Generation 5 UV's for Genesis 2: Need input for future products
Slosh
Posts: 2,391
Hello fellow Genesis fans:
I am considering making UV sets for Genesis 2 Female and Male figures to allow us to use Generation 5 (Genesis) textures that are not compatible with Gen2F (or later Gen2M). We already know that Genesis 2 Female has her own UV set and can use V5 textures, and I can't speak about Genesis 2 Male, but use your own common sense on that one.
I am concerned with textures made for Aiko 5, Stephanie 5, Hiro 5, David 5, and Freak 5, as well as the Young Teens 5. Did I forget anyone? I'm not talking about characters such as the Monstrosities or Hitomi and other non-DAZ standards.
I want to compile a list of texture sets that use these UV's to see if it is worth the time of converting the UV maps to work on Genesis 2. If there are not very many textures out there for these figures, or not much interest in a UV set for them, I need to know before I invest the considerable time and effort in making the UV sets.
So, please respond to this thread with your opinions on the matter and try to include the names of any texture sets that use these UV's. Keep in mind that you may have bought a texture for, say Aiko 5, but the UVs used are actually V4 or Base Female or something. Please list only textures that show A5, S5, D5, F5, H5, or the YT5 in the surfaces panel. I can't possibly own all of the sets out there, so I need your help. It might also be helpful to know in which order these sets should be worked on. I won't be making shape clones or anything, just converting the UVs to make the textures usable on Genesis 2.
Thanks!
Slosh
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Comments
I am a bit of a rookie in matters of UV, but I do understand the basics...
From all the figures I have loaded so far, the ones that state that they are specifically for a certain figure, will only work for that UV, like Dean for David (only works with David uv) and Elias for Genesis (only works with Michael 5 UV).
But these already say so in the name, so that's something you probable already had figured out, but it wasn't until now that I tried swapping UV's and noticed that they are very UV specific :)
So you are looking for lists that sum up which character skins use which uv's?
But aren't the used UV's already stated in all of the product descriptions on the promo pages?
Most already state for what character they are for, so I am a bit lost here as to what you are asking :)
Sorry if my question sounds a bit dump, I am also still learning ;)
But I think you mean this:
Character: Leon and the Night
UV used: M5
In most names, there is the add for the used UV already in the name, because some characters came out for different generations and had that added in their DAZ store names.
Dean for David 5: David 5 UV
Elias: M5 UV
James for M5: M5 UV
Gunner for David 5: David 5 UV
Neo for David 5: David 5 UV
Sean for David 5: David 5 UV
Takeo: Hiro 5 UV
Benjamin: M5 UV
Leon and the night: M5 UV
Phillip: M5 UV
I have some Male Media skins as well, but they use M4 UV's.
At least the ones I have.
Also, I have some skins from vendors that came from other sites.
And *gasp* I really don't have a lot of skins now I look at it like this ><</p>
I hope this helps and I didn't make a fool out of myself!
In most case, what you say is true. The product page and the title usually indicate the uvs used. But, like you also said, many of the M3dia skins that say M5 actually use M4 skins. And even in the newer Genesis 2 Female sets, you can have some confusion, like textures for The Girl 6 that actually use the Base Female uvs. So, just to remove any doubt or confusion, I would like to compile a list of textures that have been tried out and verified for the uv set that they use.
If it ends up that there are only 2 Freak 5 textures sets and 4 Stephanie 5s, then it would not be worth my while to make conversions for them. I have a feeling that the Aiko 5 textures and possibly the Stephanie 5 textures will be the most needed. Personally, I really like all of the David 5 textures that I have, and I will likely do Map Transfers for them if a demand for uv sets does not warrant my time and effort in creating the conversion.
So, I really hope to get some good responses to this thread, and a good list to start with. Thanks, Estroyer, for your contribution so far.
Ok, thanks for explaining!
And I do hope for a D5 and M5 conversion for some skins because they are quite good and I'd miss using them.
Best of luck and a before-hand thank-you :)
No problems :) I'm wondering if I should re-title the thread. Aside from yourself, no one has come in to see what is up.
Another thing... this thread is meant to find out the interest in the UV conversions more than it is to collect information. I would like to have a list of skins, yes, but it is not the main goal. That being said, by seeing just how many there are, it lets me know how large the need actually is. And I don't care if the skins are from this store or from another market place. It is not necessary to say where you bought them, just the name and what UV set it uses.
Thanks!
I'd like the flexibility to use the skins I have on the new generation, if it was not too expensive. I did buy the product to allow using V4 skins on G2F.
For your data collection:
I have 3 F5 UV skins: Freak 5, Derek, and Andrei
Well, these sets would not have an autofit clone, or a shape that can be dialed in for that character, so I wouldn't charge as much as that product costs. There was considerably more work in the V4 for G2F product. However, having done a conversion already, I know that it is a huge amount of work and attention to detail, so it's not going to be a $5 product.
Oh, and thanks for the skins list :)
More data:
Aiko 5 UV: Aiko 5, Azumi
Stephanie 5 UV: Stephanie 5 (Michelle) and Candace
Victoria 5 UV : Victoria 5 (Bree) ,Gabi, Tori, Valerie
Genesis Female: Mavka
I would buy a conversion tool, and I agree that A5, S5 and D5 are probably the highest priority for my own use, with F5 being a bit behind.
