It makes me sad that I work in a medium where the human form could quite literally be redefined yet all I see being pumped out is bland Caucasian ladies. Thank god I didn't have to wait any longer for Darius and Monique.

I actually thought today might be the release for Mei Lin 8, so I was quite disappointed. While obviously we can customize our own characters, it would be great to have more diverse "base" characters. How about a slimmer black man like our last US President? How about Southeast Asians? Middle-Easterners? North Africans? Middle and South Americans? Lots of other diverse groups to choose from, as well as diversity within the general "black" or "Asian" group. Kimo and Kalea were quite cool, for example. More of that, please. And would love more fantasy/scifi bundles that aren't just the same variants of vampire, zombie, demon, etc. (e.g., Centaur was also pretty cool).

 

5 minutes before reading this post I was looking at a photo of the Hawaiian queen, Lilioukalani. I find her to be interesting looking and was wishing I could make someone with her look. I am new to Daz so I do not have the knowledge base that you all have. My first impression is that it's lots and lots of pretty, thin, white girls... So thank you for your wish of diversity.

You know, there are lots of white girls in the entire Daz store.  But as far as the Daz Base Characters go, there is a fair amount of diversity.  All you have to do is look down the major character list to find representatives of most ethnicities.  Maybe you'd like to see more ethnic representatives from PAs.  But, the base characters are pretty diverse.  Also, I think that Marika is Latina and Aisling appears to be Eastern European.

 

It's not that there is no diversity, but I out of the first five G8 female releases, do four of them need to be white? And even with G3 bases, most of them were white.

Just finished watching MTV's latest season of Are You the One (not counting the reunion shows). That cast is more or less what I'd like to see reflected in the characters here (well, could use more Asians, but I'm biased).

Well, I suppose you're right about the order of character releases.  I mean, Victoria obviously represents English Caucasian, Stephanie is the All American Girl, Olympia is Greek, Monique is African American, Josie is clearly supposed to be the teen representative and is clearly caucasian.  Lucas and Michael are both straight up white guys.  Darius is the male Afro American.  And now, Charlotte is perhaps, the British Teen to Twenty - but with lots of ethnic addon characters.

Personally, I could care less about the order that the ethnic figures are released in, simply because I usually create my own characters as needed.  And, I have a huge runtime full of every ethnicity for G3.  But, I can see how you might want to speed things up if you are waiting on a particular ethnic character.  

Just by tradition, I will always expect Victoria to be the first release of any new generation - along with Michael as her counterpart.  I don't think of this as a political statement as much as following a long time tradition.  The original Victoria was the "every woman" base character.  So, it was the mesh object and rigging that was important, not the perceived ethnicity - which could be changed by artists and end users as needed.  Back in the very early Poser days, you didn't have specific races of base character, but rather a set of morph dials that you could alter race features, and then set the skin tone to approximate what you were after.  It's with the advent of "Base Characters" that Daz has opted to make representatives of most general ethnicities.  I don't know how much this has to do with racial equality, or simply, marketing to cover a more diverse user group.  For whatever reason, I think Daz does a pretty good job of making sure there is enough racial variety to cover the broad ranges.

If I have any slight criticism of the base characters, it's usually that I find them a bit bland and without a lot of personality.  This is silly on my part, though.  Because the base character should probably be designed for expandibility and adaptation rather than uniqueness.

Sorry, that was the long way round....  I do see your point.  I can't say I think it's really a big deal, since more base characters will soon follow...I'm guessing Mei Lin will be up soon...or Aiko.  Charlotte was a surprise.  But hey, I always look forward to the Asian characters as well. :)

BTW...Who do you think among the Gen3 characters best represented the Hispanic races?  

 

Good question. I actually can't think of any explicitly Hispanic G3 character. FWSA Oscar's pretty good. But thank Saiyaness for Benita! Obviously, I'm greedy and I want more!

Yours?

Yeah, Benita is awesome...just not a DO base.  I don't think there really is one for either sex.

Which is really strange, given the number of Hispanic people in the world. A DO base for Hispanic characters is long overdue! 

Well, there are often included addon Latino / Latina characters in the bundles.  Maybe that's why Daz hasn't ever needed to do a Hispanic base character?

Well the issue with "hispanic" characters, is that being Hispanic is not a race. There are hispanic whites, blacks, and mixed of the conventional "region/races". 

Ok, I think I found out how to do it without redoing anything in Daz. So, I just write the steps here for memory:

Step 0: export g8f, open in maya, create your new mesh and rig to g8f skeleton. Export the new mesh and the skeleton (not the g8f body) as fbx.

Step 1: import in Daz, you should have a Genesis 8 Female node with your mesh inside. You should see your mesh and the G8f skeleton. Unparent your mesh from Genesis 8 Female node. Delete the G8F female node. Now you have only your mesh node.

