Daz to Blender Bridge (Blender Issue)

[BimboRoom]

I've installed the blender bridge through DAZ DIM, it works on DAZ's side, so it seems so far. When I open blender and go into preferences add-on's nothing is there. I tried the github 3.+ update, manually added the scripts folder, it see's it, but wont install it. It throws an error every time. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Primarch Dorn]

Yeah... they don't work very well

 

[MidnightArrow]

What's the error?

I use Diffeomorphic. The stable version is old now and the materials aren't as good as the dev version, but the dev version can break due to the dev tinkering with the code.

 

[BimboRoom]

What's the error?

I use Diffeomorphic. The stable version is old now and the materials aren't as good as the dev version, but the dev version can break due to the dev tinkering with the code.

I finally got it by installing an older version of blender... it was a line code like 1355 no DTB but the folder was there it was something in the actual coding.

 

[MidnightArrow]

I finally got it by installing an older version of blender... it was a line code like 1355 no DTB but the folder was there it was something in the actual coding.

Iirc the DTB is a folder in My Documents where the exporter dumps the outputted figure as an FBX file. The Blender importer reads that in to load the model.

Can't say how good the materials look, but I heard bad things.

This is Diffeomorphic default import:

Iray on the left, Cycles on the middle and right. There's a material editor for tweaking them too.

 

[BimboRoom]

Iirc the DTB is a folder in My Documents where the exporter dumps the outputted figure as an FBX file. The Blender importer reads that in to load the model.

Can't say how good the materials look, but I heard bad things.

This is Diffeomorphic default import:
View attachment 1894102
Iray on the left, Cycles on the middle and right. There's a material editor for tweaking them too.

Have you had success with the reverse? Moving assets / environments from blender to daz? Honestly not really liking how hair makeup etc looks on blender.

 

[MidnightArrow]

Have you had success with the reverse? Moving assets / environments from blender to daz? Honestly not really liking how hair makeup etc looks on blender.

No, I don't bother. There's a lot of tricks Cycles can do Iray can't like out of core rendering. Going back is pointless to me.

Do you have examples of "hair makeup etc." you don't like? They're not going to look identical out of the box since they don't even have the same default scene. Materials, lighting, and tonemapping have a huge impact on what a render looks like.

 

[BimboRoom]

No, I don't bother. There's a lot of tricks Cycles can do Iray can't like out of core rendering. Going back is pointless to me.

Do you have examples of "hair makeup etc." you don't like? They're not going to look identical out of the box since they don't even have the same default scene. Materials, lighting, and tonemapping have a huge impact on what a render looks like.

I meant like if most of my game is rendered on daz, i'd have to match every character i port over into blender to even make the scene look normal, essentially, I started on daz, seems like i cant mix and match.

 

[MidnightArrow]

I meant like if most of my game is rendered on daz, i'd have to match every character i port over into blender to even make the scene look normal, essentially, I started on daz, seems like i cant mix and match.

If you want 100% fidelity to Iray, then no. They're different engines with different algorithms. They'll never match exactly.

If you want to pose and animate without throwing your computer out a window, only you can decide if the mismatch is an worthwhile tradeoff.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

Grabbed the last version with DIM, should install fine with Blender 3.2. Don't get why they didn't just share a zip file.



I never worked with it but material wise, it's rather basic. I guess it's good enough if you're preparing assets for a game engine. Saying that you can already make something way better looking with HDRP or UE5.

If you go for rendering, Diffeo route is just miles better. Diffeo recreate several critical UberShader layers (use BSDF as material method), but don't except 1:1. Outside intrasec quality of maps, Uber skin relies on 3 core concepts, dual lobe, topcoat & translucency/volume, more or less well translated for Cycle (for ex Iray & Cycle don't share the same light absortion formula, while both being legit), so it will need some tuning and being a bit familiar with those layers. Last one being the one that tank any engine (lol), so don't expect huge gain in time rendering at equal quality.

 

[Dilly_]

Grabbed the last version with DIM, should install fine with Blender 3.2. Don't get why they didn't just share a zip file.

View attachment 1894277

I never worked with it but material wise, it's rather basic. I guess it's good enough if you're preparing assets for a game engine. Saying that you can already make something way better looking with HDRP or UE5.

If you go for rendering, Diffeo route is just miles better. Diffeo recreate several critical UberShader layers (use BSDF as material method), but don't except 1:1. Outside intrasec quality of maps, Uber skin relies on 3 core concepts, dual lobe, topcoat & translucency/volume, more or less well translated for Cycle (for ex Iray & Cycle don't share the same light absortion formula, while both being legit), so it will need some tuning and being a bit familiar with those layers. Last one being the one that tank any engine (lol), so don't expect huge gain in time rendering at equal quality.

