Quote -  @Kalon-
I cannot access the CP forums for some reason today and a product search comes up with "Olivia" as a Miki 2 morph.
What is the "Olivia" you refer to ?

Olivia is the long awaited, long ago promised, female counterpart for Kelvin, Smith Micro's African American Male. She finally has a release date of October 9th!

Daz is sure to release a low res version of M4, also. These are actually the mesh as worked up in Modo. There is even a 1K, 2K and 4K version of V4. The release V4 is the sub-divided 17K. Several people have taken the 17K into Modo and just subdivided; you get the release V4.

:: og ::

From some of the previews, M4 does look a lot like Apollo.  In another thread at DAZ, previews were shown a few weeks ago with face morphs that closely resembling the G2 figures.  It seems to be an attempt to show some comparison to figures people might already have.

The comparison between Apollo and V4 has been a heated topic for a long time.  I don't think anyone ever said that Apollo's mesh was used to make V4.  But certain aspects of his features such as the order of the morphs on the head, scaling, materials (look at the names), and eyebrow layer are very similar.

Based upon some of the previews I'm not yet convinced that the shoulders for M4 look any better than M3...

sorry papa i disagree. the shoulders/arms of M4 are spectacularly better than M3.

no inward curving upper arm and the top of the shoulder looks normal.

::og::

My opinion is just based upon the previews.  Maybe if I play with him myself I'll have a different opinion.

mine too, i am not a beta tester. time will tell

====soon====

You sure you don't work for Daz? Or are they now to be called the "Cult of Soon"? :D

Quote - If you've gone past V4 for the reasons given, which I share, what human model(s) are you using? I know you are a modeler, but for the general posing public????

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2749051 still very WIP.  And since I will almost certainly never bother to rig my model for Poser, it's of little interest to the "general posing public".

Quote - Lordy,his thread needs to be locked or removed.

I agree. This thread has gotten unbearably boring since the fighting stopped.

Quote - Well, I don't know that apologies are warranted. I think we all saw exactly what DAZ wanted us to see. And, no, this is not a slam against DAZ. If nothing else, DAZ demonstrates consistently that they are aware of marketing concepts-- and that they're pretty damned good at them.

They're about to release their new flagship male figure... They look around at the competition, (competition being any male figure with any significant marketshare that was not made by DAZ) far ahead of the pack is Apollo, mid way are the G2 figures and then pulling up the rear are Rikishi, Clarke and Vincent Parker. Well, they can't compete with Vincent Parker, because his strength is low polygons, not an area DAZ has a strong interest in... The promo pictures released in the preview thread had the now detached Apolloish image, an image that had a Clarkish feel (young, soft male) and a large rotund figure -- clearly Rikishish. Earlier images I've heard described as looking like James.

The message is clear. If you like those looks, M4 can capture them. The more subtle message is that you can have your "Apollo (Clark, Rikishi, James) Look" with DAZ "support". With the preponderance of clothing converters on the market one of the greatest deterrents to the success of all the other male models has been the lack of good or great texture maps. Right out of the gate, preceding the figure's release, you know that you can use TC2 to convert all of your favorite M3/D3/H3 or Freak textures to M4. You know that the clothing converters will produce plugins for M4. You know that DAZ will produce clothing for him. Not as much as for V4, but certainly more than any of the competition, with the possible exception of the G2 men.

So, yeah, I agree with Esther. The image was removed, but it served DAZ's purpose. It increased chatter, which leads to interest, anticipation, speculation... All things that DAZ  wants to precede the release.

My guess as to the release date is October 9... Steal whatever thunder Content Paradise /Smith-Micro can muster for the long awaited release of Olivia.

I'm not sure about Apollo leading the pack, I have allways perfered David 3. This is cause you can buff him up a lot better than Apollo. For example David's abs. Apollo does have some advantages.... different rigging, foot and toes adj. I hope that Mike 4 combines the best of both
David 3, and Apollo, or the new Apollo 2008 combines the best of the old Apollo, and David 3.

What we need now most of all is a texture converter to convert textures back, and forth between
the different characters out there, and Apollo. It strikes me very discrimatory, that you can transfer textures between all the different characters out there, using the old universal texture converter, and soon (prob) with the new texture converter. But, NOT apollo.

i hope M4 is great, but if not, I am good to go with current model I am using, whose name does not begin with "M"......

You can't judge a rig from a single still, silly.

Quote -
I'm not sure about Apollo leading the pack, I have allways perfered David 3. This is cause you can buff him up a lot better than Apollo. For example David's abs. Apollo does have some advantages.... different rigging, foot and toes adj. I hope that Mike 4 combines the best of both
David 3, and Apollo, or the new Apollo 2008 combines the best of the old Apollo, and David 3.

What we need now most of all is a texture converter to convert textures back, and forth between
the different characters out there, and Apollo. It strikes me very discrimatory, that you can transfer textures between all the different characters out there, using the old universal texture converter, and soon (prob) with the new texture converter. But, NOT apollo.

