RAMWorks opened this issue on Jul 28, 2007 · 152 posts
RAMWorks posted Wed, 01 August 2007 at 11:22 AM
Quote - > Quote - Tom Wrote: I'm kind of curious - what did the taper dial really do aside from traverse the hierarchy and, well, taper something.
Okay not trying to be a smart ass, but not seeing the usefulness of Taper, is a bit like not seeing the usefullness of "Scale"(which just scales) or "Point At"(which just points at). :)
Taper, being one of the 5 scale dials, has the unique attribute of scaling one end while fading off. Obviously, unless the figure, whether human, animal, mechanical or otherwise, is set up for proper scaling, the dial isn't going to be fuctional.
However, I'll list some simple examples of it's uses.
You can use it on humans get more complex shapes to the head, teeth, tongue, finger tips, etc. It can be used on eyes to just shrink the iris or on horns, etc for shaping without morphs.
In clothing, it can be used to point shoes, flair skirts and cuffs, widen/loosen boots, heels, etc etc etc.
On animals, it can be used to fine tune and customize the subtle shapes of snouts, ears, tails, wings, hooves, etc etc, etc, etc
On enviornmental cr2 based figures, it can be used for more abstract/toonish proportions along buildings, railings, staircases, etc etc etc.
On mechanics, it can be used to re-aligns mechanical parts or be animated for various recoil effects.
On particle based figures it can be used and animated for barrel flash, stobe, etc.
On hair, it can resize bangs, reshape lengths, flair strandsor locks, puff ponytails, etc etc etc
... all without the burden of unneccesary non-linear morphs... or more burdensome magnets.
So yes it tapers, :) thus the name, and perhaps it is easy to dismiss something easily when so few figures have ever been set up for proper scaling.
However, if we start picking and choosing to dismiss Poser code, and then down the road, it is found to be useful, people will be stuck with legacy issues and compatibility limitaions. Daz has never really taken scaling seriously, so I can see why they probably don't understand the practical uses of a dial that allows transition scaling. :)
Just one dial anyhoo. They should just write it in to be thorough and complete. I think not adding it was just an oversight really.
Well then I would for SURE love to see Studio support taper then. Mind if I use your examples for my plea in the bug reporting area where there is a feature request option to choose Anton?? You have them all nailed and you said it best!! I won't quote you and use your name but the list is really important for the arguement to be justified!!!
Thanks muc!! 
---Wolff On The Prowl---