The future of The Hunter #2
Hello everyone,
I must admit that when I had planned writing those 3 posts about The Hunter, I was far from suspecting what just happened to me would happen. It won't change everything about what I was supposed to write, but it sure killed a part of my motivation on a point. But I have to explain things thoroughly if I want you to understand fully what I just came through.
I) Explaining how Daz and 3D models work
I told you this post would be long but you have to have all the keys in hands to understand things completely. If you enjoy western 3D adult games, you probably know or at least guessed that most devs use the same 3D models. That's because everyone uses content coming from Daz Studio. Daz Studio works on a very original marketing way.
The 3D soft itself (Daz Studio) is free for everyone. However, if you want content for it, you need to pay said content. That's why Daz has a store on which they propose both their own 3D models (which are the bases from which all other models are created) and many other 3D elements proposed either by Daz or by merchants that are allowed to sell their stuff on Daz's market. While there IS another soft game makers can use for their game (called Poser), I'll only talk about Daz here because that's what I use. If you're really eager to know, Poser is technically more complete (and complex) than Daz Studio but it's paying.
Anyway, Daz basically does the extreme opposite of what does a professional soft like 3DS Max: If you want to use 3DS Max, a license cost A LOT of money, but once you get one, you can create EVERYTHING you want (depending on your skill of course). And that's the keyword here: skill. I did 3D modeling for 3 years and I can tell you that I suck major balls at it. That's why Daz's content is an El Dorado for people like me, unable to CREATE 3D models. Because that's the main difference between Daz and most 3D soft:
You cannot model in Daz. Daz is a software for
posing and rendering (and animating but that's not really their focus). You buy a figure, you buy clothes, you buy a background and you mix that to get your picture. It means something simple: If I want to make a spike on Kaya's back (which is something even bad 3D modelers can do
I can't. At least not on my own by modeling her model. My best chance would be to find someone selling an item allowing me to create a spike on her back. Remember this cause it'll be very important for the rest of the story.
Daz models are based on Generations. What does it mean? It means that every couple of year, the developers of Daz create a base figure that serves as a sort of "blueprint" for all other 3D models of that generation. The main female model that always open a new generation is called "Victoria". There's always a number attached to her to know which generation you're talking about.
Currently, the last model is Victoria 8. Because we are at the 8th generation of 3D models. Every time a new generation appears, it has improvements over the previous one. Even if it's not EXACTLY the case you can consider that a new generation appears every two years (this year should've seen the arrival of Victoria 9 but the devs stated themselves they wanted to pause the release of new 3D models to focus on adding more elements to the soft itself). The improvements between generations aren't always visible in renders. Sometimes, the improvement is more on the creator side with easier tools to work on their models. But those improvements are actually the reason for this whole post.
II) The Genesis case
After Victoria 4 (which was the generation that lasted the long (between 2006 and 2011), the guys from Daz created
a model that was unisex. With only morph dialing (morphs are body modifications you can implement to change the look of a body part) you could create a male, a female or a child without having to buy 3 different models. That revolution led the devs to change the name of that base model into
"Genesis". Of course, Victoria 5 exists and was released at the same time as the Genesis model. But since it was a unisex model, you couldn't call it Victoria 5. That's why they changed the name. From here on, for some reason, they thought the name "Genesis" was amazing and they kept it for the next updates. The trick is: Starting the generation right after (Victoria 6), the models were now back to being divided into male models and female models.
So you couldn't call them Genesis only. That's where things start to be a bit messy in terms of naming. The 6th generation is called respectively
"Genesis 2 Female" for female characters and
"Genesis 2 Male" for male characters. They're often shortened into G2F and G3F. As always, a Victoria 6 is in the batch as the first model. Two years later came the 7th generation which was called Genesis 3 Female/Male. And to stop the confusion, the dev aligned the number for the current generation:
Victoria 8 = Genesis 8 Female/Male Generation. So yeah, there's a stupid gap of 5 numbers between Genesis 3 and Genesis 8 but at least now, things are clear. Why did you need to know all that shit about Genesis? Because that's exactly around where I fell in the 3D world.
III) My arrival in the 3D world and its consequences on The Hunter
There's something you need to understand about me: I didn't start being interested in toying with Daz when I started working on The Hunter. It's actually the other way around.
When I was still working on Slice of Venture (the 1st one) I discovered Daz.
