Genesis 8 for Maya Manual

June 7, 2018 201 comments

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Installation

Installing Genesis 8 for Maya and/or Genesis 3 for Maya
Genesis 3 for Maya is installed much the same way as Genesis 8 for Maya. When using these instructions to install Genesis 3 for Maya just substitute everywhere the directions say “Genesis 8 for Maya” with Genesis 3 for Maya.”

Install Genesis 8 for Maya’s files using Daz Install Manager or by manually extracting them into their proper locations.

If you don’t see Genesis 8 for Maya in Daz Install Manager’s “Ready to Download” list, try enabling the “Public Build” Download Filter by clicking the “Download Filters” button and putting a check in the box next to “Public Build.”

To install manually download the ZIP file from your ‘Product Library’ in the ‘My Account’ section of the daz3d.com website. Then extract the files to the following locations:

1. Extract Daz Studio Scripts

  • Windows and Mac:
    • Extract all files from:
      For Genesis 3 for Maya substitute the “Genesis8ForMaya” folder with “Genesis3ForMaya”
      \DAZ Studio_4.5;4.x Public Build;4.x Private Build\scripts\support\LayLo3D\Genesis8ForMaya
      To:
      C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\scripts\support\LayLo3D\Genesis8ForMaya
    • Everything in this folder:
      \AppData\DAZ 3D\Studio4\RunOnce
      You should be able to double click and they will open Daz Studio (if it’s not open) and set up the scripts inside the script menu so they can be ran from Daz Studio. You can also drag them from the folder onto the Daz Studio window and it should execute them as well.

2. Extract Maya Plug-in Files

If Maya is running make sure to close it before proceeding

  • Windows Only:
    • Extract all files from:
      \UserDocs\Autodesk\maya\plug-ins
      To:
      C:\Users\your username\Documents\maya\plug-ins
      *Create the folder if it doesn’t exist
  • Mac Only
    • Extract all files from:
      \SharedDocs\Autodesk\maya\plug-ins
      *These are the same files that are in UserDocs, there’s just a little bit of a folder structure difference with Mac OS

      To:
      \users\Shared\Autodesk\maya\plug-ins

3. Load plug-in inside Maya

Inside Maya go to Windows > Setting/Preferences > Plug-in Manager.


Look for ‘Genesis8ForMaya.py’ and check the ‘Loaded’ box next to it. If you would like it to load every time you start Maya, check the ‘Auto load’ box as well.
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How to use Genesis 8 for Maya

Setting up your character for export inside Daz Studio

Load your desired Genesis 8 character into a new scene and dial in its shape to whatever you’re going for. You can also add clothing and hair to your character if you want. For best results don’t dial in the ‘Naval’ morph, it will be exported out by default and it’s better to dial it in inside Maya. If you want to use any of the other naval morphs favorite them, so they will be exported out and apply them in Maya as well.

If you would like any additional morphs, expressions and/or pose controls to be exported with your character, set them as favorites and they will exported automatically.

Exporting your character from Daz Studio

With the character selected go to: Scripts > Genesis 8 for Maya > and select the Daz Original Core figure your character is based on.

The script will export your figure properly as a .FBX to whatever location you choose.

Importing your character to Maya

With the plug-in loaded… (refer to installation instructions)

Go to the Genesis 8 for Maya menu. From the menu select the Genesis 8 core figure your character is based on. The import dialog will come up, look for the .FBX file you created using the Genesis 8 for Maya Daz Studio export script.

Specifying a Character Name

After the import is complete you will have the option to specify a name for your character. Just type in the name you desire.

Shading Network Renaming Options

The check boxes in the Shading Network section allow you to toggle whether you would like the shading groups and/or shaders renamed.

The Rename Shading Groups checkbox will rename the shading groups from something vague to the figures name, or specified name if one is given, appended with the name of the shader. For example, instead of shading groups with names like “Genesis8MaleShapeSG1,” “Genesis8MaleShapeSG2,” etc. they will be named to the format of “Genesis8Male_TorsoSG,” “Genesis8Male_FaceSG,” etc. This makes managing shaders in the Hypershade a lot easier.

