DAZ to Blender world of pain and other ramblings

[Fat Boss]

Ey. Fat Boss here.

Not a structured thread. Not today. Mostly ramblings.
Is cool, though. Feel free to talk anyway.

So. Installed DAZ, downloade some of them morphs and stuff. Started prototyping, experimenting.
This is what i got so far. Should be the protagonist:


IMO, the body is surprisingly acceptable, minus some morph issues (see the jagged polys in traps, the horizontal blend line on his quads). Detail body sculpts in Blender could refine it further.

The face, much more of a horror story. Like, why does the default DAZ character have to look like a 15-20yo weakling dweeb made of wax? I want a middle-aged muscular hunk of a man with superior Cena genetics. Is that too much to ask for? The face, as is, is so-so ... and I've put time & effort into it already. Actually considering whether bringing in a ready-made Cena face mesh from the likes of Sketchfab would be a better way...

DAZ Face transfer's broken for me, yo. Not only did the face shape yield bad results (I had to redo it manually), but see that darkened discolor on the side of his textured cheeks - if that stays, it is Photoshop, and old-school texture editing.

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Beyond DAZ... though about my rendrin' & developer pipeline. It is DAZ to Blender with a neat rig (maybe AutoRig Pro?)
Then, to kitbash and render stuff in Blender. Then, renPy or Unity (if I want to write myself a neat little combat system, etc.)

As for DAZ to Blender, I may be in for a world of pain there, eh.
First attempt: just exported the hunk as FBX, imported to Blender. He had a semblance of animator's bones to him, but the poor hunk's hands were collapsed into his torso, soles into a 180-degree, dislocated. Damn.
When i added another object into the Blender scene and moved it (object mode), the hunk moved along with it, into nightmarish polygons. Double damn.
Skin details & realisticness will likely be another issue, I've been told. Deforms like advanced shoulder positioning, too.

There's apparently a DAZ to Blender bridge - a script. Did not come with my DAZ install by default. I'd have to experiment and see...

If you are a Pro at this DAZ to Blender sorcery, got a mature pipeline at that, a helpful link, etc., I'll gladly hear ya...

 

[Codehog]

I used

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for DAZ -> Blender.
It needs a little setup, but other than that it worked (mostly) painlessly .

 

[MissFortune]

Like, why does the default DAZ character have to look like a 15-20yo weakling dweeb made of wax?

Check out some of the older characters from Daz Originals line of G9 models. Dain 9 might be what you're looking for. Facial hair and lighting might add some scruff as well.

If you are a Pro at this DAZ to Blender sorcery, got a mature pipeline at that, a helpful link, etc., I'll gladly hear ya...

Diffeomorphic is the answer.


If you're going to use the gens in Blender: Finish work on Model and then Tools > Geometry Editor > Export HD to Blender.

 

[Fat Boss]

Dain 9 might be what you're looking for.

Ey. Good link, but the guy would've ended a bit too generic. I needed Cena.

So, I solved it a bit differently in the end.
Downloaded this here Cena model, and cut his head in Blender:

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Then proceeded with DAZ & in the Wrap software, per this tutorial, creating and applying the head morph over what I got before:

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This may be a fairly good Cena, yo. Good chin, great neck. Recognizable.


AI face compare thinks so, too:


It wasnt perfect tho, you know.

There was the usual milimeter to meter size discrepancy (100x), but the smutbase model had kind of thick, slightly oversized head. So I went with 90x scale.
Also, applied the Cena head morph to 40% only, over the previous face I got. More would create mutants, eh.

Also, his hair would kind of unalign with head mesh (creating intersects, or tiny mesh float). Not good, solved it by keeping only the top part of his hair (that is... very 2002 Cena, yo).

There still are face unalignment issues after the morph. Like, a gap in his eye socket (can't do ultra-detailed close-up shots, yo). Tried adjusting DAZ eyes, too - no dice. Any ideas there?

I mean... it is workable. Just not perfect.

Diffeomorphic is the answer.

Appreciated! Cool answer, on a silver platter.
I may look into it tomorrow, and write here.

I know my timing's terrible, yo. It is what it is tho...

Also, my development pipeline, if any at all, lol, is complicated / nonexistent / mess. I take it more like prototyping, exploration, for now. In the end, I may end up with pushing these DAZ characters to Unreal, posing dem, bashing together environments there, and going with that... who knows...

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Anyhow, if I wanted to create some dev diary thread, mostly ranting about AI-assisted ideating, writing, and prototyping, is this forum a platform for that?

You know, me coming up with some ideas for the game, da people telling me what they think of it, me bein' stubborn, or adjusting to what they say...

