Other Vam To Daz 2

[Chokaphi]

I spent some time trying to understand the cause of the error, and I found that the key to the error lies in the proportion of the characters, or rather the position of the genitals after the body is deformed. Should this be the error of New Genitalia For Victoria 6?

Try this new version, I was given a set of VAM morphs that for some reason had more vertices than what G2 has. Daz will apparently crash if the Daz morph file has more vertices than the G2 base figure when you try and change some settings. Perhaps your genital morphs suffered from the same error?

 

[MrGiggly]

Great update Chokaphi
Only had the excess verts issue a couple of times and assumed it was a rare case - plus I manage to wrangle my way around the crashes to get an export out using .fbx

Have another question though...
I've been walking a non-native english speaker through setting up their vam model in substance painter using Vam2Daz as part of the process.

They are seeing the same as below when they try to drag and drop files. Don't suppose you have any ideas what causes it?
For reference they are using the latest update with the .net files built in.

 

[Chokaphi]

Great update Chokaphi
Only had the excess verts issue a couple of times and assumed it was a rare case - plus I manage to wrangle my way around the crashes to get an export out using .fbx

Have another question though...
I've been walking a non-native english speaker through setting up their vam model in substance painter using Vam2Daz as part of the process.

They are seeing the same as below when they try to drag and drop files. Don't suppose you have any ideas what causes it?
For reference they are using the latest update with the .net files built in.
View attachment 313936

That's odd, I do not have any code that changes that icon, It could be part of WPF's(The UI lib used) built in drop code handler.

I mean the drop code is all consuming, just takes the array of dropped data sifts through to pull out the VMI/VMB extensions and verifies that the other file exists if only one part of the pair is dropped. It will take files/folder anything that can be drug and dropped in windows...

 

[Chokaphi]

Great update Chokaphi
Only had the excess verts issue a couple of times and assumed it was a rare case - plus I manage to wrangle my way around the crashes to get an export out using .fbx

Have another question though...
I've been walking a non-native english speaker through setting up their vam model in substance painter using Vam2Daz as part of the process.

They are seeing the same as below when they try to drag and drop files. Don't suppose you have any ideas what causes it?
For reference they are using the latest update with the .net files built in.
View attachment 313936

Ask then if they are trying to drop inside the squares? Outside of the UI squares (the parts that don't light up on mouseover) are not droppable.

 

[MrGiggly]

Ask then if they are trying to drop inside the squares? Outside of the UI squares (the parts that don't light up on mouseover) are not droppable.

Thanks Chokaphi.
We found the issue. I missed this post earlier scanning through the discussions.
He was running in 'Admin'
Switched to non admin and it works.

 

[Chokaphi]

Thanks for letting me know the cause, I wonder if I can add a check/alert telling them not to do that.

I mean I made the tool, compiled it and all I can say is however my first thought for that user...
...."WHY THE FUCK DID YOU RUN A RANDOM EXE FROM THE WEB AS ADMIN!!!!!!!!!"...

 

[vvs123]

Try this new version, I was given a set of VAM morphs that for some reason had more vertices than what G2 has. Daz will apparently crash if the Daz morph file has more vertices than the G2 base figure when you try and change some settings. Perhaps your genital morphs suffered from the same error?

Thankfully, it did work

 

[donkilluminatti]

"Found 0 Daz content paths
No Daz Content paths available. File will be saved in the application folder 'No Daz path found'"

What to do? Is it possible to somehow specify the paths manually?

Version: VAM to Daz 2.2.0

 

[vvs123]

View attachment 321640
"Found 0 Daz content paths
No Daz Content paths available. File will be saved in the application folder 'No Daz path found'"

What to do? Is it possible to somehow specify the paths manually?

Version: VAM to Daz 2.2.0

You can specify the path in Daz studio. But judging by the screenshots, it looks like you don't have the bundle of Genesis 2 and New Genitalia For Victoria 6 installed in Daz studio

 

[Chokaphi]

View attachment 321640
"Found 0 Daz content paths
No Daz Content paths available. File will be saved in the application folder 'No Daz path found'"

What to do? Is it possible to somehow specify the paths manually?

Version: VAM to Daz 2.2.0

You can get the Genesis 2 Starter essentials for free at https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-2-female

However, Daz has four possible installers for its content, the classic DRM free installs should be detected fine. The ones that are DRM can be problematic for the tool to detect.
The download options are DazCentral, Daz Connect, DIM, or Manual Install.

You will want to use the DIM or manual install (DRM free options) and I recommend using the DIM option since it automates installing.
DIM files are installed with the https://www.daz3d.com/install-manager-info tool, it will handle adding and removing the files and updating the metadata that Daz uses to find files using smart content.

 

[hankb]

I've gone through the process of fixing bones for vam female atoms:

1. Morph and merge tool to generate a single head+body morph .vmi/.vmb
2. Dropping the .vmi/.vmb morphs into VAM2DAZ tool
3. Editing bones in DAZ and exporting the .dsf
4. Dropping the .dsf into the VAM female morphs folder so that it generates the new .vmi/.vmb files

That all is fine, but my question is, shouldn't I be able to take the new .vmi/.vmb files and drop them into VAM2DAZ again to start the bone editing process again?
What I'm seeing is that when I bring it back to DAZ again, the bones are messed up. I would expect them to be exactly as they were when I exported them from DAZ.

