Question about texturing Genesis while using Facegen

Mosk the Scribe

I'm using Facegen to texture faces of some characters, but this requires the V4 UV to be used so that the textures line up correctly (I can then adjust the basic male and basic female settings without messing up the texture.

I need a quick way to texture the rest of the body, however. Since Facegen requires that I use the V4 UV, I'm limited to female textures (like Sample Lana that comes with genesis - but this gives female breasts, eyelashes, nail polish which I don't want. Then I have to go through the tedious process of trying to change those textures in photoshop and of setting the eyes and face back to textures generated by Facegen.

Can anyone suggest some easier ways to go about this? (particularly for male figures)

I'd also like an easy way to adjust the body color to roughly match the color of the face.

Does Fenric have a product that would make this easier to do?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Dartanbeck

What about the Texture Convertor, by 3D Universe?
I've never used it - and you'd need to buy the appropriate plugins that support each character in question. But, from what it looks like, once you have the right plugins you can go either way. For example, with plugins for M4 and V4 you can convert M4 maps to fit V4, and/or V4 maps to fit M4. If you're using a V4 UV set, one would think that you'd need to get the plugins to convert from whatever texture you are planning to use as well as V4. Does it support Genesis? Not sure. Just an idea - but you probably already though along these lines...
Hmmmm....

WendyLuvsCatz

I have and use texture converter but if you save a .duf from Daz studio and import into Carrara you can actually have different figure UV mapping for body parts too, studio supports this.
Also Map transfer, just learning how to do this.
a tute is found here http://kaos3d.deviantart.com/journal/Daz-Studio-4-Map-Transfer-Mini-Tutorial-303888794
free but more fiddly than TC

Mosk the Scribe

Hey Dartanbeck and Wendy -

Thanks for the replies. I haven't been using DAZ & Carrara that much of late, so I've gotten a bit rusty.
I do have the required texture converters so that may be a great option.
I also hadn't even thought of looking under v4 and trying some of her textures (as opposed to the single male and female included with genesis). V4 even has several V4Male options which will be good enough for my immediate project and provide a simple one click texture fort the body - then I'd just need to adjust the few relevant face textures.

Will watch the tutorials you mentioned later and read back up on Texture Converter - I'd used it a few times a year or two ago and that would offer lots of great possibilities for texturing Genesis.

Thanks again for your replies to this (and your replies in numerous other threads) - there are probably between half a dozen and a dozen people who always seem ready to help in a constructive manner on the DAZ forums, and you guys are really what make 3d fun and do-able - so please don't let the occasional nasty comments of trolls get to you; I think most of us are extremely appreciative of the help you always provide.

Dartanbeck

I bet those V4 male textures would be excellent. I need to try that one, myself!
I hope this all works well... and that you show us the results when you're done! ;)

Mosk the Scribe

wendy♥catz said:

I have and use texture converter but if you save a .duf from Daz studio and import into Carrara you can actually have different figure UV mapping for body parts too, studio supports this.
Also Map transfer, just learning how to do this.
a tute is found here http://kaos3d.deviantart.com/journal/Daz-Studio-4-Map-Transfer-Mini-Tutorial-303888794
free but more fiddly than TC

Wendy -can you explain how to use Texture converter and set up separate body part UVs in Carrara for Genesis? The only thing I'd need the V4 UV set for (with FaceGen) is the face/eyes/lips etc - if there was a simple way to leave the rest of the body with M4 UV map for my male characters, that would further simplify things.

Thanks

Dartanbeck

I bet it would be easier to convert your FaceGen-made map to M4, wouldn't it? Then you could just use M4, and add the FaceGen.

Mosk the Scribe

Yeah, I suppose that would be easier. I'll have to find the read me for texture converter 2 and give it a try. Thanks.

WendyLuvsCatz

I use V4 male and have converted some M4 stuff to V4 too

Dartanbeck

Try this once... you're using Carrara, I take it, since you're in the Carrara forums...

First of all, are you using FaceGen (or is it Face Shop?) to shape the face to make a likeness?
If the answer is "Yes", see if you can find a texture that you already have that you like. It sounds like you're making a male. If you are using 8.5, then you have two nice shader sets, at least, that came with Carrara for Genesis' M5. You're using Genesis, right?

