The Long Road from a Figure with M4 bones only to Genesis 8?
Okay, so I wasn't sure of the proper place to put this question (feel free to redirect me, anyone), but I've got a bit of an odd project going on. Basically, I have a figure that is not technically an M4, only built with the V4/M4 base skeleton. Ideally, I'd like to translate this figure to a Genesis 8 Male as a morph/material. Working backward, I think I can figure out how to update an M4 into a Genesis 3 Male, and then on to Genesis 8, but is there even a way to translate the morphs and materials from the starting figure to Michael 4? I thought this shouldn't be too hard, as they have the same base skeleton, but I've seemingly exhausted possible settings in the DAZ Morph Loader tools, and no luck. Am I missing something, or is what I'm attempting even possible?
Thanks!
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What do you mean by skeleton? Usually that would refer to the rigging, but from yur mention of Morph Loader it sounds as if you mean geometry. Morph Loader, morphs generally, require an exact match at the vertex level - count and order - between the morph shape and the figure. With a weight mapped figure you could use the Transfer Utility to transfer morphs, but from Michael 4's mesh you will probably need to use a modelling tool to conform a base-resolution Genesis 8 Male mesh to your figure's mesh; you may also be able to use that tool to bake new maps from the model to the Genesis 8 Male UVs.
From what I gather, the figure uses the M4 rigging, as it can use M4 poses seemingly without much issue. Apologies about terminology. I'm still pretty new to the 3D world. With no similarities between the figures otherwise, is it too much to hope that I could successfully make an M4 morph without extensive and involved tinkering (a bit out of my skill level)? And by Transfer Utility, do you mean something other than the DAZ Morph Loader tools?
Thanks for replying!
Well, a non-Daz figure that is being distributed shouldn't have the Michael 4 rigging unless it's a fitted item (clothing, hair, replacement body parts) but that aside your main problems are needing to get the shape onto the figure you want to use and the maps wrapped around it. That isn't simple ot automatic, but it can be done as I suggested above - by using an actual modelling application, using its tools to get the old figure into a pose like the new figure's, and in some way projecting or constraining the new figure to match the old, then load that as a new morph (and then have to adjust the rigging to the shape). Similarly, if you have the two meshes in the same shape you should be able to find tools that will bake the maps from the old figure into maps for the new figure.
The Transfer Utility is sued to rig a new item to match an existing weight-mapped figure, but it can do other things including projecting morphs across - it isn't, however, useful here as your starting point isn't what you'd need.
Got it. I don't know for sure if the rigging is identical, but when I bring both the custom figure and the base M4 into blender, I only need to make minor tweaking to get them to line up...sort of. The face and chest are still out of alignment, and won't seem to behave. I've been trying to use the Shrinkwrap feature in Blender to get the M4 figure to take on the other figure's shape, but the results have been well short of ideal. May have to give up on this particular dream...
I've no idea if it would work, but try posing the figure so that it lines up - as near as possible - with the Genesis 8 male in its zero pose before trying to shrink wrap. That should leave less work for the tool to do.
If it's mostly the in-built hair (head and body/seems to behave like cloth) and materials that I want to keep, does that simplify things at all?
I haven't had much luck with shrinkwrapping the morph on any figure...