Forum: Poser - OFFICIAL


Subject: Are die-hard Poser users going to switch to Daz Studio for VIvky 5?

drifterlee opened this issue on Nov 02, 2011 · 273 posts


kobaltkween posted Sat, 05 November 2011 at 6:35 AM

my short and simple answer is no.

the (very) long  and complicated version is, well, complicated.  my first thought is that people keep making assumptions about Poser usage in general based on content community usage.  while DS users probably do map almost perfectly to the content community, Poser users don't.  i've seen a fair amount of CG work with Poser using the default content and figures together with custom content.  at my old job, several classes of kids not much older than high school and non-technical to boot learned to use Poser and some other CG software.  just one of those classes had more people in it than this thread, and they were taught for years.  the students who came across content community sites (including this one and DAZ's) were repelled by the content and the community.  the focus on T&A made them uncomfortable.  these were artists who weren't a bit put off by nudity. they had a problem with all of the hot pants, bikinis, and characters that dressed like "whores."  the whole pinup focus loses us a lot of artists who either want something more, find the environment uncomfortable, or both.
 

in total, i've personally seen hundreds of Poser users that weren't part of the content community and didn't share our goals or interests.  so i don't think it's so simple to say that Poser's creators should push our kind of content with their software.

Genesis is interesting and innovative.  it's true that it has a lot of precursors, but it takes some significant new steps.  that said, i'm just not seeing the huge improvement people are talking about.  i've still seen problems at the knees when partially bent. Joe Public showed some poses that showed the same back problems Vicky has had for years (that awful hump!).  i definitely see improvements, but the main way i can differentiate a Genesis/V5 image from a V4 one is either really extreme (inhuman) morphing or the shoulders (if they're lowered). V5 goes for about the same price i paid for V4 Complete, but includes less (most notably, the Evolution morphs are separate).  imho, V5/Gensis is cool and impressive.  but, personally, just for my own use, i'd prefer not to have to pay the same money for a few morphs that i did for hundreds of morphs with a whole lot of extra content thrown in.  i'd really prefer not to buy into a system that's so inconvenient for me.   to use V5, i either have to give up half of the capabilities i currently enjoy (making my own dynamic clothes, scripting my materials, writing little scripts without needing an SDK, sculpting with the morph tool, etc.) or spend a good chunk of time converting content.  for me, the whole point of buying content is ease of use.

maybe i'm wrong, but i don't think people are worried because they're intested in the latest Vicky.  i think they're interested in the latest Vicky's content.  imho, the anxiety comes from worrying about about either having to learn a lot of new stuff all at once or miss out on all the shiny new toys.  in this economy, i think people are even more anxious about spending their money well.  sure, Vicky has been a safe bet.  but for Poser users, she's just not any more.  for us, especially if we don't know DS, using V5 will involve about as much work as using an independent figure and converting content.  even worse, there is no common V5 for Poser.  there's only your copy of V5, which should theoretically be the same as everyone else's.  it's not like the exporting process doesn't have options.  the more steps a process has, the more likely it is for something to go wrong.

there's no longer a simple answer for Poser users who just want to load and render the latest content.  people are struggling with that.  

this is why the WM Antonia and WM V4 projects are relevant.  as lkendall says, it is a big shift for such a large amount of content to be released not only without a Poser version, but without any backwards compatibility.  there are a lot of people who either can't afford to upgrade, can't get DS4 to work, or just plain don't want to change their workflow for problems they didn't think existed when they bought V4 (and praised her bending to the skies). for years, i've seen merchants express a reluctance (based on sales, by their account) to use any of Poser's features they couldn't make work in both apps and in older versions.   now i'm hearing people talk as if the situation has changed overnight, and merchants can dictate to users what tools to use.  i think that might work for DAZ, who has a lot of leverage, or their top PA's, but i'm not sure i see how it will work for the average merchant.  with the Antonia and V4 projects, there will at least be an option for those who want to make use of recent innovations in a more customer-friendly way.  making content for P8- users would be the same as it's always been, but you can make a weight mapped version of conforming clothes (which, from tutorials, doesn't seem too intense) and add an SSS version of your materials.  not to mention, the project is led by Poser users, designed for Poser users, and has several talented merchants happy and excited to join in.  i personally can't wait to see what comes next!