Anatomical elements and geoshell compatibility

[Dilly_]

Sup yall

Something I've been wondering for awhile is whether or not it's possible to get geoshells to work with anatomical elements (either the default Genesis ones, or aftermarket ones). Specifically, I'm trying to get the geoshell from

You must be registered to see the links

to work with G8.1F with male genitals (for futa purposes):



As you can see, the geoshell clearly does not work with anatomical elements, which I'm sure is an issue many of us have experienced. You can go into the geoshell parameters and disable the genital area, but that just makes the white area go away without actually fixing the problem.

This question has actually been asked over on the

You must be registered to see the links

, and the solution provided sounds relatively straightforward:

So you should be able to make a template using the gen texture to replicate that area, any cutoff visibility mask etc in an image editor. If you go to the Surface tab and look at the surface settings of the torso, you will see a rough approximation of what surfaces you need to replicate.

The issue is that I have no experience with UV maps and don't know how to actually implement the provided solution, nor whether this solution is actually doable.

As for why I would even want to do this in the first place, yes it's possible to use non-geoshell clothing and create bulge morphs, however they generally lack definition and can be frustrating to manage with multiple poses. Using a geoshell would allow me to maintain the definition, which is what I'm looking for, even if it's too much definition. Furthermore, knowing how to do this would allow me to use many different geoshells with genitalia.

So, my question is: Is the solution provided by the user above a realistic one, and if so, how could that be accomplished?

 

[Rich]

Basically, the idea is as follows:

1. The white indicates that the geoshell is following the gens, but that it doesn't have any materials for that area, and is thus showing its default white material. What you need to do is to create a material that can be applied to that particular surface.
2. If you select the geoshell in the Scene tab and then go look in the Surfaces tab, you'll see that the geoshell has a surface for all the surfaces in the original figure, plus one for the gens. This is the one you need to fix.
   
   You get the white because that's the diffuse color for that surface.
3. You can create your own image for the diffuse color channel. What you'd do is look at the file that is applied as part of your character's texture. It doesn't matter which character's you use, because they all use the same layout. So, as an example, here's the one from Christian 8. If you click on the little box in Base Color and select "Browse," it'll put you into the correct folder. Then you just need to find the specific file.
   
4. Make a copy of that file into some other place in your content area. (Don't edit the original.) Then use Photoshop or something similar to paint over the "fleshy" parts with the color/pattern/whatever from the product you're trying to use.
5. Apply that file to the surface in the geoshell, replacing the pure white texture.

The only difficult part in this might be to get the textures to line up nicely - you'd have to experiment with that a bit. If the panty was just a solid color, it'd be pretty straightforward - you could just set the channel to the correct color instead of having to muck with texture files. But with the kind of pattern in your original, you're probably going to have to create a texture brush, or copy and paste from the product's materials files into the gen overlay file.

Anyway, that's basically it. You don't have to create UV maps or anything else, just paint into the correct parts of the texture, and the file you copied from your character will show you where to paint.

 

[Dilly_]

Basically, the idea is as follows:

1. The white indicates that the geoshell is following the gens, but that it doesn't have any materials for that area, and is thus showing its default white material. What you need to do is to create a material that can be applied to that particular surface.
2. If you select the geoshell in the Scene tab and then go look in the Surfaces tab, you'll see that the geoshell has a surface for all the surfaces in the original figure, plus one for the gens. This is the one you need to fix.
   View attachment 1449728
   You get the white because that's the diffuse color for that surface.
3. You can create your own image for the diffuse color channel. What you'd do is look at the file that is applied as part of your character's texture. It doesn't matter which character's you use, because they all use the same layout. So, as an example, here's the one from Christian 8. If you click on the little box in Base Color and select "Browse," it'll put you into the correct folder. Then you just need to find the specific file.
   View attachment 1449732
4. Make a copy of that file into some other place in your content area. (Don't edit the original.) Then use Photoshop or something similar to paint over the "fleshy" parts with the color/pattern/whatever from the product you're trying to use.
5. Apply that file to the surface in the geoshell, replacing the pure white texture.

The only difficult part in this might be to get the textures to line up nicely - you'd have to experiment with that a bit. If the panty was just a solid color, it'd be pretty straightforward - you could just set the channel to the correct color instead of having to muck with texture files. But with the kind of pattern in your original, you're probably going to have to create a texture brush, or copy and paste from the product's materials files into the gen overlay file.

Anyway, that's basically it. You don't have to create UV maps or anything else, just paint into the correct parts of the texture, and the file you copied from your character will show you where to paint.

Thanks for your detailed explanation. Using your steps I was able to at least get the basic fabric pattern applied to the gens:


It's not perfect, there's an obvious seam and the trim of the underwear still needs to be applied, but it's more or less what I was looking for. The rest is just a matter of tinkering with the texture file. I wonder if there's a simplier way to do this- IE, somehow overlay the gens texture with the easy panties texture such that the two textures align seamlessly in the final result, without having to manually apply the trim using texture brush and trial and error.

In any case, you've cleared up some questions I had about how geoshells operate, so thanks again.

 

[Rich]

Thanks for your detailed explanation. Using your steps I was able to at least get the basic fabric pattern applied to the gens:


It's not perfect, there's an obvious seam and the trim of the underwear still needs to be applied, but it's more or less what I was looking for. The rest is just a matter of tinkering with the texture file. I wonder if there's a simplier way to do this- IE, somehow overlay the gens texture with the easy panties texture such that the two textures align seamlessly in the final result, without having to manually apply the trim using texture brush and trial and error.

In any case, you've cleared up some questions I had about how geoshells operate, so thanks again.

Eliminating seams is a tough problem for mere mortals. This is one of the things that programs like ZBrush and Substance Painter let you do - they basically give you the 3D figure with the texture wrapped around it, and so allow you to draw across seams, etc. The PA's who produce products with textures almost always (AFAIK) use packages like this as opposed to trying to "eyeball" "well, this pixel on this edge matches up with that pixel on that edge..."

It probably wouldn't be too hard to continue the lacey stuff down the edge. I'm not 100% sure about the seam - part of that could be the mismatch in the direction of the pseudo texture in the two images. But it all depends on how OCD you want to get. Or whether you insist on light blue, as opposed to black...

Anyway, glad that you got started off down your road.