Thanks for those links, I was also messaging with the artist directly and she was kind enough to link me to the actual products I would need, turns out I already owned one of them, "Victoria 4 for Genesis 2 Female", so I just need to pick up Genx and Genx2 add-on and then this product: https://www.daz3d.com/v4-skins-auto-converter-for-genesis-2-female-s

Hopefully they will all go on sale at the end of this PC sale, fingers crossed.

For a more complete picture here are some full body comparisons of the Muscle Maps.  The Victoria 4 originals are on the left and the Genesis 8 Female with the Victoria 4 Legacy UVs are on the right.

I purchased i13 College Uniform for the Genesis 3 Female(s). I used it on a character based on Victoria 7. It looked fine in the program. But the blazer and shirt became all white after rendering to image. The socks and shoes have no such problem.  What happened? Please help.

I purchased Michael 4 base recently, and i'd like to ask, are there any free clothing and hairstyles for Genesis 3 Male and Michael 4 to download, other than those listed in the PoserDAZResources Wiki?

Also, are there any free dancing, running and walking animations (preferably AniBlocks) for Victoria 4, Michael 4, and Genesis 3 Male and Female?

One of the nice things about PoserDAZResources Wiki is they list the links to a creator's freebie content. So instead of having a link to just one product the user can click on the creators name. Which takes you to their page and their page will be listed where the creator offers access to their freebies.

an example:

So I select the G.O.D. Bodysuit by StudioArtVartaian and at the bottom of the page I see the category StudioArtVartaian. Clicking on that link gets me the

StudioArtVartanian's creator page here: https://poserdazfreebies.miraheze.org/wiki/G.O.D._Bodysuit,_Poser_M4_Dynamic_%26_DS4%2B,_Genesis.

On this page at the top you can see a link to their free stuff on Renderosity and Sharecg. Click on the Renderosity link and it will take you to all of their freebies.  You can do this for any of the artists that have been catalogued here: https://poserdazfreebies.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:Creator

You might try some of these for your animations: http://www.posermocap.com/category/download/ or here: https://www10.sharecg.com/search/index.php?ps=15&q=AniBlocks&ps=50&m=any&wm=wrd

I have a request. If someone has Sensibility (either the V4 version or the G2F version) - could you test it in dForce? I'm tempted to get it but only if it works in dForce, as older dresses tend to not transfer very well to newer generations.

I tried the Sensibility dress (not got an image, sorry) and it stayed together but slid down the shoulders in a way that was a bit daring for the era and there was a lot of fabric pooling around the hem on the floor. Somebody (and I've forgotten who - again, sorry) corrected a similar shoulder issue with the Platinum Cocktail dress, and I think weight mapping was involved. That should solve that problem, if you can find the post. I haven't had nearly enough time to mess around with dForce, but I think you can add 'stiffness' (for want of a better word) to the fabric and so that might stop it stretching like a giant piece of elastic and gathering on the floor.

I just did a quick test raising the friction on the dress trims and I still lost a shoulder when I put her in a pose.  It works, in that it drapes, but you're going to want to fiddle with fabric settings and/or weight maps and dynamic strength settings depending on the pose.

I have a request. If someone has Sensibility (either the V4 version or the G2F version) - could you test it in dForce? I'm tempted to get it but only if it works in dForce, as older dresses tend to not transfer very well to newer generations.

I tried the Sensibility dress (not got an image, sorry) and it stayed together but slid down the shoulders in a way that was a bit daring for the era and there was a lot of fabric pooling around the hem on the floor. Somebody (and I've forgotten who - again, sorry) corrected a similar shoulder issue with the Platinum Cocktail dress, and I think weight mapping was involved. That should solve that problem, if you can find the post. I haven't had nearly enough time to mess around with dForce, but I think you can add 'stiffness' (for want of a better word) to the fabric and so that might stop it stretching like a giant piece of elastic and gathering on the floor.

'

T'was moi, and the post with the Weight Mapped dress is here: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/3025316/#Comment_3025316

I haven't posted the weight maps yet, Diva I'll PM you some links.

