crosswind said:

....

Thx for your FB. My next attempt with HeadShop had ok teeth. My attempt after that ended in yet another garbled results pane (with an export that will near crash your scene or worse) which means the program has  turned unusable again for a long time. One may find that after a year the plugin spontaneously works again and then you can go ahead with one or two head transfers before it dies again. One thing it cannot deal with at all is make a 8.1 transfer and after that try an 8 version (et v.v.). If HeadShop was an actual shop I would suspect people would throw bricks through their windows on probably a daily basis 

LOL,  that creased me up ! If so, I might be the 1st one... Anyway, forget about it, let's find a way out by ourselves

Yes, using AutoSculpt morphs may result in shaggy teeth in HeadShop - but there's an easy fix. I sincerely wish people would read manuals (HeadShop has a 70 page manual with lots of illustrations). Chapter 5 is called Troubleshooting and there are ample explanations for correcting issues. Please bear in mind that 3D face creation is not straightforward and so far it is not automatric in many cases. Unlike competition HeadShop 2023 does fully support G9, but DAZ added several levels of complexity to G9 and also coupled items that earlier were separate (like teeth).

To summ it up:HeadShop: used in a simple mode HeadShop works fine without distorted teeth. Using the AutoSculpt feature has the potential of distortion, but it is fixable by counter dialing (see Manual).

Laslo

tsroemi said:

paulawp (marahzen) said:

Here's another one I posted on my gallery and thought was worth sharing here.

Wow, lovely characters (and renders) you're creating with FG! I'm on the fence about buying it, as I'm mainly looking to recreate people from old online photos which are usually not that good in quality and/or not in a full frontal pose. Would you happen to have any advice on this? I'm not interested in the textures (the old photos are usually black and white anyway), only the morphs. Would you think FG was a good starting point, combined with the PhilC add-on?

Hi there! Always glad to chat about creating characters, one of my favorite 3d art subjects and the literal reason why I started using Daz a couple of years ago.

I have tried all of the comparable products that I know of (including one available elsewhere) and for now, I find that I am using Face Transfer (with Face Transfer Shapes) to create shapes and of late, have been experimenting with the latest version of FaceGen to create textures from the same source images. I prefer FT shapes but FG definitely appears to be more forgiving of source image blemishes and problems, like shadows and highlights. (That wouldn't be relevant to you, if you're using old B/W photos, but just saying.)

Most of my recent characters have been complicated Franken-figures that are the result of FT -> G8.1, converted to G9, with FG textures. The latest FaceGen release creates textures for any of the Genesis versions through G9, and after some initial experimentation with manual conversion of G8 -> G9, I've moved to using the ManFriday product. That's totally a WIP; I'm still refining the process for all of that from one figure test to the next.

This is one I just posted in my gallery. Of course the baby is not FT - this is one of several I did to test out the new Mechasar Mega bundle stuff for Tobyn and Caryn - but the parents are G8.1 FT characters that I'm using for my current round of new product testing.

Check out my gallery, also linked in my signature:

https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/user/6088047653289984#gallery=newest&page=1

Also, there's lots of commentary on these other recent threads, worth checking out if you're interested in the subject:

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/381026/facegen-vs-face-transfer-vs-headshop-12-pros-cons#latest

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/597876/face-transfer-on-genesis-9#latest

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/621496/face-transfer-unlimited-g8-expressions-morphs#latest

Catherine3678ab said:

Federmann said:

... edited ...  if only someone would have told me to forget about the expensive headshop hoaxes in this realm.

 Well, one person's cure can be to another pure poison so we do have to be somewhat careful how we word things. What you may notice over time is that what we can do, and do do, is remind people that if they bought [any product] within the past 30 days it [normally] can be returned. I'll say normally because one has to be careful as so many sales have trigger items. If by purchasing A, B is a very good price; and then one returns A, they'll find B is suddenly not such a good price. So yes, we do end up with a number of products gathering dust.

