I definitely won't argue that there's a lot of room for improvement with the DAZ figures, especially their general shapes and proportions..

But the shape and the proportions of a figure are relatively easy fixed.

A convoluted mesh OTOH, with bad mapping, bad topology and no decent morphs or clothing support to speak of, is not.

Not to mention that it's a lot easier to fit M3 clothing to a modified M3 than to fit M3 clothing to a completely reworked Simon or Ryan.

Trying to turn a sows ear into a silk purse might be "cool" and "different", but it isn't really efficient.

And if you're a single not too healthy person trying to rebuild not just one but more than a dozend meshes into what hopefully looks a little more realistic, you can use all the efficiency you can get.

Why should I put myself in a position where I have to beg in forums for clothing support or have to rely on more or less successful conversions ?

DAZ figures were the only logical choice for me a few years back when I realized the rift happening, and so far nothing has changed.

I tried my luck with Dork, Don, even James I, but won't touch any of the G2 or newer Poser people with a ten foot pole.

They really do s*ck that much.

 

But then, I think that V4 and M4 pretty much s*ck, too, even if for other reasons.  ;-)

For me it's either the 3rd Gen DAZ meshes or Genesis.

The 3rd Gen are the most robust and have tons of support.

The 4th Gen were stopgaps that were neither here nor there.

The 5th Gen is better tech and working pretty much as it is meant to be.

 

It's not just money you invest into Poser, at least for me, it's a lot of time, too. Building all those figures was a lot of work, and if I ever were to "abandon" them I certainly will go to something more advanced and not backwards again because of some "brand loyalty".

I was very close abandoning Poser for good years ago when Studio introduced reverse deformation morph tools to create JCMs.

They worked brilliantly in Studio but sadly not as well in Poser.

They were the one tool I always wished for since I started with Poser in 2000. Bad joints and crumpling mesh could finally be 100% fixed.

Thankfully ColorCurvator stepped up and created a similar tool for Poser. And thankfully he also updated it for PP 2012, so Poser is still useable for me. Even with perfect photorealistic looking skin, bad joints are something I simply won't tolerate in 2012. I created my first "Joint Improvement Magnet" about five minutes after I loaded Posette for the very first time.  ;-)

Still, after 12 years of rigging in Poser I'll soon try to rig a figure in Studio to see how it goes.

Seeing the amazing things artists have already done with this new technology, it would be shame not to give it at least a try.