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SickleYield — [Tutorial ]Saving Gen 4 Custom Bones on Conversion
Published: 2013-12-02 01:25:02 +0000 UTC; Views: 23234; Favourites: 87; Downloads: 0
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To convert from M4 or V4, you need M4 or V4 for Genesis 2.

There is a huge amount of clothing content for Michael 4 and Victoria 4.  Some of it is by really outstanding artists who do not or have only recently worked with G1 or G2, and some is quality work that was never updated but is available cheaply, including many of DAZ's Platinum Club items.  You can take best advantage of this by using Transfer Utility in addition to AutoFit. This tutorial will show you how to use Transfer Utility to preserve skirt handles, fancy sleeve rigging, or basically any extra bones that are normally lost in the conversion process.  I've done a different tutorial for converting custom bone items between G1 and G2 already and a post on converting high heels to G2 .

I posted this in the thread for the Sickle Rigging and Morphing System over on the DAZ forums, but vwrangler pointed out there are some advantages to having it here as well, so that people can favorite and archive it more easily.  Also, you don't really need SRMS (or G2 Basic Rigs from my store) to do this; since this method lets us keep skirt handles, no template should be necessary at all.  It just can provide a smoother conversion in some cases, and some of you already have it, so I will include that option in the directions.

You absolutely do need to have DAZ Studio 4.6 or later.  DAZ Studio 4.6 contains the update that allows weight maps to overlap at values higher than 100%, and that's very necessary when keeping Generation 4 handles.

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Load a Gen 4 or other item.  Load Genesis 1 or one of the Genesis 2 figures.  Do not apply morphs, scaling, or poses to the figure.  If you try to use this to quickie-fit an outfit to your posed and morphed characters it probably won't work.

In Scene Tab, go to edit—rigging—convert figure to weight mapping.  Choose TriAx.

Start the Transfer Utility.  Its icon looks like an arrow pointing up and to the right.  As "Source" choose the figure.  As "Target" choose the clothing item.  Also choose Clone or Morph V4  on the left dropdown under Source.  You may need to experiment with what works best on the individual item, but for me it usually it needs to be Clone V4 if there are long sleeves whereas Morph V4 sometimes gives better skirt results.

Choose template—SRMS bodysuit or dress or boots as appropriate, or Basic Dress/Basic Tunic if using G2.  Otherwise using no template may be best.  I definitely recommend that on items with fused pants and boots.

Uncheck everything but Morphs and Reverse Source Shape from Target in the advanced options below.  Add a smoothing modifier.  Do not check Fit to Source Figure.  Uncheck it if it is checked.  Vwrangler reports that leaving this checked may result in bad results on superposing items like the Amazing Braid from Renderosity. 

Let it run.  It may ball up when it’s done.  If so, don't panic.

Select G1/G2 and then the item with ctrl+click in Scene Tab (in this order).   Click on the tiny icon that looks like three lines and a triangle to the upper right of this.  Activate Edit—Rigging—Transfer Rigging (Figure Space).  Now it should be fitted to G1/G2 properly but still have its extra bones.

Save the clothing item to library and reload.  Do not move or morph G1/G2 before you do so.

I've seen others on the forum reporting incorrectly on the use of Wearables presets.  Don't save as these.  The purpose of Wearables presets is to save a loader that can load many preexisting items at once, not an individual item that doesn't exist in the library yet.  Instead, use File--Save As--Figure/Prop Asset, and fill out the form accordingly.  Try not to use the exact name of the product in case it is later converted by the original artist and you might want both versions.

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In my testing, this method has been effective, although one still has to add a push modifier sometimes (found in that same edit dialogue as the transfer rigging option).  There's no helping bad or unfused geometry, so watch for sellers who seem to do that regularly and don't plan on buying their content for conversion use.  When in doubt, buy their cheapest thing that is still recent, test it, and see if it performs, has been my policy.  I can't list everyone who makes conversion-friendly products, but here are those I can attest to personally:

-DAZ3D vendors and legacy content, basically across the board but definitely Daz Originals/Platinum Club

-Xurge3d (One or two bodysuits have mesh gapping, but usually if you update the mats to use his displacement it's not visible)

-Alfaseed/Aerysoul (About everything I tried, lots of very dense, fused geometry so very good candidates)

-Val3dArt (Kyrie, at least)

-PowerAge is not 100%, but recent work is good.  I have a freebie sweater of his with split geometry that comes out dreadfully, but the BlackMoon and his shiny armors converted well.

