I've often wondered about that. They've opened a store, but most of the stuff that they sell is for another company's figures. Part of the reason for that is that you can't get their figures unless you buy Poser. It wasn't a big deal when Poser was the only game in town, but now you'd think with Daz Studio breathing down their necks SM would be looking for ways to make their brand a little more popular.

Or am I missing something obvious?

Who would buy them when the DAZ Base figure are free??

Quote - Who would buy them when the DAZ Base figure are free??

The newer DAZ figures aren't really free, at least not after a while... although there are some free textures for them, eventually you will want to have two figures in a scene without them looking like identical twins, and when that happens, you'll have to purchase a morph pack... I've found that purchasing good textures and the morph pack makes the DAZ figures cost about as much as the Smith Micro figures such as Olivia G2.

I've also been surprised that Smith Micro doesn't sell some of their figures outside of Poser, especially Sydney/Simon and the Poser 8 people (can't remember their names).

I've been out of the loop for a while but it seems that Smith  Micro is a "software"developer...not a "content developer"...the content bundled with Pose was always created by "other"content developers as I understood it.

SM  might just lease the bundled content but doesn't staff people to model,texture,ect. They could probably only "sell" the content as stand alone only if the purchased the rights to the content from the third party developers...but then they would also have to support it.

They would likely make more money selling plug-ins that allow thier content to used in other applications...for example...how many Max or Maya users would buy Sydney/Olivia?...probably not many... (they would likely make it themselves,or get a pre-rigged character from TurboSquid if they were in a hurry)...but they might buy a plug-in that allows them to import Poser content into Max or Maya. (I mean REAL Plug-ins that allow seamless integration of all rigging,textures,animation,etc.) Kinda like Vue has Ozone for Lightwave,C4D,etc. that actually has it's own interface in the desination application.

Or...I could be completely wrong...lol...Like I said...i've been out of the loop and still using Poser 3,4, and 5...Perhaps the plug-ins have gotten better in the later versions.

Tom

Well, several Poser characters you can buy without buying Poser, such as Olivia, Kelvin, Koji and Miki. Miki seems to be the only one I would consider as popular though. I know you can also buy Terai Yuki, but I don't really consider her to be a Poser Character.

Forgive my ignorance...but I'm not familiar with the names of the "Bundled"characters since Version 5.

Are any of those characters (Olivia, Kelvin, Koji and Miki) bundled with the later versions of Poser?...I mean...Like can they be used in the Face room ?(If that still exists)

Can any 3rd party characters be used in the faceroom now-a-days?

I guess I'm baseing these questions on the whole DAZ/CuriousLabs situation when Vicky was "Locked Out" of the faceroom. Had Daz got in bed with CuriousLabs, Vicky (and other DAZ people) would have face room support...But DAZ didn't wan't to make that alliance, so the face room was never graced with vicky's presence as I recall...lol

Tom <~~~ Feels really old now.

To my limited knowledge, V4 and friends cannot be used in the faceroom. But then, they have their own morphs, so they don't really need to be.

As far as I know all the characters from Poser 7 and 8 can use the face room, as well as Olivia, Koji, Kelvin, and Miki.

Quote - > Quote - Who would buy them when the DAZ Base figure are free??

The newer DAZ figures aren't really free, at least not after a while... although there are some free textures for them, eventually you will want to have two figures in a scene without them looking like identical twins, and when that happens, you'll have to purchase a morph pack... I've found that purchasing good textures and the morph pack makes the DAZ figures cost about as much as the Smith Micro figures such as Olivia G2.

I've also been surprised that Smith Micro doesn't sell some of their figures outside of Poser, especially Sydney/Simon and the Poser 8 people (can't remember their names).

V2, M2, Stephanie include the morphs with the figure.

CuriousLabs no longer exists, and DAZ characters are still lockout from Poser's Face Room.  However, Koji, Miki, Kevin, etc do have existing Face Room plugins freely available from Content Paradise.

Quote - V2, M2, Stephanie include the morphs with the figure.

They do, but they are so old that it is hard sometimes to find content for them. That's why I mentioned the "newer" figures; I think maybe the V3/M3 low-res have morphs, but I don't think that V3/M3 or V4/M4 come with free morphs. Well, V4 has Stephanie 4, which is a start, but a lot of clothes don't support her.

Quote - Who would buy them when the DAZ Base figure are free??

More to the point: Who would buy them at all? They are ooooogly and not well supported.

Quote - > Quote - Who would buy them when the DAZ Base figure are free??

