Noob Questions, Plans

[TommyTomahawk]

Hi, guys.

I'm Thomas. I'm currently going to school to become a proper 3D-artist - receiving training in Blender, Substance3D, ZBrush, and Unreal Engine. My evil/perverted alter ego meanwhile has been posing and rendering all sorts of degeneracy in DAZ Studio for about 12 years now. Now I found VAM. Amazing software, even if it uses older Genesis 2 models rather than the considerably superior Genesis 8 ones I'm accustomed to working with.

Anyway, I'm secretly a massive weirdo and I have a lifelong (and probably unhealthy) obsession with a particular fictional character, namely the cheerleader from Heroes, Claire Bennet. Something I've been trying for years and will continue to try as technology evolves, is to get as close as possible to a photorealitic 3D version of her (specifically, the way she looked back in '07... time has been kind to no one). For the past few days I've been playing with a free "look" simply called "hayden panettiere" (with an eclipse in the background) that since then appears to have been taken down (can't find it on the Hub, can't even remember who made it), though the model still works (suggesting the model is stored locally on my PC and not the cloud, right?). It's okay looking, but I'll be giving "Haydee Pantytiers" by sirap a try later on. If anyone has any "pro tips" for other creators who have made her (or would be willing to, for compensation) I'd love to hear about it.

I have been trying out some clothing, and found some that COULD be retextured to form her canon cheerleading outfit from seasons 2 and 3. The assets I'd like to retexture/have retextured (I'm 95% sure I lack the ability) are MeshedVR's Miss Kringle Dress (her outfit), and also MeshedVR's Errand shoes (I love ballet flats on women) and ST Sneakers (sporty shoes fit for a cheerleader). I'd also like to make a lighter version of "v1 Long Straight 1" hair.

Anyway, questions:

1) Is it even legal to retexture outfits? I certainly don't want to anger MeshedVR, who is basically God around here... I wouldn't try selling it, it's purely for personal use in my scenes.
2) How would one go about doing it? I tried looking for the actual texture sets but found nothing. Just generally, where are the assets even saved on the computer (the OBJ/FBX and textures)? Can I "save" them, back them up somehow, so I don't lose the asset should they be removed in a future update? In DAZ, I back up my asset folders constantly.
3) Are there people willing to create texture variations and such as paid commissions? I know the time that goes into (good) 3D, and I'll pay well.

More general questions:

4) Is it possible to just buy poses (maybe in packs, like in DAZ) and simply apply them to a character? In the Hub I only see morphs and "looks" (what's the difference?), but no poses.
5) In the scene, how do I load in environments? Currently my character is standing in the void, but what if I want to spawn in a proper environment? I found ways to manipulate and edit the character, but not much else.
6) Folder structures... where are my saved scenes on the computer?

Thanks so much in advance,

Tommy

 

[Johninvr]

No need to buy poses, there are hundreds, if not thousands of free ones here on the hub!

go to the advanced search, then scroll all the way to “search tags”. Once that is selected search for “pose pack”. You should get a bunch of results that have hundreds of free poses here on the hub.

For environments I typically load them first, then add either my character atoms or subscene with multiple atoms/animations to the environment. There’s multiple ways to do all of these things, if you search for a subscene tutorial it will walk you through how to import them.

have to go for now but if you are struggling I can try to assist further. I’m not the best here at all, but I can do the basics.

