Blender keeps creating new Mat zones when importing into Poser

[eclark1894]

I'm hoping someone can either give me the answer to solve this issue, or have an insight into why the problem exists.When I import an object into poser from Blender, Blender will create new material zone. How do I stop this?


eclark1895

 

[3WC]

Are the materials named with, for example, "material-name-vertex_group_name_001"? For some reason that happens when you have textures applied to your uvs in blender. I always make sure to go into uv editing mode before export and x out or break any link to texture maps. If I was on my computer i would give you a screenshot, but am on my tablet.

 

[eclark1894]

Here's a screen shot from within Poser. I've drawn arrows to the names that Blender (or Poser) added to the material zones.

 

[tonyvilters]

None and None .001 => this comes from Blender. You had 2 object files loaded with the same Material zone name, so Blender added the 001 to the second obj file.
Stone_Stonewallllllllllll, sorry that is something you did. Neither Blender nor Poser use such a system.

Best to recheck all mat zone names before exporting from Blender. if you see a 001 added? Delete the second/obsolete obj from Blender, and rename the Mat zone.

Mat zone names are in 2 places. The obj file and the cr2.
If the mat zone names between obj and cr2 are different? Poser will load both mat zone names.
So best to clean out all mat zones from the cr2, and let Poser load them from the obj file.

 

[eclark1894]

All right, thanks Tony. BTW, the Stonewallll was from a map that I had previously loaded in Blender. I thought it had been deleted so maybe Blender saw it and added it back in, or I just didn't delete it was well as I thought.

 

[eclark1894]

Okay, I checked the material file that Blender creates with the obj. file. Sure enough I found the offending lines that tell Poser to load the material zone because Blender thought there was a UV map attached.

newmtl Stone_stonewallllll.png
Ns 94.117647
Ka 1.000000 1.000000 1.000000
Kd 0.800000 0.430061 0.002374
Ks 0.500000 0.500000 0.500000
Ke 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ni 1.000000
d 1.000000
illum 2
map_Kd C:\Dawn House\stonewallllll.png

 

[tonyvilters]

Good Earl, happy Rendering.

 

[eclark1894]

Good Earl, happy Rendering.

Oh, I haven't SOLVED the problem yet... just FOUND it.

 

[Miss B]

You know, I've always wondered if an MTL file could be edited, but I guess not, because then it wouldn't coincide with the OBJ file, so it's the OBJ that has to be edited.

Good luck Earl. I've not had to export anything with so many matzones, so have no words of wisdom for you.

 

[eclark1894]

Okay, I still don't know WHY Blender's creating all these extra MAT zones, but I have figured out how to get rid of them. I have to go into both the mtl file AND the obj. file and delete the extra zone names from both of them. You can open those files with Notepad on the PC or Textedit on the Mac.

 

[Miss B]

Oh, yes, I did open an OBJ file once, just out of curiosity. I wasn't sure if it was a plain text, or compiled, file.

I'm not sure why Blender would do that, but as I stated above, I've never created anything that large before. Even the outside castle wall I did from a tutorial when I first got Blender 2.52, didn't have that many pieces, and the second part of the tutorial used projection for texturing. I assume because a lot of folks render their scenes in Blender as well, so they do their actual texturing in Blender, and I guess projection is the way to go. ~shrugs~

 

[Robynsveil]

One thing you could do is - in Blender - go into edit mode and select by material. If nothing is high-lighted, delete the material (in obj mode). Also, you might have a look at the vertex groups... make sure they aren't all over the place.
Editing the OBJ and MTL files is risky business, but it can be done with search and replace. You'll find that things can be rather higgledy-piggledy in those files, so just finding one reference to a material doesn't mean you've seen all instances. NotePad++ is brilliant for editing this sort of thing, BTW.

 

[eclark1894]

One thing you could do is - in Blender - go into edit mode and select by material. If nothing is high-lighted, delete the material (in obj mode). Also, you might have a look at the vertex groups... make sure they aren't all over the place.
Editing the OBJ and MTL files is risky business, but it can be done with search and replace. You'll find that things can be rather higgledy-piggledy in those files, so just finding one reference to a material doesn't mean you've seen all instances. NotePad++ is brilliant for editing this sort of thing, BTW.

The problem is that for some reason, the material would be split up. Part of it would be in one mat zone and another would be in another. Confused the heck out of me until I did exactly what you said. I still don't know why but Blender was splitting them up and creating new zones. The only way to fix it seem to be to go in and remove the extra names from BOTH the mtl. file and the obj. file.

