remap an old figure to new uv

[AlphinaNovaStar]

I was wondering if it is possible to remap an old figure to a new uv. I want to know if it is possible to remap Aiko 3 or Victoria 4 to have the same uv map as Dawn or Genesis 3 or other newer figure so that the old figure can wear the textures of the newer figure?

 

[Morkonan]

Yes, it is possible. There are several specialized programs that can do this using a template system. (Blacksmith 3D's Texture something-or-other (Converter?) over at Renderosity can do this with a click.)

So, you can do what you you're asking. However, you do not need to remap the UVs of the object in question. (And you certainly don't want to, unless the object is going to be saved as a new object, just for that purpose.) Instead, you convert the texture set to "fit" the UVs/Material Zones of the desired object. (IIRC, that's exactly what "Texture Converter" does and other programs like it.)

It's possible, depending upon how determined you are and your skill with various art/"photoshop" programs to manipulate the texture sets of your choice to fit the object/figure of your choice, without having to spend any money. (Could be done with GIMP and UVMapper to produce the UV templates for you.) You would, however, have to apply these by hand and wouldn't likely be able to use the same Material names as would be in, for instance, the "Material Pose" from the old figure. That's simple enough to do in Poser, though.

PS - It is also possible to actually remap the UVs of an object to more closely match the UVs of another. The same with groups and material zones, as well. But, it's a non-trivial task for objects that are very different in topology. It's not really possible to reliably "cut&paste", for instance, the UVs of one object over to another, since UVs are a product of geometry references and those references would be entirely different for differing topologies. (Within reason - Sub-d'ing a mesh, for instance, doesn't signficantly alter UV relative references or destroy the UVs.)

 

[Pendraia]

It is also possible to do alternate uv's within DS so the character can switch between uv's. Genesis was a prime example as they could use all of the generation 4 characters and iirc someone was working on Generation 3 but I'm not sure if it was ever released. It's painstaking work though and hard to get it right. I've played with doing my own versions of Daz characters for Dawn but it is really tough to do it right.

 

[Rae134]

Blacksmith 3D's Texture Transformer is not exactly one click (its more like select the file then select folder etc etc) and it only works on CR2's so you need to convert your DS files if they don't already have them) but you can buy it stand-alone or it comes with the full version of Blacksmith 3D.

This first one is G2F "Creature Creator Fur" that I had to convert to V4 first then to Dawn (it can only do Dawn to V4 or V4 to Dawn at the moment) so you have a greater chance of stretching but I think considering its fur its done a pretty good job! The second one is V4 "Frankie Von Stein" to Dawn.

It only converts the textures so you still need to mess with settings (both of these are Dawn SE settings with just the mats applied). And it depends on the original textures, for example it didn't convert bump maps for the fur but did for Frankie (no specs tho).


(Thumbnails, click to make larger although they are just small files anyway)

 

[Banditcameraman]

CaymanStudios has plug-ins on both Rendo and the Daz store that will allow you to use V4 and G2F (Rendo) on G3F and as Cayman Studios at the Daz store has plug-ins that allow Stephanie 5, Aiko 5, V5, V6 on G3F and M4, M5, David 5, G2M and M6 on G3M.

He also has a plug in for using G3F skins on G2F.

All involve the use of Geografts and work fine out of the box in Iray. Since I use Reality some tweaking to the Geograts are needed but they work well

Some examples:

a quick test of Skyler, Kimmy and Sasha (G3F figures) with all with V6 Anna skin using Cayman Studios Legacy UVs for Genesis 3: G2F

Mallenlane and Sloshwerks have Victoria 4 for G2F and Michael 4 for G2M respectively, which is the Auto Clone for textures and clothes. They are also needed to run Draagonstorm's V4 Skins Auto Converter for G2F and M4 Skins Auto Converter for G2M, respectively.

I haven't moved over to G3F for a number of reasons, but here are some tests using V4, V5 and V6 skins on custom G2F characters:

From left to right, the skins are: Danae's Dublin, V6 Anna (comes with V6 HD), Skin Builder Pro (uses V5 Maps) and V4 Elite Textures: Natasha

Part 2 of the test, for material settings:

From left: Custom G2F character with Wachiwi skin (V5 UV), Chiyo (G3F), Nyota (G2F), Imari (G3F)

And Nyota (G2F) with Imari's plain skin (G3F):

Hth!