That being said, eh, here is a Cena concept. The colors suit him well:


And Cena's fictional Canada (2025)? It is not doing good...

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[osanaiko]

eyeballs are too small. embiggen them, shift them outwards. that will fix the weird crosseyes/squinty thing in your "fairly good Cena" image, as well as fill that eyesocket gap.

it's anatomy yo: human eyeballs (most mammals to be honest) are way bigger than you'd imagine, just they are mostly concealed by the cheek and brow bones.

EDIT: and after 30+years of heavy steroid use, i'm not sure Mr Cena's wang would look like it does in the full body image in the OP.

 

[Fat Boss]

eyeballs are too small. embiggen them, shift them outwards. that will fix the weird crosseyes/squinty thing in your "fairly good Cena" image, as well as fill that eyesocket gap.

it's anatomy yo: human eyeballs (most mammals to be honest) are way bigger than you'd imagine, just they are mostly concealed by the cheek and brow bones.

Ey! Sure thing, chief.

Scaled them eyeballs 120%, kept them inwards (can't do outwards -- they'd pop out, intersect ugly). Then I scaled down eye size globally (200 modifiers plugin).

"crosseyes/squinty"? Yeah, I did not even catch that. Guess I'm no Mr. artist.
Cena's head is still weirdly fucked up, somehow. May be the WWE Cena head modifier base, may be me combining too many incompatible shapes, eh. Dunno.

The issue is still there. Although... about 60% less apparent. This is what I get, after two hours of fiddling with sliders 'n stuff, lol. Whatchu think... good enough?

EDIT: and after 30+years of heavy steroid use, i'm not sure Mr Cena's wang would look like it does in the full body image in the OP.

Heh. Sure, let's have that debate. Fun stuff...

What is backing your argument: reality.
Reality-wise, I agree with you. Did you know that the average dong, per published, peer-reviewed studies, is, like, 5.5 - 6 inches long? (more so when self-reported, lol, less so when measured clinically).

What do you say to that?
Thanos quote comes to mind: "Reality is often disappointing."

Arguments for a big, heroic dong (generic):
- you would not want to play as the average Joe Schmoe (see Thanos above)
- the girls, chicks, hoes, babes, they should all have a worthy man to fawn over
- tiny peenises are not aesthetically pleasing; in fact, they are a source of laughter & ridicule

Arguments for well-endowed Cena (specific to my game to be):
- deep layers of satire (at least that's what I'm aiming for, yo)
- he is a personification of the Ubermesch
- superior Cena genetics
- he's a hunk!
- he's a war hero, and Yukon's last hope - last man (hero) standing in societal collapse
- his oversized dong is to be explained in the story (something, something, had to take experimental steroids)
- he is a self-conscious, stiff, by-the book soldier who ends up with oversized dong and increased libido (and women throwing themselves at him); he is ashamed of this, calls it a "nuisance", a "pointless distraction" (this is where the satire lives, baby!)
- the real, living John Cena could approve of this (or at least let it slide), because: this is positive stuff, uplifting, sort of hero worship; as opposed to lame internet trolls, negative bullying rants, basement dwellers stinkin' up our forum, etc.
- other reasons (I probably forgot, lol)

All in all, I think it comes to this: sensibility and artistic vision. Which is cool, eh.

Here, have one concept Cena on the house. Obviously, the chicks dig him. As should be...

 

[osanaiko]

Whatchu think... good enough?

Well, it's your circus and monkeys, so the final arbiter of "good enough" must be yourself.

I do think it looks better with the eyes now.

Regards to why it still looks a bit weird...

Things that make it not look like real Cena.
1. eyebrows are just a bit too *much*. too low, too prominent/hairy
2. eye sockets might be a bit too deep / or maybe the brow is too strong.
3. the nose is too narrow at the face. needs a bit more squished-strawberry shape. He is a man who has clearly been smashed in the snozz many times in his career.
4. the jaw is a tad overdone, especially the front knob/cleft.

All of these are quite minor! don't make big adjustments, it is already a pretty good likeness


And a bonus one that makes it look non-human.
4. the weird caved-in part of the lower cheek and then bulge out to the jaw. particularly at the back/edge of the face profile. human bones/jaw ligaments don't work that way.
Thinking a bit more... this might partially be a optical illusion because of the neck bulging out. Tone down that a bit, it needs to be a smooth outward (concave) curve from the top, not convex

hard to describe so here is image:



Edit:
I did not respond to the peepee discussion - it's not my place to kink shame you, bro. it's fiction, enjoy yourself.