Here is the Girl 8, the dress is then evening star dress, the heels if you can see them are from the Celia Outfit, and the hair is the full & fluffy hair, everything was converted using this

https://www.daz3d.com/evening-star-dress

https://www.daz3d.com/celia-clothes

https://www.daz3d.com/full-feathered-haircut-for-michael-victoria

I don't know how long V4 and M4 were around

V4 was released in December 2006, M4 in October 2008.

Wow, they are ancient in computer years!

And yet, for a huge percentage of this community, they are still the default figures and new product continues to be churned out for them.  I can't remember the last time I actually used V4, let alone M4, but I continue to buy both new outfits and older products for them, especially when DAZ and the other sotres keep running crazy sales where they are only a few dollars each.    

Huh.  I have used G2m once or maybe twice.  I have not been tempted to go even further back.   However, there are outfits that tempt me if I can use them on G3 or G8! 

I imagine the difference is that I started with this hobby back when Victoria 3 was the new girl on the block.  Having thousands of older items and watching them become slowly obsolete as new products came in, especially given how often the older products were either better designed or concepts that were never duplicated, is a pretty good impetus to keep finding better ways to update the old stuff.. Especially since a lot of it actually looks amazingly good once it's upgraded to Iray or the morphs are transferred to the newer figures. 

I understand completely.  You have been using and loving these items for years.  I have a soft spot for my first purchase from Daz for the same reason 

I don't know how long V4 and M4 were around

V4 was released in December 2006, M4 in October 2008.

Wow, they are ancient in computer years!

And yet, for a huge percentage of this community, they are still the default figures and new product continues to be churned out for them.  I can't remember the last time I actually used V4, let alone M4, but I continue to buy both new outfits and older products for them, especially when DAZ and the other sotres keep running crazy sales where they are only a few dollars each.    

Huh.  I have used G2m once or maybe twice.  I have not been tempted to go even further back.   However, there are outfits that tempt me if I can use them on G3 or G8! 

I imagine the difference is that I started with this hobby back when Victoria 3 was the new girl on the block.  Having thousands of older items and watching them become slowly obsolete as new products came in, especially given how often the older products were either better designed or concepts that were never duplicated, is a pretty good impetus to keep finding better ways to update the old stuff.. Especially since a lot of it actually looks amazingly good once it's upgraded to Iray or the morphs are transferred to the newer figures. 

For hair styles, you can always try and see if the parts you can't use are separate surfaces that you can hide by zeroing out the opacity on the surfaces tab. If you have hair shader products, you can even combine two different hairstyles by loading both, hiding the parts you don't like and then using the same hair shader on all the visible surfaces to make them look like they belong together.

For faery ears, have you tried either of these products: 

https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-8-female-fantasy-morph-resource-kit

https://www.daz3d.com/hfs-ultimate-shapes-for-genesis-8-female

With the hair, I could try it out and see.  As for the packages, the first one I have not seen before, but I can't really tell.   The second package, that might do it.  I have on my wishlist, I am waiting for it to go on sale.

Yeah V4 ruled from 2006-2011 I believe, right before Genesis 1. The G2F incarnation of Victoria is V6, which is just a character not a figure.

V4 has maintained popularity for a long time due to good compatibility outside of DS.

But if you will stick with DS there are downsides to V4... If I'm not mistaken there's no autofit or morph following for clothes, and morphs don't (probably can't) stray as far from the base body shape as Genesis morphs can.

I can tell it is older.  I was playing with the morphs for  V4.2  last night and I have to say, the head and face morphs are pretty good, in fact there are some options and setting  that I don't have with Gen 8.  I am sure they are available, as I am still new, but it seemed like I could do more.  Also I have noticed that with V4, some characters had likenesses of actual celebrities, such as Angelina Jolie, Mila Jovovich, and Rhinanna. (Even though I don't care for V4, I HAD to get Rhianna! Lol!).  However when it comes to the bodies, the adjustments are very limited.  Also, there  are anatomy issues.  the arm / shoulder crease is too high, making the shoulders more flat than rounded.  muscle attachment points are wrong and there are many issues that are more apparent if you want a more athletic or muscular character.   As it is, I am not fond of Genesis either.  Things get a bit better with Gen 2.  Gen 3 looks better yet.  If course my favorite is Gen 8.   With Gen 8, I noticed that the muscles contract when you move the joints.  While I probably will dabble withV4, I am not going to specifically but for it unless it is something for $2 or less.  I am mostly sticking with Gen 8.

