Moroccan Dreams for V4: Used a version I'd converted to G3F a while back. Underdress and Overdress work okay, under the usual conditions (self collide off, animated drape, smoothing modifier). I couldn't get the belt and sash to work, and I think poses with the hands close to the body are going to be problematic because of the big sleeves. Converted version suffered from mesh distortion (the back, hem, and lower skirt) that I was prepared to live with because there is nothing quite like this outfit for the newer characters, and those distortions mostly remained after using dForce, although the hem of the dresses and lower skirt seemed somewhat improved. You will want to set the smoothing modifier on the outer dress to collide with inner dress, not the character wearing the outfit.

 

With G8 they have separated out the eye, eyelash and eyebrow geometry into a different system -- which may pay dividends down the road, but it's still at the point of causing confusion.

This has already paid dividends to character makers :D The eyes are now one mesh between the iris, sclera and pupil. Previously on G3, they were all separate. This made morphing eyes very difficult/tedious. The tear and eyelashes are a separate geometry in G8 (though together) which again, helps with character/morph making because they autofollow morphs now instead of having to be hand adjusted. This means it's easier to reshape eyes, and you will be able to get some more unique eye shapes that were previously difficult to make. The eyebrow isn't a separate geometry per say. A separate fibermesh eyebrow set is being offered in addition to the painted/texture based eyebrows with some characters and figures. The base G8 does not have separate eyebrows (though Victoria, Michael and the other Daz shapes I believe do). 

I don't see it mentioned elsewhere (though I could have missed it), but there was a huge improvement in rigging from G2 to G3 (and now G8) other than the system used. Previously, all expressions on characters were morphs. This meant that, depending on the character, the look could vary vastly. Expressions were not universal to characters. From G3 on, expressions are rigging based. There is a facial rig on G3 and G8 and expressions (at least the ones at Daz) are all based on bones and not mesh. If a character is rerigged facially properly (which is tested for at Daz at least), any expression for that generation will work for it. You don't have to morph smiles or winks anymore. It's awesome :D 

Something else that came along the time of G3 was the Iray renderer. Most of the promos you see in the store now will be done in Iray. It's a PBR renderer and utilizes the GPU for much faster renders (if you have a GPU with cuda cores). It can also use the cpu, but it will be much slower if it uses the cpu only. You can read a little more about it here.

Last note-- G3 is over 2 years old now. It came out in the summer of 2015. G8 just came out this past summer. Clothing transfers very nicely from G3 to G8, but heeled shoes are a little more tricky. Keep in mind that more and more will be coming out for G8 and, most likely, less and less for G3. 

As to the head and body morphs, since Genesis 1 the base set of head and body morphs are for each generations's base figure, *not* for Michael and Victoria. Michael and Victoria are no longer the base figures. They are just base character morphs.

Also, if you're just getting back in the pool, we're only just now beginning to move past a veritable bog of proprietary UV Maps. This has the potential to be a definite issue to have to take into consideration for moving forward.

Genesis 1 used V4's UVs by default, but came with support for M4 and K4 as well. All you needed to do was effectively flip a switch in the surfaces tab.

However. Victoria 5 (who was a major character base morph for Genesis 1) had her own UVs. So did Michael. So did just about all the named base character morphs. This set the pattern for pretty much all of the named DAZ character base morphs for the Genesis series up to the end of G3. *Every one* of them had their own unique UV. And that adds up to *dozens* of them over Genesis 1, 2, and 3. Which means that skins built for a specific base morph can't necessarily be used on any of the others, unless you also own *that* character base because the only way to get support for that UV is to get at least the base figure which introduced it.

PAs played into this for most of the development period of G1 and G2. However, by the end of G2's development cycle, the plethora of unique UVs floating around was already getting ridiculous. And then with G3 DAZ changed the whole UV layout, so *nothing* for *any* older figure would work with G3 out of the box. Cayman Studios came up with a viable work-around by using geografts. You are probably going to want to look into those if you want to reuse any of your older skins on G3 or G8 (or later) figures. However, there are a few UVs that weren't spported so widely that he's considered them enough of a return for the investment of the work it would take to create a set to make those portable to G3. K4 is still MiA, and possibly a few of the Genesis series bases.

However, once G3 was released, and it was plain that DAZ was going to continue to introduce unique UVs for every different character base morph (and the number of those base morphes had ramped up to something like 2 in an average month), a lot of the PAs decided that they were not going to play that game any more. As G3's development cycle progressed, more and more G3 characters came out which were built on the base G3F and G3M base UVs, only. And nobody had to pay extra to get those, since those bases came with the program.