-I haven't tested OutOfTouch's earlier stuff, but more recent pieces are very sound geometry and he even makes things for G2 now (hooray).

-I don't have LadyLittleFox's things but have heard mostly positive things about their convertibility.

I will be happy to add to this list if you have others to suggest whose work you are certain converts well or poorly based on its geometry.

Related content
Comments: 68

Dreamweever [2019-06-02 22:19:04 +0000 UTC]

Hi and thank you for taking the time to write up this tutorial for us all.
I thought I might try it for converting some things to Dawn too and for the most part it worked but for the fact that when I posed Dawn the clothing didn't stay on her fully. Everything followed the pose ok but it was half off her. It was the G3F Water Spirit Warrior top I tried, maybe I am just missing something really obvious  

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SickleYield In reply to Dreamweever [2019-06-02 22:44:00 +0000 UTC]

Did you remember to use the transfer rigging--figure space step?

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Dreamweever In reply to SickleYield [2019-06-02 23:46:26 +0000 UTC]

Yep, followed word for word, step by step. tried a couple of times with the same result, tried a V4 to Dawn conversion too, got the same thing just not as bad. I am sure I am just missing some silly little thing but danged if I can work out what 

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SickleYield In reply to Dreamweever [2019-06-03 01:31:56 +0000 UTC]

I don't have or use Dawn, so I'm not sure what else it would be

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Dreamweever In reply to SickleYield [2019-06-03 07:10:08 +0000 UTC]

Just a thought on this I don't have the SRMS so I wonder if that could make a difference? All I have are some basic Clones for Dawn

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SickleYield In reply to Dreamweever [2019-06-03 07:36:25 +0000 UTC]

It shouldn't. That set is for G1 and its primary purpose is to add morphs and rigs to clothes for G1. None of my rigging sets are likely to work with Dawn either to or from.

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Dreamweever In reply to SickleYield [2019-06-03 08:37:34 +0000 UTC]

Oh well it was a thought. I'll keep tinkering, something has to work sooner or later I guess

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Dreamweever In reply to SickleYield [2019-06-03 01:53:44 +0000 UTC]

I'll have another shot at it once I am done with some promos and see. 
Its a pity you don't have Dawn as it would be amazing if you were to work your conversion magic on her and Dusk, I know quite a few folks who would be very thrilled if you ever did.
   

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SickleYield In reply to Dreamweever [2019-06-03 03:33:38 +0000 UTC]

I talked to Hivewire about making clones of them once, but they were not interested

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Dreamweever In reply to SickleYield [2019-06-03 06:13:16 +0000 UTC]

Seems odd just from comments I've seen around the forums both from Admin and users, either way a pity as I really think having stuff for Dawn and co like what you have done with Genesis would really go along way to making them fly. Oh well dreams are free I guess.  

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Blurrito [2016-07-20 01:31:30 +0000 UTC]

Hi, has anybody tried this tutorial on G3?
It works fine for me between V4/M4 and G2, but the same clothing messes up when trying from stracth between V4/M4 and G3

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SickleYield In reply to Blurrito [2016-07-20 01:34:18 +0000 UTC]

It won't work on G3. Transfer utility won't properly do a merge hierarchy to G3 so far.

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Blurrito In reply to SickleYield [2016-07-20 01:39:18 +0000 UTC]

Hey, thank You for Your quick reply!
G3 is such a great product for bending & posing but really disappointing on so many other aspects..

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kevmann [2016-01-17 19:14:27 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for sharing it, I'm looking forward to test it.

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ghastly20 [2015-02-24 08:03:09 +0000 UTC]

Followed you tutorial and it works great to a point, most of V4's dresses and skirts when converted still get the bunch up problem at the crotch area and if the skirt is short instead of being a straight seam will be pulled up at that area. Same problem occurs with some pants as well but in those cases using a smoothing modifier can get rid of most of it..  But with this one dress I am trying to convert Goth Maid Outfit www.daz3d.com/gothic-housemaid… I get it bunching up at the apron and I can't use a smoothing modifier or I get seam breaks everywhere so not sure what to do..

