Just spent an hour poring over the long recent thread about DAZ Studio's upcoming release. I came away thinking this program has two advantages over P5: 1. Open GL 2. A nice GUI I love DAZ (I'm a platinum member) and I seem to be one of the few p5 users that actually likes the program in spite of the bugs. But I just dropped over a hundred bucks to upgrade to P5, now I'm being courted by her sister company to buy a (likely) 200. app that does---what? Gives me a better look at V3? No thanks. And sorry, but that screenshot didn't show me a thing. Correct me if I'm wrong but DAZ Studio looks like an expensive Preview Window plug-in for P5. I want to support this community and certainly want apps with better functionality, but DAZ slaps a sleek GUI on line and says Open GL and people go ga-ga. Huh??? No mention of lighting, animation, export capabilities. DAZ says they don't want to compete with P5 but that's clearly what this app will be, yet where's the significant improvement beyond Open GL? I just wish CL and DAZ would at least give us a list of INTENDED features and specs before teasing us with beauty shots. I like a little steak with my sizzle. I guess I feel like I'm being taken for granted and it's getting tiresome. It's sort of like shouting "fire" in a theater just for the thrill of seeing people get wound up.

Well, just remember - Dan himself said it was a pre-Alpha screenshot posted merely to prove that DAZ Studio does indeed exist. He admitted it needed lots of UI work, etc. So don't read too much into those very early images. ;-) A

Please stop speculating on lack of features, pricing etc. Your looking for fire where there is no smoke. This is how all that Poser5 mess started. The intention was never to tease but simply to respond to posts like this one that sort of force information not ready to be shared. Worry about all that stuff if or when there is something to worry about.

Very well said, Anton! ;-) A

I'm looking forward to seeing it up & running so I can swap between the 2 programs, yes I'm going to buy Daz Studio too so please get on with the programming ;) Are there any more details on DS yet? minimum spec would be nice or is still too early?

"...now I'm being courted by her sister company" Sister company ??? LOL.

What about a competitive upgrade from Poser 5 so people like me who are still getting all sort of crashes after 5 months can feel a little better.

Well, since CL seems to careless for their MAC users, and Daz is working on a MAC version of DAZ Studios, I'm a PPP waiting for Daz Studios.

"It's sort of like shouting "fire" in a theater just for the thrill of seeing people get wound up." Wrong metaphor, in a big way. At the time that Dan posted the info and pics, there was lots of skeptical talk about "vaporware," which is why Dan humorously introduced the the post by saying something like "I thought you might like to see what vapor looks like." He wanted to confirm that the app was in the works, and made it clear that a) the program was nascent and b) that the imgages of Vicky 3 were pasted into the screen shots. I have no idea why you are being so negative when it was made clear that the app was in early stages of development. We don't have real specs to praise, criticize, or ask about yet. People "went ga-ga" becaue they love this stuff, have faith in DAZ to produce a fantastic alternative/compliment to Poser, and love new toys. Pretty good reasons to go ga-ga IMO.

"sister company"? Yeah, what Chuck said. I suppose you could infer they act like siblings sometimes. Now stop looking at me! :-)

Think I'll stick with Cinema 4D and the new propack plugs for P5.

I think I understand what you're getting at madriver. When I saw the DAZ Studio images. The first thing that popped into my head was "They stole their entire program from Poser. How completely devious!" I still think it's a bit seedy and underhanded. Especially the way they went about doing it to a company that they worked side by side with for so many years. But that's business. There's no room for morality. And I never trusted them anyway. *But aside from the personal feelings stuff. It's going to be good for the community as a whole. More competition/options is always good for us consumers. ScottA

ScottA, Why does everyone assume we are the ones that broke from P5? Anyone ever consider that we were never asked? Or that the offer was a joke knowing we only make content for this one program. Then what do you do? We weren't nearly the recipients of the love and loyalty you think we were. You think Don and Judy mimic Mike and Vicki by accident. Please.... Anton

I don't think there's anything devious going on, ScottA. I think that Daz are simply protecting themselves. There has been much specualtion and hypothetical suppositions in these here forums as of late as to the finacial stautus of Curious Labs. A lot of "what if they went tits-up and I needed to re-authorize my copy of Poser" kinda talk. Well supposing they fall down and go boom... Where would that leave Daz? Their whole company is based on a single product, Poser. What if there was no more Poser? I think it's just plain smart business.

Let me reapeat this: *But aside from the personal feelings stuff. It's going to be good for the community as a whole. More competition/options is always good for us consumers. ScottA

And MAC OSX Native Hooray!!!!!

