Anyone have any luck with this? I can't get anything to import that doesn't come in black, and all slammed together as one object. If it helps, I have PolyTrans - so if they need to be exported as one thing then filtered, PT has lots of options. I don't mind baking in the UV's (would prefer it actually for project simplicity)...
Thanks all!
16 texture limit prevents a lot from being imported from Poser. Miki 2 will come in almost all textures in tact. That's it, as far as I know.
What's Miki2?
Actually, if I could bake in all the vertexes that would be perfect - that way no need to even bother w/ textures. But the main problem I'm having it that the Poser models don't come in smoothed very well, and all come in grey or black.
Quote from: scott8933 on January 08, 2008, 03:45:04 PM
Anyone have any luck with this? I can't get anything to import that doesn't come in black, and all slammed together as one object. If it helps, I have PolyTrans - so if they need to be exported as one thing then filtered, PT has lots of options. I don't mind baking in the UV's (would prefer it actually for project simplicity)...
Thanks all!
Save the figure as an .obj in poser then open in Daz studio and re-save again with same file name. This will open in TG2 with textures intact (not poseable hair though).
Thanks! I'll give this a shot. Luckily, the poser model is pretty small in the scene.
I feel like such a whore though - when I went to buy Poser 7 (needed a PC version and only had Poser 6 on my Mac), they were having a special bundle where you get Poser 7 and Vue 6 Esprit for just $299. So now I have Vue as well as Terragen!
Terragen wins the atmospheric stuff hands down, but I do like Vue's vegatation. Nice stuff!
Ah very cool,
I saw this post before, but before Peejay posted. Very clever bro. I will try this in Poser and also Daz and then out.
As for Max and there .obj and .mtl files? they suck, sorry to say that but they do, and not sure why and they have never improved on it on any versions and very short sighted of then if you ask me. So I take my Max models out in a .xsi file and into XSI, there I can get good .obj and very good .mtl files into tgd2 easy and any other app's for that matter.
I have Blender but shesh so many app's to work in unless I have to, I leave it alone. New learning curves and all that, but always good to have them handy. But I have been thinking of finding time to dig it bit deeper soon anyway. I will post on this after I have chance to play with it a bit.
DT
Well, seems formZ brings in all the hair intact (as wires. seventeen thousand wires, to be precise). Most importers are bringing in the model in just a few parts: skin, as a whole, shirt, pants, shoe (he lost one for some reason), eyeballs, pupils, and teeth.
So actually it wasn't too much of a tragedy to get the model in...mostly - and with formZ bringing in the hair, I could probaby use Daz to get the "textured" model input.
Which brings me to my next point - this is really stupid. I mean, how many modelers does it have to take just to bring in a simple Poser figure with colored vertexes? At this point, I don't even care about UV's - just ANY color would be fine, that wouldn't require me to launch every 3D app I have on my computer. What's the point of the .mtl file, if EVERY 3d app ignores it? Well, not Daz, the free one. That seems to bring it in okay. Some kind of inverse price to usefulness ratio? Groan.
Next question, if anyone has lasted this long through my ranting and raving:
Does anyone know if there are plans for Poser to directly link to Terragen in the future?
Does anyone know if there are plans for Onyx Tree to directly link to Terragen in the future?
I know this isn't the best forum to ask - just casually wondering...
Quote from: scott8933 on January 09, 2008, 03:02:39 AM
Does anyone know if there are plans for Poser to directly link to Terragen in the future?
Does anyone know if there are plans for Onyx Tree to directly link to Terragen in the future?
I know this isn't the best forum to ask - just casually wondering...
this may help with some answers:
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=3031.msg30944#msg30944
Yeah, I'd scanned over that thread before even buying TG2 - I guess I was wondering out loud if they'd be supported via a plugin system (TG2 has a facility for one, right?)
Okay, better go read the plugin thread before shooting my mouth off any more.
But Poser figures aside, it -would- be nice if Onyx Tree/Tree Storm were supported, in the same way that xfrog models are supported. Which granted, I know nothing about, not yet having tried it and not being able to find any reference to it in the wip documentation.
And now I find myself even more confused - several threads allude to the .mdl file being usable by TG? Is there a definitive answer and procedure for this? TG, for me, always brings in my .obj's black (using the obj loader node). I have to re-texture them w/in TG, which has been limiting to say the least.
strikes me that the subject of objects is a work-in-progress (like tg2 itself :) ) and workarounds and patches is the order-du-jour.
Yes, easy to forget that considering how complete and TG2 is, and being more stable than some apps I have that are well into years of development.
Anyway, here are the results of a trip to Terragen from Poser. As you can see, he ripped his shirt along the way. It wasn't an easy journey, and he in fact lost his other shoe and has a hole in the one that's still on (which is inexplicably clean).
