Poser, Daz and moving on
VKNet1024
Posts: 4
Good morning, I am a self proclaimed digital artist and I've been using Poser for well over a decade. With Poser I was using Reality 4 to export and render with Luxrender so my renders stood apart from firefly renders., I knew about DAZ and had friends in the art community that used it but I stuck with Poser. I was too smart and too good to be served by a free program when the one i was using was used by professionals and I would see commercials on TV that were clearly done with Poser.
Well, a few years ago, Reality was discontinued and I went into hiatus, I had just spent 8 months converting my characters, textures etc to work with Luxrender to get the results I wanted and was very pleased with mysellf. So after almost 3 years of not spending time in Poser because of this, i picked it up again and decided to just convert my stuff back and use Superfly and frankly, its nicer than I expected. I got some really nice renders of old scenes (its how I practice and compare) but then something hit me. I REALLY wanted to use IRAY, as an avid nVidia fan.
So here we are, I installed DAZ this week, started trying to learn it (the interface is NOT as polished as Poser IMHO) but the real gem came when I was able to point Daz at my 68GB Poser Runtime folder I have on an external SSD so I could use it on multiple PCs. Now, when I import my characters, the clothes and hair doesnt fit right, I will probably have to recreate and save them for DAZ, BUT I am all in now. I was able to load in my character, hit Render and with no manipulation at all, I had amazing images of my characters rendered in Iray.
I DREAD learing the DAZ interface, some very basic things I need are almost impossible to find but I am here to stay, and hope to meet and learn from you all.
https://www.deviantart.com/vadenkwinn
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Comments
I feel ya. i was a poser user from version 5 till version 12. I wanted better lighting than the firefly renderer could provide so I looked at other options and then Reality came out, Of course i now had to learn Daz Studio to use it, so I tried, and tried and tried and then finally DS clicked and made sense. Then years later Paolo came out with Reality for poser and to show my support decided to try it out and I couldn't believe how unintuitive and clumsy poser had become to me after using DS for so long.
Welcome to the madness and if you need help make sure to ask, lots of knowledgeable people here..
Welcome! We are happy to have you join us. People here are always willing to help. Don't be shy about asking questions. A Google search is usually better at finding relevant information than the lame Daz forum search.
Welcome! I used Poser version 4 through 9. Then I took a break,. When I came back I made the switch, because free. Now I can't remember how to do half the things I used to do in Poser, and DAZ Studio makes sense to me. I think you'll be able to pick it up more quickly than you expect. Good luck!
If you have signed up for DAZ+, have you checked out Jay Versalis's Daz Studio Masterclass series that is available? I wish it had been available when I first had found Daz 3D. It might help you with the interface and is free with joining DAZ+. https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/607566/daz-studio-masterclass-official-support-thread/p1
Poser freaked me out and sits on a shelf now.
Those videos are now available without having to join Daz+ https://www.daz3d.com/community/masterclass
I hear you brother...I still use POSER , guess coming from Rendo, that's what everyone was using...good luck I'm not there yet.
good day
Many of the people that help me have already welcomed you (AllenArt, where are you?); so, they'll get you sorted. Enjoy the ride, and Welcome!
Changing software after years of use can be quite challenging. I was never really comfortable with Posers interface, so learning DS wasn't too difficult for me. But I can still remember some of the frustration figuring out how to do things that seemed straight forward in other software (main software was Carrara). I used reality with both DS and Poser, the switched to Octane with Carrara and DS, but Iray gave great results without as much work in Octane, and DAZ quit developing Carrara, so I've used DS for my figure centric renders for several years.
Welcome to DS!! Hopefully you'll like the results with Iray enough to work through the frustrations of learning a new software. As others have noted, after working with it a while, most of the difficulties will disappear. Though there are always things that are "easier" in one software vs another, you can usually develop usable work arounds that will improve the overall workflow.
Good luck, and feel free to ask questions. There are a lot af friendly people here to help..
One of the most important things to know about the Daz forum is that forum administrator, Richard Haseltine, knows just about everything. When Richard posts, pay attention. He aswers dozens of questions everyday, so his answers are often terse and to the point.Sometimes people need a helpful screenshot or more info, so just ask. Someone will probably be along to help.
