Turning a multi-surface mesh into a single surface mesh preserving UVs.

bexley_ef3f70e572

I have clothing mesh (cardigan) and each component (collar, pockets, sleeves, etc.) is a seperate surface.  All the surfaces share the same UV coordinates, and the texture map is a single map.

I need to consolidate those surfaces into a single surface, yet still maintain the UV cordinates,so I can use existing maps.

So far I have tried the following: export as an OBJ *without* using "write groups" and "write surfaces".  Then re-importing the OBJ into DAZ.  This creates a single surface mesh with the same UV co-ordinates and works great. However when I try to use the Transfer Utility to convert the OBJ to a wearable it gets all screwed up (more about that later).

Is there another way?  Can I combine all the survaces in the tool settings?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Why do I need this?  The Iclone cloth-physics doesn't work with multisurface mesh -- it's complicated, just trust me on this.  I need a single surface mesh. :-0

TIA -- Bex.

Richard Haseltine

If Transfer Utility doen't work, make sure that you are using the same preset in the OBJ dialogue for import and export.

Another way to consolidate surfaces is with the Geometry Editor tool - activate the tool from the Tools menu, then in the Tool settings pane click the + next to each surface name to select its polygons, and finally right-click and Assign selected to one surface (or create a new one, but then presets won't work). You can then right-click on the now empty surfaces to remove them.

mindsong

I've been trying to do something slightly different (welding co-located points without losing UVs), and a theme that may be relevant to your effort is to consider simply importing and exporting your DS-exported single-surface mesh (as you mentioned above) into another app, like blender, hexagon, wings, etc... and seeing if their exported version imports back into DS in a more 'transferable' format... Sometimes standards aren't so standard. (e.g. DS can't export a BVH and re-import that same BVH successfully in some cases...)

FWIW, per Richard's surface name adjustment instructions above, once that's done, you might be able to select the garment, 'covert to prop' within DS and then run the transfer utility immediately after that - while still in DS and never have to do the export at all...

Let us know what you learn - there a few of us going down the same cross-app workflow paths, and we might be able to trade war stories...

--ms

bexley_ef3f70e572

Thanks for the suggestions.  Still no luck getting the transfer utility to work (it worked with another mesh a month ago, so I'm probably missing something).

Unfortuneatley work just got in the way -- but I hope to test everything over the weekend.

If I use the Geometry Editor, does this permamnetly alter the "master mesh"?  Or just the mesh in the scene file?  Like to know before I go too far.:-)

--Bex

Richard Haseltine

Using the Gemetry Editor to alter the mesh won't affect the base model as long as you don't save the figure or changed assets from File>Save As>Support Assets

bexley_ef3f70e572

SUCCESS  -- sort of.  I used the Geometry Editor to convert the Sweater (Cardigan) into a single surface.  In previous tests the pockets (circled in Yellow) would break away from the rest of the outfit.  Merging all the surfaces was easy and efficient.  There are other problems (see the purple) but these are Iclone collision problems I can deal with somewhere else.

The image was rendered in Iclone 6.5 using the toon shader.

--Bex.

Padone

@bexley I don't have iclone but the purple one looks like there's not a self-collision option there

WendyLuvsCatz

yes sadly for iClones PhysX system separate surfaces are not an option, many clothes with overlapping UV's are almost unuseable the only solution I found was to change the actual UV mapping and use a map transfer solution to reapply the textures.

Syrus_Dante

DazStudio offers the Texture Atlas to convert items with overlapping UVs to a new (how is it called?) not overlapping UV layout and converts the textures to a low resolution only one map Texture.

But the Texture Atlas isnt that smart and the layout isnt the most efficent. For better more efficent UV-Layout results in the sense of texel density (dont waste space) you can use Belnder - it offers a funktion to rearange the UV-islands and its called "Pack Islands". Back in DS you can use the "Map Transfer" to convert the textures to another UV-Layout.

Syrus_Dante

...double post...