Poser to EIAS

[Nutley]

I have been using Poser 7 for a little while (a week or so) and the character animation is very simple and accessible for me. However the rendered images are a bit sad when compared alongside Electric Image.

I bought Poser 'knowing' I could create my model, animate it and then export the data into Electric Image for rendering. Now it's crunchtime and I've got nothing.

I thought I could export the model as an .OBJ file and the motion data as a Collada file and then everything would be spiffy, but when I try to import the Collada data, Animator just falls over.

I don't seem able to Google a workflow for this. Collada is mentioned, as are FBX files, and this forum doesn't seem to have anything on this subject.

Does anyone know what workflow I should be following in order to do this, or am I barking up the wrong tree completely here and it just isn't possible?

[RichardJoly]

Importing the model as .obj should be a breeze. As for importing the animation, that is another story. Somebody more knowledgeable will probably chime in.

You mention Collada (Not yet supported by EIAS) and FBX which importation is supported by EIAS. Also check if you can export your Poser animation as MDD as EIAS also supports it.

[Tomas Egger]

Ola Nutley,

Collada is part of the latest FBX file format only, we dont have it yet.

Could Poser export FBX only or MDD?

Thanks

Tom

[barnabythebear]

Hiya,

A bit long-winded, but i think you can import native poser files into Daz Studio (free), and that exports to .obj. It also use to have an FBX export plug-in too (not free).

ta

nige

[Phungus]

Just wondering here, does anything of this bring you around the problem that alot of Poser/DAZ content (characters at least) comes with multiple UV maps? One for the head, one for the body, etc.

[Nutley]

Thankyou for the replies - much appreciated. :)

It doesn't appear as though it is possible after all then which is a bit of a pain.

I'm pleased I only bought the Poser 7 upgrade for 50 dollars. The positive spin is I do at least now have a completed model of what I need that I can work in with Electric Image.

The negatives are I now have to both rig and animate the character in Animator, or get 'free' rigging in Poser but a less beautiful output. Rock, meet hard place.

I tried the Daz export route Barnaby, but haven't got anything to work yet. That said I don't know my way around Daz at all, so maybe I am just pushing the wrong buttons.

The export options in Poser do not include either FBX or MDD Tomas, so no joy there either. I thought I was being smart here and getting the best of both worlds, but it appears not...

[Phungus]

Maybe this will do the trick? PC only....

http://www.vuescripts.com/_A/index.php?id=1,0,0,1,0,0

[FelixCat]

BVH motion doesn´t work? i´m not sure, but i think i used it importing a movement to EiAS...

FelixCat

[Nutley]

Hey Felix,

I'm (sort of) getting somewhere with BVH.

I'm certainly not there at all yet, but I have managed to import in the motion data and have a walking rig. Hopefully with a bit of messing around I actually might be able to bind the .OBJ file to the rig too.

Tantilizingly OBJ2FACT has a 'Use .bvh Hierarchy File' checkbox too, which the instructions then go on to say:

Note: OBJ2FACT does not convert motion files or moving figures from applications like Poser to EI. The option to use .bvh files within OBJ2FACT was only included to give the user a possibility to apply hierarchical information to the otherwise flat structured OBJ file. During this process only parent/child relationships are established. OBJ2FACT does not shift pivot points or does any other modification to the file. All further use of .bvh data in Universe like skinning of geometry and connection to bones skeletons is up to the user and not a feature of OBJ2FACT.

But either way this does seem to be at least getting somewhere so thankyou once again. I'll report back if I actually get anywhere.

[Tomas Egger]

Ola Nutley,

Excellent, message us.. I was looking your export options, BVH + OBJ is a good option..

Autodesk have a FBX converter, so, you could try read the Collada file export and convert to FBX which EIAS can read?

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=10775855

Thanks

Tom

[Nutley]

Very exciting! The attached file was created in Poser, exported using an OBJ file and .bvh motion data and rendered in Electric Image.

Now obviously the animation/render is a pile of crap, but this was just to get the thing to actually work. I'll post more stuff as I get used to it. It was a little 'funky' to say the least with no reason (to me) why certain things worked and others didn't. But this is definate progress. Mucho thanks to all of you for helping out - I was beginning to give up.

(The attachment is a Quicktime file compressed using MPEG-4 video)

EDIT: The attachment didn't work. So go to http://www.nutleys.com/Test.mov to see my effort.

[Tomas Egger]

Hey Nutley,

Excellent test!!!

Thanks

Tom

[FelixCat]

Hi, Nutley

Definitively the movement works, looks natural. There is an extrange deformation in the torax, too strong influence of some bone, i suposse, but works.

Good work!

FelixCat

[Nutley]

For what it's worth, I finally finished this project and the file is available to view at www.nutleys.com/SweetwaterIntro.mov

I initially went down the Poser > EIAS route becuase I thought it would save me lots of time having to rig the character etc in Electric Image, but in all honesty the amount of time and trial and error it took to get this pathetic bit of animation to work I should have simply built the entire rig in Electric Image and by-passed Poser altogether.

For some reason I could never get the hands or feet to work, so those bits of data always had to be removed before binding - it was okay for this animation but as a robust workflow not so good.

That said, I certainly understand what I am doing with a Poser to EIAS 'pipeline' a little more, but I won't be recommending it as a workflow any time soon :)

[Tomas Egger]

Ola my friend,

I reallllly liked!!!

Thanks

Tom

[Ian]

Great work, congrats :)

Ian