IMO, the Daz team should either make Diffeomorphic the official Blender bridge, or they should merge their own bridge with Diffeomorphic (and compensate

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for his amazing work). I see so, so many people having trouble with the official bridge; it's cruel to let people think this is the only option, when there are very smart people hard at work on a much better solution.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

IMO, the Daz team should either make Diffeomorphic the official Blender bridge, or they should merge their own bridge with Diffeomorphic (and compensate

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for his amazing work). I see so, so many people having trouble with the official bridge; it's cruel to let people think this is the only option, when there are very smart people hard at work on a much better solution.

Kinda disagree here. A bit of competion shouldn't hurt. And, if anything, far I know, someone with a bit of knowledge (either the rig or material) could be a net plus in my book, just need that guy x30. Problem with Daz, imho, is they throw money at problem (and third party) for too long time.

 

[Dilly_]

Kinda disagree here. A bit of competion shouldn't hurt. And, if anything, far I know, someone with a bit of knowledge (either the rig or material) could be a net plus in my book, just need that guy x30. Problem with Daz, imho, is they throw money at problem (and third party) for too long time.

That's fair, but I'm not sure the laws of competition necessarily apply here, since both the official Daz bridge and Diffeomorphic are free, passion projects worked on by Thomas Larsson and Daz developers, so there isn't really a monetary incentive to make them better. On the other hand, collaboration between the two teams could benefit all users. Though at this point I think it would just be Daz devs playing catch-up.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

That's fair, but I'm not sure the laws of competition necessarily apply here, since both the official Daz bridge and Diffeomorphic are free, passion projects worked on by Thomas Larsson and Daz developers, so there isn't really a monetary incentive to make them better. On the other hand, collaboration between the two teams could benefit all users. Though at this point I think it would just be Daz devs playing catch-up.

Far I rember they approached Thomas, but couldn't find a deal. If I remember correctly he was adamant on the open source/property thing (props to him). But I want to stress that every bridge is like that, passion project and Daz contact you (or not). For exemple Daz2unreal was maintened by David-Idontrememberhisname. Before that it was a Japanese dev. Daz bought both projects.

I'm not even sure the guy devlopping Daz2Blender is a full fledged Daz employee. And nearly everything is like that. Filament? Google. dForce? Third party. Strand based hair? ex garibladi. Iray? Nvidia. And so on. Even the framework itself (topology/rig), or the way UberShader is build, I have my doubt.

You could see few months ago industry pivoting toward USD. In a week, all software got their update (Zbrush, Max/Maya, Blender, C4D, UE, Unity and so on). Daz? I'm not sure they even got the workforce.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

Bumped into that post by inadvertence. Found it quite funny in relation to the topic.

It's fantastic to be able to use Houdini's vast range of special effects - including, not limited to, cloth simulation, hair etc. I have just dug out my old DAZ 2 Houdini bridge and updated it to better support Genesis 8.1 (the old morph loader didn't pass the new export correctly). My bridge isn't limited to Genesis figures, but supports any rigged geometry (and DUF), including DHDM (hires detail) natively. It works in the FREE Houdini as well as in professional versions.

Unfortunately, DAZ expects software like this to be released for free with no compensation for the developer (according to an email exchange I have had with them). I have invested several hundred hours of work, tweaking, bug-fixing and improving the solution I came up with - and felt disrespected when they contacted me about it, so I am afraid, you will need to support one of the three or four other projects out there (which, AFAIK, are open source). I am sure the developers working on the other solutions welcome any input/help they can get. I do not know how flexible/stable their solutions are, though.

 

[Dilly_]

Bumped into that post by inadvertence. Found it quite funny in relation to the topic.

It's fantastic to be able to use Houdini's vast range of special effects - including, not limited to, cloth simulation, hair etc. I have just dug out my old DAZ 2 Houdini bridge and updated it to better support Genesis 8.1 (the old morph loader didn't pass the new export correctly). My bridge isn't limited to Genesis figures, but supports any rigged geometry (and DUF), including DHDM (hires detail) natively. It works in the FREE Houdini as well as in professional versions.

Unfortunately, DAZ expects software like this to be released for free with no compensation for the developer (according to an email exchange I have had with them). I have invested several hundred hours of work, tweaking, bug-fixing and improving the solution I came up with - and felt disrespected when they contacted me about it, so I am afraid, you will need to support one of the three or four other projects out there (which, AFAIK, are open source). I am sure the developers working on the other solutions welcome any input/help they can get. I do not know how flexible/stable their solutions are, though.

Now that's just sad. You'd think Daz devs would be eager to compensate him, as making it easier to use Daz stuff in Houdini would expand the user base to Houdini users. Poor guy