I think Sydney is Jessi with new joints basically. At least that is the pattern with the G2 male figures. They are all basically an adjusted form of James. They same general shape is there but not enough to make it totally the same (joints, grouping and some smoothing change that)

For those who are complaining about lack of clothing, I would strongly suggest to take your time and learn how to use the magnets.  Magnets, along with little help from external modelling program such as Hexagon or Wings, it really is not that hard to convert V3 clothes to fit V4, the tools are all right there for you to learn and use.   Although might be little time consuming at first, I've converted just about all my V3 clothes to fit GND this way, and it fits so much better than Clothes Converter, Tailor or WW.  Also, there's a way to use clothes room to fit simple clothes, do a search and you'll see.

Bottom line, if people are so dependent on others to provide the content for them, guess what?  You are just gonna have to wait on their schedule, or play around with the nekkid figure.  It's just the way it's always been with the new figures, V3, M3, GND, you name it.  Meanwhile, I'll just sit back and wait for all the dust to settle down, as usual with all other new figures, because there's already more than enough figures to play around with.

g.o.m.  - have you gone to look at the sydney previews that have been available for a while now?  they've completely redone the g2 female body.  she's more like miki meets jessi, and looks at least if not more realistic than the previews of v4 imho.  especially in the chest and hips.

Attached Link: First Try

chinnei - gnd is a v3 morph.  v4 is a whole other figure.  for an example of the difference in level of difficulty, aery soul provides morphs for their custom characters (kielo, yaara)  in contemporary products.  they say they will not convert their clothing to v4 or any other figure because it would take them too much time.  everything i've ever read of clothing creating is that the shape is the comparatively easy part.  the hard part is joint parameters, grouping and poke through.

clothing creators please correct me if i'm wrong.

I looked in the forums and that didn't really show me much other than her bending, which doesn't show what she looks like. Sorry if Ihad wrong info though.

Where is this free V4 base model that some people have mentioned?  I would like to try her out but I don't care to spend any money at this point and I really feel bad when I have to return something.

it's only for platinum club members.
v3 free base  i feel weird writing that, it sounds illegal or at least illicit.

Thanks, cobaltdream!  And that does sound not quite right ;-)

Quote - chinnei - gnd is a v3 morph.  v4 is a whole other figure.  for an example of the difference in level of difficulty, aery soul provides morphs for their custom characters (kielo, yaara)  in contemporary products.  they say they will not convert their clothing to v4 or any other figure because it would take them too much time.  everything i've ever read of clothing creating is that the shape is the comparatively easy part.  the hard part is joint parameters, grouping and poke through.

 
I should clarify, when I said "convert", it meant in terms of fitting the geometry of the clothing to fit other figures.  To me, this is the most time consuming part, probably because I'm very picky when it comes to geometry of the clothes.  
You might be right about grouping, since V4 has different chest and leg grouping, but I don't find it too difficult than changing grouping between other unimesh figures.  As far as making it conform, I let setup room handle that with few clicks of button using the already existing figure, or base clothing as a donor bone.  Even though I said GND, I've manage to fit several clothes to A3, V2, SP3, or even M3 and vice verse, using this way.  Like I said, it might take some time to getting used to at first, but once you get hang of it, this might be the best way to conserve all the V3 clothing that people have.

You shouldn't really compare Jessi to Sydney yet because G2 Jessi and G2 Miki have not yet been released. Nor has Olivia for that matter.

@ **lkendall

**  
DavidGB
Over at daz forums posted this.  Hacked cr2 with scaling revealed.

http://www.david.eaton.ukgateway.net/RevealScaleDials.zip

-G

12/8/06

Gazukull:

Thanks! How kind of you.

Now, some one who has V4, and wants to try it out, let us know if the scale dials are functional. Please.

LMK

Quote - You shouldn't really compare Jessi to Sydney yet because G2 Jessi and G2 Miki have not yet been released. Nor has Olivia for that matter.

Who is Olivia?

