Forum threads got me in knots - What's different in Gen3?

24_Seven

It has to be an old question by now, but I wasn't able to find the basic answer by searching.

Why did Genesis 3 better and/or more compatible with DAZ 4.8 or whatever? What doesn't the earlier versions have that makes them obsolete?

Can my old purchases be converted if they're not going to work as well in the new DAZ upgrade? I have to say I don't see the improvement to my eye from the screen shots (or it's subtle), so there must be something beyond what I'm seeing. Believe me, I have no beef with improvements. But I would like to know what's on the table at this point. Could you either tell me or link me to threads that deal with these questions. I'm just trying to get up to speed.

Much obliged.

nicstt

There doesn't appear to be a way of converting; if there ends up being it will be tough.

Much of the change seems to be UVs.

Also extra bones in certain places.

mjc1016

Skins...no easy/automatic conversion process.

Clothes, morphs, poses...all to some degree are convertable.

As to improvements...

UVs are one...and the changes to the actual texture maps/groupings that go with the new UVs are another.  Body parts are separated much differently and things like the mouth are 'unified', the limbs are now separated into one map for the arms and one for the legs.  They have larger areas, now, because of this.  The general improvements in bending/posing.  There is also a change in weightmapping....and more.

24_Seven

Hmmmm. . . it's the 'And more' that has me wondering.

Re: the figures: All of them are shot? No way. . .

With all the content I have purchased building a catalog of figures it seems like a huge money down the drain kind of proposition and since I just got into 3D it's a situation where I haven't even used most all of them.

Glad I saved my DAZ version 4.7. I may have to remove 4.8 and re-install 4.7 just because I have everything aimed at 4.7.

So re: the UV maps, I wonder would I for example be able to take the models into a UV Mapping program and reassemble and reassign the maps? Or does this mean that all the programs that do UV Mapping would be now incompatible? Like with 3D-Coat and others. Seem they should still work.

Same with rigging? Models could be re-rigged if segmented differently.

So is this specific to DAZ 4.8 or could the older models still be used in other programs?

<Sigh. .  . Hard to do anything with a program that one can't build on>

 

Thanks for the answers.

 

 

 

mjc1016

It's just Genesis 3 and compatiblity between it and everything that came before.  All previous figures work just like they used to.  That's the 'clean break'.   Nothing is really changed outside of that (well there's now a new renderer in 4.8, but that's entirely different than Genesis 3).

The geometry changes make remapping an exercise in frustration, because there is no way to align the old and the new without seams or very obvious stretching.  The best conversion method is manually 'baking' the old textures to the new UV layout in a program capable of doing so...most 'full' 3D suites (Maya, Max, Blender, etc) or using the previous generation texture maps as 'source' material for hand painting new ones in a 3d paint program.

24_Seven

Phew! That's better than I feared. So I can still use my old content.

I'm going to have to dig deeper to find out just what is workable all around. I was just getting into manipulating UV Maps which seemed to expand the models nearly infinitely. . . with some caviats.

I suppose baking isn't such a bad thing once you have your primary characters settled on. Anyway, keeping my knees bent for any further jostling around.

 

Thanks for the follow up.

 

larsmidnatt

Ill say this. You don't need the new figure yet. I use her 5% of the time right now. I got her out of curiosity. I wanted to see what was better. She's got some nice improvements, but your "old" content is not obsolete. I love G2F and she will remain a power player for years to come. Because she can still use V4 skins....and my fave skins of all time are still V4.

The V7/G3F Platform is just starting to move. It will take a lot of time for it to be comparable to prior generations. Right now if you want to do a nude render with elbows and knees exposed without any additonal packages to fix things, G3F has the lead over stock G2F. And expressions with G3F are a bit better, but skilled hands can make G2F look nice too.

Take your time, there is no rush!

mjc1016

larsmidnatt said:

And expressions with G3F are a bit better, but skilled hands can make G2F look nice too.

Take your time, there is no rush!

Duh...I forgot to mention the reason behind THAT improvement....Genesis 3 now has a full facial rig!  That means the expressions are now bone controlled poses, not morphs!

24_Seven

Reassuring about the old gen still working because I really like them too which is why I bought them in the first place. I would look through the marketplace and story ideas would pop up for stories or pics I could put them to telling. As with us all, the rendering time in my mind is faster than any processor chip, I can tell you. So they're all sitting around staring at me and I feel obligated to put 'em to work.

 

Incidentally, speaking of facial rigging, I was wondering if there is a place where I could read up on developing Gen 3 characters? Links or developer kits or whatever?