Quick question. Do you guys and gals think that the renders from daz studio 4 reality plugin are coming out better then those from pp 2012? Im thinking of geting the free daz studio 4 and giving it a shot. Will i be able to use my poser files in daz studio?

LOL!  Sorry, this is just a flame war ready to happen.

Long story short:  Get DS4, it's free, try it, see if you like it.  It can import PZ3, but some things wont import like shader trees and displacement, etc.

No-one here will say its better.  Even me.  :)

Have fun!

The Reality plugin is not free.  However, the LuxPoser is.

I think the renders from LUXRENDER come out better than Poser, yeah (Reality is just a port from DS to Luxrender. It doesn't do any rendering of it's own). Of course, Luxrender renders take all day and perhaps all night as well while Poser or DS renders take just a short while. Of the two, DS and Poser, I think Poser makes the nicest renders. Luxrender renders are superior to both if you're willing to wait for a render.

You should be able to use your Poser files in DS except for DS specific materials and shaders. They don't really transfer over into DS.

Laurie

Quote - The Reality plugin is not free.  However, the LuxPoser is.

Pose2Lux actually ;).

Laurie

It's all about the lighting.  The reason Luxrender renders look better is because the user is usually lighting a scene with emitters, and more physically accurate lighting systems.  Poser, however, is now capable of quite the same.  Poser actually has an edge in the materials department, as SSS can be more definable for realistic skin results.  I could light a scene using spotlights and send it to Lux and not mess with the materials at all, and the results will look strikingly similar to a Poser 4 render.  Simple as that.  I love Lux, not specifically because of the results, which I could also attain in various other renderers, but for other reasons.  Lux allows you to change light gain and turn off and on lights in the scene as the render is in progress.  You can't do that with most other renderers, especially Poser.  It really helps evaluate your lighting on the fly.  That's reason alone for me to use Lux for more than  half the images I've been rendering recently.

ok how good  is  lux render engine  and how  will  it  help  me  useing  Poser 7

You can set up your scene in Poser, run the script which will export a luxrender render file and then open Luxrender and render that scene file. It is an unbiased renderer and it is incredibly slow, but it is also incredibly physically accurate. Glass and water have caustics, metal looks believable and the best part...the script and Luxrender itself are both free ;).

Laurie

ok sounds good   think i  might  have  to get  it  where do i find  it

It can be found here, as well as all of Snarly's scripts.

Laurie

thank you LaurieA

question about Lux renderer and render farms, I have been interested in using lux renderer but my 10 year old pc would be an atrocity waiting to happen using it, LOL, I have been looking into render farms for extra render support. The question is this:

To use the render farm you have to upload the textures to an ftp server, would that violate tos or eula if I was using a premade texture or material for a model?

Also can anyone point me to some lux render farms that are available?

BOTH.

I had no idea there was a Poser to Lux exporter! Downloading now...

My recommendation: get DS4, get the Poser trial version, and try both.  Then pick the one that you're most at ease with.

A lot of Poser content works fine in DS4, but as was mentioned fancy Poser materials won't work well (if at all), and Poser dynamic cloth won't work period.

Best of luck with your choice! I moved fro DS4 to PPro, PPro works best for me,  plus I'm saving up for Cinema4D and being able to bring my content into Cinema is important for me.

Quote - question about Lux renderer and render farms, I have been interested in using lux renderer but my 10 year old pc would be an atrocity waiting to happen using it, LOL, I have been looking into render farms for extra render support. The question is this:

To use the render farm you have to upload the textures to an ftp server, would that violate tos or eula if I was using a premade texture or material for a model?

Also can anyone point me to some lux render farms that are available?

 

It shouldn't violate any EULA's.  Lux network rendering is super easy on a personal network, but there's some really good ones out there for it, like vswarm.  And Vswarm is free.  Sort of.  Check it out.

http://www.vswarm.com/

I used to network my Lux scenes to my two other computers. Does speed it up some. Never heard of vswarm tho ;).

Laurie

DAZ SUX!!11!!!

Poser r0xorz!!111!!!

;)

They're both great/crap/average*

• Delete as applicable. 

Depending on how you look at it...lol

Poser pisses me off more than half the time. But I'm thinking DS probably would just as much...lol.

Laurie

both have thier  good  points  but  i  prefer  Poser  easier  for me  to understand and use

the advantage is that daz is free and i like the versitility of the genesis figure. they need an improved shader or material system which i think still stinks.

i also use poser pro 2012. love its ease and manuverability. the material room is top notch to use.

I'll have to give DS another chance just so I can say I did :P Not hopeful about my ability to pick up on it tho :P

Laurie

well  as  it's free  that  makes  it  worth  playin  with IMO

I restarted and prodded along a thread on the old Daz forum attempting to match the best of Poser9/Pro2012 SSS results with DS4. Never saw any real success-although there was a ton (tonne) of discussion about the theoretical capabilities of the 3Delight renderer. While there are some waxy looking PoserPro2012 SSS skin renders out there-if you use Snarlygribbly's EZskin script (which applies some shaders worked out largely by Bagginsbill) it looks really quite good. Lux Renderer is extraordinarily slooooooowwwwwwwwwww

For what it's worth, I started out with Poser a number of years back (version 2 I think was the first I used) but when DAZ Studio got its act together with DS3 I was tempted away to Studio by the bright lights...