Also for some reason I am unable to use the projection template part of the utility as it is greyed out..  Seems they changed something in Studio 4.7 as you can't even choose when using the autofit tool..

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ghastly20 In reply to ghastly20 [2015-02-24 17:51:40 +0000 UTC]

The weird thing is this problem is only affecting Genesis 2 Female, even after uninstalling, redownloading and reinstalling everything..  I am having no such issues with using the projection template option with Genesis 1.. I have posted on the Daz forums about it as it has me completely stumped as to what is happening..

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SickleYield In reply to ghastly20 [2015-02-24 15:48:26 +0000 UTC]

Well, not being able to use the projection templates is going to mean their smoothing effect on fit is not used.  Have you uninstalled and reinstalled them through your DAZ Install Manager?

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anironbutterfly [2015-01-25 08:21:52 +0000 UTC]

OK...I'm tackling this little task tomorrow for the V4 Space Dweller outfit--with the V4 morphs added before I go all convert-o-matic. I'll let you know how it comes out, Shae. (Especially, since I'm converting it for Genesis AND G2F...)

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SickleYield In reply to anironbutterfly [2015-01-25 20:27:24 +0000 UTC]

Good luck.

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anironbutterfly In reply to SickleYield [2015-01-25 22:39:01 +0000 UTC]

Thanks. This may take a few tries... Round one didn't fit the dress to the back--and should I leave my Genesis 'gender netural' or dial it to Basic Female since I'm trying to fit the Space Dweller dress? O.o

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SickleYield In reply to anironbutterfly [2015-01-26 00:03:20 +0000 UTC]

It needs to stay neutral, just make sure you use the correct clone or morph in the TU preset.

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anironbutterfly In reply to SickleYield [2015-01-26 01:09:34 +0000 UTC]

OK! That's what I've been doing. So far...so good... I'm also converting some of my favourite V4 tops from 4BluEyes and we'll see how they play out after while...
His and Hong Yu's outfits are go-to items I want to keep around...

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anironbutterfly In reply to anironbutterfly [2015-02-02 03:16:50 +0000 UTC]

Well, I've converted over a buncha stuff--but I'm still having headaches with the V4 Space Dweller dress and tabbard. Oh well, I'm going to keep tinkering. It converts over for Genesis rather nicely--but going to G2F is just...not happening very well.

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Cyprine2013 [2014-12-15 14:57:23 +0000 UTC]

woohoo !  Cyprine's favorite mini skirt (3DAge's happy hour) now perfectly fits her in g2f mesh, many thanks for the tutorial.

at the end of your tuto you hint at using a push modifier sometimes. what does it do ? pushes the geometry away a few *space* from the figure ?
also, whats an *unfused geometry* ?

curious pixels,
cyprine

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SickleYield In reply to Cyprine2013 [2014-12-15 17:40:59 +0000 UTC]

Unlike a collision modifier, a push modifier pushes geometry away from its own previous position instead of from the figure under it.  This can sometimes end up looking better.  You need to turn down the settings because when it's first added it adds too much push and your mesh gets all scary.

An unfused geometry is one that has submeshes that are not part of each other, as for instance a dress that is literally split at the front/back or sleeve seams.  You can get away with this on Gen 4 stuff because it's meant to be used on old tech, but when you put a dress whose seams are split on a G2 and then add smoothing, it's going to show big gaps at the seams suddenly.

It's okay on submeshes that make sense unfused, like a belt over a tunic, but when there are parts of a mesh that shouldn't be able to -not- touch because they're sewed together, the geometry needs to be fused or merged there.  Does that make sense?

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Cyprine2013 In reply to SickleYield [2014-12-15 20:07:14 +0000 UTC]

thank you, understanding concepts is so very useful to be able to experiment afterwards.
keep those tutorial coming SickleYield !

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chuntuk [2014-11-18 20:53:45 +0000 UTC]

"In Scene Tab, go to edit—rigging—convert figure to weight mapping.  Choose TriAx."