(//)
It was about 50-50 with the UV maps working. Luckly his skin and face worked. Pants, eyes, shoe, did not and had to be replaced with straight t-maps. I couldn't figure out what the breaking point was, why some UV's stuck and some didn't. Lastly, the figure had to go through Lightwave to be upsampled and smoothed (whatever the function the Tab key activates). Texture UV's still stuck, even after doing that.
(He will be inside a ditch looking at something big, hence the hand/head position)
At some point, I'd like to figure the whole thing out then write up a clean tutorial. But for now...
Scott, if you do a search here, you'll find many instructions and tutorials about this subject. There really isn't any point in workarounds, in my opinion. Someday, we'll get what we need through updates. In the meantime, it's possible other programs could utilize Poser in an easier and more productive way to amalgamate Poser with TG2.
I'm pretty sure it will not be quite possible to do a complete Poser integration in the way you might like, no matter how long we wait.
No, actually a I did a ton of searches this forum, on Flay, and finally on Google - and came up with very little usable info... I must be doing it wrong. A search of "Poser" here comes up with four pages of hits, but no real workflow methods.
It actually wasn't even that which directly started my search - it was being able to import several models from Electric Image and Onyx Tree where the vertexes came in fine (colored), uv's came in fine, geometry was smoothed where it was supposed to and they even showed up as geometry in the preview window. For whatever reason, the PZ stuff was coming in black and as bounding boxes.
Correction to the above, yes, in the 4 pages of hits on Poser, there was one thread that on the last page had one post with a workflow that got textures in properly. I missed that one the first time around, but think I still would have blown a whole day on the thing though - at this point the object import features still seem to be a little inconsistent, depending on what app they come from.
Not a complaint, just an observation.
Quote from: calico on January 10, 2008, 01:17:55 PM
Scott, if you do a search here, you'll find many instructions and tutorials about this subject. There really isn't any point in workarounds, in my opinion. Someday, we'll get what we need through updates. In the meantime, it's possible other programs could utilize Poser in an easier and more productive way to amalgamate Poser with TG2.
I'm pretty sure it will not be quite possible to do a complete Poser integration in the way you might like, no matter how long we wait.
Deep Exploration version 5 has several tools to help users get materials down to a smaller number.
You can combine UV maps, remap an object, merge materials.
Its not a silver bullet and its not free but you could find it useful...
TG2 does try to respect .mtl definitions. The problem - which most people are unaware of - is that the OBJ (and by extension the accompanying MTL) "standard" is really not a standard at all and there are many variations on the implementation. We've tried to stick as close to the most "basic" implementation as we can and other applications choose different approaches. Some programs have notoriously bad OBJ output and plugins have even been written specifically to address these issues (Cinema4D comes to mind). So although TG2's object import support could definitely use some work, it's also just a fundamental flaw in the industry with the lack of a really good universal standard. Hopefully we can support something like FBX in the future which would at least be supported by most newer apps and *is* a standard.
For now Xfrog "support" is limited to the basic OBJ import, although we did work to particularly support the OBJ variant that Xfrog produces and have done more testing with their objects than any other. That is simply due to the high quality of the models relative to other options and their obvious value in TG scenes. We don't see Poser as being as much of an interest for our typical user, although of course many people here do use it.
TG2 will have an SDK in the future which will enable plugins to be written by 3rd parties. Once the SDK is available something could certainly be written to directly support Poser or Onyx or any other application, and I hope such support is undertaken by the respective developers of those programs. We will necessarily be devoting our resources to improving the core features of our application. Further work on improved import and export support should improve overall interoperability with any application that supports standard or common formats.
- Oshyan
Hay guys,
Ya I was trying that fix/work around as well with the Daz Dragon.
(http://www.theatomizer.com/Downloads/DragonTextureBug.jpg)
But even splitting the model up into 4 sections I still could not get the Teeth, eyes, pupils, and irises to come in. Poser does not seem to let me export just the model parts I want, or I am not doing it right yet, but I have tried many ways to do this and still cannot get it too quit work, but almost. But I think in part there is a Bug in the Model import as we should be able to go in and select the models parts we want and have them show up in the render, but as it is now, even though you can select the parts you want? they will not show up no matter what, so I consider that a huge bug and if they would fix that part? we could probably get some real work done with that workaround until they get us what all of us artists feel here on the websites and give us real model/mesh/texture support like we want with tgd2, then we have something truly awesome here.
So they do have a bug, I do not care what anyone say, it is there bigger then toby's heal. lolol. If they could fix that little feature in there GUI well that would help us very much over all to start with. If people do not know what I am trying to say I can post screen shots to show you would we almost have if they fix that one little feature they have and make it work, these 16 texture per shader would be doable. But each model I bring in seems to have there own way on importing the models in no matter what in the naming conventions, so unless I can go in and re-select the model parts we want, were foobared till they do a major fix I fear.
