User Manual for G2-G8

G2-G8 Character Converter User Manual

©2020, RiverSoftArt
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1
Features .................................................................................................................................................... 1
Character Converter...................................................................................................................................... 2
Convert Custom Character............................................................................................................................ 6
Conversion Notes .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Introduction
Convert your favorite Genesis 2 characters to new Genesis 8 characters! The Character Converter from
Genesis 2 Female to Genesis 8 Female or the Character Converter from Genesis 2 Male to Genesis 8 Male
transfer the morphs from beloved Genesis 2 characters to the latest generation, Genesis 8. The
Character Converter scripts provide easy batch execution for automatically converting your Genesis 2
Character to a Genesis 8 Character in your library. Even better, icons and categories are copied from
your original Genesis 2 Character to the new Genesis 8 Character. You can also automatically apply
Genesis 8 materials to your converted character as part of the conversion process.

The new Character Converter script is extremely simple to use. Just select the characters to convert and
click execute! There is also a Convert Custom Character script which will copy a Genesis 2 character in
the scene, with all currently used morphs, to a Genesis 8 character.

The Character Converter script cannot properly convert all Genesis 2 characters, especially as Genesis 2
characters have a higher polygon count. Characters with extreme morphs may have problems, especially
around the eyes. HD resolution characters are converted to base resolution characters. Bulge maps, the
Genesis 2 equivalent to corrective morphs (i.e., JCMs/MCMs), are not converted. Multi-part characters
(e.g., a character that loads a figure and separate horns) cannot be converted. Material presets are also
not converted. Items without metadata can be converted but will not show up in Smart Content. They
may also need to be converted using a Force Convert Item(s) button.

Features

• Convert Genesis 2 Characters to Genesis 8 Characters!

• Mix morphs in your scene to create entirely new characters and then convert them to new
Genesis 8 characters
• Copies icons from the Genesis 2 Character to the Genesis 8 Character for a professional look
• Copy the default materials loaded with the Genesis 2 Characters to the Genesis 8 Characters
• Automatically convert almost your entire library of Characters with one operation!

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Character
Converter
The Character Converter
scripts transfer the morphs
from beloved Genesis 2
characters to the latest
generation, Genesis 8. The
Character Converter scripts
provide easy batch
execution for automatically
converting your Genesis 2
Character to a Genesis 8
Character in your library.
Even better, icons and
categories are copied from
your original Genesis 2
Character to the new
Genesis 8 Character. You
can also automatically
apply Genesis 8 materials
to your converted
character as part of the
conversion process.

The Character Converter

script cannot properly Figure 1 – Character Converter Dialog
convert all Genesis 2
characters. Characters with extreme morphs may have problems, especially around the eyes. Bulge
maps, the Genesis 2 equivalent to corrective morphs (i.e., JCMs/MCMs), are not converted.

To use the Character Converter script is easy. You add Genesis 2 Character preset files to a list, specify
the output directory, and then execute the script! That is it.

The Character Converter script will clear in any content in the current scene. Please save any work before
using the script.

To use the Character Converter script:

• Create a New, Empty Scene. Warning: This script will delete all items in the scene.
• Click Set Character Output Directory... button to define the output directory where the
converted Character items will be saved. This should be the top-level directory, such as
/People/Genesis 8/Female/Characters (for G2F to G8F) or /People/Genesis 8/Male/Characters
(for G2M to G8M). It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you select the DAZ 3D/Studio/My Library
and create a Genesis 8/Female/Characters or Genesis 8/Male/Characters folder. You could use
the My DAZ 3D Library path; however, the Character converter could overwrite vendor created

