How many people are still using Genesis 2?
Diaspora
Posts: 440
in The Commons
Long story short, Genesis 8 has a lot of attractive features and products for it and I've thought about finally making the leap but I just have so many assets for genesis 2 female, including a bunch of custom morphs I've made for my own projects and a bunch of aniblocks for Genesis 2, that I'm just reluctant to leave that all behind.
How many other people are in a similar boat?
Comments
I joined Daz when Genesis 2 was still the best thing. Genesis 3 came out not much later, and I was depressed. How am I going to convert everything? By now, I've realized that there is no need to convert everything. I can keep using all my Genesis 2 and Genesis 3 characters and assets along Genesis 8 in one project. In fact, it even helps with the characters' individuality. In my projects, Genesis 2 characters will most likely be wearing Genesis 2 clothes that none of the Genesis 8 characters are wearing.
i still love gianni 6
I do use older generations, especially when some outfits, vehicles and poses created for that specific generation do not work too well with Genesis 8, or when I need more figures out of the main focus, to reduce rendering strain on my PC and the time required.
The bomber crew bailing out on the attached render are all Genesis 2.
I am using Genesis 1 to Genesis 8.
I've transferred textures and some character morphs to G8, most textures as I'd say almost all have been moved over, because G8 is superior for what I need; I now use Blender's Cycles to render, so everything ends up as an exported G8 character.
As Ati said, you can use multiple generations in the same scene, there's no need to leave anything behind. I enjoy using multiple generation figures as well. With various skin shaders and the ability to do manual surface tweaking, it's not too terribly hard to get characters from different generations looking good together in a scene. You just have to know the limitations of the older gen figures and work around those, but since you say you use Genesis 2 a lot, I'm sure you're quite familiar with the limitations and how to minimize some of the shortcomings with the bends and such. I really love some of the G2 characters. Lee 6, Girl 6, Olympia 6, Stephanie 6, to name a few. I enjoy using those characters. There's no reason why you can't still use Genesis 2 characters while also exploring the characters and content of the newer generation. There are also some backwards and forwards conversion tools for character morphs, hair, and clothing if that is the route you'd prefer to take.
Use all. I even use the generations before V4 or M4 sometimes.
Same here, I still love A3 and use her from time to time.
yes I use everybody
even V2
I began using Daz when Genesis 1 was the new Figure. When Genesis 2 came out it took me a while but I finally got stuff for that figure too. I didn't like Genesis 3 and deleted it from my Content Library. I never looked at Genesis 8. I have an old Computer that cannot handle Iray and can barely handle dforce. So I keep using Genesis 1 und 2 and I am happy with them.
Genesis 8 stuff looks fantastic but I don't need photorealism in my renders. No use investing in every new figure that comes out.
Two of my lead characters for my comic, Demon Division (Seth & Duon) are G2. I like using different generations mixed together, because they do give very different looks.
Just got done updating a few of my old .daz format scene files with Genesis and Genesis 2 characters, as I too have a lot of custom morphs for those chartacters, plus, I can still use all of their clothes/textures for Genesis 8 via various plugins/clones, unfortunately, I cannot use post generation morphs for Genesis 2...
I'm also using G2 quite often because somehow with G2, I can get what I'm after with lot less morphing than with G3/G8, the only downsides being the default 3DL materials and the eyes loosing the "Point to" target occasionally...
I still use all the figures, especially Genesis 2. I even use old Daz characters like Jack Pumpkin and 3DU Gramps, or Poser legacy figures like Poser 7 Sydney and Simon. I am more likely to use Genesis 3 or 8 if I want something photo-real out of the render-box, but not necessarily for anything else. Just depends.
Some of my favorite characters are on Genesis 2. I still use them. I've converted a few characters I'd like to use on Genesis 3 and 8, but for the most part, I'll use them straight up on their original model. I do use G2 assets like clothes and hair on new figures. I've invested in some of the converters which makes it easier. Easier, not full-proof. I will still even use V4 and M4 characters and Genesis characters if I like the looks of one that fits whatever render I'm currently doing. And yes, I've had renders with multiple generations of characters in the same render. I usually need to tweak the skin settings if I'm rendering in Iray if the original surfaces were 3Delight, but that's pretty easy.
I'm also still rather fond of Cookie! and Star! and will use them often.
Same
I tend to stick with the latest figures and now mostly use G3 and G8 in DS since most everything is interchangable. That being said, I enjoyed my brief use of G2 when she was released and never looked back, UNTIL I got into VR use and discovered an app which uses her in VR and it made me go back and purchase much more G2 content and now I have really grown to love that figure, but only in that app which makes her look better and behave better than she does in DS.
Hmmm ... I agree with the things stated above ... you can use all generations ... and sometimes it is easiest not to transfer things but to work with what is made for each generation within that generation.
What I will add (did not see above quickly) is that the newer generations are less friendly to 3Delight rendering (also Reality 4.3). Also, as an animator, the original aniblocks basically work for generations 3,4,5,6 but have great difficulties with 7,8.