I have a request. If someone has Sensibility (either the V4 version or the G2F version) - could you test it in dForce? I'm tempted to get it but only if it works in dForce, as older dresses tend to not transfer very well to newer generations.

I tried the Sensibility dress (not got an image, sorry) and it stayed together but slid down the shoulders in a way that was a bit daring for the era and there was a lot of fabric pooling around the hem on the floor. Somebody (and I've forgotten who - again, sorry) corrected a similar shoulder issue with the Platinum Cocktail dress, and I think weight mapping was involved. That should solve that problem, if you can find the post. I haven't had nearly enough time to mess around with dForce, but I think you can add 'stiffness' (for want of a better word) to the fabric and so that might stop it stretching like a giant piece of elastic and gathering on the floor.

I have a request. If someone has Sensibility (either the V4 version or the G2F version) - could you test it in dForce? I'm tempted to get it but only if it works in dForce, as older dresses tend to not transfer very well to newer generations.

I am by no means any kind of expert, but in my experience, there is no "real world difference" between jpg and other formats for textures when rendering with Daz Iray. Yeah, jpg is lossy and loses some detail...

See my post above you.  You are not taking into account the need to edit the texture.  jpg is just a terribe format for editing.

There are Victoria 4 skin maps that are still some of the most amazing skin maps ever made. Like those by danae at the other store. "London" is just amazing. 

I agree.  Metropolitan Series of figures are my favorite textures by far.

You have NGS2 which is pretty nice. Don't forget that NGS2 has a number of options to tweak the look further, like brightness. I almost always click the max brightness option every time I use NGS2. There is also Iray Smart Converter, which seems to not get as much love as NGS2, but IMO it offers more nuanced results out of the box so to speak. Being able to pick between cold and warm skin with one click is convenient. These two products do a great job and compliment each other very well...if one doesn't look great on a figure then often the other will. And if they don't get a great result, they will get you pretty close.

It is also worth noting that there is a NGS3 in the works that could possibly blow all the previous Iray skin converters away. DZ has taken lessons learned from NGS2 and has been taking his time trying to perfect 3. Keep an eye out for it.

NGS is ok, for an EZ dial.  But it doesn't teach you anything about what is going on underneath.  As an artist, you learn nothing about how to make good skin.  And even NGS has to work with the spotty quality jpg's.  And in my opinion, NGS doesn't even produce realistic skin (my definition of realistic), just perhaps better looking.  Like a fashion magazine.   It is always better to educate yourself so that you can make your own creative decisions.

Please take a PNG or whatever lossless skin texture map character and render them at 1080p. Then convert all those textures to JPG. Re-render. Lets see the result. Also, record your VRAM usage, and then consider that most users probably don't have the same equipment you do.

I've edited textures. Saved them as jpgs. I guess I fail. <.<

And I gotta disagree on NGS making people look like fashion magazines. NGS highlights the very imperfections that a magazine would photoshop away. So that is a gigantic difference in style right there. If a model looks like a fashion model after NGS, then that is because the original model looks like a fashion model. That's like...Daz's biggest market, LOL.

Look, I do not have the time to learn every single thing about Daz Studio. I have a demanding job and a family, I'd be lucky to spend more than a few hours in an entire week with Daz Studio. So with limited time there is only so much that can even be done. It is a hobby. So please forgive me if I don't have the overwhelming desire to learn its every last detail. There's already enough on the plate to figure out. Daz Studio exists IMO, to make life easier for its users to get into 3D in the first place, and as a place for people who don't want to get their hands too dirty in it. If you want more, you can get more, but lets be frank, you'd be better off creating all these things yourself in whatever expensive 3D program you like, not Daz Studio. Daz Studio offers presets for nearly every single task it does, from characters, lights, poses, cameras, even full scenes can be bought and downloaded by users. These things exist for a reason, to reduce the barriers so nearly anyone can get in. But even as easy as Daz is, there is still a ton of things for a user to learn about it. Think about all the different aspects of Daz Studio that a user needs to learn to take advantage of them. Users will, time and again, choose EZ.