More to the point: Who would buy them at all? They are ooooogly and not well supported.

I don't know why everyone says that. They're average looking to me. The same thing everyone always claim they're looking for.

Quote - More to the point: Who would buy them at all? They are ooooogly and not well supported.

I actually like them--the only reason I use V4 is because she's outrageously better supported. Honestly, I think that the default, unmorphed, untextured V4 is pretty ugly too. It seems to me that the only reason she makes so much better images with less effort is that there's more, better-quality stock content available for her.

Quote - I've been out of the loop for a while but it seems that Smith  Micro is a "software"developer...not a "content developer"...the content bundled with Pose was always created by "other"content developers as I understood it.

SM  might just lease the bundled content but doesn't staff people to model,texture,ect.

Tom

Actually they do have full time content artists on hand - I'm one of them, though I'm not used much in the 3D side of things much to my chagrin.  Mostly morphs for the figures - though they did let me make the P8 dog and manequinns. The content artists on staff are required to make content for all our graphics programs, not just Poser. This has been the case since e frontier.  Just thought I'd clear that up.

The Poser figures are cool. I like Daz people. But I prefer working with th native and "for" poser figures.

Sydney, JessiG2, Olivia and Terai Yuki are not ugly. I find them very pretty. Same goes for Poser 6 Jessi.

As I write this, they're releasing Miki 3.0 today. Perfect case in point of questioning the marketing minds at Smith Micro.

Why release the one popular Poser figure you have to such a proprietary base? Miki's rigging makes her incompatible with earlier versions of Poser and Daz Studio, so any potential sales to those people are just... lost.

I'm not quite understanding here. Would love to have been in the marketing meeting that had that rationale.

The native P8 figures are vastly under-rated, and it's true that support for them is almost non-existent.

However, Wardrobe Wizard goes a long way to addressing this. I am having some issues converting V4's bodysuit to Alyson, but many other conversions work fine.

For what it's worth, Alyson unmorphed is not a particularly attractive figure - she's somewhat cartoonish. But turn a dial or two and the change is awesome Flat her face a little, adjust her cheekbones... I remember similar accusations being made about Apollo Maximus when he was first released. These figures are intended to be morphed, not usedfrom the box.

In addition, the P8 figures have amazing expression morphs - good enough that even when I'm working with a DAZ figure, I've started using P8 expressions for a reference.

I find them a lot of fun to work with, and I'm making a conscious effort to make more WW conversions and use Alyson and Ryan more often.

I can't say why SM don't make them generally available. Perhaps there's a compatibility issue, or perhaps they're just our bonus for investing in Poser (perhaps they're exclusive to encourage others to invest in Poser).

Quote - Why release the one popular Poser figure you have to such a proprietary base? Miki's rigging makes her incompatible with earlier versions of Poser and Daz Studio, so any potential sales to those people are just... lost.

DAZ products aren't guaranteed to work with any version of Poser prior to Poser 8, either. ..

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=130158

Steph 4 and Freak 4 don't work well with Poser 7 and prior.  I've seen a render of  Miki 3 in Poser 7, so she will load, but I'm sure she doesn't bend as well as in Poser 8 or PP2010.

If you read the Vicki 5 thread over at DAZ, it's likely V5 probably will not be compatible with the current versions of Poser or Studio.  Progress comes at a cost, and one of those is backward compatibility...

Quote - > Quote - Why release the one popular Poser figure you have to such a proprietary base? Miki's rigging makes her incompatible with earlier versions of Poser and Daz Studio, so any potential sales to those people are just... lost.

DAZ products aren't guaranteed to work with any version of Poser prior to Poser 8, either. ..

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=130158

Steph 4 and Freak 4 don't work well with Poser 7 and prior.  I've seen a render of  Miki 3 in Poser 7, so she will load, but I'm sure she doesn't bend as well as in Poser 8 or PP2010.

If you read the Vicki 5 thread over at DAZ, it's likely V5 probably will not be compatible with the current versions of Poser or Studio.  Progress comes at a cost, and one of those is backward compatibility...

S4 works just fine for me in P7. Can't speak for The Freak 4 because I don't use him.

And you're right the V5 compatibility issue is a big one for me.  If it won't work in Poser 7 or 8, I won't be upgrading from V4.

They dont sell them because no one would buy them. Their construction is very bad and not realistic at all.

I have bought the G2 people that didnt ship with Poser (7). Well worth the money. Kelvin, Koji and Olivia are greatly detailed and realistic to me.

