Hello! After trying out lots of games on this great website, I decided to give making my own game a try. for the first game I want to make something very simple and basic and then expand from there. I think I've learnt Ren'Py fairly well to start the developement but one of the road bumps I hit is Daz. Basically I chose a female model and figured out that I needed to slap on the female genitalia on the model, which I downloaded from somewhere and attached to it succesfully. but I couldn't figure out how to get a texture for the genitalia or how to apply it correctly, or even if i did those, how to then match the texture with the skin texture of the model I put it on, and so on, such questions and problems. I was hoping there is a tutorial or something you can recommend which will clear up such things for me. Thanks in advance!
I had the same issue when first starting with Daz recently - unfortunately the available information on this is pretty obscure.
From my understanding:
Daz Genital meshes/general info:
By default, the genesis characters do not come with anatomical meshes and can only be obtained by purchasing specific packs from the Daz store (for the daz meshes at least). Far from ideal - not least because product wording is inconsistent - but generally speaking only the "pro" character packs, along with a few "themed" ones are the ones that include "anatomical element" meshes, and buying one of those will unlock the mesh that will then allow you to apply genital textures for that specific genesis version. IMO it's better to decide on using a particular genesis version to work with so all of your purchases are compatible (e.g. gen 3, gen 8 or gen 9).
I opted for gen 8, which is a little more complicated as there is gen 8.1 as well - usually gen 8 items work on gen 8.1 characters but 8.1 don't necessarily fit gen 8. Many products are designed for both 8 and 8.1 though. But if you decided on working with genesis 8 and/or 8.1, buying an 8.1 pro/feature pack is the best way to unlock the base anatomy meshes. This is because with the genesis 8 characters you have to buy a male and female pack seperately, but the 8.1 packs unlock both with 1 purchase.
To unlock the base daz genital meshes you need to look out for packs that specifically include both or either "Genesis 8 Female Anatomical Elements" and/or "Genesis 8 Male Anatomical Elements". A pack such as Victoria 8 Pro includes the Gen 8 female genital meshes only, while Michael 8 Pro only includes the Gen 8 male genital meshes. 8.1 packs are harder to identify as they are themed rather than called "pro", but better value. With Victoria 8.1 for example, you have the Victoria 8.1 University Bundle and the Victoria 8.1 Loving Life Bundle, both are essentially "pro" bundles, and buying one of these unlocks both the male and female anatomical elements (meshes) for all genesis 8 and genesis 8.1 characters, which then allows you to apply textures/presets included with character packs.
My suggestion would be to not buy any even close to full price, but to identify multiple bundles that include them and add to your wishlist as there often sales that drastically decrease the price (especially with Daz+or premium, tokens and coupons, some items being cheaper merely for being on your wishlist). The Daz Deals extension is great for tracking historical prices and discount notifications. The 8.1 packs retail for over $150 but I got my first one in a sale for like $5.
If you opt for genesis 9, you can unlock anatomical elements via the "genesis 9 starter essentials" pack which is much cheaper than the pro packs (even free if you subscribe to daz premier), but keep in mind that gen 9 and their assets are typically more expensive (being newer) in addition to usually being more computer intensive to work with.
Once you've bought the appropriate pack, you can navigate to "anatomy" in Daz Studio and from there you can find and apply the relevant genital elements to a selected figure - this will add a new blank mesh to the character, and this is where the textures come in.
Genital textures:
Some character packs include anatomy textures, but not all. Again, the wording used is often different and some don't bother to mention. But typically if they're included it will say something like "anatomical elements material presets" or "anatomical textures", something like that. If you buy a character that have these included, once you've loaded them in Daz studio and have the anatomical element mesh applied to it, you should find a genital material as part of the figure pack. Apply that directly to the added genital mesh and it should apply the correct texture to the genitals and should now look correct with the rest of the figure's textures.
If you're using genital meshes you've found from elsewhere then it's harder to answer without knowing exactly. Ones like Golden Palace include scripts that should match skin tones pretty well automatically if you follow the included instructions. Alternatively you can use skin/shader tools to match texture colours yourselves. But generally textures need to be applied to the genital mesh itself, not the character.
Hope that helps! I'm a beginner myself so sorry if it's a bit confusing, though it certainly feels like they confuse people deliberately! Best of luck with your game!