 

[Morkonan]

You know, I've always wondered if an MTL file could be edited, but I guess not, because then it wouldn't coincide with the OBJ file, so it's the OBJ that has to be edited...

I know this has been awhile, but I just wanted to say that you can absolutely edit a .mtl file. It only has display options for each material listed in the .obj file and relative pointers for any texture files that were assigned to those materials. There are no coordinate-specific pointers or geometry references in a .mtl. (Material coordinates are stored in the .obj file) So, if one had two objects, each with the same names for material zones and named the same, the mtl files would be interchangeable, no matter if they actually differed in topology or not. That doesn't mean the results would be the same, but they'd dutifully load the materials listed in the .mtl and apply them in the application for either object.

Most programs compliant with Wavefront Object standards will attempt to load the materials designated by the .mtl file if that file is present in the same directory as its object. (Also, all 3D programs accepting .obj files will generate a "default" application-specific material for the object so it can be visually seen, if no materials are specified.) But, the .mtl file is basically not necessary for anything other than giving a compatible program a few values for simple material settings and pointing the program to where any assigned textures are stored. If one is going to be applying more advanced materials or doesn't need those references, it's generally acceptable to just delete the old .mtl file. It will have no effect on the wavefront.obj, but any basic material settings will be lost.

Programs that export wavefront object files will either automatically generate or have a switch for generating an accompanying .mtl file or other app-specific material file. For myself, I find .mtl files annoying as they tend to create problems/confusion when working with objects in programs that have advanced material settings and customized material file-types. Apps will usually try to load .mtl settings if present for a .obj file, which can cause conflicts with any customized material settings/filetypes created in the app for that object. Because of this, I routinely delete all .mtl files for objects that I'm going to be importing into a program where I will be making custom materials and using the program's specific file-type to apply them. (ie: For instance, Wavefront objects for Poser should never have accompanying .mtl files and should, instead, use Poser's own material file type for assigning material values. The same should be true of DS an other, similar, programs that have their own material file types.)

PS - I don't "Blender", by the way. Though, I'm going to have to learn it. But, the Wavefront object specs are the same, anyway.

 

[Miss B]

Apps will usually try to load .mtl settings if present for a .obj file, which can cause conflicts with any customized material settings/filetypes created in the app for that object. Because of this, I routinely delete all .mtl files for objects that I'm going to be importing into a program where I will be making custom materials and using the program's specific file-type to apply them.

I never copy the .MTL file with the .OBJ file into my Poser or DS Geometries folders, so I've never come across an instance where I had extra material zones I hadn't created. I usually just ignore the .MTL files altogether.

PS - I don't "Blender", by the way. Though, I'm going to have to learn it.

If you haven't had a chance to check them out, be sure to check out my ever growing list of Blender Help, Forums and Tutorials list at the top of this forum. I'm sure you'll find some to get you going with Blender.

 

[Janet]

Took me most of the day to figure this out but look in this area. There were duplicates from the object I imported I think. They each had mat zones and a couple with NONE. Go to edit mode to delete those.

 

[Miss B]

OK Janet, I'm a bit confused. This screenshot you uploaded isn't showing any mat zones. Those items listed with your Sphere.005 are parts of the Sphere. IOW, it looks to me as if it's set up to be light emitter, and has an aura, which is also part of lighting, and the casing is the outer shell of the Sphere. I'm not sure what an "alarm" would be, as I've not seen that before.

You don't say if the Sphere was exported from Poser as an OBJ, and then imported into Blender. It also looks like you're using an older version of Blender, like my 2.79. Lately I've been using 2.93.6, and the UI is totally different now.

Anyway, I just exported the Poser Primitive GeoSphere, and imported it into Blender 2.79, and that's all I'm seeing in the Outliner.

I didn't set up any specific settings for exporting from Poser, or importing to Blender, did you?

Or is this something you downloaded from somewhere?

 

[Janet]

Yah I should have taken a screen shot before I fixed it. Next time I see it I will. When you click the plus signs next to an obj it shows the mats. I'm still using 2.79. It's something I modeled in Blender.

 

[Miss B]

Ohhhh, OK. I tried importing from Poser and didn't see any mat zones, because I don't do UV mapping in Poser. I don't think there's a way to do so.

 

[Janet]

An obj imported from Poser would keep the mat zones. Look in this area or something like it.