And you mentioned not worrying about Hitomi, though she does have RoboGeisha which is a personal favorite of mine. :)
It all depends on how much I can streamline the process. The last one I did took me about 9 days for the initial mapping, then close to another week to match seams, etc and get it "just right". Hopefully, with each new character/uv I tackle, it will get easier. I did learn a few shortcuts and tricks the first time around, maybe I will learn a few more on these. If so, I might be able to expand it to the "fringe" characters, with their creators' permission, of course. I definitely don't want to step on any toes or violate copyright issues. As for A5, D5, etc, I only need to get DAZ permission.
Actually, outside of V5 & M5, none of the other figures really got many skins. Someone once told me that none of the other character got as much as 5 UV characters!
This whole idea that every character needs their own UV set was a terrible idea and there's no reason why it had to be done. You'd think with Genesis 2 being two separate figure like Gen 4 they'd have only two UV sets again, but nope, even now each character has a separate UV, meaning that this will be an issue during Gen 7 as well.
Just to be clear, you're talking about doing the sort of UV remap that was done for V4/G2F by Mallen Lane, and not something like Texture Converter 2, right?
Would I be interested in getting UV remaps for my Gen5 characters so that they all worked on Gen6? Yes, and I would probably pay for that, depending on price.
That said, are there actually enough Gen5 textures other than M5/V5 for it to be at all worthwhile as a commercial product? There are five D5 texture sets, counting his default. I think there are either four or five F5 textures, counting his default. (Not sure about Butch.) There are four H5 textures, counting his default. (If you go on the store front, then go to DAZ Originals in the side menu, then people, Hiro isn't even listed any more. He's kind of getting disappeared.) There are a few more S5, I think, and a few more A5. And that's it. None of the UV sets besides M5 and V5 got much traction in that generation. (There isn't a Young Teens UV.)
In other stores, almost all the textures for Genesis are M4/V4, because other stores cater more strongly to Poser users, who couldn't do anything with Gen5 until DSON.
How would that all work for you?
This could be the case, which is why this thread is important to me. If I take 2 weeks to make a uv set for a character so that it will work with Genesis 2 and only 20 people buy it, then I've wasted my time and a lot of eye strain and carpal tunnel, lol.
Just to be clear, you're talking about doing the sort of UV remap that was done for V4/G2F by Mallen Lane, and not something like Texture Converter 2, right?
Would I be interested in getting UV remaps for my Gen5 characters so that they all worked on Gen6? Yes, and I would probably pay for that, depending on price.
That said, are there actually enough Gen5 textures other than M5/V5 for it to be at all worthwhile as a commercial product? There are five D5 texture sets, counting his default. I think there are either four or five F5 textures, counting his default. (Not sure about Butch.) There are four H5 textures, counting his default. (If you go on the store front, then go to DAZ Originals in the side menu, then people, Hiro isn't even listed any more. He's kind of getting disappeared.) There are a few more S5, I think, and a few more A5. And that's it. None of the UV sets besides M5 and V5 got much traction in that generation. (There isn't a Young Teens UV.)
In other stores, almost all the textures for Genesis are M4/V4, because other stores cater more strongly to Poser users, who couldn't do anything with Gen5 until DSON.
How would that all work for you?
Hmm, I think this is what I was afraid of, and possibly even the reason DAZ hasn't done this themselves. A total of 25-30 textures spread out over 5 characters is not likely to have a huge demand for UV sets. And yes, I was talking about the MallenLane sort of UV conversion, not a texture converter, which DAZ Studio already has built-in.
And even then, reject DSON almost flat-out, mind you.
Honestly, I don't see a market for this kind of product. Getting it done, and done really well, will take time. And yet there are so few skins that use the alternate UVs, I just can't see how that would make back the time and effort spent.
Having all these separate UVs, as has already been pointed out, is really kind of pointless on DAZ's part. 95% of all skins are for V4, even if its not the most optimal layout any more. Then you have small but growing selection of V5 skins, since those work with both Genesis and G2F. The rest of the characters DAZ has released with alternate skins have all had pretty much zero third-party support after the initial product/bundle launch. For a vendor to use these alternate skins is far too risky, since you've made what is already a niche market even more niche by requiring end-users to have purchased the extra UV. And most characters really don't see much benefit from the custom UVs; it only really makes sense for the extreme shapes (Troll, Freak, the monstrosities and so forth).
Personally, I don't have a single skin that I actively use that isn't V4 or V5 based. I would have zero reason to purchase this product.
If you really want to take on a UV project, the only thing that comes to mind to me is a UV to use Dawn skins on G2F. In particular, the fingernails for Dawn are split out and given much better resolution. But lackluster as Dawn has been, she's the first figure that seems to have gained some traction against V4 over in the Poser side of the world. So I can see there being a decent selection of Dawn skins over time.
Thank you for your response. This is the type of honest, well put opinion I was looking for. I think I will backburner this project until I start seeing a real demand for it. Cheers
Ahem,
You do know exactly which UV needs attention. That's your product.
I'll leave it to everyone to figure out which one actually needs it. ;)
LOL. Yes, sir!