IF you can manage to create the shape you are aiming for in gen4 (V4), there's a fighting chance of being able to port it as far as G3 via GenX2. You'll probably need add-ons to get it past G1, but it *might* be doable. A lot depends on how much of a strain is put on the mesh.

But I've built a number of characters from GenX ports, since those come in with dials, so it's easy to mix them or add them incrementaly.

That is all beyond my capability at the moment.  Perhaps in the future, but I am still a beginner with 3d art.  I only signed up to Da z last month.   I already spent a fortune on it too.  I guess the initial expense is expected to build up a good working library.  As it is , I am trying to cut back on character purchases and I am making them more myself now.  I don't buy poses and those I have came with bundles.  I only bought 2 character pro bundles to date:  Karyssa and Eva 8.  they had the most items i could use and they were on sale too.  And yes I am PC+.   

But all in all of there was a way to extract that ear morph from that V4 Character and make it a control for the Gen 8, then that would be great.  In do have Blender, but don't know it that well.  

If possible, a network rendering option like Vue's RenderCow. 

Also like Vue, a drop to ground option. I select Victoria 4 or Genesis 8 figure and hover above the ground plane. Select drop to floor and the figure is now on the ground plane. I use it a lot in Vue.

Better manual / documentation for DAZ Studio.

A much easier rigging option for new base figures.

BTW V4 is a standalone pre-Genesis figure, you would not get (even) Genesis 2 compatibility by that route.

Pre-Genesis?  So V4 is not a part of the Genesis series?  I thought it was an offshoot of Genesis 2.  Hmm, I guess that explains why Daz has these deep price cuts on V4 products.

I don't particularly care for the body on V4 even though the face does have some pretty good morph controls.  They render very fast too.  I didn't really buy into V4 as I mainly came into it via lots of free product.  All I did was buy the Victoria 4 base model and the 4.2 upgrade came in a bundle which was free.   It is just that I am spoiled from the Genesis 8 bodies.  The V4 bodies are OK for anime, cartoon, fairies, sci-fi and fantasy type characters, but not for realistic detailing.   Muscular details are way off with it and Gen 8 is so much better for that kind of work. That is why I was hoping if I could find that style of elf ear in a Gen 8 character.

Yeah V4 ruled from 2006-2011 I believe, right before Genesis 1. The G2F incarnation of Victoria is V6, which is just a character not a figure.

V4 has maintained popularity for a long time due to good compatibility outside of DS.

But if you will stick with DS there are downsides to V4... If I'm not mistaken there's no autofit or morph following for clothes, and morphs don't (probably can't) stray as far from the base body shape as Genesis morphs can.

This might help

https://www.daz3d.com/ej-fantasy-ears-for-genesis-8-female-s

Thanks, but they are not close.  Many of those styles I have already.  I am mainly after that one particular style.

I am not particularly fond of the V4 body which is based on Gen 2

BTW V4 is a standalone pre-Genesis figure, you would not get (even) Genesis 2 compatibility by that route.

Pre-Genesis?  So V4 is not a part of the Genesis series?  I thought it was an offshoot of Genesis 2.  Hmm, I guess that explains why Daz has these deep price cuts on V4 products.

I don't particularly care for the body on V4 even though the face does have some pretty good morph controls.  They render very fast too.  I didn't really buy into V4 as I mainly came into it via lots of free product.  All I did was buy the Victoria 4 base model and the 4.2 upgrade came in a bundle which was free.   It is just that I am spoiled from the Genesis 8 bodies.  The V4 bodies are OK for anime, cartoon, fairies, sci-fi and fantasy type characters, but not for realistic detailing.   Muscular details are way off with it and Gen 8 is so much better for that kind of work. That is why I was hoping if I could find that style of elf ear in a Gen 8 character.

Thank you.

Hi!  I'm having trouble with these black/white spots.  I actually had trouble like this a few years ago with DAZ before IRAY, but with some SSS shaders and never could figure out the issue.  It was only certain skins.  Now that I think about it, the issue is almost similar.    

I ran across this thread trying to figure out what causes the issue and how to fix it.  I purchased RY Caprice for Victoria 8 the other day.  I need to render my work on a clear background, no ground, no dome and save as TIF, but it keeps messing up with the spots and the longer it goes the worse they get.  My program says I'm running 4.10.0.123.  It doesn't have any updates.    

The forum won't let me attach a sample because I use TIFF and I'm too tired to convert it now LOL.  When I look at the picture saved on my HD the spots appear white.   In my render they are black.  So, I'm thinking this shader bug is my issue?  That these pixels are actually "clear"?   