The Rename Shaders checkbox will add the figures name to the beginning of the shader name. For example, “Torso,” will be renamed to “FiguresName_Torso.” When you have clothing items and hair in the scene in addition to the figure it helps keep the shaders for different items grouped together and makes it easier to know what the shader you’re working on is for.

After you make your decision on the renaming options and click “Yes” or “No” I recommend saving the scene in a native Maya format for future use.

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The Naval Morph

I decided to make my Daz Studio export scripts export the naval morph out by default. Daz Studio has JCMs that only apply when the naval is dialed in. My plug-in is able to mimic this functionality by always exporting it.

For best results don’t dial the naval morph in before export. If you want to dial it in wait until you get to Maya. If your character is wearing clothing that covers the naval it is best not to dial it in, otherwise the clothing can be pulled into it.

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How to Use Geo-Grafts and Attachments with Genesis 8 for Maya

Note: As of version 2.00 these steps should now be done automatically.
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How to Use DazToMaya’s Shader Conversion Tool with Genesis 8 for Maya

To use DazToMaya’s shader conversion tools in conjunction with Genesis 8 for Maya follow all the above steps, except when the dialog box pops up after import uncheck both the “Rename Shading Groups” and “Rename Shaders” check boxes before clicking “Yes” or “No.” Don’t worry you can still use these renaming features later and specify a name for your character.

After clicking “Yes” or “No” go to the DazToMaya menu and select “Import,” when it’s dialog box comes up just use the shader conversion feature, don’t click any of the import options.

When the shader conversion is finished you can close the DazToMaya UI and that’s it.

If you would like to auto-rename the shaders and shading groups you can do so by going to the “Genesis 8 for Maya” menu and clicking the appropriate menu items.

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Update Notes – 1.10

Added Set Driven Keys for the eyelid joints surrounding the eyeballs.

Prior to this change when rotating the eyeballs they would commonly poke through the eyelids. The new functionality also more closely mimics that of Daz Studio. There is also a limitation with Daz Studio’s FBX export that it does not export out the negative affect of morphs and pose controls. Therefore, the “Eyes Side-Side” and “Eyes Up-Down” would only move the eyes and eyelids in one direction. I feel this is a good solution to the problem. If this change negatively affects using your mocap systems, the connections to the eyelid joints can be broken to remove the effects of the “Set Driven Keys.”

“Smooth Mesh Preview” with “Preview Division Levels” set to 2 and “Use Preview Level for Rendering” will now be turned on automatically inside Maya for both the figure mesh and eyelashes (if they were exported).

With most render engines this change should make the mesh less faceted and look better when rendered.

Genesis 8 will now be exported out of Daz Studio at the “Base Resolution” level.

I recently learned that even though FBX export always exports the mesh with the same number of polygons of that of the base resolution mesh, if the resolution level isn’t set to base before export the mesh is smoothed a little bit and doesn’t look good when subdivided inside Maya. This should also make it easier if you decide to create any extra blend shapes for your figure.

Added an option to select an alternate HumanIK definition that is compatible with MotionBuilder when importing the figure into Maya.

The original HumanIK definition isn’t compatible with MotionBuilder 2018 and would need to be re-defined if you sent the scene to MotionBuilder. The difference between the two definitions is that the arm and leg roll joints get defined as “roll” joints for the MotionBuilder HumanIK definition and required slightly different arm rotations. With the original definition they get defined as “roll leaf” joints.

I don’t know all the implications of using one definition over the other. If you use motion capture I would suggest trying both and see what one produces better results. Please let me and everyone else know in the comments below. Please note when sending a scene to MotionBuilder (MB) that it doesn’t support “Set Driven Keys” and the JCM functionality of Genesis 8 for Maya will be lost. Also, after sending the scene to MB some blend shapes get turned on inside of MB and the mesh may appear distorted. Either turn off the influence of the blendshapes inside MB or delete the blend shapes from the scene in Maya before sending it to MB.

Added full support for Mabel 8 and Teen Kaylee 8.

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Update Notes – 2.1

Favorited morphs and pose controls for clothing and hair will now be exported.

Moved the menu – it will now be a sub-menu of “LayLo3D Tools” to accommodate future plug-ins.

