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Basic Questions about Figures

DekeDeke Posts: 1,635
edited December 1969 in New Users

I've read the very handy figure history for Daz figures and have a couple questions. Basically I take it the various generations of Genesis deal with their mesh. As the product advanced, the mesh was re-made so we're talking different polygons in a different arrangement.

Making male and female meshes makes sense, but why is there a Victory, Gia, Olympia, Stephanie, Giselle, etc? Are each of these just customized Genesis 2 female meshes? Could I achieve the same shape by simply adjusting the Genesis 2 mesh using various controls? And are the other figures sold by vendors simply adjusted morphs…perhaps with a custom skin applies?

Is the same true for Michael 6. Is a character like Jarek (just as an example) a morph of Michael 6…which is in turn based on the Genesis 2 male mesh?

I'm embarking on an animation projects and want to understand the best way to create a handful of characters.

Comments

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    edited December 1969

    Genesis is Generation 5, so anything with a '5' in the name is based on the Base Genesis mesh. The same applies to Genesis 2 (Generation 6), obviously there are male or female varieties (V6, M6 etc.)

    I doubt very much if vendors only use the morphs that you can buy in the store to create their new models, but there is nothing to stop you doing that, or even enhancing the basic morphs in Hexagon (if you have that), or creating your own in Hex or ZBrush or Blender.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited December 1969

    To some degree, yes, Victoria, Gia and the rest are customized G2F...but as to how close you can get with just the morph controls that are readily available...probably not very. Most of them involve some degree (a little to a lot) of sculpting in something like Zbrush. It's the same with the male figures, too.

    A general rule of thumb is that if the character doesn't require something like extra morph packs, then it is usually a unique sculpted shape based on the base mesh (Genesis, G2F, G2M, etc) or just a simple shape alteration that can be done with the few included shaping morphs (not likely to be a commercially viable/sold one). The ones that require something like Victoria 6, are generally sculpted from that, instead of the base...so in order for things to look right, she needs to be available. This is to preserve IP rights...Victoria 6 would just become 'dial settings', not mesh data, in the final morph...as a side benefit of this, you can mix/match the various characters, to come up with a different/unique one of your own.

  • LeanaLeana Posts: 11,839
    edited December 1969

    dkutzera said:
    Making male and female meshes makes sense, but why is there a Victory, Gia, Olympia, Stephanie, Giselle, etc? Are each of these just customized Genesis 2 female meshes? Could I achieve the same shape by simply adjusting the Genesis 2 mesh using various controls? And are the other figures sold by vendors simply adjusted morphs…perhaps with a custom skin applies?
    Gia 6, Victoria 6, Olympia 6 and so on are indeed morphed G2F. They're custom morphs, not based on the morph pack sold for G2F, so you wouldn't get the exact same shape with those morphs (though you might be able to get something close). They usually also include a custom UV set, which has been adjusted for their shape.

    Characters by other vendors will either be based on existing morphs, or custom morphs, or a mix of both.

  • DekeDeke Posts: 1,635
    edited December 1969

    Thanks for the clarification. So venders are taking the base geometry and adjusting it in a program like Z-Brush. Very cool.

    How does someone mix-match various characters? For my animation project, I need to create some lead characters and would like to find a way to make them unique. That in part would be to have my own IP ownership of their particular faces. Buying a stock character isn't an option for that reason. I'll each use standard shaping morphs, or find some other way to do this.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited December 1969

    Most of them are set to load with their 'name' morph set at 100%. To mix them up a bit...just dial back that one (under the Parameters or Shaping tabs) and dial in a little of something else...

  • DekeDeke Posts: 1,635
    edited December 1969

    Excellent. Thanks. It's safe to say in general that the more recent characters like M6 are more detailed and "realistic" if that can even be used as a term?

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