Just thinking about the concept of a DAZ STUDIO 64---- for AMD's 64 series chips, Windows XP 64 and Mac G5 OSX 64 bit machines... Seems that once enough bugs are laid to rest and DAZ is ready to release DAZ Studio Ver 1.0--- what about the idea of releasing "DAZ Studio 64" as a recompiled 64 bit version? That would give DAZ STUDIO an "Xtreme" edge, I would think. Since its still a young program, hopefully DAZ has engineered in the ability to re-compile it into a 64 bit version relatively quickly. Suddenly- the relatively slow Daz Studio becomes a much more powerful "rocket-like renderer" and a "must have" for serious 3D folks. Regular flavor Daz Studio 32 would still be available for "hobby users" of course.

Intel just dumped a couple years worth of chip design as well to switch to work on 64 bit processors. seems that is the wave of the future for sure.

Attached Link: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9485_9487^9505,00.html#81160

From AMD's Website,== "The evolution from 32-bit computing to 64-bit computing is inevitable and will happen much faster than the transition from 16-bit to 32-bit. AMD64 can accelerate the industrys move to 64-bit computing by providing a solution developed with customers in mind. AMDs approach embraces the platforms and applications already in use in business and home computing today and offers a way to make a smooth transition to next-generation technology by allowing simultaneous 32- and 64-bit computing. AMD64 enables a seamless transition for enterprises and consumers; it is designed to provide a migration to 64-bit computing without sacrificing the performance and compatibility of todays installed base of 32-bit systems." Microsoft will be releasing an XP Windows 64 bit OS version this year, perhaps as early as this summer. There is already a free Beta available now, but with limited 3rd party driver support. AMD's chips are also supported by Linux and other Unix flavors, meaning that a 64 bit Linux Version of Daz Studio 64 could be a real potential app also down the road. And AMD's Athlon 64 series is surprisingly affordable along with the greatly reduced cost of today's RAM chips and motherboards.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=1778872

Since I am already seriously planning to get an Athlon 64 system I asked how these systems were working for Poser users and got these very helpful replies. See attched link to Poser Forum. Also from Microsoft's website: "Compatibility-- Windows XP 64Bit Edition provides a rich platform to integrate 64bit technical applications and existing 32bit business applications using the Windows on Windows 64 (WOW64) x86 emulation layer, providing customers with the ability to move to 64-bit computing without having to sacrifice their existing investment in 32-bit software and Windows expertise." "Same Programming Model-- Developers with 32bit skills will be comfortable and quickly productive in the 64-bit Windows environment, finding it virtually identical to the development environment for 32bit Windows." "High Performance Platform for the Next Generation of Applications-- Windows XP 64-Bit Edition is a rich platform that enables the next generation of high-performance computing. 64-bit native applications can deliver more data per clock cycle, making them run faster and more efficiently."

Sounds sensible to me. Might be a way for Daz to take D|S in a direction that Poser doesn't seem to be headed that will garner some respect in the "serious" 3D world. Especially since Poser is widely considered just a toy.

any 3d program that depends mainly on purchased characters such as those used by Poser or the upcoming D|S will be considered "just a toy". It's the snob mentality that exists in most people to try and find others to look down on in some way, even if subconsiously.

OK, I don't wish to sound like a troll... BUT,
your wild dreams of what you would like the software to be are so far from what it actually is that I think you're doing DAZ a disservice by raising peoples expectations way too high.

DAZ|Studio is, for the most part, written in an interpreted scripting language (QtScript) very similar to Java, and the interface is constructed from Qt Widgets. The render engine is bought in too. Now that's a very sensible way to go for a relatively small company with limited resources, especially in a marketplace where Mac users represent a large enough minority to be considered. Qt runs on W32, Mac and Linux and has the OpenGL widgets that make those nice render previews possible. Qt is a dream for developers who need to port to several platforms, what it isn't, and will never be, is as fast as natively compiled code. So, frankly, whether DAZ recompile their C++ code to 64 bit is pretty irrelevant unless Qt's developer's (the rather amusingly named Trolltech) and 3Delight follow suit.

D|S seems to me to be an excellent attempt at what DAZ (in the person of Bryan Brandenburg) have said it's meant to be, judge it by that and have fun with it, stop trying to hype it up into something it can't be.

