Using Daz3D for a mod? Breach of modders ethics?

[xenic]

I've seen some hate fly around about certain modders using Daz3D for some of their work. This seems to stem more from the lack of sharing though. I have Daz3D and am some cool scifi locations. So for my questions: 1) How could I bring it into Skyrim? Is it Daz3D > Photoshop > Creation Kit?  2) Is it wrong to use Daz3D for modding for others but okay for personal use? I want to make something to give back to this community and this seems like an good way to learn.

[« Broken ‡ Mirror »]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6vK4X4SCnc

Now, the hate. It's more of modders are afraid because porting them into Skyrim is already a breach of Daz's TOS. So porting into Skyrim, then releasing it has the probability of getting your ass handed to you with fines all over it.

[xenic]

So releasing it would be out of the question (fines are bad) but I can probably use it as a learning experience. Making a mod, not fines. I'm trying to find a way to use textures that are not already in game. I can use the CK but it takes me like 4 hours to make a small set of rooms.

[gregathit]

While there is a risk (what in life isn't a risk), I seriously doubt anyone is going to come after you for porting an armor\clothing\weapon from one game to another as long as you are not charging for it.  If they were then how do you explain the hundreds upon hundreds of ports that already are out there.  Not saying it is wrong or right.  The courts will eventually figure it out.  Ethically you can make arguments both ways.

 

Sharing your ports is all about whether you want to take a risk (as little as it may be) or not.  That is a personal decision that only you can make.

 

Porting things from one game to another for your own personal amusement and use is fine provided you own both games.  I am not aware of any legal snafu's against it and honestly even if there were, how would they know?

[Endiness]

According to google, there has only been one official request. Not bad. A lot less than 3dm. I can't really find the nexus. They might not have any.

[« Broken ‡ Mirror »]

According to google, there has only been one official request. Not bad. A lot less than 3dm. I can't really find the nexus. They might not have any.

People on 3dm don't give a fuck if it comes to pirating material. The government ain't gonna do shit because it doesn't interest them. Plus, most Daz porters from 3dm bought the Daz stuff themselves and ported it and released for the general public.

[xenic]

Thank everyone for their input. I'm still trying to figure out how to take the walls, stairs, etc and bring them into Creation KIt. I thought about a nif file but got stuck. Do I need to do it the same way I would do a weapon? I have it as a nif but not sure I got it there correctly. 

[gregathit]

Yes, walls and such are nif files.  I recommend you extract your meshes bsa file and take a look through the architecture folder.   You'll need to make sure that you have the proper collision set on things.  You can use the Bethesda nif files as examples to go off of.

[Cyndi]

For objects that you interact with like walls, statues etc.  you'll probably need a tool like chunk merge to "easily" get all the hav_mat data and collision added to your .nif s

 ->  http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/Skyrim/Adding_Collision_Mesh_using_ChunkMerge

 

I'm sure there are lots of other ways to do it, but that's the only way I have ever managed to do it correctly.

 

[Endiness]

 

 Plus, most Daz porters from 3dm bought the Daz stuff themselves and ported it and released for the general public.

 

 

lol so?

 

@xenic

There were a couple of topics of about collision on the nexus forums, but I don't remember them off hand. It'd be wise to just create some simple shapes and figure out how to do proper collision first before doing anything else.

[xenic]

 

 

 Plus, most Daz porters from 3dm bought the Daz stuff themselves and ported it and released for the general public.

 

 

lol so?

 

@xenic

There were a couple of topics of about collision on the nexus forums, but I don't remember them off hand. It'd be wise to just create some simple shapes and figure out how to do proper collision first before doing anything else.

 

Yeah, when I first started I thought I could take a room already done up in 3D, run it through a couple of programs and I'd be done. Way more than I thought. But I want a scifi home (crashed starship) and no one has made anything close. That's the drive for me. I will figure it out and I'm glad I have this community for help.

 

Edit: So the best way would be to make a room with flat walls instead of a pre-rendered room, then I could add a texture to the walls and place objects afterward. Am I thinking the right way?

[xenic]

I think I'm getting the hang of this. I have a nif file. I can load it in nifscope, I have the dds files, i packed them into a bsa. Now the real question is, did I get this part done right? If someone could take a look and let me know I'd appreciate it. I am still trying to figure out how to make a esp that will connect with the bsa. It is by no means ready to use though.

[Cyndi]

OH dear god!

