DAZ Studio setup

Ok I've seen several tutorials for getting started with SL animation using Poser. But nothing for DAZ Studio. Anyone have any good references of where to start?

I'm getting errors trying to import the files from the SL site.

Program seems quite complex. Not anywhere near "user friendly".

For example..I try to import SL_Avatar_Tpose.bvh and get "Select a single skeleton node for import". And stare blankly at the screen wondering "wtf is a single skeleton node". lol.

HELP!!

Thanks

Hi Starbuckk,

First off get rid of DAZ Studio. It is a drawing package, for scenes, and doesn't create animations. All the other things you mention are related to this fundasmental flaw.

Bite the bullet, and shell out for Poser Artist (Poser4 as was). It will do everything you want it too.

Merry Christmas!

Hmm well judging from other threads I have the impression people ARE doing animations with DAZ. So I'm confused. This thing works with the animation files right? SO it SHOULD work. If one can get past all the other fluff.

Anyone actually working with the program have some info?

Okay, first off DAZ Studio animates and renders said animations just fine, leaps and bounds above Poser Artist. Secondly DAZ Studio is FREE. Who doesn't like that price tag?

Now, DAZ Studio does have a problem with animations for import into SL, that is capitalizes letters in the files that make them basically useless to SL. However, there was someone kind enough to write up a script/plugin and post it on these forums to work around that little problem. I cannot post a link to that post, but someone else may be able to track it down for you.

If that script or plugin still exists it would be handy for those of us who can't afford Poser to be able to create animations for SL.

I'm quite happy with DAZ Studio for creating rendered art and animation. And Poser seems to have me wanting to punch a hole in my monitor due to its complex interface.

Another option for creating animations, though a tad quirky on my system is called Avimator. Its designed for use with Second Life, free, and can be found here:

http://www.avimator.com/

Just take some time to play with it before spending Lindens uploading animations. ^^

Here it is

/52/41/148094/1.html

It takes a little setting up, but they left good instructions to do so with.

That is completely incorrect. Daz|Studio does in fact create animations, and does quite well. If people do not wish to purchase or use Poser, it is definitely an adequate alternative.

If you use Daz, you will certainly wish to use Escort DeFarge's export plugin that was listed as a link in an earlier post, because the Export functionality built-in with Daz does not create SL-compatible BVH files.

All in all, Daz is more capable than Avimator/QAvimator (which are also quite adequate for simple anims), less feature-packed than Poser, and has a better user interface and user experience than either. Or at least that is my opinion on the matter

Thanks for all the info and helpful responses. I wondered if that plug in I saw referenced was still needed. They have an update that just came out a couple weeks ago btw.

What I am still lacking though is basic set up. The one thing DAZ does completely lack is adequate documentation. And there are not near enough tutorials with it as there are with Poser on how to use it specifically with SL.

For example, I cannot get past errors when trying to import the add on files from SL needed for doing the animations. I get errors when I try to load them, or they seemingly load ok but fail to actually do anything.

I finally got the female figure to seemingly load and show on the screen (why, do tell, does she have blue legs??). And even mesed around with some different poses. And I have the pose showing in the window where similar poses would show for "Victoria". But when I reapply the pose, it does not actually pose the avatar. So, evidently I am still missing something.

Ive followed the basic tutorial..but it basically says do this, do that do the other thing and there's your posed figure. But it does not tell me WHY i need to do this, that and the other thing lol. Just says do it with no explanations.

So has anyone done this step by step, setting up DAZ, installing the SL avatars and addons from the community page and the aforementioned plug in?, and actually created an animation and/or pose uploaded to SL, and put those steps into notes that could be shared?

Sorry I know that is a lot to ask..but that exists for Poser on several of the forums. Hopefully it will soon for DAZ Studio as well .

Thanks much!

I have version 1.4.16, and it is still needed.


I downloaded the standard SL avatar from this page, unzipped it, loaded the male avatar, and saved it as a scene called Default.Daz, which I use as a baseline.

To load the avatar, create a new scene, go to File / Import, and browse to and select the SL_Male.cr2 file. You will see this very ugly figure with a yellow head, blue upper body, and green lower body. Personally, I loaded the exact same skin and clothing onto that avatar within Daz so that it looks quite close to my in-world avatar, but that was just for kicks and grins.


If you have selected any "bone" or portion of the avatar, many poses will apply, though not all, and often it will not be exact. For instance, I have a library of poses and partial poses, and have discovered that the SL avatar's joint limits (and possibly other factors) make the applied pose close but not quite. Some poses do not work at all, hopefully someone more experienced will chime in here.

Curious, did you install the content packs? There is a huge secondary download that you can get with a boatload of content, I assume you did this but am just asking.


Ive followed the basic tutorial..but it basically says do this, do that do the other thing and there's your posed figure. But it does not tell me WHY i need to do this, that and the other thing lol. Just says do it with no explanations.



If what I already wrote does not help, I can certainly try to compile something. Now that I think of it, one of my tasks this week is to rebuild my primary development machine, and Daz will definitely be going on. I can take notes on the process, and perhaps they will be useful. I know that is not the time frame you would most like, but...

Your information so far has been most helpful - anything that can be added would be appreciated - even if it is in note form - I don't mind creating a tutorial from other peoples notes - a living tute that others can add to.