During a livestream yesterday, DAZ announced the latest iteration of their Genesis poseable figures; Genesis 9. Genesis 9 will follow on from Genesis 8.1, announced at the beginning of 2021. Genesis 8 has been around for over five years and has sustained a lively ecosystem of clothing, accessories, environments and other props for which DAZ is primarily known.
The preview page for Victoria 9 (the flagship introduction model) touts several improvements, including more detailed meshes, morphs, 8K textures and better rigging. One thing of note is that it looks like the base Genesis 9 model will include both feminine and masculine traits, eliminating the need for female and male models. While Genesis 8 provided limited backwards compatibility with earlier generations (notably Genesis 3), it’s as of yet unknown how Genesis 9 will perform in terms of compatibility with older models. According to several people who watched the livestream, character skins from older generations aren’t compatible.
DAZ is also still working on a new version of DAZ Studio, the free software used to create and render scenes using content from the DAZ storefront. It’s unknown if the new version, DAZ Studio 5, will be released in conjunction with the debut of Victoria 9. Considering the higher definition of the new generation of Genesis model in terms of poly count and texture fidelity, the DAZ Studio software is in dire need of an upgrade as it often struggles to handle the HD content of the current Genesis generation.
