Conversions to OBJ format

[Scatha]

Hi, I am rather new to these forums, but what I'd like to see are conversions of these models to OBJ format, for use in Poser and Daz Studio. As these programs have a far wider range of people using them, the art galleries could certainly benefit from it.

This would also aid in keeping the site alive and bring in fresh members (like myself).

[Darrell Lawrence]

First, to convert a model to another format, one should have permission to do so from the original model maker Most of us here are willing to allow our stuff to be converted, but not all.

Secondly, there are free programs out there for model conversion from one format to another. 3DSMax is the only one that has no freebie converter.

Thirdly, it takes a lot of time and effort to get a GOOD conversion done, and we just don't have the time to do them all.

[Scatha]

Which program converts LWO to OBJ?

I know a good conversion will take time and effort, but would this perhaps not be worth it if it broadens the userbase/memberbase?

And thanks for the swift reply.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Broaden the userbase/memberbase?

I'm not worried about member numbers. Rather, I want member QUALITY over QUANITY

As for converters, do a web search for 3D file converters.

[Scatha]

I wasn't implying anything else but quality.

I have some contacts that I know are fans as well, each of them using poser or D|S.

[billy-home]

As Warrior said doing good conversions of models is very time consuming, especially MAX models, and in many cases the finasl outcome will never be as good as the original, another point to mention is a LW or MAX model of about 2 to 3MB in size can quite easily become 10 to 15MB when converted into an OBJ file, and there's a lot more to converting a model to OBJ that will work in Poser than you might think, first off Poser turns everything into 100% smooth edges, so a Viper or Raider will end up looking like it's made of marshmallow instead of some kind of metal.

Here's an example, below is my Poser conversion of wjaspers NS Cylon, the actual conversion from MAX to LW took about a week, then setting it up to work in Poser took about a week and a half, the reason for this is obvious from the images.



This is the converted version in Poser



this is without it being converted, you can see the problem.

Also the LW conversion ended up at 4.05mb, the obj file was 14.58mb, a huge difference.

In many cases the time and effort involved in this process is not worth the hassle involved in making the model into another format, that said, when I do get time I will be converting a couple of models here into Poser props, as long as the original owners do not mind of course, but finding the time is another matter, real world stuff and commercial modeling commitments unfortunately take up an awful lot of my time, hence the amount of time it's taking to finish just modeling my version of a TOS Centurion.

I hope this helps explain why many of the models here will not be converted any time soon, at least by myself

Cheers

Billy