Why are there so many face/ body products?
twin0mega
Posts: 2
This may be a n00b question, but I come from a traditional 3d background of Maya / Zbrush. My main question here is why are there so many face/ body products? It's obvious that the hair and clothes products are all unique for instance, but the "characters" faces/ bodies all use the same base DAZ UV/ poly maps right? So, then are all the unique characters just morphs?
For example, if I'm starting with Victoria 8, can I use that base mesh through using morph controls to achieve the same faces found on characters such as Amy-Lee, Lainey, Duffy, or Elizabeth? I'm aware that each character has their own texture files, which are unique to those characters. But can those same looks be achieved through just morphing?
As for the bodies, I ask the same question. Aren't all body's using the same base meshes? And if so, can't they be made from morphs alone?
Lastly, the Iray lighting products found throughout. Are they simply presets, like the poses are?
I ask all of this because there are hundreds upon hundreds of products on here. If they're basically just morphs and presets, then I can skip buying those and focus on buying unique products, like the clothes and/or hair. I appreciate all your replies. Thank you.
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Comments
Most of the figures are unique morphs from one of several figure base meshes.
Sometimes figures are 'dialed' -- composed of other morphs, but that's not very common.
One advantage to bothering with unique figures is that it adds to options with that figure base -- you can dial some of this figure, some of that, and then a few other morphs.
Many of the morph products, (like Zev0's Shape Shift products, for example,) contain custom morphs created by the vendor. These give you even more choices for the look of your character, and can be applied to any figure within the generation/sex they were created for. For those of us who don't use other programs, (and I am including myself,) these products are invaluable.
a lot of them are sculpted in Zbush
in the case of HD morphs at a higher resolution than the base figures
as only PA's have access to the HD tool to do this if you want that particular look you need to buy that character as it cannot be dialed up or shaped by you.
There are a ton of preset products in the stores and these are mainly popular because many of the DS users either don't have the skill to create for themslves or don't want to spend the time. For lots of the newer character sets from more experienced vendors, the faces and bodies are custom shaped in ZBrush or other modelers, those are the ones I tend to look at getting since I can create what I want with the base morphs myself.
With lighting, many are presets, but there are a few from more knowledgable vendors that do give you more. If you have the time figure out IRAY on your own first and this will give you a better understanding of what more you will need/want and can then see if it's available.
i come from a 3D modeling background and most of my purchases are core utilities, clothes, hair and environments
Thanks all.
How do you identify what is a unique character versus one made from morphs?
One thing is the price and the other aspect is the required products needed? If it is cheap and requires a morph package(s) then it is probably dialled.
If it does not come with textures and are just dial presets then it would be cheaper than brand new morphs with no textures.
Some PA's say something like "custom sculpted" about the character shape in the product info, which means they've created something using more than just dialled up morphs.
A figure created by another person may have features you would not have thought to put in yourself.
The main benefits of morphs can be seen in full body morphs (FBMs) as they are highly "reusable". Say, if you want to vary the muscle size/tone of your character, you don't have to start changing the size/tone of each muscle of the body in your modeling program. The desired effect can be achieved by dialing a single slider (for the entire body or each muscle group). Then ofcourse there are age related morphs which can make the entire character look younger or older without remodeling or retexturing (to some extent).
Many clothing items are created keeping (some of those) morphs in mind which means that those clothing morphs should look acceptable when those morphs are dialled in your character. Though autofit works even for unsuported morphs, but the results may not always be acceptable.
It doesnt matter much whether the character is custom sculpted or built using a combination of morphs. I know some vendors at Rendo who only sell characters shape presets based on morphs available here and their characters look almost as convincing as custom sculpted ones. In fact, characters built using morph presets are more customizable i.e. have the advantage that you can independently tweak each associated morph without effecting the other morphs which define that character. On the other hand, custom built characters do not provide you the advantage to apply their morphs partially (other than head/entire body).
Very good to know. Thank you all. I see so many characters that look a lot alike and kept thinking, what's the point of 4 characters that look near identical, or with minor changes. I think all of your advice has been helpful. Thanks!