I seriously doubt the majority of Daz's users ever edit their skin textures in any way. Does that make them all terrible artists? Do painters need to create their own paints to paint to be considered a painter? Its like PC gaming and modding. If you want the most out of PC games, you do modding. I've done some modest modding. That's what led to me coming here. But the vast majority of players do not mod their games. That does not mean those players are doing it wrong, that is their their choice.

Here is London for V4 using the apparent sin of Iray Converter for Generation 4, and with 3 lights. That's all. I accidently made one of the lights too bright, but the render had already taken a good while before I noticed it and I didn't want to do it over again at this time. But I purposely used an unaltered texture to demonstrate Iray Converter for the person who created the topic so they can judge for themselves what they might want to do.

You really don't need an expensive program. The texture maps that Daz creates are often detailed enough. Occasionally they need slight adjustments with Photoshop or Gimp or pretty much any photo editing program - but most of them are detailed enough "out of the box". The problem is their Iray settings are usually pretty bad, imo. You just have to learn how iray settings affect the look of the textures and adjust accordingly.

It depends on your definition of "detailed enough".   The DAZ tex maps I've seen are jpg (!), so you are already talking about a lot of loss of fidelity from the start.  JPG files are lossy and only 8 bit, so you are already starting out on the low end of the spectrum.  But a good knowledge of how textures work in relation to realistic skin is a must.

That sounds a bit condescending. I think my definition of "detailed enough" would cover many (most?) people's idea of "detailed enough". 

This is Victoria 7's textures - with no changes made to the texture maps (click for full size):

Most people aren't going to need more detail than that. The only things I changed where her Iray settings, added displacement maps, and Duel Lobe Specular bumps.

And as I said earlier, lighting and render settings can play a big role in adding realism.

Skin looks fantastic, Diva! Was just checking out your flavor of Lee 6, too, which also looks really good.

- Greg 

Thank you, Greg! :D I adore, Lee 6! He's one of Daz's best, imo.

You really don't need an expensive program. The texture maps that Daz creates are often detailed enough. Occasionally they need slight adjustments with Photoshop or Gimp or pretty much any photo editing program - but most of them are detailed enough "out of the box". The problem is their Iray settings are usually pretty bad, imo. You just have to learn how iray settings affect the look of the textures and adjust accordingly.

It depends on your definition of "detailed enough".   The DAZ tex maps I've seen are jpg (!), so you are already talking about a lot of loss of fidelity from the start.  JPG files are lossy and only 8 bit, so you are already starting out on the low end of the spectrum.  But a good knowledge of how textures work in relation to realistic skin is a must.

That sounds a bit condescending. I think my definition of "detailed enough" would cover many (most?) people's idea of "detailed enough". 

This is Victoria 7's textures - with no changes made to the texture maps (click for full size):

Most people aren't going to need more detail than that. The only things I changed where her Iray settings, added displacement maps, and Duel Lobe Specular bumps.

And as I said earlier, lighting and render settings can play a big role in adding realism.

 

I can totally see the DL specular bump at work! Gotta love those scattered shines on the skin

Right!? I'm so excited that they added Duel Lobe to the Iray shader. :) 

You really don't need an expensive program. The texture maps that Daz creates are often detailed enough. Occasionally they need slight adjustments with Photoshop or Gimp or pretty much any photo editing program - but most of them are detailed enough "out of the box". The problem is their Iray settings are usually pretty bad, imo. You just have to learn how iray settings affect the look of the textures and adjust accordingly.

It depends on your definition of "detailed enough".   The DAZ tex maps I've seen are jpg (!), so you are already talking about a lot of loss of fidelity from the start.  JPG files are lossy and only 8 bit, so you are already starting out on the low end of the spectrum.  But a good knowledge of how textures work in relation to realistic skin is a must.

That sounds a bit condescending. I think my definition of "detailed enough" would cover many (most?) people's idea of "detailed enough". 

