There is some great old stuff, although the materials usually require some work.

I have those above as well as this.  Didn't really work on the fit that much just applied uber shader for iray so this is pretty much no adjustments done.  I love all the old stuff

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

 

the "plugins or the tutorial told here fix the issue with some "outfits in the area around the neck which makes some outfits prts to "follow" the head??? something like this issue:

    

 

also in some outfits cases with a "loincloth it also bugs on the "legs spreading the loincloth to follow the leg if you spread it:

original v4 character

trying to fit it in g8

i had those issues trying to fit v4 in g8 even using this plugging don't worked well:

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

if those others 2 options don't have that issue then you also helped me a lot.

 

What templates are you selecting when you convert the clothing? Like for the loincloth are you choosing the Loincloth template when converting it?

the "plugins or the tutorial told here fix the issue with some "outfits in the area around the neck which makes some outfits prts to "follow" the head??? something like this issue:

also in some outfits cases with a "loincloth it also bugs on the "legs spreading the loincloth to follow the leg if you spread it:

original v4 character

trying to fit it in g8

i had those issues trying to fit v4 in g8 even using this plugging don't worked well:

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

if those others 2 options don't have that issue then you also helped me a lot.

I have those above as well as this.  Didn't really work on the fit that much just applied uber shader for iray so this is pretty much no adjustments done.  I love all the old stuff

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

I was able to get that effect with Victoria 4 figures using EZSkin 3 by Snarlygribbly. While it doesn't have (that I know of) built in support for L'Homme, you can create a new profile to support it.

Quite often you'll see that a commercial character morph will have a custom sculpted head (usually in ZBrush) and a dial-spun body. Typically the store page (any store) will come right out and tell you that it requires a given base morph (Victoria 8) or a specific morph package (the base head and/or body morphs for that generation of figure, usually) to get the same results. Quite often, for child characters there will be a stated need for something like Zev0's Growing Up morphs.

Back before the Genesis series launched if it sais you needed V4, it really meant it, because generation 4 female *was* V4. Aiko, Stephanie and The Girl were all morphs of V4.

With Genesis, each generation has its own base and *all* the morphs, including the Victoria for that generation, are basically add-ons. And *all* the dial-spins and add-ons are *optional*. The figure will typically work without any of them, although any custom sculpts will be automatically applied by loading the character.

Like in the Margot example. The body and head shapes are different. but I suspect the facial features are from a custom sculpt and have been applied with the character.

Of course, when you load a commercial character morph, any of the required morphs which you have installed are going to be applied automatically too. You might get an error notice if you're missing one, but just click on that to make it go away. It's fine. Once your character is loaded, then you will probably want to select it and go check the "Currently Used' tab and dial out all of the morphs which came in with it to see what it looks like on the Genesis base.

And then you start doing your own dial-spins and build your own character to order. You can modify the custom sculpt with dial-spins as well.

Everybody has their own preferred method of working. I do a lot of illustrations using dial-spun characters so I just save a dressed "finished" (they often get further modified or re-dressed in use) as a scene file in a library of characters, and merge them into whatever illustration scene I'm building later.

Here's Margot with (left) and without (right) Victoria 8. She uses 35% of V8's head, and 100% of her body.

Wow! Thank you so much for this demonstration! They look similar yet the difference is striking.

Just did this for another thread: Margot for V8, with (left) and without (right) V8. Margot uses 35% V8 head and 100% V8 body.

Here's Margot with (left) and without (right) Victoria 8. She uses 35% of V8's head, and 100% of her body.

I predominantly use Poser.

Victoria 4 is the figure with the most textures, hairdos and the biggest wardrobe on that platform.

New content for the character is still released in other webstores.

The Sasha-16 verion of V4 (utterly free) is fully weightmapped for Poser, does away with the ugly shoulders and armpits, and bends quite well.

Combined with the Poser Plugin Morphing Clothes, her clothes can be made to auto fit in Poser, like Genesis in Studio.

So yes, I still use the old gal.

Not sure, don't really use Gen 8.  I use Gen 7, Shape Shift is a great product, and has fitness morphs for both generations like what you're looking for.  

Looking at the fitness level of the first lady, pay attention to the hands and feet, some figures have more definition there (for a lower bodyfat level) than others.  

Victoria 7 is good, and Vanessa HD is a fave of mine - great low bodyfat definition in the hands and feet.

https://www.daz3d.com/fwsa-vanessa-hd-for-victoria-7-and-her-jewelry

This outfit comes pretty close;

https://www.daz3d.com/velocity-outfit-for-genesis-8-female-s

In regard to the body morph I suggest you take a look at TritiumCG's creations on deviantart.

For example the morph of Anna Nystrom might be what you are looking for.

The DAZ girls Victoria 8 and CJ-8 are pretty toned, too.

But I suggest to first get the body morphs for Genesis 8 - that way you customize the figure further to your liking.

https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-8-female-body-morphs

The new character, Daenestra for Angharad 8, looks quite a bit like the singer Rihanna:

I can't really see any resemblance except maybe for the skin colour...

ROTFL!  You're Joking right?

BTW, does anyone know of a Daz Genesis 8 figure that resembles Angelina Jolie?   I know there is a V4 figure, but I don't deal with V4.

Here you go bud

https://www.daz3d.com/joanna-for-genesis-3-and-8-female

I seem to collect them so Angelina at various ages: 
https://www.daz3d.com/lainey-for-victoria-8

https://www.daz3d.com/angel-for-v4

https://www.daz3d.com/fatal-stranger-hd-for-genesis-8-female

 

I started on Poser about a decade ago, so I've obtained a lot of Generation 4 characters and wardrobe over the years.  Recently, I've obtained more as either freebies or at huge discounts.  I make selective purchases at chump-change prices.