Quote - They dont sell them because no one would buy them. Their construction is very bad and not realistic at all.

i agree. Even miki 2 was very badly boned, didn't bend good. So i never used her or miki 1.

Great faces though, but body sucked badly in the bending department.

So nobody ever made character's or clothes for her. Just look in the renderosity Miki section. almost nothing

I have Miki 1 and 2. Shes okay, but I never really did use her that much.

Shortly after getting Poser Pro about two years ago, I bought the G2 characters that didn't come with the package (James, Jessi, Olivia, Kelvin and Koji). I got some skins for them, mostly by Cyllan. There were some excellent ethnic characters available. For a long time, the G2 characters were all I used. I got the career series of clothes for them. Later I also picked up some head morphs for the G2 figures on a sale at Runtime DNA.

Even though I use other figures as well, I find the G2 figures extremely useful. Faceroom compatibility is a big plus. In spite of the fact that I have literally hundreds of skins for V3 and V4, I put the G2 characters to work time and time again. I now need to make many renders for my new website (the graphics are all Poser renders). The G2 characters get the part because of their ease of use and versatility, and because they have decent work clothes and distinctive realistic characters of all races, thanks to Cyllan.

I really like the G2 people. Buying the ones that didnt ship with poser 7 was well worth it. (Olivia, Kelvin and Koji, James and jessi I got free since I had a legit serial for poser to use at CP's site) I use them in my comics. My current comic is called Cindera and the main character I use is Sydney.

Also, I like how the G2 figures are rigged and bend and pose. Most of all, I like thier details.

And they smile really nicely. Good teeth and a natural smile. For me, they are substituting for photographic models, and people respond well to smiley faces and engaging eyes. These figures are underrated. They are a bit high-poly, but I don't think the polys are wasted.

I forgot, Apollo Maximus does have face room support and he is free.

Apollo is free. Links is on my links page. Face room, I am unsure of.

Quote - Apollo is free. Links is on my links page. Face room, I am unsure of.

The Face Room Module download is right next to the figure download on Anton's page...

I don't find all the Poser models ugly.

A lot depends on the textures as well as a few good morphs.

As for content, I make content, both free and retail, for the Poser people. :)

But I have no answer as to why some models can't be purchased outside of Poser.

Going from their scanned anthropomorphically accurate head to Poser figures was really easy - I imported their exported OBJ, worked out the scaling factors and then modified both Ryan and Alyson with the included head sculpting morphs and the face room to match their reference heads. I then built a set of scenes with Ryan and Alyson in a variety of backgrounds.

Now all I need to do is get an exported helmet model OBj, import and scale it with the pre-defined scaling factors, then place it on the character, and render out 6 camera shots with IDL.

They get a series of images they can use for previewing color, design, and then assess whether they move forward or not with the project. Did the same thing for their glasses line. It's an awesome project that I'm very proud of - and it uses nothing but box stock Poser figures and some background scenes (Stonemason's stuff works great)

From the clients' perspective, they wanted an average looking person. And the P8 figures were perfectly functional and they actually thought they were a little "too pretty" :-)

Syntheymonkey, what a wonderful project. I love it when people put Poser to meaningful use.

Quote - Syntheymonkey, what a wonderful project. I love it when people put Poser to meaningful use.

Thanks! It's been really cool to work with them on the project - they've built the most advanced sports helmet testing lab in the US, and are working everything from lacrosse, US football and hockey to cycling helmets.

My secret sauce? Figuring out the scaling factors and knowing how to render and modify Ryan and Alyson's heads with the morphs and faceroom. Now I just keep adding to the client's runtime as they add new products.

Ultimately - the research and development they are doing is to try and save lives. I like helping out.

In fairness to Allyson, Ryan and their Poser predecessors, V4 out of the box is not exactly a stunner. Blocky figure, mediocre lo-res texture, ugly purple second-skin bikini, buzz cut that looks like it was borrowed from Michael... I remember being disappointed when first loading V4.0 without any add-ons. A lot has to be done to (and spent on) Vicky before she resembles any of those hottie renders we're accustomed to seeing on product pages.

But everyone is right that Vicky is much easier to get to where you want her to be, thanks to widespread product offerings. Like many people I started with the Poser figures, Jessi, Sydney, etc. I held out against V4 and M4 for a long time, but once I started on the DAZ figures my G2 girls and their tiny wardrobes were abandoned. 

Anyway, I think as free supplements to Poser, the SM figures serve a purpose... to get you started. I don't see them as being successful standalone products.