Step 2: click on your mesh, go to Edit>Object>Set Default Compatibility Bases. Fill in the form. Important part, content type should be "Follower > attachement > ..." and compatibility base /preferred base should be "Genesis 8/Female/...", like in the pic before.

Step 4: save th .duf

Step 5: you can now fit it to basic g8f figure or to victoria 8 using "Fit to..." command.

Which is pretty awesome!

Also, is there any free vampire outfit I could download for a Victoria 4, Michael 4 or Genesis 3 Male or Female figure?  Even if it means separate items, such as fangs, outfit, etc.?

Try Here http://www.sharecg.com/

Also, is there any free vampire outfit I could download for a Victoria 4, Michael 4 or Genesis 3 Male or Female figure?  Even if it means separate items, such as fangs, outfit, etc.?

entry #21

title: egyptian doom

artist: shlomi laszlo

vips:

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/216796/carrara-challenge-37-dungeons-deep-wip-thread/p10

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/216796/carrara-challenge-37-dungeons-deep-wip-thread/p11

products:

https://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-2-base

https://www.daz3d.com/pharaohs-of-the-sun-for-v4

https://www.daz3d.com/children-of-aten

https://www.daz3d.com/children-of-aten-2

 https://www.daz3d.com/v4-elite-texture-marie 

https://www.daz3d.com/gkd-skin-ultimate

https://www.daz3d.com/queens-from-the-nile-for-bast-v4

https://www.daz3d.com/bundle-bast-for-v4

https://www.daz3d.com/bast-textures

https://www.daz3d.com/temple-of-the-pharaohs

https://www.daz3d.com/forgotten-dynasties

a tentcle from:

http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/read_me/index/39/start

https://www.daz3d.com/sensational-she-freak-v4

v4 general poses

https://www.daz3d.com/facial-expressions-for-v4

veloute

Can anyone place MRL Brienne for me? She's definitely reminding me of someone, I know Mihrelle usually does look a likes, and it's driving me batty!

Save me, Look-a-like thread. You're my only hope. 

99% sure she's a softened up likeness of Gwendoline Christie.

EDIT: Or Tilda Swinton, but the name Brienne rather suggests the former.

It will depend on the lighting. People's hair looks different colors in different types of light. That is normal.

Also if you are rendering Victoria 4.2 then you are likely not using fibre mesh brows. I've noticed V4/M4 hair often turns out glossier in iRay than 3DL because the people that modeled the hair for 3DL made it glossier than it should be so that it would render faster in 3DL.

Can anyone place MRL Brienne for me? She's definitely reminding me of someone, I know Mihrelle usually does look a likes, and it's driving me batty!

Save me, Look-a-like thread. You're my only hope. 

I am not sure if it is Fibermesh brows.  I have taking a strong liking to Victoria 4.2

The closest thing Carrara has to that is an NLA clip or NLA master pose. So that's what the "Clips" tab will be for.

Master poses will also pick up morph dial data - so just be aware of that. NLA clips only store what has been changed over time in an animation.In all cases, we can open the hierarchy during the saving process and deselect what we don't want the clip to record.

Select the Figure, like in V4's case select Victoria 4, and in the NLA tab, chose Make NLA Clip or Make Master Pose.

When clips are made they will reside in your Clips try om the bottom right of the interface. The only way to get clips onto the timeline is from that clips tray - so when we store them to the browser, we cannot just drag them onto the character, we drag them to that clips tray first, then onto the NLA Track of the figure.

We can add additional NLA tracks to any figure by right-click on a track and chose to add a new track.

I almost always use at least two tracks. One for a main motion clip and another for suibtle nuance clips I make, like blinking.

Mimic Pro for Carrara uses NLA clips to create lip sync - awesome!

These look outstanding but I do have one question/concern.  Considering that these are primarily morphs, how much do they alter already existing dialed face morphs?

If the existing morphs are frozen to the character, then it shouldn't be a problem. However, if you dial up morphs, but don't freeze them, and then try to apply these expressions, they will overide those morphs. This means that characters that you've purchased (like Victoria 7 or Ophelia 7, won't be changed, nor will characters that you've morphed and then frozen, just the ones that you morph and don't freeze.  I know that adds an additional step to the workflow, but there is no way around it that I'm aware of.

I created a body part for Victoria 8 that should go around the eye (look at the pic below). It should work similar to default Eyelashes. In particular, it should move with the eyelids, but not with the eyes. It's skinned to eyelid bones and works well in maya: when I close or move eyelids it moves with them exactly like I want. Now, the part I don'understand:

How do I make it work with the rest of the body in Daz? I imported the mesh (fbx), it shows up in the correct place, now what?

