Okay. Just getting back into rendering again after a few years break. I see DazStudio offered for free from daz. What exactly is it? Is it a blend of bryce and poser? Or is it more a for model posing? Should I consider using it instead of Poser? Any help would be appreciated. Would like to know if its worth learning/using or should I stick with my Bryce/poser combo?

Nah. If it would be a blend of Bryce and Poser it would raise to the moon

You would consider to use it instead of Poser if:

• you haven't Poser. If you have Poser, forget D/S
• you don't want to pay a buck for a basic 3D software
• AND THE MOST IMPORTANT: you have a video card with OpenGL suppor. If not, forget D/S If you use a combo Poser/Bryce, it's zillion times better than D/S. Forget it or download it as curiosity (like meh)

Message edited on: 03/30/2006 01:02

I use both Poser 5 and D|S very often and I am pretty happy with both of them.

D|S can be called a free alternative to Poser to some degree, I'd say. Of course D|S is a bit less sophisticated than Poser 5, but it is a level higher than Poser 4. It also works better with Bryce proper because these two are linked to each other. In fact Bryce 5.5 comes bundled with D|S.

D|S is MUCH simplier and easier to learn than any Poser. It doesn't require actual "learning" as such, or at least for me it was extremely easy to grasp the idea of :))

As Cassette says, it requires OpenGL support from your graphic card.

BUT I wouldn't say that DAZ|Studio is Poser for poor or that it is a curiosity. It is a completely different piece of software that is developing and I can see that it will go very far judging by how fast it evolves :)

I'd strongly advise you to try it.

All in all you have to try it yourself. Noone can tell you if it is a good aplication for you. Some like it some hate it, as everything else in the world :)

edited to add: you can see the examples of both Poser and D|S use in my gallery:
http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Yes&Artist=4blueyes

and no, it is not a shameless self promotion :)

Michal
4blueyes

Message edited on: 03/30/2006 01:27

DAZ|Studio is roughly comparable to Poser 4. Some things are better (the render engine, inverse kinematics), some things are less (magnets, animation). Ease of use: to each his own. I like the Poser interface better, others like the D|S interface better. DAZ|Studio integrates well with Bryce 5.5. Poser 6 has dynamic cloth and hair, plus Python scripting, plus character creation, things that DAZ|Studio does not have. Its material options and lighting are more advanced than D|S. If you're an animator, Poser is clearly the better choice. If you're doing only stills, DAZ|Studio is only slightly less capable than Poser 6. Not bad at all for a free program. Try it. It's free.

I love DS for one reason: displacement mapping !! If you tweak the displacement settings for a while you can create fantastic fuziness a whole lot better than "cheap" bump-mapping. Other than that, I have ProPack, got used to its interface, understand it better than DS, and can't live without simple-yet-useful Python scripts. But since Studio is free, you can always try it and uninstall :) Got fuzzy Rufus DS render in my gallery, if you'd like to drop by :)

"it will go very far judging by how fast it evolves :)" Sorry, but judging how SLOW it evolves (they promised to us the actual stage of development TWO years ago) I fear it will continue to fall terribly behind Poser... And mind me, I'm VERY happy to have a free alternative program... if it IS a TRUE alternative - and I think D|S is not. But, better you download and try it for yourself. :)

'they promised to us the actual stage of development TWO years ago' You and I obviously frequent different forums. I've never seen any statement to that effect from DAZ. mac

Well, just remember, if you've downloaded it, and have the 'recommend this to at least 2 friends' (what if you're unpopular?..;), this could count as 1 endorsement.
I haven't played that much with it..it's fairly good on exporting to Bryce (Bryce 5.5 and Daz are more interconnected than 5.0 or 5.01, but I've seen some good stuff done with it)
If you've got Poser, you're probbly fine (unless you have a very old version..I still have Poser 3 on my system..;). Since it's free, you lose nothing by downloading it.. you get a @#$%-load of stuff with it (Egyptian), and the only 'drawback' is that when you get Daz stuff, you'll have to point the item to the correct program (I have 3 choices now..;) when you install it. Whaddaywantforfree? Rubber biscuit?..;)

DAZ|Studio has met all my needs for the past year. I paid for the Poser 6 upgrade just because I can't resist getting the latest updates. I rarely use Poser any more. You can really consider DAZ|Studio a Poser Alternative because it handles Poser content. DAZ|Studio does have its own native format, but you'll find precious few things in the DAZ|Studio native format. It doesn't matter because DAZ|Studio will handle most of the Poser content out there. I don't care about Dynamic Hair, cloth, etc....

"You and I obviously frequent different forums. I've never seen any statement to that effect from DAZ." Well, they announced a real alternative to Poser almost 2 years before putting out something usable. Playing with words is a common procedure in marketing. ;)

Paris Hilton or Pamela Anderson? It's a matter of opinion. Personally, I'd walk over both of them to get to Paris' mother. I find the PowerPose plugin of DS makes posing easier than Poser and the DFormer plugin is much easier than Poser's magnets. Both of those were free to beta program members. It renders faster and has displacement plus the potential to be extremely powerful when they offer more complete Renderman functionality as I expect the to. It's not Poser though. It does many of the same things but it has a different look and feel which you may or may not take to. Trying it is the only was to find out. Poser has a growing body of procedural shaders, dynamic hair/cloth and offers you more sophisticated rendering options today as well as more portability to other applications like Vue and Carrara. Whether DS will gain those remains to be seen. If you need/want those features then definitely go with Poser 6. If not then give DS a try. It has the potential to develop into a powerful application in its own right but whether it will is unknown so consider it in light of what it does now and how well that fits in with what you want.