And while I'm here my monthly "yeah you can't do this in Iray"

praise Cycles ability to cheat on materials. I'm using so many cheats here... All told the render took about an hour and a half, (it's even larger than the one up in my gallery) if I had set up the materials with proper volumetrics it would probably take twice as long, and given that most of my glass renders in Iray took about 2 hours without any glossy roughness or scattering at all (and I wouldn't be able to cheat like in Cycles) I don't even want to imagine.

I forgot to comment on this. This is an excellent example. For anyone who's done glass with a roughness value they will know that roughness adds a lot (as in multiplicitive amount sometimes) of time to rendering.

For anyone who hasn't seen yet Blender's New "Ultimate" Shader: The Principled BSDF coming in Blender 2.79 (available now in the Beta build,) Andrew Price has done an excellent quick tutorial on how/why it's revolutionary. For most shading tasks it greatly simplifies what's required. One no longer really has to learn much about shaders or nodes to grasp how to use it. What it doesn't do is totally render nodes obsolete (yet at least) as cheats like J Cade posted above still require using specialized nodes like the light path node and understanding somewhat involved node networks, but this will mostly be for specific use/case situations it looks like. Combine this with Filmic (which Andrew Price also has some videos on and is also coming in 2.79) and we have quite a step up in quality for less effort then ever before in Blender.

Something to think about on all of this discussion about shaders, re-rigging in Blender, etc... As has been kind of hinted at, all of this can be done in DAZ Studio itself now to some extent. Not only that but shaders available at the store for a very good price here still take collecting, putting together etc.. .in another environment like Blender (or any outside 3D tool.) One doesn't go to an outside tool like Blender to save money as the cost here at DAZ is so low compared to the hours required in another tool it doesn't make sense. The only reason to go to an outside tool is for more control. And that isn't free. Even if one isn't paying for the software, one is paying in time, and at some point many people get paid add-ons etc.. for Blender because using any tool to do advanced things makes one really appreciate the cost of one's time. Also, using a tool like Blender doesn't preclude using DAZ tools also. For most people who have DAZ and Cycles I'm guessing both tools are used depending on the situation/circumstances. It's not an either/or as some look at it, but rather expanded options. If one is looking at it as an either or, then the best solution would most likely be to stay inside the DAZ world, but, if one decides to expand one's horizons, there are some gems out there. For instance, if one learns to re-rig, one can come up with an advanced rig to do things such as animate facial features with a dragable interface, make it easier to do complicated animations or have a character move in a stylized (cartoon) type of movement (Blender's bendy bones.) That type of thing takes a considerable amount of time and study though, but if one likes doing that type of thing, it can be quite rewarding. If not, wait a few years and the whole process will be simplified and probably with Victoria 10 there will be that shiny new dream rig. :)

I picked it up and am still playing with it. 

This is not like the morph kits I have picked up in the past - the partial morphs are presets and not morph dials.  That isn't useful for me - I want the functionality of being able to dial the morph, not have it at 100%.

In the Content Library, under My Daz 3D Library / People / Genesis 8 Female / Shapes, you will find the presets for the partial face morphs.  The presets don't have descriptive lables, they are just numbered.  The thumbnails are overexposed, so it's hard to see the detail.  There is no zero morphs preset, so you have to use Undo to remove it.

EDIT:  My last statement is wrong, there is a zero preset.  Under the Full Faces section of the presets, "Faces Factory Full Faces 00" will zero the morphs. 

Under the Shaping tab, Head, you will find the morph dials for Head and Mixer.  Head does have icons showing the shape but Mixer is just numbered.

Here is a test render (3Delight) with Victoria 8 base skin and using the following Face Factory presets:  Brow 04, Ears 09, Eyes 08, Mouths 04.

I recently purchased Victoria 8 and thought that I would get Victoria 7 free.  Unfortunately, it was only after I placed my order that I realized that I had not added Victoria 7 in the cart.  I sent an email explaining the situation on the 23rd and got a message back saying that it would be added to my product library.  Four days later, it still wasn't there.  So I sent another email and got the same response.  How long does it usually take for a product to be added in a situation like this?  Would it be better for me to cancel the order and place it again?  I've never run into a problem like this before.

Coffee in Bed

Victoria 8 with my shader settings and morphs.

I'm really enjoying Genesis 8. Her bends, expressions, and muscle shaping are definite steps forward. I'm not thrilled with her skin shader settings "out of the box" (hence why I use my own shader settings). But I'm definitely seeing improvement from Genesis 3 to Genesis 8.

