Is it worth having a 4k monitor for DAZ Studio?
LeatherGryphon
Posts: 11,164
Is it worth having a 4K monitor for DAZ Studio? If so, is a 27 inch display big enough to avoid micro text straining ancient eyes? If not, does Microsoft's text display resizing at 150% or 200% work well enough in DAZ Studio?
Not a gamer, don't need super fast refresh. What qualities should I look for?
Post edited by LeatherGryphon on
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I have the same question. I've been tempted by a Dell 27inch 4K monitor recently after working on my son's Samsung 27 inch 4K. The Samsung could match my 5 year old Dell 25 inch (not 4K) for colour and clarity (mine is an IPS screen, his is a TN) but the level of detail on his 4K is impressive.
Buy what you like, but I don't see what benefit there would be to having a 4k monitor of that size for the business of DAZ Studio, which is setting up scenes and/or animations. Iit's worth remembering that those extra pixels on display take up VRAM, as well. As for changing text size, you can try it on your current monitor, and see how that works out.
It would probably be better for post work, especially if you work at high resolutions, but that wasn't the question.
If I went to 4K, I would want a bigger screen. I've been really curious about those 3440x1440 curved gaming monitors. Similar designs are 3840x1080, and so on. Not sure how well design work would go on a curved screen.
I used to have an ultra widescreen curved, but now that I have to work from home I use a 32 inch 4K Wacom Cintiq pen display. Honestly, I really like 4k. I have the scaling set to 150%, but I've also used at 100% with no issues.
The ultrawide was cool because I could have reference pics or whatever right there on 1/3 of the screen and have a nice wide workspace, but I do have to say I very much enjoy the extra vertical room on the Cintiq. Not sure I'll ever go back.
I've no doubt 32" Cintiq is outstanding, but it's also very expensive.
Odd as it sounds, I think that 32" would be too big for someone like me with old eyes. I need to wear reading glasses to see what I'm doing and that means I can't really sit back away from the screen or it quickly goes out of focus, so having a cinema screen 2 ft from my nose is not ideal. I'm ok with the 25 inch I have now and the 27 inch that my son has is about my limit.
I have been fortunate enough to have a Dell U3415W UHD curved 4K monitor and I run it at 3440x1440 and LOVE IT! I do A LOT of Photoshop and DAZ Studio work and the extra screen real estate is really awesome. At 57 my eyesight is showing its age and there are no issues with this monitor what-so-ever, but like most anything, you can change settings to suit your particular needs. I got mine on clearance at Sam's Club and liked it so much I got another one from Dell a year later when I ordered a newer Alienware PC with an RTX3090 card. I love making 3440x1440 screen backgrounds (see link in my sig file below). I don't see how you could regret getting one!
If that is the case, you might want to re-consider 4K... It will make the Print on screen (and labels for Daz buttons/Controls) so small that you will compensate by having to blow everything up 150%, defeating the purpose.
To truly enjoy 4K, you need a graphics card that can pump 4K to it... and I thnk you need Display Port or higher (can't remember of HDMI can handle the 4K or not).
Anyway, I had a 32" 2K monitor that I loved... and had a 24" side kick monitor that started bothering me because it was small, so I asked Santa for another 32" 2K monitor and gas operated monitor stand.
Couldn't be happier.
Your mileage may vary, of course
I have been wondering the same... What's the point of getting a 4k monitor and then scale it up to see something... You sacrifice the resources without actually gaining anything.
If these still were CRT:s, then you could run the monitors at different resolutions without sacrificing the available image quality, but if you try the same with these digital ones, you will notice.
..the new 24" monitor I just purchased (ASUS VA24DQ) has DisplayPort though don't think it's 4K.
