Question about exporting genitalia from Daz to Unreal Engine 4

[Dilly_]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to export my Genesis 8 Female character with Futalicious genitalia into UE4, and I had a few questions for anyone with knowledge in the subject.

First of all, I've managed to import a character with just the genitalia shape itself successfully to UE4, however the problem arises when I attempt to export a character from Daz with the futalicious geoshell. Since geoshells are unique to Daz, they don't play well when attempting to export to .fbx, and result in strange texture weirdness. Would it be possible to somehow export the geoshell textures separately and add them to my character in a secondary application, such as Blender? If so, how would I do this, while ensuring the textures are properly blended with my character (ie, no mismatching textures so the genital region is miscolored)?

Since I use the Texture Wizard addon for Futalicious, all of the genital textures are properly blended with my character's skin in Daz. I'd like to be able to maintain this blendedness of the textures inside UE4 to avoid color mismatching, if that makes sense.

If anyone has any advice as to how this could be achieved, I would appreciate it

 

[Madmanator99]

Ue4 allows the use of multiple UV channels for the same mesh, I believe 6 or 8, so it is possible to get those textures over there, the question is how to export from Daz. That I don't know how to do, but what should happen is a double export of the g8f with one uv set, then the other, but the other is on the geoshell. Maybe there is a way to trick daz3d, or change the geoshell to make it so when it is exported, it does so as g8f, then you have the same model/mesh with two uvs, and you can import that in Ue4. Maybe it requires a step in between to change the geoshell export into a "fake" g8f.

Or, maybe it is possible to trick Ue4 to consider the geoshell as a g8f model. I never tried to import geoshells to Ue4, I actively try to avoid it actually hehe, but it may be possible. But I know Ue4 can handle multiple uv sets for the same mesh, and that's the main point, the same mesh.

Now there is the Daz to Unreal Bridge, I don't use it but maybe it has some infos on how to do what you want, check it out here:

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It's an Open Source Project, meaning it's free.

PS: Your last option, if all attempts fail, is to use one of the genitalias that don't require a geoshell.

 

[Dilly_]

Ue4 allows the use of multiple UV channels for the same mesh, I believe 6 or 8, so it is possible to get those textures over there, the question is how to export from Daz. That I don't know how to do, but what should happen is a double export of the g8f with one uv set, then the other, but the other is on the geoshell. Maybe there is a way to trick daz3d, or change the geoshell to make it so when it is exported, it does so as g8f, then you have the same model/mesh with two uvs, and you can import that in Ue4. Maybe it requires a step in between to change the geoshell export into a "fake" g8f.

Or, maybe it is possible to trick Ue4 to consider the geoshell as a g8f model. I never tried to import geoshells to Ue4, I actively try to avoid it actually hehe, but it may be possible. But I know Ue4 can handle multiple uv sets for the same mesh, and that's the main point, the same mesh.

Now there is the Daz to Unreal Bridge, I don't use it but maybe it has some infos on how to do what you want, check it out here:

You must be registered to see the links

It's an Open Source Project, meaning it's free.

PS: Your last option, if all attempts fail, is to use one of the genitalias that don't require a geoshell.

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately the Daz to Unreal Bridge doesn't seem to work correctly with geoshells. But I did manage to figure it out, sort of. I unparented the genital + shell and exported them seperately from the body, which seems to preserve the textures on the shell properly. Then I imported the body + shell into Blender, and joined them together. But now when I import into UE4, the character imports as a static object rather than skeletal mesh. I assume I fucked up in the Blender process, because I know nothing about blender, and messed up the skeleton somehow. But at least the shell & textures are now showing up in UE4.

EDIT: In case anyone in the future is reading this, getting the Geoshell into UE4 is actually a lot simplier than I was making it. You just need to increase the offset of the geoshell before you export. No blender necessary. The texture weirdness you get when exporting geoshells to .fbx is because the scaling/offset gets fucked up in the process. I increased the offset from 0.01 to around 0.1, and the geoshell exports properly. But now the problem is, even though the geoshell looks correct outside of Daz (in the windows 3D viewer), when I import into UE4 the geoshell offset is still slightly messed up. So I further increased the offset in Daz to 0.2, which still didn't seem to be enough. But basically you can keep tweaking the offset and scaling of the shell until it fits properly in UE4, which is a huge pain in the ass, so you might be better off skipping the geoshell altogether and making your own textures.

