly benefit from the expansion in what they can use in their Library.

Adding a Poser Runtime to Studio will allow you to buy items and get freebies from the many 3rd Party sites that cater to the Poser market and then use them within Daz Studio. It is fairly simple to do and will greatly increase the range of products and freebies available to you for use in your Studio scenes along side your Daz Studio items.

First I will start by giving some tips on what to watch for in the Poser content you wish to add to use in Daz Studio.

1. Poser Dynamic Items will not work properly in DS as Poser and DS have different ways of handling Dynamics. Make sure you check the items you buy to see if they are Dynamic and look at the Product Readme files to see if they offer both Daz and Poser versions before buying Dynamic content. If the content is Poser only then it will most likely not function in DS.

2. Weight-mapped Figures for Poser also do not function properly in DS so this is something else to double check before buying for use in Daz Studio. Again this is because DS and Poser handle Weight-mapping differently so these items generally are not cross-compatible between the two programs.

3. Procedural Materials for Poser won't function properly in Daz Studio either. Items using procedural materials may still function as figures or props in DS but the materials may need to have textures or surfaces manually set using Studio's Surfaces Tab. You'll have to decide if you want to use items or not that include Poser Procedural Materials, and again this is something that you can check for in most product readme's.

4. Poser Light sets may work in DS but the effect of the lights may be different than how they look in Poser (I've used some Poser light sets in DS without issue but needed to manually adjust the settings for the lights in the DS Parameters Tab). Of note how-ever is that Ambient Occlusion and IBL light sets may not work in DS from Poser (I'm not certain of this as I don't use AO or IBL Lighting for my renders).

Now, having made note of those exceptions, most Poser content can be used in DS with only minor adjustments needed to surfaces to suit your rendering needs. Poser Hair (Hr2), Props (Pp2), Poses (Pz2, Fc2 or Hd2), most Figures (Cr2), and most Pz3 Poser scenes will function in Ds just fine. Also DS can now read Poser's Materials files (Mc6, Mc7 etc) so most of these should work in DS as well with a little tweaking once loaded. I may have missed a few so if anyone has anything to add to this information please feel free to add your comments!

To get your Poser Content to work in DS you will need to add a Poser Runtime to your Studio through the Preferences Menu... I'll provide a step-by-step set of instruction on how to do this below...

*As a side note, if you are using both Daz Studio and Poser you can use the following method to add Poser's runtime to your Daz Studio Library by following the instructions and navigating to Poser's Runtime folder instead of creating a new Runtime. Anything you install to Poser will then also be available for use in DS...

Step #1:

Create a Folder where ever you wish to install your Poser content (DS requires a separate Poser style runtime structure to get Poser items to load properly and to display properly in the Content Tab) and give this folder an easy to remember name (My Poser, Poser Stuff or what ever you like).

It doesn't matter where you create this folder so you can place it where ever you choose to suit the way you want your files stored. This is where you will install any items you buy or download that were intended for Poser rather than made for Daz Studio.

Inside this new folder, create a folder named "Runtime". When you unzip the products you purchased you can copy the Product Runtime folder into the folder you created above. When the dialog comes up asking if you wish to over-write the existing Runtime folder click "Yes" and your new items will be installed to the Poser Runtime you've added.

Step #2:

Once you have created the folders in Step #1, and have added some Poser Content to the library you will need to set Studio up to read a Poser Runtime. To do this Click on "Edit" and select the "Preferences" option from the Edit menu. This will open the Preferences Menu Window...

Step #3:

In the Preferences Window navigate to the Content Library Tab and select the "Content Directory Manager" button to open the Content Directory Manager Window. This is where you add a new Content Directory for Studio to use.

Step #4:

In the Content Directory Manager you have a choice...

1. Click to expand the "Current Directories" list and the "Poser Formats" to check mark that you want to add a new Poser Format Directory to Daz Studio.

Or...

1. Click the "New" Button to create a separate directory listing in Daz Studio's Content Pane. You can change the name of this new content directory if you choose, you can simply click on the name and type in the name you prefer to have it listed under.***

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Step #5:

Once you've clicked the check mark for "Poser Format", click the "Add" button to open a navigation window.

Use this navigation window to navigate to where you created the new folder in Step #1, and select it, this will add it to the list under "Poser Format" in the Content Directory Manager. 

Click accept, and your new Poser Content Directory will now show up in Daz Studio's Content Tab in your work-space.

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Congratulations, your new Poser Content is now ready for you to use in your Studio scenes!

• As a Final Note: Poser items that you add to this runtime will function in Studio, but most will need some manual tweaking to surfaces and materials for best effect in renders with Daz. Most users tweak things anyway when setting up a scene to get specific desired scene effects from their lighting and atmosphere in the image they are creating. New users should get comfortable with modifying and tweaking surfaces and materials as they learn to use the features of Daz Studio...

Also, I cannot guarantee that every single Poser item out there will function properly or at all in Studio, but this method should allow you to use most Poser items found here at Rendo or on other sites...

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them... I'm happy to help out... I hope everyone finds this information useful!***

thanks

You're welcome! :)

Many thanks this will be incredibly helpful as I have a tone of Poser stuff!!!!

Thank you - very useful information :)

There is no need to create a new content set, that feature is more for keeping content of a different nature separate/visible, for example content for commercial use separate from content not for commercial use.  To simply add a library just click the + to expand either the DAZ Studio Formats or Poser Format. Click on either DAZ or Poser and the 'ADD' option becomes active and you can follow the rest of the tut from there.

I included the choice to either add to the current content set or to add a new one for completeness, and so that users would be aware that they have the option of keeping their Poser Content as a separate list from their DS items if they choose. Thanks for pointing that out though, I should have mentioned it in that stage of the Tut...

I missed a couple of things to watch for when adding Poser Content for use in Daz Studio so I'm adding them here...

PMD Based Poser Morphs and Poser Magnet Sets also do not work in DS any more so when checking over products for use in Daz you will need to look to see of they require these items.

Poser Python Scripts don't work in Daz Studio so you won't be able to add or use them in DS...