That is one crazy packed together nif file. xD

 

~First you will need the root node to be on a BSFadeNode, instead of a NiNode

~Afaik,  skyrim doesn't like nimaterialproperty,  and those can be removed.

~Your NiTexturingProperty should be switched out with a BSLightingShaderProperty, you can get one from pretty much any nif skyrim is already using and just copy-pasta it over, <however>  if you grab one from a piece of armor make sure that under the block details of said property, for "Shader Flags 1" you have the box labeled "SLSF1_Skinned" unchecked.

 

~After that you need to add in collision and havoc material data.  Which basically just tells skyrim that "yup that's a wall" so you don't walk right through it, or whether arrows bounce off or stick inside things, what sounds for impacts etc.

I posted a link for chunk merge already, that seems to work fine. It would likely be easier though, if your objects were in separate nifs, and would make things easier if you need to tweak positions of stuff in the ck.

~Once you finish a piece, complete with collision check it in the ck, (you will have to make a new architecture item) by previewing it, and then I think the key was F4(?), this will hide the textures, and show you a collision wire frame (press G if you need to hide the ground plane to see what you are doing).  Make sure the wireframe and your textured mesh line up correctly, it can be easy to end up with a twisted collision frame if you aren't really paying attention. If it's borked, you'll have to redo the collision data with w/e tool you used. 

 

 

RedoranPartBadCollision.7z

There's a piece I was working on a while back, to have a look at so you can see what I mean.  I wouldn't try using it in game though, I somehow managed to rotate the collision mesh 90 degrees off from the actual mesh... so it behaves wonky. Everything else is shiny for it though.

[xenic]

I just had to add that thing. I will work on it in the morning. Did I at least get the dds and nif files in there properly? I will probably use something simpler for the actual project. =) 

[Cyndi]

I just had to add that thing. I will work on it in the morning. Did I at least get the dds and nif files in there properly? I will probably use something simpler for the actual project. =) 

 

Nopers

 

 

~Again you need to fix the root node => make it a BSFadeNode 

~Inside each block, delete the NiMaterialProperty

~Your NiTexturingProperty should be switched out with a BSLightingShaderProperty (how skyrim reads those dds files)

 

After this, that and the other thing, you really only need to make sure, that your meshes are in the mesh folder and textures are in the texture folder.

 

[azmodan22]

Have you ever run across the problem where after you have imported something to 3dsmax from daz, and try to export it to nif, max fails and you get the error :

"Invalid Triangle Count: must be between 0 and 65535."

I am getting this right now but hiw only one figure. I have successfully extracted figures with more of everything (triangle, polies, vertices) so I have no idea why this ones fails.

any ideas?

[Ihrai]

I've seen some hate fly around about certain modders using Daz3D for some of their work. This seems to stem more from the lack of sharing though. I have Daz3D and am some cool scifi locations. So for my questions: 1) How could I bring it into Skyrim? Is it Daz3D > Photoshop > Creation Kit?  2) Is it wrong to use Daz3D for modding for others but okay for personal use? I want to make something to give back to this community and this seems like an good way to learn.

 

Imho it doesn't matter what someone uses to create mod content - though, the question is more or less if it is permitted to use Daz3D content in Mods.

 

I have almost the same problem as Carrara 8 Pro User.  I created (together with ZBrush) various statues and stuff out of "free" base figures everyone could obtain for free anyway, but I am not allowed to use them in Game Mods. Already cross checked at Daz3D... even if you had a Gaming License - it's still forbidden for Mods

 

Unless you use totally "free & allowed for all sort of use" objects, you're out of luck

 

As for the hate...

I think it's more or less the usual pride thing between those who model everything from scratch and those who use base models.

I prefer to use base-models and manipulate and reshape them in Carrara and ZBrush via GoZ. Why reinventing everything from scratch. Makes only sense if you want to do something doesn't exist already, or if you want to use it the way you see fit.

[Bob Minos]

The best rule is this:

Use it as a reference to make your own content.

 

1. Never ever try to port a 128k poly item into your game. It's just plain stupid.

2. Then there are the copyright issues.

3. You will never, ever gain in skills if all you do is smudge around someone else's work.

 

It's fine to have it open in your modeling program along side what you are doing yourself as a reference. Just remember to never add in as many polys as that stuff has. A good rule is to also open a similar vanilla item too, so you can see how many polys you really only need for any given item.