For use with Face Transfer is a set of morphs which were instant buys for most of us using Face Transfer. They address the most common issues that Face Transfer presents. https://www.daz3d.com/face-transfer-shapes-for-genesis-8

Years back there was one lady who was making some fantastic morphs for the legacy V4 and M4 figures. Basically she just used dFormers. Had a good eye ;-)

It can help [a lot] to use reference images in the scene [put squared picture on a square plane] - whether in D/S or in a modeler. PureRef is a popular utility for such projects. Many of the pros seem to use ZBrush. Now ZBrush plus some additional plugins [not free] seems to me to be the way to go if seriously trying to get very professional about making characters. Can do a marvellous job with matching resource skins to models as well. There are some videos over on YouTube.

[the super serious have way more money and wire people up to computers, etc. all of which is a bit overkill for one little game avatar or whatever]

 

You're absolutely right, some add-ons, plugins, proggies, figures and accessoiries might work wonderfully and without glitches for some, if not most, people and as you said there is always a rather generous, be it time limited, return policy at the DAZ shop. I recognize and respect the hard work that went in producing these resources and the enormouse skills curve that was travelled by these PA's.

As for (stable and reliable) "Face Transfer" (FT) within  a week after purchase  I stumbled upon the "Face Transfer Shapes for Genesis 8" addon that you mentioned which gets rid of the oddly flattened faces and faint jaw line. Only today I learned with FT comes a bunch of sliders for finetuning the transfer result. In my case, having bought a shocking amount of items at the DS shop over the last two years or so,  I now have so many sliders with often the exact same function that it is difficult to navigate among them but I guess there are ways to organize them that I haven't learned yet. I do like FT for providing a quick way to get going on a character and dependent on luck and/or skills you could (supposedly) come close to your source model (I can't say I have yet accomplished any convincing level of verisimilitude with FT but that's on me not being a wizard with shapes, morphs and sliders).

As for ...shudder ... Head Shop I am tech  savvy enough to at some point figure out which files, registry or config settings to restore so after a single succesful run, you could actually have another one; what the program misses sorely is a reset button. Re-installing Head Shop doesn't make any difference for the problems I encountered so it is on another level that I need to fix it.

Thx again for the other tips and suggestions you provided! ZBrush is far at the horizon for me but I'll take a crack at some other proggies soon.

Federmann said:

... edited ...  if only someone would have told me to forget about the expensive headshop hoaxes in this realm.

 Well, one person's cure can be to another pure poison so we do have to be somewhat careful how we word things. What you may notice over time is that what we can do, and do do, is remind people that if they bought [any product] within the past 30 days it [normally] can be returned. I'll say normally because one has to be careful as so many sales have trigger items. If by purchasing A, B is a very good price; and then one returns A, they'll find B is suddenly not such a good price. So yes, we do end up with a number of products gathering dust.

For use with Face Transfer is a set of morphs which were instant buys for most of us using Face Transfer. They address the most common issues that Face Transfer presents. https://www.daz3d.com/face-transfer-shapes-for-genesis-8

Years back there was one lady who was making some fantastic morphs for the legacy V4 and M4 figures. Basically she just used dFormers. Had a good eye ;-)

It can help [a lot] to use reference images in the scene [put squared picture on a square plane] - whether in D/S or in a modeler. PureRef is a popular utility for such projects. Many of the pros seem to use ZBrush. Now ZBrush plus some additional plugins [not free] seems to me to be the way to go if seriously trying to get very professional about making characters. Can do a marvellous job with matching resource skins to models as well. There are some videos over on YouTube.

[the super serious have way more money and wire people up to computers, etc. all of which is a bit overkill for one little game avatar or whatever]

....

Thx for your FB. My next attempt with HeadShop had ok teeth. My attempt after that ended in yet another garbled results pane (with an export that will near crash your scene or worse) which means the program has  turned unusable again for a long time. One may find that after a year the plugin spontaneously works again and then you can go ahead with one or two head transfers before it dies again. One thing it cannot deal with at all is make a 8.1 transfer and after that try an 8 version (et v.v.). If HeadShop was an actual shop I would suspect people would throw bricks through their windows on probably a daily basis 

LOL,  that creased me up ! If so, I might be the 1st one... Anyway, forget about it, let's find a way out by ourselves

crosswind said:

I'm afraid this way won't work for OP's case, especially for the distorted teeth, gums, even mouth cavity on such 'stylized character' ... If you clear the selected delta, the position of the related vertices will totally change to the original shape, then it might be another mess with the current head morph.... It's not like the case that one head morph was ever ERC Freezed with a partial delta vertice change on a body part. I myselft have never succeeded in fixing such 'distorted teeth and mouth' case with this way.

