Export_High resolution_Export_To_Blender - Diffeomorphic/import_daz GitHub Wiki
High-resolution Export To Blender
Many DAZ meshes come in high resolution. Such HD (high definition or high density) meshes can also be exported with the Export to Blender script. The HD information is ignored by default, because it increases the export time and file size by orders of magnitude, and for many purposes the meshes at base resolution suffice. However, for some characters the HD information is useful.
- Export HD: Enable export of HD meshes.
- HD Convention: Many HD character have names that end with "HD". If the HD convention is enabled, the HD data is only exported for meshes whose names end with "HD".
- Export HD UVs: Include the HD UV coordinates in the dbz file. This is necessary for true HD meshes (where no multires modifier is added in Blender). It is also necessary if you intend to bake the HD information to normal or displacement maps.
- Default Location: The dbz file is saved in the same directory as the duf file, with the same name but with the file extension dbz. This is where the Blender add-on looks for it.
If the last option is disabled, a file selector appears and suggests the name of the dbz file.
Note that if you already have exported a dbz file with HD data disabled, that file is overwritten. There can only be one dbz file for each scene.
For more about HD export, see the blog posts on
HD meshes and geografts revisited
If you intend to add a multires modifier to the HD mesh in Blender, the HD UV coordinates are not needed, because the UVs are copied from the mesh at base resolution. To save some time and space, there is an option not to export the HD UVs, but note that to render a true HD mesh in Blender the HD UV coordinates must be exported. This is also necessary if you intend to bake the multires modifier, at least in recent Blender versions. The reason is that the UV vertices are not properly glued together if the UV coordinates are copied from the mesh at base resolution.
HD LIMITS. by Alessandro. Unfortunately the multires modifier in blender has issues, that is, it isn't always capable to unsubdivide the mesh depending on the mesh complexity. Please note that this is a limit in blender, not a bug in the addon. In this case you get an error on import that the importer "can't rebuild subdivisions" for the object. If this happens you have to use the base mesh for the affected object since it can't be imported as multires. Or you can use "true HD", that is, the HD geometry without the multires modifier.
Another limit is that "true HD" doesn't work with geografts since the HD uv map for the geograft can't be exported from daz studio. So geografts only work fine with multires.
Another limit is that geografts may cause creases with HD on the geograft border, this is the same in daz studio so not a bug in the addon. Then the addon tries to add some smoothing to hide the crease, but in some cases the seam is still visible.
https://bitbucket.org/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/382/
https://bitbucket.org/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/223/
note. by Alessandro. Please note that the HD information is baked from the viewport, so in daz studio you need to set the viewport subdivision to the desired level before exporting.
Exporting a HD mesh with geografts
Geografts cause complications with HD export. Before exporting the scene, we must enter the Geometry Editor and select every mesh in the scene outliner, cf HD meshes and geografts revisited.
note. by Alessandro. Please note that setting the geograft subdivision in the geometry editor is only necessary if the geograft is HD, that's rarely the case since most geografts are not. For non-HD geografts the base subdivision is good, and also avoids possible issues since multires can't always unsubdivide correctly.
Faster HD Export Script
Exporting a HD scene to Blender often takes a long time, because a long of data needs to be exported and the script is written in DAZ Studio's scripting language, which is quite slow. As an alternative we can use the C version of the Export HD script written by Donald Dade. It is bundled with the 1.6 release of the DAZ Importer. To install it, copy the diffeo-HD folder to the DAZ Studio plugin folder, as explained in Content of the Zip file.
Select the Diffeomorphic Daz Importer entry at the bottom of the Edit menu, and select the name of the dbz file (you can pick either the duf or the dbz file) in the file selector.
In this case the export time decreased from 103 seconds to 15 seconds, i.e. almost by a factor of 7. However, you should be aware that the C version does not seem able to handle geografts correctly.
update. by Alessandro. HD Convention added to export as HD only figures with the "HD" suffix.
https://diffeomorphic.blogspot.com/2024/08/single-dbz-export-script-and-hd.html