Character prerequisites and possible compatibility with Genesis

NotAnArtistNotAnArtist Posts: 367
edited December 1969 in New Users

I just bought "V4 and M4 Shapes for Genesis," and it brought a question to mind. If this product actually puts those shapes onto the Genesis figure, then does it also fill the requirement for models that require a V4 or M4 morph?

For example, I'd like to get "Dulce for V4.1." She requires "Victoria 4.2 Morphs++." But, maybe the product I just bought is all I need to acquire that prerequisite. Or am I completely misunderstanding how these things function?

In that same context, what about older characters? I have a few pixie-like models which require "Aiko 3," "Millenium Kids," etc. Is there a method, or a product, that can make them compatible with the new Genesis, instead?

I'm fascinated with Genesis and its claimed flexibility. But I'm still very new at DAZ, so it's almost impossible to plan what products to buy and which paths to take in learning this stuff. My goal is eventually to create my own characters. My bizarre imagination needs to be put to use!

I tried a few search terms and didn't find this subject previously discussed, which surprises me. Thanks, folks, for any help and info that ya' all might be able to offer.

Comments

  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,331
    edited June 2012

    It depends on the character/product. You can use Dulce's texture on Genesis, but if you want to apply her shape/morph, you'll also need to use Generation X: http://www.daz3d.com/shop/genesis-generation-x/. (not sure if the Victoria 4.2 Morphs ++ are also required to make this work).


    Some characters are built to be used with V4 or Genesis (or M4 or Genesis). These often require the V4 and M4 shapes, but since they are Genesis characters, you won't need to get GenX for them.

    Post edited by Scott Livingston on
  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,565
    edited December 1969

    Textures for V4, M4, and K4 work on Genesis, no additional purchase needed. Textures for 3rd Generation figures cannot be used on Genesis directly, but if you use Texture Converter 2 to convert them to V4 you can then use the converted textures on Genesis.

    Morphs are normally figure-specific. If you have GenX you can convert M4 and V4 morphs for Genesis -- you'll need the M4 and V4 shapes to have those morphs look the same on Genesis, and you'll need to own the morphs (e.g. V4 morphs++). If you also have the Gen 3 Update for GenX, the 3rd Generation Shapes for Genesis, and the morph packs for the 3rd Generation figures, you can do the same with 3rd Generation figures.

    Clothing for M4, V4, and K4 can be autofit to Genesis without needing anything else (except autofit, which is included in DS4Pro). For 3rd Generation clothing, the 3rd Generation Shapes for Genesis also give you the autofit clones for those shapes.

  • HatBHatB Posts: 76
    edited December 1969

    Is GenX compatible yet with the DS 4.5?

  • scorpioscorpio Posts: 8,299
    edited December 1969

    HatB said:
    Is GenX compatible yet with the DS 4.5?

    From what I heard (I may be wrong) it won't be possible for the vender to update it until the official DS4.5 is released

  • cybertommycybertommy Posts: 10
    edited December 1969

    Okay-cool --- question for Mike --- and to get Ken's input too, and anybody else's opinion.

    Suggestions please --- the computer I was working DAZ on crashed
    and now I would like to convert totally to Genesis on my new computer.

    I have a bunch of Generation 4 stuff.
    So what do I need so as to convert my Gen 4 stuff for use in Genesis?

    I see that Ken bought “V4 and M4 Shapes for Genesis."
    That to make V4/M4 look like themselves in Genesis, right?
    What else do I need --- and what are your opinions on going totally Genesis?

  • scorpioscorpio Posts: 8,299
    edited December 1969

    Gen X transfers morphs from the gen 4 figures so if you have gen 4 characters etc you can transfer them over. As said earlier textures are usable on Genesis and clothes can be autofitted or converted using the transfer ustility.

    Genesis has a range of characters and morph sets availble. It depends on the sort of characters you like doing. But things like the creature morphs can be tracsfered from the Gen4 to Genesis, I don't know how successful this is as I got the Genesis Creature Morphs.

    If you have any Gen 3 clothes you can purchase the Gen 3 shapes for Genesis and with it comes the Clone so Gen 3 clothes can be autofitted.


    I've gone totally Genesis and wouldn't go back. I find Genesis very easy to work with and I love the extended clothing it has and just its overall versatility.