But pls definitely try it as we'd like to know if it can help with fixing such an issue coming from Headshop.

Thx for your FB. My next attempt with HeadShop had ok teeth. My attempt after that ended in yet another garbled results pane (with an export that will near crash your scene or worse) which means the program has  turned unusable again for a long time. One may find that after a year the plugin spontaneously works again and then you can go ahead with one or two head transfers before it dies again. One thing it cannot deal with at all is make a 8.1 transfer and after that try an 8 version (et v.v.). If HeadShop was an actual shop I would suspect people would throw bricks through their windows on probably a daily basis 

crosswind said:

Hmm... snaggle-toothed like that, I don't think they could be fixed with Easy Teeth either though I'm pretty good at using ET... But there's a chance you may get them fixed with Blender or ZB if you know to use them, though that'll be pretty cumbersome. I ever did once with Blender to fix a similar case and it nearly took me 2 hours to just get a PoC 60%, then I gave it up...

I ever bought HeadShop OneClick2022 and that turned out to be my top 1 worst purchase. I did not request for refund but I never use it again, furthermore I've never got any update / fix from that vendor.... I dunno the mechanism in the latest version that you're using but if you're not happy with consulting the vendor, suggest you just request for refund other than wasting time on fixing such a thing that shoudn't have happenend from such an expensive 'product'.

Ps: On G8, there's no way to replace such teeth with the 'standard set of good teeth' as they're not a separated geometry / wearable, while it's only possible on G9. Technically, there's a possible way to use Faceform Wrap (used to be R3DS Wrap3D )...i.e. use G8 base figure as the floating geometry to wrap this figure with isolating the teeth. But that'll be another story....

 

Thx for your suggestions! "..bought HeadShop OneClick2022 and that turned out to be my top 1 worst purchase" LoL I didn't want to go there so I hinted at a top 5 of worst buys. Come to think of it, wish I hadn't bought about 45% of the stuff I now have, the horrible skins alone!

[removed links to pictures]

After this epic failure, my HeadShop managed to do one other face transfer that I would rate 2.3 out of 10, but definitely progress compared to snaggy girl (normal teeth for instance). Unfortunately on the next HeadShop run that program once again imploded, probably useless for the next 12 months after which something is spontaneously ok again and you can try one or two face transfers before it breaks down again.

Oh, boy. Excited I tried "FaceGen Artist demo" today. Now that looked promising!  AI you say!? Wow!  Gave it a go. Absolutely rubbish. It didn't crash, but the import result couldn't be further from the original; it turned  a pretty girl into a butch female bouncer of a night club. Cool but pretty useless.

Guess FT and DAZ's own kazillion shaping sliders is what I am stuck with, which is ok I guess, cranking out new faces is pretty easy with these, in fact the result is sometimes stunning; if only someone would have told me to forget about the expensive headshop hoaxes in this realm.

Catherine3678ab said:

crosswind said:

I'm afraid this way won't work for OP's case, especially for the distorted teeth, gums, even mouth cavity on such 'stylized character' ... If you clear the selected delta, the position of the related vertices will totally change to the original shape, then it might be another mess with the current head morph.... It's not like the case that one head morph was ever ERC Freezed with a partial delta vertice change on a body part. I myselft have never succeeded in fixing such 'distorted teeth and mouth' case with this way.

But pls definitely try it as we'd like to know if it can help with fixing such an issue coming from Headshop.

Oh it would be somewhat challenging. Thankfully one can select by surfaces though to hopefully get all the teeth and whatever else needs to be reached inside the head. I would recommend working with the figure's mouth open. 