Being obtuse, but should I have the clothing item or the figure, or maybe both, or maybe neither, selected when I do this? Not that it matters - I tried every combination, and every time it complains "You must selected a figure built using Parametric Joint Parameters to perform this action."

Just trying to get the Fantasy Wrap for Genesis onto Genesis 2.

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SickleYield In reply to chuntuk [2014-11-18 20:56:47 +0000 UTC]

The clothing, but the reason you don't have the option is that this tutorial is for converting from Generation 4. 

A better tutorial for converting from Genesis 1 is here:

[Tutorial]Keeping Bones On TU Conversion, Fast WayI've done a previous pair of tutorials on keeping bones when converting items between figures, as for instance between Genesis and Genesis 2.  That method takes a few steps and an obj export/import.  This way is faster, although it doesn't work well with Generation 4 conversion.
You will need:
-The figure you want to convert TO.
-The piece of clothing or hair you want to convert.
-Any relevant clones.  For e.g., you will need to purchase the Michael 4 for Genesis 2 Male and/or Victoria 4 for Genesis 2 Female to convert items between Gen 4 and Genesis 2.
Instructions:
Load the figure.
Load the item of clothing.   Cancel Autofit if it is triggered.
Start the Transfer Utility.  Its icon looks like an arrow pointing up and right.
For

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chambolic [2014-10-14 18:33:05 +0000 UTC]

You might like to comment on this from the DAZ forum.

www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthrea…

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SickleYield In reply to chambolic [2014-10-14 19:22:16 +0000 UTC]

I've begun to feel that there's no point putting relevant info on the forum, because it gets thrown out of sight instantly and no one can find it again.  That's why I put tutorials here, where I'm in control of where it goes.

That using Morph instead of Clone gives better results on some items is a known fact that's been covered in different places a few times, including this tutorial ("Choose Clone or Morph V4").

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chambolic [2014-10-09 11:20:32 +0000 UTC]

I tried to go through this word for word but came to a road block a couple of times. Maybe I'm missing something, maybe you are making assumptions about what we have installed? 

First - I loaded a V4 clothing item and then G2F (V6) and got as far as "choose clone or morph V4" - but no V4 clone in my drop-down list. Do I need an extra product (such as V4 for G2F) for this to work?

So I tried another route. I first followed the whole tutorial and converted from V4 clothing to Genesis 1 basic female shape. That seems to have worked fine. Then I tried to convert from G1 to G2F using this tutorial but, as would be expected, it complained about Triax, etc. and couldn't complete the process.  

So how do I convert V4 clothes to G2F/V6? 

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SickleYield In reply to chambolic [2014-10-09 17:13:26 +0000 UTC]

You do need V4 for G2F, sorry about that.  I'll add it to the tutorial.

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chambolic In reply to SickleYield [2014-10-10 10:27:39 +0000 UTC]

Thanks - it is on my wishlist. Will that help with the mesh distortion on transferred V4 skirts and dresses (crumpled groin area and a crease in the hem)?

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SickleYield In reply to chambolic [2014-10-10 16:23:23 +0000 UTC]

No, I'm pretty sure that's caused by the V4 morph itself.  You'd need this to fix that:

www.daz3d.com/clothing-smoothe…

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Vaskania [2014-09-12 20:09:59 +0000 UTC]

I know this is an old post, but holy crap, this worked perfectly on the V4 Domino coat. Regular autofit would tuck the tails to follow the legs. I used Clone V4 with no projection template. For the curious, this was done in DS 4.6.3.52

 

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SickleYield In reply to Vaskania [2014-09-12 20:13:53 +0000 UTC]

Oh sweet!  I'm so glad it worked for you.

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vwrangler [2014-02-25 03:39:39 +0000 UTC]

So, with the new options under Morph Targets, which ones should we check to make this process work with 4.6.2? I'm guessing that we want None from the Source -- that would put all of G2F into the dress, right? -- and something from the Projection Templates, and do not Override Existing?

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SickleYield In reply to vwrangler [2014-02-25 04:49:08 +0000 UTC]

No point in worrying about the projection templates with G2, because I've never been able to get them to transfer FBMs.  That's why there's no SRMS G2 as of yet (I haven't yet been able to test it with 4.6.2, maybe they fixed it). 