VKNet1024,
Hello and welcome! I've been using Daz for about four years now. Seems like a long time, judging by how far I've come since my first renders. It goes without saying though that compared with folks here who've been around for nearly a decade, I'm still a young sappling.
It sounds that technically you're a self starter, with a strong sense of what you would rather not have (anything that isn't Poser?). But change is part of life and what better than a community to help you go forward. For inspiration the Daz Gallery is a great resource. For knowledge, the Forum -- particularly Daz Studio Discussion and the Technical Help sub-threads.
Some caveats. In the Forum the mods, particularly Richard, are very helpful. They also lay down the law, as per the Terms of Service, which sets a baseline of civility online. Some folks find creative ways around the TOS to let off steam. Topics such as NFT, generative AI are lightning rods for heated discussion. Thus far, fair game in a community focused on technology and art. It's 2024, however; an election year. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the forum mods keep up their good work and tamp down on all forms of crazy.
Make art. Learn and share. Keep the peace.
Cheers!
PS. While you're logged in at the Forum, a great way to figure out who's who is to click on their names sandwiched betweent their icon and posts tally. This leads to web page displaying user stats. At that new page, click on the gear icon at the upper right, which displays a drop down menu. The menu has links to "View User's Threads", "View User's Posts" and "Ignore". I always find this a good way to gauge a person's render-to-chatter ratio. Some people like to make art and share it; other love to talk.
Lots of the best DAZ Studio features are under the hood. Never miss a right click.
I found it hard at first to learn the Daz Studio interface after having started with Poser but it finally clicked and all is well. 20 years later and I am still not sure what everything does in DS.
I made the switch from Poser to Studio years ago and the jarring difference in how to do simple things was definitely a learning curve but once I understood the basics I couldn't go back to the playskool-esque GUI in Poser, Studio just felt more effecient. When I made the switch I left behind more than 2k+ worth of content but Studio has been more than worth the switch for me, just the jump in quality in the human figures was worth starting over. I'm not going to say that iray can render better than SuperFly because SF is (is it still?) based off of cycles and cycles renders can look simply breathtaking but when I occasionally check out the official Poser 13 renders thread over at R I feel like I'm looking at renders from 2001.
I have generally had an easier time with DAZ than Poser. But I would say, with each update Poser does get better. I've noticed things arranged so I can more easily find them, and things that once have no explanation now have tooltips. Meanwhile, there are people who still choose to use ancient versions of DAZ Studio rather than upgrade; and there are people who have learned to ask what will no longer work in the new version before they update DAZ Studio.
I don't know if one app inherently produces better results than the other. I think I get better results with DAZ just because there are more resources available from third parties, at least in the newer generations. And I've spent more time on it. But lately I've found hair and skin textures I like for Poser, which I didn't have in the past. Maybe it just takes getting used to.
It is nice that the Poser renderer isn't limited to just Nvidia. But since I have Nvidia hardware, maybe I wouldn't notice the difference. I like that it has an option to run with Optix turned off. I thought DAZ had that too but I can't find it anymore. And while I initially thought having to inject all the Poser morphs and poses with each new scene was an unnecessary annoyance, I suppose that system avoids the issue with DAZ slowing the entire application down because the user has a million morphs installed even though they only want to use three of them.
Really I think the one that is easier to use is the one a person learned to use first. I mean, there are people who think the Linux command line is easier to use than the Windows interface.
Welcome! I used poser versions 2-11 I was one of those diehard poser users that once said they'd have pry poser from my dead cold fingers. I completely snubbed DS because I thought that the renders looked plastic. At that time DS only used the delight render engine But once that Iray came out with DS and I tried it I was hooked and have never looked back.
I only use Poser to covert things from 3ds to .obj format.
so I feel you on Poser.
Hello and welcome. Changing software can be frustrating from time to time. People have pointed you to the videos for the Masterclass. https://www.daz3d.com/community/masterclass
When you have additional questions, do ask in the forums. Cheers.
DS does have .3ds import, it's provided as part of the FBX Importer.