Compatible figures and required products. How restrictive are these?
pjlightning
Posts: 15
OK, Hi. New user here.
I'm trying to gather the bits I need to construct figures for my Indie Fantasy novel. (Two albinos in black cloaks with swords, two dark skinned warrior types in armour with swords (or in roman style clothing plus swords would do.), 1 man and 1 woman of each.
I am finding it very frustrating that I find things that would look good but the product page says (for example) 'compatible figures' Victoria 4/Michael 4. It may also say something like 'required products' xyz body morphs and facial morphs. Sometimes it may say something like 'required product' Michael 4.
So, the question. If it says compatible with Victoria 4, does that mean that it will not work on Genesis 3? Or will that thing in the Daz window that you can use to make something fit (sorry, I can't remember what it actually says and I'm not able to run the program right now to find out) be able to adjust it to Genesis 3?
I assume that when it says required products then it actually will not work at all without those products. Is that right?
Thank you.
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Comments
Yes, they will only work for their generation, unless you migrate them using either DAZ-built-in tools like Auto-Fit, or additional plugins like GenX2 or the add on UVs.
There are options to make things work in other generations, though. https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/64403/converting-to-g1-g2-g3-g8#latest
Here's a useful overview over the figures: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/24257/daz-3d-human-figures-a-history#latest
Are you talking about the required products or the compatible products? I don't know which bit you are answering.
I read your links, but I'm none the wiser. It's all Greek to me. I have no idea what any of that means in terms of knowing whether I can use a product with the G3 nad G8 figures.
So if it says it's compatible with Victoria 4, will it also load on Genesis 3 or 8?
Mm... okay...., how to phrase this (as those two links are the best explanation there)...
Each figure has its own rigging (that is the invisible "skeleton"). The rigging is different between Michael/Victoria4, Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Genesis 3 and Genesis 8.
Clothing and hair is also rigged with the "skeleton" of the generation it was made for. The rigging also includes so-called "weight maps" that tell the "figure" how it will react when the "joints" bend. So, any clothing or hair will work the best in the generation it was made for. If you want to use clothing on a different generation, you will need so-called "clones" that allow Autofit to translate the bone structure of one generation to another.
The downside is that you will lose all extra bones in theclothing or hair that was included fore moves, like skirts or ponytails.
Poses manipulate the bones, and so the poses also work best for the generation they were made for.
Here's some examples, and I want to point out that I have clones installed for the clothing, or this wouldn't work at all. This also doesn't address shape morphs and skins/UV maps, as they are covered better by the other threads.
The ladies in their base pose:
Applying a V4 pose to the other generations: Slight hand/feet problems in G1 and G2, serious problems in G3 and G4
Applying a G8 pose to the older generations: Much Mayham ensues in all the other generations, even G3, due to the different base pose of G8.
Clothing: This dress was made for V4. Notice the distortions, especially in the groin area, that are caused by the Autofit.
Hair: As long as you remain in base pose, hair usually translates pretty good between generations. Here's a V4 long hair. The problems start when you move the figure, as you'll end up with distortions.
A side note on required products, it might list more than one required product but that does not necessarily mean you need to own ALL of them, it only means that you need to own all of them to use all parts of the product. So for example if a texture requires both the morphing fantasy dress and the hooded cloak, but you own only the cloak, you could purchase it for just the cloak textures and just not use the morphing fantasy dress textures.
There may also be cases where products for one generation can be used on another, but it would be best to ask somebody who has them to verify. For example there might be a hat intended to fit one generation that you can simple physically reposition to an approximate corresponding position for a different character, and even though it doesn't exactly fit, maybe for your viewing angle it doesn't even matter because you can't tell. If it is a product that just loads into the scene ad a predefined position in space and doesn't actually change shape to fit, you don't have to worry about autofit distorting it. Similarly you can cancel autofit entirely and then just manually move an item, however this is not effective if the object is supposed to move with the figure's pose (clothing, long hair, etc.) . Some things are far easier to mash onto the wrong figure than others; a necklace would be very hard since it depends on the shape of the neck and chest, a hat might be easy since it's just resting perched on top regardless of shape, etc.
Don't want to start a new topic, because my problem is kinda related to the one of the OP:
There are quite a few Characters for DazStudio available. Some can be applied to the basic G3F figure. Others ask for Victoria 7 (= the Victoria for the G3F figure) or other "named" figures.
If I would now apply one of these characters, which require Victoria 7 to the basic G3F figure, what would be the outcome?
I'm asking, because I'm on a limited budget and right now I would prefer to work with the G3F figure and already got some stuff for her (Body and Head mod plugin and "anatomical parts" *cough*) which I (probably?) can't use on the Victoria 7 model, which would mean a further investment in stuff I kinda already have...
The shape will certainbly be differenct, in most cases for Genesis 3 (the 7 characters) the materials will work correctly. With the previous generations (Genesis and Genesis 2) add-ons were much more likely to use the custom UVs for the named character, and in those cases the materials would not work correctly without the character.
That's the important part for me, thanks for clarification.
Tried some freebie "figures" available, and it works quite well with G3/V7.
Being able to use textures from other figures and changeing the look with the help of face/body morphs is a great help.