Also running a Maxwell Titan-X which according to various source I looked at is able to support 4K via DisplayPort. however again don't think the monitor supports it. Nonetheless, a very once clean display
It really depends. Things may look better, but that isn't the point why you'd want one for Daz Studio, since you'd be more interested in image quality (spotting clipping and other faults) than in overal appreciation (because if you don't like the result, you simply re-do the scene.) Spotting faults can be accomplished by zooming in on the image, which is good practice anyway, even with a 4k screen.
The big use for a 4k screen, is the bigger workspace. You simply get more pixels to display windows, workspaces, menus, sidebars, and whatnot. But, the pixels will be smaller, so you better have a good set of eyes on you to be able to see and read everything properly.
If you have a friend, collegue, familymember, or whatever with a well set-up 4k screen on his or her computer, with some software you commonly use (photoshop, Daz, whatever) ask if you can try it out for half an hour and see how it feels. If your eyes can manage, you'll adapt pretty quickly, and once you get your own and actually start to work on it, you may even find it to speed up your workflow a bit (from being able to have more stuff docked on your screen, instead of constantly having to switch what you can see).
For non-design use, well, 4k obviously makes for great looking games and movies, provided those have 4k available for display.
I replaced my former 24" monitor I have used for tons of years with a 34" curved monitor in December, and I adore it very very much. It's not about the additional pixels I get (3440x1440), but the amount of stuff I can put on the screen without densing it too much. Daz Studio is showing a lot of content on my left, the parameters menu on the right is way more expanded than before, and I still have enough place for a 16:9 image in the center viewport. I can add a screenshot a little later when the rendering is done if someone's interested how it looks.
That one I can understand, having used 17" CRT:s at 1600x1280 resolution some quarter of a century ago when I still had perfect vision, hair and raging hormones, but no-one else was able to see anything from my screen at the time.
It sounds to me like 3440x1440 will be a very good idea. Thanks to everyone who has commented on this
I had a 4k screen but went back to my 34" 21:9 3440 x 1440 display. 4k is nice...until you tire of it and realize that because your display is larger, your Iray preview is now also larger...and therefore requires more time and horsepower to go. I think 1440 is the sweet spot.
Thank you all for the replies. I've found myself in the position of needing another monitor in order to get best utility from my new computer build. I now have 4 useful computers in my workarea, but only 3 monitors. The graphics card in my new build does support 4K, as does my other new-ish computer, but the other two are only HD. I've considered getting a KVM switch that switches HDMI, speakers, microphone & keyboard between 2 computers to a new, bigger, 4K monitor. But the issue as some of you pointed out above, is my eyesight. I'm 72, and these ol; eyes ain't what they used to be.
Also, one of the posts above revived my suspicion about the ability of HDMI to carry 4K signals without reinvesting in new (long) HDMI cables. I only have one machine (my newly built DAZing machine) that has a graphics card with a DisplayPort connector (3 DP, 1 HDMI). The price for a reliable KVM switcher that can handle 4K also increases the price significantly. And if I get a screen big enough (32+ inches) to be able to read the text without magnifying it, sends the costs through the roof. This is quickly getting out of hand.
I'm now thinking perhaps instead of investing in 4K technology with large displays, that I simply invest in a new 24" monitor to be used as monitor for the 4th computer but also as a possible 2nd monitor for my DAZing machine. My current monitors are two 24" 1920x1080, and one 19" 1440x900. I absolutely hate having to do real work on the smaller screen. I only keep it around as a lab bench monitor for working on customer's computer repair jobs and as a necessary output for the lesser of my 3 workhorse machines.
I'm now thinking that three 1920x1080 HD monitors with one being shared between two of the four computers would keep my costs for a display down as well as the cost for a KVM switch. And I could keep the old 1440x900 display as a test bench monitor permanently (it's almost 15 years old). Thanks for all the insights.
A gas-operated monitor stand is nice, but only really practical if you live alone and can stick to the required diet.
I recently bought a new Dell 27" 1920x1080p monitor. I had looked at all other options. I can read the text on the 1920x1080p monitor without requiring any computer glasses. That is good enough for me.
