Thanks for all that info!
I went ahead and got the Victoria and Michael 5 stuff, along with the additional content I have. I figure more options is a good thing. Checked out the thread you linked from Diomede on loading the characters, applying their materials/textures, etc, and am bookmarking that for later (seems a bit advanced for me for now, but good to have handy).
In the meantime, giving myself a super simple project to work through each main phase of a project, just to get the workflow down. Then I can expand from there. 
Thanks again!

The texture maps for all the Genesis 3 characters, from the base figures through to the individual character products will be found under Runtime\Textures in your content library. The individual texture maps for a given character will be found in various subfolders specific to each - impossible to be more specific about that. For example the texture maps for the base G3F figure can be found under Runtime\Textures\Raiya\Jeane\. Victoria 7's texture maps are found under Runtime\Textures\DAZ\Characters\Genesis3\Victoria7\. A lot of the maps for character morphs can be found in the Textures folder under subfolders bearing the vendors name. If you have the .zip archives you can peruse them to find the file paths and folder names to help you locate the maps.

If this is just about using your V characters with Iray, I can recommend this skin converter: http://www.daz3d.com/iray-converter-for-generation-4

There's also options to convert her clothes to Iray.

Honestly, if you are comfortable with V4, then by all means, keep using her.

As for the Genesis generations, personally, I'm still using G2 most of the time, but lso other Genesis, and Generation 4 characters. You can easily use all generations together in a render, and G1&G2 is cheaper in purchase if you wait for sales.

Anyone claiming that G4 (Victoria 8) comes out this Summer, unless they have insider information and leak it (which has the potential to cause sales damages to anything G3; just a thought to those who are spreading rumours as near-facts in regards to its release), no one outside of DAZ knows when there will be a G4/V8. Until then, anything coming from not official sources is just that - a rumour, which might be true, or not.

Victoria Fourpointtwoplusplus has graced my runtime since she first came out.  I have a hard drive choking collection of characters and clothing that none of the Genesis figures can come close to.  Vicky's extensive wardrobe allows her to be properly attired for any outing.  The Genesis stuff seems to consist mostly of warrior/Sci-Fy/fantasy items; things I'm not interested in.  Making clothing for Vicky is also well documented, there's no secrets or guarded information involved. 

Please can someone tell me if Fred Winkler's Tamara and Travis would look good if used with Victoria 6 and Michael 6 as  I am thinking of buying them in the current Daz Original sale ?
I have a very limited budget so I can't afford Monique and Darius but would like to have a greater diversity of characters to use. I also have Teen Josie 6 and Teen Jayden 6. 

Victoria 8 SHOULD be coming out this Summer, likely in June. So you could wait until the release of her and the Genesis 4 line. And with the release of the new line of figures, the other older figures are likely to get deeper discounts - so that's always a less expensive option. 

My favorite so far is Genesis 3/Victoria 7. But if there are going to be improvements and more realism added to the Genesis 4/Victoria 8 line I'm sure that will become my favorite, as I'm after as much realism as possible. 

If you decide to go with Genesis 3/Victoria 7 (which, imo, is a great choice), I highly recommend getting Wear Them All, so you can use the clothes and hair from all the other previous figures - including Victoria 4's clothes and hair (and sometimes shoes).

I love all 3 versions, I use them all the time. I would only advice to take a look at other shapes as well, I know Victoria was the main girl before, but now she is just part of the bunch, there may be other girls more apealing to you now.  

You can use Generation 4 clothing and hair directly in Genesis with Autofit, then you could save those items and use in Genesis 2 the same way, then repeat for Genesis 3. There are straight paths to Genesis 2 or Genesis 3, but requires additional products. 

Genesis takes generation 4 textures by default, Genesis 2 and 3 requires additional products (especially 3 which has a very different way of handling UVS).

I love this product:

http://www.daz3d.com/wear-them-all-autofitting-clones-and-clothing-smoothers-for-genesis-3-female-s

It lets you autofit michael 4, Victoria 4, Genesis and Genesis 2 male to Genesis 3.