  • NotAnArtistNotAnArtist Posts: 367
    edited December 1969

    OK, here's what I gather regarding the products mentioned in the above comments:
    1)
    - "V4 and M4 Shapes for Genesis" transfers the V4 & M4 shape morphs onto the basic Genesis figure, so that they look the same in Genesis.
    - "Genesis GenX" transfers morphs from legacy figures like V4 & M4 onto the basic Genesis figure, so that they look the same in Genesis.
    ...
    Heyyyy, wait a minute! They both do the same thing! And yet, GenX requires the other product! What gives here?
    2)
    Regarding "V4.2 Morphs++," it looks like it only fine-tunes V4's morphs a bit. Couldn't we accomplish this with the tools we already have by default within DAZ? Or better yet, use "Genesis Evolution: Morph Bundle," which was recently on sale. Am I again misunderstanding something? How severely tied to V4.2-Morphs++ could Dulce be?
    3)
    And since I have "Aiko 3 Base," then none of the above products will make it work for characters based on it? I need "GenX AddOn Gen3 For A3 & H3 Yada-Yada?" ... Oh, wait. It's only $5.95! Never mind!

    But still, the whole slew of cool little pixies & kids that required "Millenium Kids" or "Preschool" or "Young Teens" or whatever... How do those fit into this picture? Some great artists put their talents into those figures, and unless my newness deceives me, it must have been relatively hard work. Shouldn't those be made transferable to Genesis?

    Thanks, everyone, for your responses. If you can update me on what I'm misunderstanding or where I can go for better understanding, thank you very much. While the new models are fascinating, I need a wider variety of characters, and I would miss the young-uns that used to be popular. But beyond that, I wonder why no one has thought of creating caricatures of famous people. Oops, I just gave away one of my ideas! Forget I said that!

  • cybertommycybertommy Posts: 10
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Scorpio !!!

    Ken:: Does this GenX thing require V4M4 Shapes for Genesis?
    And
    ***Regarding “V4.2 Morphs++,” it looks like it only fine-tunes V4’s morphs a bit.***
    Do you mean, in Genesis? Or in Daz3+ --- because in old Daz morphs++ fine tunes V4M4... ...a lot.
    Do morphs++ transfer to Genesis...or is there no need?

    Scorpio said:
    As said earlier textures are usable on Genesis and clothes can be autofitted or converted using the transfer ustility.

    And does the transfer utility comes with Daz4.+ software that runs the Genesis characters?
    In that, I means to ask advice --- what extras do I need to get to transfer all the older stuff to Genesis, aside from v4m4 Shapes for Genesis? Anything?

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Hmmm... If you have lots of Generation 4 (V4,M4,H4,F4 ect..) and Generation 3 (V3,A3,M3 ect..) stuff then yes I would go with Gen X. It will transfer Morphs++ and even custom characters to the new Genesis figure. If you are new to DAZ 3D and just starting with only Genesis stuff I would only go for the V4 M4 and all the other character shapes for Genesis. You have V4,M4 and V3,M3,A3 ready to go, you have all the old morphs built for Genesis so no need for Morphs++ and the Tranfer utility and Autofit will fit loads of clothes to Genesis. The New Genesis clothes will fit every Genesis. If you are new to DS I would stick with Genesis only items and not worry about the Gen 4 or Gen 3 Models themselfs or the addons for them. You can do 90% of all that with all the Genesis items you can get now.

  • cybertommycybertommy Posts: 10
    edited December 1969

    Jaderail --- thank you. And... allow me another quest for advice from everyone.

    My former computer crashed and I am starting over with a blank slate.
    I do have a lot of Gen-4 stuff --- but now I want to run just Genesis on the new machine.
    So, how do I use Gen-X to install the old stuff into Genesis?
    Or --- is GenX just for transferring what is already installed (like, on Daz3+)?

    And --- am I correct to assume that if I use GenX to transfer things like V4 And M4 then there's not much need...to buy these "shapes" for Genesis?

    Or is Genesis just that much better?

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    It all depends on what you can or are willing to spend. Myself I have over $3000 US invested in my Gen3 and Gen4 models and items to go with them. If you are invested heavy like I am then the money for Gen X would be a good buy. You could take all your Gen4 items and transfer them to the new Genesis character. If you are not invested like I am the best way to go would be Genesis only.

    That is my opinion.

