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Mairy/3Dream hair products are terrific (I have bought at Rendo and here at DAZ)... I love the versatility and multiple fits across base models and between sexes. (did I get that under the wire)
The name of the video is "DAZ 3D in action", but the link to see the video is "DAZ Studio in Action". I see how it could be confusing for someone new to this. I don't think there is any intended deception, just some confusion.
Good point. I hadn't noticed that. I'll speak with the design team.
I should point out that this has been a problem for a while now. I raised an almost identical concern about the wording of a previous front page ad claim, which incorrectly claiming that all DAZ products worked in DAZ Studio. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/39500/ There have also been an increasing number of posts regarding where the text in the newsletters, on-site text and banners and other information streams have been either unclear, contradictory, inaccurate or simply missing key verbiage. Clearly, there's a fundamental disconnect going on somewhere, and since the same problems don't affect Rendo, RDNA and... well, everybody else, it's clearly something within the DAZ promotional chain.
And with that in mind, there's really only one solution:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo3uxqwTxk0&feature=kp
Perhaps DAZ figures look better? I am very curious if anybody still uses Dork, for instance. Or all those figures that are supported by hairstyles made by Mairy/3Dream at Rendo. They look somehow hideously by today's standards, but that's just a humble opinion.
Oh yes, sadly, I have to totally agree with you. I guess Poser is purposedly not letting out their dynamic technologies to DAZ. On another hand, they don't seem very happy with DSON (I wonder how hard they still try to make it more compatible). But that's raging capitalism.
SMS can hardly be be blamed for the choices DAZ has made over the years yet it always seems to come do to that. DAZ chose Optitex rather than Size8 for cloth dynamics. They chose not add a face room. No, the scaled back version of FaceGen isn't perfect but it's better than nothing.. The list goes on and on.
One thing I don't really understand (and maybe it's because I'm more a file hacker and not a coder) is why DAZ refuses to port figures like Genesis and the G2F/M figures to Poser. Dawn (she isn't the greatest) and the new horse are examples. I've compared the DAZ Horse2 and the DAZ version of the Hivewire Horse. The DS version of the Hivewire Horse bends better and moves realistically compared to Horse 2.
I don't believe it's that DAZ refuses to port Genesis to Poser, it's that Genesis is a new technology that uses things that are not native to Poser. The thing to remember is that SmithMIcro makes the majority of their money by selling a program that allows you to use 3D content, only some of which comes from DAZ, whereas DAZ makes their money by selling content that can be used with a program, only one of which is Poser.
So, for Smith Micro, the most important thing is to keep their users locked into buying each new upgrade of Poser. However, because Poser was first developed back in what were essentially the dark ages of 3D, and went through a number of different developers along the way, it's a pretty quirky system that doesn't tolerate radical changes easily. Add to that the fact that the Poser user-base is fairly slow to move up to the latest versions of the software, and SM's focus has been on keeping everything as backwards compatible as they can. Especially since they've already gone through their own equivalent of the Genesis brou-de-ha once in the past, back when they introduced Poser 5/Poser Pro pack and made major changes to how materials were handled that a lot of Poser users weren't happy about.
Whereas DAZ started out as a company that made product for Poser, and DAZ Studio followed as a way of expanding the market beyond the folks who weren't able/willing to spend a $100 or more on Poser. However, since the base version of DS was always a freebie, that gave DAZ a lot more leeway in terms of what they could do between versions, as even if they changed something radically, the vast majority of the DS customer base would always be able to upgrade as soon as the new version came out. Even so, DAZ took a pretty big risk by saying "we think there's a better way to do this" and tossing out a lot of the older tech in favor of new stuff that wasn't backwards compatible with Poser. DSON is a workaround designed to make Genesis usable with Poser, but in order for Poser to fully integrate Genesis, SM would have to make major changes to Poser, at their own expense, when the primary beneficiary of those changes would be DAZ, who with DS4 has become their primary competitor.
I didn't know this and I went in search of Size8 to learn more. I found an old article, dated 2004, talking about a Size8 cloth plug-in for 3ds Max and how it was already the "de facto" standard, does that mean that Poser dynamic clothing is usable in 3ds Max?
The Genesis in poser topic has been discussed ad nauseum, I remember the reason I left poser was the lack of Genesis support.
It's all about the SSS and weight mapping differences if I remember correctly.