I don't know anything about "chromatic" SSS.  How do you know if a product uses it?  I just know I've had some weird issues with things not showing up in the renders all of a sudden.  Like my Aguja Mermaid's eye textures just would not render.  I applied the SSS shader that came with the character and that seemed to fix it, but it was rendering "clear" before I put that other shader on.  

Does anyone know how long before 4.11 is officially released?  I might try to get the beta to see if that helps..but with all these sales my HD space is getting low! :) 

 

Thanks.       

 

Select the figure, open the Surfaces pane, go to its Editor tab, click the little arrow to exapnd the entries under the figure, click Skin, type type in the filter box and you should see the button for SSS Type - it will be set to Chromatic on Mono (assuming all the skin surfaces use the same setting).

Hi!  I'm having trouble with these black/white spots.  I actually had trouble like this a few years ago with DAZ before IRAY, but with some SSS shaders and never could figure out the issue.  It was only certain skins.  Now that I think about it, the issue is almost similar.    

I ran across this thread trying to figure out what causes the issue and how to fix it.  I purchased RY Caprice for Victoria 8 the other day.  I need to render my work on a clear background, no ground, no dome and save as TIF, but it keeps messing up with the spots and the longer it goes the worse they get.  My program says I'm running 4.10.0.123.  It doesn't have any updates.    

The forum won't let me attach a sample because I use TIFF and I'm too tired to convert it now LOL.  When I look at the picture saved on my HD the spots appear white.   In my render they are black.  So, I'm thinking this shader bug is my issue?  That these pixels are actually "clear"?   

I don't know anything about "chromatic" SSS.  How do you know if a product uses it?  I just know I've had some weird issues with things not showing up in the renders all of a sudden.  Like my Aguja Mermaid's eye textures just would not render.  I applied the SSS shader that came with the character and that seemed to fix it, but it was rendering "clear" before I put that other shader on.  

Does anyone know how long before 4.11 is officially released?  I might try to get the beta to see if that helps..but with all these sales my HD space is getting low! :) 

Thanks.       

I'll hold out hope for backwards-compatible morphs even if it's not likely. I can totally understand it not happening if it's a tech limitation, but the idea that they're banking on us reinvesting in morphs doesn't make sense to me; it's an easy point at which even dedicated buyers can say, "Welp, I've got enough stuff to keep me for a long time" and jump off. Meanwhile, most of their sales and point-of-entry messaging depend on older items maintaining their value for users. I would be rampaging through the G3 back catalogue if those characters could be efficiently transferred to G8.

Without that, I'd have to think really hard before investing in a new generation. Most of the features I want would probably come with overall improvements to the software, and not necessarily to the figures themselves.

 

I think this is a point where there is a great misunderstanding...  When you use a program like GenX to reshape an newer generation to match an older generation, it is always an approximation... The various generations have different numbers of vertices,  bones, material zones, and anatomy.  The only way to have true backward compatibility is to freeze the technology and always refuse any improvement that breaks compatibility which pretty much thwarts having a new figure.   Morphs, for example, are always going to be next to impossible to reverse engineer for an earlier figure since they simply don't have the same bones.   It is amazing that one can get a garment to fit an earlier generation in its own line where each generation of Genesis have pretty much the same arms, hips , legs and torsos.  The system breaks down when fitting shoes where the different numbers of bones in the feet make the issue often insurmountable.   The question is how much of an approximation are ypu willing to tolerate and what are a reasonable number of restrictions of improvements is acceptable to retain compatibility.  For example, should they forgo a more realistic eye because changes in anatomy whould prevent earlier eye textures from mapping properly?  big questions....

That's why I totally get it if the issue is a tech limitation; what I'm basically saying is that it seems like something they'd fix if they could, and that I don't think it's a matter of them actually wanting us to buy morphs over and over again. If it can't be changed, though, then in practice there are always going to be reasons to weigh whether or not it makes sense for an individual user to upgrade. That's not DAZ's fault, but if I were in charge of thinking about this stuff this'd be about the point where I'd want to release a new generation only if the features and technology it could offer had taken a big leap forward. 

You brought back a fond memory of a lovely grad student who has since passed away... we were discussing supermarket prices and I was telling her about their low profit magins because a large chain had just gone out of business...  Halfway through the conversation, she asked why everything wasn't like the pasta she bought which was always cheap and never seemed to change price.  I dutifully explained the concept of a loss leader and why everthing can't be priced below cost err one goes out of business and over my timeframe, i can remember when that package of pasta cost 89 cents rather than 3 dollars.
The lack of backward compatibility is not a flaw;  it is the only way that the product can evolve and improve.  People end up wanting features that are bugs to other people and endless choices have to be made.  For example, the earliest figures have UV maps that had every feature on one UV map.  It was wonderful if you liked to make your own textures and terrible if you hoped for even a bit of realism. The various companies decided that their market would eventually evaporate if they couldn't make more realistic figures which breaks compatability.  So there is a choice; do you keep things as they are so that older products can use anything or do you improve and leave things behind.  
An added point is there is no inherent reason to migrate your older figures; I can still gussy up a Victoria 1 Figure with iRay and put her in the background of a scene with Victoria 8. Your older figure still work.

