SKYLAB CHAT

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

You know, I've been meaning to ask . . . what exactly are "alternate" uvs? I've not heard that term until recently. Do you mean you make you're own uvs, rather than using the ones the creator setup? Do you make changes to them, or just lay them out differently?

Alternate UVs... are literally an alternate set of UVmaps that Genesis/G2/G3's can use. It's as if you took your same dress back into Blender and produced new UVs (templates) multiple times, and then attached those UVs to that dress inside of Studio.

With Genesis, if you look in the Surfaces tab of Studio, you will see something that says "UV Map" -- this is the place where we can choose which version of the UVs/templates we want Genesis to use.

So, if I'm using a V4 skin on Genesis, I have to set that "UV Map" to use the V4 UVs. If I want to use a Victoria 5 skin, I have to make sure the UV Map has the "Victoria 5" UVs selected.

Not sure how else to explain it, really. But I think basically what Daz decided to do starting with Genesis 1 and V5/M5, is rather than put out a whole brand new modeled figured like they'd done in the past, they simply took the Genesis 1 figure base into a modeler, altered the geometry to get the new shape, then re-did the UVmap and called that "Victoria 5."

So, basically... V5, A5, M5, Olympia, Gia, Gianni, all of these are nothing more than modeled morphs on the Genesis base, with a new set of UV templates.

It would be akin to me taking Dusk into Blender - modeling Nataani's shape off of Dusk - then making brand new UVmaps to suit just Nataani - and then slapping the whole mess on top of Dusk inside of Studio (morph slider, UV's and all) and then calling it "Dusk 2.0"

Dusk's default skin textures would not work on the "2.0" UVs, and the "2.0" skin textures would not work on the default Dusk UVs.

Only the "2.0" UV's would work on "Dusk 2.0" and only the "default Dusk UVs'" would work on "Default Dusk."

Same thing goes for the Daz Genesis figure line.

Hope that helps. I stink with explanations sometimes, even when I know the answer perfectly clear in my head. LOL

 

[Pendraia]

I don't know if it would even be legal to be able to distribute such UVs, Pen. I would think that Daz would have a royal conniption fit if HW distributed UVs like that...LOL

Probably not but I can dream can't I? It would make it so easy...and why it would give them a conniption I don't understand as it would increase their texture sales to people who use Dawn in DS...

You know, I've been meaning to ask . . . what exactly are "alternate" uvs? I've not heard that term until recently. Do you mean you make you're own uvs, rather than using the ones the creator setup? Do you make changes to them, or just lay them out differently?

Seliah already explained this really well. The original Genesis figure came complete with all the gen4 alternate uv's so essentially any skin I had for that generation I could use easily on Genesis. Same as it came with clones for that generation for autofit.

That combined with projection templates essentially meant that I could use all my old content with Genesis. Then they released clones for Gen 3 figures also so I was able to use my gen 3 clothing also.

With Genesis 2 they not only split it from a unisex figure into male and female they also reduced what came with the figure. Genesis 2 only had a genesis clone. To get a v4 clone you had to pay for it.

Genesis was an amazing figure despite what some thought. The good news is that Dawn, Dusk and any other character Hivewire does for the DS platform also has this ability. That's why it would be good to be able to have alternate uv's for them. If some enterprising soul created them and submitted them to Daz for sale it would be interesting to see if they would take them on board as a product. It would increase their sales...I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions as to why Genesis 2 didn't have the same functionality as the original genesis. I have my own views but that's speculation...

 

[Terre]

You know, I've been meaning to ask . . . what exactly are "alternate" uvs? I've not heard that term until recently. Do you mean you make you're own uvs, rather than using the ones the creator setup? Do you make changes to them, or just lay them out differently?

I know sometimes I've redone uv maps because the creator made a uv map that was layered, and I find it easier to texture something where the bits and pieces don't overlap each other.

Fixing borked uv maps is something I think my husband started with. More recently he took his modded Posette and re-mapped her to take V3 skins. That was a very tedious, multi-month process around other projects.

