goodbye 2009 workflow! Now what!?

StratDragon

Im patiently (not) waiting for my new GPU* to ship so I can actually use Iray on a card that was not decommissioned in 2009 and update to my workflow, but and after perusing the store last night I have no idea what I need to invest in since so much has changed, but here’s what I’d like to do:

Base figure to replace V4 (is it Gen8? Is it Victoria 8? Is it something else?)

An Iray texture set to get me started. Basically, a base for Photoshop tweaks if I need versatility

The ability to get detail like wrinkles on palms and soles, etc.

The ability to create my own expressions, body features, ethnicities without resorting to pre-made figures if I don’t need to. Essentially Morph Targets if that’s still a thing.

Very basic clothing. Are CR2’s still a thing? (I told you it's been a long time)

Thank you in advance if you can help.

Extra bonus question, has anyone used IRay with Blender 2.8 yet?

• Going from a GTS-250 1GB DDR3 with 128 CUDA cores to a 1060Ti 6GB DDR6 with 1536 CUDA cores.

lulamfada

I'm not sure I can answer all your questions, but the base figures you'll probably want to work with are the free Genesis 3 or 8, depending on your preferences. 8 has HD expressions, but add-ons for 3 are more likely to go on sale. They're fairly similar otherwise, from my experience.

Both of these figures come with Iray textures that you could adjust in PS--if you're looking for more of a merchant resource, I believe there was one by Hinkypunk for Genesis 3 (https://www.daz3d.com/build-a-babe-skin-texture-merchant-resource). The textures for 3 and 8 are essentially identical except, for some reason, the eyes.

On palm and foot details, I'll have to pass to someone who pays more attention to details. :)

For basic clothing, it depends on what sort of clothing you're looking for. Ironman13 made some versatile sets of everyday clothing (Jeans, skirt, t-shirt type sets). I'm afraid I never really understood what a CR2 was since I started with Genesis, so this might not be what you mean.

I hope that's at least some help. Congrats on upgrading your system!

Matt_Castle

StratDragon said:

Base figure to replace V4 (is it Gen8? Is it Victoria 8? Is it something else?)

The base figure is Genesis 8 Female (which is free). Since the start of the Genesis generations, the Victorias are now figures built upon the respective Genesis base (although there are then additional figures that then use the Victoria shapes as a starting point).

As for the rest of it, the long and the short of it is that G8 is several steps of development upon V4.
Although the exact technologies in use have been refined and changed, and there aren't exactly the same assets on sale, almost all of the features you can expect from V4 can be found on G8F, and many more besides. (For example, with the right addons, G8F can actually wear V4 clothing). There are very few things you can expect of V4 that G8F can't do one way or another.

As far as starting your library I'd strongly suggest the base Daz body, face and expression add-ons, as well as looking at getting some of the Pro Bundles (although ideally on a good sale! 60-70% off is not that infrequent for bundles) in order to fill out a few selections of hair and clothes. That'll also give you several choices of textures from all the characters bundled in.

Unless you want to go nuts, you don't need all of the Pro Bundles, just pick a few that have the most useful items in them.

diogenese19348

At this point I'd go with Genesis 8.  Not only is it current, but it looks like it is the going to be longer than a two year cycle on it, and with scripts that are out you can probably reuse a lot of the hair and clothes you have for V4 on it.  Also it has been out long enough there are some pretty cool deals on some of the older items.

3Diva

The good news is that as soon as you have Genesis 8 Starter Essentials installed you have pretty much everything you need that you mentioned on your list. 

Base Figure to replace V4 - Check (Genesis 8 Female)

Iray texture set to get you started - Check (both Genesis 8 Female and Genesis 8 Male have decent texture sets)

Very basic clothing - Check (G8F and G8M come with two Basic Outfits, though you'll want more since one outfit each is basically underwear and the other is sports bra and shorts and t-shirt and shorts)

The ability to create my own expressions, body features, ethnicities - that's going to depend on if you have a modelling program (there are several free ones that can do morphs, I've not used it yet but I THINK Hexagon can probably do morphs. There's also the "beta" version though I'm not sure which is better: https://www.daz3d.com/hexagon-beta ).

The ability to get detail like wrinkles on palms and soles, etc. - you mentioned Photoshop so you could probably make Displacement Maps or Bump Maps to give your figures wrinkles. 

 

Welcome back, and I hope you have a lot of fun! 

3Diva

Also, because you probably have some V4 content (since you mentioned using her previously), there are products that let you use Victoria 4's clothing and hair on Genesis 8:

https://www.daz3d.com/sy-victoria-4-and-michael-4-clones-for-genesis-8

https://www.daz3d.com/rssy-hair-converter-from-victoria-4-to-genesis-8-female

Crescent

.cr2 files are Poser files only, though DS can read them.  Unless you're using an older Poser file (such as V4 clothing), you'll have most likely have .duf files for figures and clothing.   DS isn't stuck with the old Poser structure (figures and clothing must be in the Figure folder, materials are in the Materials folder - or Pose for older hacks, etc.) so you'll have to get used to the more flexible organization.  Most PAs follow the guidelines, so the "SuperFantabulousDressForG8" would be in the "People:  Genesis 8 Female:  Clothing" folder and its materials would be in a subfolder.

G3 and G8 can use the same textures - though they can't natively share morphs - so go with the one you like more.  New stuff is almost always for G8 but G3 is more likely to be on sale, so you can't go too wrong either way.  Heck, there's no reason you can't use both.

Padone

.. just to mention that of course you can still using V4 in 4.11 with iray, especially if you have a large library that already fits your needs there's nothing forcing you to get G8 ..

StratDragon

thank you everyone for helping!