As a DAZ product, David 3 is not in competition with Michael 4.

As for Apollo being supported by Texture Converter 2, 3D Universe has stated that he won't be supported due to "creator restrictions".

 Yes, I seemt o remember reading something about apollo on anton's site that said you can use him for whatever as long as you don't convert any of his things to things for other figures.
Love esther

Dan Farr posted over at DAZ this morning that M4 will be out in the 2-4 week window ahead; vendors are making clothes and characters, etc.,

::::: Opera :::::

Okay, so tell me that makes sense -- to release products for a mesh that might not even be out till the beginning of November?

Quote - Okay, so tell me that makes sense -- to release products for a mesh that might not even be out till the beginning of November?

It means there should be stuff available for him ready when he comes out ?

Waaaaaaay in advance?

Seems marginally weird, IMHO. By the time they release M4, the items listed this week will be buried under all the stuff that's come out between now and then. And with the Farr announcement, folks are gonna be less inclined to buy these things now, which just undercuts their sales numbers.

 SeanMartin - you don't think they will have a special menu that has all M44 and his things on one page?
Love esther

They might, but if they flood the page, all of this early stuff will be lost by being so low on the list. Folks will be looking at the top of the page, not the bottom.

Just my guess.

But honestly, if this isnt coming out for a month, it seems more than a little silly to be releasing things like this this early. "Here, your car wont be ready for a month, but here's the headlights and the gear shift knob. Cool. huh?"

 lets hope there will be several pages of content.  when i bought v3 she was naked!

Quote -

But honestly, if this isnt coming out for a month, it seems more than a little silly to be releasing things like this this early. "Here, your car wont be ready for a month, but here's the headlights and the gear shift knob. Cool. huh?"

Yeah....IMHO, it seems a little premature to release content for a product that won't be released for quite a while...but, my workplace did the same thing for a long time....we've got a couple dozen titles on Blu-Ray, and have had them for months.....and we got our first Blu-Ray players in last week.   
:unsure:  
It really makes no sense, but....well, when you've got marketing B.S. whispered in your ear constantly, you start to believe it.  

I think they (Daz) is just trying to hype up the release, like they tried with V4 and A4. Personally I am waiting on another  male figure to be released.

Quote - But honestly, if this isnt coming out for a month, it seems more than a little silly to be releasing things like this this early. "Here, your car wont be ready for a month, but here's the headlights and the gear shift knob. Cool. huh?"

Add on top of that that they are having a sale on the gear shift and headlights and to take advantage of the sale (some expire in the next several days) you buy before you see the car, read test drive reports, etc.

Really strange approach, unless they put them on sale again.

You mention headlights. hmm, must mean there is a M4Female morph set (dives under table to keep from being slapped)

Quote - Okay, so tell me that makes sense -- to release products for a mesh that might not even be out till the beginning of November?

It is likely that the folks designing the DAZ-brokered content for M4 have an advance copy to work with.  You remember they did this in the case of V4.  It's partly just marketing hype, to get people excited to buy M4 when he's released, but also it's just smart business - DAZ make their money off of brokered content more than the character figures themselves, so it's very much to their advantage to work with their preferred content creators and provide them advanced copies in cases like this.

Now, would it be a good idea to BUY something like this so far in advance of the release of the figure? Hell no, but I bet any early releases like this sell like gangbusters just the same.

Well the hype is certainly working in as much as it's got people talking about M4 ;)

People have been talking about M4 for over a year. Nice to see these same people actually doing something about it for a change.

Quote - People have been talking about M4 for over a year. Nice to see these same people actually doing something about it for a change.

The only interest to me in M4 is as a clothing maker. So far all I have done is minor clothing for V3 and V4 but would like to start with the males soon.

Quote - > Quote -

You mention headlights. hmm, must mean there is a M4Female morph set (dives under table to keep from being slapped)

Pretty sure DF just said the All Mil4 Figures can use the same morphs.
So, maybe not so far fetched.

Although I'm sure the vertex order will be the same (same mesh after all) and the morphs will "work" from a purely technical standpoint - From some experience trying to mix the existing V4 Male morphs with various other morphs, I don't think that will work well in reverse either.  Some really unpleasant things happen to the mesh particularly around the breast/pec area and at the hips.  I guess we'll see though.

Quote -  lets hope there will be several pages of content.  when i bought v3 she was naked!

Then they gave us a bikini, second skins, catsuit and not much else for a quite a long time. :blink:

I'm waiting for Phantom3D's male figure.
I might get M4, but I doubt once I get my hands on the one I really want he'll see much use.

I find it amusing that so many people care about M4.  I look at the galleries all the time and see very, very few images using any male figure.  The same thing has happened with all the other male figures and then the excitement dies down and it's back to Vicki and friends as usual. 