 

[Miss B]

Thanks guys. I had a feeling that's what it was. I know I've seen the UV Set option in my DS 4.0 Pro Surfaces Tab (as well as my DS 3 Advanced Surfaces Tab), though for the most part, it just lists Default UVs. I suppose that's where you'd have the choice of an alternate UV.

Mostly when I export a uv map, it's so I can use it to create textures for the Textures folder. It's basically what a number of vendors at R'osity include with their product downloads for folks who don't have a uv mapper app to create their own templates. I've never done the alternate method as you describe it. When I "fix" a uv map because the original was a mess, or as I mentioned in my prior post, layered, I usually save the model again. Obviously, I would never give anyone else that resaved OBJ. That's always for my own personal use.

 

[Terre]

Exactly. Personal use only is appropriate for that sort of stuff.

 

[Miss B]

Yeah, I think you can get into a lot of trouble trying to use it commercially.

 

[skylab]

It's good to know all the tips about UV maps in DS. Never hurts to know, in case it's ever needed.

Hope everyone is well and doing okay after the storm. The sun was shining pretty today, and so we had at least some melting of the snow, but it will probably take another couple days before we see bare ground again.

 

[Miss B]

Probably a lot longer than that to see any grass and/or plants again.

 

[skylab]

Yeah, I was surprised that so little of it seemed to melt today, but then considering how much of it has to melt, it will take longer than I'm accustomed to seeing. I've had friends calling me who are getting impatient to get back to their routines, perhaps getting a little bored with the situation. I found it a little refreshing after the rush of holiday preparations, once I was able to relax after the storm was over.

For anybody interested, Reality 4.2.1 update was released today, download here with order number and serial.

 

[Terre]

Some friends are getting cabin fever? Are they bored enough to go shovel snow?
Earlier today the guys who will actually be doing the roof work came by to make their own measurements. We are getting closer to a new roof.

 

[skylab]

Glad to hear you're getting closer to the new roof. And yes, cabin fever is what I detected over the phone. One had lost her cable, internet and landline phone for the past three days, so it was sorta like sitting around watching the snow melt...haha. At least she still had power, and was able to keep her cell phone charged up for calls. That's the same friend who hit my head in the car when she flew over the railroad tracks...so you can imagine, she has a problem doing serene, quiet and peaceful...haha.

 

[Miss B]

No wonder she had cabin fever. She's probably used lots of things happening all the time.

 

[skylab]

Yes, she was always very active. Diabetes changed all that last year...she's a double amputee now, confined to her condo. She has lots of people who stop by to help her with stuff she needs, but when the blizzard hit, everyone was stuck in the homes unable to get out, and she was really feeling the loneliness for the first time, compared to her lifestyle before. Her good sense of humor serves her well now...you can go through almost anything if you have a sense of humor and ability to keep things in perspective. When you're young you think you will be like that forever, full of energy...but eventually things slow down. Helps to be able to "think young" and remember fun times...good memories can be encouraging and empowering to a point. I told her over the phone that I had posted how she used to drive...and she got a good laugh off of it.

 

[Miss B]

Good. Laughing is the best medicine.

 

[skylab]

Oh yes...we always knew, even when young, that we'd never change in that regard. I used to say, if at all possible, that I'd throw some of the dirt back out of the hole in the ground at my graveside service, just for a laugh. And even though we know that won't be possible, I wanted those who knew me to have that thought in their mind when the occasion comes....I laughed my way through life, and I won't change at the end.

 

[Miss B]

Great attitude!

 

[skylab]

When I was in high school there was an elderly lady in our community who used to play a clown as a side hobby...she'd bought herself a little car and would ride that thing in parades, play with the kids, hand out balloons and other stuff....she had a ball doing it while bringing joy to others as well. I thought, how neat that she was still young enough at heart to remember how to have fun

 

[Miss B]

 

[skylab]

Renderosity has put up a video tutorial on SuperFly vs Firefly, if anyone is interested. I'll look see if it's also up on YouTube.

 

[skylab]

Yep, here it is This is a continuation of the Poser video tutorials on page 3 of this thread.