Genesis 1 Rocks!!!
Genesis 1 is likely the most versatile figure ever made. Its unisex unimesh technology along with its ability to swap UV Mapping (how texture maps are allocated to the mesh) allow this figure to not only transform into other creatures, but then also to have them be either male or female!
Daz 3D also morphed the Genesis mesh to match the shapes of their previous generation figures, like Michael 3 and Victoria 4, for example and added these shapes as what are called Clones. These clones give the auto-fit and auto-follow technology the ability to convert clothing and other items from those previous generations to fit, and work on Genesis, even when we have different shapes applied!
Since then we've also been treated to another amazing technology - Genesis Generation X2 (GenX2) by dimension 3d, which allows us to add shape morphs from other generations into our Genesis base figure. On its own, GenX2 allows us to add morphs that we have for generation 4 figures - M4, V4, etc., so any morph that we've collected over the years for them can be applied as morphs on Genesis.
Further add-ons came out allowing us to also add from Generation 3 (M3, V3, etc.,), then Genesis 2 (Male & Female) and now also Genesis 3 (Male & Female)!
This is Huge!!! So we can make Genesis 1 morph into Mika 7, if we want!
see my PC+ Cloth Frenzy - buying clothes has never been so affordable - or nearly as versatile!
Learn to create your own custom conforming clothing for any Genesis figure - or even just modify content you already have, to work on an entirely different figure altogether!
SickleYield and others have also provided Clone support to Genesis for Genesis 2 and Genesis 3 as well, so we can get newer clothing and accessories to work with Genesis. This just keeps getting better!
Also check out my Content Creation Tools and Using Genesis in Carrara pages
Why Genesis 1?
I prefer Genesis 1 for several reasons which all pretty much boil down to compatibility and versatility.
Since I started collecting Genesis 1 content from the start, I've built a rather nice selection of morphs, characters, clothing, poses and animations, etc., but still not nearly as much as I have for Generation 4.
Early on I grabbed all of the clone products that provide the shapes of the earlier generation figure families from generation 3 and 4. This allows for better auto-fitting of items from those generations as well as offering their shapes.
Another helpful content pack was PokeAway!, which adds useful morphs to the Genesis Actor level which allows us to dial away poke-through issues using morphs. As you'll see later, I also use Genesis Generation X2 (GenX2) which allows us to add morphs from other generations (generation 4 included in the base product) to Genesis, so I used that to upgrade PokeAway! (for Genesis) to PokeAway 2! for Genesis 2 Females, which works even better in my opinion.
I've since bought clones for Genesis 2 and 3 so that I can convert newer products to Genesis as well and, having the Genesis 3 addon for GenX2 allows me to use Riversoft Art's Character Converter from Genesis 8 Female to Genesis 3 Female, so I can actually use any clothing available at Daz 3D on my Genesis 1 figures.
Genesis 1 also works well with generations 3, 4 and 6 (Genesis 2) animations and poses with little effort, unlike the newest generation 3 and 8 figures. Don't get me wrong here, with Daz 3d humans, newer means better. Their drive toward using the latest technology on their figures is truly amazing - especially when done in such a user-friendly design for the masses as they've done right from the start.
So take my ravings as a report about "my" passions, not as an instruction manual to follow. If you like my workflow, then you'll likely love the tips that I can bring. But even if you're doing something entirely different, it's still my hope that my articles, lessons and demonstrations inspire further depth to whatever it is that you're doing.
Also see how I use VWD to customize and simulate clothing made for any model - My VWD Page
More!
Using Fit Control for Genesis and Genesis 2 Female(s) allows the ability to add a whole slew of additional morphs, not just for fitting and adjusting for more realistic draping, but also for revealing, closing, raising, lowering, expanding and pinching important parts of the clothing for immense individuality!
It's easy to use too:
With everything that we want morphs added to conformed to our figure, launch the script and it will add custom morphs to all conformed items!
See more that we can do with Genesis 1 in my Genesis 1 Rocks! article and download my Genesis 1 MorphForms+ pack Here
So let's start from the beginning and have a look at some of my favorite presets that are available for Genesis out-of-the-box.
First of all, there is an enormous amount of "people" to choose from as presets for Genesis. I might highlight a few, but here's a whole pile of them you can look through: Genesis People
Genesis Evolution: Shapes Bundle
Right from the start, Daz 3D offered an incredible pack of morphs to help us shape our figure into any character we need it to be, male or female through the Evolution Morphs.
Evolution morphs Head and Body are each sold separately, but the Bundle is the best way to go since it gives us so much customization right out of the box!
Genesis Evolution: Muscularity came out later, and is not included in the bundle. This pack really helps to define our characters in much greater detail.
Genesis Creature Creator Bundle
Also right out of the gate, Daz 3D released a great set of creature morphs based on those previously released for Generation 4.
Again, with Genesis being unisex, this particular bundle offers a much higher value for Genesis than any other generation of Daz 3D figure!
It's a great bundle for making creatures, as intended. But it's also really good for adding just a little individuality to people characters as well!
Turn up any of these morphs just a touch to add distinct features to any of our favorite characters.
That all looks fine and dandy, but this set doesn't include any texture maps. No big deal because this time it's the shapes that we're after.
So as soon as it came out (shortly after), I grabbed the Troll for Genesis - which we'll see next!
This was one amazing thing to see! It's the legacy Daz 3D Troll, but as a shapes/texture set for Genesis - and it even includes the loin cloth and some Troll-like weapons! Win WIN!!!