Fixed a bug where morphs in Daz Studio whose names started with numbers wouldn’t import into Maya properly.

Fixed a bug where Maya 2019 version would get flagged incorrectly causing the HumanIK definition to default to the MotionBuilder definition.

Added a new feature where the last used HumanIK definition will automatically be selected next time Maya starts.

Updated all Daz Studio export scripts – they should now be better about not exporting unnecessary JCMs.

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Maya 2019

This Shape Editor bug has been fixed in Maya 2019.1
  • Maya 2019 – When importing FBX files where the Shape Editor is not populated with the blend shapes. Morphs exported from Daz Studio should still be usable via the Channel Box and/or Attribute editor.

201 Responses to “Genesis 8 for Maya Manual”

  1. George MLN says:

    Hello
    i bought the script a while back and back then was working just fine, recently i reinstalled daz 4.20 and followed the instructions , the main problem is that under the scripts tab/menu the script does not appear after clicking all of them in the “Run Once” folder . I did the drag and drop thingy but still no success , restarted the daz studio and still nothing> Is this script still working (compatibility wise) is it something i am doing wrong? Or something else is missing ?

    Thank you in advance

    • LayLo says:

      Hi!

      Thanks for using my products! Super sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Work has been crazy busy.

      Usually when the RunOnce scripts don’t work it’s because they can’t find the script they’re being linked to. Can you please confirm all the DSE export scripts are installed correctly to your Daz Studio install location and let me know if they’re still not working?

      Thanks!

      • George MLN says:

        Thanks for the reply
        i was away for a few days as well
        The problem with the process is that in the step 1 some things probably changed after the DazCentral was introduced , so the old path you have in the guide does not apply anymore.So i have no idea what to do .
        Can you please help me to fix the issue?

        Thanks!

        • LayLo says:

          I’m really sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner.

          Inside Daz Studio try going to Window > Workspace > Customize. In the left hand side of the window that comes up under Action expand Custom. Look for Export Genesis 8 Base Male and Export Genesis 8 Base Female. Right click on the action and select Edit Custom Action… In the window that pops up point the Daz Script file to the appropriate file.

          If the custom action doesn’t exist let me know and I can explain how to manually add them.

          Again, so sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner.

          • George MLN says:

            Hello,
            Well basically i don’t get notifications when you reply to my posts so saw it today ,apologies.

            i have 2 major issues one is : when in the plug ins manager inside maya , i am clicking to tick the box i get the following message : // Error: file: C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2022/scripts/others/pluginWin.mel line 316: (Genesis8ForMaya)

            inside Daz studio the ‘Custom” does exist but after expanding it there is nothing there, at least relevant to the genesis8 to maya.

            the second one is that step 1 the path is not the same in the windows 11 . If it is not too much of a trouble can i please somehow send so iam kinda confused , i dont remember it being so much of a pain when i installed it in windows 10 . i can send you in detail all the steps i am executing and you can tell me what is that i am doing wrong,if i can somehow i can contact you viam email or discord or another way.
            thats my last resort i assume before i quit.

            Thanks in advance!

          • LayLo says:

            Hi, sorry you didn’t get any kind of notification. Feel free to email me, laylo3d@gmail.com. In fact, if you email me where you have the export scripts installed I can send you a custom script that should add them to the menu for the path you provide me. It would probably be the easiest solution.

            The error your reporting from Maya usually occurs when the files aren’t installed to the proper location.

            Please make sure they’re installed in:

            your user documents\maya\plug-ins

            You may need to create the folder if it doesn’t exist.

            A somewhat common mistake is people will put them in the maya\2020\plug-ins, or whatever maya version folder, which can cause that error.

            Please double check where you extracted the files and then get back to me.

            Sorry about all the hassle, I still use Windows 10 and am not sure why Daz Central doesn’t install things correctly. 🙁

      • George MLN says:

        i assume there is no solution then :/

  2. Adam Manson says:

    hi dear …

    seems that python plugin does not working with maya 2022.3 ??
    i got syntax error …

    any suggestions?
    thanks.