 

[Chokaphi]

I've gone through the process of fixing bones for vam female atoms:

1. Morph and merge tool to generate a single head+body morph .vmi/.vmb
2. Dropping the .vmi/.vmb morphs into VAM2DAZ tool
3. Editing bones in DAZ and exporting the .dsf
4. Dropping the .dsf into the VAM female morphs folder so that it generates the new .vmi/.vmb files

That all is fine, but my question is, shouldn't I be able to take the new .vmi/.vmb files and drop them into VAM2DAZ again to start the bone editing process again?
What I'm seeing is that when I bring it back to DAZ again, the bones are messed up. I would expect them to be exactly as they were when I exported them from DAZ.

I'm not 100 pct sure exactly what you are seeing by here is my best guess..

Daz has two points of reference for bones, the root(start position where rotation occurs) and the end point. The end point is used to make the bones look pretty in Daz UI, no other software cares.
It does not affect articulation of the model in Daz, VAM, Unity Blender etc.. its just for visual display in Daz. It can be corrected by: Bone display inside of Daz studio may look off, this is visual issue, not a problem with the actual bone rigging. This can be corrected by using the Adjust rig to shape option in Daz with ONLY the adjust end Points checked.

The reason the end point is not created by my tool is VAM only records the root position during the conversion from Daz to the vmi file so there is no data on the "fake" end point stored. I had thoughts on faking the data by best estimate, but Daz already has the built in ability to do it accuratly.

Does this answer the question?

 

[Lifson]

I've been using vam to daz forever, and for some reason I'm getting this error with the newest version, and when trying to export the morph out of daz at base resolution it crashes

"Processing Eve3 - Body
/data/DAZ 3D/Genesis 2/Female/Morphs/VAM/Eve3 - Body.dsf This file has more verticies 33351 than the the base mesh should have.
The verticies beyond 21556 will be ignored"

 

[Bob Nothing]

Am I missing a step in the instructions? I've found the morphs in DaZ3D, but they have a triangle with an exclamation mark inside them and nothing happens when I double click them. How do I use them once they are in VaM?

 

[Syrinxo]

dd

Am I missing a step in the instructions? I've found the morphs in DaZ3D, but they have a triangle with an exclamation mark inside them and nothing happens when I double click them. How do I use them once they are in VaM?

If you merged the morphs for your character in VAM, and then found the VMI/VMB files in \Custom\Atom\Person\Morphs\female, and then opened the VAM2DAZ utility and dragged the file (I use the VMB, but I believe either works, you only need one) into the appropriate box, then when you next load in a G2F model in DAZ Studio the new DSF file should show up as a morph slider under "Actors/VAM to Daz" in the model's Parameters tab (IIRC). Then you just dial up the slider to apply it to the base G2F model, after which you can export the model as an OBJ for Blender sculpting or whatnot.

Side note: Make sure to turn Subdivision and Resolution both to 0 before exporting as OBJ or you'll get either an OBJ that can't get loaded as a morph back into DAZ after sculpting (Subdivision), or makes the entire model smoothed a little (Resolution), which is subtle but undesirable and will mess up a lot of things.

Gens morphs are an entirely separate thing and can't be applied to G2F in DAZ, which does not have the geometry - you need to get the "New Genitalia for Victoria 6" model, and then when you open that in DAZ it'll be just the gens area all by itself.

The triangle exclamation icon, I have no idea - but it probably is telling you that something about the morph isn't right, maybe VAM2DAZ generated a broken DSF for some reason. No clue if you mouse over the icon? I haven't run into this before.

More details on the process you're following, or a screenshot of the morphs with the error icon might help. Or I'd just start over and make sure you're not missing a step, I don't remember running into trouble the first time with that part of the process.

 

[MimeRubberneck]

Can you give a high level overview of what this app does to make VaM morphs work in Daz? Only asking out of curiosity. For the past day I have been trying to export .obj from VaM, then export it from Daz into Blender and then back in Daz
using Morph Loader Pro but I always got the geometry mismatch error regardless of Blender version or whatever settings I chose while exporting or importing. Only after I used your software was I able to complete the pipeline.

 

[MrGiggly]

Can you give a high level overview of what this app does to make VaM morphs work in Daz? Only asking out of curiosity. For the past day I have been trying to export .obj from VaM, then export it from Daz into Blender and then back in Daz
using Morph Loader Pro but I always got the geometry mismatch error regardless of Blender version or whatever settings I chose while exporting or importing. Only after I used your software was I able to complete the pipeline.

Hi there
Sure Chokaphi will get back to you, but in the meantime....