Quote - @ **lkendall
**DavidGB
Over at daz forums posted this.  Hacked cr2 with scaling revealed.

http://www.david.eaton.ukgateway.net/RevealScaleDials.zip

-G

Gazkull:  That is really, really kind of you to post.  Thanks a ton, I know I appreciate it and I'm sure other people will too.

@ pjz99 & lkendall,

My pleasure!  But really, DavidGB was the original poster :)

Hopefully it works for yall!

I sent David Eaton a thank you email, thanks for bringing the info over here just the same.  This fixes a big portion of my unhappiness with the new figure.

olivia is the african american g2 female, equivalent to the g2 male kelvin. 

and lots of people talked about v4 based on her head preview, and how incredibly advanced she was.  i don't see how comparing v4 renders to the detailed previews they've posted of sydney's behavior is any different.

it's good to know that the scaling issue has been handled.  thanks much for the information.

Quote - The Internet has changed things since DAZ rolled out V3. People can fully analyze a product and post reviews within minutes of the product’s release. The product’s virtues and flaws can be discussed and the consumer can be better informed.

Yes, because the internet hadn't been invented in 2002.  We used semaphore back then.  You know how hard it was for Renderosity back then?  I mean, just having to use binoculars and read things out loud, letter by letter, took freaking forever.  No wonder people didn't review things right away.

And don't even get me started on how hard it was to post pictures.

Try these links. http://www.daz3d.com/program/characters/index.php http://www.daz3d.com/support/tutorial/tutorial.php?id=1942 Coldrake

keith  - no, actually this is very true.  in 2002, if you wanted your own site it was buy or build.  now it's blog in 60 seconds or less.  blog software, wikis, rss feeds, social networking sites, global image galleries like flickr and the like have vastly changed how many people publish, and how quickly news permeates the web.  i'm not a big blog fan, yet i can think of at least two poser product review blogs i've been to. 

it's true that rendo's technology isn't very different, nor daz's (did they have the forums back then? i can't remember).  but there are many, many more ways for news to get out than before.

I was upset about the eyebrow thing, but as suggested, having textures where the brows are on a separate layer would work.

I did a side by side comparison of V3 and V4, actually used a V3 pose on V4 so as not to show biased...yeah, right. Anyway, I found tweaking the pose for V4 didn't leave me pulling my hair out.
I also discovered that V3 isn't quite the queen of heap. V4 clearly is superior in form.

V3 has been around for what...4 years now. V4 was released a little over 24 hrs ago. Four years down the road, V5 is going to have a tough act to follow. 

I'm coming around.:)

Quote - I am waiting till I see Sydney, I have a funny feeling that Sydney is going to be as good as V4, but because she does not have the name, it may fall.  But will wait till P7 is here.  Sharen

The preview thumbnails for Sydney in funny poses work again:
www.contentparadise.com/forums/contentparadise/index.php

And she looks to have some great bendability.

However, no idea on her morphability nor expressionability. And I suspect she will have the same eyebrow/pubes problem as V4 - however, at least she is female. V4 on the other hand is androgynous.

My first quick render of V4 using the Grace head morph and texture.

Nudity tag employed for safety...LOL!

Quote - 12/8/06

Gazukull:

Thanks! How kind of you.

Now, some one who has V4, and wants to try it out, let us know if the scale dials are functional. Please.

LMK

Oops, I missed that response, I got the pose file and it seems to work just fine.  All scale dials unlocked and appear to work.

Quote - keith  - no, actually this is very true.  in 2002, if you wanted your own site it was buy or build.  now it's blog in 60 seconds or less.  blog software, wikis, rss feeds, social networking sites, global image galleries like flickr and the like have vastly changed how many people publish, and how quickly news permeates the web.  i'm not a big blog fan, yet i can think of at least two poser product review blogs i've been to. 

it's true that rendo's technology isn't very different, nor daz's (did they have the forums back then? i can't remember).  but there are many, many more ways for news to get out than before.

Actually...no.

Blogs started making a political impact in 2002 (that's when I started reading them).  The first wiki software came out that year as well.  But that's neither here notr there.