For further morphing to fix the teeth back into the headshape, I would use the bridge to Hexagon etc. That's presupposin' I could even get HeadShop to work on my system. Facegen and Face Transfer, and a "kazillion" purchased and free morphs can also produce many a character.

Indeed ~ but I still pass over HeadShop. I'm building a workflow with Face Builder + Wrap...Reallusion Headshot might be an option as well, will see if they could be game changers or not...

crosswind said:

I'm afraid this way won't work for OP's case, especially for the distorted teeth, gums, even mouth cavity on such 'stylized character' ... If you clear the selected delta, the position of the related vertices will totally change to the original shape, then it might be another mess with the current head morph.... It's not like the case that one head morph was ever ERC Freezed with a partial delta vertice change on a body part. I myselft have never succeeded in fixing such 'distorted teeth and mouth' case with this way.

But pls definitely try it as we'd like to know if it can help with fixing such an issue coming from Headshop.

Oh it would be somewhat challenging. Thankfully one can select by surfaces though to hopefully get all the teeth and whatever else needs to be reached inside the head. I would recommend working with the figure's mouth open. 

For further morphing to fix the teeth back into the headshape, I would use the bridge to Hexagon etc. That's presupposin' I could even get HeadShop to work on my system. Facegen and Face Transfer, and a "kazillion" purchased and free morphs can also produce many a character.

I'm afraid this way won't work for OP's case, especially for the distorted teeth, gums, even mouth cavity on such 'stylized character' ... If you clear the selected delta, the position of the related vertices will totally change to the original shape, then it might be another mess with the current head morph.... It's not like the case that one head morph was ever ERC Freezed with a partial delta vertice change on a body part. I myselft have never succeeded in fixing such 'distorted teeth and mouth' case with this way.

But pls definitely try it as we'd like to know if it can help with fixing such an issue coming from Headshop.

Hmm... snaggle-toothed like that, I don't think they could be fixed with Easy Teeth either though I'm pretty good at using ET... But there's a chance you may get them fixed with Blender or ZB if you know to use them, though that'll be pretty cumbersome. I ever did once with Blender to fix a similar case and it nearly took me 2 hours to just get a PoC 60%, then I gave it up...

I ever bought HeadShop OneClick2022 and that turned out to be my top 1 worst purchase. I did not request for refund but I never use it again, furthermore I've never got any update / fix from that vendor.... I dunno the mechanism in the latest version that you're using but if you're not happy with consulting the vendor, suggest you just request for refund other than wasting time on fixing such a thing that shoudn't have happenend from such an expensive 'product'.

Ps: On G8, there's no way to replace such teeth with the 'standard set of good teeth' as they're not a separated geometry / wearable, while it's only possible on G9. Technically, there's a possible way to use Faceform Wrap (used to be R3DS Wrap3D )...i.e. use G8 base figure as the floating geometry to wrap this figure with isolating the teeth. But that'll be another story....

By the way: the source photos used did not show any teeth (mouth closed) but please don't tell me to contact the HeadShop developer cuz that is a thorny path

Hello again, It's been a year and I am still a 'new user', having acquired some skills and massively lacking others and still not got a powerful GeForce videocard to finally take this hobby to a next level. [Sigh]. Anyway, today's question is about teeth, horrifically snaggy ones:

Like the reliable but ultimately disappointing “Face Transfer” the bugfesty train wreck of a plugin called “HeadShop” produces faces that have near zero verisimilitude with the original source portraits (I am sure you would disagree being a morph slider wizard and/or facemap virtuoso and I am glad for you), but I am kind of past that and have abandoned all hope for a look-a-like with these stagnant, poorly developed plugins. Still, I have found a use for my top-5-worst-purchase decision "HeadShop" and that is producing wildly unconventional faces but having said that, I am not ok with the crazy snaggledy-snag teeth that accompany these odd faces (see piccie).

Is there a way to (easily) replace these horrific teeth with a standard set of (Gen8) teeth? I can’t seem to find it in morph sliders and DAZ shop products like “Teeth Master” and “Easy teeth” don’t seem able to fix this problem at all (at best they make the teeth 20% less snaggy mainly by just making these travesties of teeth smaller).