I tried transfer utility, but it totaly destroys the skinning.

Any help?

The sliders are really the way to get the most out of this new way of making expressions. For instance, here's a lovely beaming smile on a Victoria 7 figure: 

The recipe was:

Bright Smile 28.8%
Bright Smile Top 51.2%
Delighted Smile Bottom 90%

Note that in this case, Delighted Smile Bottom is layering over Bright Smile's bottom portion, and creating a whole new smile! I discovered this functionality when I was developing this product, and I love that this is possible. It makes a nearly infinite number of smiles and laughs possible. Additionally, you'll notice that each smile setting has different and subtle ways of reacting with the others, and after you play with the sliders a bit, you start to discover a lot of things are possible.

This same question about G8 characters was asked not too long ago and my favorite remains Elizabeth for Victoria 8 but I have now bought G8 males too and my favorite is Lucus 8. I almost would have picked Tyrone for Darius 8 (both regular and albino) as for most renders he and his hair are great quality but for nude render there is visible seam when he has anatomical elements attached. I've written a ticket and they gave me a solution of uninstalling and reinstalling my G8 content that worked all of one render before the problem returned. Its not that frustrating since it was only a test render but you have to evaluate and rate a product from head to toe and that one has a problem.  My tests with Lucas 8 & Michael 8 no longer have this problem after the DAZ 3D suggested remedy.

I look at Elizabeth and I see a character whose skin is cartoonish and lacking any sign of realism.. no sign of pours, hairs, veins or any real details..   it's a beautifully shaped morph in a really generic rapper...

Agreed a thousand times over. FW characters have beautiful morphs but for realistic skin they are not where you point someone.

This same question about G8 characters was asked not too long ago and my favorite remains Elizabeth for Victoria 8 but I have now bought G8 males too and my favorite is Lucus 8. I almost would have picked Tyrone for Darius 8 (both regular and albino) as for most renders he and his hair are great quality but for nude render there is visible seam when he has anatomical elements attached. I've written a ticket and they gave me a solution of uninstalling and reinstalling my G8 content that worked all of one render before the problem returned. Its not that frustrating since it was only a test render but you have to evaluate and rate a product from head to toe and that one has a problem.  My tests with Lucas 8 & Michael 8 no longer have this problem after the DAZ 3D suggested remedy.

I look at Elizabeth and I see a character whose skin is cartoonish and lacking any sign of realism.. no sign of pours, hairs, veins or any real details..   it's a beautifully shaped morph in a really generic rapper...  to me personally, I want to be able to zoom in on that character and see something that already has details built into it that make it looks real.
If Elizabeth is really that good then, see if you can do a close up and let's see how real she is because the promo pictures just aren't impressing me... What am I missing?

I don't see such things. All the models look good and realistic but I favored the ones that give me the more character creation flexibility as purchased and that is Elizabeth for Victoria 8, Lucas 8, and Tyrone for Darius 8 andf the G8 DO morph packages for head, body & expressions. I don't look for 'wow the model looks real' when I buy it. I like it or I don't and I see flexbility in it or I don't. I only buy the specifically realistic when I want to create a specifically realistic render. For example, I have Michael 8 and he is very, very realistic and looks like John Travolta. For my general purposes the realism is impressive but he is too realistically like John Travolta in looks. In Elizabeth (although I think Elizabeth is actually based on Elizabeth Taylor in her National Velvet - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof period), I see a reasonable 3D model that looks good in renders and is a good basis for other characters too using morphs and LIE or other texture sets. She can be made to look more realistic if it is wanted as supplied on purchase but for me a nice classic artistic and meticulously painted look is nice also.

beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Indeed, but I think he said realistic.   Maybe that's subjective too because he wanted for super model couple?

Anyway, my two cents as a beginner who can use them quickly with a minimum of tweaking.

Victoria 8

Monique 8

Stephanie 8  (She looks a little jaundiced, but is probably average height.  Adjust weight as needed?) 

I missed out on Charlotte.  Killisto is cool, but I have to dial down super pin-up body.  ; )

---
Males are more difficult for me because they all look to have had wax jobs.  : 0 !

FWSA Gunner (for Lucas 8)

Owen 8 (quickly becoming a favorite)

Faber's Garret (for M8)

I couldn't fit Milo (for Lucas 8) into top 3 but he is my favorite 'go to' guy if I want a male actor who isn't Mr. hardbody.  Goes well with Stephie, but he needs face morphs & think OP wanted straight out of box.

