Converting textures and light question

Nythande

Is there a way to convert Gen4 skin textures to Genesis2? Or do I have to run the gauntlet of converting Gen4 to Genesis and then Genesis to Genesis2? Is even that possible?

I'm just starting out in Studio and I've been successful in creating some images, but the skin for G2 just lacks the punch...I guess before I blame the textures I should figure out lighting, huh?

In Poser I used Colm's lights and render time was within an hour but I liked the finished product and some skins went better with the light set up than others.

So if anyone who is familiar to Colm's lights, what equals his IDL packs for Studio?

I'm not against a longer render time. My ADD will tolerate a few hours, anything beyond that and it will drive me crazy. :)

Leana

There are multiple ways to use Gen4 skins on Genesis 2.

The zero-cost solution is to convert the texture you want to use to use UVs supported by G2.
G2F can use V5 UVs, and G2M M5 UVs. So you can load the texture on Genesis then use Map Transfer (included in DS) to convert the texture to V5 ou M5 UVs, and use the resulting texture on your G2 figure. But you'll have to convert textures one by one and that can be quite tedious...

If you're willing to invest a bit, there are a few products that can be useful:

Base items :
http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-for-genesis-2-female => adds V4 UVs (and autofit for V4 clothes) to G2F.
http://www.daz3d.com/michael-4-for-genesis-2-male => adds M4 UVs (and autofit for M4 clothes) to G2M.

You'll have to resave your Material presets as .duf to use them on G2F/G2M if they're not already in that format.

Helpful additional scripts to use once you have V4 / M4 UVs:
http://www.daz3d.com/v4-skins-auto-converter-for-genesis-2-female-s and http://www.daz3d.com/michael-4-skins-auto-converter-for-genesis-2-male-s : enables you to use a preset intended for V4/M4 without converting it to .duf first

http://www.daz3d.com/v4-skins-batch-converter-to-genesis-2-female-s and http://www.daz3d.com/m4-skins-batch-converter-to-genesis-2-male-s : batch convert material presets intended for V4/M4 to .duf files intended for G2F/G2M.

I never used Colm's lights so I don't know what would be their equivalent in DS. But for good lighting the first thing to check is UberEnvironment (included in DS),

Nythande

So when it says that it needs to be saved as a DUF file, how would I go about doing that in order to use http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-4-for-genesis-2-female

Richard Haseltine

Apply the texture to Victoria 4 (if possible) or Genesis, then save a Materials preset from File>Save as>Materials preset. It's best to use the actual Victoria 4 if you can as Genesis lacks the eye overlay layer that both Genesis and G2F have, so if you use Genesis you will lose and materials for that.