Adapting FBX parts for Poser L'Homme figure

30 June 2021

It is not easy find accurate and good quality ancient East Asian clothing for use in Poser 12 and Daz Studio. What is available is a of a limited variety. I found a collection of low-polygon clothing which exactly fits my criteria over at CGTrader. I mind a bit that they cite my non-EU domicile and apply a 7 per cent VAT to my purchase. Never mind. Not big money involved anyway.

The models are full figures, but are unrigged. They are however exactly what is lacking in the Poser and Daz Studio content universes. I had no trouble importing them into Poser 12 software using the FBX format. However, I converted the TGA textures provided with the model, into jpgs for easier compatibility with Poser. And I had to manually set up PBR shaders for each part, which turned out to be a useful step because after I separated the mesh parts, I knew which textures matched which parts.

Because the figure only had head and hands visible, and had missing neck and toros parts, I could not rig the geometry inside Poser. I also could not use the autorigging software Mixamo, because the figure was in A pose while Mixaom wants a T pose. I decide to use just the clothing, and adjust the parts to fit the Poser L'Homme figure. I took the clothing geometries and processed them inside Shade3D software, without changing the UVs. I was basically rotating the sleeves from an A-pose into a T-pose. I also separated out all the wide belt, the dangly sword belts, and the fancy cape and sashes. The hair parts were already separated, so that was not a problem.

I took the processed geometries back inside Poser and fitted the parts to the L'Homme figure. I tried using the Fitting and Cloth rooms ut in the end, I found it easier to use scaling, rotation and translation, plus the Poser morph brush. I exported each fitted clothing geometry as OBJ and re-imported them (to get the correct location adn to do away with morph dials). They second generation imports fit around the L'Homme figure as desired. I left the hair parts separate so that I can adjust the fringe and tail slightly to simulate movement.

I then referred to the original imported figure and copied the shaders for corresponding parts in the re-fitted clothing. Finally, I need to set up the dynamic cloth simulations for the various clothing parts.

I show my WIP progress in test and checking renders in the following:

Results of Conversion Project

Ancient China Swordsman

I proceeded to set up dynamic cloth for each of the clothing parts, doing them in sequence accoring to their layers in the outfit.

I had to make make the inner shirt a conforming clothing because of it's geometry.

I added a wind force to give the scarf and skirts movement, and I changed the dynamic control settings to make them flap about a bit in the wind.

In a multi-piece clothing set such as this one, I had to ensure I selected the correct Constrained Vertices for each piece.

What I discovered is that the base figure must be included in the simulation even if the clothing item does not touch the geometry (the outer layers, for example).

There was some very minor poke through of body parts, but since these were mainly the lower limbs, I made them invisible for the final renders.

The Poser L'Homme figure is a beast to work with for conversions. He has a very weird sizing morph which really jams up Fitting Room results.

I changed the hair shader, but it's still not super-realistic because the original geometry really is really meant for a stylised character.

Although I am not using an Asian morph for the L'Homme figure, I really intend for this clothing set to be used with an East Asian Character.

This clothing conversion remains a personal project, and I am not developing this for commercial or free distribution.

Doing the same process with a different set of clothes

02 July 2021

I also purchased a different 3D character from CGTrader and used the same process to obtain the clothing for use in Poser software. This time, I decided to use the Paul 2 Asian figure from Poser contents. Here are some Work-In-Progress screenscaptures. Software used are the same as well. I will test the draped clothing on a posed Paul figure next.

Dynamic Simulation of converted clothing

I set up the dynamic cloth simulation in Poser 12 software for each of the parts of the converted clothing. Basically, working from innermost garmet to outermost is the order for simulations to run in.

Results of Dynamic Simulation: Angry Nobleman From Ancient China

So here are my visual results showing my Poser software renders of the converted clothing set with the posed figure. I used Physical Root Surface shader trees.

Trying the Ancient China Ladies clothing conversion

05 July 2021

I used the same approach as before. I separated the mesh into parts, then re-grouped them. I did not add nor delete polygons, so that I can use the same textures based on the same UVs. The clothing has some artifacts, but I can deal with those in Poser later. I converted the A-pose clothing to T-pose so that they can be better adapted for Poser software figures later.

I show the Shade3D workspace screen captures as well.