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 content. If you are using Connect, do not create this directory in Daz Studio's "...data/cloud..."
directory or the Character will not load correctly.
• Add Character presets to the input list, use the Add Files or Add Directory buttons to select
Character presets from your library. Only files with a checkbox are converted during execution.
If you use the Add Directory button, it will include all .duf files in that directory and every
subdirectory. Files that are not Character files are automatically removed from the list.
• Specify the Material Preset action. By default, the script will attempt to find matching Genesis 8
materials for each character, e.g., Gia 8 materials for Gia 6. You can change what material
preset is used by selecting a character (i.e., highlighting it), and clicking the Change Material
Preset button at the bottom of the list. The drop-down list specifies all the materials the script
knows about on your system. This list can possibly change as you install more Genesis 8
characters. There are two special “materials” in the drop-down list:
o Do Not Copy – no materials will be saved with your converted character
o Copy From Original – Copy the Genesis 2 materials to your Genesis 8 materials. Note
that usually this will NOT work. This option is available for compatibility with the
Genesis 3 Character Conversion scripts.
• Set your execution options
o The Stopping Condition combo box controls what the script should do when it
encounters an error while converting Character:
▪ Stop On Error - Stop execution when an error occurs. No more Characters will
be converted.
▪ Continue On Error - Continue execution when an error occurs. The rest of the
script for the current preset is skipped. This Characters may not be converted
completely. Execution will continue with the next preset.
o The Overwrite Condition combo box controls what the script should do when a character
preset already exists in the output directory for this current Character. This condition
can occur if you have bought the Genesis 8 version of your Character already OR when
you run this script twice:
▪ Overwrite - Overwrite old file with the new file.
▪ Skip - Skip and don't save the conversion. Go to the next Character in your list.
▪ Ask - Prompt for what to do when an existing file might be overwritten
(Overwrite or Skip). You will receive this prompt for every Character file that will
be overwritten. Click Cancel to end script execution.

Note that morph files are controlled by the Overwrite Existing Morphs checkbox.

o The Check Content Type When Adding Files checkbox checks the content type when
using the Add Files button. If you turn this option off, any file will be added. On
execution, the script will load the file, whatever it is. However, the script will still only
convert items that are a Character on execution. Turning this option off is ONLY
recommended if you are having trouble getting the script to recognize specific Character
files.

Note: Turning this option off will slow conversion because of loading a lot of false
positives. You also must be very sure of which files you add to the dialog. This option
does not affect the Add Directory button.

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o The Ignore Daz Bought Files check box controls how the Add Directory button works
when the script detects that a Character has been purchased before (i.e., you have
already bought the Genesis 8 Character. When this option is true (default), the script
will only add new Character items to the Character list that have not been purchased
before.
Note: To detect Daz Bought Character items, the script attempts to find the exact same
Character filename but in the Genesis 8 Female or Genesis 8 Male directories. A lot of
times this won’t work as the Character artist has put G8F or something else slightly
different in the name.
o The Ignore Previously Converted Files checkbox controls how the Add Directory button
works when the script detects that a Character has already been converted (i.e., the
Character Preset file exists in the output directory structure). When this option is true,
the script will only add new Characters to the Character list that have not been
converted before.
o The Overwrite Existing Morphs checkbox controls whether previously converted morphs
will be overwritten. This option controls what happens with the current character's
morphs only. When you convert the same character twice, should they be overwritten or
preserved? This option has no effect on other characters' morphs. When morphs are
overwritten, the script can take significantly longer than usual. It is recommended to
close Daz Studio and delete the morphs yourself from Windows Explorer. The morphs
should be located in data/DAZ 3D/Genesis 8/Female/Morphs under the FIRST
directory for Daz Studio Formats specified in the Content Directory Manager.
o The Convert Corrective Morphs (JCMs and MCMs) checkbox controls whether the
corrective morphs are converted with the character. The script will attempt to convert
any JCMs/MCMs on the figure; however, there are usually none or few JCMs on Genesis
2 figures. Genesis 2 figures uses Bulge maps for bend correction, which are not
supported by this script.
o The Hide Eyes checkbox controls whether the script will hide the eyes during the
conversion process. This option controls whether the script avoids the eyes being used
in the conversion process. In general, this option gives the best results when
converting with the 2019 conversion method. Since the 2020 Conversion method
provides the best results, this option should rarely be needed.
o The Head Morph Label Prefix edit box provides the prefix to help identify head morphs
for use with the 2020 conversion process.
o The Conversion Process radio group defines which conversion method to use when
converting morphs. It is highly recommended to use the 2020 conversion method, as it
gives the best results. The other two methods are provided for compatibility with the
Genesis 3 to Genesis 8 conversion scripts, and for edge cases that might be better
served by their processes.
▪ Original Method (Legacy) – Turn the Tolerance slider way down (e.g., 0.005 or
less) for this method. The Hide Eyes checkbox should not be checked.
▪ 2019 Method - The Hide Eyes checkbox should be checked with this option.
Lower tolerances are helpful.

