When did you come to DAZ?

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Comments

  • Dartanbeck said:

     

    Of course Carrara users "know" that you cannot animate in Daz Studio, so I never really tried until just a couple years ago. They were right, to a point. But I've unlocked that door and have been having a Blast animating in Daz Studio ever since! Loving my Iray!

     

    I do lots of animations in D|S4.whatever

    you could animate in D|S2 and 3??? wow, I am impressed cheeky 

    LOL I actually did BTW as well as in Carrara, iClone3 and Poser7, oh boy those 3Delight renders on my Dell Inspiron Craptop with 4GB RAM took a while...

    Actually many of my early Carrara rendered animations were partially set up in either Poser7 or D|S3 (when the latter didn't crash) and then the pz3 scene or DAZ Collada animation rendered in Carrara mostly because of fitting clothes etc in D|S3 using transfer active morphs or whatever it was called back then.

  • PlainSimpleJoelPlainSimpleJoel Posts: 23
    edited November 2023

    Was probably early 2019. I had been looking at some art on DA over the previous years, and decided to see if I could do any. Over 4 and a half years later - I stilled hooked.

    Post edited by PlainSimpleJoel on
  • takezo_3001takezo_3001 Posts: 1,979
    edited November 2023

    Was a Poser user for years, until I was in the process of quitting smoking, so with Poser's anti-efficient UI driving me mad, I finally decided to open up the Daz Studio 1, or was it 2? installer that I had sitting around unused on my HDD, fell madly in love with the incredible versatility that is the DS UI, and have been using it ever since, I even refused the refund for Daz Studio Pro after buying it, before after it went free because I wanted to support Daz!

    I mean, it's the best at what it does, as it's the leader in character creation within the 3D hobby sphere and with independent professionals alike!

    Post edited by takezo_3001 on
  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,906
    edited November 2023

    Man... This is going to make me feel old.

    It was 2008. Victoria 4 was new(ish). Michael 4 wasn't even made yet. Daz3D was Digital Art Zone (I think). Daz Studio was just a small "viewer" more than it was a complete rendering software package, but it was free - and getting better...  smiley

    I stumbled into it when I went looking for free 3D modeling software (which it wasn't) and was amazed that I didn't actually *have* to learn to model to create 3D images...

    The rest is a long story no one wants to hear... LOL laughheart

    Post edited by JasmineSkunk on
  • GoggerGogger Posts: 2,400

    I had been using Poser (v4) and not having a great time (mostly due to their AWFUL library structure).  I started playing with VUE (3D magazine cover disc version) and loved it, then got into Poser more when I found it could import into VUE.  Got to grips with Poser and decided to try "that DAZ Studio thing".  I bounced off it a couple times because I had gotten so set in my ways in Poser that the DAZ interface befuddled me.  Then, I finally made an exerted effort and purchased DAZ Studio for $275. I kid-you-not A week later it became FREE.  I was pretty upset, but DAZ Customer Support issued a refund with no drama and I was impressed and highly encouraged.  That was around 2009 or so (memory gets fuzzy).  Then I began an activity we'll just call "Library Building" and have been adding 3D assets to my digital library like a crazy person ever since and rendering my brains out whenever I can.  I eventually got comfortable with DAZ and now struggle to do anything at all in Poser, but try to keep dabbling there a little.  Most of my work is for the DeskToppers monthly image repository I create, as seen in my sig file here.  It keeps my mind active and my friends and coworkers happy. 

    The Joy is in The Work.  Life is good.

  • BrashFinkBrashFink Posts: 98
    edited November 2023

    Just before 2006... Then left on a multi year hiatius a bit after G1 came out.

    First Order was December 18, 2005

    EDIT: Looking over my purchase history, I forgot that I left 2 different times.

    I was here in 05.. then left shortly after.

    Then came back between 2011 - 2013... then Left again. I believe this is the afore mentioned era of V4 and G1 came out.

    The most recently in 2018.

     

    Post edited by BrashFink on
  • JOdelJOdel Posts: 6,286

    Eh... I'm pretty sure that I've given this rundown before. However;

    I was at a MacWorld Expo in St Frizz back in '91 or '92, or thereabouts and in the back of the Expo hall there was a counter with a couple of kids who were showing off a late beta of a landscape generator that they called Bryce. I think it was officially v. 0.9. 

    I picked up a copy. Never did anything with it but look at some of the sample files. However, before long they were snapped up by a company called MetaCreations, which seemed to have an internal mission of either developing or aquiring the most inovative graphics-related software on the *planet*. Over the next handful of years, I picked up several of their products on MacWorld show specials. Never did anything much with any of them but the Photoshop plug-ins, and to dabble with Painter a bit.

    And then the company imploded, which orphaned everything. Some/most of it managed to get aquired by other companies. I still never actually did anything with any of  it but the Photoshop plug-ins. But I remembered the products and occasionally noticed them in passing.

    In 2002 I built and uploaded my own website and started posting .pdf publicaton projects of various fanfics with the authors' permission. In 2003 I uploaded an apocryphal Oz book written by one of my friends. He had another Oz story which he had submitted to the Oz centenial contest. It had made it to the finalists, but not been the winner. He gave me permission to do a Red Hen edition of it. Now, where I had been able to illustrate his first Oz story with mdified scanned public domain illos from the original books,this would not have worked for the 2nd. So that project was effectively stalled pending some solution to being able to properly illustrate it.

    It wasn't until the summer of 2009 that I stumbled into the DAZ 3D website and decided that I might have found an answer to my problem. (The first iteration of 'The Magic Carpet of Oz' was uploaded in January 2012.)

  • Dartanbeck said:

    I've been following Daz 3d since before V3, so contrary to what some have said - it really was Daz 3d when they started.

    It used to be Zygote.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygote_Media_Group 

    In the year 2000, Zygote Media Group spun off its art and hobbyist division, which subsequently evolved into Digital Art Zone—now recognized as DAZ Productions.

  • brainmuffinbrainmuffin Posts: 1,205

    According to my order history, I downloaded Bryce 5 and Studio 2.3.3 on 2006-09-14. I would have still been on XP in those days. Moved to Mac in 2010.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited November 2023

    butterflyfish said:

    Dartanbeck said:

    I've been following Daz 3d since before V3, so contrary to what some have said - it really was Daz 3d when they started.

    It used to be Zygote.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygote_Media_Group 

    In the year 2000, Zygote Media Group spun off its art and hobbyist division, which subsequently evolved into Digital Art Zone—now recognized as DAZ Productions.

    True. But by the time I started following them, I don't recall if V3 had come out already or not, but it was already Daz 3d by then. My 3D Mentor who bought me a copy of Poser 5 turned me onto the Daz 3d site. I think I even got V2 and V3 for free (at different points in time). For the longest time I had my hands full with nothing but the free stuff I could get from Daz 3d and elsewhere along with the digital Ton of stuff that came with Poser :)

    Ooooo... the Zygote Dragon!!! :)

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583

    brainmuffin said:

    According to my order history, I downloaded Bryce 5 and Studio 2.3.3 on 2006-09-14. I would have still been on XP in those days. Moved to Mac in 2010.

    I downloaded the Bryce 5 manual, printed it two-sided (took forever - 378 page plus index), made a really nice cover for it and soft-bound it. Massive project, that. But I still have it and I'm still amazed by it!

    I did the same for the Daz Studio Artist Guide from back then, but that one a Hard-bound with a really cool spine system. Probably one of the coolest Hard-bound books I've even made (300 pages).

    I also made one for Carrara, which is the one I ended up buying. That manual , Carrara 7 User Guide Revision G, December 11, 2008, is an amzing tome - 853 pages and very well written. I had to use a giant three-ring binder for that. Too huge for me to bind. I may try again though. It's a really good book! Amazing Software too! 

  • ShimrianShimrian Posts: 533

    According to my profile and order history, it was in 2010, but I didn't last very long. I loved to paint and draw and my friend was doing some really cool stuff in 3D art and recommended it to me. It had an rough learning curve for me back then and after trying it for a bit, I lost interest. I came back during the Covid lockdown and now I'm doing my best to keep interested in it and using it as a tool for creating art. I want to get to the point of creating some cool renders that I can use as a reference images for painting (since I still love the look of painted art).

  • David RDavid R Posts: 294

    March 2021.  I haven't pulled myself away from it since. smiley

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583

    David R said:

    March 2021.  I haven't pulled myself away from it since. smiley

    Yeah... such a Wonderful Addiction! I never want to even try to feel the withdrawls of quitting, so I just keep on getting deeper and Deeper and DEEPER and....  devil

  • almahiedraalmahiedra Posts: 1,352
    edited November 2023

    I first tried poser 4 and bryce in some demo or similar of some computer magazine from Spain. I remember that there were things from Zygote and Victoria 1/2 seemed to me an amazing model that I couldn't buy. Officially in 2007 I started in DS2. I was not consistent. Since the free version of DS4 at 2012 I knew that I would continue with this hobby on this software definitely. Although I had Aiko 3 and Victoria 4, I consider my first fundamental figure to be Genesis. The problem of transmitting the morphs from the figure to clothes seemed to me a very important limitation. That problem disappeared in Genesis.

    Post edited by almahiedra on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583

    GiGi_7 said:

    I first tried poser 4 and bryce in some demo or similar of some computer magazine from Spain. I remember that there were things from Zygote and Victoria 1/2 seemed to me an amazing model that I couldn't buy. Officially in 2007 I started in DS2. I was not consistent. Since the free version of DS4 at 2012 I knew that I would continue with this hobby on this software definitely. Although I had Aiko 3 and Victoria 4, I consider my first fundamental figure to be Genesis. The problem of transmitting the morphs from the figure to clothes seemed to me a very important limitation. That problem disappeared in Genesis.

    Absolutely! The first time I saw Genesis on my screen I was All In! I still love Genesis 1!!!

    As they rolled out the clones for them ("Legacy Shapes"), I collected them all. I grabbed GenX2 and expansions as well. Handy Dandy Tool! Monsters, animals and people galore, Genesis filled my library! 

     

    And yes. Carrara, Bryce, Hexagon and Daz Studio were seen in quite a few 3D enthusiast magazines and e-zines. I was looking for such a magazine to score a copy of Carrara 5 when all of a sudden I saw Carrara 6 at Daz 3d! Daz bought Carrara? So Cool!!! It had a wonderful price tag but raising two kids... I just couldn't swing it. One day my hero and wife, Rosie, came up and said - I saved up the money you need for that art thing.

    What?

    That... what was it... something Daz?

    Bam! Special Thanks to the Love of My Life - My Rosie!!!

  • Blando CalrissianBlando Calrissian Posts: 554
    edited November 2023

    Finally, a chance to feel like a relative newbie!

    I downloaded Daz sometime in late 2020. First store purchase was in January 2021. I spent about $200 in the first week. laugh

    Looking back, those were some fun times. Discovering what the program could do, discovering how the file structure worked (especially when trying to manually install free stuff from other websites), the moment you realize what a difference it makes to have good lighting and a camera on your subject.

    Some early gaffes, too, like trying to model buildings in Daz (lol), trying to make Sketchup work with Daz (also lol), buying a character "for the hair" (it was in the promo!) and being completely baffled when the character came "bald" instead...

    My 2021 with Daz ended up being a lot more enjoyable and productive than my 2021 with Blender, and even though I now (mostly) know what I'm doing with the latter, I still very much prefer working in the former.

    (edit: even though I didn't get the hair, it's still a good character and a good purchase, IMO)

    Post edited by Blando Calrissian on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583

    @Blando Calrissian

    Right aroung the time you started Daz, I was moving to Daz Studio from Carrara 8.5 Pro. Why? For the Hair I saw in a promo!

    Unlike you, however, I already had ten years experience shopping at Daz 3d and working with the content, etc.,

     

    This hair... when it was introduced I just Had to figure out how to Animate in Daz Studio (Carrara is an Animation MONSTER!!!)

    Now that I've unlocked the door to animating in Daz Studio... I can't Not animate in Daz Studio. Too freaking Fun!!!

  • Sometime back in 2001, at least my purchase record goes back to December of 01

  • fred9803fred9803 Posts: 1,564
    edited November 2023

    Entry 2001, exit Feb 2023 and I haven't looked back. AI does everything I need now.

    Post edited by fred9803 on
  • The role of magazines in getting people to try the early programs is interesting.

    I originally came across Renderosity as a result of the UK computer magazine 'PC Plus' featuring a 2 page article on Digital Art which had an incredible image the like of which I'd never seen before: Voodoo's 'Morning Swim' from 24th June 1999. It's mildly NSFW : https://www.renderosity.com/gallery/items/1098/morning-swim

    Then, not long after that image, PC Plus released a save-disabled version of Poser 3 which led me to spend six months saving up for Poser 4. Remarkable program. Then out came Bryce and Vue 2 on PC Plus cover discs too. I was in heaven, though I have to admit the peculiar interface of Bryce, while good to look at, was neither intuitive nor particularly helpful given the space it wasted.

    Then we moved house. And money became impossibly tight, and I got V3 & GV3 after another 6 months of saving. P5 came out shortly after getting P4, and that was a buggy mess, so DS 0.7 called to me, particularly helped by 2 artists playing with it over at Rendo and sharing their knowledge, they were Dreamlight & LiquidRust. Owe a lot to them.

