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Genesis: Olimpia, Gia, Mei Lin, Ninive... I can't understand!!

namtar3dnamtar3d Posts: 246
in Carrara Discussion

Hi there! 

I was thinking Mei Lin, Ninive, etc where characters for Genesis 3 females, but i find in the shop characters for Ninive, or Gia, or Mei Lin. 

So, i am wondering what's the difference between a Character and these presets. Are morph packs? If so, why are so many? I remember V4 was capable to get morphed without so many morhp packs.

I hope you can understand my poor english. 

Comments

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,168
    edited December 2016

    Hello.  The Daz human figures have a base, and then each base has a set of named presets.  The presets for a generation of base figures use the same number.  The figures released before the first genesis are numbers 1-4.  For example, there is a Victoria 3 and a Stephanie 3 released in similar time using similar rigging technology.  Then Victoria 4 and Stephanie 4 took it a step further and used the same mesh.  Then Genesis took it a step further by using the same base mesh for all figures in that generation.  The original genesis figures are number 5, such as Victoria 5 and Stephanie 5.  Genesis 2 figures are number 6.  Genesis 3 figures are number 7.  Figures with number 7 do not work natively in Carrara. 

     

    Ninive 6, Gia 6, and Mei Lin 6 would indicate a preset using the genesis 2 base mesh.  I own Mei Lin 6 and can load it directly in Carrara from my content browser. 

    Mei Lin 7 indicates that it is a preset for the genesis 3 base mesh.  I don't own it, but if I did, I would not be able to load it direcly in Carrara from the browser.  Carrara would crash.  There are ways to import 7s using another file method, like collada, but there are additional disadavantages to doing so.

     

    Hope that explanation was not too confusing.

     

     

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 2016

    My V4 runtime.  I have V4, then I have Stephanie 4 Girl 4 Aiko 4, all of which need V4 to work.   These are the main figure packs

    I then have a whole load of character sets for V4, S4, A4 etc,  these are the character packs.

    With the Genesis technology beingso much more advanced it has been possible to produce far more figures for each base set up.  So Genesis is the base figure, (followed by genesis 2 and now we have Genesis 3)  and then there is V5 (which is a figure) etc for genesis    V6 etc for Genesis2F  and V7 etc for Genesis 3F.

    You then have the characters which build on the main figure.  For example http://daz3d.com/meara-for-v5  These characters  extend the base figures,  You can use these characters without having bought the figure, but the result will not be as shown in the promos without the figure having been loaded to the base figure.

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,168

    Chohole wrote it better, and used fewer words.  I've been reading too many of Dart's posts.  blush  (We kid because we love).

  • pwiecekpwiecek Posts: 1,577
    diomede said:

    The presets for a generation of base figures use the same number. 

    There are occasional exceptions. Mostly Toon or "Extreme" characters

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,551

    Another thing to keep in mind:

    With the invention of Daz Studio 4.0 and Genesis came the ability (in Daz Studio) to swap UV Mapping layouts for the actual mesh - better termed: a SubDivision 3D Cage.

    Without getting too heavy into the technology of that - basically it allows the mesh shaping (Morph) artists to remap the UV coordinates of the mesh to better fit the shape they've made, which helps to eliminate stretching and shrinking of the texture maps for a more accurate looking model in the end.

    This is what made it possible of Genesis to become a child and/or a Mountain Gorilla, a Troll, a Giant Behemoth Monster - and still look real at render time.

    Just know that Carrara doesn't have the UV Swapping abilities like that - so we would need to load in the correct Character for the maps we intend to use.

    Example:

    I really liked the base texture that came with The Girl 6 and wanted to use that.

    Even though I'm not using the Girl 6 shape, I begin with the Girl 6 Character preset to get the proper UVs for those maps on my Genesis - so I don't get strange oddities showing up on her.

    Once I have my Girl 6 Character into Carrara, I can remove all Girl 6 morphs and build my shape from scratch using any of the shape dials I have.

    ==================================================

    It helps to pick a texture map collection whose character shape resembles the final shape we want to create to help eliminate texture stretching and so on - but we don't really have to if we don't want to.

    For some of my Genesis creatures I'll load in the Troll preset for Genesis 1 and remove the Troll shape by dialing down the Troll morphs and build my own Orc or Goblin from there, knowing that the maps will follow the mesh properly - even if I stretch or shrink it in places.

    I hope this makes sense.

    That all said - that's why Daz3d had to create more names than Victoria.

    Genesis 2 Female has her Base UV mapping

    Victoria 6 has her own, and so do all of the other "Named" characters.

    They all have optimized UV Mapping coordinates which make their own texture maps fit perfectly, as if their shape is the Base shape of the mesh - if that helps make any sense.

    So each named character attempts to fill a Role from the realms of people. Victoria has always been their Cover Girl as well as their every day woman. So she often gets two versions - a base woman and a super model. Aiko is a Action Hero and Girl is a stylized pin-up art girl. Olympia is a Fantasy Heroine while Lillith has more of a dark under-current. 

    All of these different names are made to identify the base shape - even though the true base for the People 6 characters is Genesis 2 Male or Female.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,551

    I hope that helps some.

  • namtar3dnamtar3d Posts: 246

    Very helpful, thanks! I just wish carrara could load Genesis 3 like daz :( 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,551

    ...and it might be very useful to know that these are the UV Map solutions for Genesis 1

    Basic Male = Michael 4

    Basic Female = Victorial 4

    Basic Kid = Kids 4

    From there the individual character names used their own custom UVs

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,551

    I just wanted to mention that so that, if one might start with one preset and eventually start seeing funny markings happening, like the texture suddenly stops covering, this is why.

    Unles we're going for extreme shape changes, most UV Mapped versions will look just fine when shaped into someone or something else.

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