I have no idea how this all works with Poser, last thing I knew was genesis 3 was a no.

Basically my thoughts are along the same lines as what Hellboy said. I've also recently discovered that this product and its addons add a lot to my workflow, as I can transfer a V4 morph to whichever generation of Genesis I decide to use: http://www.daz3d.com/genesis-generation-x2

There are also products that help you work with textures and provide a way to use previous figures' textures on Genesis 2 or 3. The Legacy UVs products by Cayman Studios would be a good example of that. I discovered Daz around the time Genesis 2 arrived on the scene, so I haven't done much with Victoria 4 or any of her contemporaries, but I do like being able to add V4 morphs and textures to my Genesis gene pool via various addons. 

I love all 3 versions, I use them all the time. I would only advice to take a look at other shapes as well, I know Victoria was the main girl before, but now she is just part of the bunch, there may be other girls more apealing to you now.  

You can use Generation 4 clothing and hair directly in Genesis with Autofit, then you could save those items and use in Genesis 2 the same way, then repeat for Genesis 3. There are straight paths to Genesis 2 or Genesis 3, but requires additional products. 

Genesis takes generation 4 textures by default, Genesis 2 and 3 requires additional products (especially 3 which has a very different way of handling UVS).

I love this product:

http://www.daz3d.com/wear-them-all-autofitting-clones-and-clothing-smoothers-for-genesis-3-female-s

It lets you autofit michael 4, Victoria 4, Genesis and Genesis 2 male to Genesis 3.

I have no idea how this all works with Poser, last thing I knew was genesis 3 was a no.

Although Victoria 7 (Genesis 3) is the current Golden Girl, Genesis 1 & 2 - with their attendant Victorias 5 and 6 - are probably the best value, as with a select few add-ons, most (though not all) of your Victoria 4 collection can be applied to them.  Genesis 3, because of a change in UV mapping, requires some extra fiddling (as I understand it.  As of yet, I have not purchased the neccsarry add-ons or programs to do such fiddling.)  Genesis 2 is my current go-to figure generation, because it offers, to me, the most value.  The only difficulty is that new products for Genesis 1 & 2 are pretty close to non-existant as the tech has moved forward to Genesis 3 (and I wouldn't be surprised to see Genesis 4/Victoria 8 this summer.)

On the other hand, since Genesis 3 is the current generation, Genesis 1 and 2 products are often on sale for steep discounts.  Especially with March Madness comming up. :)

Victoria 5,6 and 7 are based of the Genesis' 1, 2 and 3 base.

all those magnets for her clothes fits?  

prolly won't need those in a duf, could use the auto smooth, or the auto smooth secret hidden magnets 

Victoria 3 generation doesn't have deformers.

With the right addons going to Genesis or Genesis 2 from Victoria 4 is a good option..

With http://www.daz3d.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=generation x2 makes transfering characters from Victoria 4 a snap and with http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-for-genesis-2-female makes fitting most V4 clothing easier..

There is a lot more products to add as well so will take some research, as for Poser friendliness I would say Genesis or Genesis 2 since they do have somewhat proper support with the DSON plugin for Poser.. If wanting to go to Genesis 3 then would have to go to Studio even though people have been able to get G3 in Poser I am not sure it is the same as in Studio..

Well guess that tells how long ago I got here..lol Well actually it was V3 :o)  I see now there is a 5, 6, and even 7. So I am wondering which some of you prefer.. I have always liked Victoria..because she looks the most "womanly" and I have yet to embrace the genesis ones. So any suggestions which one I should move too? and can any of the newer ones use some of V4's wardrobe and stuff? Also ease of animation of course.. seems every new model gets more and more bones which dont play well with bvh..and last but not least also be Poser friendly. If not I will stick with my V4,, to this day there are still lots of artists / merchants still supporting her

I think daywalker is right. The technical differences between V4 and G3f are probably so great as to make a simple one-click conversion impossible. Autofit does it's best (Bless!), but the joint geometry seems quite different even if the physical shape, in T stance, is very similar.