I have the legacy Daz 3D Troll, and I love animating him and so on, but having this inside of Genesis is truly incredible! With this and the above mentioned Creature Creator, I can really make some awesome Orcs and other creatures that we would want to see up close in real life!
The texture maps are perfect for making individual monsters as well. They're very gray scale, so we can add tints to individualize different members of the same race - or to just make a different colored beast.
I actually use Color Gradient for this, using another texture map as the controlling blend shader for the gradient. Works like a charm!
So with all of the above in mind, this Starter Bundle gets you a Lot of goodness in a single purchase!
Check it out. We get the Troll and the Evolution Shapes Bundle along with some hair and clothing that we can always find a good use for in our endeavors!
I like buying bundles when I can because I always end up getting more stuff than what I was shopping for for the same cost or often even less.
Gen 3 Iconic Shapes and Gen 4 Iconic Shapes not only add these classic legacy shapes to Genesis, but they also include the Clones for each of these legacy figures so that we can use those Gen 3 or 4 clothes, hair, etc., on our Genesis figures - and we can do that whether we're using these shapes or not!
I admit, I don't use the shapes themselves nor is that the reason I bought these bundles. I have a bunch of legacy clothing and wanted to use them on Genesis. It's worth every penny to be able to do that! In fact, I still buy Gen 3 and 4 clothing just for my work with Genesis!
Gen 3 Iconic Shapes comes with shapes and clones for A3, F3, G3, H3, M3 and V3, while Gen 4 Iconic Shapes comes with A4, F4, G4 and H4 since Genesis already comes with the clones for M4 and V4. The actual M4 and V4 shaping morphs can be bought separately.
Meanwhile, we can now go the other way too, with Genesis 2 and 3 Clones for Genesis! One of the hardest things for me, sticking with using Genesis over using Genesis 2 or 3 is that 2 and 3 have such excellent shapes and character presets available. For that we need Genesis Generation X2 and some add-ons. But the new characters also caused artists to make some wonderful clothing and accessories! With these Clones, we can use Daz Studio to create Genesis versions of the clothing that was made for these newer generations!
I chose to highlight SickleYield's offerings of Clones because of all of the extra goodies, instructions and tutorials she includes in her packs. She really helps to make this whole process easy!
Temporary Edit: I've also picked up her Genesis 8 Clones for Genesis 3, which allows for a workflow from 8 to 3, then load in the new garment and convert it from 3 to Genesis 1. Fantastic!
This wonderful plugin for Daz Studio allows us to inject Genesis with any morphs we have for the Generation 4 figures, like Aiko 4, Michael 4, etc.,
In case you're not aware, there were an astounding number of custom morphs made for that generation - more than for any other base figure - ever!
That generation was my era. I actually have so much stuff for Generation 4 that I almost didn't move up and into Genesis for my main heroes - that is, until I got my hands on This!!!
Now I can use the Genesis 2 and 3 shaping morphs I like so much along with my Generation 4 clothing and accessories and texture maps, and I also find myself buying more Generation 3 clothing since they auto-fit to my GenX2 morphed Genesis characters so well!
The addon packs below are what allow us to inject Genesis with morphs from these other generations.
Genesis Creatures
Before I started using Genesis for my main protagonists, I enjoyed using the platform for making animals, creatures... Monsters!
The more of these extremely different and amazingly cool presets we add, the more shapes we have to work with along with the extra boost we get from having all of these new texture maps to play with!
These addon shapes and textures are great (I mean Awesome!!!) on their own, just using the preset and calling it a day. But wow, do they ever make a Huge difference when it comes to designing our own custom creatures!
Some of them scale the whole figure as we dial their morphs up while others just tweak the shape. The artists that make these shape morphs are really good at what they do, and Daz 3D only lets the Best make it into the store!
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is Genesis sporting a custom shape made by Daz 3D!!!
I have the legacy Millennium Gorilla figure, also by Daz 3D, and it's a great figure. But add this to Genesis and we can make subtle (or even not-so-subtle!) tweaks to the shape, using all of our other morphs we have.
Furthermore, we can use our Genesis animations on this guy (or gal - it's Genesis, remember?)!
Yeah, it blew my mind when this came out - I just had to grab it up right away!
Again, it's great as a Gorilla but what it adds to Genesis is So Much More!!!
Midnight Stories
The amazing Midnight Stories makes some really impressive Genesis addons - check these out!
RawArt has nearly 60 Genesis addon products available, plus a whole bunch of them for M4 and V4 that we can use with Genesis by being clever on how we load things up.
I love using his textures even when I'm not using his shapes.
This Greater & Lesser Goblin is a great example of that - and the shapes are also very welcome to my creature creation designs.
He also made Rae-el - The Demon above.
Daz 3D adds Monstrosities to the queue!
These horrible nasties are Huge, so dialing up their morphs a little bit at a time can make for some excellent variety when making a pack of orcs, trolls, goblins or anything scary.
to be continued...
Have a Question? Just Ask!
I love to help others as best I can. This is a rather broad topic: CG Filmmaking, so my articles on any particular topic may not answer your specific question.
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For these sorts of things, post your question at the Carrara Discussion Forum (or another appropriate category) at Daz 3D.com forums, and if I don't see it right away, someone else might. They are such a friendly and helpful bunch! I've learned so much from that forum over the years!
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