Back then it was 2014. The new thing was Genesis 2. I started buying a few things, and then it became a real money sinker. Back then I bought between $100 and $300 worth of content every month. I bought Genesis 2 stuff, but also Genesis (since many things were compatible between those two models.) And it lasted for quite some time. To give you an idea, I was the owner of a Daz Exclusive 3D printed Figure they sent me for free when they created their 3D-printing shop. That figure was sent to the 500 best customers of the site (I say "was" because I, unfortunately, made it fall a few months ago and it shattered in pieces -_-). In a bit more than a year, I had reached the rank of the top 500 customers. Tells a lot about the amount I put in those 3D elements (I was kinda depressed back then so it was a sort of escape for me.) After that, I paused my purchase because I had to invest quite a lot in SoV's final rush. Then the game came out and I started working with PeakJump. I kept buying a few things here and there but nothing big. And at the end of 2016, I released v0.01 of The Hunter. Except the dates aren't the same anymore. We're at the end of 2016. Genesis 3 has been released for a year and a half, and (even if I don't know it yet) Genesis 8 is going to be released in 6 months.
Logic would've told me to use AT LEAST Genesis 3 to work on The Hunter. But I had thousands of dollars worth of product laying in my library. Even if they were G1 and G2, I had MUCH more choice there than if I had to buy G3 stuff.
So here's the core of everything: The Hunter was made with Genesis 1 & 2 figures at a time it should've been made with G3 ones (At least you know why, now.)
IV) Kaya's case and Why everything fell apart these last days
Normally at that point, I was supposed to only explain Kaya's case. But I'll have to mention what happened these last days so you can get a clearer idea of the whole problem.
As much as I love Kaya, she's a big problem for me. Her body is a Genesis 2 one. Her mapping (or texture if you prefer. The skin etc...) is based on a Victoria 5 version (so Genesis 1). Just with that, it can be problematic. But it's more or less fine. Thing is, through these last years I had the chance to do MANY MANY renders, especially with Kaya. And I was able to see what were the different problems I had with her.
One of the biggest ones is the genitals. This isn't a Kaya-only problem. It's a global G1/G2 problem. Even if I use a custom element (that is not Daz's base genitalia), it's a bit wonky and doesn't allow much without looking problematic. There's a reason you don't often have a big focus on Kaya's vagina: it's because it often looks bad :/
Another HUGE problem with genitals is the texture. Basically, you can't use anything else other than the base genitalia from Daz because custom genitals don't have a good way to merge texture between the genitals and the rest of the body. But Daz's genitals have no morphs so you can't do anything with those.
Thankfully, the creator of the custom genitals I use created a script back then that "create" the genital texture based on the body genitals. it's a bit complex but it worked like a charm. All the female G2 genitals you see in the game were textured thanks to that tool. Why am I complaining then? Because the last update of the script was in 2015 and meanwhile Daz Studio (the soft) evolved into v4.9, then 4.10 then 4.11... And since 4.9 the script doesn't work anymore.
Which means that if for some reason, I lose Kaya's genitals texture, I WOULDN'T be able to recreate it.
Oh, and since we're at it, here's a little extra I discovered today:
the original model I used for Kaya's skin has disappeared from the Internet. It's not on sale on Daz anymore. Let's hope I won't lose it then 8D.
And then, as time went by I added a few girls in the village, and I ended up using G3 to test it.
Lani is G3 for instance. Halycon too. And I discovered quite a whole new world with G3. ESPECIALLY genital-wise. To make it simple, the gap between G2 and G3 is so big in many areas that genital-wise it's day and night.
It took me a long time to attach a penis to Paige. It took me a few minutes to do it to Subject 74 (and it looks better). G3 introduced a new system of texturing that kinda allows getting rid of the limitations of G2. Basically, you don't need scripts anymore to apply a genital texture to a different genital model.
Which means things can't get obsolete (unlike scripts that are bound to how the soft is coded).
That's where I FINALLY reach the part where I talk about my original intention.
At some point when I was seeing how I was having trouble posing G2 models and how some G3 models looked better, I started to look into the possibility of making Kaya a Genesis 3 model. And if it sounds easy, believe me, it's ABSOLUTELY NOT easy. Let me show you the steps so you can see how long it can be:
1) Buy and install a tool on Daz that allows morphs from G2 to work on G3 (I remind you morphs are more or less the body modifications)
2) Note down ALL the morphs you've used on Kaya and note the value they're at (cause a morph always has a minimum and maximum value).
3) Create a G3 base model and apply all the above morphs at the right value
4) Finetune things because it's not EXACTLY looking the same.
5) Buy and install a tool on Daz allowing to use G1 or G2 textures on G3 body
6) Learn to use that tool and try to import properly Kaya's original skin on her new version.
At that point, I can show you a pic. Just to reach that part, it took me around 10 hours of work.
If you download them and zoom you can see the little differences but honestly, I think made a good job.
Knowing I was evolving towards G3, I decided to change more than Kaya's body. You probably didn't pay attention to it, but her haircut as always been a pain in the ass for me. Depending on how her neck/head is bending/turning, her bangs can grow longer or smaller without me being able to correct it. Or they can bend at 90° without anything justifying this movement. So I started to be in a "Let's improve Kaya totally" mode. And I started working on changing her haircut.