So, if you need to use an M4 map set, use the Basic Male. Using M5, load in M5 for the UV Mapping, then return whatever dials you don't want to use off. It will be a simple matter of turning either M5 or M5 Super to '0'. Then starting from fresh.

But to start with - which ever method of Genesis you load, let's start with all dials turned off - blank Genesis Male. Use Blank Genesis Female for women or girls.

Select actor and enter the model room. It will warn you about protected topology. Okay out of the message and go to View > uncheck Protect Topology > Click Yes in the warning.

Now try using the model tools in Carrara's vertex modeler to shape the face to your liking. Remember that, if it helps, you may always do this in the main Assembly room, too.

In the model room you may load in images in the backgrounds of some of the views to guide your modeling if you like.

I prefer to set the selection tool to only pick polygons - at least at first. Select a polygon and turn on "Soft Selection" on the right. At first, soft selection influence slider is still stuck on its generic allowance. Slide it a bit to reset its range. I usually start with it turned down to .33 or .66 or in between somewhere. Set it carefully to an influence that is giving you some control without making a big mess of the mesh. Doing this, you can make some nice changes to the base mesh, so you'll have any additional shaping morphs that you may have. Don't forget to turn on symmetry when you need to do major shaping evenly across the whole face.

Once you get a good feel of the shaping and selecting, you may need to switch the selector tool back to allowing for universal selection or just switch to points, when you need to grab a point, or edges when you need to pick an edge.

One huge power of Carrara is that you now have the control that the original mesh architect had when he or she designed the base shape - only you get to now create your own new base shape.

Should you decide to go this route, Dig around in these instructions and read up good. It's neat stuff to know. But for now, just go towards what you need - and go from there.

Basically what I'm saying here is that you may now export your Basic Male with your modifications made to an OBJ using the DAZ Studio preset option for scaling - no real need to export textures at this point. Then you open DS Pro, the newer the build, the better, IMHO. Load in the Genesis Basic Male (or whichever base you started from - but this is for Genesis and Genesis 2, here) and with it selected, use morph loader to import the OBJ you've just made in Carrara. You'll need to follow through the best answers during this process with the morph loader. I'm new, so I don't have it all memorized - but I'm getting addicted to this...

Once finished, and your new shape is applied in DS Pro, go Save As and down at the very bottom of the choices is the "Support" stuff. You're making a morph - so choose that and fill in the right stuff.

If this sort of thing sounds of interest to you, we can talk more on it. But I should mention one thing here.
To avoid messing up your official DAZ library, I've been told that you should first make a new folder, anywhere of any name that you like and then go into DS preferences and identify that folder as a new DS library and save your stuff there. Before I go talking about naming conventions, directory layouts and other habits of tidiness, let's see if your interested first ;)

Dartanbeck

I know that this stuff takes investment already... but, if you're looking for another option, Faceshop is made for Genesis and works with all the shapes, from what it looks like to me, anyways. Never tried it.

Don't forget that, if you own Carrara, you have a tool that can paint displacement directly onto your mesh. Have a look in the Carrara Help manual out how that works and you'll amaze at how easy it is to get going - but patience and practice to get good at it. Carrara also gives you the tools to paint directly onto your textures or make new ones. Pretty powerful stuff.

I haven't started into it yet - but that's another direction I'm planning to travel. I recently bought a brush set for Carrara called "Scratches" from GK Dantas, here at the DAZ Store and am planning to collect all of the brushes and shaders from both him and Ringo Monfort, just to have a huge selection of textures to paint with.

On that front, you can actually layer one texture with another. So you can paint details onto the face all zoomed into ti with your view, and just know that the actual main skin and stuff is already working from the shader you have loaded in already. Now you're just making additions or subtractions, whatever. Once you start getting into this stuff, you'll see that you can actually do huge things with your shaders in Carrara. There are many ways to combine various maps or other nodes. If you get to really enjoy the power of shaders, Fenric, DCG, have amazing additional features that add even more functions to select and use any time you need to make something look just right.
This is where I am really wanting to collect shaders from the store. 3DLust made these scenes with incredible lighting power combined with excellent shaders. Ringo and GK Dantas, along with Dimension Theory make killer use of shaders on people. mmoir makes scenes as does Howie Farkes. I buy these things and open stuff up with my mind in "I wanna Know" mode and see how they got this look, made those kinds of shadows, got their placement just so...

