This article explains everything about the topic Daz3D to FBX in detail. We will show several ways how to export to FBX within Daz Studio. FBX is a file format (.fbx) which is used to provide compatibility between digital content creation applications, namely – 3D software. It is one of the most used file formats in 3D software at the moment with the wide spread in such programs as Maya, Blender, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Daz Studio and others.
FBX can save information about your object, its assets, material, rig, poses and even animation. And as it is such a useful and widespread file format it can be seen used a lot to save your work and open later in other software. In other words – to export and import your scenes.
How to export Daz3D to FBX
Exporting stuff in FBX is surprisingly simple. First of all, of course, we need something to export. I have created a simple character with some basic assets, morphs, pose and materials applied to it.
Now select the object that you want to export. In my case it is a whole character.
With the character selected proceed to the “File > Export”
A window will appear. In this window you need to choose the directory where your exported file will be stored, its name and most importantly – what file format it will be saved as. We need a .fbx.
After that a new window will appear with the Export Options for selected file format. In this window we can change what exactly is exported and how. For example, we can merge clothing into figure skeleton, which I recommend doing, or also export stuff like lights and cameras.
And after pressing “Accept” you are done, your selected object should be exported in the directory you chose earlier. To show you that everything should work I will import this figure into other 3D software – Blender.
The result is far from perfect, especially materials, but it is good enough. We transferred a pose, rig, materials, clothes and hair. There definitely are problems, but they can be fixed with a bit of work.
Daz3D Bridges
Before some time ago exporting FBX was the best way to use your 3D work from the Daz Studio in other software. But not so long ago Daz3D made Daz bridges.
Source Daz to Maya Bridge
Bridges is a series of add-ons that allow you to transfer your characters with all attached assets such as hair, clothes and even rigs in other 3D software. And it is a lot more precise than using FBX. Though it can not export animations and poses, which is inferior to .fbx.
There are Daz to Maya Bridge, Daz to 3ds Max Bridge, Daz to Cinema 4D Bridge and Daz to Blender Bridge. On each page there are small explanations on how to use this tool. And we even have a Daz to Blender Bridge Tutorial where we explained in detail how to install and use this tool and also compared it directly to FBX.
I have also transferred same character using Daz to Blender Bridge for this example:
Conclusion Daz3D to FBX
FBX is a really useful file format and no wonder that it is one of the most used in the 3D software community. It allows you to easily export your objects, materials, poses, rigs and animation between absolutely different software.
But as we saw it definitely is not ideal and can have problems with using it. So if you want to just transfer your character from the Daz Studio – it would be a lot smarter to use one of the bridge add-ons. Final results of such transfers usually have a lot better quality.