G2 vs. G4 vs V5 ??? A Little Help, anyone?
blue6string
Posts: 60
I understand that there are different series of models. Are there certain pros and cons to each series of model.
I don't know all the major players, but could someone do a comparison? I don't really want to purchase more than one base model (atleast right now)
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You get Genesis 1 free, Genesis 2 Female free and Genesis 2 Male free in the starter essential packages that come with DAZ Studio. They are only the BASE figures but you also get some content in the packages to get you started. So for little money some of one of those figures could be had. 5 figures are Genesis as are MOST but not all the monster shapes in the Genesis line, all 6 figures are G2 figures. I hope this helps.
Does one series have:
More Morphs
more assessories/clothing that you can purchase
More realistic look
More posing capabilities
Better ability to exported and used by other programs.
how do the type of figures differ on the above areas... or other crucial areas that I might consider before purchasing.
...maybe I'm looking at things the wrong way
Here's a quick render to show off the various Genesis incarnations. I'll give a brief overview of the various figures and their ups and downs.
Generation 4
Generation 4 is without a doubt the most popular amongst Poser users. Perhaps largely due to the slight learning curve in using the DSON importer for Genesis figures. Regardless, being the older figures they may not have some of the graceful features of the new technologies such as weight mapping but they have a wealth of content availability for it with many online stores being almost exclusively dedicated to the older figures.
There has since, I believe, been a weight mapped version of Victoria 4 released however some of the extreme morphing capabilities you can get with Genesis are not possible on the standard versions of these figures.
Pros
- Victoria 4 is the most widely supported figure around in virtually all aspects.
- Kids 4 is still the leading kids figure, with more clothing and character morphs than other figures.
- Poser format means it's automatically compatible with both Daz Studio and Poser without conversion.
Cons
- A bit clunky compared to modern figures.
- Bends sometimes require correction morphs (weight mapped V4 is an exception).
- Clothing needs to be purchased individually between males, females and children.(*)
- Considerably more purchases needed to reach the same functionality as Genesis.
* Poser's fitting room can help with this to an extent, as can CrossDresser but it's not always a perfect fit and some items may even deform.
Genesis classic
The original Genesis has the advantage of being androgynous, meaning that it can be either male or female as you decide. It also comes with a basic child morph allowing you to create people of all ages. It's very versatile in this regard, since you can 'dial in' morphs from both male and females, and any body shape morphs will work for both sexes.
This price for this unfortunately comes at a lower polygon count than its predecessors the Gen4 figures and its successor, Genesis 2. That said, it's a very powerful figure, being able to wear most of the old Generation 4 clothes and utilize the old Gen4 skins.
Pros:
- One size fits all clothing. From male to female to children, those jeans can really be the ultimate hand-me-downs.
- Mix and match morphs to create unique creatures or faces. Part troll, part vampire part sumo wrestler? You can make it.
- Basic child morph allows you to age any existing figure to anything from a young teenager to a toddler.
- Compatible with most generation 4 clothing and all generation 4 skins.
- Older figures shapes such as V4 or Aiko 4 are available for an additional purchase giving you a familiar figure to work with.
- Geografting technology allows items to be placed onto the figure as if it was part of the original mesh, such as tails or horns.
Cons:
- Face has fewer polygons than either Gen4 or Genesis 2, so is noticeably less expressive.
- Skin UVs are scattered across multiple figures (David 5, Aiko 5, Stephanie 5, Victoria 5, Michael 5 etc), so extra care is needed when purchasing figures.
- Use in Poser requires the DSON importer.
Genesis 2
The latest outing returns to the split male/female gender, but not without reason. The split brings more detail to the figures and an increased poly count, most notably in the face, making Genesis 2 even more expressive than previous generations. Like Genesis, Genesis 2 can morph to greater extremes than generation 4 figures and you can dial in different morphs to create unique face shapes.
Unlike Genesis, however, it doesn't include a basic child morph so any children you may require will require an additional purchase for the morph. The upside however is that the resulting children are more gender specific as opposed to the more androgynous Genesis children.
Pros:
- Can use all Genesis clothing, and by extension generation 4 clothing if you dual-fit (though not always with the best results).
- Can use Michael 5 and Victoria 5 skins.
- An additional purchase will grant you use of V4 or M4 skins and shapes.
- Superior rigging. Lower jaw can be manipulated separately, as can individual toes.
- Most items cross compatible between Genesis 2 Male and Female.
- Also includes the Geografting technology from Genesis.
- Currently the only figure to have HD morphs
- Better overall detail.
Cons:
- Fewer extreme morphs compared to Genesis classic.
- No longer able to blend male and female characteristics.
- Youth morph requires an additional purchase.
Forgive me if I let a little bias seep into my comparison, I have done my best to remain objective here. At any rate here's that render I promised. All of these are in the default morph as you'd get loading them in from scratch. I have, however, taken a small liberty with their textures and given them various different ones from my collection. Genesis child is using K4's Kaelyn texture.
You may find this thread to be helpful, on comparing figures from the various generations.
To answer some of your questions above...
More morphs? Probably Genesis.
More accessories and clothing? Almost certainly Victoria 4.
More realistic look? Depends on what you mean by "realism," and different users will have different answers. Personally I think that, considering facial detail, realistic posing and bending, and other factors, the Genesis 2 Female and Male figures come out on top.
Edited to add some terminology basics:
V is Victoria
M is Michael
A number usually refers to the "generation" of the character, so V6 is the Victoria character of the sixth generation; she's also the sixth Victoria. D5 is the David character from the fifth generation, but he's only the second David (the first was D3...Generations 1, 2, and 4 had no David).
G is a little ambiguous. G4 is The Girl 4 and G6 is The Girl 6, following the above pattern. However, sometimes G refers to Genesis, so G1 is the original Genesis figure (confusingly enough, this figure is of the fifth generation: V5, M5, and other fifth-generation characters are built on Genesis). G2 is Genesis 2 (sixth generation). This is not a single figure, but includes both the Genesis 2 Female and Genesis 2 Male figures.
Hopefully that makes sense...the abbreviations can be a bit confusing...
Wow! boy was I misunderstanding things! Thanks! So so Much!
This probably WON'T come up, but Smith Micro/Content Paradise has a line of characters that were also called G2. Beware if you are looking at old content, especially freebies.
And of course Vicki 3 & Mike 3 sometimes get referred to as Gen3.