    You could save money by just getting the Gen4 Shapes and other addons for the Genesis Character. I think it is a much better model just because it can be V4 or V5 and even V3 if you buy those Shapes/Morphs for the Genesis Character. It now has lot's of morphs that will do everything the Gen4 and Gen3 characters could, okay most of them. Also all the Genesis clothing will fit ALL the Genesis shapes. Ever wish to put a Dress on a M4? With Genesis you just load a Male shape and a Genesis Dress, Man in a dress. It fits, it looks right and you do not need hours to make it fit the model it was not built to fit.

    The Genesis character also can be many other shapes besides V4 or M4. It can be a Werewolf or any creature that a shape has been made for it. And all the clothes will fit properly. Need a dwarf in plate armor? Genesis can do it. You do not need a Dwarf character and clothes made to just fit that model. If you buy Plate armor for Genesis the armor will fit any character you can turn Genesis into.

    Also the Genesis character is weight mapped. It will LOOK so much better when posed than the older Gen4 or Gen3 models do.

    I hope this helps you decide what you need to do.

  • murgatroyd314murgatroyd314 Posts: 1,429
    edited December 1969

    kenkoy said:
    OK, here's what I gather regarding the products mentioned in the above comments:
    1)
    - "V4 and M4 Shapes for Genesis" transfers the V4 & M4 shape morphs onto the basic Genesis figure, so that they look the same in Genesis.
    - "Genesis GenX" transfers morphs from legacy figures like V4 & M4 onto the basic Genesis figure, so that they look the same in Genesis.
    ...
    Heyyyy, wait a minute! They both do the same thing! And yet, GenX requires the other product! What gives here?
    The V4/M4 shapes, without GenX, will give you ONLY the default shape for use with Genesis.
    The shapes, with GenX, will let you recreate any morphed V4 or M4 figure using Genesis.
    GenX, without the shapes, will not work, as it needs the shapes to serve as its base for calculating the Genesis morphs.

    2)
    Regarding "V4.2 Morphs++," it looks like it only fine-tunes V4's morphs a bit. Couldn't we accomplish this with the tools we already have by default within DAZ? Or better yet, use "Genesis Evolution: Morph Bundle," which was recently on sale. Am I again misunderstanding something? How severely tied to V4.2-Morphs++ could Dulce be?


    Dulce is essentially a set of dial positions for the morphs in V4.0 Morphs++, meaning it is useless without them. You could probably make a very similar figure using the Evolution morphs, but it would be a lot of work. The V4 shape plus GenX will do the hard part for you (assuming you own everything needed for Dulce to work on V4).
  • NotAnArtistNotAnArtist Posts: 367
    edited December 1969

    Cybertommy,
    I've had basically the same questions as you. I'm new, too, and too new.
    I was wrong about V4.2 Morphs++. I misunderstood its description on its sales page. Please don't trust ANYTHING I think I understand.
    ...
    Jaderail,
    I do have a few items of Generation V3, M3, A3. So you're right about the value of getting GenX-AddOn-Gen3 for updating the Gen3 items... I'll wait for a sale.
    ...
    Murgatroyd,
    Aha, so GenX lets us recreate *MORPHED* V4/M4 characters that are built *FROM* the basic V4/M4 shapes!
    So we first use "V4/M4 Shapes for Genesis" to create the basic V4/M4 shape. Then GenX applies our various purchased character morphs to it. Thanks!!
    (I don't remember having this much trouble *THINKING* in High School!).
    Thanks also for the Dulce info. Attempting to make a similar figure from Evolution's morphs might be a good learning experience.
    If I ever get good at this stuff, I'm going to write simple tutorials that idiots can understand! Then I'll test them on myself.
    ...
    So you folks have no ideas about the Millenium Teens, Kids & Preschool characters, hah? I'd like to make use of that investment. They're old, but no one's making Genesis models that look as pixie-ish, yet human, not toonish. Perfect for some of my story ideas. Besides, I believe the artists that created them deserve to have their work transferable to Genesis. They did some beautiful work. So, just saying.

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,565
    edited December 1969

    I hope they will be making Genesis Shapes for the kids, as well as Michael 2 and Victoria 2. I haven't heard anything about that, so I imagine if they do it won't be for a while, but you never know, they might spring it on us without warning.

Sign In or Register to comment.