Exporting FBX to Cinema 4D problems with clothing
Rolzay_3502426
Posts: 8
Hey,
I've ran into an issue with clothing when exporting an FBX from Daz into Cinema 4d. It's much easier if I just show you the problem with screenshots, which I've attached below. As you can see, the first screenshot is how the clothing looks in Daz and on the right it's how it looks when imported into Cinema 4d. Completely broken and not matching the character. It's a simulated piece of clothing so maybe that is the issue? Because I don't recall having a similar issue before when I used normal clothing on characters.
I've tried probably every different export setting you could try and whatever I do it still comes in broken. Am I missing something here?
Thanks
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
How does it look in DS if you clear the simulation data? I think it's that the dForce modifier isn't exported as a morph - you may need to create a morph from it first (hide all but the garment, or one garment if there are multiple parts, make sure it's in Base rsolution, export as OBJ making a note of the preset used, then clear the simulation data, Edit>Figure>Morph Loader Pro, select the OBJ exported, make sure he preset is the same as for export, and expand the the option under the OBJ name to set Revese Deformations on).
Thanks for the help. I've attached a screenshot of how the clothes look with the simulation cleared.
Unfortunately when I go through the steps you mentioned it gives me an error message: "Geometry did not match, failed to create morph." when I do the Morph Loader Pro. The preset I used is the same and I set the Reverse Deformations to Yes
That means the clothing was not at its base resolution or there was soemthing else visible in the scene when you exported. However, it doesn't look as if the dForce simualtion is the only factor involved since the mesh with it cleared does not match the import.
Ah, just went through the settings carefully again and this time it did morph, but nothing changed, the clothes now just look the way they looked without the simulation. See screenshot. Is there a next step after this?
You did have the simulation applied when you exported? There were two separate parts to my suggestion - remove sim to see if that was the issue (which it appears not to be, at least not wholly), export as OBJ with the sim still applied (or resim), remove the simulation, and load the morph.
Thanks for helping. I've uploaded a video on Dropbox of the workflow. I've followed all of the steps you mentioned above, but when I export the OBJ and then clear the simulation and Load Morph I assume the imported OBJ then should overwrite the clothes? But it doesn't, it just stays the same. Am I missing something here again?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sxzfk3v6ag4ezow/daz_01.mp4?dl=0
Morph Loader Pro will add a new morph to the clothes.
Did you watch the video that I uploaded? When I Load Morph with the exported OBJ nothing happens and the clothes stay the same as they were with the simulation cleared.
Nothing should happen
When you add a new morph there should be a new slider. Look for it in the properties pane. Increase it to 100% from 0%
Thanks, that worked, but unfortunately the FBX still comes in a bit broken in C4D, see screenshot. The clothes still don't align in some parts.
How does it look within DS at 100%?
Perfectly normal
Unless I'm exporting with some wrong FBX settings? I've pretty much always used the default ones.
1) Check the pose morph tag in C4D that everything looks ok; no doubled up morphs or extraneous values being keyed in.
2) FBX work from DS directly can be tricky
Does your FBX character match? ie. Which one is causing the problem ? character or clothing? or both ?
Note that FBX bends , character motions are not interpreted exactly as DS from the DS FBX export - in some programs like C4D, and others - because there is lack of applying JCM's, JCJ's, MCM's . Basically, the secondary connections and links are not active in the C4D importer. This causes a different motion than how it's interperted in DS
You can see an example in this thread (it's not a bone orientation problem)
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/325966/bone-orientations-are-changed-when-exporting-a-figure-with-fbx-format
Other programs can interpret it correctly; for example if you load that R. Knee bend exported from DS into Mobu, or do the knee bend directly in Mobu, then export from Mobu, the FBX is that imported correctly into C4D and match DS. The secondary corrections are present and the motions are identical
Obj is perfect, and you can verify this by exporting the character as obj and clothing as obj to see which is misbehaving
Alternatively, you should be able to use obj in C4D, and use that as the morph target in the pose morph tag, because their vertices match
I can confirm that the clothing comes in way worse than the figure as an FBX into Cinema 4D. See screenshots. The reds are FBX files and white are OBJ's. There's quite a significant difference between them, so I assume there are just problems with the simulation with clothes within DS and how they are being interpreted in Cinema 4D. It is really such a shame that there are such problems between these two programs.
And yes, of course I could always use OBJ's, because they always come in perfect into Cinema 4D, but what if I want to do some animation within Cinema 4D or do some little pose adjustments? That's why I wanted to try and solve this problem for future reference.
Or are you referring to something else when you mentioned the pose morph tag in Cinema 4D? I've never come across it before.
The pose morph tag is where exported FBX morphs show up under in C4D. It's analgous to blendshapes in maya. You can control them ther . A incorrect deformation can be the result of multiple morphs for the same thing exported . Some have slightly different name, but represent the same morph, so you get doubled maybe 200% strength or more. You'd need to disable one or delete one. It doesn't look like you have that going on here , but something to keep in mind . Always go through the pose morph tag list and clean them up , or be selective in the FBX morph export rules as to which morphs you export. Check both character and clothing. Another common problem with morph animations is the keyframe interpolation. It might different between programs, you might get an overshoot in some program, whereas in DS , maybe it was interpreted as linear, so check the curves.
FBX has other problems with matching DS, because you usually export only the base mesh (both character and clothing). No subd , no HD (although there are workarounds to export subd, but you need to redo weight maps; and HD is never supported) . Subd applied in C4d is quite different than when applied in DS.
Adjusting FBX within C4D won't match the same adjustment in DS. If you don't care, you don't need to bring in other stuff or go back to DS then it should be Ok if you're staying in C4D. But all the secondary links are broken or not interpeted the same way by C4D . You can test it yourself - do that knee bend 150 degrees. No JCM, JCJ,MCM . Bends don't look right, and things like muscles buldges don't look right .
Ok, let me add some things. I tried to get G3 and G8 to Cinema 4D almost 2 years ago and started a very detailed investigation.
FBX brings a posed character to Cinema 4D, but
- Cinema 4D does not take care about the default orientation of the joints. So it assumes that the default pose of all joints align with one of the main axis.
- You can copy the JCMs and MCMs, but they are not connected to to the rotation and translation of the joints. You can do that manually in Xpresso and replicate the ERCLinks, but that's a hell of work, if you do not automate it via scripts (export in Daz and import in Cinema 4D)
As I assume that you do not plan to pose the character in Cinema 4D, I would strongly sugget to export the character OBJ. Thus you get exactly what you have in DS.
Something appears to have changed with the DS FBX exporter . Not sure when. But in 4.12 FBX exports, the bones look correct now in C4D (mesh doesn't match perfectly because no JCM's, subd differences). But the angles match up now, where as before they did not
If you do that 155 R. shin bend test in DS and export FBX, the HPB in C4D is interpreted as -16.488, 152.672,-13.048 now - so some corrections are applied. Before it read as 0,155,0 and leg bend did not match.
It's not from the C4D side, because I'm using the same old R18 that I tested 1-2 years ago
Note that's interpeting an imported FBX animation , not necessarily animating within C4D. But something has changed, and at least it matches better with direct FBX export from DS . (Before, you had to go to other programs and write out a FBX so that C4D would read the motions correctly)