LeGuymelef

Skin significant evolution wip

Added 2023-09-20 14:14:50 +0000 UTC

Thought I'd use my break to try some stuff.

Those who have been here for a while know it's not the first attempt and most likely not the last either but I really think I'm onto something different here.

I managed to bake Genesis 9 skin textures onto G8 and especially the normal maps which are miles away from what we have currently...actually my current normal maps are basically useless.

Pictures show before/after and you should notice the differences pretty quickly. It looks much less grainy and much more detailed and the after pictures don't use bump which is pretty cool because Eevee especially don't like bump. I'll probably keep the bump option in the UI for those who may like it.

Btw don't mind the texture gaps it's still wip.

Technical notes :

If you're wondering why just not use G9 model directly, I've actually tried that and it's clear to me now that G9 is not a worthy jump. Content wise first as it would be impossible to have as many morphs as we have on G8. G9 geometry, while improved overhaul, is also inexplicably simplified in different areas which don't make sense and raises issues. G9 being "ungendered" (but not really) also results in weird body morphs and generally way bulkier than they need to be. Finally, since the armature bones are named differently, backwards compatibility is basically impossible. I'm not saying never but I believe G8 makes more sense currently.
Also I now have a working and fairly easy solution to convert the texture maps from models to G8 within blender, which will allow to convert maps that daz model converters usually don't bother with like AO. One step closer to being autonomous as far as porting goes.