| Q: | Why couldn't you just release a UTC Victoria 4 plugin? |
| A: | In many ways Victoria 4 "broke the mould" of Poser figures. In the past, textures were generally split up into the same groups: Body, Head, Eyes, etc. Victoria 4 changed this by being grouped into Face, Torso, Limbs, etc. This means to convert a head texture from Victoria 4 to Victoria 3, the application needed to combine parts of the V4 Face map, parts of the V4 Mouth map (Tongue and inner mouth), and parts of the V4 Torso map (back of head and ears). This obviously complicated matters considerably, and was just not very compatible with the UTC method of doing things.
TC2 loads all the source maps at once, and therefore can easily handle creating texture maps from several different source texture maps. |
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| Q: | Why is TC2 PC-only, where's the Mac support? |
| A: | Developing software that works on both PC and Mac platforms is expensive and time-consuming. Unfortunately, currently we just don't have the resources to put into a Mac version of TC2.
We have looked at a few alternatives, like Java, REALBasic and various online options - however, due to TC2's rather complex graphic and memory requirements for rendering, none of these were a viable option. |
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| Q: | Why does TC2 try connect to the internet? |
| A: | TC2 will be constantly updated based on user feedback. To ensure that you have the latest version of application and plugins, TC2 will periodically check wether newer versions are available online. No personal information is sent to the site and all version comparisons are done on your local pc. This check can also be done manually by clicking on the "Check for Update" button on the top toolbar. If a newer version of the software or plugins is available, you will be directed to more detailed information about the new build. |
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| Q: | Why are UTC plugins not compatible with TC2? |
| A: | Due to many differences in the new method of converting textures that TC2 uses, compatibility with legacy UTC plugins became very limiting and restrictive. By making a break from the legacy plugin format, TC2 wil be able to support far more figures and models in future. |
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| Q: | Why is the high-quality renders slower than the low quality renders? |
| A: | When creating a high-quality render, TC2 samples five textures pixels before choosing a resulting pixel color (this is called bilinear filtering). This creates a much smoother texture, and reduces jagged edges and hard lines. Sampling five pixels instead of just one, however, does slow down the render time considerably. As an example - converting from Victoria 4 to Victoria 3 at 4096x4096 samples 154 million pixels!
We suggest you use one of the lower, low quality render methods until you are ready to render your final texture. |
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| Q: | Why are details on my texture "stretched" in places (lips, eye makeup, tattoos, etc.)? |
| A: | TC2 uses various complex methods to rearrange the texture from one format to another. Because some figures are very different in structure (e.g. leg length, etc.), stretching will occur. Picture it like different shaped people trying out the same latex superhero outfit - on some body shapes, it just has to stretch more. |
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| Q: | How to I convert bump/transparence/specular maps? |
| A: | TC2 is made to convert and create material settings files for the basic texture (diffuse) maps. You can convert them by selecting them from the texture map drop down if you browsed to a MAT file (Multiple textures are indicated by a [...] button next to the texture map name), or you can browse to these texture files manually. Conversion is the same, but you will need to set up the extended textures yourself in the program of choice. |
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| Q: | Why do transparent textures (.png files) take longer to render? |
| A: | When rendering to or from an image that contains transparency, the render process for each pixel has to be duplicated, once for the texture color, and once for the alpha level (transparency). Once the render is complete for each texture map, the resulting maps have to be recombined to create the final image. All of this takes extra time and will have an effect on the render times. |
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| Q: | What do I need if I want to convert textures from Victoria 3 to Victoria 4 or Victoria 4 to Victoria 3? |
| A: | You need a plugin for each figure in the conversion process. To convert from Victoria 3 to Victoria 4 or Victoria 4 to Victoria 3, you would need both the Victoria 3 plugin and the Victoria 4 plugin. |
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| Q: | Why do I have seams on my textures if I don't use the "Border Bleed" setting? |
| A: | Because the layout and resolution of polygons (polygon flow) in various figures differ considerably, the seams/edges on the plugin UV maps sometimes can't match perfectly. When converting between textures, this can result in slight seams. For this reason, TC2 has a "Border Bleed" feature that should be used. |
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| Q: | What is the "UV Bleed"? |
| A: | TC2 contains this feature to prevent unwanted seams on the rendered texture maps. When a texture is being rendered, TC2 will locate all the UV borders, and "bleed" the edge texture slightly to ensure that when mapped onto the target figure, seams are not visible. The "bleed" amount can be adjusted, but it's best to leave it at it's maximum value. |
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| Q: | Why can't I convert certain details like eye reflection maps and transparent eyebrow maps? |
| A: | Plugins can only convert to and from details that have the same layout in both source and target figures. Victoria 4 uses part of her forehead as a large transparent eyebrow area, where most other figures have individual eyebrows modelled. It's impossible to convert from one format to the other, one long eyebrow just can't be converted into two smaller ones. Similarly, many figure models don't have a transparent layer surrounding each eyeball - TC2 can only convert to and from the same modelled features on each model. |
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| Q: | Why are male genitilia not supported? |
| A: | 3D Universe will not be supporting the conversion of male genitilia in any of our TC2 plugins, although they may be supported by a third party plugin.
We do not see 3D genitilia of either sex as a requirement for CG art. We have only seen it used in artwork bordering on soft porn, and will not support unethical or "porn" art in any way.
Please take this into consideration before purchasing any of the male plugins. |
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| Q: | Will there be support for the figures that UTC supported? |
| A: | Yes, over time, we will be developing TC2 plugins for the older figures (Victoria 2, Stephanie Petite, etc.). We will be developing these based on priority and demand. Click through to our Plugin Ranking page to vote your favorite plugin higher on the development schedule. |
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| Q: | How do I use my textures in Second Life? |
| A: | For more information on using your textures in Second Life - click through to our Second Life Walkthrough. |
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| Q: | Will we ever see 3rd Party plugins (non 3D Universe plugins) being developed? |
| A: | We've made it real easy to create plugins for TC2. In fact, all you have to do is remap the Victoria 4 OBJ file to match your intended figure. We will gladly help you by generating the actual plugin files, and are even looking into creating an online plugin compiler. |
Frequently asked Questions:
