Quote - I could list a lot of reasons why I think D|S is easier to grok for the newbie (starting with multiple Runtime handling), but instead let me boil it down to the UI... it's laid out in a more intelligent fashion that Kai Krause's effort, and it doesn't require my setting aside a ton of desktop real estate just to get a good-sized viewport area. The tools are laid out in a shallow manner (meaning I don't have to go digging for them all). Many of the functions that require separate actions in Poser (e.g. IK removal, selecting base figure body parts, morph dial limits, or the act of conforming one figure to another) are automatic. Selecting an item in a scene, making it visible or invisible, or even parenting it only requires eyeballing one easy-to-read Scene Tab.

This is not to knock Poser at large... it was after all an experiment in User Interfaces. BUT... each and every Poser user in this joint (myself included) must admit in all honesty that their initial look at Poser was more than just a little opaque, to say the least.

Ya know... I am a diehard Poser user myself. I've been using it since version 4 (prior to the update), and I am currently in here at Poser7. That said... I actually DO agree with a lot of what you've said. I DO agree that in many ways D/S is easier to grasp for the beginners who are getting their feet wet in the 3D area. I do agree that some of the functions (such as IK/parenting/etc) are much better thought out and impleneted in D/S.

However...........................................

The interface. The UI. That is EXACTLY what turned me OFF of D/S, to be blunt flaming honest here. I can't STAND the ui. It makes my head spin, it ticks me off, and it drives me absolutely BONKERS. I hate it. I despise it. I can NOT get used to the user interface of D/S, I have NEVER liked it, and I simply most likely never will. For me, the UI is a MAJOR deciding factour on what programme I am going to go with. I've got D/S 1.8 on here. I've had all the previous versions on here as well. I've tried them. I've deleted them within a matter of days every time because for ME, the user interface alone is confusing, infuriating, frustrating, NOT explanatory, and leaves me sitting here wanting to pick up my computer and throw it out a window.

So... yeah. Even the UI is not neccessarily a 'newbie' thing. Granted I'm not a newbie, but nor am I pro. I'm a middle ground hobbyist who mainly uses it to illustrate her own work and occassionally gets a stroke of luck and cracks out a freebie here and there for folks to play with. But until such time as I can open up DazStudio and spend more than 2 minutes inside of it without my blood pressure skyrocketing because of how cumbersome and ugly and confusing and sheer FRUSTRATING the interface is (for me!!!!!!)...... I'm very, very, VERY NOT likely to EVER use it as my main rendering programme.

Does D/S do what it adverrtises to do? Yes! Definitely.
Does it have things done in there better than Poser? Yup! There are definitely things D/S does and handles way better than Poser.

But it's completely unusable by me because of that user interface design. There really are no words for how strongly I detest the UI... thus... I have stuck with Poser, and I likely always will because by version 1.8, they've decided what their UI is going to be and they are not likely to ever change that. Which means I won't use it because that UI is 99% of the turnoff for me to D/S.

All that said. laughs

I do honestly LIKE D/S for what it's capable of doing, how it's worked, how it's coded, and how it allows people to get the base programme and such and start playing around in 3D. But I just don't think it's for everyone. Just as I don't think Poser is for everyone.

What it boils down to for me, in my view, is that Poser and D/S are like choosing to use a PC or a Mac. Or choosing to use Windows or Linux. It's PERSONAL preference. Some will like one and not the other, others may be the exact oppossite. You CANNOT compare them, because they are not by any means the same product, and attempting to do so is doing a disservice to BOTH products, in my opinion. Compare D/S on the grounds of it being a CG artwork and rendering programme. By all means!! But don't compare it to Poser, or compare Poser to D/S. That's apples and oranges folks, and every discussion I've ever seen of this nature invariably seems to turn into a Poser vs. D/S topic and it really... makes very little sense.

Naturally, D/S users will support D/S. Naturally, Poser users will support Poser. If they didn't, then they're using the wrong programme!! Naturally, people will support that which THEY like and find the most use out of.

For me, that's Poser. For others, it might be D/S. Personal preference, personal opinions. That's why we have the ability to make the choice in which to use. :) I don't give a flying hoot about the advertising, the marketing, yada yada yada. I don't care. I really don't. Your adverts and marketing has ZERO to do with whether or not I stick with one programme or use another to accomplish what I wish to do. What makes that decision for me is functionality, user interface, and performance. For me, Poser wins that contest.

Personally? I try to support BOTH programmes. Why? Because I feel they are both valid 3D/CG tools, and deserving of that support. I try very hard to make my freebies compatible with both Poser and D/S. I'm in the middle right now of making a completely separate packaging of Caris specifically so that the D/S users can actually use my V4 morphs. I shouldn't HAVE to. I SHOULD be able to release one file and expect it to work in both Poser and D/S, but yet that is not the case. So I am sitting here reinventing the wheel to make my morphs function inside of D/S, because I don't want to leave the D/S users out in the cold, either.

They're both good programmes. They both do function well as their designers intended. They both have problems. They both have supporters and non-supporters. People are individual and not cut from the same mold anymore than these two programmes are, and will make their own decision. I just wish it was less 'poser sucks, d/s rocks' and 'd/s sucks, poser rules' and more an attempt to try and work with the playing field that's laid out before us. That's all.

/rant off
/soapbox away

slinks back off to her dark corner
~ Seliah