 

[Madmanator99]

Hmm that is interesting, from what I understand, you managed to get the geoshell as a mesh, with skinning data, in Ue4? And what do you mean when you say that playing with the scale/offset in Daz makes a difference in UE4? Maybe I'm wrong, but if you attach some screenshots if would help

Edit: Alright I gave it a shot, again (trust me I tried with geoshells alot, but hey, i'm not a smart guy ), and this is what I managed to get, in an hour or so of trial and error.
Two g8f meshes, one using the g8f torso texture, and one using the futalicious texture.

Spoiler: G8Fs

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Edit: well youtube didn't like the video, so yeah

This whole thing realy depends on how much time/dedication/knowledge you have (maybe more than me), because it is possible to achieve.

One more thing you could try, is to get the 3d model that uses the futalicious textures into Substance Painter, and make new textures there. If you use the photoshop plugin for Substance Painter, you can export the changes you make as layers for the default textures, then apply them in Photoshop, and thus keep the same uvs, no need to mess with the model/meshes beyond that (maybe?).

 

[Dilly_]

Hmm that is interesting, from what I understand, you managed to get the geoshell as a mesh, with skinning data, in Ue4? And what do you mean when you say that playing with the scale/offset in Daz makes a difference in UE4? Maybe I'm wrong, but if you attach some screenshots if would help

Edit: Alright I gave it a shot, again (trust me I tried with geoshells alot, but hey, i'm not a smart guy ), and this is what I managed to get, in an hour or so of trial and error.
Two g8f meshes, one using the g8f torso texture, and one using the futalicious texture.

Spoiler: G8Fs

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

I'll attach a video, but don't mind the double graft or the animation problem, I didn't bother with that or skinning. I just wanted to play with things. But indeed the textures don't "blend" if you use the futalicious ones. Althou it is realy hard to notice, you gota zoom in realy close to notice. The second half of the video shows the "blending" area.

This whole thing realy depends on how much time/dedication/knowledge you have (maybe more than me), because it is possible to achieve.

One more thing you could try, is to get the 3d model that uses the futalicious textures into Substance Painter, and make new textures there. If you use the photoshop plugin for Substance Painter, you can export the changes you make as layers for the default textures, then apply them in Photoshop, and thus keep the same uvs, no need to mess with the model/meshes beyond that (maybe?).

Just to explain the offset thing a bit more:

Normally, when you try to export G8F with Futalicious + geoshell, you end up with a weird result that looks like this:



However, by increasing the offset of the shell in Daz (I increased it from 0.01 to 0.1) prior to exporting, you get this:



So the textures look much better. It's not blended but it's acceptable for my purposes in the short term.

But now when I import into UE4, it's still messed up.


So I further increased the offset in Daz from 0.1 to 0.3:


Kind of better, still messed up. Now I am assuming you can get it right by further messing with the offset/scale of the shell or the genitalia itself, however I haven't had the patience or time to figure out how to get it exactly correct. At this point I'm not convinced it's even worth it, since the textures don't retain their blendedness from Daz anyway, which was sort of the whole point of me wanting to export the geoshell in the first place. I have no experience with Substance painter, but I can take a look later and see if I can get the textures right. Eventually I'm aiming to add physics to the genitals, sort of like the Schlongs of skyrim mod.

Your video is showing as removed from Youtube for me, though I did want to check it out, any chance you could share the file itself?

Glad there's someone else out there who's spent way too much time trying to figure this out LOL

 

[Madmanator99]

Hey, sorry for the late answer, I've been busy in RL.

Now I see better what you mean, yeah, it's a strange result that I think I encountered when trying to import (but didn't realise the effect of the offset on it), and I would agree with you that it may not be worth spending the time.

