Laguna mermaid for Genesis 8

Lasserine

Anyway to regeograft the laguna mermaid tail https://www.daz3d.com/laguna-mermaid-set-for-genesis-3-female-s so it also works for genesis 8?   I prefer it over what is available for genesis 8 now.

Silas3D

I did transfer it to G3M with the cross-figure resource kit but the polyflow in the hip region was the same - if its the same for G8 as well then absolutely it's possible - I'll give it a go and report back :)

Silas3D

You can totally do it, here's how:

1. Add the mermaid tail and G8F to your scene.
2. Set both to base resolution.
3. Select the tail (not the geoshell) and disable smoothing, then right-click the scene tab and navigate to `Edit` > `Scene Identification...`
4. Change `Preferred Base` to G8F and accept. This is better than using transfer utility as will retain the bones/weightmaps of the tail.
5. Select G8F and switch to geometry editor tool, also switch to wire shaded display mode
6. If you look at G8F's back, you'll see most of the polys are square but a couple either-side of her lower back are more triangular. You need to select all of her lower body geometry up to the lower edge of these
7. Once selected, right-click in the viewport and got to `Geometry Assignment` > `Set Auto-Hide Faces for Attachment...` and select the tail.
8. Deselect all geometry, then select the top-most ring you had selected before, ie. the ring of polys that is the intersection between G8F and the tail.
9. Right-click in the viewport and got to `Geometry Assignment` > `Set Graft Faces for Attachment...` and select the tail again.
10. Switch out of the geometry editor tool and fit the tail to G8F - you should see the legs disappear.
11. Finally select the tail geoshell, parent it to G8F and check that the `Shell Node` is set to G8F, which will then also cover the tail like the G3F version.

At this point you can select G8F and add a default h.material preset from the G3F material options, before saving the tail as a wearable preset to a folder of your choice. Here's my version on BlueJaunte's Amira:

 

Lasserine

Wow thank you so much for this.

Gordig

I'm so excited by this. Could you please do a render with a darker-skinned character? 

zombietaggerung

This is awesome, could you do a write up on how you did the cross figure thing too?

Lasserine

zombietaggerung said:

This is awesome, could you do a write up on how you did the cross figure thing too?

I think it would be about the same steps.

Summerhorse

Thanks for this, Silas 3d, I love that tail also!

Silas3D

Hey everyone thanks, the cross-figure thing is a product you can buy from the store that gives you a morph slider for G8M and G8F to switch between the two, which is important to ensure vertices line up when doing graft fits, transfer utility etc:

https://www.daz3d.com/genesis-8-cross-figure-resource-kit

I'm currently rendering a G8M character with the tail so after that I'll do a darker skinned character.

Silas3D

Here's G8M Alistair with the tail:

Silas3D

Here's a quick one with Monique 8:

zombietaggerung

Brilliant! I'm going to have to try this.

Gordig

Silas3D said:

Here's a quick one with Monique 8:

Yaaaaaaaaaas thank you!

Worlds_Edge

Thanks for these tips @Silas3d

SimonJM

I started looking at this, out of interest, and ... got screwed on step 1 (despite having the products in question!0 as, so far as I can see, there is no tail, just a geoshell - help!

Lasserine

SimonJM said:

I started looking at this, out of interest, and ... got screwed on step 1 (despite having the products in question!0 as, so far as I can see, there is no tail, just a geoshell - help!

I think changing the view to wired will let you see it.

Silas3D

The thing to bear in mind with the tail is that most of its opacity is set to 0 which is why you can't see it in textured mode, because its only a small part of the abdomen that is used that your figure's torso texture is copied to. The tail texture is all on the geoshell.

Lasserine

Silas3D said:

The thing to bear in mind with the tail is that most of its opacity is set to 0 which is why you can't see it in textured mode, because its only a small part of the abdomen that is used that your figure's torso texture is copied to. The tail texture is all on the geoshell.

In the geoshell I had to turn off a bunch of things, ie eyes arms etc or the human part was white.

Also dont forget to go back to high resolution or if you do a iray render preview in daz the whole character will be white.

SimonJM

Ok, thanks all, when I am awake I will have amother delve!

Gordig

This thread gave me the incentive, and today's flash sale the opportunity, that I needed to pick this up, so I'll take a crack at it when I have a chance....Wednesday, maybe?

Gordig

I finally got it to work, so thank you so much for this tutorial. Is there any way to make it so that I can just apply G8 textures to the tail, without having to manually copy and paste the torso surface settings?

Leana

G8 presets won't have settings for the material zone on the tail, so they can't be applied directly to it (or rather, they won't do anything to it).

Gordig

The tail does have a "torso" material zone with a G3F UV, and one of the steps of using the Laguna tail is selecting the tail and applying the character's base materials to it. Then again, as far as I know one can't just apply G8 materials to a G3, even though the reverse works just fine.

Leana

The problem with G8 materials on G3 is that G8 materials are usually hierarchical presets due to the fact that eyelashes are separate mesh. As such they will work only in G8.

Regular material presets made for G8 work fine on G3 though.

Richard Haseltine

Leana said:

The problem with G8 materials on G3 is that G8 materials are usually hierarchical presets due to the fact that eyelashes are separate mesh. As such they will work only in G8.

Regular material presets made for G8 work fine on G3 though.

The materials can, though, be applied to Genesis 8 and then saved as a regular preset for the figure.

Gordig

Did my first render with the G8 Laguna tail, and I'm noticing a seam between the actual figure torso material and the tail's torso material. I haven't tested yet to see if I just need to move the graft polys lower, or if there's something about the way I applied the torso material to the tail.

Silas3D

@Gordig that seam looks like the tail isn't flush against the character - you may need to adjust rigging to shape in some cases if the morph deviates from G8F base too much.

With regard to the material presets, I duplicated the material folder into an equivalent G8F path and used a text editor to do a find and replace on all references to Genesis 3 Female.

This is where the intersection ring should be for reference:
 

Psyckosama

Silas3D said:

Here's G8M Alistair with the tail:

Doing exactly what  you did with that one and I get a seam... any ideas?

Silas3D

Psyckosama said:

Doing exactly what  you did with that one and I get a seam... any ideas?

Without seeing what you've done, difficult to know...

almahiedra

Does this work with G2-to-G8?

Gordig

GiGi_7 said:

Does this work with G2-to-G8?

Probably not, because G2 and G3/8 have very different meshes. I tried fitting Reptilian 6 tail to G8, and the polygons just didn't line up at all.