The more I do this, the more I see potential in all of my Poser models I've purchased over the years. The Platinum Club is great. Take those 1.99 products and form cool scenes with them. I can't get over how cool the GIS series is - and then there was West Park! Man... these collections at 1.99 are an excellent way to experiment with all that Carrara offers in shaders and lighting - general scene building. But then you can look at them in the model room for inspiration on how to make stuff yourself or tweak them to your needs!

Okay, I'm way off base now - but only to help explain my point. Carrara opens you up to be able to do anything you want/need to get your shot.

If you wish to push any of these (or other) directions to get your face working, let me know. I'm making my own custom Genesis character as we speak. I think the Carrara modeler is perfect for individualizing people. Like for mine, I want the lower right lip to show the bottom row of teeth earlier when she opens her mouth. With that goal, I began with the basic Genesis 2 Female (so I never have to mess with male style morphs :) ) and just shaped her mouth the way I want it. Wow. It worked so well that I don't really need the other morphs except to tweak out expressions on a more individualized nature. Because, in Carrara with Mimic Pro, you get to create NLA Pose files for the different visemes and such. Pretty neat how powerful this can be.

Okay... time for bed.

Mosk the Scribe

Hey Dartanbeck -

Thanks for the thorough replies. I've got some real world stuff that is going to suck up most of my time for the next week or so, then I'll go through these more thoroughly and give a full reply.

I do use FaceGen as opposed to FaceShop - have tried faceshop twice with poor results and returned the product; not sure if I'd tried the most recent version.

I use Carrara 8.5 Pro and DAZ Studio Pro - and would like to get a reliable, efficient routine down, so your advice is really appreciated. I'll write back more when I get a chance.

Also - I'm specifically interested in animation, so I've tried to stay away from displacement maps on characters thinking that would add to the render time or computing power required - forgot which. Also, I do incorporate lip synch (either via Mimic Pro or Mimic for Carrara) - and I'm very interested in learning broadly - so feel free to go off on any tangents - I usually learn something when you do.

Thanks again.

Dartanbeck

Right. Displacement eats resources as it subdivides the mesh into much smaller details. System memory if left as displaced mesh, render time if it's made into a map or maps. So if you can get away without - all the better... especially for animations.

WendyLuvsCatz

also Carrara shader room with operators and layers lets you mix maps and colour so can use facegen textures with more detailed V4 or other ones.

Dartanbeck

wendy♥catz said:

also Carrara shader room with operators and layers lets you mix maps and colour so can use facegen textures with more detailed V4 or other ones.

Cool. I have zero knowledge of FaceGen. Is there no way to use it on M5 maps instead of just V4?
Either way, you make a perfect point. Carrara's shaders allow for massive flexibility!

WendyLuvsCatz

yes Dart map transfer!

Dartanbeck

wendy♥catz said:

yes Dart map transfer!

So... I'm not sure exactly what this means - being illiterate on FaceGen. Does this mean that it only works using V4 mapping? If so, what other forms of map transfer are there than UTC? I went to find instructions for Monk, but only found a page that says that UTC has been retired. One would think that, any in formation pertaining to its use would have been left there, since they're opting to keep the product for sale - something I think is cool, since it seems like a nice thing - for those whom might need it.

WendyLuvsCatz

wendy♥catz said:

I have and use texture converter but if you save a .duf from Daz studio and import into Carrara you can actually have different figure UV mapping for body parts too, studio supports this.
Also Map transfer, just learning how to do this.
a tute is found here http://kaos3d.deviantart.com/journal/Daz-Studio-4-Map-Transfer-Mini-Tutorial-303888794
free but more fiddly than TC

LOL Dart read
is feature of Daz studio

Dartanbeck

Um... really? That's too freaking cool! This DAZ Studio truly is becoming a powerful Carraraists aid!