 Generation 4 wardrobe will usually autofit to Genesis and Genesis 2 characters pretty well.

It would help if Daz would give us a better way to reassign Lost and Found items to their proper categories.  Plenty of Genesis 8 stuff ends up incorrectly assigned in Smart Content, so this isn't only a problem for old/obsolete items.

The OP complained about Victoria 4 armpits, which I interpret as just an extension of problems with the torso/trunk in general. The better Generation 4 character morphs look okay to me, so it isn't necessarily a problem with Generation 4 as a whole.  The biggest issue I have is the distortion of the limbs once you get a Generation 4 character out of their T-pose. Each successive Genesis generation has posed more easily and realistically.

I've never tried to animate a figure from Generation 4 (or anything before Genesis 2).

If you only use IRAY to render, Generation 4 items will give results ranging from "just fine" to "completely unusable and requiring a different shader."  You can't really guess from the promo renders.  I still use 3Delight for a minority of renders, so I can live with this.

The usefulness of Generation 4 characters depends on your patience and willingness to recognize limits (and to tolerate them).  For many, they are probably clutter and not worth obtaining, even for free.  But, with the right user, great renders can still be made with them.

Most people who want to make a new character base it on something else: V4, Genesis, V5, Gen2, V6, Miki 4, etc.

 

As far as I understand it, the characters like Victoria 8 and Michael 8 are based on Genesis 8 Female and Genesis 8 Male and cannot be used independently.  So it would be proper to say that V8 and M8 are just full body morphs of G8F and G8M. Therefore, when an artist creates a new character based on Victoria 8, in effect he creates a new morph based on another morph of Genesis 8 Female. So far everything is logical. However, when this new product goes to the store, it has a note that the product requires not just G8F (whch would be logical) but Victoria 8 as well. Why is it so? Let's talk about this beautiful product as an example - Margot for Victoria 8 ( https://www.daz3d.com/margot-for-victoria-8 ;) Why cannot it work without V8 if it is based on G8F? 

Obviously, there is some technical reason. Can you explain it?

It does WORK without V8, but since the morph was built off V8 instead of base G8F, it won’t look the same without her. 

Most people who want to make a new character base it on something else: V4, Genesis, V5, Gen2, V6, Miki 4, etc.

 

As far as I understand it, the characters like Victoria 8 and Michael 8 are based on Genesis 8 Female and Genesis 8 Male and cannot be used independently.  So it would be proper to say that V8 and M8 are just full body morphs of G8F and G8M. Therefore, when an artist creates a new character based on Victoria 8, in effect he creates a new morph based on another morph of Genesis 8 Female. So far everything is logical. However, when this new product goes to the store, it has a note that the product requires not just G8F (whch would be logical) but Victoria 8 as well. Why is it so? Let's talk about this beautiful product as an example - Margot for Victoria 8 ( https://www.daz3d.com/margot-for-victoria-8 ;) Why cannot it work without V8 if it is based on G8F? 

Obviously, there is some technical reason. Can you explain it?

this thread is 8 years old.

But yes, a morph built off of V8 as a base, will still work on G8F.  It will still work, but it will not "look as intended" because the deltas will be off.  Again, the morph will still function.

Most people who want to make a new character base it on something else: V4, Genesis, V5, Gen2, V6, Miki 4, etc.

As far as I understand it, the characters like Victoria 8 and Michael 8 are based on Genesis 8 Female and Genesis 8 Male and cannot be used independently.  So it would be proper to say that V8 and M8 are just full body morphs of G8F and G8M. Therefore, when an artist creates a new character based on Victoria 8, in effect he creates a new morph based on another morph of Genesis 8 Female. So far everything is logical. However, when this new product goes to the store, it has a note that the product requires not just G8F (whch would be logical) but Victoria 8 as well. Why is it so? Let's talk about this beautiful product as an example - Margot for Victoria 8 ( https://www.daz3d.com/margot-for-victoria-8 ;) Why cannot it work without V8 if it is based on G8F? 

Obviously, there is some technical reason. Can you explain it?

Three reasons that I use 4th generation figures:

2.  I have Reby Sky elite for Victoria 4.  https://www.daz3d.com/v4-elite-reby-sky I have issues using her hair on Genesis 1.  I guess my computer is too slow.  Her skin texture maps just fine though.

2. I have a bunch of scenes that I created using generation 4 figures that I don't want to remake from scratch using newer figures.  I just edit the older scenes - replace clothes, change poses of Victoria 4 and Mike 4, ect.

3. My video card only has 2 gigbytes of memory.  Sometimes I add lots of Victoria 4 and Genesis 1 figures when I want a scene that has many people.  Genesis 3 and 8 figures use a bunch of RAM.

Other than those threeinstances I use Genesis 1 and 2.  I don't have many clothes for Genesis 3 and 8.

I do not own this one [yet] but it is very popular. Sickleyield also provides instructions with such products.

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

Autofit clones are not seen, they are used when fitting clothing to a figure. In this case, with G8M selected, loading a clothing piece from M4's closet, may have to right click on it in the scene to "fit to" - then a dialog with popup asking which figure it is for. One would select the M4 clone. And then hopefully the clothing looks okay. Many will, not all. If it's a keeper, File > Save As > Support Assets > Figure/prop assets ... to a subfolder for clothing, etc. Be careful that the 'author' is your handle, not to be overwriting original files. Making subfolders {in the save dialog} such as conversions is another idea.

While the shape and the way the characters move are very important, faces are important too. I have seen a couple of posts over time from people who believe some of the prettiest characters were V4 characters, and faces like those were hard to find in later generations. I think that may be true, although I've seen some later characters that are very pretty. But I think anybody who isnt already invested in Victoria 4 shouldn't start now.