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deslea [2014-01-11 18:42:37 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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SickleYield In reply to deslea [2014-01-11 18:44:40 +0000 UTC]

Welcome!

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vwrangler [2013-12-20 05:16:38 +0000 UTC]

Additional information on Dragonbraid conversion. I didn't want to commit even more extreme comment spam on your journal!

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vwrangler [2013-12-20 03:42:47 +0000 UTC]

Woo-hoo! This method works on Arki's Dragonbraid! I picked it up during the RDNA Annual sale -- when it was much less expensive, so complete failure would be less painful -- and gave this method a shot, and it totally works!


Mind, it is a bit fiddlier, because it's designed to have hair conformed to hair conformed to V4.

1) Convert the base hair to Genesis/G2F the same way you would normally with Transfer Utility; that's just a regular short hair. Keep the hair base in the scene for all the rest of the conversions; it's absolutely required.

2) Convert everything else -- the dragonbraid itself, the coilbraid, the tails, etc. -- per the above method EXCEPT that you do NOT -- absolutely do NOT -- want Fit To at any stage of the process until the very end. If the "Transfer Rigging (Figure Space)" step makes it fit automatically to Genesis/G2F, then go in to the General Parameters and select "Fit To > None" to make it lose that. Otherwise, it will fit to the wrong place on Genesis, somewhere in the torso usually.

3) Select the dragonbraid/coilbraid/etc., then go into Parameters, select "Fit To", then select the Hairbase; I would also suggest checking the "Parent to figure" box, just because. With both items rigged to Genesis, it should figure things out and put the braids/coil/etc. into the right place on Genesis and the hairbase.

4) Save as Figure/Prop asset.


Alternatively, you can just convert everything else to weight mapped, parent to the Hairbase, and save at that point as a smart propped hair. Movement apparently winds up being a mite fiddlier, but it's certainly a bit less work.


Now, all I have to do is to convert 99 separate MAT files. (Seriously. 99. Not kidding. Not even a little. I'm by way of thinking that I'll convert individually as needed for use, because seriously. 99 PZ2 files. Sad thing is, they actually work on the DUFd hair. I wish Studio could see PZ2 files in the Studio section; it would make life so much easier, because then I could just copy or move them.)

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SickleYield In reply to vwrangler [2013-12-21 23:57:38 +0000 UTC]

Oh good, I bought this one but haven't had a chance to try it yet.

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vwrangler In reply to SickleYield [2013-12-22 05:28:53 +0000 UTC]

Well, unfortunately, the process only kind of works on part of the set. Standard method works for the hairbase, and your tutorial works for the coilbraid, the main dragonbraid itself and the amulets (...sort of works on the amulets. If I can figure out what I did, because whatever I did to make the amulets work was weird and strange and clearly accidental.)


For the dragontail and the hybridtail, weightmapping seems to exaggerate the response to the easypose dials so dramatically that the hair deforms hugely. What I wound up doing for most of it was parenting the completely unconverted extensions to the converted hairbase, and saving the combination as wearable presets. Studio won't let you save unconverted figure/prop assets, but it will let you save combinations of weightmapped and unweightmapped items as wearables.


I'm also probably going to purchase some of the different texture sets that have Studio presets for the materials, because the very idea of converting 99 PZ2 files one-by-one just makes me tired. It's worth the cost to get some different shaders as well as materials that I don't have to touch.

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ObscuroArcanum [2013-12-03 13:28:37 +0000 UTC]

Thankyou so much for this. It will definitely come in handy when I start using DS more

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SickleYield In reply to ObscuroArcanum [2013-12-03 17:46:16 +0000 UTC]

*thumbs up*

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Tessakc [2013-12-02 17:21:57 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much for this!

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SickleYield In reply to Tessakc [2013-12-02 18:03:00 +0000 UTC]

Very welcome.

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Telperion-Studio [2013-12-02 16:56:27 +0000 UTC]

Thank you again, girl!! You rock!

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SickleYield In reply to Telperion-Studio [2013-12-02 18:03:23 +0000 UTC]

Very welcome.  Let me know if you have any trouble following it and I will try to clarify, too.

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