OK added this graphic to show you all what I am talking about as if they could fix this? then we have a workaround foor a bit until they really fix this for us.
(http://www.theatomizer.com/Downloads/DragonMeshSelecteBug.jpg)
Hope that next release after the full release is within a couple of months and they dive into this heavy as the next area that needs work as in my humble opinion that is the weak point at this time on the software. So I would have it at the top of the to do list if I was Planet Side, but me not and we can only hope, pray to the 3D gods that our needs will get met. At least fix that bug I am talking about while they work on stuff that will met our needs better would sure be hella sweet, don't ya think??????????
Oh I am a dog on a bone on this subject till they meet my wants and needs /smiles......
DT
DT, I just manipulate the MTL to bring in the top 16 textures I want.
Quote from: DeathTwister on January 13, 2008, 11:54:19 PM
...Hope that next release after the full release is within a couple of months and they dive into this heavy as the next area that needs work as in my humble opinion that is the weak point at this time on the software. So I would have it at the top of the to do list if I was Planet Side, but me not and we can only hope, pray to the 3D gods that our needs will get met. At least fix that bug I am talking about while they work on stuff that will met our needs better would sure be hella sweet, don't ya think??????????
Oh I am a dog on a bone on this subject till they meet my wants and needs /smiles......
DT
sorry dude:
Quote from: OshyanYou are for example unlikely to ever see a Planetside-developed Poser import system, simply because supporting complex human figures within a landscape scene is not a particular aim of product. In general even the current object support is adequate for the majority of vegetation objects, which seldom include more than 16 textures, although of course object manipulation is still not ideal even for this more limited range of object types...
...The vast majority of effects industry production pipelines that result in a finished frame for a movie or TV program involve several applications working closely together to achieve the best results. Our aim with TG2 is to fit comfortably into such a pipeline and fulfill the landscape rendering needs of professionals and hobbyists alike.
Perhaps, this is where Vue has run into problems by trying to meet the Poser community and the landscape community.
Calico how did you select them to get the top 16 the way you want? I could not get it to do that no way :(
While I was able to de-select the files I didn't want in Poser and select the ones I wanted to export out, but after I exported about 5 different ways I still ended up with all the files names I did not want, which befuddled me no end. I have not been able to edit that info out of the .obj file as of yet. Any place to send us for a tut on that? or can ya give us the magical clue maybe? /smiles......
But that other part in tgd2 is a bug at any rate. We should be able to go in and select the ones we want instead of being stuck with the first 16 that comes in that's just dumb, and very big bug to not be able to do that in a drop down list that says we should be able to. Better if it was not there, but it is, so maybe they will that part for us at least.
Could you maybe give us a very quick tut on how you did that if you got all the model parts out OK? witch screen shots? Which combo of check boxes do you check after you have selected the mesh you want to export? I am getting all the mesh no matter what I try to export. Haha dang so close, yet so far from where we want to play /giggles.
DT
Ya, but they basically have it all together if they would just tie the pieces together. We can almost do this. And while Vue has a powerful interface for models in general, I still think tgd2 can beat the pants of it in every dept, if they would just fix the texture/mesh limit. It should not be that hard, they almost have it now. And I really do not like Vue all that much in some ways, very good in others.
But I was using Poser models as an example, look at the space stations and space ships and well frankly any models I create weather Poser or hand made in Max/XSi we still need to add them to the mix. Hardly one model I have created can I get into tgd2. I have to create them from scratch as my old modeling does not work in tgd2. And that is so very limiting. I do not want to use Vue, I have that, I bought tgd2 as I think it can beat the pants of Vue down the road. I was the only person that entered TGD2 entries in the NSS 2009 Space Calender this year, most were all done in Poser/Daz and Bryce. And tgd2 is so much better then any of those apps, it just blows my mind no one at PlanetSide can see that? Anyway probably will not win or place, but at least I tried /smiles..... and PlanetSide gets some cool PR in the bargin.
Anyway all they really have to do is fix that bug in the select window so other parts will render if selected and we would be happy artists I think. It has been sitting there staring at us in the face, and we can get some work done if that bug is fixed soon.
Why not fix this little bug with the full release? it couldn't be that hard to fix could it?
And I know Oshyan says PlanetSide may never support Poser yada yada yada, not asking them to, just allow us to bring in our own models that we make is all I want, that we have made, not poser, but that is the same thing as an .obj is a .obj after all.
DT
After I have the object file where I want it (I use PoseRay for this), I go to the correct MTL associated with this object file and edit it. I put only textures I want at the top, careful to not mess up any of the needed syntax. Then I save the file. THEN, I import it into TG2. After that, I check everything to make sure the textures come through (etc.) and then I save it as a TGO. Then I save the TGO in a secret folder in my Swiss Bank account. ;D
Quote from: DeathTwister on January 14, 2008, 10:50:09 AM
Calico how did you select them to get the top 16 the way you want? I could not get it to do that no way :(
DT
I agree as long as what is important is finished first.