Daz morphs are stored as .dsf files - daz needs this format to be able to use them
those .dsf can be copied over to your VAM morphs folder - when vam finds a new .dsf file it will create a .vmb and .vmi file which is what it uses within VAM (it ignores the .dsf file)
Chokaphi's app allows you to re-create a .dsf file from a .vmb/.vmi file if you don't have that original

If you export a .obj from VAM, it's a merged mesh of Genesis2 plus genitals so the resulting vert count will not match up with Genesis 2 in Daz - ie daz expects you to handle G2 and genitals as two separate things.

You can use the .obj export method instead, but you need to explicitly follow Juno's guide. The part in his guide that's important is when you use Morph Loader Pro you apply it to the VAM base model loaded into daz rather than the Daz genesis model.

I much prefer Chokaphi's method as it suits my workflow better but the .obj route can work equally well for some folks

Juno's guide
https://hub.virtamate.com/resources/vam-to-blender-to-vam.3759/

 

[MimeRubberneck]

Hi there
Sure Chokaphi will get back to you, but in the meantime....

Daz morphs are stored as .dsf files - daz needs this format to be able to use them
those .dsf can be copied over to your VAM morphs folder - when vam finds a new .dsf file it will create a .vmb and .vmi file which is what it uses within VAM (it ignores the .dsf file)
Chokaphi's app allows you to re-create a .dsf file from a .vmb/.vmi file if you don't have that original

If you export a .obj from VAM, it's a merged mesh of Genesis2 plus genitals so the resulting vert count will not match up with Genesis 2 in Daz - ie daz expects you to handle G2 and genitals as two separate things.

You can use the .obj export method instead, but you need to explicitly follow Juno's guide. The part in his guide that's important is when you use Morph Loader Pro you apply it to the VAM base model loaded into daz rather than the Daz genesis model.

I much prefer Chokaphi's method as it suits my workflow better but the .obj route can work equally well for some folks

Juno's guide
https://hub.virtamate.com/resources/vam-to-blender-to-vam.3759/

Thank you.

Honestly I thought that I had followed that guide well enough but from your explanation it's clear there are some things that I could have overlooked. I'll try following it again. This time more closely. Would be nice to have both methods available at hand.

 

[Syrinxo]

MAKE SURE YOU TURN SUBDIVISION TO ZERO in DAZ Studio before exporting an OBJ for Blender, or you will always get geometry mismatch. That's the #1 thing I always check. Set "Resolution" to "base" as well, or it'll smooth your model -- make the teeth smaller, bad stuff like that.

Definitely follow Juno's guide and get to know it. It will help a lot with understanding how DAZ/Blender/VAM morphs work in general. For one example, when importing a base model into Blender for morph sculpting, always check "Polygroups" and "Keep Vertex Order" if you don't want a nightmare creature morph!

 

[Chokaphi]

@Syrinxo @MrGiggly Thanks for answering Mimes questions.

MAKE SURE YOU TURN SUBDIVISION TO ZERO in DAZ Studio before exporting an OBJ for Blender, or you will always get geometry mismatch. That's the #1 thing I always check. Set "Resolution" to "base" as well, or it'll smooth your model -- make the teeth smaller, bad stuff like that.

Definitely follow Juno's guide and get to know it. It will help a lot with understanding how DAZ/Blender/VAM morphs work in general. For one example, when importing a base model into Blender for morph sculpting, always check "Polygroups" and "Keep Vertex Order" if you don't want a nightmare creature morph!

As a FYI my Daz Generations Blender plugin can potentially recover/repair a subdivided figure, if you have already sculpted on it.

Its part of the utility tools but I did not have a lot of real world tests.

 

[Bob Nothing]

dd

If you merged the morphs for your character in VAM, and then found the VMI/VMB files in \Custom\Atom\Person\Morphs\female, and then opened the VAM2DAZ utility and dragged the file (I use the VMB, but I believe either works, you only need one) into the appropriate box, then when you next load in a G2F model in DAZ Studio the new DSF file should show up as a morph slider under "Actors/VAM to Daz" in the model's Parameters tab (IIRC). Then you just dial up the slider to apply it to the base G2F model, after which you can export the model as an OBJ for Blender sculpting or whatnot.

Side note: Make sure to turn Subdivision and Resolution both to 0 before exporting as OBJ or you'll get either an OBJ that can't get loaded as a morph back into DAZ after sculpting (Subdivision), or makes the entire model smoothed a little (Resolution), which is subtle but undesirable and will mess up a lot of things.

Gens morphs are an entirely separate thing and can't be applied to G2F in DAZ, which does not have the geometry - you need to get the "New Genitalia for Victoria 6" model, and then when you open that in DAZ it'll be just the gens area all by itself.

The triangle exclamation icon, I have no idea - but it probably is telling you that something about the morph isn't right, maybe VAM2DAZ generated a broken DSF for some reason. No clue if you mouse over the icon? I haven't run into this before.

More details on the process you're following, or a screenshot of the morphs with the error icon might help. Or I'd just start over and make sure you're not missing a step, I don't remember running into trouble the first time with that part of the process.

Your instructions worked. Thank you! As for the Victoria 6, I assume that's not a free asset?