Quick compare render since I had nothing else to do

Victoria 8,  Monique 8, Stephanie 8

FWSA Gunner for Lucas 8, Owen 8, Faber's Garrett for M8

This same question about G8 characters was asked not too long ago and my favorite remains Elizabeth for Victoria 8 but I have now bought G8 males too and my favorite is Lucus 8. I almost would have picked Tyrone for Darius 8 (both regular and albino) as for most renders he and his hair are great quality but for nude render there is visible seam when he has anatomical elements attached. I've written a ticket and they gave me a solution of uninstalling and reinstalling my G8 content that worked all of one render before the problem returned. Its not that frustrating since it was only a test render but you have to evaluate and rate a product from head to toe and that one has a problem.  My tests with Lucas 8 & Michael 8 no longer have this problem after the DAZ 3D suggested remedy.

I look at Elizabeth and I see a character whose skin is cartoonish and lacking any sign of realism.. no sign of pours, hairs, veins or any real details..   it's a beautifully shaped morph in a really generic rapper...  to me personally, I want to be able to zoom in on that character and see something that already has details built into it that make it looks real.
If Elizabeth is really that good then, see if you can do a close up and let's see how real she is because the promo pictures just aren't impressing me... What am I missing?

This same question about G8 characters was asked not too long ago and my favorite remains Elizabeth for Victoria 8 but I have now bought G8 males too and my favorite is Lucus 8. I almost would have picked Tyrone for Darius 8 (both regular and albino) as for most renders he and his hair are great quality but for nude render there is visible seam when he has anatomical elements attached. I've written a ticket and they gave me a solution of uninstalling and reinstalling my G8 content that worked all of one render before the problem returned. Its not that frustrating since it was only a test render but you have to evaluate and rate a product from head to toe and that one has a problem.  My tests with Lucas 8 & Michael 8 no longer have this problem after the DAZ 3D suggested remedy.

That's very much about tastes, to show my precedent tastes first:

My favorite G7 male character are from DarwinMishaps, my 1st would be Damen, followed by Iain, and Ahmad. I am awaiting for his take on more G8 with the same style.

My favorite G7 Female are from chevybabe, my 1st would be Aibell followed by Draupadi and VIncenzina. I am awaiting for her/his take on more G8 with the same style.

all vyktoria G7 characters are very a must have G7 too. I bought almost all from her instead the Daz G7 pro bundles.

Now going toy answer our question:

I bought ALL G8 pro bundles released, and the most realistic and beautiful of females tor me are 1st Aisling for Charlotte, 2nd FW Laverne HD for Monique 8, 3rd Monique, 4th BD Jayde for Teen Josie 8, 5th Charlotte, 6th Xanthe for Stephanie 8, 7th Pei and Petit Suit for genesis 8, 8th Alondra for Monique 8,  9th FW Marieke HD for Charlotte 8 , 10th Hyuna for genesis 8, 11th Kim for genesis 8. 12th FWHP Eris HD for Genesis 8 Female. 13th BD Corsen for Victoria 8, 14th FWSA Lavana HD for Stephanie 8, 15th VYK Raine for Genesis 8 Female, 16th FWSA Elizabeth HD for Victoria 8

for G8 males I would say the 1st is Alexander for Darius 8,  2nd Tyrone for Darius 8, 3rd Darius 8, 4th FWSA Nick HD for Owen 8, 5th Giuseppe for Lucas 8, 6th FWSA Gunner HD for Lucas 8, 7th Lucas 8, 8th Owen 8, 9th FW Kasper HD for Owen 8, 10th Chance for Owen 8, 11th Ren for Genesis 3 Male and Genesis 8 Male, 12th FW Quinton HD for Michael 8, 13th FWSA Zander HD for Michael 8, 14th EJ Hiroshi and Masao for Genesis 8 Male.

Special mention for this G8 pack of male morphs https://www.daz3d.com/m3d-dalton-hd-for-genesis-8-male that's the best G8 male characters pack  for realism and doing renders without porcelain male models.

Overall, the better G8 pro bundle is Charlotte and Monique oand the third would be Stephanie, on that order. On males it is Darius and Owen and the third would be Lucas, on that order.

For everyday very action centered renders I would pick gothic pale light skin and asian women from the bottom of my female list, similar gothic and asian handsome guys if I have or the 3d dalton hd for genesis 8 male.from the bottom of my male list.

The top beautiies of my lists deserves more quiet, romanceable and dramatic hearthbreaking stories, because realistic top beauty helps to not fall in boredom when all slow pacing.

Peony Kimono for Genesis 2 Female fitted to V7 Anna via SY Ultra Templates for G3F (using the option for big dress) out of the box. It worked like a charm. The only thing I did was use the timeline (pose her at 30 frames and adjusted the dress, then let it run for 30 more frames), turn off self collision and freeze the obi (so it remained rigid). Also, I forgot to freeze the bow, so it ended up sliding down. You can sort of see a bit of it poking through her back (just below her bum).

Updated: It also works on Gen8 (Sakura).