Lighthorse...
Daz did come out with a new plugin that allows layers in the new 1.8 . 
Here is what they say on the site:

The Layered Image Editor allows you to create, open, edit, and save DAZ Studio Layered Image sets (.dsi). A DAZ Layered Image is a composite of image layers into a single Studio material file that can then be applied to an object's material zone in DAZ Studio via the Surfaces tab. DAZ Layered Images can be composed of any image file format supported in DAZ Studio (i.e., TIFF, PNG, JPEG, etc.). In addition, DAZ Layered Images can contain other DAZ Layered Images as part of its composition. The images composing the layers are not modified as the DAZ Layered Image file contains the pathname to the files and the opacity and blending information

The DAZ Layered Image format provides a way of combining images without modifying the original images. For example, a tattoo could be available as an option on a figure. Usually, this might require separate texture maps for each skin color plus an extra set of maps with the tattoo. Using the Layered Image Editor, a DAZ Layered Image file could be built layering the tattoo over the skin maps and the resulting .dsi file added to the material file to load via a MAT pose file. The original skin map can then be applied to the figure without the tattoo or with it, all without having to create two texture maps.*

 

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