DAZ got the message. G8 uses the G3 base UVs by default. With G8 they have separated out the eye, eyelash and eyebrow geometry into a different system -- which may pay dividends down the road, but it's still at the point of causing confusion.

However, the UV issue is a really good reason to consider concentrating on G3 and later if you are getting back into Studio. All your older stuff should still work in the program, but the skins are not going to be transferable outside their own generation without add-ons, and may not even be all that usable on other figures within their own generation if the skin was built for a different character base. And at the start of G3's development cycle, there were still PAs who supported the unique UVs so you need to watch for which one a given skin was built for -- unless you are picking up a characcter base which wll bring its UV with it.

G3 also abandoned Triax rigging in favor for dual quaternion. So the bones will be different. But that is the standard going forward, so there's no point in avoiding it. Pose sets for G2 don't always work that well with G3 and vice-versa. There are utilities for converting poses, bt those are more add-ons. G8 went from the T-pose to an A-pose for its zero position, which throws some pose sets off, but the fix for that doesn't require a purchased add-on, for most thigs. 

Just to understand how the Genesis Add-ons category should work, cause some people seem to have issues here.

At the moment not discounted and 'pure' DO discounted items seem to work for me with -60 % (for owning a Gen 8 character) and -30 % for loyalty reward.

Everthing already featured PA discounted (and also these + DO discounted) is only loyalty discounted, except PC+ which is -60% discounted.

So e.g.

https://www.daz3d.com/timeless-outfit-for-victoria-7 and https://www.daz3d.com/i13-elation-poses-for-victoria-6 (both in this category sale) have nearly the same price in cart for me.

Genesis 3 characters include Victoria 7, Michael 7, etc. (because there had been 4-ish generations of Victoria/;Michael before there was a Genesis). What should have been Genesis 4 was instead named Genesis 8, to avoid such confusions or create new ones, take your pick. Genesis8/Victoria 8/Michael 8 are the latest iteration.

For me personally, Genesis 3 hits a sweet spot in terms of reasonably realistic, wide variety of content and fairly good backward compability, thanks to Valzheimer's Wear Them All and Sickleyield's Ultratemplates. But we're at that transitional phase where a lot of content supports both Genesis 3 and 8, and we can tell which one is going to get the support going forward, so it's hard for me to recommend 3 at this point.

Genesis 2 has somewhat more imaginative clothes and base characters, including a lizard man, minotaur, and multiple toons, and I am told that it and Genesis 8 work better for animation. 

I haven't bought Genesis 8 stuff (except for some things that were for both 3 and 8); my impression from the forums is that it's more difficult to get the skins to look good, and the female base characters have VERY samey faces (males are pretty good, though, and the PA created characters for both are on par with their output for Genesis 3). To my mind it's too early to tell how the clothing and backward-compatibility addons will stack up compared to Genesis 1-3.

Basically it comes down to what you want out of your characters. For toons, children and "classical" creatures, I feel like Genesis 1 and 2 are better. For effectively using V4/M4 clothes, Genesis 3 with the tools mentioned above is better, although not infallible. For "realistic" (or realistically disgusting) zombies, werewolves and alien monsters, Genesis 3 is better. For "almost photoreal", the very best of Genesis 8 seems slightly better than the best of Genesis 3, but the rest of Genesis 8 falls off into uncanny valley more sharply than Genesis 3, IMO.

The only Genesis after Genesis 3 is Genesis 8. It goes like this:

Genesis - has Victoria 5

Genesis 2 - has Victoria 6

Genesis 3 - has Victoria 7

Genesis 8 - has Victoria 8

The reason for the change was to align the Genesis base number with the Victoria/Michael generation number. As far as what generation you should use, that is up to you. Genesis 8 is the latest with new advances, but some people don't like the base figures appearance. Genesis 3 has lots of options and the textures and clothes transfer well to Genesis 8. I would suggest looking at figures from both G3 and G8 to see which you prefer. Also, if you do fantasy renders, Genesis 3 has centaur figures.

I see I'm not the only one having an issue with the pricing on the Holiday Loyality Rewards Sale.

The issue I am having is that under the Genesis Add-On sale, anything marked with a discount indicator (i.e. -40%) does not apply the 60% discount.  It does apply my Loyalty Rewards amount, but that's it.  This is actually causing any of these products marked with a discount to be more expensive than if not marked.

