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lokki
Infrequent Poster
USA
20 Posts |
 Posted - 05/12/2009 : 23:53:40
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Forgive me if this is a basic question about importing OBJ files...
I'm using DAZ Studio to quickly get at some basic scenes & textures, then trying to import these into Strata 3D CX 5.5. The model comes in quite nicely, though the axes are swapped... the problem I'm having is with the texture files.
In the texture browser, all the named textures show up as placeholders, with no image applied. I can assign them manually by loading the texture image, one by one, but this is a royal PITA. Am I missing something in the import options that would actually *apply* the textures at import?
If this info is in the manual, FAQ or forum, I completely missed it.
Thanks! |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2009 : 00:02:39
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can you post a sample obj file, along with the mtl file and the necessary image(s) for the file?
Jean |
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lokki
Infrequent Poster
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2009 : 00:23:18
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Sure thing. The export from D|S places them into a folder named Maps, and there is a .mtl associated with this. They are all in the same directory location, i.e., the folder and .mtl file are in the same level as the exported .obj file.
*Edit* I can't seem to upload a ZIP file... it weighs in at 5Mb. Do you have a preferred file xfer method/site?
Scott Valentine
Author, Real World Compositing with Photoshop CS4 |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2009 : 00:28:34
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could you do a simpler test OBJ?
If not, post somewhere that works for you. I use my own web site, so don't have a specific service to recommend.
Jean |
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lokki
Infrequent Poster
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2009 : 00:59:35
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Ok... I think I've found at least one solution. When I saved the OBJ out from D|S, I inadvertently included a space in the name. Apparently, this breaks the connection with the MTL file.
I also resolved the translation error - the default export preset included an option to invert two axes. No clue why...
The new variation on this issue is that I now have to choose each individual texture on import. While this is better than choosing each texture from the palette and loading the map that way, it takes an amazing amount of time to select every individual texture in the scene.
Does this change the need to upload the ZIP file? And is this expected behaviour (meaning - I'm just going to have to deal with it whenever I import an OBJ file)?
Thanks, Jean!
Scott Valentine
Author, Real World Compositing with Photoshop CS4 |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2009 : 01:11:12
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the MTL file specifies the location of the maps. It sounds as though that specification is incorrect.
I could tell more if I saw the files.
Strata is supposed to be tolerant of spaces in file names, so I don' understand that issue, either.
The issue of switching axes is common enough. Some applications use the Z axis for the up direction, others (such as Strata) use Y. If you have a mismatch between the apps you are using, that option can rectify the up axis.
I could tell you more about your textures if I could see the actual files, and I could make a bug report if there is a problem with Strata's OBJ importer.
Which version of Strata are you using? (Never mind, I see you said you are using 5.5 in the initial post.)
Jean |
Edited by - jpro on 05/13/2009 11:00:48 |
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tbgriswold
Regularly Educational
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2009 : 09:46:11
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Load you 5MB file to http://YouSendIt.com and then Notify Jean on where to find it. I use that technique all the time.
Britt |
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lokki
Infrequent Poster
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2009 : 00:13:38
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Great suggestion, Britt! I completely forgot about that service...
Thanks very much :)
Scott Valentine
Author, Real World Compositing with Photoshop CS4 |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2009 : 01:09:11
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I got Scott's download, and see some issues with the export.
Scott, the OBJ and MTL files are plain text, and can be read in a text editor.
On the OBJ file, the first material refernce I see is this
quote:
usemtl MetalMisc
When I look for that entry in the MTL file, I find it specifies these attributes and maps
quote:
newmtl MetalMisc
d 1
Ns 0.95
Ni 0
Ka 0 0 0
Kd 0.8 0.8 0.8
Ks 0.6 0.6 0.6
Km 0.0024
map_Kd :Maps:DPAmetalA.jpg
map_Bump :Maps:DPAmetalA.jpg
two things: DAZ studio is writing the files using a colon for the directory separator in the path. The expected separator would be a forward slash or a backward slash. I'm guessing Strata is tripping up on that, and not reading the colon as a separator at all (after all, the colon is not used as a separator in any of the current OS file systems, so this seems an odd choice on the part of Daz.)
If you rewrote this line
quote:
map_Kd :Maps:DPAmetalA.jpg
as
quote:
map_Kd /Maps/DPAmetalA.jpg
Strata will probably find the map. (Sorry, it is too late for me to try it just now.)
you could do a mass search and replace, replacing : with / on the whole MTL file.
That should allow Strata to auto-import all the diffuse maps (map_Kd)
However, it will not get you the bump maps (I don't think) Bump maps are not part of the OBJ file spec, and last I knew, Strata did not read non-standard map specifications from the MTL file. So I suspect you will have to read through the MTL file and manually load all your bump maps according to the files specified there.
I can ask the Strata engineers if the OBJ importer could be made to read colons as separators, but it would probably be more to the point to ask the Daz engineers to use a standard separator for the OS in use instead, so that every other OBJ importer could read the file without the same error.
Jean |
Edited by - jpro on 05/14/2009 01:10:40 |
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lokki
Infrequent Poster
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2009 : 23:57:41
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100% spot on!
I ran the search/replace and imported with no problems at all. But now I'm wondering, since you mentioned the OBJ file spec (I've found some references in passing to there being support for bump, diffuse, etc), should I be considering something like Collada or U3D for import? Perhaps some format interchange investigation is in my future... :P
Photoshop CS4 is supposed to do well with both Collada and U3D, though I've had mixed results, which I'll save for another post. But I'd like to get a better grip on the advantages of different formats & sidecar files. Got some favorite links with info?
Scott Valentine
Author, Real World Compositing with Photoshop CS4 |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2009 : 12:32:16
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Glad that sorted it for you.
Collada will be good someday. For now OBJ is more reliable. Strata imports Collada pretty well, but all the materials are assigned in a way so that it is not clear how they are assigned to the meshes, and editing and altering them or their assignments takes more expertise and effort than OBJ. You may find Strata's Collada export to be more useful. Collada does support more map types than OBJ.
U3D may be useful in some circumstances, but I like the Colada and OBJ approach much better. They export separate maps, and are human-readable formats. This makes them much easier to troubleshoot, customize, edit, etc.
PolyTrans by Okino is a broad and deep 3D format converter. If I want more information about individual formats, I usually start on the Okino web site. They publish tons of information about all the formats they support. Because they write converters, they support more features of each format than the average 3D app does, so don't expect to see everything that Polytrans supports in Strata or Photoshop or any other run of the mill 3D app. But they have tons of good information on their site.
Jean |
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chriscruz
Infrequent Poster
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2014 : 03:08:44
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Also have the same issues, I even tried including .obj file as well as mtl file to their required destination but still no luck.
"check our latest wed designs at http://www.superbuzz.ca/portfolio.html" |
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OBJ Textures not being applied at import
