Decimator.. how to use?

pkappetein

I've heard some good results with this program to import into Iclone.
Before I pay $70-$100 for something, I did some digging on You tube, and still lost..

You load a scene..  Run Decimator  and lower the %.   
Create a LOD file  (What are you suppose to do with that?)
And what to do next?  Just save the Scene?   I can't seem to find any info about it, and the Manual i found on the store is a joke.
I've seen people complaining that the export filesizes went from 200 Mb to  600 Mb after lowering it. after they exported it to a FBX file.
I see it's lowering the polygons etc..  but  it seems to triple the export.  and I don't see anywhere what the point if of that LOD file.

Is there a good explanation for it, before I pay that much what doesn't seem to do what I think it does....  (lowering the filesize)

 

nonesuch00

The way I decimate is to set the % to anywhere from 5% to 55% depending on the model and export them individually as FBX. I never have anything but the model I want to decimate in the scene. If you know enough you could always export to Blender and decimate for free.

wolf359

Just a word of wording
if you plan to create low poly versions of figures
t be reused later in Daz studio they will not save
with decimation.

the only solution is to export/import the decimated mesh
and re rig it with the transfer utility
which will cause loss of some figure funtionality. 

bexley_ef3f70e572

I had some limited success with Decimator to Iclone, ut it was so long ago the detail ellude me.

There are some very useful tutorials on Youtube, and it can do significant polygon reduction, depending on the typograhy.  My strategy was as follows:

1- hide any non visible components before you begin.  If a character is wearing a wet-suit,then anything "under" the wet-suit should be made "non-visible" -- hiding the object will hide the faces reducing polycount considerably.

2 - Decimate on a part by part basis.  If you have a human figure, for example, use minimal decimation on the face and eyes, and more on legs and feet.  Use this policy to cut faces from parts than won't suffer to much from losing their detail.  This is a TIME CONSUMING PROCESS.  Grabbing the main slider and cranking it won't get you anywhere useful.

3 - Some things don't decimate: Real Hair, for example has so many polygons decimationis hopeless and an export to Iclone impossible.

I wish I could be more helpful, but I changed my whole meathodology, and now use Iclone merely as an animation/rendering tool, and then composite everything in After Effects.  Here is are some samples: 

john_antkowiak

This is the closest I could see to a related question; it seems a lot of people are finding Decimator not up to the hype. But it still might do what I need so I guess I'll ask. This post also has a surprise I'd like to explore if anyone knows.

I'm only trying to decimate one primitive object (meaning, no bones and no clothing). The object was created from Gescon and wound up with like a million polygons. It's just a cylinder with the center cut out. But here's the thing: it took over six hours for Gescon to create this object, freezing my entire computer the whole time but I let it run while I slept overnight and then ran errands in the morning. I was about to give up on it when it finished, leavng me this poly-monster. (I'm not very experienced with Gescon either.)

So then I started the Decimator on it. It's the only thing in my scene; not even the primitives I started with. The initial Preparng Nodes step finished in two seconds but then white-screened. Application Not Responding for almost another six hours now, but it's not crashing the application and my computer works otherwise so I guess I'll let it run. But... should I? Is Decimator eventually going to work? 

And if it does, then the other comment here comes into play. I hadn't read this thread before I started Decimator. @wolf359, what do you mean Daz won't save the result for later use?? I'm startng to think this whole effort was for nothing. What do I do with this primitive if it's even usable when Decimator is done with it? If I read you right, I should export it to an object file and reimport it any time I want, as often as I want. Yes? But saving this as a prop or a scene subset won't retain the reduced poly count? Others have suggested the file size will balloon even if the poly count divides, and objects are left with holes all over the place. I'm getting the sense that Decimator only cuts off the nose to spite the face. Is it worth it, for the task I'm trying to do? I was hoping to do this many times, on many props which is why I bought it.