So ... it really is a big jump. If you are after photogrealism, it is probably worth it. If you tend to have a more cartoony style, it may not be worth it.
I started using Daz right around the tmie when Charlotte 8 was released, so I only have Gen 3 and 2 characters that I got for free when they were doing the buy a pro bundle and get like 2 free bundles. So I don't have much from G2 but when I'm doing an animated scene and I need people in the background that aren't resource heavy, I'll use them to walk across the street or sit in a booth or something where they're blurred out, I honestly would never use them for a character that's close up.
Me, too! He's my favorite character that DAZ has ever made, across all of the generations. I have transfers of him to other generations and they're just not the same, I always end up loading him in his original incarnation with IG's Iray materials (although I'm having issues getting the eyes not to look like they're stuffed with fairy lights).
I use Genesis 8 a lot and have been building characters I want to be more realistic on it, but have really been enjoying getting back to Genesis 2 and bought a ton of content during the PC+ sale. The Genesis 2 cross-figure resource kit has been getting a workout, lol.
...I often import morphs and shapes from G2 to G3 via Generation X2. As to G2 characters my favourites are Nineve, Giselle, and Belle.
I back converted to Genesis 1, practically skipping G2 and G3. Now I just use G8. But, Genesis 2 does have some of the best looking DO "base" male characters, IMHO.
My favorite is David Genesis 1. He doesn't transfer well enough to my satisfaction, so I just use the G1 figure (both images are David 5). I can put Genesis 2 and 3 clothes and hair on him, which make him even more useful :) My second favorite is Michael 6, even with the "moobs" LOL
Laurie
My introduction to DAZ was DAZ Studio 1, which came with DAZ Studio 2, which made different stuff. Ididn't really understand it. Kind of worked off what I knew from Bryce, which is how I ended up with DAZ. Then the human characters Victoria 3 and Michael 3 came along with more addons, and more versions of DAZ, with V4 and M4. I never got into the Davids, Hiros, and Stephanies.. I really liked Genesis 1 and I still use it. I didn't get much Gen 2, until recently, when I realized autofit would fit G3. Some of the recent DAZ store sales featured G2 products. I have the "make it Iray" shader, so the earlier G2 products can be updated. I happen to like several of the G3 female and male characters the best. They accept G1 and 2 wardrobe (well, shoes...not so much)pretty well, if the poses aren't too extreme. G2 hair was pretty good, and I use those. As other posters have mentioned, I might use different generations just because I don't want the hassle of poke through. If I want a close portrait, I use G3 mostly, and some G8. Otherwise, the earlier Generations work for me, too.
I've been doing a lot of fauns/satyrs recently, so the G2M Minotaur 6 and G2M Creature Creator sets are pretty well front-loaded. Ditto RawArt's Satyr and Minotaur morphs for Genesis, his Satyrs for Genesis 8, and similar products.
I still use Genesis 2 figures frequently.
I think people who want to abandon all of their older assets when a new generation appears are misguided. Maybe if you're a brand new hobbyist and you never acquired those assets in the first place, and you're not capable of using the Surfaces tab to update pre-IRAY assets which require new surfaces, then you might ignore Genesis 2. But, the good items from that generation are still good, still quite usable.
Those both look fantastic, Laurie! I've always liked David 5's look, though the original Genesis is probably the generation I've played with the least. I used Poser when it came out and had a bad time getting things to work cleanly with the DSON importer, so I stuck with Mil4 and the pretty sizable investment I'd made in morphs and clothing. Now that I've gone over to Studio, maybe it's time that I started giving the original Genesis clan a proper exploration.
Michael 6 is my favorite Michael, too. Most of time I'm blending him with Gianni 6, as they combine to make a very attractive character, but I love him on his own as well! There's just something about the majority of the Genesis 2 core cast that I find really appealing. Picking a second favorite is hard, though I love Darius 6 and Michael 6 is also up there. I also really like Kimo 7 and Elijah 7 (we do need more lanky boys).
Thanks :) . I too was using Poser when Genesis came out and used DSON for awhile until I realized it was just going to be too resource heavy to work with. About that time, I decided I was going to learn Daz Studio or else and by the time I did, Genesis 2 was out ;). Was an easy switch for me since I never liked the Generation 4 characters and didn't have all that much stuff for them. And I agree! We DO need more lanky boys - one of the reasons I didn't like Mike 4 was because he was too beefy. LOL. I much preferred Mike 3 ;). Genesis 8 has waaaaay, way too many beefy meatheads for my taste ;).
Laurie
YAS! So many huge muscled guys in the store, I'd love to see more thin-framed males. I'd also like to see more characters like George - we simply need to see much more size diversity in the characters. We're getting a nicer mix of racial diversity but we're still not seeing much in the way of size diversity.
Genesis and genesis2 are some of my favorite characters to work with in animation. much easier on resources.