Question Blender Character Model to Vam Look?

[Ghostwalden]

Hi there.

How do i bring a downloaded Blender Character Model to VAM as a look?

Are there any tutorials out there, that teach the steps that are necessary for doing that?

 

[Clownmug]

There's so many layers to it that you'll probably have to go back and forth between multiple guides/tutorials. He's a couple that I can think of to at least start somewhere.

Working between Blender and VaM:

Vam to Blender to Vam - Guides -

!!!!!!Please Read - If this guide was useful to you and your creative process please Like and Rate this guide so others can see that this is a useful guide. Thank you!!!!! ***IMPORTANT - BLENDER 4.0+ USERS MUST DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL CHOKAPHIS...

hub.virtamate.com

Wrapping the Blender model to G2F/M model:

Your EndAllBeAll guide to Wrapping! - Guides -

Hello there! This is my first guide on the Hub, But I'll make it the best guide for Wrapping! Before we start you'll need to download 2 things, I'll leave it to you where to install it, But install it in a easy to access/remember place so you...

hub.virtamate.com

Importing the clothing:

Video Guide on how to fit and import any 3d Clothing Item to Virtamate - Guides -

I just made a quick Video Guide on how to basically bring any clothing item that you can download (and open in blender) into vam. When i was a complete noob, sometimes i struggled a bit with some pictured guides because i didn't know exactly...

hub.virtamate.com

Importing other assets as CUAs

Unity AssetBundles for VaM 1.xx - Guides -

After some people essentially begged me to do it, I spend several evenings this week and the this entire Saturday on writing a tutorial on Unity AssetBundles. It ended up to be an 13 page PDF of 2700 words. Lots of pictures, obviously. This...

hub.virtamate.com

 

[Ghostwalden]

Thank you for your reply clownmug.

I've come across to some of the tutorials you listed. Thanks for them.
But i have not gotten deeper into them yet, as they don't have the goal to bring a look into VAM in the end.

Just hoped, that there is something around, more specified on how to bring the character model as a look into vam.

But i guess, i have go a bit deeper into these listed tutorials to see what i can figure out for my purposes

Am i right, that some of your models like Nurse Noel, Mirabel or Bowsette are also models you downloaded
somewhere and brought them to vam then?

May i ask, what are the programs you use for that process?

 

[Clownmug]

Thank you for your reply clownmug.

I've come across to some of the tutorials you listed. Thanks for them.
But i have not gotten deeper into them yet, as they don't have the goal to bring a look into VAM in the end.

Just hoped, that there is something around, more specified on how to bring the character model as a look into vam.

But i guess, i have go a bit deeper into these listed tutorials to see what i can figure out for my purposes

Am i right, that some of your models like Nurse Noel, Mirabel or Bowsette are also models you downloaded
somewhere and brought them to vam then?

May i ask, what are the programs you use for that process?

Sure, here are the programs I use.

Blender
- Wrapping the model with the Softwrap plugin
- Baking textures of original model to wrapped model
- Exporting obj of wrapped model and clothing to Daz 3D
- Exporting fbx of other stuff to Unity

Daz 3D
- Exporting Genesis 2 model obj if needed
- Generating morphs and exporting to VaM
- Importing obj clothing and exporting to VaM

Unity
- For creating CUAs

Photoshop
- For cleaning up textures

 

[Ghostwalden]

Hi Clownmug

Thanks for letting me know and having a bit an overview on what processes are involved
and what programs are used to do that.

I can imagine a bit, what could going on in these steps in the programs.

What i can't imagine yet is, how a model in the end comes into vam.
I just would like to get a bit an idea of it.

In the Var File for example of your looks, i see a vap file.
I guess that is the final character, exported from one of these programs?
Wheter in Blender, nor in Daz i see an export file type like that.
So, what program does export that format?

With assets, i can create a custom unity asset in vam and then load an asset that comes from unity.
But how does that work with looks? How do they get into VAM finally?

 

[Clownmug]

In the Var File for example of your looks, i see a vap file.
I guess that is the final character, exported from one of these programs?
Wheter in Blender, nor in Daz i see an export file type like that.
So, what program does export that format?

The vap file was created within VaM, it's a file I saved from the "Appearance Preset" tab after putting everything together. Daz would be exporting a dsf morph file and duf scene files for clothing. Placing a dsf file in your VaM's "Custom/Atom/Person/Morphs " folder will have it automatically added to the game as a custom morph. For the duf files you have to manually import them through VaM's "Clothing Creator", then a folder under "Custom/Clothing" would be created where you can place texture files for the materials.

With assets, i can create a custom unity asset in vam and then load an asset that comes from unity.
But how does that work with looks? How do they get into VAM finally?

With looks you're putting a bunch of different things together for the final product, like the morph and clothing from Daz mentioned above.

The morph is kind of the starting point, it gives you the shape of your model in VaM. Then you have your model's textures which after baking or UV wrapping to a Genesis 2 model in Blender can be assigned from the "Skin Textures" tab. For your model's hair you can choose to recreate it with "Hair Creator", attempt to import as clothing, or import as a CUA which most people do. Lastly, would be importing your model's clothing with "Clothing Creator", setting up their materials, configuring the clothing sim, etc.

 

[Ghostwalden]

Thank you so much Clownmug, this really helps me a lot.
Clearly described so i now can understand how it works.

I always thought the moldel is a separate file, like a 3D model or something like that.
I had a liitle suspicion that it could have something to do with morphs,
but now, the case is clear

Now i guess i have to go deeper into the Guide: Vam to Blender to Vam from Juno.
First i thought it's something different, because it talked about on how to create a
Morp file for VAM, but now it makes sense, when the morph gives the shape to the look
as you said.