Thx y'all

Hi Everyone,

I hope you can help me with two problems I am having with a couple of morphs I am creating.

I have spent a lot of time applying a lot of morph dials from packages I have purchaced here  to my base figures using the morph dials.... a bit of this and a bit of that... and an insane number of them to get the look I am going for.  The bodies start with Gen 8.1M.  The heads are different.  On one of them I started with a Gen 8 head morph I liked,  and then added a lot of morphs to that.  On the second one,  I started with a head morph I had tried creating several years ago for the original Genesis (Used headshop).  I converted that to Genesis 3  using GenX AddOn Gen3 Bundle and then from gen 3 to gen 8 using Xtransfer-genesis 3 to 8 converter. after I got the look I wanted,  I created a single dial for each of them using dial fusion. So far so good,  BUT I am going to be upgrading my system very soon with a new Solid state hard drive for my C; drive,  and finally upgrading to Win 10 (yes,  I'm a dinosaur still using Win 7 ;p).  My runtime is a mess,  and I was thinking it would be a good time to reinstall things onto the new drive and get rid of a lot of old crap and other dead  wood as well as errors,  but with hundreds of dials going into my two characters,  I don't want to loose what I have done by changing the way things are installed or possibly missing reinstalling something.  Sooooooo.... I wanted to turn my two dial morphs into stand a lone morphs that were not dependant on all the tiny morphs that I used to create my dials.  Since I am still using Win 7, blender etc were not an option,  but I found a cool tutorial that would let me create the morphs using Hexagon :D.  

I followed the tutorial by WP Guru,  and now have my morphs locked in.... except for two problems;

1) the hands distort badly when I pose the figures.... ok in Zero,  but not when they are posed.  I sort of remember reading somewhere that this is caused by a simple setting change,  but I can not remember more than that about it. For some reason DAZ will not upload my images,  So I have uploaded to Dropbox instead.... here is a link.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hta2hfs32cvtwvnz1jund/KL_Strider_Hex-morph_WTF-hands-3.png?rlkey=fjvwpyz6mwgfqewulhsrpq81t&dl=0

2) The teeth also are a problem.  On the character that I started with a Gen 8M head before doing all the dial morphs,  the teeth are normal on the multi-morph dial,  but distorted on the Morph after I converted it with Hexagon into a stand a lone morph.  Not severe distortion,  but not normal.  On the second character that I started with a Genesis head morph,  and then converted it up to Gen3 and Then Gen8,  there is some distortion on the teeth on the multi dial morph,  and scarry nasty distortion on the hexagon converted version of that.  I assume from that that the other conversions had some errors,  but the additional distortion in the Hexagon converted morph is just horid.  Here are links to the images of the Teeth problems.

multi-dial morph starting with Gen 8.1 No distortion

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yic00j009fy4kk7gd0t9l/Open-smile-on-Dialed-S-morph.JPG?rlkey=c4d2n057offvcqysdd0r9ml66&dl=0

Same morph after converted using Hexagon.... Some distortion of the teeth.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1ptk3ph5cb3isysjzxubs/Open-smile-on-Hex-morph-S.JPG?rlkey=5sbi75a8efs3hs8wmaszobdek&dl=0

My second character that originall started with a genesis morph that I converted up to Gen3 and Then Gen8.  Top image is the multi-dial morph befor the conversion with Hexagon (some distortion) and the bottom image is the same morph after Hexagon conversion (hiddious distortion of the teeth)

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/h1xzho9zqtvcj9w13f6au/Teeth-distortions-from-older-converted-head_teeth-problems..jpg?rlkey=gjdtmf380yrg4zph7piecozm0&dl=0

Any sugestions about what I can do?

PS... I never did any morphing of the teeth at any stage for either character,  so I'm at a loss on that.

arstropica said:

Richard Haseltine said:

I'm sure Blender must have some kind of projection/shrink wrap type function. Hexxagon will snap to a background object, I think, though not sure if it works with a push/shrink type of tool.

