edit mode/object mode blender

jboydston_jboydston_ Posts: 34
edited December 1969 in The Commons

I've been trying for a while now to export an obj. file to blender. It seems to work, the obj. file opens and looks like it should. But no matter what I do, it won't let me go into edit mode so that I can work on it. Any hints on what I'm doing wrong? I read a thing about exporting to blender - didn't make a lot of sense. It said the best solution was to export as a .dea file. But I haven't figured out how to do that. It doesn't show up as an option in daz export. I apologize if this is just a stupid noob thing that I've stumbled into.

Comments

  • siocsioc Posts: 302
    edited December 1969

    hum... no sorry, perhaps a blender guru will help... Recheck the blender help to enter in edit mode (I never remember how they call that)...

  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,253
    edited July 2014

    I've been trying for a while now to export an obj. file to blender. It seems to work, the obj. file opens and looks like it should. But no matter what I do, it won't let me go into edit mode so that I can work on it. Any hints on what I'm doing wrong? I read a thing about exporting to blender - didn't make a lot of sense. It said the best solution was to export as a .dea file. But I haven't figured out how to do that. It doesn't show up as an option in daz export. I apologize if this is just a stupid noob thing that I've stumbled into.

    Export your object from Daz Studio as an .OBJ file (I'm using the Blender preset at 2% but I flip the Z & Y on the preset back to Y & Z because it's wrong on the preset.)

    Open blender and Import the OBJ

    select the object in the viewport by clicking it with the right mouse button. you should see a highlight around the item when it's selected.

    press tab on the keyboard to go into edit mode.

    Post edited by StratDragon on
  • DZ_jaredDZ_jared Posts: 1,316
    edited December 1969

    I've been trying for a while now to export an obj. file to blender. It seems to work, the obj. file opens and looks like it should. But no matter what I do, it won't let me go into edit mode so that I can work on it. Any hints on what I'm doing wrong? I read a thing about exporting to blender - didn't make a lot of sense. It said the best solution was to export as a .dea file. But I haven't figured out how to do that. It doesn't show up as an option in daz export. I apologize if this is just a stupid noob thing that I've stumbled into.

    Export your object from Daz Studio as an .OBJ file,
    Open blender and Import the OBJ
    select the object in the viewport by clicking it with the right mouse button.
    press tab on the keyboard to go into edit mode.

    IIRC blender won't allow you to go into edit mode without having an object selected. So StratDragon is right. The most likely cause is that the object isn't selected.

  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,253
    edited December 1969

    DAZ_jared said:
    I've been trying for a while now to export an obj. file to blender. It seems to work, the obj. file opens and looks like it should. But no matter what I do, it won't let me go into edit mode so that I can work on it. Any hints on what I'm doing wrong? I read a thing about exporting to blender - didn't make a lot of sense. It said the best solution was to export as a .dea file. But I haven't figured out how to do that. It doesn't show up as an option in daz export. I apologize if this is just a stupid noob thing that I've stumbled into.

    Export your object from Daz Studio as an .OBJ file,
    Open blender and Import the OBJ
    select the object in the viewport by clicking it with the right mouse button.
    press tab on the keyboard to go into edit mode.

    IIRC blender won't allow you to go into edit mode without having an object selected. So StratDragon is right. The most likely cause is that the object isn't selected.

    I just did this step to step to see if there was anything else to it, but thats it.
    You can stick with OBJ, it appears to be the format that Studio and Blender are both happiest with in my experience but others swear by Collada (.DEA), I have not come across an instance when I needed it at this time.

  • M F MM F M Posts: 1,388
    edited July 2014

    I've been trying for a while now to export an obj. file to blender. It seems to work, the obj. file opens and looks like it should. But no matter what I do, it won't let me go into edit mode so that I can work on it. Any hints on what I'm doing wrong?...

    Some things to check:

    . make sure your mouse is over the 3D View window when you press TAB. If you have your mouse over a panel (or anywhere else other than the 3D View window where your object is showing) then TAB will have no effect;

    . at the bottom of the 3D View window are the "View Select Add Object" menus... next to those is the mode select dropdown that usually reads "Object Mode" - click on that, and then try selecting "Edit Mode" from the dropdown list;

    . finally, if you've imported a .OBJ that has resulted in multiple objects in Blender (refer to the scene outliner panel in the top-right), then with your mouse in the 3D View window, press "a" first to toggle selection of all objects off (you should see an orange outline appear/disappear if you press "a" multiple times), then right-click on an object (to select just one), and try TAB again;

    Good luck, and feel free to ask any questions you need (^_^)n.

    Post edited by M F M on
  • Lissa_xyzLissa_xyz Posts: 6,116
    edited July 2014

    What I do after loading a mesh is to hit 'A' twice to make sure I have nothing selected (my default scene has the cam/light still), then I click on just my mesh to select it and hit tab to go into edit mode.

