In the preferred pipeline, the information is transferred from DAZ Studio to Blender with two files: the native .duf file, which is created by DAZ Studio itself, and a .dbz file which contains the final vertex and bone locations. All relevant information is in principle present in the .duf file, but it is difficult for the importer to extract it, in particular for clothes that are fitted to the final character.
However, the final locations in world space are already known to DAZ Studio, so it is unnecessary that the job is repeated in Blender. Instead there is a custom DAZ Studio script which exports the relevant information to a .dbz file which the importer then uses. The export script is included with the Blender add-on. A .dbz (Daz-Blender-Zipped) file is a gzipped json file. Previous versions of the plug-in exported the json file in ascii format, but by gzipping it the file size is reduced to about one third. The import script on the Blender side accepts both the new .dbz files and the old unzipped .json files.
The script is located in the folder to_daz_studio and is called export_to_blender.dsa. If you installed the Blender add-on as described in the previous page, the script ended up in the Blender add-ons directory. On Windows 10, the full path is
user-name\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.83\addons\import_daz\to_daz_studio.
Alternatively, you can extract just the file export_to_blender.dsa from the zip file to any location you like, e.g. to a subfolder of the DAZ 3D folder. The important thing is that it is a permanent location where you can find the script later.
Before we can use it, we need to tell DAZ Studio about it. This is done as follows.
In DAZ Studio, select Window > Workspace > Customize.
In the customize windows that opens, right-click on Custom and select Create New Custom Action. Change the Menu Text to Export To Blender (or whatever you want to scripts name to be). Make sure that DAZ Script File is selected and press the ... button to the right.
A file selector opens. Navigate to the .dsa file and Open it.
The file name now appears in File field. Press Accept to close the dialog window.
The script now appears as a subitem under Custom. In the pane to the right, choose the Menus tab, and drag the script to the place you want it to appear. Since it is an export script, I find it natural to group it with the Import and Export menu items. Press Apply to make the changes take place, and then press Accept to close the dialog.
The new export script now appears in the File menu.
You may have noted that there is another file in the to_daz_studio folder, called export_hidef_to_blender.dsa. This is an experimental script that, in addition to the mesh at base resolution exported, also exports the subdivided mesh with all HD morphs applied. The HD mesh is mainly useful to for baking normal maps to the base mesh. It is not recommended for posing, since it is very heavy and using a subsurf modifier on the posed mesh yields better smoothing.
