today I couldn't find a Pz3 that I wanted because unfortunately pz3s don't have thumbnails.  I knew it was in a folder that contained lots of Pz3s but I just didn't know which Pz3 it was  anyway, it suddenly occurred to me that it had a Kid 4 in it, so I searched the folder for something that contained K4 and then I found it.  Because poser files are text files.  DAZ Studio files are encrypted somehow  i think, so it's not that easy to make user based things for them either.
For example:- Poser didn't come with mat files. Mat files were invented by poser users and could be done because Cr2s and Pz3s etc can be hacked.  I don't think DS files can be hacked.

Scene files are binary files, yes, However all the preset files are scripts and can, as long as they aren't saved encrypted, be edited to do anything the scripting engine can do. So it depends on what you mean by hacking, really.

 Good.  the less limitations the more the DS world will grow.
Love etsher

DS3.1 does now have IK, though not as feature rich as Poser's (it works only within a figure, so you can't parent a hand or foot to an item you wish it to follow and move that for instance).

I can't seem to find it. How do you switch IK on? 

Quote - DS3.1 does now have IK, though not as feature rich as Poser's (it works only within a figure, so you can't parent a hand or foot to an item you wish it to follow and move that for instance).

I can't seem to find it. How do you switch IK on? 

Poser rigs are the rigs that apps like Max,Maya,XSI,C4D used 20 years a go.
Really would not call Poser rigs feature rich,
I would call Poser rigs seriously out dated thou.

If you are using 3.1 then you should see the IK chains in the Scene palette as children of the root ("Victoria 4.2" or whatever). Use the new Universal manipulator tool to access the pinning menu (it appears as a pin icon at top-right of the widget), though IK will respond to all tools and parameter sliders.

I used to be a poser user, but then I tried DAZ Studio and found it to be much better.  Poser took an eternity to install or even to make a single render, and my Poser renders often had a lot of blackness on them for some reason.  While with DS, my renders are finished in a snap and I very rarely have that blackness problem. 

Furthermore, I'm just so sick and tired of all the V4 content that's exclusive to Poser and not supported in DS.  Particularly since the people who made DS are the ones who created V4 in the first place.  So if you're going to make something great for V4, then for God's sake, show her creators some respect and make it work with DS!

Allthough being a old-time and obsessed poseruser I also use D|S, but I spent more money on plug-ins to get the same functionality then what you pay for a new version of poserpro 2010.
So to call D|S free software is far beyond the truth.
Of course D|S has features that are superior to Poser: I wish there was something like animate+ for poser, D|S is beter organised and you can setup the whole interface just the way you like it.
But I wouldn't drop poser for it:
Dynamic clothing is supported on D|S, but only if you buy it, I like to make it myself and although such a feature is promised for more then a year ago, it's still not there.
Poser's materialroom is easier to use than D|S shader-builder/ shader-mixer, perhaps they have more functionality, but it lacks a proper documentation.
Documentation is also a poor aspect of D|S, of course there are the WIKI pages, but a lot of documentation is work in progress, IAO: it's not there.
One good exception are the figure setup tools, which are also superior to poser, but again, there's a nice price-tag on it.
D|S should support HDR-images, but AFAIK there is only a converter for HDRI to TIFF-files to use with the ubershader plugin, I consider that as fraud: TIFF isn't HDR IMHO.
Has anyone tried to make a real GI-render in D|S? It takes forever!

So I wouldn't say D|S is better than Poser, both have ther pros and cons, I think the most sensisitve way is to use both and take advantage of the strong points both programs has to offer, by example: I use D|S to setup animations, export them as PZ2 files and render them in
poser.

best regards,

Bopper.