New to Poser community, trying to figure out why Daz Studio is being created? Was it because of P5? Plain old competition? Looking at the feature set and it didn't seem terribly impressive, or maybe I am missing something (hey I just woke up!). Why would I want to switch from Poser 5, which suits my needs fine at this time, to Daz Studio? Can someone please explain? Thanks in advance.

Well, if you go into the archives, there was a break in the relationship between Daz and Curious Labs. There is a lot of support in the community for Daz products so I suspect they felt they could make a product that would be well received. Daz has an advantage over Curious Labs in that they have a determined marketing plan and seem stable in their organization, while Curious Labs seems to be undergoing transitions that make people feel uncertain of their future. The fact is, the everyone wanted, loved, couldn't wait for Poser 5. Then they used it, became disillusioned, and ravaged it. I use Poser 5. I like it. I'm not rushing onto the Daz Studio bandwagon until I see more of what it does. But don't be surprised that everyone needs to have the newest toy up to the point that they discover that it has its own limitations, and own quirks. The next thing is always more attractive than what is currently available. That's human nature, I guess.

D|S has a few features (well, accelerated preview with transparency) that Poser 5 lacks. Also, a fair number of us still use Poser 4. In anyevent, DAZ started development of D|S while the future of Poser was still in doubt, and the early versions of P5 were shaky enough that the question remained open.

A big kicker is the price.... supposedly it will be free for the base program. You'll only have to pay for the plugins

One of the many things DAZ is really good at is keeping their customers happy. The basic idea of DAZ Studio is to give the basic program away for FREE. Theoretically all a new 3d-er has to do is download the program, for free, download Sara, for free, and you can be a Poser artist FOR FREE!

I was under the impression that it was just the alpha/beta version that was free and that that was limited - saving/rendering etc. To get the 'full' version will invaribly cost money.

nope, according to every release even the final "base" version will be free. You will be required to buy plugins for various things, like animation, exporting, renderman rendering etc This could obviously change, but that what all the information so far has claimed.

Nothing is really free. Take Sara, the free new character. Yeah, she's free but all the add ons cost. It will be the same with Daz Studio. The base version will be free, but to really do anything with it will require adding more and more. I'm not complaining about the strategy. It has worked for Daz for a long time. And there are good reasons to hook people into an ongoing relationship with a product. But they are a business, and they aren't giving away anything for free that they don't think will be a money maker later on. It's just good marketing on their part. In a way, I think Curious Labs made an error in trying to release a product that was an attempt to do too many things as a whole item. That left it very vulnerable when some of the addons didn't work as well as people hoped they would. Nothing is perfect. I think Daz is giving themselves room to keep improving the project on an onging basis. That's a good thing. But it's not free in the long run. It costs them to create it. They need to recoup that cost.

Dialyn, That depends on whether or not you intend to use clothes ;-) Besides, they will be plenty of free offerings, just as for the other DAZ offerings.

I always use clothes. That's why I'm not investing in "free" Sara or her textures or her waredrobe. It makes me happier to see what other people do with her rather than emptying my own bank account on the latest and greatest fad. I've already done that with other items...I'm tapped out. I'm not saying Daz won't support their product with freebies. But we can't expect them to give away the store either.

As a maker of Poser figures, DAZ would have been crazy NOT to develop a similar program. Not doing so would have meant betting their entire existence on CL and Poser...a very unwise thing to do.

i guess one could get the free daz base, free sara, and then free blender to make all the clothes/props needed. animation can be done in blender too i think. some things are free, but they take as much will power as anything else. ren

Um... DAZ actually started working on D|S when Metacreations announced that Poser was up for sale. I read it in a post here sometime last year when DAZ first announced D|S.

I think DAZ has repeatedly shown they have a brilliant marketing team. With free software and free figure(s) they can expand the market, probably among 2d artist first. As you all know, you don't have to be into this art-form for long before you notice you bank account dwindeling !

I for one am going to wait to see what happens, as I never jumped into the fray when poser 5 came out, I will not jump into the fray when this comes out, I will see what it can do and how much it will 'cost' then make an informed decision much as I did with Poser 5 (which by the way I love) I also have to commend you all for not having the pre-release fever that many showed before hte release of P5, lets keep it like this after the final is released as well OK :) it is guarenteed to have bugs and if it doesn't then you can all have a store item of mine for free :)

Hopefully the manual wil be written a bit better than their newletters and sales flyers... I feel like I'm being run thru the wringer trying to figure out what is actually going on half the time over there at DAZLand. P5 was my LAST software purchase rght out of the shoot or pre-release purchase...never again, but if the base DS is free, I'll play with that until the plugins are tried, tested, and true... I'm tapped on the cash as well...and now Stephanie is the next model in line for release...another FREE one to PC members...and then the clothing and texture barrage begins again. Did you see Alexa at 3DCommune? She came with clothing and stuff..but the price was $29 or somesuch. Suppose the free models are really great if you can do texturing and make your own clothes..then its all good

There is free stuff for Sara appearing here, plus SteveShanks at PoserWorld has made some super clothes for her (free to members) - if she is really popular then more things will appear - like for the Vickies. As for Studio WHEN it comes I will download and play and make my mind up then - if it seems really good and plug-ins are within my (tight!) budget then I willgo with it - if not, I have lost nothing and will carry on with my belived Poser 5.