Quote - I find it amusing that so many people care about M4.  I look at the galleries all the time and see very, very few images using any male figure.  The same thing has happened with all the other male figures and then the excitement dies down and it's back to Vicki and friends as usual. 

Just because the users of the Male figures don't post to the galleries HERE, doesn't mean that the figures are not used in many MANY projects. You can't do any serious animations without both male and female figures. There's also the Erotic galleries of other sites where you'll see plenty of manflesh!

M4 looks a bit femme to me. Besides M3 of the past now did not really get that much support like Victoria did..so I am still debating this

Quote - M4 looks a bit femme to me. Besides M3 of the past now did not really get that much support like Victoria did..so I am still debating this

Take a look at this guy.  I wish he would get finnished.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/media/folder_9/file_407679.jpg

Not done yet? What character is that? Oh well, there are a lot of very very talented morphing artists at Rosity. Heck they even made Posette look good :)

Quote - Not done yet? What character is that? Oh well, there are a lot of very very talented morphing artists at Rosity. Heck they even made Posette look good :)

That is Brad 1 an original figure that phantom 3D is working on.  There is a long thread in the critique forum about it. He is also working on a female but I don't see the thread anymore.  From following the thread Brad bends and moves incredibly well.  Anyway I hope it gets done soon so I can try it.

I see. well I will keep an eye on that as well :)

Me too.

I plan to get M4, just because I have them all and would like to see if anything in M4 is new,  but my all time favorite of the male models is still M2, David second. Maybe M4 will change that but I doubt it. I do hope he will not be so crammed full of magnets and they dont hide all the dials ect. I was disappointed in V4 although she does bend a little better than V3. And then there's the cost, but I don't think the developers are over paid for their work, Poser hobbying is just a spendy pass time. I get alot of enjoyment out of it so it evens out.

As for Apollo being supported by Texture Converter 2, 3D Universe has stated that he won't be supported due to "creator restrictions".

Ah, ok. That sucks.

Quote - As for Apollo being supported by Texture Converter 2, 3D Universe has stated that he won't be supported due to "creator restrictions".

Ah, ok. That sucks.

That's the reason I don't even have apollo. Technically you cannot even make a texture for it since you would be looking at the geometry. Clothing, forget it you are not only looking at the geometry but also the rigging. Makes it a worthless peice of garbage to me. If you look at it you are reverse engineering, go figure.

Quote - > Quote - As for Apollo being supported by Texture Converter 2, 3D Universe has stated that he won't be supported due to "creator restrictions".

Ah, ok. That sucks.

That's the reason I don't even have apollo. Technically you cannot even make a texture for it since you would be looking at the geometry. Clothing, forget it you are not only looking at the geometry but also the rigging. Makes it a worthless peice of garbage to me. If you look at it you are reverse engineering, go figure.

That's just plain SILLY!  Of course you can make clothing and textures, many poser developers have and there is no problem doing that.

The EULA talks about reverse engineering for other figures.  Anton didn't want people stealing his ideas to make THEIR figures better.  Anton has been in full support of anyone that wants to create things for ApolloMax, always has and still does.

I had 2005 version and I didn't see anything in it that was new everything in had been done befor, so he stole someone elses ideas.

DUCK AND COVER PPL!!!!!

quick get stepson into the shelters!!!!

OOPs, that sounds worse than I meant,  I mean there's not much new under the sun in poser.  (is that better?)

Quote - OOPs, that sounds worse than I meant,  I mean there's not much new under the sun in poser.  (is that better?)

You need to use Apollo for awhile and understand, just what is different, before you fly off with such statements.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - As for Apollo being supported by Texture Converter 2, 3D Universe has stated that he won't be supported due to "creator restrictions".

Ah, ok. That sucks.

That's the reason I don't even have apollo. Technically you cannot even make a texture for it since you would be looking at the geometry. Clothing, forget it you are not only looking at the geometry but also the rigging. Makes it a worthless peice of garbage to me. If you look at it you are reverse engineering, go figure.

That's just plain SILLY!  Of course you can make clothing and textures, many poser developers have and there is no problem doing that.

The EULA talks about reverse engineering for other figures.  Anton didn't want people stealing his ideas to make THEIR figures better.  Anton has been in full support of anyone that wants to create things for ApolloMax, always has and still does.

I agree with you 100% here .
I really love it when people expound on and on about things, they probably have used very little, if at all.

UTC2 is sold exclusively somewhere that Apollo is not supported at all.
So I am not at all surprised to hear this.

Quote -
UTC2 is sold exclusively somewhere that Apollo is not supported at all.
So I am not at all surprised to hear this.

UTC2 has the Poser 7 figures in the list for development. I think Sydney is something like number 4 on the list. Maybe he'll be marketing those plugins elsewhere, on the otherhand,  the bastion may be weakening... I believe I saw something sold there for Miki, I'm pretty sure I saw Miki used in a promotional image. Whether it weakens enough for Apollo... that's another question.