After reading this thread, I'm feeling that I should put my desire for a bigger 4K monitor on hold and carry on with the Dell 25 inch which has served me well for 5 years. It is 2560x1440 resolution and I can read the text with my normal reading glasses. However, what I wanted was the ability to expand the DAZ Studio viewport a bit so that it doesn't look so cramped. All those open panels and a smallish viewport in the middle puts strain on my eyes so I thought that a slightly larger screen at a similar resolution might help. Indeed, when I tried my son's 27" monitor, I was impressed that I could see detail in the renders that I was not used to seeing which is why I started thinking of a new monitor.
Perhaps what I need is a second monitor to spread out the DAZ Studio panels?
Voting for the second (and third) monitor
I have three 1920x1200 HP LA2405:s that I got second hand through my trusted supplier and I wouldn't want to go back to even two. Having the viewport alone on one makes so big a difference, and one I have given to content library, you can see a lot of those little thumbnails at the same time when they are given the whole monitor, the third has the scene tab on one side and the rest on the other.
In general I think the 1200px vertical resolution is minimum as it allows to read two european A4 size documents side by side at "100%" scale, I never liked the 1080px vertical resolution of the so called HD monitors.
I have a 32inch 4K monitor and love it.
Much easier on the eyes.
For the longest time, I thought I needed new glasses but, since I got the new monitor, all is good.
Is it worth it for Studio, I do not know, is it better on the eyes, yes it is?
I can only speak from experience, but the new laptop I bought last year has a 4K AMOLED display, and pretty much everything it's a more vibrant, colorful experience. Would definitely recommend.
I have considered a 4K display for a bit also. I have 2 27 inch monitors already, but since I spend half my PC time inside VR, I feel investing in a 4K monitor (any new monitor) would be a waste of money to me.
I mean... it is... but that wasn't what I was saying. My point was only that I really did enjoy the ultrawide, but that working on a 32 inch 4K has convinced me to stay there. I was just talking towards the validity of 4K in my opinion, not saying buy a Cintiq. I guess I should have left out the details, just trying to be conversational :/
I'm using two 23 inch, 1080 IPS monitors side by side right now. They've been great to me. When the time comes that they need to be replaced, I plan to get a monitor that has a 32:9 aspect ratio with 1440 vertical resolution. I'm not sure if 4k would be necessary. It will still probably feel huge but all that screen space would be nice to use DS on.
Get a 34" ultrawide monitor. Doesnt' matter if it is curved or not. I prefer less curve.
curved wide monitors are good only for the Sachs Kurve :D
I went nuts and got a 75" 8K QLED TV. Got it cheaper than a 75" 4K QLED. Rendered a few things in 8K that looked amazing.
If refresh isn't an issue, maybe consider getting a budget big screen 4K TV instead of a monitor. Watching your favorite movies in 4K will be a new experience. What GPU(s) do you have? I've never had issues with my eyes and resized text is never an issue.
..yeah I'm pretty satisfied with the set up I have. Limited desk space is one issue as I also have a small desktop subwoofer/satellite sound system (I live in a small studio in an apartment building). The other reason is of course budget as those ultra wide displays are rather expensive. I'd rather upgrade to a large capacity SSD to move my Daz library to and repurpose the current HDD for extra storage or another backup.
Between my current dual display set-up I effectively have about 46" of available display space True their both 1920 x 1080 instead of 3440/3840 x 1440 but they serve my needs more than adequately. As I don't do gaming or have any subscriptions to cinema streaming services, there is little reason to go to a single large ultra wide display (also the bases om many of them look rather insufficient for the size and weight of teh display being supported)
If I do make a change I'll get a second 24" one like I recently purchased and move the older one to the other system (the monitor currently on that machine is not IPS).
I have 4 monitors, 2 of which are 4k, and the difference is definitely notable. Not particularly necessary in DS, but definitely in texturing programs.