  3. zilnav says:

    I noticed a bit of frustration with getting this installed. Is this not supported anymore? I liked what I saw in the video you did. I have been trying the manual installation and the Run Once installation, but with no success. I am running Daz 4.20.0.2 and I am trying to export to Maya 2022. I can’t seem to get the scripts running in either software. Any help would be appreciated

  4. funsa says:

    Hello, I have purchased this plugin a few days ago. I have made the manual installation and it worked well. After a restart today I have lost the plugin in Daz. I cannot see Export for Maya under the scripts anymore. My files are still in C:\Daz 3D\Applications\64-bit\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\scripts\support\LayLo3D\Genesis8ForMaya folder. The plugin in Maya is still there. Could you please help solving this issue. I am a new user of Daz and having lots of difficulties working smoothly because of installation problems.

    • LayLo says:

      Hi, Thanks for using my products!
      Sorry the menu disappeared, that is strange. But, if you run the RunOnce scripts again it should add the menu items back. To run them, you can double click them if the file extension is associated with Daz Studio, or if not, they can be dragged and dropped onto the Daz Studio viewport.
      If you need additional help let me know, and/or if you need me to send you those script shoot me an email (laylo3d@gmail.com) and I will send them to you.
      Best regards,
      Landon

  5. Miki says:

    I don’t know how long it has been since DAZ started to make bridges.. but this is still best plugin for exporting DAZ G8 to Maya, JCM’s work right away, geographs work also. Only thing I wish for would be support of subdivs at least level 1. Apart from that best plugin.

  6. Obaemon says:

    Hello
    I have searched for a while i still don’t understand how to use morphs with negatives values for morphs like eye look up-down or side to side. I’ve read all your responses to that problem when others people asked about it, but i must have missed something or don’t understand what you said. for example, if i try to put a -1 value to the slider in maya for “eye look side to side”, the eyeball litteraly pops off of the face.

    • LayLo says:

      It’s been a while since I tried using a negative value for a morph in Maya, but I know that’s one of the differences/limitations between Daz Studio and Maya. I would recommend exporting out the individual morphs, like eyes left and eyes right separately if possible, or you could also duplicate and then mirror one of the morphs in Maya to get its opposite effect. But, if it’s only the eyes looking morphs you’re having a problem with you can also just rotate the eye bones. By default G8 for Maya sets up the character in such a way that by rotating the eye joints it will also move the eyelid joints like how it does in Daz Studio.

  7. Nicolas Bienfait says:

    Hello
    First i want to thank you for your plugin this is really amazing! I’ve searched and tested a lot of solutions like this and yours is the best one i’ve found.
    However i have an issue. When using genesis 8.1, if i try to export my character with expressions(posing, only for the head part) marked as favorites in DAZ, at the moment of the export, those expressions breaks. They are exported and i can use some of them like open mouth, close eyes, but a lot of them are not working. I’ve notice that they break inside of DAZ right after the export. A lot of them doesn’t work anymore in DAZ, and i have to reload my save.
    It works normally with genesis 8.0, the problem only occurs whith 8.1. Maybe i should wait for a potential update for genesis 8.1 ?

    Thank you for your work !

    • LayLo says:

      Hi, thanks for using my products, I’m glad to hear you like it for the most part!

      I was not aware of the issue. Could you provide the name of a couple of the expressions that aren’t working please and I’ll look into it?

      Thanks!

      • Obaemon says:

        Thank you for you response !
        I’ve just spend an hour testings different things and it is a bit weird and i hope i will be able to explain it because my brain is melting ^^
        After your message i thought maybe this is certain poses that are the problem, and i started testing things, putting something on fav, exporting and seeing if it breaks or not (all of this is only in DAZ, i didn’t opened maya for those tests).
        I’ve found a couple of poses that broke, but there’s a twist.

        For example: (i had to write this twice because i got confused)

        – “Brow down” don’t breaks at export if i fav it. But if i fav “Brow down left” and “brow down right”, they break “brow down” (whether “brow down” is fav or not) It also breaks all the “complete expressions/emotions” like “angry” etc, but it only break the brow part of those expression. (“brow left” breaks the left part and “brow right” breaks the right part, but they don’t break “themselves”)….