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 ▪ 2020 Method - The Hide Eyes checkbox should not be checked. Lower
tolerances are helpful.
o The Tolerance slider defines the distance squared tolerance for calculating the
projection when transferring the morphs from the Genesis 2 to the Genesis 8 character.
Note: You can remove eye and fingertip distortion on most morphs by having a distance
tolerance of 0.06 or lower (e.g., 0.0005), though this parameter is most important with
the Original Conversion Process.

• When you are ready, click the Execute button to execute the script on your list of presets. The
Log tab includes a detailed log of the executed script. Characters that could not be converted
will be left checked in your list.

The Character Converter script copies currently used morphs (i.e., morphs that have a
value greater than 0), and the corrective morphs (JCMs and MCMs), if any, for those
morphs, from each Genesis 2 character loaded to Genesis 8. It also creates a
controller property, named after the character, to dial up these morphs. Finally, it
creates a character preset for the new Genesis 8 character.

The Execute from Selected, Convert item(s), and Force Convert Item(s) button execute the script to
convert Characters but do it in different ways from the Execute button:

• Execute from Selected – Unlike the Execute button which starts from the very beginning of the
list and continues until the end of the list, the Execute from Selected button starts from first
currently selected item and continues until the end of the list.
• Convert Item(s) – Converts the selected Characters only (and only those that are checked). You
can select multiple items by using the Ctrl key or the Shift key while left clicking.
• Force Convert Item(s) - For items that could not be converted, you can select them and click the
Force Convert Item(s) button. This button is available to force conversion of items, ignoring any
errors encountered. You should carefully check each selected item to make sure that these are
items that should be forced. Forcing conversion should work but is not guaranteed and may
make the script unstable.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Immediately after conversion, Daz Studio’s Smart Content system may
occasionally show the old Genesis *2* presets (as well as the new, converted Genesis *8* presets) as
compatible with your Genesis 8 character. Quit Daz Studio and restart to fix this issue.

On some systems, the Character Converter may crash Daz Studio after execution.
This seems to be related to the number and type of errors that load with the base
Genesis 8 figure. The characters will have been converted, however, and will work
normally when you restart Daz Studio.

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Convert Custom
Character
The Convert Custom Character
script copies a Genesis 2
character in the scene, with all
currently used morphs and their
corrective morphs, to a Genesis
8 character in the scene. This
script will convert the morphs to
Genesis 8 and create a new
controller property (named after
the character) on Genesis 8. It
does not create a character
preset. Only the active morphs
(i.e., those morphs with a value
greater than 0) and their
corrective morphs (JCMs and
MCMs), if any, are copied.
Bulge maps, the Genesis 2
equivalent to corrective morphs
(i.e., JCMs/MCMs), are not
converted. The morphs and
controller property are saved to
the data/DAZ 3D/Genesis Figure 2 - Convert Custom Character Dialog
8/(Fe)male/Morphs/VENDOR
NAME/PRODUCT NAME directory.

To use the Character Converter script:

• Create a Scene with a Genesis 2 character. Dial up morphs on the character as desired. The
character should be without clothes or hair, the default pose, and at the origin.
• Add a Genesis 8 Basic character to the scene.
• Select the Genesis 2 character
• CTRL select the Genesis 8 character
• Double-click the script icon
• Set your execution options
o Enter a Vendor name. By default, the vendor name is the author specified in Daz Studio.
The vendor and product names are used to specify where the morphs will be saved.
o Enter a Product name. The vendor and product names are used to specify where the
morphs will be saved.
o Enter a Character name. The character name is used to name the controller property to
dial up and down the copied morphs.
o The Overwrite Existing Morphs checkbox controls whether previously converted morphs
will be overwritten. This option controls what happens with the current character's

