Ey there,
As you probably know Freeone is helping Davo out by converting some of his work from Poser to Daz Studio so that we can have the full experience no matter what environment you use.
One of the things I admire about Davo's work though is that he doesn't try to change his past. Meaning? Take for example two older figures for Poser such as the Mantrap or what about Davo's 3 pack for Poser? Sure, compared to some more modern figures these look somewhat dated. But that doesn't make 'm useless!
So the thing is... Daz Studio is pretty compatible with Poser. So once you unpacked your Renderotica goodiebox you will get the .PZ3 file(s) as well as several texture maps. Using them is easy: just drag the PZ3 file in but... uh oh, now you get an error? Now what?!!
Why don't we fix this permanently?
Converting Davo's Poser figures to Daz Studio
For this example I'll be using the Mantrap product.
- Unpack your goodiebox (zip file) in a location where you want to keep the textures. For example example I used: \media\Renderotica\Davo\Mantrap.
- Point your OS file manager to that folder, copy the folder location to the clipboard, and then drag the "mantrap.pz3" file into Daz Studio's viewport.
- Stuff is going to load, but eventually you'll get an error that Daz Studio cannot locate the texture(s). Click "Browse" and go to the previous folder where you initially unpacked the zipfile (and which location you copied to the clipboard).
- With that folder open click "ok", Daz Studio will now do the rest.
So now we have our figure loaded. Time to make things more official and actually add it to DS's smart content pane as well!
- Don't move the figure itself, but make sure that it is clearly visible in your viewport. This is important because this will eventually become the thumbnail.
- Delete everything except for the figure itself; these .pz3 files also provide camera presets and such, which we don't need.
- Now, with the figure selected in your scene open the Edit menu, then go to: Figure => Rigging and then select "Convert figure to weight mapping".
- Select the "global" preset, then click ok.
- Under normal circumstances the figure won't move. If it does move though then make sure that you place it in a position that you want to use as default. For example: in one case the figure got rotated 90 degrees, so I changed that back and made sure the figure was flat on the ground.
- Then open the File menu, now use: Save as => Support Asset and then select "Figure/Prop assets".
Pay attention to the next dialog screen... in specific pay close attention to which library you plan on using. When in doubt use your local userfolder, but if you have something dedicated for Renderotica goodies then I'd use that.
Select the required settings... in case of Mantrap you'd want to place this in the "Figures => Creatures => Land" category, and the type should be either 'Actor' or 'Actor/Character'. The rest is somewhat optional, but I suggest you use proper names because that will make it easier to locate this stuff again at a later time.
When you're done you'll have your figure / prop saved as a.duf file in your local library. Its assets (such as the UV map and weight map) will be saved in the Daz Studio library which you selected, and finally... the texture maps will now get automatically loaded every time you use the figure.
If you want to save space you can now delete the original .pz3 files but do not remove any texture files!
It's a bit of work, but it sure as heck beats having to point Daz Studio to the right textures all the time ;)
Alternatively...
There's also an easier way: once you have everything loaded (and positioned for the thumbnail) then immediately open the File menu and use: 'Save As => Scene subset". Now select only the figure itself and save your preset. This will roughly have the same effect, except for the location of your figure within the smart contents pane.
Still... it works, and you could always change its category later if you so wish.
So there you have it, I hope this is useful for some of you.