John

Well, if that's the case then it won't be of very much use unless Curious Labs gones under. If that's the DAZ Studio strategy it sounds more like a DAZ "hobby" than a program that will eventually be something seriously usable. Maybe the people that own Poser will take the step to recompile their software into 64 bit and create some serious excitement about Poser.

Attached Link: http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=3596

Veritas777, have you read the strategy outlined by Bryan Brandenburg at the above link in the DAZ forums? It seems to me to be one of the most sensible statements I've ever read from a senior executive of a company.

The point of a free basic D|S is to get people into 3D who would otherwise be put off by even the pricetag of the Artist Formerly Known as Poser 4. If they can get those people in, and then opening their wallets for DAZ models, they can create a revenue stream that would allow them to take D|S to the sort of places YOU want to go. Learning to walk before you try running is a good evolutionary strategy.

John

QTscript, as far as I know, is only used for scripting in D|S, not unlike Python is in Poser. The 7th post down doesn't seem to agree with your statement that "DAZ|Studio is, for the most part, written in an interpreted scripting language (QtScript)"

The 7th post down doesn't seem to agree with your statement"
There has to be a C++ core application to work with Qt, but try reading Rob Whisenant's second reply to Anton - 4 posts down from the one you mentioned - I don't think I'm misrepresenting what he says there, am I?

Also, the release notes with the current download, say that the UI not displaying properly under Win98 is due to a bug in Qt widgets, which would suggest that that is constructed from Qt forms and controls would it not?

Not that there's is anything wrong with their strategy, all I was saying was that people raising unrealistic expectations for D|S does DAZ no favours.

John

I believe that QSA is an end-user scripting language which can easily be built into a C++ app built on top of the QT cross-platform application framework. Think of it like Python in Poser, only its a different scripting language, in which the end user can write scripts to extend or customize the underlying application. I've not actually built anything in QT, but have investigated it as a development framework (before choosing wxWindows instead). QT is a C++ development system and QT-based apps are written in C++, so the main body of D|S would be written in C++. As to the question of compiling it for a 64 bit system, however, that could in theory still present a bit of a challenge, since that sort of depends on QT successfully compiling for a 64 bit architecture, as well as the dependency on 3Delight noted above.

Message edited on: 06/02/2004 17:42

jwbaer;

Sorry, but QSA is nothing like Python in Poser. Python in Poser runs in an enviroment created by poser, a virtual machine like that provided by browsers to Javascript, it does not provide the application framework that Poser uses for its UI.

John

I must disagree. QSA does not provide the application framework. QT provides the application framework. QSA is a scripting language very like JavaScript (based on the same ECMAScript standard that JScript and JavaScript are based on) or Python. The QSA interpreter can be embedded in a C++ QT-based application just like the Python interpreter can be embedded in a C++ application. QSA happens to provide bindings to the QT objects and their methods, so you can create QT-based UI from within scripts. PoserPython is slightly different in that it exposes the Tk UI toolkit instead of Poser's underlying UI framework (except in Poser 5 for the Mac, where some of the underlying UI framework is exposed because of the problems getting Tk working with Poser on OS X). Check out http://www.trolltech.com/products/qsa/index.html for more on QSA and embedding it in a QT-based app. I think it is possible to run QSA through a standalone interpreter and build simple applications that use QT for UI by linking with the QT libs, as you can do with Python and a number of UI toolkits (TK, wxPython, etc.) I'm sure DAZ has not done that, however. The mesh deformations required for posing cannot be done by the graphics card alone through OpenGL. Although you can offload some of the matrix math to the GPU, the CPU still has to do a lot and a scripting language is just not going to be fast enough. D|S is a pretty complex app, and writing and maintaining such a thing in a language as unstructured as QSA would be a development nightmare. Finally, D|S will have a C++ plugin architecture, which is not something you want to try to build into an app written in a scripting language. Not a big deal -- I just think you have misinterpreted what Rob said in the thread over at DAZ. I am not a DAZ cheerleader, just an interested engineer. -Jeremy

Jeremy,

and I'm not anti-DAZ. I generally read these forums about 3 a.m. local time - not a good time for thinking sensible thoughts, but about the only time i have to spare - and I've just been getting so p****d with the irrational CL or DAZ are devils or saints stuff, mainly exhibited in the Poser forum, that I maybe got a bit irrational myself.

Still don't think that Poser Python is truly analogous of the DS/QT relationship, mind. But I'm going to read up on QT over the weekend before I start arguing it again.

John