    Regards,

    Richard

  • BrashFinkBrashFink Posts: 98
    edited November 2023

    Dartanbeck said:

    True. But by the time I started following them, I don't recall if V3 had come out already or not, but it was already Daz 3d by then. My 3D Mentor who bought me a copy of Poser 5 turned me onto the Daz 3d site. I think I even got V2 and V3 for free (at different points in time). For the longest time I had my hands full with nothing but the free stuff I could get from Daz 3d and elsewhere along with the digital Ton of stuff that came with Poser :)

    Yeah this is similar to how I found them. My first purchase from December 2005 has DAZ Studio 2.3.3.146 in it. I was using Poser 5 I think... was a member of whatever the Subscription thing was at Content Paradise (back then they mailed MONTHY CDs. Can you IMAGINE? LoL). I am pretty sure I got clued into D.A.Z. with its old logo (and the periods) from people there. I found out their software was free. I remember thinking "Yeah but how long will that last?" not realizing the content was the bread and butter. The second I used Daz Studio, I was like, omg, this is SOOO much easier to use than Poser.

    As for V2 and 3 free, yeah they for sure were. I can see the purchase in my history. When I came back in 2011, all that stuff was free. My purchase from 6-1-2011 ($0.00)

    • DAZ Studio 4.5.1.56 & DAZ Studio 3.1.2.32 (?? Not sure what that is about)
    • 'Millennium Woman' Victoria 1
    • Aiko 4 Base
    • Stephanie 4 Elite Base
    • Michael 4 Base
    • the Girl 4 Base
    • Victoria 4.2 Base
    • Aiko (Anime/Manga Character)
    • Victoria 3.0 Base
    • Stephanie
    • Victoria 2.0
    • Stephanie 3.0 Petite Base

    It also had a heap of those old Dystopia Blocks in there.

    Post edited by BrashFink on
  •  

    It used to be Zygote.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygote_Media_Group 

    In the year 2000, Zygote Media Group spun off its art and hobbyist division, which subsequently evolved into Digital Art Zone—now recognized as DAZ Productions.

    I think  "used to be owned by Zygote" is a bit more accurate. From what I read, the divistion was called Digital Art Zone when it was still owned by Zygote, and often refered to itself as D.A.Z. even then. That all predates me by over 5 years though, so I could be mistaken or what I read was wrong.

  • April 2023 or 7 months ago, when I got my first desktop and the first thing I've tried to run on it was DAZ (had some knowledge about it but couldnt run it on my potato laptop)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583
    edited November 2023

    Nope. I don't think so. I think Dan and Chris started the company themselves and called it Zygote at first. They got their start doing those amazing medical posters you see hanging in your doctor's check-up rooms and such.

     

    Edit: Almost all of the posters I've seen in those rooms are made by the company Dan and Chris did them for

     

    Back when I was first downloading their freebies, there was no such thing as Daz Studio. On an old HDD around here somewhere, I have a copy of D|S Beta 0.7, which was the first time I checked it out. Didn't know how to use it so I put it away.

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • MattymanxMattymanx Posts: 6,908

    Early 2004

  • vrba79vrba79 Posts: 1,408

    When I didn't want to fork out more money for a new version of Poser.

    They got me to stick around with Genesis 1.

  • According to my order history, July 2008, with the purchase of DAZ Studio 2.3.3.146 

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 14,064

    I joined Daz as a PA in 2006. I was in a bad car accident in 2004 and laid up on the couch for 6 months driving the wife crazy, so she bought me Rhino and said keep yourself busy. We set my desktop on the floor next to me, put the monitor on the footstool and I had the keyboard lying on my stomach or lap. The wife was already making characters and selling on Rendo so she took my stuff and put it in those packs and we sent in examples to Daz and they brought us on.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,583

    frank0314 said:

    I joined Daz as a PA in 2006. I was in a bad car accident in 2004 and laid up on the couch for 6 months driving the wife crazy, so she bought me Rhino and said keep yourself busy. We set my desktop on the floor next to me, put the monitor on the footstool and I had the keyboard lying on my stomach or lap. The wife was already making characters and selling on Rendo so she took my stuff and put it in those packs and we sent in examples to Daz and they brought us on.

    Wow! Sorry to hear about the accident, but what a great story! 

    I became a PA while spending all of my time in hospital waiting rooms - my daughter's kidneys failed and I was in there for months.

    Many years later, my grandson proved to have epilepsy - but much worse than that. I didn't like the (lack of) care he was getting at childcare so I took on the responsibility myself. Stopped producing and Daz lost interest in Carrara-only stuff and I lost my seat. They were Amazing about it though - truly. I love how Daz 3d treated me then, before that, now... very good people.

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