For example, the Michi HD for Victoria 7 is a base price of $19.95 currently marked down 40% to $11.97.  At checkout the final price after Loyalty Discount is showing at $8.98.  Now I've also got the Gwenbleiz HD and Beard for Michael 7 in the cart also, which also has a base price of $19.95 but no markdown indicator.  At checkout this item is showing a final price, after the 60% and then the Loyalty Discount, of $5.98.  So the marked down item is actually showing up to be MORE expensive than if it wasn't marked down 40%!

I'm not sure if it is intended that an additional 60% be taken off of the already marked down 40%, but in any case it is still showing a higher price at checkout than if they just took the 60% off the base price.

I submitted a help desk ticket about 10 hours ago, which they did reply to.  But they just told me to clear my cache/cookies and make sure I'm logged into my account.  I had already done that, I informed them of such in the original ticket.  I tried again and also on a different computer.  Still no fix.

I wasn't necessarily planning on purchasing any of these items.  But if the 60% were to additionally be taken off the already reduced 40% off, that would be a good deal worth considering.

Two additional things to note.  Yes, I do own Victoria 8 (base) so the 60% should apply (as it does correctly on the Gwenbleiz item and other non-marked discount items in this category.)  Also, unlike the other Loyalty Sale categories, the Genesis Add-On Sale clearly states that "Discount applies in shopping cart."

Hopefully they get it fixed, but be sure to keep an eye on your cart to make sure the final prices at checkout are correct!

 

Maria is having the same problem.

It looks like it is quite easy to simulate in dForce, dynamic clothes for Poser, made for different figures.

Below is an example dForce simulation on Genesis 3 Female of Tipol's dynamic Fairy Queen dress for Victoria 4.

New Hexagon Beta works very well for creating morphs for such cases - just move and scale around to make

initial fit of clothes to figure you want to use in simulation.

I see I'm not the only one having an issue with the pricing on the Holiday Loyality Rewards Sale.

The issue I am having is that under the Genesis Add-On sale, anything marked with a discount indicator (i.e. -40%) does not apply the 60% discount.  It does apply my Loyalty Rewards amount, but that's it.  This is actually causing any of these products marked with a discount to be more expensive than if not marked.

For example, the Michi HD for Victoria 7 is a base price of $19.95 currently marked down 40% to $11.97.  At checkout the final price after Loyalty Discount is showing at $8.98.  Now I've also got the Gwenbleiz HD and Beard for Michael 7 in the cart also, which also has a base price of $19.95 but no markdown indicator.  At checkout this item is showing a final price, after the 60% and then the Loyalty Discount, of $5.98.  So the marked down item is actually showing up to be MORE expensive than if it wasn't marked down 40%!

I'm not sure if it is intended that an additional 60% be taken off of the already marked down 40%, but in any case it is still showing a higher price at checkout than if they just took the 60% off the base price.

I submitted a help desk ticket about 10 hours ago, which they did reply to.  But they just told me to clear my cache/cookies and make sure I'm logged into my account.  I had already done that, I informed them of such in the original ticket.  I tried again and also on a different computer.  Still no fix.

I wasn't necessarily planning on purchasing any of these items.  But if the 60% were to additionally be taken off the already reduced 40% off, that would be a good deal worth considering.

Two additional things to note.  Yes, I do own Victoria 8 (base) so the 60% should apply (as it does correctly on the Gwenbleiz item and other non-marked discount items in this category.)  Also, unlike the other Loyalty Sale categories, the Genesis Add-On Sale clearly states that "Discount applies in shopping cart."

Hopefully they get it fixed, but be sure to keep an eye on your cart to make sure the final prices at checkout are correct!

I admit that I've lost track of what, exactly comes with the Genesis X essentials and what I bought separately, and I know I've lost track of most of who the vendors are (sorry vendors)

Genesis 1 can, by default use V4 skins.

Genesis 2 can, by default, use V5 skins.  You have to buy the UV's for Genesis 2 to use V4 skins.

Genesis 3 requires add ons by Cayman Studios to use V4 or V5 or V6 skins.  The V4 one I think is at Rendo (I never bought any of these)

Genesis 8 can use Genesis 3 skins by default.

Clothing and Hair:

You can go up (V4 to Genesis 1 to Genesis 2 to Genesis 3 to Genesis 8) by default using Autofit, but you'll need to purchase or make your own clones to go the other way.  (Genesis 3 to Genesis 8 is easier, but I still get a little lost in the tutorial SickleYield has over at Deviant Art).  There are additional templates in the store that improve the results.