    M F M said:
    . make sure your mouse is over the 3D View window when you press TAB. If you have your mouse over a panel (or anywhere else other than the 3D View window where your object is showing) then TAB will have no effect;

    This.. 1000 times this. I don't know how many times I've forgotten this and hit tab multiple times before I realize where my mouse cursor is.
    Post edited by Lissa_xyz on
  • DZ_jaredDZ_jared Posts: 1,316
    edited December 1969

    One more thing to keep in mind is that when you import your mesh from Studio by default Blender breaks it up. Make sure you have "Keep Vert Order" selected rather than "Split" if you hope to export the mesh back to Studio and have it be in one piece.

    This should help you with selecting as well, since everything will be one object that is selectable.

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,644
    edited December 1969

    DAZ_jared said:
    One more thing to keep in mind is that when you import your mesh from Studio by default Blender breaks it up. Make sure you have "Keep Vert Order" selected rather than "Split" if you hope to export the mesh back to Studio and have it be in one piece.

    This should help you with selecting as well, since everything will be one object that is selectable.

    Definitely!

    Also, remember you can hit the tiny plus sign on that dialog to create your own import preset so you don't have to fiddle with the settings again.

  • DZ_jaredDZ_jared Posts: 1,316
    edited December 1969

    DAZ_jared said:
    One more thing to keep in mind is that when you import your mesh from Studio by default Blender breaks it up. Make sure you have "Keep Vert Order" selected rather than "Split" if you hope to export the mesh back to Studio and have it be in one piece.

    This should help you with selecting as well, since everything will be one object that is selectable.

    Definitely!

    Also, remember you can hit the tiny plus sign on that dialog to create your own import preset so you don't have to fiddle with the settings again.

    I did not know that. Thanks for pointing that out.

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,644
    edited December 1969

    DAZ_jared said:
    DAZ_jared said:
    One more thing to keep in mind is that when you import your mesh from Studio by default Blender breaks it up. Make sure you have "Keep Vert Order" selected rather than "Split" if you hope to export the mesh back to Studio and have it be in one piece.

    This should help you with selecting as well, since everything will be one object that is selectable.

    Definitely!

    Also, remember you can hit the tiny plus sign on that dialog to create your own import preset so you don't have to fiddle with the settings again.

    I did not know that. Thanks for pointing that out.

    NP! I lost the ability to live without this about ten seconds after they released the first version with it, because otherwise I would be constantly forgetting to do the settings correctly and having to re-import hirez stuff.

  • Lissa_xyzLissa_xyz Posts: 6,116
    edited July 2014

    Here's a screen of the import/export settings for morphs, just in case that's your goal. If it is, you'll also want to be sure to keep the polycount the same. You don't want to add or remove verts/faces/edges otherwise you'll get a mismatch in geometry. In sculpt mode, leave dynamic topo off.

    I don't paint in Blender, but I'm assuming you'd include Write Normals, Include UVs, Write Materials, and Material Groups in the export options.

    Sometimes I'll hit S and 10 in Blender to scale up the figure, since they tend to load in pretty tiny. If you do this, be sure to change the export scale to 0.10 to get it back to normal size.

    Blender_export.png
    222 x 561 - 29K
    Blender_import.png
    237 x 414 - 18K
    Post edited by Lissa_xyz on
  • jboydston_jboydston_ Posts: 34
    edited December 1969

    Thanks all, that helped, now I'm just having trouble getting it to select the entire figure not just a piece.

  • M F MM F M Posts: 1,388
    edited July 2014

    Could you post a screenshot, making sure the Scene Outliner window is fully visible? it sounds like your import settings might be splitting up the entity into multiple (Blender) objects.

    (Ctrl-F3 to save a screeny).

    Otherwise, in general, it's the "a" key to toggle between selecting all objects, and selecting no objects. But, as DAZ_Jared and Vaskania above mentioned, you may wish to adjust your DAZ export/ Blender import settings to ensure you end up with a single object not multiple.

    Post edited by M F M on
  • Lissa_xyzLissa_xyz Posts: 6,116
    edited December 1969

    Thanks all, that helped, now I'm just having trouble getting it to select the entire figure not just a piece.

    Did you export more than one item as an obj? What was it that you exported?
  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449
    edited December 1969

    I would like to point out (again) that DAZ Studio's Blender Export & Import settings are wrong. Export should be 1% and Import should be 10000% for scale and neither should be transposing the y and z axis. Personally I just use Custom 100% scale for both exporting in importing and leave the axis alone.

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,644
    edited December 1969

    jestmart said:
    I would like to point out (again) that DAZ Studio's Blender Export & Import settings are wrong. Export should be 1% and Import should be 10000% for scale and neither should be transposing the y and z axis. Personally I just use Custom 100% scale for both exporting in importing and leave the axis alone.

