Thanks Robert!

Would it be possible to edit the original post and add links to those pages so we can see what is there now without having to search around on Fb for the official site?

See also my response in this thread: https://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2905031 re: mCasual's DS and Blender scripts for doing this. Works with multiple items at once (although it choked when I tried it with a Stonemason set ) and sets up very basic Cycles shaders for you (with diffuse, glossy, bump and transparency only - any extra maps you need to set up yourself).

Yeah - that is strange. Several of the programs that have forums and galleries here on this site do not get their own category?

This is a terrible survey. It only lets you pick one software program and only lets you pick one reason why you use it. I split my time pretty evenly between Carrara and Blender and could just as easily have answered Photoshop sometimes, but there is no way to say that. I really dislike it when surveys seem to be trying to force you down a path rather than seek information.

Yes, kind of. I've only used it with 3Delight materials but I think it works with Iray materials too. What is does is, once it finishes importing the object from DS, set up a basic Cycles material for each surface the object had in DS. The material is just a basic mix shader for each DS surface using any diffuse, bump and transparency maps the object had in DS. The exact amount of the mix seems is set in the interface for the script when you run it and is the same for all materials so it does require some tweaking in Blender, but just having the basic mix created for you on import is a huge time saver.

The only downside to using the script is that it transfers everything by exporting OBJs from DAZ Studio so they are static and unrigged in Blender, so you need to make sure that if you are using a figure with moving parts that you have it set-up how you want it before running the script in DS (not really a big issue for things like drawers and doors since you can just move them around in Blender, but important to remember for figures like Victoria or Michael).

If you have DAZ Studio (which is free) and your Renderosity item also works in DS (most, but not all, do) then mCasual has a DS script to handle the exporting and a companion Blender script that then automatically imports it and sets up basic Cycles materials. The latest version of both scripts is here: https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts4/mcjteleblender3 (download button is all the way at the bottom of the page). I personally have no Poser v DS preference, but I really like that script and thought I'd point out another option. :)

EDIT: It occurred to me after posting, that maybe we are not allowed to post a link like this - mods, please let me know if that is the case and I will remove it.

I watched the one you linked to originally, but the newer one you referred to really helped me out a lot more. I am using his techniques from this video: How to create a grimy barrel scene in Blender and Substance Painter for a piece I am currently working on for the weeklyCGchallenge on Facebook. I may still look into the node setup he is selling but the basic setup he goes over at the start of the new video seems to work very well as a starting point. His tip on putting the substance painter roughness maps through a math node (power^2) to get them to work better with Cycles turned out to be really key.

Here's my image so far (still lots to model and texture and some things to fix, plus obviously the final will have much more samples - this is just an early test render) with textures from substance painter on the desk, hat, books and walls (I also used it to create bump and roughness maps for dust on the bottles but you can't really see it in this test).

EClark1894 - I'm with you on the tablet thing. I bought one a couple years ago as I started doing more and more work in Photoshop and have just never been able to get comfortable with it. I know it is a matter of practice but I just cannot get a "feel" for it - my brain cannot seem to connect what I am doing with my hand way off to the side with what is happening on the screen right in front of me. Bizarrely I actually really enjoy using the very large trackpad on my laptop for modeling, painting even for sculpting (although I've only really just started dabbling in sculpting and am not doing anything more than just roughing up and adding a bit of asymetry to models at this point) - it's kind of like finger-painting. :)

I really want to learn to use the tablet since everyone says you need one, but I cannot find a comfortable place to put it on my desk, cannot comfortably draw even a smooth line with it - I can't even get the settings to the point where I can smoothly sign my name with it. If I can't write with it or sketch with it I certainly can't paint with it.

I would say that you definitely do _not _absolutely need it for modeling if you are already comfortable doing so with the mouse. If you do a lot of painting you should invest the time (but it is not necessary for basic post-work and minor paint-overs); this is my own primary reason for wanting (and thus far failing) to get comfortable with one. For sculpting I can't say as I'm a real newbie in that arena but everyone seems to agree that it is necessary.

No - I had not seen this and it didn't turn up in any of my searches. Thank you! I'll take a look and see if it helps.

Weird.

I don't have either of those programs but I found a thread on the issue at http://www.realflowforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1269. They don't really offer any good suggestions (suggestions included using .lwo instead of OBJ, or importing with scale of -1) for fixing it, but at least you know you are not the only one having the problem.

Maybe try flipping it in Carrara prior to export? To do so select the whole thing in the vertex modeler and use EDT>FLIP. it will end up upside down and need to be rotated back so the top is facing up but once you do that it should also be flipped left to right.

Below is a screenshot to show the flip command in use. I used a quick shape with just enough detail to tell if it flipped correctly, duplicated it and then used the flip command on the duplicate, and then finally I rotated the duplicate on the x-axis to get is oriented with the top up instead of down. In my test I had the symmetry plane aligned to one of the leftmost points on my original object, but I don't think that is actually necessary.

Thanks @RobynsVeil.

I fiddled with the settings some and let it run another hour and that line went away, but I changed so many things at once that I am not sure which one fixed it (or maybe none of them did - I now think that maybe it just needed a lot more samples).

Hi Redfern,

It sounds like you are entirely new to Blender so I don't know how familiar you are with just moving around and selecting things - if you need help with basics like that then I highly recommend you check out a YouTube channel called Blender For Noobs where you can find a couple very short videos to get you up and running quickly. I know I felt totally lost until I stumbled onto his "Learn Blender in an Hour" video and after watching it once and playing around a bit I started to understand the logic of how Blender's interface is set up.

As far as the Judy Hops model you are looking at, I haven't done any animation in Blender (I'm sure someone with more real knowledge will be along to help :) ) but I took a look at it and there are "helpers" for posing it in the scene. In the screenshot below I circled a few of them. Try right-clicking on any of those to select it and then either use the "G" hotkey to grab it and move it around or the "R" hotkey to rotate it and you should see things start moving around on the character.

I used to buy this at the local Barnes & Noble but about a year ago they stopped carrying 3D Artist, 3D World and a couple other art magazines I bought most months in the store - apparently I was the only one buying them! Just ordered this one though - I wish their website had a digital version of the magazine though, it only allowed ordering of a physical copy.

I had thought about getting a subscription through Amazon (the price is amazing and it includes a free month) but their digital Kindle subscription says that it is not compatible with Kindle for PC (a lot of magazines are not, which is bizarre since my laptop has much better graphics than any tablet or phone... who wants to read a magazine on a phone!?).

Thanks! It's amazing how many problems I run into with Blender that "apply transformations" is the solution to. :)

Sorry - I figured it out as soon as I posted.

In case anyone else ever has the issue - the 45 degrees in the Transform Rotation on the properties panel was the clue. To fix it I went back into edit mode, rotated it 45 degrees, returned to Object mode and then rotated it back 45 degrees there and it now works perfectly.