DAZ Diversity
Lonnie Dude
Posts: 45
in The Commons
Just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying the diversity of your Daz characters. I have been a customer since Michael One and you could count the people and products representing people of color on one hand. Now it's an almost weekly thing where there's hair, clothing, and characters that represent the world. You even made a place for transgender people! Keep up the good work. it is greatly appreciated.
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Comments
Yes, unlike with the anti-diverse iclone copy cats... Daz figures are 100% times better!
I appreciate the diversity as well
It should of been standard practise to have a choice of varied skins, but like other Daz members I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!
Lets hope if it will be standard practice with Daz 5 onwards.
...unfortunately it seemed to really take off with G8/81.. Would have liked a little more of this in earlier Generations than just the usual "stock" characters..
While I'd agree that diversity seems to be a larger focus in the 8.1 line, standard G8 had plenty of diversity, of ethnicity, age and body type as well.
...however I stopped at G3 as I couldn't see having to retool completely for another Genesis generation to make it as useful and versatile as I already have (I mainly am into custom character creation that requires a lot of resource content).
Particularly so as at the outset, the "advancements" over G3 seemed rather minor in comparison to the previous ones and I couldn't justify all the cost all over again given that I am on very tight income since I retired.
DAZ didn't make that many characters in the past of those times and where they did, they had diversity back then too. I mean, in 2001 you literally had 2 characters total to choose from.
And PA's tend to make what they know.... and people tend to buy what the like and/or need... which is human nature. When folks operate outside of that, things tend to be more stereotypical.
The real prize is proselytizing Daz and its power to more people... and a more diverse group of users... so that those folks gain skills and progress on to making the things that they know, and becoming PAs....
I'm really happy to see this, too!
+1!
I've been a huge proponent for more diversity in Daz's products for a good decade(!) now and for all my grievances with Daz as a company, I will give credit where credit is due.
They have made a huge effort to increase the diversity of their "core" characters and it's really shown with Genesis 8/8.1. Not just in race/ethnicity, but in age (Kids 8.1 when, tho), gender identity, and body types. Heck, we've gotten same-sex couples (explicitly romantic) poses as well, which would've been unheard of 10 years ago. Hard to believe that only a few years ago, every major bundle/core character was usually some sort of variation of a Caucasian person and/or female.
The PAs also deserve credit as well for diversifying, too. It's nice to have gone from "Victoria with a spray tan passed off as BlPOC" to characters that are diverse.
I think a huge part of it is the changing landscape of Daz's demographics and their attempts to branch out into the mainstream (i.e. gaming), which, whether you like it or not, is going in a more progressive-minded and inclusive direction. If that's not your cuppa, well, there's other places out there that are stuck in the early 00's mindset. (won't name names, but uhhh...La femme est si blanche)
At the end of the day, everyone wins with this new direction Daz has been taking. If only others could follow suit.
Very well-said!
...yeah creating game assets is becoming more and more the thing today. When I mention I do 3D computer art I often would get people asking me if I'm into the latest version of whatever game is popular at the moment to which reply "no", that I don't even bother playing them and am just into doing illustration work. So yeah I'm one of those "old schoolers". Oh I tried to get into it but when my character couldn't make it more than ten meters out of the jump ship in Halo before being turned into a cloud of pink mist, I really didn't see the fun in that.
I'm more of a fan of the old arcade and console games from the 80s, many of which were fairly challenging. in spite of their "archaic" graphics. One of the best was made by Electronic Arts (yeah, the one that does all the sports simulations today). It was a multi player console game called M.U.L.E. which simulated a space colony. You really had to put some thought into things as yeah you wanted to win, but if you trashed one or another of the other players, the entire colony failed and everyone lost.
I've been with Daz for over 13 years, know the programme pretty well and like the workflow. When I could successfully turn V4 into a viable teen and child character I already saw the potential it had which in that respect was ahead of the "other" programme. The downside was not having a male Gen4 figure until almost before teh original Genesis was released (was really hoping for a David4 who was the counter to Steph4).
If I ever can figure out how to get that G8 to G3 character converter to work (read through the PDF instructions step by step but still can't seem to get it to do what it's supposed to) I'd be in business as then I can make use of my vast library of G3 based resources with them. 8.1, on the other hand is totally out of the question as there is no conversion utility for it.