The video was just me running around with a g8f model, then trying to get a zoomed view of the blending area for each of the textures (torso, and futalicious). The torso blends in perfectly, but no details on the genitalia, and the other one is the opposite.
I'll attach it, but yeah, I think the 2nd screenshot you posted is possible to get in Ue (it's the one that uses futalicious textures in the video) but as you said, it doesn't blend perfectly.
Also don't mind the way it moves, or the double graft, I was just testing for the textures.

 

[Dark Erotic 3D]

Hey, sorry for the late answer, I've been busy in RL.

Now I see better what you mean, yeah, it's a strange result that I think I encountered when trying to import (but didn't realise the effect of the offset on it), and I would agree with you that it may not be worth spending the time.

The video was just me running around with a g8f model, then trying to get a zoomed view of the blending area for each of the textures (torso, and futalicious). The torso blends in perfectly, but no details on the genitalia, and the other one is the opposite.
I'll attach it, but yeah, I think the 2nd screenshot you posted is possible to get in Ue (it's the one that uses futalicious textures in the video) but as you said, it doesn't blend perfectly.
Also don't mind the way it moves, or the double graft, I was just testing for the textures.

Thanks Madmanator99, I watched your video and I've gotten some similar results. Do you know how to fix the drastic bend up in the last couple bones of the genitalia. The animations that I also have this issue. It's as if the animation information of last 1-2 bones of the gen are not being imported correctly.

 

[Madmanator99]

Hey,

I haven't tried to look into that to be honest, the texture problem got to me back then; but yes, that would be my guess. Somehow maybe those bones/vertexes are just ouside the range to get the weights.

What I would try is to export with the genitalia beeing shorter (using a morph) and see if the tip gets weighted correctly. There could also be a way to edit the model to add the weights before bringing it into Ue using a 3d software. I haven't tried either of these, but let me know if you are still trying to figure this out.

 

[PlayfulUK]

I do this using Maya. Can also work with any other 3D software I guess. I export two versions of my figure. One with the default UV and one where the UV on the gens is set to (in my case) Futalicious V2. That's without the shell btw. Using Maya I add a second UV channel to the default model, load up the second model and transfer the UV across to that channel. Then in UE4 I make a shader that uses the second channel for the gens.

It's a bit more involved than that but that's the basic gist of it.

 

[Janice Davis]

Sorry, I know this is completely irrelevant, but that sounded funny to me... "I think I will export my genitalia to..."
Sorry again

 

[Manulka]

Hi . Does this mean that there is still no solution for the genitals?

 

[Madmanator99]

There are solutions, just not with this genitalia product that includes a geoshell with custom UVs.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

There are solutions, just not with this genitalia product that includes a geoshell with custom UVs.

Maybe I'm wrong, but aint an Obj simple export from Daz write that custom UV?
And then use it on another UV channel in UE?

 

[Madmanator99]

Well, I'm not sure, but it messes the geoshell uvs with the rest of the object uvs when I check.

Here is what the uvs look like to me after exporting a g8m with dicktator and it's shell (no eyelashes) at base resolution as obj.



Now, I can edit the uvs and seperate the face from the genitalia, but that requires a few extra steps to do so in a 3d editing program. Or use multiple exports. And if I include the eyelashes, it messes with the torso part as well as the face, so more editing, or more exports.

Now like I said there could be solutions, I just don't know how to make it simple. But for genitalias that won't involve geoshells, there should be no problem.

 

[Madmanator99]

By the way, I never understood why some genitalias had to use geoshells with different uvs. I mean, I did join the daz scene relatively late, once genesis 3 was introduced. But, just, why?

I understand that it makes it easier to blend textures in daz, but it also requires more inputs from the user, or literaly editing the textures to fit your character, since the basic product comes with 4 or 5 skin variants. (Unless you own more products such as

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for dicktator/futalicious, Or

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for dbxxx's XY). Also I guess they did not think of the potential of exporting from daz? I have no idea. I do love those products thou, don't get me wrong.

