Problem with Breastacular for G8F

DrGonzo62 · May 16

Hi,
I'd like to use this product in order to get higher mesh density in the chest area for sculpting.
The import via Diffeo works fine, but after rendering there is a noticeable green outline around the B-Tac material zone.
I've tried several different G8F character materials and on some it's more noticeable than on others, but still too much though.

Does anyone else have this issue?
My only other option is to omit B-Tac and exporting the figure at subD 2 out of DS, or using a MultiRes modifier in Blender (which doesn't let me sculpt with shape keys).
Both options significantly increase the vertex count in areas other than the chest as well, which I don't need. Making the figure way heavier than needed.
Not a huge issue when using 2 or 3 figures in a scene, but this all adds up quickly.

Is there a way to fix that outline issue?
Thanks!

Padone · May 17

That is a bug in blender that unfortunately the developers consider a "better feature", so it's not going to be fixed. That is, in blender 3.3 they changed the way the volume shaders work, so that volumes could be intersecated, that didn't work fine before. Unfortunately this way we can use only one volume per object, while multiple volumes will produce a leak where they meet that's the line you see.

Common workarounds are to use sss instead of volume for the skin, or to merge udims so to have a single skin material.

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/wiki/Material_Methods

p.s. However, if your only purpose it to subdivide the area, you can do it in edit mode in blender, you don't need to use a geograft as in daz studio.

edit mode: edge > subdivide

DrGonzo62 · May 17

Thanks, Padone.
Man - this gets complicated quickly...
I remember trying local subdivision a while back and ended up getting very noticeable outlines of the edges in that area.

I'll look into using sss instead of volume. I'm pretty much still just using whatever the default Diffeo settings were.
Thanks for confirming the issue and suggesting workarounds. Very much appreciated, as always.

Update:
I tried using sss instead of volume and that produced... something that seemed like a lot of work to fix.

However, turning the effected materials into a single UDIM worked wonders. The bleeding is completely gone!
I can't believe that this was such an easy fix. You're a lifesaver, Padone!

DrGonzo62 · May 20

OK, I looked into this some more and it seems that this texture bleeding is a much larger issue than I initially thought.
Looks like every character imported with Easy Import and cycles materials has this problem. Graft or no graft.

Am I mistaken?
That would make Diffeo to Blender as a substitute for DAZ almost useless, no?
And using Udim is apparently not optional in this case, but absolutely necessary to fix some of these texture bleeding issues.
I wish I had known about this before spending months on getting into Blender.

Before I waste more time looking into using sss instead of volume, are there examples of realistic looking sss shaders?
Initial tests with the sss method looked pretty bad.
If I can't get at least close to the look I can get out of DAZ, then rendering in Blender is really not a good option for me it would seem.

Thanks.

Padone · May 20

Yes sss is approximated and expected to be fixed by hand. Yes you need to merge udims for the iray skin to avoid the bleeding effect. Yes there's plenty of good skin shaders for blender, of course, one of these compatible with G9 as I understand it.

https://superhivemarket.com/products/humanify---one-click-realism

p.s. Another option is you can use blender 3.2 where the volume bug wasn't there yet. Diffeomorphic 5.2 aims to be compatible with blender 3.x 4.x 5.x.

DrGonzo62 · May 20

Thanks Padone.
I think I'm still in shock that I hadn't really noticed this until recently. And when I did, I figured that this is caused by a graft.
Then when I saw that a standard G8 figure out of the box has the same issues I started wondering why this isn't a constant point of conversation here.

I mean, lets face it - DAZ's sole purpose is to make the best looking human figures available to us, imho. Because when I want to render a car or a toaster, then I can to that in any number of applications.
So this thread should be all about this issue, and when it is not, then I'm starting to wonder how many people are actually using this DAZ > Diffeo > Blender workflow?
Probably not nearly as many as I thought. A shame really, since every time I have to fire up DAZ I'm wondering how I was able to spend years using that app. The loading times alone...

Anyway, I had semi-decent results converting to UDIM, but genitals seem to be an issue? The mapping gets all screwed up on those.
Also, is it possible to make changes to the UDIM later? To change the lip color for example?

Thanks!

Padone · May 21

If you mean the daz genitalia, then you have to merge it by hand, after importing without merge. The "last udim tile" option is specific for geografts without shells, as daz.

