Can't have both DS3 Expressions and Autofit

fruitwort

What have I got here?

I have converted several Poser characters using GenX. These appear to be residing in a folder named GenXV4Morphs and can be accessed from my Content Library using the path Poser Formats>My Library>Figures - they can also be accessed via Windows Explorer using the path DAZ 3D\Studio\My Library\Runtime\Libraries\Character\GenXV4Morphs (both V4 and M4 characters actually are located here). There was some discussion as to how on the old DAZ Studio forum between myself and Mari-Anne which I appear to have now lost!

If I load DS4 and load one of these converted characters via the Content Library as above, I get a character in my Viewpane which appears to have all of the original Morphs accessible in DS3, e.g. Expressions which is good, but does not access the AutoFit facility which is NOT good!

If I follow the "correct" Genesis route:-

Load the Genesis figure via the Content Library - Daz Studio Formats>My Library>People>Genesis
Apply the V4 (or M4) shape using the slider in the Shaping tab.
Apply the required GenX shape using the appropriate slider.

I now have a character in the Viewpane which appears to have access to the AutoFit facility which is good, but does not have access to my multitudinous Expressions which is not good!

Is there any way that I can have the best of both worlds? That really would be something!

Richard Haseltine

Presumably the files in the Runtime\Libraries\Character folders are CR2s, which are not Genesis but (presumably) Victoria 4. You would, I think need to convert the V4 expressions too or, more simply, use the Genesis expressions which are accessed in the Parameters pane via the head bone (in general shaping morphs are on the root, dynamic morphs such as expressions or pose controls on the relevant bone). DS4.5 is not showing morphs correctly using the Shaping pane - fixing this requires an update to the morph sets.

fruitwort

Yes, they are CR2s; they are alsoboth V4 and M4. I wasn't aware that I could convert the V4 Expressions.

Are there any instructions and if so, where? 'Twould save me a lot of time, not to mention, money! :-)

Richard Haseltine

Do the Genesis expressions not work? Or are these actual presets for compound expressions (fear, anger, joy etc.) rather than the part morphs for building expressions? Converting the expression morphs should be the same as converting other morphs, but I don't have GenX so I can't give instructions.

fruitwort

Yes, the Expressions created for Genesis do, of course, work; it is those I purchased for use on DAZ3 that don't work on Genesis figures.

Ye Gods, Richard, if you don't know how to convert these Expression Morphs, what hope is there for us mere mortals! :gulp:

I take it there's nothing in the Manual. ;-P

DWG

fruitwort said:

it is those I purchased for use on DAZ3 that don't work on Genesis figures.

I don't think it will solve the issue, but a little extra detail might help.

The expressions aren't specifically for DS3, they're specific to the character (V4 or M4) they're designed for and should work on their target figure in pretty much any version of Studio.

The characters you have in Runtime\Libraries\Character\GenXV4Morphs are likely saved CR2s used to store a set of dialled morphs for transfer by Generation X, they are M4 or V4 variants, and not Genesis, which is why Autofit won't work on them and why the relevant expressions will.

The character morphs you access on a Genesis figure through the parameter dial are purely Genesis and therefore can't use V4 or M4 expressions directly.

fixmypcmike

You can convert Gen 4 expressions using GenX the same way you would convert morphs.

vwrangler

All you need to do to convert Gen4 expressions (and, presumably, Gen3, although I haven't tried that) using GenX is to drop the Preset/INJ files onto the Presets pane of GenX. Specify the figure and the output path, then click Translate. That's it. (Weirdly, doesn't work for other pose presets, as far as I've been able to tell.)

That said, the expression preset created by GenX WILL call the shape that it's designed for, unless you go into the file with a text editor and edit out that section manually. In other words, if you have an M4 character that you want to use a V4 expression with (or vice versa), then you'll wind up with, for example, a startlingly curvaceous M4 or an unexpectly NONcurvaceous V4. So to speak.

An added wrinkle for THAT is that sometimes expressions are created for a specific character, so depending on how the creator wrote the files, translating those will mean that the expression calls the complete character, not just their source shape.

fruitwort

Thanks all, particularly fixmypcmike for telling me that the conversion is possible and vwrangler for telling me how.

I will have a go at this tomorrow. In the meantime, where I have a batch of say 50, I take it I had to do them one at a time. Er, where does the converted INJ file end up Contents-wise?

DWG

Items converted by GenX end up as .dsf files in subfolders of \data\DAZ 3D\Genesis\Base\Morphs\D3D Gen X and are generally accessed via Actor/Generation X on the parameters tab with Genesis selected. I haven't tried converting expressions (yet!) so I can't be precise as to which subfolders.

fruitwort

I'm afraid it is all rather academic now as I appear to have lost my GenX when I upgraded to version 4.5 (4.5.0_49 Pro Edition (64-bit).

fruitwort

All you need to do to convert Gen4 expressions (and, presumably, Gen3, although I haven’t tried that) using GenX is to drop the Preset/INJ files onto the Presets pane of GenX. Specify the figure and the output path, then click Translate. That’s it. (Weirdly, doesn’t work for other pose presets, as far as I’ve been able to tell.)

Vwrangler, I'm afraid this doesn't work for me and it may be that you have left out some vital procedures which you assume we should know. When I click Translate, I get the message "Error Translating Pose".

Could we prevail upon you to give us fuller step-by-step instructions?

Thanks! :)