        – The same thing happen with “eye look up down” (the one with the eyelid following), the “right” and “left” break their respective movement in the main “eye look up down” but they don’t break themselves.

        – Same thing for “eye look side-side”, the “right” and “left” break their respective movement in the main “eye look side-side” but they don’t break themselves.

        I know there is a pose somewhere about closing the eyes that breaks too but i didn’t found the specific one yet (don’t really need to explain how i know it, things happened along the way, i just know ^^). And i’m pretty sure there’s a lot more.

        I know it sounds like a sort of puzzle or enigma, i hope i didn’t broke your brain (or maybe you are way more accustomed that me about those sort of things).

        I’ve tested that behavior with genesis 8.1 base, victoria 8.1, and my own character shape on genesis 8.1. The same thing happen in all cases.

        I’ve send pretty much the same message as my first message on the manual page so you can erase it to keep things clean. I’ve also sent you a message on facebook. I felt stuck in my workflow so i wanted to contact you fast, sorry for the messages everywhere. I’ve tried so many ways and bought multiple things that turned out to be disapointing, yours is just near perfect, maybe i need to do the expressions like a big boy in maya with controls on the bones. I’m french so my english can be weird, sorry about that.

        Thank you for your time, you can respond here or send me a message on facebook if you didn’t understand what i tried to explain, as you wish !

        Have a nice day!
        Nicolas

        • LayLo says:

          Hello again,

          Thanks for the detailed response. I hadn’t exported a character in such a way that I experienced what you’re describing, but the way Daz Studio morphs work and the differences between Daz Studio and Maya it actually isn’t a surprise to me. When G8 for Maya sets up a character for export it forces the morphs to work regardless of any attenuative properties, which is probably what makes it so the broader pose controls no longer function correctly in Daz Studio. If it didn’t do that the morphs wouldn’t always get exported out correctly.

          I didn’t really think of this as a problem since I assume most people export their character and then move on to Maya. Do you know if the “Angry” and other similar expressions also end up broken the same way in Maya when something like the “Brow Down Left” is favorited as well?

  8. David says:

    I installed this product over a year ago and have been using it just fine until I got my pc formatted and I reinstalled everything and now this plug-in isn’t working. Install Manager shows that the product is installed but when I go to Daz, it doesn’t show it in the Scripts tab. Maya plug-in manager also doesn’t show it. I was looking your instructions for manual installation and I noticed that in the path ”C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\scripts\support\LayLo3D\Genesis8ForMaya” the folder ”DAZStudio4” is missing even after reinstalling the product again. :/

    • LayLo says:

      Unfortunately, there’s currently a problem with the Daz installer. Right now it’s probably best to uninstall it from DIM and then manually install it. Sorry for the inconvenience. Let me know if you need any help.

      • David says:

        Thank you for the quick reply, and it does make me feel better to know it wasn’t just my system messing up. I will proceed to uninstall it now and try the manual installation although that folder I mentioned before is still missing from that directory. (Also the manual install link in the daz store is not working for me for some reason). Again thank you, highly appreciate the help, I love your products.

        • David says:

          Ok I was able to find the ZIP in the daz store. Is ready to be extracted but that folder I mentioned is still missing. I Also have my daz files in my (C:) disk but when I go to the path in the instructions (C:/Program Files/DAZ 3D/DAZStudio4) that last folder ”DAZStudio4” isn’t there so I don’t know where am I supposed to extract the files

          • LayLo says:

            It’s referring to where Daz Studio is installed. Where is Daz Studio installed on your system?

          • David says:

            In the C: drive. Your tip of where Daz is actually installed helped, In my drive is not under Program Files… it’s immediately after Local Disk (C:) so from there I found the DazStudio4 folder. I proceeded with the instructions accordingly and I got it installed now. Thanks man, you’re the best. Looking forward for more game changing tools from you.

          • LayLo says:

            Awesome, glad we got it figured out! Thanks for using my products!

  9. Carlos Moreno says:

    I have to apologize for saying those words about this WONDERFUL PLUGIN, it is true that the installer does not work as well as expected of it but thanks to Landon and his technical support we have managed to make everything work perfectly, it is an extraordinary product and I am very happy. Thank you Landon for your invaluable help. magnificent support.

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