I have fun making V4 items work on G8, particularly the texturs; with the morphs I'm generally happy enough to approximate the shape, particularly on the body.

That older content still works, and often very well, with some time (and not a lot) spent updating the shader seems to be lost on many. Even applying one of the shaders created specifically for improveing the look of older models, is both effective and inexpensive and very quick.

Hi,

I see V3/M3 content compatible with Millennium Boy and Girl but I thought they were Millennium 2 figures.
At the same time Victoria 2 and Michael 2 are no longer available.

Are they 2nd or 3rd generation figures ?

I'll hold out hope for backwards-compatible morphs even if it's not likely. I can totally understand it not happening if it's a tech limitation, but the idea that they're banking on us reinvesting in morphs doesn't make sense to me; it's an easy point at which even dedicated buyers can say, "Welp, I've got enough stuff to keep me for a long time" and jump off. Meanwhile, most of their sales and point-of-entry messaging depend on older items maintaining their value for users. I would be rampaging through the G3 back catalogue if those characters could be efficiently transferred to G8.

Without that, I'd have to think really hard before investing in a new generation. Most of the features I want would probably come with overall improvements to the software, and not necessarily to the figures themselves.

 

I think this is a point where there is a great misunderstanding...  When you use a program like GenX to reshape an newer generation to match an older generation, it is always an approximation... The various generations have different numbers of vertices,  bones, material zones, and anatomy.  The only way to have true backward compatibility is to freeze the technology and always refuse any improvement that breaks compatibility which pretty much thwarts having a new figure.   Morphs, for example, are always going to be next to impossible to reverse engineer for an earlier figure since they simply don't have the same bones.   It is amazing that one can get a garment to fit an earlier generation in its own line where each generation of Genesis have pretty much the same arms, hips , legs and torsos.  The system breaks down when fitting shoes where the different numbers of bones in the feet make the issue often insurmountable.   The question is how much of an approximation are ypu willing to tolerate and what are a reasonable number of restrictions of improvements is acceptable to retain compatibility.  For example, should they forgo a more realistic eye because changes in anatomy whould prevent earlier eye textures from mapping properly?  big questions....

That's why I totally get it if the issue is a tech limitation; what I'm basically saying is that it seems like something they'd fix if they could, and that I don't think it's a matter of them actually wanting us to buy morphs over and over again. If it can't be changed, though, then in practice there are always going to be reasons to weigh whether or not it makes sense for an individual user to upgrade. That's not DAZ's fault, but if I were in charge of thinking about this stuff this'd be about the point where I'd want to release a new generation only if the features and technology it could offer had taken a big leap forward. 

You brought back a fond memory of a lovely grad student who has since passed away... we were discussing supermarket prices and I was telling her about their low profit magins because a large chain had just gone out of business...  Halfway through the conversation, she asked why everything wasn't like the pasta she bought which was always cheap and never seemed to change price.  I dutifully explained the concept of a loss leader and why everthing can't be priced below cost err one goes out of business and over my timeframe, i can remember when that package of pasta cost 89 cents rather than 3 dollars.
The lack of backward compatibility is not a flaw;  it is the only way that the product can evolve and improve.  People end up wanting features that are bugs to other people and endless choices have to be made.  For example, the earliest figures have UV maps that had every feature on one UV map.  It was wonderful if you liked to make your own textures and terrible if you hoped for even a bit of realism. The various companies decided that their market would eventually evaporate if they couldn't make more realistic figures which breaks compatability.  So there is a choice; do you keep things as they are so that older products can use anything or do you improve and leave things behind.  
An added point is there is no inherent reason to migrate your older figures; I can still gussy up a Victoria 1 Figure with iRay and put her in the background of a scene with Victoria 8. Your older figure still work.

Hello,

I recently bought Zola HD for Genesis 8 Female, I have downloaded it with the Install manager and when I try to add the Zola Actor in my scene, I get this message (screenshot attached).

What does it mean? It says something about Victoria 8. I haven't downloaded Victoria 8, and in the required products section it doesn't say anything about V8. What do I do? Will I have to pay for V8? I'm clueless. Please help!