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/wiki/Setup_Finishing_Merge_Geografts

As for making changes, if you merge udims you will have one single material, that's the purpose of merging. However, if you use the pbrskin, the makeup works as an extra layer, that you can change. Be sure to select the face as active material when merging udims so the makeup layer is preserved.

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/wiki/Material_Tools_Edit_Material_Make_UDIM_Materials

steps (for example Victoria 8.1 with genitalia):

import without merging geografts
merge geografts with "last udim tile"
make udims with face as active material

Padone · May 21

update. udim bug.

Actually there's a bug when making udims. The makeup textures are converted to udim thus they don't work fine. To fix this it is enough to select the makeup textures and check "single image" instead of "udim tiles". Will prepare a bug report for Thomas when I have some time. Apart this everything works fine here, including the daz genitalia, that I can't show for the forum policy.

Below it's Victoria 8.1 with daz genitals converted to udim.

update. Now reported to Thomas.

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/22

DrGonzo62 · May 21

Thanks Padone, I'll check it out!

Padone · June 2

update. The udim bug is fixed in the last commit. Plus udim capabilities are extended to sparse udims. Possibly Thomas may implement LIE baking, until then, it is better to bake LIEs in daz studio befor exporting, especially with G9 which makes extensive use of LIEs. Otherwise LIEs can't be stacked into blender udims.

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/22

https://www.daz3d.com/lie-baker

DrGonzo62 · June 2

Thanks Padone.
I'll take a look. UDIMs are still pretty mysterious to me, but at least they are a workaround for that bleeding issue.

Padone · June 5

update. LIE baker for Blender. Great news, Thomas has implemented the LIE baker for blender, apart being useful on its own, it is also required to make udims for LIEs.

setup > materials

steps:

import
save local textures, eventually resize too
bake LIEs
make udims
since the tools don't cleanup, be sure to purge unused data, then pack and unpack to get the active textures, you can delete the rest

file > cleanup > purge unused data

file > external data > pack/unpack resources

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/22

DrGonzo62 · June 7

Thanks for the update, Padone.

It sure would be nice to have a tutorial on how to get the best looking skin for DAZ characters in Blender via Diffeo in 2026.
This has gotten quiet complex since that Blender volume bug, assuming that Iray skin is by far the best looking material conversion.
I have yet to see a decent sss skin render. I'm sure that whatever I've seen from other artists were all Iray skin renders.
Sometimes you can even see the slim greenish outline around the lips in closeups... oops... Once you know what to look for... ;^)

Padone · June 7

Yes of course if we don't include the lips in the udim material there will be a bleeding around, same for nails. But this is the best we can do. As for a tutorial, Thomas is still working on better udims as there were quite a few things to be fixed or improved. Now it is usable but not complete yet, as you can see following the discussion on github. Once it is complete and ready I will add some notes in the wiki.

As for blender skin shaders, there's a lot around from stilized to realistic quality, as that I linked above, and they are good in my opinion, but of course they don't convert the iray skins. You can use the native blender skin shaders on daz figures, if you don't need the iray conversion.

Padone · August 10

update. Finally the new udim tools are out in the stable 5.2 version. This was a lot of work and fixes. I wrote a tutorial how to use them.

https://diffeomorphic.blogspot.com/2026/08/how-to-make-udim-aka-fix-iray-skin.html

DrGonzo62 · August 10

Thanks Padone, I'll take a look!

Singular3D · August 11

What an amazing work and just in time :)
Thanks a lot!

DrGonzo62 · October 7

Hi Padone,
Thank you very much for your writeup on using UDIM materials. Super helpful!
Before using UDIMs, I was able to use the FPE Blush Effect Geoshell for Genesis 8 to add facial blush effects to a character in Blender.
Can you think of any way to get this feature back after converting to UDIM?

Thanks and I hope you're doing well.

Padone · October 8

You have to select the face as active material when converting to udim, this way it is used as template and preserves the makeup. In general shells should be preserved well enough, as they are stacked over the active material, this includes shells from geografts. Be sure all the shells are correctly visible before converting to udim, if they're not then udim can only make it worse.

Do you see the blush shell stacked after converting to udim, or is it lost?

DrGonzo62 · October 8

Hi Padone,
Thank you for your reply!

I am selecting the face material when converting to UDIM.
The blush effect (image 4) is no longer visible after UDIM conversion.

Do you see the blush shell stacked after converting to udim, or is it lost?
Where would I see that? In the Shell Tools?

