Please someone help! What to do, what to do. M4 > M6 or vice versa?!?!?!

tgamble85

Hi!!!!
I'm still unclear about several issues regarding compatibility between M4 and Genesis 2 Male/M6.

Here's my situation: I'm trying to develop african american male characters. There is an artist on renderosity that has a whole slew of fantastic characters for M4. I really want to use these characters. But literally ALL the clothes I want to use for these characters are made for Michael 6. (Urban streetwear, casual, etc)

So I either need to figure out a way to get the M6 clothes on M4, or I need to have the M4 character morphs converted to M6 compatibility.

I've read a bunch but am still confused. I have M6 and I've purchased the "Michael 4 for Genesis 2 Male" by Slosh to get the M4 textures to transfer. But I've ran into problems there with needing now to convert the .pz2 files to .dufs - which requires another 3rd party plugin (+$$). And this only gets me halfway there; I still need the M4 character morphs. I've read that the "Genesis X2" & "GenX2 Add-on" products allows one to transfer M4 character morphs to M6...but I'm hesitant to go this route because I don't know if there is a need and way to convert .pz2 injection morphs into .duf files.

So firstly, does anyone know of a product or process to convert MORPH .pz2 files into .duf files?

Secondly, if there is a product/plugin/process to simply use the M6 clothes I want with M4, PLEASE fill me in. Like what would happen if I simply loaded some M6 clothes on an M4 character? Would there be all sorts of poke through and distortion? Would it even load the clothes in the first place?

Another solution - compromise- would be to find a plugin that would allow me to adjust Gen 2/M6 facial features to achieve an african american appearance. There are no good black characters for Gen 2/M6 that I can find anywhere. There's a 'Faces of Africa' morph product offered at Daz, but there aren't any render examples, so I'm skeptical. So if I could find a reliable way to at least custom my own facial features for M6, I might be happy with just doing it manually and avoiding all these 3rd party plugins and cumbersome processes.

In summary, I want good looking black male characters. The only ones I can find that are really good are for M4 and are in .pz2 format. M4 is grossly under-supported for the clothing I'm looking for (casual/streetwear/urban, etc). M6 has a bunch of great clothes in that style. If anyone has experience in/advice about the cheapest, least cumbersome, most effective way to either use M4 characters on M6 - OR - M6 clothes on M4 - I will praise the pixels you render on! OR, if anyone has any solid advice about custom facial morphing for M6, specifically to achieve a black male appearance, that would also be INCREDIBLE.

Thank you so much for anyone who spends the time reading and helping. I REALLY appreciate it.

Scott Livingston

Using M6 clothing on M4 is difficult at best. Converting M4 characters to Genesis 2 Male is much more feasible. The easiest way requires Genesis Generation X2 and the Genesis 2 add-on for it, both of which are sold here at DAZ 3D. It is possible to convert characters manually as well, though it takes some work (Kattey has a lengthy thread explaining the process).

Faces of Africa should be a good choice as well...I have the female version and have had good success with it.

Herald of Fire

Firstly, there is no need to convert Pz2 into DUF files. If you autofit an M4 top to Michael 6 it is automatically converted on-the-fly to a G2M compatible outfit. Yon can then opt to save it as a preset, which will automatically save as a DUF file. However, even if you don't manually save it, the clothing item will be saved with your scene anyway, so you can continue to use it without issue.

Generation X2 allows the conversion of M4 morphs to work with Genesis 2, and with the M4 shapes for Genesis all of the older morphs should look close to their originals when used on the newer figure. This way, you can still keep your old M4 library, but use it with an updated figure which allows for automatic clothing morphs.

A few sticking points you may encounter though. Firstly, not everything autofits perfectly. Slosh did an amazing job with the M4 autofit, but it's still far from an exact science. Some items break at the seams, others may warp in unexpected places. This is largely due to the original mesh not being developed with weightmaps in mind, and lacking enough polygons or connected vertices to bend without ruining the model.

This is why you'll often see older items revised for the newer Genesis figures. They need more polygons and welded areas to fit Genesis without turning into a mess of jagged parts.

Cris Palomino

I have some faces suitable for African American in my It Takes Character and there are some renders with black skin in the promos. I try to include black features in my morphs and for the males, they can be found in my two Men of Character packages (M4 and Genesis respectively). Again, you'll find some renders.

Leana

tgamble85 said:

I've read a bunch but am still confused. I have M6 and I've purchased the "Michael 4 for Genesis 2 Male" by Slosh to get the M4 textures to transfer. But I've ran into problems there with needing now to convert the .pz2 files to .dufs - which requires another 3rd party plugin (+$$).

No need for a plugin to convert the material presets if you have M4: load M4, apply the MAT pz2 to him, and then re-save as a material preset in DS.

edit: and if you don't have M4 you can use Genesis 1, who has M4 UVs.

mark128

It is possible to transfer M4 character morphs and skins to M6. Going the other way is problematic.

To transfer M4 shape morphs to M6, you need:

Genesis Generation X2
GenX2 AddOn for Genesis 2

You also have to own M4 and M4 morph++ and any other morph packs used by the characters you want to transfer.
Michael 4 Base
Michael 4 Morphs++

If you don't already own this, then the started bundle would be a less expensive way of buying both:
Michael 4 Starter Bundle

To transfer M4 skins to M6 you need:
Michael 4 for Genesis 2 Male

This also gives you support for auto fitting M4 clothes to M6 as well as the skin.

If you don't own any of these, then it can be pricey to purchase all these products. The old M4 models are frequently on sale, but GenX2 is more rarely on sale.

I have all these, and they do work well, once you figure out how to use them correctly.