~ Lucas

The girl on the left is 50% Lara and 50% Alabama. Her skin is from CB Liliana. The girl on the right is 90% Alabama and 10% Victoria 8. I have only used the HDRI background for lighting and I seem to have avoided the orange spray tan look that others have mentioned.

Not a chance I would even consider buying it unless there is full, 100% backward and forward compatability.  Based on the past, not likely to happen.

And when I mention compatability, I am refering to all poses (including expressions), all UVs, all clothing items and all morphs.  Will not accept solutions that require additional purchases of add-ons or endless hours spent on work-arounds.

If nothing is changed then it won't be a new figure.

 

Maybe a combination of Genesis 9 and Studio 5 allowing Gen 9 to be able to use any clothing textures and morphs from Michael/Victoria 4 on up to Gen 9 without the purchases of niggles like GenX work arounds.

New Software - Free; New Genesis Version - Free; Lots of Access to Morphs - Free.

They sure will need to sell lots of something to fund all that free.

Not a chance I would even consider buying it unless there is full, 100% backward and forward compatability.  Based on the past, not likely to happen.

And when I mention compatability, I am refering to all poses (including expressions), all UVs, all clothing items and all morphs.  Will not accept solutions that require additional purchases of add-ons or endless hours spent on work-arounds.

If nothing is changed then it won't be a new figure.

For DzAsset​.addCompatibilities ( Array bases, Boolean create=false ):

How do I get a complete list of bases that I can add to an asset?

I'm looking for something that will return these in a list.
.......
Generation4
Generation4/Michael 4
Generation4/Michael 4#David
Generation4/Michael 4#Hiro
Generation4/Michael 4#The Freak
Generation4/The Kids 4
Generation4/Victoria 4
Generation4/Victoria 4#Aiko
Generation4/Victoria 4#Stephanie
Generation4/Victoria 4#The Girl
......

Thanks

Thanks for all the comments people. I already saw Gore-Dom, but it's not really what I'm looking for - I actually have morphs for G8 which simulate a belly ripped open, and I need something to put into the hole :D So primarily I'm looking for intensines and thick blood splatter props, but yeah... as far as I can see, everything is made just for IRAY. Guess I'm gonna have to figure out how to convert these water shaders to 3DL  and make them red :P

Actually no need trying to convert anything that doesn't have textures/maps. Just apply the 3DL shader you want to use, and adjust diffuse color/strength, opacity, glossiness, reflectiveness, refraction index and so on. I would definitely use a shader that has SSS, like OmUbersurface or AoA SSS. The DS default shader is too limited for this purpose IMO. Happy to help you with settings if you need it;)

Haha thanks :) Are the AoA shaders commercial (just like the AoA light pack?). Actually, I have a semi-related question which I posted here ->

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/304866/victoria-4-internal-organs-product-question#latest

Would you mind taking a look?

The AoA (Age of Armour) base shader is free, content library/shader presets/AoA/AoA base shader, but there are a number of AoA shader presets available in the store, https://www.daz3d.com/age-of-armour, the rock and grass shaders are very nice, also some metalized glass shader presets etc. Most newer figures use AoA skin for 3DL, looks good, but personally I prefer the OmUbersurface shader because it renders faster and I can get pretty descent results with it.

Load a Genesis and Genesis 8 Female figure, and the v4 internal organs.

Right click on the organs in the scene window, click ‘fit to’ and choose Genesis. Leave the other option as None. When prompted select ‘converting from Victoria 4.’

The organs are converted from Victoria 4 to fit Genesis.

Now select the organs and right click to fit to, select Genesis 8 Female, and select convert from Genesis, select ‘full body’ for the second option.

That converts the organs to follow the Genesis 8 Female figure.

 

The issue is that the autofit needs information about how to adapt one figure to another, and there’s no fitting into for v4-> g8f

Great, thanks!

if you are just using the organs by themselves you don't need to fit them to anything 

I don't think they untangle though

I haven't tried Dforce on them

Thanks, I needed to know this. Well, actually if this worked with dforce it would solve most of my problems :D

Load a Genesis and Genesis 8 Female figure, and the v4 internal organs.

Right click on the organs in the scene window, click ‘fit to’ and choose Genesis. Leave the other option as None. When prompted select ‘converting from Victoria 4.’

The organs are converted from Victoria 4 to fit Genesis.

Now select the organs and right click to fit to, select Genesis 8 Female, and select convert from Genesis, select ‘full body’ for the second option.

That converts the organs to follow the Genesis 8 Female figure.

The issue is that the autofit needs information about how to adapt one figure to another, and there’s no fitting into for v4-> g8f