The "Mac OSX native" is still just talk, whether it's Curious or Daz. And it's definitely a bad idea for Curious or Daz reps to make accusations or point the finger of blame at anyone. Just get to work on your software and leave the recriminations behind you.

Let ME reapeat THIS: blah blah blah... love, Impudicus

Let me repeat THIS!: I did not have sexual relations with that woman. ;-)

LOL hahaha bon mot

Okay Mateo, anything you say sir. :) To much time spent in forums anyway. Later. :)

No mention of lighting, animation, export capabilities.

Animation and export capabilities are mentioned, albeit further down in the thread. Use a search function on the page if you don't feel like wading through the whole thing.

I'm interested in DAZ Studio, if only for its animation potential. The OpenGL hardware-driven preview mode looks much better than Poser's software-driven preview, and while it won't completely replace a final render, it will allow me to output very high-quality test animations in a fraction of the time.

Please try not to speculate hypothesis into fact. Noone has been given inside info. I know there are people out there telling people they know this and know that, but just try to ignore them. :) Leaving this post now.

A pre-pre-pre alpha shot gets you so discouraged? be glad it had a gui! That puppy is years away from launch. Don't get discouraged yet. As for the CL/DAZ thing ... not all is as simple as it looks from the outside. From what I know, DAZ is merely protecting their investment. IMO, CL could benefit from the competition. They've held this niche to themselves for a long time. Think of it as evolution in action. Lyrra

i wouldn't touch this thread with a 10 ft. Nekkid Victoria 3..........

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1011915

The January edition of Computer Arts magazine says: "Studio is still in the early stages of development but, according to DAZ, it's all set set to expand the market for online content considerably. This development will no doubt be watched closely by Curious Labs. DAZ plans to make its animation tool available for Mac and PC by mid 2003"

Before everyone starts drooling and panting over "DAZ Studio": 1) What is the release date (projected or actual)? Will it even be out this year? 2) Are they far enough along to even give a list of features or are you basing your purchasing decision on a pre-alpha, "proof of concept" screen shot? There is no need to start any kind of "I want it now" or "This program sucks" or anything else. Wait until DAZ says that they are almost finished. Isn't this how the Poser 5 mess got started? "We want it now! It's better to have a program with bugs than no program at all! Give it to us now!" Sound familiar? And then what happened? "Take it back! It's got too many bugs! It's better to have no program than a program with bugs!"

I wholeheartedly agree with JohnRender's sentiments on this. However, Dan Farr said he hoped to have an announcement in early January, and the Jan. issue of CA refers to a projected mid-'03 date. And the screenshot gives some indication of the expected features. I guess I would characterize myself as hopeful about the project, but with a "show me" attitude (though I don't need to be shown until it's ready).

Isn't this how the Poser 5 mess got started? "We want it now! It's better to have a program with bugs than no program at all! Give it to us now!" Sound familiar? Um, no, it doesn't. I remember a lot of "take your time. As much as we want to get our hot little hands on it, we rather you take the time you need to finish it right." It was released early for financial reasons, NOT customer demand, so please stop blaming the victims.

I agree Fyre I remember at least 90% of people said take as much time as you need to get it right. If EGISYS hadn't been in such a hurry to get their hands on the money & forced them to get it out the door when they did most if not all of the bugs would have been fixed before we got hold of it.

{I remember a lot of "take your time...} Yes, that came after CL released the buggy first version. Don't you remember how much drooling there was when Steve Cooper released his "California Dreaming" thread? And how many people pre-ordered it since it was finally being released? Yes, Poser 5 was released too early because CL needed the money, but the drooling market was already there, ready to shell out their $350... whether the program was "ready" or not. Did anyone wait for the initial reviews of the product? Did anyone want to see if it actually did what it said on the box? So, yes, you have to "blame the victims" because they weren't "victims". People weren't forced to pre-order. People could have waited until the program was done... but they didn't.

I was one of the pre-orders. I didn't demand it show up on my doorstep the day after I pre-ordered. CL said that it would be shipping by X date and that we could preorder to get one of the first shipment out. I couldn't even pre-order until the program was all packaged up and waiting for the CDs to be burned. How this forced CL to release P5 early, I don't understand. Waiting until the actual release date to place the order instead of doing the pre-order would have made no difference in when the product shipped, only when I would have received it.

I preordered too & you might remember the little round-the-world trip some of the boxes took, well mine was one of those so I like quite a few other European early adopters had to wait longer than expected. Big Deal you might say, it does prove though that even if CL hadn't shipped when they did I was willing to wait as long as it took to get my grubby little hands on Poser5.

Though it may well be financial considerations that caused P5 to be released when it was, I guess I was taking a little bit longer view; there were posts here and elsewhere asking when P5 might be ready for years before it came out.