Based on my research, Blender's shrinkwrap uses a combination of vertex positioning and groups to deform meshes.  As a tool, it is more of a broadsword than a scalpel for doing any type of detailed retopology work. I've checked out HeadShop, Facegen and Daz's Face Transfer plugin and none of them really deliver good results. My initial goal was to take a 2D information from a photograph of a face and project it onto a Daz figure as accurately as possible. I had to come up with my own modeling workflow which uses 3 different types of software to import photogrammetric objects into Daz.

1. Face Alignment (free / open source)

 

URL: https://github.com/1adrianb/face-alignment

Requirements: Linux (apparently mac and windows too), Miniconda (https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html), Python 3.7

Installation: Clone my repository fork (https://github.com/arstropica/face-alignment/tree/demo) and follow the Github instructions.

This python script is part of a 2-step process that generates an accurate 3D facial model from almost any photograph of a human in which the facial features are visible.  The purpose of the script is to identify and localize facial landmarks on a 2D photo that can be used to build a 3D model later on.  In it's original form, the script will generate 69 facial landmarks using DLib, a Computer Vision library.  But we really only need 5 of these landmarks (2 eyes, 1 nose, and 2 lips corners).

I had to write my own implementation of the script to extract the 5 landmarks for the next step. (https://github.com/arstropica/face-alignment/blob/demo/scripts/batch.py).

Run python scripts/batch.py <image directory> to generate the landmark text files.

 

2. Microsoft Deep 3D Face Reconstruction (free / open source)

 

URL: https://github.com/microsoft/Deep3DFaceReconstruction

Requirements: Linux, Github Large File Storage (https://git-lfs.github.com/), Miniconda (https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html), Python 3.7, g++ & gcc Linux libraries

Installation: You can either clone the original repository, setup an anaconda environment and then download the dependencies separately or use my branch (https://github.com/arstropica/Deep3DFaceReconstruction/tree/demo) which contains the anaconda environment file as well as the dependencies and follow the Github instructions. If you do use my branch, you'll also need to install and initialize Github's LFS extension (https://git-lfs.github.com/) in the cloned repository in order to be able to download the 100M+ model files.

The Deep 3D package uses AI to reconstruct a 3D facial model from an image.  The python script accepts the 5 landmarks from the previous step (similar to Facegen) and uses a trained AI model to render a textured 3D mesh of the facial characteristics of the subject in a photograph. 

Copy your text and image files from the image directory in the face-alignment repo, to an "input" directory in Deep3D and run the demo.py script to generate the mesh(es).

3. Softwrap for Blender (paid plugin)

 

URL: https://blendermarket.com/products/softwrap

Requirements: Blender v2.8+, Meshlab

Installation: install from the settings/add-ons panel like any Blender plugin.

This is finally where the magic happens!

Softwrap is a Blender plugin that uses a cloth-like physics engine (not unlike dForce) to deform one mesh using another.  It does it without changing the vertex order of the source mesh so it's perfect for Daz. There are a ton of settings from symmetrical deformations to mesh filtering, smoothing, elasticity, etc.  A better way to look at the plugin is that it treats your source mesh as a cloth that wraps around a hard 3D object. Using the plugin to get a Genesis model to conform to a 3D mesh requires a few preliminary steps.

First take your 3D face mesh from Deep 3D and use an application like MeshLab to convert it to a DAE model. You need to do this if you want to import the face model into Daz Studio as it doesn't handle OBJ vertex colors well.

Then, in Blender, unwrap the model's UV map and bake the DAE model's vertex colors to a bitmap texture. (Here is a good tutorial if you don't know how: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cphcAZ5ai8). It is a good idea to normalize the positioning of the model by rotating and aligning it with the origin and resetting its pivot.

Export the baked texture and the unwrapped model back to an OBJ and MAT format.  Now you can import it into Daz.

At this point, I usually make shape or pose to adjustments to my Genesis character's head in Daz.  I import my textured facial model into a scene with a vanilla Genesis character and position and/or scale it so that it covers the character's face. I then use the shape and pose morphs to make gross changes to Genesis facial characteristics so that the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, chin and jaw are roughly the same shape, size and dimensions as my facial mask.  This doesn't have to be perfect, but it will help with Softwrap's retopology process.