This is Victoria 7's textures - with no changes made to the texture maps (click for full size):

Most people aren't going to need more detail than that. The only things I changed where her Iray settings, added displacement maps, and Duel Lobe Specular bumps.

And as I said earlier, lighting and render settings can play a big role in adding realism.

 

 

wow, looks wonderful! I guess I need to do some reading up on maps and bumps and figure out how to change them in PS..but yes, I have noticed lights play a huge role..

Thank you! :D Before doing anything else, I highly recommend playing with Tone Maping first. Bumping up the Crush Blacks can really bring out the details in skin. :)

I am by no means any kind of expert, but in my experience, there is no "real world difference" between jpg and other formats for textures when rendering with Daz Iray. Yeah, jpg is lossy and loses some detail...

See my post above you.  You are not taking into account the need to edit the texture.  jpg is just a terribe format for editing.

There are Victoria 4 skin maps that are still some of the most amazing skin maps ever made. Like those by danae at the other store. "London" is just amazing. 

I agree.  Metropolitan Series of figures are my favorite textures by far.

You have NGS2 which is pretty nice. Don't forget that NGS2 has a number of options to tweak the look further, like brightness. I almost always click the max brightness option every time I use NGS2. There is also Iray Smart Converter, which seems to not get as much love as NGS2, but IMO it offers more nuanced results out of the box so to speak. Being able to pick between cold and warm skin with one click is convenient. These two products do a great job and compliment each other very well...if one doesn't look great on a figure then often the other will. And if they don't get a great result, they will get you pretty close.

It is also worth noting that there is a NGS3 in the works that could possibly blow all the previous Iray skin converters away. DZ has taken lessons learned from NGS2 and has been taking his time trying to perfect 3. Keep an eye out for it.

NGS is ok, for an EZ dial.  But it doesn't teach you anything about what is going on underneath.  As an artist, you learn nothing about how to make good skin.  And even NGS has to work with the spotty quality jpg's.  And in my opinion, NGS doesn't even produce realistic skin (my definition of realistic), just perhaps better looking.  Like a fashion magazine.   It is always better to educate yourself so that you can make your own creative decisions.

I am by no means any kind of expert, but in my experience, there is no "real world difference" between jpg and other formats for textures when rendering with Daz Iray. Yeah, jpg is lossy and loses some detail...but the amount of detail lost is pretty pointless if the resulting render is at a resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels. Now if you desire to make really, really massive renders, then and only then do the less lossy texture formats have any kind of impact. You will not see the fidelity otherwise. Also, using jpg is helpful because that texture data can really eat up your highly precious VRAM. That is why jpg is used to begin with, the file sizes. Genesis 3 and 8 already take a considerable chunk of VRAM, if you use less compressed and lossless textures then you run a very real risk of running out of VRAM and unable to render with a GPU! So trust me here...you probably want the standard jpgs for most instances. The compression of the textures used is probably the LAST thing to go looking for realistic skin. There are so many other things that will impact your render more that can be done first. Like lighting, you could have the most perfect skin and shaders ever but poor lighting can still make them look bad.

There are Victoria 4 skin maps that are still some of the most amazing skin maps ever made. Like those by danae at the other store. "London" is just amazing. She was made for Poser but translates beautifully to Iray with a few adjustments. London works great because her texture is one of the most true to life ones around, with photo referenced imperfections and all. So many Daz textures are just straight up cartoony, which is fine if that is what you want.

You have NGS2 which is pretty nice. Don't forget that NGS2 has a number of options to tweak the look further, like brightness. I almost always click the max brightness option every time I use NGS2. There is also Iray Smart Converter, which seems to not get as much love as NGS2, but IMO it offers more nuanced results out of the box so to speak. Being able to pick between cold and warm skin with one click is convenient. These two products do a great job and compliment each other very well...if one doesn't look great on a figure then often the other will. And if they don't get a great result, they will get you pretty close.

It is also worth noting that there is a NGS3 in the works that could possibly blow all the previous Iray skin converters away. DZ has taken lessons learned from NGS2 and has been taking his time trying to perfect 3. Keep an eye out for it.