You have to consider the methodology behind doing 2 figures for each app. If you look at Dawn, you find quickly that the burden of making content for both falls to the vendor to make things twice. Rigging twice, weightmapping twice, materials twice. Also you see that the content is slanted towards one app and you hardly get content for another, so there's lots of begging vendors to make for the other app, but generally never happens, even with the service the hivewire provides. So you see people leaving the figure alone after the initial investment because they can't get content. Also because each application has a different set of capabilities, content in one app may not be able to do things in another. If you take a look at their forums you'll find that this methodology isn't working as all the content is slanted towards one app, that's probably why DAZ didn't do it. And I'm glad they didn't because I refuse to do double work or more for about the same amount of profit, that's not worth my time to even consider. You'll also notice in how the releases fair because of it; the DAZ horse was released with a lot of content and vendors made content to coincide with the release. The hivewire horse, well just had the horse and everyone was waiting on a saddle, which is rather a sad release; I'll be curious how their male figure will fair considering the lack of male support in this industry.
With Genesis, if the content is constructed properly, the vendor is able to weightmap and rig the content once (still have to do the materials for each app) and the content works in both applications. Since the functionality is emulated in Poser, it does run slower but at least they generally work in both application so the vendor does not have to do a lot of work for the profit they get.
For me one example of those is why a native Poser version should never arrive for the Genesis platform. There are plentiful of items released for the native Poser figure that won't work at all in DAZ Studio and I do not want to bother with that - it is a failed attempt. DAZ Studio users already got this to a somewhat lesser extent with V4 - no, don't want to have that again.
I don't know the reasons why DAZ chooses to not make a Poser version of Genesis and/or Genesis 2 available to users. Hivewire3D has shown that it can be done as have several vendors who sell here. Mec4D, RawArt, and Virtual World being 3 of them.
I would think in today's economy, DAZ would consider opening that particular market rather than closing it.
Size8 software provided soft body/cloth dynamics to 3dsMax back in the days were it was owned by Discreet. As for weight mapping, Poser uses vertex weight mapping that is common to most mid and high end software packages. I'm not expecting DAZ to give away it's secrets regrading Tirax and HD. I just don't see what's so bad about offer users a choice.
I didn't know this and I went in search of Size8 to learn more. I found an old article, dated 2004, talking about a Size8 cloth plug-in for 3ds Max and how it was already the "de facto" standard, does that mean that Poser dynamic clothing is usable in 3ds Max?
At the time the article was written, Max was still owned by Discreet. I'd have to load one of my older versions (like Max5 or Max6) to see. Once AutoDesk bought Max, who knows what changes they made. The biggest issue I had with Max6 and Poser 5 was that I needed a third party plugin and had to import each of the outfit into Max as an obj file. Then I had to re-rig the obj files that needed rigging. The cloth props were ok but size was an issue.
Actually Poser doesn't use weightmapping common to the other packages; DS does in addition to the triax weightmapping. Poser uses weightmapping bolted on to their legacy rigging system, so you have to group, rig and weight map items. DAZ did offer the triax weightmapping to SM, but SM chose not to use it. HD is available to anyone wishing to sell those items through DAZ's storefront.
As far as offering the users a choice, ultimately it's the vendors that have to support those choices. DAZ chose to make it easier for vendors to bring products to market, that's why you see more Genesis 2 items than Dawn for both platforms (or even Dawn items for one platform). That's why you see different types of custom humans and creatures for Genesis 1 and 2 because the tools and the platform makes it easier to concentrate on the product rather than fits and platform compatibility, which would not get if you had to make a character for each platform... which you would have to trim down on the product because not everything works the same on each platform and one platform is restricted to certain body shapes otherwise clothes will no longer fit. So in Hivewire's test of giving the user the "choice", you see that most of the products are for one platform over another; so in the end the user's on one platform really don't have a choice except to look at other figures for their needs.
Close -- it's a difference in how surface subdivision (SubD) is handled, not subsurface scattering (SSS). And the weigh mapping differences, and the way morphs are transferred to clothing-- so, everything that makes up the Genesis platform, essentially.
Cybersox13 provided an excellent summary, I think. I regret the increasing lack of compatibility between the two programs, but I don't think either vendor is denying software technology to the other (with the possible exception of HD morphs). The two companies aren't driven by the same priorities. I still hope the Genesis support issues will get sorted out, but unless the two vendors standardize on a render engine, the shaders (materials, lights, cameras, and dynamic hair) will still be incompatible -- DAZ Studio uses 3Delight, and Poser uses Firefly. (I don't think Lux is going to end up being the new standard-- not everyone prioritizes realism over speed.)