Morphs:
GenX2 will transfer morphs to Genesis 2, and the Genesis 3 plug in extends this to Genesis 3.  Getting morphs from Genesis 3 to Genesis 8 ... That I think is the transfer utility thing, but I'm not sure.

There is no Genesis 4, 5, 6.  They skipped those to reduce confusion and align version numbers.  (Gensis 8 is lined up with Victoria 8)

And if I'm wrong about any of this, I'm sure someone else will correct me.

I have buyed FW Honey, I have victoria 7 and in shop it say purchased, but she don't appear in people...

What is the name of the file so I may see if it is installed ?

If you're looking in "Content Library > Daz Studio Formats" she should be in  "People:Genesis 3 Female:Characters"

If you're looking in Categories or Smart Content she should be in “Figures:People:Female:Real World”

I have buyed FW Honey, I have victoria 7 and in shop it say purchased, but she don't appear in people...

What is the name of the file so I may see if it is installed ?

So, here I was assuming it was just a short wait before the Genesis 3 Legacy morphs pack 1 would be out, and Slosh is thinking no one wants it. I suggest that the OP change the title of this thread to: "Do you want Genesis 3 Legacy Morphs?"

I like RCDeschene's suggestion, and I would definitely be a buyer of a Victoria or Aiko or Darius product. I would really appreciate ALL the males from Genesis 3 (with the exception of Guy). I have not quite got the hang of the transfer utility.

I didn’t do Legacy Shapes this time around, for Genesis 3 to Genesis 8.  I wasn’t sure there would be an interest, since so many people have been transferring morphs on their own.  Plus, there are so many Genesis 3 shapes compared to past generations.  I couldn’t figure out which ones to do (and definitely don’t want to do ALL of them).  Do you think there is enough interest in Legacy shapes to do them for Genesis 8?  

One thing I considered was, instead of doing 4 or 5 shapes in each set, like I did for G2 to G3, that maybe I would do a “Generations” set for the main characters.  For example, Aiko 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 in one set (all for G8), Victoria 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 in another set, etc.

If enough interest is shown, I might consider doing something like that, skipping the characters that are less popular, such as Eva or Scott, etc.

That would be great! I think the idea of the "Generations" sets is really cool! 

As for transferring morphs ourselves - I've had particular trouble with larger eye characters not transferring well. So I'd definitely be interested in a Girl set and an Aiko set. But yeah, a Victoria set sounds great too. MOST people are not transferring morphs themselves, I'm willing to bet. And I'm also willing to bet that most people who buy 3D content here would rather pay someone for the legacy shape morphs than fiddle with trying to do it themselves. lol I could be wrong of course, but I doubt there are seriously large numbers of people who know how to do morph transfers themselves between G3 and G8. 

Right, such as myself. I mean, I CAN do it myself via Transfer Utility and all, but the post-organization isn't as convenient as it is with GenX. Not only that, speaking of GenX, the only thing we have somewhat close to a G8-supported version of it is SingularBlues' Script.
I LOVE the idea of a Generations-focused series, as it matches the approach Daz themselves are taking with releasing this Generation's icons. Maybe you should do than is corrispondence to the ones we have already:
Legacy Shapes Generations - Victoria
Legacy Shapes Generations - Olympia
Legacy Shapes Generations - Teen Josie
Legacy Shapes Generations - Stephanie
Legacy Shapes Generations - Monique
Legacy Shapes Generations - Michael
Legacy Shapes Generations - Darius
Mei Lin & Lee are already confirmed, Aiko and Girl are given, Gia & Gianni are expected, as is Lilith, and not sure about Julie. Maybe you can bundle characters like David, Lucian and Elijah as "Lucas' Friends" or something? And of course, last but not least would be what I'm going to call the "don't hold your breath" line including:
Legacy Shapes Generations - Anime Hero (Kenji 7, Hiro 5, Hiro 4, Hiro 3)
Legacy Shapes Generations - Sci-Fi Tank (Ivan 7, Freak 5, Freak 4, Freak 3)
Legacy Shapes Generations - Teen Boy (Teen Jayden, Tween Ryan, Young Teen Justin, Brodie)

I think some Victoria Secret models would be nice

Eh, actually i think Victoria Secret models are much closer to characters that we see for daz/poser. Or that was my impression anyway.

Ok, i'm back with some examples i had in mind! See attachments (if i'll manage to attach them).