Studio's interface does appear better than Poser's, IMHO, and I've had some fun with Studio BUT I've recently come back to Poser and (for the time being) ditched DAZ for the following reasons:

• the quality of rendering in Poser2012 is so much better I think, if you use the EZSkin scripts, etc. Yes, you could use Luxrender but, as has been pointed out, it is so slow and, as a balance on speed and quality Poser wins out over DAZ every time in the rendering stakes.

• Poser is more flexible in what you can do with textures and materials in the Materials room.

• Dynamics are better in Poser and not dependent on the Optitex system used in Studio where you are largely dependent on others making dynamic clothes for you.

• Poser is, I think, a more reliably supported product: for ages Studio didn't have dynamics, then it was (and still is) largely figure dependent; although Genesis is undoubtedly a great figure there are serious problems with converting footwear from earlier versions, etc.

• Although the DAZ people and the forums are responsive - in my previous experience, as good as anything here at Rendo, I was really hacked off by what they did with the new web-site.

So, on balance for me, it's Poser that wins out. But as others have said, give both a try and see what works best for you.

I see it the same way- and I too am "hacked off" at the new website. I do wish them well with it. That and the marketplace issues have to be hurting them. I hope they can get things back on track.

Quote - For what it's worth, I started out with Poser a number of years back (version 2 I think was the first I used) but when DAZ Studio got its act together with DS3 I was tempted away to Studio by the bright lights...

Studio's interface does appear better than Poser's, IMHO, and I've had some fun with Studio BUT I've recently come back to Poser and (for the time being) ditched DAZ for the following reasons:

• the quality of rendering in Poser2012 is so much better I think, if you use the EZSkin scripts, etc. Yes, you could use Luxrender but, as has been pointed out, it is so slow and, as a balance on speed and quality Poser wins out over DAZ every time in the rendering stakes.

• Poser is more flexible in what you can do with textures and materials in the Materials room.

• Dynamics are better in Poser and not dependent on the Optitex system used in Studio where you are largely dependent on others making dynamic clothes for you.

• Poser is, I think, a more reliably supported product: for ages Studio didn't have dynamics, then it was (and still is) largely figure dependent; although Genesis is undoubtedly a great figure there are serious problems with converting footwear from earlier versions, etc.

• Although the DAZ people and the forums are responsive - in my previous experience, as good as anything here at Rendo, I was really hacked off by what they did with the new web-site.

So, on balance for me, it's Poser that wins out. But as others have said, give both a try and see what works best for you.

DS4 Pro.  (Got it because of Number 1) 

Pros 

1: It is free at the moment. 

2: Figure manipulation is better and the general work screen is more fluid as it uses OpenGL better than Poser.

3: OpenGL rendering for quick pictures and animations.

4: DOF is faster for some reason and easier to setup sometimes.

Cons

1: Poser Mat files dont work which sux.

2: No search engine like Posers one.

3: And other general limitations.

Poser 9 / Pro 2012 (I have both) 

Pros 

1: Renders tend to be better what with IDL / IBL, HDRI (Poser Pro) and AO.

2: Has more content support with materials and such.

3: Dynamics is better in that there are alot of user made Dynamic content (unlike Daz which from what I can gather does not have user made dynamic content as far as I know. 

4: Just more flexability in some areas.

Cons

1: Sometimes and awkward interface.

2: IDL and DOF can be really slow depending on the scene.

3: Scene manipulation can be agrovating at times and other general hassles / limitations. 

I had Poser 4 and while I miss some of it's things (ability to make hair in program), I have always used Daz Studio free version since Daz 3 and only regret the dynamic clothing but most of the freebies make up for it and I've heard of a way to get clothroom only clothing to work in Daz Studio.

The pro has a Gen4 to Genesis clothes converter (autofit)(which I've heard has problems with footwear).

It also has a content create thing somewhere in it. (I haven't own Pro for long so I don't know where everything is).

Overall I prefer Daz because it's free why pay 400+ for something if your just hobbyist and doing it in your spare time? Plus I haven't the money to thow away on a program every year.

It can search for item, but I've never tried it.

Plus there are great shaders for Daz, some free (at Sharecg) and others like Sparkles for Studio and Furify, which are very much worth it.

there's also fabricator, lacemaker and others which have a poser addition too (sold separtly)

I preferred Studio 3 Advanced to Poser 7.....when I got DS4 it sped up and I was happy UNTIL I got Poser Pro 2012.  I have not looked back.  I think if you are new and want to use Genesis go for the free Studio it's great to learn on and you can make beautiful stuff.  However, If you are like me and refuse to let go of your V4 model and all the crap you just bought for her less than a year ago and don't want to buy it again....and want 64 bit support that IMO goes faster than DS4 I would get Pro2012.  Poser 9 was slower than spit for me.  Took it back.

I prefer the interface of Poser 2012 to DS4.  But all your stuff should work fairly well for studio if you go that route.  I mean it's free....get it!  Why not?    

The program is just a tool and whichever one you think will help you with your art more is the one you should go with.   

I just couldn't get Studio to render as fast for me anymore so I moved to Poser.  

And Poser lights will work in Studio 4....I experimented with all kinds of set ups that said they wouldn't work in there...they did anyway LOL.  

I had Reality...I never once got to make a pic in there b/c the darn things would never render fast LOL.   

You can get all of Generation 4 (M4, V4 etc)  Clothing to fit Genesis through the Autofit tool that is free with DS4 pro (which is free)

You can buy a tool called Gen X to import all your Gen 4 characters into Genesis if you have the Gen4 shapes for Genesis (luckily I do but I haven't tried my Gen X yet)

Only big problem is shoes they won't transfer yet... But I'm sure someone will figure it out.