The goal was simple: I wanted her new model to be ready to implement for post v0.2 content. And when I saw what I was able to do with Kaya, I ALSO decided to convert all G2 females into G3 to make things easier for me in the future (even thought the preparation work would've been huge).
Normally, at that point, I should've stopped here. When I reached that point I was happy, I had managed to make a G3 model looking like a G2 one. I could have the benefits of G3 without losing anything. I was planning to change different girls, maybe take that chance to change their outfit to refresh a bit the cast, give them more realistic hairs (but keeping their original haircut though).
But things didn't go as planned. In my eagerness to try to convert G2 females into G3 females. I tried doing it with Jeanette. It worked like a charm, just like Kaya, I managed to have a G3 version of Jeanette that was almost identical to the original one. And then I gave her the genital element I was using on my G3 girls.
First disappointment: Because G2 morphs are NOT supposed to end up being used on a G3 model, the body modifications of Jeanette conflicts with the genitals (and I'm talking about a morph that changes Jeanette's whole body, so it's the core of her body, I can't remove it). Due to that conflict, Jeanette's genitals have a huge lump of flesh around the venus mount that I can't remove. It's ugly as fuck and I can't do anything about it (except removing Jeanette's morph, but it won't be Jeanette anymore). This problem COULD have a solution though: buy another genital set. The problem is that the one I'm using is so used by everyone that it has a lot of add-ons other sets don't have. And even if that wasn't a problem, the second problem came this morning and literally took my whole day to fix (without success). At the moment I'm writing this, I've been working literally for 10 hours in a row to try to find a solution and none worked, making me totally fucked.
Those genitals conflict with Jeanette's models but they don't conflict with Kaya's. That's awesome. I apply the genitals, then the texture... Then... Oh... Fuck me. The genitals are based for a model using G3 textures. The problem is: To be able to use Kaya's original textures I had to use a tool allowing me to put G2 textures on G3 models. That tool is for bodies, not genitalia (There are not tools for genitalia on Daz's shop since genitals are not supposed to be used). So I have a crotch area using G3 textures with a body using G2 textures. Where's the problem actually? Can't I just put the G2 texture on Kaya's crotch? And the answer is no. Let me explain you.
Basically, a 3D model has what is called a UV set. It's a sort of "texture skeleton". It defines how the texture files are going to recover the 3D model. Each generation has its UV Set. Since the 3D model change, the UV set changes too. But remember, all models are based on the original Model. So no matter the 3D model, as long as you use a G2 model, its textures will be compatible with the G2 UV Set (you won't have to tweak anything). But here things are more complex since it's G2 textures on G3 UV set. Which means the files aren't built the same way. There aren't many ways around that problem.
1) Trying to find a body texture to replace Kaya's --> No good. I looked into the shop of the creator of the original skin. He had tons of choices. Not a single one was close enough to Kaya. That solution is not good.
2) Trying to recreate Kaya's body texture thanks to a tool to create custom textures --> I spent 2 whole hours on it, never being able to reach the right skin color and even if I did, the options for freckles and stuff were way too few to be able to recreate Kaya's skin. That solution is not good either.
3) The Blender way. There is technically a possibility to convert a G2 texture file into a G3 version. When it's ready the G3 version has all the spots that are different between G2 and G3 black. After that, it's your photoshop skill that has to handle it. I'm not mentioning it but the set-up is to create figures on Daz, import them on Blender, make a ton of things on Blender to be able to get those files. That alone was ALSO 2 hours long. And I tried to fill the black spots on Photoshop. The result is good. Yet it can't be used. For some reason I didn't manage to understand, even though the body color is the same than the genitals, there's a slight color difference between the bottom of the belly and the rest of the body. This solution is no good either.
4) The "Fuck it I give up" way. Remove the awesome genitalia set and put Daz's base genitalia. It works. I can buy a small pack of morphers to have a few options on the genitals, but it'll be far from the possibilities I could've had with the original set I was using.
And as if the software was nicely telling me "Go to Hell" after all that stuff, I also discovered that G2-converted models into G3 don't work with all the poses (those automatic full pose you can also buy on the store). Some work, but some don't 8D
So this is where I am now. I was eager to make everyone evolve into G3 but I simply can't. Unless I take that base genitals option. But even if solves things, it doesn't change the fact that I was clearly told: "G2 morphs on G3 figures are bound to fuck things up". So I'm a bit lost for now. Kaya will remain G3 because I want her too. But I don't know if I'll take the time to change the other women into G3...
One thing is sure, though: Kaya's look will change after v0.2. I know many of you will be displeased with it. But hey, at least she keeps her body and skin. I'm only changing her hair and clothes
I apologize for the length of the post (and the amount of mistakes, it took me 2 hours to write that and it's midnight so I'm slightly beat, especially after seeking a solution for the whole day).
The third one will be shorter but will also be crucial for the future of The Hunter (and you'll get to participate too through a VERY important poll).
See you o/