Quote from: DeathTwister on January 14, 2008, 11:02:58 AM
Why not fix this little bug with the full release? it couldn't be that hard to fix could it?
DT
Hey Death Twister
the bit you are missing is the need to edit the .mtl file. It's just a text file and can be edited in any text editor. I use Edit Pad, but there are loads around, and you can even do it notepad at a push.
To recap:
1) load your model and textures into Poser -
2) Pose it
3) Export as .obj selecting only the body parts you want. The Millenium dragon will split nicely into Wings, Body(including legs), and Head.
4)Choose a body part, eg: Head (or whatever you called it)
5) Open the Head.mtl file that has just been made ('cos when you export as .obj, Poser will automatically create a corresponding .mtl), and make sure that the names for the body parts you want correspond exactly to the entries in the Head.obj file. The .obj can be opened and viewed in a text editor as well. You can then edit the entries in the .mtl file to make sure they match the .obj, and delete the entries to the body parts that you do not want.
6) Do this for the other body parts, and they will then import with all the textures :)
http://excalibur.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1462333
is an example of the Millenium Dragon in TG2
Thanks Calico for that, I don't use PoserRay, but have it, so I guess I will muddle through it. Unless I can edit the .mtl file in notepad? how you editing the .mtl file in poserRay or in notepad? notpad would be good as I have all 3 files now, just need to edit out what I do not want imported in. I iz not a programmer, but I think I can do that hahahahaha, is that the trick then? Thanks for the info bro, good to know and I will get these in yet. so will check it all out a bit later.
Going to town now will check posts when I get back then try this out and see if I can get it to do my bidding ROTFL. ah I see, KK thanks brother, U da Ogre /smiles.....
DT
Here's my mini-pipeline -
1. Create my setup with my object (let's say in Daz|Studio)
2. Export the object for Maya and make sure it exports maps
3. Open this new object in PoseRay
4. I check the materials are all in place.
5. I go to the Groups tab and select Calculate Normals and hit Update
6. I save it as a different named object so I don't get confused by adding something at the end of it (like _1)
7. I open this newly saved object with Wordpad and move my textures I want to the top (for example, Miki 2 has about 17 objects so I move the one I don't care about, like the inside of the mouth, to the bottom of the list)
8. Save the MTL
9. Open this new object (remember it's the one in which I just changed the name) in TG2
10. Check my textures in TG2 and then save it as a TGO
11. Delete the object file in TG2 (not on the hard drive) and then open up the new TGO
Voila!
OOh very cool Calico, I like it. Ok here is how I figured it works for me anyway. OK I was in Poser as an example, so split the model into 4 groups, one for each texture:
Head
Body
Wings
eyes
then I exported them out as a .obj/.mtl files. Now I am lazy as I did not want to go into PoserRay since I don't know it that well (note to self, get to know it better) But you got me thinking that it should be allot easier then going through all those steps so instead I right clicked on the .mtl file and opened it with Word Pad and just edited out the files I did not want, Ya I know that is called hacking, but my programmer partner been teaching me a taste of that chit so I went in and edited all the files and then brought them into tgd2. Now I have not saved the file as a .tgo yet, good idea and trick and I will do that, just for building data base stuff right? kinda like building a bank of models that you can grab like X Frog stuff to cool. Anyway here is what I came up with and thanks so much Calico and the rest for helping us all out. /smiles....
(http://www.theatomizer.com/Downloads/DragonTextureBug2.jpg)
OK have fun guys and Gals and thanks so much again, it gives me allot to work with now. But PlanetSide still needs to fix that fracking bug when they do the full release, I'll wait a week or so extra if they need it. My programmer thinks it is funny they have not dealt with it yet, we have no SDK to look at, but it can't be that herd we are thinking to get models to work right with what they almost already have in place. I wait, watch, and see.
Side Note, I usually Model in Max or XSI, as exporting .obj's and .mtl's out of Max sucks, so I take all models to XSi and export them out from there, no matter where I build them as they have killer .obj exports as good as X Frog or Poser/Daz. So my Fix should and will work for those Apps as well, so all in all a very cumbersome Workaround don't ya think? but at least we can get people and other critters and buildings now into tgd2.
PS: better hurry up and help us out here pretty soon before us artists explode Ka BOOM......lolololol
DT
DT, this looks a lot better.
I've got Poser as well (see my avatar, Dementis), and I just stumbled across this guy's freeware apps, which look to be very useful:
http://www.castironflamingo.com/home/index.html (http://www.castironflamingo.com/home/index.html)
He also has a parametric terrain editor for Bryce, but perhaps there's a way to convert?
Thanks, Jim. Not sure about the Bryce editor. If I have time, I'll look at it today.