Image 1 is the material before converting to UDIM.
Image 2 is after.
Image 3 is using the shell tools.
Image 4 is before UDIM.

Padone · October 9

Yes the blush shell is there after conversion, it's "FPE Blush Effect". But the influence gets driven by "skip zero uvs", while in the original material it was 3.0. You can try disconnecting "zero uvs" and setting it to 3.0 same as the original, also check the uv map if it's fine.

DrGonzo62 · October 9

Yes, disconnecting "skip zero UVs" brings the effect back.
It also makes it visible on every other skin region using that UDIM, so this only works on face closeups, but that's OK in this case.
It just has to be set back to zero for wider shots.

Not sure I understand the purpose of the stacked shells implementation. To apply materials to them separate from the main body mesh?

Thanks for your help!

Padone · October 9

Ok, then instead of deleting zero uv, you can add a multiply node: rmb > add > utilities > math. This is a case where the shader conversion fails and some manual tweaking is required. Will try to get Thomas here to look at this.

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/108

DrGonzo62 · October 9

But that won't fix the issue of the blush shell showing up on all other skin areas using that UDIM, right?
I can't just have it on the face?

Padone · October 10

You don't have to remove "zero uv", just to multiply its effect, so the uv mask is preserved. Should work fine this way.

update. This is fixed in the last commit.

DrGonzo62 · October 10

Hi Padone,
I installed the latest commit and now I'm getting the Influence slider.
The effect still shows up on the entire body mesh though.
Was that to be expected? I'm confused as to how this is supposed to work.

Thomas mentioned to start from a fresh Blender install which I didn't, for now.

Thanks!

Padone · October 11

What Thomas means is to don't import in a scene with previously imported content, or the old nodes may clash, since he modified "zero uvs". Your setup seems fine. I'm confused about the side effects, as you previously mentioned it was fine before. As I have some time I'll try myself and let you know what I find. Actually my interest is shifting on ComfyUI so not much time for DAZ.

DrGonzo62 · October 11

Hi Padone,
I was just wondering if the blush effect could be limited to the face alone. Right now
it shows up everywhere on the body where the UDIM is used.

I too have spent the last several months looking into AI. An interesting tool, no doubt, but also extremely
difficult to get consistent results from. Pretty frustrating at times. For my work I'll still need 3D renders as
a base for I2I or I2V workflows to get character consistency. And it's much quicker than spending hours trying
to get an AI model to keep a character looking the same from shot to shot. It just goes off the rails much too quickly
for my liking. But yeah, Daz's days are numbered...

Padone · October 11

There's a bug with baking LIEs, as shells are not affected, now reported to Thomas.

p.s. Until this is fixed, a possible workaround is to apply the LIE in daz studio before exporting, by replacing it with the temporary LIE image.

https://github.com/Diffeomorphic/import_daz/issues/111

As for fixing a character appearance, I'm not there yet, but some models seem better than others, you may want to try Anima, it's incredibly consistent even using the prompt alone. In general I understand it's done with Loras, or with IP Adapters. Then you can also exploit the knowledge of some models for anime and game characters, as they're already "baked in".

https://huggingface.co/circlestone-labs/Anima

DrGonzo62 · October 12

That blush effect is a shell, so I'm confused as to how LIE's factor in here.
Basically, after converting to UDIM that shell shows up everywhere on the body and not just the face.
This isn't a problem with this product since a shot usually would be a medium or closeup to show the blush, but I was wondering if this can't be avoided when using UDIM textures?

AI content is at best another tool to create additional content and won't replace 3D rendering anytime soon, for me at least.
It's still much too volatile for my patience. I kinda like to know what I'm getting before firing off a long render - or workflow in this case.
120 frames later - and it's nothing like I had hoped it would be. You can't even re-run a workflow with the same seed at higher resolution and get the same output like the lowrez preview! So you pretty much always have to render at target rez because the preview render might not show you what you'll get in the end.
And don't get me started on the hoops you have to jump through to avoid censorship.
So yeah - very limited use for me, but great for people who don't have the skills to produce 3D renders with Blender or DAZ IMHO.

Padone · October 12

UDIM is not compatible with LIE, that's why we have to bake them. Once we make a single skin material with UDIM, the shell is copied along, that's why it appears everywhere, unless we bake LIE first.

As for AI, as I said I'm not there yet as I'm exploring video generation atm, but I supect that's because you're not using ControlNet, hoping to do it all with the prompt alone is not the way to do it.

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