    I use the Poser settings instead. It results in a very small scale of object in Blender, but I've never found that to be an issue except with cloth sim (and I just scale up 10x for that and 10x back down afterward if I need to use it). It doesn't screw up the axes either.

    It'd be nice to see those settings fixed so we could actually use the Blender one without tweaking, I agree.

  • jboydston_jboydston_ Posts: 34
    edited December 1969

    Well, it's a genesis basic female, I'm trying to model some clothes for. It's just the basic one that comes with daz, but I think you are right that I'm exporting it wrong, I just can't figure out how to export it right. Sorry, I tried the ctrl F3 thing and nothing seemed to happen. Let me list what the exporter says. Since you all told me that using the blender one had the figure lying down, I flipped the vertical axis back to y and left all the other selections as were: check mark by - ignore invisible nodes, write uv coordinates, write normals, write object statements, write groups - which has a subcategory with use node name(s) selected, write surfaces - with original maps selected. Everything else is deselected in the daz exporter.

  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,253
    edited December 1969

    jestmart said:
    I would like to point out (again) that DAZ Studio's Blender Export & Import settings are wrong. Export should be 1% and Import should be 10000% for scale and neither should be transposing the y and z axis. Personally I just use Custom 100% scale for both exporting in importing and leave the axis alone.

    I've submitted a bug on this a few times but at this time it's not resolved.

  • Takeo.KenseiTakeo.Kensei Posts: 1,303
    edited December 1969

    jestmart said:
    I would like to point out (again) that DAZ Studio's Blender Export & Import settings are wrong. Export should be 1% and Import should be 10000% for scale and neither should be transposing the y and z axis. Personally I just use Custom 100% scale for both exporting in importing and leave the axis alone.

    I've submitted a bug on this a few times but at this time it's not resolved.

    Just use Modo/Lightwave/Mirai/C4D preset as they are the correct ones. The Blender preset may be valid for an old version

    I also use the Collada export as it permit to group the materials by maps

  • M F MM F M Posts: 1,388
    edited July 2014

    ... Sorry, I tried the ctrl F3 thing and nothing seemed to happen. ...

    (that shortcut was for Blender only...).
    Post edited by M F M on
  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,253
    edited December 1969

    jestmart said:
    I would like to point out (again) that DAZ Studio's Blender Export & Import settings are wrong. Export should be 1% and Import should be 10000% for scale and neither should be transposing the y and z axis. Personally I just use Custom 100% scale for both exporting in importing and leave the axis alone.

    I've submitted a bug on this a few times but at this time it's not resolved.

    Just use Modo/Lightwave/Mirai/C4D preset as they are the correct ones. The Blender preset may be valid for an old version

    I also use the Collada export as it permit to group the materials by maps

    I'd rather they fixed it for the sake of new Blender users and for the sake of consistency, it has not worked with any version of Blender released in last two years. Fix that and allow obj export of a single selected item without having to make everything invisible, cross my fingers and hope the overhead does not crash the attempt to save. The file export functions in DS have the potential for very wonderful opportunities.

  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449
    edited December 1969

    I believe the Blender scale mistake was the result of not realizing that the default cube in Blender is 2 x 2 x 2 not 1 x 1 x 1, assuming it was used as a size reference. Flipping the y and z axis on import and export was done to Blender around version 2.4

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,644
    edited December 1969

    You know what's a huge pain in my... neck? The scaling thing I worked out to my satisfaction ages ago. I want to see Blender quit exporting objs with borked vertex and material group names. Right now whenever you export an obj with group name Bone 01 and material name Hem, you get a dummy group generated called Bone01.Hem.001 or something like it. I've been text-editing my obj files to get rid of this for months (before that I fixed the group names in DS, it's just faster in Notepad++). This gets irritating if you work with the Figure Setup tools to create custom rigs (which is my biggest source of revenue now).

    I should probably go do a bug report on that to the Blender guys, now that I think about it...

  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,253
    edited December 1969

    You know what's a huge pain in my... neck? The scaling thing I worked out to my satisfaction ages ago. I want to see Blender quit exporting objs with borked vertex and material group names. Right now whenever you export an obj with group name Bone 01 and material name Hem, you get a dummy group generated called Bone01.Hem.001 or something like it. I've been text-editing my obj files to get rid of this for months (before that I fixed the group names in DS, it's just faster in Notepad++). This gets irritating if you work with the Figure Setup tools to create custom rigs (which is my biggest source of revenue now).

    I should probably go do a bug report on that to the Blender guys, now that I think about it...


    If you do let me know, I will add to it, or something but I would like that fixed as well. Drives me freegggiiiinn nuts.

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,644
    edited December 1969

    Okay, actually it's not the vert group names, it's the object name. But it still happens. Someone sent me a PM asking for a demo .blend so they could look at the python script that does that export - maybe they'll be able to fix it. Boy would that be awesome!

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