I converted the A-pose clothing to T-pose so that they can be better adapted for Poser software figures later. The problem arises with the hair and hair accessories. I show the Shade3D workspace screen captures as well. I need to plan carefully for downstream of my pipeline - when I use the geometries in Poser 12 software.

Completed the ladies clothing alteration !

07 July 2021

I made a mistake in my workflow so I backtracked and resized the clothing in Poser to approximately Pauline 2 Asian figure proportions, then exported as OBJs. I imported into Shade3D to convert the A-Pose parts into T-Pose parts. I also imported the Pauline 2 Asian OBJ into Shade3D to act as a guide for the alteration. I re-exported the adjusted geometries as OBJs, then imported them into pose for final fit adjustment with Morph Brush. Once the clothing parts (and hair) were all properly covering the figure and correctly arranged against each other without poke-trhoughs, I once again exported the parts from Poser. This is to eliminate translations and rotations and morphs. Finally, I re-import these OBJs into Poser according to their logical order for dynamic cloth simulation - innermost garment to outermost garment. I marked out the constrained vertices which gave the best result. I ran the dynamic cloth simulations, after which I created the PBR shader trees manually.

Second Dresss, And My Final Alteration of Ladies Clothing For A While

09 July 2021

This is a second set of ancient China ladies clothing which I am altering for use n Poser 12 software. As before, this is a commercial product I purchased from CGTrader. It is an FBX geometry in A Pose. I had to alter it into a T Pose to fit the La Femme figure of Poser. I used Shade3D for the mesh alteration. I did not delete or add egemoetry, so that I can use the same textures based on UV mapped source FBX. I also had to separate out the various parts - hair, hair ornaments, and footwear. I did not attempt to separate out the dress parts for this alteration project. I manually created the PBR shader trees in Poser.

This time, after I had done final adjustment to fit La Femme, I exported the dress OBJ and imported it into Shade3D. I converted Tris to Quads and exported that version, and then subdivided the quad dress by 2, to get a high res version for export. So I now have 3 versions - default dress (tri-polys), quad dress, and hi-res quad dress. In this render I used the quad hi-res version of the dress.

The lower part of the hair is also subject to dynamic simulation in Poser ( all dynamic siulations set up by me).

There are some dangly pieces which are metallic ornaments meanto to be hanging from the sleeves. these look like artifacts surrounding the dress, but are infact part of the original design.

I show the renders of the low-res tri version dress and high res quad mesh dress.

Following, I show some WIP screencaptures below, which demonstrate the project WIP.

I tried rigging the body parts...

Well, so much for all the clothes. I then got the notion that I should extract the body parts and rig them inside Poser software. I used Shade3D to sort out all the geometries and then extracted the body parts as OBJs. I iported into Poser 12 software, created groupings, then rigged manually inside Poser Setup Room. I ignored the inner mouth parts. I had to use weight painting to sort out the kinkiness in the posed parts. Here is the completed figure. I expect that when I run a dynamic simulation of clothing, I need to use constriant vertices over the missing parts of the geometry ( upper abdomen), or else the clothes will drape into the empty space.

Completing My Rigging and Scene Render

So I completed my scene and rendered it. I show my stages of processing the FBX source file - First in Shade3D, then in Poser 12 software.

My manually-rigged version of the imported FBX geometry of an ancient Chinese girl. I decided to imported the FBX dress directly, created the PBS shader trees manually, and set up a dynamic cloth simulation against the figure.

Source FBX file was my purchase from CGTrader.

First Attempt At Creating Hair for Use In Daz Studio

26 July 2021

I have made hair geometries for use in Poser software, but this is my first attempt at making hair geometries for use in Daz Studio. My reference figure is the Daz3D Genesis 8 Male.

I used the Hair Salon function of Shade3D to generate and style strip hair from selected faces which I arbitrarily label as scalp. I also used Blender3D's Sculpt function to Sculpt some lines onto the scalp I extracted. It has been a lot tougher than these few sentences convey !

I need to fix the bald patch at the back of the hair assembly.- UPDATE: fixed.

Experimental Sci-Fi Crown for a Space Opera Prince

12 August 2021

I generated the geometries using Shade3D and applied 3rd-party shaders to the crown for my test renders in Daz Studio. I don't really like the way the crown has turned out. I may put this on the back burnder for now. Figure is the Daz3D Genesis 8 Male.