You have are almost in the golden age of this sort of stuff... If you are using iRay, I would suggest UHT2 https://www.daz3d.com/uht2-ultimate-color, IDG Iray Hair Essentials Shaders https://www.daz3d.com/idg-iray-hair-essentials-shaders​, https://www.daz3d.com/hair-lustre-shaders-for-iray ;https://www.daz3d.com/hair-lustre-shaders-for-iray, and OOT's iRay product at Renderosity.   I have used them many a time to revive a Victoria or Michael 2 hairstyle.  Here is a genesis hair converted to iRay: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/216436/.  For 3DL, iw ould start just by using new textures such as Texture Bank Vol 13 Hair and Jewels https://www.daz3d.com/texture-bank-vol-13-hair-and-jewels​ using the old textures as a template/ Photoshop mask.  If you want something a bit painterly, Mane Attraction https://www.daz3d.com/mane-attraction is nice.  You can combine several of them too such as using the textures from UHT2 but converting to 3dl.... There is a world of possibilties for you...

I would rank this on the moderately easy level.

Thank you!  What a great answer.  I'm going to take a look at all the links you provided.

You have are almost in the golden age of this sort of stuff... If you are using iRay, I would suggest UHT2 https://www.daz3d.com/uht2-ultimate-color, IDG Iray Hair Essentials Shaders https://www.daz3d.com/idg-iray-hair-essentials-shaders​, https://www.daz3d.com/hair-lustre-shaders-for-iray ;https://www.daz3d.com/hair-lustre-shaders-for-iray, and OOT's iRay product at Renderosity.   I have used them many a time to revive a Victoria or Michael 2 hairstyle.  Here is a genesis hair converted to iRay: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/216436/.  For 3DL, iw ould start just by using new textures such as Texture Bank Vol 13 Hair and Jewels https://www.daz3d.com/texture-bank-vol-13-hair-and-jewels​ using the old textures as a template/ Photoshop mask.  If you want something a bit painterly, Mane Attraction https://www.daz3d.com/mane-attraction is nice.  You can combine several of them too such as using the textures from UHT2 but converting to 3dl.... There is a world of possibilties for you...

I would rank this on the moderately easy level.

is autofit and autofollow the same thing?

the eyelashes and V8 eyebrows didn't come with the Victoria 8 morphs already there.

up to now when i've transfered morphs (for my personal use) i usually save it to a new product.

is there another way to do it so follow morphs saves to the original eyebrows and eyelashes?
not necessarily in the original 'morphs. daz' folder,
but so the original eyebrows and eyelashes connect to the follow morphs?

The Genesis3 basic wear included the Victoria 7 fbm,
but it seems the Genesis8 basic wear didn't include the Victoria 8 fbm.

Thanks!

complaint - Victoria 8 morph fails in carrara 

welp, the G8 basic wear doesn't have the V8 morph included with it.

the G3 basic wear included the V7 morph in the basic wear.  

>.<  i just assumed it would be the same for G8. doh

just tried a Genesis2 dress (Love Potion dress) on G8 and G3, saw the conforming dialog box come up, but dress doesn't bend with the figures.

the Victoria 8 eyebrows doesn't include any morphs at all.

I think it's safe to state autofollow and autofit don't work in carrara.  the morphs need to be created in DS and saved before it can work in Carrara.

there is one bright side, conformed clothes do follow scaling inside carrara.

It has me worried for how long I'll have to wait for an African-American model. Monique's at the very last?

That's likely a list, not a sales ranking. Depending on how you have things set to display in the store, Monique would be near the top of the list or the bottom, because she didn't arrive until December 2016. And yes, that also likely means that she'll be late to this generation as well, if she appears. That said, she's had no consistency in timing in her whole two appearances. Monique 6 arrived 2015-02-26, and Monique 7 arrived 2016-12-23. So depending on how they decide to handle this generation, she's likely not to appear before December or February, at the earliest. I can't see them wanting to step on Monique 7 in less than a year.

That said, granting that it's a list and not a ranking, it wouldn't hugely surprise me if Monique was near the bottom of the sales list. Both because she's had less time to rack up catalog sales than, for example, Eva or Bethany or Karen (the three out in the first months after Victoria 7), and because, as PAs have told us time and again, African-textured/morphed characters sell less. That's just the business, unfortunately.

So here is my first real render with a g8 figure, its https://www.daz3d.com/fwsa-elizabeth-hd-for-victoria-8, and I used the Epic godrays from ThePhilosopher https://www.daz3d.com/epic-props-godrays-volumetric-light-for-iray here which are ... pretty close to a guarantee for an epic render, so very awesome!

 

Really well done!   