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 morphs only. When you convert the same character twice, should they be overwritten or
preserved? This option has no effect on other characters' morphs. When morphs are
overwritten, the script can take significantly longer than usual.
o The Convert Corrective Morphs (JCMs and MCMs) checkbox controls whether the
corrective morphs are converted with the character. The script will attempt to convert
any JCMs/MCMs on the figure; however, there are usually none or few JCMs on Genesis
2 figures. Genesis 2 figures uses Bulge maps for bend correction, which are not
supported by this script.
o The Hide Eyes checkbox controls whether the script will hide the eyes during the
conversion process. This option controls whether the script avoids the eyes being used
in the conversion process. In general, this option gives the best results when
converting with the 2019 conversion method. Since the 2020 Conversion method
provides the best results, this option should rarely be needed.
o The Conversion Process radio group defines which conversion method to use when
converting morphs. It is highly recommended to use the 2020 conversion method, as it
gives the best results. The other two methods are provided for compatibility with the
Genesis 3 to Genesis 8 conversion scripts, and for edge cases that might be better
served by their processes.
▪ Original Method (Legacy) – Turn the Tolerance slider way down (e.g., 0.005 or
less) for this method. The Hide Eyes checkbox should not be checked.
▪ 2019 Method - The Hide Eyes checkbox should be checked with this option.
Lower tolerances are helpful.
▪ 2020 Method - The Hide Eyes checkbox should not be checked. Lower
tolerances are helpful.
o The Tolerance slider defines the distance squared tolerance for calculating the
projection when transferring the morphs from the Genesis 2 to the Genesis 8 character.
Note: You can remove eye and fingertip distortion on most morphs by having a distance
tolerance of 0.06 or lower (e.g., 0.0005), though this parameter is most important with
the Original Conversion Process.
• When you are ready, click the Accept button to execute the script.

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Conversion Notes
The Character Converter script is not perfect. The script may not be able to convert all Characters
without issues.

The Character Converter dialog displays a “No NEW Files Detected” or does not show some Character
items when adding to the list. The Character Converter script automatically filters out all presets that
do not have a content type of Actor/Character. This is by design to avoid unknown files as this script has
been carefully crafted to try and convert Characters without errors as much as possible. If you are
absolutely positive that a file is a Characters, you can turn off the Check Content Type option and use
the Add Files… button to add those files. If you turn this option off, any file will be added. On execution,
the script will load the file, whatever it is and whatever it does. The script will still only convert items
that are Characters on execution. Turning this option off is ONLY recommended if you are having
trouble getting the script to recognize specific Character files.

Note: Turning this option off will slow conversion because of loading a lot of false positives. You also
must be very sure of which files you add to the dialog. This option does not affect the Add Directory
button.

The Character Converter script may

have issues with items on a network
share. You need to mount a drive
pointing to your network share
Character items and point the script
at the mounted drive.

The Character Converter scripts

executes but no files show up in my
output directory. Check if your
output directory is known by the
Content Manager. Go to Edit |
Preferences… In the Content tab,
click the Content Directory Manager
button. Finally, select/highlight DAZ
Studio Formats then click Directory
ADD button and add your output
directory.

Figure 3 - Crinkling or crumpling around the eyes at 0.06 tolerance

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 There is crinkling or crumpling
around the eyes of my converted
character. This behavior has to do
with the tolerance value being wrong
for the character. If you get a weird
wrinkle distortion in the cheek area,
the tolerance is too big. It can be a
good idea to do a separate pass with
the larger head morph to fine-tune
the needed tolerance. To do a
separate pass, you MUST turn off the
Overwrite Existing Morphs checkbox
(to prevent the other morphs from
being overwritten) and manually
delete the head morph for the
character (starts with FHM) that was
saved to data/DAZ 3D/Genesis
8/(Fe)male/Morphs/VENDOR
NAME/PRODUCT NAME. Start the
Character Converter, change the
tolerance to a lower value (such as
0.045) and try to convert only that
character.

When Genesis 8 loads, there are

“Duplicate Formulas” errors. This
Figure 4 - Tolerance at 0.02
error can occur when you have
converted the same character twice
(or more), and have unchecked the Overwrite Existing Morphs checkbox without deleting the morphs.
The best thing to do is delete all morphs and the controller property from the data/DAZ 3D/Genesis
8/(Fe)male/Morphs/VENDOR NAME/PRODUCT NAME folder and reconverting the character.

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