People were able to post instant reviews and pictures of product and such a long, long time ago (in net terms, anyway).  Look at a thread I started today showing exactly that sort of thing  for both V3 in 2002 and the original Victoria in 2000.

Sure, today there might be more options in different places, but people have been able to see "instant" reviews (which quite often, based as they are on first impressions, are pretty useless) for a ages now.

My particular point is that the comment I was responding to is, to quote the famous review of a scientific paper, "Not right, not even wrong."  People were posting reviews on Renderosity of products before there was a DAZ as a separate entity from Zygote.

Quote - Here's one of mine. I just have the free base. I used Occlusion Master on her.

OOOOh Occlusion master. I might just have to pick that up.

Quote - People were able to post instant reviews and pictures of product and such a long, long time ago (in net terms, anyway).  Look at a thread I started today showing exactly that sort of thing  for both V3 in 2002 and the original Victoria in 2000.

I've been saying my piece online since 1988, I consider myself a later comer to the internet. Back in my day, we didn't have webpages to post stuff on... and we still managed to get it out there. ;)

People have been giving their opinions and posting images online long before I got there.

Lookin good, I see the expressiveness is paying off for you.  What renderer did you use Stormchaser?  Because she doesn't have the over-glossy eyes and lips of most of the other V4 renders, or did you tweak that down?  (if so you may wish to correct me in the Firefly thread).

pjz99 - Thanks. I used the firefly renderer, with settings really high. I'll post my settings if anyone's interested. However, I had to postwork the eyes to get the desired effect, plus other touch ups.

Doh.  Not the answer I was hoping for, I'd be really surprised and disappointed if the gloss cannot be reduced from Materials room (I'm pretty sure it is just Reflection on the particular material zones).

There are two different "gloss" versions in the highrez textures (and the std rez too, I bet) for the eyes. Looks like you used the not-so-shiny-one here. It's always a good idea (if it isn't there by defauly) to attact an anisotropic shader to the cornea part of eyes. Looks a lot better IMO.

I'm unfortunately at work right now so I can't check, but I bet there's a glossy node (or something similar) on the lips. unplug that if you think the lips are too shiny.

So it loks like you took that wierd glow out of the inside of the eyelid/eye socket?

The thing that gets me is that the eyes now have three "transparent" material zones, Cornea, Tear and Eye surface.

I could complain forever (as seems to be our want), but seriously V4 is a vast improvement.  My crits are small and they will be either dealt with in time or forgotten by most.

Still, to reiterate, her are my two biggest complaints:

Seven individual tongue parts, yet V4 cannot speak one word!!  No Phenomes!?  Just amateur!  For crying out loud, the Millenium Dog LE has phenomes and is Mimic compatable!!!

(Who gives a crap if the tongue has so many parts?  How many open mouthed pictures do you expect to see, was this made fro freaking dentists!?)

And both eyes being on the same material Zone is the biggest pain the @ss I have ever seen!  This is something I hated about the Poser stock figs.  If I want to change the left eye to some kind of blind metal laser thing, I literally have to open up the texture and make a new one in photoshop, and heaven forbid if I want it to have different mats etting from the other eye (ie, one glossy, one not.)  I see their reasoning (less zones to deal with) but I still think that it is exceptionally limiting and sad.  (not that I'm beyond making my own freaking eye, but what about those less technically inclined or with less software?)

Still, the improvements far outweight the detriments.

(BTW, TrekkieGrrl, you completely rock!  Lots of reasons, but I thought I'd mention it.)

I am betting the tongue is so jointed because that's the basis they will use for phonemes when they are released, rather than morphing a set of vertices they'll be translating and transforming the joints.

On the eyes: Yes, I think it's a bit clumsy having them the same material zone, but it isn't a huge problem in Poser 5 and later. Step 1: Use the U_value and math|step nodes to get a black/white vertical split. You could use a texturemap, but why bother? Step 2: Use that to control a blender node. Step 3: feed the two different V4 eye textures into the blender node. Use the blender node output as you would a single texture. On the tongue: Yes, I reckon the joints will be doing a lot to create the phonemes. It seems that a lot of what are single expression morphs in V3 are composites of several morphs in V4, controlled from a single dial. Which is a well-established system. But I hope people making conforming clothing do a little editing of surplus body parts. It's bad enough finding a pair of shorts has arms and fingers. Why would I want a tongue in my... No, don't answer that.