What worries me is: when/if G4f (Victoria 8) is released will that mean all my items for G3f be unusable with the new figure?

This is the way technology developments work, eventually backwards compatability is impossible and conversion is difficult. No matter how hard I try, I can't get my DVD player to play my VHS tapes (that shows how old I am ;) )

Of course, but that doesn't matter; you don't have to move to G4.

I think daywalker is right. The technical differences between V4 and G3f are probably so great as to make a simple one-click conversion impossible. Autofit does it's best (Bless!), but the joint geometry seems quite different even if the physical shape, in T stance, is very similar.

What worries me is: when/if G4f (Victoria 8) is released will that mean all my items for G3f be unusable with the new figure?

This is the way technology developments work, eventually backwards compatability is impossible and conversion is difficult. No matter how hard I try, I can't get my DVD player to play my VHS tapes (that shows how old I am ;) )

Except now she's a blue-eyed blonde... kinda make her a completely different person, doesn't it?

Back to the original question... hey Daz3d, who really did model for Victoria 4? ;)

Not Carrara specific, but finally a new set of DAZ3D freebies, that are compatible with Carrara:

http://www.daz3d.com/free-3d-models

For example a big bundle and a genesis2 girl:
http://www.daz3d.com/hiro-5-clothing-and-hair-only-bundle
http://www.daz3d.com/vianne-for-victoria-6
http://www.daz3d.com/the-sheriff

 

Awesome! 

This IS Carrara-specific to Me!!! Thanks!

This is another great catch! Wow, that Hiro 5 bundle adds a LOT of awesome new stuff for my Genesis 1 characters and I've been wanting that Sheriff outfit for quite some time. I think that the pants and boots along with the arm bands will work great for some new Rosie costumes, and it's always nice to get some new skin textures!

Thanks for pointing this out 3drendero!

...and Thank You to Daz3d for the fun new additions to my Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 Female collections!

Not Carrara specific, but finally a new set of DAZ3D freebies, that are compatible with Carrara:

http://www.daz3d.com/free-3d-models

For example a big bundle and a genesis2 girl:
http://www.daz3d.com/hiro-5-clothing-and-hair-only-bundle
http://www.daz3d.com/vianne-for-victoria-6
http://www.daz3d.com/the-sheriff

Hey Richard,
Thanks for your help !
I've tried everything, the result is still super average. One thing that helped was to disable "fit to figure source" in the post processing tab (transfer utility)
I kinda gave up on trying to fit this suit onto this Genesis 3 (morphed with Victoria 7 body + skinny morph) 
Now I've just tryied to do it from a zero shape Genesis 3, it's working well even with my old trick "fit to".
I can also adjust the skinny preset after the suit is fitted to her. However this may kill details somehow if I create the suit based on the base shape then skinny it after it

Yes, working from the zeroed state is always best - though you could have tried setting the Source Shape to Current (with the morphs you used at export set), but that gives a double approximation - from morph back to base shape and then from base shape back to morph - so it is best avoided.

In those days,  there was no cross generation use of clothing without the 3rd party plugins like cross dresser.  Those backward compatibility options were introduced with genesis 1

Sorry - but that is wrong, Daz included backward compatibility since Victoria 2!

V2 was just a V1 with morphs, V3 includes a V3toV2 figure (cr2), that can wear Victoria 2 clothes and Victoria 4.2 includes a V4.2 to V3 figure, that can wear Victoria 3 clothes.

With Morphing Clothes by Dimension3d you can even make those figures use the body morphs:

You get the basic V3 body shape with the V4 head, you can use V4 head morphs to change the face but neither V4 nor V3 body morphs.
Workaround: If you have Morphing Clothes by Dimension3d, you can transfer V3’s morphs into the V4-V3 figure.
You would treat V4toV3 as a clothing and transfer V3 morphs to her and save as a new cr2.