Poser and Torque Question

#1 I know poser exports to obj, from that you can use the obj2dts converter thats out there. Or import it to your fav 3d modeling software, and export from there. Sorry dont know about the liscense.

#2 Poser makes very complex models, as well as there are licensing issues of using many Poser models in anything but that program itself.

I'm sure you can find more information by searching these forums.

#3 But can I import my own model? I don't actually want to use their models.

#4 I have been looking into Poser a little bit lately and it has kindof fascinated me. I am using Silo/Zbrush for modeling and texturing and was looking for an animation package. I am however a little lost on a couple of points concerning Poser.

Quote:1) Can I import and rig my own meshes in Poser?

Yes. You can import OBJ files into poser and rig them. If you want to get those animations out, however, you will need something like Greenbriar Studios' Toolbox to get use them.

Quote:2) Under the liscense, can I use their animations in my game?

The animations, yes. The content (that you do not create from scratch yourself), no. At least not as a mesh. You can render animations and use them in a 2D game, though. This is for normal Poser content from the company, from Daz3D, Renderosity (usually, depending on the license), Content Paradise, etc. Read the licenses for any meshes you use. Most of the time for Poser content, you can't legally export the meshes and use them in your games. Not that you would want to anyway since most of them are extremely high poly since Poser is designed as a procedural rendering application and not made for real-time 3D gaming. It can be used for gaming, but that's not what it was made for.

3) Anybody know what format Poser exports?
OBJ. There are, however, converters and importers for other packages which will keep the morph targets, animations, etc. See the toolbox linked above.

4) Anyone have any advice for animation software?
I use Lightwave for just about everything I do, though I am modeling more and more in Modo and then pulling into LW. You could use Blender. It is free and has a good exporter from what I understand.

#5 @David Blake

Thanks! Very informative.

#6 One more question:

1) Would it be possible to do the following:

Silo (base model) -> ZBrush (texture and bump) -> Poser (?rig? and animate) -> Milkshape (convert to DTS) -> Torque.

I am still wondering what tool would be good for polygon reduction, I don't really want to do it by hand but may have to for animation. Is this art pipeline overkill (oops another question)?

#7 Damn that's convoluted! Mainly because the import/export features of each app are slightly different even for the same operation.

Silo makes some pretty clean OBJ files, if I recall correctly. I like its interface, though I prefer Modo. ZBrush does a good job of reading and has an amazing workflow. Poser can read in the files okay, but the problem is that you cannot export any rigging information from Poser for use in Milkshape (unless someone has released a plug-in I'm unaware of, which is entirely possible). OBJ doesn't include animation information (I don't know if it is a limitation of the format or the importers/exporters since I've never actually investigated the format itself). That is why I included a link to Toolbox. It opens Poser data and supports DTS export. Your stopping point in the workflow above is using Poser. You can do animation in Milkshape, though you are limited. But you can actually create animations that will transfer down to your DTS models.

I don't believe any of the applications you've mentioned do polygon reduction, but that may just be that I've never done polygon reduction in any of the programs you've listed.

Why not adjust the workflow to Silo/ZBrush/Blender?

#8 If you doing 3d model I would setup a skeleton to use kork model from torque that way animation is done for you, if you are beginner. If you doing 2d work i would use poser and there animation. I am working on a skeleton for gamespace. i have 7 model all using the default animation from Torque.

#9 @David

Silo/ZBrush/Blender was the other route I was thinking. It would save me some money too. Thanks for the reply.

#10 Marus I'm using toolbox and reducing the poser character from 160K to 5K in toolbox and it looks OK, and then I'm making a normal map of the high poly character in Zbrush and putting it on the low poly character, the only problem that I'm having is the lines in the UV from toolbox i guess if the UV connect at an point you will have to go in the UV and fix it, but David from toolbox is working on it, and I'm new to modeling and mapping so it taking me time trying to fix it myself.

But I think that toolbox is worth it, it make a single texture for your poser character multi texture, because torque only support a single texture, and it can use up to 32 texture i think, and it will reduce your character and it will keep your bones in your character, and if you have mimic it will send over your sound files, and animation not bad for $200 and David the guy that made toolbox is very helpful.

But this is just a suggestion, if you want me to i can send you some of my pic of how my characters look but i got along way to go, i han't cloth the charactes yet.

hope i was help
peace

#11 @Kory

I would certainly love to see how your characters are looking. Send them to my email under my profile.

#12 The big thing to remember is that you cannot use Poser, Content Paradise, Daz3D, and many Renderosity Poser meshes legally in a real-time application. You can use renders, but not the meshes or derivative meshes. I do not know if displacement maps or normal maps would be considered derivatives or not.

It's splitting hairs if using outside content, but irrelevant if using content which you have created from scratch.

#13 Thanks David Blake for bring it to my attention i went on yahoo and did a search and seen alot about poser having right to the mesh. If you have free time can you send me a site that you got the most information on the mesh?

thank you

#14 You can start by reading the Poser EULA and content agreement. Pay specific attention to sections E and G under Content Distribution. Daz3D and Content Paradise's are similar. Both sites have their licensing available in their FAQs. Renderosity has a couple of different licenses, so you should read the Renderosity license and any other content licenses available from the authors of content. Much of the Poser content is derivative of the official textures and meshes and the content flows with the license. There are often props and such which do not follow the license, but most of the figures that I've seen do.

That said I would rarely recommend Poser for real-time 3D animation and rigging, BUT I would strongly recommend it for creating 2D rendered sprites and such on a budget.

#15 Http://www.dedalo-3d.com/

#16 Hi David i just got a email back from Daz3d and this is what they said:

"I spoke to our legal department, and this is the reply that I got:

DAZ has no problem with him using either the normal map or the DAZ-derived model, provided that there is, as he says, "no way you can take it out of the game engine." If this is in fact the case, then everything's great. Kory simply needs to understand that it is his responsibility, not DAZ's, to ensure that no one can extract the data (normal map and model) derived from DAZ products."

Vicky Tolonen
DAZ Technical Support
1-800-267-5170 ext 110
Mon-Fri 9AM to 5PM MST

So now i need to talk to Renderosity and everything should be coo.

peace

#17 Congratulations. It's good that they're letting you use them. It doesn't give everyone carte blanche to use Daz content, but at least it gives you a green light!

#18 Actually I called them and asked them the same question and they gave me the same answer!

SO HERE IS THE IMPORTANT QUESTION:

IS THERE ANYWAY TO EXTRACT THE MODELS FROM A COMPLETED TORQUE GAME IN ANY WAY??

#19 Yes,

some apps out there support import of DTS shapes. (there is one unwrapping mod tool that does)..so, it is possible to extract the mesh. On the normal map, unless you find some way to encrypt it, it is available to anyone who opens the directory where the game is installed.

#20 Does anyone know of any way to encrypt the files after its been compiled sothat it cannot be extracted? Maybe a utility on th enet somewhere?