I'm actually pretty pleased about that particular bodypart being articulated, because I'd otherwise have to make a prop with similar features for a certain purpose I have planned.

From what I've seen so far, I'm not very impressed with V4.  I'm sure I'll buy her mainly because she'll never be as inexpensive as she is right now.  I know from living through all the other Vicki upgrades, that she'll improve with age...better textures, etc.  I very seldom use Vicki (Aiko is my main babe), but you never know when you'll have need of her.  Also the merchants will gradually phase out making stuff for V3 and then I'll be left with no place to spend my money. :laugh:

What i like about her is that eyelids move together with the eyes. The default texture leaves a lot to be desired.

After an hour of tweaking with her, I managed to produce a face I liked (which kind of reminds me of Emily Rossum). I had to modify the texture to produce a decent result, but still she's not bad.

The V4 to V3 figure is not as useless as some on this forum had voiced. I'm a bit disappointed she doesn't take V3 textures, but perhaps the revamp / remap is on the way.

The eye texture in the standard resolution package is riddiculously small.

Apart from that, fairly decent figure. Now I'm hoping for M4.

ThrommArcadia wrote; "How many open mouthed pictures do you expect to see, was this made fro freaking dentists!?" Actually I expect to see a lot more images with open mouths. :) With V3 it was like pulling teeth ;) to get her to look natural with her mouth open and her teeth showing. It's VERY easy to do with V4's expressions. Coldrake

One minor bit of neatness in V4: go look at the Material Names, and you'll see that they're numbered, with the same number for all the materials which use the same texturemap. For instance (by memory), "2_SkinHead" and "4_Gums". I'm not sure about putting the ears and the back of the head on a different texturemap to the face: it gives you more resolution over the face at the expense of a seam just along the front of the ears, and I reckon it might only pay off when you're doing extreme closeups rendered at close to the Poser maximum output size (somewhere about the same as 12 megapixels from a camera, which would need a tripod and a very good lens).

Because I've been busy playing with Vue I honestly haven't given V4 the attention I thought I would have. The two pluses over V3 that I like so far are definitely her expressions (really cool & easy) & her breasts. I think the aerola perk is a great addition,  I hope we get some Natural Gravity Morphs from Posermatic!

Quote - > Quote - 12/8/06

Gazukull:

Thanks! How kind of you.

Now, some one who has V4, and wants to try it out, let us know if the scale dials are functional. Please.

LMK

 

Oops, I missed that response, I got the pose file and it seems to work just fine.  All scale dials unlocked and appear to work.

Just for the record ...

V4's scale dials were never locked. They couldn't be, because they're how the MorphForm dials to resize head. legs etc work - the scale dials are ERCed to the MorphForm dials. The scale dials simply had the 'Hidden' flag set to 1, so Poser didn't display them, but they were there and working.

And somebody posted something that implied my file was a hacked cr2. It's not. I looked at the cr2 to check that the dials were just set to be hidden in Poser and then wrote the pose file that just set all those 'hidden's to 0 instead of 1 so Poser would then display them. Cr2s aren't encoded or anything - anyone can read them in any text editor. I don't feel that the word 'hacked' is applicable to what I did to create the Pose file to unhide the dials.

But I'm glad if the file makes some of you happier with V4, as I'm liking her a lot as a figure myself.

that's v3.  wearing aery soul's vanilla outfit.  see the credits.  if you look at her face, it even looks like v3.
http://www.daz3d.com/galleries/index.php?id=22561

and i never said that there weren't opinions being posted.  certainly there were.  there weren't as many independent review sites, and not nearly as many non-art specific galleries.  i'm just saying it's a fair point.

i'll say this- i'm seeing more critical takes on v4 than i did v3.  not negative, just critical.