 

[TToby]

-Your saved scenes are located in yourvamfolder/saves/...
-Presets (appearance presets, for instance) are a bit more difficult to find:
yourvamfolder/custom/atom/person/...
-What you do at home for your private use will stay at home. What somebody don't know won't hurt somebody.
You have to think about Copyright if you want to share stuff.
-Clothes in VaM are imported via DAZ3d. You can use DAZ clothes, if you have a large collection.
-You can re-texture them by just press the customize button and change the different texture maps.
-If you have download the clothes recently, they are most likely coming in the .var formate.
-You can unpack a .var file with any unzip-tool. Normally you should not unpack them, because they will get automaticaly temporarily unpacked on use. But you can unpack them to see what is inside.
-Older clothes that didn't came as .var files, have to go to yourvamfolder/custom/clothes/creatorName/clothName...
-Re-texturing is the same like it would be in DAZ. As it comes as a 2d texture, tools like Photoshop are great.
-As a advanced 3d artist, you can use texturing tools, too. Best would be one that can paint over seams, but others will do it, too (Substance Painter? ZBrush?)
-You can load an environment to a scene by clicking the add-symbol and add an Custom Unity Asset (CUA)-Atom.
-Once you have added a CUA-Atom select it and use the file browser to load an Environment/CUA.
-Poses and stuff... I am a big VaM fan for years with gigabytes od VaM stuff... and I didn't have bought a single one of them. There are tons of great free stuff... you maybe want to check that out before spending money.
-As you are a DAZ pro and graphic artist: The real fun with VaM comes with creating stuff yourself. The possibilities are endless. Like in DAZ you can make your fantasies come real, but only better and maybe even in VR!!!
-There is a "Guides" section in "Ressources". The Wiki may give answers to quite some faq.

 

[TommyTomahawk]

"...yourvamfolder/custom/atom/person/..."
I checked the clothing folders in Custom, but all the folders are empty. No sign of the texture maps. I even did a windows search on the entire VAM folder, zero trace of those clothes anywhere. As a matter of fact, checking the atom folder, almost all of the texture folders are empty... And many hairstyles found in the game do not show up in the Hair folders. Atom/Person only contains empty folders, except for "Textures" which contains the basic skin MATs for Male and Female. Virtually all the data in gigabytes is in the Streaming Assets folder (16GB), which contains these weird "file" files with even weirder names. Nothing I can edit. This is bizarre.

Just to be clear, I am looking for the default texture maps for those basic MeshedVR clothes.

"Clothes in VaM are imported via DAZ3d. You can use DAZ clothes, if you have a large collection."
None for Genesis 2. I want to use the clothes I mentioned (the ones from MeshVR), because they already have the right design.

"You can re-texture them by just press the customize button and change the different texture maps."
You can switch out the texture map, sure. That's not what I mean by "re-texturing", though. Someone has to MAKE that texture map first, and that's what I'm asking about. How do I get my hands on the actual texture map, the PNGs (diffuse, subsurface, normal, etc.) and who has enough experience with actual texturing to make it into what I have in mind?

"Re-texturing is the same like it would be in DAZ. As it comes as a 2d texture, tools like Photoshop are great."
I've never retextured anything in my life. I buy assets from Renderosity and just hit apply. This is why I'm looking for a commission.

"As a advanced 3d artist, you can use texturing tools, too. Best would be one that can paint over seams, but others will do it, too (Substance Painter? ZBrush?)"
I'm not an advanced 3D-artist by any means. I'm a beginning student in my second month.

"You can load an environment to a scene by clicking the add-symbol and add an Custom Unity Asset (CUA)-Atom."
Is that a feature restricted to people with a Creator's license, by any chance?

"Poses and stuff... you maybe want to check that out before spending money."
I'll make sure to do that, thanks. What a welcome change from DAZ, where everything costs quite a bit of money!

"As you are a DAZ pro and graphic artist..."
Again, I'd love to, but I think you're misunderstanding my skill level. I don't make assets, and I never have. I buy other people's assets, do scene composition and make pretty renders. That's it, I've never really made anything original in my life (besides small changes to a texture map, like assing some blood effects and whatever).

"There is a "Guides" section in "Resources"."
Thanks, I'll check it out.

You sure there's no one in this community who works commissions?

 

[TommyTomahawk]

No need to buy poses, there are hundreds, if not thousands of free ones here on the hub!

go to the advanced search, then scroll all the way to “search tags”. Once that is selected search for “pose pack”. You should get a bunch of results that have hundreds of free poses here on the hub.