For sure, this is now a good basis for getting a bit deeper into this and testing things out.
So again, many thanks

 

[dnc]

Sorry for reviving this thread, but so far it's the one that has, while not particularly detailed, given me the clearest picture of what's needed for Blender importing.
Correct me if I'm wrong about the following, please?

On a surface level, the step-by-step of this method would look something like this:
Get the mesh of the standard G2F model that VAM uses (let's call this "default") from DAZ Studio, in such a way that you can import it into Blender.
Download the .blend of the model (let's call this "target") you want
Open Blender, get target model and default mesh inside somehow.
Use the Softwrap plugin to wrap the default mesh around the target model, turning the default mesh into the new target mesh. (This is what in another guide R3DS Wrap is used for, and maybe the next bit as well)
Bake the textures to the new target mesh.
Export as .obj, import into DAZ Studio.
Generate the morph that's the difference between default and target.
Export to VAM, somehow, haven't looked into that yet.

Essentially, since DAZ and thus VAM work with morphs, with all models having the same base mesh (which probably makes physics calculations and clothing wrapping a whole lot easier), we need to bend this mesh into the correct shape and can't use the one that comes with the new model. Have I got that right?

 

[Ghostwalden]

Sorry for reviving this thread, but so far it's the one that has, while not particularly detailed, given me the clearest picture of what's needed for Blender importing.
Correct me if I'm wrong about the following, please?

On a surface level, the step-by-step of this method would look something like this:
Get the mesh of the standard G2F model that VAM uses (let's call this "default") from DAZ Studio, in such a way that you can import it into Blender.
Download the .blend of the model (let's call this "target") you want
Open Blender, get target model and default mesh inside somehow.
Use the Softwrap plugin to wrap the default mesh around the target model, turning the default mesh into the new target mesh. (This is what in another guide R3DS Wrap is used for, and maybe the next bit as well)
Bake the textures to the new target mesh.
Export as .obj, import into DAZ Studio.
Generate the morph that's the difference between default and target.
Export to VAM, somehow, haven't looked into that yet.

Essentially, since DAZ and thus VAM work with morphs, with all models having the same base mesh (which probably makes physics calculations and clothing wrapping a whole lot easier), we need to bend this mesh into the correct shape and can't use the one that comes with the new model. Have I got that right?

Hello dnc

I remember that I installed DAZ back then and played around a bit.
But somehow something wasn't working properly with the standard G2F model.
Then I stopped pursuing the whole thing.
So unfortunately I can't give you any information about how exactly a DAZ model
is imported into VAM.

But maybe Clownmug, who knows a bit more about this topic,
will take a look at this thread and can help you out.

 

[dnc]

Perhaps it's necessary to export the default VAM model first. If I understand it correctly VAM uses the DAZ format, but maybe the standard VAM model is a different one.

 

[Ghostwalden]

Perhaps it's necessary to export the default VAM model first. If I understand it correctly VAM uses the DAZ format, but maybe the standard VAM model is a different one.

As far as i know, the standard VAM model is based on the DAZ G2F Model or even the same.
So the DAZ G2F Model is needed to make everything work fine in VAM later.

But as said, there was something not working well with DAZ and the G2F Model i downloaded.
I didn't feel like doing detective work and spending hours trying things out, so I let it go

 

[Origin69]

Sorry for reviving this thread, but so far it's the one that has, while not particularly detailed, given me the clearest picture of what's needed for Blender importing.
Correct me if I'm wrong about the following, please?

On a surface level, the step-by-step of this method would look something like this:
Get the mesh of the standard G2F model that VAM uses (let's call this "default") from DAZ Studio, in such a way that you can import it into Blender.
Download the .blend of the model (let's call this "target") you want
Open Blender, get target model and default mesh inside somehow.
Use the Softwrap plugin to wrap the default mesh around the target model, turning the default mesh into the new target mesh. (This is what in another guide R3DS Wrap is used for, and maybe the next bit as well)
Bake the textures to the new target mesh.
Export as .obj, import into DAZ Studio.
Generate the morph that's the difference between default and target.
Export to VAM, somehow, haven't looked into that yet.

Essentially, since DAZ and thus VAM work with morphs, with all models having the same base mesh (which probably makes physics calculations and clothing wrapping a whole lot easier), we need to bend this mesh into the correct shape and can't use the one that comes with the new model. Have I got that right?

This is basically the process. (I'm not too sure on the wrapping aspect as I sculpt all of my own morphs.) Just remember If you export a g2f daz model, you need to set the daz G2F to base resolution before exporting it (or follow the Vam to Blender to Vam guide at the top.)

For the importing into vam, once you have made the morph, you need to save it as a support asset/morph asset. That will save a .dsf file, which you copy into Vam/Custom/Atom/Person/Female/(create a folder with your name.) After that it will show up in the morphs list in Vam.

I highly recommend making a simple morph first so you know the process works for you. There is nothing worse than putting in alot of time on a sculpt, only to find out the morph fails because you missed a step somewhere. You need to keep the vertex count and order identical to the daz model or the morph will fail. Don't add or remove anything, just move vertices around.

As for the texture baking, you can check out my guide on texture painting tattoos, as it shows how to set up the material slots as to bake the textures. Also, once you have made and saved the obj. for the morph, duplicate the model and delete the eyelashes before texture baking or they will screw up the face texture.

Hope this helps.