Because I've gotten it setup the way I want, I've heard there's been some issues with the current version, and I don't want to be inticed in using Victoria 8 for anything.  But I'm guessing I'm not going to have much choice...lol

yeah  autfit/follow not working.  eyelashes, and victoria8 eyebrows. and clothes, especially in the shoulder area.  
-it looks like the V8FBM isn't included in the basic wear morphs.
guess could transfer the old fashioned way.
it doesn't let ya scale a clothes item after it's conformed, or is there a secret way?  

fail - the Victoria 8 morph.  
it looks like a few of the toe nails aren't welded in rara's weld tolerance?
mebbe a corrective morph to put those badgirl verts where they belong?

the Victoria 8 body slider has the scaling baked in, when did they start doing that,
it used to be could use the body shape slider and/or head shape slider,  and only the combo body/head slider included the scaling.

on the bright side, the fiber eyebrows look pretty decent with antialias set to best.
V8's pose presets seem to work.
the add on body,head,expression morphs seem to work.
the eyelashes and eyebrows follow the face rigging and pose controls.

Well, it looks Daz has the official roster of the "best of the best" of Genesis 3...
Victoria 7
Eva 7
Karen 7
Teen Julie 7
Arabella 7
Olympia 7
Gia 7
The Girl 7
Izabella 7
Mei Lin 7
Kalea 7
Rune 7
Aiko 7
Tween Julie 7
Sunny 7
Lilith 7
Monique 7
So, almost all the females this time around with the exception of Bethany, Genevieve, Mika, and Ophelia. The later don't surprise me due to simply them being too new in the store to garner-up enough numbers, but I'm actually pretty shocked to see Bethany fall short, given my previous explanation...

That sale has me worried about if there is a new Bethany in the works... 

Guessing based solely on the promos, there's One slider that defines the strength of all the other sliders.
Whether you can then dial up/down the strength of the rest of silders individually will depend on how they were saved. They don't appear to be locked, but I don't have studio open or anything loaded to remind myself if the lock icon is visible all the time, when active.
Of course, it is a promo, too so there no guarantee that the actual product matches the pics, but my guess would be that you can dial the main control to set the max level of the morphs and then dial individual morphs to a lower level (though changing individual dials might lead to strange results).
There's not a lot of info in the promo shot, but I'd put good money on that "Ultimate Natural Bend Morphs for Victoria 7" control being an ERC Multiply for all the rest. If I had good money, anyway.

Well, it looks Daz has the official roster of the "best of the best" of Genesis 3...
Victoria 7
Eva 7
Karen 7
Teen Julie 7
Arabella 7
Olympia 7
Gia 7
The Girl 7
Izabella 7
Mei Lin 7
Kalea 7
Rune 7
Aiko 7
Tween Julie 7
Sunny 7
Lilith 7
Monique 7
So, almost all the females this time around with the exception of Bethany, Genevieve, Mika, and Ophelia. The later don't surprise me due to simply them being too new in the store to garner-up enough numbers, but I'm actually pretty shocked to see Bethany fall short, given my previous explanation...

Yeah, that's about what I figured (a bit of "show hidden" trickery). I already have Bend Control and really like it (even if I am not that skilled with it) but the scapula morphs really add a much needed dimension to the figure--it's just that I am afraid that, on a not Victoria 7 figure, they won't look right at all.

Seeing as this is part of today's sale, does anybody know how well the morphs work with shapes other than Victoria? I rarely use her in any meaningful way, as she's far too recognizable. Also, how does it compare to the muscularity flexion morphs or Zev0's bending solution?

When you see unreleased characters in the FBM list of a product, it USUALLY means that. Though, seeing the actual character itself arrive in the store months later afterwards is not at all uncommon, either. Though, given the fact that, not only did we get Genesis/Victoria 8 a month earlier than traditionally...

Actually, we didn't. Victoria 8 arrived maybe a week early, if we're being picky.

Victoria 8: 2017-06-15 release date
Victoria 7: 2015-06-23 release date, officially, according to the readme
Victoria 6: 2013-06-20
Victoria 5: 2011-10-25
Victoria 4: 2006-12-08

Sighs...should we expect monthly figure releases again lol, or bi monthly, if I remember correct there were a few that were released like 2 weeks between eachother after Victoria 7 was released.

Up to the end of Genesis 3, they were releasing more or less twice a month. (Not quite bi-weekly, since dates got tweaked here and there for various reasons.) If they've got the new figures ready to go (or in line to go, or however this production is handled), I can't see why they wouldn't try to maintain the same release schedule.

That said, there was a full month between Victoria 7 and Eva 7. After that, things were oddly irregular; Bethany and Karen came out the same month, then one a month up to December, with Olympia 7 two weeks before Christmas, and Leo 7 three days before. (The next year, it was Darius and Monique for the holidays.) After December 2015, the two-a-month schedule was pretty consistent. More creatures alternating with humans from late 2016 through the end of Genesis 3 Females. (If Genesis 2 is anything to judge by -- and there's no reason it should be -- there may be one or more Genesis 3 Males left on the shelf to come out.)

Sighs...should we expect monthly figure releases again lol, or bi monthly, if I remember correct there were a few that were released like 2 weeks between eachother after Victoria 7 was released.