Export your Genesis character from Daz as an OBJ at base resolution (I use 1% scale to work in Blender).  Also export your positioned 3D facial model the same way.

Import both OBJ models into Blender (ensuring the Poly Groups option is checked).

You may want to create a custom vertex group for the part of your Genesis model that will should not be affected by Softwrap.  I usually create a group excluding the character's face, lips and eyelids.

In the Softwrap rollout, select the Genesis character as the source mesh and the Deep 3D mask as the target mesh.  Select your vertex group as the Snapping & Frozen Group to protect the bits of your Genesis character that shouldn't be affected by the plugin. Hit the Start button and slowly increase the Snapping strength control to see the changes.

Use the pins, and other settings to fine tune the fit and then hit apply once you are satisfied.  You can also leave the deformation as a shapekey and continue modifying your mesh.

Then you just export the mesh back to Daz (this time at 100%) and import it as a morph on a clean Genesis character and you have a good beginning for a custom character without ever having to do manual modelling.

Hope someone finds this helpful!

Has anyone gotten this to work, or improved on this workflow?

I can use softwrap in Blender, but have not had much luck with face alignment or Deep 3D Face Reconstruction in Windows

It seems like there is a new Pytorch-based version of Deep 3D Face Reconstruction that doesn't require the 5 facial landmarks: https://github.com/sicxu/Deep3DFaceRecon_pytorch#inference-with-a-pre-trained-model

Agree with this! 

nonesuch00 said:

My ranking is:

1) FaceGen Artist Pro

2) Headshop

3) Face Transfer

Which is the ideal Daz Studio install directory.  I know Headshop support seems to like C:\Daz3d\Applications etc. and on another computer it was installed there by default. But when it seems impossible to install it there now. Program Files seems to be the place.

So, what's the meaning of this?  Is there a best place to install Daz Studio?  And why?

Pugwash_3769741927 said:

FirstBastion said:

 I generally dont do cross generation conversions.

 

Personal choice and I respect that. It's certainly not something that works for everyone or with every product. Personally, I don't like to buy something and not feel I've got my moneys worth out of it. So to buy a $15-$20 converter app and extend the life of something that I enjoy using really does work for me, and as an (extremely) amateur 3D artist, justifies the process needed to myself. I'm not selling my art so this meagre expenditure satifies my needs.
For example. I love Syltermermaids V4 textures, not just for themselves but they work well with most of the output jpegs I get from Faceshop 6, especially her Pia set. I like FS6 more so than Abalone's recent versions of Headshop and Daz's Face Transfer so to use those head textures and morphs that I've already created only needs a texture converter for V4-G8 (thank you Blacksmith3D) and D3D's V4-G3 morph converter coupled with RiverArts Software's G3-G8 character converter. Trying to recreate the characters I've already made with the new apps hasn't worked yet and would add too much additional work to make a render worthwhile.
It's whatever you are happy with.

 I never checked under the hood,  but the reason I don't do the conversions,  is I have a suspicion that the conversion process generates a lot of additional data for those models leading to longer load times.

As you said,  each artist decides what works best for them.

FirstBastion said:

 I generally dont do cross generation conversions.

Personal choice and I respect that. It's certainly not something that works for everyone or with every product. Personally, I don't like to buy something and not feel I've got my moneys worth out of it. So to buy a $15-$20 converter app and extend the life of something that I enjoy using really does work for me, and as an (extremely) amateur 3D artist, justifies the process needed to myself. I'm not selling my art so this meagre expenditure satifies my needs.
For example. I love Syltermermaids V4 textures, not just for themselves but they work well with most of the output jpegs I get from Faceshop 6, especially her Pia set. I like FS6 more so than Abalone's recent versions of Headshop and Daz's Face Transfer so to use those head textures and morphs that I've already created only needs a texture converter for V4-G8 (thank you Blacksmith3D) and D3D's V4-G3 morph converter coupled with RiverArts Software's G3-G8 character converter. Trying to recreate the characters I've already made with the new apps hasn't worked yet and would add too much additional work to make a render worthwhile.
It's whatever you are happy with.