I'm curious if others are familiar with, or even heard of a tool called Poly Cruncher? Chances are you aren't. It's an add-on for a tool I've had for a number of years simply called 3D Browser, but it's by a French company called MooTools.

https://www.mootools.com/en

They came about when Lightwave wasn't a red-headed step-child (hence the Cow motif), but are an entirely separate company so not just for Lightwave.

I'm not sure how one would use it with Daz; DUF isn't on the list of import options but many other standard formats are. There is an SDK though. <nudge, nudge, wink, wink>

So, if versed on importing into DAZ, particularly OBJ's, you'll be on home stretch.

Be that as it may, for one reason or another I never really did much other than kick the tires with Poly Cruncher. A week or so ago I had a need so decided it was worth the time to give it a shot.  Lightwave's native tools & 3rd party plugs are lacking & clunky.

After a couple preliminary tests, to say I had a Tex Avery jaw drop moment is an understatement. And I wasn't even pushing it.

I was having issues with the roller skates in the

https://www.daz3d.com/ajc-boogie-roller-girl-outfit-and-boombox-for-genesis-8-and-81-females product.

As exported via FBX, each skate was 1.1Gb. The entire character exported out 4.67 Gb. Typical is more like 500-600 Mb.

It's not just the geometry, it's the morphs and I wanted to retain those. Unlike the Daz method of handling morphs, the resulting .lwo objects have morphs as part of the geometry. Eyebrows are often the worst.

But the skates were ridiculously dense. Not to mention geometry that would never get seen. Gorgeous, but basically a waste of resources.

Anyway as they say, a picture is worth a K of words +/-:



The Crunched one on the right has the mostly hidden extra Liner as well.

Well, since I'm often the one who asks "Well, will this thing go to eleven"? ...

A couple of other Daz assets I've acquired over the years are problematic even in DS such that I've never really used them.

The Red Crow Inn is definitely one.

https://www.daz3d.com/rog-red-crow-inn

Even with a pretty beefy system & even in a wire-mode it's hard to move the camera, let alone add a figure(s), light, ...

And that's not a new product so it makes me wonder how they used them even a few years ago.

A good test subject I figure.

A bit of a learning curve but rapidly levels off. So, not only can I now load the entire model w/ props, but camera moving in LW2019 is normal now. Don't have to stay in a wire-mode. Surfacing is ~85% there & can be PBR'd in a fraction of the time as before.

Well, isn't that special?

Bottom line, it breathes new life into some of my older assets & I probably look into others I've avoided before.