One may say, it's for the displacement maps, since those require higher resolution, and they are excelent. But a morph could do the job. Or a normal map for that matter. SledgeHammer's OMGDK is a great example for morphs :

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.

There are tools like

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that can help with the regular genesis 8 male genitalia that comes with pro packs for example. No geoshells, no problems when exporting or importing to UE. You get your genitalia texture right in.
And by the way, SledgeHammer's OMGDK is fully compatible with the regular genesis 8 male genitalia uvs.

Anyway, just wanted to add some more details/info after a few drinks. hope it helps.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

By the way, I never understood why some genitalias had to use geoshells with different uvs. I mean, I did join the daz scene relatively late, once genesis 3 was introduced. But, just, why?

I understand that it makes it easier to blend textures in daz, but it also requires more inputs from the user, or literaly editing the textures to fit your character, since the basic product comes with 4 or 5 skin variants.

I think that's mostly the idea behind it, create a product that fit any skins. Graft itselft use base UV torso part for the blending, and geoshell(s) (who got its own material/UV) for any kind of options you want to create to make thing flexible enough. I think majority of Daz users not really edit/export anything.

Not sure what to think of it, but there is this:

It’s been a minute and wanted to jump on an give everyone a quick bridge update.
Unfortunately, Sam is no longer working with us at Daz. We were very sad to see him go, but excited for his next chapter at EA. Lucky for us, Sam is still very much invested in this project so you will see him around from time to time as he works on updates on his own. Even though he doesn’t work for us anymore, but he will definitely be a huge help in the community.
All that being said, we’ve been a bit short staffed on the bridge team. We are working to remedy that through hiring and contractors. One of our contractors and Unity bridge extrodinar, Daniel Bui, has been working on a major update that will help us make and push out updates faster. Here is what he’s working on:
“We are working on a project to update the Daz Bridge projects so that they share a common source-code base. This will allow us to add features to the Bridges more quickly by making changes to the common base rather than modifying each Bridge individually. We’ll also be making this common base fully scriptable, so that developers and power-users can make custom export pipelines, or even add Daz Bridge support to other software. Since this update involves major changes to the source-code of all the Daz Bridges, we’re also implementing a large Quality Assurance test system for the Bridges. This test system will help us deliver the best quality that we can for all future updates to the Daz Bridges. We are currently working on implementing the first stages of this project, and we hope to share our progress with you in the coming months.”
Big things on the horizon! We will keep everyone updated on the progress and release date. We are also working to bring new people on to help us develop the bridges. If you or anyone you know is interested in working with us full time, feel free to send me a message at phodgson/////maketafi.com.
Thank you to everyone for their continued involvement and passion for this project. Excited for what’s to come. Thanks, everyone!

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

Since a bit of an Unreal thread, GraphN is now free.
It's a node based scatter tool with Maya*/Unreal (4/5) plugins.

You must be registered to see the links

(*)I got error with Maya, not sure if 2022 yet supported or I am retarded.

edit: forum doesn't like my webm, boo

 

[slawdos]

Great news! Plugin updated:
DazToUnreal Bridge v2022.2.18 (Hotfix update on 9-11-2022)

This update contains the following changes:

• Hotfix for Mac embedded installers not working
• Fixed morph undo issues (distorted faces on export)
• New geograft material support, preliminary support for geograft morphs (exported blendshapes)
• Updated Help Text, Integrated latest Daz Bridge Library and David V. Updates
• Added a setting for combining identical materials automatically.
• Update Genesis8BaseSkeleton.uasset
• Added support for Material Packs
• Added filters for preventing UE5 assets from getting included in the UE4 packages
• Unreal side support for new animation export
• Added basic head and eye controls to Genesis8ControlRig

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Now correct transfer NGV8. Need just add material (Effect layer) from instance.

 

[slawdos]

Now, how to XY transfer. Bridge cant help. Needs do textures. Any ideas?
Morph transfer:

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[slawdos]

Have Unreal Engine Mesh Morpher v2.1.5 (5.0). Can share, or You can find & download it on

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