72% off? On release day? Why? Victoria, Teen Josie, Stephanie, Olympia, Michael were nowhere near this percentage off. Is this the new price for future characters? Aiko, Rune, Lilith, Sunny, Gia.....etc

Probably has to do with PC+ and the Platinum Club sale.

72% off? On release day? Why? Victoria, Teen Josie, Stephanie, Olympia, Michael were nowhere near this percentage off. Is this the new price for future characters? Aiko, Rune, Lilith, Sunny, Gia.....etc

Okay Richard.

Loaded base genesis 8 female figure which looks okay. Checked parameter pane and checked the currently used group. Heading was genesis 8 female and all morphs were at 0 (including hidden). As a precaution I uninstalled the Demona figure which is reported to be bugged.

Loaded a genesis 8 figure - in this case 3DA Airlie for G8F and voila - bug eyes, 2nd helping of botiox mouth/lips and heavy weight lifter thighs. parameter pane showed all zerod morphs so unsure how to explain it.

The reason I chose 3DA Airlie is she comes with a version for G3F. Loaded the Gen 3 version and no deformity issues.

Tested Stephanie 8, Victoria 8 and 1 or 2 other G8F figures. Stephanie and Victoria appeared normal. The alternate G8F figures - varying degress of deformity.

Having already unistalled the genesis 8 female starter essentials,head and boy morphs and anall 3rd paty morphs for gen8 I am not sure how to proceed, 

As a different way to test Ioaded the genesis 8 base female, and used shaping to add full body/hed of 3da Airlie again. This time a different kind of deformity - sunken eyes and jaw, ultra thin body.

Any ideas appreciated. Have already redone all the meta data via DIM and reset content via content manager and reloaded.

Yes, that should work - and yes, all the map types use the same UVs. Don't forget that you need the materials as a .duf file, so you'd need to apply them (to Genesis say, or better to Victoria 4 if you have the figure) and save as a Materials preset. Of course the shader would be the basic one, not one of the newer 3Delight or Iray shaders, so there might be a need for reworking.

The attached image shows a comparison between the Muscle Maps on Victoria 4 and the same textures on Genesis 8 Female using the Legacy UVs.  Bear in mind that the Muscle Maps were designed specifically for the Victoria 4 shape and that they are more unforgiving in terms of minor unavoidable distortions than a normal skin texture would be.

You really don't need an expensive program. The texture maps that Daz creates are often detailed enough. Occasionally they need slight adjustments with Photoshop or Gimp or pretty much any photo editing program - but most of them are detailed enough "out of the box". The problem is their Iray settings are usually pretty bad, imo. You just have to learn how iray settings affect the look of the textures and adjust accordingly.

It depends on your definition of "detailed enough".   The DAZ tex maps I've seen are jpg (!), so you are already talking about a lot of loss of fidelity from the start.  JPG files are lossy and only 8 bit, so you are already starting out on the low end of the spectrum.  But a good knowledge of how textures work in relation to realistic skin is a must.

That sounds a bit condescending. I think my definition of "detailed enough" would cover many (most?) people's idea of "detailed enough". 

This is Victoria 7's textures - with no changes made to the texture maps (click for full size):

Most people aren't going to need more detail than that. The only things I changed where her Iray settings, added displacement maps, and Duel Lobe Specular bumps.

And as I said earlier, lighting and render settings can play a big role in adding realism.

Skin looks fantastic, Diva! Was just checking out your flavor of Lee 6, too, which also looks really good.

- Greg 

Hey Richard,

So would Cayman's "Legacy UVs for Genesis 8: Victoria 4" work for the "V4 Muscle Maps"? To get them to work on G8? And if so, would it also allow for the included "bump maps" to work?

Been hoping forever that someone would update the V4 Muscle Maps, but it seems to have been forgotten about.

Thanks.

- Sol

Apart from Genesis 8 the base figures came only with clones for the previous geenration of the same sex and the current geenration of the opposite sex - oh, and since Genesis was unisex it had clones for Michael 4, Victoria 4, and Kids 4.