For environments I typically load them first, then add either my character atoms or subscene with multiple atoms/animations to the environment. There’s multiple ways to do all of these things, if you search for a subscene tutorial it will walk you through how to import them.

have to go for now but if you are struggling I can try to assist further. I’m not the best here at all, but I can do the basics.

This is GREAT advice, thanks so much.

 

[TToby]

Hi, again.

-All the textures and stuff of the build-in clothes etc, are hidden and not legally accessible in the VaM StreaminAsset system files. This is because VaM uses original DAZ stuff with only a limited license. You know this strict licensing rules from DAZ.
-Therefore you won't find anything of this in the "Custom" folder (or anywhere else). This folder is for your own custom stuff and some older download stuff.
-If you have download stuff as .Var files, you won't find any other files, too. Stuff from.Var files are zip packaged and will only be temporarily unpacked at runtime.

-I am sure there are users who will take commissions. A simple re-texturing (depends on the quality level) is nothing special, but maybe you have to be more clear about what you want.
I would suggest to take a screenshot of the clothing item you want to be retextured, and a picture of how it should looks like. Then write some short lines and post everything at the "request" section. "I want THIS to look like THAT, will pay money".

-With some additional DAZ tools, you can make almost every clothings from one generation fit to another.
-With a bit of learning, yo can re-use a lot of DAZ stuff in VaM.
-Sorry for misunderstanding your skill level. It is maybe because it reminds me a lot of my own former development background. Suggestion: If no one is answering to your request, maybe you can take this as a good practice project for your studies? I know a lot of 3d artists who have started this way. For some degrees, I can answer further questions.

 

[TToby]

I still forget to answer one of your questions:
Yes, for using VaM with all functions, you will need the Creator tier.
Every other tier is more or less for testing or very basic usage.

 

[TommyTomahawk]

reply

"All the textures and stuff of the build-in clothes etc, are hidden and not legally accessible in the VaM StreaminAsset system files. This is because VaM uses original DAZ stuff with only a limited license. You know this strict licensing rules from DAZ."

That's... incredibly disappointing, though understandable. I may to go on the hunt for Genesis 2 clothing items on the DAZ store that look similar, or maybe even the same ones. If it's MY license, and my files, I can edit them.

"...you have to be more clear about what you want."

I'm not new to commissioning. This thread wasn't meant to be a commission request, which I why I did not go into details. I have a mountain of reference material available for when I make my request (and get access to files they can actually edit). And obviously I'll pay. I've gotten other artists to make that exact outfit before, for my Victoria 4, Genesis 3 and Genesis 8 versions of the character.

"With some additional DAZ tools, you can make almost every clothings from one generation fit to another. With a bit of learning, yo can re-use a lot of DAZ stuff in VaM."

That does sound interesting. I have an excellent cheerleader outfit for Genesis 3 and one for Genesis 8. If I could somehow convert them to Genesis 2 and import them into VAM, that'd be perfect!

"If no one is answering to your request, maybe you can take this as a good practice project for your studies?"

I had the same thought, but my workload is crushing. I have 7 face sculpts, a high poly prop, and a prop textured in Mixer all due for the end of the month. Not to mention a 10-page movie script. I have almost zero time for anything outside of my mandatory assignments.

But hey, thanks. I'll be sure to upgrade to Creator and check out some guides as to how to convert and import these Genesis 3/8 outfits.

 

[DJ]

You want textures for the built in clothing? Check out Wardrobe, a free download of various textures for the built in clothes. They aren't the original textures (as they are copyrighted), but they are alternative textures that, most importantly, give you the UV sets you need for further customization.

 

[TommyTomahawk]

You want textures for the built in clothing? Check out Wardrobe, a free download of various textures for the built in clothes. They aren't the original textures (as they are copyrighted), but they are alternative textures that, most importantly, give you the UV sets you need for further customization.

That's a great tip, thanks! But I already managed to import a great alternative from my DAZ library.