Exactly. To me, it appears that Daz and its parent company want to expand the demographics of buyers/users outside of hobbyists who, in the words of Brian Haberlin, make "Victoria swinging a sword with a bikini in a dungeon" renders. There'll always be... that market, sure. But a lot of the Poser-era users are either losing interest for various reasons (likely because the technology is evolving faster than they can reasonably keep up with) or they've since passed on. The well for that hobbyist industry will eventually dry up at some point, so why not venture into demographics that are willing to spend more and use their products more? The diversity isn't exactly altruistic, but at least they're making a genuine attempt. I'll give them that.
I'm also hazarding a guess that Daz has taken a look at the rapidly changing cultural shifts since 2015/2016 and is doing their best to try and keep up with the times. Who honestly thought 5-10 years ago, we'd have bundles and characters openly celebrating/themed after LGBTQ+ culture? I sure didn't.
...I'm been waiting for a realistic cat that moves and bends like a cat..
That would be a hard one to rig cause cats can get into some impossible positions. Sadly there are things that just can't be done in 3D with todays technology. If they did manage the figure would be millions of poly and have upward of 100 bones. I would think you would pretty much need to replicate the cats skeletal structure. I'm hoping that kind of thing can happen in our lifetime for the hobbyist and not just CG professionals.
turn off limits, LOL
....true as a cat can unhinge its spine. However, we still need one that poses and moves better without mesh distortion. MilCat's become a bit long in the tooth.
...but time to put this train back on the tracks. .
Could be, or it's ESG.
Well, I wouldn't consider the lineup of core models diverse. Most of the models are just humans after all. I would love to see more non-human stuff for the core models. The centaurs are a good direction. I'm a big fan of the work done by RawArt. And while I like the stuff from Oso and Josh Crockett those two are too close to humans for what I'm talking about. Also, more animals would be nice, most stuff here is pretty old.
A cat can unhinge its owner with ease, too. Been there, done that. Not sure I have been re-hinged.
A weight mapped, high-ish poly count model (HD?) that's created with the facility to take recognisable breeds in the way G8 is intended from the ground up to take characters is something cat owners do want (as proved by the fact that more than 1 cat person asks for them repeatedly). Basically, a cat version of Dog 8 worked from the ground up to be more lithe, flexible and well, cat like, than Mil Cat. The DAZ Housecat seems to be restricted to one breed ('Domestic'), which is a shame. We have yet to see Alessandro's private venture cat, but on previous experience it's likely to be close to what we want, but the range of breeds may be missing with only 1 person behind it. I really, really, want a Maine Coon fleabag - you can't get anything cattier than a Maine Coon.
Regards,
Richard
A real slinky DAZ Cat 8 would be great! Just sliding down the stairs like a slinky.
As a toddler I learned to throw alley cats as high in the air as I could and catch them on the way down. Until one day the poor thing got sick all over my shirt as I was catching it. Seems it didn't like that game as much as I did. You remember? All kids do. When all the grown up men, well any guy 14 or older I guess, used to toss any kids they could catch way up in the air. Poor mothers must of always been on edge with all the danger. Cats though I learned are pretty amazing the way they twist, turn, and flip to land in my arms belly down no matter what angle I flipped the cat up in the air at.
Anyway, I agree about the human diversity. The variety of characters sold in the shop is just the tip of the iceberg. The ease of customizing characters within DAZ Studio, like mixing shapes and editing skin materials, is remarkable on its own. You don't even need to use an external app for this unless you want to.
It's a shame others don't want to see it this way. Maybe that's why "Cat 8" won't come anytime soon.
...I've been wanting a proper Manx for a long time , You just can't lop the tail off and say Bob's your uncle as some still have a small nub. Their overall build, particularly their hindquarters, is different from other breeds (had one for a number of years).
...as I've mentioned I've been into pushing morphing and shaping to and even beyond limits since the Gen4 days as well as mixing aspects of different characters since the introduction of Genesis (in my book the concept's best feature). The various merchant resources, along with shaping, morphing and skin building tools are invaluable (the latter saving me a fortune on purchasing a large "stable" of different characters just for the skins).
Sadly, the creator of Generation-X (a tool I use extensively) is no longer with us so there was no revision for G8 (another reason I stopped with G3).
I look at sculpting as the "icing on the cake", but agreed, not the "be all and end all".