Ok DAZ has finally sucked me in, with their free model download!
Ive decided to go all out and buy the morphs and textures too.
My shopping cart currently contains the following items:

• Michael 3.0 Base
• Victoria 3.0 Base
• V3/M3 Head & Body Morphs
• Victoria 3.0 Universal Texture Maps
• David Universal Texture Maps (I like the look of these over the M3 ones)
• V3 New Generation 2005 (will this be essential, it looks to be quite a good expansion pack)

I am only wanting to get the absolute basics at the moment and What I am wanting to know is, if there is something missing from my list that I should add, or is there something I should delete from my cart.

I am on a limited budget (arnt we all) and I was wondering if, someone could let me know if Ive made the right choices, especially with the V3&D3 texture maps, is there a better alternative out there? (any suggestions?) Something with a wide variety, but still ultra realistic!?

Thanx for your time, your help is greatly appreciated!!
Ascinct

Message edited on: 01/08/2005 01:21

Attached Link: Everyday Male

I trust you're getting the package deal containing all of Mike 3's & Vicky 3's morphs for around $42? Do you belong to the Platinum Club? If you're a member, you can get all the DAZ original stuff for an extra 30% discount. If not, you can pay a $29 setup fee, then get your discount. If you don't find anything more that you want, you can always cancel next month.

Just as an aside, you'll be using Vicky 3 & Mike 3 nude. No hair or clothes.

Personally, I prefer using Mike 3's textures on Mike 3, rather than David's. But then I use David's textures on David! My favorite Mike 3 texture set is Everyday Male. Message edited on: 01/08/2005 01:44

Message edited on: 01/08/2005 01:46

You might want to shop around for other textures with a little more character to them.
The " Universal Texture Maps" aren't bad at all, but do seem a bit generic to me.
If you already have any Vic2 or Mike2 textures that you like, the Universal Texture Converter might be a better option (both aesthetic and cost wise).
If not,some of the best textures are to found right here in the Rendo MarketPlace.
Go back a page or two (in this forum) as people were giving their input about the "best" V3 textures.

As for the V3 New Generation 2005,I don't have it but was reading a thread yesterday about it NOT using the morphs from the morph packs (has it's own built in).
So I really don't see that as an expansion pack but more of a stand-alone item.
Being on a budget,I would hold off on it as you are going to find a clothes item or two much more necessary.

Start slow and have fun,SWAMP

Message edited on: 01/08/2005 02:31

Ok thankyou so much for your input!
Thankyou SWAMP for your texture advice, ill have a good hard look around in the renderosity market place and read that forum thread you suggested, before ordering any from DAZ :).
As for clothing and hair, I was planning to post work them in (for now). So to save money, LOL - I am kinda on a students Budget!

Attached Link: http://www.netherforums.com/

Well some of the BEST(!!) hair is free from "Koz" found at his site "Digital Babes" (link is down to your right under Web Rings). Most of that hair is fitted for the version 2 Vic/Mike but it's very easy to just scale/trans them to fit your new dolls. You can also get the hair-fit converter (free) from Netherworks (attached link...under FreebieZone morphs&conversions).

I should add the Xtreme Closeup texture pack for V3, and possibly the first expansion, it's got some nice tattoo options. Take Care John

The hair at Daz is certainly not amongst the best (free Kozaburo,...) and the skins/characters are no match for the best ones you can find here at R. or at runtimedna. Try a look in freestuff first, search Vali. These are good V3 characters and skins to start with. There are some other good ones for free too. Daz is great for their meshes, but the prices for the other items are rather high, except when there is a promotion. Also look at the free stuff at runtimedna and the (free!) proclub items at poserpros. As for that generation 2005: there have been some threads with serious critique on it. a quick search on this forum (page three, four???) may show you what it's all about.

Thanx for the valuable advice Guys!
I am looking for an "ultra" hi res texture, with an enormous amount of diversity, and I am so very close to ordering, "K2 Expansion Pack for V3&SP3" By Morris and Mahna!
I will be using this as a stand-alone texture, as I dont have the first one! (and according to the product description it can be used as one), any suggestions? I still need to find one (preferable hairless) for M3!

You can see that for Daz to give away the base V3 and M3 meshes like this is probably quite a smart commercial move. One can speculate that maybe they did so much business in selling Aiko stuff after giving away the model they decided to repeat the exercise. It's like the old commercial model of giving away the razor and make money selling the blades.

"and the skins/characters are no match for the best ones you can find here at R. or at runtimedna." Just for an example: the Int. Beauty textures at DAZ are made by Morris, just as some other character/texture packs she has up there for V3, SP3, the Girl and M3. I consider Morris as one of the best texture creators, so it's simply not true that DAZ has no high quality textures.

...International Beautys is one of my favorite packages, even though I'm not much of a daz fan. I had no idea they were made by Jennifer Morris. All her stuff is terrific. By the way, the Int Beautys package might look expensive at a glance, but 5 high rez textures makes it a good buy in my opinion.

Message edited on: 01/08/2005 09:33

If you're in the PC I'd suggest getting some of the V3 and M3 clothes like the morphing Fantasy dress, the second skin sets, etc the tunics, things like that.

Oooh Thankyou so much guys! I have looked at some of the textures that Morris has created, they are really good dont get me wrong, but I had a glance over at StefyZZ work
( www.zs3d.com ) and my breath was taken away!!! Damn I am so confused, I am gonna have to buy 2 textures for V3 now :)
Hmmm I am still gonna have to find one for M3....

Welcome to the "Great World of Poser." There is an abundance of fantastic stuff out there, in all the online stores. One great feature of many stores is the Wish List. If you find something interesting, add it to the Wish List. Then you can go back there, and look things over. If you want to buy something, just have it moved to your Shopping Cart, and spend your money. The Wish List will still be there the next time you visit.

And because other people can see your wish list, if you're lucky someone else might buy you some of the things on your wish list...

I won't hold my breath.

Ascinct, In some places the wish lists are public (as here, where some kind people have indeed gifted me with Boris and Roxanne and a boat or two), at other sites they are holding areas. I like to drop things into the private wishlist when spotted... like an announcement in Product Showcase Forum... then make up my mind later when reviews come in or I can compare items. About the only site I shop at with no wishlist is RDNA, and I hope they someday set this up so that we have a larger holding area before we narrow it down to the shopping cart at checkout. The nice thing about shopping online is that we can compare. We can have more then one window open when looking at a character or texture. In the real world, price is related to quality and scarcity and other determinants. Not so here. That cashmere sweater worn by Vicky wasn't plucked from the belly hairs of Mongolian pixels high on a silicon outcrop. Basically, I decide if it is worth this price to me at this time for this purpose... which often involves how long would it take me to make it. So when looking at those high-end textures, think about getting a digital camera and spending a week or two or three blending close-ups and fixing seams (tedious) or letting someone else do it while you spend your time rendering a background or assembling a set for your story. Carolly

DAZ3D still does not have a "Public Wishlist," although they are working on it. I just don't think anyone is interested in what I'd like to buy. I just want an easy way to shop. If you're going through 100+ items while browsing a store, a Wish List is an easy way to remind yourself what you'd like to buy.