Feet: yes! I'd like to see the feet flange out when the figure is standing barefoot on a hard surface. Almost impossible to do with the current figures.

Same for buttocks - she needs to be able to sit on a hard surface (think a wooden chair, or a stone bench).

I've tried Bullet Physics to get these effects, and it's a pain. Haven't got any usable results yet.

Soft seats are less of a problem, magnets can deform the cushion realistically enough for my purposes.

Hands: yes! I'd like to see a fine mesh at the finger joints, and have realistic creases and wrinkles. Thumb movement in the current figures isn't realistic at all, if you can do a better job I'll buy Project E straight away. You might want to explore the concept of "illegitimate welds", welds between body parts that don't have a parent-child relationship. Realistic moving hands might need that concept.

Toes and toe bones - I'd say you'd need a separate bone (maybe two) for the big toe. Don't go overboard with toe bones like in the P5 stock figures Don and Judy, it doesn't add enough value for the extra amount of posing work. Unless Project E has to play the piano with her feet of course.

A fairly generic body and head shape with good edgeloops so you can morph the heck out of her sounds like a good idea. And if you're going to market the figure and the morph separately, add some morphs, including an "attractive" face and body to the base figure. It'll get you more customers from the get go.

Low distortion UV mapping is a must IMO. Not only for texture maps, also for UV dependent shaders.

As for the amount of material zones, let's keep it reasonable. The reason for the many zones in the DAZ figures was to provide for second skin clothing options - which isn't needed. A single material zone for the skin, separate mat zones for the eyes and nails, that should be good enough.

Make the cornea separate bodyparts. Why? So you can turn off the shadows and use a Fresnel shader in the refraction input.

Everything on the same 8K x 8K map? Please don't. The Octane render engine is gaining popularity, and image maps this size just won't work well with Octane.

Copying the joints of V4 isn't needed IMO. A quick trip to the fitting room should take care of converting V4 clothing for Project E.

And I agree with the poster who advised to base it on P9/2012 and onward. It would be a shame to "dumb her down" and lose the advantages of the modern Poser tech just in order to accommodate older tech.

This is just my take on what a new figure should have. Anyway, Project E looks VERY promising!

 

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