Is it possible to create an interesting G9-Character?
mgessat_f159911d19
Posts: 81
I doubt. Or at least - I doubt, if we don't have access to the HD-Tools. I tried to transfer several G8 characters to G9 - it is possible, but the resulting characters have a flat face and body. Not so surprising, because the morph transfer tool does not work with HD morphs. But perhaps it's a more general problem - I think so far the only convincing G9 character is Victoria 9; which indeed is beautiful. But that seems to be a result of HD-morph and texture. Many new g9 characters are looking strange or flat, with thick lips and flat face. In the best case they look like a Victoria 9 modification.
Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps it is possible. (Stella HD is a positive exemption...) Perhaps we need some morph kits to create interesting faces with flaws and wrinkles. Or perhaps it is the lack of HD tools, or is there a lower resolution in the model mesh? I am rather clueless at the moment.
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Comments
Visuals alone? I would guess so. It might take some experimenting and whatnot, but I would guess it's possible.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/600236/head-games
It is quite possible.
Among other things, you can absolutely make HD details and bake them as normals. This is what artists do all over the place, to incredible effect.
There is no tool that you can easily and quickly press a button and everything is magically awesome. It takes work and skill.
Again, as a vendor with access to HD tools... let me tell you, I often debate whether to bother using HD details.
It's convenient for a bunch of stuff, like making it a little easier to mix with other skins, although the new Details in PBRSkin helps open up possibilities.
The only time I've felt I REALLY 'needed' to have HD details is when I have a monster with spikes (because the spikes need to be sharp) or for really really deep wrinkles (and even then... could do it without).
And if anything Genesis 9 makes it easier to do details because the Base Resolution has twice the polygons. I find it easier to define the face with that extra detail without needing HD.
I mean, heck, the biggest reason I like having HD tools is that if I'm doing HD baking to normals it cuts a step or two from the process.
I think that depends on what you find interesting.
I find Jeanette Voerman from the game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines interesting so I have been creating a G9 version of her. Sculpted in Blender, and I am using normal / displacement maps created in GIMP for the details, no need for HD. Still a work in progress, but I am happy with how she is turning out.
This is what really baffles me about the whole conversation: the people complaining about how G9 "requires" HD also don't have the ability to import HD morphs, and they don't seem to consider that a more dense mesh gives them more polygons to work with in base resolution.
My understanding is that, because of how the mesh grid is laid out, even double density doesn't give the sculptor enough polygons to work with in certain areas where it matters.
Anyway, re the main question here, obviously it's possible to create great G9 characters. just look at V9 or Joe's Toon Heroes.
We've never had the ability to make our own HD morphs, so I'm not sure if it's something about how G9 was marketed that's convincing people they can't make it look good without HD tools (there are still people on other sites who think the 8k maps thing is a mandatory feature). There just isn't a lot available for G9 yet compared to G8/8.1 as far as character morphs go. G3 characters with really distinctive HD-sculpted details lose a lot in the conversion to G8, too.
Seems like most users complaining about the need for HD just want to make adult-oriented renders and don't pay much attention to the faces. They want to have variety when using/making chest morphs, for example. (If my answer gets deleted, that's fine, but being indirect just makes the conversation more confusing.)
I never liked those custom morphs. They made fitting clothes tricky. For example, on G8F, you might find a fit morph that's exactly how you like but the chest is too stylized that you can't really fix it by dial-spinning, because it makes a distorted mess.
Anything I tried to do with g9 just looks wrong. Almost grotesque. This figure is a dead end, the sooner daz throws it out and starts from scratch the better.
I think it is. Cleavage shape is not what makes the character interesting.
G9 urgently needs things like natural bend morphs and auto shape enchancer, though.
It's a new figure base, you can make diverse characters, but the pool of resources for mixing is fairly small. For now.
Its not what you have but how you use it. I have tried many times with G2, 3 & 8 to create custom characters, and regardless of how many shapes and morphs I have for it, I have only managed a few good looking characters for each.
Surprisingly, I did this with G9 with only V9, the Essential Shapes bundle and Growing up for G9 - https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/user/5879393310212096#gallery=album8870902&page=1&image=1258623
Be patient and dont fret. You will find a shape mix that you like eventually.
Now I have to update my impressions - it is possible to create an interesting (and realistic...) character: https://www.daz3d.com/minerva-9-hd
Wow!
Minerva is exactly what I thought of - a face with structure, with eye and face wrinkles - and of course a face which is not fairy or teeny or toon-like. I think Minerva is very attractive in the original shape, but she is also very nice to mix with other characters and transfered G8-to-G9-morphs and to give them some details and HD-effects and age.
Thanks for the tips to bake HD details in other programs like Blender - I will try that method, but I did not have enough time so far. For the moment I think Minerva will do the same good job for me like Leanne in the G8.1-generation
...
The only time I cursed the lack of HD tools for standard users was when I was looking to create a fanart version of a Sith Pureblood...who have all sorts of spines and dangle-bits on their faces. I learned later that a geograft would have been the best option, however at the time I couldn't figure out how to properly make an HD geograft of an entire face/head.
I don't get the argument that you can't make an interesting character with G9. If you can't, then you probably can't do that with G8 either.
Im currently doing a character with very deep wrinkles. I could do it with Normals, but hd does add a little oomph and make it easier to mix.
My insectoid Arkouda had loads of spines and such... yeah, that really leaned on hd.
There's an alien G8 character on that other store that uses geografts for her alien parts.
Often geografts work better than HD morphs.
Ditto if you wanted to add any robotic parts - it'll take less polygons to create a sharp edge that stays sharp than it would be with sculpting it.
So much this! Everything G9 I've seen grosses me out! Glad I'm not alone. Except I will admit, I liked Plasma Ring's body study that was posted earlier and since removed. So, perhaps it's fair to say the potential for greatness with G9 exists but it has not yet been fully realized.