Would like to know if you think there is something that they all share besides being models, during youth years and shot in glamour melancholia manner. For me, there is something in faces, maybe they are "irregular" compared to more general "beauty standards" (sorry dont know better phrase). 
And possibly  say if some characters for daz resemble them
 

@Chameo: Good one!

Tag: Totte#02 

#3465 M4 Combat Shirt (Rendo)
#6850 Your Move Poses for Victoria 6 and Michael 6 (#17994)
#4515 Pretty in Pink (#9557) 
#2708 Headphones (#14912)
LB#1: #4382 Pharaohs of the Sun for Genesis Female (#14173)
LB#2: #2644 Hagane Outfit for Genesis 2 Female(s) (#19641)
LB#3: #804 Car Roland (#16337)

Also used:
M4 + Jepes FGH + M4 Military Uniform + P3D Army Boots
F4 + Last Gladiator 
Genesis + Kaylee + Fantasy Accessories + Queens Court 2
IG Iray Monique 6 + Omri Hair 
Old Warehouse
Car Roland Iray Add-on
Lee 7 + Iconic Outfit + DJ Headphones
V8 + Bardot Outfit + Elan hair + Karaoke Machine Headphones
Emission Profile Master

Shaders:
Human Shaders
Iray Converter for Genesis
UHT2 Ultra Salon
Iray Total Lights

The Personal Silent Rave Party

It all went well until a big guy in a pink tutu showed up

I didn’t do Legacy Shapes this time around, for Genesis 3 to Genesis 8.  I wasn’t sure there would be an interest, since so many people have been transferring morphs on their own.  Plus, there are so many Genesis 3 shapes compared to past generations.  I couldn’t figure out which ones to do (and definitely don’t want to do ALL of them).  Do you think there is enough interest in Legacy shapes to do them for Genesis 8?  

One thing I considered was, instead of doing 4 or 5 shapes in each set, like I did for G2 to G3, that maybe I would do a “Generations” set for the main characters.  For example, Aiko 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 in one set (all for G8), Victoria 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 in another set, etc.

If enough interest is shown, I might consider doing something like that, skipping the characters that are less popular, such as Eva or Scott, etc.

That would be great! I think the idea of the "Generations" sets is really cool! 

As for transferring morphs ourselves - I've had particular trouble with larger eye characters not transferring well. So I'd definitely be interested in a Girl set and an Aiko set. But yeah, a Victoria set sounds great too. MOST people are not transferring morphs themselves, I'm willing to bet. And I'm also willing to bet that most people who buy 3D content here would rather pay someone for the legacy shape morphs than fiddle with trying to do it themselves. lol I could be wrong of course, but I doubt there are seriously large numbers of people who know how to do morph transfers themselves between G3 and G8. 

I didn’t do Legacy Shapes this time around, for Genesis 3 to Genesis 8.  I wasn’t sure there would be an interest, since so many people have been transferring morphs on their own.  Plus, there are so many Genesis 3 shapes compared to past generations.  I couldn’t figure out which ones to do (and definitely don’t want to do ALL of them).  Do you think there is enough interest in Legacy shapes to do them for Genesis 8?  

One thing I considered was, instead of doing 4 or 5 shapes in each set, like I did for G2 to G3, that maybe I would do a “Generations” set for the main characters.  For example, Aiko 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 in one set (all for G8), Victoria 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 in another set, etc.

If enough interest is shown, I might consider doing something like that, skipping the characters that are less popular, such as Eva or Scott, etc.

Many of the pro bundles from the sale (the girl 7, gianni 7, genevieve 7, anneka, Victoria 7) have no applied discount. They only have 30% off when added to the cart (showing $95,47 each in cart with a new release), and obviously get no loyalty discount. These are sitll in either the 2017 or 2015-2016 category.

Please make sure you have relogged and/or done a hard clear cache.

Please provide a pic of a sample cart that demonstrates the problem.  That goes for everyone. Please, you can help us with example carts.

I have re-logged and hard refreshed, as well as tried in two browsers. Victoria is the only one I'm seeing discounted.

Many of the pro bundles from the sale (the girl 7, gianni 7, genevieve 7, anneka, Victoria 7) have no applied discount. They only have 30% off when added to the cart (showing $95,47 each in cart with a new release), and obviously get no loyalty discount. These are sitll in either the 2017 or 2015-2016 category.

Please make sure you have relogged and/or done a hard clear cache.

Please provide a pic of a sample cart that demonstrates the problem.  That goes for everyone. Please, you can help us with example carts.